She hit the ground hard. Her head was swimming, but strangely her body felt mostly numb and tingly, like that horrible sensation you get when your hand falls asleep. Her mind was fuzzy and her eyes couldn’t focus.
She felt his weight press down on her and her ribs screamed in pain. The pain momentarily focused her rattled brain. She looked up and saw him over her with a feverish look in his eyes.
He grabbed her by the throat, squeezing until she could barely pull in a raged breath. Black spots danced in front of her eyes.
“Why are you making me do this?!” the man said as he clenched his hands around her neck. “I didn’t want to hurt you! You made me do this!”
She couldn’t breathe anymore. He was squeezing too tight, crushing her airway. The black spots were filling her vision, joining together, and blotting everything else out. Then everything went black.
25
Consciousness came slowly and painfully. The first thing she was aware of was the aching pain that permeated every inch of her body. Her limbs felt heavy, weighted down somehow. She couldn’t move. She tried to recede back into unconsciousness to escape the pain but her mind rebelled, slowly becoming more and more aware of her surroundings. Something was beeping nearby and she smelled flowers.
Fear began to set in as bits and pieces of memory came back to her. She realized with alarm that her arms felt tied down. She was afraid to open her eyes, afraid to find that horrible man staring back down at her.
She felt someone squeeze her hand and she tried to hold perfectly still. She didn’t want to give any sign that she was awake.
“Maggie?” Aaron’s voice broke through her nightmare and her eyes flew open at the sound.
“Maggie?! Oh thank God!” Aaron released her hand and grasped the sides of her face gently, hovering over her with tears in his eyes.
“Aaron?” Maggie croaked. “How did you get here?” Her mind still felt sluggish and wasn’t making the connections.
“You’re in the hospital,” he explained slowly as he tenderly brushed aside her bangs. “Do you remember what happened?”
“I think so. A man came into the house...” Maggie trailed off as she struggled to focus.
“I’m so sorry, Maggie.” Aaron fell to his knees at the side of her bed and laid his head on her hand. “I should have been there. I should never have left.”
“Aaron, he’s going to come after you too,” Maggie said as it all started coming back to her. “He was looking for you. He’s going to come back!”
The beeping sound started coming faster and that’s when she realized that it was the sound of her heart monitor.
“Maggie, please don’t upset yourself. You need to rest,” Aaron’s said.
“He thinks the house belongs to him,” Maggie continued as panic began to grip her. “He thinks we are trying to take it away from him. He’s not going to stop.”
“Maggie, that man is never coming back,” he promised. “You’re safe. We both are. Please just try to get some sleep. We can talk more about this when you’re better.”
“I’m not tired,” Maggie lied, but her heavy eyelids betrayed her. That short burst of energy had drained her.
“Go to sleep,” Aaron whispered as he soothingly stroked her head.
“But if I do you’ll leave.” Maggie fought to keep her eyes open.
“I promise I’ll be here when you wake up. I’ll never leave your side again.” Maggie smiled softly as she finally let her heavy lids win the battle and she quickly drifted off to sleep.
~∞~
Aaron kept his promise. He stayed by her side night and day while she recovered. He and Andi took turns sitting by her bed so that she was never alone when she woke. Over the next several days she became stronger and was able to stay awake for longer periods.
She learned that she had three broken ribs, a broken arm, a severe concussion, and countless bruises. As her mind cleared, all the pieces began to come together. The man had claimed that his grandfather should have inherited the house when his brother died. It only stood to reason that his grandfather was Agnes Devereaux’s uncle. But apparently he believed that Aaron somehow held a claim to the property that was greater than his own, and he believed that there was some file that could prove it.
She now felt certain that Ms. Devereaux had brought her here to meet Aaron. Perhaps she’d watched her as a child being paraded around as an unwilling debutant and felt a connection with her. Perhaps she’d seen something in Maggie that reminded her of herself and that’s why she’d reached out to her, that’s why she’d left that flyer just outside her dorm room.
Ms. Devereaux had orchestrated this entire summer to bring them together. She tried several times to talk with Aaron about her suspicions, but he didn’t want to talk about it and begged her to leave it alone. He just wanted her to get well so that they could leave Sweetwater and leave Devereaux Manor behind them.