“OHMYGOSHTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” the woman jumped up and yanked Natalie into her arms, screaming and crying gratefully. Natalie couldn’t help but hug her back and hold her while she broke down sobbing. A man walked over carrying a younger child that looked to be about three years old in his arms.
“Boy, I think you’ve given your mama heart failure,” he said gruffly, kneeling awkwardly and hugging Jacob. “This is little Beth, I’m Joshua, and the woman squeezing you to death is my wife, Melinda.”
Jacob’s little face was streaked with tears and grime, but Natalie knew that to his parents, he’d never looked better. His mom finally let go of Natalie and wiped her eyes.
“Where did you find him?”
“He was hiding in an alley way not far from Laguna Avenue.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, why?”
“We live on the opposite side of the island, facing the coast. We’ve been to two other shelters and gave our name, hoping to find Jacob. We didn’t think that it would be this bad.”
“What happened?”
“It was raining and all of a sudden there was this downpour. I kept telling him to stay out of the rain, but he doesn’t listen to me. We have a pier by our house that the kids have always fished on, even our eldest son who’s away at college. One minute I was yelling at him to get back inside, the next he was…” she stopped and turned away to bury her face in her husband’s shoulder as she began crying again.
“Next time you will listen to your mama, won’t you Jacob?”
“Yes, sir.”
Natalie knelt down, wiping her eyes, and looked at the little boy.
“Superheroes always listen to their parents. I know Captain FEMA certainly does. I think maybe your mama and daddy are going to need a few extra hugs for a few days, don’t you think so?”
He nodded quietly.
“Go be with your mama and daddy, sweetie.”
“I’m gonna miss you, Mercy.”
“I think we are gonna be friends for a long time,” Natalie smiled tremulously, not bothering to correct her nickname that she’d been dubbed by the boy. She felt a pang thinking of the friendship shared between Tobin and Gavin. She’d always thought Poprocks was adorable and now she had her own moniker.
Standing up, she asked for a piece of paper and pen from the attendant nearby. Glancing up at the family, she began to write down her address and faltered. Her home was gone. Instead, she wrote down her cell phone number and email address. Blinking away the tears, she folded it and smiled, handing it to Jacob’s parents.
“He’s gonna be hungry and we’ve been napping off and on for a while now waiting for things to let up. Sleeping tonight for Jacob might be a little messed up, but please don’t be a stranger. We promised to play a video game with him someday,” Natalie explained feeling terribly awkward. This was Jacob’s mother and she was fussing over him like it was her own child.
“We?”
“My boyfriend and I,” she amended, feeling odd calling him just a boyfriend. Gavin was her world and Natalie knew that Jacob was theirs. “We promised to play Overload with him.”
“Overwatch, geeeeeezzzzz,” Jacob corrected, rolling his eyes.
“Overwatch,” Natalie amended, kneeling down again and hugging Jacob one more time before stepping away. “Be good for your mama.” The family turned to head back into the room, people folding back around them as they disappeared from sight.
“Miss? Do you want to stay up here or head back downstairs?”
Natalie heard the polite voices nearby and truly felt alone right now. She just wanted to be somewhere safe, warm, and near Gavin. She was tired of the rain, fed up with saying goodbyes, and mentally just worn out.
“I’ll head back down,” she answered, walking away and hoping that someday they would hear from them, earning a chance to meet on better terms away from the devastation brought about today.
Taking the steps, Natalie saw the chaos around her as she entered the first floor. The building had to have been a massive office building at some point. It had cinderblock walls that had been painted over. The low ceilings made the open floorplan seem to go on forever. Brick columns were scattered throughout as braces. Oh yes, she could have easily seen this floor as a bank back in the fifties or full of desks with some bright orange desk lamps or green shag carpet. It had that kind of feel to it.
Natalie got a glimpse of Gavin at one point, just before he disappeared again in the crowd. She walked to an empty cot towards the corner of the room. It was the furthest away from the doors, meaning that she would be disturbed less if she wanted to lay down and sleep again. By the amount of people coming in, she was positive it was going to be a long night for everyone and couldn’t imagine how worn out Gavin was. How he kept going was mindboggling.
Laying down, she felt herself sigh heavily. She was nearly dry and the blanket she was given would make her snug, allowing her to get some rest so she could process what on earth to do next. Now that things were slowing down, she realized the extent of what had fully happened. Her home was gone, all of her things, but she was alive and safe.
Natalie must have nodded off because she felt someone touching her face and came awake right away. Sitting up quickly, her head spun, as she tried to focus on what was going on.
“Shhh Natalie. It’s just me.”
Blinking, she saw Gavin was kneeling down in front of her. He had changed, donning a black FEMA t-shirt over his concert shirt. He had gloves on and a Q-tip with some sort of cream on the end of it.
“I must have fallen asleep,” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes as she looked around. Several people were laying down on the cots and the dull roar of conversation had faded significantly.
“You were completely out and I hated to wake you but I wanted to take a look at that cut like I promised,” Gavin offered tenderly. “Let me see it now that we’ve got some good light and I can clean it out.”
