Wild Dakota Heart (2 page)

“What? It can’t be that bad.”

“George will let you know.”

“The garage is clear across the other side of town. How am I going to get home from there?”

“Your parents—”

“My parents went to Rapid City to visit my aunt. She’s in the hospital.”

“I hope it’s nothing serious.”

“No, just minor surgery. But they won’t be back until late.”

“That’s no problem.”

“For you.”

“After Hawk checks that bump on your head at the clinic, I can drive you home.”

“You?”

“Sure. My shift is ending soon. I can do my paperwork on the accident while I wait for you.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“I could call an ambulance.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t need an ambulance.”

“Then we’ll stop by the clinic. Hawk is probably still there.” He leaned closer to Maddie. “Just stay in the car for a minute while I take some pictures.”

“Pictures? What for?”

“The insurance company.”

“It’s that bad?”

He stood next to her and just looked at her face, directly in her eyes.

She held up her hand to push him away. “What are you doing?”

“I’m a first responder. All police officers are. I just want to make sure you’re not in shock.”

“Are you always this thorough?”

“Yes. Even when dealing with difficult people.”

“I’m difficult just because I don’t want you staring at me?”

“Look, you just plowed your car into a tree. You might think you’re fine. And you may be. But I have to check.”

“I’m not going to spend a few hours in the ER waiting to be checked. Your brother can check me at the clinic. But I’m not going to the hospital.” His brother, Hawk McKinnon as he was known to most people, was the local doctor with a clinic in the center of town.

Frowning, Maddie settled herself against the plush seat. She reached to her side and grabbed the strap of the seat belt and secured it.

The door on the driver's side opened. Ethan slipped into the cruiser, grabbing his keys from his pocket. It had been years since they’d both been in the front seat of any car together.

As he started the car, his eyes met hers. “You buckled in?”

Maddie glanced out the window. “Yes.”

And panic suddenly hit her hard with the thought that for the first time since Denny died she was inescapably stuck with the man who’d caused his death.

# # #

“You’re going to feel this for a couple of days,” Hawk said as he looked intently at her temple.

“I don’t have to miss work, do I?”

Hawk chuckled. “I’d say I’d write a note to stay out of work for a few days, but I know you won’t need one.”

She smiled warmly. “Your father has a great work ethic. I don’t want to disappoint him. But deep down I know he’s a softy and will probably be upset when he finds out about the accident tomorrow.”

“Tonight. Ethan still lives at home.”

“Really? I thought by now he’d have set himself up in some bachelor pad somewhere.”

Hawk grinned at the mocking tone of her voice. “Actually, he was all ready to put in an offer on a house near the river. But then the ice and rain storms last spring caused all that damage at the Nolan place.”

Surprised, she pulled back and looked at Hawk. “Ethan was going to buy the Nolan farmhouse?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“That house had been abandoned for years. It needed a lot of work, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, that’s why Ethan wanted it. He said he needed something to get his hands into. But after that was destroyed in the flood, he turned his attention to the Wounded Veterans Center. That’s keeping him busy these days.”

“That’s…amazing. I didn’t know Ethan was handy that way.”

Hawk placed some ointment on her wound, making her skin sting. She winced with the pain.

“That will stop in a minute,” he said as he placed a small bandage on her head. “You won’t need to wear this in the shower. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. You’ll want to make sure it stays clean. But for tonight, keep the bandage on just to give it time to scab over.”

Maddie touched the spot on her head where the gauzy bandage protruded. “Will this leave a scar?”

“No, it should heal over fine. You really should have gone to the hospital by ambulance. With head injuries, you can never be too careful.” Hawk discarded his latex gloves and the medical waste in the pail and then turned to her.

“Well, it worked out well. You were here.”

“Yeah, but this is a small clinic set up for minor situations so the people in town don’t have to travel all the way to the city every time they have the flu or need a shot. If this was more serious I would have had to transport you anyway.”

“I’ll remember that next time. But hopefully there won’t be a next time.”

