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Chapter Nine
Determined to help Arianna forget the skunk who’d hurt her, Rafael focused on her feelings, sharing most of his time with her. Anger and resentment filled her voice anytime she said Julio’s name. She hadn’t seen him in five years, and yet until recently, she’d watched for him over her shoulder. Once in a while, sadness in her gaze made Rafael wonder if there wasn’t more to her story with Julio.
Attuned to her reactions and expressions, Rafael tried to distract her, make her laugh, or simply massage her until she relaxed.
The passion they shared had healed his own bouts of depression. He hadn’t drunk himself into oblivion and wallowed in the drama of his past since he’d met Arianna. Holding her warm body at night soothed the demons that had haunted him in his lonely bed. In the throes of passion, he’d caught himself calling her Janice twice. Thankfully, her loud moans had covered the whispered name his heart hadn’t forgotten.
How could he even compare them? His sweet, cautious Janice who’d grown up overprotected by her parents and pampered by her young husband, and the girl who’d raised herself, cheated life in the slums, and had struggled alone to overcome her fears.
Arianna the bold… No one should compare her to another woman because her whole life had been about stepping up to each new challenge and struggling to succeed on her own.
When he’d mentioned his non-commitment theory, he’d expected Arianna would try to convince him to give romance a chance. Instead, she’d slapped the words in his face with an even stronger conviction that had both stunned and pleased him. He shouldn’t worry about being brought to his knees by a clinging woman in love.
Together, they grabbed life with both hands. They enjoyed their professional trips in the morning, her delicious and healthy dinners in the evening, and their private love affair at night.
One hot August day, Rafael received an emergency call concerning an accident in the Biscayne Bay area. A truck jutting into traffic while making a left turn had slammed into a sedan with three people. The grandmother in the back was badly shaken but otherwise safe. The mother and eight-year-old son were badly injured and needed transporting to the nearest hospital.
Rafael rushed to his copter and found Leo and Arianna who’d received Barbara’s summon.
“The two stretchers are on board,” Leo said as he and Arianna climbed into the copter and settled in for takeoff.
Rafael landed close to the area secured by police cars. Leo and Arianna carried the stretchers out. Rafael followed them to the scene of the accident and watched as they transferred the blood-covered victims to the stretchers. The spectacle blended with the images from his past, and his hand flew to his suddenly air-deprived chest. He wanted to vomit, to scream, to cry, but he just stared.
His vision blurred. The blond woman became Janice and the young boy with dark hair, his six-year-old son, Mark. Could he kiss them, hug them one last time?
“Captain Lopez, let’s go,” Leo bellowed, shaking his shoulders. “Rafael, snap out of it. The victims are in the copter. Should I pilot?” Leo had been a pilot in his thirties and had retired from flying to assume his current position as paramedic.
“I’m okay. Thanks.” He heaved a deep sigh, climbed into his seat, and guzzled a whole bottle of water. “Ready to go,” he announced and avoided glancing behind him.
“Ready.” Both Leo and Arianna answered.
Eight minutes later, he landed on the grass in front of the Bay Health Center, the closest hospital and best cardiac center in Miami. Medics received the stretchers and rolled them away to the ER’s examination rooms.
“Will they make it?” Rafael asked when Arianna and Leo joined him in the lobby.
“I doubt the woman will survive.” Arianna sighed. “Her vitals are too low, and she was hardly breathing in the copter, despite the oxygen pumping into her. I cleaned the blood up as well as I could.”
“And the boy?” Rafael growled.
“Glass injuries to his face, and I suspect a broken rib embedded in the lung or heart, or maybe an internal hemorrhage, considering the blood soaking his shirt.”
“Shall we go back?” Leo squeezed his shoulder.
“No, I’ll wait to find out the outcome.”
“I’ll get us some water.” Leo sprinted inside the building.
Arianna considered him with a sharp gaze. “Rafael, do you know these people?”
“No.” Not in a mood to share his painful memories, he turned away.
Leo returned and distributed the bottles of water.
Rafael swallowed half of his bottle before asking, “Any news?”
“The woman didn’t make it.”
“I’m sorry, Rafael,” Arianna said as if she understood the unknown woman was somehow close to his heart. “And the boy?”
