by Lee Wardlow
“Thank you.”
It felt like hours that she and Wyatt sat by that tree. Her arms were folded around the tiny child.
“I’m thirsty Nova.”
“Mark will be here soon,” she promised.
He nodded his head.
Mary hadn’t called her back. Then she heard voices calling to her. She recognized Mark as did Wyatt.
“Here Uncle Mark.” He got up and ran to the edge of the woods. Nova started to cry.
She heard the crashing sound of their boots as they loudly made their way through the brush to get to them. Street was holding Wyatt in his arms when they found her. Mark dropped by her feet on his knees. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“No, I’ve felt the baby move. Just my ankle. What happened?” Nova asked.
Mark laid his rifle down beside her. He slipped off her tennis shoe and felt her ankle. She flinched in pain. “It hurts.”
“I know.” Mark nodded. His face showed his compassion for her.
“Mary said she would call me back.” She was crying again. Mark leaned forward and touched her cheek.
“Hey now,” he said. “She didn’t want your phone to ring and alert anyone where you were.” Nova wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt. “She called Jamie. He’s on his way back.”
“Oh boy.”
“Yeah, he’s not too happy.”
“So what happened?”
“Apparently, they were thinking if they had you Jamie would give them more money?”
“Kidnapping?”
“Well Cami didn’t look at it quite that way but she’s higher than kite right now so is Charlie, her boyfriend. I let them know in no uncertain terms the best thing they could do would be to leave the state of Georgia or face Jamie’s wrath in an hour. He was on his way home.”
“What did she say?”
“She and Charlie thought maybe they would take a trip. Jamie had deposited money into her account as he had promised. They decided it was enough after all.”
Nova shook her head.
“Money does things to people Nova. I don’t think Jamie ever set out to become the man with the money that he has. He takes care of his family though.”
“I know he does.”
“I’m proud of what he’s accomplished. What he gives back here at the reservation and to other charities.”
She nodded. She didn’t know, not yet but she could imagine. He had a big heart beneath the gruff exterior.
“Well, young lady. Let’s see about getting you to the hospital and having your ankle looked at. Wyatt can stay with Mary.”
“I don’ wanna. I wanna go with Nova. Please Uncle Mark.”
He looked up at the small boy in Street’s arms. Then at Nova. “He’s attached at your hip now?” He asked.
“Pretty much.”
He shook his head. Mark rose to his feet and extended his hand to Nova. He pulled her to her feet then lifted her in his arms. “George, grab her shoe and my rifle.”
Mark carried her to the truck in the driveway in front of the house.
“I’m sorry,” Nova told him. He was starting to get winded.
“For what?” He asked.
“I’m heavy.”
“Hardly. I’m just old. I’ve carried George further when he fell and hurt his knee when we were hunting. He weighs a ton more than you.”
She chuckled.
“I heard that,” George told him.
“You did hurt yourself.”
“Because John pushed me.”
“We were seventeen at the time. Much younger.” He sat Nova on the front seat of his truck.
He looked at Wyatt. Then he looked at Nova. “Got a car seat for the kid?”
“In the garage,” Wyatt answered beaming at his uncle. “Street, you going with me? I can’t handle Nova and Wyatt.”
“Sure, I’ll go.”
“Thanks kid.” He patted his nephew’s shoulder.
“Want me to go to help with Jamie?” George asked him. George was a man of God. Their pastor at the reservation’s church. Mark’s brother-in-law too.
Mark rubbed his hand across his neck. “You know, that is an excellent idea.” Mark laid his hand across Nova’s belly. “I just need to be sure,” he told her. “Then I can reassure Jamie so he doesn’t drive like a bat out of hell.”
She waited while he did what? Communicated with her unborn baby? He chuckled as if he had read her thoughts. “Does Jamie know it’s a girl?” He asked her. His dark eyes were piercing as he looked at Nova with amusement.
She laughed out loud. “No, he thinks it’s a boy because all the Stones for generations have had boys.”
