Chapter 33
33
Belinda had taken another nap and was wide awake and moving around when Belle knocked on the door. She entered smiling, and as Belinda stared at the sweet nurse, she was instantly comforted. She had no doubt that Belle’s smile lit the hearts of many at the nursing home where she worked. Looking behind her, another woman walked in, her smile just as warm.
“Belinda, I’d like you to meet Karen Drummond. She’s one of the home healthcare nurses for our county. I’ll keep checking on you because we’re friends, but she will be officially assigned to you.”
Karen walked over and shook her hand. She was attractive, with blond hair cut into a shoulder-length bob. She didn’t look out of her thirties, but with laugh lines emitting from her eyes, Belinda wondered if she was a little older. It was hard to tell with her youthful appearance.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Belinda. I wish it were under better circumstances, but I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, nonetheless.”
Aaron’s dad said, “Ladies, I would offer to step outside, but I promised my son I would stay in the apartment. Perhaps, if you wouldn’t mind using the bedroom, then I could stay here.”
“That’s an excellent suggestion,“ Belle agreed.
Belinda nodded, and the three women walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind them. Turning, she faced the two nurses. “I assume you want to look at the wound to see how it’s healing?”
“Yes. But first, I have some information we need to go over.”
“Absolutely. If you don’t mind sitting on the bed,” Belinda said.
Karen laughed and shook her head. “That’s fine.”
For the next few minutes, they reviewed the paperwork for home healthcare, and Karen explained what she would be doing. “To start with, I will be coming by twice a week to check on your wound, answer any questions you have, and make sure you’re healthy.”
They went through her basic needs for daily living, and she explained how she could shower and wash her hair with Aaron’s help. They then reviewed her medication, went over her list of symptoms, and Karen took her blood pressure and other vital signs. Belle assisted Belinda in sliding out of her splint and shirt, allowing both nurses to look at her wound.
As Karen looked at her wound with such a concentrated expression, Belinda suddenly felt self-conscious. “I guess you don’t get a lot of bullet wounds to check on out here on the Eastern Shore, do you?”
Karen’s dark brown eyes moved from the wound over to stare at Belinda, her expression of concentration falling slightly. “Not here, no. But I saw my fair share of them.”
Belle spoke. “Karen served as an Army nurse.”
Belinda felt immediately contrite. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be insensitive.”
Karen waved her hand dismissively. “You weren’t! It was years ago. I can definitely tell you that it was a very clean wound, and your surgeon did an excellent job stitching you up. The wound looks good, so please keep doing exactly what you’re doing.”
After a few more minutes, Belle helped her into her shirt and sling. Belinda walked them to the front door and said goodbye. She was now as comfortable with Karen as she was with Belle and looked forward to seeing her again.
She smiled at Arthur as he watched TV. He looked up and immediately asked, “Can I get you anything, sweetheart?”
She couldn’t help but smile at hearing the endearment fall from his lips. By getting to know Aaron’s father better, she understood where Aaron’s goodness came from. Shaking her head, she said, “No, please keep watching TV. I think I’ll use Aaron’s computer to get a little work done.”
“Is there anything I can help you with?” Hayley asked. She inclined her head down toward her laptop. “I finished one job and am not in the mood to start another, so I can easily help you do anything you want.”
“I thought about signing on and looking at my photographs. I understand that the police are looking, but I know my subjects and my settings so well. Maybe there’s something I’ll see that they could miss.”
“I don’t think that’s a bad idea at all. Do you want me to look, too?”
“We could look together?”
Hayley grinned and nodded. “That sounds perfect.”
Perusing the wedding photos, she had to admit having Hayley with her was fun. Even though they were looking for something untoward, she and Hayley were already plotting what would be the perfect pictures when she and Sam got married in a few weeks.
Hayley looked at her, worry in her eyes. “You know, I really want you as the photographer, but there’s no pressure. With what’s happened to you, I don’t want you traumatized, and I certainly don’t want you to hurt yourself while trying to take pictures.”
“Nothing is going to keep me from taking the pictures when you get married to Sam. We’ll be inside the church, the reception is in their hall in the basement, and there’ll be plenty of deputies around to keep an eye on things when we take the outdoor photos.”
With that settled, the two women continued going through the pictures. She said goodbye when it was time for Hayley to pick up her children after school. Tired, she went back to the bedroom and took another nap. When she woke up, Arthur was talking to Ivy, who had shown up after work.
She laughed when she walked out. “I never know who’s going to be here when I get out of bed.”
“Arthur told me that you and Hayley were looking at pictures earlier. I take it you didn’t have any luck?” Ivy asked.
“We were only looking at the wedding photos, and there’s nothing. Nothing in the crowd. Nothing out on the bay. Nothing but beautiful wedding pictures.”
“Well, I’m sure that the detectives are going back further. I just don’t want you to stress yourself any more than you already are.”
Just then, Bess walked in carrying items from the bakery with Aaron and Andy on her heels.
Now, surrounded by her and Aaron’s families, she watched as they plated the food and settled, comfortable in each other’s company. It was the type of evening that she and Bess would’ve had with their parents when they were still local. She knew that eventually when her grandmother passed, her parents would probably come back to the shore. But for now, still surrounded by family and love, she couldn’t think of anything better.
