Bridge to Forever

by Rachel Ann Nunes

  Their eyes met. A brief, acknowledging smile appeared on the doctor’s face . . . and then . . . he walked past Damon.

  Damon turned, following the doctor’s progress with his eyes. He saw the couple with the injured three-year-old daughter come through the wide door from the ICU waiting room, no doubt on their way to sit with their daughter. Damon held his breath, willing the doctor and nurse to walk by them as well.

  The doctor stopped. Damon was too far away to hear their voices, but he saw the instant agony on the couple’s faces and felt it profoundly; only seconds earlier he’d lived their pain.

  The nurse was comforting the distraught couple, and Damon forced himself to look away, to turn the corner. He made it a few steps to a single chair that seemed to have been placed against the wall for such an occasion. He felt a tremendous urge to run to Belle’s side, to assure himself that she was breathing, but his limbs had lost all strength.

  A nurse came down the hall, her face similar to all the many other kind faces he’d seen in the past two days. “Ah, Mr. Wolfe, I’ve been looking for you. Your fiancée asked me to stay with your daughter until you traded places. But guess what? Your daughter’s showing signs of fighting to wake up despite the medication, and her color is really good. That means the infection is possibly leaving. I’m going to get the doctor now to see what he says, so keep your fingers crossed. If the tests check out, I think he’ll want to lower the drugs and see what happens. If we can get her awake and fighting, that should help a lot.”

  Damon’s heart beat heavily and painfully for several seconds before he realized he was hearing good news. Belle was getting better, not worse!

  Damon felt tears of relief and joy streaming down his face. He recalled the other parents who sobbed in each other’s arms around the corner. The roles could have been reversed so easily. His Belle could have been the one to die. His heart filled with a thankfulness that knew no bounds. Not one, but both of his daughters had been saved!

  He felt a deep compassion toward the couple who had not been so fortunate. They were good, worthy people who had loved their daughter as much as he loved Belle. He prayed that they would find comfort and felt that they would.

  “Please,” he said to the nurse through his tears of relief. “Can you help me up? I seem to have forgotten how to walk.”

  She smiled and pulled him to his feet. “I’ll help you to your daughter’s room. You’ll want to be there in an hour or so when she wakes.”

  * * *

  Jennie Anne’s dislocated shoulder had scarcely been returned to its proper place when a nurse appeared in the room to speak to Mickelle. “Mrs. Hansen?”

  “Yes?”

  “Your sons are out at the desk asking for you. They say it’s important.”

  Mickelle’s heart seemed to stop. Did Bryan and Tanner have news of Belle? She glanced at Jennie Anne, who eyes silently begged her not to leave. “Could you tell them we’ll be right out? The doctor went to write a pain prescription.”

  A short while later Mickelle carried a nearly sleeping Jennie Anne out of the emergency room.

  Bryan and Tanner sprang up from their seats. “It’s Belle!” Tanner said, nearly shouting.

  Bryan grinned from ear to ear. “She’s waking up! Damon told us to come tell you.”

  Mickelle hurried to intensive care with the boys, excitement and gratitude renewing her energy and her spirit. Jennie Anne was asleep when they arrived, and she arranged the child on the couch in the waiting room, tucking a blanket around her sleeping form.

  Admonishing the boys to watch Jennie Anne, she hurried past the nurse on ICU duty and down the hall to Belle’s room. Damon met her halfway across the room, his arms going around her in a triumphant hug. “She was awake just now—I talked to her! The doctor says she’s going to be okay. Her insides are healing better than he’d hoped.”

  His lips met hers in an urgent kiss that spread like fire through Mickelle’s veins. “I love you so much,” he murmured, “and I want to do anything to make you happy. To make our family happy. Beginning with the surgery.”

  Mickelle laughed until the tears came. “But Damon, don’t you see? Jennie Anne is ours together! She is what I need—my special rose that only you and I share. I didn’t see it until you told her we were going to adopt her!”

  “Of course we’re going to adopt her—weren’t we always? But Jennie Anne or no Jennie Anne, you have to believe that I will always love you.”