“I’m fine,” she countered, “How are you holding up?”
“I’m pretty beat, to be honest,” he admitted and she could see the circles of fatigue under his eyes. “I was going to lay down for a bit and take my turn to nap but I wanted to find you first.”
Wincing, she felt a slight sting as he gently smeared cream onto the cut. It was hard not to notice how handsome he was as he leaned forward to take a better look at it.
“Aren’t you supposed to inspect it first before putting medicine on it?”
“Maybe I just wanted an excuse to do this,” he admitted, leaning forward to kiss her tenderly on the temple. Natalie couldn’t help the sigh that escaped her. Every time she turned around, he was disarming her with his charm.
“That’s lidocaine to help numb it up if you are still a little sore,” he offered quietly, smiling. “The cut actually looks really good and that Elmo bandage worked wonders.”
“Why don’t you lay down for a bit and rest,” Natalie offered, getting up, only to have Gavin put a hand on her shoulder.
“Actually, I’m not ready to let you out of my sight again and just want to hold you close, if that’s okay?”
Nodding, Natalie laid back down and felt Gavin climb onto the thin cot behind her. His arms went around her waist and within seconds, she heard his breathing even out. He was already asleep! Sighing and closing her eyes, she simply enjoyed the warmth he provided and knew he would do everything he could to make sure she was taken care of.
Chapter 9
Natalie couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed and grateful for everything going on around her. The next few days were a blur of disbelief. While Gavin was working the scene, handing out supplies and treating the people still arriving at the shelter, she’d taken it upon herself to walk around and survey the damage to the city.
It was stunning to see how one building could be completely destroyed by the water intrusion and high winds, yet another would be untouched. Some houses lost roofs while others had only debris blown into the yards. As she got closer to the
beach front properties where her bed and breakfast was, it was more obvious that nothing would have helped the little cottages.
The water had come up above the seawall that had been built but it wasn’t the depth of water that caused the destruction to the little framed houses. It was the lack of support underneath. The water had slowly eroded the sand away from behind the walls and under the A-frame cottages. Out of the ten structures, only the farthest from the ocean were untouched. Four still stood, while six of the others were in some sort of disarray.
It was heartbreaking to see so much blood, sweat, and tears washed away. Her little home had a wall fall in on itself as the roof had given way, reminding her that she’d been lucky Gavin had shown up. If he hadn’t, she might have been trapped inside awaiting help to arrive, or dead.
Walking around the property probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do but it almost felt obligatory as she tried to determine where or what she was going to go. She’d borrowed a phone and filed a claim with her insurance, but with the amount of damage, the claims adjusters were doing inspections as fast as humanly possible. FEMA had housed her temporarily, but once the remaining cottages were inspected, she would simply move back into one in the meantime.
“I wondered when I would find you slipping away to take a look.”
Gavin’s voice broke her reverie and she was grateful that he’d shown up. He had been her support during her most trying times and she couldn’t imagine life without him. The past few days had been so hard, but every time she turned around, he was there for her… just like now.
“I wanted to see what it looked like in the daylight, now that I’m not being rained on constantly. If one is ever headed this way again, I’m not staying,” she blurted out forcefully. “One bout of this was enough.”
“Were you thinking of staying, then?” Gavin asked quietly as he walked up behind her.
“I don’t see how I can stay or how I can leave,” she said brokenly, surveying the area. “I put everything I had into this and now two thirds of it is utterly destroyed. If I stay, then I barely have any income. If I leave, I have nothing left here, anyways.”
“You could start over and we could do it together,” Gavin said confidently as he laid a hand on her shoulder. Natalie spun around and hugged him simply because it felt like the right thing to do. It wasn’t his words; it was the fact that he was simply there.
“You’ve always been so strong,” she breathed, smelling the salty air of the ocean nearby and listening to the wind that caressed the dunes like nothing had ever happened.
“Right now, my heart is beating ninety miles a minute waiting for your answer,” he urged nervously, chuckling as his hand gently rubbed her back.
“Answer to what?”
“I’ve been wracking my brain how to figure all of this out before I have to head back to Disaster City to finish my training. I want you with me and I want us to work on being a couple again.”
“Gavin, I’ve tried to make my home here,” she told him, feeling her heart shatter into a million pieces. This was never going to work between them if they were miles and miles apart.
“I want to give you a chance to make a home… with me,” he whispered quietly. Natalie glanced up in surprise, seeing the worried expression on his face. He was actually pretty close to panicking and she could see it in his eyes.
“What are you saying?”
“I want you to come back with me so we can figure this out as a team. There is no me without you anymore… and I can’t imagine saying goodbye ever again. I don’t have the answers, nor do I want to even try to guess how our future works out, all I know is that I love you desperately and want you with me.”
Stunned, Natalie watched Gavin get down on one knee there in the sand. The wind blew his hair and she saw that shadow on his jaw was a stark contrast against the pale dunes behind him. He dug out his phone and pressed the screen before shoving it back into his pocket. A faint lilting sound echoed up around them as she realized what he was doing.
