Georgia Pine (Southern Promises Book 3)

by K. G. Fletcher

When they got to the top of the basement stairs, Tim set Jill down and kneeled in front of Jennifer.

  “Jennifer, you’re a big girl. I need you to help your little sister down the stairs. Hold onto her hand real tight, and do as your mama tells you once you’re down there.”

  Jennifer’s face was red and wet with tears. She could only nod. When Tim stood, he focused on Jessica who was holding an inconsolable baby Jo-Jo in her arms. He patted the toddler on the head before cupping Jessica’s cheek in his hand and offered her a small smile.

  “I’ll be right back. Get the girls settled. Me and Julia will be right there,” he reassured her. “She’s probably just scared and hiding under the bed or in the closet. I’ll check the bathroom too.”

  Jessica’s eyes were wide with fear as she stared back at him, unable to respond.

  “I love you, Jessica. Everything will be okay.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The muscles in Tim’s legs burned as he bolted up the stairs two at a time.

  “Julia? Julia!” he kept yelling over and over again.

  Quickly, he knelt to the floor and looked under the first bed. Nothing. Grabbing the handle to the closet, he flung the door open and used his hands to feel the floor among the tiny shoes and flowery scented dresses hanging across a bar.

  “Julia?! Come on sweetie it’s not safe! Please, come out. I’ll protect you, I promise!”

  Kneeling in front of the second bed by the window, lightning flashed and for a split second, he was able to spot a small figure huddled in the corner clutching a blanket.

  “There you are. Come on. I’ve got you!”

  Her small leg was cold to the touch as he pulled her out and into his arms. She clung to him tightly, her tiny body shaking with fear.

  “Honey, I’ve got you. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  “No,” she whispered. “Don’t let go.”

  Tim was taken aback hearing her small, frail voice for the first time. He couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. “You can talk! I knew it!”

  At that moment, the air pressure changed and the house creaked. There was a continuous rumble, like a locomotive amongst popping sounds soon followed by the shattering of glass and wood splintering. Tim and Julia looked up to see the roof being peeled back from the house, a brief amount of light glinting inside before it disappeared in a shower of pink insulation falling from the sky.

  This was a life or death choice with a small child in his arms; the last horrific moments before the tornado struck. There was no time for reflection or regret. Forcing Julia’s head into the crevice of his shoulder to shield her, he ran hunched over into the hallway. A three-foot tree branch whipped across the room, flying over their heads and missing them by inches. It would have impaled him had he been standing tall. At the top of the stairs, Tim was suddenly lifted off his feet and clung to the top newel post.

  “Hold on!” he screamed.

  Julia clung to his neck as the wicked wind whipped at their hair and clothes, the two of them hanging in the air like parachutists jumping out of an airplane. It was just like they showed in the movies—zero gravity, legs hovering above the ground. It took every ounce of strength Tim had in his massive body to hold on for dear life. His grip was slipping and his muscles burned. Debris flew everywhere, pelting them with dirt and bits of leaves. Toys flew by, and small pieces of furniture ricocheted off his hips and back.

  And then everything stopped.

  Tim landed on his feet with a thump, his muscles taut and tensed. Julia tentatively pulled back and looked into his face. Both of their chests were rising and falling in deep breaths.

  “Are you okay?” He swept her hair back from her cheek, her precious skin perfect after the deluge of danger.

  “Yes,” she managed to utter. She kissed him on the cheek and hugged him tightly around the neck.

  “You’re so brave. I’m so proud of you.” He was shocked at what they had just been through, unscathed except for a few minor bumps and bruises.

  A large crack sounded, and the two of them looked up. As the drizzle of rain came down into the house through a gaping hole where the roof used to be, he saw it. But it was too late. Throwing his body over Julia, the Georgia pine tree came crashing down on top of them.

  And his world went silent.

  ***

  Home alarms beeped out of synch in an eerie half-harmony, the path of the storm evident in the country club neighborhood. It lasted all but four minutes. Four minutes to cause severe damage to homes that were in the way. Four minutes to turn perfect yards and luxury cars into piles of metal and debris. The path of destruction looked like a war zone.