  He kissed her again, and suddenly there were no doubts in Mickelle’s heart. Whatever happened next, wherever they ended up, she knew they shared a love that would exist forever.

  Epilogue

  The weekend before Thanksgiving, Mickelle and Damon were married for time in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. Mickelle felt beautiful in her new dress and so full of happiness that she kept wanting to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

  After a brunch with all the family and close friends, they left for home where they had decided to spend an uneventful and quiet weekend before the rush of Thanksgiving. The children were being taken care of by relatives, and all the help, including Stan and his cameras, had been given the weekend off. They’d postponed their trip to Europe for a few months to make sure the girls were safely healed, but Mickelle didn’t mind. She was too happy to worry about anything but loving her new husband and her children.

  Damon picked her up outside the front door and carried her into the house. “Are you sure you haven’t gained weight?” He kissed her to show he was teasing.

  She playfully cuffed him. “Better save your breath, that staircase is pretty long.”

  He kissed her again, and every inch of her body tingled with his touch. “Wait,” he whispered, setting her down.

  In the front closet he retrieved a white box about five inches square, topped with brilliant red and yellow ribbons.

  She eagerly tore off the ribbons and lifted the lid. “Oh, it’s beautiful!” Inside was a colored glass replica of a rose in full bloom. But not just any rose. This one was bright red on the outer half of the petals and a sunshine yellow on the inside. A Jennie Anne.

  “I love it,” she said simply, recognizing the message that no longer referred only to their soon-to-be daughter but to their eternal commitment.

  They put the blossom in her curio cabinet with the rest of her collection, next to the gold-dipped rose he had given her so many weeks before. Then he lifted her again and carried her up the stairs.

  * * *

  Wrapped in Damon’s arms, Mickelle dreamed of a sturdy wooden bridge. A long, colorful bridge that spanned an immense gulf of green and blue. Standing at the mouth of the bridge, she couldn’t see what was on the other side, but she wanted to go there, for she knew it held all the hopes of eternity. She looked around and was grateful to see Damon beside her. He took her hand, and she smiled. Behind them Tanner, Bryan, Jeremy, Belle, and Jennie Anne followed, skipping and laughing. Occasionally one would stumble and fall, but the others would help and the trip across the bridge continued.

  Mickelle stopped and gazed out over the vast earth and water the bridge spanned, wondering at the marvel of such an impressive structure. Strange creatures roamed below, but on the bridge they were safe. Who could have created such an amazing bridge?

  Damon pulled her along, grinning. She felt his love as though it stemmed from her own heart. They were one.

  Abruptly, the bridge ended, and her foot nearly slipped off the edge. She gasped, struggling for balance. “Oh, no! What should we do now?”

  Damon steadied her and stared sadly at the water below. The children crowded around in dismayed silence.

  Their destination was still obscured, but it called to Mickelle even more strongly. She desperately wanted to go on, but to continue meant certain death. There was no choice except to return to the mundane existence they had left. She bit her lip and tried not to cry.

  Then Damon grabbed something out of the air and placed it next to the bridge. The object b
ecame part of the bridge. He put on yet another piece and stepped forward. The bridge held! He motioned for her to come.

  Mickelle stepped forward. Something moved in the air, a flash of light. She reached out and it solidified in her grasp, becoming a sturdy wooden plank. Together, she and Damon placed it next to the end of the bridge. They laughed and stepped forward, searching for another piece of light.

  “We’re building the bridge,” she said. “The bridge to forever.”

  * * *

  Thanksgiving Day found Mickelle and Damon leading Belle and a sling-wearing Jennie Anne around on the family’s new cream-colored horse. Belle’s face radiated happiness at finally obtaining her heart’s desire, while Jennie Anne’s sparkled with newfound confidence.

  “Is it my turn yet?” Jeremy asked from his perch on the wood fence, where he sat with Tanner and Bryan.

  “I see we might need to get another horse,” Damon said with a sigh.

  Mickelle laughed. “Let’s see how well they take care of this one first.”

