She’s never had a home
Growing up in a troubled foster home, Mercy Dane knew she could never rely on anyone but herself. She’s used to giving her all to people who don’t give her a second glance, so when she races to Blessings, Georgia, to save the life of an accident victim, she’s flabbergasted when the grateful town opens its arms to her. She never dreamed she’d ever find family or friends—or a man who looks at her as if she hung the stars.
Until she finds peace in his arms
Police Chief Lon Pittman is getting restless living in sleepy little Blessings. But the day Mercy Dane roars into his life on the back of a motorcycle, practically daring him to pull her over, he’s lost. There’s something about Mercy’s tough-yet-vulnerable spirit that calls to Lon, and he will do anything in his power to make her realize that home isn’t just where the heart is—home is where their heart is.
It was nearing daylight when her cell phone began to ring. She
rolled over and grabbed it as she turned on the lamp. “Hello?”
“This is Mildred Starks from the National
Rare Blood Registry. Am I speaking to Mercy Dane?”
“Yes,” Mercy said, as she threw back the
covers and stood up.
“Ms. Dane, we have an emergency in your
area. This is an unusual situation, and we’re asking something out of the
ordinary. Can you respond directly to the hospital in need?”
“Yes. Where do I need to be?” she asked, as
she began grabbing clothes.
“You still reside in Savannah, Georgia, and
are there at this time?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect. There is a small town about an
hour south of you called Blessings. There’s no chopper available to fly you
there and no time to donate in Savannah and then have it transported. Do you
have transportation to get yourself to Blessings?”
Now her hands were shaking as she realized
the reality of someone’s life would lie partially in her ability to get there.
“Yes. Where do I go?”
“The town is small. There’s only one
hospital. I’m sending GPS directions to your phone. Time is crucial. Be safe
and Godspeed.”
“On my way,” she said, and dropped the phone
on the bed as she took her biker gear out of the closet. Within five minutes
she was out the door, her helmet in one hand, keys in the other.
The sun was only a hint on the eastern
horizon as she left the complex. According to her directions, she was to take
I-16 west, then connect to I-95 south. She wasn’t far from a feeder road that
would take her to I-516, which then turned into I-16, so she took that route.
It was early Christmas morning and traffic
was sparse. Sunrise was minutes away when she finally hit I-16, and by that
time she was flying. Every mile behind her put her closer to Blessings. It
wasn’t the first time she’d been called upon to donate her blood, but it was
the first time she’d been asked to go to the person in need. It amped the
urgency to a fever pitch, making her part in it personal.
Once she hit I-95 southbound, the northbound
lane was a black ribbon of flickering headlights, while she and the Harley
became a two-wheeled version of earthbound flight.
She rode with single-minded focus, keeping
an eye on the traffic while making sure she didn’t get caught in the draft of
passing truckers. And when the new sun was just high enough in the east that
she could see the landscape through which she was passing, the glimpses of
houses led her to imagining what might be going on within the walls—because it
was Christmas Day.
Surely joyful families were opening presents
and eating breakfasts. She pictured turkeys already in the oven, pies already
baked and lining sideboards and tables, and the dough for homemade hot rolls in
big crockery bowls, covered and rising in a warm place on the counter.
Unfortunately, that scene was nothing but her imagination because she’d never
experienced anything like it. But the closer she got to Blessings, the more she
realized there was no time to dwell on what she didn’t have. Today, it was what
she did have—an RH negative blood type—that mattered most.
She’d been on the interstate forty-five
minutes when she reached the exit that would take her to her destination.
According to the directions she’d received, Blessings was less than fifteen
miles ahead. The roar of the engine beneath her was all she could hear as she
leaned slightly forward into the ride and accelerated.
And just as she rode past the city limits
sign, she came upon a roadblock and a long line of cars blocking the highway
with rescue vehicles up ahead. Her heart sank. She didn’t know it was the
aftermath of the wreck that had caused the injuries to the person in need of
her blood. But waiting around for permission to pass was not on her agenda.
She rolled out around the last car in line
and kept moving forward. When she reached the accident site, she rode around
two tow trucks, then took to the ditch to get around a couple of police cars
and one highway patrol.
Although she couldn’t hear what they were
saying, she saw them shouting and trying to wave her down. She’d never outright
defied a lawman in her life, but these were extenuating circumstances, and so
she kept moving until she was beyond the roadblock and heading into town.
She knew she was speeding, but traffic on
Main Street was almost nonexistent. Her gut knotted when she heard a siren. One
glance in her side mirror, and she saw the red and blue flashing lights of a
cop car coming up behind her. Stopping to explain her situation could be the
difference between someone living and dying.
Led by fear, she swerved off Main Street
into a residential neighborhood and accelerated. It wasn’t enough. The cruiser
was still behind her and closing the gap. Then she noticed an alley coming up
on her right, swerved into it and sped up, trying to get back to Main.
