Submission Revealed (18 page)

“…and what goes on between two consenting adults is none of your business, buster.”

The officer narrowed his eyes and pulled out his handcuffs. “You’re under arrest, Mr. Townsend.”

“What for?”

“Domestic abuse. And if the doctor finds out you fucked your wife-to-be in the ass, I’m throwin’ sodomy charges in as well.”

“You can’t arrest a man for—” The officer’s Miranda rights recitation cut off Will’s protest.

None-too-gently, the cop turned Phillip around, pushing him to the wall and spreading his legs wide. His rights went in one ear and out the other as the officer brought back first one, then the other wrist, cuffing them behind his back. Not until the cop started to push him out the door did he protest. “No, I can’t. I have to stay here. My…she needs me.”

“Yeah, she needs you like she needs another accident. Out, mister. You’re going down.”

“Will…”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Anger mixed with hopelessness prevented Phillip from seeing the stares as he walked through the corridors of the hospital, handcuffed and under arrest. It wasn’t true what he’d told the cop. Sarah didn’t need him by her side right now. He needed her.

Chapter Nine

Charges

Breathing. The first thing Sarah was aware of was her own breathing. For some time now, she’d been taking small breaths. Slowly, deliberately, she drew in air, filling her lungs, letting the fresh air blow away the dust and cobwebs in her brain.

But the deep breath made her shoulder ache. Why did her shoulder hurt?

Sounds filtered into her consciousness. Muffled at first, she gradually distinguished voices. A man’s and a woman’s. They sounded troubled. She’d heard them before, somewhere. In some other life, maybe.

With an effort, she opened her eyes. White. And green. White above her, green to the sides. Dim. Where was the light? Why wasn’t she in her own bedroom? At least, she didn’t think this was her bedroom.

“Sarah, thank God you’re awake.”

A woman she didn’t recognize stood beside her bed. She was beautiful, with a radiant smile. Sarah wanted to smile back at her but it just seemed like so much effort.

“They’ve been keeping you pretty heavily sedated. I’ve called for the nurse. She’ll be right here.”

Another woman came from around the green curtain at the side of the bed. Funny how she could come through a curtain. Where were the walls?

“Oh, look! You’re awake. What pretty brown eyes you have.”

The nurse checked a tall pole at Sarah’s side. Lights blinked and several lines wormed across a screen, making no sense to Sarah. She felt wrapped in soft cotton. Pulling in another long, slow breath, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

The next time she awoke, her head felt clearer. Sound still came several seconds after awareness. She was lying flat, the pillow under her head not doing much to give her head any lift. As a result, she could really only see the white ceiling above her. If she turned her head a little to the right, she could see the IV monitor. She knew what that was now, even if the numbers and squiggly lines still didn’t make any sense to her. A light green curtain hung at the window, pulled shut against the night. Above her, somewhere behind, a small light illuminated the room.

This was definitely a hospital. She blinked several times as her mind focused. Now what was she doing here? She looked left at the long green curtain that cut off her view of the door. Only then did she notice the bandages and casting of her left arm. The dull ache in her collarbone began to throb.

Fumbling on the blanket, her hand located a remote control. Was this for the TV that hung just at the edge of her vision? Or would she move the bed up and down if she pushed the buttons? Blinking and bringing the remote closer, then moving it farther away, she tried to clear the remnants of her sleep so she could read the icons beside the buttons.

Deciding that the most worn button must be the one for the nurse, she pushed it. Nothing happened. No bell went off, no alarm. At least her bed didn’t move. She wasn’t sure she liked lying flat but she was pretty sure she didn’t want to sit up with her shoulder aching like this. She pushed the button again.

“Nice to see you awake and alert this time. How are we doing?” A rather short, plump woman in a bright purple print shirt hovered into view.

“I’m thirsty.”

The words surprised Sarah on two counts. First, until she spoke the words, she hadn’t realized how parched she was. And second, her voice didn’t sound like hers at all. Wispy and gravelly at the same time. She tried to clear her throat but found she was too dry.

