She Tries To Forget Ch. 23

Passion in James County XVI

It was almost four hours before Ann and Martin finally were able to get on the road headed back to Jamestown. Ann was exhausted, and even though there were a million questions she wanted to ask Martin, she never got to. They weren't even on the Interstate before she was sound asleep.

Martin glanced over at the sleeping woman as he drove. "I wish I'd known what Melissa told me about Ann a long time ago," he thought. "Maybe...maybe if I'd known, none of this mess would have happened. Maybe I could have done something to keep it from happening."

As he drove along, he kept thinking about what his daughter had told him about Ann's life and tried to figure out some way he could let her know that he knew, and that it didn't matter to him. "I've got to do something," he told himself, "If I don't, I'm going to lose her. And I haven't felt like this since...since Marie died. And, dammit, she needs me, too, even if she doesn't know that yet."

Martin finally pulled into the parking lot of University Medical Center and found a parking space. He looked over at Ann, who was still sound asleep. Her face was relaxed and showed none of the stress she had been under. "God, she's beautiful!" he thought. "Ann...wake up," he said softly.

Ann started, then she opened her eyes and looked around. "Where...where are we?" she asked.

"We're at the hospital," Martin said. "I thought maybe you'd like to stop in and see how Lonnie is before you go home."

Ann stretched, yawned, and nodded. "I-I guess so," she replied. "Did I sleep all the way back?"

"Like a baby," Martin replied. "Face it, lady, you had a pretty rough day."

"But you did, too," she said. "And you had a lot less sleep than I did. How do you do it?"

Martin grinned. "There are those who would say I'm too dumb to know I'm tired," he replied.

"I don't think you're dumb," Ann said. "You saved my life today." She was tickled to see the sheepish look and blush her comment brought to Martin's face.

"Ah...come on, let's go in and see how Lonnie's doing," Martin said.

They got out of the car and went into the hospital. Lonnie's mother was sitting in the waiting room outside the Intensive Care Unit. She looked up when they walked in. Recognition showed in her eyes and she smiled. "Captain Flannigan," she exclaimed, "I'm so glad you stopped by. The doctor was in a little while ago. He said it looks like Lonnie's going to be just fine."

"I'm glad to hear that, Mrs. Ames," Martin told the bulky, graying, pleasant-faced woman. "Mrs. Ames, this is Ann Wallin, she worked with Lonnie at the store."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ames," Ann said. "And I'm so glad to hear Lonnie's going to be all right."

"Lonnie has mentioned you," Mrs. Ames said while she shook Ann's hand. "Actually, I think he has a crush on you." She turned to Martin. "And you, Captain Flannigan, that nice lady state trooper who was here told me Lonnie wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you."

Martin saw Ann's look of interest and felt his face getting hot. "Mrs. Ames," he said, "I really didn't do anything all that special. Really, I was just doing my job."

"That's not what the trooper told me," Mrs. Ames replied. "She said you went down that horrible bank in the dark and pulled Lonnie out of the truck when it was burning. She said if you hadn't done what you did, Lonnie probably would have burned to death in the truck." She walked to Martin, put her arms around him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You saved my son's life. I don't know how to repay you."

"You don't have to repay me," Martin replied. "Knowing that Lonnie's going to be all right is thanks enough."

"I'd tell you to go in and see Lonnie," Mrs. Ames said, "but they have such silly rules here. Only family can visit, and then only for ten minutes out of the hour."

"That's all right, Mrs. Ames," Martin said. "I can stop back some other time. After all, I'd never met your son before last night, so he wouldn't know who I was if I did walk in."

"I'll stop by some other time, too," Ann said.

"You do that," Mrs. Ames said. "Thank you both so much for stopping."

"See?" Martin said as he and Ann walked down the hall, "Sometimes things do work out, don't they?"

"Why didn't you tell me you saved Lonnie's life?" Ann asked. "I didn't know you went on calls like that. I thought you were an arson detective or something."

"The call came in when I was getting off the highway on my way home from taking you up to Melissa's last night," he explained. "I was close so I went. And I'm no damn hero. I was just doing my job."

"Yeah, right," Ann said.

They got back in Martin's car and he headed for home. "What happens now?" he mused as he drove. "Where do Ann and I go from here? Do we go anywhere, other than home?"