Perfect Stranger: Mason Creek #17 Page 3

  Someone pushed something into my IV and I instantly calmed down. They moved me to the operating table and others drifted around the room, pulling up trays and other things. Only I was very sleepy and didn’t pay much attention.

  I heard Dr. Mayfield’s voice, but he had a hat and mask on, so he told me his name. “You’re going to go to sleep now and when you wake up, it’ll be over.”

  “If I don’t, tell Claire I love her.”

  “If you don’t what?” he asked.

  “Wake up.”

  “You will.”

  They put a mask over my face and that was it.

  Chapter Five

  MILLER

  Mariah’s X-rays were a sight and not a good one. I was no orthopedic surgeon, but I knew a messed-up leg when I saw one. I hoped they could fix it correctly or she’d have issues with it for the rest of her life. I had faith in Mayfield and his team. From what I’d seen, they did excellent trauma work. They had plenty of patients from skiers who’d broken bones or torn ligaments.

  Before he scrubbed, Mayfield had informed me about the incident with X-ray and how she refused to go. What the hell was she hiding? I’d do my best to get her to open up, but I’d bet she’d been the victim of abuse. Miles and I looked over her X-rays and the previous broken ribs, arm, wrist, were all signs of a typical abuse patient. Mayfield said she had lots of scars as well, which only added to it.

  I wanted to get a counselor in to talk with her but was afraid it would destroy the building blocks I’d begun forming.

  What did I know about her? She was twenty-six and from Washington. That was about it, other than she had a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Claire.

  Miles had taken Claire in for an exam after the accident and she was fine. He’d seen no signs of abuse either, which had been a relief. From all accounts, she was a happy toddler too, according to Jessie.

  The surgery took several hours. I left the hospital to run errands since I had yet to stock the house with groceries.

  When I got home, I made dinner and ate. I dozed off to be awakened to my phone ringing. It was Mayfield.

  “Miller Campbell.”

  “It’s Mayfield. We’re done and I think we have her stabilized now. I’ll know more tomorrow after we get another X-ray.”

  “Okay. Thanks for the update. I’ll try to drop in before hours tomorrow. If I don’t make it, I’ll come by sometime over the day. Call me if anything further develops.”

  “Will do.”

  I went to bed afterward as there was nothing more I could do on my end. My alarm woke me well before I wanted it to. However, I had a busy day, so it wasn’t long before I was in the car driving to work. I went by the hospital on the way, as I’d left early.

  Mariah wasn’t awake, so I didn’t disturb her, but left a brief note with the nurses.

  Dropped by to visit but you were asleep. I’ll be back sometime today. Dr. Campbell

  The office was humming when I arrived. I went straight to work and never took a break until well after lunch when I grabbed the sandwich I’d brought with me. Then I went back to it and ended the day around five. After I finished my paperwork, my next stop was the hospital to check on the patient before I went home.

  I caught Mayfield on the way to her room. “How is she?”

  “The surgery went well, as I told you, and her X-rays from today look much better. I want to check it again in a week. Maybe after that, she can head to rehab. We need to get her moving as soon as possible.”

  “I hope this one did the trick. Do you see any more surgery for her?”

  “I don’t think so, but only time will tell me that. I hope the bone heals up straight so she won’t have to go through anymore. She’s lucky her knee or ankle weren’t involved, which was a miracle.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that. She’d been trapped, so maybe that helped stabilize things. Who knows? I’m going to check in on her and head home. We had a damn army of patients today.”

  “Talk to you tomorrow.”

  I nodded and walked down the hall to her room. She was flipping through channels when I arrived.

  “How’s the patient today?”

  “I have no idea. Goofy headed from the pain meds, but that’s about it.”

  “Mariah, do you remember talking with Dr. Mayfield today?”

  “Yeah, he said the surgery went well.”

  I was happy she at least remembered that conversation. “Good. Would you like to FaceTime with your daughter?”

  “I already did.” She beamed. “They found my phone and brought it in today.”

  “That’s certainly good news.”

  “Yeah, and now I can call her whenever I want. Or rather Jessie. I hope I’m not bugging her to death.”

  “Jessie understands, having kids of her own, so I’m sure she doesn’t mind.”

  “Do you live near here?”

  I chuckled at that. “This is Mason Creek. Everyone lives near here.”

  “Right. Small town. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “When you get out of here, I’ll take you for a tour. It’ll be brief, I promise.”

  She smoothed out the sheet that lay across her. “I’m sure it’s beautiful though.”

  “Oh, man, you should see it at Christmas. The decorations would blow you away. Everyone puts all kinds of things up, from trees to garland, to you name it. Lights twinkle everywhere and it looks like a storybook.”

  She sucked in a breath. “It sounds wonderful.”

  “It is and I used to be sort of a Scrooge, but not anymore. I’m all about it now.”

  “I can’t imagine you being a Scrooge.”

  “I was, but I tossed that moniker after spending one Christmas here. I never want to spend another anywhere else. It’s that kind of special you have to experience to understand.”

  A solemn look came over her. “I’ve never done that. Experienced something wonderful like that. It must be amazing.”

