Chapter 36
Aiden’s POV
I was in my own little world thinking about everything that had happened and that I wanted to happen while I was massaging Ana’s feet and legs getting lost in the smooth feel of her skin on mine when I was shaken out of my thoughts by the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. I looked towards the sound to see that Ana had her eyes closed and her head rested on the back of her chair and the beautiful sound was coming from her voice. Ana said she thought she sounded good but I never imagined this, she was not giving herself enough credit as usual she could have had a record deal with no trouble at all. I looked to the door to her room to see that I was not the only one captivated by her beautiful voice there were nurses gathered by the door listening in as well. When she finished she looked up at me and said “I told you I was going to knock that smirk off your face.” I knew that I was shocked but I didn’t realize that my eyes had glassed over and that I was sitting there with my mouth hanging open in awe but I did notice the cute little smirk that graced her lips when she proved me wrong. I still hadn’t shaken myself out of my shock when she spoke again breaking my heart with her words, “Dang was it that bad that you don’t know what to say that won’t hurt my feelings?” Finally coming back from whatever far away land my mind had escaped to I replied honestly, “Ana that was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard, I could listen to you sing every day for the rest of my life and still not get bored with hearing it.” I barely heard the whispered thank you from because I was too caught up looking at her blushing cheeks to notice anything else.
“Did you know that you attracted an audience with your amazing voice?” She looked up at me with a chocked and scared expression on your face, “what?” “At one point I looked back to see the door full with nurses and staff just listening to your sing.” “Oh good Lord I’m going to get kicked out of here for sure now for causing a scene.” Laughing I told her no one would kick her out that they were just trying to find were that wonderful music was coming from and obviously didn’t want to interrupt so they left without a word, I told her she’d probably here about it later from someone. We lapsed back into our silence for a little while longer both of us obviously lost in our own thoughts. “Ana why didn’t you ever pursue a singing career?” She looked to be trying to figure out how to answer that question so I left her to it and just waited patiently for her response. “When I was little I used to sing all the time in the school choir, in the church choir, in the shower, at home for my parents, everywhere, I loved to sing, I even had some solo performances for school and church functions but when my daddy died some of that light I had blew out and I just couldn’t find it in me to sing at all for a long time. Over the years I have been able to sing when I’m alone but not much around anyone else. I always loved to watch my daddy’s eyes light up when I would sing for him and my mother would get just giddy wanting me to sing for all her friends. My daddy used to love to hear me sing “Bridge over Troubled Waters”, he would want me to sing it every Sunday after church, and he told me he got more spirit from my one song sometimes than from an entire sermon. ““Ana I’m sorry if I pushed you into something you didn’t want to do, I certainly never meant to upset you.” She must not have realized that she had tears running down her face because when I said that she gave me a confused look and I reached up and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I didn’t realize I was crying, I hardly ever cry especially in front of anyone, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to do that.” “Ana please don’t apologize for having emotions, I’m glad you shared that with me.” I moved closer to her and pulled her into my arms and just held her there. Ana and I had been talking about anything and everything not even paying attention to time passing when the door to her room opened and the therapy nurse came in. Groaning Ana looked at me “well I guess it’s time for torture number two for the day.” Laughing at her I helped her from her chair and into the wheelchair she was required to ride in and bent down kissed her on the cheek and told I would be back later. Before exciting the room I asked her if she needed anything, “I don’t think they will let me have my crown and diet coke in here but be sure to have one ready when I leave.” She replied with a laugh and I promised her I would do just that and I left to go back to the job site for a few more hours. Remembering that strange number on my phone and the conversation with my father I made my way to the police station instead of the job site first to see what was going on now. All the way to the police station I was trying to think of anything that they could have found that could tie the two incidents together and I was coming up with a blank. I made my way to the police station and went inside, I didn’t know who I was supposed to ask for so I just told the lady at the front my name and that my father had told me someone was looking for me, she excused herself and the officer that I had given my statement to came out from one of the offices. He ushered me to an interrogation room, which instantly had me worried, he sent me a nod indicating me to sit in the chair on one side of a table and he took the chair on the other side. “Mr. O’Dorherty I’m sorry to bring you into this room I know it is a bit intimidating but I wanted to have some privacy to talk to you about what we have discovered.” “I agree with you there it is honestly freaking me out in here, and please call me Aiden the president is Mr. O’Dorherty.” “Ok Aiden let’s get down to business, when you came in and talked to us about your house fire you told us about a lady that you were acquainted with but really didn’t think much about her, well I think you should have.” I gave him a puzzled look wondering what in the world he was talking about, I remembered telling him about some chic that was overly obsessed and I wasn’t really interested but she kept insisting, but that is the only woman I mentioned that I remembered. “Well that woman that was so persistent about a relationship with you is our prime suspect as of right now. We have eye witnesses from your apartment building that said they saw a blonde woman leaving your apartment the night in question and when we searched the remains of the apartment and the surrounding area we found evidence that she was there. We have also been investigating the accident that Miss. McGill was involved in and we have spoken with her driver but have yet to speak with her, the driver stated that a blonde woman darted into the street right when they were coming around a curve and he didn’t have time to stop, the only thing he could do was swerve to keep from hitting her. We have searched the area and have again found some evident that someone was indeed there. We wanted to bring you in and talk to you to see if you remembered anything about this woman that may help us find her.”
