I'll Be There

by Deborah Grace Staley

  “Mmm... Good morning.”

  His only response was a rumble deep in his throat that vibrated against the curve of her neck. She turned and looked up into his face hovering above hers. His silky black hair hung forward, and she brushed it back with both hands. She so loved the feel of it. She loved the feel of his beard, too, but couldn’t help wondering how he’d look without it.

  “Good morning.”

  The soft look in his eyes, as his gaze caressed her face, stole her breath.

  “You’re here.” He kissed her, then caressed her face. “I thought maybe it was a dream.”

  She touched his face, his beard, the scars. “I don’t think I could have dreamed anything this amazing.” She continued to trace the lines of his face. “You’re so handsome.”

  He grasped her wrist and pressed his lips to the underside of it.

  “And sexy.”

  “It’s okay, you know,” he said.

  “What?”

  “I don’t need pretty words. I know what I look like.”

  Time to get this man refocused. “I don’t know how.” She trailed a slow finger along his jaw. “How long have you been hiding behind this beard?”

  “Living alone, I don’t worry much about what I look like.”

  “I have a confession.”

  “Mmm...” he trailed a hand over her hip, down her thigh to her knee. “Sounds intriguing.”

  “I wonder how much more handsome you’d be if your beautiful face wasn’t hidden.” She pressed her lips to his cheek, “How it would feel to kiss your face instead of the beard.”

  He dipped his head to leisurely explore the area around her ear. After several heart-stopping moments passed, he whispered, “Would you...” His lips moved, very slowly, from her ear to the indention at the base of her neck.

  Jenny swallowed hard. “Would I?”

  He leaned back and looked into her eyes again. “Would you like to shave it?”

  That surprised her. “You’d let me?”

  He trailed the backs of his fingers across her cheek, focused on her lips, then raised his gaze to hers. “I’d do anything for you.”

  Such strong emotion radiated from his dark eyes, tears filled hers. She felt it, too, but knew they couldn’t share feelings. They couldn’t say the words. Her situation was too tenuous, too transient.

  He kissed the corners of her eyes, catching the tears before they could fall. She felt so happy, so... new. Like she’d been reborn. Letting her shave his beard, to her, would be like an outward sign of their transformation. Like coming out of darkness into the light.

  She pressed against his shoulders so she could sit up and slide out of the bed. She picked up her nightgown and put it on.

  “Is that one of Miss Estelee’s nightgowns?”

  “Yes.” She bent and retrieved his boxers, then looked back at Cord. Words along with coherent thought deserted her. He lay there in the bed they’d shared, propped up on a forearm, leg bent with the sheet just covering his hips. Lord, he was every fantasy she would ever have for the rest of her life.

  “Come back to bed,” he invited, “and let me take that off. You look much better without it.”

  Jenny looked down at the old-fashioned white cotton gown and the red boxers she held in her hands. She tossed them to him, and finding her words said, “I’ll be waiting in the bathroom, with a razor.”

  Somehow, she managed to turn on weakened knees and walk out of his room, down the hall, and into bathroom. She quickly relieved herself, then washed at the sink. The woman looking back at her from the mirror hardly resembled the woman she’d been yesterday. Her hair was tousled, her lips swollen and red. Everything about her seemed softer. Was this what love did? Did it transform everything about a person into something new and better?

  A soft knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. She opened it to find Cord standing there in his blue jeans and nothing else. He came in, looped an arm around her waist and lifted her off her feet. When he’d finished kissing her, he set her in the hall and shut the door. A few short minutes later, she heard water running, and then he opened the door and pulled her in, closing it behind her.

  He held up a razor and a can of shaving cream. “Who knew Miss Estelee would have shaving cream in the medicine cabinet up here.”

  Taking the items and pushing him back to the closed toilet seat, Jenny said, “She takes in boarders from time to time since there’s no hotel in town. Someone must have left it behind.”

  Cord sat. “Lucky me.” He pulled her into his lap, facing him.

  “Good thing it’s a small bathroom.” She turned on the warm water and put a towel around his shoulders. Then, she shook the can and squirted a big puff of foam into her palm. “Are you sure about this?”

  He eased his hands over her hips to her thighs and squeezed. “No, but I sure am enjoying the process.”

  Jenny kissed him and pushed his hair back, soothing the cream onto his cheeks and neck in circular motions. A pleasing, spicy scent filled the air around them. She moistened the razor. Eyes that had once been veiled and empty only yesterday, now looked at her filled with trust as she took the first stroke. Dark, creamy skin appeared beneath the razor as she moved from his ear to his chin. She couldn’t help touching what she revealed with every stroke and smiling her pleasure.

  When she moved to his other cheek and began uncovering the scars, his eyes clouded. She touched the raised pink lines with the backs of her fingers, then turned to rinse the razor. He watched her carefully, but she kept shaving his cheek, revealing more scars as she progressed. The pain he must have endured. “Where were you when it happened?”

  “An office building in Nashville.”

  That surprised her. That he’d been in Nashville. She wondered how long ago it had been. If she had been there, too. She moved to his neck, careful to stop if he spoke. She revealed another strip of skin.

