Red Sky at Morning

Chapter

Sixteen

KERRY RUBBED HER hands and settled back against the wall, crossing her arms as she watched Dr. Steve fussing over Dar. It was cold in the emergency room, and she found herself wishing she had a sweatshirt.

Actually, she wished she wasn’t here at all, having to watch all the activity around Dar with a heavy, nervous knot in her stomach. Dr.

Steve had taken one look at her lover and sent them both straight to the hospital, with him driving right behind them.

What was worse was that Dar hadn’t protested. Even now, she was resting quietly on the padded rolling bed, with her eyes mostly closed as both doctor and nurses poked at her. That made Kerry realize whatever was wrong was serious, because otherwise she knew Dar would be pitching God’s own fit.

She wondered how Andrew and Ceci were coping out in the waiting room, where they’d reluctantly retired to wait after Andrew had carried Dar inside, an image that had imprinted itself on Kerry’s heart.“Kerry?”

Kerry jumped, then focused on Dr. Steve’s kindly face. “Oh, God.

Sorry.” She searched his eyes anxiously. “How’s she doing?”

“I’m guessing she feels like the turd end of a pig in a bog right about now,” the doctor told her. “She got herself real concussed there, and looks like she did more damage to her shoulder.”

“Oh.” Kerry’s brow knit. “Is she going to be okay?”

Dr. Steve patted her cheek. “Eventually, sweetheart,” he told her. “I need to get a CAT scan of that head, though. Would you mind going on in with her, just in case she realizes I’ve gone and stuck her inside a blinking white tube?”

“Sure.” Kerry felt a little better. “Anything I can do to help.”

THE CAT SCAN room was a short elevator trip away, and Kerry spent the moments gently rubbing her lover’s fingers as the blue eyes peered muzzily at her. “Hey, sweetie.”

“Ow,” Dar replied.

262 Melissa Good

“I know.” Kerry walked alongside the gurney as they exited the elevator and moved down the hallway. “Dar, honey, they need to take pictures of your head, okay?”

A groan.

“Yeah, I know, you hate that, but Dr. Steve really needs to see what’s going on in there,” Kerry told her. “So you just keep your eyes closed, and it won’t be that long, I promise.”

“Promise?” Dar mumbled.

“I promise,” Kerry repeated, as they rolled over to the big machine.

“Just keep your eyes closed, okay?”

“Okay,” Dar agreed. “Just stay here with me.”

Ooh. Kerry eyed the plethora of machinery, then her lover’s pale face. “Don’t worry, I will. I promise.” She took hold of Dar’s hand and squeezed into a corner, as much out of the way as she could manage.

The technician came over and glanced at her. “Ma’am, you can wait over there.” He pointed toward a low bench, giving her a friendly smile.

Dar’s fingers tightened on hers, and Kerry met the tech’s eyes squarely. “No, I can’t,” she said. “My friend here is extremely claustrophobic and has a concussion. You don’t want her freaking out.”

The man glanced at Dar, then at Kerry. “Okay,” he agreed cheerfully. “I can buy that. Just try to stay as clear of the machine as you can.”Kerry was pleasantly surprised by the easy capitulation. “Thanks.”

She relaxed. “I will.”

The tech, a young blond-haired man about Kerry’s age, expertly arranged Dar on the table and moved the machine to cover her. “Was she in a car accident?”

“Ah, no,” Kerry replied. “She...um...” Got hit in the head with a rifle?

No, you can’t say that. “It’s complicated.”

“Okay.” The tech signaled to his partner, who was behind a console. “Whatever you say. I never argue with a lady wearing two cell phones and three pagers.”

Kerry glanced down at her belt, then felt herself blushing. “Ah, yeah.” She heard the machine start humming and felt Dar’s grip tighten painfully. “I’m carrying for both of us right now.” She chafed Dar’s fingers. “Easy, Dar, I’m here.”

The grip lessened, just a trifle. “I’ll always be here,” Kerry whispered.

“OKAY.” DR. STEVE ENTERED the emergency room alcove they’d been assigned. Andrew and Ceci were standing on one side of Dar’s rolling bed, and Kerry was on the other, all of them attempting to comfort her. “Sweetie pie, you did quite a job on yourself.”

Dar had her eyes open a little more now, having been pumped full of several syringes of things. “Yeah?”

Red Sky At Morning 263

“Yeah.” Dr. Steve walked over and rested his hands on the bed.

“I’m admitting you.”

Dar grimaced.

