Black Hills Angel (Black Hills Series) (20 page)

"I suppose so. What do you want to know?" Andy swallows hard, her stomach fluttering. Nora cocks her head to the side, considering just how to put her questions.

"For starters, I want you to say that you will come to my wedding in a couple of weeks. Before you say no, I want to remind you that my brother will not come unless you do." Nora narrows her eyes, daring Andy to decline out of hand before thinking about it. Andy closes her mouth on her denial.

"If I say yes, will it curb any more questions?" Andy asks sweetly and smiling in a cheesy manner.

"Of course not, but it will get me to stop hounding you about coming." Nora bats back. Andy sighs loudly, gritting her teeth and narrowing her eyes. Nora chuckles at the play.

"All right, I will consider coming and I will do all that I can to convince Matt he should go."
Even without me.
Andy didn't want to say that aloud. She wasn't sure how she felt about going to a huge family function as Matt's girlfriend. She wasn't sure of anything at the moment.

"Good! And just for saying that, I will run interference with my mother. She has heard so much about you that she practically begged me for a full report." Nora grinned, absolutely enjoying Andy's horror at the thought of Matt's mother. Andy felt her insides congeal.

"Oh dear! I was wondering how long that would be. I know Matt is very close to his family, but I wasn't sure what exactly he had told any of you." Andy tilted Harper to straighten her out. Nora raised her eye brows in silent conversation. It was a more of
wouldn't you like to know
look!

"Matt is her baby. She loves us all, but he usually garners more attention than the rest of us." Nora said as they noticed the lady before them was on her last items to check out.
FINALLY!
Andy felt a rush of relief. This felt somewhat like an interrogation, but with the really, really good cop. She just didn't know what she could say that wouldn't bury her alive in more questions.

"I can respect her concern. I would be concerned for Harper too." Andy graciously conceded. Nora's expressive blue eyes sparkled.
Good call.
Andy pushed the cart forward and helped Nora load their purchases onto the belt. It ceased the conversation for a bit. The cashier exclaimed over Harper, asking how old she was and saying what beautiful a baby she was. Now this was familiar territory.

Andy paid the bill as Nora put the groceries into the cart. After taking the receipt, Andy picked up the two sacks with their Mike's Hard Lemonades. Nora didn't continue their earlier conversation or ask any more questions as they made their way to the Ford Escape. It didn't keep her from going back to what she had said, however. Matt's mom wanted to know all about her.
Hmm. That would be an interesting conversation.
Andy thought that if the woman didn't like her, then it wouldn't speak very well of a long-term relationship. Her head hurt. She was tired of thinking and over thinking every move and every conversation. Living in the moment was all she wanted to do, but it was more
living in the past
that she had been doing instead.

Andy looked over at Nora talking softly to Harper as they made their way over the lip of the sidewalk and across the parking lot to the vehicle. Andy slowed, remembering her keys were in her purse. She paused, pulled her purse up to unzip it and shifting the heavy sacks into one hand. Using her teeth, she unzipped the toggle and dug into the bag for the automatic remote with keys. Focused on what she was doing, she didn't hear the sound of an engine steadily getting closer. Gripping the keys in triumph, Andy saw rather than heard Nora scream her name. It all happened so fast. It might as well have been slow motion for that is how her brain perceived it to be happening.

A small blue sports car came out of nowhere and was suddenly thirty feet away. Her eyes widened, her heart stopped beating and all she could do was breathe.
Sweet Lord in heaven!
Her keys fell out of her hand, her purse spilled its contents on the asphalt parking lot and then it happened, the car hit her, knocking her onto the hood and into the windshield. For a brief, heart-stopping moment she was airborne before being deposited rudely on the ground. Blackness appeared around the corner of her vision, spreading dangerously close to blocking all light and life out of view. Andy fought it. She hurt so badly that she tried to hide from the pain. It may have been seconds, minutes, or hours for the interminable length that spread before someone stopped to check her.

