Chapter Six
Cheyenne was right, Oakley thought as he went to pick up his father and take him to the hospital.
He did “like” Rachel. He’d certainly come close to kissing her last night, a fact which had kept him awake.
He normally slept like a log, but he’d had the worst case of insomnia, and finally, once he’d fallen asleep, he’d tossed and turned.
He’d woken to discover half of his covers on the floor, most likely kicked off while he’d been dreaming.
Thankfully, he didn’t remember those dreams. He might not get through the day if he did.
As it was, he had a vivid memory of how close his and Rachel’s lips had been.
It was etched permanently into his brain.
Same for the way she had stared at him doe-eyed, as if she wanted to cup the side of his face.
He’d felt the undercurrent, the wave of desire so powerful he’d almost been unable to control himself.
Somehow he’d managed. He could not lose her as his administrative assistant because he couldn’t banish his lustful thoughts or keep his hands to himself.
He prided himself on being a man who could control his baser impulses.
But when she’d been in his arms, it had been like holding a piece of heaven. He’d wanted more.
Even though Oakley was five minutes early, Clemons was already outside on the sidewalk when Oakley parked, so he didn’t even turn the car off. His old man climbed inside. “Don’t want to do this,” he said without preamble. “Only doing it for you kids.”
“Thank you and good morning to you, too,” Oakley replied, waiting until his father fastened his seat belt.
Oakley took his time driving, obeying the speed limit as he headed toward the hospital.
God forbid they get into an accident and then Clemons had to sue his own son. “Did you sleep well?” he asked.
“No,” his dad bit out. “I don’t like this. What does this guy want with me? Why did he call my name?”
“I don’t know, which is why we’re going there to find out. It’ll be okay.” If Clemons’s long dramatic sigh was any indication, Oakley’s reassurances hadn’t landed the way he’d hoped. “If we’re fortunate, Cheyenne will also be there.”
He parked and joined Clemons on the pavement. Like most days, his dad wore a white linen suit. He attempted a brave face, but his skin had paled. “Let’s do this,” Oakley said. “Sooner we do, sooner it’ll be over.”
Since Cheyenne had added their names to Johnny’s guest list, they retraced the route that Oakley and Cheyenne had taken the day before. Clemons grimaced as he stuck the visitor’s badge onto his lapel. “This better not leave a mark.”
“If it does, I’ll pay for the dry cleaning,” Oakley offered as he led his dad to the elevator.
However, Clemons shrank back when the doors opened. “Nope. Not going. Forget it. I’m going back to the car.”
“The car’s locked and it’s hot out there. Get in. I know this is hard, but you’ve got this. We’ll be in and out. Promise.”
Clemons stepped into the elevator. Two people wedged past, and his dad glared at them.
The doors started closing, but Clemons pushed his hand into the gap and the doors retracted.
He squared his shoulders and strode onto the lobby floor.
He shook his head at Oakley. “Don’t care.
I’ll wait right here. Maybe go to the chapel.
The gift store. But you can’t force me to do this. ”
“Dad.” Oakley was half in, half out of the elevator, which had started loudly buzzing. People frowned with irritation.
“Go.” Clemons turned and stalked off.
Sighing, Oakley stepped into the elevator. He checked in at the desk and when he reached Johnny’s room, the door was closed. Through the thin window, Oakley saw the cops were inside. He could always come back. He should probably go find his father.
At that moment, one of the officers stepped out, and Oakley recognized her from the afternoon they’d found Johnny. Her eyes widened in recognition. “I know you. You were on the riverbank.”
“How’s he doing?” Oakley asked. “I heard he doesn’t have family and my sister works here, so I’ve been back once already to pay him a visit. My dad’s downstairs and won’t come up. He doesn’t like hospitals much.”
“Who does? And we don’t know anything more than the day we found him. Sadly, he’s not Henry Cavill, although there is some resemblance. Probably a good-looking guy when his head’s not all banged up. We were taking his statement just now and he doesn’t remember anything.”
“That’s the same thing he told me last night.” Oakley gave the officer an update, but he left out the part of Johnny saying Clemons’s name.
“We’re alerting our news contacts in hopes that once they get the word out, someone comes forward who can identify him.
He doesn’t fit the description on any missing persons’ reports.
We’re also considering that he may have been the victim of an attack or robbery given the head injury and because he didn’t have a wallet on him.
We’re depending on the public to help. Hopefully, someone saw something.