Hawk started writing notes in her chart. “You live alone now, don’t you?”

“Yes, I have a condo over at the Wingate.”

Hawk thought a minute. “I don’t like the idea of you being alone tonight. Head injuries can be a little tricky. You seem okay and your initial shock from the accident seems to have subsided. But sometimes even the smallest bump on the head can become something more. You might want to consider staying at your parents’ house tonight just so that someone can wake you up periodically to make sure you’re okay.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“It’s up to you. Is there a problem with staying at your parents tonight?”

“Yes…well, no. I can stay in my old room, but my parents aren’t home. My aunt had surgery today so they’re staying at her house in Rapid City.”

Hawk nodded. “Then perhaps they can call you periodically through the night to check on you.”

“Soon as I get home I’ll call them.”

“I want you to follow-up with me in a few days even if you feel better.”

Maddie agreed to come back for a follow-up visit and climbed off the examining table. Ethan was waiting for her in the waiting room when she emerged from the exam room. Nancy, the clinic’s receptionist, was laughing hard at something Ethan had said. But they both stopped and looked up as she approached.

When Ethan saw her, he tapped his hand on the counter lightly and asked, “Did you get a clean bill of health?”

Maddie didn’t say anything and Hawk, who came into the waiting room behind her, didn’t elaborate.

“Are you driving her home?” Hawk asked.

Ethan nodded. “I’m off-duty now.”

“Good. I need to head home so I can help Regis scout some volunteers to do work this weekend at the Wounded Veterans Center. Now that the foundation has been repaired we can start working on the inside.” Hawk’s face brightened as he turned to Maddie. “Hey, what are you doing this weekend?”

“I don’t think I have any plans.”

“A lot of volunteers are coming out to help,” Ethan added. “Mom is catering for the day so everyone will be well fed. It should be a lot of fun. You and your parents should come over. That is if your aunt is on her feet again by then.”

“We’ll see.” Turning to Hawk, she said, “Thanks for everything. Goodnight, Nancy.” She waved at the receptionist as she headed for the door.

“Night, honey! I hope you feel better,” Nancy said.

Maddie walked down the clinics ramp to the small parking lot. The McKinnons had always been a big presence in Rudolph. Early on it was MW Oil that had given work to a lot of people during hard times. And then Kate McKinnon, Ethan’s mother, had opened a diner when Hawk was just a baby and Wade was a toddler. Maddie’s gaze was drawn to the building across the street. The little diner was a focal point of town, sitting at the crossroads of the two main streets in and out of Rudolph. It held memories for most everyone who had grown up with her. The lights were still on and cars were still scattered in the parking lot.

Suddenly her mind wandered to a hot summer day much like today. She was much younger then, and the McKinnon boys were out for mischief and wanted to rile their mother up. They’d loaded the back of a truck with laundry baskets filled with water balloons and called everyone down to the diner for a water balloon fight that had everyone laughing and cooling off in the hot sun. Maddie had never laughed so hard in all her life. She’d worn a pair of cut-off jeans and a bikini top just to make herself look older like Poppy and Kelly.

And so Ethan would notice.

She smiled with the memory, but felt the bittersweet tug in her heart thinking about how it was one of the few times when Denny had not only let her tag along with him and Ethan, but he’d purposely drove to the house to pick her up so she could join in the fun. Kate McKinnon was rip-roaring mad at them for the mess they made of the parking lot that day. But she still laughed along with them while they lined up so she could take a picture, all of them dripping wet and holding spent balloons in their hands.

* * *

She was lost somewhere, Ethan thought as he took in the wistful expression on Maddie’s face. She stared across the street as if she were looking at something from the Ghost of Christmas Past. Something tugging at her and she couldn’t break free.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

She blinked hard and then shook her head, pulling her attention back to the clinic parking lot. “Where’s the cruiser?”

“I swapped vehicles at the station while you were in with Hawk. The SUV is mine.”

“If you don’t mind, I just want to go home.”

