Chapter 6
Elaine had seventy-four stitches in her head, with all three wounds.
And more than that, throughout her body.
She’d been dragged across the parking lot a couple of times when he’d tried to get her to his car.
Also, she had a cast on her wrist. The rest of her body felt like it had gone a few rounds with a fighter, and she knew that to be true.
Since she couldn’t see out of her eyes, she had to wonder what she looked like right now. She’d bet that it wasn’t pretty.
“I have your lunch here, Elaine. It’s not much, just some broth, but the doctor said you were to eat as much of it as you could when you could.” She said that she’d try. “That’s my girl.”
She couldn’t understand that every time she woke up, Knox was here.
Not that she’d ask him that. She loved that he was here for her when she woke up from a nightmare.
He would soothe her to the point where she was feeling better, then talk to her about what was going on around the town.
Never mentioning David or what had happened at the school lot.
She loved him for that. Finally getting up the nerve, she asked him why he was spending so much time with her.
“You want me to be honest?” She said that she didn’t want him to lie to her.
It wouldn’t be a good friendship if he lied to her about something like this.
“I’ve fallen in love with you. I don’t know if it’s the forever kind of love, I believe it is, but since I’ve never been in love before, I have no way of knowing. But I do love you. With all my heart.”
“You don’t know me that well.” He said he understood that too and knows that he didn’t. “But you still say that you love me.”
“I do. Very much so.” He took her injured hand into his and kissed her fingers.
“You’re right, I don’t know you well, but I find that I want to know you.
I want to know all about you and what you did growing up.
You make me want to be with you all the time because when I’m not with you, I’m thinking about being with you. Understand?”
“No. You are a very wealthy man, Knox. Not the sort of man who hangs out with teachers. Well, I guess I’m an ex-teacher now.
Did I tell you that I turned in my resignation?
I’m sure after this, they’ve accepted it.
” He said that, as far as the board was concerned, she was still a teacher at the kindergarten level.
“I don’t understand that either. I guess I will have to wait until I’m better before I’m able to figure things out for myself. ”
She put up her hand to touch Knox and felt his face beneath her fingers.
He had shaved, his mustache just beneath her fingertips.
She could feel the smoothness of his cheeks and nose.
His hair, a bit long, curled around her fingers, and she held them.
Elaine could almost see him since she knew what he looked like and wanted to tell him that she loved him, too.
“You’re thinking very hard.” She told him then how much she’d fallen in love with him as well. “Good. We’re halfway there as far as I’m concerned. I wish that I could kiss you, but I know that you’d be in a great deal of pain if I did.”
“He really did this to me.” He asked her what he’d said when he was knocking her around.
“That I belonged to him and no one else. I didn’t understand that part.
I never belonged to anyone before. Then he said that I was a whore and a slut.
That I wasn’t worthy enough to be his mistress.
He actually called me his mistress and said how I’d messed things up between us—meaning him and me.
I never had a clue that he felt that way about me.
Then, when I told him no, he trapped me between my open car door and the parking lot and started hitting me with a bat.
At some point, he told me that he was taking me home, and I remember him dragging me across the parking lot. ”
“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there to help you, but like you said, since you’ve never felt that way about him, there was no way to know that he was going to do that to you.
” She told him how she thought of him when she was being beaten and wished that he could have been there for her.
“You’ve no idea how much I wish I could have been there with you right then.
I would have protected you. And I will from now on. Protect you with my life.”
“He might well have hurt you, too. I keep thinking about how he approached us during dinner. How he was so angry then. What kind of person does that to someone they barely know? I certainly never had any feelings toward him in that way at all.” Knox said that he’d done some digging on him and found out some things.
He told her what he’d been able to find.
“So he’s done this before, and the board didn’t do anything about it?
Christ, no wonder he did it if he got away with it the first time.
I should sue the school for allowing him to be there when he should have been in jail or prison. ”
“I told them this might well happen. You should do it. With them not doing a background check on him at all, things would come up later with him. His wife left him, too, and took their children. I can only hope that he treated his family better than he treated you. I can’t imagine what was going through his head when he was beating you to shit.
” She asked him if Zander would do it for her.
“If he doesn’t, I will. I tried to tell them when they hired the teachers that they had to do extensive background checks on everyone.
It only takes a few minutes if you know how to do it. ”
When her lunch tray was taken away, she was told that she’d eaten all of it.
The staff were being so kind in telling her things when they were in the room.
Since she couldn’t see anything, it didn’t startle her as badly when one of them touched her.
The doctor told her that it would be another couple of weeks before the swelling would go down enough that they could see if there was any damage to her eyes.
She hoped not. There was enough going on with her body as it was.
She reached for Knox again, and he took her hand again.
“What plans do you have when you get out of here? You’re not going to be able to be alone with your sight gone right now.
” She said that she’d just stumble around her place until she got the pattern of it down.
“I was going to suggest you stay with me. I have plenty of room, and I can keep an eye on you while you’re up and around.
There wouldn’t be any pressure for you to be careful either.
I have furniture, but not a lot. I like the sparseness of the house. ”
“What about sleeping arrangements? I don’t know that I’d be any good in bed right now.
I’m usually sorest at night.” He said she could have the master bedroom, and he’d sleep in one of the others.
“I’ll do it. But only if the doctor thinks that I shouldn’t be left at home alone.
I don’t want to put you out. I know you offered, but that doesn’t mean that you want to be nursemaid to someone that can’t see and is as banged up as much as I am. ”
“I would love you to live with me even if you had your sight and weren’t banged up.
I love you.” She wished that she could see him, to see if he was making fun of her or not.
Not that she thought he would, but she was so insecure right now that anything made her feel like she was being teased.
“I don’t know if you’ll believe me or not, but I think you’re beautiful right now.
I’m profoundly grateful that he didn’t kill you when he was beating you. ”
“I am as well.” She felt tears rolling down her cheeks, and he begged her not to cry as it was breaking his heart. “The first time that someone tells me he loves me and I can’t get a kiss, nor can I see if he’s revolted by my looks.”
“I told you, you’re beautiful. I wish you didn’t hurt so much, but I think that after a few more days you’ll see that your swelling will go down and you’ll be able to peek at me.
” She laughed. “There’s my girl. I knew that you’d be able to see the bright side of things once I got you in the mood.
And you are beautiful. I think you’re the most courageous person that I’ve ever met.
Not many people would have been able to go through what you have and still have a sense of humor like you do. I love that about you, too.”
“And I love you too.” She lay back on the bed and thought about where she was and what was going on around her.
“It’s been weird not having been able to see things.
I swear to you that I can smell things better.
Not a good thing when you’re in a hospital.
I can also hear the nurses out at the desk sometimes at night.
They talk low so I can’t understand them, but I do hear them.
Since I’m not eating anything really, I don’t know if my taste buds are any better.
But I’m betting that they would be if my mouth wasn’t so sore. ”
“The doctor said you’d have to see your dentist after you heal a bit more.
Some of your teeth had been hit with the ball bat, and it might cause them to be loose.
” She made a mental note to call him when she got out of here.
“You’ve lost both earrings in your right ear.
They’re both in your left, but they removed those when they cleaned your wounds. ”
“There is so much wrong with me, it’s small wonder that I don’t want to see myself.” He asked her if she wanted anything from her home. “Nothing there. I was thinking about some of the papers that I needed to grade, but I wouldn’t be able to do that either.”