True Love's Fire: A Red Hot Valentine Story (Hell Yeah!) (12 page)

I think I love you

Scott looked up at her, waiting for her to say something. Tears welled up in her eyes. He held out his arms, but she couldn’t trust her feelings or his. He was Dr. Scott Walker and she was…she was just Lia. “The snow will melt and the words will disappear, nothing lasts,” she whispered softly. Their eyes locked and she couldn’t stand to see the disappointment in his—so she ran. And this time she wasn’t playing, she ran hard, tears streaming down her face.

But she wasn’t fast enough. He caught her, pulling her up against him. “Whatever you’re thinking—stop. Everything will be okay.”

Lia didn’t answer.

“Let’s talk about it.”

But the roar of the helicopter engine drowned out their thoughts. “You have to go.”

He held her tight. “He can wait a few minutes.”

“Don’t feel anything for me, please. I’ll only mess it up.”

Scott felt helpless. “You still have some misguided notion that you’re less than perfect. You’ve got to stop. You have to trust your feelings. You have to trust me.”

“I’ve enjoyed you being here so much.” That was all she’d allow herself to say.

Was she trying to tell him goodbye? Not on your life. But he’d give her space, even if it killed him. “Think about it, Lia. Think about us. I’d like to show you my world. When you decide you want me, you know where to find me. This time, you come to me.”

For the second time, she watched him leave.

CHAPTER SIX

When you wake up alone

And know it’s your choice

And all you can hear

Is the sound of his voice

Your heart makes demands

You can’t ignore

Your feet want to head

Right to his door.

Lia was proud to have her truck back. She’d missed the freedom of coming and going when she pleased. Errands had piled up, so the day she was mobile again, she took her list and set out. Her pantry was empty, so she went to the grocery store. Elvis needed heart worm tablets, so she went to the vet. Finally, she stopped at the post office to get stamps. When she entered, there was no line. But to her surprise, Rosamund Latham faced her over the counter. “Well, hello, Lia. How are you?”

A sick feeling came over Lia. Did she know what happened between her and Reggie?  “I’m good. Thank you. Could I buy a roll of stamps?”

She handed her the roll and took the money. “Like mother, like daughter, huh?”

Lia froze. This woman was supposedly her friend. She knew the real story of their family, if anyone did. “Miss Latham, you know my mother was a good woman. She didn’t sleep around. In fact she never went with anyone I ever knew about. When my father turned his back on her, she never risked her heart ever again.”

“Oh, I remember. In fact, this thing with you shacking up for the weekend with that doctor fellow reminds me of what happened to Analia. Did you know your daddy was a professor? He was a geologist from Little Rock who came to study the rock formations on Ladygrey.”

Lia was stunned. Her mother never told her who her father was or how they’d met. She wondered at times, but hearing it tossed about in such a cavalier manner hurt her heart. “I didn’t know.”

“Yea, he was a smart man. Too smart to get hooked by the likes of your mother.”

“Mother was a good person. I thought you were her friend.”

“Randall Roberts, your father, he asked me out first. But your slutty mother came gallivanting in one day and wiggled her ass at him and he lost interest in me. Next thing we know, he leaves town in a rush. Never looked back. Then, we hear the truth, your mother is pregnant.”

“Is that why he left? Because of me?” Lia’s mouth was dry. She felt dizzy and so small, so very small.       

“Getting knocked up is a family trait for your people. Your grandmother did it too. Her man was an oilfield worker out of Harrison. Same story. Are you pregnant yet?”

Rosamund’s question hit Lia like a ton of bricks. Shame, fear, terror—it all washed over her like a tidal wave. She very well could be pregnant! They hadn’t used protection at all. She hadn’t even thought about it. “Thank you for your help.” Lia ran out, not even getting her change. Shaking, she made her way to the truck, almost too numb to walk. Think. Think. Was she pregnant? When was her last period? Grabbing her purse, she dug for a calendar. She wasn’t on the pill. She’d never had any reason to be. Dylan had used a condom and it had only been the one time. Damn!

Lia laid her head on the steering wheel. Elvis looked at her with concern. A baby. A fierce wave of protectiveness swept over her. If she was pregnant, she’d keep it. All of a sudden she knew how her mother had felt. How grateful she was that her mother had seen fit to let her be born. Cranking the truck, she turned on the heat and sat back. Counting back the days, she knew the answer would come, or not come—soon. Her period was due in a day or two. Oh, Lord in heavens. She needed to get home.

Scott’s visit was something she hadn’t allowed herself to dwell on. She was so afraid to hope, so afraid to love. When he’d written those words in the snow, she would have almost given her life for them be true. But trusting wasn’t an easy thing for Lia to do.

She put the truck in gear, backed out and started down the road. When she passed the diner, she noticed Reggie leaning against a patrol car, talking to one of the deputies. He pointed to her truck and laughed. Quivers of nervousness made it hard for her to sit still, she was trembling as if she had a chill. This was almost unbearable. Her home was now an uncomfortable place to be. What was she going to do?

One thing was certain, she had to cancel the Adah Citizen crap. Pulling over, she grabbed her phone.