They drove most of the way to the condo in silence. It had been a long day for him and by the vacant expression on Maddie’s face, he knew she was upset.

Now that the adrenaline rush of seeing her bleeding had worn off, Ethan had a chance to really look at her. She’d always been a pretty girl and it always puzzled him why men weren’t falling at her feet. Truth is, he’d been watching her and he knew she wasn’t dating anyone. It helped that his mother knew just about everyone in town, including Maddie’s parents.

Maddie’s brown hair was streaked with golden stands throughout, something she’d never done before. And she smelled nice. Her perfume was light and citrusy. Nothing heavy. She’d always liked lotions and cologne when she was younger. When Ethan had teased Denny for smelling like a department store make-up counter, Denny had always complained, saying it gave him a headache just to walk into Maddie’s room because she had all that “stuff” lined up on her dresser.

“I’ve been back in Rudolph for almost a year and I barely see you,” Ethan said.

Silence.

“You know, you can’t avoid me forever,” Ethan said, taking his eyes off the road for a second to see her reaction.

“Wanna bet?”

Ethan smiled.
At least he got that much out of her.

Progress.

“So, you
have
been avoiding me.”

With his help, Ethan thought. Only Maddie didn’t know that. And maybe his brother, Sam, was right. They couldn’t dance around a ghost forever. Some things had to be faced head on.

“I don’t want it to take another car accident for me to see you again. Besides, Rudolph is a small town and we know all the same people.”

She continued to look out the window.

Ethan put his directional on to pull into the parking lot of the Wingate Condominium complex where Maddie lived.

“Which one is it?” he asked.

“Number eleven.”

He found the parking space marked number eleven and parked the SUV. Before he could undo his seatbelt and get out of the car, Maddie turned to him and placed her hand on his arm.

“Thank you for bringing me home. But you don’t have to see me inside.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not necessary.” She drew in a slow breath and looked out the window toward her condo. “Thing is, the last time I saw you…well, I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the best of me. I shouldn’t have…behaved the way I did.”

“You were upset.” Ethan said. “You had every right to be.”

“But I meant what I said about not wanting to see you again.”

Her admission was like a blow to the gut. “What?”

“It’s too difficult seeing you. Everything about you reminds me of Denny and what happened. I’ve never been able to reconcile what happened out in the Badlands that day. And…I don’t know that I’ll ever forgive you for what you did.”

It was hard to swallow the lump of truth she was feeding him, but Ethan listened. It was a long time coming and he’d bet a week’s pay this was harder for Maddie to say than for him to hear.

“I don’t expect you to forget what happened or think I have forgotten Denny.”

Her expression turned cool. “Haven’t you? As soon as the funeral was over you headed to the airport to play the hero. You spent eight years in the military being the hero. Every time I went anywhere in town all I heard was Ethan got an accommodation for this or Ethan just finished BUDS training or… It was like you had a damned publicity department singing your praises. Everyone forgot what really happened out there with Denny. All they saw was ‘Saint Ethan, the Hero’. Look at you, even now you’re playing the hero cop, coming to my rescue. No wonder everyone has forgotten.”

She drew in a deep breath as if she were searching for courage or getting ready for a battle she’d waited ten years to fight. Ethan wasn’t sure which, but he remained silent and would take whatever beating she gave him.

“But I remember, Ethan. I remember seeing my parents grieve for years until all the life in them drained away. They’re only now back to doing things like normal people do. For years I don’t think I even heard them laugh. They didn’t spend eight years forgetting and living life on the edge, playing super hero.”

“Is that what you think I did?”

“I know that’s what you did. You always took everything to the edge. If Denny dreamed up a prank, you took it one step further. But one thing I know for sure is that you didn’t grieve for Denny.” She pointed out the window. “Out there, doing whatever it was you were doing, it was easy to forget that a kid like Dennison Newton died because of your prank. But here...it was with me every day.”

Maddie pushed the car door open with more force than needed and climbed outside to the parking lot. Ethan did the same.