by Ariel Bonin
"Lead the way," he said.
Zoey took off and Andrew jogged after her. His body was beaten and battered, but he barely felt it over the adrenaline pulsing through his veins. He suddenly realized they were heading up the trail to the cemetery and experienced a roll of nausea deep in his gut.
They had buried him.
If he had thought that things were bad before, he was sadly mistaken—they were much, much worse. It was one thing to mourn a lost loved one, but to "bury" them and hold a service—it was so…final.
They came over the top of the hill, Andrew slowing as they entered the sacred grove, for the image before him broke his heart.
Lindsey sat on a blanket with Jacob, a white cross planted in front of them—his cross, he presumed. The woman had her back to him, therefore she was completely unaware of the ghost-like presence behind her.
Chapter 20
Lindsey knew it was getting late and Jacob would need to be fed soon. While she had no appetite herself, she had her own baby to feed. She was indifferent to food deprivation at this point, but not for her unborn child.
The woman stood, moving slowly, for her body ached from sitting on the hard ground. Jacob remained seated on the blanket and began to smile at something behind them. Curious, Lindsey turned around and rested her weary gaze upon a man with dark, messy hair, dressed in jeans and a blood-stained t-shirt. He looked an awful lot like her husband, but that was impossible—he was dead.
"Da-da," Jacob babbled.
The man took a step toward them, his blue eyes kind, empathetic. "Linds…" he said softly.
Paralyzed by shock, she could have sworn she stopped breathing. Her heart pounded in her chest as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. "No," she mumbled, "you're not real…"
Andrew smiled, white teeth contrasting against his dirty face as he fought the painful lump in his throat. "It's me, honey."
Lindsey's shoulders shook as she gasped from the silent tears starting to leak from her eyes. He chose that moment to close the space between them and threw his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him. She cried out when they touched, and clung to him for dear life as she sobbed into his neck.
"I promised you I would come back," he whispered, running a comforting hand over her hair.
Still crying, she tipped her head up and captured his lips with her own. They kissed deeply and continued to embrace each other. Lindsey squeezed her eyes shut to savor his closeness, for she thought she would never see him again—only in her dreams.
She stepped back and reached up to frame his face with shaking hands. Her mouth gaped from shuddering breaths as she felt his warm skin under her fingertips. She caressed his cheeks and he gave her a sweet smile. The realization of him being alive hit her then and she broke out into the widest grin he'd ever seen on her beautiful face. She began to laugh and cry all at once. "I don't believe it! Oh, my God…I-I don't even know what to say!" she said, staring at him with shimmering eyes. "H-how? How are you here right now?"
"It's a long story," he whispered, and bent to kiss her again. He got a hint of the salty moisture on her lips, but underneath it was his wife's familiar sweet taste—he would never grow tired of it. "I love you so goddamn much," he said in between kisses.
"I love you, too," she whimpered into his seeking mouth.
At the same time, Zoey circled around the reuniting couple and bent over to retrieve her baby brother. Andrew raised his head and looked past Lindsey to smile at his children. When they drew near, Jacob reached out his short arms and Andrew took him into his own, holding the boy snug against his chest. He kissed the crown of Jacob's head and had to fight off another emotional wave as it threatened to reduce him to a blubbering mess.
While holding Jacob, he turned back to Lindsey. The woman still gazed at him in awe, her face positively beaming. He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb and she dipped her head to kiss his palm. Her eyes wandered over him and a slight frown settled between her brows when she noticed a large spot of blood on the shoulder of his white tee. "Are you hurt?" she asked, reaching out to stroke the area around his wound.
He shrugged and suffered a sharp aching sensation, as if his shoulder was saying, Stop ignoring me!
"It's better than it was," he said, "but I should have the doc check it out. Will you come to the clinic with me?"
Lindsey smirked and linked her arm with his. "I'm not letting you out of my sight, Mr. Flynn."
_____
The family of four arrived at the clinic minutes later and, before Lindsey could disappear into the exam room, she spotted another familiar face coming out of a room down the hall.
