The Way Home

by Eliana West

  “I’m not—” Jo gulped “—I’m not in love.”

  Even as she said the words she knew it wasn’t true—she had already given her heart to Taylor. He made her cry and he made her laugh but most of all he made her feel loved. Oliver had always had a comment about the clothes she wore, her hair or makeup. His compliments were always tinged with a criticism. She reached up and fingered her hair. She’d stopped using a flat iron and most days her hair fell in soft waves. The only makeup she owned was a tube of mascara and some lip gloss. And every day since Taylor came back he told her how beautiful she was and the way he gazed into her eyes when he said it she knew he was sincere. He saw her for who she really was.

  Mae leaned over and said to Emma in a loud whisper, “She’s doing it again.”

  Jo dropped her hand and tried to school her expression. “We’re friends, that’s all.”

  Mae’s eyebrows rose. “Oh really.”

  “Quit being ugly,” Emma said with a sharp look at Mae.

  Everyone did a double take. Emma Walker was one of the quietest people Jo had ever met.

  Emma blushed, the same color as her strawberry-blond hair. “Sorry,” she said so softly Jo had to strain to hear her over the crickets.

  “But you like him, don’t you?” Callie asked.

  Jo let her foot drag across the floorboards. “I do,” she sighed.

  Callie gave her an encouraging smile. “That’s a good thing.”

  “And he likes you right?” Emma asked.

  “He told me he loves me,” Jo admitted.

  “He screwed up once and you forgave him. Are you willing to give him a second chance?” Mae questioned, looking unimpressed with her declaration.

  The women who surrounded her on the porch were real friends. These were women who listened and supported her. One of the best gifts she’d received in coming to Colton was the friendship of the women she was sitting with. In a short time they had become better friends than the ones she had in Chicago. Her ability to trust was still shaky. Could she share with them what was in her heart?

  “It’s complicated.”

  *

  Ada Mae looked exactly as she had appeared in Taylor’s vision. She wore the same white lace blouse with a high collar, and a dark-colored skirt that fell in soft folds to the floor. Her hair was swept up in a much less severe style than the colonel’s wife, and there was a small cluster of roses arranged on the side. She faced forward along with the colonel and Julia but she wasn’t looking at the camera; she looked out of the corner of her eye at the colonel. Ada Mae held her hands clasped in front of her. The skin over her knuckles was stretched taught.

  Taylor lifted the flashlight and peered closer at the picture. “My God,” he whispered.

  The colonel stood with one hand on the back of the chair his wife sat in. At first glance it looked like he held his other hand at his side but when Taylor looked more closely he could see that the colonel held Ada Mae’s skirt between his fingers.

  No one in the picture smiled. The expressions of the three people were at war with each other: fear, determination, and pride.

  This is where Jo got her strength from.

  He gingerly took out the contents of the drawer and reached inside for the lever that his grandfather had shown him in its larger twin. A click and the soft scraping on wood revealed another small compartment at the back of the drawer. A jolt of electricity went through him when his fingers contacted the thick parchment envelope that he extracted from the compartment. He measured the weight in his hand. Whatever the contents, their weight was more than just words on paper.

  The light in the room dimmed and he spun around just as the door closed with a soft click.

  “I waited for you to realize you were supposed to be with me,” a woman’s voice said through the door.

  *

  Emma reached over and put her hand on Jo’s arm, with a comforting smile. “Go on, we’ll listen.”

  Everyone was offering her support and she had no reason to doubt their sincerity. So why was her stomach in knots?

  “You know how sometimes when things are going really well and you get scared it will all fall apart? That’s what this feels like. I… It’s hard to give up on the idea of us. I was so happy before and then when he said he wanted to do the show again and everything fell apart I was so hurt.” She swallowed. “Now everything is different, this might not make sense but in some ways it’s better. I couldn’t bear to lose what we have now.”

  They may have shared the house before but now they had so much more that connected them. They had shared pain and loss, both their own and Ada Mae’s. She was connected with Taylor in a way she knew she could never be with anyone else. She sat up straighter. She knew now without any doubt. Taylor was the love of her life, the other half of her heart.

  “I can see that.” Callie nodded. “They say a couple that has gone through a struggle together often has a stronger relationship. I was really scared to give Dax another chance but I’m so glad that I did.” Callie’s face glowed with love for her husband as she spoke.

  “That doesn’t answer the question. Are you going to do the deed with Taylor again or what?” Mae asked.

  “Mae!” Callie and Emma exclaimed in unison.

  “Oh please.” Mae waved her hand. “Don’t act like y’all weren’t wondering the same thing.”

  Three pairs of eyes zeroed in on her making her squirm in her seat. “He said he loves me but I haven’t said it back yet.” She took a shaky breath. “I just don’t want to make another mistake.”

  Callie took her hand in hers and looked her in the eye. “What would be worse, risking your heart or losing Taylor?”

  The air left her lungs. She couldn’t lose Taylor now, not now when she was finally ready to listen to her heart.

  *

  Taylor ran over to the door, pressing his ear against it. An icy wave of fear washed over him. For a brief moment the idea that it was the ghost of the colonel’s wife on the other side flashed in his mind.

