by Deb Kastner
Crazy woman.
Wonderful, brave, and completely insane Vee Bishop. The lady who’d somehow slipped in and stolen his heart, and the woman he now knew he couldn’t live without.
Ben had been walking in her direction when Kent Salinger had broken for the house, and he’d watched in amazement as Vee had tackled him to the ground. To see a woman a little more than five feet tall take down a man who was well over six feet and a good hundred and eighty pounds was a sight in itself.
But then she’d run into the house herself to save the girl. Ben would have gone after her, except he didn’t dare let go of Kent.
“Crazy woman,” he muttered aloud as he strode back to the ambulance with Vee tucked safely in his arms.
Vee moaned. Ben wasn’t sure whether that was in protest to what he’d said, or whether it was because she’d been injured in some way. There was blood all down the front of her jacket and a large, gaping cut on her chin.
One thing was for sure—she wasn’t feeling 100 percent. Otherwise, she would have been all over him for saying that she was crazy.
“Almost there,” he whispered, brushing his cheek against her hair. She reeked of smoke, but that didn’t keep him from inhaling deeply. She was alive, and that was all that mattered. The smell of smoke was an acrid reminder to thank God that Vee was still here with him.
He wanted to blurt out how he felt about her, now that he’d finally figured it out himself. But he’d wait until she’d recovered a little bit before he blasted her with a whole new shock.
He reached the foot of the nearest fire truck just as she murmured, “Put me down, please.”
Gingerly, he set her down on the ground, supporting her by the shoulders. “Are you able to sit?”
“Of course I can sit,” she answered briskly, though her bold statement was interrupted by a coughing attack and she didn’t immediately let go of his forearm.
“Easy does it. You’re probably dizzy from all the smoke inhalation. Let me get you some oxygen and take care of that cut for you.”
She protested, but he ignored her. Thankfully Zach had thought to leave a tank behind for Ben to use with Vee. With great care, he took her helmet from her tightly clenched fist and set it aside and then placed an oxygen mask over her mouth, careful to avoid the cut. He didn’t think she’d need stitches, but he cleaned it up for her.
“Lady, don’t ever do that to me again.” His eyes met hers and his heart jammed in his throat. “You had me really worried there for a while.”
“Crystal?” she choked out.
“She’s good. She and her family are already on their way to Mercy Medical Center with Zach and Brody. She doesn’t appear to have any external injuries, but they’ll check her out to be certain and then treat her for smoke inhalation. They’ll probably keep her overnight for observation, but thanks to you and your crazy stunt, that little girl is going to have a long and happy life.”
“Zach and Brody?” she queried tremulously. “He’s a cop. I don’t understand. Why didn’t you go with them in the ambulance? You know a lot more about medical issues than Brody does.”
He leaned forward until his forehead was touching hers. “Are you kidding me? And leave you here without any support? Not in this lifetime. Besides, even a big lug like Brody can drive an ambulance. Don’t worry. Zach is taking good care of Crystal.”
Her eyes misted. One lone tear fell, but she quickly brushed it away with the back of her hand.
“My eyes are watering from all the smoke,” she explained with a soft hiccup. Her voice was husky with emotion, but he imagined she would no doubt write that off to smoke inhalation, too.
He caressed her cheek with his palm and brushed a soft kiss against her forehead. “You did a very brave thing today, honey.”
“She did a very stupid thing today.” Chief Jenkins strode around the corner of the fire truck and glared down at Vee, his hands pressed against his hips. He was a formidable man on the best of occasions, but right now, with steam practically sizzling from his ears and his face streaked with black from the smoke, even Ben took a step back. “What were you thinking, Bishop?”
“Crystal,” Vee answered weakly. “I had to save Emma’s baby.”
“You disobeyed a direct order! Not only that, but you didn’t even use the common sense God gave you. You knew that house was about to come down around your ears. You, of all people, know how to assess structural damage in a fire. What you did was not only reckless, but it put your fellow firefighters at risk trying to help you. You’re suspended from active duty until further notice.”
Vee shook her head as if she didn’t quite understand Chief’s words to her. Her eyes were misty again, and Ben thought she might break into tears at any moment.
Vee Bishop. Crying.
Clearly the poor woman was in shock. Ben stepped forward, blocking Chief’s view of Vee.
“Look here, Chief,” he started. Ben ignored the fact that Chief had turned his dominating glare upon him. Better that than for him to continue hovering over Vee.
He reached for Chief’s elbow and pulled him aside. “Now, I know Vee disobeyed a direct order,” he started.
“Yes, she did,” Chief barked. “And don’t try to talk me out of suspending her. She knew the consequences when she made the decision to run into that house on her own.”
“But she did save the girl.” He was stating the obvious, but that had to count for something, didn’t it?
“That’s irrelevant. People in our line of work have to obey orders, keep the chain of command. Otherwise you’ve got utter chaos.”