Everything in her peripheral vision was a blur, and the sound of the siren was
fading as she shot back onto Main and then down to the far end of the street to
the blue hospital sign with an arrow pointing east.
She followed the arrow, saw the hospital
building straight ahead, and headed toward the entrance marked ER. She slid
sideways as she came to a stop and then ran toward the entrance with her helmet
in her hand and her hair in tangles.
It had taken an hour and five minutes to get
there.
It was thirty-seven degrees, and she was
sweating.
***
Everyone in the waiting room looked up as the tall, leggy woman
came running into ER, heading straight toward registration. They saw black
leather, wild hair, and a motorcycle helmet, and frowned. Women in Blessings
didn’t dress like that. She was obviously a stranger.
Mercy was unaware of the stares and would
have cared less had she known. She stopped at the desk.
“I’m here to donate blood to—”
A nurse came out of a nearby office.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Mercy Dane.”
The nurse threw up her hands in a gesture of
thanksgiving. “Praise the Lord that you’re here. They’re waiting for you. Come
with me.”
They left the waiting area with haste,
moving down a long hallway, then through double doors, past the surgery waiting
room, unaware of the two men who came running out of the waiting room behind
them as they passed. And when the nurse took her through another set of doors,
things began to happen rapid-fire.
She’d given them her photo ID and donor card
and was now flat on her back, half-listening to the frantic voices around her
as they began hooking her up. It was obvious whoever needed this transfusion
was someone they knew—someone they certainly cared about. And she was here, so
she closed her eyes, letting the chaos go on around her without buying into the
panic, just glad she’d made the ride.
***
Lon Pittman clocked the biker at close to sixty miles an hour
going down Main Street. He immediately hit the lights and siren as he took
pursuit, and when he got close enough to ID the tag number, radioed it in. He
had assumed the rider was a guy with long hair until the dispatcher radioed
back. The owner was a woman named Mercy Dane. That wasn’t going to change
anything when he caught her, but it did cross his mind that this woman was
surely hell on wheels. He was still in pursuit when she suddenly took a right
and shot up the alley that ran along the side of Ruby Dye’s home.
“Damn it,” he muttered, knowing it was too
narrow to take his cruiser up that alley at this rate of speed, and had to
drive to the end of the block to take a quick right, only to see her shoot out
of the alley, straight across the street into another one. She was still
running the alleys, one block after another.
He took off toward Main running hot, and
when he finally reached it, caught a quick glimpse of the bike and rider now on
Main and turning east. With lights still flashing and his siren screaming, he
took the turn onto Main and followed her route.
It wasn’t until he took the same turn the
biker had taken that he realized it led to the hospital. He caught a glimpse of
her and the bike heading north around the hospital and floored it.
The last thing he expected to see when he
drove up to the ER was the big Harley parked near the entrance. He killed the
lights and siren, radioed in his position, and got out on the run.
Once again, the people in the waiting room
were surprised. When their police chief entered a building running, they were
curious what was going on.
None of them had expected to see so much
action and excitement in the hospital ER, especially on Christmas Day.
Lon quickly scanned the room, and when he
didn’t see anyone in black leather, he headed for the registration desk.
“Sally, did a woman wearing black leather
come in here?”
“Oh…you mean Mercy Dane? Yes, she’s here,
thank goodness. They took her straight to the surgery area.”
He frowned. “Why? Was she injured in some
way?”
“Oh, no! She came for Hope Talbot. She’s the
rare blood donor they’ve been waiting for.”
And just like that, all the anger he’d been
feeling for the reckless way in which she’d come into Blessings was gone. He’d
helped pull Hope out of the wreck. He knew she was hanging onto life by a
thread, but had no idea about her blood type or the frantic call that had gone
out on her behalf.
“Where did they take the Dane woman?” he
asked.
“Down the hall is all I know. You might
check in at the surgery waiting room. Jack and Duke are there. They might know
more.”
“Thanks,” he said, and headed down the hall.
***
Jack Talbot and his brother, Duke, were still celebrating the
blood donor’s arrival when Chief Pittman entered the waiting room.
Jack immediately stood up and shook his
hand. “Chief! I was told you helped pull Hope out of the wreck. Thank you so
much.”
“I just happened to be one of the first on
the scene,” he said.
“I’m still so grateful,” Jack said. “My wife
is the beginning and end of my world.”
“So how’s she doing?” Lon asked.
Jack shook his head and walked away in
tears, leaving Duke to answer. “She’s hanging in, but it wasn’t looking good.
She’d lost so much blood that they didn’t think she would pull through surgery
without a transfusion. The problem became getting blood for her. She’s RH
negative, which is a rare blood type. There wasn’t any in the blood banks that
could have gotten to us time, and just when we thought it wasn’t going to
happen, they found a donor who lived in Savannah. She just got here a few
minutes ago. There’s no way to know how this is going to come out, but whoever
she is, her presence was an answer to our prayers.”
