CEO & the human improbability 1/2

Nothing was ever as strange as the time she woke up with a husband she didn’t remember

The CEO and the Human Improbability engine 1 of 2 (formerly 1 of 3 and 2 of 3, I just realized the first couple could fit in one file.)

Mary has died at least twice, been struck by lightning a couple times and had innumerable odd experiences, but none as strange as the time she woke up with a husband she didn’t remember.

Inspired by vertical dramas and the many comments asking “why don’t they just…”, "How many times can someone get kidnapped?" and “that’s not a realistic recovery time.”

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Chapter 1
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“Hannah?” “Hannah, can you hear me?”
Mary tried to turn away from the voices and go back to sleep.
She was so tired.
But there was something on her face.
And in her mouth.
And in her throat!
Mary’s eyes opened. She tried to lift her hands to get at the thing on her face, but her arms were too heavy.
Hands grabbed hers.
Why were they trying to hold her down? She could barely move!
Oh, they were patting her?
Weird.
Voices, some comforting, some aggressive, told her “it’s okay” and “calm down”.
Why did men always tell women to calm down? It was just guaranteed to piss them off.
She noticed an antiseptic smell, the rustling sound of a waterproof mattress and her fingers brushed bars at the side of the bed.
It felt like a hospital.
And the thing in her mouth felt like a breathing tube.
That realization did calm her down.
Mary went still, tried to slow her breathing, tried to think.
The faster she was still, the faster they would start talking to her like a person, and the faster they’d consider pulling out the breathing tube.
Had it really been a guy telling her to calm down?
She went through her memory.
A man’s voice. Yep, she wasn’t just jumping on stereotypes.
Mary opened her eyes again.
When had she closed them?
She looked around as much as she could and tried to blink the blur from her vision.
It looked like a hospital room. A really, really nice hospital room.
There didn’t seem to be any other beds and there was space for multiple upholstered chairs and a couch and giant pieces of neutral looking abstract art on the walls, along with a whole team of people crowding around her bed.
How on earth had she rated a private room?
The people around Mary had calmed down and were talking to her again.
She tried to pay attention.
They had called her Hannah, so that meant that none of her family had been contacted to let them know to use her middle name. She’d been born Hannah Mary Cook, but no one used her first name. Her father had named her after a rich distant relative so that she’d have an in if she ever needed to ask for something from them later, but he always said to save it for the worst possible emergency since they were all ogres and dragons guarding their money.
She must have been in bed for a long time for her arms to be so weak. Why hadn’t they called anyone? They knew her first name, the one she never used, so they must have her ID, and didn’t that mean they could look up her information? Unless someone she was with had told them her name, but then wouldn’t that someone give the hospital her real name and her family’s contact info, or contacted them themselves?
Everything faded into darkness, and the discomfort of the breathing tube and intravenous faded as she sunk back into sleep.

Mary heard quiet sounds and her eyes fluttered open.
She still had the breathing tube and the IV attached, but the crowd of people were gone.
There were the sounds of monitors and pages turning. Someone shuffled in a seat.
Turning her head and looking towards the noise, Mary saw a woman in scrubs covered in black and white cartoon cats, sitting reading a novel.
Deciding not to disturb her, Mary settled back and tried to remember who she had last been traveling with.
She was getting frustrated trying to push her thoughts through the molasses her brain had turned into, when she realized the woman was asking if she could hear her.
Mary met the woman's eyes and gave a little nod.
“Okay Hannah, you’ve been in a car accident and have been in a coma for twelve days. You had some bumps and bruises, but those have healed and we’ve just been waiting for you to wake up. You have a breathing tube, that’s what you feel in your mouth.” Mary gave a little nod. She knew that, but she always appreciated medical staff who didn’t assume she could read their minds. “I’m your nurse, Sylvia, and I’ll call the doctor to take a look at you and then we can see about getting the breathing tube out.” So that meant that if someone started touching her, it would probably be a doctor. Good to know. “While we’re taking care of that we’ll send word to your husband that you’ve woken up.”
Mary’s eyes went wide.
When the heck did she get a husband?!?

Mary fell asleep soon after the breathing tube had been taken out.
Her throat was too sore to talk, and she didn’t know the situation, so she’d stuck to listening and hadn’t made a writing gesture to ask for a note pad.
The doctor, Dr. Smythe had been talking about how she had arrived at St. John’s from St. Mathew’s a couple days ago (those had to be the most generic hospital names on the planet. They didn’t tell her anything) and assuring her that she had received the best of care (who had she been hanging out with with enough money or pull that he felt the need to say that?!) and Mary faded back into sleep.

Mary woke again and Nurse Sylvia, this time in mauve scrubs with a single blue cat peaking out of her chest pocket, called the doctor.
Private room, best of care, and a personal nurse? She wracked her brains and tried to think of who’d have arranged this. Temo? Nobody was scared. Vincent? Could but wouldn’t. Alice? No. Chad? Really, really no.
She realized that Dr. Smythe had been talking to her and whispered hoarsely “Sorry, wasn’t tracking, please repeat?” She swallowed, “Please…Mary. Middle name.”
Dr. Smythe cleared his throat “I’m sorry Mary, you’ve been in a car accident.” Mary nodded, that was what Sylvia had said “And have been in a coma due to your injuries for almost two weeks. Your previous doctor gave you sedatives in order to deal with seizures and we’ve been weaning you off of them so you could wake up. Your husband had to leave for a few days, but he’s been informed you’re awake and should return shortly.”
Mary gave a small nod, glad there’d soon be someone to ask what was going on.

A few days later Mary woke up, and saw a man sitting at her bedside concentrating on a laptop. He was tall, almost handsome, maybe a bit older than her, with dark brown hair in a stylish shaggy cut and a tan. He wore a loose, casual grey suit which looked very expensive.
She had never seen him before in her life.

