Beyond the Fire

by Cheryl Pierson

  A lot of good men had been lost. Tom Granger. Jack had thought he’d make it, but he hadn’t. They’d lost him en route to the hospital. By the same token, he’d been almost certain that Jason wouldn’t survive the night. Yet, somehow, a miracle had occurred, and he had pulled through, after all.

  Kendi had told him the next day. He’d been sure she was lying to protect his feelings until the doctor had also confirmed Jason’s survival. In his heart, he knew it had been a boon to all of them, that they’d all managed to endure and live through that night. He planned to treat that gift with the best care possible, now and for always.

  A knock on the door brought him back to the present, as Dr. Alward stuck his head inside, grinning broadly. “You’re not ready to leave us yet, are you?”

  Jack gave him a dry look. “I appreciate you, Doc, but I’ve been ready to leave since the day I got here. I’m not such a good patient.”

  Dr. Alward came around the end of the bed and put his hand out to him. “That’s all right, Jack. I can’t blame you. You were very lucky to have had such a guardian angel to care for you early on—when it all happened.”

  Jack nodded as they shook hands. “I know, Doc. Kendi’s…something else.” Too special for words.

  Dr. Alward sat on the edge of the bed. “Jack, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about the others...your colleagues we couldn’t...who didn’t survive.” He glanced down. “That’s one of the bad parts about being a doctor. We can’t save everyone.”

  “Don’t apologize, Doc,” Jack said gruffly. “That’s one of the bad parts about being undercover, too. Same thing. Not everyone is going to make it. Sometimes you have to watch things happen—things you know you could change...but if you did—” he shrugged, and Alward met his eyes.

  “That’s what I wanted to tell you, before you left. We worked like hell to save your guys. I just wanted you to know that. But there were a couple from the other side, Sanchez’s men, who—” He broke off as if he wasn’t sure whether to complete his thought, then plunged on. “They were still breathing when they got here, but we...only had so many doctors, and we...took care of you—‘the good guys’—first. Sanchez’s men...they didn’t make it.”

  Jack watched him for a long moment. “Can you live with it, Doc?”

  “That’s the first time I’ve ever...that I didn’t really try. But we only had a finite number of surgeons and nurses...” Alward took a deep breath. “Yes. Yes, I can live with it. We all agreed, tacitly, that our efforts needed to be spent on you, on Clint Rivers, on Brad Watson. We did some good work, and it paid off, for the good guys. Rivers and Watson both pulled through, and I believe you’re going to survive. But, none of Sanchez’s men made it.” He said it with satisfaction, Jack noted.

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  “No.” He stood up. “Don’t thank me. You guys are the real heroes out there.”

  “Thanks for patchin’ me up.”

  “I want to see you in a week; sooner, if you have any problems or pain.”

  Jack grimaced. “All right. Kendi’ll twist my arm. I’m sure.”

  The doctor laughed. “Your wife is one in a million. She’s mastered the art of actually sleeping in these god-awful chairs.” The smile left his face. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more devoted than she’s been. You’re a very lucky man, on all counts.”

  Lucky. Jack watched him turn away, his thoughts on Kendi again. Lucky. He smiled, thinking of Kendi’s inadvertent deception. Mrs. Taylor. Everyone thought of her as his wife. Although it had been an assumption, Kendi had allowed it without correction.

  “Doc?”

  At the doorway, Alward turned back to face him. “Could you please ask the chaplain to come in here for a minute?”

  “Sure thing. I saw him just before I started my rounds.”

  “And, can you come back with him? Stick around a few minutes, too?”

  Suspicion lit William Alward’s keen blue eyes. “Are you in need of a witness, Jack?”

  He grinned wryly. “If you don’t mind, Doc. We’ll find out when Kendi gets here, I guess. She’s not really my wife...yet. Any hope my partner might be able to get up and around for a few minutes? Act as my best man? We’ll make it short—if Kendi accepts.”

