Treasures Lost, Treasures Found

Ky won’t yell at me.”
    “All right.” Resigned, Kate sat back in the bed and took the tray on her lap. She swallowed the first bite of soup and stifled her objection as Linda began to fiddle with her bandage. “It’s wonderful.”
    “The seafood chowder’s one of our specialties. Oh, honey.” Linda’s eyes darkened with concern after she removed the gauze. “This must’ve hurt like hell. No wonder Ky’s been frantic.”
    Drumming up her courage, Kate leaned over enough to look at the wound. There was no inflammation as she’d feared, no puffiness. Though the slice was six inches in length, it was clean. Her stomach muscles unknotted. “It’s not so bad,” she murmured. “There’s no infection.”
    “Look, I’ve been caught by a stingray, a small one. I probably had a cut half an inch across and I cried like a baby. Don’t tell me it’s not so bad.”
    “Well, I slept through most of it.” She winced, then deliberately relaxed her muscles.
    Linda narrowed her eyes as she studied Kate’s face. “Ky said you should have a pill if there was any pain when you woke.”
    “If you want to do me a favor, you can dump themout.” Calmly, Kate ate another spoonful of soup. “I really hate to argue with him, or with you, but I’m not taking any more pills and losing any more time. I appreciate the fact that he wants to pamper me. It’s unexpectedly sweet, but I can only take it so far.”
    “He’s worried about you. He feels responsible.”
    “For my carelessness?” With a shake of her head, Kate concentrated on finishing the soup. “It was an accident, and if there’s blame, it’s mine. I was so wrapped up in looking for salvage I didn’t take basic precautions. I practically bumped into the ray.” With an effort, she controlled a shudder. “Ky acted much more quickly than I. He’d already started to pull me out of range. If he hadn’t, things would have been much more serious.”
    “He loves you.”
    Kate’s fingers tightened on the spoon. With exaggerated care, she set it back on the tray. “Linda, there’s a vast difference between concern, attraction, even affection and love.”
    Linda simply nodded in agreement. “Yes. I said Ky loves you.”
    She managed to smile and pick up the tea that had been cooling beside the soup. “You said,” Kate returned simply. “ Ky hasn’t.”
    “Well neither did Marsh until I was ready to strangle him, but that didn’t stop me.”
    “I’m not you.” Kate lay back against the pillows, grateful that most of the weakness and the weariness had passed. “And Ky isn’t Marsh.”
    Impatient, Linda rose and swirled around the room. “People who complicate simple things make me so mad!”
    Smiling, Kate sipped her tea. “Others simplify the complicated.”
    With a sniff, Linda turned back. “I’ve known Ky Silver all my life. I watched him bounce around from one cute girl to the next, then one attractive woman to another until I lost count. Then you came along.” Stopping, she leaned against the bedpost. “It was as if someone had hit him over the head with a blunt instrument. You dazed him, Kate, almost from the first minute. You fascinated him.”
    “Dazing, fascinating.” Kate shrugged while she tried to ignore the ache in her heart. “Flattering, I suppose, but neither of those things equals love.”
    The stubborn line came and went between Linda’s brows. “I don’t believe love comes in an instant, it grows. If you could have seen the way Ky was after you left four years ago, you’d know—”
    “Don’t tell me about four years ago,” Kate interrupted. “What happened four years ago is over. Ky and I are two different people today, with different expectations. This time…” She took a deep breath. “This time when it ends, I won’t be hurt because I know the limits.”
    “You’ve just gotten back together and you’re already talking about endings and limitations!” Dragging a hand through her hair, Linda came forward to sit on the edge of the bed. “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you know how to wish anymore? How to dream?”
    “I was never very good at either. Linda…” She hesitated, wanting to choose her phrasing carefully. “I don’t want to expect any more from Ky than what he can easily give. After August, I know we’ll each go back to our separate worlds—there’s no bridge between them. Maybe I was meant to come back so we could make up for whatever pain we caused each other before. This