“Where is she, Eric? I have to see her.”
***
As he approached the house John could see Allex in the backyard working in the garden. His heart beat faster than he thought possible. He parked the pale green Subaru, the one he had given her two years earlier, in the driveway, and made his way around the house.
Allexa stood and stretched her back, thinking it was hell getting old. She bent over, rinsing her hands in the bucket of water, and wiped them on her dirty jeans. She took a deep breath and went rigid, her breathing became erratic.
“I don’t have to see you to know you’re there. I can feel when you come near me,” she whispered and slowly turned to face John.
“I brought your car back,” he said with a grin.
She let out breath that was half laugh and half sob.
He took two steps forward and opened his arms to her. She moved slowly toward him and reached out to touch him, making sure he was real. She touched his beard, his face, and the bristly stubble on his cheeks. Sure it was really him, her arms wrapped around his neck and his went around her waist, pulling her close.
They stood like that for several minutes, neither of them saying a word, afraid to break the spell they were cloaked in. John pulled back first, cupping Allex’s face in his big hands. He looked deeply into her gray/green eyes and gently touched her lips with his own. Allex sighed and briefly deepened the kiss and then stepped back.
“All this time I thought you were dead. Where have you been, John?”
“I started back as soon as the first ash fall had passed, like I said I would, then I got picked up for having a gun during martial law and was tossed in a FEMA camp.”.
“Are they as bad as the rumors say they are?” Allex asked, leading them to sit at the picnic table in the shade of a stately old oak tree.
“It was the worst two weeks of my life. I got out only when I agreed to help with their relief efforts in Florida.” He laid his hands out flat on the table and looked across at her, wanting so badly to touch her again. “I stayed on when I realized I was actually doing some good. I was helping people, Allex, really helping.”
“You have a good heart, John,” she said simply. “I have to admit I’m in a bit of a shock that you’re here.”
John studied her face for a long moment. “Where is Dr. Mark? Are you two still together? Is that why you feel so distant?”
Allex looked at him with sad eyes. “Mark died a few months after you left, John. He got sick helping others during a really bad flu outbreak. And I don’t feel distant, I feel…overwhelmed. It’s difficult for me to take in that you are really here. I’m afraid that I’m going to wake from a nap and find this is all just a dream.” She stared at her folded hands. “I’ve missed you so much, John.” Her voice cracked and tears cascaded down her cheeks.
“Oh, Allex, you have no idea how much I’ve missed you too.” He stood and took her hands, pulling her into another long hug. “Thoughts of you and of coming back here were what kept me going during some really rough times out on the road. Now that I’m here…oh, Allex, please don’t send me away.”
“Send you away? I never wanted you to leave in the first place, John.”
***
They sat at the scarred kitchen table, drinking black coffee, trying to bring each other up to date on their lives since they parted.
“Then I had to shoot two grizzly bear cubs that were ripping the mess tent apart, but that wasn’t as bad as when mama showed up. She was enraged. I hated killing the animals, I really did. The only good thing that came out of it was all the fresh meat for that hard working crew.”
Allex sat there spellbound over his stories of life on the FEMA road, and he laughed over her “military” experiences.
His eyes roamed over her face, remembering all the little details: the way her hair curled over her ears when it got too long; the green flecks in her dark gray eyes that sparkled when she got excited over something; the way her dimples deepened when she smiled. He noticed too the new touch of silver at her temples. “Actually, I can see you as an officer. You have a take-charge and get-it-done personality, Allex.”
“Just don’t call me Colonel Klink!” She grinned.
John paused, drinking in the sight of her. How he had dreamt of this moment when they were together again. “Where do we go from here, Allex?”
“Who knows you’re here?”
“Eric and Emilee. They were at the office when I stopped there looking for you. I have to tell you I was so afraid when…when I saw all the damage to your house,” he said, his voice cracking.
“I think the first step would be to have a get-together and introduce you to the community. That is, if you plan on staying.”
“I will stay if you want me, Allex. If not,” he took a breath, knowing this moment would come. “If not, I will leave and go back to my daughter, or maybe back to Ft. Wayne. It’s entirely up to you.”
Allexa took his hand in hers, tears glistening on her lashes. “Even though I’m still angry and hurt that you left, I’ve never stopped loving you. Yes, I want you to stay, here, with me.”