“Ah, ah, ah.” The doctor shook his finger at her. “It’s all your own fault, young lady. If you’d have stayed at home and rested like I told you do, you’d still be there, and not here.”

Dar’s lips twitched into a scowl. “I had something I had to do,” she protested tiredly.

“Uh-huh, and now what you have to do is spend some time in here, letting me fix you,” Dr. Steve replied. “You have a concussion, honey, and there’s some swelling in there because of that. You’re not going anywhere until I’m sure that’s gone.” He touched the side of her head, which was dark with bruising. “And I’m calling in an orthopedic surgeon to look at your shoulder.”

Dar’s blue eyes popped wide open, but then, so did Kerry’s, Ceci’s and Andrew’s. “What?”

Dr. Steve put a finger on Dar’s nose. “What part of that wasn’t in American English? Now you relax, and let them take you upstairs and get you comfortable.” He patted his profoundly unhappy-looking patient’s arm. “Don’t give the nurses a hard time. I like the ones here, and you’ll give me a bad name if you do.” With that, he left, after giving Andrew a reassuring pat on the back.

“Shit,” Dar exhaled.

“Now, Dardar.” Andrew put a hand on her shoulder. “Just you relax, like Steve said, and get you some rest.”

“In here?” Dar eyed the white ceiling. “Not likely.”

Kerry actually smiled. “I never thought I’d be glad to hear you griping,” she admitted. “But I know it means you feel better, so I am glad.”

Dar eyed her. “Easy for you to say. You get to go home,” she grumbled. “I have to stay here and be poked, prodded, messed with, and put up with God knows what.”

Kerry exchanged glances with her in-laws. “Honey, I’m going to go give them your insurance card, okay?” she said diplomatically. “I’ll be right back.” She tweaked Dar’s toe, then left, passing through the divider curtains and letting them fall closed behind her.

DAR CLOSED HER eyes and counted to twenty. Then she counted to twenty again. Then she opened her eyes and found she was still in the hallway, waiting to be shoved into the elevator. She closed her eyes again.

Dar didn’t like frustration. She usually dealt with it in one of two ways: she got rid of it by getting rid of its source, or she went out and did something physical until the feeling of rage faded. At the moment, neither of those two options was available to her.

264 Melissa Good If she was being very honest with herself, it wasn’t the hospital she hated. The gurney started into motion with a jerk, and she opened her eyes to see the walls moving past. It was the lack of personal control over what was going on, and the fact that she was forced to allow strangers to invade her personal space and strip away her dignity.

Not to mention the damn gowns. Dar had let them put one on her, but she’d refused to remove her jeans, even after Dr. Steve had threatened her with a pair of surgical scissors. She still had them on now, providing extra warmth beneath the thin hospital sheet that covered her, smelling of bleach and antiseptic.

The elevator doors closed, and she listened to the nurse’s tuneless whistling as the car lurched into motion. That made her still-aching head hurt more, and she sighed, biting her tongue to keep from snapping at the man. The nausea had faded, and Dr. Steve had firmly strapped down her arm again, making the pain bearable; but the various aches and the aggravation were wearing very hard on her temper.

And Kerry had disappeared. Dar spent a moment glumly wondering if her cranky ill temper had finally pushed one button too many, even with her lover’s usual patience. The thought brought an irrational jolt to her chest as the fatigue wore down her defenses and let her darker insecurities surface.

Fortunately, she didn’t really have time to dwell on it, as the elevator doors opened and her porter pushed her out onto a relatively quiet hospital floor, with shoe-squeakingly clean floors and weave walls the color of road kill. Dar hated it immediately, especially when she was guided into a half-darkened room midway down the corridor.

“Here we are,” the man pushing her announced cheerfully. “Let me just swing you over here, and we’ll get you settled into this nice bed.”

Dar realized she was too tired to even be disgusted. She eyed the bed, then glanced around the room, realizing it was the only bed in it.

Could she have gotten that lucky? She’d been hoping, at the best, for either no room neighbor or a sleeping one. It was a fairly sizable room, too, with a wide bay window and a sort of padded daybed lounger near that, presumably for the patient to relax in.

Hmm. Maybe they were out of double rooms. Well, Dar wasn’t going to argue with that. Sharing the space was one thing she’d been truly dreading. She waited until the rolling bed was even with the stationary one and the nurse had lowered the rails, then before he could grab hold of her, she moved herself from one to the other in a single, fluid motion.

“Hey,” the nurse blurted. “Honey, I was going to help you.”

“I know,” Dar exhaled. “It’s okay.” The effort had exhausted her, and she lay back against the pillows and allowed the nurse to fuss with the blankets.

