“Just stay next to me. I mean unless you aren’t comfortable with it,” she added hastily. Then she closed her eyes. “I’m being stupid. I’m sorry. I can do this.”
Rio tucked his fingers underneath her chin and nudged upward. “Grace, you’ve been brutalized by ruthless men over and over. I’d be a little worried if this didn’t freak you out on some level. You’re not stupid.”
She sucked in a deep breath and then glanced nervously in Diego’s direction. Then her shoulders sagged and she started to untie the robe. “Let’s just get it over with.”
Diego stepped forward and put his hand gently on Grace’s hand to stop her. “Go to the side of the bed. Undo your robe. Rio and I will turn our backs while you get on the bed. Once you’re there, cover yourself with the robe. I’ll only uncover what I need as I examine you, okay?”
She gave him a tremulous smile. “Okay.”
Rio dutifully turned his back while Grace walked around to the side. A moment later, he heard her move onto the bed.
“You can turn around now,” she said softly.
Rio and Diego turned, though Diego didn’t spend any time staring. He swiftly moved around to the side, brisk and all business. Rio stood for a moment, staring down at the woman with a robe pulled up to her chin. Only her bare feet and a portion of her legs poked out from underneath.
She looked…She looked scared and nervous and he wanted more than anything to make it all go away. He went around to the opposite side and then climbed onto the bed. He plumped the pillows behind his back so he could prop up beside her and then he reached for her hand and squeezed.
She smiled and it did funny things to his throat and his chest.
On her other side, Diego examined her injured arm, holding it up, asking her to flex and extend her fingers and then her wrist and then to bend at the elbow. She did all without complaint, though he saw a slight grimace when she made a fist.
Diego gently laid her arm back down and then pushed the robe up just enough that he bared a portion of her rib cage. He examined a small area, stopping to ask her if it hurt, then continued over the rest of her abdomen.
“Did most of this happen when you fell?” Diego asked. “Or were you injured before that as well?”
She sighed. “It’s difficult to explain.”
“Try me. Take your time.”
She glanced over at Rio and he squeezed her hand again just to let her know that it was okay. She turned her head so that she stared up at the ceiling and then she took a deep breath.
“Before the fall, I was sick, injured, ill, whatever you want to call it because I’d healed so many people in a very short period of time. I never got a break. It was one after another, a never-ending litany of pain and madness. I was weak and I was sure I was going to die.
“"1e He wentWhen I fell, those injuries were…real time. Not that the others weren’t. They were just different. They happened directly to me, not because I absorbed them from someone else. So to answer your question, the injuries from the fall were just more in a line of injuries, but the others had already started to heal, or as much as they could, given the circumstances.”
Rio and Diego exchanged glances. She gave a very cut-and-dried explanation, but the underlying despair and anguish in her voice came through loud and clear. She’d suffered greatly. And even though the physical wounds would heal, the emotional wounds cut deep and would remain with her forever.
“All right, Grace, almost done. But I need you to tell me what all you hurt when you fell. You were a little out of it before. You said ribs and your arm. What about your head? Do you hurt anywhere else?”
She pursed her lips and wrinkled her brow in thought. Then she slowly shook her head.
“And how does it feel to you now? Does it feel like you’re healing? Is it taking longer than usual?”
“It’s slower. Hurts more. I feel more…fragile. Like I’m still broken somehow,” she whispered.
Rio put his arm around her shoulders and then leaned into her. She immediately tucked her head underneath his chin.
Hell, she was broken. In spirit and body. How she was still so determined and hanging on was beyond him. He’d sensed her acceptance of her fate and yet it was like she simply didn’t know how to give up. Even as she was thinking of death, she was pushing herself with superhuman strength. Past all endurance. A point when most everyone else would have just given up.
Diego carefully arranged the robe back over her. “I’d say you’re doing remarkably well given that you most certainly broke ribs and punctured a lung. Your breath sounds had decreased markedly on one side and yet they sound almost normal now. You have a full range of motion with your arm, and I can’t even tell where it was broken. That’s pretty damn amazing.”
“I guess I just don’t know how to die,” she said wanly.
Rio frowned. Diego’s expression wasn’t any better.
“How about we don’t talk about dying and instead focus on getting you strong again,” Rio said. “Starting with a good meal. Diego, are you finished?”
Diego nodded and started for the door.
“Diego?” Grace called.
He paused and turned around.
“Thank you.”
He smiled. “My pleasure. You’re an amazing woman, Grace. I’ll never know how you made it out of those mountains in the condition you were in, but I’m damn proud of you for doing it.”