THE nurse pushed the wheelchair around the corner into the room after Dale’s torturous tests. Holly’s left side ached something fierce from the positions they’d put her arm and shoulder in for various x-rays, despite pain killers flooding her system. Focus on Dax. Shove pain to the back of your mind. If she kept herself distracted, maybe it wouldn’t hurt so bad that she wanted to cry. Wouldn’t Dax love if she surrendered to pain-induced oh-me-woe-mes? Not!
He slouched in the chair, her purse on his lap, chin to his chest, arms crossed. She grimaced at his posture. Poor guy would hurt in the morning, on top of being tired. He’d lost too much sleep because of her. Having to doze in a chair only added injury to insult.
The nurse quietly helped her into bed.
Holly focused on the sleeping man, ignoring pain that ricocheted up her arm and shoulder into her neck and head, making it next to impossible to breathe.
The nurse placed the call button close to hand before she slipped from the room.
Adrift on a sea of medication, Holly watched Dax. Even in sleep, he looked troubled, his brows drawn together. Did all he’d seen in more than a decade on the job haunt his dreams? It was probably inevitable. Particularly the deaths of children. She’d seen the devastation those left in their path. So many families and hearts scarred, including his. What else lurked behind those mysterious green eyes?
She’d thought of herself as tight-lipped over the years. After all, she rarely shared details of her life with others. In fact, almost never. Not even with Brett, and he’d become her best friend since her move to Sierra Vista.
Dale, Chad, and Clay knew more about her than anyone, but only because they’d gone through so much with her. They’d heard her father’s accusations and borne witness to some of the things he’d done. Yet, she hadn’t seen or talked to any of them since leaving Oklahoma. She hadn’t intended to walk away from them. So, why had she? How had so much time slipped by without her calling or dropping them a letter or email?
Uncomfortable with the turn of her thoughts, Holly forced a wandering mind back to the subject at hand. When it came to secrecy, Dax made her look like an amateur, and that wasn’t a compliment. She knew very little about him. He was so different from his parents, who seemed (at least from her limited exposure) to be open, forthright people. Dax was introspective and guarded. Most of the time she didn’t have the foggiest clue what was going on inside his head, and that bothered her. A lot.
Holly turned her head to stare at the ceiling. Could she build a relationship with such a closed-up man? How much could she expose of herself, including her past, to someone who might never return the favor? Shouldn’t relationships be built on trust and understanding from both parties? What hope was there without honest, open communication?
A light tap on the open door made her flinch in surprise. She winced at pain then relaxed.
Chad stood in the doorway, clipboard in one hand, pen in the other. In uniform. Official visit. Resigned to what must be done, she waved him in with a smile that felt stiff and unnatural.
Dax shifted, grimaced as he straightened, and looked around with a wide yawn. He perked up when he saw Chad and Holly.
“Dale said you needed to file a report.” Chad’s gentle tone bore a professional edge. His gaze dropped to the bruise on her left arm and darkened in anger. “You’re actually pressing charges this time?”
She glanced at Dax, who’d frozen. “Yeah.”
Chad took notes, dropping in a question occasionally, as Holly explained what had happened. She tried to do so calmly, but tears crept in and choked her voice.
At that point, Dax added comments, giving her a chance to rally. He got up and stood beside the bed, gently grasping Holly’s hand.
As they wrapped up, Dale returned with test results and shared the information with all three of them. No fractures or breaks. Possible soft tissue damage in the shoulder from a partial dislocation. He’d called Dr. Hyall, the local orthopedist, who would arrive first thing in the morning to assess the damage.
Chad added the doctor’s comments to his report, with Dale’s promise to send a copy of his and Dr. Hyall’s official findings as soon as possible for the final report.
When the officer and doctor left, both giving orders for Holly to “get some rest”, Dax perched on the edge of the bed and looked down at her. “I’m really proud of you. I know that wasn’t easy.”
Holly couldn’t think of a response other than to give vent to tears she’d barely held in check. As sobs tore through her, Dax gathered her close. Strong arms cocooned her as though she might break if he held too tight. He whispered into her hair, words she didn’t understand. Still, his gentle touch, the reassuring tone of his voice, and his strong presence comforted her. Made her feel safe.
When at last sobs ebbed, she pulled back. Concern in his eyes as he gently wiped away remaining tears nearly started a new wave. He bore no resemblance to the angry, distant man she’d known the past two years. This man was someone she could trust. Rely on. Love without reservation. Someone who could love her back? Did she dare hope? A flutter in Holly’s stomach answered. Wise or not, she had hope.
Dax seemed to sense the direction of her thoughts. His eyes darkened and dropped briefly to her lips before returning to lock gazes with her. He swallowed then leaned closer.
Holly knew he intended to kiss her, and she wanted him to. She wanted the dream.
The moment his lips touched hers, a phone rang, startling them both.
He straightened. Frustration and disappointment flashed through his eyes in rapid succession.
Holly understood exactly how he felt.
The cellphone kept ringing.
Dax dug it out of his shirt pocket, looked at the screen to see who was calling, and flipped it open with a sigh.
~~~
“What?” Dax grumbled into the phone, holding back most of his annoyance.
“Well, that’s a fine how do you do,” Myriah teased. “Your niece or nephew is playing field hockey with my bladder, so I can’t sleep. Thought I’d check on you. I gather from your tone that you’re tired and not happy to hear from me. Did I interrupt something?”
He’d swear a grin backed that question. “You could say that.” He cast Holly a look full of promise, fully intending to pick up where they’d left off at the first opportunity.
She grinned and shifted into a more comfortable position, wincing, and cupping her wounded shoulder.