He was proposing.
Digging in his other pocket, he held up a yellow rubber circle and grinned that sweet goofy smile at her. The words of the song reached her and she felt like crying. It was a song she’d heard on the radio over and over again called ‘Marry me’ by Train. This was the sweetest, cheesiest thing she’d ever witnessed and made her love him even more.
“I don’t have a ring yet, but I wanted to put something on that precious finger of yours to make you mine,” Gavin said nervously as an apology. “It’s a little spur of the moment, but when I had a finger cot break on me, I looked down and saw this perfect little circlet and knew what I had to do next.”
“Get tested for a blood-borne disease?” she quipped, wiping her eyes as he threw back his head and laughed.
“No, no diseases here, sweetheart. I may be crazy-sick-in-love with literally no cure for it, but I think I’ll make it… if you are by my side. I don’t want to rush you into marriage right away, but I want you to know that I am here with you… for as long as it takes. If you want a bed and breakfast, then let’s open one together-for you-but closer to our home.”
“Outside of Disaster City?”
“There are families going in and out all the time for graduation. I can imagine there will always be a steady stream of people needing a place to stay. I’m not into concierge or running my own place, that’s all you darling. I just know that if you need me, I want to be there. I want to love you forever and a day. I will always be your knight in shining armor, even if I ride in on a mule. I will always rescue you, simply so I can tell you I love you just one more time.”
“Is there an upgrade from Magic Shell?”
“Are we negotiating again, my love?”
“Not really,” Natalie admitted, smiling down at Gavin as he slipped the rubber circle made from the finger of a glove onto her finger. “I made up my mind already the moment the music started playing.”
“Music does something for you, too?”
“No, but I realized that we have a lot in common. An instrument needs a reed to make sound, a radio needs speakers to be heard, the brain can’t function without oxygen… and I can’t be without you ever again, Gavin.”
“Marry me?” he breathed in chorus with the song, rising to his feet.
“Yes,” Natalie agreed, only seconds before Gavin pulled her into his arms.
Epilogue
A year later…
“Tobin, are you on?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Cade? Caleb? You guys on?”
“Yo! Captain FEMA! You gonna ask me?”
“Whaddup Jacob! I knew my guy was gonna be on!” Gavin crowed happily staring at the screen and looking at Natalie’s face as she smiled over the kitchen island countertop where she was making cookies for the graduation this Friday.
“Is Mercy there?”
“Yeah, but she’s making cookies so I’m gonna play her character today,” Gavin explained, blowing Natalie a kiss and winking at her. She never played Overwatch, Gavin just logged on and she would talk through the headphones so they could keep in touch with Jacob occasionally.
“Jacob, you take care of my guy today in game,” Natalie interjected as she listened on the Bluetooth headphones. Gavin nodded with excitement. He loved their Wednesday nights at home together. Sometimes it was game night, other times they watched movies together, and sometimes they talked about their future over a candlelight dinner alone. Marrying her four months ago had been the best decision he’d ever made in his entire life.
Natalie had opened a new bed and breakfast with her insurance money and sold the ocean front property as-is. Another company bought up the site almost immediately, paying her top dollar for it. She turned around and reinvested in a run-down motel that was going out of business and revamped it from top to bottom, giving it a Tiki theme. Fun geometric prints were everywhere along with metal palm trees and other yard art that made the sight not only fun, but attractive
to view from the road.
“This is gonna be a QP guys with a trickle in to hit the objective instead of grouping up. The meta strat is gonna be epic with a slambulance that dives right in for the combo-wombo to push us KOTH.”
“What did he just say?”
“Whaaaa…what? Are you speaking English, Poprocks?”
“Hush, noobs! I understood what FEMA just told us. You run in slowly, follow our lead, and don’t get slaughtered during the game.”
“You ready?”
A chorus of loud ‘no’s’ echoed in Gavin’s ears, making him smile at Natalie again as he heard her laughter. She just shook her head and sprinkled chocolate chips into the bowl.
“More chocolate chips, baby,” Gavin said into the mouthpiece.
“Is Natalie making chocolate chip cookies?” Tobin’s voice interrupted. “Don’t hit start yet on the game! Nat, are you making my cookies for graduation?”
“Tobin, they are for whoever shows up at the ceremony.”
“Those are my cookies, aren’t they? You know I love those cookies.”
“Gavin does too.”
“What’s so special about the cookies?” Cade asked, “and how come none of us ever got to try these cookies?”
“Cade, Caleb, Tobin… I will make you some and set them aside. Jacob, you want some mailed to you, honey?”
“Please and thank you, ma’am.”
“That’s my boy.”
“If you NOOBS are ready to start the game,” Jacob’s voice echoed in the earpiece again, causing both of them to laugh out loud in the mouthpieces at how the eleven-year-old boy talked trash to grown men while in the game but never to Natalie. He was a pint-sized bully behind the screen when it came to playing Overwatch online.
The Whirlwind Rescue Page 8