Yellowstone Heart Song (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 1) (27 page)

Daniel was determined not to let anything in this strange world deter him from finding Aimee. His father had told him how unimaginable everything was in the future, and he certainly had been correct. He stood in a large hall, unsure of where to go. People moved past him, and everyone seemed to be in a hurry. He caught a few curious stares from several who passed by him. On the wall to his right, large white letters spelled out the word
Information
. Squaring his shoulders, he walked up to the huge curved desk, and noticed a dark-haired woman sitting on the other side. Her unnaturally long fingernails were painted a bright red. They were in constant motion, quickly moving over some tiny square pegs on a black shiny board on her desk.

“Can I help you?” The woman peered up at him from under her spectacles. Her eyes widened for a brief moment.

“I require information. I am searching for someone,” Daniel said, and leaned forward.

“A patient?” The woman asked.

“No.” He hesitated. “Her name is Aimee Donovan. She is a nurse.”

“She works here?”

“I don’t know.” Daniel took a deep breath, noting the woman’s contemplative look.

“I’m afraid I can’t be of much help. There are hundreds of nurses employed here.

“Hundreds?” Daniel echoed. His shoulders sagged in defeat. This search might truly be impossible. How was he supposed to track someone who didn’t leave any tracks in the traditional sense? How did one person search for another here in this time?

The woman must have seen the downtrodden look on his face. “Can you tell me anything else? What department does she work in?”

Daniel searched his memory for any information Aimee might have divulged about herself that could be useful to him now.

“I know she lives with a woman named Jana Evans.” It was all he could come up with.

“Jana Evans?”  Someone behind him echoed the name. Daniel turned his head to find a heavyset Negro woman approach him. She wore clothing similar to what Aimee wore that day when his father brought him to this time for his injuries. The day he shunned her.

“Do you know her?” he asked hopefully, and gave her his full attention.

“I did a surgical internship a little over a year ago with a Jana Evans over at Orange County General,” the woman said. Daniel understood nothing of what this woman had just told him, except that she seemed to know of Jana Evans. It was a start.

“How can I find her?” he asked eagerly.

The woman eyed him from top to bottom. “Who wants to know?”

“I do.” Daniel’s eyebrows furrowed.

“And who might you be?” She held her hand to her hips and leaned forward.

Daniel groaned inwardly. She wasn’t going to make this easy.

“My name is Daniel Osborne. I’m searching for my wife. All I know is that she lives with a woman named Jana Evans.”

“Your wife, huh?” Her eyebrows rose in such a way that left no doubt that she didn’t believe a word he said.

Daniel inhaled another deep breath, and met the woman’s hard stare unflinching. He couldn’t afford to lose his temper now.

“Please, if you can help me find her.”

The woman reached into her loose blue pants and pulled out a small black device, which she unfolded. Fascinated, Daniel watched as the unfolded part illuminated, and the woman prodded at it repeatedly with her fingers.

“Yeah, I still got her cellphone number. Do you want me to call her?”

“Call to her? Will she hear you?”

The woman’s eyebrows shot up again and she shot him a skeptical look. Apparently he had said the wrong thing.

“Yes, please . . . call on her.” Daniel groaned inwardly. He hated being at this woman’s mercy, and that communicating with her had to be so difficult. The woman shot him one final piercing stare, then poked at the little device in her hand again, and held it to the side of her face. Daniel stood by, observing and listening, completely perplexed.

“Jana? Yeah, hi, this is Felicia Harding. I don’t know if you remember me, but we interned together a year ago . . . Yeah, that’s right! . . . They offered you a job? . . . Hey, that’s great . . . No, no, I’m doing fine. I’m in peds at Anaheim Memorial . . . Hey, this is kinda weird, but I got some,” – she gave Daniel a perusing once over – “Davy Crocket wannabe here. He says he knows you. Hang on.” Looking at Daniel, she asked him, “whatcha say your name was again?”

Daniel gave it to her.

