Caroline's Seduction (Montgomery Family and Friends) (13 page)

Cole used to dealing with these types of situations could hear the panic in the man’s voice.  “Your daughter is fine.  I’ll let her give you the details when you pick her up.  She’s at Community General Hospital.”

Kyle’s grip on the phone tightened.  “I thought you said she was all right.  Why is she at the hospital?”

“Your daughter is fine.  She insisted on riding to the hospital with Ms. Johnson.”

“Damn it!  What happened to Caroline?” he all but shouted into the phone.  He held his body so rigid, his muscles were protesting in agony.

 “She’s still unconscious, so we don’t know all the details yet.  The best I can figure, she sacrificed herself to save your daughter.  She told your daughter to run and struggled with the kidnapper on her own. When my deputy ran toward the parking lot the perpetrator threw her down and she hit her head on the concrete.”

“Kyle let out a few choice words.  “I’m on my way to the hospital right now!”

“Okay.  Sir, I still need an official statement from your daughter.  It’s especially important to know everything she saw since Ms. Johnson can’t tell us anything right now.  I want to catch these thugs and get them off my streets as soon as possible.”

Kyle thanked the sheriff for calling him and asked to be kept in the loop of the investigation.  He quickly threw a few documents and his laptop into his briefcase.  He was shrugging on his jacket when Jenna walked into his office.  “There was a problem at Sarah’s school.  I am leaving right now.  I don’t know if I’ll be in Monday or not.  I will send you an email tonight if I need you to reschedule my meetings.”

Kyle rushed to the hospital.  He was relieved that Sarah wasn’t hurt.  Even though she should have been his main concern he was frantic over Caroline.  He wasn’t sure how bad her injuries were.  The thought that someone could hurt her drove him crazy.  He gripped the steering wheel with hands that clenched into fists and knuckles white from the pressure.  The helpless feeling that assailed him was the worst feeling of his life, even worse than the bitterness caused from his divorce and the custody battle for Sarah. 

He and Sarah’s mother had been forced to get married during college when she’d fallen pregnant.  They continued to drift apart until they were barely civil to each other.  When their tense relationship began to affect Sarah, Kyle had had enough.   His wife drug the battle out just to spite him.  She hadn’t even wanted Sarah.  She wanted to be free to drink, dance, and party with her friends at all hours of the night.   Her betrayal of both him and Sarah had definitely biased his opinion of the opposite sex.  Unfortunately he was beginning to realize that he’d allowed that bias to cloud his judgment when it came to Caroline.  She was sweet warm and caring, at least she had been four years ago.  He knew that Caroline still existed and he was going to find her.  That was a promise.

****

Caroline struggled to open her eyes.  Her head was pounding and the overhead lights were way too bright.  The one eye she managed to crack open was immediately closed again.  She moved her head slightly and a low moan escaped, thanks to the sharp pain piercing her head.  She felt hard masculine fingers grasp her much smaller delicate ones.

“It’s all right Caroline.  Don’t try to move.  You took an awfully hard hit to the head.  You’ve been unconscious for a couple of hours.”  He tenderly brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes.

She grabbed his hand and held it tight.  “Kyle?  What happened to me? ” she asked in a wobbly voice.  She looked around the stark white room.  It had to be a hospital.  She let go of his hand and clutched the thin white sheet to her chest.    She glanced at her boyfriend then lifted a hand to her throbbing head.  “And why does my head hurt so much?”

“We were hoping you could tell us that sweetheart.”  The endearment slipped out before he could stop it.  He suddenly realized he didn’t want too.  He was grateful to Caroline for making sure Sarah was safe.  That wasn’t the only reason though.  He’d been thinking about Caroline ever since he’d walked into her classroom and realized that Sarah’s Ms. Johnson was indeed his Ms. Johnson.  It was time to stop pretending.  He wanted her back in his life, and the sooner the better.

The one evening he’d spent in Caroline’s bed becoming reacquainted with her body had only made him want her more.  She wasn’t immune to him either.  That had been perfectly obvious.  She’d wanted to be a part of his life once.  He could make her want to be a part of his life again.  He would rise to the challenge.  After all he lived for challenges.

Caroline grabbed her head in both hands and squeezed.  “I don’t remember what happened.  Oh my goodness how long have I been in here?  I haven’t missed any classes have I?  Graduation is right around the corner and I can’t afford to mess up now!  Were we in a car accident while on a date?”  She strained to remember, but it only made her head hurt worse.

