Island of Secrets and Scars

“He saved Ara,” she interrupted. The less Keso knew about the doctor who saved their daughter, the better. In a week, two at the most, Ian and Wes and the rest of their team would return to their homes and their lives. If Keso knew the truth about Ian’s identity, the knowledge would likely cause a larger rift in their small family. And for what? Ian’s presence was temporary, but the trouble caused by Keso knowing could be permanent. No, she’d just have to keep the two men away from each other until Ian left.

She slipped her hand into Keso’s and tugged him toward the small room next to her office. “Why don’t we go check on Ara?”

Raising a brow, Keso looked down at their joined hands, then back to her face. “Yeah. Okay.”

Thankfully, he allowed her to lead him next door to Ara’s room. When she pulled back the curtain and caught sight of their daughter, pale against the white pillow and almost lost in the enormity of the hospital bed, her body trembled. She could’ve lost the little Nereid today. What would Cameron’s life be worth then? Since abandoning her old life, she no longer prided herself on being a doctor or cared to be known as anyone’s lover. Here, now, she was Arabella Lawrence’s mother. What would she be if she no longer had that?

Luci sat by Ara’s bed. At their entrance, she lifted her head. The older woman’s eyes lit when she spotted Keso standing by Cameron’s side. She rose from the chair and ambled across the room. “She’s been sleeping,” she whispered. “The doctor said she probably won’t wake up until morning. He gave her some medicine to help her rest.”

When Luci reached them, she patted Keso’s cheek. Her hand made a scratching noise over the multiple days’ growth. “We worried about you. I prayed you didn’t end up like Brodie, I couldn’t—” A sob choked her. She clamped her mouth shut.

“Brodie?” Alarm flooded Keso’s normally slow, calm voice. His gaze swung to Cameron. “What happened to Brodie?”

Taking a deep breath, she tried to slip into the role of detached doctor. But this was her friend. Her family.

“Doc, what happened? Is he—”

“The debris from the plane . . . it landed on Brodie’s boat,” she choked out.

Keso’s eyes widened.

“When I got to him, he was submerged. His legs were pinned. Crushed. He was unresponsive.”

Keso shook his head, his blond curls bouncing. “What does that mean? Explain it to me. I’m not a doctor.”

Closing her eyes, she tried to summon the courage to continue, to relive what would go down as some of the worst moments of her life. “When I got to him, he was unconscious. Something hit him in the head, and his legs were trapped. We mostly managed to keep his head out of the water. Edmund and Pauler freed him. We lost him once, but I got him back.”

Tears swam in Keso’s sea-green eyes, making them even more mesmerizing than normal. Those eyes, the same eyes their daughter so lovingly looked at her with every day, were what had first drawn her to the man who’d saved her.

“So, he’s okay? He’s alive? He’s . . .” Hope tried valiantly to break through the despair in his words. Keso knew life wasn’t that forgiving.

“For now,” she answered. Her heart ached. “We kept him breathing until the doctors arrived with equipment. A machine is helping to make breathing easier for him now.”

Keso’s body sagged. “Will he ever be able to breathe on his own? Will he wake up?”

Cameron’s jaw trembled with the force of holding back her tears. “I hope so.”

Keso straightened, visibly pulling himself together. “Can I see him?”

“Of course.” She squeezed his hand. “But we . . . we couldn’t save his legs.”

Keso’s head jerked up. He blinked at her. “You what?”

She swallowed. How many times would she have to tell this story? “His legs were crushed. I did what I could, but I couldn’t save either leg.”

As long as she lived, she’d never erase the horror on Keso’s face from her memory.

“But you got him out?” After the way he’d looked at her, his words surprised her.

She nodded.

“Then you gave him a chance. Thank you.”

Her vision blurred as Keso pulled her against him. He kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.” He released her.

“I’ll take you to his room.” Luci patted Keso’s arm, reminding them she still stood watching their conversation.

Keso stepped away, following the other woman. Their footsteps padded down the hall.

“Is he Ara’s father?”

Cameron jumped. Startled by Ian’s voice. “It’s impolite to eavesdrop.”

Entering the room, Ian came to stand beside her. He didn’t wait for her response. “She has his eyes. The two of you, are you married?” His gaze dropped to her naked fingers.

She shoved her hands into the pockets of the oversized work pants Edmund had given her.

“My family, my life, are none of your business. Do your job and go home.” She turned to face him fully, blocking his view of her daughter and what Ian no doubt saw as a betrayal of the promises she’d made him. Maybe her heart broke to look at the man she’d once loved with all her being and realize they were now strangers. And maybe her stomach twisted with the realization time hadn’t diminished the love she still held for him. But she’d be damned if she’d let him know the truth of either.

“I won’t leave here without answers,” he warned her.