  “Just stay in Mason Creek and you will. On that note, are you planning on going back to Washington?”

  “Never!”

  Her response was so vehement, I would’ve taken a step back had I been standing. “Wow, that bad, huh?”

  “Terrible for me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful place, but too much rain and…” her voice trailed off.

  “And?”

  She waved a hand through the air. “Nothing. It was just my own experience wasn’t that great.”

  “Then where are you headed?”

  “I was thinking about Denver or Atlanta.”

  “I see. One thing’s for sure. You’ll be in Mason Creek for a while healing, so maybe you’ll change your mind.”

  “About what?”

  “Leaving here. It’s kind of addicting.”

  She pushed her hair back and said, “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you know anything about my rehab?”

  “No, that’s a question for Dr. Mayfield.”

  “I’m hoping I’ll get to walk soon.”

  “I’m pretty sure that will happen, but again, this is not my area of expertise. You might want to ask him that in the morning.”

  “I will. And thanks for everything.”

  “I haven’t done anything.”

  “Yes, you have. You’ve put me at ease about my daughter’s care and have visited me every day.”

  “It’s my duty as your primary care doc. I’ll drop in every day unless you don’t want me to.”

  “No, I do. You’re the only visitor I have.” Then she laughed.

  “Fine. We’ll keep it up then. And on that note, I’ll be going now. You can expect me tomorrow around the same time. I hope you’re getting good sleep here. That’s a problem in hospitals as they keep waking you to check your vitals.”

  “True, but I go back to sleep. Have a good night.”

  I was whacked when I got home. I hadn’t worked out in days, so I hit the treadmill before dinner. Then showered, ate, a
nd went to bed. Hopefully, in another month or so, things at work would slow down. I was asleep when my head hit the pillow and dreamed of a woman with large blue eyes.

  Chapter Six

  MARIAH

  I was definitely in a pickle. This broken leg put me in a precarious position as I was stuck. The other thing was I didn’t have insurance, so how would I pay for these exorbitant medical bills? Since there wasn’t a thing I could do about it now, I let it go. The anxiety over it would have to wait until another day.

  One nice thing resulting from this was Dr. Campbell. He sure was a fine specimen of a man. I didn’t think they made them like that. He was kind and attentive, but again, I was the patient and he was the doctor so he sort of had to be. Some doctors were asses though. He certainly wasn’t.

  Why couldn’t Michael have been like that? No, I picked the wrong men every time, but he had been the worst of the worst. At first, he was nice. Too nice, when I look back. He didn’t drink much and took me to nice restaurants, something no one had done before. Of course, my job as a pole dancer didn’t lend itself to that. Only the nasty men wanted to hang out with me. The ones who wanted to follow you to your car and try to get you to go home with them. I wasn’t that kind of girl. I wasn’t even a stripper. I just pole danced and did it for the money because I was going to school and needed it.

  But then one night Michael came in and sat in front of me. His warm smile was welcoming and he wasn’t leering at me like most of the men in there. After I did several dances, he slipped me a hundred-dollar bill. I was in heaven.

  He came back the next night and the night after that. About a week later, one of the bartenders said he’d asked for my number. They weren’t allowed to give out any information on the dancers without our approval. I gave him the okay, which turned out to be my greatest downfall.

  Not much time passed and I found myself living with him. He pressed me into quitting my job, told me he’d take care of me and I believed him. It wasn’t long before those nice dinners disappeared. Instead, I was cooking and cleaning, and had turned into his maid. Then one day I discovered I was pregnant. I’d been on the pill, but back then, I didn’t question it much. Now I think he must’ve done something to them. Otherwise, I never would’ve found myself in that predicament.

  Funny enough, he hadn’t laid a hand on me until then. After we found out about the baby, he began drinking heavily. He’d come home late, stinking of liquor and other women. If I so much as questioned him, the punches began. I tried to keep my mouth shut but a person can only take so much.

  The other thing was he never told me what he did for a living. At first, he gave me vague responses, such as he worked for a bigwig somewhere and wasn’t supposed to talk about it. Then it turned into a bodyguard-type job. I never found out what exactly it was, but I was pretty damn sure it centered around illegal activities. Michael was a stocky guy, not too tall, but quick on his feet and fast with his hands. I could believe the bodyguard thing. He wasn’t educated as far as I knew. There were no college diplomas hanging on the walls or filed away in a drawer. I’d searched through everything when he was away. There was also no evidence of what he did for a living. He’d filed no tax returns and if he did, he’d kept no copies of them.

  Something wasn’t right. I’d thought about leaving, but where would I go? My family was nonexistent. They’d disowned me when I didn’t want to go to college. At eighteen, I had no idea what I wanted to do, besides hair. That wasn’t on their list of preferred careers. When I insisted, they’d kicked me out and told me I could do it on my own dime. My sister and I had never gotten along and she stood by grinning like she’d won the lottery.

