Rocky Mountain Angels

by Jodi Bowersox [romance]

She unzipped her parka and stuffed her hands in her pockets revealing a tight green striped sweater that showed off her curves. “So you two must have a lot in common.”

  Eli snapped his eyes back up to her face. “Sure, I suppose.”

  She stared into his eyes for a moment then smirked and shook her head. “Beth must be completely off the wall.”

  Eli’s eyes narrowed. “Beth?”

  She gestured with her hands still in her pockets. “Yeah, Beth has this crazy idea that Mari has a thing for Joe.”

  Eli swallowed.

  “She even thinks Mari is the reason Joe broke up with her. Crazy, huh?” Eli had a sudden flash of Mari very quickly agreeing to Joe driving her to Oklahoma City. “Well, I better go.” Zipping her coat back up, she turned to take the doorknob in hand. “I really don’t want to interfere with your love life; I just don’t have any friends here yet, and I’m kind of bored waiting for classes to start.”

  Eli pulled his thoughts back to her. “Sure, I’d probably feel the same in your shoes. I truly don’t mean to be rude. I just can’t be the one.”

  She started to open the door but turned back. “Racket ball?”

  He shook his head but let a smile slip out. “Not unless you wear a burka.”

  A slow smile curved her lips before she let herself out the door.

  Eli blew out a breath, stepped back, and leaned against the stair rail. Holy shit. He never knew reformation could be so strenuous. He stood and strode to the kitchen. I definitely need a beer after that.

  Pulling a can out of the refrigerator and popping the top, he thought about Sheri’s insinuations about Mari and Joe. He shook his head. Even though he’d had a weird feeling, too, when he’d heard Joe and Beth broke up, he was unwilling to believe a scenario that had them meeting behind his back. Why would they? If they had feelings for each other, they’d just say so.

  Wouldn’t they?

  ***

  Joe and Mari pulled into the hospital parking lot in the early evening. Mari hated to drag Joe into all her personal family business, but frankly, she needed him. She didn’t know in what state she would find her daddy—wasn’t sure just what “stable” meant. She didn’t wait for him to help her out of the truck, and they met at the tailgate. She wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but she slipped her hand in his.

  Joe gripped it. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  She nodded as they stepped forward through the parking garage. It was more than Joe’s hand she was grabbing onto. It was his faith she needed more than anything at the moment. Joe didn’t disappoint.

  “God’s taking good care of him, Mari. I know he is.”

  Mari kept hold of him all the way to the ICU waiting room. Only then did she release him to hug her mother, brothers, their wives, a girlfriend and numerous children of various ages from toddlers to young adult.

  She tried introducing Joe to everyone but could see that he was suffering from sensory overload. Her brother, Alex, who looked a lot like Mari without the curls, cornered him to talk construction while she asked her mom to go with her to see her dad.

  Her mom was Mari’s height and build, with stylish gray hair. She was wearing brown slacks and a sage blouse that brought out the green in her eyes, and although her eyes were looking tired behind her mahogany frames, they held a sparkle when she was talking to her daughter. “I’ve been in to see him many times today, Mari, you go on in with your boyfriend. I know your dad wants to meet him.”

  “Oh, Mom,” she said, slipping out of her coat and tugging her short teal sweater down. “Joe’s not my boyfriend; Eli couldn’t come. Joe’s my... he’s like a brother.”

  Mari could tell by the look her mom gave her that she wasn’t totally buying her explanation. “Well, whatever you’re calling him, you just take him on in, so your dad can thank him for driving you.”

  Mari nodded, tossed her coat in a chair, and went to get Joe. While he chatted with her brother, she tugged on his coat, and he allowed her to help him out of it. She threw it on the family’s pile of coats taking up a blue vinyl seat, and Mari thought how nice it was to have it there. To have him here in his comfortable chambray shirt. She knew she shouldn’t do it again, but she needed his strength. She slipped her hand in his.

  He turned and smiled at her as he finished up his conversation with Alex then gave her his full attention. He seemed to know why she needed him. “Are you ready to go in?”

