Читать книгу Christmas Kisses Collection - Джанис Мейнард, Louise Allen - Страница 38

CHANCE WOKE. HE was hot. Too hot. On the side where Ellen rested. She was running a fever.

She groaned and sat up. Her eyes were red and face flushed. Little beads of sweat lined her upper lip.

Chance touched her cheek and confirmed what he already knew. This wasn’t good. They already had a day’s worth of travel ahead but with her sick it would slow them down.

“I don’t feel well.”

“I’m not surprised. You’re running a pretty high fever. I’ll check it in a minute. Do you hurt somewhere?” If they were lucky it was an intestinal problem from the food or lack of it.

“My leg.”

He searched her face. “Your leg?”

“Something bit me yesterday when you were stealing clothes.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” She should have told him, especially after the number of bite cases they’d seen at the clinic. She knew better than to let something like that wait. Panic started to clench his gut.

“Show me.”

“Can I have a drink of water first?” She lay back on the blanket.

Ellen was already too weak to sit up for any length of time. Chance picked up a bottle. Going down on one knee, he put an arm around her shoulders and supported her. Slowly she drank.

“Can I sleep a little longer?”

“Sure, sweetheart. Sleep while I look at your leg. Which one is it?”

Ellen stretched out her right leg. “Calf.”

Chance pushed up the leg of her pants to reveal a large angry place that covered her calf from the back of her knee to her ankle. In the center there was a boil surrounded by deep purple. His heart constricted. Ellen should be in a hospital. Even if he lanced it the risk of infection was too great and she truly couldn’t walk then.

“I wish you had said something.” He wanted to shake her and hug her at the same time. They had little water, no food, and now Ellen was seriously sick. His concern for them getting out of this mess today had escalated a hundred percent.

“I was going to, but I was busy doing other things last night.” There was humor in her voice.

“We were both thinking of other things last night.”

Now he carried that burden of guilt. He should have stayed focused on their problem; instead he had been satisfying his need for her. That was another issue. He wasn’t satisfied. Not by a long shot. But he wouldn’t be misdirected by his desire again. It could mean Ellen’s life and he couldn’t abide anything more happening to her. He had to get them out of this new situation and Ellen safely home.

She started to rise.

“Stay put. I’m going to give you a quick exam. Then we’ll need to get moving.” Chance pulled his bag closer and removed his stethoscope then the thermometer. “Let’s see how high your fever is while I’m giving you a good listen.”

Her grin was weak as she said, “I like the good things you give me.”

How like Ellen to speak frankly, even about a night of passion. He kissed her forehead. “I enjoyed it too. Now stop distracting me and let me see how you’re doing.”

“I’m distracting you?”

“Sweetheart, you’ve been distracting me for weeks.” Chance placed the stethoscope on her chest. Her heartbeat was steady, which was encouraging. He checked her pulse and blood pressure. They were up a little bit. Removing the thermometer, he wasn’t pleased. He searched his med bag and found a bottle of aspirin. It wouldn’t do much for the fever but it was better than nothing.

“Do you think you’re up for some walking?” He was sure she wasn’t but they really had no choice but to get moving. She wouldn’t last another day in the heat and rain with that leg.

“Sure.”

He didn’t expect her to say anything different.

“Could I have that half of a bar now instead of later?”

“That’s a great idea. We’ll share it for breakfast. I also want you to take a couple of aspirin for me.” He handed her the bar, medicine and set a bottle of water down beside her.

They ate in silence.

Done with her bar, Ellen said, “I’m sorry, but I’m going to need your help with my boot.”

Chance assisted her with getting the boot on her foot but could only lace it up loosely around her calf. He was afraid that before the day was over she would be in real pain.

When they were done, he packed the bags except for the rag the boy had placed the food in. He pulled the strap of his bag over his chest and shrugged into the backpack.

“What’re you doing?” Ellen stood beside him. “I’ll carry the backpack. That’s my job.”

“Today you get a day off. Come on, let’s get going.”

They headed out from behind the falls. Chance stopped a few times to make sure no one else was around.

