Later that afternoon, Melanie was sitting at her desk and working on her next book. She had a huge picture window in front of her that gave her a fantastic view of the property and she smiled as she looked up and saw a little bit of snow starting to fall. She shivered slightly and her mind wandered to what she was going to make for dinner tonight. It seemed like the perfect weather for some homemade soup or stew, but she wasn’t sure there was enough time to make one.
Standing, she stretched and walked down the hall to the kitchen to see what kind of ingredients she had on hand. Josiah tended to do the grocery shopping—something he loved but she hated—and every day became a game of “What’s for dinner?” She was about to pull the refrigerator door open when the doorbell began to ring incessantly.
“What in the world?” she murmured, walking quickly toward the door. Pulling open the door, she gasped when she saw her father standing there looking solemn. “Dad? What are you…?”
He stepped inside and gently grasped her shoulders. “Mel, has anyone called you yet?”
She didn’t need to ask why. Her heart simply stopped. This was the moment she always dreaded every time Josiah walked out the door. Her eyes instantly began to sting with tears as she shook her head. “What happened? Where is he?”
“Go get your coat,” he said, his voice a little gruff. “They took him to Silver Bell Memorial.”
Grabbing her purse, she followed her father out of the house and climbed into his car, which was still running. They hadn’t even made it off the property when she began grilling him for information.
“Did someone call you? Why didn’t they call me?” Digging through her purse, she pulled out her phone. “Who do I need to call? Is anyone at the station?”
“Mel, you have to calm down, sweetheart.”
“Calm down? Dad, you tell me something’s happened to Josiah but you haven’t said what. You tell me he’s at the hospital, but you won’t say why! You need to tell me what’s going on!”
“From what I can tell—and mind you, this is largely hearsay because I wasn’t there myself and you know how gossip flies around town and…”
“Dad!” she cried with frustration. “Focus!”
John let out a slow breath. “Okay, I went into town to grab some lunch and a lot of the roads were still blocked off. I thought it was a little odd since Josiah had left right after breakfast. So I was in the diner and everyone was talking about it.” He paused. “Normally you only see a crowd like that at breakfast, but it was wall-to-wall people in there.”
“Dad…” Melanie prompted with annoyance.
“The chase coming through town originated in Albany. The guy being chased is wanted for a double-homicide and had already caused multiple accidents.”
“Oh my gosh…”
“The way law enforcement figured, the guy should have been running out of gas by the time he hit our city limits. There were roadblocks set up all over town—Josiah was at the last one.”
With her stomach in knots, she both needed to know and dreaded what she was about to hear. “What happened?”
“Mel…”
“I need to know, Dad!”
“The driver crashed through the first three and everyone knew he was going to do the same at the last one. They don’t have any major deterrents to stop drivers—at the first three they used construction barrels and several cars but that did little more than slow this guy down momentarily. His car was damaged but he didn’t stop.”
John paused and Melanie wanted to scream with frustration.
“Josiah had less at his disposal because no one expected the driver to get that far so essentially…”
“It was just him,” she said quietly.
“He shot out the front tire and the driver went off the road and hit a tree. Josiah went to confront him and was shot.”
Crying out in horror, Melanie felt like she was going to be sick.
“Where…I mean…what…what happened next?”
“There was already a line of law enforcement on this guy’s tail so they got there just as it happened. They were able to apprehend the guy and get an ambulance to Josiah as fast as they could.”
Her heart was in her throat at the image of Josiah fighting for his life! “Dad, what else do you know? How was he when the paramedics got to him?”
“All I know, Mel, was he was shot and unconscious. Someone said he was shot twice but…I don’t know for sure.” Taking one hand from the steering wheel, John reached over and took his daughter’s hand. “I wish I knew more. I really do.”
Tears were streaming down her face and she cursed the long drive to the hospital. “Should I call the hospital? The station? I…I just don’t know what to do and I feel so helpless!”
“You can try to call the hospital, but we’ll be there soon enough. You do whatever you need to do to put your mind at ease.”