Samuel Joseph Willson stepped into the hospital room of his missing wife.
She was sleeping. He probably shouldn’t try to wake her.
Samuel ‘accidentally’ sat down with a heavy “thwump” on the nearby arm chair. He sighed, loudly and let his feet land heavily with a stomp as he settled in. After watching for a minute to see if she stirred, he opened his laptop.
Samuel looked over the screen at Hannah Maria Willson né Jeseph. She looked underfed, which made sense since she’s been in a coma on an intravenous diet. Her curls were shorter and no longer professionally styled, medium brown rather than blond. No roots, so he assumed it was her natural colour. He liked it, it seemed…gentler. She also had a weird new tattoo crawling down her left arm depicting fernlike brownish pink vines, slightly darker than her skin, covered in a scattering of darker roses.
They had been married a year ago, mostly to bypass property transfer taxes for a huge business deal at her family's insistence, and had never lived together after the short ceremony.
He’d thought they had a comfortable enough arrangement, meeting every so often for obligatory social events and photo opps. It was a bit irksome not to be able to date, or travel, or go to parties solo, but it was only for a couple years until the divorce.
But then, Hannah disappeared a month ago.
Samuel hadn’t paid attention for the first couple weeks. He’d started to worry after the third missed appearance with no reply to his messages. And when he called her family they had confirmed that they hadn’t seen her either. Her father, James Michael Robert Jeseph, had tried to assure him that this wasn’t the first time she had gone off on her own. It had taken quite some time arguing before James had agreed to file a missing persons report.
And now she’d appeared, unconscious, in a hospital.

An hour later Samuel felt someone watching him and looked up to see Hannah examining him. He closed his computer and leaned back to return her gaze.
She continued watching him with curious brown eyes, like she was looking at someone she found interesting, or at least not the boring husband she was happy to avoid. He adjusted in his seat, waiting for her to speak.
They watched each other for several minutes before Hannah sighed and said softly in a raspy voice “Hoped you’d start. Throat hurts. Who’re you?”
Samuel’s mouth hung open, though just a little, before his brain caught up with what she’d asked “I’m Samuel, your husband?”
Hannah’s expression was shocked. “What!?!”

In Dr. Smythe’s office Samuel sat listening as the doctor questioned Hannah and called her Mary (Was that short for Maria? She’d never said she preferred her middle name, but he supposed her parents might not have reacted well if they heard him call her something other than the name they chose for her to use.) He occasionally answered questions and watched her shake her head in confusion regarding the details he gave about their year as husband and wife.
At one point she turned to him in frustration at his lack of knowledge about her, asking “Are you sure we know each other?” but after he showed her their wedding pictures and pictures of them together at business events, she settled down.
At one point Mary was wheeled away for a CT scan, since she claimed to have at least five metal parts and couldn’t go into an MRI. After the scan she said she was relieved when they didn’t find any extras.
Dr. Smythe examined the images before turning to them “Well, I can’t see anything wrong, but both trauma from a car accident and the effects of being in a coma could cause mental impairment, including amnesia. Hopefully it will be short term, but you should both be prepared for the possibility that Mary might never get all her memories back. She’s also showing issues with concentration, and speech, and headaches,”
Mary interrupted “Yes, those are new. With my previous head injury I just got impulse control issues, but no fogginess or memory loss.”
The Doctor paused, “Previous head injury?”
“Isn’t it in my file?” Mary asked.
“No, no it is not.” Dr. Smythe pulled the screen of his computer closer, clicking open files and typing searches before asking “What happened?”
Mary leaned against the arm of her wheelchair, trying to look around the monitor to see the screen, but she wasn’t able to bend far enough. “I was parachuting, ‘bout ten years ago, and my chute collapsed, so I landed hard enough to knock the breath out of my lungs and shock my heart. I was dead” Dr. Smythe knocked his mouse off the desk, and Mary continued on with a glint of mischief in her eyes after he apologized and finished pulling it back up by the cord “when they found me and it took about two minutes before they got everything restarted. When I was taken to the hospital they were focusing on survival, broken bones etc., that’s where the pins in my leg and my foot came from, and no one checked my head since the bleeding had already stopped. A few days later when someone got around to properly stowing my equipment, they found blood in the helmet and that’s when they went looking for head damage.”
“I…don’t see anything about that in your records.” Dr. Smythe looked at her over his glasses.
“Do you have records from Canada?” she asked.
“We have records from France, England, America, Egypt, Kenya, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Germany and Italy.”
“I’ve been through hospitals in at least a few other countries.” Mary scratched her head “But, I don’t remember getting medical attention when I was in Kenya. Was I conscious?” With her tendency for stumbling across natural and other disasters, getting knocked out was always a possibility, though she usually had near misses rather than injuries. Her friends might have assumed she’d remember being unconscious, and just not mentioned it.
Samuel raised his eyebrows and looked at her, wondering how often Hannah got passed out drunk for that to be such a casual question.
Dr. Smythe scrolled down “You got two stitches.”
Mary waved it away. “Oh, I’m hardly going to remember that.”
“Okay, well I’m going to prescribe complete rest. Limit visitors and lighten your mental load as much as possible in case you’ve had a concussion, especially since from what you’ve said this could be at least your second major head injury. Avoid the internet, reading and strenuous exercise for the next few months, and light exercise only for the next week, and by light exercise I mean walking as far as the bathroom.” Dr. Smythe gave Samuel a significant look. “Consider sex as moderate exercise, since some find it hard to judge.”
Samuel looked at the ceiling and thought about the two whole times he had kissed Hannah, once at the wedding, the second for the cameras at a ribbon cutting ceremony. “That won’t be a problem.”
“You should probably also avoid alcohol and all recreational drugs including strong coffee.” This time the doctor’s significant look was directed at Mary.
Mary waved the idea away. “Oh, I don’t do drink or drugs.” She paused and thought of the time she broke her arm on a mountain, and had to get carried down. The only thing they’d had with them to help with the pain had been a can of hard lemonade Ned had snuck into his pack.“Well, I’ve had alcohol for medicinal purposes, but not very often.”
Dr. Smythe looked at her and then looked at his computer and scrolled for a minute before looking at her again “Just avoid everything you don’t have a prescription for, even for medicinal purposes, until you get a doctor’s okay.”
He turned back to Samuel “Can you provide a restful environment for your wife? And keep her entirely away from her phone and any other devices for at least a week. After that she can access them for an hour a day at most. She should avoid news or anything she has to think about, just let her have an hour or so of light entertainment, mellow TV shows or easy games, a day, until she’s been cleared for more. She’ll also need regular appointments to check her progress. I can refer you to someone familiar with concussion syndrome.”
Samuel nodded “Thank you, please do. We can stay at my house. It’s off the beaten track, and I only need to go into the city a few hours a week right now, so I’ll be able to stay with her. I’ll check for her phone once we get her belongings, and if it didn’t make it through the accident we could just wait a week to replace it.”
Dr. Smythe nodded “Sounds good, as long as that’s all okay with you Mary? If yes, she can be discharged tomorrow morning." He paused and looked at the screen again “There is a note on your transfer records to let you know that most of your belongings were lost in the accident. Your original clothes were destroyed in the course of treatment when you were found. Most of what was in the car was burned, but we have your driver’s licence in the safe at the nurse’s station. I’ll call them and have someone to bring it over. No mention of a phone.”
Mary nodded. “Sounds okay, except I’d like to get a new phone first.” Mary looked up at Samuel “I won’t use it, but right now you’re a stranger taking me to a strange land. I’d just feel better having it.”
Samuel nodded “Fair enough. I’ll bring a replacement with me tomorrow. Sounds like you’ll need some clothes too. Any preferences?”
A few minutes later a partially burned drivers licence was delivered and handed to Mary, who examined it closely. She was quite amazed they had been able to read her name, much less anything else, it was so melted. Samuel stood up, handing the doctor a business card. “Please contact my assistant to arrange the appointments.” He moved behind Mary’s wheelchair and rested his hands on the handles. “Anything else?”
At Dr. Smythe’s no, he wheeled Mary out and back to her room.