  “You don’t want to do this,” he said.

  “Yes, yes I do. I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I saw her with you.”

  Taylor’s stomach twisted. He pressed his forehead against the door. He chose his words carefully hoping he could say the right words that would free him. How many times had Ada Mae thought the same thing, wondering what she could say that would free her?

  “If you let me go I’ll make her leave and it will just be the two of us.” He tried to sound convincing.

  “You aren’t fit to live here—you never should have let her in this house.”

  He wrinkled his forehead. The woman’s voice sounded vaguely familiar. Would Tessa go this far? She’d threatened to take everything from him and she hated Jo. If it wasn’t Tessa who else could it be?

  “Tessa?” he called out softly.

  He gave in to his rising panic when he heard her laughter on the other side. He banged on the door, listening as the sound faded away.

  *

  “Taking it slow.” Emma sighed with a dreamy look on her face. “I think that’s lovely.”

  Jo rubbed her hands together and then clenched them tightly in her lap. She couldn’t pay attention to what anyone was saying over the sound of her pulse pounding in her ears. She tried to take a deep breath and enjoy the evening and this time with her friends She should be enjoying herself and she was.

  She forced herself to smile at Emma.

  Mae’s eyes flashed with exasperation. “Let me get this straight, you have a super-hot guy who says he loves you and you’re not going to take advantage of that?”

  “Mae, everyone comes to love at their own time and at their own pace,” Callie admonished her cousin.

  “Fine,” Mae muttered.

  Jo appreciated having friends who truly had her best interests at heart. But she wasn’t ready to share what was happening with Taylor, not when she was still trying to overcome her fears and accept that she’d already�
�fallen in love?

  “Well, I’m just glad that producer is gone. She only came into the pharmacy once but that was enough,” Emma said.

  It turned out there weren’t many people left in Colton that Tessa hadn’t offended in one way or another. Taylor had been horrified when stories of her behavior came out and he was determined to start over again making amends and apologizing to everyone he’d already apologized to for his own behavior. And that included her. Jo blushed thinking about how he’d woken her up with kisses before bringing her breakfast in bed.

  “You’re doing it again.” Emma’s cornflower-blue eyes were studying her.

  “What?” Jo asked.

  “You keep smiling like you’ve got a secret,” she said.

  Jo pressed icy hands to her heated cheeks. Her friends were making her realize how overly cautious she was being. Taylor loved her. And yes, she loved him too.

  So what was this weight pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe?

  *

  Taylor looked around the room frantically looking for anything he could use to pry the door open. He reached to pull his phone out of his back pocket and realized he’d left it plugged in the kitchen to charge. Taylor banged on the door, calling out until his voice started to become hoarse. He sank down to the floor and put his head in his hands. There was no way out of the room from the inside. How could the colonel have kept Ada Mae trapped this way with no way to escape if something like this happened?

  *

  “Let’s pick on someone else. I don’t want this to be all about me.” Jo zeroed in on Mae.

  Mostly she didn’t want them looking at her. Whatever was happening to her—a heart attack, a panic attack—it must have showed on her face. “Is there anything interesting happening at the hardware store you’d like to share with us, Madam Mayor?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  Now it was Mae’s turn to blush. “I don’t date lumberjacks,” she muttered.

  “Maybe not but you sure do make eyes at them a lot,” Emma said.

  Mae’s eyes grew as large as saucers, while Callie doubled over laughing and Jo grinned.

  Mae glared at them and then suddenly lifted her nose. “What is that smell?” she asked sniffing the air.

  Jo froze. “You…you can smell it?”

  Callie turned to Jo wide-eyed. “Eucalyptus.”

  The voice was so clear, Ada Mae could have been standing with them on the porch.

  “You gotta go to him—he needs you.”

  It wasn’t a heart attack but her heart knew something was wrong. She flew down the steps to her car, praying she wasn’t too late. She should have listened sooner.

  *

  Jo fought against her rising panic as she raced toward Halcyon. Nothing could happen to Taylor, not when she hadn’t had the chance to tell him that she loved him. Her car fishtailed, turning into the driveway. She fought for control and put her foot on the gas when she saw the flicker of flames coming from the back where the kitchen and their bedrooms were. She skidded to a stop in front of the house. Her fingers fumbled with the phone as she punched in 911 and ran inside.

  She ran blindly toward the back of the house where she’d seen the flames, screaming Taylor’s name. A blast of heat in the hallway pushed her back. She yelled for him again and when she didn’t hear anything she moved back and ran toward the other side of the house searching for him. As soon as she made it to the library, she heard the distant sound of pounding. Her nose began to burn from the smoke and the air grew heavy and thick. She rushed through the rooms toward the small parlor, following the faint pounding and sound of his voice.

  *

  “Taylor.” He heard Jo calling his name, her voice growing louder as she came closer to the small parlor.

  “Here,” he called out choking against the smoke, pressing his ear to the door and listening to her footsteps coming closer.

  “The door won’t open,” she cried out.

  His blood ran cold realizing that if Tessa was still in the house she could hurt Jo.

  “Jo, you have to leave. It’s not safe.”

