“I’ve got it.”
Jonas fought her for a minute. He probably
wasn’t really hungry, just upset, but finally he decided to give in
and suckled noisily, tears still streaming from his eyes. Beth
waited for Lily to ask what had happened, but she didn’t.
The door to the exam room opened and Dale
stepped out. “I want to take her to the city, so she can get a
CAT-scan. I think she’s concussed pretty good, and she’s broken her
clavicle.” He tapped his own collarbone. “But I want to get you
stitched up real quick.”
“We don’t have insurance,” Beth blurted, then
glanced at Lily.
“I’m sure they’ll figure out something. I’ll
set the bone, and get her wrapped up, but that head injury—and the
fact that she was unconscious—worries me. Now come on. I need to
look at you.”
“She’s dizzy, too,” Lily piped up.
Dale’s brow furrowed further. “All right.
Let’s have a look.”
But he didn’t take her in the same room where
Linda was, which made her anxious.
“Is Jonas hurt?” he asked softly, guiding her
to sit on the paper-covered exam table.
“No. he was in his crib. He’s just
upset.”
“Your father hit you before?”
“Never. He would get drunk and pass out, but
not this. He didn’t really hit me this time, only shoved me and I
fell.”
“But Linda he hit. I can see the imprint of
his hand on her face. Don’t defend him, Beth.”
“I’m not.” But she realized that was how it
sounded. “I didn’t mean to. But no, he’s never hit us before.” And
now Linda was going to have to go to the hospital, and God knew
what that would cost. Would this never end?
He drew her hand down from her face gently,
and inspected the gash, then reached behind him for an antiseptic
cleanser. She sat quietly while he cleaned, then threaded a needle
just out of her line of sight.
“I’m going to numb the area,” he said. “It’ll
sting, but you’re going to need about seven stitches here.”
She made a sound of assent, winced when he
gave her the numbing shot, then sat as still as she could, gripping
the edge of the exam table as she felt the tug of the needle
through her skin. He placed a gauze pad over it, then taped it in
place.
“I’m going to give you some ibuprofen now,
then I’ll write you something stronger when we’re at the hospital
and you can get it filled there.” He hesitated before he opened the
door. “I should have gone home with you and made sure everything
was all right.”
“You had no way of knowing. Neither did I. I
haven’t seen him in years. But we should go, get Linda to the
hospital.”
He looked like he wanted to say something
else, but instead opened the door and led the way out.
Beth sat at the foot of her sister’s hospital
bed, her stomach in knots. The doctors wanted to keep her overnight
for observation, and Lily had agreed to take care of Jonas for the
night. Beth had written out specific instructions—because when was
the last time Lily was even near a baby? But that wasn’t what was
stressing her out now. Once again, money was the culprit. How was
she going to pay for this? How was Linda going to take care of
Jonas and work at Quinn’s with a broken collar bone? And the
CAT-scan…she’d pestered Dale until he told her what it cost. Just
hearing the number made her stomach twist up. He’d also told her
that her father had been taken to jail overnight to sober up, but
would be released today, unless she pressed charges. On one hand,
she worried he’d bother them again if she didn’t press charges. But
if she did press charges and he got out—he would be pissed. So she
wouldn’t press charges and hoped his guilty conscience would keep
him away.
A pair of nurses paused in the open door, saw
Beth, dipped their heads, then hurried away.
What the hell was that about?
When the doctor came in a bit later, she did
a double-take before turning to inspect Linda’s injuries. She
assured Beth the girl would be fine, and hurried out.
Not until a young nurse came in did Beth
learn the cause of their strange behavior.
“So you’re seeing Maddox Bradley?” the girl
asked cheerily as she checked Linda’s monitors.
“What?” How did she know that?
“You’re the girl on the cover of Persons of
Interest, right?”
Everything in Beth turned to ice. “I’m on the
what?”
“The cover of Persons of Interest. Haven’t
you seen? Let me go get it for you.”
Beth’s brain was scrambling when the girl
disappeared. On the cover? How had that happened, so quickly? Was
that how her father had known about her and Bradley?
