by Ravenna Tate
He nodded. “Absolutely.”
How did he know that for certain?
The others were gathered around the two computers, groaning when they lost the radar image and cheering when it came back up again. They pointed and talked about mesocyclones and lift as if they were discussing what to have for dinner. Their calm attitudes both amazed and confused her. How did they do this, day after day, without fear?
“That was close,” she said. “Wasn’t it?”
Ken turned to glance at her. “That? No. That wasn’t close. The wall cloud hadn’t even descended yet. I’ve been next to funnels while running for a shelter.”
It suddenly occurred to Liane that this shelter was where they were supposed to meet George. She asked Emmett where he was.
Emmett gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t you worry about him. He knows what he’s doing. When this passes we’ll go out and find him.”
She didn’t ask what would happen if they couldn’t find him.
They left the shelter a half hour later, and without benefit of working radar, only because the last image they’d been able to see was clear. The storm that had produced the tornado had also dropped a shitload of rain, and the ground was now soaked as they made their way further up the rise to see if they could spot George.
Liane shivered next to Emmett. The temperature had to be close to thirty now, but the sun was out. No wonder he lived for this. It was utter chaos and totally unpredictable, just the way he liked things. It was also the complete opposite of how she lived her life. The only time she mirrored his personality was in bed.
That realization forced her thoughts to their future. Was she truly the right woman for him? This wouldn’t be the last time he came up here. She knew that, but it might be the last time for her. How could she simply sit in his apartment, trying to focus on work, while he could be swept away in a flood or sucked up into a funnel and dropped miles away, at any second?
Even if he survived such an experience, he could be seriously hurt. Someone would have to get him back underground and to a medical facility. Liane wasn’t sure she could handle that. She wasn’t sure she could deal with any of this.
Her thoughts raced with memories of the last few weeks even while her mind played at the fringes of the very real possibility she and Emmett might not be suited to each other. Tears ran down her cheeks before she could stop them.
As she reached up to wipe them before Emmett saw her crying, a shout drew the group’s attention. A man walked briskly toward them over the rise, dressed as they were and waving a red flag. The group cheered.
“There he is,” said Merrill. “Told you a damn tornado wouldn’t keep the old bastard away.”
But even the realization that George was okay couldn’t chase away the dark clouds that had settled over Liane’s heart.
Chapter Fifteen
Emmett shook George’s hand and then clapped him on the back. “What’s with the flag?”
“Took it off a ship. They used these for hurricane warnings.”
“Excuse me?”
He pointed toward a distant rise. “There’s a ship over there. An actual ocean liner, all smashed up. Must have been swept here by a flood. That’s where I hid while that twister went by. Sorry I’m late.”
His sharp dark gaze swept over the group, stopping when he spotted Liane. “This must be Liane. How are you holding up?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
George chuckled. “You’re with the best of the best here, little lady. Nothing to worry about. So, are you ready to see this dagger?”
“Yes, I am.”
Emmett was worried about Liane. He’d known this was a bad idea, but he couldn’t have insisted she stay behind. He knew that would have been worse for her. George’s bunker was less than half an hour away, and by the time they neared it, clouds had begun to form again. She watched sky anxiously, and he caught her glancing toward Connie’s tablet as well.
When they reached George’s house, it was raining once more, but there was no thunder or lightning. Inside, the place was warm and toasty. The soft whirring of two desktop computers filled the air, along with the swoosh of an HVAC system similar to the ones they used in the cities underground.
George motioned to her. “Come over here a second, Liane.”
Emmett followed, thinking he was going to show her the dagger, but instead he brought up a website. “This is old,” he said. “Over one hundred years old. It happened in 2009 in a town that wasn’t too far from here called Murfreesboro. I’d like you to read the article while I find that dagger for your man here before he loses his mind.”
George winked at him, and Emmett shot him a dark look. The man had an uncanny knack for reading a person’s emotions at first glance, and he always nailed Emmett in two seconds flat.
Emmett followed George to another room while the rest of the team made themselves at home in George’s kitchen. He glanced over his shoulder toward Liane, who was absorbed in whatever site George had brought up for her. “What is that you showed her?”
“A story about a preacher who was caught outside along a parkway in an EF4 tornado in Murfreesboro that went right over his head, literally, while he clung to a small tree trunk. No lie. He was injured but lived through it, and wrote about the experience of looking up as the vortex went over him, seeing debris dancing at the top. He called it angels doing ballet. I thought given her background you shared with me, and the slightly gray color of her skin after having gone through that experience just now, she could use something inspirational.”
