The nurse huffed. Her name tag said BETHIE WEST, RN. “Harrison Norton flew around the corner and ran over you like he was late to his own funeral. When he was in his teens, he was wilder than any preacher’s kid should be. Then he rode the rodeo circuit for several years like the devil dared him, and now he’s back in town running over our librarian. Clifton College should sue him for being born to be nothing but trouble.”

Amelia tried to make the pieces fit together. She’d only been in Clifton Bend for a year and had no idea who Harrison Norton was.

The nurse barked a laugh. “I’ve a good mind to call the pastor and tell him what his offspring did,” she added as she began checking Amelia’s IV. “But if the preacher couldn’t control him at eighteen, he’ll have no influence now. It’s been twenty years since high school. I swear if being a bad boy was a sport, Harrison would have made the Olympics.”

Amelia felt an impulse to smile, then moaned as her mind finally began to clear. Her bottom lip was busted. The doctor had left that out in his assessment of damages. “I don’t know the man.” Amelia tried not to move her lips. “But I doubt Harrison Norton cares what his daddy does or says.”

Nurse West nodded. “Pastor Norton is as near to being a saint as any mortal can be, and his only son seems to be determined to fly into hell at full throttle. I hear Harrison visits a couple times a year and there is always talk. Some think he turned into one of them Hells Angels; others figure he’s doing drugs. He’s got a ponytail and that right there tells you something about the man.”

The wreck came back to Amelia in flash cards. The noise. The pain. The man flying over her, then lying mangled and still.

She had to ask, “Is he all right?”

The nurse shrugged. “I guess. He’s hobbling around out in the lobby cussing like a drunk sailor. One of the nurse’s aides grabbed him and wrapped his hand. She said she was tired of mopping up blood.”

Amelia smiled, then groaned again. “You see a great many drunk sailors, do you, Bethie?”

Before the nurse could answer, Amelia gave in to sleep.

* * *

When she finally came back to consciousness, she opened her eyes and noticed someone had turned down the lights a bit, and the room was empty except for a few machines. The rain tapped lightly against her window, almost playing a melody. Pain seemed to be running in her blood, but the feeling wasn’t new. No matter how many years passed, she’d never forget the pain of her childhood.