  Alward gave a knowing smile. “I believe that might be good medicine for Clint.” He winked as he turned to leave. “I wouldn’t worry about Kendi accepting your proposal. If she loves you enough to sleep in this chair, she’ll marry you.”

  Jack nodded. “I hope so. I’ve gone to a lot trouble behind the scenes to arrange this—called in some favors as far as the marriage license and waiting period so it’ll all be legal. I even had to ask an old friend with the FBI to get the ring for me.”

  Alward laughed at that. “Well, we better make it so, then. It’ll be pretty embarrassing if it falls through, after all you’ve done.”

  “I love her. It’ll happen.”

  “Yes,” Alward said. “There’s no doubt of that.”

  ****

  Kendi hated to be late. And it would have to happen today of all days! The day Jack was to be released.

  She’d cleaned the house, changed the sheets, and gone to the grocery store. When had she found the time to do it? It seemed as if the past two weeks had been a huge blur.

  She realized how bone-weary she was. Her anxiety over Jack and her brother added to her fatigue, making her an easy target for the loony bin. I’m ready to slip over the edge, she thought with a grim chuckle.

  Things will get better once I have Jack back at my place, once I don’t have to be at the hospital every day. I don’t think I could handle another restless night spent in the hospital chair at his bedside.

  In the end, she knew she would do it again in a heartbeat.

  She found a parking place close to the door, the first thing that had gone right since she’d left early this morning to drive home for a shower. She jumped out of the truck and walked quickly for the hospital entrance, making a beeline for the elevator.

  Crap. She needed to stop by Jason’s room before she went to Jack’s. He had asked her to bring a book of crossword puzzles to keep him from going crazy, now that he felt well enough to read. She dug inside her purse and pulled out the book along with a couple of pencils. The elevator stopped and she stepped out on the second floor. Jason’s room was at the far south end of the hallway. Kendi stuck her head inside the door as she gave a quick knock, but Jason was gone.

  She laid the book and pencils on his bedside table and turned as one of the nurses came in behind her.

  “Oh—hi, uh...Mrs. Taylor.”

  “Hi. Do you know where Jas—uh, Clint, is?”

  A flush stained the other woman’s cheeks immediately, but before she responded, Kendi went on. “I brought him a crossword puzzle book and some pencils. I didn’t know he was able to leave his room.”

  “Only briefly,” the nurse said quickly.

  Kendi smiled. “Well, that’s good news.” She gestured to the table. “I’ll just leave them here, okay?”

  “Oh, uh...sure. That’ll be great. I’ll make sure to tell him you came by.”

  “I’ll try to come back this afternoon. Any idea where he is?”

  “Uh...not really. But I do know Mr. Taylor was asking about you a few minutes ago.”

  “Oh, dear.” Kendi glanced at her watch. “I’m late, I know. He will be so ready to get out of here. He’s probably worn a track in the floor.”

  “Just about,” the nurse agreed with a secretive smile as Kendi hurried past her.

  Jack’s room was at the opposite end of the hallway. As Kendi neared, she heard the sounds of several voices spilling out into the hallway along with strains of laughter. It was such a welcome change from the seriousness of the past several days. A smile lifted her lips as she stepped into the doorway.

  Jack wasn’t pacing at all. In fact, he was sitting in the chair she usually occupied, looking very relaxed. Jason sat nearby in a wheelchair, and Dr. Alward
stood at the foot of the bed. The chaplain, Reverend Walter, stood beside him. One of the nurses stepped inside the doorway behind Kendi.

  Jason was the first to see her, from where he sat, his face lighting with undisguised pleasure. “Kendi!”

  Everyone turned, and she suddenly felt as if she were on display in a storefront window. She glanced quickly at the doctor, then the chaplain, who nodded hello.

  Finally, she met Jack’s eyes, warm and filled with some kind of hopeful expectation that she didn’t understand. He stood as she came toward him, the chaplain and Dr. Alward stepping back to let her pass in the small confines of the room.

