The Devil's Storm

by Lorelai Watson

  “Looks like a branch hit him. He’s bleeding...”

  Evelyn laughed. “See? He’s dead as a doornail. It’s okay though,

  I’m sure Lee would love to step right back into your life.”

  Madeleine turned to Evelyn. “I slit your throat once. Don’t think I won’t do it again.”

  “Why waste the ink? Didn’t work the first time,” Evelyn hissed.

  “He’s alive. That should shut you up for a while,” Madeleine countered.

  “Try not to get your heart too broken. Again, you’ve still got an opportunity to be a billionaire standing right in front of you.”

  Lee had finally reached the floor, and Madeleine spied Adrian’s form through the passages between the branches. The silence was deafening. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her head was swaying as blood rushed to her head.

  “He’s alive,” Lee finally announced in a choked voice. “Unconscious, but alive.”

  Madeleine nearly sank to her knees in gratitude, tears overwhelming her as she gripped the stair banister for balance. “Oh thank God,” she cried.

  “His head looks pretty bad though. Branch must have hit him.”

  It was time for Madeleine to spring into action. “Okay. Don’t move. I’ll get the chainsaw and some first aid supplies.”

  “Be careful and take your time. I think he’s still gonna be able to kill me if anything happens to you.”

  Madeleine bounded down the two flights of stairs between her and the basement door. Maggie Beth and Richard had just gotten inside when Madeleine came down the last set of steps.

  “Where is he?” Maggie Beth questioned.

  “Lee’s with him. They’re on the third floor. A tree branch must have hit him in the head. He’s unconscious, but Lee says he’s alive. I’m going to get the chainsaw so Lee can get out."

  Maggie Beth looked like she was going to sink to the floor. Richard hurried her to the living room. Madeleine followed but was eager to get the chainsaw. “Maddie, you stay here with Maggie Beth. I’ll go get the chainsaw if you’ll tell me where it would be.”

  “Richard, it might be flooded down there and I have no idea how

  hard it would be to cut those branches down,” Madeleine answered.

  “I just wouldn’t feel right sending you to do this.”

  “No offense, but have you ever used a chainsaw?” Richard questioned.

  Madeleine shrugged the question off. “Have you?”

  “Quite a few times. Believe it or not, I haven’t spent my entire

  life in an office,” Richard started. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to rescue my sons.”

  Madeleine shook her head. “At least let me help you get it out of the basement.”

  “Just tell me where it is,” he started, and then in a lower tone, he whispered. “I know you’re worried about Adrian, but stay with Maggie Beth. She’s beside herself and I know if anyone can talk her through it, it’s you.”

  Madeleine gave an indignant sigh and reluctantly agreed. “He’s pretty organized with his tools. When you go downstairs, his workshop will be on the left, and everything house-related is on the right. The saws are on a rack next to the backdoor.”

  “Easy enough.” Within minutes, he was back up the stairs, chainsaw in hand.

  “No flooding, but it’s pretty damp down there,” he announced. “Hang in there Maggie Beth. We’ll have him down in a minute.”

  “Richard?” Madeleine called as he headed up the stairs. “Be careful.”

  He promised he would, and Madeleine sighed as she resigned herself to keeping watch over Maggie Beth. She was practically catatonic the whole time. As the chainsaw roared upstairs, she gripped Madeleine’s hand.

  “Lee said he was breathing, right?” she asked in a fearful tone.

  Madeleine took a steadying breath. “Unconscious, but alive, he said.”

  It took a moment for her to respond. “He’s going to be fine.”

  “Perfectly fine,” Madeleine answered. The words were just as much for herself as Maggie Beth.

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  Intense pain startled Adrian awake. It felt like his head was stuck in a vice, and someone kept tightening it. A bright light pierced his eyes and intensified the pain. Just when he thought the pressure proved too much, he heard a voice that surprised him.

  “Hey—it’s okay. Does your head hurt? I can get a nurse.”

