скачать книгу бесплатно
“I got it,” Quinn said, and folded a quilt until it fit the space, then threw in the pillows and a blanket. “That should work.”
“You said you had a list?” Ryal asked.
Quinn took a paper and a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket. “I think this should cover it, but if it’s more, we’ll settle up when I get back.”
“Was Conrad hurt bad?” Ryal asked.
Quinn stopped.
Ryal didn’t know what was going on, but all expression had just disappeared from his brother’s face.
“I don’t know, but it won’t matter.”
Ryal sighed. “I didn’t mean it like—”
“Let it go, brother. It’s just me being me,” Quinn said softly. “I’d better hit the road.”
“Yeah. So…drive safe and we’ll see you soon.”
“You, too, and thanks for helping me out,” Quinn said.
As Ryal watched Quinn driving away, he had a sense that Conrad, whoever he was, was going to make a positive difference in his brother’s life.
* * *
As Quinn drove in one direction toward Fort Campbell, Ryal, Beth and the baby went the other way into Mount Sterling to fill Quinn’s list. Once they finished, they headed back to Rebel Ridge and took everything up to the cabin.
Beth washed and dried new sheets while Sarah played on a blanket nearby. Ryal pulled out the sofa that made into a bed and pushed some furniture around to accommodate it. As soon as the linens were ready, Beth made up the bed, adding an extra quilt at the foot in case of cool nights, then went to tell Ryal she had finished. She found him standing on the back deck with Sarah in his arms, looking out across the meadow.
“Hey, I’m ready if you two are,” Beth said, and kissed her baby girl, who was almost asleep.
Ryal slipped an arm around his wife, holding her a little longer and tighter than usual.
She sensed something was bothering him.
“Honey, what’s up?”
He shifted Sarah to a more secure spot on his shoulder, then looked back across the meadow. “I was remembering what happened here and how close I came to losing you.”
Beth leaned against his shoulder, the one without the baby. “It’s you we nearly lost, and all because you threw yourself over me when the house blew up.”
He shuddered. “If you had died, living without you wouldn’t have been possible.”
Beth cupped the side of his cheek. “But I didn’t. All that’s in the past, and look at what a beautiful place Quinn has made here.”
“Yeah, it suits him.”
“Because of the solitude?” she asked.
He nodded. “And the memories. This was Granddaddy Foster’s old homestead, remember? We loved coming here as kids. I think this is a good place for him to heal.”
Beth frowned. “Do you think he will? Heal, I mean.”
He shrugged. “He’s already healing, but who knows to what extent? War changes people. He’ll never be the same.”
“But he’ll be the best Quinn that this Quinn can be.”
Ryal smiled. “That’s for sure. He’ll never settle for less.”
Two
It had taken just under four hours for Quinn to reach Fort Campbell. Since it was the same hospital where he’d been sent after he was wounded and where he’d mustered out, he knew the base setup. He drove straight to the visitors’ center at Gate 4 to get a pass. Although he hadn’t been here in over three years, he had the weird feeling he’d never left.
The feeling persisted as he drove through the base, and the closer he got to Blanchfield Hospital, the more his anxiety grew. By the time he pulled into the parking lot the skin on his body felt tight and hot. He resented the anxiety. It made him feel weak, and weak was not an option. This was about Conrad, not him.
He got out of the car, checked the bed in the back one more time, making sure nothing had shifted out of place, and then made a call to Conrad’s doctor to let him know he was there. The doctor answered on the third ring.
“Dr. Franks.”
“Hello, Dr. Franks, this is Quinn Walker. I spoke to you a couple of days ago about having one of your patients, a Corporal Conrad, released to my care?”
“Yes, yes, I remember.”
“I’m here on base and in the parking lot at Blanchfield. How do I go about getting Conrad signed out?”
“Hang on a sec, let me check,” Franks said, and put him on hold.
As Quinn was waiting, a van drove up and pulled into a handicap parking space across from where he was standing. A woman got out, then circled the van and opened the side door. He glanced up just as a platform slid out, lowering a man in his wheelchair. Quinn’s gut knotted, and then he looked away, feeling guilty for being thankful that wasn’t him.
When Franks came back on the line, Quinn’s focus shifted.
“Mr. Walker, are you still there?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I remember you telling me you’d been a patient here before. Do you remember where Physical Therapy is located?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Conrad is there now. I’ll meet me you in PT in about fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll be there.”
Quinn dropped his phone in his pocket and headed into the hospital. Now that he was here, he was anxious to find out what he’d let himself in for.