When they came to the pool, he dipped the rag into the water, wetting it thoroughly, then wrung it out. “Ellen, come here.” She stepped closer to him. He wrapped the rag around her head. “This’ll help keep you cooler.”

Her gaze found his. “Thank you. You’re a good person, Chance Freeman.”

Coming from her, the simple compliment sounded like he was receiving a great honor in front of thousands. He brushed her lips with his. “You’re quite a woman yourself, Ellen Cox.”

Chance set a slower pace than he had the days before but even then Ellen was lagging behind. What had at first been a slow walk had now turned into one that included a limp. They stopped often to rest but that didn’t seem to give her any more energy. With each stop he wet the rag and retied it across her forehead.

Her fever eased at one point but by midmorning it had returned with a vengeance. He was going to have to find another way to get them to Saba sooner rather than later. Ellen couldn’t continue the way she was going. During one of their rests he’d looked at her leg. It was more inflamed than before. Walking hadn’t helped.

It hurt him to see her in pain. Yet she still didn’t complain.

“Chance, I’m sorry I got us into this and now I’m holding us up.”

“For starters, you didn’t get us into this. I agreed to see the boy’s father. I knew the risks. That’s all on me. As for your leg, yes, you should have told me sooner but there isn’t much more we could have done. You didn’t get bitten on purpose. So enough of that kind of talk.”

“My, you are being all noble. But, then, that’s who you are.”

She made the statement sound as if she knew few people who were noble and admired him for it. He liked having Ellen think he was someone special.

By noon, he had to walk beside her while she leaned on him in order for her to move. Each time her injured leg touched the ground she winced. They had stopped again to rest when Chance said, “I’m going to have to carry you.”

Thankfully the land had flattened out. The river was wider and slower, letting him know that were getting close to the coast.

Ellen shook her head. “How long would you last, doing that in this heat? Leave me and go for help.”

“What?” She’d been terrified when he been gone for only minutes. He couldn’t leave her with a dangerously high fever out in the jungle alone. “No way. We’re in this together.”

“I could never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me.”

Chance cupped her face. “I think that’s my line. Now, let’s not talk about it any more. We’re going to try you riding on my back for a while.”

“Okay, but you let me have the packs.”

He removed them and helped her on with them.

“Okay, you ready?” He squatted so she could reach around his neck.

She did so. Her heat seeped through his shirt. He wrapped his arms under her thighs and lifted her on his back as he stood. Chance started down the path. It wasn’t an easy trek but it was far better than seeing Ellen’s misery. They made it further than Chance had thought they would before he had to rest. Ellen could hardly keep her eyes open she was so consumed by fever. He had to find help soon or she would be in real danger of having lasting side effects.

“It’s time to go again.” She offered little help getting on his back. The fever was taking her energy.

Again Chance trudged down the path. There wasn’t a dry stitch of clothes on either one of them. Sweat poured from where their bodies met. He leaned forward so that Ellen rested on his back more than held on. She’d long ago become heavier and her arms more relaxed. Had she passed out?

The river now stretched out more like a placid lake. High grass grew on each side of the path. The jungle was far off to the sides, affording them little protection. The only plan Chance had for them finding cover was to go into the grass and lie down, hoping they weren’t seen. He’d reached the point that he needed someone to see them. It would be an opportunity to get help for Ellen.

With an amount of relief he hadn’t known it was possible to feel, he heard the sounds of life carried over the water. There must be a village close by. He took Ellen to a spot far enough off the path that he believed she would be safe. He then eased her from his back and to the ground. There was no argument. She was unconscious. At least she wasn’t feeling any pain.

He removed the packs and placed his under her head. Checking her pulse, he was glad to find that it was strong but she burned with fever. He pulled a bottle out and poured a few drops of water into her mouth. Watching her swallow, he gave her some more. He then drank a mouthful, leaving the bottle beside her in case she woke.

Kissing her on the forehead, he headed back to the path at almost a run. He hated leaving Ellen by herself but at least she was unaware he was doing so. That way she wouldn’t fear being left alone.

When he reached the river he continued his pace along the path. After a couple of turns he came to a village of stilted homes built out over the water. These were much nicer dwellings constructed of finer material than those he had seen before. Still small, they appeared as if they might have more than one room.