  “You were a policeman?”

  “Of sorts.”

  Jenny rinsed the razor, then pressed it to his throat again. “Did people die? People you felt—feel—responsible for?”

  Cord nodded.

  She finished shaving his neck, then took the towel from his shoulders and wet the edge of it. When she’d wiped all the excess shaving cream off his face and neck, she looked at him. She was right. He took her breath away. She caressed the damaged side of his face tenderly, loving him more for what she knew he’d sacrificed. “You said a window shattered.”

  “Yes... when I jumped through it.”

  “You don’t have to tell me.”

  He battled within. She held him and waited.

  Cord took a deep breath and let it out. “I was undercover in a company that imported coffee, roasted it, packaged it to sell. They had opened a few local coffee shops to brew and sell the product.” He paused. “It was a cover for smuggling and reselling drugs.”

  Jenny let him talk, touching him in a way that let him know he was safe with her. His hands tightened then relaxed on her waist. “Someone involved on the outside, that I had recently met, gave me up. This person was sent to... get to know me.”

  “A woman.”

  He nodded and looked away. “I didn’t tell her what I did. I didn’t tell anyone, ever. Telling people was dangerous not just for me, but for them as well.”

  “But she found out.”

  “She knew I was working at the company. I gave her my story, the one the agency had given me, with credentials that checked out.” He shook his head. “I still don’t know how she knew who I really was.”

  Jenny waited, knowing the hardest part to share was yet to be spoken. She wondered if he’d cared about this woman, and felt the pang of jealousy and hurt that someone he’d given a bit of his locked-up heart to would not only hurt him this way, but also endanger his life.

  Cord touched the side of her face, and she looked at him. “I had a weak moment with her. It was a mistake, one that cost people their lives and left me with these scars as a reminder.�
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  “A reminder to never let yourself care about anyone else?” she said flatly, understanding, yet angry at the betrayal he’d suffered that had ended in his shutting himself away from the world.

  “A reminder never to lose focus when lives are at stake.”

  She nodded, getting the message. They’d had a moment. But that’s all it could be. A moment. A beautiful, unforgettable moment.

  She pressed her lips to his scars, unable to look in his eyes when she asked the next question. “Did you love her?”

  The pause before his answer nearly killed her. “No.” He cupped the back of her head until he could again look at her. Pressing his forehead to hers, he squeezed his eyes closed. “I’ve never felt that emotion for anyone.” His kiss, long and deep and strong, conveyed the depth of his feelings for her.

  When the kiss ended, Jenny couldn’t stop caressing his face. “Thank you,” she said.

  “For what?”

  “For telling me,” she touched his scars again. “For letting me really see you.”

  His eyelids lowered, shutters against his vulnerability. “I’m repulsive.”

  “Stop.” She squeezed his shoulders, then pressed her lips to his scars again. “These are part of the man you are, and trust me,” she smiled, “you are not repulsive.” She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, and then kissed him, thoroughly.

  Several moments later, she rested her forehead against his, thinking about all he’d told her. “I’m sure you’re harder on yourself than anyone else was.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t know.”

  “I know all I need to. Look at me.” Cord looked out the window, but not at her, his jaw locked against the demons he still battled. “You’re a man that does the right thing, no matter the cost. Why else would you stay with me, making sure I’m safe when no one else could? Why would you do that when it would have been so much easier to walk away?” He looked at her then, but an emotional barrier was still there. “Tell me.”

  He touched her face. “I told you already. I have to live with myself. If something happened to you...”

  She smiled. “You do realize that not just any man would have taken me on? I’m stubborn and difficult, and it appears, that many, many people want to see to it that I’m kept quiet permanently. That makes being with me dangerous.”

  That brought back the crooked grin that made her catch her breath. “I’m not the kind of man that shies away from danger.”

  “No, you’re not,” she sank her fingers into his hair, framing his face, “but I think you forgot that.” She gave that truth time to settle before she kissed him again. When she lifted her head, his eyes were open. The man who’d let her reveal his face and shared his secret pain with her was looking back at her. And though she didn’t say it, there was no way she’d bring someone she cared for into her world. Now, in this safe space between her past and her future, would be all the time they had. She intended to make a lifetime of memories to draw on in all the cold, lonely nights that lay ahead.

  He eased his hands under her thighs and stood, then turned and set her on the vanity. “We should shower.” The softly spoken words were filled with seductive intent. He turned on the taps in the claw foot tub. Jenny stood and went to him.

  “Good morning, Miss Estelee. I hope you slept well.”

  Jenny pulled out a chair and sat. The older lady set a plate of delicious smelling food in front of her.

  “I slept like the dead.”

  Thank goodness! Jenny dug into her food. “This is wonderful, Miss Estelee. I’m so hungry.”

  “Well, there’s plenty more where that came from, so eat up. It stopped snowing,” she said as she poured coffee in Jenny’s cup. “Is Cord up?”

  “Mmm,” Jenny swallowed and took a drink of the strong coffee before answering. “I think I heard him in the bathroom when I came down.” She sipped more coffee to cover the lie.

