Love Imagines (Sully Point, Book 6) (18 page)

Rose nodded. "I think I will. I'd like to stare at
the ocean a bit, too."

She walked down the last steps and took her time
getting to the water's edge. The day had warmed up and would be sizzling within
the hour. A nice breeze blew off the water, and Rose felt refreshed just by
standing there and looking out at the waves. She began to walk down the beach,
letting her thoughts meander.

Everything had happened very fast, she thought.
Her feelings for Ben had developed over days, not months, and now here they
were, in the middle of a love affair and in danger at the same time. Part of
her hoped it was more than a love affair, but she knew there was no way she
could find out everything about Ben in such a short time. Only time would
really tell what they had between them.

She realized that she'd decided two things in the
middle of the mess they were in. One, she was going to tell Ben today that she
was a doctor. And the second decision was to tell Doc Watson that she'd take
the job here. It was time for her to do something just for her. And living
life at a slower pace was what she needed and wanted. Plus, it was exciting to
think of knowing her patients in-depth, of educating the public about health
issues, and being of real service to the community.

The waves rolled in, powerful and sublime all at
the same time. It was like life, she thought. Change could roll into a person's
life like a wave, starting small and building to have a tremendous effect. All
she'd intended when she came to Sully Point was to take a break. And her whole
life had changed.

She heard laughter behind her and voices talking.
She turned to see many more people on the beach, setting up what looked like a
badminton set. A few were tossing a Frisbee as they ran down the beach. Taking
a deep breath and letting it out slowly to blow away against the wind, she
walked back to the stairs leading up to the deck.

"Hi, Rose," a woman's voice said to her.

She turned to see a redhead with frizzy hair and big
white sunglasses smiling at her. "Hello...I don't think I know you."

"Oh, I think you do, Rose," the woman said, and
her voice was suddenly familiar. Rose watched with fear as the sunglasses were
removed and she could see Suzanne's eyes staring back at her.

Suzanne glanced down and Rose's eyes followed the
look to find a large knife pressed against her body.

"What do you want, Suzanne?" Rose asked with a
shaky voice.

"You...dead."

Chapter 9

Ben was laughing at a joke Cody had made at his
father's expense. He was still feeling a bit aggravated by Frank's mistake, but
the man was so genuinely apologetic and clearly felt guilty, that he'd had to
let it go.

It had been a while since he'd spent time around
regular guys, people not in the business. The conversation included nothing
about movies, camera angles, make-up, or rehearsals. It was all about who had
the best grilling technique for chicken, or how things were going with the
foundation.

He'd been intrigued to hear about the Sully Point
Foundation before, when he'd learned it was responsible for the Playhouse being
built. As he listened to Eric and Cody talking about delivering computer
upgrades over the internet to folks in town who couldn't afford new software,
he realized they had a big operation going.

He glanced out to see where Rose was, and saw the
sun glinting off her hair with gold highlights. She was just at the bottom of
the stairs, talking to someone. He felt like the luckiest man alive to have
found her, and it was going to be—wait. That frizzy red hair—he knew it. He recognized
the wig for what it was—Suzanne had played a part wearing that wig.

He said, "Suzanne!" in an intense voice that made
the men around him gaze at him in shock. He didn't explain, but instead took
off running down the steps. Why weren't the guards there? Then he saw that it
was only from the top deck that he'd been able to see her. They probably
thought she was going up the stairs.

He headed down the next steps and leaped from the
third step up to tackle Suzanne. He felt something jabbing into his chest. He
heard screaming. Suzanne screaming. Where was Rose? Rose...he couldn't breathe.

* * * *

Rose was stunned when Ben came flying out of
nowhere to land on Suzanne and take her to the ground. Suzanne was screaming
and fighting. The security guards were suddenly around them, pulling Suzanne
away from Ben. And that was when Rose could see the knife Suzanne still held,
being pulled out of Ben's chest.

Like a switch had been flipped inside her, she was
a trauma doc again.

