by Angela Smith
When a large 4x4 truck lumbered upon them, Jake laid on his horn in hopes Winona would pick up some speed.
“Fuck,” he exclaimed, then “Sorry, babe,” as he glanced in the mirror at Amy.
Winona opened the door, pushed Lillian in, and clambered to the back. “Drive,” she said.
“Who is that, Lillian?” Jake asked as he cut around the truckload of men who still hadn’t figured out who the Jeep belonged to.
“I don’t know.”
“Who is it?”
“Probably the men who work with Ben.”
“And what are they doing here?”
“Coming for Amy.”
• • •
The rain fell in sheets. They bumped and bounced as the Jeep attacked the muddy road. Hitting a patch of water, they slid through mud. Jake righted the wheel and kept going. He steadied his hands, tight but loose, mustering every ounce of control he had into driving.
The headlights behind them lumbered closer. Lillian sobbed beside him. Winona held Amy in the backseat, Amy’s head on her chest. He gritted his teeth, concentrating. He heard the buzz of the helicopter around them, but there was no way they could see them through this cover of trees.
As the headlights behind him closed in, he knew he’d have to pick up speed.
The road rose and dipped. The wipers whished across the windshield. Every now and again, a pinprick of the helicopter’s spotlight would stage their way. He debated turning off his headlights. Having them on was like a beacon for the bad guys to follow. But having them off was paving his way to hell.
He turned on the main county road, thankful he’d made it this far. The helicopter flew above them now, but there wasn’t a place to land in this patch of forest and he doubted they’d fire at the truck behind them even though Winona had been texting Garret the details.
Garret was up in that helicopter. They’d managed to communicate at least that much. Text messages went through, albeit slowly, but they didn’t have enough signal to call.
They made it past the dirt road and onto pavement, so the road was no longer muddy, only slick. Water splashed on the tires, the sound creating a wake of fear in Jake’s heart. He barely knew where they were, but the slice of the moon and the helicopter’s lights kept him grounded.
“Winona, untie Lillian.”
“What?”
“She needs her hands free. Just in case.”
“Okay.” She leaned to the front and struggled with the zip-ties on Lillian’s wrists. It took some work with a knife, but Winona managed to get her untied. “I will kill you if you do anything stupid,” she mumbled in Lillian’s ear, low enough Amy couldn’t hear, but Jake did. Leaning back, she told Lillian, “Buckle yourself.”
“Will you try calling Garret again?” Jake asked Winona. Now that they were out of the wooded forest, they might get a signal. And he felt he needed to communicate with Garret on what to do next. Where to meet. They still weren’t sure if Garret and his team knew that the men behind them were out for blood.
“Garret!” Winona screamed into the phone.
The road dipped again, and in a split second Jake noticed the water gushing over. It lifted the Jeep, hijacking his control.
They floated into a raging creek. Over the bridge, sinking and dipping as water splashed up and around them.
Lillian screamed. Amy followed suit.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. Calm down. We’ll make it out of this. But we have to remain calm.”
Amy quieted. Lillian whimpered. Winona didn’t say a word.
“Take off your seat belts.”
He didn’t know this creek. He only knew they’d have to get out of the Jeep to get out of this alive. But getting out of the Jeep presented its own danger. And getting out of the Jeep before it sank, or before it spun them through a torpedo of water.
Amy could swim, but in this gushing water …
Shit. They had no choice. Panic ensued as the water rose higher, churning around them and through the Jeep.
“We’ve got to get out of here. Find a branch, a rock, the shore. Something. But don’t try to swim against the current.”
The water yanked at the Jeep, the doors, the rag top, and he knew before long they’d be going through the spin cycle. “Winona, can you get Amy?”
“Yes, of course. Let’s go.”
Lillian panicked as Jake was about to rush out, and he knew he couldn’t leave her. “Shit, Lillian. Come on.” He reached for her hand, but the Jeep sank and churned. The top was split wide open. In the insistent churning, it was hard to maintain control. Lillian hadn’t unbuckled, so he reached over and did it for her. The water took her away. He swam with it.
