Defining Moments (A Moments In Time Love Story 2) Read online

  “He was picked up by an ambulance.” She sighed and placed a hand on her hip. “Look, lady, I’ve got work to do. You should talk to Mrs. Drawbridge.”

  “Thanks,” Melisa said, and the woman closed the door. Melisa stood in front of it for a few more heartbeats. Her knees felt too weak to carry her. Finally she forced herself to move, her heart thundering in her ears. Maybe Scott had decided on his own to go and be treated at the hospital after all.

  On her way to Serendipity Memorial, Melisa called Heat. He said he’d meet her and didn’t ask any questions, which was just as well, since she had no answers. And she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to know them.

  She found parking easily and ran into the hospital and through the corridors, to the information desk. She was lucky enough to almost collide with Charlotte, who looked very apologetic.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I had to bring Mike in. He was beyond my help. I couldn’t let him die in my mother’s…”

  Melisa’s heart plummeted. “Where is he? Is he…?” She couldn’t even bear to say the words.

  Charlotte shook her head again, but her face remained sympathetic. “No. He’s alive. But I don’t think for much longer.”

  “Tell me where he is, please.” There was no time to care about Scott being seen by someone who knew him. If Charlotte had rushed him to hospital, it must have been serious.

  Charlotte led the way to Scott’s room. “He’s in there.” She pointed through the large glass window. “You can go in and see him. He was asking for you.”

  “Why didn’t you call me immediately?”

  “I didn’t have my cell phone, and Mike was in too much pain to remember your number. I was on my way to contact you now.” Her pager beeped and she peered at it. “I’m sorry. I have some things to attend to. Go and be with him.” She squeezed Melisa’s shoulder and hurried away.

  Melisa wanted to walk into the room to be by his side, but couldn’t find the courage. She was sure the smell of death that had surrounded Scott for weeks was much stronger now, and she wasn’t ready to breathe it in. She pursed her lips and placed the flat of her hand against the cool glass, wishing even from a distance that he would feel her touch and hang on to whatever threads of life were still within his reach.

  She remained outside for a long time, and watched the man she used to love lie attached to all kinds of blinking and beeping machines, his face gaunt, his thinning hair plastered to his forehead. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing, still holding on. For how long? A few minutes? Another hour? Another day?

  As she thought about losing him forever this time, tears pricked her eyes and the part of her heart that used to love him shattered into a thousand pieces and crumbled to dust. She wished Heat would get here fast. She didn’t know how she would handle it if Scott died right now. She needed someone to help her hold it together.

  Almost as if her prayers had been heard, she turned and saw Heat running down the corridor toward her. He must have been in the area to get to the hospital so fast. Or had she been waiting outside Scott’s room for longer than she thought? He gathered her into his arms and she clung to him.

  “We should go in,” he said as he released her. “He needs us.”

  Melisa nodded.

  Holding hands, they entered the room, and at that moment Scott opened his yellowed eyes and gave them a weak smile. Melisa let go of Heat’s hand. She knew how hard it must be for Scott to see them together. He was suffering enough.

  “Are you okay, man?” Heat asked, his face riddled with concern. “You have to hang in there, you understand?”

  “Too… too late,” Scott said, almost in a whisper. “I’ve lost.”

  Whether he was talking about losing to death or losing Melisa, she had no idea, but his face was wracked with a dark sorrow she wished she could wipe away.

  “We love you.” Melisa forced herself to be strong for all of them. “We’ll never forget you.” She sat at his bedside and took his frail hand into both of hers.

  “Thank you.” He stretched out his other hand toward Heat, blinking furiously. “Take care of her for me.”

  Heat glanced at Melisa. “I promise.”

  “Thank you.” Scott’s voice weakened and his eyes were on the verge of closing. “Can I have a… one moment with her?”

  Heat squeezed him on the shoulder. “Sure you can. I’ll be right outside.”