"Get that knife away from her," she ordered the
guards. "Carefully, roll him onto his back."

When they stared at her for a moment, she frowned
at them. "I'm a doctor. I know what I'm doing. See that blood bubbling there?
She's nicked his lung. Somebody go get me a plastic bag, like a food storage
bag. And hurry."

Two of the men pulled Suzanne away after relieving
her of the knife. She continued to scream incoherently. Rose was kneeling by
Ben, lifting his shirt up.

"Just that one stab wound, but that's enough to be
going on with. Someone get me a knife. Somebody else grab me one of those white
tablecloths. And I need a straw. Plus tape."

Everything she asked for appeared before her. She
never saw who gave her what; she just took the items from hands in front of her
face. All her attention was focused on Ben and saving him.

Almost conversationally, she continued talking.
"See, this won't be so bad once we get the occlusive dressing in place. There,
he can breathe now. That's it Ben, just breathe. You'll be okay. In fact, you
may heal up in time to be in the play. Never really expected to be doctoring at
a barbecue, but then I guess this means they can arrest Suzanne at least."

Ben opened his eyes. He squinted up at her. "Do
all models know how to deal with stab wounds?"

"I seriously doubt it, but I'm not a model. I'm a
doctor, which, it turns out, is beneficial for you."

Ben appeared to be confused, and closed his eyes
again.

Doc Watson appeared at her side. "Nicely done,
Doctor. The ambulance is almost here. If you want to go with him, I've gotten
permission for you at the hospital to do what's needed."

"Thanks. Yes, I do want to go with him."

She sat back on her heels and looked up to find
they were surrounded by everyone at the party. Applause started and got quite
loud before she could quiet them down.

"Hush now, all of you. He needs quiet. Make a path
there for the emergency techs to get through," Rose said.

The ambulance ride was quiet, as the paramedics
worked on Ben with Rose looking on. They left her makeshift dressing in place until
the surgeon at the hospital could be there to treat the wound.

Rose sat with Ben's wrist in her hand, fingers on
his pulse for the whole ride. She was reassured by how steady it seemed. A part
of her, deep inside somewhere, below the doctor persona, was freaking out about
what had happened. But Rose knew herself well enough to know she could hold her
reaction together, keep calm and cool, as long as the emergency lasted. Later
on when she was back at home, once she was certain he'd be okay, only then could
she let herself feel everything.

One thing, however, had become crystal clear to
her. She was truly in love with this man.

* * * *

Rose was a doctor.

The phrase stayed in his head, repeating over and
over. Ben knew he'd been injured. He knew Suzanne had done it. But he couldn't
seem to care about any of that when compared to the puzzle of the sentence
'Rose was a doctor.'

It occurred to him that he might be avoiding the
trauma of what had happened. But it did seem very strange to him, someone who was a doctor hiding their line of work. All this
time, it hadn't made sense to him that she was a model. She was gorgeous enough
for it, but she had a depth to her that hadn't fit that job. And she'd never
been as concerned about her looks as he would have expected.

He felt a twinge of pain, and then more of a deep
ache. The pain med must be wearing off, he thought. Just as well, since he
didn't want to get hooked on anything.

"It's about time for your pain medication, Ben."

His eyes popped open. Rose was sitting in a chair
by his bed. She looked a bit tired with dark circles under her eyes.

"How long have I been here?"

"Since yesterday. It's around one in the afternoon
of the next day."

"Was I unconscious?"

"For a bit after they worked on you. Then you were
just asleep."

"How did you know about the pain med?"

"You were frowning, kind of flinching. I'm used to
seeing signs of pain on people's faces."

He took in her body posture. She didn't seem tense
so he must be going to be all right. As if she was reading his mind, she
started talking.

"You're going to recover fully. Since you were in
such excellent shape, the healing process is going to move quickly. Later
today, they'll have you take a short walk."

"What about Suzanne?"

Her eyes flared wider but her voice remained calm
and steady.