“Are you one of those really independent people?” The man’s voice was sympathetic. “I’m like that, too.”

Red Sky At Morning 265

Dar glanced at him. “Yeah, I guess I am,” she admitted.

“Well, you just take it easy, okay? They’ll take good care of you up here, even if you don’t want them to,” the nurse chuckled. “The floor nurse will be in soon to take your vitals and get your chart started, and then they’ll bring you up some dinner.” He checked a tag on Dar’s arm.

“They’ll probably want you to take your jeans off, too.”

Dar’s eyebrow edged up.

“Don’t let them intimidate you,” the man whispered, giving her a wink. “Sleep in ’em if you want.” He grinned and patted Dar’s leg, then made his way out of the room.

Hmm. Dar had to smile, just a little. Then she sighed and let her head fall back, her mind turning over vague worries and more concrete ones, like what the hell they were going to do with her shoulder. Her head turned, and she peered at her own arm in worried annoyance.

Then she looked around the room, which was depressing and silent.

Surprising how alone you can feel inside a busy place like a hospital. Dar closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment of shockingly pungent self-pity. She really didn’t want to be here.

She just wanted to go home.

KERRY PAUSED IN the doorway for a moment, watching the quiet figure lying on the bed. There was something so vulnerable about Dar, she almost didn’t want to walk in, for fear of startling her lover too badly. She took a breath, hesitating before she called out. “Hey.”

Dar’s head came up and she looked around, their eyes meeting with an almost palpable intensity. “Hey.” Dar managed a smile.

“Thought you went on home.”

Kerry walked over to the bed. “You thought wrong.” She eased the bag on her shoulder off and let it drop to the ground. “I’m not going anywhere.” She leaned on the railing, absorbing the look on Dar’s face.

“I’m staying right here with you.”

Dar felt a little ashamed. “Hey, you don’t have to do that,” she replied. “Not that I don’t appreciate the thought, but you need to go get some rest yourself.”

“No.” Kerry spoke the truth she felt in her heart and saw in Dar’s eyes. “Mom and Dad are going to stay at our place and keep Chino company.” She took Dar’s hand. “This is where I want to be, and you’re not convincing me otherwise, so just forget it.”

Dar’s eyes dropped to the blanket, then lifted again, filled with simple, yet poignant gratitude. “Thanks,” she said, softly. “I’m feeling pretty ragged right now.”

“I know,” Kerry replied. “Dr. Steve said some of that is from your concussion, and he knows you must be hurting a lot, but they can’t give you much for the pain because of your head.”

Dar nodded. “I figured that out.” She glanced around the room. “At 266 Melissa Good least it’s quiet in here, hmm?”

Kerry also looked around. “Yeah, not bad.” She nodded at the window. “Nice view.”

Dar studied her profile, seeing the slight tensing of the muscles on either side of Kerry’s mouth. “Did you arrange for this?”

Now the green eyes drifted around and met hers, and the hidden smile emerged fully, making those eyes twinkle. “Yes, I did,” Kerry replied. “And you’re in no condition to argue with me about it.”

Despite the aches and the pains and the aggravation, Dar suddenly felt much better. “You know something?”

“Hmm?” A blonde eyebrow raised in question.

“You’re better than ice cream.”

The smile turned into a broad grin, which wrinkled Kerry’s nose up and transformed her entire face. “There goes my life’s goal...now what do I do?” she laughed. “C’mon, tiger. Let’s get those jeans off. I brought your travel bag in, and it has real pajamas in it.”

Dar relaxed and accepted her fate. “Oho,” she remarked wryly.

“Now I know why you arranged for a private room.”

“Absolutely.” Kerry agreed with the banter. “You’re helpless and alone in my clutches here, and I can do whatever I want to you.” She removed one of Dar’s socks and tickled the bottom of her foot. “I am in total control.”

Dar snickered. “You know, Ker, that would be more effective if you didn’t have that cute little nose.”

A sigh. “I’d never be cast as a domineering world conqueror, huh?”

“No.” Dar muffled a laugh.

“Guess I’ll have to just make the best of it.” Kerry leaned over and bit her on the toe.

“Ooh.” Dar jumped, allowing herself to be absorbed into the play and forgetting for the time being where she was, and how she felt.

Which is exactly what Kerry intended.

THEY HEARD THE rumble of the dining cart long before it screeched to a halt somewhere near their door. Kerry glanced up from her laptop—which was open on, of all places, her lap—then set the machine aside and got up from the low couch.