"Is she alive?" Nora's tear strained voice came from far away.
Alive? Yes, I'm alive.

"She's barely breathing. Someone call an ambulance!"
I'm here. I'm ALIVE!

"Did anyone check the woman in the blue car? Make sure she doesn't go anywhere."
Why didn't they stop? They had to have seen me.

"Back up, please, we need to get her to the hospital."
Finally.
Andy lay there on the pavement, trying desperately to keep her eyes open. It was a struggle. The pain just wouldn't go away. Looking the length of the ground, the last thing she saw before she succumbed to the darkness was the red liquid running in rivulets across the dark pavement.

Chapter Nineteen

Matt smiled sheepishly at Margaret as he hung up the phone with Andy. His secretary tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at his guilty look.
Guilty? Oh, yes, very guilty!
Matt swallowed hard.

"So I screwed up. I let my need to protect Andy get out of hand and I hurt her." Matt answered Margaret's unvoiced question. The older woman nodded and took a seat in the chair beside his desk. She situated her skirt and leaned back to listen. She was like another mother to him and he knew he was going to have to let her in on what happened. Matt leaned against the back of his office chair.

"Andy got a phone call last night and she was so upset." Matt swallowed hard again, his mind's eye taking him back to seeing her on the kitchen floor. "Needless to say, I wanted to know who had caused such fear and she wouldn't tell me. So when she was upstairs, I called Detective Briggs on Monica's case and he said the man's name was Lance Harper." He grimaced, looking down at his hands. Even now he could see what a devastating mistake that had been.
Stupid!

"Well, well, I can see where you jumped to conclusions. It doesn't make it right, however." Margaret said to herself, her arms crossed over her chest. She shook her head from side to side in such a disbelieving manner. "He isn't the baby's father though, is he?" It sounded more as if she was sure he wasn't, but he answered it just the same.

"No, he isn't." Matt pushed back from the chair and began to pace the office. He had always felt it was so spacious, that is, until now. Now it felt like some sort of box that kept sliding the walls closer together. He tugged at his collar.

"I didn't think so. It seems too easy that if the father wanted anything to do with the baby that he should be calling. I think Andy is one of those girls, who would do the very best she could to keep the father in the picture, if for no other reason than for Harper. So, how is this Lance Harper relation to the father?" Margaret asked, working out the situation in a calm and efficient manner.
Why didn't I just call Margaret last night instead of listening to my brother?

"Lance is the father's brother. After Andy found out what I had done, well, she did tell me about Harper's father. His name was Terrell Harper and he was a soldier killed in action." Matt felt his chest tighten, thinking about the father Harper would never know. Margaret looked at him, her eyes crinkled in concern and understanding. He continued, "Terrell told Andy not to ever tell his parents. A really bad lot, I guess. He neglected to mention what to do about his brother. Andy isn't sure if she can trust him or not."

It was a heavy silence that filled the room. Margaret looked as if she were deep in thought, her hands now folded in her lap. Matt couldn't contain the restlessness and continued to circle the office. His chest banged painfully as he considered all that he knew and how he was ever going to make this right. At the first moment of trust, he had thrown it to the side in order to satisfy his own need for immediate truth.
Grr! It would serve you right if Andy never forgives you!
He blanched at that thought.

"Now you are in limbo wondering just where each of you stands. It's not a very comfortable or enjoyable place to be. It begins with complete honesty, fixing this mess you both created." Margaret begins, gesturing in a worldly manner. Matt starts at the older woman's mention of Andy's mess.

"Wait a minute, Margaret, Andy didn't create anything. I'm the one who went behind her back and didn't let her choose whether I should know or not. I hardly think..." Matt closed his mouth on his sentence as Margaret stood from her seat in a flourish of angry hands.

