“When you never returned, when he couldn’t find you anywhere, he assumed you were dead,” Wes finally answered. “We all did.”

The man beside him nodded.

“No,” she stated the obvious. “I just had no reason to come back.”

A muscle in Wes’s jaw jumped. Matt’s eyes widened.

“I guess we didn’t realize how little you cared for Ian . . . and the rest of us.” Wes’s voice didn’t break, but she got the impression if he said much more it would.

“There’s a lot you didn’t realize about Ian and me.” Or at least she hoped she spoke the truth. She couldn’t bear the thought Wes knew Ian and Mallory betrayed her, or Ian’s true feelings about their child, and he’d kept that information from her. “We were over before we left Africa.”

Wes’s eyes turned to slits, surprise registering in the shake of his head. She breathed easier. Maybe his reaction meant she’d been right to assume Wes had been as clueless about Ian’s true feelings as she’d been.

“You can’t still blame him for what happened to the baby. He didn’t even perform the surgery, Cam. I did that. If you want to punish someone, punish me.” Wes’s brown eyes clouded with tears. Tears she could hear in his deep voice.

“I’m finished with punishing anyone.” She turned up her lips, offering a smile she didn’t feel. “I just want to live my life, raise my daughter, and take care of my friends and neighbors. You handle the Americans. I’ll see to my people.”

She turned to walk away, but Wes stopped her with a warm hand on her shoulder.

“Brodie needs to be moved,” he told her. “His chances of waking up are greater on the main . . . big island.”

Maybe he was right, but she didn’t think so. Medically, they’d done all anyone could do for Brodie. If she allowed them to ship him off to another island, there was little anyone could offer him he couldn’t receive from her with the help of Wes and his team. But if Brodie stayed, he’d have his wife and children, his friends and family close by. His chances of waking up and recovering surrounded by love and support were greater than if he lay in a sterile hospital room across the water. Not to mention the stress to Esme and their unborn child if Brodie were moved. The islanders weren’t used to sick neighbors returning home once they were sent away.

“I don’t agree.” In the past, when they’d worked together, she’d never stood up to Wes about a patient’s care. He’d overseen their team, and she’d been too insecure to go against his dictate. Although, truth be told, she’d rarely disagreed with him. But things were different now. She was different now. Wes might know medicine, but she knew her patients.

“Brodie will have a better chance of recovering here at home. He won’t react well to being separated or waking alone and finding his legs gone.”

Wes and Matt shared a look that let her know they didn’t agree with her assessment.

“You just take care of the Americans. I’ve got this.”

This time she didn’t give Wes time to stop her as she hurried from the clinic. She needed space to think without her past in the way.

* * *

Cameron barely recognized the beach when she stepped through the charred trees onto the once pristine sand. Volunteers had used boats to pull pieces of the plane and wrecked boats onto the shore. She searched the wreckage for any pieces of Brodie’s boat.

“Hey Doc.” Edmund approached, wiping the back of his arm over his forehead. “How’s everything at the clinic?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Under control.” She didn’t have any better explanation. Even with Wes and Ian’s team, she didn’t have the space or supplies to treat the tourists on top of the locals. Maybe by the time she returned, Wes would have arrangements made for them to be transported to the big island.

“Ara?” Concern laced the man’s voice when he asked about her daughter.

“She’s good. She’ll take some time to heal, but she’s going to be just fine.” She gave his forearm a soft squeeze. “Thank you for all you did for her. Her injuries could’ve been much worse.”

He smiled, then waved off her thanks. “I’m glad she’ll be okay. She’s such a sweet, funny little girl. I can’t stand the thought of her hurting.”

Tears stung Cam’s eyes. Yes, Arabella was quite the little girl.

The smile disappeared from her companion’s face. “How’s Brodie?”

Blinking away her tears, she attempted a smile of her own. “We have him sedated to allow his body and mind to rest. For now, we just wait and hope.”

Edmund’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he visibly struggled to swallow his emotions. “You did everything you could. More than anyone could dare ask of you.”

She opened her mouth to protest. She’d only done what anyone else would’ve done. Brodie was her friend, Keso’s best-friend. She couldn’t have turned her back on him.

