Montana Desire

Grace understood. Her first husband had died unexpectedly. Even though their marriage hadn’t been a romantic one, it was still devastating to lose someone like that. More so when it turned out that he’d been murdered.

Either way, in a strange sense, she related.

Lucas walked out of the elevator carrying a mountain of takeout boxes and beelined straight for us.

“I sent Lucas for food,” Evelyn explained. “We’re going to be here a while, and you need to eat.”

“Honestly? I don’t know if I could keep anything down.”

She smiled and put an arm around my shoulder. “It’s sandwiches, so they’ll be good for a while if you’re hungry later.” Leaning closer, she whispered, “But I will warn you that if you don’t eat at all, Lena will probably hold you down and force you.”

That managed to make me smile a little.

Time passed slowly, waiting for things to happen. I’d zoned out so completely that I was nearly dozing when a flurry of commotion broke out on the floor. A tall woman in a lab coat approached Daniel, though we were all watching her now as she came over.

“Daniel Clark?”

“That’s me.” He shook her hand.

“You’re listed as the contact for Grant Carter. I’m Dr. Amanda Keyes. I’ll be performing his surgery.”

I sprang to my feet and had almost made it to her when Lena pulled me back. The doctor looked at all of us carefully, especially me. “I was informed of the…circumstances under which my name was used, and I would like to clarify some things. You’re Cori?”

“I am.” At the moment, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hug her or punch her in the face.

“I’m sorry you were told that anyone had leverage over me. Especially enough that I would kill a patient on the table. That isn’t true. I took a medical oath, just like you.”

I rarely went by “Doctor.” But that’s what I was. Sometimes it didn’t feel like it. Today it certainly didn’t.

“But—” Lena squeezed my arm.

Dr. Keyes smiled. “It is true that the Pearsons paid for my education. But that was through a scholarship program. I qualified at the time because of work my father did, and we did the research. I had no reason to believe there was anything deeper to it.

“On top of that, there was nothing promised in return for receiving the money. I have all the papers I signed for the scholarship if you want to see them.”

Daniel nodded. “I would, please. To verify. After the surgery.”

“It won’t take that long. I’ll have my office fax them here now.” She pulled out her phone and sent a text. “Now, this surgery is going to take a while. If you want to go home and rest, that’s fine. We’ll keep in contact with you.”

“I think some of us are going to stay, but thank you for the offer,” Daniel said.

“What are the chances?”

She sighed. “They were good when I saw him at his appointment, but I understand there may have been movement.”

Behind her, Grant was wheeled out of his room, and my heart was in my throat. Lena squeezed my hand again. I was glad she was here.

“We need to revisualize the shrapnel before I go in and take it out. He’s being taken for the scan now.”

“Please fix it,” I said. It was such a simple request, but it was the only way I knew how to say it. “Please fix him.”

She locked eyes with me. “I’m going to do my very best. I promise you that.” Then she looked at Daniel. “You’ll have those documents within twenty minutes. Before I scrub in.”

“Thank you.”

She disappeared, and my knees felt wobbly and weak. “You believe her?”

“I do,” Daniel said. “But I’m going to read those papers carefully all the same.”

Lena hugged me from the side. “She’s right. The surgery is going to take a long time. If you want to go home and sleep for a while, it will be okay.”

“I would be out of my mind there,” I said. “I can’t.”

Nobody really expected me to leave. Grant would probably tell me to go. But if the positions were reversed, I also knew that he wouldn’t leave my side for even a single second. And I felt the same. “I’ll stay.”

“Then we’ll stay with you,” Lena said.

And that was that. It was going to be a long day.