Christmas in Key West

“He fell, Abby. He’ll be okay, but he’s got a few bruises and a concussion. The doctors want to keep him overnight for observation.”

“My God. Poor Poppy.” She picked up her purse, which she’d dropped on the hall stand, and went outside. “I’ll head right over. Are you coming, too?”

“I went when I first heard, but once I knew Huey was okay, I came to work. You can call here at the Shack if you need me.”

“Okay. But wait, Mom, don’t hang up. How did it happen? Why did Poppy fall?”

Loretta breathed deeply. “You won’t like hearing this, Ab.”

“Mom…”

“Huey says Reese Burkett attacked him.”

ABBY’S HANDS SHOOK on the steering wheel as she drove the mile to the island hospital. She tried to picture Reese Burkett with her fingers wrapped around his neck. But instead of popping veins on his forehead, and broken blood vessels in his eyes, all that came to mind was a youthful, cocky smile and heavily lashed green eyes full of confidence and invincibility. That was Reese then. She had no idea what he looked like now, only that she would experience an admittedly selfish gratification in discovering he’d packed forty pounds onto his athletic frame and lost most of his thick dark hair. How dare he manhandle her father? She’d meet him in court, facing an abuse charge!

The sun was setting as she parked in the hospital lot and entered the lobby. Mechanically, she showed the required identification, had her picture taken and patted the ID sticker onto her blouse. She was used to hospital security regulations. In the course of her job, she visited many hospitals in the Atlanta area.

Huey was on the second floor. Abby exited the elevator, quickly scanned the directional signs for his room number and headed to the end of the hall. She heard Alex Trebek read an answer on Jeopardy, then recognized her dad’s voice giving the proper response before the contestants could buzz in.

Huey snapped his fingers as she entered the room. He’d gotten the Jeopardy question right.

Abby hurried to his bedside, then stopped short when she saw the bruise around his closed right eye. “Poppy!”

He turned to her, and a huge grin spread across his face. “Well, I’ll be. Baby girl! What are you doing here? You found out I was in this joint?”

“Not until I got into town, about thirty minutes ago. Mom phoned and told me you’d been admitted.”

He stared at her with his good eye. “So what are you doing here? It isn’t Christmas yet.”

“No, but I came early, to spend more time with you.”

“What? You’re staying through December?”

“That’s the plan.”

“That’s not like you, Abigail—taking off work so long.”

“It’s fine, Poppy. Everything’s covered.”

“But you never stay more than a couple of days.”

“I know, but this is different.” She pulled up a chair. “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about me. I want to know what happened to you. How are you feeling?” She lifted the tube leading into his arm. “And what’s this for?”

He lowered the TV volume with his remote. “It’s nothing,” he said. “Everybody gets a drip of some kind, they tell me. That’s just sugar water or something.” He tapped the side of his head. “It’s the old noggin that’s giving me trouble. But they gave me something that makes Alex Trebek look like Loni Anderson.”

Abby leaned close. “What about your eye?”

“Oh, yeah, that. Haven’t had a shiner in years.”

She rested her hand on his arm. “Poppy, what happened? Tell me how you ended up in here.”

He snorted. “You need to ask your old beau about it, Abigail.”

“Don’t call him that. He was never my beau, and you know it. If Reese did this to you, I want to hear the details.”

“He did it, all right. Knocked me flatter than an IHOP pancake in my own front yard.” Huey suddenly sat up straight. He stared over Abby’s shoulder and gazed cantankerously at the doorway. “And there’s the abuser now. Come to try and put the cuffs on me again, Reese?”

Abby spun around, the chair legs scraping on the speckled linoleum. Her heart pounded. There he was, well built, still with a full head of hair. Damn you, Reese, she thought, hating that her chest clenched with resentment and heartache and other emotions that, if she analyzed them, might scare her to death.

She stood up and placed her hand over her stomach in an effort to calm the trembling inside. She hadn’t seen Reese in thirteen years. He’d matured, but he hadn’t really changed. At twenty-one, he’d given lots of girls reason to hope he would ask them out, her included, though at barely eighteen, she hadn’t sparked his interest. Until…She shook her head, banishing the image of that one night she’d tried so hard to forget, a night he obviously had.

As he walked toward her, Reese stared, obviously searching for her in the recesses of his mind. His lips twitched, as if he almost wanted to smile but figured it was inappropriate. He wiped his hand down the side of his jeans and held it out to her. “I can’t believe it. Is it really you, Abby?”

She refused his handshake—a small act of defiance to let him know she was aware of his role in this travesty of justice tonight. “It is,” she said, her voice harsh. “And I’ve arrived just in time, it seems.”

“Come to finish me off, did ya, Burkett?” Huey muttered. He tugged onAbby’s arm, getting her full attention. “Don’t leave the room, Abigail. I’m going to need a witness.”

“That won’t be necessary, Huey,” Reese said, twisting a ball cap in his hands. “I just stopped by to see how you’re doing.”

“How do you think I’m doing?” Huey said. “You roughed me up pretty good, Captain Burkett.” He pointed to his eye. “I may lose my vision in this one.”

Abby gasped. “Poppy, is that true?”

Reese frowned. “It’s not true. I’ve talked to the doctor. Your dad’s going to be fine.”

“Lucky for you,” Abby said. “If Poppy suffers any permanent injury because of what you did…”

Reese scratched the back of his head. “Abby, can I talk to you in the hallway?”

She glared at him with all the bravado she could muster. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Give me five minutes, Abby, please.”

She looked at her dad, who reached for the TV remote and punched up the volume a couple of notches. “Go ahead,” he said. “But don’t believe a word he says. He tried to arrest me today and it got ugly. That’s the truth of it.”

Reese shook his head. “I’m sorry, Huey. I apologized to you earlier, and I’m apologizing again. I didn’t want you getting hurt. You can’t think that I did.”

“Don’t ask me what was going on in your head, I just know what I felt when you attacked me. And I got the bruises to prove it.”

Reese stretched out his arm. “Abby?”

“Five minutes.” She stepped ahead of him, then walked a few feet down the hall.

“Can we find a place to sit and talk?” he asked.

She stayed where she was. “This is okay. I don’t want to be too far away in case Poppy calls me.”

“Fine.” Reese tucked the ball cap under his arm and ran his fingers through his hair. Strands fell onto his forehead, andAbby locked her gaze on the nurses’ station rather than stare at him. “I know how this must look to you,” he began.