As Nurse Sylvia settled her back into bed, Mary asked Samuel “I’ve been going along with everything, but I’m wondering why my family hadn’t visited? Do they know where I am?”
Samuel thought of the cool response of Hannah’s father when he’d called to let him know his daughter was found and unconscious in a hospital. Her father had expressed neither concern, nor any intention to fly out just to watch his daughter sleep.
Samuel told her “I’ve let them know you’re found and are at the hospital, but I was waiting until I had a chance to talk to you and the doctor before letting them know you’re awake or anything else.”
Mary sat back and thought. It might be good for them to hold off on visiting. Her parents and Nan couldn’t afford to fly across the ocean more than once or twice a year, and they couldn’t stay for long either. She’d always preferred to under report the more dangerous incidents of her life after everything got tidied up. And their tendency to love bomb was usually a comfort, but the idea of dealing with it when she was so foggy and headachy was exhausting. “Could you let them know that I’m okay, but really tired, and they should wait to visit?” She looked up at him, tilting her head attempting to look cute, and then regretted it as she felt the room sliding to the left.
Samuel seemed to freeze for a moment as he looked at her, and then slowly nodded “Okay, I’ll let them know.”
“By the way,” Mary looked up at him again once her balance came back. “What’s going on with our marriage?”
Samuel sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed. “We are in a two year contract marriage in order to facilitate contracts and property transfers. Basically, we meet for social events and swore off dating other people and anything that could cause a scandal, but aren’t really involved with each other. It’s only for another year, so I hope you’ll be able to keep to the agreement.”
“Okaaay,” Trying to think how on Earth she could have been tangled up in property transfers and contracts made her head hurt and the bed start to spin, so Mary nodded. “I’ll read the contract once I’m cleared for thinking again, but as long as you’re providing what’s effectively a private sanatorium I can certainly give up dating, it’s not like I was seeing anyone last I remember. It’ll be a while before I’m ready to show up as your plus one for events though.”
“That’ll do for now.” Samuel smiled, which shifted his face from almost handsome to fully attractive, and held out his hand.
Mary grasped it as firmly as she could and shook, returning a smile of her own.