I’m telling you all this because you found him, and because the media may contact you. ”
Oakley hoped they wouldn’t. He could almost hear his father saying, “Those damn reporters. They always need an angle.”
Her partner stepped out into the hall. “Done with his fingerprinting,” he said.
He saw Oakley and gestured toward him. “Why don’t you take him back inside?
” he suggested. “Maybe seeing him will jog Johnny Doe’s memory.
I gotta get back to the station. We’ve got some new intel on that rustling case.
Besides, doc says he’ll eventually get his memory back, and it’s not like our amnesiac is going anywhere. ”
“Nurse said last night that he’ll be in the hospital a few weeks,” Oakley chimed in.
“Yeah, we heard that, too.” They entered the room and Oakley thought that perhaps it was a good thing that Clemons had refused. Their mother had had similar bandages on her head at one point.
“Hey, Johnny, you remember this guy?” the officer asked, pointing at Oakley.
Johnny stared for a minute. “Oakley,” Johnny said. He gave a small smile. “We met last night.”
“But before that?” she persisted.
Johnny’s smile disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. “No. Never seen him before last night. He came by with his sister. Cheyenne. Wait. They’re Fortunes.” He grasped for the memory but failed. “Clemons Fortune. Still trying to figure out why I know that name…”
The officer looked at Oakley before glancing back at Johnny. “Do you remember something about Clemons?”
The injured man looked around. “No.” He winced as if trying to get the memory to come into focus. “No, I’m pretty sure I don’t know the guy. Maybe I know of him? I wish I could remember.” Oakley could hear the man’s frustration and wished he could help him.
“Let me show you a picture of him. He helped rescue you,” Oakley said.
He held out his phone, and Johnny stared hard at Clemons’s photo. “I don’t recognize him…and I just can’t remember whether we have ever met before.” Then Johnny balled his fists. “Why doesn’t my brain work?”
The police officer gave a drawn-out sigh. “I’ll be in touch in a few days,” she told Johnny. “You tell your nurse if you remember anything. If I find out you’re in the fingerprint database, you’ll see me sooner.”
As if hearing the word nurse, Johnny’s RN appeared, passing the officer on her way out. The nurse saw Oakley and her eyebrows drew together. She hadn’t been on duty the other night. “Who are you?”
“I’m Oakley Fortune. I was the one who found him,” he replied. “I visited last night.”
“Ah. I heard about that. Johnny said he had some visitors.” She lost her suspicious expression. “Johnny, it’s time for your pain medicine. Then we’ll do the DNA swab. We’ll send it to the lab. Thanks for signing the consent forms.”
“I need to know who I am,” he mumbled. He pressed his hands to his head as if trying to push the memory out.
Oakley watched as the nurse gave Johnny his meds and swabbed his cheek. Then she disappeared with the sample.
Johnny pressed his head deeper into his pillow. “I’m sorry I don’t know you or your dad,” he told Oakley. “But thank you for saving me. I…”
The arrival of the neurologist interrupted whatever Johnny was about to say next, so Oakley took his leave. He found Clemons in the gift shop, and he came out grumbling about the high prices of floral arrangements and teddy bears. “A rip-off, I tell you,” he complained.
His dad at least waited until they got to the parking lot before he began muttering something about suing someone. “Did you find out why the man was calling my name?”
“No. I showed him your photo, and he didn’t recognize you.”
“See?” Clemons declared triumphantly. “There was no point dragging me here at all.”
Oakley let his dad rant the entire drive back to his place.
“Just know one thing,” Clemons said. “If that guy comes after me, I’m suing.”
“I’ll deal with it,” Oakley began, but his dad had already slammed the car door closed and was speed-walking toward the house.
Oakley sat with his car idling until his father got safely inside.
Then he drove away and after a random thought struck him, he headed back to the hospital.
The nurse in the ICU seemed surprised to see him.
“Did you forget something?” she asked.
“No. But until a short time ago, my dad never knew he was a part of the Fortune family. He found out through a DNA test.”
She nodded. “I read about that.”
Nothing like having your family drama aired in public, but then again, that was nothing new when it involved Clemons.
This time it had at least been good fortune, pun intended.
“Exactly. I want to have my DNA swabbed. That way you can run it in your hospital system against Johnny Doe’s DNA and see if there’s a match.
There has to be a reason Johnny Doe blurted out my dad’s name. ”
“You think there could be a familial connection.”