“I’m such a klutz. Let me go change really quick,” I said and walked to the stairs. I was almost done cleaning up when I heard a knock at the front door.
“Can you get that?” I called down to Ross. Moments later, I heard raised voices.
“Who the hell are you?” I heard Harry say from my living room.
“Who are you?” I heard Ross ask back.
“Harry?” I said as I rushed to the living room. Harry’s clothes were wrinkled and his hair was longer, shaggier than the last time I had seen him. He looked as if he had put on some weight and his normally clean-shaven face now sported a two- or three-day stubble.
“Who the hell is this, Jill?” he asked, turning to face me and pointing to Ross. “Is this the guy I heard on the phone yesterday?”
“Harry, what are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“I’m a cop, Jill. I can find your new address pretty easily. You made me do it. You kept ignoring my calls, texts and e-mails. Then you go and sell the house out from underneath me, you just can’t do that.”
“Yes, I can and I did,” I said, moving to stand in front of Harry. “Harry, you shouldn’t be here. I don’t want you here,” I said more forcefully.
“Who is this kid? What is he, like, 12? Jay dies and you run off to the beach and shack up right away with this kid. Nice way to honor his memory. I always told Jay he could do better.”
“Listen, buddy, I think that the lady asked you to leave,” Ross said, putting himself between Harry and me.
“Lady? I don’t see any ladies here, just this gold-digging whore.” Harry slurred his words.
“Have you been drinking?” I asked.
“What’s it to you?”
“What are you doing to your life?” I asked, moving to Ross’s side.
“I’m trying to honor my friend the best way I know how and you have gone and fucked it all up. We should be together. We could have lived in that house or sold it if you wanted. We were a good fit, Jill, you and me. That is what Jay would have wanted.” He grabbed my arm.
“Let go,” I growled at Harry, trying to pull my arm back.
“Let her go,” Ross said, putting his hand on Harry’s arm, the one that held mine.
“Back off, kid,” Harry said, looking at Ross. He suddenly let me go. I stumbled backward and slammed into the wall. Harry tried to step forward to catch me, but Ross blocked his way. This only made Harry angrier and he swung wildly at Ross, catching him in the gut.
“Stop it,” I yelled, getting up.
Things were quickly getting out of control. I tried to put myself between Ross and Harry just as Harry took another wild punch. It landed squarely on my left cheek. I fell backward into Ross, who was getting up. Everything went black.
“Jill?” I heard Ross call my name but my body wouldn’t respond. I heard people all around me. Some seemed to be shouting while others were whispering. I felt a slight squeeze of my hand before I drifted off again.
“Jill?” I heard Ross call my name again, but I was still unable to make my body respond in the way I needed it to. I thought I heard Lanie’s voice among the other voices that surrounded me. I felt a sharp pain in my cheek and I faded off again.
I opened my eyes but could only see clearly from the right side. It looked as if I were in a hospital room, but I was unsure of how or why I was there. Looking around, I saw Ross and Lanie talking to a doctor in the doorway.
“Hey,” I croaked, trying to get their attention. Both Lanie and Ross turned at the sound of my voice. I could see relief rush over Ross’s face. Lanie walked over, grabbed my hand, and sat in a chair beside my bed.
“Jill, you gave us such a scare,” she said. Her eyes were swollen and red.
“What happened?”
My mouth was very dry and I tried to reach for the water that was sitting on the rolling tray next to my bed. Ross saw what I was trying to do and reached for the water, adding a straw and holding it up for me to sip from.
“Thank you,” I whispered and he nodded back.
“Mrs. Greenfield, I’m Dr. Baker.” The man I had seen them standing with moments earlier approached my bed.
“Call me Jill,” I mumbled.
“Jill, you sustained a pretty big impact to your jaw. You were knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion. In addition, your jaw has a slight facture. There is some severe swelling on your cheek and near your left eye, as well as a couple stitches, but there will be no permanent damage. We are going to keep you here overnight for observation, but I don’t see why you shouldn’t be good to go home in the morning,” he said, checking several more charts before leaving.
“What happened?” I asked again when the doctor left. I could see Lanie and Ross glance at each other before Ross spoke.