Emmett had shared Liane’s past with George after telling him she was coming to the surface with them.
“I’ve seen so many people die in storms I’ve lost count, and that story is one of the things that has kept me going.”
“She needs to hear you say that.”
“She will.” George reached into an armoire and pulled out a drab cloth. He unwrapped it to reveal a dagger unlike anything Emmett had ever seen. This was the real deal. He’d studied enough pictures to know it. “Here you go, my friend. This is what you came all this way for.”
“It’s stunning. I can’t believe you have this.”
“Pure luck, I assure you. Unfortunately, I have no clue where the other pieces are right now.”
“That’s all right. This is what she wants. How much?”
George chuckled. “I told you how much already. You think by bringing her along you’ll get it for a bargain?”
Emmett laughed. The old codger had seen right through that ruse. Money was no object, especially not where Liane was concerned. Emmett took a small bag out of his parka pocket and handed it to George. “Here you go, you skunk. All gold coins, like you asked for.”
George handed him the wrapped dagger. “And here you are. I hope she enjoys it.”
“So do I.”
Right now, he hoped more that Liane found some kind of healing peace from this experience, or it would have been wasted, and might even make things worse for her. He’d rather lose an arm than inadvertently cause her more pain.
****
Liane wiped away fresh tears as she read the article. Then she read it again. Granted, the preacher had lived and his family hadn’t been injured or even in the direct path of the storm, but when she looked at the photos of the parkway before and after, including the tree trunk he had wrapped his body around, she realized the man should have been killed by debris or swept away in the wind. The fact that he’d survived it with no more than a leg wound and a small scalp wound was truly a miracle.
The article included links to similar stories, and she read them all. These stories weren’t over one hundred years old. They were similar to what she’d gone through, and some contained even worse tales than hers. That’s what she’d missed all these years. Accounts that mirrored hers to give her a sense of camaraderie, and help her place her own experience in perspective. Now she had that.
She sent the links to every article she could find to her
email so she could read them again at her leisure, and then she turned at the sound of Emmett’s voice. He held up the dagger, and she ran over to him, smiling.
He handed it to her and she stared at it in awe. “This is amazing. I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll be okay. That’s all I care about.”
“I will be now.” She turned her gaze toward George. “Thank you.”
His lopsided grin made her smile. “You are very welcome, little lady.”
They all turned at the sound of loud laughter coming from George’s kitchen. Emmett shot George a guilty look. “I’d better get this gang out of here before you have no food left.” Emmett strolled toward the kitchen while Liane thanked George again.
“That pretty smile on your face is all the thanks I need. You know, I lost family members, too, in storms. Lots of friends as well. The guilt some days for having survived this long consumes me.”
She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. “Then why do you keep doing it?”
His gaze grew hard. “Because this is my planet and I’ll be damned if some computer program is going to take it from me. That’s why we all do this, Liane. We want our planet back.”
She nodded several times as understanding and a profound sense of peace finally settled over her. She’d thought she understood all this but now realized that she had not. Not until this precise moment in time.
They were at war with a computer program, and the price they had to pay was the same as in any war. She didn’t want to cower in fear any longer. She wanted to stand with them and fight.
The trip back was uneventful, and Liane took it as a sign that she could survive anything now. She’d made it out the other side six years ago, and now she’d gone to the surface and survived that as well. She was a warrior and could handle anything from this point on.
If Emmett needed these occasional trips to the surface, she now had the courage to stay behind and wait for him. He’d proven to her that he knew what he was doing, and she’d seen firsthand that he didn’t simply charge into the face of a storm. He was smart about his trips, and he took every possible precaution.
She would not ask him to be someone other than who he was, because she loved him. All of him, including the man who needed challenges and adventure in his life. She was a warrior now, and warriors had courage. She could do this.
****
Three days after Liane had gone to the surface with Emmett, she was with him in his office working one evening when he received a call from Blaine. He shot Liane an anxious glance and she asked him if she should leave, but Blaine had already seen and heard them both.
“She needs to stay. She’ll want to hear this.”
Liane sat down next to Emmett and waited.
“That little problem you called me about a couple of weeks ago is taken care of.”
Emmett grinned, and Liane glanced from him to Blaine and back again. “Why do I need to hear this? What are you two talking about?”
