Page 52 of Clear Path

PART IV

[T]o see the world around us and the moments that fill our lives as having meaning and beauty that are permanent. This is the art way of seeing[.]

—LEN BERNSTEIN, AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER AND AESTHETIC REALIST

To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion, all in one.

—JOHN RUSKIN, ENGLISH ART CRITIC

33

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

the next day

Rory woke to the soft beeping of monitors and the bleachy smell of stiff hospital sheets. Daylight filtered through the Venetian blinds, casting thin stripes across the institutional beige walls. Her head throbbed dully, but her knife-like abdominal pain had subsided to a manageable ache.

A soft knock at the door drew her attention. The resident who was managing her care stood in the doorway, gripping a wheelchair.

“You have a visitor,” Dr. Garcia said. “If you’re up for it.”

Rory’s eyes fell to the chair’s occupant. Evan Jeffries, wearing a hospital gown and wristband. His legs covered by a thin, scratchy blanket. He looked old and tired.

“Okay.”

The doctor wheeled him into the room and to the bedside. She engaged the brake on the chair and gave Rory a serious look. “I’ll give you two some privacy, but you need rest. You both do. I’ll be back in three minutes.”

She left, and a heavy silence blanketed the room.

Finally, Evan spoke. “Rory, I—there’s no excuse.” He clutched the plastic side rail on her bed so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “I found you in that cave, saw you were hurt, and panicked. I ran.”

Rory studied him. The righteous activist, the passionate historian who documented the bravery of others, had crumbled in the face of an actual crisis? It seemed impossible.

“Why? No BS, Evan. Really, why?”

He hung his head. “I convinced myself you’d be fine, that you weren’t badly hurt. And … that your disappearance would draw more attention to your work.”

She stared at him.

After a beat, he said, “I was right about that, by the way. I don’t know if you’ve been online, but your photographs have gone viral. If I’d know about your condition, I never would have left you. I swear. But all’s well that ends well, right?” He raised his eyes and gave her a hopeful look.

She broke eye contact and swallowed hard. Then she pressed the call button. “Professor Jeffries and I are done talking. He’s ready to leave.”

She leaned back and closed her eyes, keeping them closed when the door opened, Evan was wheeled away, and the door clicked softly closed behind him.

The next time she opened them, Police Chief Ron Mercer and his ex-wife stood in her open doorway. She blinked.

“I’m surprised to see you two together” she managed.

Diana laughed. “That makes three of us. Can we come in?”

Rory nodded.

Diana crossed the room and squeezed Rory’s hand. Then she placed a vase of bright spring flowers on the bedside table. “You worried us.”

“I worried me,” Rory replied with a laugh.

“The doctor said you’re going to be okay.”

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