“What do you remember?”
“I remember Harry showing up at the house and there was a fight, but I don’t remember being hit,” I said. I tried to recall details of that encounter, but I kept coming up blank.
“You got in between Ross and Harry during the fight and Harry ended up hitting you pretty hard in the cheek,” Lanie explained.
“When you got knocked down, you ended up falling on top of me, knocking me down as well. But Harry kept trying to pick you up. He kept calling you his wife and that he needed to take you home. Every time I tried to stop him, he got crazier and all he wanted to do was keep fighting,” Ross said.
It was only then I noticed the bruises on Ross’s face and several stitches above his eye.
“Oh my! I’m so sorry, Ross,” I whispered.
“This is not your fault,” he said fiercely.
“Anyway, after about 10 or 15 minutes of dealing with Harry, Ross finally convinced Harry they needed to call an ambulance.”
“I didn’t want to leave you to go find one of our phones in case he tried to grab you and make a run for it,” Ross added.
“Harry ended up running out of the house after he saw all the blood. I think he thought you were dead,” Lanie whispered, horrified by the idea.
“I was then able to call for help, and when they arrived, I called Lanie,” Ross said. “I remember you telling me she lived in Raleigh. I thought you would want her here with you when you woke up.” Ross sat down on the other side of the bed and held my other hand. “It just all happened so quickly,” Ross said in disbelief.
“I called Stella, but I told her not to rush down here until we knew something further,” Lanie added.
“Did anyone find Harry?” I asked. Ross and Lanie again shared a glance before Lanie cleared her throat.
“Yes, they did. They found him about two blocks away from your house. He was suffering a major psychotic break and they took him into involuntary custody. He was convinced that you and he were married and going to move into that house in Greensboro together in order to honor Jay’s memory. He thought all of Jay’s belonging and possessions including you should be under his purview. In some weird way he had convinced himself that it was the only way to keep Jay alive, if you will,” Lanie explained, sounding very clinical.
“What’s going to happen to him?” I asked, horrified by the whole thing.
“He is heavily sedated right now and he is being treated for injuries sustained while he resisted arrest. He will get medical treatment and then deal with the legal implications of everything. But the most important thing is he can’t hurt you anymore. Also the police will need your statement about the entire thing but said it could wait until morning.”
Lanie’s phone rang. “Stella,” she answered and walked out of the room.
“Ross, I can’t even begin to …” I turned to look at him and tried to apologize.
“Jill, please stop. You did nothing wrong here. Harry is the one that is sick here. I’m just sorry I wasn’t able to protect you from getting hurt in the first place.” He bowed his head down.
“Ross, look at me,” I said as forcefully as I could in my weakened state. “Thank you for staying with me.”
He nodded his head.
Lanie came back into the room. “Stella is going to stay in New York, although she already has legal council set up for both of you if needed,”
Both Lanie and Ross hung around and idly chatted for another hour before I finally drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 32
I
must have slept all night because when I woke up, it was a little after seven in the morning. Lanie was asleep on the small sofa in the hospital room. I looked around for Ross and couldn’t find him. Feeling disappointed, I struggled to sit up in my bed.
“I sent him home,” Lanie said from her spot on the sofa, startling me.
“You didn’t need to stay,” I said, feeling bad she had spent the night in the hospital room.
“Yes, I did. I had orders from both Mary Elizabeth and Stella not to let you out of my sight.” She sat up. “You know, that Ross, he’s a pretty special guy—cute too,” she added after several seconds.
“You think so?”
“His concern for you was so genuine and he wasn’t going to leave here last night until the nurse said that only one of us could stay. I was then able to convince him to go home and get some rest and that he could be by your side when I brought you home today.” She smiled. “I don’t know how you got so lucky twice in your life, but I think love found you out on that beach. Jill, he’s your next forever love.”
“It’s too soon to tell that,” I said, slightly embarrassed by Lanie’s bluntness.
“Time will tell, but someone is looking after you,” she said.
