The helicopter ride seemed to take forever as they flew over treetops. A dirt road and then the paved road that led into Ridge came into view. The pilot radioed ahead to the hospital. When they touched down on the roof, a medical crew was waiting with a gurney.
They transferred Lydia’s limp body and hurried over to the elevator doors that said Medical Staff Only. The pilot took off while River and Frankie made their way down the stairs.
He prayed that it was not too late for Lydia.
FOURTEEN
As medical staff hovered over her, checked her vitals and covered her with warm blankets, Lydia was only partially aware of what was going on. She felt herself drifting in and out. Something was said about her heart sounding stronger.
As she floated toward unconsciousness, the memory of being carried by River materialized in her mind, warming her even faster than the blanket that was laid on top of her. In her near comatose state, she’d said something to him. She didn’t remember what. The vision of lying shivering on the cold hard ground and then looking up to see his face was the last image that popped into her head before she drifted off. She’d been praying for someone to rescue her.
River was an answer to a prayer.
When she opened her eyes, the curtains in the hospital room were drawn but early morning light snuck in between them.
A warm hand gripped hers.
River.
“Hey.” Affection made his face glow.
She raised her head to see him more clearly. “Hey. I slept all night?”
“Yes, the doctors say you’re out of the woods.” He leaned a little closer to her and squeezed her hand. “I was afraid you weren’t going to make it. When I found you, you looked…”
“…like I was close to gone.”
He nodded. “It scared me. You were still conscious. You said something kind of out there.”
“What was that?”
“You said ‘I love you.’”
Lydia’s cheeks flushed with warmth. “Oh…my.” So that’s what she’d said when her defenses were down. Was it true?
River shifted in his chair. “It must have just been the hallucinating that happens during advanced hypothermia.”
“Yes, that must have been it,” she said. River seemed to want to dismiss the sentiment.
“You were just overjoyed that I showed up?”
“That must have been what was going on. Sure.” There was a part of her that wondered if the hypothermia had loosened her inhibitions, and she’d spoken a truth that her conscious mind would never accept. She let go of his hand, the warmth of his touch fading slowly from her skin.
She stared at the ceiling, wishing the awkward moment would end.
River leaned toward her. “Did you see the man who attacked you?”
She sat up and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Not really, but I know it wasn’t Norm. This man held me down. He was close to me. I was in the car with him for a long time. People have a smell, a presence. I don’t know how to explain it.”
Elsie’s grandfather would not attack her in such a brutal way.
River shifted in his seat. “I can take you back to my place soon as the doctor’s checked you out.”
“Thank you.”
“Frankie’s waiting in the patrol car. I arranged for it to be brought over here.”
“You stayed all night?”
