“Who is dead? Please Jimmy, I need to know. Is Destiny still alive?”
“The deceased is a young male, and that’s all I am allowed to say at this point. It appears he plunged from the top of Falcon Ridge.” Jimmy put his arm around her.
“What about Destiny?” she asked, collapsing into his embrace, gaining comfort and strength.
“The other two are being escorted down the trail. Last report said they’re in bad shape, but very much alive.”
He pulled her close and she silently wept in his embrace. Wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her uniform, she caught a glimpse of her partner, Pete as he stepped down from the ambulance and then stopped dead in his tracks.
Why is he staring at us?
***
When Pete spied Josie in Officer Franklin’s arms, his gut wrenched with a pang of jealously “What’s up with that?” At times, when he found the two together at the firehouse sharing a meal, he usually ignored weird feelings, where Josie Miller was concerned. Truth be known, even those innocent scenarios made his chest clench.
Now here they are, embracing in broad daylight.
Forcing his legs to respond, he sauntered over to them, feigning disinterest. He stared at the trailhead. Locking his thumbs inside the front pockets of his uniform, he rocked on his heels.
“How’s the wife, Jimmy boy?” Pete said, but continued to stare straight ahead. Jimmy quickly lowered his arm and gave Pete a steely gaze.
“My family is just fine, Thayer. Maybe you should settle down and find you one woman to love. Most nights I see your car parked all over town. Juggling all those hearts seems like an awful lot of work.” Jimmy paused, kissed Josie on the forehead, and headed toward other officers who waited by the trailhead.
“Bastard,” Pete said as he dug a booted toe into the mud. He turned to look at Josie and froze. Her tear-stained face stole his breath. “What did he do to you?”
He pulled her to his chest and wrapped both arms around her as she sobbed. When she swallowed back the tears and sighed, he closed his eyes and hoped she’d surrender to the pleasure of being in his arms. Her solid form, pressing against his, felt so good.
“Jimmy is a friend. He relayed awful news, then offered comfort and a shoulder to cry on. That’s all. Why were you so mad at him?” She pulled back slightly and looked at him with swollen eyes.
“I thought he was hitting on you, Josie. He had no right ‘cause he’s married. Besides…” he paused, “I want to be the one to comfort you when bad things happen. We’re partners, right?”
When she smiled the moment his words hit home, wonderful urges flowed through him. He wanted to explore these feelings more deeply. Too bad duty called.
“Jimmy said Destiny Blake is one of the patients being brought down the mountain,” she sobbed. “She’s alive, but injured. Another man is dead.”
Pete held her tightly. An image of Josie’s beautiful friend slipped into his mind, but all thoughts of her soon faded. Standing here, with Josie in his arms, he realized he no longer wanted to pursue Destiny.
An all-terrain’s high-pitched engine rumbled as the vehicle appeared on the trail. It sailed past the trees and into the clearing. Pete looked up while Josie struggled to quiet her sobs. The two passengers had a clear view of Josie wrapped in his arms. As Pete set Josie aside, he glimpsed a slight smile on Destiny’s blue-tinged lips right before she slumped sideways. The man sitting beside her held her limp form to his chest as the vehicle pulled to a stop near the ambulance.
“She’s passed out! Hurry!” the stranger pleaded.
***
Two uniformed medics sprinted toward Jacob. As the blond-haired man examined the unconscious Destiny in Jacob’s lap, he barked orders at his partner. The female paramedic returned to the ambulance, threw open the back doors, and tugged on the stretcher. Pulling and cursing as she dragged it through the mud, she reached the patient in short order. Jacob helped them transfer Destiny’s limp body to the stretcher.
With tears stinging his eyes, he hopped back a step so they had room to strap her in before they ran back to the ambulance. Jacob hopped after them. They lifted Destiny and the stretcher into the warm cavity of the ambulance. The man climbed inside, but when the woman shut the doors, Jacob yelled, “Let me in!”
She turned to him, and then pressed a hand in the middle of his chest. Jacob lost his balance and fell against the back bumper.
“Sir, are you injured?”
Jacob nodded and then held back a curse when she pointed toward the side door. Three steps stood in his way.
“Let me help.”
Those three simple words blanketed his achy body with a tranquil mantle of calm. He let her assist him up the stairs.
“I’ve crushed my left leg, exacerbating a recent injury. I’m very cold, but never mind about me. What’s going to happen to my Destiny?” he asked, nearly choking on the words.
The woman seemed taken aback. Had she noticed his claim on her patient?
“My partner is helping her, sir. She will get warm blankets and oxygen. Does she have any specific injuries?”
“Ah, her palm is split open. She lost a lot of blood, but I bandaged it. She’s frozen and might have internal injuries. That bastard who attacked us threw her to the ground, twice,” he explained before taking a deep breath and adding, “She fell over the edge of the cliff, but managed to climb up.”
