Christmas Kisses Collection. Louise Allen

he could tell her fever was still running high. “Please get the packs,” he said to the man. Chance didn’t wait to see if he did as he had asked. His concern was for getting Ellen to medical care as soon as possible, even if he had to steal the boat.

      It wasn’t an issue. The man passed him and Ellen on the path and was waiting at the boat when they arrived. Chance laid Ellen in the bottom then climbed in and sat behind her, situating her head against his thigh.

      She sighed and closed her eyes. The man pushed the boat out into the river. Soon they were in the main channel.

      “How long to Saba?” Chance asked over his shoulder.

      “Dark. Maybe sooner.”

      Chance wasn’t pleased with the answer. That was three or four hours away. He brushed Ellen’s hair back from her forehead. She mumbled something unintelligible. Her soft skin was damaged from the sun, her lips parched and swollen. She was dehydrated. The list could go on and on.

      Her hand found his and held it against her cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

      Chance kissed the top of her head. “Sure you will.” He wouldn’t allow himself to think otherwise.

      What in her made her so tough? It had to have been when she had been trapped in the wreck with her mother. She’d known pain on a physical and emotional level that most people never experienced. How long had they waited for help? What had the pain been like as she’d healed? For her, this bug bite wasn’t unendurable. She’d learned early in life what she could withstand.

      He’d been playing her protector when Ellen was already a survivor.

      Chance looked down into her beautiful face. She had the strength that it took to live and work here. Ellen didn’t give up, she persevered. She wasn’t a quitter. When she made a commitment it was forever. Could he open his heart enough to accept that?

      If Ellen died Chance was afraid he would too. Despite what he had already lost in the world, his family, his wife, Ellen would be the greatest loss. When had she cracked through that wall and stepped into his heart? Had it been when she’d pulled out that hot pink nail polish, or stood up to him about his feelings for her, or her determination to care for a patient? Whenever it had been, she’d done it. He’d fallen for her.

      The knowledge didn’t make him feel better. He looked down at Ellen again. She just couldn’t die now that he’d found someone who he knew with all his heart would stand by him the rest of his life.

      Over the next few hours he bathed her head, neck and chest with the wet cloth, hoping he could keep the fever at bay. He did manage to get some water down her. But she needed so much care that he didn’t have available. Even unconscious most of the time, she clutched his hand.

      The sun was low in the sky when the man said, “Saba.”

      Relief washed through Chance. They were finally back in civilization.

      “Help’s not far away, sweetheart.” He brushed a damp strand of hair away from Ellen’s face. “We’ll have you in a hospital soon.”

      Ahead Chance saw a high, modern bridge spanning the river. He’d heard of it but had never seen it. It was a major thoroughfare over the river and to the coast. And an answer to his prayers.

      “I stop,” the young man said as he pulled over to a pier. “Water too low past here.”

      Chance stepped out of the boat with Ellen in his arms and with the help of the man. “Thank you. I hope I’m able to repay you one day,” Chance said, then hurried toward land.

      He searched the area. Now he had to find a phone to call for help or someone to take them to the hospital. Determination and anxiety mixed, becoming a lump in his chest.

      Chance hurried up a wide path with low green vegetation on each side toward houses. The path turned into a hard-packed dirt road wide enough for two cars. The houses lining the road were square and made of cinder block and plaster with only man-sized alleys between them. Chairs sat outside many of them.

      Wasn’t someone around?

      The boy of about ten played in the street up ahead. “Help. Hospital.”

      Eyes going wide, the boy looked at him then ran into a nearby house.

      He had to look like someone straight out of the child’s bad dreams. With three days of growth on his face, his clothes dirty and smelly, and holding a woman burning with fever in his arms, he must look horrible.

      A heavy woman appeared in the door of the house the child had run into.

      Hope swelled. “Please help me. I have a sick woman. I need a phone or a way to the hospital.”

      “No phone. The boy will take you to someone who can help.”

      The boy was already headed up the street. Chance lifted Ellen more securely against his chest and followed. They walked a block and the boy ran up to a man talking to a group of other men. He pulled on the man’s arm. The boy pointed to them. The man stepped away from the group and came toward Chance.

      “I need a hospital. Do you have a phone? A car?”

      “Car. Come this way.” The man directed Chance toward a rusty and dented old sedan. Chance had never been so glad to see anything in his life. Opening the back door, the man then moved away so that Chance could place Ellen inside.

      She opened her eyes for a second. “Where are we?”

      “In Saba and on our way to the hospital, sweetheart.”

      “I like sweetheart.”

      Chance couldn’t help but smile. “Good. I like calling you that.”

      As ill and in pain as Ellen must be, she still had a positive attitude. She’d told him she was tougher than she looked and she was right. Her life hadn’t always been easy but she’d managed to find humor and wonder in it.

      Convinced by his first impression and his past prejudice that she was weak and needy, he’d learned through this ordeal she was actually the stronger one of the two of them. He’d not been pushing her away for her good but his. What if he pursued a relationship and she rejected him? Would he survive the loss? Would he regret it more if he didn’t try?

      “No hospital close by,” the man said.

      Chance was afraid of that. “Where?”

      “San Pedro Sula.” The man glanced at Ellen. “I take there.”

      That hope started to build again. Chance had never been there before but that didn’t matter. Ellen needed care.

      They bounced over rocks and through ditches as the car rattled up the unpaved street. The going was excruciatingly slow for Chance but they were moving toward help for Ellen. He was sitting in the back, with her head resting in his lap. Checking her vitals for the second time since they had left the boat, he was terrified by what he found. Her heart rate was becoming irregular. Her blood pressure was very high as well as her fever.

      He looked up when the tires of the car hit pavement and his teeth quit knocking together. The car picked up speed and they were soon rolling over the high bridge that Chance had seen from the river.

      “How far?”

      “Thirty minutes,” the man called back over his shoulder.

      Did Ellen have that kind of time? Ellen started mumbling, throwing her head back and forth. She was delirious.

      Guilt flooded him. Chance had never felt more helpless in his life. Here he was a doctor and he couldn’t even help Ellen. He should have put her on a plane straight home the minute he’d seen her. This country and the type of work the clinic did was too dangerous. She should be someplace less demanding.

      They left the city and drove along the highway into a less populated area. The hot wind coming through the open windows did nothing to make him feel more comfortable. They sped down the road but it wasn’t fast