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Chapter 2
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A couple weeks later, Mary, dressed in one of Samuel's black silk pajama and robe sets, sat in an upholstered rocking lounge chair thing, half hidden by climbing vines and the pergola shading the rose garden.
The garden was off to the side of the front porch and had become her favourite spot to stare into space. Several hives nearby meant there were always lots of bees to watch as she tried her best to think of nothing.
Samuel had started letting her access the internet last week, but the man was diabolical about following doctor’s orders and had put her wifi access on safe search and a timer. He had even locked up the library (the man had a Library, and judging by the double doors it had to be huge), the liquor cabinet (no loss there) and the remote for the home theater so he could supervise her “light entertainment”, not buying her argument that action adventure flicks counted if they were mindless.
The fact that supervision had gradually morphed into snuggling against each other and taking turns resting their feet on each other’s laps while they chatted about the shows, the bees and the weather, wasn’t a bad thing, not a bad thing at all.
Rubbing her nose, which still felt either numb or tingly from the accident, Mary considered whether she should rebel if he suggested starting the next season of Great British Bake Off. There was only so much angst over releasing cakes from a pan she could take when it was almost her only source of mental stimulation.
Having had more than enough experience with long term effects from head injuries, Mary appreciated Samuel’s restraint intellectually, but if she hadn’t started crafting an imaginary soap opera storyline for the bees, she would have gone nuts.
Mary watched disinterestedly as Billy, Samuel’s nephew who was staying with them in his family’s attempt to separate him from a “wrong crowd” in the city, wheeled his motorcycle out of the garage and shook his keys out to find the one that would unlock the seat so he could grab his helmet.
But then, Billy looked around to see if he was being watched and let the hand holding the key chain drop without opening the compartment.
Suspicious, Mary gently turned to place her feet on the ground beside the lounge chair and leaned forward.
Billy, helmetless, swung a leg over the motorcycle and sat on it, shaking out the key to the starter.
Mary sprung up, ran in front of the cycle before he could start the engine, and slammed her hands down on the handle bars, rocking the bike and making Billy jump up.
“What In The Sam Hill do you Think you are Doing!” Mary yelled. Billy stepped back raising his hands defensively, waddling bowlegged back off his bike and leaving her to balance it. Mary walked around, kicked the kickstand out and carefully leaned the bike on it, before rounding on him again.
“Do Not Ever ride without a helmet. You might not be using your head for anything but decoration, but if it gets crushed when you die there’s no coming back! As long as your brains don’t fall out because you’re wearing your bloody helmet, doctors might have a chance to bring you back!” Poking his chest for emphasis, Mary backed Billy up the stairs to the porch until he was leaning against the wall of the house.
Billy was stunned for a moment, but then he rallied. “Why the hell are you freaking out! I was just going for a ride! And who the hell thinks about people’s brains falling out of their heads?”
“Ah…she does.” Samuel’s voice startled them both.
Hearing the shouting, Samuel had come to see what was going on, and possibly mediate between his wife and nephew. They had only met a couple days ago, and Billy had been pointedly ignoring her ever since.
Samuel stepped forward out of the door and placed his arm around Mary in comfort and restraint and looked at her. “You’re talking about the parachute incident, aren’t you dear?” She crossed her arms and nodded, still glaring at Billy. Samuel turned back to speak confidingly to Billy “She jumped out of a plane and died of a heart attack from a hard landing.”
Billy interjected “You died?!”
Mary shrugged, “Not like it’s the first time.”
Blinking, Samuel forced himself to ignore that and stay on the topic of the helmet. “and she hit her head hard enough to cause permanent issues even with a helmet, so she has very strong feelings about going without.” He stroked her arm, trying to sooth her, and taking advantage of the chance to touch her. “So why don’t you just wear your helmet? I’d rather not return you to my brother in pieces, nor do I want to deal with law enforcement if you get caught.”
Billy’s mouth worked as he tried to come up with a response to that. After a moment he said a grudging “Fine.” Walking back to his bike, he opened the seat to take out his helmet and put it on with exaggerated movements. He bowed mockingly at them, then climbed onto the bike and rode off.
Mary turned in Samuel’s arms, hugging him “Thank you for backing me up.”
“You were right. And thank you for stopping him. I really do want to return him to Thomas in one piece. The sooner the better.”
He hugged her tightly and she leaned in, enjoying his warmth before asking him. “By the way, what kind of ‘wrong crowd’ was he getting involved in? Just so I can discourage any of my friends that fit that classification from showing up if they track me down and want to visit.”
“I don’t know the specifics, so I was assuming petty crime or bullying. I hope I would have been warned if there were hardened criminals to contend with.” He smiled over her shoulder. She hadn’t moved away from him, she’d even snuggled in a bit. Samuel held her even closer, resting his chin on her hair. She smelled of the roses she’d spent the afternoon with.
“Hm, well, that’s very general.” She leaned back to look at him “Oh, I was thinking of calling my parents soon. I haven't heard from them. I mean, I emailed my Mom to say I was fine and hanging out at your country house, but she only replied that she was glad I was doing well and didn’t even ask about my injuries. What did you say to keep them from descending upon us?”
Samuel looked puzzled. “Just that you weren’t showing any negative effects from your accident, but the doctor had prescribed a lot of rest and said you couldn’t be stimulated just in case.”
Mary thought of the intensity with which her Mom and Nan could react to injuries and nodded leaning back against his chest “Dad’s probably restraining them.”
Samuel thought of her father’s coldness and made a noncommittal sound. Attempting to distract her from her family’s indifference, he asked “By the way, when was the first time you died?”
Mary leaned back again and rolled her eyes at him “Nosy. I fell into a river while ice fishing when I was sixteen and got hypothermia. My breathing stopped for long enough I was declared dead, but I was cold enough that my brain didn’t need as much oxygen, and not so cold that it caused damage, so I didn’t have any after effects, at least not that anyone noticed.”
Samuel squinted his eyes at her “Ice fishing?” He shook his head. “Can’t picture it.”
“Well, I don’t anymore.” She shrugged. “I also don’t iceskate, or ski-doo or do anything else on frozen lakes either, just like I no longer jump out of planes or do anything that requires a parachute or wings. I try to avoid activities that have killed me. It tends to freak out my Nan.”
Samuel pulled her in tight, thinking about all the ways this woman could have just not been around before he had the chance to get to know her as anything more than her father’s pawn. He held her tight until she started slapping his arm complaining about not being able to breathe.

A week earlier
Elzibeth Cook looked up from her phone and called out to her husband “Tom, Mary emailed.”
Tom Cook, formerly Thomas Michael Ethan Jeseph, kept his eyes on the stirfry “Hm?”
“Yes, she says she’s recovering well and resting at Samuel’s country house…how was she doing the last time we heard from her?”
“Ah, I think that was a couple months ago, and she was leading a tour through some mountains in France for some movie star who was complaining that the studio who had him insured wouldn't let him do anything exciting.” Tom turned the heat off under the stir fry and checked to see if the rice was done.
Elzibeth pondered the sparse text of the email “I guess recovering well is good, even if she forgot to tell us about what she’s recovering from.” She checked to see if there were any other emails she had missed “She usually initiates contact when she’s about to visit or something too big to hide happens. Do you think the big thing is whatever she’s recovering from or this Samuel with a country house?”
Tom plated the meals and grabbed cutlery before carrying the food over to where his wife was sitting. “Well, if she was badly injured, she would have called us from the hospital. Do we know any Samuels?”
“I think I know of a couple Sams. You?” Elzibeth picked up her fork and turned her plate to get a better angle on the carrots.
“I can only think of the Sam with the tank. It’s possible she lives in the countryside to get away with that, but Mary usually mentions the tank when talking about her. Are you thinking of anyone else?” Tom started in on his food as well.
“The Sam who plays in a band.”
“Plays in a band? Hm, sounds too broke to have a country house.” Tom leaned forward and gave his wife a teasing smile. “Should we ask about this Samuel, or do you think that would scare her off?”
Elzibeth paused with a carrot held halfway to her mouth “Do you think she’d think we’re prying if we ask? She brought him up. Except for David, she hasn’t talked about any romances until after things ended.”
Tom pondered for a minute, then nodded. “Keeping quiet and waiting for the other party to feel awkward enough to blurt out information is a time honoured interrogation technique. Give it a couple weeks before you ask for details and let’s see if she mentions him again.”

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Chapter 3
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A month later Mary got cleared for more activity and longer access to the internet, with orders to still avoid news and anything she felt passionate about. To celebrate Samuel took her into the city to get some new clothes.
As nice as Samuel’s shirts and PJs were, she needed clothes of her own and was feeling a bit desperate for a bra she could try on before buying.
Samuel pulled her through high end store after high end store where assistants rolled out racks of clothes in her size that the staff had prepared ahead of their visit. He interrupted when she asked the prices after she couldn’t find any price tags, saying that her specialist hadn’t cleared her for math yet and it was his treat anyway.
Seeing him repeatedly scan his credit card, Mary closed her eyes, silently chanting “I’ll need them for photo ops.” like a mantra.