Boats were tied below a number of them. Maybe he could find someone to take him and Ellen downriver. He continued running. A couple of children played in a bare spot at the bottom of a ladder to one of the huts. They chattered when they saw him and a woman stepped out onto the porch. Raising a hand to her forehead as if blocking the sun, she watched him approach.

Chance slowed his pace to a jog. He didn’t want to scare away any aid he might find. “I need help,” he called in Spanish. “A woman is sick.”

A couple of other villagers exited their huts.

“I’m a doctor. I need to borrow a boat.”

A young man joined the children as if in protective mode.

Chance stopped before he got too close to the first hut. “I have a sick woman with me. We need to get to Saba. I can pay for the boat. I’m Dr. Chance Freeman. I work with the Traveling Clinic out of La Ceiba.”

Hopefully they had heard of the clinic. Maybe someone they knew had come to it.

The young man spoke up. “I know of it.”

“Can you help me?” There was desperation in every word. Chance would get down on his knees and beg if he had to. All his fear was for Ellen. Her life. Had she woken? Found herself alone? He’d promised not to leave her again, yet he had. “Will you take me downriver to Saba?”

The young man looked around at the women then back at Chance. “I have no boat.”

“What about these?” Chance waved his hand in the direction of the boats under the huts.

“Not mine.”

The woman standing above them said, “Take my husband’s. But you better return it.”

“Come,” the young man said, and headed toward the boat under the hut.

He didn’t have to ask Chance twice. The man untied the boat and held it. The craft reminded Chance of a canoe with a flat bottom. There were no benches to sit on so he took a seat on the planks. The vessel seemed water-worthy enough but at this point it didn’t matter. He needed to get back to Ellen. The man pushed away from shore, using a long-handled narrow paddle.

“We must go upstream, two bends in the path.” Chance pointed in the direction he wanted them to go.

The man nodded and pushed against the bottom of the shallow riverbed, turning the boat so that Chance sat in the front. They headed upstream. Keeping the boat close to the shore, the man maneuvered them toward Ellen’s hiding place. Even with the regular flap-flap of the water against the hull, they weren’t moving fast enough for Chance. Worry circled like a wild animal in him.

“Here.” Chance pointed to the shore. “Stop here.”

The man directed the boat to land and it had hardly hit when Chance stepped out. He didn’t wait on the man before he found the path along the river and backtracked to where Ellen waited. Running through the grass, he found her where he had left her. She looked as if she hadn’t moved.

He went down beside her and lifted her head to his thigh. “Sweetheart. Wake up.”

“You left me.”

Great. If he didn’t already feel horrible.

“I did but I’m back now. I found a boat and someone to take us to Saba.”

“Good. I’m looking forward to sleeping in a bed with you.”

“That sounds wonderful to me too but right now we need to get you to a hospital.”

The young man arrived and looked down on them with curiosity.

Chance scooped Ellen into his arms. Her head rested against his chest. Even in the tropical weather he could tell her fever was still running high. “Please get the packs,” he said to the man. Chance didn’t wait to see if he did as he had asked. His concern was for getting Ellen to medical care as soon as possible, even if he had to steal the boat.

It wasn’t an issue. The man passed him and Ellen on the path and was waiting at the boat when they arrived. Chance laid Ellen in the bottom then climbed in and sat behind her, situating her head against his thigh.

She sighed and closed her eyes. The man pushed the boat out into the river. Soon they were in the main channel.

“How long to Saba?” Chance asked over his shoulder.

“Dark. Maybe sooner.”

Chance wasn’t pleased with the answer. That was three or four hours away. He brushed Ellen’s hair back from her forehead. She mumbled something unintelligible. Her soft skin was damaged from the sun, her lips parched and swollen. She was dehydrated. The list could go on and on.

Her hand found his and held it against her cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

Chance kissed the top of her head. “Sure you will.” He wouldn’t allow himself to think otherwise.