  Neighbors cautiously came out of their basements, calling for each other and gathering in the street. Sirens could be heard coming closer—teams of firemen and medics slowly making a path through the wreckage, the roads choked with ruins.

  “Is it over, Mama?” Jennifer whispered.

  Pulling the long yellow folds of her gown from over their heads, she peered around the corner of the dark basement. Nothing seemed out of place except for the shattered panes of the window on the door leading out. The antique pool table stood regal, the sticks perfectly erect in the holder on the wall. The liquor bottles behind her on the large shelf appeared unscathed as if waiting for partygoers to come in and start mixing and mingling after the hoopla.

  “Stay right here. Let me check around the corner.”

  Jo-Jo whimpered as Jessica set her down on her soggy bottom. Her dress swished as she walked barefoot across the cold floor. Her big toe hit a shard of glass sending it skidding across the floor. Fragments of broken glass were everywhere and looked like crushed ice shimmering on the floor. Stepping back, she shone the flashlight up the stairs where the door remained shut. There was no sign of Tim or Julia.

  “Jennifer? Come here and shine the light while I check the door up here, okay?”

  “Okay, Mama.”

  “Don’t go over there,” she pointed. “There’s some broken glass from a window. I don’t want you to cut your feet.”

  The little girl did as she was told and held the phone in her hands, shining it up toward the door at the top of the stairs. Jessica turned the knob and pushed, but the door wouldn’t budge. She used her shoulder to try to force it open. No such luck.

  “It must be sealed shut from all that pressure,” she thought out loud. Using the palm of her hand, she pounded on the door.

  “Tim? Julia? Can you hear me? The door is stuck.” Pressing her ear against the wood, she waited for a beat before hitting the door for a second time, her heart pounding with the anticipation of seeing them again. “Tim?”

  Lifting the long gown so she wouldn’t trip, she treaded lightly back down the stairs and picked up her toddler. “I need some shoes so I can try the other door, but there’s glass everywhere.”

  “What about Daddy’s flip-flops, Mama?”

  She perked up. “Flip-flops? Where?”

  Jennifer pointed the light to the closed door of the storage room where a pair of flip-flops sat against the wall. Stephen was such a germaphobe, hating to go barefoot into the dank space, purposefully leaving flip-flops by the door. Quickly, Jessica slipped her feet into them, thankful for her weird ex.

  “Let’s try the other door now. Girls, stay back.”

  The Kaufman home was typical in the area with a walk-out basement. Shuffling through the glass, she turned the deadbolt and tried to open the door and could only crack it a few inches before it stopped against a large tree that had fallen. The humidity seeped in, the outside smell reminding her of Pine-Sol.

  “Darn,” she mumbled, trying to force the door open, jolting Jo-Jo back and forth in the process. The baby started to fuss.

  “I’m sorry darlin’. I’m trying to get us out of here.”

  “Mommy? Is the storm coming back?” Jill’s white nightgown seemed to glow in the dark from across the room.

  Jessica sighed. “No, baby. I think it’s all gone. We’r
e kind of stuck until someone can open one of these doors.”

  “Where are Julia and Tim?” Jennifer asked.

  “They’re upstairs somewhere. Don’t worry. Tim is with your sister. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her.” She stroked her oldest daughter’s fair hair away from her cheek, her heart seizing in her chest, hoping to god that was true.

  “I need to go potty,” Jill admitted, crossing her bare ankles and doing the tinkle dance.

  “Okay. Let me shine the light in here while you go.” The over-sized shoes she wore slapped against the floor as she ushered her girls to the half bath and watched as the two took turns using the toilet and washing their hands. When they finished, she had them sit on the leather sofa sectional and gave each of them a small water bottle she pulled out of the mini-fridge under the bar.

  “Now what?” Jennifer asked, leaning her head back sleepily.

  “I guess we wait.” Remembering she had some extra blankets under the bookcase, she pulled them out while holding Jo-Jo on her hip. Staying busy placating her girls kept her mind off the unthinkable. She also didn’t want to frighten them.