  I’ll never forget that day. I’d packed my car and left. I hardly had any money and that’s how I ended up being a pole dancer. Oddly enough, I loved it. The women at the club were my family. They appreciated me like I’d never been before and told me I was good at what I did. They encouraged me to get my cosmetology degree because I was doing all their hair and makeup.

  My schedule was crazy, going to school during the day and working at night. I never refused any hours, except if I had exams to study for. The day came when I finally got my cosmetology degree and the girls threw me a huge party. Now all I had to do was pass the state boards. I did that and soon had my license. The sad thing was, I didn’t want to leave the club. So they began paying me for my hair and makeup services, and I danced too. The tips were phenomenal and I was making great bank.

  That was until Michael entered the picture. He’d ruined everything. I was now pregnant and stuck in an abusive relationship and had nowhere to go. I didn’t want to tell anyone about the abuse because it was embarrassing on top of it all. As the pregnancy progressed, so did the beatings. I thought I had loved this man, but those feelings soon morphed into hate.

  The final straw was when he began threatening to hurt Claire. That would only happen over my dead body. And that got me thinking. What if he killed me? Who would take care of Claire? I’d never want my parents to have her, and they wouldn’t take her anyway. My sister was out too, because she was too selfish to parent a child. There was no one else I was close enough to and I certainly didn’t want him to have her.

  It hit me then that I had to get out. I played my cards carefully and was patient until one morning when he left for the day. I’d gathered our things, got my affairs in order, went to the bank and took out money. Then we were off.

  And now, here I was in some Podunk town called Mason Creek, Montana. I rubbed my burning eyes. Why me? Of all people out there, why me? I was going to get through this. I had no other choice. I turned off location services on my phone and would shut my phone off when I wasn’t using it. I prayed that would be the way to block him from finding me.

  The other thing I had to do was tell someone. If he came here and found Claire and me, someone would have to know what to do. I didn’t want him to spew any lies around. But who would that person be? Dr. Campbell said I could trust him, but for some reason, Jessie kept popping into my mind. She was a mother herself and could understand my predicament better than a man. If I could get her here for a visit, maybe I would tell her the truth. It would only be a matter of time though, because if he found out what I’d done, Michael would surely be on a rampage and neither Claire or I would be safe.

  The following morning I made the call.

  “Hey Mariah, how’s the patient doing?”

  “Fine, thanks. I was wondering if you could drop by sometime today.”

  “Ah, I’m sure you want to see Claire. How is noon?”

  “Whatever works for your schedule is fine with me.”

  “Okay, I’ll get by earlier if I can.”

  “Thanks, Jessie, you are a doll, not to mention a lifesaver.”

  “Don’t even think about it. See ya in a bit.”

  When she arrived, she filled the room with joy. Claire ran straight to the bed, chatting away. She’d been perfectly comfortable with Jessie, but I was anxious to hold my daughter.

  “There’s my sweet girl.” I held out my arms as she leaned toward me. Jessie helped her climb onto the bed and I covered her head with kisses. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”

  “Miss you too, Mommy.” I settled her next to me and didn’t want to let her go. “Do you mind if we talk about something important?” I asked Jessie.

  “Not at all. I’m all ears.”

  Jessie took the chair next to the bed and pulled it closer. Then I began the long story of how I ended up here. When I was finished, she immediately said, “I’ll do everything I can to help. We should establish an alias for you at the front desk in case he wanders in looking for you. The police need to be made aware too. We know the officers in town so that shouldn’t present a problem. I’ll let Mom know too. She’s pretty handy with a gun.”

  “Whoa, slow down. My foggy brain can’t follow.”

  “Sorry. I was just thinking of everything to do for protection. You know what, let me call Aiden.”

>   “Who’s Aiden?”

  “He’s a sheriff’s deputy and will know exactly what to do.” She grabbed her phone and made the call. All the information I’d given her was relayed to him. They talked for a bit and she ended the call.

  “He’s going to handle everything from the alias, which he thought was a great idea, to having someone patrol the hospital in case anyone comes by searching for you.”

  “Wow, that’s great. Thank you.”

  “He’s also going to have someone checking on the house during the day while Mom’s babysitting.”

  “This is perfect. Thanks so much.”

  “Aw, it’s nothing really. That’s the great thing about knowing everyone here.”

  “I’ve never lived in a small town so I wouldn’t know.”

  She chuckled. “It has its plusses but also its minuses.” Leaning closer, she added, “Like the Jackson twins. They love to gossip so you have to be aware of them. And they’re everywhere. It’s harmless stuff really but can be slightly annoying.”

  Now it was my turn to chuckle. “I’d like to meet them.”

  “You know something? If they’d catch that ex of yours roaming around here, they’d probably beat him with a broomstick.”

  A picture popped into my mind of two women attacking Michael and I cracked up. “Oh, my god, would I love to see that.”

  “So would I! When you get out of this joint, we’re going to have some fun. I’ll introduce you to my bestie, Emma. You’ll love her. She owns the local bar in town and we can go hang out there one night. She has a baby my little guy’s age too.”

  “That sounds like fun, which is something I’m in need of.” Then a depressing thought hit me.

  “What is it? By the frown that just appeared, something is bothering you.”