"Suzanne is in the local jail at present. Her
agent got her a lawyer who is already talking about her mental state. The
expectation is that she will land in a facility for mentally disturbed criminals, eventually. The judge last night ruled no bail. She won't be coming after
anyone."

She stopped and took a deep breath, letting it out
slowly. "Sam and I have talked and agreed that we'll keep the security guys
around until Suzanne is locked up somewhere else. I don't want to risk her
somehow getting out. The sheriff and the guards have all said that it's over,
but...I don't feel like we're safe yet."

"I agree. I want to know she's been convicted and
permanently locked up somewhere," he said.

Rose smiled at him. "I'm glad we're in sync
on that issue."

"Why did you do it, Rose? Why lie about being a
doctor? Something that is so clearly fundamental to who you are, and you
pretend to be a model?"

She sighed. "Would you believe I planned on
telling you the truth yesterday? Then everything happened. The whole thing
started back when we met. You assumed I was a model and I was...burned out from
my work. I was coming to Sully Point for a rest and to re-think the direction I
was going in. It seemed like a fun thing to do, pretending to be someone else.
But everything got much more serious than I ever thought it could be. Once the
Suzanne thing came up, I felt uncomfortable about pretending to be a model, and
I've been trying to find the right time to tell you. I know it was stupid, and I
apologize to you."

"You seem different. And yes, apology accepted."

"Different how?" she asked.

"More serious, or calm or something...maybe it's
your bedside manner as a doctor. Is my Rose still in there?"

"Yes, it's all me, but being a doctor, working as
a doctor, I've cultivated a certain persona. A way of being that is reassuring
to patients. Confident, self-assured, caring, calm and steady no matter what is
going on, with no signs of weakness or uncertainty. And I guess that is who I
am when I'm at work. Over the years, it has sunk into my personality. But I've
enjoyed being able to not be the doctor all the time since I've been here. I
wasn't living very balanced before, with no personal life."

A nurse came in with an injection to go into his
I.V. and Ben frowned. "I don't want to get hooked on this stuff."

"You won't," Rose said. "After this time, it will
be in pill form on an as needed basis and at a much lower dosage. But you need
to let your body heal, and it does that much better if you aren't in pain."

"Have you stayed with me here the whole time?
That's the same sundress."

She smiled at him again. "Where else would I be?"

The nurse left the room and Rose stood up. She
leaned over the side of the bed and gently kissed him. He was already beginning
to feel woozy from the drug.

"I'm going to go home now and get some rest," Rose
said. "Kevin and Leo are on duty right outside, so you can relax and sleep and
heal. I'll be back later, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Rose...I'm glad you're a doctor."

She chuckled. "Me too."

"Rose..." He was having trouble holding onto his
thoughts now, but one was very important to say.

"Yes, Ben?"

"Gotta tell you. Important. I love you."

As he slipped into sleep, he heard her say, "I
love you, too."

* * * *

Sophia was waiting at her apartment. Rose took one
look at her mother and rushed into her arms. The sobbing was a release of all
her terror, concern, worry, franticness and tension of the past twenty-four
hours. Sophia had walked her over to the couch, and Rose's head was on her
mother's shoulder.

"I hope this wasn't silk," Rose said, touching the
material of the blouse. "I cried all over it."

"No, it's fine."

"I've been so scared, Mom. I can barely believe it
all happened. If Ben hadn't jumped on her, she was going to stab me."

Sophia shuddered. "Thank goodness for that man. He
was very brave."

"I know. I don't think Mel and Owen would have
reached me in time. They were running towards us, but Ben got there right as
she had started to move her hand with the knife."

"Darling, you must have been terrified."

"Yes. And then I was even more scared for him, and
it turned out I had a right to be."

"But you did so well then, taking over, telling
everyone what to do to help."

"Maybe. Doctor Rose functions well in a crisis but
as you can see, she falls apart afterward."

"I think that's healthy. You don't want to keep
all this emotion bottled up inside. That can't be helping you."