“May I tell her?” asked Blaine.
Emmett waved a hand toward him. “Might as well.”
Blaine’s smile was so wide she wondered if his face hurt. “I had some associates take care of a certain attorney by the name of Connor Fargo. He will never do to anyone what he did to you.”
Liane’s eyes widened. “What do you mean by they took care of him?”
“I mean he won’t be forcing women into having sex with him again in exchange for legal help.”
“It’s probably better you don’t know the details,” said Emmett. “Thanks, Blaine. I owe you one.”
“Anytime.” He winked at Liane. “If you get tired of that guy, give me a call.”
She chuckled and shook her head as Emmett disconnected the call. Then he pulled her into a tight embrace. “Don’t be upset with me.”
“I’m not upset, but I can’t pretend to condone violence.”
“And I won’t tolerate any man treating you or another woman that way.”
She pulled away to look into his eyes. “Then you’re truly my prince charming.”
“Except I don’t have a white horse.”
“True, and this isn’t a castle.”
“It’s pretty damn close though, at least with all the artifacts in it.”
“Very true. I think I can let you slide on the horse. However, I want to know what Blaine’s friend did to Connor.”
“Why do you need to know?”
“I want to imagine it in my head.”
Emmett laughed, and the sound washed over her the way a cleansing rain used to do before they were all forced underground. “All right, but it’s not pretty.”
“Well I certainly hope not. He doesn’t deserve pretty.”
Emmett hesitated, but she intended to push this issue. It was important to hear this so she’d have closure. “They broke into his apartment, dragged him out of it in the middle of the night, and took him to the town square. You know how quiet this city is at night? It’s the same in each of them. Then they tied him to a pole on an elevated platform, and hung a sign on him that listed what he’d done, without naming names of course. The men were masked, gloved, and are professionals. There was no DNA left behind, and no way for Connor to ID them.”
Liane laughed so hard that tears ran down her face. “No one saw them?”
Emmett shook his head. “Not a soul, or if they did, they didn’t report them.”
“How did he get free?”
“The police freed him, but from what Blaine said, he was up there for several hours before people began to come out of their homes and venture into town. To top it off, they did this on a Sunday morning so people weren’t up as early as usual and heading to work. Apparently he soiled himself a couple of times as well before they found him and freed him.”
“Oh my God. That is perfect.”
“Are you satisfied now?”
She kissed him. “Very. Thank you, my true prince charming.”
A sexy grin split his face, and she thought he was going to suggest they make love, but instead he walked over to his desk and opened one of the drawers. “I was going to save this for the right moment, but it occurs to me that the right moment is when you accept it.”
She tilted her head. “Okay. You have me intrigued.”
He took something out, but she didn’t see what it was because he placed his hand behind his back. “What else happens in the fairytales besides the white horse and the castle?”
“Um, well let’s see … the prince usually slays a dragon or two, and then he begs the princess to marry him, and they live happily ever after.”
As she watched love fill his eyes her pulse raced. What was behind his back? Holy shit…
“I haven’t slain dragons, but I’d say we’ve both conquered a few demons. Will that do?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Then there’s only thing left.” Emmett got down on one knee, and Liane began to cry. Her breath came out in short gasps as he pulled his hand out from behind his back to reveal a small box. “I got this on the surface a long time ago on a whim. It’s very old and very rare. I’m told they only made one. Honestly, before you came into my life six weeks ago, I was thinking of selling it.”
He opened the box, and she gasped again at the sight of a huge emerald, surrounded by tiny diamonds. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
“I even had it sized, so now you have to say ‘yes’. It’s one of a kind just like you are, Liane. I consider it an omen of my future that I chose an emerald, just like the color of your beautiful eyes. I can’t imagine my life without you in it, and I can’t imagine sharing it with anyone else. I love you more than I thought it possible to love another human being. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“Oh my God. Of course I will. I love you so much, Emmett. Yes! A thousand times yes!”
Emmett slipped the ring on her finger, and Liane was still staring at it as he stood and lifted her off her feet. He
twirled her around and then placed her back on the ground, kissing her until she couldn’t breathe.
She’d gone from keeping him at a distance out of fear to facing her worst one with him. Along the way she’d fallen hopelessly in love with this charming, sexy, strong man. Liane knew she’d found her mate, and she intended to make sure he knew how very, very much she loved him, every single day of his life.
The End
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Other Books by Ravenna Tate:
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