Yellowstone Heart Song (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 1) (21 page)

“It’s time.” He thrust the pack in her arms. “I made my mistake with Marie by bringing her here. I will not have you on my conscience, as well. I promised you three months in the wilderness. I gave you that. Now you need to return to the safety of your own time. We stick to our original agreement.”  He held the snake out to her. “Touch the right eye.”

Aimee darted past him toward the cabin door. Zack grabbed her arm. “I’m sorry you’re not making this easy.” Holding her arm firmly, Zach touched his own finger to the snake’s right eye. Instantly, the world went black.

Chapter 19

Aimee slowly opened her eyes. The loud noise of cars and machinery penetrated her consciousness, making her head throb and ears ring. She coughed when she inhaled the foul smell of engine exhaust. With a groan, she raised herself to a sitting position, and realized she was in a parking garage. The echoing sounds of screeching tires, engines rumbling, and blasting car horns all around her were deafening. She held a hand to the side of her head and sat up fully, the concrete beneath her hard and cold. The foul smell burned her throat and lungs, and her eyes stung. Her backpack rested against her feet. A piece of paper protruded from the opening. She reached for it and read the simple words.
This is for the best. I hope you understand.

She crumpled up the paper and threw it in frustration.

“No,” she yelled, her voice reverberating off the walls in the parking structure. Tears streamed down her face. “No, no, no . . . oh God. Daniel!”  The distant sound of a jackhammer resonated like gunshots through her breaking heart.

 A man in blue scrubs ran to her. 

“Miss, are you ok?” he asked, looking down at her sitting on the dirty concrete floor. “Aimee?” His eyes widened in recognition.

She raised her head and recognized him as one of the ward nurses at the hospital.

“Are you all right?” he asked. He knelt in front of her to inspect her more closely.  Concern filled his eyes.

“Where are we?” she asked. She struggled to stand on her feet, and fought the dizziness in her head.

“The parking garage at the hospital,” he answered, a perplexed frown on his face. His eyebrows narrowed. “Can I do something for you, call someone?”

“No,” she said quickly. “I just need to get home,” she whispered.

“Do you need a lift?”

“Yeah . . . yeah, that would be great,” she answered vaguely. After three months, she didn’t expect to find her car here anymore. “Thanks, Eric.”

“Sure, don’t mention it.” He kept giving her odd sideways looks.

She robotically followed him to his car, gave him quick directions to her condo in Yorba Linda, and then simply stared unseeing out the window in a daze for the entire twenty minute ride home. The sounds of everyday modern life seemed foreign to her. The hurried pace of throngs of cars on the freeway and roads left her feeling exhausted. Life shouldn’t move at such speeds.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Eric called to her once more as he pulled into a parking spot in the condominium complex. She opened the passenger door of his blue sedan and climbed out wordlessly.

“I’ll be fine. Thanks for bringing me home. Please don’t tell anyone you saw me.” She fought hard to keep her voice from cracking.

Eric gave her one more confused look, and simply nodded before backing his car out of the parking space.

Aimee inhaled a deep breath, and walked up the narrow cement walkway to her condo that she shared with Jana. The summer annuals they had planted a few weeks before she had left were in full bloom, looking as nice as the day they went into the ground. This was rather odd. After three months in the summer heat, it was usually time to replace them again.

She felt under the fake landscape rock just outside the front door for the spare key she and Jana always kept there. She had no idea what to expect as she turned the key in the lock.

Everything appeared the same as she remembered. Solemnly, she walked into the bright living room. The beige carpet had recently been vacuumed, and the pillows on the plush off-white sectional couch were fluffed up invitingly. Several copies of
Backpacker
magazine were laid out on the glass-covered coffee table. The air conditioner hummed to life.

Aimee dropped her backpack by the door and listlessly sank onto the couch. She pushed her worn and dirty hiking boots off her feet, and tucked her legs up under her. Grabbing one of the pillows, she hugged it tightly to her chest and began to sob. Her gaze drifted to the Thomas Moran painting of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone that hung over the gas fireplace mantle.  She stared at it until her vision blurred. Tears pooled in her eyes. They spilled onto her cheek and flowed freely down her face. She sobbed Daniel’s name.

She woke with a start when the front door clicked open and slammed shut. It took a few seconds for reality to set in as the events of the day flooded back into her mind. A new wave of grief rocked her. She blinked her tear-swollen eyes and blinked to see Jana standing there, open-mouthed.

“Ohmygod, Aimee!” Jana screeched, and ran over to sit beside her on the couch. She pulled her into a bear hug. “Where have you been? We’ve been so worried.”

Aimee’s body remained limp in her friend’s fierce embrace. Jana drew away and stared. Her eyes widened and swept over her, taking in her appearance with a concerned look on her face.

“What day is it?” Aimee’s face was blank, her eyes unfocused.

“It’s Monday,” Jana said in confusion. “Where have you been the last two weeks? Brad filed a missing person’s report and everything. We thought you’d been kidnapped or something.”

“Two weeks?” Aimee whispered absently.

“What happened to you? You look like hell.” Jana remarked.  Her hands flew to her face. “Oh my God! You were kidnapped, weren’t you?”

Aimee shook her head in slow motion. “I . . . I just had to get away for a while.”

Jana paused. “Without a word to anyone? No notice at work or anything? What were you thinking?” She wore an uneasy smile. “Aimee, what is going on? You look like someone died.”

Aimee didn’t respond. Her gritty eyes stayed unfocused on her friend.