Mark laughed harder. “It’ll be good for him.” He walked around the truck while Roman, George’s oldest buckled in the car seat. Then he took Wyatt from Street and placed him in it securing him. He ruffled Wyatt’s hair making him scowl. Then he stepped back so Street could get into the vehicle. George followed him in.
Mark glanced across the bench at Nova. “The baby is fine by the way. Your ankle is sprained badly.”
“You got that from touching my belly?”
“I did. I wish I was a healer but I can only speak to the spirits and see the destiny of others.”
“That is a powerful gift Mark.”
“It is,” he replied. “And I need to call Jamie to alert him you are all right.”
He spoke in soft tones to his nephew. Mark was a calming man. Nova had always thought him to be so. When she and Tyler were fighting at his home during a picnic Mark had alleviated the stress with only his softly spoken words. She and Tyler still stopped seeing each other but Nova had fallen under Mark’s spell.
She could tell by the conversation that Jamie needed that influence right now. He was livid with his mother. Finally, Mark handed her his phone.
“He wants to speak to you.”
“Hi,” she said to him.
“Are you okay?” He asked. So Mark wasn’t so successful this time with bringing down the tension level as he normally was.
“I am. I promise. Are you?”
“Hell no. Mark and Mary think we should pack what we need and go to Goose Creek. I’m beginning to think they are right. The twins wanted us to be there Friday night for their basketball game anyway. The family will take care of packing up the rest of the house.”
“Whatever you want Jamie.”
“You sure are agreeable for a woman who just experienced a failed kidnapping attempt by my mother.”
“Jamie, he’s taking me to the hospital,” she told him. “That is all I can think of right now.”
She glanced across the seat at Mark. He hadn’t told him that part yet. Her foot hurt like a mother…
“What the hell…I thought you said you were all right.”
“I am. I hurt my ankle.”
The phone was silent. “Jamie?” She looked at the phone to see if she had lost the connection.
“What did you do?”
“I heard them talking about me so I got Wyatt out his bedroom window and we climbed down the trellis.”
He was quiet again.
“Jamie, are you there?” Nova looked over at Mark. He was smiling at her encouragingly.
“How exactly did Wyatt climb down. Those rungs on that trellis are too far apart.”
She sighed heavily. “I carried him down on my back. Mark wants to talk to you.”
She handed Mark the phone. He was looking at her with his eyebrows raised. “Jamie?”
Nova felt bad; really she did for what she had done to Mark. She gave Mark the task of calming Jamie down again. He turned into the hospital ER parking lot and parked the truck. Mark handed his phone over the seat to his brother-in-law George.
“You’re turn,” he said to him. Mark climbed out of the truck and walked around the front.
“I going with Nova?” Wyatt asked.
“You are,” Street replied.
George slid out of the truck as Street took Wyatt out of his car seat. Mar
k lifted Nova out of the seat. “How’s the ankle?” He asked her.
“Hurts.”
“You know how we can shut him up?” Mark asked her.
“Tell him he’s going to have a daughter,” Nova suggested.
Mark laughed as he carried Nova through the doors. She was put into a wheelchair and her vitals were checked. She was doing fine just by the first check. They wanted to get her in a room and check out the baby.
“I’ve felt it move.”
“Just precaution,” the nurse told her.
“Okay.”
“I go with Nova.” Wyatt was getting upset as they started to wheel her away from him.
“Hang on please,” she told the nurse. She looked over her shoulder at Wyatt. “Street, bring him here.”
She held Wyatt close. “Will you stay here with Street and Uncle George please and watch for Jamie?”
He wiped his hand across his eyes to dry them. “I will,” he sniffed.
“You have to tell him where I am when he gets here.”
“I will Nova. I promise.”
“Okay. This nurse wants to look at my ankle and check my baby to make sure we’re both okay.”
“Yours and Jamie’s baby,” Wyatt corrected Nova.
“That’s right.”
“I’ll tell Jamie where you are as soon as he gets here.”
“Thank you Wyatt. Now go with Street.” He hugged her gently as if she might break then he reached for Street.