Kyle froze.  Something was wrong here, very wrong.  Caroline thought they were dating and what was with the worry about graduation? He picked up the call button and buzzed the nurse’s station.  “Ms. Johnson is awake.  Her doctor wanted to know as soon as she regained consciousness.” 

“I’ll let him know right away sir,” the woman on the other end of the speaker all but gushed. 

Caroline couldn’t say she blamed the nurse.  Kyle Wakefield was gorgeous, definitely drool-worthy.  And he was all hers! 

A young girl unmistakably related to her visitor walked into the room.  “How’s she doing, dad?”

Caroline jerked up straighter in her bed.  “Sarah?”  Caroline was confused.  Wasn’t Sarah just a little girl?  Did Kyle have a daughter she didn’t know anything about?  She felt a hollow ache deep in her heart at that thought.  She peered intensely at the newcomer. “No you’re too old to be Sarah,” Caroline reasoned out loud.  The throbbing in her head intensified and she squeezed her eyes shut.

The girl’s light brown eyes widened.  “What’s going on dad?  Why doesn’t Caroline know who I am?”

“I’m not sure honey.  She just woke up.  Maybe she’s still groggy.  The doctor is on his way.  Why don’t we wait outside for him and give Caroline some privacy.”

The girl looked like she wanted to argue, but she saw the worried frown on her father’s face and held it back.  Instead she smiled at the woman in the hospital bed and disappeared into the hallway with one final wave.

Kyle turned his attention back to Caroline.  “Your doctor is on his way.  He’ll want to examine you and I’m sure he’ll have several questions.  I’ll be right outside if you need me.”  He bent over the bed and brushed a tender kiss across her forehead.  He turned to leave Caroline in peace.  He wanted to intercept the doctor before he made it into the room.

“Wait!”  Caroline called out in a tight panicky voice.  She couldn’t hold down the sudden fear engulfing her.  She didn’t know why, but the thought of this man leaving almost caused her heart to stop beating!  “I don’t want you to leave me alone.  Please stay with me Kyle.  I need you.”  She loved him too.  She knew it deep in her heart, but some internal instinct kept her from saying those words out loud.

Kyle leaned over her and this time he brushed her lips with his.  “I’ll be back.  I promise, but your doctor will not want me here when he examines you.” Kyle gave her one more lingering look and disappeared into the hallway.  He closed the door behind him. 

 The door pushed open a few minutes later and an elderly man in a white lab coat, her doctor presumably, walked into the room. 

He looked down at the chart fastened to the foot of Caroline’s bed.  “So Ms. Johnson, I understand your memory is a little fuzzy.  Do you remember how you came to be here?”

Caroline shook her head.  She really didn’t.  It was a scary feeling to know you were hurt enough to be in the hospital, but you had no memory of what put you there.  She wrung her hands together.  “I would feel better if Kyle, my boyfriend could be in here with us,” Caroline confided to the doctor.

The doctor wrote something in her chart.  “Let’s talk about you and your boyfriend for a minute shall we.  How long have you and Mr. Wakefield known each other?”

Caroline thought it was a weird question, but decided the doctor was probably trying to calm her nerves.  She offered him a bright smile.  “Not long, but he’s great!  I think he might be the one,” Caroline confided to the doctor.  “I graduate in a few weeks and I’ve just been offered a job where I completed my student teaching!  The best thing is the school is only about ten miles from Kyle’s house.  We can see each other more often now!”

The doctor continued writing in his chart and then cleared his throat.  “I’m afraid Ms. Johnson that you took a rather hard hit to the head and as a result you seem to be suffering from post-traumatic retrograde amnesia.”

Caroline furrowed her brows and gave the doctor a sharp look.  “What exactly does that mean?  I thought people with amnesia didn’t remember their own identity or the people around them.  I know who I am,” her voice raised as her nervousness increased.  “I know who I am,” she repeated.  “And I know who Kyle is,” she insisted.

“There are several types of amnesia,” the doctor informed her.  “Your amnesia is what we classify as retrograde because even though you know who you are, a large chunk of time is missing from your memory.”

Caroline nervously twisted her hands together.  “What can I do to get my memory back?”  The thought of missing a part of her life was downright scary. 

“Each case of amnesia is treated differently.  In most cases however the memory eventually returns on its own.  It’s just a matter of time.”

Caroline struggled to remember the incident that put her in the hospital.  She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate.  Her head throbbed.  She cupped it in both hands and groaned. 