  Reaching for her hand, he pulled her to him, and without saying a word, lowered his head to slant his mouth across hers. He kissed her as if they were the only two people in the universe, and she responded, inevitably, the only way she could. Her mouth opened beneath his onslaught. Her fingers splayed across his back, but even so, she touched him with a gentle fierceness, unwilling to grip too harshly across the recently furrowed flesh, newly mending.

  Her heart pounded furiously against her chest, and his hands moved upward to frame her face, his thumb caressing her cheek. He lifted his lips from hers slowly.

  “Will you marry me, Kendi? Here. Now. Before we walk out of this room?”

  She put a hand to her lips, as if she thought she might hold the rush of her happiness inside, but it escaped on a sigh.

  “Yes. Oh, yes...”

  There was a hint of an apology in the depths of his dark eyes. “Maybe this isn’t your idea of what a wedding should be—”

  She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears at his vulnerable uncertainty. “It’s perfect.”

  “I had to send an FBI man out for the rings,” he joked. “I hope you like them. If not...we’ll—”

  “I’ll love them.”

  He leaned toward her once again, his lips grazing hers gently, all questioning gone now from his features. “I love you, Kendi. It’s gonna be good from here on out, baby. I promise you.”

  ****

  Jack turned the pickup onto the gravel road and eased it carefully over the worst of the ruts. “We’re gonna have to get a load of gravel delivered,” he said absently. Kendi raised her head from against his shoulder.

  “Dad and Jason used to spread it. It would be delivered at the end of the drive, and they evened it out.”

  Jack’s gaze tracked along the burned forest where the line of trees had once stood thick and green. “It almost took the house, didn’t it?”

  Kendi nodded. “Yes.” She smiled. “Odd to think of that night, now. I was so worried about losing the house, but then...everything changed. The house suddenly didn’t matter to me. You were all I cared about. I was so afraid I was going to lose you...us.”

  He stopped the truck midway up the drive and turned to look at her. “I put you in a helluva lot of danger, Kendi. I didn’t mean to. I know Jason didn’t, either. He just never thought about the consequences. I’m sorry for that, and I know he is, too.”

  Kendi shook her head. She couldn’t allow him to blame himself over anything that had happened. It certainly hadn’t been his fault. None of this had.

  Maybe Jason should’ve used more caution, but none of them had known Sanchez would interfere as he had.

  “Jack, it wasn’t your fault. Please, don’t blame yourself.”

  He leaned back in the seat, the motor idling as his gaze drifted to the house, the woods, and the barn. “I couldn’t have stood it again.”

  Kendi was silent a moment, then she said, “I know. But somehow, I knew we were going to make it. God wouldn’t be so cruel.”

  Jack smiled crookedly. “I guess I’m safe from here on out, then. How could He ever make you unhappy, angel? Just keep loving me, Kendi. I believe God will always give you your heart’s desire.”

  She shook her head. “I was...thinking of you, Jack. That after all you’ve been through, He’d grant you happiness.”

  “A second chance at heaven.”

  She nodded. “Yes. I hope...that’s how you see this love we have.”

  He didn’t answer, glancing away, back toward the house again in a gesture Kendi had come to understand. He was gathering his thoughts, pushing back the emotion. After a moment, he spoke, still not looking at her.

  “Look at it, Kendi. Can you see what this truly means to me? Look at the house. It’s still standing, when, by all rights, the fire should have burned it. This is my...my first true home, since Amy...” He shook his head as if to clear away the cobwebs of his memories. “This house is already so full of love and laughter. The best place we could be.

  “I think... I’ll never forget this moment. Coming down the road and around the curve, seeing the roofline still there. The wood walls, the front porch...remembering the first time you brought me back here. This is home. And it’s because you’re here, Kendi. No matter where I go, as long as you’re with me, it’ll be home. But this place...this place will always be special.”

  “I love you, Jackson.” It was all she could say without dissolving into tears.

  “I don’t know why, but I’m glad you do, Mrs. Taylor.”

  “There are too many reasons to count.”