"Charlie!"
The man twisted around at the sound of her voice, his hard gaze immediately softening. She rushed down the corridor and jumped into his arms. He groaned on contact, but did not falter. They'd exchanged the occasional hug, however, nothing like this. She thought he might set her down and put some distance between them, but suspected that he knew she needed this—he very well may have needed it, too. She kissed his cheek, and then he released his hold on her.
"Miss me, did ya?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.
"More than you know," she whispered, and shook her head. "I can't believe it…if you guys are alive, does that mean Ana and Kat are here as well?"
Her hopeful expression dissipated when Charlie's eyes darkened once again. He began to speak, but a voice at the end of the hallway interrupted him.
"Well, I'll be damned..."
Lindsey spun around and Charlie looked past her to see Nicholas, Phil and Robert in the clinic doorway.
"We tracked you on the mainland," Phil said. "Must've missed your departure by a few minutes."
"The others—where are they?" Nicholas asked, his voice fraught.
Charlie was one of the strongest people Lindsey knew, but once in a great while he had a tendency to show his vulnerable side. It reminded her of a little boy afraid of his father's wrath. That thought came to mind as she watched Charlie withdraw into himself. His shoulders hunched and his gaze dropped to floor, unable to meet Nicholas's sharp eyes.
"Where's Kat?" he prompted again, sounding stern, and yet panicked.
"She didn't make it," Andrew said from just outside the exam room, presumably drawn out by the commotion.
Nicholas's head swiveled around to glare at their leader, his eyes wild. "What are you talking about? I know she's here! Where is she?"
He advanced on Andrew and got right into the injured man's face. Andrew backed up a few inches while attempting to maintain his composure. Carefully, he rested a hand on Nicholas's shoulder and said, "I'm sorry…"
The former officer shrugged off Andrew's hand and let out an aggressive growl-like sound. Andrew flinched, bracing himself for a fight, but Charlie's voice stopped everyone in place.
"It was my fault."
Nostrils flaring, Nicholas pinned the man with an infuriated glance. "What're you talking about?"
"We missed a turner in the last room, big son of a bitch. Knocked Kat into a bunch'a gas cans or somethin' like that—must've sprung a leak. I threw out my cigarette to help her..."
Nicholas stared at him, his mouth agape.
"It was an accident…" Charlie said finally, shifting his feet.
"That's it? You didn't try to save her?"
"She was already dead when we found her," Andrew said as he shot Charlie a brief silencing look. "There wasn't anything we could do. We barely made it out of there ourselves—"
"So you all made it out just fine, but not my Kat?" Nicholas asked, stiffening his bottom lip.
"It ain't like that, man," Charlie said. "We tried…it was too late. I'm sorry—"
Nicholas marched toward Charlie and grabbed the man by his shirt. "You're sorry? You're fucking sorry? Sorry won't bring her back!" he shouted, and lifted his fist to deliver a blow across Charlie's cheek. The man didn't fight back as Nicholas punched him again, and again.
Everyone began yelli
ng all at once.
"Nicholas!" Andrew said, starting down the hall.
Lindsey was closer and felt the sudden need to defend her friend as crimson sprung from Charlie's split lip. "Nick!" she cried and reached out to stop him. With a single hand, he shoved her into the concrete wall, knocking the breath from her body. Instinctively, she covered her stomach and slid to the floor. Andrew rushed over to her and knelt down.
"Are you okay? What the hell were you thinkin'?"
Gasping for air, she cursed her stupidity and managed to say, "I'm okay…"
Furious now, Andrew pushed to his feet and stood over Nicholas, who was still beating Charlie almost to the point of unconsciousness. He quickly positioned himself next to the enraged man and swung his fist at a downward angle, striking Nicholas in the jaw. Nicholas fell back, sprawled out on the tiled floor. He appeared to be stunned, but his unsteady gaze eventually focused on Lindsey as she remained far away from him.