He bobbed up and down. Heard the roaring of the water, the mangling of metal as the Jeep hit the rocks. They’d made it out just in time. He scanned the area for Amy and Winona, and saw both heads bobbing up and down.
He searched for Lillian. The water gushed into a cavernous well, but once it spilled over into a dam-like gush, it widened and calmed. No longer gushing. Winona and Amy waved their hands to the helicopter and made their way to shore. Jake only caught glimpses as the searchlight swept across the river, flashing against the water, sometimes blinding him.
He caught sight of Lillian far on the other side. The bushy side, where trees and brush swaddled the land and where she had no hope of swimming to shore. Hanging onto a branch, her head dipped and lowered into the water.
Why did you leave Mommy with that bad guy? The words would haunt him for the rest of his life if something happened to Lillian.
He swam and swam and swam toward her, his triathlon training kicking into high gear. He dodged debris and watched as debris floated closer to her. He pushed it away and went under, swimming faster. The earth-laden water, full of mud and muck and debris, filled his nostrils.
He knew no matter what, Amy was safe. She was on shore, the helicopter parked on shore with its lights flickering across the area. The bad guys couldn’t hurt her now. Not with Garret and his feds around.
He’d saved Amy, but he’d lost her in the process. Because no matter how evil and twisted her mother, she was still Amy’s mother. And if he’d just taken her with them in the first place, none of this would have happened.
He reached Lillian and tried to tell her everything would be okay, but she panicked and fought, taking him under with her.
Water filled his lungs. He broke the surface and coughed. He pulled her up with him. She choked and sobbed, but continued thrashing. The water was cold, but Jake hadn’t had time to focus on the cold. The patter of the rain hit against the water. He quivered from the inside out.
“Lillian! Geez, calm down. You’re going to kill us.”
She thrashed around and took him under again. Water bubbled as her lungs filled, and he yanked her upward.
“Lillian!” he screamed again. And because he knew he’d never be able to save her this way, he knocked her over the head.
Everything he’d trained for came to a head at this exact moment. His training, his triathlons, giving up alcohol. This was the reason for it all. He never would have made it from one side of the shore to the other in these conditions if not for his training. He probably should never have tried.
His lungs burned. His eyes strained. The cold, drizzly rain fell like little bugs zapping his skin.
EMS grabbed Lillian as soon as they made it to shore. Jake slumped. Someone wrapped him in a blanket. Amy ran to him, crying. He didn’t have the energy to pick her up, so he sat down and pulled her into his lap, rocking with her as they hugged. He noticed she didn’t even go check on her mother.
He glanced at Winona. Her eyes were wide and full of something that looked like relief. Maybe something else? He couldn’t be sure.
Garret approached and handed him a warm cup of coffee. “Jake, we need to have EMS check you over.”
Exhaustion funneled into heaviness, like a weeklong bout with drugs and alcohol. His ears rang, but he heard the water gush and
roar. He drank the coffee. His muscles quivered, his body weak. His wet clothes stuck like a bandage to his skin. He smelled mud and grass and earth, and something like smoke. The dewy wet weather intensified the smells.
“I’m good,” he told Garret.
“Come on. They have to check you over. Let them at least check your chest and your cuts. That water could have all kinds of bacteria.”
Winona stopped beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Here, I’ll take Amy.” Amy had fallen asleep in Jake’s arms, but he didn’t have the energy to lift her. Winona scooped down and picked her up, but Jake stopped her from rising.
“Sit.”
She sat beside him. In the mud. Seemingly not caring. He perched his nose on hers, his forehead on hers, and inhaled deeply. Her warm breath sent shivers of fire across his skin. He closed his eyes, seeing nothing but raging dirty water channeling around him and taking him under. His head swam in a maelstrom of light and dark. Dizzy, he opened his eyes and met hers. Small beacons of light pinpointed them.