  Jack laughed aloud. “You’re heaven-sent, Kendi. No one but you would see me like that. You truly are my personal angel.” He put the truck in gear. “Let’s go home.”

  ****

  As they entered the house, Kendi shut the door behind them and locked it, giving them both a chance to quell their emotions. She’d never thought she’d be coming home like this—as the wife of the man she’d fallen so hopelessly in love with. A man she’d known for less than two weeks.

  She turned to see Jack eyeing the stairway, his thoughts written plainly on his handsome features.

  “I can make us a bed down here—”

  “How? Drag a mattress downstairs?”

  “I’ve done it before.”

  His eyes narrowed, and after a moment, he shook his head. “You must’ve done a lot of things in the past that were really hard, Kendi. Being here by yourself. But those days are over. You aren’t alone anymore.”

  She nodded. “I—I know. I just don’t want you to overdo.”

  Jack’s lips curved in a teasing smile. “Don’t you worry about that little detail, sweetheart. I’ll take it easy. We’ve got the whole afternoon ahead of us.” He glanced at the long stairway again. “Just give me a head start, will ya? You’ll probably have time to fix lunch before I make it to the top.”

  Kendi giggled. “Maybe I better walk behind you, so you don’t tumble backward.”

  “You wound me, wench.” He started for the staircase. “I figure if I could do this in the shape I was in before, I can damn well do it now.”

  Kendi heard the underlying determination in his words, along with the uncertainty. He took the first step as she watched from where she stood at the doorway.

  His progress was agonizingly slow, and it occurred to her that she was doing him no favor by providing an audience. She took her cue from his earlier quip about lunch and headed toward the kitchen, only then releasing the breath she’d been holding.

  It took every ounce of her own determination to walk away from him, her heart pounding erratically as she waited for the slightest noise. She forced herself to go through the motions of making a pot of coffee—something she could do for him that she knew he’d appreciate. Something that would prevent her hovering. Once it had begun to brew, she stole a look around the kitchen entry toward the staircase. It was empty. She closed her eyes and let go a sigh of relief. There were no sounds coming from the bedroom.

  “Jack? You all right?”

  “Will you stop worryin’? You’re treating me like an old man.”

  She smiled at the irritation in his muffled tone. Right now, he was probably feeling like he was a hundred. “Okay. This is me, not worrying.” She took a cup down and poured his coffee, then headed for the stairs.

  “Hey, th
at coffee smells good, Mrs. Non-Worrier,” he called. “Can you bring me—”

  She stopped at the top of the stairs, looking into their bedroom. Jack sat on the edge of the bed, his shirt unbuttoned, feet bare, jeans undone. His long, dark hair was mussed.

  At her questioning look, he flashed her a disarming grin. “This is my bedroom look. What do you think?”

  Kendi walked in and handed him the coffee cup. “I think...it’s not complete yet. Let’s finish getting your clothes off and get you into bed.”

  He took a swallow of the coffee, lifting a questioning brow. “Brazen. And then?”

  “We’ll play doctor.”

  He shook his head. “Oh, no. We’ve already done that. Let’s think of something else.”

  She sat beside him. He put an arm around her shoulders as he took another drink of the coffee.

  “Teacher?” Kendi suggested.

  Jack sighed in satisfaction. “Yeah. That sounds great.” He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You teach me all about love.”

  Kendi smiled as she looked into the depths of his ebony eyes. “Let’s start with show and tell.”

  “My favorite.” He set the cup on the nightstand and stood up, shrugging out of his shirt. It fell to the floor. He pushed his jeans down and stepped out of them. “This is me. All yours. Loving you, forever.”

  Kendi came to her feet, feeling unsteady with the pounding rush of blood that leapt through her veins at his words, his sincere honesty. He looked down at her, then slowly laid his hands atop her shoulders. In his eyes, Kendi saw the doubts banished, the uncertainty driven out completely, as she smiled up at him. His love for her washed over her with his simple words, his giving of himself.