Between the sudden awareness of what he'd done and his grief for losing Kat, Nicholas broke down. He buried his face in his bloodied hands and choked out every ounce of sadness he'd been holding back, replacing the blinding anger he'd felt just seconds before.
_____
Later that evening, Andrew and Lindsey reunited again, but in a more intimate manner. Afterward, they lay together, his masculine hand moving in slow circles over her smooth stomach. The brash action he'd taken to stop Nicholas earlier in the day had reopened the wound in his shoulder, but luckily Dr. Anderson had been right there to stitch him up—Charlie, too. The man still blamed himself for Kat's death, even after Andrew assured him that he couldn't have known what would happen. Ana took him home after receiving a cast for her broken foot. Not too long after, Hannah and Tyler persuaded Nicholas to get up and took him home as well. An official service was planned for Kat for the following day.
"Do you ever feel like we're blessed and cursed at the same time?" Lindsey asked, her question hanging in the shadows of their quiet bedroom.
Andrew shifted onto his side and continued to drag his rough fingertips over the swell of her low belly.
"Like, we seem to outlast every situation that's thrown our way, but everyone around us keeps dying. I can't help but feel some kind of responsibility for that…" she whispered.
"I hear what you're saying," Andrew said. "A part of me has always felt that way, but we've suffered the same losses. I guess at this point…it's just what you can make of it."
"What do you mean?" she asked, covering his hand with her own.
"Well, when it comes down to it, you have two choices: give up or keep fighting. You and I both kept fighting—we didn't really know why, but we do now." He leaned over and pressed a tender kiss to her lips.
When he pulled away, she searched his eyes as they glittered in the darkness. "I didn't think I would ever see you again."
"I'm so sorry."
"You're here now." She smiled, but it slowly faded.
"What is it?" he asked, frowning.
"Kat…she's not here because of me."
"Linds—"
"No, I was supposed to go. You drew my name, so yet again…" She shrugged. "I feel responsible."
"Lindsey, she volunteered. If you weren't pregnant, I know you would have gone." An uncomfortable tightness formed in his chest. "And you'd be dead instead of her."
The woman's sad eyes reflected the hard truth in his statement.
"Call me a selfish bastard, but I'd rather have it this way."
Lindsey cradled his cheek with a gentle hand. "You're not selfish, Andrew…you're human—you're not the first person to feel that way."
He swallowed hard, closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh. Lindsey moved up to kiss him again, but Jacob's high-pitched cries breached the thin wall between them. The tired couple let out a chuckle. When Lindsey shifted to get up, Andrew stopped her.
"I'll take care of him. You get some rest."
"Oh, thank God," she said, falling back into the pillow. "Now I'm really glad you're home."
Andrew laughed, gave her a peck on the lips, and then left the room with a relaxed smile on his face.
Chapter 21
Five weeks passed and everyone returned to a daily routine—or something close to it. Nicholas still struggled day to day, mostly keeping to himself. They suspected he would have completely fallen apart if it wasn't for Hannah. The girl needed him just as much as he needed her. He acted like a big brother or the father she no longer had, while she provided a platonic companionship that kept him from declining into a state of depression that he couldn't recover from.
Charlie stayed withdrawn because of his guilt over Kat's death, but he'd started to open up again over the past week, even going so far as to nickname Lindsey "mama," which instantly put a smile on her face. He took care of Ana since her foot was still healing, and Lindsey noticed a bond forming between the two. They'd always been close, but something was different now and she couldn't figure out what it was.
Lindsey and Zoey remained inseparable after the scare with Andrew on the mainland. She'd gushed to her husband about the teenager's grown-up attitude in his absence. Zoey had been her rock—Lindsey loved her more and more every day for it.
On one particular evening, Zoey was helping her in the kitchen since Andrew was running late. It seemed like his work as leader was never finished. Tonight, it had something to do with a broken piece of farming equipment—one of his least favorite jobs. Nevertheless, dinner was coming along smoothly since her "all day sickness" had ended a couple of weeks before. Her appetite was back and in full demand—she now completely understood the expression "eating for two."