The nurse wheeled Nova back to a room. She got undressed and put on a gown. Then the nurse helped her back into the bed since she couldn’t put weight on her foot. It amazed her that she had ran so far into the woods with Wyatt before she sat down by that tree.
Mark was outside the room until Nova was changed. He sat with her while they waited for the doctor. When the doctor came in he examined Nova’s ankle; ordered an x-ray. Then he listened to the baby’s heartbeat.
“Your baby sounds good.”
Indeed, she did. Her heartbeat resounded through the room. Nova glanced up at Mark and smiled. He took her hand and held it in his. “Do you want an ultrasound just to be sure?” The doctor asked.
“I’m fine,” she told him. “I just hurt my ankle.”
“Okay. Someone will be here soon to take you to x-ray.”
Mark sat by her on a stool. “I told you she was fine,” he whispered.
Nova laughed. “I know. That is why I didn’t want the ultrasound but it was good to hear her heartbeat. Wasn’t it?”
“It was. You will be a good mother Nova. Not just to this baby girl.” He laid his hand on Nova’s stomach. “To Wyatt, Bradley, Mikey, Kaylee and the twins.”
She nodded. “I hope so. I want to make a difference Mark. They’ve had such a hard time.”
“I know. I wish I had known how bad it was. I heard the spirits talking and didn’t understand what they were telling me. I was too close to Cami to understand what they were saying about my own sister.”
Nova caressed Mark’s jaw. “She needs help.”
“She does,” he agreed. Mark touched her hand on his face. “There are so many things that you and Jamie will experience in the coming months.”
“Good things?”
He gazed at her long and hard. “Yes. Seeing the boys graduate, Kaylee too. Raising Bradley and Wyatt with your little one. I see so much goodness coming from this union.”
“Mary told me he was my destiny.”
Mark smiled. “He is your soul mate, Nova. His soul cannot truly find happiness without yours. His love for you is something that is unexplainable to him at times. His feelings are sometimes so overwhelming that he doesn’t always understand them but Jamie knows that he needs you just as he needs to take his next breath. Without you his life is worth nothing.”
She smiled at the beautiful words that Mark spoke.
“Is that how you feel?” He asked.
Nova nodded her head. “He makes me feel like I can’t breathe. Like I’m terrified and exhilarated at the same time.”
Mark was holding her hand. He gave it a squeeze.
“I’m here to take this girl to get that foot x-rayed.”
Mark released her hand. “I’ll wait here for you in case Jamie gets here.”
The orderly helped Nova into a wheelchair. “I’ll bring her back shortly.”
Nova had been gone for fifteen minutes or so when Jamie flew through the doorway and came to a halt. He was breathless. “Where is she?” He asked his uncle.
“Calm down Jamie,” Mark told him. “Sit.”
Jamie stood in the doorway for a second then he walked across the room and sat down. He leaned over on his knees and stared at the floor. “What was she thinking?” He asked his uncle.
“Who? Nova for trying to protect Wyatt or Cami?”
Jamie chuckled; a miserable sound. “Cami,” he clarified. “I spent the whole hour’s drive back here trying to figure out what happened to her. I mean she was always something else. Popping out babies. So enthralled with them until they turned maybe two or three. The center of attention with her beautiful newborns. Hell even at forty-five when by some miracle gave birth to Wyatt.”
Mark chuckled. “Your mother always was a fertile thing.”
“Thank god she isn’t anymore,” Jamie told his uncle.
“Yeah.”
“So what was she thinking?”
“She needed money to get high. Fifty thousand didn’t seem like a lot to her.”
“Seriously,” Jamie snorted.
“She wanted more. Greed does things to people Jamie. Plus, I’m sure she had Charlie pushing her to extort more out of you. He always was a nice man you know.”
“Where the fuck is she?” He growled.
“I told her to take a trip. Not to come back.”
“Mark,” his voice showed his disdain for his uncle’s interference. He wanted Cami in jail.
“Jamie, she’s my sister. I’ve loved her for a lifetime.” The sadness that overcame Mark’s face was obvious. The pain followed. “I don’t want her to hurt anyone but she wouldn’t survive in prison.”
