Heroes Are My Weakness(104)

“Someone from the hospital called. The reception was terrible. I don’t know if they tried to reach you first. I understood only half the message.” Barbara was as breathless as if she’d just run a long distance.

“But . . . He’s alive?”

“Yes. I got that much. But it’s serious.”

“Oh, God . . .” The words came from high in her throat. A prayer.

“I phoned Naomi.” Barbara was fighting tears. “She’ll take you over on the Ladyslipper.”

Barbara didn’t ask if Annie wanted to go to him, and Annie didn’t hesitate. There was no decision to make. She grabbed the first clothes she could find, and within minutes, they were barreling into town. Annie could live without the cottage, but the thought of the world without Theo was unbearable. He was everything a man should be. He had a brilliant mind and a sterling character. He was a man of conscience: trustworthy, intelligent, and caring. So caring he took on the demons of others as his own.

And she loved him for it.

She loved him. There it was. The thing she’d vowed would never happen. She loved Theo Harp. Not just his body or his face. Not just for sex or companionship. Definitely not for his money. She loved him for who he was. For his beautiful, tortured, kind soul. If he lived, she would stand by him. It made no difference if he were scarred, paralyzed, or brain damaged. She would be there for him.

Just let him live. Please, God, let him live.

The wharf lights were on when they reached the dock. Annie rushed toward Naomi, who was waiting next to the skiff that would take them out to the Ladyslipper. She was as grim-faced as Barbara. Wild, awful thoughts swirled through Annie’s head. They knew Theo was dying, and neither of them wanted to tell her.

Annie jumped in the skiff. Soon they were racing out of the harbor. Annie turned her back to the retreating shoreline.





Chapter Twenty

MY HUSBAND IS IN SURGERY.” The word tasted all wrong on Annie’s lips, but if she didn’t identify herself as family, the doctors wouldn’t talk to her. “Theo Harp.”

The woman behind the desk turned her attention to her computer. Annie squeezed the keys to the Honda Civic Naomi kept on the mainland, a much better car than the clunker she drove on the island. The woman looked up from her computer. “How do you spell the last name?”

“H-A-R-P. Like the instrument.”

“We don’t have anyone here by that name.”

“You do!” Annie cried. “He was in a serious accident. The hospital called. He’s in surgery.”

“Let me double-check.” The woman picked up her phone and turned her chair away.

Annie waited, her sense of dread growing by the second. Maybe he wasn’t in the computer records because he was already—

The woman set down the phone. “We have no record of him, ma’am. He’s not here.”

Annie wanted to yell at her, tell her that she should learn how to read. Instead she fumbled for her phone. “I’m calling the police.”

“That’s a good idea,” the woman said kindly.

But neither the local nor state police had any record of an accident involving Theo. The intensity of her relief brought her to tears. Only slowly did that relief give way to comprehension.

There had been no accident. He wasn’t hurt. Wasn’t dying. He was asleep in a hotel room somewhere.

She called his cell, but it went to voice mail. Because Theo had a habit of turning off his phone at night, even at the cottage, where there was no reception. Whoever had contacted Barbara had done it with the clear intention of getting Annie off the island.

Jaycie.

Barbara had said the call had been hard to understand. Of course it had. But not because of bad reception. Because Jaycie had made sure Barbara couldn’t identify her voice. Because Jaycie wanted to get Annie off the island before the end of March so Theo would be hers alone.

The sky had begun to lighten as Annie drove back to the dock where Naomi waited. The streets were empty, stores closed, traffic lights flashing yellow. She could fight—plead extenuating circumstances—but Cynthia wanted the cottage, Elliott was a hardheaded businessman, and the agreement was ironclad. No do-overs. The cottage would return to the Harp family, and whatever his stepmother wanted to do with it would become Theo’s problem. Annie’s problem would be getting back to the city and finding a place to live. Theo, rescuer of needy women, would likely offer her a room at Harp House, which she’d refuse. No matter how difficult her circumstances, she wouldn’t let him see her as another woman in need of rescue.

If only she’d called the hospital herself, but in her panic, that hadn’t occurred to her. All she wanted to do now was punish Jaycie for the harm she’d done.