“Uh uh.” Edmund cut off the words on the tip of her tongue. “He’d have died in that water, trapped in his boat, if not for you. You own that, Doc.”

Emotion rose in her chest, tightening it. Biting her lip, she tried to hold back the tears that threatened. She hoped she’d done enough. Brodie deserved a happy life. He should see his children grow up. Those little girls had been blessed with a father who adored them. They should get to bask in that love long into their own adulthood.

“You heard who owned the plane, didn’t you?” Edmund had turned his attention back to the beach where strangers sifted through the debris.

“No.” She’d heard speculation throughout the previous day but nothing concrete.

“Victor Roberts.” His voice lowered as if saying the name aloud might summon the man like those stories of Bloody Mary Cameron had feared as a child.

Her next breath caught in her throat. Despite the way her heart raced in her chest, she forced herself to remain calm as she asked, “He’s that guy from the big island, right? The one they say is a mobster?” She tried to infuse her voice with wonder and curiosity, but the task was difficult while battling the ice running through her veins.

Edmund nodded, oblivious to anything odd about her behavior. “That would explain some of the things we found washed up on shore this morning.”

He motioned down the beach where two uniformed men stood by a pile of rubbish. Not that it mattered if police officers or government officials found anything illegal on Victor Roberts. The man owned the government on the big island and all the surrounding islands. Nothing would stop that man but death.

Her head snapped back to Edmund and hope bloomed in her chest. “Was Victor Roberts on the plane? Did he die?” As far as she knew, they’d found no survivors. Maybe.

Edmund shook his head, dousing all hope. “They’ve already located him on the big island. His friends borrowed the plane to fly back to the States. He wasn’t on board.”

She hadn’t realized how much she’d wanted Victor Roberts to be on the plane until Edmund answered. Now her body felt weighed down with regret. How much better would the world be without that bastard? How much happier would Keso be?

Keso.She gasped. “Oh my God.”

“What was that?” Edmund returned his attention to her.

She tried to gather her racing thoughts. She had to be wrong. “Do you know what happened? Why the plane crashed?”

He cocked his head as he studied her. “You should know better than anyone, Doc. That plane didn’t crash. It exploded.”

An image of the plane flying above her, a beautiful blue sky in the background, invaded her mind. She remembered the click click click of some unknown source and then the plane blowing apart. Edmund spoke the truth. The plane hadn’t crashed. There had been only pieces remaining by the time it hit the water.

“Word is someone might have made that plane explode,” Edmund continued.

Her heart sank. She’d been afraid he’d say that. “If you’ll excuse me.” She offered him a small smile, then turned and hurried through the jungle toward her cottage.

Please let her be wrong. Victor Roberts had dozens, probably hundreds, of enemies. Still, she only personally knew one man who would do anything to see the bastard dead.

Keso.

No, no, no. If Keso had had anything to do with the plane wreck, if he’d caused the explosion that had hurt Arabella and caused Brodie his livelihood and possibly his life. . .

* * *

“What the hell was that?”

Ian didn’t turn to face Wes, and he didn’t ask what the other man meant. He knew what his friend asked, but he didn’t have an answer. At least not one Wes would like. Instead, he stood at the top of the grass-covered hill and surveyed the crystal water. From this spot behind the clinic, he couldn’t see the damage the plane crash had caused. Before him there stretched only lush green vines and blue water. He’d traveled all over the world, but he didn’t think he’d ever seen any place this beautiful.

“I’m talking to you.” Wes powered up the hill behind him. “You think we’ll get anywhere with these patients or their doctor by insulting them. Since when is that the way we work?”

Ian did spin to face his colleague then. “Since their doctor isn’t just some nameless caretaker. Since the woman I love pretends she doesn’t know me while she stands with strangers. We were her family, Wes, and now we’re fucking interlopers.”

How could she care for these people more than she cared for the man she’d sworn to love forever? More than the men who’d been her closest friends? How had she forgotten them and traded them so callously for these strangers?

“I get that you’re hurt.” Wes raised his hands when Ian started to protest. “You’ve had a shock. Multiple shocks. But you have to keep your shit together.”

Stalking away, Ian scrubbed a hand over his face. “She’s alive. Five years I thought she was dead and all this time she’s been here.”