He headed for the bank of elevators, refusing to make eye contact with the people in the lobby. When he got on the elevator, he quickly turned his back on the other occupants and stared at the door, waiting for it to open. It was as if the past three years had never happened and he was still on crutches, with healing burns and scars that screamed Look at me! He was startled not only by the anxiety that he felt but also the insecurity. This hospital was not a good place to be.
When he entered the physical therapy area, he was even more hesitant, eyeing the patients in various stages of rehabilitation. As he began scanning the room, looking for Conrad, he heard someone cursing.
Quinn smiled. He’d just found his comrade.
* * *
“Damn, damn, damn, that effing hurts!”
The physical therapist eyed the frown on his patient’s face. They had been working at this one exercise for nearly fifteen minutes and he knew Conrad was tired, but it took pain to get progress, and so he kept pushing, urging the wounded vet up and down a set of steps to stretch and strengthen the injured leg muscles.
“You know and I know that’s how you get better, so try again, okay?” the therapist said.
“Hell no, I’m not going to try. I’m going to do it!”
“Hey, Conrad, how’s it going?”
Mariah Conrad froze. That was a voice straight out of her past, a voice she’d never thought she would hear again. She looked over her shoulder, and then her heart skipped a beat.
“Oh, my God.”
Quinn grinned. “It has been a while, but I thought you would at least remember my name. It’s not God, it’s Quinn.”
Mariah blinked. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to get you.”
The physical therapist smiled at Mariah and patted her on the back.
“Since you have a visitor, we’ll call this session over. Just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll take you back to your room.”
Mariah nodded but couldn’t quit staring. A muscle in her leg was beginning to knot. She needed to sit down or move, but she couldn’t think past looking at Quinn’s face. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been so bloody and burned she’d been scared he wouldn’t make it, and when she’d never heard from him again, she had finally allowed herself to accept that he was out of her life. Then she remembered what he’d just said.
“You came to get me? What are you talking about?”
Quinn saw panic in her eyes and realized he hadn’t considered the possibility she would refuse him.
“I heard they were going to release you and thought you might like to spend a little R & R in the mountains with me.”
Mariah grabbed on to the step rails with both hands and then sat down to keep from falling.
“In the mountains—with a hillbilly?”
Quinn grinned. “Yeah, with a hillbilly.”
A surge of emotions ran through her. Without family to turn to, she’d been in something of a panic, wondering what was going to happen to her when they kicked her out of Blanchfield. Quinn was a godsend, but she was a long way from the woman she’d been and felt obligated to warn him.
“Are you sure? I don’t think you know what you’re getting yourself into. I’m a wreck. My honorable discharge just went through. I’m so screwed up the army doesn’t want me anymore.”
“That’s okay. I want you.”
She looked anxious, which was an emotion he never would have associated with her. The Conrad he’d fallen for had been a first-class grunt with a daredevil gene. Over the two years he’d known her, they’d made love in every isolated place they could find between Iran and Afghanistan. War had definitely kicked her butt, but he had to believe she was still in there. All she needed was peace and time to find her way back.
“Are you sure?” she asked again.
“I know exactly what I’m asking for. I’ve already cleared it with your doctor. Now it’s up to you. Are you going to come?”
She blinked back tears. “Yes.”
“Aces.”
She looked up. “Here comes my doctor.”
“Hey, Mariah. How’s it going?” Dr. Franks asked, and then eyed Quinn. “Mr. Walker?”
“Quinn, and yes, sir.”
Franks put a hand on Mariah’s shoulder. “Are you in agreement with being released to this man’s care?”
Mariah frowned. “In his care? What does that mean? I’m ready to be released on my own. I’m just going with him, right?”
Franks smiled. “Sorry. Poor choice of words.”
“Just so we understand each other,” Mariah muttered.
The doctor eyed Quinn. “Are you sure you’re ready for all that attitude?”
The red flags on Mariah’s cheeks were something Quinn had seen before. “All that and then some,” he said.
“Then I suppose we need to get some paperwork signed so you can get on the road. I believe you have a ways to go to get home, isn’t that right?” Franks asked.
Mariah looked up at Quinn. “How far?”
“Does it matter?” he asked.
She started to argue, then caught herself. She had nowhere else to go. Her shoulders slumped.
“No.”
Quinn held out his hand. “Trust me?”
She turned loose of the railing and grabbed his hand.
“Yes.”
The doctor waved at an orderly. “Let’s get Conrad back to her room so she can pack.”
* * *
Two hours and a ream of paperwork later, Quinn was in the parking lot, tucking a pillow beneath Mariah’s injured leg and then another under her foot to keep it elevated during the ride.
She was wearing sweatpants and a loose, army-issue T-shirt that had seen better days. In bright daylight the healing scar from the head wound she’d suffered was easier to see through the short dark curls of hair.
