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along the beach with you.”
“Yes…Gannon,” she whispered, watching his
face change, soften, mellow.
He nodded. “Yes. That’s a start, at least. Good
night, Dana.”
“Good night.”
He touched the wall until he reached his own
room, and disappeared into the darkness. Dana
stared after him quietly, surprised at the burst of
joy she felt over what had happened. She didn’t
have to leave him. She stepped back into her own
room with a silent prayer of thanks. At least she
had his company for a little longer. She’d live on
it all her life.
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Blind Promises
He was scowling when she appeared downstairs
for breakfast the next morning, and Lorraine
looked just as uncomfortable.
“Good morning, dear,” she told Dana absently,
chewing on her lower lip as she turned back to
Gannon. “Are they sure? They could be mistaken
again, since…”
“He said they aren’t,” he growled. He muttered
a rough word under his breath and gripped his cup
tightly in both hands. “I told you,” he said shortly.
“I knew from the beginning that hysteria wouldn’t
cause so much pain. They’ll find it now, too, since
they’ve discovered what I knew all along.”
“What is it?” Dana asked quickly, sensing disaster.
Lorraine sighed. “The X-rays—there was a
mixup: One of the new people at the hospital
mistook Gannon’s for another patient and misla-
beled them. It wasn’t really her fault; she was
certain that someone else had made the mistake and
was trying to correct it.”
Dana felt her face whiten. Gannon was sitting
very straight, quietly sipping his coffee.
“There was something on the X-rays they’d
wrongly linked to another patient,” Lorraine
finished wearily. “When they did a brain scan, it
came back clear, so they repeated the X-rays. That
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117
was when they discovered it. It’s been weeks, you
see, and they’d told the other patient that nothing
could be done.” She shrugged. “Oddly enough, his
sight came back… It was only in one eye and was
apparently truly hysterical in nature.”
“Which mine isn’t, apparently,” Gannon growled.
He set the coffee cup down so roughly that it
sloshed everywhere, burning him.
Dana jumped up to dab at it and he pushed at
her roughly.
She fell against the table with a gasp, and at the
tiny sound he seemed to calm all at once.
“Dana?” He reached out. “Dana, did I hurt
you? Dana!”
She rubbed her side. “I’m all right,” she said
quickly, shaking her head at Lorraine, who was
rushing toward her. “I’m all right.”
He moved closer, his whole look one of abject
apology. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You didn’t. I collided with you, that’s all.” She
let him find her hand and clasp it warmly. Surges
of pure pleasure shot up her arm at his touch. “I’m
really fine.”
He drew in a steadying breath. “Come down to the
hospital with us, will you?” he asked. “I need you.”
No three words had ever sounded quite so sweet
118
Blind Promises
to her. “Of course I will,” she said. “I’ll be here as
long as you need me.”
Lorraine went to get her car keys, looking
oddly relieved.
The next few hours seemed to drag on forever,
and Dana felt cold fear eating away at her as
Gannon went through test after test. Lorraine
paced and muttered and looked increasingly
more concerned.
Finally they were called into Dr. Shane’s office,
where the rotund little physician stated the evidence
of the tests bluntly and without pulling his punches.
“It’s shrapnel,” he said quietly, watching
Gannon start. “Apparently from the accident—a
tiny sliver that lodged itself in the brain, affecting
the optic nerve.”
“Can you operate?” Gannon asked curtly.
“No.”
Dana’s eyes closed, hurting for him, because
now it was permanent and now he knew it. She
was already going over it in her mind before Dr.
Shane continued, having seen that type of injury in
war patients.
“The only chance you have to regain your sight,”
the doctor told Gannon, “is if the shrapnel should
shift again. And it isn’t completely impossible, you
Diana Palmer
119
know. A sneeze is violent enough to dislodge it,
although it isn’t likely to. I’m afraid that’s all the
hope I can give you. If we were to try to operate,
we could do irreparable damage to your brain. It’s
far too delicate and too great a risk. I’m very sorry
about the mixup in the X-rays, Gannon, but it
would have made no difference if it hadn’t
happened. The condition is inoperable.”
Gannon stood up quietly and held out his hand,
shaking the doctor’s. “Thank you for being honest
with me. As you see,” he added ironically, “I was
right all along.”
“Fortunately you have a nurse to help you cope,”
Dr. Shane reminded him, “and a computer
company to provide you with excellent assistance
in those new techniques that help the blind com-
municate with the outside world. You’ll do well.”
“Yes,” Gannon said. “I’ll do well.”
He was putting on a great front. He looked like
a man without a care in the world, but Dana didn’t
believe it, and neither did Lorraine.
“Stay with him,” she pleaded, drawing Dana
aside when they got back to the beach house. “I’m
afraid for him. He’s taking it far too calmly to suit
me, and you’re the only person he’s going to allow
very close to him.”
120
Blind Promises
“I’ll take care of him,” Dana promised. She
touched Lorraine’s arm. “Please don’t worry. I’ll
take care of him.”
“Yes, dear, I know you will.” She smiled sadly.
“It’s in your eyes whenever you look at him. But
don’t let him hurt you, Dana.”
“I haven’t that choice anymore,” she admitted
softly, smiling before she turned and went into the
study with him and closed the door.
“Would you like something to eat?” she asked
when he stood out on the balcony, listening to the
waves crash against the shore.
He shook his head. Behind him his hands were
clasped so tightly that they looked white in spite
of their tan.
“Can I do anything for you?” she persisted.
He drew in a deep, slow breath. “Yes. Come
here and let me hold you.”
Denying him was the last thought in her mind.
She went to him as if she had no other function in
life but to do and be anything he wanted of her.
He found her shoulders and pulled her close,
wrapping her against his big, taut body. His body
suddenly convulsed, and he buried his face in the
long strands of loosened hair at her throat.
“I’m blind,” he ground out harshly, and his body
Diana Palmer
121
shuddered once heavily as the emotions poured
out of him. “Blind! I knew it, I knew…Dana, what
will I do? How will I live? I’d rather be dead…!”
“No!” She pressed closer, holding him, her
hands soothing, her cheek nuzzling against him,
her voice firm and quiet. “No, you mustn’t talk
that way. You learned to cope before; you can
again. You can get used to it. I’ll help you cope, I
will. I’ll never leave you, Gannon, never, never!”
she whispered.
He rocked her against him, and she felt some-
thing suspiciously wet against her throat where his
hot face was pressed. “Promise me,” he ground
out. “Swear to me that you won’t leave me unless
I send you away. Promise!”
It sounded very much like an ultimatum, and she
was afraid of what he might do if she refused or
argued with him. “Yes, I promise,” she agreed
softly. Her eyes closed and she savored the feel of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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