  She nodded. “Do you mind going with me?”

  He squeezed her hand. “Not at all.”

  She led him toward the ICU door, and a nurse directed them to the right room. She stopped just outside the door, and Joe leaned down and whispered a verse in Hebrew: “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

  She looked up with tears forming. “Thank you,” she whispered. How could I have done this without you? She knew that Eli would have held her, but he wouldn’t have strengthened her the way Joe did.

  Joe pushed the door open and pulled her gently inside. Mari let go of Joe’s hand and walked quickly to her father’s side. “Daddy.”

  Despite the oxygen tube under his nose, IV tubes, and heart monitor hook-ups, he smiled at his daughter and weakly lifted his hands in invitation. “Mari,” he whispered, hoarsely.

  Though he was balding now, with only a ring of white hair left, Mari remembered when he had a full head of black hair. With his dark eyes and ready smile, she always considered her father to be the best looking of all her friends’ dads. She bent to give him a hug as best she could. She wiped a tear from her cheek as she straightened back up. “This was a pretty dramatic way to get me to come back for a visit. You could have just called.”

  He chuckled quietly. “I have missed your pretty face and hearing all about your latest studies. Your brothers are so boring in that regard.” He coughed, and Mari picked up the cup of ice water that was sitting on his bedside table. She held the straw to his lips, and after a long sip, he seemed able to talk again. “Hand me my glasses, will you, pumpkin?” She found the silver-framed aviators and put them on his face. He looked over Mari’s head. “And just who is this handsome young man?”

  Mari turned, putting out her hand, and Joe came to her side. “Daddy, this is Joe Rhodes. He’s one of my neighbors in Colorado Springs. He drove me.”

  Mari’s father put out his hand, and Joe grasped it. “It’s good to meet you, Joe. I’m Malachi, but my friends call me Mal.”

  “It’s good to meet you, too, sir, although I wish the circumstances were different.”

  “You and me both, son. It’s more than neighborly of you to drive Mari all this way.” He looked to Mari with a twinkle in his eye. “You’ve only been out there two or three weeks, haven’t you? You must have made one hell of an impression.”

  Joe laughed. “That she did. Her first order of business was to throw her purse down a storm drain.”

  Mari blushed. “Yes, Joe rescued my purse, and he and his two brothers have been rescuing me in one way or another ever since. They’re my Rocky Mountain angels.”

  Joe hitched a brow at that title while Mal chuckled again. “Most only need one guardian angel. I’m glad to know the good Lord realized that you’d need more.”

  Mari smiled, but it faded quickly when her dad put a hand to his temple and closed his eyes. “Daddy, are you all right? Shall I call the nurse?”

  He waved away her concern. “No, just a bit of a headache from all this.” He opened his eyes and smiled, taking her hand. “Don’t you worry about me; I’m going to be just fine.”

  Mari couldn’t help being concerned, but she forced a smile. “Well, I suppose people have been popping in on you all day. I’m sure you need your rest. I’ll come back and see you tomorrow.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Okay, pumpkin, I’ll be here. I’ve got no place to go at the moment.”

  She pulled his hospital gown up to cover more of his shoulder and gave him a k
iss on the cheek before turning toward the door. Joe shook his hand again, bid him a good night, and followed.

  Mari walked down the hall without speaking, and Joe could see she was trying to hold herself together, but her trembling lip was giving her away. This time he took her hand, and she started to sputter. He asked a passing nurse where they could find the chapel, and he led her there as the tears started flowing in earnest.

  Slipping into the back pew, he tugged Mari down beside him and pulled her to his chest. She slipped her arms around him and bawled. Joe stroked her hair and spoke verses of faith to her. When he’d overheard Mari telling her mother that he was like a brother to her, his heart had plummeted, but right now he didn’t care—he would be whatever she needed. Holding and comforting her felt so right—so perfect.

