Chapter Eighteen
Meg sat propped up in her hospital bed in a private room in the Bellevue Medical Center. Charlie slept curled beside her. Ever since Dirk had lifted him out of the fishing boat and carried him to a waiting ambulance, he had been clinging to her like a monkey.
EMTs had treated them both for hypothermia, though the cold lake water had actually helped save their lives by slowing down the drowning process. They’d been given warmed oxygen to help clear their lungs, been checked and rechecked, pronounced on the road to recovery. With any luck, they would be released in the morning. Meg couldn’t wait to get home.
Special circumstances—the kidnapping little Charlie had suffered—had convinced the doctors to allow them to stay together overnight for observation.
Meg tugged down the hospital gown she was wearing instead of her wet clothes. It was evening. She wasn’t alone, hadn’t been since a few minutes after her arrival at the hospital. She felt her mother’s hand against her cheek, looked up, and smiled at the woman with the silver-blond hair and, at fifty-five, a still-lovely face. Meg glanced from her mother’s worried features across the room to where her dad slept in a chair.
Her parents had been there all evening. Though visiting hours were over, her dad had managed to sweet-talk the nurse into letting them stay.
“I’m okay, Mom. Really.”
“You should have told me what was going on, dear heart. You and your father both think of me as this fragile little flower and I’m just not that person anymore.”
Meg took hold of her mother’s fine-boned hand. “I know that, Mom. But you know how Dad worries about you. Besides, there wasn’t anything you could do.” She smiled. “At least, not until now. Now I have you to keep me and Charlie company while we recover.”
“Your father said your friend Dirk Reynolds saved Charlie’s life. He said those men would have killed him. Dirk saved your life, too, of course, when you were foolish enough to go along with him to the kidnappers’ house.”
“I had to go, Mom. But you’re right. He saved us both.”
“He hasn’t been by to see you.”
Her heart squeezed. “He had to talk to the police.”
Her mother gave her a pitying glance. He would have been finished hours ago.
“He said he’d stop by,” Meg said. “Dirk always keeps his word.”
“Well, then, I hope I get a chance to meet him.”
Meg just nodded. In the past few days, her father had come to respect Dirk. Her mother saw him as some kind of hero—which was exactly the way Meg thought of him.
She never would have believed her parents might approve of him. It was one of the reasons she had ended their relationship. If only she could go back in time, handle things differently.
But that wasn’t the way things worked.
“You and Daddy need to go home,” she said, releasing her mother’s hand. “Charlie and I will be fine. I’ll call you in the morning. If the doctor says we can leave, we’ll need a ride home.”
Her mother leaned down and kissed her forehead, pressed a soft kiss on Charlie’s cheek. He didn’t even stir. Meg planned to call a good child psychologist, a doctor who could help her baby get through the trauma of the kidnapping.
Aside from clinging to her more than he usually did, so far he seemed okay. The doctors said he hadn’t been physically injured, and being as young as he was, it wouldn’t take him long to forget the incident.
Meg hoped they were right. But she didn’t think he would forget nearly drowning anytime soon.
A soft knock sounded at the door, then it slowly eased open. Dirk stood in the doorway. He was wearing clean jeans and a dark green Henley. His shoulders looked amazingly wide, and she could see the outline of the lean, powerful muscles beneath his snug-fitting, long-sleeve shirt. His horseshoe mustache was trimmed very short, his slightly too-long hair neatly combed. It still curled softly at the nape of his neck.
A little tug of awareness warred with her emotions and tightened her chest. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Dirk Reynolds.”
Dirk stepped in and quietly closed the door. His hazel eyes went straight to Charlie and a look of relief washed over his features.
He turned his attention to her mother. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. O’Brien.”
“You as well, Dirk. I want to thank you for what you did for my daughter and my grandson.”
He just shrugged. “Meg asked for my help. Helping people is what I do for a living.”
“Perhaps,” her mother said, which was her mom’s way of saying she understood how much more it was than just a job.
“I asked you to save my son,” Meg said, tears filling her eyes, “and that’s exactly what you did.”
“Luke gave him CPR.”
“You saved him. I knew you would.” She blinked and the tears in her eyes began to roll down her cheeks.
Dirk looked uncomfortable. “Please don’t cry. I didn’t come here to make you cry.”
She sniffed, accepted the Kleenex her mother handed her, and blotted her eyes. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Thank you for coming.”
Was it only last night he had been in bed with her, his hard body pressing her into the mattress? Only last night, and already they were back to polite conversation. Her heart broke all over again.
Across the room, her father stirred to life and sat up in the chair, spotted Dirk, and came to his feet. “Reynolds. About time you showed up.”