The nurse checked a clipboard she’d gotten from somewhere. “You can have a few ice chips. That’ll help. Be right back.”

Just a minute later, the nurse returned. “By the way, my name is Jody. I’m your night nurse. Here. Let’s get one of these into you and then I’ll need some information.” Using a spoon, she fished a small ice chunk out of the plastic glass she held. Waiting until Sarah opened her lips, she set it carefully so that Sarah could pull it into her mouth and suck on it.

The ice chip was so tiny, it melted quickly. Sarah opened her mouth for another and Jody complied. But then she set the glass on the long table by the side of the bed and picked up the clipboard again.

“Do you know today’s date?”

Sarah shook her head and immediately decided not to do that again. “Monday. I know it was Monday but I can’t remember the date.”

“Can you remember the month?”

“November.”

“Good.” Jody made a notation on her clipboard. “And your name is?”

“Sarah Marie Simpson–Parker.”

“What do you remember about your accident, Sarah?”

She closed her eyes and sighed. “Nothing,” she finally admitted.

“What’s the last thing you do remember?”

Phillip’s cane. His hugs afterward. Snuggling into his arms in bed. Nothing of the morning at all. Nothing of getting up, showering, dressing—all things she supposed she did simply because she did them every morning. Her last memory was of lying safe in Phillip’s arms.

“I remember going to bed but not getting up this morning” was all she answered. “Was I in an accident?”

Jody nodded and Sarah wished she would sit down. It was hard to look up at her at this angle. She closed her eyes.

“Just a few more questions, Sarah, then I’m going to give you something for the pain and you can go to sleep again.”

Forcing her eyes open, Sarah nodded slowly, keeping her movements gentle.

“Do you know a William and Jillean Danton?”

Sarah nodded. “Yes.” Her voice was sounding raspy again.

Jody fished out another ice chip for Sarah as she asked her last question. “Do you give permission for them to visit you and to know your condition?”

“Yes.” Opening her mouth, Sarah gratefully accepted the ice, letting its coolness ease away some of her discomfort.

“There you go. You’re allowed a pain reliever in your IV drip. Would you like it now?”

She nodded. The throbbing in her shoulder was taking over her thoughts.

“Be right back, then.”

Again Jody disappeared around the green curtain and again she was back sooner than Sarah expected her. She carried a small bottle in her hand, from which she withdrew a clear liquid into a hypodermic needle. Flipping open a cap on part of the IV tube and slowly depressing the plunger, Jody let the painkiller mix with whatever else they were feeding into her arm. She really didn’t care what they were giving her as long as it made the pain go away.

Jody turned to smile at her but once again, Sarah was finding it too much effort to smile back. She sighed, turned her head and fell asleep.

“C’mon, sleepyhead, time to wake up. C’mon, Sarah. Up and at ‘em.”

Sarah opened one eye and stared balefully at Beth, who poked her good arm, prodding her into wakefulness. “I’m awake, I’m awake.” Her bed still lay flat and Beth bent over and waved at her like she was a two-year-old. “What’re y’doin’?”

“Just making sure you’re really awake. You gotta wake up, Sarah. There’re important doings going on and you’re sleeping right through ‘em.”

Taking a deep breath to clear her mind, Sarah blinked several times, using her good hand to rub away the last of her sleep. Then she grinned. Her head was a lot clearer this time than the last time she’d been awake. And her shoulder, while achy, didn’t throb. Her stomach growled. Loudly.

“I’m starved.”

“It’s about time. Let’s get some food into you and put you on the road to recovery, girl.”

Sarah’s best friend bustled around the room, calling for the nurse, adjusting the blankets over Sarah, opening the curtains and letting light into the room as she talked. “You’ve been sleeping long enough. Now you need to get up and get moving, get some life back into you. Paul’s been by to see you and a couple of friends I guess you know from Phillip, everybody was real worried there for a while.”