  Jo coughed. “I’ve got to find something I can use to pry the door open. Hold on,” she yelled. “I’ll be right back.”

  He listened helplessly as her footsteps faded away. He looked around the room, his eyes stinging, searching for anything he could use to free himself but there was nothing.

  He couldn’t help thinking about something like this happening to Ada Mae. How did the colonel think he could keep her safe by locking her away like this? Absolem’s words came back to him. He did leave everything Ada Mae needed to keep Halcyon. He had to do everything he could to protect what he found, this was how he could finally make amends for the past. He crouched down low and crawled back to the desk, carefully pulling out the journal with the picture, the envelope and all the other papers inside and as carefully as he could tucked them into his shirt. All that mattered now was to make sure Jo had the proof she needed to make sure Tessa or anyone else could never take Halcyon away.

  Sirens sounded in the distance. He squeezed his eyes closed and tried to take shallow breaths lying on the floor as the smoke grew heavier. He heard a crash but couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

  “Taylor.” Jo’s voice sounded raspy.

  Something scraped against the door on the other side and he could hear Jo’s sobbing.

  “Jo, stop, you need to get out,” he pleaded listening to her struggle on the other side.

  He fought to breathe through the smoke that became heavier with each minute that passed. He had to convince Jo to save herself, but his body was losing the fight against the fire.

  He closed his eyes and the voices drifted away. The room brightened again. He heard the soft swish of skirts and looked up to see Ada Mae standing by the door with the colonel next to her.

  “You’ll be safe in here,” the colonel said.

  Ada Mae shook her head, her eyes filled with tears. “Please set me free.”

  “Just give me time.”

  Ada Mae looked at Taylor. “You have a lifetime ahead of you—just hold on a little bit longer.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Smoke and her tears blinded her. Her arms strained from the effort but Jo couldn’t get the door to open. Suddenly a large hand grasped her arm and pulled her back. Startled she looked up to see Nate with a large ax and another fireman holding a fire extinguisher under his arm.

  “Get out now,” Nate yelled at her, pushing her toward the front door. She hesitated and then Dax ran into the room and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the room.

  Fresh air washed over her and she fell to her knees gasping. Dax crouched down next to her, lifting the shield on his helmet. “You okay?” Jo nodded. He patted her on the back and rushed back inside.

  She looked around and saw men and women from the community pulling up, jumping out of their vehicles. Some were already in their firefighting gear while others were pulling their heavy bunker coats and pants out of the back of their vehicles.

  Tillie ran past shrugging on her coat as she went by. Minh and Sam were hot on her heels along with Mae.

  Callie rushed up and put her arm around her, gently guiding her out of the way as members of the volunteer fire department continued to organize around her.

  “He’s still in there.” Jo looked over her shoulder toward the flames that had started licking out from the roof.

  “Nate will get him out,” Callie said.

  Dylan arrived, jumping out of his car and running toward them. “Jo, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” She coughed. “But Taylor’s still inside.”

  He started toward the house with a look of anguish.

  “Don’t,” Jacob yelled running past them. “Let us do our job.”

  *

  As if from a long distance away, Taylor heard a crashing sound. The door broke open but he felt nothing. Then a man stepped through, picked him up and slung him over his shoulder.

&nbs
p; He clutched at his chest. The papers. That’s all that mattered. He had to keep them safe. For Jo.

  “We need oxygen,” he heard someone calling out.

  *

  Jo kept her eyes glued to the front door watching for Taylor. Finally, after what felt like years she heard the sound of a chainsaw. A few minutes later her heart leapt when Nate came out with Taylor over his shoulder.

  “Put him over here,” Dylan yelled, pointing to the back of a truck nearby.

  Nate set Taylor down, rushed to the fire truck and pulled out a kit, handing it to Dylan. “There’s O2 and a mask in there,” he said gesturing to the box he’d just handed him. “Just a second and I’ll grab the other emergency medical kit.”

  Taylor moaned, and Jo heard him call her name. She rushed to his side, trying her best to be near him while staying out of Dylan’s way.

  Nate handed Jo the second kit and ran back to the pumper truck to help the others get the hoses out and hooked up to the well. She set it down next to the other equipment and watched anxiously while Dylan checked Taylor’s pulse and started unpacking the oxygen mask and O2, fitting the mask over Taylor’s face.

  Taylor kept pawing at his chest until he pulled out a sheaf of papers and a small leather book. He pointed at Jo, pulling the mask off.

  “For you,” he wheezed.

  Dylan forced the mask back on with a scowl. “Keep that mask on, dammit.”

  Jo clutched the papers to her chest, without looking. She didn’t care about anything other than making sure Taylor was okay.

  *

  “Papers,” he wheezed, his voice muffled by the oxygen mask. “Jo—” he tried to reach out for her “—must keep promise.”

  His hands were being held. He opened his eyes to find Jo anxiously looking down at him, tears creating tracks of soot down her face.

  “It’s going to be okay,” she said.

  “I need you to take deep breaths,” his brother said in a shaky voice. He looked down at Taylor, his face a mask of worry, and he could see the fear in his brother’s eyes.

  Taylor let his head fall back and closed his eyes.