“What happened to your hair? It looks longer. And your face is all tanned, and you’ve lost weight. Where were you?” Jana prodded.

“Yellowstone.” Aimee’s voice cracked. “I went to Yellowstone.”

“But we were going to leave on our trip this week. Couldn’t you have waited?”

“I need to get back,” she said suddenly, and stared blankly at Jana through swollen, gritty eyes.

Jana shook her head, her eyebrows drawn together. “Get back where?”

“Yellowstone. I need to get back.”

“If you still want to go, I haven’t cancelled our plane tickets yet,” Jana said hesitantly. “The flight is tomorrow morning, remember?”

“Daniel’s waiting for me. He’s got to be worried where I am,” Aimee said as if talking to herself.

Jana picked up one of Aimee’s limp hands and squeezed it. “Who is Daniel?”

“My husband . . . Daniel’s my husband, and I need to get back to him.” Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

Jana stared dumbfounded. “Are you going into shock? I think we need to get you to the hospital.” She bolted from the couch. “Let me call Brad. He’ll be so glad to find you safe.”

“No!” Aimee sprang up from her seat to stop Jana from reaching the phone. “I don’t want to see him. Please,” she pleaded.

Jana looked at her hard. “Okay, I won’t call him . . . yet. But, Aimee, you’re scaring me. This is not like you.”

“You’re right. I don’t belong here. My life is with Daniel.”

“Okay,” Jana said slowly. She inhaled deeply. “You look like you could use a shower,” she offered. “How about I order a pizza while you get cleaned up, and then we’ll talk, all right?”

****

Aimee stood in the doorway of her bedroom, and looked around without focusing on anything. Everything appeared as it had been the afternoon she left to see Zach Osborne at the hospital. To her, that had been three months ago. But in this time, according to what Jana said, she had only been gone two weeks. Time seemed to move in slow motion as she walked into the adjoining bathroom and removed her worn and dirty clothes. She stepped into the shower, and stood under the hot water spray. Her tears mixed with the water cascading down her face.  Aimee squeezed her eyes shut, and her body began to shudder.

“Daniel!” she screamed his name in anguish. “Nooooo! Why did you do this to me, Zach? Why?” She sobbed, and fell back against the shower wall. She slid down onto the cold tile floor, her knees drawn up to her chest. Burying her face in her hands, she cried loud and hard.

 ”Are you okay in there?” Jana’s muffled voice called from outside the door. “Aimee?”

An icy sensation squeezed her heart, radiating from the center of her body outward into her arms and legs. She struggled to draw a breath. Her heart raced, and her chest tightened. Breathing became painful. She didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore. Everything had been taken from her. Vaguely she heard the shower door open. The water stopped flowing, and someone wrapped a towel around her.

“Aimee, you’re scaring the hell out of me.” Jana’s voice sounded far away. “I’m going to take you to the hospital.”

Arms tried to lift her up from her position on the shower floor. They were not the strong arms she yearned for.

“Aimee, please. Should I call 911?” Jana’s terrified voice finally prompted Aimee to glance up.

“No. No hospital. Please.” Her own voice sounded foreign in her ears.

“Then please get up and out of this shower. Let’s get you dried off and dressed.”

Trembling, Aimee slowly rose from the ground with Jana’s supportive arms around her. She managed to stumble out of the shower. She felt numb all over.

“I’ll get some clothes for you.” Jana hurried into the bedroom.

Aimee stood before the vanity mirror. She stared blankly at her reflection. She barely recognized herself. Her face and arms were tanned from hours in the sun. Her hair was definitely longer, and her entire body had a much leaner, toned appearance. Three months of working long days without modern equipment, along with a diet of wholesome natural foods had done to her body what years of going to a gym couldn’t do. She let out a bitter half laugh, half sob at the thought.

Jana reappeared with fresh underwear, pajama pants and a tank top, and gave her an encouraging smile. “I’ll be right outside if you need me. Get dressed and we’ll talk if you’re up to it.” Aimee nodded solemnly.

She dried herself, the sensation of the plush fabric of the towel foreign on her skin. How often over the last three months had she wished for a soft towel rather than a scratchy blanket to dry herself after washing?
Be careful what you wish for.
She inhaled the fresh laundered smell of the towel, but it was a different scent she ached for.

Please, Zach, I’ll gladly give all of this up. Please come back for me. I want to go home to Daniel.
  Aimee squeezed her eyes shut, but it didn’t prevent the tears from escaping down her cheeks. She had to tell Jana the truth. She had to make her believe what had happened. And she had to find a way to get back to Daniel.

“Hey, feeling better?” Jana asked brightly when Aimee came down the stairs and walked into the living room. “The pizza should be here in a few minutes.”

Aimee’s face remained stoic.

“Sit down, Jana. I have a long story to tell you, and I just need you to listen, no matter how unbelievable it sounds, okay?”

“Umm . . . sure.” Jana sat beside her on the couch and stared at her with an uneasy smile.

Aimee started at the beginning with that first night in the ER and meeting Zach. She left nothing out, and concluded with her return a few hours ago to this time. Jana listened, open-mouthed. The pizza delivery boy interrupted them momentarily, but the meal was forgotten while Aimee told her story.

“I don’t expect you to believe me,” Aimee finished. “I didn’t believe any of it either, until it actually happened. But it did.” She stared at Jana. “It did happen, and I met the most wonderful man in the world, and . . . and . . . now he’s gone forever.” The tears flowed again, and her voice cracked.