The Promise of Paradise

Chapter Twenty-Seven


“Cal?” Eddie lurched up from unconsciousness. He looked at the door, the last place he’d seen his kid brother. Nothing. No one. Not even a flesh-and-blood doctor or nurse.

His head swam. Everything hurt, tenfold. He rolled his head on the pillow. The bike. The rain. And he'd forgotten the damn helmet. He ran one hand over his thigh and touched gauze. After a minute, he realized his right arm was bounded tightly to his chest. It ached like hell. His hair felt matted against his forehead. Did I break an arm? Hit face first? He had no recollection of the accident, no idea how hard he’d hit or how far he’d been thrown.

The room remained empty, and he wondered if they’d moved him up from the ER. He glanced around. Looked like every other damn room in this place, and he’d spent enough time in the hospital to know. The bed next to him was unmade, the hall outside empty. He leaned up on one elbow and caught a glimpse of a sign for the elevator. So he was upstairs. Second floor. That meant his parents were probably wandering the halls somewhere close by. He was surprised Mom wasn’t sitting bedside, waiting for him to wake up.

Or maybe she'd figured she couldn’t wait like that again. Not after last time.

Tears filled Eddie’s eyes, pain he thought he’d gotten rid of long ago. He pressed the first two fingers of his right hand against his breastbone, a gesture from the months after the accident. A superstition. He’d once thought that the hollowness there would go away, that one day when he checked, it would have filled again with something like life. Each day when he woke, for almost a year, he checked for some sign of recovery. Each day his fingers fell away without finding one. After awhile, he realized they never would. Like a bum ankle, or a scar that stretched the length of your jaw line, some pain you carried around with you forever.

But tonight it wasn't there. Surprised, he closed his eyes and checked again. That awful emptiness, that bone-deep ache that had greeted him each morning for the last three years, had disappeared. Maybe the accident had shaken it loose. Maybe grief had run its course. Or maybe he’d finally met someone who cast light on him again.

He reached for the call button. Cal was right. He had to let Ash know how he felt. She’s the reason I didn’t roll over and die. She had to be. Nothing else had changed in Paradise this summer, except for her coming here.

Eddie only hoped it wasn’t too late to tell her that.

* * *

“Thanks for meeting me here.”

Colin ducked under the overhang. Rain dripped onto the back of his neck and soaked his shirt. “No problem.”

Ash crossed her arms over her chest and shivered.

“How’s your friend?”

She shook her head, not trusting herself to guess.

“Ash.” He took hold of her arms and pulled her close.

She blinked away tears. Fitting herself against Colin’s chest, the way she had so many times before, felt right. It felt familiar. She knew his rough spots and his edges. She knew the way he slept with one leg outside the covers and the way he ordered his eggs in the morning. She knew the feeling of his arm around her when they stood for pictures. And as if the pages of her life had suddenly opened in front of her, Ash saw the next forty years with Colin. She saw a lavish wedding, a house in the suburbs, children, a dog, and vacations to Europe.

She saw TV interviews and reporters. Elections and sound bites. She saw Congressional balls and fund-raising banquets. She saw her own law practice grow and then fade as she gave it up to support her husband’s presidential hopes. She saw all the things she wasn’t sure she wanted.

“You made a decision.” He whispered the words into her hair, a statement rather than a question.

Ash nodded into the soft fabric of his shirt. Even without looking at her, he knew.

“You’re in love with him.” Another statement.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Colin pulled away from her and squeezed her hand. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I screwed up. Waited too long.” He glanced over his shoulder, at the parking lot, the sky, the tops of the buildings that marked downtown Paradise. When he looked back at her again, a careful mask had dropped into place.

She reached into her pocket. “Here.”

Colin nodded as he slipped the ring into the folds of his palm.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “But for someone else. You belong with someone else.” Her chest lifted and felt lighter even as she said the words.

“I guess I’ll see you around,” Colin said. He scratched his jaw. “Back in the city, maybe. If you go home.”

“I’ll be there,” Ash said and meant it. She watched as he got into his car and pulled away without looking back.

Yes, she needed to go back to Boston. But not now. Not right away. There was something she had to do here in Paradise first.

* * *

“Don’t cry, Ma.” Eddie patted her hand. “I’m gonna be fine. Doc said.”

Irene West drew a deep breath. Tears traced a familiar path down both cheeks. Behind her, Eddie’s father stood with his back to the room, looking out onto an evening that had finally cleared.

“Goddamn fool.” The man spoke to the window, but Eddie heard his anger, loud and clear. “Didn’t learn a damn thing from your brother’s death, huh? Thought maybe you’d be better off in the ground beside him?”

“Dad, I—” What was he supposed to say? He hadn’t gone out looking for the accident to happen. He hadn’t planned it, for Christ’s sake. Eddie looked at his mother, who continued to weep, and wondered if the tears were for him or for Cal.

Ash had never known him. Eddie was startled to feel relief rather than regret. She'd never cried for him. Never compared Eddie to Cal. And she was the one person in Paradise who didn’t see the kid brother he'd killed every time she looked at him.

It was, he realized suddenly, one more reason he’d fallen for her.

“I’m not him. I’m not Cal.” He paused. “And I’m not dead.”

His father turned. For a long moment, he stared at his son. “Your friend’s here.”

Eddie frowned. “Frank?”

“The woman. The one you kept asking for. Ashton.”

The name struck Eddie square in the heart. “I asked for her?” Impossible. He would have remembered. He would have felt her name on his tongue.

His mother managed a weak smile. “A couple of times. The nurse on duty knew who she was. Told us to call the restaurant.”

“And she came?” Even after I acted like a jerk, ran away like I was twelve years old?

His father nodded. “She’s been here a while.”

Irene turned. “But she’s…” She pressed her lips together and shook her head at her husband.

“What?” Eddie caught the look that passed between them.

Suddenly he knew. The machine monitoring his blood pressure beeped a couple of times. Colin. She’s here with Colin. Of course. Again he saw the guy down on one knee. Eddie coughed. Well, it made sense that he’d come to the hospital with Ash. He probably gave her a ride, held her hand in consolation while she did her duty and checked on her neighbor.

“Do you want me to see if she’s still downstairs?” Eddie’s father moved toward the door. “I’m sure she’d like to see you.”

Eddie yanked up the thin blanket that had bunched around his knees. All he really wanted to do now was sleep. He felt like an idiot, calling out some woman’s name while he was delirious with pain. Especially when the woman in question had shown up at the hospital with another guy.

“Nah. Don’t bother. You can tell her thanks, but she can go on home.” It was better that way. Better for both of them, if they never saw each other again.