In Between Seasons (The Fall) (18 page)

I turned to face Mara
with my hand on her door knob,
“Why did you help me?”

“There’s someth
ing about forbidden love that’s
always intriguing. No matter how wrong it seems you just want it to
prevail because it’s so
right for those two people,
”
Mara responded
,
her shoulders rolling.

“You won’t say anything to anyone
?” I asked
with
my jaw tight as I wondered
if I had said too much.

“You didn’t say much
that
I didn’t already know Kate,” she reassured me, “b
ut no
,
I won’t as long you don’t let anyone know I have a heart.”

I laug
hed,
“Your secret
’
s safe with me.
”

When she smiled at me I felt that she had a lot more secr
ets to tell—one’s that were different than anyone else here.

I was surprised by the chill in the air
. It was as if all of a sudden winter had come
,
and
it had decided to come head on. The steps
and
stairs were shoveled
,
but
were still icy
and
despite Mara’s warnings when I heard the men coming in from training I rushed up the stairs. When I was two
steps
away from the top I felt myself
slip
,
and
I knew there was no way I was going to get my footing back. I felt myself falling backwards
and
as my
rear
hit the step below
me
my legs flew over my head
,
and
I was tumbling down the stairs. I gripped for something desperately
,
but
found nothing
,
and
my head smacked hard against the next step
. T
he world that was already a fast coming blur
now
started to blacken.

“Kate!” Hunter called out
,
and
I knew he was close
,
but
darkness
was spurring into my brain due to
the endless swirling. I felt as if
it would never stop
,
but
then
abruptly
it
did
and
all I could feel was a searing pain in my wrist, my head
,
and
the warm feeling of liquid dripping down my face.
The cold ground felt good
against the intense pounding in my
head
.

“Oh, G
od Kate,
”
Hunter whispered
.

I tried to respond
,
but
the blackness that had been threatening to overcome me as I spun down the stairs stopped me.
When I came to Hunter was sitting next to me on the bed
with
his head in his hands.

“Hey,” I said,
going to sit up.

“No, don’t move,
” Hunter
ordered as he turned
and
lightly pushed
my shou
lders back down into the pillow,
“We’re waiting for a doctor.”

“A doctor?” I responded,
blinking at the light as it seared into my brain.

“Is the light hurting your head
?” Hunter asked
,
looking at me
with
the
vein in his forehead bulging.

“A
little bit,” I replied
with a sigh,
“Why did you call a doctor?”

Hunt
er got up
and
shut the light off
. He
turned on the small bedside lamp
instead
,
“Does that hurt your head?”

I tried to shake my head to answer
,
but
moaned in pain. Hunter sighed
,
sitting back down.

“You do
n’t want to look at your wrist
,
or your head for that matter
…not to mention
the fact that
I think you have a concussion,” he explained.

“My wrist?”
I repeated
as I went
to lift my arm.

Hunter st
opped me by pushing on my elbow,
“Don’t look.”

“Okay,” I closed
my eyes as I tried to assess the pain that was going throu
gh all of my limbs,
“I’m sorry.”

“Wha
t are you sorry for?” Hunter aske
d
,
and
when I opened my eyes he was looking down at me his chin tight.

“
For taking that kiss too far,” I looked
away from him, “For not being able to control myself.”

Hunter shook his
head,
“I should be the one who’
s sorry. I shouldn’t have started it if I was going to end it like that. I understand why you were so upset.”

I looked up at him trying not to cry
,
but
know
ing
I would.

“I don’t think you do,
”
I croaked
.

“Kate,” Hunter
began
,
but
he was cut off by a knock
at the door. He looked over his shoulder
and
then at me desperately. I heard him swear under his breath
as he got up to answer the door,
“Doctor
Skokie
thanks for coming so quickly.”

“Of course,” he replied,
stepping into the room
and
letting his eyes adjust. Th
ey widened when they took me in,
“She did take quite a spill
,
didn’t she?”

“I couldn’t do anything
but
watch her comi
ng down the stairs end over end,” Hunter answered
as his hand yanked
at his hair.

“You should have put salt
down,” Doctor Skokie chastised as he looked at Hunter through
his eyebrows.

“Unlike my f
ather
,
I don’t have servants to do my every bidding. I have to concentrate on training these men so they are ready at the drop of my father’s ha
t. I’m sure you understand that,
” Hun
ter snapped
with
his muscles tig
ht as his eyes burned into the d
octor.

