Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Son of a bitch,” Maeme muttered.
I opened my eyes as she was studying me, shaking her head with a look of fury on her face.
“I’m not a doctor, but I’ve seen enough broken ribs to recognize one when I see it. I’m gonna wrap you up with something a bit better than this, but why don’t you go stand in a hot shower first? It’ll make you feel better. Wash every bit of that bastard’s touch off your body. I’ll go get you some pain medicine that’s strong enough to ease the pain with a glass of sweet tea that I promised. Don’t you worry. We are gonna handle this. You’re safe now, honey.”
Even though I knew this sweet grandmother meant well and probably believed everything she was saying, I was aware that she couldn’t handle my problems. I’d dug myself a deep one by running. I could still go back. Tell the truth and hope the police believed me. I could call them now and tell them what I’d done and why. But then a battered wife who ran would look like the number one suspect. I didn’t have money for a lawyer. I wasn’t on any of Hill’s bank accounts. He had given me one credit card, and it had a two-thousand-dollar limit.
“Come on now. I’ll get you a towel and get the shower going,” Maeme said gently. “Everything is going to be okay, Rumor.”
No, it wasn’t, but I nodded regardless. I’d let her help me tonight. In the morning, I’d leave. Thank them for their help and walk out the door to get in a taxi. I could pay in cash and hopefully have enough for a bus ticket and motel room. I couldn’t let this nice lady be held accountable for my actions.
• six •
“Keep your chin up. Life will get better.”
Rumor
When I stepped out of the shower, there was a glass of iced tea and a pill lying beside it. I didn’t question it. The pain had gotten worse even if the rest of me felt refreshed from the warmth of the shower and the lavender scent of the body wash Maeme had given me to use. There was a plush white robe hanging on the hook that hadn’t been there when I got in the shower. Assuming Maeme had left it for me, I slipped it on, then dried my hair with a towel the best I could, only using one hand, then ran a brush through it.
Facing whoever was downstairs eating sounded like more than I was up for at the moment. I was grateful to Maeme for her hospitality and willingness to help, but I had to think. Plan. Prepare for what I was going to do next. Without my cell phone, I didn’t have a way to actually call a taxi without help. I kept forgetting that. I would need to borrow a phone to get any kind of taxi service.
Opening the door, I stepped into the bedroom and found Maeme sitting on the chaise lounge, near a man with a thick beard and friendly eyes, wearing a white oxford button-up and khaki pants. I paused my gaze from shifting between the two of them. Maeme stood up and stopped whatever she had been saying to the man.
“Rumor, this is Dr. Drew. He’s been a family friend for nigh on forty years. He’s here to check you over and to join us for dinner.”
I listened to Maeme, then turned back to the doctor. How had she gotten a doctor here so quickly? I had only been in the bathroom maybe thirty minutes at most.
He smiled and gave me a nod. “It’s nice to meet you, Rumor. I hear you’ve been worked over.”
He was studying my face, now blue and purple with the makeup completely gone. My lip was cracked on that side as well and swollen more than I had realized.
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
He gave me a sympathetic smile. “Maeme believes you have a broken rib or two, but if I could see for myself…”
He didn’t have an X-ray machine, but I figured being rude and pointing that out wasn’t the best thing to do.
“Okay,” I agreed.
He nodded to the bed. “I left you a gown to slip on. Then, Maeme will bring you to the examination room.”
Wait, what? My focus swung to Maeme, who just smiled as if what he had said made complete sense.
“We will be right down,” she informed him.
He gave another nod, then headed for the door to leave. I watched him until the door closed behind him, and then I looked back at Maeme.
“Go on and slip that on. It’s like any hospital gown. Leave it open in the back, and you can put the robe over it. Then, we will take the back stairs, so no one sees you.”