Christmas Amnesia. Laura Scott

open your eyes for me?”

      Noah gripped the edge of the side rail as Maddy struggled to comply. Dr. Hawkins used a flashlight to examine Maddy’s pupils and then had her follow a few basic commands. When she finished, she questioned Maddy about what she remembered.

      “I don’t remember anything,” Maddy said, her brow deeply furrowed with obvious distress. “I don’t understand, why can’t I remember?”

      Dr. Hawkins’s smile was gentle. “It may be that you’ve suffered some sort of traumatic experience. I suspect that your memory will return on its own, but I’d like you to follow up in the neurology clinic in a week if the memory loss continues, okay?”

      “All right,” Maddy agreed and Noah knew then she really wasn’t herself. The Madison Callahan he knew would never agree to a doctor’s appointment in the middle of a trial.

      Then it hit him. Until Maddy had her memory back, there wouldn’t be a trial.

      Oh, sure, maybe another ADA could pick up the case, but he knew from personal experience that getting ready for a trial took hours and hours of preparation. Maddy had grilled him about his testimony for a full eight-hour day and he was just one of the officers involved. What about the others? He couldn’t imagine going through all that prep again.

      Would the DA ask for a continuance? And if so, for how long? It wasn’t as if they could just tell the judge to wait for Maddy’s memory to return. Victims had a right to a speedy trial. What if they were forced to let Pietro out on bail?

      The thought of Alexander Pietro being back on the street filled him with dread. Not just because the guy had threatened to kill every cop who’d participated in the bust, but more so because months of hard work would be lost forever. They’d have to start from scratch to build another case against him.

      Placing more innocent lives at risk.

      Noah curled his fingers into fists, knowing that he was taking the entire drug-trafficking case too personally. Because of his younger sister, Rose, who’d died of a heroin overdose when she was a senior in high school.

      Another death that was mostly his fault. First Rose, then his former college girlfriend, Gina. One guilt piled on the other, with Matt’s injury sitting at the top of the lopsided guilt cake.

      He shook off the depressing thoughts and focused on the immediate issue at hand. Maddy hadn’t wanted him to call Matt, but he’d called his former partner’s cell number anyway. Matt didn’t answer, so Noah left a vague message asking for a return call. Hopefully, Maddy’s memory would return by the time Matt called back.

      “I’ll write the discharge order, Officer Sinclair, if you promise Maddy won’t be left alone,” Dr. Hawkins said.

      “I promise I’ll stay with her until someone from her family takes over.”

      Dr. Hawkins nodded. “Done. I’ll have the nurse come in to explain what you should look for.”

      The nurse, a plump blonde with a cheerful smile, came into the room rattling off a list of signs and symptoms to be on the lookout for. Noah was glad when she handed him a packet of paperwork listing everything she’d just told him.

      “Thanks,” he said, folding the papers in half and sticking them in his back pocket. “Maddy? Do you need help sitting up?”

      “I can do it,” she said with a wince. She gripped the rail, pulling herself upright. She swayed, and he quickly moved closer and placed a steadying arm around her shoulders.

      “Easy now,” he said. “Take your time, there’s no rush.”

      “I’m okay,” she said, and the familiar stubborn edge to her voice made him smile. This was the Maddy Callahan he remembered.

      The same woman Matt had warned him to stay away from the first time he’d laid eyes on her. Matt didn’t want his baby sister, born a few minutes after him, to be in a relationship with a cop. The way Matt had lost his father, who’d happened to be the former chief of police as well as being murdered while visiting a crime scene, had made Matt overly protective. Noah had completely understood where his former partner was coming from.

      The warning hadn’t been necessary since Noah had no intention of being in a relationship with anyone, especially not Madison Callahan.

      Maddy swung her legs over the edge of the bed, placing her feet on the floor, then frowned at her stocking-covered toes. “Where are my shoes?”

      “Here.” Keeping a hand on her arm, he used his feet to bring the flats into position so she could slip them on.

      “Thanks.” She stood, then reached out to grab his arm. “Whoa. The room spins when I move too fast.”

      A flash of guilt assaulted him. Was he causing more harm than good by taking her out of here? Maybe he’d be better off asking for her to spend the night at the hospital so he could sit at her bedside, keeping an eye on her.

      Then his eyes fell on the discarded mop. A tall man with thinning hair stood beside the mop, arguing with a middle-aged lady. There was still no sign of the man with the tanned skin, and the hairs on the back of his neck lifted in alarm.

      No way did he believe the guy who’d been looming over Maddy was a hospital employee.

      “Are you sure you’re okay?” Noah asked. “I can probably convince Dr. Hawkins to admit you upstairs.”

      Maddy looked puzzled. “Who?”

      “The red-haired doctor.”

      “You know her?” Maddy asked.

      It was on the tip of his tongue to explain how she knew Dr. Hawkins, too, but he decided that would only make her feel bad. “Yeah, she’s married to a cop, a deputy from the sheriff’s department.”

      “Oh, I see. No, I don’t want to stay here. I’d rather go home.” She frowned. “I must not have a purse or a phone, huh?”

      “Unfortunately not. It appears the mugger took them.” He bent over to grab her long coat off the chair. “Here, let me help you with this.”

      “Thank you.” Maddy slid her arms into the sleeves as he held the coat for her. “Your mother must have taught you manners.”

      “Yeah.” He didn’t bother to elaborate since his mother had died a long time ago, and what was left of his family was scattered all over the globe. He and his siblings weren’t at all close. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his older brother. Three years? Four? Rose’s death six months after losing their mother to cancer had torn their family apart and, like the famous nursery rhyme, there hadn’t been a way to put the pieces back together again.

      He knew the Callahan clan was a tight-knit family and he wondered again why Matt hadn’t returned his call. Should he start calling her other brothers? The only problem was that he didn’t know their numbers and obviously Maddy couldn’t help. Right now, she didn’t realize she had five brothers—Marc, Miles, Mitch, Mike and Matt—every one of them older than her.

      Wrapping his arm around Maddy’s waist, he matched her slower pace as they made their way out of the emergency room. She stopped, looked surprised to see the Christmas tree in the lobby of the ER, as if she hadn’t known the holiday was near. When they were outside, he gestured to a squad car in the small parking lot across the street. “That’s our ride.”

      “Okay.”

      She ducked her head against the cold wind, walking alongside him down the sidewalk toward the parking lot. As they reached the road, a car came out of nowhere, heading straight toward them.

      “Look out!” Noah grabbed Maddy around the waist and leaped out of the way, landing in a snowbank on the other side of the road. The car came close enough to clip the back of his legs, then careened from view.

      Noah stared at the retreating taillights, knowing that he wasn’t imagining things. This was the second, maybe