Moments later, the young nurse, Gloria,
returned with the magazine, staring at the cover. She flipped it
around and Beth’s stomach dropped. The cover was a collage of
pictures—one of Beth waiting tables, another of the two of them
standing at the bar, heads together, another grainy one she
couldn’t make out, all around a huge picture of Maddox pinning her
to the side of Quinn’s bar, kissing her senseless.
“Ohhhh.” She snatched the magazine from
Gloria’s hands and stared. She looked past the glaring white
words—“Has Maddox Bradley Found Love?” to the fourth picture—a
long-distance shot looking into Maddox’s lake house from the lake
and showing a grainy photo of Maddox trying to carry her up the
stairs.
“So, wow, you two have a real history.”
“What?” Beth dragged her gaze from this—this
horror and gaped up at the girl. Lord, she felt like a dimwit,
asking question after question.
“There’s an interview in there that tells all
about your love when you were kids, how he left you behind to
follow his dream, how you never got over your broken heart.”
Beth snapped her jaw shut so hard her teeth
clicked. Interview—who had been interviewed? Instead of asking
another question like an idiot, she flipped the magazine open to
find more pictures, some older ones of Maddox, a few of Beth by
herself, and one of Maddox and Beth hot and heavy in his truck.
She scanned the page, saw the words, “a
source close to the couple,” and frowned. Who? Who had laid her
life open? The young nurse was forgotten as she read the article,
about her “forbidden love” with Maddox, as the story painted her as
the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. The story portrayed
them more as Romeo and Juliet, declaring that her father had
prohibited her from seeing Maddox. It stated that Beth sneaked out
to be with him, and after a pregnancy scare, Maddox fled, never to
return.
“Who—none of this is true. Who told them
this?” Beth demanded, looking up at poor Gloria, who of course had
no answer.
“I did,” came a soft voice from the bed.
Beth whipped her head around to look at her
sister, who struggled to sit up, pushing her weight with her good
arm. Beth dropped the magazine and hurried to her sister’s side,
stroking her hair back from the bandage above her ear, looking into
her eyes, searching for pain.
“Are you all right? Do you hurt?”
“A little. Where’s Jonas?”
Relief poured through Beth and she sank onto
the bed beside her sister, taking the girl’s good hand in hers.
“With Adam and Lily. You scared me, kid.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Beth stroked her hair again. “It’s okay. It’s
okay. We’ll go home in a little bit.”
“Dad?”
Beth’s stomach clenched again. “In jail.
We’ll figure something out.”
“I’ll be getting the money.”
Beth frowned. “What?”
“I’m getting the money from the interview. I
thought they’d pay me cash, you know, and I could send it to Dad
and he’d leave us alone. But they’d only pay check, and after the
article was printed, so the check should be here any day. But you
can cash it and give it to him and he’ll go away.”
Beth tightened her grip on her sister. “He
hurt you. He needs to suffer.”
Linda shook her head, then winced at the
pain. “I just want him to go away and leave us alone. Please, Beth,
just let him go.”
That was Beth’s instinct, too, but she wasn’t
going to make this decision alone.
Wow. She hadn’t even realized she’d decided
that. She couldn’t remember the last time she consulted someone
else about a decision, but she thought she’d talk to Adam and Quinn
before she acted.
“You talked to one of the reporters?”
Linda’s face reddened and she lowered her
gaze. “Viveca, yes.”
“Why did you lie?”
Linda rolled her eyes, old Linda, thank God.
“Your story is boring. I didn’t think they’d pay me if I told them
the truth.”
“And you didn’t think about my privacy, or
Maddox’s.”
“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d care if it
meant getting Dad off our backs.”
“Linda, Viveca asked you for the interview
because I said no.”
Linda’s jaw set stubbornly. “It doesn’t
matter. The story is out. People don’t care that it’s not
completely true. They’re mostly interested in what’s going on
now.”
Beth opened her mouth, but then saw the dark
shadows under her sister’s eyes, the pain in them. As upset as she
was about the loss of privacy, this could wait. Right now, she was
just happy her sister was alert. “I’ll see about getting the doctor
to come release you.”