“Yes, sir. I went for a ride first on my Harley. I needed to clear my head.”
“I imagine you did.” Her father walked over and shook Dirk’s hand. “You have my eternal gratitude, son, as I’m sure you know. I’ve spoken to the police. I know all the details. Whatever fee you charge—you earned every dollar.”
Dirk shook his head. “No fee. Not this time. You can pay Luke. I did this for Meg.”
Her heart stumbled, squeezed hard inside her chest. She needed to talk to him, and not in a room full of people.
“I think we’ve stayed long enough,” her mother said, gently steering her father toward the door. “Meg and Charlie need to rest.” She turned to Meg. “We’ll be back to get you in the morning.” Her mother looked at Dirk. “You’re welcome in our home anytime, Dirk. Thank you again for saving our family.”
Her dad squeezed Dirk’s shoulder as he walked out of the hospital room. Charlie shifted against her in the bed and she realized he was awake and staring at Dirk.
“Charlie, this is a friend,” Meg said. “His name is Dirk.”
“Hey, Charlie.”
The little boy started trembling. He turned his head into Meg’s shoulder and started crying softly.
Meg tightened her arms around him. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You don’t have to be afraid. Dirk’s our friend.”
“Make him go away! He’s a bad man!” Charlie let out a shriek and started crying louder, kicking his feet and trying to burrow into her.
“I’m scaring him,” Dirk said. “He remembers me from the lake.”
Meg spoke to the little boy gently. “It’s all right, sweetie. Dirk is the man who pulled you out of the water. He saved us, sweetheart.”
Charlie just kept crying.
“I better go. Seeing me is making him remember what happened. I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”
A lump rose in Meg’s throat. It was like déjà vu, the replay of a nightmare. Sending Dirk away because of Charlie.
She smoothed the silky red hair on her little boy’s head and he began to quiet. He still wouldn’t look at Dirk. “I’ll be home tomorrow,” she said. “I’d really like for us to talk. Could you . . . do you think you could come over?”
Dirk glanced away. “I’ve got a lot of follow-up to do. I may not have time.”
He was leaving, just like before. She couldn’t let it happen. “We . . . umm . . . still need to find the man who got away. My father mentioned hiring you to look for him. We need to talk about it.” Her dad had suggested it. But at the moment it was just an excuse for her to see Dirk.
“The police can handle it.” He looked at Charlie, who was sniffling, his head buried in her lap. “Might be better if you worked with someone else.”
“I don’t want someone else!” When Charlie jerked, she forced herself to calm down, bent, and kissed the top of his head. “If I had gone to someone else, there’s a good chance my son would not be . . . wouldn’t be here with me now.” She swallowed. “Please come over tomorrow, Dirk. I really need to see you.”
Something moved across his features. She might have called it yearning. Or maybe she’d just imagined it.
“I’ll stop by late in the afternoon. Your folks are taking you home tomorrow, right?”
“Yes, as soon as the doctor releases us.”
“All right, I’ll see you then.” Pulling open the door, he stepped out into the hall. The door whooshed closed behind him.
Her eyes burned. She stroked her son’s head and he looked up at her.
“He’s a bad man,” Charlie said.
“No, sweetheart, he isn’t. Dirk is one of the good men. He’s like a policeman. You know what policemen do? They save people. When the bad man took us in the boat, Dirk came after him. When the bad man threw us in the water, Dirk dove in and pulled us out. He’s mama’s friend, Charlie. He saved us.”
Charlie sniffed. “I wanna go home.”
“I know you do. So do I. We’re going home in the morning. Grandma and Grandpa are coming to pick us up.” She rubbed gently between his small shoulders. “Right now, we need to sleep. Mama’s really tired. How about you?”
Charlie yawned. “Me too.”
She clicked the button and turned off the light, snuggled down next to her son. In the last three days, she had only slept a few hours, only been able to sleep at all because Dirk had been in her bed.
She closed her eyes. As tired as she was, there were so many images in her mind, she wasn’t sure she could fall asleep. She remembered the barrel of the gun pressed against the window of the Bronco, then the feel of cold metal against the side of her head. She remembered the awful moment she had heard Charlie’s small body hit the water and knew he was going to drown.
As if the nurse knew her thoughts, a wide-hipped woman named Emma walked in. She handed Meg a paper cup with a pill in the bottom, then a small cup of water.
Emma waited until Meg swallowed it. “It’s only a light sedative,” she said. “The doctor gave your son something earlier. He’ll go back to sleep as soon as you do. You need to rest and so does he.”
She nodded. The nurse tidied up and left the room. Charlie settled down, then drifted back to sleep.
Meg closed her eyes. When she opened them again, it was morning.