  It didn’t take any of the pain away but distracted him to take his mind off it. He looked around at his surroundings, clean and sterile, and nowhere near as bright as he’d first thought. Was he in a hospital?

  “Where am I?”

  “Memorial Hospital.”

  Adrian’s vision was blurry, but when he focused his eyes, he saw Lee standing over him. “What are you doing here? And why am I in a hospital? Where’s Maddie?”

  “Dude, slow your roll. You’ve been through a lot. Just take it easy.”

  The pain mounted in his head again. While his entire world was nothing but sensations and misery, he figured out Lee had pressed the call button for a nurse and had asked if he could get his brother any pain medication. Memories were coming back, but he didn’t know why his head hurt so much. He and Madeleine had fought. She had left. He tried to track her down… but after that? Trying to remember the rest hurt his head.

  Adrian repeated his question. “Where is Maddie? Is that okay?”

  “She’s right here trying to get some sleep, Adrian,” Lee said. “She’s been perfectly fine the entire time. You’re the one who’s banged up.”

  “I can’t see her.”

  Lee sighed and pressed a button and elevated the bed. Sitting up wracked his head, but he had to see Madeleine safe and sound for himself. Sure enough, a peace spread through him as he saw her curled up in a chair asleep.

  “Better?” Lee questioned.

  “Much,” he answered in a hiss as another wave seized him.

  Adrian saw Lee wince; his face must have illustrated his pain. “So what happened?” he asked. “What the hell is wrong with my head?”

  “Tree limb must have shaken loose and hit you in the head when you went to check out the damage,” Lee explained. “Knocked you out pretty good. You’ve been out a good twelve hours, at least. And I hate to tell you this, but you’re gonna have one ugly scar on your forehead.”

  Adrian groaned, the memory of walking up to see the tree in the attic replaying in his mind, although he couldn’t remember getting hit by the tree branch. “She didn’t mention being a little angry with me, by any chance?” he asked, looking toward Madeleine.

  His brother seemed to think for a second, but then he laughed and rolled his eyes. “You know, all I’ve heard about is wedding plans. Her and Mom both...they’ve been driving me crazy all afternoon. Never mind the groom might wake up even more messed up in the head than before.”

  Even though all the pain, Adrian could feel the sting of guilt sinking him. For the past year, Adrian had told himself he would never once regret doing whatever it took to be with Madeleine, but now, with his brother acting so much more gracious than he deserved, he understood that he’d been shutting down an emotion that needed to be felt.

  “I’m sorry. I love her, but taking her away from you was wrong.”

  At first, his brother looked shocked. His mouth fell, and he cast his eyes away from him. First, to the floor, then to Madeleine.

  “I deserved it. I hurt her so much.”

  “No one deserves that,” Adrian said. “And especially from their brother.”

  Lee narrowed his eyes at him. “It’s not just that, you know. You were my best friend. I trusted you over everyone, even her.”

  He sank even further with that remark, but Adrian knew he deserved it.

  “It was over,” Lee continued. “We’d screwed that marriage up beyond repair.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. Without me, maybe you would have fixed it.”

  Lee’s eyes fixated on the floor. “You
know, I’ve been thinking that for over a year now. I’ve used it to justify being angry with you, but the truth is, Maddie made her choice. And I trust her to know her own heart. If you’re the one who makes her happy, that’s all I want for her.”

  “Yeah, but I should have done things differently. I should have manned up and told you that day I resigned why I was really leaving.”

  Lee shook his head. “It wouldn’t have made a difference. I might have thought more of you, maybe, but I probably would have kicked your ass and embarrassed myself.”

  It probably wasn’t the time for a joke, but Adrian’s true nature prevailed. “You couldn’t have kicked my ass, anyway.”

  Lee scoffed. “Well, I see we’re not too concussed to be facetious.”

  “Who said anything about being facetious?”

  “I could make that head injury worse.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Adrian said. “Besides, Madeleine would never forgive you.”

  “She is the only reason you’re not already knocked back out.”