The rest of the morning went by slowly. First, two officers came by to take my statement. I learned nothing more about Harry or his condition. Dr. Baker came by again and checked on my vitals and told me he would release me as long as I went home and rested and that I would need a follow-up appointment in a week or so. Another doctor and nurse came by to sign my release papers. The nursing staff insisted that I be wheeled to the curb where Lanie had pulled her car around. She drove me from the Wilmington hospital back to Oak Island. When we pulled up in front of the house, I saw Ross’s truck parked outside. He was sitting on the front steps.
“Welcome home,” Lanie said, smiling, and parked the car. Ross walked over and helped me out of the passenger’s seat.
“Hey,” he said leaning down close to me. I expected a small kiss, but instead he insisted on carrying me into the house and settling me on the sofa.
“You both don’t have to baby me,” I said when we were all in the house. There were no signs of a struggle, so someone must have cleaned up the mess.
“Jill, this is amazing,” Lanie said, walking through the house, examining the finished projects.
“I agree,” I said, sitting up to look at her. Lanie stayed for a couple more minutes before heading back to Raleigh, but not before she had given a list of instructions to both Ross and me about my care.
“Promise me you will take care of yourself,” she whispered to me as she sat down on the sofa next to me.
“I promise,” I said, squeezing her hand. She got up and quietly spoke to Ross in the other room before leaving.
“Bye, Jill,” she said on her way out the door.
“Bye, Lanie,” I called over the edge of the sofa. I heard her car pull out of the driveway and I lay back down on the sofa, letting out a sigh. Ross emerged from the kitchen, carrying a cup of tea for me, which he placed on the end table. He took a seat on the coffee table across from me and reached for my hand.
“Jill …” he started to say.
Suddenly, my stomach lurched forward. I had a bad feeling about this conversation.
“Yesterday was not the day I expected. I realized that there is still so much I don’t know about you.”
I swung my feet around so that I was now sitting on the sofa, facing him.
“Ross, yesterday was an awful day. It was unexpected, but I’m so glad you were here with me. I would hate to think of what would have happened if you hadn’t been here.” I shuddered at the thought “But I understand if it was too much. There are a million reasons for you not to stay, too serious, too crazy … you don’t owe me anything. You don’t have to stay.” I rose and walked to the back door and stared out to the ocean. My head protested slightly.
“Jill.” Ross came up to me and softly caught hold of my hand. He slowly turned me so that I faced him. “If you let me finish … There may be a million reasons for me not to stay, but I only need one: you. I was going to say before you interrupted me that since meeting you, my life has been far more interesting. I know it’s only been a short time and I don’t know everything about you, but I want to. I think I’m falling in love with you, Jill Greenfield,” he whispered, kissing me lightly on the forehead.
I was not sure what had just happened. I had been sure he was about to break up with me and go running for the hills. Now, instead, he was declaring his love. Did he expect me to do the same? Did I even know how I felt about him? Everything seemed so fuzzy still that it was hard for me to concentrate on this conversation.
“Ross, I …” I tried to sort through my feelings for Ross, but nothing worked.
“Nope. Not today. You take your time sorting through everything. You need to heal. I just wanted you to know I wasn’t going anywhere and whenever you are ready, you can let me know how you feel. In the meantime, back on the sofa with you.” He whisked me off my feet and settled me into the sofa again. He lifted my legs, sat down on the sofa, and lowered them back down on his lap. He started to hum a soft melody and I soon fell asleep.
It was dark outside when I finally stirred. I could hear the soft melody of Ross’s guitar as I opened my eyes and sat up. Ross was now sitting across from me in another chair. He strummed the last chord of the song he was working on and looked up at me.
“Hey, sleeping beauty, you hungry?” he asked with a smile.
“I’m starving.”
“Great. You stay there. I’ll go heat it up.” He put his guitar down and headed toward the kitchen.
“Heat what up? I didn’t think I had anything.”
“You didn’t. I asked April if she would be willing to stop somewhere for me and bring it here. She dropped the food off several hours ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to wake you.”
Ross reheated two bowls of homemade chicken noodle soup from one of the local restaurants and we ate in the living room in comfortable silence. When we were done, Ross handed me my phone and told me that I needed to call Stella.