Saving Forever - Part 3 (12 page)

Charity let Elijah go grab them a drink and watched her father mingle. He brushed off the birthday well wishes and chatted with each person who stopped to talk to him. She was amazed at how he knew everyone’s name and made them smile or laugh. He actually had the ability to let go of the image of the over-controlling man she always assumed he was.

“Why are you smiling?” Elijah asked as he handed her a glass of champagne.

She pointed her glass at her father. “He seems quite comfortable for someone who sounded like he didn’t really want to have a party.”

Elijah chuckled. “He’s a very talented man. He knows how to control a room, whether it’s an operating one or a boardroom –without even trying. He’s doing it now.”

“And enjoying himself!” Charity clinked her glass with his. “Happy sixty-fifth to my father and seeing if the man actually retires.”

“Cheers to that.” Elijah glanced around the room with an appreciative smile. “Looks amazing, but then again I never doubted you.” He winked at her and then frowned at something behind her.

“What’s up? Is it the champagne fountain?” Charity turned around. Nothing seemed amiss.

“Never mind.” Elijah shook his head when she turned back to him. “I thought I saw someone I knew, but I don’t think it’s them.”

Charity elbowed him lightly. “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of people here you know.”

Julie race walked over to them with Simon not far behind. “This place is unbelievable!” She hugged Charity and then Elijah. Simon and Elijah shook hands and went over to see another doctor Simon wanted Elijah to meet. “You and Elijah seem to be doing pretty good,” Julie said quietly so no one else could hear them.

“We are. I just hope things keep going well after tonight. It’s going to suck not having to fly up here to plan the gala.”

“I’m sure you two will work something out.”

Charity noticed the sound system guy setting the mike up on the stage. “Excuse me Juls, I have to introduce the guest of honor now. Find me later, kay?”

“Of course!” Julie went off to find Simon as Charity headed up to the stage.

She spoke with the sound manager and clipped the little microphone he gave her to her dress before walking over to the podium.

“Good evening everyone!” She called out and the room grew quiet as faces turned to her. She glanced out into the crowd and found her father about halfway across the room, strategically trying to make his way up the center. She made a mental note to thank him later for that. She turned to address the audience. “I need to say a few quick words before we settle down to eat and enjoy this evening. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Charity Thompson. I am the lucky gal who gets to be Doctor Thompson’s daughter.” She waved to her father and motioned him to come forward. “In case you don’t know who the amazingly gifted Doctor Thompson is…” She covered her mouth like she was whispering to everyone, “He’s the reason we’re all here tonight.” She winked and straightened. “Dad has got quite the list of achievements he has checked off over the years.” She pointed to him as he made his way up, amid claps on the back and more handshakes. “The man became a doctor two years before anyone else his age, skipping classes not because he was bored but because the man is unbelievably smart. I wasn’t around at the time but I’m guessing he did it to impress the ladies.” She waited for the chuckles to die down. “It must have worked because he caught my mother’s gorgeous eye. They married and had me.” She curtseyed. “And in the years which followed, he managed to save a hospital, along with numerous lives – too many to count, but I’m willing to bet a few of them are here this evening.”

A loud “Here, here!” came from the back of the room.

Charity waved in the direction it came from and watched as her Dad came to wait patiently at the side of the stage. She beckoned him forward. Now came the hard part. She swallowed and pushed through. “My father lost his wife, and I lost my mother along the road that brought us here today. She would have loved this building; this gala, all the people here, and most of all, she would have loved my father. He’s a good man, and I’m proud to call him Dad.”

She walked the few steps between the two of them and hugged him tight. He returned the hug with the same strength. “Happy birthday, Dad.”

The crowd erupted in clapping and Charity handed him the small microphone so he could talk.

She nearly stumbled down the steps when her father spoke. “Thanks, Charity. My daughter spent months planning this gala and has turned this evening into a gem. She has a real gift and I’m extremely proud of what she’s done.”

Charity turned around at the bottom of the small set of stairs to look at her father. He smiled and nodded at her. The truth shone clearly in his eyes. Then he winked and flipped back into the role of speaker. Charity smiled, already knowing he would throw out some kind of punch line or something. She grinned. The evening had turned out perfect.