  “Good, good. The sheriff called and wants to talk to him. Doc should be here soon to see you, dear.”

  “Oh, you should call Doc Prescott back. There’s no need bringing him into this mess when I’m feeling so much better. I’m sure it was just a virus.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that, young lady. Hope you don’t mind, Estelee,” the portly, white-haired gentleman came into the kitchen and went straight to Miss Estelee to plant a kiss on her cheek, which reddened instantly. “I let myself in.”

  Miss Estelee brushed him off. “Of course I don’t mind. Sit and I’ll get you a plate.”

  “Thank you, dear,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

  Jenny smiled. She’d always thought the town doctor looked a little like Santa.

  “Jenny!” He came to her and kissed her cheek as well. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you. It was quite a pleasant surprise to learn you’d risen from the dead.”

  Jenny set her cup aside. “Well, it wasn’t quite that dramatic. Just a little misunderstanding.”

  “I should say that’s quite an understatement, young lady.”

  “Truth is, I wish Grady hadn’t told you that I’m here. I don’t like pulling so many people into my troubles.”

  He sat and patted her hand. “Now don’t you worry yourself about that. I’m told you’ve been ill, and these scratches on your hands and face. They haven’t been properly tended.”

  He made a clicking sound with his tongue. She touched her cheek with her hand. “These? They’re nothing. And as for whatever it was I came down with after I got to town, I haven’t had any symptoms for two days.”

  Miss Estelee set a plate and coffee in front of him. “Thank you, dear,” he said. To Jenny, he asked, “And the symptoms were?”

  “Fever, congestion, nausea, and she was lethargic. She also had an allergic reaction to aspirin,” Cord supplied as he came into the room.

  “And you are?” the doctor asked.

  “Cord Goins, sir. I’ve been with Jenny since the marshals lost her up on the Laurel Mountain.”

  Doc Prescott stood, and the two men shook hands—took each other’s measure. “I do hope it was a good thing that you found her.”

  “Yes, sir,” Cord said, holding the man’s hand in a firm grip.

  “It must have been something viral,” Jenny added.

  After a moment, the doctor released his hand. “Possibly, but I’ll still want to examine you.”

  “No debates so early in the morning,” Miss Estelee interjected as she set another plate of food and coffee on the table for Cord. “I won’t have anyone getting indigestion over this fine meal.”

  “Agreed.” Jenny lifted her coffee mug.

  “Cord, you look a might different this morning.”

  He stroked his face and looked at Jenny. “Thought I’d shave. I used a razor and shave cream you had upstairs. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not. What do you think, Jenny?”

  “I think he looks very handsome, with or without the beard.”

  Miss Estelee and Doc Prescott exchanged looks, but didn’t comment. They finished breakfast, and then Jenny and the doctor retired to Miss Estelee’s sitting room, opposite the more formal parlor. After a thorough examination, he put cream and bandages on her hands and declared her “fit as a fiddle,” but that he would want to do blood work. He’d come by tomorrow morning to take it before she had breakfast. The scrape on her face, he just put ointment on. “It’s very important to keep this moist so it won’t scar. Apply this cream three times a day.”

  “Thank you, Doc.”

  They emerged to find the sheriff and a man she’d never met talking to Cord in the parlor. He was tall with short blond hair and wore a suit and tie. “Well, you’ll all be happy to know, I’m in perfect health,” Jenny announced. The men stood as they entered the room.

  “She needs some fattening up, and I want to do some blood work before I have the final say on the matter.”

  “I’ll see that she eats,” Miss Estelee said.
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br />   Her eyes skidded to Cord’s, then away. Taking in the other two men in the room, she figured they’d been having a serious and unpleasant conversation.

  “Jenny,” Grady said, “this is Jay Kennedy. He’s with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. He’s the liaison between you and the Attorney General.”

  Jenny shook the man’s hand. “Mr. Kennedy.”

  “Please, call me Jay.” He gestured toward the couch. “Let’s sit.”

  “I’ll take my leave then,” Doc Prescott said. “Estelee, will you see me out?”

  “Yes, yes. And then I have a cake in the oven that needs checking.”

  Jenny laughed. “Guess I know how to clear a room, huh?”

  Jay spoke first. “I just want to tell you how sorry I am that your safety has been so precarious since you were taken into custody. I can assure you that won’t be an issue from here on out. You’re in the best of hands now, and the Grand Jury will convene tomorrow so that the evidence you gave to us can be presented.”

  That took Jenny off guard. “How can the Grand Jury convene in this weather? Aren’t the roads closed?”

  “Yes, but emergency responders are picking them up and bringing them into Greeneville.”

  “Wow.”

  “We have a video conference call scheduled between you and the AG handling the case this afternoon. We’ve set up the equipment at the sheriff’s office. So, we’ll be transferring you this afternoon for that.”

  “And the purpose for the conference call?”

  “She would like to go over the evidence with you.”

  “She wants to go over my testimony, then?”

  “No. You won’t be testifying.”

  “What?” she and Grady said at the same time.

  “Your testimony isn’t necessary. The evidence you uncovered stands alone. The AG believes she can present it to the Grand Jury and get the indictments needed handed down.”