  “Why don’t you lay back and I’ll cover you up, so you’re nice and snuggly. You can close your eyes while we wait. It’ll be like our own little slumber party.”

  The girls seemed energized by the idea and promptly shifted throw pillows, making their special areas on the furniture. Once they settled, Jessica laid back on the open side of the L-shaped sofa and held Jo-Jo to her chest. Staring up at the ceiling, she wondered where Tim was and if he was trying to get to her, the last words out of his mouth haunting her.

  I love you, Jessica. Everything will be okay.

  The night was long, the minutes dragging agonizingly by. As the first light of day seeped in through the cracks in the closed plantation shutters, Jessica was startled out of a light sleep with the sound of a chainsaw. Jo-Jo immediately started to cry.

  “It’s okay. Shh. Baby girl, it’s the workers outside. We’ll be out soon.”

  Jennifer and Jill stood on the sofa cushions and watched as two firemen in full uniform pushed open the door and looked around. One of them took off his helmet and gloves as he came toward Jessica.

  “I’m Sergeant Conner, Miss. Is everyone accounted for in your household?”

  Jessica sat Jo-Jo on the couch and shook the man’s hand before shaking her head. “I can’t open the door at the top of the stairs. One of my daughters is up there with my… my boyfriend.”

  A walkie-talkie went off with a crackle of static. “You haven’t heard from them? Any pounding on the door? Yelling?”

  Jessica could feel her skin prickle with nerves. “No, sir.”

  “Okay. You all sit tight while we go check it out.” The two men lumbered toward the stairs.

  “Excuse me, but was that a tornado that came through? Is my house damaged upstairs?”

  The two men looked at each other before the sergeant took a step back. “The news channels are saying it was an F2 tornado—a lot of devastation. No loss of life so far.” He put his helmet back on his head. “I’m afraid your house suffered a lot of damage. Your roof was blown off, and a couple of large pines came down through the middle. Glad you and your girls made it down here in time. I’m hoping your other daughter and your boyfriend found a safe spot to ride it out.”

  Jessica could feel the air leave her lungs. Swaying precariously, she felt light-headed, afraid she was about to lose it in front of her children.

  “Easy, ma’am. I’m gonna have to ask you to sit down.” He grabbed her by the elbow and helped her sit next to Jo-Jo. “We’ll go check it out. I’m calling dispatch to get some guys to come to the basement door and get you out of here too. You won’t get very far with those shoes on.”

  “Okay,” she managed to utter. Jo-Jo crawled into her lap, and Jessica absent-mindedly started stroking her fair hair.

  The sound of the firemen’s heavy black boots going up the stairs was daunting. With a quick shove, the upstairs door came open and sunlight filtered into the basement hallway.

  Wait, what? Sunlight?

  She stood and looked up at the entrance, the morning sky greeting her in all its glory. What used to be her living room was totally gone.

  “Oh my god,” she whispered. Jo-Jo seemed to sense her distress and started to cry. Jessica swallowed hard, trying to keep a grip on her toddler.

  “Mama? What’s wrong?” Jennifer stood next to her, the worry on her young face evident.

  “Nothing, baby doll. You heard the fireman. They’re going to carry us out in a minute. You don’t have any shoes on, and there’s lots of glass and stuff that could cut your feet.” The high pitch of her voice wavered.

  As if on cue, four more emergency workers came through the walk-out basement door and gave instructions to the girls. They seemed shy and nervous around the strong men, Jessica reassuring them everything was okay. But was it? The turmoil in her heart pitched.

  When they were finally outside, Jessica didn’t recognize her street. Petrified, she inhaled the strong scent of pine and noticed the tops of the shredded trees along a perfectly defined path. Squinting in the daylight, she gasped at the sight of her once beautiful home damaged beyond belief, two huge Georgia pine trees crisscrossing the middle of her house. Across the street, Tim’s luxury car was a mangled mess of metal, t-boned against her neighbor’s oak tree. A path of mass destruction cut through the neighborhood, haphazardly hopping over one house, destroying another. Jilly started to cry, and Jennifer looked around in confusion. A pallet had been set up on the street near several ambulances, and the fireman set the girls down, handing Jo-Jo off to Jessica.