  After everyone had a ride, the children gathered in the family room to play a game of Phase 10. Mickelle went to the adjoining kitchen, followed by Damon who began to carve one of the two turkeys.

  She put the rolls in the oven before saying, “They’ll be here any minute. Are glasses on the tables?” They’d set up another table to accommodate all of her family. She was excited because this was the first time she’d ever hosted a family holiday. From the moment she’d first entered Damon’s house, long before they fell in love, she’d known it would be perfect for such an event but had never believed she would see it happen with her family.

  Mickelle Wolfe, she thought. Perfect.

  Damon had paused in his work and was observing the children. “We may never find him, Kelle,” he said after a few minutes. There was no need to name the man who had so disrupted their lives.

  She sighed. “I know. And I have to let it go. At least he gave us back Jennie Anne. I’m grateful for that. There was something good in his heart after all. I wish him well. I hope he finds happiness some day.”

  “For that to happen, he’ll have to change.”

  “A step at a time, I guess.”

  Damon’s eyes rested on Jennie Anne. “I can’t wait to tell her.”

  “Me either.”

  Her family were not the only ones invited to the feast. Mickelle’s single friend Brenda and her four daughters were coming, along with the banker, who’d overcome his conservative nature to ask Brenda to marry him. Happily, she’d said yes. Mrs. Mertz had also agreed to forego her usual meal before her television and join them instead. Mickelle thought her decision might have something to do with the fact that Damon would be baptizing her in two days.

  Mickelle and Damon waited until all the guests had arrived and were seated around the Thanksgiving tables to tell their good news. Damon stood and tapped his wine glass, full of sparkling apple juice. “Before I offer the blessing on the food, I’d like to make an announcement.”

  Everyone grew silent, even Forest—the twin who was never quiet. Mickelle was sure that was a good omen.

  “After a bit of searching, my attorney has located Jennie Anne’s great-aunt, and she has signed papers permitting us to adopt Jennie Anne.” Damon held his hand up to quiet the resulting cheers. “We still have to appear before a judge to make it official, but that is merely a formality. So”—he lifted his cup—“Jennie Anne, welcome to our family. We love you and are so grateful everything worked out the way it did. Now—” He paused expectantly, and Jennie Anne glanced at Mickelle hesitantly. Mickelle gave her the thumps-up sign.

  “Now,” Damon continued, “you all know I have the habit of using nicknames.”

  “Annoying habit,” inserted Jesse.

  Damon inclined his head. “An annoying habit of using nicknames,” he amended. “And now that Jennie Anne’s an official part of our family, it’s time she got hers. I have to admit this was not an easy call, but at last I’ve figured out a name that is to be used by me and no one else.”

  “Good, ’cause I like the name Jennie Anne,” Belle said.

  Damon walked over to Jennie Anne’s chair and put his face close to hers. “This name is even more special because Nedda told me your mother used it.” He smiled and winked. “It’s Jenna. You’re my Jenna.” He lifted her from her chair and hugged her tightly. “Welcome home, Jenna.” Jennie Anne beamed, and her eyes grew teary.

  With Jennie Anne still in his arms, Damon extended a hand to Mickelle. Momentarily, she again saw the colorful wooden bridge of her dream, and felt their love flowing between them like a rushing river.

  She reached out and grabbed a piece of light.

  THE END

  We hope you enjoyed Bridge to Forever. If you did, we would appreciate a kind review, which will allow the author more time to focus on writing than promotion. For your convenience, a sneak peek of Tanner Wolfe’s story Where I Belong begins in the next section, followed by a bonus preview of Tell Me No Lies, a romantic suspense novel by the author under the name Rachel Branton. A list of all books by Rachel Ann Nunes including her pen names can be found in the About the Author section after the bonus preview of Tell Me No Lies.

  Rachel Ann Nunes is a member of the Tip My Author network, where readers can connect with and encourage their favorite authors. If you enjoy Rachel’s work, please consider letting her know here.