  When Heat left the room, Scott watched Melisa for a very long time, a tiny smile on his lips.

  For a moment she looked past the skeleton on the bed and saw the man she had fallen in love with. She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it. “I forgive you,” she said as a tear plopped onto his pale skin. “I forgive you for everything.” She didn’t want him to go wherever he was going with a guilty conscience. But she still prayed a miracle would happen and he’d be healed. Even if they were no longer a pair, she wanted a world with his smile in it.

  “You were my first love, you know?” Scott said weakly. “I know Heat is yours. We were not meant to be together. But I am blessed to have had you in my life for many happy years. I couldn’t ask for more. I will always love you, Melisa… forever. Be happy.” The last word was barely audible, but Melisa heard it. Scott’s lips twitched in a wavering smile and he closed his eyes.

  Before the machines started beeping, Melisa knew the time had come. She felt like she was drowning as she laid her forehead against his and sobbed, her tears spilling onto his face and down his cheeks as if he, too, were crying. But he couldn’t. Never again.

  He was gone.

  She wanted him back. Why had he returned to Serendipity? If he hadn’t, she would never have known, would never have watched the life drain out of his body. She would never have hurt him by having to choose between him and Heat. If he hadn’t returned, she would have been happy with the man she loved first. But he had come back, and she’d had a chance to say goodbye—a chance she was grateful for, but it still hurt so much.

  She closed her eyes and forced her mind to conjure up happy images of Scott—his glinting, grey eyes, his crooked smile, how happy he had looked on their wedding day. She tried to recall years of memories, but they were all clouded. As she cried harder, she heard someone else enter the room, or more than one person. She didn’t lift her head from Scott’s.

  “Come back,” she begged. “Please come back.” She lifted her head and looked down at his tear-stained face. She wiped the tears off with the bed sheet and kissed him on the cheek, breathing in deeply, searching for his smell, but it was not there. He had taken it with him.

  “Mel, baby, he’s gone,” Heat said as he tried to pull her away from Scott’s body. The man who had borrowed that body was no longer there.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The day of Scott’s funeral, Heat held Melisa to his side as they exited the church, holding an umbrella above them. It had been raining non-stop since early morning, as if the sky were also mourning.

  Melisa wore a simple black cotton dress with black suede pumps, and her hair was atop her head in a messy ponytail. She didn’t care how she looked, because everything outside was fake, anyway, just cosmetic. A pretty dress wouldn’t hide a broken soul. Eventually, her pain found a way to make itself felt. Her eyes were sore and burning from crying in church. She had been asked to say something. She had wanted to and had written something special, but as soon as she saw Scott’s face inside the casket, the words broke inside her mouth and tears blurred her vision, making it impossible to see any of the writing on the paper. Scott had died three days ago, and the world felt like an empty place without him.

  They drove in silence to the cemetery as rain pelted the roof of the car and thunder rumbled in the distance.

  Ten minutes later, they watched the wooden coffin being lowered into the ground. The only people present were Melisa, Heat, Charlotte, and Mrs. Drawbridge.

  Melisa clutched Heat’s arm for support, but when only the shimmering, wet top of the coffin was vis
ible, she released Heat’s arm and dropped to her knees next to Scott’s grave. “Noooo!” she screamed until her lungs hurt, as rainwater washed away the tears and sprinkled them over the earth that would cover the coffin. “No,” she repeated, digging her fingers into the ground, clutching the slippery mud between her fingers. She and Scott might not have had a future together, but she had wanted him to live, even with someone else. Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe she hadn’t been the love of his life. What if there was someone out there who would have proved him wrong? Now he would never know. Yes, he made mistakes, but at his core, he was a good man and he deserved to live.

  Heat slipped one hand under her armpit and lifted her to her feet as the coffin disappeared.

  Melisa gazed up into his eyes, her eyes still dripping with tears and rainwater, her hair plastered to her scalp, neck, and forehead, her heart bleeding. “I wish he would come back.”