Jamie ran his hands over his face and through his hair in frustration. “She’s my mother but I am having trouble feeling the compassion for her that you do.”
Mark rose from the chair where he sat and walked over beside Jamie. He clasped his shoulder. “I understand son. I really do.”
Nova was returned to the room where Jaime and Mark were waiting on her. “Jamie,” she exclaimed when she saw him. He glanced up and was never so grateful than at that moment when his eyes met hers and she smiled at him. The orderly helped her stand. She hoped on one foot until he moved the chair out of the way then he helped her back onto the bed.
“The doc will read your x-rays and be right in.”
Jamie stood and walked across the room. He stood by her side+66666666666665 and cupped her face in his hands. “Are you all right…really?”
“I’ll wait out in the waiting room with Street, Wyatt and George,” Mark told them.
“Thank you Mark.”
He patted Jamie’s back as he walked past his nephew.
“Now, are you all right?”
“Yes, the doctor told me and so did Mark…our child is fine.”
He laughed. “What else did Mark tell you?”
“I’m your soulmate,” she whispered. Nova leaned over and kissed his lips. “Do you want to know the sex of our child?”
“It’s a boy,” Jamie told her confidently.
Nova raised her eyebrow over her crystal-blue eyes. “You’re pretty sure of yourself.”
“Stone men have always had boys.”
She ran her finger down Jamie’s chest.”
“Hold onto your socks Mr. Stone. You’re having a baby girl.”
“No way.”
She nodded.
Jamie threw back his head and laughed. “I think it is karma biting me in the ass.”
“Really?”
He chuck
led. “I can’t wait.”
The doctor walked in and disrupted another kiss. “You know you are a pretty happy girl who has a hairline fracture in her ankle.”
“I thought it was just sprained,” Nova said.
“Now what?” Jamie asked.
“I’ll put her in an air cast to allow the swelling to go down. In a day or two, Nova needs to see a specialist. They will cast her or put her in a boot.”
“No more jumping to the ground with forty pounds on your back,” Jamie told her.
“Nope.”
“Good girl,” Jamie said patting her knee.
He helped her dress then the doctor put the air cast on her leg to hold her ankle firmly until they could see the specialist. They wheeled her out to the waiting area. Wyatt was pacing; waiting for them. As soon as he saw them Wyatt ran to her arms.
Nova picked him up and held him in her lap. “Are you okay?” He asked her.
“I am. My ankle has a hairline fracture but I’ll be okay.”
“I will take care of you,” Wyatt told her.
“Thank you Wyatt.”
The nurse pushed them outside to the curb where Mark would bring the truck. Jamie lifted both her and Wyatt into his arms and put her inside the truck. “I’ll be right behind you,” he told her.
“That’s fine. You’re coming straight to the house correct?”
He brushed his finger down her face. “I’ll be right there,” he promised.
Mark took Nova home. He carried her inside and parked her on the sofa. Wyatt walked inside holding Street’s hand. He leaned on the sofa near Nova’s thigh. “What do you need Nova?” He asked.
“I’m good right now sweetheart. Can you run up to your room?”
“Uh huh,” he told her.
“Thank you.” She watched him run up the stairs to his bedroom on the second floor. When he was out of ear shot she gazed up at Mark. “All right,” Nova said. “Where is he?”
Jamie was driving down the dusty road that lead to Charlie’s trailer. He parked in the drive which was empty. He left the Jeep’s door open and ran up the drive to the front door of the trailer. It was unlocked. He jerked open the door and stepped inside. No one was there. The trailer empty. He just had to be sure. Jamie stepped outside into the warm, fall air. He inhaled sharply. It would be too soon if he never saw his mother again.
He climbed back into the truck and backed out of the driveway. Jamie glanced over his shoulder taking one last look at Charlie’s trailer. Once Nova had her cast on, he was taking his uncle’s advice and taking her to Goose Creek. He called Beau while he was driving back to the house.