  When the tears started to slow, Joe looked around and spied a box of tissues sitting in the pew next to him. He handed the whole box to Mari. She sat up, wiped her eyes, and blew her nose. Then she tried to daub his shoulder with a tissue. “I cried on your shirt.”

  Joe ran his hand down her arm. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” He lifted her chin. Dear God, I want to kiss her. “Are you okay?”

  Her lip trembled again, but she didn’t cry. “He looked so small and weak, Joe. I’ve never seen him like that. My daddy has always been strong. How... how will I ever stand to lose him?”

  He looked deep into her red eyes. “Mari, the doctors have given him a good prognosis; he’s going to pull through this.”

  She would not be comforted. “Maybe this time, but eventually I’m going to lose him, Joe.” She threw herself into his arms once again with more tears. “And I don’t know how I’ll be able to live without him.”

  Joe held her tight. The loss of his parents was something he hadn’t had to deal with yet, but he knew it was coming. No one liked to think about it too much, but it was inevitable. “I won’t tell you it will be easy. It never is.” He loosened his grip and wiped tears away with his thumb. He leaned his forehead against hers, looking for the right words of comfort. “I think that death is always sad and shocking and horrible because that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. We were created to be eternal, so deep within us we know that it isn’t right to die. We feel the longing of eternity.” He ran his hands up and down her back, trying to infuse her with strength. “And that’s what we will have, Mari. Eternity. We will only miss our loved ones who go before us for a little while, and then we will have them for all eternity.”

  Mari sat back and looked in his eyes. Hers were so red and puffy, he knew he’d have to get those eye drops out again.

  “You’re a good man, Joseph Rhodes.”

  He held her gaze. “You’re a good woman, Mari Baker.”

  He looked toward the chapel’s simple altar. “Would you like to pray before we leave?”

  Mari nodded and slipped out of the pew.

  Joe grabbed two prayer shawls and a yarmulke from a rack just inside the door and followed. When they reached the front, he wrapped a shawl around Mari and then himself, and the two slipped to their knees. Holding hands, Joe prayed for healing, faith, and comfort to rain down on all who needed it. Then they sat in silence for some minutes, Joe taking his cue to move from Mari.

  He had known she was in his heart before, but holding her, wiping away her tears, and praying with her had only intensified the feeling. He added a silent prayer of his own, because if things didn’t go the way he hoped, he wasn’t at all sure how he would live without her.

  Chapter 22

  Joe was brushing his teeth in Mari’s parents’ house before turning in for the night. He had planned on getting a motel room for himself after dropping Mari off, but Mari’s mother had insisted he stay in their guest bedroom. Her mother, Valerie, was bunking out in a recliner near her husband, and the rest of the family lived close enough to go to their own homes for the night.

  The Bakers’ house was a raised ranch design, with numerous bedrooms to accommodate their large family. According to Mari, there were bedrooms on each floor, including the basement, but the official guest room was next to hers on the main floor. Joe thought it was a pretty conservative house for a banker, but he supposed most of his money probably had to go to the feeding of five boys. And their educations. He smiled while brushing. Mari’s educations.

  Joe spit toothpaste in the sink and got a drink. It felt weird to be in their house without them, but somehow it felt perfectly natural to be with Mari. She had looked exhausted by the time they had driven the twenty minutes to Piedmont, and she had bid him good night as soon as she had shown him his room. Joe’s body was tired, but thanks to the numerous cups of coffee he’d needed to stay awake on the road, his mind was wired.

  After shrugging out of his shirt, he sat on the edge of the bed and looked around. Decorated like a typical guest room with floral draperies and bedspread, Joe could smell the potpourri in the drawers of the maple dresser without opening them.

  Under his feet was a crewel oval area rug with a floral border sitting atop a wood laminate floor. He untied the hightop work boots he wore everyday, except on the Sabbath, and toed them off. The smell of his feet assaulted his nose immediately, and suddenly the potpourri didn’t seem like too much after all. Shaking his head, he got up to open his bag to find the foot powder and the trash bag he’d brought along for dirty clothes. After pulling his socks off and stuffing them quickly in the bag, he gave his feet and the insides of his shoes a good dose of the powder.