After shopping, they dropped the packages off at the car, completely filling the trunk and back seat, and went to lunch.
At the table, beside her cutlery, was a flat, square gift box covered in lavender silk and tied with a white satin bow. Inside she found a silver keychain with five keys and a locket that opened to show a tiny copy of their wedding portrait. The keychain was sitting on top of a thick piece of card with a six digit number written in purple ink. She lifted the keys up and Samuel smiled.
“I was thinking of giving you a key to the library to celebrate having some of your media restrictions lifted. Just as a symbol. We won't be keeping the doors closed anymore.” Samuel looked down at his spoons as he spoke, lining the bottoms up parallel to the table's edge, rather than ascending in a diagonal, the way they had been set. “But then I thought, you’re not a guest. The house is your home.” He lined the spoons back into a diagonal. “You should have your own keys.” He swallowed and then looked up as he continued. “You know the door code,” He tapped the card. “but this is the admin code, and” He reached over and pointed at each of the keys. “These are for the main house, guest house, library, and the security room. Inside that room is where the key box is for everything else, which is the little key.” he closed her fingers around the key chain and met her eyes “From now on, you can never be locked out of anything in our home.”
Mary sat there looking at Samuel with her eyes damp, then got up, walked to his side of the table, and leaned down to hug him.
After a few minutes, the waiter came up to their table with a short stack of tablets in his arms.
Mary returned to her seat drying her eyes, and he handed a tablet to each of them. “So how are you doing this afternoon?” he asked, trying to catch a glimpse inside the gift box.
Mary looked at him with a grin and opened her hand to dangle the key chain off her finger. “He just gave me the house keys.”
The waiter grinned back, “Congratulations!” He pointed at a key that was longer than the others, bronze, darkened with age and decorated with swirls of filigree. “That one looks antique?”
She nodded, leaning forward with a huge grin “That’s the key to his library.”
The waiter nodded, impressed. “Man has a library. Always a good sign.” He gestured to the tablet in her hands “Would you like me to get you started with a drink?”
“Just a second.” Mary smiled before looking at her menu. A menu which didn’t have any prices.
She raised her eyes to glare at Samuel, tapping her fingers against the table. He looked at her over his own menu, holding it propped up so that she couldn’t see the screen. His eyes crinkled at her ire.
The waiter cleared his throat and stood there awkwardly. “We were informed that you had been told to avoid calculations by your doctor. We don’t usually hide the prices.” Mary turned to him, lifting her brow “Especially not from women.”
Mary sent one last glare to Samuel, then sighing, bent her head to try and find an entree that didn’t sound like it cost more than her yearly income.

Arriving at Samuel’s office tired and full, Mary plopped herself down on the first sofa she saw in the lobby. It was upholstered in soft dark green velvet and faced a fountain surrounded by a small forest of potted plants.
Samuel stood over her with his hands on his hips. “Aren’t you going to come up and keep me company while I pick up my papers?”
“Does your office have fish?” Mary waved at the koi pond at the base of the fountain.
“No.”
She wiggled deeper into the plush cushions and closed her eyes in contentment “Or comfy sofas?”
He thought for a moment “It has many couches. All very comfortable to work on, since they are quite firm and don’t swallow you up.” Mary opened one eye to look at him and he smirked "It also has me.” Samuel looked at her hopefully.
Mary sunk deeper still into the cushions and looked up at him pitifully. “But I see you every day. Every hour even. And you said you’d be five minutes, so you’ll probably only be an hour or two.”
Bracing his hands on the back of the sofa behind her head he leaned over until his forehead almost touched hers “And we might run into people I’d like you to meet.”
She closed her eyes and sighed before nodding and started to get up. Seeing how tired she looked Samuel put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. “It’s okay, stay here if you’re settled. If I run into anyone you should know, I’ll bring them down.”
Smiling at him, Mary immediately sunk back, slipped off her shoes and curled her legs up, taking over the entire sofa.
Samuel smiled at her, stepping back “I’ll let the receptionist know you’re with me. If you change your mind, they can unlock my elevator for you.”
Mary nodded and waved him off, already pulling out her phone and headphones for some lazy, unsupervised browsing.
“Don’t watch anything exciting!” Samuel reminded her over his shoulder as he walked away.
Mary gave him a thumbs up and watched him get into an elevator set apart from the rest of the elevator bank. Once he was out of sight, a wicked smile crossed her face and she pulled up a horror flick she’d been looking forward to since before her accident and settled in to enjoy some forbidden viewing.

Mary woke up feeling a prick on her forearm, then someone lifting her by the shoulders.
She opened her eyes as she was pulled up, expecting to see Samuel.
Instead she faced a strange, well groomed blond man holding her arms to her sides, and two other men standing between her and the receptionist’s desk, blocking her from view.
Mary looked down and almost fell over as dizziness and confusion took her.
She felt her phone being taken out of her hand and the headphones pulled out of her ears as she was dragged up to stand and the phone was tossed onto the seat of the sofa.
Staggering in the arms of the blond man, she was led out of the lobby.

Mary woke up in a dark room with a spotlight beaming down on her so that she could only see for a couple feet. She was sitting in a wooden arm chair with her wrists tied to the arms and a bucket placed on her lap with her left hand threaded through the handle. She felt rope tight around her ankles and waist.
She blinked, and the man who had pulled her out of Samuel's lobby came over into the light and rapped his knuckles against the bucket.
“If you feel sick, throw up in there.”
Mary nodded, swallowed a few times then asked “Why am I here?”
“You are a rich lady from a rich family, who married a rich man, so you’re here for ransom."
Mary thought about it, started to nod before vertigo and nausea caused her to throw up a bit into the bucket. She spat a few times, trying to clear her mouth. “Um, Samuel has money, but I don’t.” She pursed her lips “So, how is this going to work?”
The man waved a phone at her. “You will call Mr. Willson and ask for Five million in exchange for your safe return. Then once he gives us the money, you go home.”
Mary bit her lip “Did you bring my phone?”
The man smirked, “‘Course not.” He lightly kicked the leg of her chair. “So, don’t expect someone to track you down and rescue you. The better you cooperate, the sooner you’ll be safe and sound.”
Mary sighed and nodded, this time without nausea “Yes, I know. Not my first kidnapping. Um, one problem, I got brain damage from a car accident last month and woke up with no memory of my husband, or his number, and I haven’t memorized any new information on doctor’s orders because… brain damage.” She shrugged and looked up at him, blinking a couple times “I don’t suppose you know Samuel’s number?”
The man stared at her. His mouth opened and closed a few times as he seemed to be searching for something to say.
Mary spoke again, before he could gather his thoughts. “I do know someone I can call.” She lifted the bucket up an inch with her knees. “If you could take this please and hand me the phone?”
He took the bucket from her and put it on the floor at her feet. “I’ll be holding the phone.”
Mary nodded at him earnestly “Of course.” She quickly told him a number with a foreign area code.
The phone rang once.
“Hello.” A man's voice, rough and heavily accented, answered before the kidnapper could listen to his second thoughts and hang up.
Mary spoke as fast as she could. “Temo! I’ve been kidnapped, and I was in a car accident and lost a year’s memories, during which I got a husband who the kidnappers are hoping to get money from, but it’s a contract marriage, so I don’t know how much he’ll pay and I don’t remember his number anyway, so I was hoping you could negotiate a ransom amount you’d be willing to loan me and take care of getting me out. Pleaseandthankyou.”
There was a second of silence and then the man on the phone replied “Again?”
She blinked, forcing herself to slow her speech back to a normal speed “Well, just the kidnapping. I’m pretty sure the marriage is my first. Oh, and, I guess it’s again for brain damage. Different flavour this time.”
The kidnapper glared at Mary “Who the hell is this?!”
Mary looked at him, “Uh, Temo Vladimirovich Alievi…he’s the person I know who’s most likely to help me with a ransom. He knows I’ll do my best to pay him back, and I know his number.”
The kidnapper glared at her “And why the fuck would your not husband pay off a kidnapper? And why should we deal with him instead of your family?”
“I kinda saved his life by knocking him down before he could get hit. And he has cash on hand and my family doesn’t.”
Temo’s voice came over the phone “By lightning, she knocked me down and saved me from getting struck by lightning.” He uttered a sigh "I am indeed willing to loan her a reasonable amount. We will negotiate what that might be … off speaker.”
Mary stuck her tongue out at the phone, then closed her eyes and leaned back intending to pretend to sleep.