  “Jessica! Oh my god! Are you alright?” Elizabeth came out of nowhere and rushed toward her. She was wearing a robe and slippers. “I saw your house, and I couldn’t believe it! I told them you were inside. Is everyone okay?”

  Jessica couldn’t talk, the fear catching in her throat.

  “What? Tell me, honey.”

  Just then a little girl’s voice cut through the air. “Mama? Mama!”

  Jessica turned and could see Julia in the arms of one of the firemen who had first come into the basement. She looked like a little doll against his huge body cloaked in a yellow fireman jacket—a beautiful, blonde, baby-faced doll.

  “Julia!”

  Relief rushed to her heart as she quickly handed Jo-Jo off to Elizabeth. Picking up the skirt of her dress, she ran to the edge of the safety zone. The relief that flooded through her was instant. Tim and Julia were okay. Everything was going to be okay! When the fireman set her daughter down, she flung her little body into her mother’s arms.

  “Oh, sweetie! You’re okay! Thank god you’re okay!”

  She peppered the little girl’s face and cheeks with kisses before pulling her tightly to her chest. Her prayers had been answered. Julia wrapped her bare legs around her waist and clung tightly to her neck as she hoisted her up. Elizabeth had a huge smile on her face as she approached with the rest of the girls, surrounding her in a group hug.

  Jennifer and Jill clung to Jessica’s golden dress, and Elizabeth bounced Jo-Jo in her arms as if trying to get their little minds off the confusion of the destruction. The celebration was short-lived. The fireman who had brought Julia out of the rubble seemed to be waiting for her, the look on his face full of apprehension. A feeling of unease washed back over her.

  “Ma’am, may I have a word with you?”

  “Sure.” With Julia on her hip, she stepped away from their little group.

  The officer held his helmet and ran the back of his hand across his neck. “Your daughter…” He paused and touched Julia’s leg gently. “Your daughter was cocooned under your boyfriend in the rubble.”

  Jessica had been so focused on her daughter Julia, she had assumed Tim would appear shortly, probably distracted by filling the team in on what had happened.

  “Cocooned? What do you mean? Where’s Tim? I thought he was right behind you….”r />
  “He’s sleeping,” Julia mumbled. Her eyes were downcast as she fingered the beading on the bodice of her mother’s yellow dress.

  “What?” Jessica stared into her daughter’s face, her heart free-falling into her gut.

  “We’re getting him out, ma’am. He’s alive, but I’m afraid he’s unconscious. We believe a tree struck the back of his head. He didn’t have time to get out of the way.” The rescuer hesitated and placed his palm lovingly on Julia’s back. “Tim saved your daughter’s life.”

  Jessica stared back at the man whose news rocked her to the core before she was distracted by a commotion of sorts coming out of her decimated home. Several men were carefully carrying out a man on a gurney, his neck and head stabilized in some kind of brace.

  Tim.

  All of the air left her body and she gasped. “No. Oh, god, please. No!”

  Thrusting Julia into the fireman’s arms, she rushed toward Tim. Her whole world went into slow motion as her hands twitched to touch him—to feel his warmth—to know his heart was still pumping life through his veins.

  One of the rescue team tried to hold her back from him. In hysterics, she flailed and begged, pushing past him in a swoosh of yellow material, her blonde hair flying as she came up to the gurney, her fingers gripping the metal sides. Tim was unresponsive, his head covered in dark, thick stains, his lips slightly parted. The tux shirt he wore was tattered and splattered with blood. He was unrecognizable, his sunken cheeks pale and gaunt. Gripping his limp hand, she kissed it several times, begging him not to leave her—begging him to hold on to life. Her fingertips trembled, tracing his full lips that had kissed her just hours before, a steady stream of hot tears splashing onto what was left of his shirt.

  One of the men had to physically pull her off and held her as she watched them load Tim into the back of an ambulance. The sound of the metal doors slamming, shut her down and she collapsed to the ground in a yellow pile of heartbreak.

  Everything was not okay. Everything had changed in an instant.

  Chapter Twenty-Two