Doctor Skokie couldn’t hold his gaze
and
instead
looked down at his medical bag,
“The women are useless as well
,
I suppose?”

“
To me,” Hunt
er’s eyes narrowed
more before he continued,
“Is there anything else you would like to criticize me abou
t before
you do
the job
that
you actually know how to do?
”

“Don’t you have some medic
al t
raining?” Doctor Skokie responded,
his eyes never meeting Hunter’s.

“She has a fractured
wrist, concussion
and
needs at least
sixteen sutures in her cranium,
” H
unter
crossed his arms
,
“I don’t have access to the equipment you do
,
but
if you would like to sit right there on the couch I can do your job
with your equipment
,
and
then report to my f
ather
that yo
u won’t be returning after I’v
e dealt with your futility.”

“Don’t kill him, Hunter,
”
I commented as I tried not to smirk
,
“He’s not worth your effort.”

Doctor Skokie looked between the two of us
, his eye twitched
as he realized what Hunter had been t
hreatening,
“Yes, no need for violence
.
I was only teasing you
Hunter. Your
father is very proud of your work here.”

“Do your g
od damned job,
”
Hunter ordered as he closed his eyes and shook his head.

Doctor Skokie slipped past him
and
sat his bag on the bed next to me. He unzipped it
and
pulled out a white metal rod
as he flipped a switch on it, it began to buzz.
He turned a lever
and
a blue light appeared out of the bottom of it.

“I’m going to do a cat scan of your head with this
and
then do an x-ray of
your wrist as well,” Doctor Skokie explained,
pulling out a tablet from his bag
and
tapping the screen. It looked l
ike a larger version of the itouch
Hunter had given me.

“Do you need her to
lay flat for that?” Hunter asked
as he stepped
forward.

“Yes, if you would hel
p with that,
” Doctor Skokie replied
,
his voice low
and
soft as if he was afraid that no matter how he said it, it would be wrong.

Hunter
placed his hands under my legs
and
neck
and
slid me down
,
“Are you okay?”

“Sure,” I replie
d
,
letting my head drop flat on the bed.
In truth it hurt when he moved me
,
but
I imagined everything would hurt at the moment.

“Close your eyes,” Doctor Skokie ordered as he played
with the metal rod.
  I did as he told
me
and
a light flashed over my face,
“I need to lay her wrist as flat as possible.”

“I
’m sorry, Kate,
” Hunter whispered
as
his hand slipped down to my wrist mov
ing it only in the slightest
. It created
a
shooting pain up through
my arm into my already throbbing head.
I screamed out in pain
as I squeezed my eyes shut so tight that tears formed.

“I’m go
ing to need to put it in a cast,” Doctor Skokie explained
as he tapped on the tablet screen.

“Should you do a full body scan to check for any other f
ractures?” Hunter suggested
,
and
I heard the
anguish in his voice at whatever was on the tablet screen.

“Ye
s, especially after seeing that,”
Doctor Skokie commented
,
his voice grim.

“Am I dying or something?”

“You have
a small fracture in your skull,” Hunter explained,
his fingers gliding over my face.
It only soothed me slightly because I realized I could be dead.

I felt the light go over my face again
and
then
heard
the tapping on the screen,
“Slight fracture in two ribs
,
but
there’s nothing we can really do there.
Other than that
and
the fracture in the skull
,
your diagnosis is spot on.”

“It will take what
—
two months for all
the bones to heal?” Hunter asked
,
and
I opened my eyes to see the vein in his forehead practically ready to burst.

“
I’ll give her an osteo-supplement that should short
en the healing time to about three to four
weeks.
We need to cast her wrist
,
but
it’s going to be painful for her without any pain killers in her blood stream right now. I can give
her one that will take about thirty
minutes to become effective
and
then we can do it,
”
Doctor Skokie explained.

“Just do it now,
” I demanded
,
looking between Hunter who was
ready
to kill the d
octor
and
t
he d
octor who looked like all he wanted to do was run away.

“Are you sure?” Hunter asked
,
bending down
and
pushing a piece of hair out of my eyes.

“I should suture that up first,” The doctor suggested as he nodded
to my forehead.

“I can do
it after you leave,
” Hunter retorted
,
looking out of the
corner of his eyes at the gray-
haired man.