After she’d changed into pajamas, Dar had dozed off, finally succumbing to the events of the day, leaving Kerry to work on sorting and organizing the data from the base. She was glad her lover had gotten some rest; the dark circles apparent under her very blue eyes had started to be worrisome, and she debated waking Dar up for the dinner she knew was on the way.

Dar forestalled her decision by stirring, and Kerry quickly crossed over to put a hand on her arm as her eyes blinked open and she looked around disorientedly. “Hey, it’s okay,” Kerry reassured her. “You just Red Sky At Morning 267

took a nap.”

“Ah.” Recognition flooded Dar’s face, and she flexed her hands.

“Yeah, guess I did. What time is it?”

“About six,” Kerry told her, looking up as an older woman dressed in Pepto-Bismol pink entered. “Dinnertime.”

“Hello.” The woman smiled at Dar. “Ready to eat?” She slid a tray onto the rolling bedside table and maneuvered it in front of her noncommittal patient. “Your doctor ordered you a regular diet, so we brought you something pretty standard. Tomorrow you’ll get a card, so you can order what you want, okay?” She had a kindly face and beautifully arranged silver gray hair.

“Anything?” Dar drawled, still half-asleep.

“Well,” the woman laughed, “anything on the card. My name’s Pam, and I’m here at nights. Give me a call if there’s anything you need while I’m up here. No guarantees, but I’ll see what I can do.” She waved at them, then left the room.

“Mm.” Kerry leaned on the railing. “What a nice lady.”

Dar fingered her silverware and studied the plastic tray and its contents with wary suspicion. “The guy who brought me up here was nice, too. Did you arrange for that, while you were at it?” She smiled at Kerry.

Kerry chuckled, but shook her head. “No.” She lifted the cover off the tray and allowed steam to escape. “Ah. Chicken.”

“Yes, chicken,” Dar agreed, examining it. “But on the bright side, those are sort of mashed potatoes, aren’t they?” She poked at them.

“So they are,” Kerry said. “They even brought peas, your one concession to vegetables,” she noticed. “And Jell-O.”

“I like Jell-O,” Dar allowed. “You think it’s strawberry?”

Kerry selected a jiggling cube and put it into her mouth experimentally. “Yeth.”

“Eh.” Dar stabbed the half-chicken with her fork. “Considering the last thing I had to eat in a hospital, this isn’t too bad.” She managed to rake a bit of the white meat off and tasted it. It was fairly bland, but not as dry as she’d expected, and she found it tolerably edible. “Mm.”

“Here.” Kerry held her hand out. “Let me borrow your fork and knife, and I’ll cut that up for you. Must be a pain trying to do it one-handed.”

Dar hesitated, then handed the implements over. “Yeah.” She busied herself with the cup while Kerry leaned over and sawed industriously at her main course. “On the other hand...” Dar found a very tasty-looking bare shoulder very near by. She licked it.

“Yipe!” Kerry jumped. “Oh...Jesus, Dar. I had no idea what that was.”

Dar nibbled the soft skin, breathing in the warm, clean scent of her lover with a sense of quiet pleasure. “Mm. Much better than chicken.”

Kerry put the knife and fork down and responded, sliding a hand up to rest against Dar’s cheek as she found the exploring lips, tasting a 268 Melissa Good hint of the chicken on them, and the sweet tang of the apple juice Dar had taken a sip of.

Boy, that felt good. Kerry lost herself in the moment, tuning out everything to concentrate on how smooth Dar’s skin was, and just how wonderful it was to kiss her. After a moment they parted and gazed into each other’s eyes. Kerry was very conscious of how unsteady her breathing was. “Mm.”

Dar’s eyes reflected a quiet passion of her own. “To hell with dinner,” she murmured softly, running her fingers down Kerry’s shirt and finding a gap in the buttons.

“Um.” Kerry glanced up. “We’re in a hospital, honey.”

“So?” Dar defeated the button and smiled as she felt Kerry respond to her touch, pressing her body forward against her exploring fingers.

“You did ask for a private room.” She leaned forward a little and kissed her lover again.

“You’re hurt.” Kerry’s breath whispered against Dar’s lips.

“This makes me feel much, much better,” the ready argument came back at her.

“The door’s open,” Kerry feebly parried.

“We’re not in the cardiac care unit.”

Kerry found herself walking a fine line, her body’s overwhelming craving warring with her conscience and the knowledge that a legion of censorious nurses could walk in at any moment. Well, a few more seconds of this can’t hurt.

And it didn’t. She ended up half sitting on the bed, both arms around Dar’s neck and Dar’s arm around her waist.