Right as Zoey finished setting the table, Andrew walked through the door. His clothes were streaked with dirt, and mud clung to his boots.
"Hey, babe. Don't get too close," he warned as she began to walk toward him.
"I'm not afraid of a little dirt," she whispered, getting up on tip-toe to kiss his stubbly cheek. A ripe smell penetrated her senses and her face contorted in disgust. "That's not dirt, is it?"
"Uh, no," he said, laughing. "I tried to warn you."
"Yeah, thanks."
Andrew watched her disappear into the kitchen and said, "Feel free to start eating without me. I'm going to take a quick shower."
"Please do!" she called back. "You're messing up my yummy food vibe."
He chuckled and started down the hall. "Yes, ma'am."
When he returned a little bit later, Lindsey was already in the process of clearing the dishes.
"Let me get you a plate—" she started to say, but gasped and stopped with a hand on her stomach.
Andrew's heart jumped into his throat. "What? What is it?"
Lindsey's eyes glistened with moisture as she looked up at him. Her voice was breathless when she said, "I felt the baby move…"
Immediately, his shoulders dropped with relief and a warm feeling of excitement washed over him. He mirrored her wide smile, moving to place his hand over her rounded belly. It would be impossible to feel it himself, as it was too early, but it seemed like the right thing to do—they had created life and it was right under his fingertips.
"Was it just as you remembered it?" he asked, taking in her awed expression.
She bit her bottom lip and smiled at him. "Better."
But as Lindsey drifted asleep that night, after the amazement had worn off, she couldn't help but be reminded of Daniel and how far there was to fall after such a high…
Lindsey walked out onto the porch with a cup of hot tea. It was quite early in the morning and she was the only one awake in the bungalow, so she decided to take advantage of the time alone before the craziness of the day set in. The sky was a light topaz color and in the distance she could hear ocean waves softly crashing against the shore, causing a saltwater aroma to waft through the air.
She was about to sit down on the porch steps when a figure appeared at the end of her walkway. Taking a closer look, Lindsey felt the breath
knocked out of her body at the sight, unable to believe what she was seeing. The full mug slipped from her trembling fingers and shattered on the bottom step.
"Jared?"
Standing just under six feet tall, he was exactly as she remembered him before the attack—well-kept light brown hair, athletic physique, and breathtakingly handsome. He stayed where he was and gazed back at her with a wide smile.
Only weeks before, she'd faced the same encounter—her husband returning from the dead—but Andrew had been missing in action. She'd watched Jared die, not once, but twice. This couldn't be happening…it was impossible. On the other hand, she thought she would never see Andrew again and did—just as she was seeing Jared now.
Overcome with the need to be near him, she rushed toward her former husband, but stopped suddenly, deciding to be tentative as she reached for him. He took a step back with a slow, disbelieving head shake. His brows were furrowed into two hard lines as he hung his head. With a visibly tense expression, she noticed he was looking at her stomach. She glanced down and realized she was quite far along in her pregnancy, probably full-term.
"How could you?" he whispered.
"Jared, please. You have to understand," she begged. "How are you even here right now? You're dead. I watched you die. I saw you as a turner."
He didn't answer. Instead, he took a step toward her. She watched him reach out and lay a strong hand on her rounded belly. Butterflies danced in her stomach at his touch, but he continued to look wounded. "This was supposed to be our baby. I wanted you to have my child."
His words and aching tone fractured her heart. She cradled his cheek in her hand and he closed his eyes on an exhale.
"I love you, Lindsey," he murmured, his green eyes glittering.
She stared at him, her mouth open with an unspoken response. All of a sudden, she was aware of a strong presence behind her.
"Take your hands off my wife," Andrew said, his voice low, dangerous.
Jared set his hard jaw and glared past Lindsey. "I don't know what you're talking about. Last time I checked, she and I were married."