  Adrian laughed, but it hurt. At that exact moment, a nurse whisked in the room and checked his vitals. When he shined a light from pupil to pupil to check dilation, Adrian wanted to punch him in the face for causing his head to seize up in unbearable pain, but he restrained himself. Besides, the nurse became his hero when she brought a syringe and pumped it straight into his IV. Before long the pain began to subside, and his body started to dissipate in the numbing sensation.

  “You promise you’re gonna take care of her, right?” Lee asked in a small voice as Adrian felt himself beginning to float down into dark, heavy unconsciousness.

  Adrian felt himself smile. “Can’t be happy unless she is. I can’t hurt her without hurting myself.”

  “Good. because I won’t hesitate to hurt you if you do.”

  Adrian hummed. “Same with Em, okay? She’s a good woman. She deserved a lot better than me.”

  “She most certainly does,” Lee agreed with a smile.

  “I mean...she deserves a lot better than you, too, but she’s a big girl. She can make her own stupid decisions.”

  “Well, there’s at least one thing we can agree on,” Lee murmured with a smile. Adrian closed his eyes, grateful the pain was gone for now.

  “Adrian?” he heard just as he began to drift off.

  “Yeah?”

  “You think we’ll ever fix this?”

  It was hard to answer, but only because his mouth wouldn’t form the words as clearly as he’d like.

  “I’d like to." It was the best he could say, although he felt so much more. They both had good reason to hate each other, but Adrian thought his love for his brother outweighed all of those reasons that were dissipating into the past.

  Chapter Forty

  Restoration takes time in every walk of life. Whether it’s a house or even a family, it takes patience to mend what we break. At first, the task can seem daunting, but piece by piece, anything can be put back together. Savannah proved resilient, and as time passed, evidence of Beatrice’s fury faded into the past. Seasons changed, time passed, and things invariably changed.

  Between repairing their own home and helping everyone else as much as possible, the next fall came faster than Madeleine ever expected.

  “Wasn’t this wedding supposed to be small? I thought you wanted it to be small,” Freya hissed as she fluttered back into the bridal suite of the Elliott House. Madeleine didn’t want to see if Freya was correct. Her goal was to make it around the house to the front porch without tripping in her heels, avoid looking at any of the guests and focus only on Adrian.

  Otherwise, a panic attack might ensue, and who wanted to have a panic attack on their wedding day?

  “Adrian’s the social butterfly. Take it up with him. I think he made friends with at least half of Savannah during the hurricane cleanups.”

  “Did half of Savannah get invited? Because it looks like the whole city.”

  “Freya, I think if we’d let him, he would have handed out flyers like it was a college kegger. I think he’s a little excited.”

  She laughed in agreement. “What gave it away? The dancing down the aisle last night at the rehearsal or the fact that he’s not shut up about ‘his wedding’ for the past three months?”

  “I think he’s been more excited than me, that’s for sure. Can you believe he didn’t want a wedding like this at first?” Madeleine checked her makeup and applied another coat of lipstick. “I’m the one who said I wanted a ceremony, and now I wish we would have eloped.”

  “Don’t be nervous. It’s just you and Adrian out there...and 250 of your closet friends and family.”

  “Thanks for that,” Madeleine said sarcastically as her stomach sank.

  “What are friends for?”

  Freya held her hand as she walked across the lawn to ensure that she didn’t fall flat on her face. It had rained that morning, and the ground was soft beneath her heels. Madeleine closed her eyes and let Freya guide the way. She heard the string band’s lilting music rising into the colorful sunset, prepping for the song she had chosen for walking down the aisle. Hearing the soft whispers and murmurings of the guests made her heart race.

  Madeleine heard Freya giving Bella and Luna last-minute instructions.

  “Look girls, walk slowly, but not too slow. Bella, pace yourself on the flowers. You put out too many first thing at the rehearsal and there weren’t any left by the end. Luna, you’ve got the rings, right?”

  “Yes, Mom,” she heard Luna sigh. Madeleine snickered.

  “That’ll be enough sass, young lady. Now watch and wait your turns, okay?”