What in her made her so tough? It had to have been when she had been trapped in the wreck with her mother. She’d known pain on a physical and emotional level that most people never experienced. How long had they waited for help? What had the pain been like as she’d healed? For her, this bug bite wasn’t unendurable. She’d learned early in life what she could withstand.

He’d been playing her protector when Ellen was already a survivor.

Chance looked down into her beautiful face. She had the strength that it took to live and work here. Ellen didn’t give up, she persevered. She wasn’t a quitter. When she made a commitment it was forever. Could he open his heart enough to accept that?

If Ellen died Chance was afraid he would too. Despite what he had already lost in the world, his family, his wife, Ellen would be the greatest loss. When had she cracked through that wall and stepped into his heart? Had it been when she’d pulled out that hot pink nail polish, or stood up to him about his feelings for her, or her determination to care for a patient? Whenever it had been, she’d done it. He’d fallen for her.

The knowledge didn’t make him feel better. He looked down at Ellen again. She just couldn’t die now that he’d found someone who he knew with all his heart would stand by him the rest of his life.

Over the next few hours he bathed her head, neck and chest with the wet cloth, hoping he could keep the fever at bay. He did manage to get some water down her. But she needed so much care that he didn’t have available. Even unconscious most of the time, she clutched his hand.

The sun was low in the sky when the man said, “Saba.”

Relief washed through Chance. They were finally back in civilization.

“Help’s not far away, sweetheart.” He brushed a damp strand of hair away from Ellen’s face. “We’ll have you in a hospital soon.”

Ahead Chance saw a high, modern bridge spanning the river. He’d heard of it but had never seen it. It was a major thoroughfare over the river and to the coast. And an answer to his prayers.

“I stop,” the young man said as he pulled over to a pier. “Water too low past here.”

Chance stepped out of the boat with Ellen in his arms and with the help of the man. “Thank you. I hope I’m able to repay you one day,” Chance said, then hurried toward land.

He searched the area. Now he had to find a phone to call for help or someone to take them to the hospital. Determination and anxiety mixed, becoming a lump in his chest.

Chance hurried up a wide path with low green vegetation on each side toward houses. The path turned into a hard-packed dirt road wide enough for two cars. The houses lining the road were square and made of cinder block and plaster with only man-sized alleys between them. Chairs sat outside many of them.

Wasn’t someone around?

The boy of about ten played in the street up ahead. “Help. Hospital.”

Eyes going wide, the boy looked at him then ran into a nearby house.

He had to look like someone straight out of the child’s bad dreams. With three days of growth on his face, his clothes dirty and smelly, and holding a woman burning with fever in his arms, he must look horrible.

A heavy woman appeared in the door of the house the child had run into.

Hope swelled. “Please help me. I have a sick woman. I need a phone or a way to the hospital.”

“No phone. The boy will take you to someone who can help.”

The boy was already headed up the street. Chance lifted Ellen more securely against his chest and followed. They walked a block and the boy ran up to a man talking to a group of other men. He pulled on the man’s arm. The boy pointed to them. The man stepped away from the group and came toward Chance.

“I need a hospital. Do you have a phone? A car?”

“Car. Come this way.” The man directed Chance toward a rusty and dented old sedan. Chance had never been so glad to see anything in his life. Opening the back door, the man then moved away so that Chance could place Ellen inside.

She opened her eyes for a second. “Where are we?”

“In Saba and on our way to the hospital, sweetheart.”

“I like sweetheart.”

Chance couldn’t help but smile. “Good. I like calling you that.”

As ill and in pain as Ellen must be, she still had a positive attitude. She’d told him she was tougher than she looked and she was right. Her life hadn’t always been easy but she’d managed to find humor and wonder in it.

Convinced by his first impression and his past prejudice that she was weak and needy, he’d learned through this ordeal she was actually the stronger one of the two of them. He’d not been pushing her away for her good but his. What if he pursued a relationship and she rejected him? Would he survive the loss? Would he regret it more if he didn’t try?

“No hospital close by,” the man said.

Chance was afraid of that. “Where?”

“San Pedro Sula.” The man glanced at Ellen. “I take there.”

That hope started to build again. Chance had never been there before but that didn’t matter. Ellen needed care.