Her hair was stringy wet, but she’d never been more beautiful. He’d never felt more …
Garret nudged him. “Come on.”
“Go on,” Winona said, her soft voice finding reason within him. Reason to not sit here and take in her warmth, her body, her love. He had to take care of himself so he could enjoy her later.
He rose and followed Garret to the EMS helicopter. He didn’t know when it had landed, but it was parked beside the police chopper. Activity buzzed around him, but he was too tired to care. Winona took Amy under shelter where he could no longer see her. A black hole of loss welled within.
“Ben is still out there. Along with some other guys,” Jake said as someone slapped a blood pressure cuff over his arm.
“We have road blocks all over. We’ll catch them.”
“They were chasing us. Closing in.” The cuff tightened around him, like the fear that had tightened his chest when he lost sight of how to keep them safe and get them out of danger.
Garret didn’t bother mentioning that Jake should not have gone back for Lillian. Or even for Amy by himself. He appreciated that.
The nurse listened to his chest. Told him to breathe in and out.
“Is Lillian okay?” Jake asked as he let out a breath.
“Yes. She regained consciousness and is being checked over,” Garret said. “She’ll be taken to a hospital but then she’ll be taken into custody.”
“I appreciate every—”
“Don’t mention it. I’m just doing my job.”
“No, you’re not. You’re retired.”
Garret shrugged.
“You are retired, aren’t you?” Jake asked.
“Of course.”
“Reagan is going to kill you. But probably me first.”
“Nah. She knows this was only temporary, to help out a friend. Family.”
“She’s not afraid temporary might turn into something more permanent? That you’ll start loving this all over again and won’t want to leave?”
“She knows better. Especially because I just found out I’m going to be a father.”
“Oh shit, man. Congratulations. That means you risked more than your life trying to help me.”
“But I helped save lives in the process. So don’t think about it a moment more. If that had been my child out there”—he nodded in Amy’s direction—“I would have done the same thing you did.”
“Where’s Reagan?”
“She’s home. No way was I going to let her out in this weather.”
“What will happen to Amy now?”
“CPS will become involved. It’s possible family will take care of her until further proceedings. It’s also possible she’ll be put into a foster home.”
“No.” No, Jake couldn’t, wouldn’t, let that happen. He’d worked too hard, and he wouldn’t let it all be for nothing. Brandon was dead. He shouldn’t have to suffer more by having his only daughter be raised by a foster family. Not that he would know, but—no way.
“Who is her closest family?” Garret asked.
“Me.”
“Did Lillian have siblings? What about her mother?”
“She has a washed-out brother. Her mom is alive, but I don’t think she’s healthy enough to worry about raising another child. Lillian never knew her dad. Brandon’s mom died last year. But I know Brandon left it in his will for me to raise Amy.”
Garret nodded. “That’ll help.”
The nurse rubbed astringent on a sore on his shoulder. It stung like fiery bees from hell. “Ow. Motherfucker.”
His fears, dreads, skepticism mounted into curses. Ready for battle, he stood. Damn if he would let the state determine Amy’s future.
“Sir,” the nurse said. “Sir, I still need to disinfect some of these cuts, and we need to get you on the chopper and to the hospital.”
“I want to adopt Amy,” he told Garret. “I can’t let the state take her. I can’t.”
“It’s possible. But you’re a single man—”
“Not for long.” Jake glanced in Winona’s direction but couldn’t see her through the glow of lights and shimmery rain and wherever she’d found shelter. “I mean, I hope not for long. I haven’t asked her yet or anything.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Mr. Inman,” the nurse said. “How long has it been since you’ve had a tetanus shot?”
“Hell, I don’t know,” he replied. Continuing on with Garret and ignoring the nurse, he said, “I don’t know how she feels about me. One moment, she hates me. The next … I don’t know. And I don’t know how she feels about Amy. She may not be ready for a child who isn’t hers.”