  “Yes ma’am,” the twins said in unison.

  She sensed a presence next to her, and an arm wrapping through her own.

  “You nervous?” Richard asked in a low baritone.

  “A little,” she returned in a whisper, keeping her eyes closed. “Freya says there’s a lot of people here.”

  “Eh, yeah, there are. But you’ve got one excited groom waiting for you at the end of the aisle.”

  “He’s not out there doing cartwheels is he?”

  “We’ve managed to keep him contained,” Richard muttered, “lest he look like Tom Cruise that time he jumped on Oprah’s couch.”

  Madeleine burst into a giggle; it was too easy for that image to unfold in her mind. The music changed. It was time.

  “Ready?” Richard asked.

  Madeleine opened her eyes, and Adrian was right in her line of sight. He wore the boyish grin she’d fallen in love with, but there was a glimmer of a tear in his eye. Her heart calmed with a swelling warmth. “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life,” she

  said as a smile broke across her face.

  The whole world had gone silent and dark in Madeleine’s presence. From the second Adrian had spotted her outside the house, she was the only thing his eyes would focus on. Could she possibly be any more beautiful? Was this day really, finally here? His father murmured something in Madeleine’s ear, and her nervousness finally dissipated into a laugh. Adrian couldn’t have been more grateful to his father. It was fulfilling to see them able to act like family.

  His father led her down the aisle, and Adrian thought his heart might burst with every emotion this day had brought—gratefulness, excitement, a little sadness, but best of all, the peaceful joy in knowing this was going to be the best day of his life.

  He counted the steps from where his father had joined her. By the fifth step, he was going back over the vows in his head, but by the tenth, he’d already given up on the vows. Thinking about anything other than Madeleine proved to be impossible.

  On step fifteen their eyes met, and he felt every emotion swirling up again. His grin spread into a wide smile as he admired her. From the top of her simple, wispy up-do to the gorgeous dress that was a filthy rag compared to his wife, never was there a bride more beautiful than his. On step twenty-one, they stopped, his father lifted her veil, and he plac
ed Madeleine’s hand into his, handing her into his care for the rest of their days.

  Before leading her to the top step where their preacher stood expectantly, Adrian grasped her hand, and when she looked in his direction, he planted a kiss right on her lips. Madeleine looked surprised at first, then nervous as gasps and murmurs arose from the crowd.

  “I’m sorry, you just looked so beautiful I really couldn’t help myself,” Adrian smiled in a weak defense of himself.

  Color rose to Madeleine’s cheeks but gave a shy smile. “I think you shocked everyone,” she whispered. “You’re supposed to save that for the end, you know.”

  “It’s my wedding and I’ll do as I damn well, please. You ready to tie this knot?”

  “More than you’ll ever know.”

  “I think I know exactly, Mrs. Atwood.”

  He didn’t think he heard a single word the minister said, and if

  he had to guess, Madeleine didn’t either. They were too caught up in each others’ eyes, imagining a future together.

  The minister cleared his throat. He must have known all too well that neither of them were listening one bit. “Adrian and Madeleine have written their own vows.”

  Guests smiled or cooed in response, save for one groan from the back of the groom’s side.

  It was the one time Adrian didn’t look at Madeleine, but to the very back row where his brother must have sneaked in at the very last minute. Emily slapped the lapel of his suit with the back of her hand and glared at him.

  Madeleine must have seen them too because she was obviously trying to contain a laugh when they looked back toward each other. She regained her bearings, looked down to her feet, and then back up at him.

  “One day, before you and I even fathomed a future together, you rescued me. It was the first day of school, and I walked into chemistry late, only to be unwelcome at every empty seat. I was about to run out of the room when your arm shot up and waved me over. ‘I’ve got a seat open over here,’ you said, ‘free of charge with a promise not to bite’.”

  He grinned, remembering the day well. He’d never forgotten the lost expression on her face, nor how grateful she looked when she finally took the seat next to him. It might have been that very moment she started finding her way through to his heart.