Mary woke up to the kidnapper kicking her chair. “He wants to talk to you.” He held up the phone.
She straightened up “Hello?”
Temo’s voice sounded over the speaker “I’ll be there in nine hours at the earliest, but possibly twenty, if I miss the connections. The ransome is 250,000 for your life and the same again for health and safety, and I will owe him a small favour, which means you will owe me a big favour. You will sign an NDA when I pick you up. They have agreed to leave you untied in a room with a toilet, food and water. Sit tight and don’t do anything stupid.”
Nodding, Mary yawned and stretched against the ropes tying her to the chair before realizing he couldn’t see her “Yes, I’ll stay quiet and won’t try anything. Thank you.” She yawned again “Do you have an NDA that’ll work or do you need my password?”
“I’ll get you to log in when I get there.” He replied.
“MmKay. Thankyouverymuch.”
“You know you can count on me.” He said in a serious tone. Then after a pause asked “Now you need to tell me about this forgettable husband you’ve obtained?”
“Oh, um, Samuel Joseph Willson. He’s the CEO of Willson and Black investments. Could you find out his phone number please and let him know I’m okay?”
“I’ll track it down. Get some rest.”

Samuel was pacing the driveway in front of his house while Billy sat on the front porch railing kicking the posts. The staff were all inside hovering by the windows.
He had been showing the CCTV from the lobby to the police when he received a call with an area code he’d never seen before.
Usually he let his assistant deal with unknown numbers, but Mary had gone missing from the lobby after being surrounded by a trio of strange men and he wasn’t going to risk missing the call if they tried to contact him.
The man’s voice was exactly what he imagined a kidnapper would sound like, but he introduced himself as Mary’s very good friend Temo and said he was going to help Mary get home and don’t worry, she’d survived death more than once, she’d survive this. At that Samuel breathed easier than he had since he’d come back to the lobby to find Mary’s shoes and phone where he had left her. This man knew her.
Temo then tried to insinuate he and Mary had a thing going, but Samuel couldn’t be bothered to play macho games while she wasn’t home safe, and interrupted with “What should I do?”
Temo paused, then answered. “Inform the police to stand down and prepare cash to pay back the million I loaned Mary for her ransom, then go back to your house and do nothing until I bring Mary to you.”
Samuel had done what he was told, waiting through the night and until early the next morning when Mary called from Temo’s number to say “Samuel, we’re on our way home.”

Samuel heard a car nearing and lifted his head.
A black Cadillac Escalade rolled down the driveway, stopping in front of him. The driver’s door opened and a man in a black suit and white shirt stepped out and walked around to hold open the rear door.
The man who stepped out was older, with a short, dark brown beard shaped into a point. Scars covered the back of his hands, and he wore a black shirt with a band collar under a tailored black jacket with knee length skirt. The jacket’s wide short sleeves were cuffed above his elbows and the chest held rows of fabric tubes that looked like they held bullets. A dagger hung from his belt in a blackened silver sheath. He glanced at Samuel with cold hostile eyes, before moving around the car to where the driver held open the door on the other side, and bent to reach inside. Standing up with Mary in his arms, the man walked towards the house so swiftly that Samuel had to hurry ahead in order to open the door for them.

Mary waved at Samuel as soon as Temo lifted her out of the car. “I’m okay! I’m sorry I didn’t call you. They threw away my phone and I don’t know your number yet!”
Temo carted her towards the house at a fast clip. He seemed to be trying to make Samuel run on purpose, so she poked him in the shoulder and muttered “Be nice.”
He whispered back “I am always nice.”
She looked at him with one eyebrow raised.
He smirked.
Temo continued carrying Mary up the stairs and through the door, only pausing for a moment just inside to frown at the painting, depicting Samuel and Mary posed in wedding clothes, looming over the foyer, before carrying her up the stairs to the second floor as Samuel guided them to her room.