His friend studied him as if expecting him to break down at any moment. Hell, maybe he would. He certainly felt out of control. His mind raced with questions. His emotions ran wild, swinging from joy to anger to confusion to worry. He still loved her with everything in him, but a part of him hated her for the pain she’d put him through when she’d walked away.

“I don’t understand.” He shoved a shaking hand through his thick hair. “We could’ve gotten through the attack. Eventually, we would’ve healed. Why the hell did she leave?” Tears blurred his vision. He looked away before Wes could see. Though, no doubt the other man had heard the emotion in his voice.

“She said the two of you were over before you left Africa.”

Wes’s words hit him like a fist in the gut. “She what? When?”

“After you left. I tried to talk to her, to explain how difficult things have been for you—”

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Cameron didn’t need to know anything about the last five years. He wanted her to come back to him, not pull further away. If she hadn’t wanted him before, she definitely wouldn’t want this fucked-up new version of him.

“Well, I did. I told her if she wanted to punish someone for your baby’s death, she should punish me, not you.”

Ian shook his head. “You weren’t to blame. You don’t deserve punishment.”

Wes had done everything he could. Their daughter had been dead before they’d ever found Cameron. Ian had been thankful the doctor had saved the woman he loved, even if she’d hated him for doing so.

“She said she was finished punishing anyone.” Wes met his gaze. His eyes sad. “I think she’s healed here, Ian. She just wants to raise her daughter and be happy.”

He snickered, trying to pretend what Wes said didn’t slice him to the core. How could Cameron be happy without him when he was fucking miserable without her?

“Maybe the two of you weren’t as solid as you thought.”

At Wes’s words, Ian’s vision blurred. “We were solid,” he insisted.

“Were you? Really? You were engaged, but not married. You were expecting a child you hadn’t planned—”

“Don’t. Don’t you dare start dissecting our life. Just because we didn’t do things like everyone else didn’t mean we weren’t committed.”

Wes looked away, chagrined. “What about in Africa? Before she got hurt, was everything okay?”

He thought back to that last day. The day that separated his old life from his current life. The dividing line between now and then, good and bad, heaven and hell. He could still picture Cameron lying beside him in their tent. He’d lain awake with his hand on the swell of her belly, feeling their daughter’s tiny movements, careful not to wake Cam. She wouldn’t admit it, but the pregnancy and the environment had been taking a toll on her. She needed her rest, and she needed to go home. They’d argued about her staying in Africa, but she was practical. Eventually, she would’ve admitted going home was best for her and the baby. Ian had already planned for another doctor to take his place. Hopefully, by the time she’d left, he would’ve been able to go with her. If not, he wouldn’t have been far behind. The thought of being away from her and the baby hadn’t set well with him. When she woke up that last morning, they’d made love. Maybe they weren’t married, but that morning he’d never imagined ever loving anyone more.

He forced himself out of the past. “Everything was perfect. We were in love. I don’t understand.”

Wes shrugged. “Maybe she had doubts. Did she say anything that seemed off to you or maybe Mallory?”

Ian’s body tensed at the mention of the other woman. She and Cameron had been friendly. As the only other woman on their team, she’d offered Cameron a reprieve from the constant male camaraderie. But she hadn’t been a genuine friend.

“She didn’t say anything to Mallory.” Because if she had, Mallory would’ve told him in her quest to seduce him. He hadn’t understood why the woman had chosen him, of all the men on their team, to fixate on. But she had, and she’d pursued him relentlessly. He’d never even told Wes. His friend would likely have sent the other woman packing, and Cameron would’ve demanded answers. He hadn’t wanted to add to Cameron’s stress. No doubt, finding out her only female friend was making moves on her fiancé would have been stressful.

Wes lifted his hands, then let them fall to slap against his thighs. “I don’t know, man. This has been fucked up since the beginning, but now…”

Yeah. Now the whole situation was impossible and heartbreaking. Ian just wanted Cameron to come back so they could pick up and start over. That wouldn’t happen. Whether he liked it or not, and he certainly did not; Cameron had a daughter, a family. She wouldn’t, couldn’t, walk away from them. So, where the hell did that leave him?

Tags: Penny Wylder Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net