"Of course you
both
created this mess! You are not the only one with responsibilities here, Matt. Yes, I agree, you needed to give her the choice of telling you or not about Lance. Yes, you went too far in enlisting a detective to find answers for you. Yes, you are a grand idiot, but she had a responsibility to keep Harper safe. You are a part of that equation now. She needed to tell you about this man, just in case something happened. Besides, that girl knows you love her and her daughter to pieces! It is the height of idiocy that you two have not told each other how you feel anyway. What happens if one day you never get that chance?" Margaret softened her storming and rested her hand on Matt's arm. He met and held the wisdom in her eyes.
She's right, you know?
Time has a funny way of putting things into perspective.

"So how would you go about fixing this?" Matt asks, leaning back against the front of his desk, his hands resting on the edge. Margaret pursed her lips, considering all the things he had said and he was sure, even the things he hadn't said.

"I would let your highly efficient secretary have the day off and let her take care of the information you do not have. I will let you know if I find anything useful. This way you don't have to lie to her if she asks you how you got the information." Margaret shared a conspiratorial grin and walked towards the door. Matt just shook his head. She was definitely just like his mother. He was grateful for her counsel.

Half an hour later, Matt was trying to finish up the last of the paperwork for the city permits. Papers were scattered all over his desk, but he didn't see much of the words. They could have been written in Egyptian hieroglyphs for all he knew! He couldn't get Andy out of his mind long enough to concentrate. He just had this weird, hollow feeling that kept blooming brighter and stronger in his chest. Even though he tried to push it away, it would soon be right back.

Matt fished for his cell phone underneath all of the papers and files. Finally locating it underneath the sewer maps, he had made up his mind to call Andy. Something wasn't right and he didn't know what it was, but he needed to assure himself that everything was fine. In that same moment, his phone screen lit up as it started to ring. It surprised him. His heart thumped in omen. It was Nora's cell.
Nora.

"Hey Nora, what's wrong?" His heart raced, slamming fiercely against his ribs. He swallowed hard, mentally hearing his voice crack. Chaos was on the other end. He couldn't hear anything except for yelling, Harper screaming in distress, Nora sobbing, and sirens.
Sirens?
Ambulance sirens!

"Ma...Matt, you have to...um...meet us at the hospital." Nora sobbed into the receiver, Harper wailing louder. His head spun and he tried to force calm into his voice.

"Nora, what happened to Andy? Where is she?" His gut churned painfully, twisting and wrenching.

"
Please
, Matt, just hurry. I don't think she is going to make it!" Whatever his sister said after that was a jumble of hysterics and the blood pounding in his ears. Time slowed to a crawl. Each breath he took he had to remind himself to take another one. Devastation ruled absolutely.

"I will be right there." Matt forced himself to say, but he wasn't sure he actually said the words before he hung up the phone. He threw open his office door and made Margaret jump as the panel reverberated against the wall. Her eyes went wide in surprise.

"Call my brother and have him meet me at Regional Health. Andy's been in an accident." From the sound of his voice and the paleness of his face, Margaret grabbed the phone immediately and speed dialed Garrett. Matt didn't wait for questions. All he knew was that there wasn't much time and he couldn't lose her. Whatever the
hell
had happened, she couldn't leave him before he told her how much he loved her.

***

He growled in frustration. His head hurt, his heart hurt, and his hand hurt from momentarily losing it in the hallway and punching a door jam.
Shit! That was smart!
Matt circled like a caged tiger, pissed and just waiting for the moment he could pounce on one of the nurses or even better, a doctor.

"You have to calm down, Matt or you're going to get us thrown out of here!" Garrett grumbled from behind him. Garrett arrived a few minutes before Matt had at the Emergency Room and the picture he had painted made him tremble. Andy had been struck by a car while she had been on her way back to her car. When she was hit by the vehicle, she had been thrown into the windshield and over the side. His stomach turned, and his heart shuddered at the hell she must have been through. He only caught a glimpse of her as the doctors and nurses wheeled her past to x-rays. She was as white as the sheets she lay on with her hair knotted and tangled about her head. Her t-shirt was covered in blood. He couldn't recall her face clearly. It was like his brain had just slammed the door on whatever image had been there. He was well on his way to panicking and being angry seemed the best way to prevent it. If he were angry at least he was present. If he panicked, Matt feared he would lose track of everything.