LIA: Cancel the appearance at Adah birthday celebration. I’m the hot topic of gossip here. Would not go over well.

MONA: Too late, already accepted. They’ve printed the programs and sent out radio commercials. Like it or not, you’re the key-note speaker.

LIA: ARG!!!

In a half hour, she was at her cabin. Okay, she had to get a grip and make plans. She had some money saved. Why didn’t she just take a trip? Austin came to mind. Scott wanted her to come to him, or so he said. But until she knew for sure if she was pregnant, she’d have to stay away. Keeping something like that from him would be almost impossible for Lia. She wasn’t a good liar. “Elvis, we need to take a trip. Where can we go?”

Of course he didn’t answer, but an idea did come to her. She needed to finish the Alamo song. Research trips were tax deductible. “Let’s go to San Antonio.”

The fact that San Antonio was only an hour south of Austin had absolutely nothing to do with it. Nothing.

*  *  *

Almost a week had passed. She hadn’t come. She hadn’t called. His life was going to hell in a hand basket and the main reason was because she wasn’t in it.   Scott had refused to take calls from other women. No one else would do. He only wanted Lia.

And that wasn’t all that was going wrong. Angela Robbin’s case had deteriorated before his eyes. The biopsy had come back. Scott had brought in a stereotactic specialist to perform the procedure. He knew precisely how and where to put the needle in order to extract the tissue for biopsy. After testing, they’d been able to determine that she had a malignant tumor. Her chances weren’t perfect, but if she agreed to an abortion, they could begin treatment. If she chose to carry her baby, no insurance company or medical team would touch her with radiation or chemo. Lawyers and lawsuits had made the medical world cautious. Sometimes they wouldn’t do what they knew they could do, for fear of being blamed if something went wrong. It was a major catch-22. Scott knew what Angela would say before he approached her about it.

“I will not have an abortion. I will not endanger my baby.”

A frustrated oncologist tried to reason with her, but she was adamant.

“Let me go home. I just want to think about my child.”

Scott knew the child would grow up without a mother, and that fact was hard for him to bear.

After he’d gone through the emotional roller-coaster with Angela Robbins, he gave in and called Lia. Standing in his office, looking out at the Colorado River which formed Lady Bird Lake, he listened to the rings. One, two, three, four...he was about to hang up when she answered on the fifth. “Hello?”

“Houston, I needed to hear your voice,” he confessed in a whisper.

“Scott.” She seemed to sigh with relief. “How are you?”

“Lonely.” He didn’t beat around the bush. “When…” He stopped himself. Scott refused to beg. She’d come to him if she wanted to, or at least he had to give her the chance before he resorted to kidnapping. But how long was he supposed to wait? Longer than a week, he supposed. “How are you?”

“I’m good.” She sounded happy. “Elvis and I are doing a little bit of traveling, research for a song.”

“Where are you?” He worried about her.

“San Antonio.”

Right at his own back door! Scott’s heart hurt. “You’re this close and you haven’t come to see me?”

“Scott.” Her voice sounded adamant. “Give me a little time. I’m trying to work something out, please.” She wanted to ask him his intentions. Was he after a long term affair? Could he, would he want to marry her? The very thought made her shake.

“Time,” he snarled. “Fuck time!” He closed his eyes. “I need you.”

“Just a little more, please.”

He let out a harsh breath. “I wish you’d go home, if you’re not going to come here. I worry about you driving around by yourself. You are by yourself?”

“Yes.” She eased his suspicions. “There is no one for you to be jealous of.”

“Then go home until you can come to me.” Silence. “What’s wrong, Lia?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t tell me nothing.”

“Okay.” She raised her voice. “I’ll tell you when I come see you.”

He laughed. “You said ‘when’.”

“Yes, I did, you overbearing baboon.” The words might have been harsh had they not been colored by love.

“Don’t take too long, I’m going crazy.”

“Give me a week.” By then, she’d know one way or the other. And if she wasn’t pregnant, she was going on the pill. Pronto.

“I’ll be waiting.”

He hung up the phone and leaned his head against the window. Damn, his heart was literally hammering in his chest. Susie buzzed him. “Yes?”

“Aron McCoy is here to see you.”

“Send him in.”

He sat down, almost ashamed to admit to himself he had forgotten about the appointment. Missing Lia occupied too many of his heart and brain cells for him to be able to function properly. The door opened and the big man walked in. “Scott, good to see you.”

“Good to see you. How’s Doris?”

“She’s renewing her vows with the scoundrel who shot her. Isaac’s throwing the party. I guarantee it will be one to remember.”

“That sounds good.” While Aron poured himself some coffee, Scott retrieved his notes. Aron had first come to him right after Christmas, and even though it hadn’t quite been a month ago, it seemed like a lifetime. He’d met Lia and nothing would ever be the same again.

“Now, what do you want to know?”

“First, I want to be a vampire.” He pressed a button and asked a lab tech to come take a little blood. In a few moments, a young woman came in, clearly glad to be there in the presence of the two handsome men. He and Aron made small talk while she filled a small vial. Aron didn’t even blink, or flirt. He was completely in love with his wife. Scott remembered how he’d spoken of her with such immense tenderness, even before he’d recovered his complete memory of her.