“He says his name’s Daniel Osborne, and he thinks his wife is living with you.” For some minutes, the woman merely grunted words of acknowledgement.  Finally, she said, “Okay, Jana. Will do. Nice talking to ya.” She folded the black device in half again, then turned her attention on him. “She says she’s on her way, and I should tell you to stay put.”

“What about Aimee?” He was almost afraid to ask.

“Didn’t say nothing about her,” Felicia shook her head and shrugged. “You can go wait over there.” She waved in the direction of a row of peculiar-looking chairs lined up against the wall. “Jana should be here in twenty minutes or so.”

“Thank you for your help,” Daniel said sincerely, and strode over to take his place in one of the oddly shaped chairs. He discretely watched the people sitting around, while several openly stared at him. His heart rate increased. At least he had found Aimee’s roommate.

Daniel didn’t have long to wait when a slim woman with short brown hair, who looked vaguely familiar to him, walked through the glass doors. She wore blue form-fitting britches and a green shirt held up by a thin strap over each shoulder. The shoes on her feet could barely be called shoes. They were merely soles with the tops missing, and only a small band wrapped around one toe and the top of her feet. A black pouch was strapped over one shoulder.

Daniel bolted from the chair, and rushed over to meet her before she was barely in the building.

“Jana Evans?” he asked hopefully. The last time he had seen her, his mind had been foggy. The woman glared at him.

“Daniel,” she addressed him coldly.

“You remember me?”

“Oh, yeah, I remember you,” she said, not too friendly.  Her eyes narrowed. “You’re the guy who broke Aimee’s heart.”

He ran a hand through his hair, and inhaled deeply before he spoke. “I have come for her. I have no words to correct my mistake, only that I am sorry for the way I treated her.”

“How do I know you’re not going to hurt her again?” Jana asked, her voice icy.  

“She is my heart song,” Daniel said simply.

She watched him for a few intense moments. It was evident on her face that she was trying to come to a decision. Slowly, she nodded. “If you hurt her again, I’ll kill you.”

Daniel’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at her words, sizing her up. Then his face lit up in a wide smile. “If I hurt her again, I won’t stop you.”

Chapter 25

Aimee adjusted the flow rate on Mrs. Jenkin’s fluids that fed into the old woman’s arm. She raised her head to look across the expanse of the emergency room, unsure what had prompted her to do so. Just inside the double door that led to the waiting room stood a wide-chested man with shoulder-length black hair, dressed in tan buckskin britches and an off-white, loosely fitted cotton shirt. The string that held it together at the chest was tied in a loose knot.  A wide leather belt encircled his waist, and a small leather pouch dangled around his neck. The moccasins he wore were a shade darker than his britches, and looked well worn.

Aimee inhaled sharply, and her hand flew to her mouth. “Daniel!” The name escaped her lips in a whispered gasp. Her other hand grabbed the safety rail of Mrs. Jenkin’s hospital bed. Adrenaline flooded her system, and her knees turned to rubber.

“Are you all right, dear?” the elderly woman asked. Her eyes followed the line of Aimee’s gaze. “Oh, my!” she exclaimed. “Isn’t he a handsome fellow?”

Several nurses stopped what they were doing. Some whispered to each other while others stared openly.

“Ex . . . Excuse me for a moment,” Aimee said softly to her patient after her breath returned. Her heart pounded so fiercely, she thought her ribs might crack. Time stood still, and everything moved in slow motion. Aimee couldn’t focus on anything except the man waiting at the entrance doors. He stared back at her, his intense dark eyes drawing an invisible rope around her, beckoning her to him.

She didn’t know how she’d moved across the room and stood before him now, her eyes glazed with unshed tears of disbelief. She still couldn’t believe he was real and actually standing in front of her. Weeks ago, she had finally conceded that she’d never see him again. But three months of dreaming about Daniel after he vanished from her life hadn’t erased the pain of her loss. What was he doing here now? His eyes, those intense eyes she knew so well, were locked onto her, smoldering dark with unspoken yearning. They seemed to devour her as she stood there. She didn’t dare to move.

Her voice was shaky and weak when she finally spoke. “Daniel, what are you doing here? I thought you’d have destroyed the snake by now. Is it your father? Is he all right?”