  Sneak Peek

  Where I Belong

  by

  Rachel Ann Nunes

  Prologue

  Sixteen-year-old Tanner Wolfe was shooting baskets on the new court they had laid on the side yard when a huge moving van lumbered up the driveway at the house next door. The court sat near the property line where the cedar fence began, so he had a clear view of the neighbor’s front drive. He glanced once and then peered with interest out of the corner of his eyes as he prepared to shoot, curious to see who would emerge from the moving van and the large twelve-seater passenger van that followed it.

  A man climbed from the driver’s seat of the moving van, came around the front, and opened the other door. A little boy jumped into his arms. At the same time a stream of children began emerging from the passenger van. A tired-looking woman followed them up the drive. Then an older girl came from the moving van, slipping gracefully down to the cement.

  Tanner faltered and missed the basket. It wasn’t that she was the most beautiful girl he had laid eyes on—he was really too far away to see her features clearly—but her long hair and her graceful movements made him want to stare.

  As he dove for his lost ball, he heard laughter coming from the girl. Had she noticed his fumble?

  Face flaming, Tanner shot again and made the basket. He cast a triumphant look toward the girl, but she was already walking away, hefting a small child in her arms. Her waist-long, light brown hair fanned out behind her like a curtain separating them.

  Tanner’s smile died, and the ball fell from his hands. Bump, bump, bump, bump—it came to a slow stop.

  The children and parents were all quickly disappearing into the house. Tanner wasn’t sure, but there seemed like at least a dozen small faces.

  “Tan?”

  He turned in the direction of his Dad’s voice. Damon Wolfe was coming across the grass toward him. His yellow-blond hair stood up slightly on his head, but his short moustache was combed neatly over a generous mouth. “I was watching you from the window. Great basket! But what’s wrong? Why’d you stop?”

  Tanner shrugged. “Nothing. Just some people. Looks like they’re moving in.”

  Damon’s attention shifted. “Oh, good. I was glad to hear they finally sold that house. I miss having neighbors. Do they look nice?”

  “Noisy. They’ve got about a hundred kids.”

  Damon’s amber eyes gleamed with amusement. “Only eight from what I heard. Come on, let’s go meet them. I’m sure they’ll need help unloading.”

  Tanner gave a half-hearted groan.

  “Com
e on, son. You know it’s a privilege to help our fellow man.”

  “Okay, Dad.” Tanner gave him an appropriate smile and walked a little faster. Truth be told, he was curious about the new neighbors—or at least about the girl.

  Damon hesitated. “Wait a minute. Just let me run inside and tell Kelle so she can call a few more people over. From the looks of that van, we’re going to need help.”

  As he waited in the drive for his dad to talk to his stepmom, Tanner wondered why the new neighbors didn’t pay a moving company to help them. While their house definitely didn’t have the fifteen thousand square feet the Wolfe’s Victorian mansion claimed, it certainly wasn’t small.

  “Must be because they have so many kids,” Tanner said aloud, surveying the square, red-bricked house. “Too busy paying for braces to pay movers.”

  His eyes caught a movement inside on the second floor, and he turned away quickly so he wouldn’t be caught staring.

  “Okay, Tan, I’m ready.”

  Tanner rolled his eyes in irritation at the nickname. His dad shortened nearly everyone’s name. His little sister, Isabelle, had been Belle since her birth. His mother Charlotte had been Char during her short lifetime. His stepmother, Mickelle, was now Kelle. His stepbrothers, Bryan and Jeremy, were Bry and Jer, and his sister Jennie Anne had become Jenna on the day Damon and Mickelle had announced their intent to adopt her. Nobody else in the family used the nicknames; in fact, they were rather annoyed by them. But his father persisted. Tanner was long accustomed to going through life being called something people did to their skin.

  They moved down their own tree-lined driveway to the sidewalk, and then next door. Tanner felt nervous, though he didn’t know exactly why. It couldn’t be because of the girl. He was dating Amanda Huntington, one of the best-looking girls in school. He wasn’t looking for anyone else.

  They were almost to the double front doors of the square house when a man emerged from the garage. “Hello!” Damon called, turning in his direction and holding out his hand. “We’re your new neighbors. I’m Damon Wolfe and this is my son, Tan. We came over to see if we can give you a hand.”