Startled by the emotions surging inside his throbbing, pain-wracked body he barely reacted when the female medic pushed him down onto the bench seat. The limp body of Destiny lay inches away. The paramedic buckled the safety belt around his hips, then cupped his chin, forcing his face from Destiny to her.
“Listen to me. Let my partner concentrate on Destiny. I need you to sit still and get warm. We’ll work on your injuries when we get you both to the ER. We are doing all we can for her. Are you listening?”
Jacob’s eyes flicked back to the woman’s face.
“My name is Josie. Destiny is my friend, too.”
They stared at each other for a moment before she broke the connection. She jumped from the side door and slammed it shut. Jacob watched her through the small window as she trotted toward a police officer. The officer nodded in answer to something, then slipped inside his patrol car. The medic—Josie—climbed into the ambulance’s driver’s seat, snapped on the siren, and followed the cop’s blue lights toward town.
Turning his attention back to the medic bending over Destiny, Jacob saw the name Pete embroidered on his rescue jacket. He’d already stripped her and placed heat-packs under her arms and along her sides. He covered her with a wool blanket and tucked it tightly up around her chin. He strapped an oxygen mask over her pale face with a whoosh of escaped air. He tapped her left forearm as he prepared to administer an IV.
“Josie!” he yelled toward the front of the ambulance, “I can’t get a line started. She’s too cold. Step on it!”
Jacob saw Josie nod her response before she leaned over, grabbed the radio, and updated the hospital.
Exhaling a breath he hadn’t realized he held, he swung his attention back to Pete, who placed two fingers on the side of Destiny’s neck.
“Does she have a pulse?” Jacob’s question came out in a whisper.
Pete placed a stethoscope on Destiny’s chest and listened before turning to him, nodding. The man’s brow wrinkled with concern, and Jacob knew she was in trouble.
“Sir, she is alive. I don’t see any external injuries besides bruising and the lacerated hand. She is also suffering from exposure. We can’t confirm internal injuries until we have her in the ER. How long has she been outside?”
“Since about midnight. I have no idea what time it is now. I do know she’s been thrown to the ground at least twice by that bastard.” Jacob spit out the words and started to shake.
The paramedic must have noticed. Pete glanced once more at Destiny to confirm she still breathed, then turned to patient number two.
He removed Jacob’s ski jacket and sweat-dampened shirt, and then wrapped him in a heavy wool blanket. Jacob inhaled the homey scent as a heater blew warm air toward his face. He barely felt Pete’s fingers clasped around his left wrist.
“Your pulse rate is nearly normal.”
“I’m so tired,” he whispered. Overwhelming concern for Destiny, on top of fatigue brought on by their ordeal, caused him to sit and stare. He didn’t feel like moving from this spot.
Ever.
“You may be going into shock. We’ll get you some help when we get to the hospital.” He released Jacob’s wrist to write down something on a clipboard.
“What’s that?” Jacob’s words slurred and he blinked, trying to keep his eyes open.
“I am making a note of your vital statistics on his run sheet.” The paramedic paused, his pen halting in mid-air. “Whatever happened up on that mountain had to have been pretty bad.”
***
From the driver’s seat of the speeding ambulance, Josie tried not to think of her cherished friend lying unconscious in the back of the rig. Pete knew how much Destiny meant to her. He’d be exceptionally vigilant while they raced to the hospital.
Instead of concentrating any further on her unconscious friend, Josie turned her thoughts to the handsome stranger. His words of concern proved his strong feelings for Destiny.
“An admirable character trait, which makes me wonder…did Destiny fall in love with this guy? Could he be the one?” What happened on that mountain to injure these two and leave another man dead? If the deceased attacked them, did he have anything to do with last month’s murder?
As they sped along, Josie forced herself not to glance into the back of the rig.
More important to keep my eyes on the road.
She followed the cruiser up Main Street, and then pulled up to the ambulance entrance at Fairfield Hospital.
“Sir, I need some personal information before we treat you in the ER,” she heard Pete say.
The man’s low mutterings signified he answered while Pete jotted down the information on a run sheet. Josie flung open the ambulance doors and locked eyes with Pete. Did he understand how seeing her friend like this killed her deep inside?
Pete jumped to the ground. Wordlessly, they lifted the stretcher from the rig. As she pulled Destiny’s limp form through the doors, she heard Pete speak to their other patient.
“Mr. Oliver, please stay where you are. I will be back for you in a moment. Destiny needs to be taken care of first, okay?”
***
Jacob nodded and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back against the padded interior of the ambulance. As he rested, the rumble of wheels and the whoosh of automatic doors swinging open, soothed his nerves.
“Your destiny is with her. Love her as you protected her,” the voice he knew well said.
“Thank you for your help,” Jacob said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I tried.”
“You compassion saved me. Thank you. This is goodbye.”
Jacob exhaled, and then waited patiently until Pete returned with a wheelchair, then wheeled him into an empty examination room.