“My father has joined my mother,” he answered quietly.

“I’m . . . so sorry.” Aimee raised her hand as if to touch him, hesitated, and curled her fingers around the stethoscope draped around her neck instead.

“Then why are you here?” she managed to ask. Seeing him now, after all these months, brought back all the feelings she had tried so desperately to overcome.

Daniel continued to stare at her. His eyes seemed to drink her up. Aimee’s gaze didn’t waver. It was as if they were the only two people in the world. No one else existed. The noise from the many heart monitors in the room faded, and people’s voices became muffled in the background.

“I left something behind,” he finally spoke, his voice soft and deep.

Aimee’s eyebrows drew together. Part of her wanted to react in anger. Why would he do this to her? Why would he come back, to tear her apart all over again? She had hurt him deeply, and he hated her for her lies and deception. She blamed herself for his rejection of her three months ago, after his surgery.

“I didn’t come across anything of yours, except your destroyed clothes, after you left. What is so important that you would feel the need to travel all this . . . time . . . to retrieve?”

“My heart song.” There was no hesitation in his husky answer.

Aimee blinked. “Your . . . what? What are you saying?” Her heart pounded in her chest, and the tears spilled from her eyes.

“My life has been empty these past weeks. It holds no meaning anymore without you. I came here to ask for your forgiveness.”

Aimee didn’t need to hear any more. She threw herself at him, and wrapped her arms around his waist. She inhaled his wonderful woodsy scent that was his alone, and spilled her tears onto his chest. His arms crushed her to him, and a long sigh escaped his lungs.

“I once said that I would follow you to the ends of the world.” Aimee felt rather than heard his words. “I now know that I would follow you across the expanse of time as well.”

Aimee raised her head, and blinked away the tears to get a clearer view of his face. His eyes were dark and warm, reflecting the love in his heart. Cupping her face in his hands, Daniel tilted her head up as he bent down and claimed her lips in an agonizingly slow kiss.

Several whistles and good-natured catcalls from her coworkers brought her back to her senses. She cleared her throat and stepped away from Daniel, smiling brightly.

“We’ve never had an audience before,” she whispered.

Daniel’s wide unabashed smile melted her heart.

She reluctantly took a step back, afraid he would disappear again if she let go. She ushered him out the double door behind him into the empty waiting room.

“How did you find me?” She barely spoke the words when Daniel pulled her into a fierce embrace that sucked the air out of her lungs, and lifted her off the ground.

“I am a good tracker.” He breathed into her hair.

Someone cleared their throat loudly behind them, and Aimee pulled herself out of Daniel’s arms. Jana stood in the corner, a wide smile on her face.

“I haven’t seen you light up like this in five months,” Jana commented. “It’s good to have the old you back.”

“You knew?” Aimee asked, her eyes darting from her to Daniel. “You brought him here!”

“Long story.” Jana waved her off. “He found me, actually. I’ll tell you later. Right now I think you should get Daniel Boone out of here.”

Aimee touched Daniel’s face, and ran her hands down his arms just to make sure he was real, terrified she’d wake up any moment now to a dream.

“I was just about to do change-of-shift rounds,” she said. “You’d better be here when I get back.” She looked up into the deep brown eyes that followed her into her dreams each night.

“I’m not going anywhere without you,” he promised.

“We’ll wait here. I’ll make sure he stays put,” Jana assured her.

Aimee clasped his face between her hands and kissed him one more time, then headed back into the ER. She returned half an hour later, ready to go. Jana held her back. “Um, drive slow, okay.”

Aimee’s forehead wrinkled at her friend’s words.

“Your hero here is terrified of cars, especially riding in one,” Jana whispered. “You should have seen his face on our drive over here from Anaheim Memorial.” She grinned. Aimee nodded in understanding. She turned to a silently waiting Daniel, when Jana called to her. “I’ll see you at home?”

Aimee understood what she was really asking. She nodded in reassurance. “Yes. I won’t leave without a proper good-bye this time.”