Beth walked out of the room, her head
whirling. For a moment, she thought she saw Maddox in the distance,
striding down the hall, but that was ridiculous. He was in
Nashville, and honestly, she’d never seen him move so fast. She
turned her attention to the nurse’s station, only to feel strong
hands grip her shoulders and spin her around. She tensed, and then
looked into the dark eyes of Maddox Bradley.
He sucked in a breath when he saw the bandage
at her temple, and touched his fingertips to it gingerly. “What are
you doing up? You should be taking care of yourself, damn it.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her
heart in the vicinity of her throat, and not just because he’d
startled her. He looked so good, travel rumpled in a denim shirt
with the sleeves rolled up, jeans belted at his narrow hips, his
hair mussed by his hand running through it.
“Quinn called and said you were hurt. I got
here as soon as I could.”
“Maddox, you have a concert the day after
tomorrow.”
“I’m aware. Jesus, I’ll kill him. He’s still
in jail, isn’t he?”
“For now. Maddox.” She didn’t know what else
to say, couldn’t wrap her mind around him coming back, couldn’t
believe she’d wished he was here, and here he was. “How did you get
here?”
“Private jet to Brainerd, rented a car. How’s
Linda?”
“Concussion and broken collar bone, but she’s
awake now and I’m ready to take her home.”
He gritted his teeth and looked past her
toward Linda’s room. “And Jonas?”
“With Lily. You didn’t need to come,
Maddox.”
He looked past her to the audience of nurses
they’d gathered, then took her arm and eased her around the corner
by the snack machines, where he pulled her against him, one hand
stroking her hair. His sigh of relief said it all, and she felt
herself relax. Maddox was here. He’d come for her, because he loved
her. Just like he’d promised. She folded her arms around him for a
moment and let her head rest against his shoulder.
He drew back a little to look into her eyes.
“Your dad never used to hit you.”
“I know.” She closed her eyes against the
image of his father striking her sister and resisted the urge to
lift her fingers to the sores on her scalp where he’d pulled her
hair out.
Maddox’s lips set in a grim line. “You’re
pressing charges, right?”
“I just want him to go away.”
“He’ll just come back.”
She knew that. She pushed against his arms
and he released her, reluctantly. “I need to talk this over with my
brother and sister.”
He nodded. “I’ll be there, too, and Quinn.
Christ, Beth. He told me what he found. Thank God Linda had the
presence of mind to call Adam.”
She nodded, tears filling her eyes at the
memory of the fear. “I couldn’t figure out who she was talking to.
She pretended it was you.” Slowly that fear was subsiding. She
couldn’t believe it. “Will you take us back to Bluestone? I don’t
have a car.”
He touched her bandage again. “Sweetheart,
I’ll take you wherever you need to go.”
They turned the corner to see the nurses
still watching them. Beth’s stomach pitched as she remembered.
“I forgot to tell you, you’re on the cover of
Persons of Interest magazine again. Linda—”
“I saw.” The half-grin was back. “Interesting
take on our past.”
“Linda gave the interview, wanting the money
they’d promised to pay off my dad.”
“No big deal,” he said.
“She made up quite a bit of it.”
“We’ll set the record straight once all this
is taken care of.”
She didn’t let herself wonder what he meant
by that as he gave a little wave to the nurses before guiding her
into Linda’s room.
Two hours later, they all sat in Quinn’s
bar—Quinn, Lily, Adam, Maddox, Beth, Linda, and Jonas. Maddox
draped his arm around Beth’s chair and was amazed she didn’t move
away. Exhaustion and worry had a lot to do with it, but he was
relieved that she was depending on other people—him, Quinn, Adam,
Lily, even Linda—instead of trying to take care of it all by
herself.
“You need to press charges,” Quinn said
adamantly. “I saw what he did. The man is dangerous to the three of
you.”
“It will just make him madder when he gets
out,” Beth protested. “Best to give him the money and he’ll go.
That’s all he wants.”
“And the next time he needs money?” Quinn
countered. “What will he do for it then? You might not be able to
get to the phone. You might not be able to protect Jonas.”
Beth drew in a sharp breath that had Maddox
pulling her closer. “And when he gets out of jail, providing he’s
convicted? Then what?”