“Don’t force it,” the doctor recommended.  “Your memory will come back on its own when it’s ready.

A commotion in the hallway drew both Caroline and the doctor’s attention.  “Let me in Kyle.  I want to see her right now!”  The feminine voice was strangely familiar, but Caroline couldn’t place it no matter how hard she tried.

A green-eyed blond burst into the room and marched past the doctor.  When he looked like he might say something she sent him a withering look that sent him scurrying out the door.  The blond leaned down and gave Caroline a hug.  “The whole family was really worried when you didn’t wake up right away,” she assured Caroline.

Caroline was really confused now.  She was an only child and her parents died years ago.  She shrank away from the blond.  “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a family.”  Caroline watched the smile on the blonde’s face falter and then completely disappear.  “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you.”

The door opened and Kyle walked into the room.  He had a fierce frown on his face.  “I tried to warn you Abigail.  The hit on the head has caused Caroline to suffer some memory loss.” 

Caroline immediately forgot about the blonde.  She held out her hand to Kyle.  She immediately felt better when he surrounded her small frail hand with his own two much larger and stronger hands.  “Please don’t leave me again,” she begged.  She didn’t see the look of shock that crossed the other woman’s face.

“What can’t I remember?  Why does the doctor think I’m missing a large chunk of my memory?”  She looked at the blond this time.

“Abigail stepped closer to the bed, but this time she was careful not to actually touch Caroline.  She didn’t want to do anything to make her friend uncomfortable.  “My name is Abigail Montgomery Blake.  We’ve been best friends since you moved here almost a year and a half ago.  We are like sisters.  You’ve even been adopted by the rest of the Montgomery family.  We consider you one of us,” she looked directly at Kyle when she made that statement.  “So the fact that you don’t recognize me definitely means you’ve lost more than a year’s worth of memories.”

Caroline looked at Kyle for confirmation.  When he nodded, she let out a long sigh.  “At least we’re still together!  You can fill me in on everything I can’t remember, right?”

The pleading look she sent Kyle would have melted any heart.  He’d just discovered he still had a soft spot for Caroline.  Obviously she had one for him too.  It didn’t matter that she’d built a wall of ice around her heart the past four years and had continually denied the attraction between them before this accident.  Right now she needed him and wanted him!  Kyle saw this as the perfect opportunity to seduce her back into his life. 

“I would be happy….”  A knock on the door interrupted Kyle’s reply. 

A tall ruggedly handsome main in khaki pants and a navy pullover knit shirt walked into the room.  Caroline stiffened when she spotted the gun he was wearing on his hip.  She relaxed when he shook hands with both Kyle and Abigail. 

“Ms. Johnson,” he nodded to her.  “I’m Cole Duncan, the sheriff.  I need to ask you a few questions about what happened in the high school parking lot this afternoon.”

Caroline’s welcoming smile blossomed into full bloom.  “So I’m still a teacher then?”  I always knew I’d be good at it!”

The sheriff’s brows arched and he frowned at Abigail, a former high school classmate and friend.  He was afraid he wasn’t going to like the answer, but he had to ask the question anyway.  “Ms. Johnson did you recognize the men that tried to grab you and Sarah Wakefield?”   

Caroline’s smile faded and she squeezed Kyle’s hand, the one she was still holding, hard.  She sent Kyle a frightened look.  “Someone tried to take me and Sarah?  Is she all right?  She was in my room earlier so I’m guessing she didn’t get hurt.”

“No,” Kyle squeezed her hand back as a sign of reassurance.  “You were alert enough to make her run for help before the men had a chance to grab both of you.”

“Your quick thinking may have saved both your lives,” the sheriff inserted himself into the conversation.  “I won’t have this kind of thing happening in my county,” the sheriff stated in a cold hard matter of fact voice.  “I was hoping you could give us some clues as to whether this was a random act of violence or one of you were targeted for some reason,” Duncan explained.

“Well,” Abigail chimed in, “Caroline hasn’t really lived here long enough to make any enemies.  Mason assured me that there have not been any parent or student complaints about Caroline.  They love her,” Abigail stated with complete confidence.  “She hasn’t dated anyone so there can’t be any angry ex-wives or girlfriends out to get her, or any jilted boyfriends for that matter,” Abigail added.  “As a matter of fact the only ex I know of is Kyle Wakefield.”  She glared at Kyle when she made the last statement.