“Good!” Myriah laughed. “Well, not that I interrupted something, but that there was something to interrupt. Anyway, how’s everything at that end?”
No one should sound so chipper that time of night. It couldn’t be legal. If there wasn’t a law against it, a serious statutory oversight needed to be corrected.
“We’re still at the hospital. They’ve got her on meds for pain, and we’re waiting for the orthopedic specialist to come first thing in the morning to look at her test results. The doctor who already saw her thinks her shoulder was partially dislocated.”
“Ouch!” she hissed. “I can definitely send you something to help that heal. I was thinking, too, I might be able to help with the migraines. Do you know what triggers them?”
“Storms and stress, she said.”
Holly’s hand gently gripped his arm.
Dax held the phone away from his face. “Myriah thinks she might be able to help with the migraines. She’s one of those nutty anti-pharmaceutical types.” He added the last teasingly.
“I heard that!”
Holly giggled at Myriah’s playfully outraged tone and nodded. “I’ve had them since that car accident.”
“She was in a car accident years ago,” Dax told Myriah. “She’s had the migraines ever since.”
“Head trauma, or does she need to see a chiropractor for spinal issues maybe?”
“Probably both. She had a bad head injury—skull fracture. She was thrown around the car when it flipped.”
“What kind of parent puts their kid in a car without a seatbelt these days?” Myriah muttered mostly to herself.
Dax chose to ignore the question. It wasn’t his story to tell, and Holly hadn’t given him permission to share it.
“Has she ever seen a chiropractor?”
“I don’t know.” Seeing Holly’s questioning look, he half-laughed, half-sighed. “Why don’t we take the middle man out of this conversation? I’ll let you talk to Holly. She can answer these questions far better than I.” He held out the phone.
Holly’s fingers closed on it, a weary smile crossing her face. He didn’t release it.
“Don’t talk too long. You need rest,” he admonished, making certain his tone was gentle.
She smiled and nodded, so he let go.
~~~
“Hi, Myriah.”
“Hey, Holly, is Dax still sitting there watching you like a hawk?”
“Yes.” She chuckled then grimaced. Laughter. Not good when combined with pain in the chest and shoulder.
“Good.”
“Good? Why?”
“Because he needs someone to stir his life up a bit and give him trouble.”
“I’m not sure he’d agree with that.”
Dax cocked his head with a puzzled frown.
A soft laugh reached across the miles. “Yeah, well, in this instance, what he thinks doesn’t really matter. Okay, so tell me about this accident you were in. Dax said you had a head injury.”
“When I was eleven, yes. A twister hit the car I was in.”
“That’s horrible.” The words barely found voice, but Myriah seemed to shake off the shock enough to slip back into professional mode. “What injuries did you sustain?”
“Fractured skull, punctured lung, broken leg, broken arm, broken ribs. That’s all I remember anyway. I can probably get the records while I’m here to verify.”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Your body sustained a lot of trauma in that accident. No wonder you have ongoing issues.”
If only that was the extent of what her body had endured over the years.
“Have you had any other injuries to your head since then?”
Holly flinched. Had Myriah guessed what she was thinking? She swallowed. “Two concussions, neither one serious. One when I was thirteen, the other at sixteen.” Both from her father punching her. The headaches had lasted for days. Each one had made the migraines worse.
“You didn’t tell me about those,” Dax growled. “Was it your dad?”
She met his gaze then nodded and looked away, too tired to face the anger boiling there. So much for the moment between them that had held such promise. Was their relationship doomed to be one step forward and two steps back? Had Dax truly believed that what she’d told him was the extent of her father’s abuse? Did he have any idea how long it would take to go over every injury she’d sustained? Doubtful. Maybe he wasn’t ready for that.
Without another word, Dax slipped out of the room.
“Holly?”
Myriah’s voice snapped her to attention. “I’m sorry. Did you ask me something?”
“Have you ever seen a chiropractor?”
“No.” Tears welled in her eyes. How could he be mad at her over undisclosed injuries? It’s not like her concussions had come up in conversation. Well, until Myriah asked about them anyway.
“Do you have any objections to doing so?”
“Not if they know what they’re doing. I don’t want problems made worse.”
“Understandable. I think that would be a good place to start. I doubt we can cure the migraines, but hopefully we can alleviate them to some degree.”
“Any improvement would be helpful, especially if it keeps me out of the ER.”
“I hear you.”
~~~
Dax stared at the vending machine in the waiting room and clenched his fists. Every disclosure about Holly’s past made the picture uglier. Two of them actually. The man her father was, and the man she perceived Dax to be. Surely she didn’t really see them as being the same. He was not like the man who’d tormented her through her childhood. Not at all.
With a deep breath released on a sigh, he forced his hands open and walked away from the vending machine without using it. He wouldn’t miss that nasty coffee anyway.
By the time he returned to Holly’s exam room, she’d finished the conversation with Myriah. The phone lay beside her on the bed, and her eyelashes rested against pale cheeks. He picked up the cellphone and dropped it into his pocket. Probably for the best that she’d fallen asleep and they couldn’t talk. As tired as they were, one of them was bound to say the wrong thing. Chances were good it’d be him, and she’d think even less of him than she already did.
She stirred when he dropped into the chair beside the bed. “Dax?”
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t you go back to the hotel? There’s no need for you to stay.” A faint smile curved her lips. “At least you can be comfortable there.”
“I’m not leaving you here alone.” He scowled and crossed his arms over his chest.
“But—”
“No.”
After a moment, Holly nodded, closed her eyes, and turned her face to the opposite wall.