Page 38 of Healing Love

“So do you think you’ll stay at the hospital?”

“I’m sure not going to go overseas with the Red Cross anymore!” she exclaimed. She heard him chuckle and then sobering, she added, “But that kind of sucks also.”

“How so, babe?”

Rolling over to her side so that she was still hidden in the bottom of the canoe but could lean her head on her hand while propped up on her elbow, she focused on his face. “I had such high hopes for this trip, Cam. My parents were totally against it, and I thought Jobe was going to have a fit. I wanted to do something special. Go somewhere different. Challenge myself.” Sighing deeply, she said, “But my plans all went to hell.”

Cam glanced around and said, “You can sit back up,cariña.”

“My great adventure turned into a great disaster. I could have been killed, or raped, or tortured, or?—”

“Stop,” he ordered. “Stop right there.” He maneuvered the canoe over to the side of the river, where he could pull it in under the low hanging branches of a tree. Tying it off there, he scooted to the center of the craft and sat close to her.

“Don’t go there,” he warned. “First of all, none of this is your fault. That blame lies squarely on the asshole drug cartel that kidnapped you. You did nothing tobring this on yourself. Second of all, you were a valuable commodity and none of those things were going to happen.”

“I saw,” she whispered, her eyes large and filling with tears.

His brow wrinkled in question as he took in her ravaged expression. “Saw what, babe? What did you see?”

Licking her lips nervously she looked out over the water, her mouth opening and closing several times without speaking, trying to find the words to describe the horror.

“Dr. Villogas took me to a village to help when a building collapsed. On the way back, there was um…it was…I…” she could not get the words out, but a tear ran down her cheek.

Moving gently so as not to tip the canoe, Cam grabbed her hands and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around hers.

“There were bodies on the side of the road. I’d seen bodies before,” she said, looking up at his face. “When we first came to Los Mochis there were bodies piled up from the earthquake. But these were…cut up.” Her face grew even paler as her eyes closed as though to force the image from her mind.

He had seen a similar sight and knew what she was trying to tell him.Fuck! She’s seen the cartel’s way of dealing with those who break ranks—using hatchets to get their point across.

“Oh, baby girl. No one should have to see that, especially not you. I’m so fuckin’ sorry. If only I’d gotten toyou sooner!” he bit out.

“It’s not your fault,” she exclaimed, cupping his square jaw with her hand, feeling the three-day old stubble underneath her fingers. “It’s just like you told me. The fault is theirs.”

“I’d have given anything to have kept that from you, Miriam,” his ragged voice said.

Dragging in a breath, she nodded. Just then, they the heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance. Her eyes brightened as she jerked around, still in his arms.

“Your friend! He must have found a way to get to us,” she exclaimed, starting to push back from his embrace.

“No!” he growled. Grabbing the oar, he pushed them back further into the river’s embankment, deeper under the overhang of the trees. Seeing her wide-eyed expression at his outburst, he explained, “Don’t know who it is, but we don’t want to be seen by anyone.”

“You think they’re after us? Just like you were afraid of?”

“It could be a private chopper carrying someone important since roads may be washed out. Could be someone from the government checking out the earthquake and storm damage. Could be any number of people doing any number of things.”

She sat quietly as the sound became louder as the helicopter traveled directly over the center of the river and then passed them by. Waiting until it was long out of sight, she looked back up and asked, “But it could have been someone looking for us, couldn’t it?”

Cam hesitated, not wanting to cause her any morestress, but he refused to lie to her. Ever. “Yeah, they could have been looking for us.”

He watched the range of emotions play across her face. Sadness. Fear. Anger.Fuck, she’d better not ever play poker, ‘cause her face tells it all.Then, fascinated, he watched as the final expression settled on her beautiful face. Determination.

Pushing to a seated position once more, she stated, “Well then, we’d better get a move on and get the hell out of here so that your friend can pick us up.”

Meeting her gaze, he could not help but smile. “Mujer de acero, babe.You got a will of steel.”

Finally, by the end of the long day, they could see the shoreline covered with sand instead of mud and the thick trees along the edge thinned out leaving more scrub brush. They had thankfully made it to the inlet near the gulf and had not been bothered by any more flyovers, nor had they had to pass any more villages. The evening shadows exposed large coral reefs and what appeared to be huge outcroppings of rock formations along the beach front.

“This is perfect for hiding,” Cam said, pushing the canoe to the beach. Turning to assist Miriam, he reached out to pluck her from the craft instead of just offering her his hand. Knowing they had been in the canoe for longer hours today, he assumed that she had sea-legs and did not want her to fall.Hell, who am I kidding? I just want to fuckin’ hold her!

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