He grinned. “When do you want this party?”
“Not for a couple of days. For now, I want you all to myself.” She squeezed his hand. “Although it would only be fair to have Eric and Jason and their families over sooner, along with Tom.”
“Tom?”
“You remember Tom White, the county emergency manager who kept trying to get me to work for him? He’s our mayor now, and a good friend.”
“Oh, him,” John remembered vividly feeling threatened by the man, one he’d never met.
Allexa ignored the murmured statement. “It’s too late in the day to contact everyone, so I think…” A knock on the door interrupted her.
Jason, Amanda, and Jacob were the first to arrive, followed shortly by Eric, Rayne, Emilee, and Alan.
***
During the night a storm rolled in, darkening the dark skies even further and blotting out the bright moon. The thunder crashed, rattling windows and swaying trees. Lightning flashed deep inside the blackened clouds, followed by more disturbing thunder. Hot, dirty rain pelted the dry and thirsty earth, sluicing down the overwhelmed gutters seeking lower land. More lightning. More thunder. Then more muddy rain, which began to cleanse the ash filled sky.
***
Allexa woke with the sun shining brightly in the window over the bed. She felt the heat at her back and instinctively sought the source. And then she smiled. John was home.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
“I never expected a turnout like this,” Tom said, surveying the throng of people occupying the baseball field. Two large portable roasters were set up, side by side, a pig cooked in one and venison in the other. A smaller one sat on a table and held steamed fish. Tables were filled with platters of meat, bowls of salad and potato salad, fresh baked breads, rolls, and sweet cakes. Someone had found a portable CD player and music from a bygone era drifted pleasantly.
“I think everyone from both outside compounds is here,” Allexa replied. “Art was a little skeptical at first until I told him what Midway had to offer, and Sherry felt the same way. I think this was a good way for everyone to meet.” She looked around and spotted John at the food table talking with Art and Harold. “I’m glad to see John getting along with everyone too. They seem to accept him.”
“Yes,” Tom said thoughtfully.
“Okay, what’s on your mind?”
“Are you ready to tell me about him? His appearance here seems rather abrupt and that you took him in immediately surprises me.”
Allexa stared at her friend. “Abrupt? I’ve been waiting for him to come back for almost two years, Tom.” When he looked confused, she went on, “This is John. He was my love when all of this started. As much as I tried to push him out of my mind when he left, he never left my heart.”
“Oh, that John,” Tom chuckled. Changing the subject, he said, “I see Art also brought his golden
retriever, Morgan, who seems highly interested in Chevas. Looks like you might be seeing puppies in the near future.”
***
Final Journal Entry
June 1
I found myself sitting beside Sister Doris’ grave again and started pulling weeds to keep my hands busy while my mind meandered across the last two and a half years. Over two years, and so much has changed. The whole world has changed! What will it be like in five years? Ten years?
I love John so deeply and know he feels the same, yet he left anyway and that pain is still within me, trying to heal. Even though I loved Mark too, it was a different kind of love, and then he died. The colonel seemed to be invincible, now he too is gone, killed by the life he loved so much. I’ve lost family and so many close friends I feel empty inside. Kathy and Bob, Anna, Joshua, Ken and Karen, Liz, Pastor Carolyn, my brother and his wife…they’re all gone. There have been gains too, though they can never balance out what’s no longer here. A new love doesn’t replace a lost one. It doesn’t work that way. The new memory finds its own space to occupy and the old one is still there.
We never forget what we’ve lost; we just…don’t always remember it.
***
John watched Allexa kneel in the soft ground, removing weeds from the flower bed at the grave. He didn’t know the nun, had never met her, but he knew she was special to Allex for some reason. He had been back for over a month now and knew to wait patiently. When she was done he reached out and put his big hands on her shoulders in comfort.
“Come on, Allex, let’s go home.” They walked hand in hand along the broken asphalt road toward the house they shared.
“I’ve been thinking,” Allexa said. The earth began to tremble beneath their feet.
“About what?” John asked, ignoring the frequent quake.
Allexa stopped and tugged on his hand so he turned to her. “Will you marry me?”
He grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”
THE END
Table of Contents
The Journal - Martial Law
Copyright
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
The Journal (Book 6): Martial Law Page 21