Sarah detected a faint note of disapproval when Beth mentioned Phillip’s friends but lying as she was, she found it hard to get a word in edgewise. The nurse entered and Sarah thought she’d seen her before—a short, plump woman with dark hair and a friendly smile.

“The doctor was in to see you about an hour ago and took you off the pain meds you’ve been on. Said when you woke up, you should try sitting up.”

Sarah nodded. In her brief lucid moments over the past several hours, the white ceiling and glimpses of the walls had been all she could see. With Beth assisting by holding down the button and the nurse supporting Sarah’s back and injured arm, the head of the bed rose, allowing her to get a better view of the room that was her current world. Cool green walls, their color meant to be soothing, were broken only by a window on her right, a corkboard at the foot of her bed, another at the foot of the bed next to her and then the door on her left. The other bed in the room remained empty and Sarah sent up a thank you to whoever was watching over her for that small favor.

The small corkboard had several unopened cards pinned to it. One side of the board, separated by a thick black line, held a photocopied sheet with squiggles all over it Sarah couldn’t read from her bed. The nurse gave a final check to her IV tube once she was sitting and went over to add to the arcane marks on the page.

“I’m hungry.”

“Good,” the nurse called over her shoulder. “I’ll get something sent up for you, since you missed breakfast. We’ll start you out on liquids this morning, then, if those stay down, we’ll move up the food chain. Keep everything in its place and you’ll be on real food by the end of the day.”

She left and Sarah wondered if she carried the same purposeful bustle with her wherever she went. Taking a deep breath and finding it didn’t hurt her shoulder, she took another, then gave Beth a wry smile.

“So you want to tell me what happened and how come I’m here in the hospital?”

“You were in a car accident.”

“Yeah, I know that. The nurse told me that…” She frowned. “I don’t remember it.” She gestured toward the door. “She said I missed breakfast but I distinctly remember those curtains…” She paused to gesture with her good hand to the window now streaming sunlight across her lap. “Those curtains were pulled and it was dark. How long was I out?”

Beth pulled a large chair from the corner of the room up to the bed and made herself comfortable. “Just a day. A guy ran a red light and hit you on the way to work yesterday morning. He’s fine but you broke your collarbone and smashed up your shoulder…and you have a concussion, they think from hitting your head on the door window. Doctors did a CAT scan to make sure you didn’t have any problems in your head but didn’t find anything.”

Sarah grinned. “You tellin’ me my head is empty?”

Beth laughed. “Yep. Nothing there to damage.”

Sarah didn’t want to ask the question that really was on her mind, almost afraid to know the answer. But she had to know. Unconsciously picking at the blanket that covered her lower body, she tried to remain casual as she asked, “Where’s Phillip?”

Beth’s face darkened. “Where he belongs.” She leaned forward, taking Sarah’s hand. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’m your best friend. I would have stopped him. You don’t need to put up with that bullshit.”

“What are you talking about? Tell you what?” Even as she pretended ignorance, Sarah’s heart pounded harder. The machine at her side gave her away as her pulse rate quickened. She looked away, suddenly afraid Beth knew all about her kinky side.

“Sarah, that bastard’s been abusing you—physically abusing you—and you didn’t tell anyone!” Beth’s tone accused Sarah right along with Phillip.

“No, he wasn’t!” Sarah’s voice rose, along with her blood pressure. The machines beside her started beeping. “He wasn’t abusing me. It’s not like that at all.”

“Here, here, now. What’s all this?” The plump nurse hurried back in, one hand going to Sarah, resting on her forearm where it lay in its sling, the other quickly resetting the monitors. Turning a stern eye on Beth, she scolded both of them. “You cannot be upsetting her that way. And you…” she turned to Sarah. “You cannot be going off like that. I’ll have the doctor put you right back on sedatives and keep you still.” With quick professionalism, she checked Sarah’s bindings. “Almost time to change that bandage anyway.”