Then a loud crash occurred outside, and they stopped, separating a little and looking at each other. “Did we cause that?” Kerry asked nervously.

“Why don’t you look?” Dar answered.

Look? Kerry imagined turning her head to see a doorful of people staring back. “Nuh-uh. You look.”

“Me?” Dar remained where she was, looking intently into Kerry’s eyes. “You sure?”

She was getting lost again, this time in those rich blue pupils, wanting nothing more than to lean forward and take up right where she’d left off. Her body was craving it now, Dar’s hand moving slowly, teasingly across the fabric of her jeans, pausing to pluck lightly at the seams.

Footsteps clacked nearby, though. Kerry swallowed and got her breathing under control, then released one arm so that she was merely perched on the bed. Dar’s hand captured hers and they twined fingers, letting out twin sighs as the footsteps hurried past, and she caught a glimpse of a white-and-blue uniform go by.

“That was fun.” A tiny, mischievous glint danced in Dar’s eyes.

“Bet it’s quieter here later on.”

Red Sky At Morning 269

Kerry’s nostrils flared. “Oh.” She let out a faint laugh. “I hope so.”

They both looked at the tray. “Chicken, huh?” Kerry picked up the fork and stabbed a piece, then offered it to Dar. “If you share, I’ll go get a pizza later.”

Dar munched contentedly. “Deal,” she agreed.

“HOW’S IT GOING?” Ceci’s voice crackled softly over the phone at Kerry’s ear. “Andy’s been pacing for hours, so I hope Dar’s gotten more rest than he has.”

“I think she’s okay,” Kerry murmured, casting an eye over her sleeping partner. Dar had half curled onto her side and was resting comfortably, the blankets tucked up around her shoulders as the soft night-light threw shadows over her strong, planed features. “She’s been sleeping for a little while.”

“That’s a first,” Ceci chuckled. “I’d have thought she’d be climbing the walls by now.”

“No.” Kerry stretched and leaned back. “We had dinner, then we, ah, talked for a while. The nurses came in and took readings and stuff; then I got her to lay down. She’s been fine.” The medical attention hadn’t gotten Dar too upset, really. Her blood pressure had been low, she’d had no temperature—she’d even smiled at the nurse.

Of course, Kerry had felt pretty relaxed by then, too. A smirk appeared on her face.

“No signs of anything with the concussion?” Ceci asked. “She’s alert, and all that?”

The smirk widened. “Oh yeah. She’s um...very aware.”

“Good.” Dar’s mother sighed. “Last time she had a concussion, she was in a fog for two whole days, and she scared the—” Ceci abruptly fell silent. “Listen to me. You’d think I was—”

“Her mother or something?” Kerry finished warmly.

Ceci sighed. “I’m glad you’re there for her, Kerry.”

“Me, too,” came the soft reply. “I’m not sure which one of us is benefiting more, though. I know I’d be really unhappy if I wasn’t camping out with her.” Kerry checked her watch. Eleven-thirty. She wondered if she could get comfortable on the little couch, wishing she’d brought something useful like a sleeping bag to make the furniture more bearable. “How’s Chino?”

“Bouncing,” Ceci replied. “But now that we know Dar’s all right, maybe she’ll settle down if Andy does.” A low rumble moved closer.

“Honey, she’s fine. Kerry said she’s asleep, and there’s no problem.” A rustle.

“Kumquat?”

Kerry grinned. “Yes, Dad?”

“Dardar’s not giving you any fuss?”

“Nope,” Kerry assured him. “She’s been a model patient.”

270 Melissa Good

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Better bring her ice cream tomorrow as a reward, don’t you think?” Kerry teased. “She’s being such a good girl.”

Andrew chuckled. “Glad to hear that, Kerry. We’ll be there, don’t you worry. I got something I need to take care of early, then we’ll be down.”

Kerry’s ears pricked up, but she hesitated, not wanting to ask questions over the hospital’s phone lines. Time enough tomorrow to ask him, when they were face to face. “Okay. See you then.”

“All right,” Andrew said. “Tell Dardar...” He hesitated.

“Tell her you love her? Sure.” That was an easy one. Kerry said goodbye and put the phone back in its cradle, then she got up and reviewed her little couch. It wasn’t like she was a giant or anything, either, Kerry reasoned. At all of five foot six, surely she had to fall into the wide part of the bell curve.

Yet the padded couch seemed barely large enough to lie down on, much less to accommodate her admittedly restless mode of sleeping.

