“Have you gotten any sleep?” Jared asked, drawing him back to the present.
“A few minutes, off and on.”
“I could sit with her awhile, if you want to go to the hotel and clean up a bit, maybe get some rest, some food. I’ve reserved us rooms at a place just up the street.”
Riley shook his head. “I can’t leave her. Something could change. I don’t want her to wake up and be all alone.”
“She wouldn’t be all alone. I’d be here.”
“No, it has to be me,” he replied impatiently, then promptly felt guilty for barking at Jared, when his friend had only meant to help. “Sorry. I guess the lack of sleep is catching up with me. How’s Manuel?”
“The doctors say he’ll make a full recovery. He’s already anxious to get back to work. He’s afraid we’ll leave here without him.”
Riley sighed. “Not much chance of that. Look, I’m sorry about the search. I can’t say when we’ll get back to it. If you need to go to Mexico City or want to go on alone, I’ll understand. I’ll call my people in the capital and make the arrangements for you to take my place.”
“No way. I’ll hang out here with you. We made a deal to find this site together and we will.”
Riley nodded, grateful for the professional loyalty, even more grateful for the show of friendship.
Jared regarded him sympathetically. “I’ll go get you something to eat, okay?”
“There’s no need. The nurses have brought me trays, then clucked like a bunch of old hens when I didn’t touch the food. I have no appetite.”
Jared grinned. “Hey, I’m not surprised. I know what hospital food is like in the States. It’s bound to be even worse here. I’ll bring you something with some taste to it. You have to eat. It won’t do Abby any good if you collapse.”
“Whatever,” Riley said, moving back to Abby’s side. He was barely aware of it when Jared left the room. He picked up her icy hand and held it between his own, trying to warm it.
“You know what I was just thinking about, Abby? Your high school prom. Remember that night? You were all dressed up in that sexy emerald gown. I was just out of college. I guess I hadn’t realized that you’d gone and grown up on me, because I was blown away by the way you looked. I probably didn’t tell you that, though. As I recall, I spent most of the night tongue-tied and speechless. You probably noticed, didn’t you? I’ll bet you don’t know why, though.”
He lifted her hand and pressed his lips against the bruised knuckles, proof of his theory that she’d probably landed a couple of solid blows against her attackers. He smiled. “I was so afraid that night that if I dared to open my mouth, I’d tell you how special you were to me. My roommate had just killed himself a few weeks before and, after losing my parents and Aunt Nell, I was convinced that I was bad news for anyone I cared about. I was afraid if I said what I was feeling out loud, something awful would happen to you. Crazy, huh?”
He sighed. “Not so crazy, now that I think about it. Just look what’s happened the very first time you and I go on a trip together. You’re beaten up and shot by a bunch of thugs and land in a hospital. That’s gotta be my doing, right?”
Her silence seemed to confirm his dim view of himself. Because he couldn’t take much more of the guilt, he forced himself to think only of the memories, the night of the prom, for instance. Maybe if he could weave the magic of that night aloud he could lure her back.
“Do you have any idea how I felt the first time you stepped into my arms on the dance floor?” he asked softly. “I had never once allowed myself to even think about holding you like that. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”
He grinned ruefully. “Unfortunately, most of the night they were playing fast tunes. Abby, you had the most amazing, graceful moves. I guess even without those ballet lessons you wanted so badly, you developed the grace of a dancer. You took my breath away. Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can still hear the music.”
* * *
They were playing a waltz. In some circles the waltz was still considered scandalous, but Abby loved it. She stood in the Foxworths’ ballroom, waiting to see who would come to claim her hand. Surrounded by people she should have recognized, but didn’t, she was filled with an odd mixture of tension and excitement. As dreams went, this one wasn’t turning out too badly, after all, though she still couldn’t quite believe how real it seemed. Nor did she entirely understand why she never woke up from it. Events just kept unreeling, the mundane along with the extraordinary, exactly like life.
The past few days had been uncomfortable, but she hadn’t made any dreadful mistakes with her family. She’d expected to be tossed out on her backside when they caught the first glimpse of her, but it hadn’t happened. For some reason, they seemed to have absolutely no idea that she didn’t belong there.
She rather liked her mother, a pretty woman whose hair was every bit as dark as Abby’s and whose face remained unlined. She had a pleasant, compassionate demeanor that Abby found comforting. She’d been tempted on more than one