****

Aimee pulled into her designated parking spot at the condominium complex and put the car in park. She glanced over at the passenger side again for the millionth time since the drive home from the hospital. Daniel had suggested walking when she led him to her car. It took some coaxing for her to finally get him to agree to get into the vehicle. The entire drive home, he had sat silently, his hands in his lap, curled into tight fists that made his knuckles turn white.

“Payback, Daniel,” Aimee said with a mischievous grin, and helped him undo the seatbelt. He looked up at her, his face ashen. “Payback?”

“I was scared to death on that travois when you practically walked us through a herd of bison that first day,” Aimee explained. The color slowly returned to Daniel’s face after he extracted himself from the car.

“This is your home?” Daniel asked, and followed her through the front door into the living room of her condo. His eyes roamed the bright interior of the room, lingering on the painting over the fireplace.

“This was my home up until five months ago,” Aimee said. She turned to face him, and reached up to touch his face. “My home has been with you since the day I went back in time,” she whispered.

Daniel covered her hand with his. His gaze bore into hers. “You are sure you want to leave your life, everything you know behind, and live with me?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything. I missed you so much.” Her voice was raw with emotion, and the tears streamed down her cheeks. “There were days I wanted to die, thinking then I might be with you again.”

“Shhh,” Daniel whispered. He put a finger to her lips. “Don’t ever wish that.” He ran his hands through her hair, then cupped her face and tilting her head back. He claimed her mouth in a slow kiss that made her go weak in the knees.

“I never wanted to lie to you, Daniel. I hope you can forgive me. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you everything, and now I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders, because I can finally be completely honest with you.”

Daniel stroked her hair and held her to him. “My father told me you were bound by a promise to him. I should never have doubted you. I’m sorry for my behavior when he brought me here.”

She looked up and searched his face for several moments. “Are you okay with everything he’s told you?”

Daniel inhaled deeply before he answered. He shrugged. “It doesn’t change who I am. It’s been a difficult thing to understand, but it doesn’t really matter, does it? All I know is that this . . . device brought you to me, and that’s all that’s important.”

Aimee led him into the kitchen. “Jana should be home soon,” she said as she turned to face him again. “I want to say goodbye, and then we can leave.”

Daniel nodded. His eyes roamed around the kitchen. He ran his hand across the smooth granite countertop, the oak cabinets, the black cooktop. Aimee enjoyed watching him, captivated. It was like watching the wonderment on a child’s face making a first discovery. She jumped when the door opened and closed, and Jana stormed in. The urgent look on her face startled Aimee.

“Brad’s on his way. Apparently he saw you leave the hospital with Daniel.”

Aimee groaned loudly. All this time, Brad had still not given up. Daniel’s expression darkened.

“The man you were promised to?”

“He has no hold on me,” Aimee assured him.

“I always knew I’d have to face him some day,” Daniel said.

Aimee shot him a worried look. “Oh, no you don’t,” she said, shaking her head adamantly. They all turned their heads at the loud knock on the door.

“Should I let him in?” Jana asked apprehensively.

“Let’s get it over with,” Aimee sighed.  She walked to the door and opened it slowly.

“Can I come in?” Brad asked gruffly. He didn’t wait for an answer, and elbowed his way past her.

“What do you want?” Aimee asked. His eyes fixated on something behind her.

“What the hell is he doing back?” Brad roared angrily, and pushed further into the room.

The two men sized each other up. Brad was actually several inches taller, but Daniel was broader, with more muscle mass from a lifetime of hard physical activity. He took a step in front of Aimee to put himself between her and Brad. His stare was unwavering.

“I have returned for my wife,” he said in a low tone.

Brad stared, dumfounded. “Your wife?” he bellowed. He shot a disbelieving look at Aimee. “What the hell is going on, Aimee?”

When Daniel moved a half step closer to Brad, she put a hand on his arm.

“Please, can we all just calm down,” she pleaded. “Brad, you shouldn’t be here. You and I have been over for a long time. I keep telling you that. When are you going to understand that you can’t have everything you want? Including me.”