“I’m going to end up on the floor,” she murmured. “I just know it.” But it was all she had to work with, unless she wanted to cut to the chase and take up residence on the chilly tile. She cast a glance over her shoulder. Or crawl into bed with Dar, and give the nurses a real shocker in the morning.

Mm. Her body liked that idea. Kerry rubbed her temples and firmly turned her thoughts elsewhere. But in a moment, she found herself standing at Dar’s bedside, her hands resting lightly on the railing that fenced her partner in. She reached over and gently moved a lock of disheveled black hair, stroking its silky smooth texture and letting it tangle around her fingers.

She felt more peaceful, Kerry realized, just being close to Dar, and she spent a few minutes idly wondering why. Was it just because Dar’s sleeping expression was so relaxed? There were none of the usual tensions that characterized her expression—the slight narrowing of her eyes and bunching of her jaw muscles that made Dar appear restlessly alert all the time.

Not now. Kerry could see only the faintest motion of her eyes under their lids and wondered what her lover was dreaming of. She gazed down for another moment, then she walked over to the heavy visitor’s chair and picked it up, putting it down right next to the bed. Okay. She lowered the guard rails, then sat down and rested her arm on the bed, putting her chin down on it and reaching up to circle Dar’s slack fingers with her own.

They were clasped instinctively, a welcome warmth that made her smile. She decided to just rest here a minute, then get up and try to get comfortable on her torture couch. Kerry closed her eyes, smiling a little when she felt Dar’s breath warming the skin on her forearm. Mm. That felt nice.

Yeah.

Red Sky At Morning 271

DAR WAS CHIEFLY aware of a lot of things aching as she hauled herself out of a deep sleep and responded to her body’s nagging crankiness.

Ow. She had a headache that would have felled a bison in its tracks, and her arm and shoulder felt like they’d been forced into a bad position for several days. Grumpily, she opened one eye, blinking as the fuzzy surroundings very slowly came into focus.

Ah. Dar had to smile despite the discomfort. Kerry was slumped against the bed, holding her hand, fast asleep. In the room, the first pale light of dawn was starting to show through the windows, but otherwise it was dark, save for the dim night-light above them.

But there was enough light for Dar to distinguish the curve of Kerry’s cheek, covered in fine, soft down. Light enough for her to see the delicate gold eyelashes. Light enough to catch the faintest hint of a smile tugging at one corner of her mouth.

What an amazing thing love was, Dar thought. It even drove you to do really dumb things like sleep leaning against a set of metal railings.

Oh, she’s gonna regret this when she wakes up. “Ker?” Dar squeezed the fingers clasped in her own. “Hey, chipmunk.”

“Uh?” Kerry murmured. “Dar?” She stirred, then shifted. “Ow.”

Her eyes opened in surprised displeasure. “What in...augh. I can’t believe I did that,” she hissed. “Jesus!”

“Easy, sweetie,” Dar laughed softly. “Stand up slowly.” She released Kerry’s hand and eased over onto her back, grabbing hold of her lover’s shoulder as she tried to straighten up. “Easy.”

“Son of a...” Kerry managed to get upright, her legs and back cramping like all get-out. “Oh my God, how stupid was that.” She leaned on the bed and groaned. “And wouldn’t the nurses have just loved walking in here.”

Dar ruffled her hair, then rubbed the parts of her within reach. “Ah, they’d live,” she disagreed. “Now, if they found you in bed with me...”

She grinned.

Kerry looked up, grinning back rakishly from between very disordered bangs. “Oh, I was tempted,” she admitted. “That’s how I ended up over here. I just came over to, um...” She met Dar’s eyes and felt suddenly shy. “Anyway, I sat down for a minute, and whammo.”

She fell silent, and her gaze dropped to the mussed sheets.

Dar watched her. “Ker?”

“Mm?”

“Thanks for staying,” Dar said. “It would have been such a nightmare for me if you hadn’t.” She waited for Kerry to look up.

“Literally.”

Kerry gazed at her. “Why?” she asked. “No one likes being in the hospital, Dar, but they’re not that bad, really.”

Dar shifted and settled her arm in a less uncomfortable position.

She found herself studying the ceiling, its tiled surface bearing tiny 272 Melissa Good pockmarks, barely visible to her. “I fell out of a tree when I was little.”

Her tone was quiet and casual. “They thought I’d cracked something, so they took me up to Baptist and had my head X-rayed.”

Kerry put a hand on Dar’s arm in silent comfort.

“They decided to keep me overnight, and they put me in a room with a real nice gal, an older woman,” Dar went on. “She was funny.