Somehow, Melanie didn’t think anything was going to put her mind to ease except seeing Josiah for herself and hearing that he was going to be all right. But in the meantime, she placed a call to the hospital. After a bit of a runaround, the only information she was given was how he was indeed in the emergency room and the doctors were with him. With a curse, she made her next call to the station and got one of the deputies—Jared O’Neil.
“Jared, it’s Melanie,” she said quickly. “Do you have any updates on Josiah?”
“I wish we did, Melanie, and I’m sorry. Things are a bit out of control here right now. I believe Drew Maxwellhe’s new to the force—is at the hospital with him. I’ll text you his number right now and you can call him.”
“Thanks, Jared.” She hung up and thankfully his text came through a minute later.
“We’re almost there, Mel,” her father said and as she looked around, she knew it would still be at least another ten minutes before they pulled up to the small hospital.
With little more than a nod, she quickly tried calling Drew’s number but it went directly to voicemail.
“For all you know, he’s on the line updating them at the station,” John said calmly.
The rest of the drive was spent in silence and Melanie was relieved when her father dropped her off in front of the ER so she could go right in while he parked the car.
Running to the front desk, she did her best to calmly ask to see Josiah.
“Are you family?” the receptionist asked.
“I’m his fiancée,” she said and looked around for anyone she knew who might be able to give her information faster than the staff would.
“Miss Harper?”
Turning, Melanie saw a deputy walking toward her. She didn’t recognize him and hoped it was Drew Maxwell. A quick glimpse at his badge confirmed it. “I just tried calling you,” she said, shaking his hand. “Any updates on Josiah?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry. The last update I got was that they were taking him for x-rays.”
“Miss Harper?”
This time she turned back to the receptionist. “Yes?”
“You can go back now.” There was a nurse in a pair of scrubs standing behind the desk and she gave Melanie a small smile.
When she looked at Drew, she spotted her father walking in. “They’re letting me go see Josiah. I’ll be back out as soon as I can,” she said before following the nurse back.
They went through the first set of doors before Melanie asked, “Is he awake? Will I be able to talk to him?”
“Dr. Cooper is waiting to talk to you,” she responded and then motioned for Melanie to go to the triage area.
The curtain was partially pulled back and as soon as she got close, a middle-aged man stepped out to greet her. “Miss Harper? I’m Dr. Cooper.” He shook her hand.
Melanie tried to look around him and into the area to see Josiah, but Dr. Cooper stepped farther out into the hallway and guided her to follow.
“Your fiancé has two gunshot wounds and a mild concussion.”
“Where?” she asked shakily. “Where was he hit?”
“The first went through the pectoralis minor muscle—that’s the muscle in the upper arm. It avoided any bones, arteries, and nerves—which is a good thing. It appears to be a clean in-and-out gunshot wound, leaving no shrapnel within the body.”
That made her feel mildly better.
“And the other?”
“The other grazed his shoulder,” he replied. “He was extremely fortunate.”
“Can I see him now?”
With a nod, he stepped aside.
With a murmured thanks, she moved around him and went directly to Josiah’s bedside and then openly cried at the sight of him. His eyes were closed and he looked pale. His clothes were covered in blood. She must have whispered his name because his head turned slightly toward her and his eyes fluttered open. Never in her life had she been so thankful to see those brown eyes open.
“Hey,” he said softly. He tried to move but immediately winced with pain.
“No, no, no,” she said quickly, soothingly. “Don’t try to move, okay?” It was hard to stop herself from touching him everywhere just to confirm that he was all right. Her eyes scanned him from head to toe just in case the paramedics and doctors missed anything. When Melanie looked up and met Josiah’s gaze, she saw nothing but tenderness there.
“I’m going to be okay, Mel. It was a clean shot.”
She nodded, but couldn’t seem to make herself speak. She was shaking and overwhelmed and felt completely helpless. Her hands hovered over him—not wanting to touch him directly in case he was in any pain. Thankfully, he took pity on her and slowly reached out and guided her hand down onto his thigh and then covered it with his own.