“Oh, she is. And she does.”
“She does what?”
“She loves you and Amy both.”
“Well, sure, man. So do you and Reagan. Doesn’t mean you want to marry me.”
“It’s written all over Winona’s face. Her body. She loves you and you love her, like I love Reagan. You’d be fools not to get married. But you have to think about your future, too. Don’t you travel a lot for your meets? And Amy will have school. Where will you live?”
“I want to live here,” Jake said. He spread out his arms and flinched when the nurse jerked him back. “I mean, not here. But in Tanyon.”
“Sir, we need to get you on the chopper and to the hospital. Along with your wife and daughter. You probably all need a tetanus shot. You also probably need stitches for this cut in your arm.”
Jake shrugged, continuing to ignore her and speaking to Garret. “I’d like to be a coach. Always wanted to be a coach. And we can travel in the summer. I can still participate in triathlons.”
The nurse sighed loudly, probably used to being ignored. He winked at her and smiled. “Sorry, ma’am. I appreciate everything you’re doing. And I promise I’ll go to the hospital.” He wanted to at least have Amy thoroughly looked over, so that was no lie.
Garret slapped him on the back. “All right, man. We’ll get you all to a hospital. Then we’ll get you home.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Chayton will kill me when he finds out about his Jeep.”
Winona sat with Jake, Garret, and Amy in the hospital, the distant buzz of a television in the background. The hospital had lent them a room, albeit reluctantly, so they could get cleaned up. An agent had brought them clean clothes and they’d all been checked over, given updated shots, and prescribed antibiotics. Now they sat in the waiting room, Amy curled on the floor beside Jake’s feet while licking a cherry-red lollipop.
She’d asked about her mom once. Lillian was holed up in a hospital bed with a concussion. She’d needed a few stitches and they wanted to watch her overnight. An officer remained outside her door, and she’d be detained for questioning once released from the hospital.
“The Jeep is insured,” Garret said. “But yeah, he’ll probably want to kill you.”
They were all still a little dirty. Although they�
��d managed to get washed off, they needed a shower. But they sat in the hospital lobby, too tired to move, waiting for the police, the doctors, and a slew of other rubbish they’d have to go through before leaving.
Thank God nobody else was here. They’d scare them away.
Garret’s phone rang and he left to take the call in private. Jake scooted closer to Winona and grabbed her hands.
“Thank you for everything,” he said as he kissed her hands, her fingers, her palms, and then her cheek.
“Uncle Jake?” Amy pulled on Jake’s shirt to get his attention. “Can I color?”
Jake spotted the crayons and coloring books in the corner. “Yeah, babe.”
She set her lollipop on the table. Jake grabbed it and tossed it in the trash. Amy settled in the corner with the coloring books, and Jake returned his attention to Winona.
“Amy is going to kill you when she finds out you threw out her lollipop. So at least you won’t have to face Chayton’s wrath.”
“I can’t let her lick that thing now. Not after being on the table. I’ll get her another one. Hell, I’ll give her a whole tub of chocolate.”
“Do you think she’d share?”
“Darling, you can have your own.” He cupped her neck and pulled her head forward. “So where was I?”
“Jake, you don’t have to thank me.”
“Yes, I do. And I have something else to say to you.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes. “I love you.”
Her heart dipped and pulsed in her chest. “I …”
“You don’t have to say it right now if you don’t feel it. But I do feel it. I’ve been feeling it for a while. Fighting it, even. But this, and everything we’ve been through, I don’t want to fight it anymore.”
Winona traced Jake’s jawbone. “I love you, too, Jake. God, I love you so much. And I don’t want to fight it, either.”
Tears glimmered in his eyes as he smiled. He tangled his arms with hers and placed his forehead on hers. “I want to adopt Amy. I want to marry you. I know it isn’t the best proposal, but I have to know how you feel about Amy first.”