“I don’t tell her that enough,” her father said from the stage. “So I’m telling her now, in front of all of you so I can use all of you as backup the next time she wants to disagree with me. Can you all make sure to give me your cell phone numbers before you go?”

Charity laughed and shook her head. She strained her neck and stood on her tippy-toes, trying to find Elijah. She finally found his handsome face on the other side of the stage, where he stood leaning against the wall. She didn’t want to cut across so she made her way toward the back, passing a woman digging through her large purse with her head down, oblivious to the speech her father was making. Charity whispered, “Excuse me,” as she passed in front of her and continued her way around to Elijah. She had to move sideways as she made her way around several chairs set up near the walls by the dinner tables.

A loud crack erupted from somewhere near the back of the room as Charity squeezed by a chair. She jumped in surprise.
Did someone drop a crystal vase?
She had a millisecond of a moment to try and look just before something stung her just under her breast. Her hands tried to swipe the culprit—probably a bee—away. She stared at her hand in surprise.

It was covered in something red.

Blood. Her blood.

Chapter 18

Charity could feel herself falling to the ground as if in slow motion, but there was nothing she could do to stop. It was like gravity had taken hold and decided to suck her to the floor. Excruciating pain she had never experienced in her life spread throughout her body. It zapped her energy as if absorbing whatever strength she had and turned it into more agony.

“Help!” she tried to shout, but she was pretty sure it only came out as a hoarse whisper. Everything seemed to be in kind of a weird daze. She screamed inside her head. Then she knew she was going to pass out. She fought against the darkness, blinking and letting her eyes roll as she tried to find something to focus on. The lights were too bright and blurry; fuzzy round things kept blocking and then moving to flash more irritating light on her.

Something was pressing on her stomach, trying to bite her. She tried to brush it away but it pushed her hands aside and dug back in.
It’s a rat!
She knew that was wrong but the image of a mongrel rodent trying to eat her intestines filled her head. Where was she? What had happened?

Voices echoed around her and seemed incredibly loud. They gave her an instant headache.
Am I dying?

Something covered the light above her and descended closer to her face. She turned her head and clenched her teeth, terrified it would hurt her.

“Charity? Charity! Can you hear me?”

The soft voice was calm but she could sense panic behind it. Her eyes darted and rolled as she tried to focus on who was beside her.

“Charity, can you lie still for me? Try to stop thrashing.”

Elijah!
She recognized his voice. She cried when he touched her stomach. “What happened?” she whispered, glad he had kept his head close to hers so she didn’t have to try and talk louder. It was getting hard to breathe. Was he lying on top of her? It felt like something was on her left side. She closed her eyes, too exhausted to try and keep them open.

“Don’t you let go!” Elijah shouted, sounding farther away. “Charity! Focus! You’ve been shot. The ambulance is on its way.”

Shot? What?
She tried to open her eyes, but the effort seemed too much. She lifted her hand and felt his warm fingers grasp hers.

“I’m right here. I’m right beside you. I won’t leave you.” He leaned away and brightness flashed against the back of her eyelids. He barked out commands, but the words were so quick, she couldn’t keep up with what he said.

Something slid under her neck and wrapped tight under her chin. Then a hard, long plastic board pressed against her right side.

“On my three,” Elijah said. “One, two, three!”

She cried out when her body lifted slightly. Motion sickness washed over her. She could feel bile building in the back of her throat. She tried to move her head to the side in case she threw up, but it wouldn’t listen.

Everything hurt. The pain from her stomach, the weight on her left side, everything had become too much. Her body couldn’t fight it anymore. She felt her consciousness slipping toward the darkness and she finally let herself go.
Just for a moment,
she told herself.

An irritating beep kept ticking, grating on Charity’s ears. It was slower than a clock and not very loud, but it annoyed her nonetheless. She rolled away from the noise and a gasp exploded from her lips.

Pain shot out from around the side of her rib. It felt tight, like moving would pull it apart. She dropped to her back and slowly opened her eyes. When she opened her mouth she nearly fell back asleep. She tried to swallow and swore she had fallen asleep with cotton balls in her mouth.