“Where’s Destiny? I need to be with her.” He threw off the blanket and rose from the wheelchair on wobbly legs. Pete grabbed him around the waist as he began to sway and lifted him to a bed. His palm pressed down on Jacob’s chest.
“Lay flat on your back, sir.”
He grimaced when his legs followed him up. Why had all his strength deserted him when Destiny still needed him?
“Hold on, Mr. Oliver,” the medic said, “We have yet to determine the extent of your injuries, and until we do, you need to lay still. Doctors are examining Destiny as we speak. This is a small hospital. All its resources are being spent on her at this very minute.”
“I understand, but—”
Pete slipped a pillow under Jacob’s swollen knee and said, “You would only be in the way. Rest. Wait here, and don’t move. You’re obviously in great pain and a little distressed.”
“I don’t care about myself, its Destiny I need—”
“When she wakes up I am sure she would not be happy to find you unconscious.”
As Pete stared at him, letting his words sink in, Jacob relaxed his clenched muscles with an audible sigh. He nodded as strong shivers racked his body.
“I’m so cold,” Jacob whispered.
Pete called for a nurse. Jacob endured their handling as they removed the rest of his clothing, then placed heat-packs in his armpits and groin. The nurse mumbled something about checking his vital signs once he stopped shaking.
“By that time, sir, we should have some news about your wife.” She gave him a forced smile as she dimmed the lights. The door swung shut behind her, leaving Jacob alone in misery.
“My wife,” Jacob repeated, letting the sound of the words slide off his tongue. He knew he should have corrected her, but the sentimentality of the words pierced his heart. His life changed forever in that one perfect moment of clarity. He wanted Destiny as his wife, no matter what.
With his eyes shut tight, he drifted into oblivion. Alone and with a heavy heart, he dreamt of a future with Destiny by his side.
Always, and forever.
***
Josie held her best friend’s icy hand as a nurse re-bandaged the other. The ragged wound looked nasty. Since it still bled, the nurse paged an intern to come stitch it. She winced when the nurse plunged a needle in her friend’s butt cheek.
“Tetanus shot?”
The nurse nodded, and Josie worried when even a needle’s bite hadn’t woken Destiny. Her skin was pale as chalk, except for the blue-gray tinge around cracked lips barely visible under an oxygen mask.
“I saw this woman eight hours ago and she looked fine.”
A doctor arrived and glanced at the heart monitor, which kept constant track of Destiny’s vital signs. Her blood pressure registered too low and her pulse rate beat too slow but she breathed easily on her own. Warmed oxygen flowed through the mask.
“The concentrated oxygen should eventually bring more color to her face and lips,” the doctor said.
Josie’s eyes followed the rise and fall of the heavy blankets lying on her friend’s chest. She hoped she’d wake up soon. They needed to talk about that man who hadn’t wanted to leave her side. She looked up at the doctor, and he motioned for her to join him out in the hall where they could talk in private.
“How is she, Doc?” Unable to hold back the tears, she sobbed. Pete, returning from the admitting desk, saw her face, and wrapped her in his arms.
The wonderful comfort of his embrace calmed her desperation and fear for her friend. When he pressed his lips against her forehead, her knees weakened.
“Ms. Blake is unconscious, most likely due to exhaustion,” the doctor explained. “Hypothermia may have damaged her fingers, forehead, nose, and toes, but I don’t believe she suffers from full-blown frostbite. We won’t know until she warms up. Her heart rate and blood pressure need to come up, as well. Whatever happened to her over the last eight hours or so certainly caused severe exhaustion.” He paused. Anxiety etched his brow with fine lines and his mouth slipped into a cautious frown.
“What else. Please. Tell us.”
“She may also suffer from emotional trauma. That, alone, might require a serious amount of time to heal. She’ll need support from her family and friends.”
“I don’t think she has any family. She never talked about them, anyway. I’m her best friend. I’ll…we’ll do anything to help her overcome this,” she promised. She glanced at Pete who nodded in agreement.
“I don’t see any reason why you cannot stay and visit, then. No one else will be allowed in until she wakes, though.”
“But, Doc. The man we rescued along with her,” she said as she pointed toward the opposite examination room, “I think he’s very special to her.”
“Then I will instruct the nurse to allow him to visit after he’s been examined. I’ll check him now and—”
A pager’s vibrating wail echoed off the hallway’s walls. All three looked down at their hips.
“It’s mine,” the doctor said. Glancing at the read-out, he excused himself then headed for the nurse’s station, leaving the two paramedics embracing in the hall.
“See,” Pete reassured her, “Destiny is mending and may wake up any minute. You need to calm down so you can offer the support she needs. Want to grab a cup of coffee before we go back on duty?”
“A cup of coffee sounds great. Can we drink it here in the hallway while we wait for the next emergency call?”
Pete nodded. They headed toward the cafeteria. When he lowered his arms, leaving her adrift, Josie missed his touch.