Decided to spend the night telling me stories; had grandkids of her own, I guess.” She paused and thought, then went on. “I woke up in the middle of the night, and looked over, and I—” Dar stopped, staring off into the distance.

Kerry waited.

“I knew something was wrong,” the quiet voice went on finally. “I got out of bed and went over, and I realized she was dead.”

It was like getting hit in the gut, hard. Kerry hadn’t expected this, hadn’t expected an answer to her question that even remotely resembled this. “Sweetheart.” She barely whispered the word.

“I think I started screaming,” Dar murmured.

Kerry didn’t give a damn about the nurses. She hauled herself up onto the bed and put her arms around Dar, pulling her close and hugging her. “Lord.”

Dar let her head lay against Kerry’s chest, reliving the moment.

Even all these years later, she could still feel the terror, the unreasoning fear that had haunted her dreams for a very long time after.

She remembered the nights she’d been afraid to go to sleep, terrified that she’d wake in the middle of the night and go in search of her parents, only to find them cold and stiff and staring. Dar drew in a shaky breath. It still shook her, even now. “Guess it made an impression.”

Kerry stroked her hair gently. “How old were you?”

“Five or six,” Dar replied, blinking. She was surprised to feel a tear roll down her face. “Silly, I guess, to even think about it now.”

“No.” Kerry closed her eyes and held on, kissing Dar’s head, then laying her cheek against the spot. “Not silly.” She felt her throat closing up, her entire body hurting for the child Dar had been, wanting to go back in time and be in that place, at that time, to hold Dar just as she was now and chase the fear away.

Dar allowed herself to accept the safety of that embrace. The ghost of that night lurking inside her loosened its hold, and as she reached up and clasped Kerry’s arm, she felt the terror unwind and drift away into the dawn’s breaking.

Silence settled peacefully over them.

They did, in fact, surprise the nurses.

ANDREW ROBERTS WALKED down the hallway, dodging sleepy interns pushing carts of equipment at a far slower pace than Red Sky At Morning 273

his rolling stride.

It was early, he reckoned, before the visiting hours of the hospital; but if there was one thing Andrew had learned in all his years of service it was that if you acted like you knew what you were doing, folks tended to leave you be.

Since he knew where he was, and knew where he was going, sure

’nough, nobody did ask him what he was doing in the hospital so early.

Exchanging gruff nods with a security guard, he went past the nurses’

station and down the next corridor toward one specific door set among many up and down the hall.

As to why he was there? Andrew circled around a laundry cart.

Well, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Kerry to keep an eye on his daughter—he surely did; it was just that he knew how Dar felt about being inside these damn places and it never hurt to make sure.

Did it?

At the doorway he’d identified as Dar’s, there were two nurses standing and staring inside the room, and Andrew found his heart starting to go double time as he came up behind them. “Somethin’ not right here?”

The women jumped, and one simply turned and left. The other looked up at Andrew’s towering height. “Oh, sir, visitors are not allowed now.” She started to take his arm to lead him away, glancing over her shoulder into the room. “Excuse me now—”

“Ah, ah.” Andrew simply stood still, knowing the petite nurse wasn’t going to be pulling his six-foot-four-inch bulk anywhere. He glanced into the room anxiously, then let out a chuff of relief when he spotted the two figures snuggled together on the bed. “Would you just lookit that.”

“Sir.” The nurse pulled on his arm with complete ineffectiveness.

“Please.”

“Chill yer jets.” Andrew turned his head and regarded her. “You got something you need doing, g’wan. I can wake these here kids up.”

The woman stopped tugging. “You can?” she asked. “Oh. Would you? This is a situation we’re just not willing to get involved in.”

One of Andrew’s grizzled eyebrows lifted. “Waking folks up?” he queried. “Damndest thing I ever heard. That malpractice stuff must be hitting you all pretty fierce.”

“M—ah, no, no.” The nurse gave up. “Excuse me.” She turned and left, quickly walking away toward a door marked “Nurses Lounge.”

Andrew watched her go, then he scratched his jaw thoughtfully before shrugging and returning his attention to the room. He stepped inside with utmost quiet and padded over to the bed, spending several moments just watching his children sleep.

Then, with a rakish grin, he pulled a camera out of the pocket of his pullover and opened it, examining the controls carefully before he put it to his eye and allowed the gizmo to focus. When he had the scene 274 Melissa Good properly adjusted, he released the shutter and heard the click and whirr of the camera operating. After a second, he pulled it down and reviewed the LCD screen on the back, examining the digital image.

