As a result, though, she’d been more distracted than usual. Laila and Connie had called her on it more than once. It was a good thing she had only to walk downstairs to get to work, because heaven knew where she’d wind up if she had to drive.
Today, though, with the quilt shop closed for the day, she had to head over to one of the big box discount stores to pick up everything from detergent and junior baby food to diapers and toilet paper. She’d left little Mick next door at the gallery with Megan and promised to be back in a couple of hours.
She’d chosen a lousy day to make the trip. It had been pouring rain most of the morning, which made visibility on the winding road even worse than usual. She was tense behind the wheel, clutching it tightly as she watched for oncoming headlights. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to driving on these narrow, two-lane country roads. Give her a traffic jam on the interstate any day.
Worse, there was a car behind her. Though for once the driver didn’t seem to be impatient about her cautious pace, she kept glancing in her rearview mirror as well as ahead, which just added to the tension.
Then, not even five miles out of town, she rounded a curve in the road to see another car coming straight at her in the wrong lane. Intuitively, she swerved to avoid a collision, but on the narrow road there was no place to go. Her tires skidded on the gravel shoulder, then lost traction as the car veered wildly off the road.
Everything seemed to move in slow-motion after that. Though she jammed on the brakes, the car kept moving, skidding across the soaked ground directly toward the trees that lined the roadway.
Panicked, she knew a crash was inevitable. Her last thoughts were of her son and Connor. A prayer that she’d see them again.
She barely heard the sickening crunch of metal as she crashed into a tree, then careened into a second one. The airbag deployed with astonishing force.
The pain was nearly blinding. Her head. Her leg. Her chest. She hurt everywhere.
And then, blissfully, nothing.
CHAPTER 16
It was midweek of his third week back in Chesapeake Shores and Connor was arranging law books in his new office, when Mick walked in. Connor studied his father with concern. Not only had he apparently gone out in the pouring rain without an umbrella, but Mick’s expression was more somber than Connor had ever seen it except during those awful days when his mother had first left home. He stopped what he was doing and crossed the room.
“Dad, what’s wrong? You shouldn’t be walking around in weather like this. You’re soaking wet.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine, but I think you need to sit down,” Mick said, though he was the one who looked as if he might pass out.
Connor’s entire body seemed to go numb at the dire expression on his father’s face and the gloomy tone of his voice. “What’s happened? Is it little Mick?”
Mick shook his head and put a hand on Connor’s shoulder, as if to brace him for what was to come. “It’s Heather, son. There’s been an accident.”
Connor’s knees buckled as he tried to make sense of what his father was telling him. It was eleven o’clock in the morning. She should be at work. What kind of accident could she have in a quilt shop, for heaven’s sake? “I don’t understand. Did she fall off a ladder or something like that?”
“She was in her car, Connor. She skidded off the road and hit a tree. The roads are slick today because of the rain, but I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or not. Kevin didn’t mention that.”
“Kevin? What does he have to do with this?”
“I’ll explain in the car,” Mick said. “We need to go.”
Connor tried to sort through what his father was telling him, but the words just didn’t make any sense. Individually he recognized them, of course, but he couldn’t seem to grasp the implication. His father regarded him with sympathy.
“Are you okay?” he asked as Connor suddenly sank onto the closest chair. “Want me to get you some water? Or maybe Joshua has something stronger in his office. I’m sorry to come in here and just blurt this out, but we need to get on the road.”
Connor shook his head to clear it. “I don’t need anything. I’m fine,” he insisted. “Is she…?” He couldn’t make himself complete the question. He settled for asking, “Where is she?”
“She’s at the hospital now, but we need to get there fast. Trace is waiting outside to drive us. Your mother and sisters will meet us there. Gram’s going to look after little Mick.”
The rallying of the troops scared Connor as much as anything. Tears welled up in his eyes. “She’s going to be okay, right? They said she’ll be okay? Come on, Dad, don’t sugarcoat this. I need to know what to expect.”
“Let’s just go,” Mick said, urging him toward the door. “I’ll tell you everything I know on the way to the hospital.”
Outside, Trace was waiting for them, the motor running. He gave Connor a quick sympathetic glance, then focused on driving. Connor felt as if he were going to crawl right out of his skin unless he got answers fast.
“Dad, talk to me. What the hell happened?”
“Kevin happened to be on his way to work. He was on the road right behind her. He said some driver coming from the other direction on the two-lane road swerved into their lane. It was right out at that curve by Miller’s Creek. I’ve been complaining for years about it being a blind spot, but the state’s done nothing about it. Heather apparently didn’t see the car till the last second. She tried to avoid a collision, skidded off the road and hit