After fussing over the red marks on her wrists and ankles, Samuel instructed a maid to help her clean up and bring a supper tray before insisting she get some sleep, then escorting Temo back downstairs.
The men descended the stairs into the sitting room. Billy waited on the couch with the best view of the stairs, perched on the edge of his seat.
Samuel sent Billy away, much to his disgust, then gestured for Temo to have a seat.
Temo lounged, arms spread out along the back of the couch, taking up as much room as possible.
Samuel pushed a metal briefcase that had been waiting on the coffee table towards the other man, then sat across from him. Temo opened it, nodded at seeing it filled with money, then closed it again.
Samuel leaned forward, and asked “So, how do you know Mary?”
Temo tilted his head, regarding Samuel with narrowed eyes, then sat forward with his forearms resting on his knees. “I’ll get to that in a minute,” he pointed at Samuel with two fingers as if he was holding a gun on him. “How did you let her get kidnapped?”
Samuel leaned back, resting his ankle across his knee. “I’ve never known anyone that was kidnapped, this is a safe city, and I left her in a building with people around and a receptionist watching over her in a place she felt safe. It won’t happen again.” Temo glared, then nodded before considering Samuel for several long moments. He leaned back, waving one hand in the gesture of a storyteller setting the scene “Six years ago next July, I kidnapped Mary by accident.”
Samuel’s foot hit the floor as he sat forward.
Temo paused to see if the other man would interrupt, but Samuel visibly controlled himself and Temo continued. “She had a similar appearance as my target, a rich heir’s daughter with no physical skills, no caution, a tendency to wander off from her staff and get drunk, and she was supposed to be traveling through my territory that day.
I grabbed Mary, locked her in a room, assuming she wouldn’t try to break her neck climbing out the tiny window three floors above a stone patio, and went to call her loving family.
Only, when I called, the man who answered put me on hold.
After being kept waiting for twenty three minutes, another man came on the line and informed me that the real heiress was safe, and told me I was either a fraud or an idiot.
Then they hung up and blocked my number.
I went up to the room I had put Mary in in a foul mood.
Opening the locked door I found the window open and the room empty.
Looking out the window, I saw a rope made of sheets tied to the balcony of the room next door.
There was no ledge between the two rooms, only rough brick that I, who never has and never will rock climb, previously thought of as a sheer wall.
I ran downstairs and gathered my men to hunt her down in the storm.
I was closest to Mary when she suddenly dived for the ground. I pulled her up by her hair, but she fought like a tiger trying to pull me down.
She fought stronger than when we grabbed her and pulled her into the car, or any of the other times she fought us. She fought with the kind of strength a mother has when she’s pulling a car off her baby, all the while screaming “get down” over and over.
Of course none of us listened. Then she threw me against my men, knocking all of us over, standing over us. Then everything went white.
When we could see again, she was on the ground not breathing. One of my men ran back and got the AED while I did CPR and we were able to get her heart going again.
Then we took her to the hospital.
When she woke up later she was panicked that her family would find out she’d been kidnapped, that she’d been struck by lightning.
She didn’t calm down until we promised we wouldn’t tell anyone.
She also suggested I should stop stealing people.
She had saved my life, and other businesses are less trouble, so I told her I would. I figured I’d keep that promise at least a few months, but contact with Mary sparked contact with a surprising number of legal opportunities, so I’ve ended up truly retiring from that part of my business.
She was so proud of the fact that her hospital chart stated she’d arrived unconscious instead of dead “this time”, none of us had the heart to tell her we revived her in the field.”
Temo stood up and Samuel stood with him “I’ve run into Mary’s friends and relations many times through the years, and while everyone else got to share their weak bits of ‘Mary lore’ I could only stand there biting back a story that would beat them all,” he glared, then a twinkle flashed in his eyes “a story that might even beat the incident with the tiger,” his frown returned “because she didn’t want word to get back to her family,” he shrugged “You’re the only person I have ever told this story to,” he reached out to shake Samuel’s hand, then pulled him in close, holding his hand in a crushing grip. “Which means, I’ll know exactly whose tongue to cut out if word gets out.”
Temo let go, grabbed the briefcase and walked to the base of the staircase before turning back to Samuel “Now I’ve come a long way, and spent a lot of effort to get your wife back for you, so if you could have someone show me to a room, I would appreciate it.”
Samuel looked at this intruder with narrowed eyes “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable if we put you up at a hotel?”
“Why wouldn’t I be comfortable in the home of my very good friend Mary?” Temo grinned and leaned forward with a smug smile. “After all, I'm the one she called when she needed help.”
Samuel tilted his head considering the man, then nodded, walking up to Temo and gestured to the hallway past the stairs, “You’re right,” he smiled “My house is Mary’s home, and of course my wife’s guests are welcome in the house we share. If you’d follow me, I’ll get you settled in the guest house.”
Temo raised a brow, then nodded at Samuel, gesturing for him to lead the way.
At the small two bedroom house in the back yard, Temo stood in the doorway and smiled. “You should take better care of your wife.” His smile widened, “Or don’t, and I’ll have good reason to take her from you … for her own safety of course” He nodded at Samuel and closed the door.

Samuel walked back into the main house.
As he turned around from emphatically locking the back door, Billy stepped up behind him “Man, he’s scary. What do you think it says about Aunt Mary that she hangs out with someone like that?”
Falling back against the door, Samuel grabbed his chest and glared at Billy. “Sneek up on me like that again and I’m going to put a bell on you!”
Billy ignored this “He admitted to being a kidnapper like it was nothing, like the only reason he was keeping it secret was because he didn’t want to upset her parents. He could be a contract killer or who knows what else.”
“So then you should do your very best to keep this story quiet,” Samuel stood up and straightened his shirt “And we should probably send you back to your own parents, since your bad crowd probably can’t compare to ours now.”
Billy stroked his chin “But shouldn’t I stay in case you need backup?”
“No.” Samuel rolled his eyes “And my brother already forgave you for whatever it was you did and asked you to go back days ago.”
Billy bent his knees, folding his hands in supplication “Please don’t send me back. Dad wants to make me intern in the real estate department, and Aunt Mary has been helping me put together a case for veterinary school. And you can’t send me away in the middle of a cliffhanger!”
Samuel crossed his arms, glaring down at the teenager “Mary’s back. No one is hanging off the cliff. The cliff is no longer hung.”
“But, Mr. Temo just threatened to steal your woman! You need a wingman!”
Placing a hand on Billy’s shoulder, Samuel sighed “Either Mary is going to be my wingman, or she’s not. Who she stays with is up to her. And it sounds like he has had years of trying and failing to girlfriend zone her. The fact that she’s got a husband now hardly makes if more likely for him to succeed”
“But…but..” Billy tried to muster another argument.
Samuel grabbed Billy by the shoulders, guiding him up the stairs. “I’ll talk to your dad and try and convince him that veterinary school would be a brilliant bribe to tempt you away from our unsavory element.” He pushed Billy in the direction of his room “Now go to bed!”