Officer Shanahan as I had been told was him name excused himself from the room asking me to think about it and then he would be back shortly. I was trying my hardest to remember that crazy girls name but I was having a hard time focusing on her name I was only focusing on the fact that Ana’s accident may have been because of me. I was trying with everything I had to focus on trying to figure this out but I knew that I would never remember, I decided that I would call one of my buddies that was with me the night I met her and see if he remembered her name or anything about her since I was coming up blank. I had been sitting there for what seemed like forever when the officer finally came back in and asked me if I come up with anything, I told him I would ask some friends of mine and that I would get back with him if I figured anything out. Thankfully he let me go and I slowly made my way to the job site to check on things and to ask Jeremy if he could remember anything about this freaking girl. Pulling into the job site I saw that a lot of progress had been made with the cleaning since I had been here last, I quickly searched out Jeremy and first asked him about everything going on here before I started questioning him about this mystery girl. The interior part of the house was finished as far as my guys were concerned and Liam had taken over from there and was getting things done that Ana had already planned out. Jeremy said that the only thing he remembered about the girl was that she was a few years younger than me and that her name was Katelyn, he described her physically the same as I had and he really didn’t know anything more than that. Once he said her name I instantly remembered her and some of our one date we had, I figured I could at least call and tell the police that little bit maybe it would help.
I decided I would perform one last walk through once me and Jeremy finished our conversation and I was pleased to find that everything was in order and my crew had cleaned all the work areas in the house and outside as well. The lady that was doing the murals had already completed one room and was locked up in another room working on it. I was completely blown away with the one she had already completed, the Paris room as I was going to call it. I know that Ana and my dad had talked about all types of things for the rooms but I was never really into the decorating part of it all so I had no idea what this room was going to be I just knew it was going to be wonderful. The driftwood cabinets had all been installed and the copper countertops were going in at that very instance, most of the plumbing was done just waiting on some finishing touches first and you could see where they had started putting down the base for the penny flooring. The kitchen was coming together wonderfully and I knew that my brother and his future wife would love it. I made my way out the back door from the kitchen to see how the back side of the house was coming along. Clause and his men were working in the backyard on the patio, outdoor kitchen, and fire pit. There was also someone out here working on the hole for the pool I think but it was an odd shape and I wasn’t sure what it was going to be, Ana had decided that she wanted the pool shape to be a surprise. With everything that I had seen so far being here today I knew that Ana would be pleased but she would also be disappointed that she had not been able to be here for a lot of the down and dirty work. I decided that I would take pictures of everything that was in process so that I could show them to her when I got back so that she could see everything, so I made my way back through the entire house taking pictures everywhere I went. I finished taking pictures everywhere which seemed to take longer than I thought and I made my way to my truck, there was a note on the windshield from Liam telling me he was going to see Ana for a bit for me to go eat and shower before I came back over and to take my time. I smiled at the note knowing that Ana would be enjoying the company of her friend I would take my time but would bring her something nice when I did return.
Instead of going to my parents’ house to eat and shower I decided to go to the hotel and take a shower before going and getting something to eat. It didn’t take me long to get to my hotel room and start getting a shower and ready to go again, being this close to Ana it was like I was being pulled by some invisible string to the hospital and it was taking all the strength I had not to just go on over there dirty and hungry and invade her and Liam’s time but I refrained. I quickly showered, shaved and got dressed in a nicer pair of blue jeans, my boots and a tight black long sleeved shirt; I pushed up my sleeves, put on my belt and cologne and headed back out to the truck. I decided to go to a diner nearby the I have frequented in the past because I knew they had the best strawberry desert around that I could get to take back to Ana. I was seated and given a menu and decided that I wanted a big thick juicy steak with a side of vegetables and roasted potatoes. Once I ordered I was brought some fresh bread to snack on while I was waiting and I had asked to leave the menu so I could see if there was anything I thought Ana would like. She didn’t seem like the picky type but you never know about women. I decided to order her a blackened snapper with the same vegetables and roasted potatoes as me and the strawberry desert which was big enough for us to share. When the waitress brought me my food I went ahead and placed the order for Ana’s to go and then enjoyed my meal. By the time I was finished my take out order was complete and I grabbed my ticket and made my way to the register. I walked to a different part of the restaurant than I had been in and waited in line to pay and when the line moved and the person behind the register materialize I about lost my diner. There behind the register stood the mystery girl.