After the woman was gone, Aron rolled down his sleeve and buttoned it. “You know, I look back at the time I was gone, and it seems surreal, like it was more nightmare than reality.”

“The brain has a way of compartmentalizing the events in our lives in order of relevance and emotional impact. Our bodies and our minds work together to insulate us from harm, even mental and even from ourselves. What is the first thing you remember after your initial accident?”

Aron thought. “The last time I was here in your office, the first thing that I could remember was waking up on Martina’s yacht in absolute agony. Now, I can remember everything. I recall dreading the heck out of going snorkeling, but my wife wanted to go and I’d do anything for Libby. While she was looking at fish, I decided to explore a small cave and there was an underwater earthquake. I only found that out a day or two ago. I can remember the water shimmering and vibrating. A coin had caught my eye, and I stayed too long in that hole looking for more coins.” He laughed. “You might know my greedy side got the best of me.”

“What happened exactly?” Scott was making notes.

“A rock fell and knocked me out. Apparently, I was swept out to sea and the men on the Isobella spied me and pulled me on board. I only regained consciousness a few times that I recall. Martina took me to Mexico City where I underwent brain surgery.”

“I’m going to get in touch with the surgical team down there and see if I can get your records.”

“That might be difficult. I don’t know what Martina might have threated them with, you never know. The doctor and staff had to have known who I was and what had happened. Jacob and Roscoe had plastered my picture and story on every news program from the Arctic to the Antarctic. But she was a feared leader of a drug cartel. If she told them to forget, that might be exactly what they did.”

“I’m still going to try, it won’t hurt to ask. As your current physician, I need to know the details.” Scott studied Aron’s face, wondering how best to phrase his next question. “When you awoke from the surgery, how did you feel?”

Aron made a face, considering his answer. “There was a lot of pain. Excruciating headaches. And confusion. I woke up in a world I supposedly belonged in, but a world I knew nothing of. My unfamiliarity with the people and circumstances frustrated my ability to heal. Martina told me she was my fiancé, yet I felt nothing for her—no attraction, no tenderness, no connection whatsoever. I was drawn more in a natural friendship with her father and a familiar acceptance of Los Banos and the work on the ranch.”

“In other words, you had forgotten your identity, but not your aptitude for ranching.”

“I think so, plus subconsciously, I guess I knew I had a good relationship with Tomas Delgado. We had done business together. Later, I remembered his daughter had developed an uncomfortable crush on me and that was the reason for this whole damn fiasco.”

“Ahem.” Scott continued to write on the pad. “During the weeks following your brain surgery, your memory began to return, slowly. Did it not?”

“Yes, I began to recall details about Libby and my family. I also found out who Martina was and the atrocities she had committed. I joined forces with another man at the ranch to take her down. Unfortunately, Martina discovered my memory had returned and that was when she took me to the chemist.”

Scott leaned forward. “You realize this all could have turned out very differently. You were fortunate.”

“Lord, you don’t have to convince me of that, the chemist had mercy on me. She could have easily done what Martina asked and wiped my memory out with those drugs.”

“Since you were here last, I’ve studied the Zip peptide. Experiments are ongoing, but they have proven the chemical can be used to destroy specific memories completely. It does not destroy the ability to create new memories, but it can eradicate entire segments of your past. And it’s done by administering the substance while stimulating the subject to recall the very memories you want him to forget.”

“Cruel sounding, isn’t it?” Aron shook his head, understanding he could very well have lost all of his past and knowledge of Tebow, his family and his beloved Libby.

“There are good applications for Zip. Patients who have endured extreme trauma, who cannot function in their own reality can be given chemically induced amnesia which allows them to lead normal lives.” They both were silent for a bit, considering the implications. Finally, Scott asked Aron another question. “Tell me how you felt when you came to, after you were given the Zip substitute.”

“As I understand, the chemist gave me a cocktail of several drugs, trying to replicate the effects of Zip in the short term, but without the permanent damage. Those drugs affected me. There was no doubt about it. I awoke with a complacency, a false sense of acceptance that my mind and body began to war against. One of those drugs was something Bowie Travis, a friend of mine, calls Devil’s Breath.”

“Yes, scopolamine.”

“The effects of that drug are compared to the old zombie making drug they used to make from puffer fish.”

Scott had to laugh at Aron’s disgust. “You’re right. The drugs you were given made you easy to control. Date rape drugs have much the same properties. Aron, you’re just fortunate the dose you were given was small. The chemist wasn’t trying to harm you; she was trying to save both her skin and yours. She took a huge gamble. If Martina hadn’t been brought down, she would have killed Emily, the chemist, for betraying her.”

“I realize that, and I’ve reached out to Emily. She has some family issues, and I’m going to make sure she has the funds to take care of her son. I’ve offered to bring her to the states and find her a position where she can continue the research she’s doing on certain types of cancer, mainly leukemia. I don’t know if you realize this, but Libby is in remission from leukemia. And if there’s a permanent cure out there, I want it to be found, just in case.”