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Chapter 4
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On the way to his room, Samuel paused at Mary’s door. He leaned his head against the wood, making a soft thump, thought about what had happened, what could have happened and thumped his head against the door again.
The door suddenly opened and he half fell into the room and into Mary’s arms.
After a bit of swearing and some tangled limbs, they ended up sitting on the floor leaning against each other.
“So, why are you knocking on my door when you told me to go to sleep?” Mary nudged his shoulder.
Samuel draped his arms around her, holding tight “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I was banging my head against the door thinking about how scared I was that I could have lost you.” He pulled her into his lap and rubbed his face against the back of her neck “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want you to get hurt, and I don’t want to get a divorce.”
He kissed her cheek and then her mouth lightly and then deeper. Leaning back he looked into her eyes with a question. Mary nodded and Samuel lifted her up, carrying her to the bed.

Samuel lay in bed with Mary in his arms, eyes closed and a smile on his face. He stoked his fingers along her arm. She flinched from the tickle, but snuggled in closer, so he hugged her tight.
“How about we rip up the contract? Once we have a new prenup drawn up, that is. I don’t want to have a deadline on our marriage anymore.”
Mary wiggled up onto his chest and propped her chin on her hands tilting her head to the side to study his face. “I don’t think I want an expiry date either. I should probably read the thing before we rip it up though.” She flopped back on the bed beside him, sighing “I’ll dig it out tomorrow. I’m sure I must have put it in a safe place where I was sure to remember where I put it.” She groaned, pulling the quilt over her head “Wonder how long it’ll take to find.”
Samuel rose and, ducking under the quilt, slid over her chest so he could reach out and pull open the drawer of the bedside table beside her. He paused to agree when she asked if he was enjoying himself, then pulled out a folder. As he moved back to his side of the bed, Samuel dropped a kiss on Mary’s nose before gently placing the folder on her face with a smug smile.
Mary reached up to catch the folder before it could slide off, then held it to her chest along with the quilt as she wiggled up into a sitting position against the headboard.
Smiling at Samuel, she opened the folder and started reading.
Her mouth dropped open.
“Samuel, this isn’t my name!”
“What?!” Samuel sat up and pulled at the corner of the folder while Mary held on tight.
“This isn’t my name. Hannah, is right and Maria is almost Mary, but the rest…this isn’t my name.” She held out the contract that read Hannah Joyce Maria Jeseph “I’m Hannah Mary Cook!”

Samuel sat stiffly at his desk while Mary sat across from him looking everywhere but at him.
He cleared his throat “I guess our first step is to check with the hospitals and with Dr. Smythe to see what went on with the transfer, and how you were identified at St. Mathew’s.”
“Umhm.” Mary was looking at her hands, examining a crack in one of her nails with studious deliberation.
Samuel contemplated her “We’ll have to talk to Dr. Smythe about the diagnosis, since if we’ve never met, not knowing who I was isn’t a symptom of amnesia.”
Mary’s eyes widened and finally met his, then slid away as wheels began turning in her head. “There wasn’t any sign of a head injury other than the memory loss, brain fog and unconsciousness, but lots of things can cause the other symptoms.” She met his eyes again, and banged her fist on the desk. “I haven't cut my hair since I woke up! There’re lots of drugs that stay in your hair. We can get it tested to see if we can find out what put me in a coma.”
Samuel stood and reached across the desk “You were really in a coma, so I don’t think you set this all up, and I like you, so I don’t want you to have been the one who set this all up. And I don’t think you’re the kind of person who would make someone disappear and trick me.”
Mary reached out and put her hand in his “I can’t think of a motive you would have for kidnapping, but your money makes lots of reason why someone would try to use you, so I don’t think you set this all up, and I like you, so I don’t want you to be the mastermind, and I don’t think you’re the kind of person who would lie to me about all of this either, and I know you’re too smart to have put someone else's name on the prenup and then hand it to me.” She squeezed his hand, then reluctantly pulled back. “That being said, you’re not my husband, so I’m going to stop touching you now.”
Samuel nodded, then clasped his hands behind his back to keep himself from reaching out to her “I’ll only be married for another eight months, less if I can convince the other Hannah to break the contract. Either way I’m going to get my lawyers to prepare for the divorce as soon as possible. I’ll contact St. John’s and St. Mathew’s first thing in the morning when we can expect management to be there.”
Mary nodded, then tilted her head “So…I’m guessing you didn’t contact Tom and Elzibeth Cook when you let my family know I was in the hospital?”
Samuel dropped his head into his hands and groaned “I told James Jeseph we had found his missing daughter.” He slid further down in his chair. “And now I have to let him know that his daughter is still missing and we haven’t looked for her for months!”
Mary winced, “Well let’s hope she’s the villain. All we can do is restart the search.” She moved over to rub his shoulders “I can ask Temo to ask around. I’m not sure what he’ll charge, but he knows people that regular investigators probably wouldn’t contact.” Mary bit her lip, then rested her chin on his head as she contemplated their situation “I’m going to have to email my Mom. Maybe if I tell her about the kidnappings it’ll distract her from the fact that I didn’t tell her that I thought I was married, and that might distract her from the fact that I didn’t tell her about the coma. Do you think Temo will mind if I let them know how we met? Did he tell you about it? Maybe I’ll just let them know about the recent kidnapping. But if I tell them everything at once, maybe they’ll be too shocked to get mad.”
Reaching up to hold her hands to his shoulders, Samuel replied “Check with him. Temo told me the story and I could tell he was pretty frustrated with being left out when your friends swapped ‘Mary lore’,” she snorted “so I think he’d be okay with it being out in the open.” Patting her hands Samuel asked “By the way, what’s His full name? And why would he have a defibrillator at home?”
“Ah.” She looked uncomfortable. “Sometimes people would have heart attacks when they were talking to him, or at least they used to. He’s stopped a lot of his businesses where that was likely to be an issue.” Mary tilted her head, looking down at him. “Why would he mention that?”
He shrugged and brought out his phone, avoiding the question. “So, what’s his full name?”
“Temo Vladimirovich Alievi, and yes, he is a criminal. He’s made a name for himself in his hometown though, and he could even be considered part of his village’s government sometimes.”
Samuel grunted at how proud she sounded of the other man.
He searched up Temo’s name. His eyes widened, then he turned the phone off and put it firmly back in his pocket.
Bringing his hands back up to cover hers, he looked up at her and grinned “By the way, you’re touching me.”
Wrenching herself away, Mary walked over to the sofa, grabbed a throw pillow and tossed it at his head.
Catching the pillow, Samuel hugged it to his chest, smiling as he watched her leave the room. She hadn’t flinched away from him, she hadn’t blamed him and hadn’t mentioned leaving.
His face turned serious and he reached for the desk phone and dialed James’ number.