wrath of the Sea Queen (114 page)

"
Yes
, but she fought him. 
C
a
eli
was
determined
. 
He
could not keep her
away from her mother
.  C
a
eli
is
much
stronger than she looks
;
especially
right
now.
"

"
That's because she's sick, right?  Pretty Dr. Salma says
she
will get better. 
How
will
pretty C
a
eli
help me?"  Max
asked
curiously
.

"
C
a
eli
will tell you
how
when the time is right, but you will have to trust her.  Until
then
, you will have to help
her
get her strength back so she will be strong enough to do what
i
s
necessary
.
"

"Mama wasn't strong enough
, and s
he got taken away.  I don’t want pretty C
a
eli to get taken away," Max replied sadly as he looked over at
C
a
eli.

"
Then
keep helping her like you have been
doing
.  She is going to need all the help she can get.
"

Max sat alone for the next two hours until C
a
eli began to stir restlessly in her sleep.  When she started to move the arm attached to the
IV
, Max jumped up and ran to get pretty Dr. Salma.
  As he reached the door, there was an especially loud clap of thunder, and all the electricity in the hotel went out.

Vin arrived at the hospital with a fresh, gauze bandage covering the cut on the side of his head and
another
wrapped around the already healing wound on his right arm.  He did not want to be
t
here
and
intended to make a quick report, tell the doctor he was merely grazed, and then
catch a ride for himself and
Apela to the hotel.  Vin knew that C
a
eli would be upset when he did not return with Ben and Salma.  He had not seen her since the night before and fervently wanted
to
see
,
with his own eyes
,
how he
r condition had changed
.
  More than anything, Vin wanted to hear Salma's
status
report
.

Apela sat in a chair
a few feet away
while
Vin
sat and waited
on a hospital bed.  Since his injury was not critical, he was low on the triage list.  They waited over an hour
and a half
before the doctor finally arrived.  By then, Vin's stomach was grumbling
,
he was thirsty
, and was losing patience at the excessive wait time
.  He had
also
lost a fair amount of blood after the shooting
and already fel
t drowsy
.  That
,
combin
ed with
the fact that Vin was
worn out
after his ordeal at the levee
,
caused him to
get
lightheaded when the doctor asked him to stand.
  If not for the nearby bed and the doctor's quick reflexes, Vin
would
have fallen to the floor.

"Thank you.  Sorry about that
. 
I
ha
ve been sitting here
for quite
a while
.  I guess
I stood up too quickly," Vin
tried t
o pass the symptom off as nothing
.

"No need to apologize
, Mr. Harding
.  Head wounds
can be touchy
.  They have a tendency to cause a
wide
variety
of reactions
, including that one
," the doctor replied.

Vin looked at the tall, thin man in the long, white lab coat.  His closely cropped, light brown hair and thin mustache reminded Vin of one of his college professors.  The man's clearly Caucasian heritage made it obvious that he was not a native of the island. 

"As I t
old
the paramedic and the nurse, it
i
s really not that bad.  I was lucky
, Dr…"

"Dr. Simmons
.
"

"I was lucky, Dr. Simmons.
  The bullet barely grazed me. 
I
f you could sign me out, I would like to get
out of here and let you tend to folks who need your help
more than I do
."

"Not so fast.  That wound may not appear serious, but I won't dismiss you until I run some tests to
confirm
."

"And if I refuse?"  Vin was not
in a mood to sit through a bunch of useless procedures.

"I would not advise that
.  You are clearly experiencing s
ymptoms from something
.  It would be better for you to find out for certain
if there is any unseen damage
.  If you don't
,
you could end up inadvertently hurting yourself or someone else.  B
ut
,
of course
,
it
is your choice. 
I can't force you to undergo the tests. 
Regardless of your decision
, we
cannot
let you
leave
the hospital
until the sheriff
or one of his deputies
gets here to take your statement. 
On my way
over,
I
over
heard
the receptionist and
one of the nurses talking about
a bad accident
about a mile down
the highway
;
s
omething
involving an overturned s
emi
. 
Doubtless
,
the sheriff will be on the scene there before coming here.  We don't exactly have large numbers of law enforcement
officials
on th
is side of the
island.  That's why the
G
uard helps us out on a regular basis. 
S
o
,
you
may
as well get comfortable.  You are going to
be
here for
a while.  Why not let me run the tests while you wait?
  It will help pass the time and put your wife's worry at ease when you get home.
"

"My wife? 
How
do you know about my wife?"  Vin
, already irritated at the delay,
asked suspiciously.  His impatience
began to wear
thin
his
good
manners.

"Well, I
don't suppose
that ring on your finger
is just for show.  With the pending storm, I assume she is the reason you are so impatient to rush out of here,"
Dr. Simmons replied calmly, having noticed when he walked into the room how Vin unconsciously twist
ed
his wedding band as he waited.  It was a mannerism he borrowed from C
a
eli on occasion.
 

Dr. Simmons
was right.  Vin, realizing how foolish he must sound, apologized and agreed to the doctor's terms.

"
G
ive me a minute
please
.
  Apela, you don't have to stay.  Why don't you go on home to Max? 
Will you l
et C
a
eli know that I
will be there as soon as I can? 
Please e
xplain the delay.
"

"
Sure
. 
When you're ready,
have the hospital call you a cab and give them the hotel name.  They will know where it is."

"Apela, I don't actually know the name of your hotel," Vin confessed.

"
Take this
.  It's on my card."  Apela
open
ed
his wallet and p
ulled out
a pale blu
e business card
for Vin
.  In
bold
,
black
,
flowing
font was the
hotel
name
, the Sea
Queen's Castle
.  The letters appeared to be sitting on the sand as the water lapped at their bottom edges.
  The address and phone number were in smaller font across the bottom of the card.