Page 2 of Lust & Lies
“He said you may be a bit disoriented and in pain when you woke up. I won’t rush you to remember. But please don’tmove around too much. I don’t want you to do anything to hurt yourself.”
His words were only confusing me further. Heart racing, I glanced around the hospital room, trying to force something, anything, to click into place. I was in a hospital. That much was obvious.
But why? What happened to me, and why couldn’t I remember? My gaze drifted right. The window revealed a rainy day and a blurred cityscape. That wasn’t very helpful. I looked down at my arm and the thin IV line taped to my hand.
I forced my focus back on him. “What happened to me?”
There was a flicker of hesitation before he answered. “There was an accident.”
An accident? Those two words caused the dull ache in my head to worsen. I closed my eyes. The moment I did, I saw something, remembered something.
Headlights.
A jolt.
A loud crash.
Pain.
I gasped, opening my eyes. What was that? The accident, maybe? I stiffened when his fingers brushed my knuckles again, this time lighter, as if he expected I might recoil. I wanted to. I truly wanted to.
“You’ve been unconscious for a while,” he told me. “They said it’s normal to be disoriented when you wake up. I know you may feel lost right now. But your memory will return. Things may seem confusing for a while. Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out together. I promise.”
He choked up on the last word, tears shimmering in his dark gaze. This stranger had tears in his eyes... for me.
“Why don’t I remember you?” I whispered.
A small pause. “It’ll come back to you,” he murmured. “Our life together, all the time we’ve spent together. It’ll come back. Give it time.”
“I don’t feel married,” I whispered, more to myself than to him.
He didn’t react. Didn’t flinch, didn’t scowl, didn’t insist that he was my husband. He simply lifted my left hand, letting me see the gold band glinting against my skin.A wedding ring. I was wearing a wedding ring. His thumb traced the ring slowly, carefully, as if he were committing the sight of it to memory.
“I’ll never forget the day I slid this ring onto your finger,” he told me. “It was one of the happiest days of my life. I’m confident that you’ll soon remember it, too, my love.”
His gaze rose to mine. I should’ve pulled away. However, the intensity of his gaze held me immobile, making it even harder for me to think straight. Was this man really my husband? Was the day he slid this ring onto my finger the happiest day of my life, also?
A knock at the door released me from my trance. My gaze jerked to the door as I tried to pull my hand away from the stranger’s. But he held on tight, not letting me go. An older gentleman in a white coat entered, his blue eyes sweeping over me.
“Good to see you awake, Noelle,” he stated. “I’m Dr. Mercer.”
Noelle.
Was that my name?Wait. I didn’t just not know this man. I didn’t even knowmyname. Another wave of panic washed over me. The man who claimed to be my husband seemed to sense my distress. He gave my hand, which he wouldn’t let go of, a gentle squeeze.
“It’s okay, love,” he told me, then turned to the doctor. “She’s been awake for about ten minutes this time.”
“Good,” Dr. Mercer smiled. “That’s good. Her vitals are approaching normal ranges, which means she’s out of the woods now.”
The man next to me faced me again, smiling. “You hear that, love? That’s good news.”
Ignoring him, I spoke to the doctor. “What happened to me?” I asked as Dr. Mercer checked the monitor beside me before flipping through a chart.
“You suffered a head injury in a car accident. Physically, you’re healing well. But there’s a complication.”
“What kind of complication?” I asked.
He glanced at the man beside me before meeting my eyes. “You have traumatic amnesia.”