  Finally satisfied with the lack of foot odor, he pushed off his jeans, turned out the light, and slid under the covers. A few moments passed as he lay there with his eyes open, and he found himself grabbing the extra pillow in the full-sized bed and hugging it to his chest. For some reason, his arms felt... empty.

  He couldn’t help but reflect on the night Beth had slept in his bed. He was a man, and she a woman, so it hadn’t been completely without temptation, but he realized now that he should have felt so much more. And he knew instinctively that had it been Mari, he wouldn’t have been able to stay in bed with her without causing himself great embarrassment. He rolled to his side.

  She’s in a completely different room, and she’s affecting me.

  When they had arrived at the hospital, Joe tried to keep up with all the family introductions but finally gave up. He hadn’t thought about how old some of her siblings would be, but since she was the last of a large brood, it only made sense that the oldest was nearly 50, and his kids were in college already.

  And he hadn’t anticipated the age difference between his parents and hers, which was probably a good fifteen years. Of course, she was the last of her herd, and he was the first of his; naturally they’d be older. It made Mari’s concern for her father more acute, and his heart went out to her; she obviously loved him very much.

  Her family was a friendly bunch, and after he and Mari had left the chapel and rejoined them, he’d had more of a chance to talk to her brothers. All had seemed to assume that he and Mari were a couple, and while Joe knew he should be setting them straight, he found he was enjoying that assumption more than he ought. He’d let Mari straighten them out on that score.

  One sweet little girl with curly brown hair had latched onto him and sat on his lap while he and Sam, who was the closest to his age, chatted. He had looked up to see Mari watching him. He shrugged, and she smiled, and it had nearly undone him completely. And he knew right then he wanted to have a family with Mari and have a sweet, curly-headed girl of his own.

  Joe took a deep breath and let it out, willing his mind to shut down and let him sleep. If Mari hadn’t looked so tired, he would have kept her up long enough to tell her he now had no engagement entanglements, and he would know her feelings for Eli.

  First thing tomorrow.

  ***

  Mari was lying awake in what had been her old room. Not much had changed in it, really, since she was in high school. The shelves here were lined with books from younger days and intersperse
d with her stuffed animal collection. The walls were still stark white with rainbow striped valances over white mini blinds. Eli would cringe.

  Mari had thought she would fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, but there was too much racing through her mind. Joe had been so much more than a terrific friend today; he’d been her rock in every possible way. Physically, he’d held her while she cried; spiritually, he’d kept her from sliding off into an abyss of fear with just the right words at just the right time; and emotionally—though she had tried not to let it happen—he had captured her heart. Eli had never come close to touching her that deeply.

  So what of Beth? Is Joe really capable of putting so much into another woman without it affecting him? Does he still think of me as his little sister?

  She closed her eyes to summon every look and touch. Yes, he’d held her hand and held her tight against him, but there were none of the little touches that Eli gave her to show his interest—the circling of his thumb on the side of her hand, turning his nose into her hair when he held her, letting her curls twist around his fingers. And Eli’s eyes always held a spark of what he longed for but couldn’t have yet.

  She had never seen that in Joe’s eyes.

  A tear coursed down the side of her face, and she swiped it away with one swift motion. Stop it! You have more important things to think about.

  Flopping fiercely to her side, she began to pray for her father.

  Chapter 23

  Mari was awakened by the sun streaming in the window and the smell of hashbrowns and eggs. Wondering if her mom had come home after all, she rose, wrapped herself in her plaid robe, and followed her nose. It wasn’t her mom in the kitchen, however, it was Joe.

  “Well, I finally get a Joe breakfast.” He turned at the sound of her voice. “Ben has made me breakfast, Eli has made me breakfast,” —she sat at the table— “now I’ll finally see how the number one Rhodes does it.”

  Joe gave her a dazzling smile that melted Mari’s heart into a puddle. “I hope your mom doesn’t mind me poking around in her kitchen.”