The image of Mercy Dane’s frantic ride now
made a crazy kind of sense. Now Lon was past curious. He wanted to see the
woman who’d made a wild ride on Christmas Day to save a stranger’s life.
“That’s good to know,” he said. “If you
don’t mind, I believe I’ll wait here with you, just to see how Hope fares after
the transfusion.”
***
Mercy watched one nurse rush out with the donated blood while
another took the needle out of her arm. The panic of getting here was over.
Whatever happened now was out of her hands, save for the silent prayer she’d
said for the woman in need. She was about to get up when a nurse stopped her.
“Wait, honey. Not so fast,” she cautioned.
Mercy didn’t argue. The room had already
begun to spin when she raised her head—a combination of too little sleep, an
adrenaline crash, and a unit short of blood.
The nurse helped Mercy up and walked her
out, talking as they went.
“I’m taking you to the waiting room to get
juice and a sweet roll from one of the vending machines before I can let you
leave. I don’t know if anyone told you, but the woman needing the donation is a
nurse in this hospital. We are all so grateful you came when you got the call.
None of this is standard donation procedure, so thank you for going above and
beyond for her.”
“I am happy I was close enough to help,”
Mercy said.
“You gave her a chance, which is more than
she had before you showed up,” the nurse said.
Mercy was still shaky and wanting to sit
down as they walked into the waiting room. But two men who were already there
stood up and came toward her so fast she took a quick step back.
However, it was the cop standing behind them
who caught her eye. She thought for a moment she was hallucinating, then saw
the same look of shock on his face as the one she must be wearing. Her gut knotted.
“You! You disappeared seven years ago. I
never thought I’d see you again,” he said.
She shrugged. “Seven years is a long time.
Neither did I.” She wondered if he’d stayed to give her a ticket for speeding,
and then decided she didn’t care.
The brothers began crowding around her, all
trying to talk at once.
“Miss Dane, this is Jack Talbot and his
brother, Duke. Hope is Jack’s wife, and it appears they’ve figured out who you
are. Jack, this is Mercy Dane. She needs juice and a sweet roll from the
vending machine.”
“I’ll get it,” he offered, and ran toward
the machines at the far end of the room, and then yelled back at his brother to
see if he had a debit card on him while the nurse seated Mercy and introduced
her to the chief.
“Mercy, this is Chief Pittman. He helped
pull Hope from the wreck.” Then she added, “Ideally, you need to sit at least
thirty minutes after you’ve finished eating. An hour would be even better.”
Mercy nodded. “Yes, I will, and thank you.”
“Oh no, we’re the ones thanking you. God bless
you, Mercy Dane. Have a safe trip home,” she said.
Lon was in shock. Seven years ago he’d spent
a week looking for this woman. She was in his arms when he fell asleep, and
when he woke she was gone. He’d never forgotten her or that night, and now,
fate had brought her back into his world.
“So, Lucky, long time, no see,” he said
softly.
She nodded.
“You are one hell of a rider,” he said.
Her eyes narrowed. “So, Chief, is that your
way of saying I was speeding?”
She watched his eyes crinkling up at the corners
as he smiled.
“Pretty much, but given the circumstances,
I’m gonna let that slide. I stayed because I wanted to meet the donor who
willingly interrupted her Christmas Day to save a stranger’s life. I didn’t
know I was going to meet an old friend.”
“We’re not friends,” Mercy said, and then
blinked as she realized that was what she said before, and added, “I don’t have
family. Just a job. I was happy to do it.”
He heard a challenge in her claim…as if
daring him to remark about her solitary life. But he wasn’t going to give her a
moment of sympathy. “Yeah, same here. Cops and family aren’t necessarily
synonymous. Most days I feel like my life is the job. At any rate, you are not
what you seem, and I am impressed.”
All of a sudden, a quick wave of weakness washed
over her. She bent over and put her head between her knees, trying not to pass
out.
Lon caught her just as she was about to
slide out of the chair as Jack returned with a bottle of orange juice, a packet
of mini-doughnuts, and an iced honey bun. It was pure sugar overload, but Mercy
knew it was what her body needed to offset the shock of blood loss.
“Here you go, Miss Dane. If you want more to
drink, just let me know,” Jack said, and then pulled out a chair and sat down
near her.
Duke was drawn to the woman by her beauty,
and unhappy that it appeared the chief and the woman were already acquainted
with each other. He followed his younger brother’s lead and sat nearby.
Mercy took a drink of the juice and then
tore back the cellophane from the honey bun and took a bite as the chief’s
radio squawked. Someone was trying to locate him.
“As you heard, my presence is requested
elsewhere,” Lon said, as he stood. “It was a pleasure to meet you again. Take
care, Miss Dane, and have a safe ride home.”
“Thank you,” Mercy said.
She didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t
help it. The years had turned him into quite a man. One thing was the same
though. His butt still looked good from behind.
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