“Huh.”

He shook his head, then closed the camera up and tucked it away before moving closer to the bedside. His daughter was curled half onto her side, with her head pillowed against Kerry’s chest, with both of Kerry’s arms wrapped around her.

Andrew felt a smile pull at the skin on his face, still stiff after all the scarring and the surgery. Hospitals weren’t his favorite place, either, but to be honest, he’d spent more time in them than Dar had. Even now, after all the work they’d done, he knew the scars were still damn ugly to look at, and he was conscious of that even with Ceci.

God bless her, she never so much as flinched, even at the worst of it, but it didn’t stop Andrew from remembering the averted eyes or open stares of others.

Like them nurses had been staring, only they’d been looking inside this here room. Andrew laid his big hands on the railing. Looking at something so beautiful made his heart ache, having seen so much hate in his lifetime that love could only be exquisitely beautiful to him.

Very gently, he put a hand on Dar’s shoulder. He kept his voice low. “Paladar.”

Dar’s eyes quivered, then blinked open, the dark brows over them contracting as she tried to place where and when she was. She turned her head and peered up at him, then realized why it was so nice and warm, and promptly turned the heat up by blushing a deep, vivid crimson. “D—”

Andrew had to chuckle. “Dardar, I ain’t seen you turn that color since I done caught you skinny-dipping out at that waterhole when you were ten.”

“Erk.” Dar’s throat issued an adolescent squeak.

It was enough to wake Kerry up, though, and she also gazed at Andrew with sleepy eyes for a few seconds before her brain booted and nearly caused her to fall off the bed. “Uh...Hi, Dad,” she managed to cough out.

“Hi there, kumquat,” Andrew responded amiably. “You look right comfortable.”

Kerry looked at Dar, who was still doing her best McIntosh apple imitation. “Sorry, honey,” she apologized weakly. “Didn’t mean to do that.”Dar sighed and rubbed her heated face with her good hand. “S’all right,” she said. “Could have been worse.” She glanced at her father.

“Morning.”

“Morning, Dardar,” Andrew said. “I’d ask how y’all were feeling,

’cept I figure you look pretty good to me just now.”

A weak laugh forced its way out of Dar’s throat as she untangled Red Sky At Morning 275

herself from Kerry’s embrace. She rolled over onto her back as her lover slid out of bed and straightened her T-shirt with as much dignity as she could muster.

Which, to be honest, wasn’t much.

“What was your question again?” Dar finally asked, running her fingers through her mussed hair. “Oh, right. How do I feel.” Slowly, she straightened out her body and flexed her arm. The results mildly surprised her. “Better than yesterday,” she said, lifting a hand to touch the lump on the back of her head. It seemed to have gone down some.

“Yeah, headache’s not so bad, and my arm hurts less.”

Andrew gave her an approving look. “Good to hear.” Kerry had snuck into the restroom with her overnight bag and was apparently utilizing the sink there with a good amount of vigor. “Had me a little worried yesterday.”

Dar tensed her lips, then shrugged. “What a botched event that was,” she exhaled. “A total screw-up, and it was my fault.”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Git yer head out of that there bucket of whup, Paladar,” he scolded. “You ain’t responsible for them folks, and you know it.”

Dar shook her head. “I should have found out more about what was going on. One of our people could have really gotten hurt in there.” She pulled herself up a little straighter. “I should have checked first.”

Andrew looked around, then leaned over and smoothed the dark hair out of his daughter’s eyes with a gentle hand. “Don’t beat yourself up, Dar. Y’all are gonna make me start beating up my mah own head,

’cause sure as the day is long, I should have figgured what was up when we got there, don’t you think?”

Dar looked at him thoughtfully.

“Them people just knew how to use a diversion when they had one, all right?” Andrew went on. “Now we got to get them pieces back together so none of them dirty dogs gets off.” He waited for Dar to nod, and she finally did. “Good girl. I’m going to take a ride down there and see what I can figure out.”

Dar lodged what she knew was a futile protest. “You don’t have to.

Let me have Gerry handle it, Dad.”

“You saying I ain’t up to this?” Andrew asked.

“No.” Dar felt very off center. “I’m not saying that.”

“Good.” Andrew patted her arm. “You take it easy now, Dardar.

Keep an eye on that kumquat of yours. Make sure she gets some breakfast, all right?” He waved and started out before Dar could say a word, disappearing around the corner of the door with stealthy speed.

Dar stared at her bare feet, sticking out from under the mussed covers, and wiggled her toes. It was not starting out to be a very organized day.