Page 10 of A Forgotten Heart
She was never good at thinking of the right argument in a heated moment—and now it seemed ridiculous that her mind would replay the fight with Nick during this nightmare.
She had walked away from Nick then—but only when he’d asked the impossible of her.
She swallowed against a sob, but it escaped anyway.
Well, she wouldn’t leave him now.
Nick’s dog hovered nearby, whimpers escaping its throat.
“Go! Go get help!”
The dog yipped twice, then disappeared into the wall of blowing snow.
She had to get Nick out of here. If the gunman came after them, they’d be easy targets. But Nick was six inches taller than her. Solid muscle. She couldn’t lift him.
She crawled back up to the boardwalk to a closed storefront and banged her fist against the door.
No answer.
She could barely see Nick’s body through the raging blizzard. How long before he froze in addition to his injuries?
She turned toward the next door—the bank. No one would be in there.
Nick needed help. Now.
There was no time to go from door to door hoping someone would answer. The doctor’s office was just down the street. If she could get Nick there, he’d be okay.God, please let him be all right.
A lump swelled in her throat as she rushed back to Nick, landing on her knees at his side.
We’ll never be friends.
Snow dusted his body. She swatted the snow off his coat, then tenderly lifted his satchel off him. She closed the flap that had somehow opened, then hooked the strap over her own shoulder.
He moaned and his eyes fluttered. Was he coming to?
“Nick!”
His eyelids slid closed. She patted his cheek. “Nick, wake up.”
He tilted his head away, onto the wound. His eyes flew open as he released a groan through gritted teeth.
He was alive.
But fear choked her. Along with the feeling that whoever had shot at them was still out there.
“Come on, Nick. We aren’t too far from the doctor. Get up.”
He mumbled something incoherent but still let her help him to his feet. He tipped heavily to one side. Before he fell back into the snow, she wrapped her arm around his waist, steadying him.
He leaned into her. Heavy. “Come on,” she whispered. “It isn’t far.”
He didn’t speak. He moaned when she missed a step, and the stumble that barely kept them on their feet jarred him.
Bent low beneath his weight, Elsie trudged through the snow. She prayed the doctor would be in. If he wasn’t, she didn’tknow how Nick would make it any farther. Certainly not back to Merritt’s, at the opposite end of town.
Her knees weakened with each step, her boots sliding on the snow and ice. A gust of wind dragged a clump of hair out of her pins and slapped it against her face.
The doctor’s office came into view, and she gasped with relief. “Almost there,” she panted.