  Heat tossed the umbrella to the ground and held her tight. “I know, my love. I know.” His voice cracked. “Me too.” He hugged her, one hand cupping the back of her head and the other around her back, his face buried in her dripping hair. Melisa could feel his jagged breath and his body shaking in rhythm with hers. As they broke together, they held each other so they wouldn’t fall to pieces.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The weeks following Scott’s death were a blur. The first few days, when they had to get used to the idea that he was gone and they didn’t need to visit him at the inn anymore, were the hardest. Melisa decided to avoid the place altogether. It was surrounded by too many painful memories of sickness and secrets. It would take a while to get over all of it, if she ever could.

  Two months after Scott died, Melisa entered the kitchen to find Heat slumped over the Serendipity Daily. He didn’t even look up.

  She kissed him on the cheek and went to pour herself a cup of tea. “You okay, honey?” She sat next to him and placed her steaming cup in front of her.

  “I don’t know.” His voice was strained. “Look at this.” He slid the newspaper toward her and pointed a finger at a thumbnail picture that caused her breath to catch inside her throat. “What’s this?” She looked closer.

  The photo was grainy and old, but there was no doubt that it was Scott. Her gaze shifted to the headline: Dead Man Walking.

  Holding her breath, she read the first paragraph.

  Scott Bergfeld, a former Serendipity firefighter, who was believed to have died in a fire seven years ago, was spotted by a local two months ago at Serendipity Memorial Hospital. One of the nurses who claimed to have been treating him there confirmed his identity. She further stated that although he was alive at the time of the sighting, he had died the same day he’d arrived at the hospital. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.

  At this point, many questions remain unanswered. Did Scott Bergfeld fake his death seven years ago? Where was he hiding? But most importantly, why? The story is a mystery we hope to uncover.

  Melisa turned to Heat with wide eyes. “Oh, my God.”

  Heat nodded and took a gulp of his coffee. He stood up and went to close the kitchen window. “Reporters will be crawling around us. I think you should stay home today. I already spotted two journalists hiding in the bushes this morning when I went to get the paper.”

  Melisa took a sip of tea. “What can they do to me? I’m not going to say a word. I don’t even know most of the details of his disappearance.”

  Heat sat back down and placed a finger under her chin, turning her head so she was gazing into his eyes. “Journalists can be vultures. They’ll treat anybody who they suspect to know more than they do like a piece of garbage. I can’t have them following you around. Please promise me you’ll stay home. I’ll get you anything you want from outside. I’ll even step in for you at Mel’s Delights, if I have to.”

  Melisa nodded. “I promise. But promise me one thing. Please stay away from Mel’s Delights. No baking for you.” She picked up her cell. “I’ll call Josie to see if she can help out this week. And I’ll do as much baking as I can from home. Actually, I will need you to go there once a day as the delivery guy.”

  Heat bowed. “At your service, my lady.”

  ***

  Over the next few days, the press proved relentless. No matter how often Heat said no comment when he stepped out the door, they stayed camped out in the garden for a whole week. They did everything to try and get to Melisa. A male journalist even attempted to climb through the kitchen window but regretted it when Heat caught him and broke his nose with his own camera.

  Melisa was relieved that Charlotte Drawbridge had not been the one who spilled the beans about Scott, but another nurse who had known him before he had disappeared. Now, every few days there was a story in the paper about someone who claimed to have seen him or known of his whereabouts.

  “The man is dead,” Melisa complained to Carlene over the phone. “They should let him rest in peace.”

  “Is the press still trying to get to you?”

  “Yes, and it’s driving me nuts. I don’t know more than I told the police.”

  “Why did the police want to speak to you? Do they think you had something to do with his disappearance?”