“I know,” Ben agreed. “But don’t you think you can give her a bit of a break right now?” He leaned toward Chief and lowered his voice. “I think she’s in shock. She needs medical attention. I know she inhaled a lot of smoke in there, and I haven’t really been able to assess her for external wounds. Kent Salinger gave her a good clip on the chin with the heel of his boot.”
Chief adjusted his helmet, drawing it lower over his brow. After a moment, he nodded.
“Do what you have to, Atwood. See that she’s properly cared for. We’ll deal with this later.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you,” Chief said, stepping around Ben to hover over Vee and point an accusatory finger at her, “promise me you won’t do anything else foolish until we have ourselves a little talk back at the station tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir,” Vee replied weakly.
“Make no mistake about it. We will have that talk,” he promised. “Don’t you go thinking you’re out of the woods yet, Bishop.”
“Yes, sir,” Vee said again, then sighed heavily and sank back on her shoulders.
“Are we good, Chief?” Ben queried, squatting down beside Vee to support her shoulders. He brushed a tendril of hair from her forehead that had escaped the knot at the back of her neck.
“Take care of our girl,” Chief said and then turned on his heels and marched away, shaking his head as he went.
That was exactly what he planned to do. Not just now, but for as long as Vee would let him.
“Take it easy there, honey,” he murmured, shifting on his knees so he was cradling her in his arms. “Don’t worry about Chief Jenkins. He’s just a little overwrought from trying to fight the fire—and from nearly losing Crystal Salinger and the best firefighter in his unit. He’ll come off his high horse once things have settled down around here.”
Vee squeezed her eyes closed and pinched her lips together. “You heard him. I’m suspended from the department.”
“We’ll see,” he murmured.
Not on his watch. He’d find some way to keep Vee from the repercussions of her actions if he had to band the entire fire department behind her to do so. Chief couldn’t fight everyone. And anyway, Ben guessed that Chief Jenkins wouldn’t be
quite so angry once he’d had the opportunity to cool off.
He sat silently with her for a moment, reveling in the fact that she was in his arms. Even with her hair unkempt from the helmet and her face smudged with smoke, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known.
His heart swelled and closed up his throat when she leaned backward and their gazes met. She didn’t say a word, but her glinting eyes spoke volumes.
Gratitude. Tenderness. And...something more? Or was he just imagining what he wanted to see there?
The world around them might as well not have existed at all. He was keenly aware of Vee—the way she looked, the way she smelled, the way she sounded as her breathing increased through the oxygen mask. None of it should have been the least bit romantic, but Ben wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else but here with Vee in his arms.
He desperately wanted to kiss her again, to discover once and for all if the emotions he was reading in her eyes were real or just a figment of his overactive imagination, his deep desire that she reciprocate his own feelings. This time, she would have no doubt of his intentions.
This time he had no doubt of his intentions.
As if reading his mind, she twisted in his arms, tilting her head toward his. He reached around to the nape of her neck and slid his fingers over the elastic that kept the oxygen mask attached. Carefully, oh so slowly, he loosened the mask and slipped it over her head.
“Vee, I—” he began, his voice in a low timbre he didn’t recognize.
She stopped him with a finger to his lips. She shook her head and then ran her palm across his cheek and behind his neck, pulling him closer, tilting her mouth up to his.
So there was no need to say the words, after all. She felt as he did, that they should be together.
Vee was his. He had only to prove it with a kiss.
He tilted his head, taking his sweet, sweet time, his mouth hovering over hers until he heard her gasp in anticipation. Her warm breath mixed with his, intoxicating him.
His gaze flicked away for just one second, but it was enough to change his world. His eyes alighted on her helmet, forgotten for the moment and tipped upside down. Her name was written inside, in bold, permanent black ink marker.
Veronica Jayne Bishop.
Chapter Fourteen
Knife, meet heart.
Broken trust was a sharp weapon, and it hit Ben right in the chest, its ragged edges cutting deeply.
He scrambled backward, jumping to his feet, nearly knocking Vee—Veronica Jayne—over in the process.
“Wha—?” she mumbled incoherently, her eyes heavily lidded and her full lips half-pursed, poised for a kiss.
The initial pain and shock Ben felt at seeing her name turned to humiliation and then anger in a matter of seconds, rolling from one emotion to another like a snowball gaining both strength and momentum as it spun down a hill.
“I’ll bet you and your friends had a good laugh at my expense, didn’t you?” he bit out, spinning on his heels so that he didn’t have to look at her.
“I don’t know what you mean.” She sounded perplexed and bewildered and a little hurt herself.
Like she had any right to be.
“How could you?”
“How could I what?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Veronica Jayne.”
“What did you just call me?”
“Veronica Jayne. That’s your name, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“You must really think I’m an idiot.”
“No, Ben. I never once, not even for a moment, thought that you were an idiot.”
“And yet I played your little game. I told you all my deepest secrets so that you could make fun of me with your friends.”
“I never laughed at you.” Now she sounded angry.