"Why don't we know anything? No one will say a thing to me. I don't have any of the answers they are looking for." Matt paced the waiting room windows, back and forth, back and forth. "
God!
I just want to strangle
someone
with my bare hands!" The last was said so softly, he shook with the power of his convictions. He flopped himself down into one of the padded chairs and covered his face with his hands. This was such a nightmare!

"All you can do right now, brother, is be here.
Wait.
I know that is difficult, but you can't do anything, but wait. The head nurse assured me that she would let us know if there was any development." Garrett mumbled from the chair next to him. The waiting room was eerily quiet. Only a news reporter on the television in the corner said anything. Although the volume was turned so low that it was beyond him what was bantered about. Matt glanced over at his brother. Garrett looked strangely out of place in the small, uniform chairs. He was uncomfortable and tired. Matt looked back up at the round clock on the wall. Six hours. Six miserable hours since time had all but stopped. Six hours since he had the phone call from Nora.

She was hysterical. Harper was inconsolable. There had been no choice but to call Margaret for support and have her take his sister and the baby home. Matt had tried to glean as much information from Nora as he could, but it required more patience than he had. He was sorry that he had snapped at her.

Poor Nora.

Her eyes were red from crying, her voice hoarse from screaming, and she looked as if every nerve had long since been torn apart. Margaret had calmed Nora long enough to decipher the snorts, sobs, sniffles and shaking into a coherent tale. Nora had seen it all happen. She said they had been walking back to Andy's car after shopping at the store. Andy had stopped momentarily to search her purse for the car keys. It seemed that out of nowhere a car came speeding through the parking lot without preamble and struck Andy.

The car probably wouldn't have stopped, according to a police officer at the hospital, except for the broken windshield that impeded any vision at all. Matt was white hot with fury.
Monica!
It had to be her. The officer wouldn't say as the investigation was pending and charges had yet to be filed.
Bull shit!
Matt had nearly planted that man a right hook to the chin! It would have landed him in jail for sure. Good thing Garrett had been around to simmer him down.

No answers. No one had answers. The head nurse had been understanding at least.

"Is there any immediate family that can be notified?"

"A mother and father, but the relationship is strained." Matt answered as truthfully as he could. "She has an infant daughter."

"A husband?"
Soon. Very soon.

"No. No husband."

"The father of the baby, is he available?"

"No. He isn't available."
He's dead.
What would happen to poor Harper if her mother died too?

"I cannot release information to you unless you are intimately connected to Miss Martin."

"We are engaged to be married. She's my fiancé." It tumbled from his lips before he knew he'd actually said something. The head nurse had cocked a disbelieving brow in his direction.

"I didn't see a ring." Her thin lips pressed together.

"It was just last night." Matt felt the foundation of his sanity crumbling. Acid boiled in his stomach.

"I see." The head nurse considered him for a couple of minutes, the world anchored to what she thought was the truth. Matt blinked rapidly to dispel tears welling in his eyes. He'd be damned if he cried; at least not in front of this woman.

"All right. I will see what information I can find for you. I would advise calling her parents. Estranged or not, they deserve the right to know what has happened to their daughter." The nurse disappeared through a couple of doors and Matt was left alone with Garrett in the lobby. They had been waiting for two hours. Still no answers.

"Do you think that I should call her parents? I don't even know their names." Matt asked of Garrett, who sat beside him. His brother left his chin propped up on his fist and shrugged.

"I don't know. This does seem pretty serious. I know our parents would want to know even if they were mad as heck at one of us." Garrett blew out a breath. Matt blinked, his eyes gritty and sore.

"What if I do call them and she is fine. Will she forgive me for contacting them?" Matt asked, his voice raspy and strained. Garrett shrugged again. Matt tried to summon the urge to be annoyed, but it took too much effort. He was so drained.