Laura Scott - Christmas Amnesia

Panic gripped her throat, making it impossible to breathe. Why couldn’t she tell this man her name? What was wrong? Could it be that the pain was making her confused?

Forcing her eyelids open, she stared at the stranger looming over her. Concern darkened his gaze.

“We need to get a CT scan of her brain,” he said to someone nearby. “Make sure there isn’t any intracranial bleeding.”

If pain was a good way to judge potential bleeding, then she was all for the brain scan. But even as the hospital staff wheeled her over to the radiology department, she couldn’t ignore the strange sense of urgency that weighed heavily on her chest. She needed to get up and out of here; there was something very important for her to do.

But what? There was nothing but a dark void where her sense of self should have been.

Not just her name, but all of her memories were missing, lost in the swirling vortex of black pain.

Thankfully the scan didn’t take long. As she was being wheeled through the hallway back to the ER, at least what she assumed was an ER, a handsome man wearing a navy blue police uniform caught her gaze.

“Maddy? You’re the mugging victim? What happened?”

She stared at him for a moment, hoping she’d recognize him. For some weird reason, the dark navy blue MPD uniform was reassuring.

Wait, MPD? Milwaukee Police Department? How did she know what the initials stood for? Why not Minneapolis or some other city?

No clue.

“Maddy,” he said again, crossing over and reaching for the side rail of her gurney. “What happened? Are you all right?”

It took her a long second to realize this man seemed to know her. “Maddy?” she echoed with a frown. “Is that my name?”

The officer’s face paled with alarm and he kept pace with the orderlies who were currently pushing her through the hallway. “You don’t know your name? Do you recognize me?” he asked.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, feeling as if she was letting this guy down. She hoped he wasn’t her boyfriend or someone she’d once dated. He was attractive, with his short blond hair and deep brown eyes, and she could easily imagine herself dating a guy who looked like him. “My head hurts.”

“Officer, you can’t come into her room,” the orderly said.

“Just try and stop me,” the cop said, his features etched in a fierce scowl. “I’m here to take her statement.”

“I’m getting Dr. Wagner.” The orderly disappeared, leaving her alone with the officer.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Noah Sinclair,” he said, his gaze expectant as if the words would spark some sort of memory.

They didn’t.

“You’re with the Milwaukee Police Department, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes. Maddy, I need to understand what happened. Who did this to you?”

“I don’t know what happened.” Boy, was she sick and tired of saying that! “All I know is that I woke up here, in the hospital with a skull-splitting headache.”

“Listen, how about I call your brother? I’m sure once you see Matt, your memory will return.”

Brother? It seemed wrong that she couldn’t remember a brother. Although maybe she wasn’t close to her family. For some reason she couldn’t explain, she didn’t want this cop calling anyone on her behalf.

“No. Please, don’t.” Reaching up, she managed to grasp his wrist, the warmth of his skin oddly reassuring. “I—Just give me a few minutes, okay? I’m sure I’ll remember everything soon enough.”

Officer Sinclair’s deep brown eyes held indecision. She tightened her grip.

“Please. I need some time.”

He glanced down at her hand on his arm, then lifted his gaze back to hers. “Okay, I’ll hold off for now. But I hope that doctor comes back soon. I have a few questions.”

“Thank you.” Her hand slipped from his arm and she closed her eyes in an attempt to clear her mind. Her poor brain cells were scrambled like eggs. All she needed was a little rest.

She concentrated on breathing, in and out, allowing her muscles to relax. Someone, maybe the cop, turned the overhead lights off, leaving her alone.

Oh, that was much better. She had no idea if she normally did this type of relaxation technique, but it seemed to come automatically.

In and out. In and out. Slow your breathing and your heart rate.

Ignoring the vague sounds coming from the hospital staff, she concentrated on keeping her mind clear. Was it always this easy to think of nothing in particular?

She must have dozed a bit, because someone suddenly bellowed, “Hey! What are you doing in there?”

Prying her eyes open, she saw a deeply tanned man hovering close to her bedside. For a moment, his pale eyes held an angry malevolence, but then he turned away. “Cleaning,” he muttered, pushing past the cop and the doctor and then hurrying away.

“Did he hurt you?” Noah demanded.

“No. He’s just one of the cleaning staff.”

“Maybe,” Noah said in a low voice, his gaze following the tanned man as he made his way into another room. “I don’t like it, though. I think it’s best to get you out of here as soon as possible.”

She looked up at Noah, searching her memory for anything that would help her remember. But there was only a vast emptiness. No name. No memory.

Nothing.

A horrible sense of helplessness tightened her chest. She’d asked for some time, but so far, that hadn’t helped much. She still didn’t remember anything. And then another terrifying thought hit her squarely in the gut.

What if her memory was gone forever?

* * *

Noah leveled the doctor with a hard stare. “Does she have bleeding in her brain or not?”

The ER doctor, Daniel Wagner, shook his head. “No, her scan was clear.”

“Then I’d like to take her home.” Noah had been upset to find out that Maddy Callahan had been mugged near the courthouse. But what was even more disturbing was that she didn’t remember her own name. Or anything about her family.

The only thing working in his favor at the moment was that Maddy didn’t remember him, either. Which meant she wasn’t glaring at him or telling him to get lost in that lofty tone of hers.

Noah knew she blamed him for her brother Matt being stabbed in the stomach eighteen months ago. Matt and Maddy were twins, and truthfully she had a right to be angry. Noah had hesitated a fraction of a second too long, allowing the female drug addict to lunge at Matt, sticking the blade deep.

At least Matt hadn’t been injured too badly; the tip of the knife had managed to miss his liver by a fraction of an inch. Matt claimed the assault wasn’t Noah’s fault, yet right after the injury, Matt had abruptly decided to pursue becoming a K-9 cop.

Noah knew the real reason was that Matt didn’t trust him to be his partner any longer, and he couldn’t shake the guilt that clung to him like a soggy woolen sweater. After all, Matt wouldn’t have been hurt in the first place if Noah had reacted instantly to the threat.

Old news, he reminded himself. Time to get over it.

His radio went off, and he quickly turned away to answer it. His latest partner of just over six months, Jackson Dellis, was asking if he needed assistance to question the mugging victim. He assured the younger man he had it under control. Since their shift was officially over, he told his partner to go home and that he’d file the report on the mugging victim himself. Jackson didn’t hesitate to agree.

Noah turned back to the doctor. “I’m a friend of the family and I’d like to take her home now,” he repeated.

“Well...” The doctor hesitated, obviously not happy with the thought of letting his patient go. “She still seems to have some cognitive issues.”