They bounced over rocks and through ditches as the car rattled up the unpaved street. The going was excruciatingly slow for Chance but they were moving toward help for Ellen. He was sitting in the back, with her head resting in his lap. Checking her vitals for the second time since they had left the boat, he was terrified by what he found. Her heart rate was becoming irregular. Her blood pressure was very high as well as her fever.

He looked up when the tires of the car hit pavement and his teeth quit knocking together. The car picked up speed and they were soon rolling over the high bridge that Chance had seen from the river.

“How far?”

“Thirty minutes,” the man called back over his shoulder.

Did Ellen have that kind of time? Ellen started mumbling, throwing her head back and forth. She was delirious.

Guilt flooded him. Chance had never felt more helpless in his life. Here he was a doctor and he couldn’t even help Ellen. He should have put her on a plane straight home the minute he’d seen her. This country and the type of work the clinic did was too dangerous. She should be someplace less demanding.

They left the city and drove along the highway into a less populated area. The hot wind coming through the open windows did nothing to make him feel more comfortable. They sped down the road but it wasn’t fast enough for Chance. Houses started showing up again as they approached what he desperately hoped was San Pedro Sula.

The man pulled off the highway and made a few turns until he entered the drive of a pink sprawling building with a flat roof. Instead of stopping in front of it, he drove under the awning with the word Emergencia on the sign.

As the car came to a stop, Chance opened the door. He lifted Ellen into his arms and headed for the glass doors. As he came to a desk he said, “I’m Dr. Freeman. This woman needs medical attention now.”

A nurse in a white dress came toward him with concern on her face. “This way.”

Chance followed her down a hallway to an exam room that looked like something out of the nineteen-fifties, but it appeared clean and adequate. Beggars couldn’t be choosers and he was glad to have anything that would offer Ellen a chance to live.

He placed Ellen on the examination table. “I need a suture kit. An IV set up. Any penicillin-based medicine you have. Stat.” He started unlacing Ellen’s boot.

The nurse stood there stunned.

A man in a white lab coat came into the room. “Who are you and what are you doing in my ER?”

“Dr. Freeman, of the Traveling Clinic. My friend needs medical attention. She has been bitten by a spider. Her fever is high. Blood pressure up and her heart rate irregular. She is dehydrated, hasn’t eaten in three days and sunburned.”

The doctor said something to the nurse but Chance paid no attention to their conversation.

Chance was done explaining himself. He had Ellen to see about and no one was going to prevent him from doing so. After removing her boot and sock, he asked the nurse for scissors and she handed them to him. Without hesitating, Chance started cutting away Ellen’s pants leg. His lips tightened when he saw her wound. There was no way she wasn’t in extreme pain.

“Help me roll her to her stomach.” He didn’t speak to anyone in particular but the doctor came forward to assist him. Together they settled Ellen so that Chance could see the wound clearly.

What he needed to clean the wound showed up on the table beside Ellen. It wasn’t the sterilized plastic covered prepackaged set-up he normally used but he was glad to see the instruments. Over the next hour he opened and cleaned the wound. While he was busy the nurse took care of starting an IV. As he worked, he checked to make sure it was done to his satisfaction.

Chance began preparing to bandage the wound when the Honduran doctor said, “The nurse will take care of that. It’s time you tell me what’s been going on and for you to be examined.”

The idea of arguing with the doctor crossed Chance’s mind but by the determined look on the man’s face it wouldn’t make a difference. “Agreed. But I need to make a phone call first.”

Ellen’s eyes flickered open. For once her leg wasn’t screaming with pain, taking her to the point of tears. The last thing she remembered was Chance carrying her piggyback.

She looked around the room. It was a simple one with white walls and very few furnishings. A hospital room? It reminded her of the black and white pictures on the history wall of the hospital where she’d done her fellowship. Her gaze came to rest on a sleeping Chance leaning back in a chair far too small for him. Clean-shaven and dressed in clothes that were probably borrowed, he looked wonderful.

When he woke would he gather her in his arms? She wanted that. Desperately.

