Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Four months later
Kylie
For the first month of what I’d started referring to as physical torture, Allison stopped by to work with me every single day.
Progress was slow, but I made the effort, figuring it was in my best interest to be able to walk on my own two feet.
A minor setback—how the woman handling my care referred to the case of pneumonia I had contracted—kept me from making any real progress for a while.
After two rounds of IV antibiotics, over the course of a month, I finally kicked it.
It hadn’t been fun, let me tell you.
By the end of the second month, I was gaining some strength.
At Allison’s request, the other woman began focusing on my diet.
I ate mostly bland chicken breast and some sort of vegetable—broccoli, cauliflower, carrots—three times a day.
Whoever made it was definitely not a gourmet chef, but it was something.
At that point, I was able to make it to the bathroom on my own, but it was still slow going.
My body didn’t cooperate well—rebelling or outright rejecting whatever I tried to eat at first—so I had to deal with that alongside my ambulatory attempts.
I started making considerable progress once Allison brought me a walker. I remembered the strange look on her face when she put it in front of me.
“This is a walker,” she said succinctly.
“Okay.” I reached for it.
“A walker,” she repeated, drawing the word out slowly.
I glanced her way, frowning.
At the time, I had wondered whether she thought I had a mental deficiency. Or perhaps she was having a stroke.
She hadn’t been.
Evidently, that was her thing because she’d done the same thing several more times during our interactions, slowly drawing out various words.
“I need to gauge your progress.”
“I nearly ran over a coyote on my way to work.”
“Can you bring in Kylie’s walker?”
Each time she dragged out a word, her eyes would implore me as though she was waiting for a specific response. If she was expecting a certain result, she never told me what it was.
I began to see quite a bit of progress during the third month she was around.
We started venturing out into the dimly lit hallway, heading down to one end and then back.
I noticed that all the other doors were closed, and there was never anyone else around.
There also weren’t any windows, so I had no clue where I was, nor did I know whether it was day or night.
I assumed Allison was visiting during the day, and I figured it was night when the nurse turned off the lights in my room, but it was possible Allison was a night owl, and the nurse preferred not to waste electricity during the day. All I had to go on were my assumptions.
The only people I ever saw were Allison, the woman tasked with taking care of me, and two others who randomly checked things.
I figured they were filling in so the main woman could sleep or whatever.
I still didn’t know her name, and I got the feeling that was intentional.
Despite being in her presence for so long, I had only been able to ascertain a few things—she had a son named Matt, whom she talked to at least once a day, and her mother lived with them, helping to take care of Matt while she was at work.
Based on her actions, I figured she would shit baby goats if she realized I’d figured that much out.
I wasn’t allowed to watch television or listen to the radio.
Time passed very slowly in the beginning.
I started pacing to keep from going insane.
It helped both physically and mentally. Plus, it kept the woman from strapping me down.
Over time, she stopped stressing so much about making sure I was secured to the bed.
But her comfort level was only so high because she still restrained one ankle, but only at night.
It wasn’t until Allison brought me a book to read that I managed to pass the time without staring at the walls.
The books came frequently after I finished the first one.
Most of them were romance books. Every now and then, she would toss in a mystery.
I found I enjoyed reading immensely, and I was looking forward to what she would bring me today.
I heard footsteps in the hallway, so I looked up, anticipating her arrival.
Allison appeared in the doorway, looking as young and as innocent as always.
I didn’t know how old she was because I hadn’t had the guts to ask personal questions.
She opened up more when I didn’t ask, so the getting-to-know-you phase was slow-going.
One thing I did figure out was the passing of time.
The first clue was the way Allison’s wardrobe changed, morphing from jeans and sweaters to jeans and T-shirts.
I’d been tracking the days as best I could, and if I was right and hadn’t lost a week or a month somewhere along the way, it was late April or early May.
“It’s May nineteenth,” Allison said when she walked into the room.
Well, there you have it. I was close. Maybe not spot on, but I wanted to pat myself on the back.
“The nineteenth of May,” Allison repeated, her gaze locked with mine.
Her tone, not to mention the repetition, said that date had significance, but for—
Maddox.
I frowned, not sure what the word meant, but it felt incredibly special to me.
A scene flashed in my brain like a movie.
“All right, little man. Let’s get dressed so we can get those heathens to the park where they want to be.” I chuckled as I picked him up.
“Park,” he muttered softly.
“Exactly.”
My eyes shot to Allison’s face, holding firm. My chest felt tight as I let the scene repeat again and again. I soaked up the memory of a sweet face and an adorable little-boy smile. It didn’t take long before the memory expanded, and I heard a deep voice. It was familiar. Very familiar.
“Kylie! Baby, you ready?”
“We’re comin’!” I leaned into Maddox. “Aren’t we, sweet boy?”
“Comin’,” he crooned quietly, grinning wide and slobbering on the blanket he clutched in his little fist thanks to that tooth he had coming in.
My eyes remained locked on Allison as she approached slowly.
“Today is my son’s birthday,” I whispered.
She didn’t say a word, merely stared at me.
It was as though someone opened a door inside my mind.
Everything came flooding back all at once.
My babies: Kate, Kade, Avery, Haden, and Maddox.
My husbands: Travis and Gage. My in-laws: Curtis and Lorrie.
My dad and his new wife: Joe and Melissa.
My brothers-in-law and their significant others: Kaleb and Zoey, Zane and V, Ethan and Beau, Braydon and my sister, Jessica, Sawyer and Kennedy, Brendon and Cheyenne.
Then came the places: my house, the diner, the general store. Walker Park. The lake, the playground, and the daycare my kids went to.
I remembered everything, and the memories that flashed through my gray matter were all good ones. I’d been happy then. So how in the world had I done something so heinous that I would end up here?
Tears filled my eyes when I recalled the last memory I had. Travis and Gage were leaning over me, pleading for me to open my eyes.
“Where are they?” I demanded.
Again, Allison didn’t say anything. It looked as though she wanted to, but she didn’t.
“Tell me,” I insisted.
Her mouth opened, then closed. A second later, her cell phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket, glanced at the screen, then tapped it.
“Yes?”
I couldn’t hear what the caller said, but I watched Allison’s expression closely. Whoever it was, she wasn’t thrilled to hear from them. It wasn’t until she turned to the side and looked up at the ceiling that she spoke.
“I’m well aware,” she said firmly, staring at something.
I followed her gaze. It took a moment, but I finally noticed the red dot inside the black dome on the ceiling.
I’d seen those often. Mostly at Alluring Indulgence Resort.
Gage had installed them throughout the hotel in the main areas where people congregated but didn’t play.
And he always ensured there was a sign that stated they were being recorded.
Someone was watching me.