“Hello, beautiful.” The voice spoke quietly from the side of her bed. She moved her head to the sound and squinted in the semidarkness. A warm hand gently pressed against hers.

Elijah.
She knew there wasn’t anyone else she would want to have beside her. A simple thought hit her. She had never realized it before but she knew it with certainty now. “Wa-Wa-ther. Pa-la-eeassse.” What had happened to her voice?

A straw pressed against her lips and she sucked back like the Sahara Desert finding a puddle. Too soon the little bit of water was gone. “More,” she begged.

Elijah chuckled. “Take it easy, girl. I’ll get you some ice chips.” He turned a light on above the bed.

Charity looked around.
What the hell?
She was in a hospital, the one in the bed! “What happened?” The room was the usual stark white but it was dark outside the windows. She lay in a single room.

Elijah walked around the bed and checked the monitor and machines. The beeping had been her heart rate. He moved the sheets and checked her side. She wore hospital pants and a shirt style gown top. He chuckled as she glanced down. “My idea. I figured you’d prefer this than the dress gown. Especially if your father came in to check the wound.” He grabbed a chart at the end of the bed and jotted a few things down. “Plus, I’ve seen you naked. No one else in this hospital is going to have that pleasure.”

She watched him, her brain breaking free of the fog hanging inside her head. He had a darker stubble shadow than normal and looked tired.

He smiled at her and sat on the edge of the bed. “You remember anything?” He handed her an ice chip from a cup and grabbed his phone. “I should text your dad. He’s upstairs, probably wearing out the hardwood floor in his office.”

She sucked the ice chip, letting the melted water moisten her throat. “The Dia-hom—” She didn’t have the energy to say it properly. She settled for what she knew he would understand. “The gala.”

He nodded and reached for her hand. “You were shot.”

She nearly choked on the last bit of ice in her mouth. She coughed and grimaced. Her side hurt. So she had nearly been killed. Who would do such a thing? Had they hurt anyone else? “Eff’ry one okay?” Her voice was getting better a tiny bit.

“Just you. No one else was hurt. The bullet entered above your stomach, just below your heart. Everything’s okay. You’re okay. Thankfully it didn’t hit any major organs, but it did collapse your lung. You’ve also got a couple of broken ribs. You’re very lucky.”

“Lucky? Someone shot me and I’m lucky?” She knew what he meant. She hadn’t died, but the words slipped out before her brain could process and tell her to keep quiet.

Elijah leaned over and kissed her forehead. “You’re going to be fine. It’ll require some rest and a short stay in the hospital here and then my place resting, but with those strong abs of yours and the crazy fight inside of you, you’ll be back to normal like nothing happened—with a new body mark.”

“A new tattoo would’ve been easier,” she joked and reached for his hand. Human instinct kicked in and she asked, “Who shot me?”

Elijah closed his eyes and sighed. “Mary.”

“Who’s Mary?” She hated the pained look in his eyes and wanted to take it away.

“The crazy one. The girl you made mad when you kissed me way back and then tried to get your father to think I was with her. She has some serious stability issues.”

“She tried to kill me?” It didn’t seem real. Why in the world would someone do that?

“According to the police, she’s been stalking both of us. She’s the one who stole my phone and hacked into my email. The pictures she sent were of her. They went to your account and some of my patients and associates.” He kissed her forehead. “It’s all over now. She’ll get some help, while rotting in jail.” He didn’t try to hide his disgust.

“She came to the gala to shoot me?” She knew she sounded like a broken record but she couldn’t wrap her head around what had happened.

“That’s exactly what she told the police. Two officers were here and asked me to make a statement. She’s a real mess. I had her rotated off my floor and my shifts after the whole fiasco before Christmas. I hadn’t seen her but other nurses came forward and told police that Mary had been acting very strange.” He hesitated a little too long.

“What else did she do?” It took all her energy to concentrate on his words. She could feel sleep teasing her consciousness.

Elijah rubbed the back of his neck. “She dyed her hair blonde. Police found her phone with hundreds of pictures of you on it. She’d been following you around online and personally. She contacted Alex and pretended to be you. She’d told him about the auction and then continued to talk to him after Valentine’s Day, still pretending to be you.”