  “They show up here every few days wanting more information, and I keep telling them what I know, the truth. They haven’t accused me of anything… not yet, at least. Everything is out in the open now, everything about his childhood and the fire.” She sighed. “But there’s another problem. Even if Scott is dead for real, the insurance company is investigating whether I committed insurance fraud, even though, when I put in the life insurance claim, I thought Scott was actually dead. It’s all complicated. We hired a lawyer to deal with everything. He doubts I’ll go to jail, as long as there’s no proof I knew anything about Scott still being alive.”

  “I’m sure the lawyer will do a great job. I wish you could get away from it all. In fact, I’m even tempted to kidnap both you and Heat. Hey, why not? Come to Vienna for a few days. It will do you both good to be away from all the drama. When you return, maybe things will have died down.”

  “That would be so wonderful. But I don’t think we can leave town yet. Lieutenant Loyd and my lawyer expect us to be available in case they have more questions. I might have to drop in and out of court for a while. And it would look suspicious if we disappeared during the investigation.”

  “Well, you’re welcome here any time. When you’re ready, pack your bags.”

  Melisa smiled. “You can count on it.”

  ***

  While Melisa hid out at home, Josie kept her informed about how Scott’s story was unfolding, based on what she heard from people at Mel’s Delights. It turned out the man Scott had hired was named Tim Harris, and he was the man who had died in the fire, posing to be Scott. In fact, it had been him who had caused the fire in the first place.

  “I don’t get it.” Melisa was shocked. “Why would someone do that?”

  “He had killed his wife some months before out of jealousy. Just like Scott, he needed to disappear. Apparently he’d poured gasoline all over himself, to make sure he would be unrecognizable after the fire.”

  From the photos in the papers, Tim Harris had resembled Scott. They had the same hair color, and also a similar height and build. He had been the perfect body double. Since he had been burned beyond recognition, no one would have felt the need to investigate further. Given that the cause of death was known, Melisa had not insisted on an autopsy. She wasn’t comfortable with her husband being sliced, poked, and prodded.

  “But why did he choose to burn himself alive? If he had planned to disappear, why didn’t he just take Scott’s money and run?”

  “His mother needed immediate lifesaving surgery and he had been unable to pay for it. The money Scott had offered must have been enough to cover it.” Josie paused. “Maybe he chose to die that way as punishment for what he did to his wife. They found a note in which he confessed to the murder.”

  “Wow, I can�
�t believe this.”

  “And I can’t believe you never confided in me.” Josie sounded hurt. “I’m your friend.”

  “I’m sorry. I promised Scott I’d keep it to myself. I didn’t even tell Heat. He found out himself. It’s not that I don’t trust you…” Guilt nudged Melisa when she remembered that she had told Carlene. But she would never be able to keep anything from her.

  “You’re forgiven. Now try to take it easy. Things have a way of fixing themselves, whether we worry about them or not. So, don’t waste your time worrying.”

  “Then I choose not to worry.” Melisa smiled, even though she knew it was easier said than done.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Heat entered the bedroom carrying a breakfast tray. Melisa was surrounded by newspapers and tabloids and was leafing through the Serendipity Daily, which he had just brought home this morning.

  One month later, Scott’s story still hadn’t disappeared from the public eye, and Melisa still met regularly with her lawyer. She knew she was innocent and had sufficient evidence to prove it, so the insurance issues had become the least of her problems. Everything would be ironed out in time.

  She still only left the house when she absolutely needed to. Otherwise she spent most of her time at home, away from reporters, reading every newspaper article she could get her hands on.

  “Morning, sweetheart.” Heat placed the tray on the bed and kissed her forehead. He loved spoiling her with breakfast in bed every Saturday. “Anything new in the paper?”

  Melisa shook her head. “Not really. They’re still focusing on Tim Harris.” They now knew more about the man who had committed suicide in order to make Scott disappear. He had been a retired detective who used to spend years searching for missing persons, until he quit his job and started making people disappear instead. Melisa guessed he earned a lot more money that way.