Angry? What right did she have to be angry? That was his emotion.
“I didn’t know.”
Really? She was going to try to lie her way out of this now? He narrowed his eyes on her and tilted his head, daring her to continue.
She blinked several times and her gaze dropped away. How much more obvious could she be?
Guilty as charged.
“I really didn’t know, Ben,” she continued, her voice cracking under the strain of speaking. “I only found out just moments before the call for the fire came in.”
“What does that matter?” he snapped. “You should have told me right away. You should have told me as soon as you found out.”
He wasn’t at all convinced she was telling him the truth about when she’d discovered he was the BJ she’d been emailing. It was gut-wrenching even to consider that she might have known all along. That she had played him like a puppet, making him into a fool.
He certainly felt like a fool.
And even if she hadn’t known, as she was claiming, she still should have come forward the moment she’d discovered the truth. But Vee Bishop apparently didn’t care for the truth. And anyway, he’d known all along that she didn’t care for him. Whatever grudge she held against him, she’d paid him back for it—with interest.
“I can’t believe I fell for you. F-fell for your ruse,” he stammered, correcting himself. “Well, I have got news for you.”
He turned back to her, crouching down and tilting his head so their lips were as close as they had been in the moments before he’d seen the name in her helmet.
She sat frozen to the spot. He couldn’t even feel her breath this time, but he knew his own was quick and ragged, and his heart was pumping overtime. There was only one thing left for him to say.
“Game over.”
* * *
Vee folded the last of her shirts and tucked them into the suitcase lying open on her bed. That was it, then. Everything she needed to leave Serendipity behind.
And with it, her heart.
She couldn’t believe that she could get this close to happiness and then have it be ripped out from underneath her. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered Ben—his forehead touching hers, how strong his arms were around her, the warmth and anticipation of his lips hovering over hers.
The fury that scorched his face when he had learned the truth about her.
And what could she say? She had known that Ben was BJ. That she’d found out only moments before the emergency had been called seemed irrelevant. Ben would never have listened to any rationale she might have given for not coming clean with the shocking news.
He was convinced she’d betrayed him.
And wasn’t that partially her fault, too? No, she hadn’t deliberately deceived him, but she’d spent years holding on to a grudge, refusing to follow God’s commandment to forgive. After the way she’d treated him for so long, could she blame him for thinking she’d play this kind of cruel trick on him?
She moved to her sock drawer and scooped the entire contents of the drawer into her arms and then tossed them haphazardly into the suitcase, using the socks to fill the nooks and crevices of her suitcase.
Oh, Ben. They knew each other, both as Ben and Vee and as BJ and Veronica Jayne. They’d shared their thoughts, their feelings, their deepest hopes and dreams through their email letters. They’d shared a kiss as Ben and Vee—and she’d thought, in that moment before he’d seen her full name on her helmet, that there would be more than just one simple kiss between them, that she’d read a lifetime in his bronze-green eyes.
She’d believed the unbelievable. And how stupid was that?
She was in love with Ben Atwood. If Ben was BJ, all the better, right? And she was Veronica Jayne. That should be a good thing. Inside her heart, she really was that person—the one he’d said he cared for. The one he’d encouraged in the Lord more times than she could count.
And now—thanks to one big, ta
ngled misunderstanding—it was all ruined.
She had to look toward the future—toward the Sacred Heart Mission, where she’d be out of Serendipity and out of Ben’s life. He’d never leave her heart or her mind, but hopefully her leaving would make things easier on him.
That was the least she could do, with the mess she had made of both of their lives.
* * *
“Are you out of your mind?” Zach spotted Ben while he did bench presses—two hundred pounds. Benching the heavy weight was getting easier. His life was a blooming disaster and it didn’t look like it was going to get better anytime soon, but all the angst had done wonders for his workout routine.
Not that that was any comfort to his heart. How was he going to live without Vee?
“I’ve been benching two hundred for a while now. It’s no big deal.”
“I wasn’t talking about the weights. I was talking about the woman. You are seriously just going to let her walk out of your life?”
“She isn’t going anywhere that I know of. At least not at the moment.”
Their Spanish project was finished, on his side, at least. Just this morning, he’d emailed her the final presentation for her to accept or reject, as she pleased. He was done with it.
And then, who knew? Eventually, she was headed for stateside mission work.
What would happen to the plans they’d been making? He sighed inwardly. It would be best for all involved if he scrapped the whole thing—started over and applied for a completely different mission. Working alongside Vee would be pure torture for him now.
“So what are you waiting for?” Zach prodded, taking the bar from him and placing it in the rack. “Until you can bench two-fifty?”
“I’m not waiting for anything. I’m done with it.”
“Then you’re an idiot.”
“Thank you very much,” Ben said with more than a little bitterness in his voice. “I think we’ve already clearly established that point. I was played, and I fell for it.” His flower girl. Having difficulty finding herself. Letting her hair down. The clues were all there, and he hadn’t seen them. How stupid could he be?