Charity forced her eyes open, unaware they had shut. She couldn’t be sure if Elijah had said the words or if she had dreamed them.

“She needs help.” Charity had no idea why she was sympathizing for the woman. The girl had just shot her! “Who stopped her?” she asked, thinking back to the evening and trying to remember what had all happened. It all seemed jumbled together with black voids of confusion. She didn’t remember even seeing Mary that night.

“Someone at the door grabbed her the moment she shot and took her down.” He rubbed his eye. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.” She squeezed his hand and suddenly giggled. Probably because of the codeine or morphine or whatever drug they had pumped into her. “Crazy is as crazy does.”

He raised an eyebrow and watched her. “You drunk?”

“Feels kinda like it.” She closed her eyes, suddenly tired but paranoid the room might start spinning. She was glad when it didn’t. Elijah’s hand slipped out of hers and his weight shifted off the bed. “Elijah?” She didn’t want him to go.

“Yes?”

“I love you.” Where had that come from? She thought she was going to ask him to stay with her. She kept her eyes closed, terrified of what his face would betray or what his words would be.

She felt him lean in and press his lips softly against hers. “I’ve been in love with you since New Zealand. Glad you came around and after all the crazy shit, you still want me.” He kissed her again. “I’m going to find your dad. Get some rest and I’ll be back shortly.”

The door clicked shut and Charity let her body relax into the bed.
Since New Zealand?
Even when she ran away? After all her foolish stuff, maybe he was the crazy one. She smiled and let herself drift off to sleep. She couldn’t believe someone had shot her. But Elijah loved her? That trumped any shitty day.

It seemed only a moment later when she heard Elijah’s voice again. “Charity?” he said softly. “Your dad’s here.”

It took effort to get her eyes to flutter but they did not want to stay open.
Where’s Mom?
Strange that Elijah would be waking her to tell her that her father was here.
Couldn’t Dad tell me himself?
It took a moment for memories and timelines to click back into place. Tears stung from behind her eyelids and escaped out the side. Why was she so emotional? She was alive; she should be happy. That thought made her want to cry even more with a different type of tear.

Elijah squeezed her hand and his soft fingers brushed the wetness away from her cheeks. “You’re okay.”

A weight settled on the side of the bed but no touch followed it. Paper fluttered and slow steady breathing told Charity the person was not Elijah.
Dad
. She forced her eyes to open and focus. Her father sat reading her chart, his face unshaven. He wore reading glasses that Charity had never noticed before. He had changed from his tuxedo but his clothes looked rumpled. He looked… exhausted.

“You look worse than how I feel,” she whispered.

He pushed his glasses on top of his head and turned to her. “How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been shot.” She swallowed. Her throat was still as dry as a desert.

He smiled, his lips trembling slightly.

She reached for him and touched his forearm. It might have been the drugs or her exhausted body but she was tired. Tired of not connecting with her father. Her mother was gone and at this moment, she wanted her Dad. He needed her as well. How she had never realized it before made her wonder how she could be so blind. “I’m okay.” She glanced to the other side of the bed and found Elijah watching her. “Elijah says I’m going to be fine. He’s a good doctor. I know, because you hired him.”

Her Dad’s smile widened.

Charity wondered if that was the first compliment she had said to her father in a long, long time. “I’m sorry, Dad.” She remembered her little speech and his from the gala. They were going to be okay.

His eyebrows furrowed together. “Why? This wasn’t your fault. I’m the one who should be sorry.”

Elijah cleared his throat. “I’m the one who is sorry. This is my fault.”

Charity and her father both looked at Elijah and at the same time said, “You’re right.”

The surprise on Elijah’s face made both of them laugh.

“We’re kidding,” her father said.

Charity patted the bed for him to sit. “When I was a kid, we used to do that at the dinner table. My mom would say sorry, then I would, then my Dad would, and then we’d blame the last person. Family joke.”

Elijah sat down gently beside her, careful not to shift the bed and disrupt her stitches. “I think I could get used to that.”