They were out of the jungle. Safe. He hadn’t been hurt. She was alive. They had shared something special. Did he feel the same way? By all his actions he must. He had cared for her tenderly. She remembered him brushing her hair back. Speaking to her encouragingly. Begging her to hang in there until he found help.

But wouldn’t he have done that for anyone? Chance was a dedicated doctor.

He’d said no promises. Had never spoken of tomorrow other than when they were going to get out of the jungle.

Chance stirred. He blinked.

“Hey.” Her voice was little more than a whisper.

He sat forward. Urgency filled his voice as he asked, “How’re you feeling?”

No sweetheart. She wanted to hear him say sweetheart. “Better. Thanks for saving my life.”

He shrugged. “I’m just sorry you had to go through that.”

Fear built, swirling around her. Why didn’t he touch her? Kiss her? Had something changed? She fiddled with the hem of the bedsheet. “I think we both went through it.”

“You got the worse end of things.” He stood.

Why didn’t he come closer? Chance walked across the small space. He looked at her.

“It couldn’t have been great fun carrying me around on your back.” She paused. “Tell me what happened after I passed out.”

He relayed what she was sure were the highlights and little of the drama that had gone into getting her to safety. “Where are we?”

“San Pedro Sula for now.” He turned and paced the other direction.

They were interrupted by a nurse entering. She spoke to Chance. “We are ready.”

“Ready for what?” Ellen asked.

Now he looked at her. “I called your father. He has sent a plane for you.”

Ellen sat up in bed. “You what? You had no right to make that kind of decision for me.” Her head swam and she leaned back.

“You need attention that can’t be given here. It’s my responsibly to see about you. You should be in a hospital in the US and checked out completely. Your body has been through a major ordeal. You need to be seen by a cardiologist.”

“I don’t need you to see about me. I’m a grown woman who can make her own decisions.”

“Yeah, and see where that got you.” He moved across the room again.

“It could have been you instead of me who was bitten.”

He gave her a pointed look. “But it wasn’t.”

“What about you? Are you coming? You went through the same ordeal.”

“The doctor here checked me out.”

“But I’m feeling better.” She was weak but she wouldn’t admit how much.

“You’ve been out of your head for most of two days. You need to go home and get healthy.”

“When will I see you again?” Ellen reached out a hand. She saw the hesitation in his face before he walked over and took it. His hand was large, warm and safe. She never wanted to let it go.

“I don’t know for sure.”

“You’re running now. Just like you did when you came down here.”

“What’re you talking about? I’m not running anywhere.”

“You’re running away from me. You can’t hide here forever, you know. One day you’re going to have to face the fact that you have to take a gamble on someone again. We aren’t all like your mother and your ex-wife. Some of us can be loyal.”

He pulled his hand away. “This is not the time or the place to be having this conversation. You don’t need to get upset.”

Ellen wanted to snatch his hand back but he’d crammed both in his pockets. She didn’t care about anything but him. This was her heart on the line. “Okay, if we don’t talk about it now, then when?”

He looked toward the wall instead of at her. “I don’t know.”

“See, there it is. You’re shutting me out.”

Chance’s look met hers. He growled, “I’m not! I’m thinking about your safety. You could have been killed out there.”

“I’m a big girl. I make my own decisions. Can take what comes my way.”

“And down here those decisions can get people killed. Get you hurt.”

“What’re you trying to say?”

“That in your fight for freedom you can be reckless. Can get people hurt. Get yourself hurt. Sometimes you need to think before you act. You go all in, heart leading. No wonder your father feels the need to shelter you.”

If she didn’t feel so awful she’d climb out of the bed and stomp her foot. “That’s not fair.”

Two men that looked like orderlies entered with a squeaking gurney. She and Chance said no more as the men settled her on it. They wheeled her from the room and down the hall. Chance walked at her feet.

As they lifted her into the ambulance Chance said, “It’s for your own good.”

Her gaze remained locked with his as the attendants pushed the doors together. “I don’t need you to protect me, I need you to love me.”

The doors clicked closed. Ellen held a sob threatening to escape.

The nurse that was riding with her patted her shoulder. “The doctor must care a great deal to sit by your bed for two days and nights.”

If only he would admit it.