Usually, by the end of each day, Aaron came home to an empty apartment. In the past, he might stop somewhere for dinner or even a bar if he was in the mood. But more often than not, it was just him. He’d never spent time decorating, knowing it was a temporary abode.
He kept a few framed photographs of him, Andy, and their dad around, but other than that, his place was sparse. Not exactly a bachelor pad, but more of a pad for a bachelor.
Coming home that night, greeted by the sight of Belinda smiling, his heart skipped a beat. With Bess laughing along with his dad, Andy, and Ivy, it felt like a home for the first time.
And as much as he hated the reason Belinda was there, he wasn’t sorry that she was in his place. Walking over, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “You look tired, sweetheart.”
She scrunched her nose. “Just what a girl wants to hear.” Her exaggerated tone let him know she wasn’t really insulted, but he winced anyway.
His arms tightened slightly, and he said, “I apologize. I should’ve led with you look beautiful… and tired.”
She leaned back and smiled at him. “I am tired, but it’s been so good to have people around.”
“How was your meeting with the home health nurse?”
“It was wonderful. Her name is Karen Drummond.”
“I know her. Or rather, I’ve seen her at our American Legion meetings occasionally. So I take it you had a good meeting?”
“She explained everything, looked at the wound, and said it was healing well. She also said that I could go off the heavy-duty pain meds whenever I wanted. She said that they prefer for patients to start using just over-the-counter pain meds at the earliest time to help avoid addictions.”
Hearing people moving around, he glanced over her shoulder at the gathering filling plates from the food on the counter.
Belinda looked over to see what he was staring at. “Carrie brought some food, and Bess brought things from the bakery.”
“It’s nice to see you up and smiling, but I don’t want you to overdo it. I’ll give my brother and dad the sign for everyone to leave soon.”
“You don’t need to. It felt so nice to have friends around earlier and this evening. I promise I’ll take it easy, and believe me, I’ll go to bed early.”
Soon, they were all eating while Arthur told stories about Andy and Aaron, delighting Ivy and Belinda. Bess told a few embarrassing childhood memories about Belinda that had Aaron roaring with laughter and Belinda blushing.
After eating and cleaning up, they said good night to everyone. Finally, Aaron and Belinda were alone. Once again, they showered together, and she made a half-hearted joke about wishing she felt stronger.
He looked at her and shook his head. “If you think I’m going to have sex with you when you’ve just been shot, you don’t know me at all!”
He helped her into her pajamas, and she pouted. “I didn’t say anything about you having sex with me. I was just thinking that I wish I could have sex with you!”
A deep chuckle rumbled from inside his chest. “I’m not sure I see the difference, sweetheart, but until you get well, we’re just sleeping together.”
As he crawled into bed, she snuggled into his side. “Hayley and I started going through some of my pictures. I hope you don’t mind, but I used your laptop since I knew my pictures were saved to the cloud.”
He held her gaze. “Going through what pictures?”
“Well, the wedding to start with. Hayley and I were talking about her upcoming wedding to Sam.”
He relaxed and held her close.
“And I wanted to see if I could help with the investigation.”
Now, he startled, his arms twitching. “Belinda, babe, you don’t need to do anything about this.”
“What if I recognize something?”
He hesitated. “Did you?”
She scrunched her nose and shook her head. “No, to be honest, we barely made it past the wedding. It was giving Hayley ideas about pictures she wants for her wedding.”
He sighed heavily. “Look, I know they asked you to take pictures, but they get married in a few weeks, and you aren’t going to be?—”
“Oh yes, I am. I told her there was no way I wasn’t taking pictures for her wedding! Look, it’ll be in a church, and there’ll be tons of law enforcement around.”
“Do I need to remind you that there was tons of law enforcement around when you were shot? As much as it shits me to say that, it’s the truth.”
“Yes, but then, we didn’t know of any threat. This time, we will.”
He knew that continuing to discuss it would only upset her, so he decided to halt the wedding topic for now.
She looked up at him. “I suppose there were no more pictures that anyone noticed anything about?”
He shook his head, hating that was the answer he was given. “Although, they did get past your last photo shoots. They noticed that you also go out and take a lot of nature shots.”
“Oh, that’s right. I never thought to mention that, but I hardly think a picture that I take of a blue heron, a snowy egret, or seagulls on the water would give us any clues to someone being unhappy with me taking a photograph.”
He shrugged. “You never know. Believe me, we’re not leaving any stone unturned to figure out who’s after you.”
She smiled and cuddled closer to him on her good side. “Speaking of nature shots, do you remember when we met at Kiptopeke Park?”
“Of course, I remember it. How could I forget?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Sometimes I think maybe things are more important to me than they are to other people.”
He shifted on his side and cupped her cheek. “I never forget things that are important to me, and that day was. That was the day that you allowed me to talk to you. To confide in you. To let you see a part of me that I don’t let anyone else see.”
“That day meant a lot to me, Aaron.”
“Whatever it meant to you, sweetheart, I can assure you, it meant even more to me. I gave you my damaged parts, and you made me realize I don’t have to feel guilty or abandoned. I am who I am, and part of that is my past. I discovered that day that I’m not broken.”
“I think tomorrow, I’m going to go back through those pictures. I know I even took a couple of selfies of us. I haven’t done anything with those yet, but now I want to save some, get them printed, and hang on to them.”
“You do that, and I promise I also want to have one framed.” What he didn’t say was that he hoped they could soon be together more permanently and have a future with lots of pictures.