“It’s going to be all right,” he said softly. “I promise.”
And then she finally felt in control of her emotions enough to speak. “I was so scared, Josiah. I had no idea what happened to you and the drive over felt like it took ten lifetimes!” She explained how her father had been the one to come and get her and bring her to the hospital. “I wish I had gotten here faster.”
“I wish you didn’t need to be here, sweetheart,” he said gruffly. “I hate that you’re upset.”
Her eyes went wide. “Josiah, my being upset is nothing compared to what you’re going through.”
He chuckled and then winced. “Um…yeah. Probably should wish that I hadn’t been shot, huh?”
“Ya think?” she teased even as tears streamed down her face.
“Unfortunately, I can’t turn back time and this is what I have to deal with,” he said, his eyes closing slightly. “I’m fortunate this is all that happened. I’ll be uncomfortable for a while and my arm will be in a sling, but in a few weeks, I’ll be as good as new. Probably just in time for the Christmas parade, but my waving will be at a minimum.”
With an exaggerated wink at her, Melanie couldn’t help but laugh at his attempt at humor. “Only you would be concerned about being able to wave in a parade.”
“You were the one who once told me you thought I deserved my own fan club…”
“No, what I said was that it was like you have your own fan club around here. That’s completely different.”
But he ignored her and continued. “You said I should have a parade in my honor.”
Now she laughed a little harder. “I think you have more than a mild concussion because you have a seriously warped memory of that conversation.”
He shook his head. “Nope, I distinctly remember you saying I should have a parade in my honor.”
“Don’t even,” she said, wiping the last of her tears away. “I believe what I said was maybe there was a parade in your honor during one of those ridiculous Christmas festivals. Then we joked about the marching band following you around and you said only on Saturdays.” Then she smiled tenderly at him. “But in light of what happened today, I think you totally deserve a parade in your honor.”
“That’s my girl,” he whispered.
“When can we take you home?” she asked. “Has anyone talked to you about it yet?”
“No, but…”
Behind them, Dr. Cooper came back into the room. “Okay, Mr. Stone, let’s see how you’re doing.”
Melanie stepped out of the way and had to rein herself in every time she saw Josiah wince with pain when Dr. Cooper touched him. Hadn’t he been through enough? Shouldn’t they give him something for the pain?
Clearly she’d said all of that out loud because Dr. Cooper turned to her and gave her a patient smile. “Why don’t you step out into the hall while we do this?”
Melanie looked beyond him to Josiah who nodded. “You should go and tell your dad what’s going on and I think Drew is out there as well. Tell them all that I’m fine and I’m hoping I’ll go home later today.”
“Tomorrow,” Dr. Cooper said as he continued to examine the wound. “We’ll keep you overnight for observation and send you home tomorrow with care instructions, antibiotics, and pain meds if you need them.”
Josiah grinned weakly at Melanie. “One night. That’s not so bad, right?”
She hated it, but she needed to be strong and not let him see her break down.
Again.
“Not bad at all,” she said. “I’ll come back in a few minutes.”
Out in the waiting room, she did exactly as Josiah asked and gave her father and Drew an update. Drew excused himself to call the station while John guided Melanie to a seating area and encouraged her to sit and relax.
“He’s very lucky,” John said.
Melanie looked at her father like he was crazy. “Dad, he got shot! How is that lucky?”
“It could have been much worse, Mel. It could have…” He stopped and shook his head. “I don’t even want to think about it. We need to be thankful that he’s going to be okay. One night in the hospital and a couple of weeks’ worth of recovery are nothing in the grand scheme of things.”
She knew her father was right, but this was all too hard to wrap her brain around. Just this morning they were happy and laughing and planning their wedding and in the blink of an eye, they had almost lost everything.
She almost lost him.
And that’s when she started to cry again.
As if knowing exactly what she was feeling, her father wrapped her in his arms and simply held her while she cried.