Follow Your Star by Jennifer Bohnet (best value ebook reader .TXT) 📗

Mediterranean, Nanette tried to concentrate on the film but not even the swashbuckling Johnny Depp could take her mind off the problems of the man sitting next to her, his arm casually around her shoulders.

And as for his, ‘I think I’m being followed’ statement – how could she possibly tell him the person behind that particular problem was his own father?

The night she spent sitting in the shaman’s hut beside a delirious Ralph was one of the longest of Vanessa’s life.

For two hours after the native bearers had placed him in the hut, Vanessa had paced up and down outside. Refused admittance by the chief shaman she could do nothing but pray for her husband and wonder what was going on in there.

Nick and Harry, the cameramen, gave her a brief account of what had happened out by the mine.

‘Ralph didn’t feel well all morning, said his stomach was hurting. He ate very little lunch before he was sick.’

‘Why on earth didn’t he return to camp?’ Vanessa said.

‘Thought he’d be better working through it,’ Harry answered.

‘Said he must have eaten a grub or some other local delicacy last night that didn’t agree with him. Once he’d been sick he did seem a bit brighter. We did manage to persuade him to have a short snooze before work started again and he seemed better for it.’

Vanessa listened horrified as Nick then told her about the boulder that had slipped as the men had tried to manoeuvre it into position for the dam. Breaking the wooden stakes they were using to guide it into position it had fallen, giving Ralph’s head a glancing blow and knocking him unconscious into the stream.

Listening to Nick’s matter-of-fact account of what had happened, Vanessa remembered the words of the tourist in the eco-camp. ‘All the money in the world won’t get you out of the jungle in a hurry’.

What if Ralph didn’t respond to whatever mumbo jumbo they were saying and administering to him in there? How was she going to get him to a proper hospital?

As if reading her thoughts, Harry said, ‘If he hasn’t regained consciousness by tomorrow, we’ll get him carried down to the tributary and hire a canoe to take him to the Amazon River itself. Then hopefully we can get him to a hospital in one of the large towns.’

Vanessa looked at him in despair.

‘But that will take days.’

There was a second or two’s pause, before Nick said, ‘Let’s pray it won’t be necessary. I’m told some of these natural medicines the natives use are amazingly effective.’

Both Nick and Harry stayed with her until Angela appeared with some food for Vanessa and insisted she ate it.

‘It is going to be a long night,’ she said quietly. ‘You will need all your strength.’

Angela was still with her when the head shaman came out and said Vanessa could finally see Ralph. Fearful of how Ralph would look, Vanessa clutched Angela’s hand and walked slowly into the hut.

‘You stay with him tonight?’ the shaman asked. ‘I show you what to do.’

Looking at Ralph’s injured face and his battered body, daubed with what Vanessa took to be some sort of native ointment and protected in places with primitive dressings, she forced herself to concentrate on what she had to do for Ralph.

‘The next few hours are critical,’ Angela said.

The medicine man and Angela showed her how to gently bathe Ralph’s cuts and bruises with a sticky substance that Angela explained was a sap taken from trees in the forest.

‘Sangre de Grado – it is good,’ Angela assured Vanessa. ‘You see tomorrow, Ralph will look better. He will be better.’

Vanessa did a lot of praying that night as she tended to Ralph. Applying cooling compresses to a large bump on his temple and gently stroking his hand, she willed him to regain consciousness.

Around two o’clock he began to mumble and restlessly moved his head from side to side. Quickly Vanessa changed the compress for a cooler, fresh one. As she gently held it in place she scrutinized his face for any further glimmer of life but he’d lapsed back into unconsciousness and the long night continued.

At regular intervals one of the native men would appear in the doorway of the hut, stand there looking at Ralph for several seconds, before vanishing back into the darkness. The first time it happened it spooked Vanessa, but as the hours went on she welcomed the fleeting visits.

Dawn was beginning to filter through the canopy of trees surrounding the hut when Ralph finally opened his eyes and smiled at her. Vanessa felt a huge wave of relief sweep through her body and she gave him a gentle kiss.

‘Hi, welcome back.’

‘Sorry about the dolphins.’

For a moment Vanessa thought Ralph was still delirious before remembering today was the day they were to have trekked to the breeding grounds to see the young dolphins.

She shook her head. ‘It doesn’t matter. You’re more important. How do you feel?’

‘Groggy – and thirsty.’

Carefully Vanessa held a cup of water to his lips as Ralph took several sips.

‘Do you remember what happened to you?’

‘Yes. I was in the way of the boulder when it broke the wooden runners and fell. We were so close to finishing the dam too. Still hopefully today the boys will be able to sort it.’

‘Just so long as you’re not thinking of joining them,’ Vanessa said.

Ralph shook his head and then groaned with the pain it generated.

Vanessa waited a couple of seconds before saying quietly, ‘I’m not sure you’re well enough to hear this but you need to know.’

Ralph glanced at her puzzled as she took a breath before continuing, ‘Angela was here earlier, talking to me. She doesn’t think any of this was an accident.’

Ralph sighed and reached out for her hand.

‘I know. Neither do I. The head shaman warned me to be careful a couple of days ago.’

‘But why didn’t you tell me? The villagers seemed happy to have us around when we arrived,’ Vanessa said. ‘What’s changed?’

‘Since the guy