“Good luck,” Doc said.
Ethan nodded, then hurried out the door, into the driving rain. Rather than walk the west side of the river as he figured Ebony had, he gambled. He jogged down the road past the Crane Rock, the Pyramid Rock, then along the path that led to the Stillwater. This side of the river was much denser and more difficult to negotiate, but it was a much shorter distance. Ethan pushed through the brush, branches slapping him in the face. Though the light was quickly fading, his hopes increased with each step, so sure was he that they would be reunited.
You are in here. I can feel it, he thought as he hurried through the woods. My birthday, the proposal—that’s why you went. But what happened? Why didn’t you come out?
He glanced heavenward, then ran through open sections, jumped over fallen trees, scrambled up hills. By the time Ethan reached the bridge, he was gasping for breath. It was now almost pitch-dark, and he had seen no sign of her, not a footprint, broken branch, nothing. If she was here, she had obviously not crossed over to the east side. Perhaps she had walked out on the west side and was now at Rebecca’s. Or maybe she was lost, shivering, freezing to death.
“No!” Ethan exclaimed, terrified, looking at the sky, rain driving into his face. “No, Ebony, don’t leave me now. Please, don’t leave me now.”
As he approached the bridge, he took out the flashlight and turned it on. Though he was conscious of wisely using his batteries, it was now so dark he could not find his way without the light. He scanned the light across the underbrush. On the opposite side of the river was a piece of torn material from Ebony’s jacket hanging on a branch. The bank was broken away as if someone had fallen into the river. He stopped dead in his tracks, his mind numb with fear.
* * * *
Lightning flashed, and Ebony’s whole body dripped in the torrential downpour. She shivered and looked up at the sky, thunder booming and echoing in the hills like a death knell summoning mourners to a funeral. With great effort, she climbed out of her makeshift shelter, stood up after realizing it was useless in the rain, paused for a moment, and took a deep breath, then limped markedly, trying somehow to get home. Soon she was reduced to crawling like a wounded animal. She shivered, and her teeth chattered, yet the rain and wind would not abate, sapping heat from her body.
Exhausted and unable to go any farther, Ebony pulled herself under a tree, hot tears rolling down her cheeks. “Ethan,” she stammered, her face contorted, “help me. Hold me.”
She thought of her house and how Ethan used to dance with her in front of the stove. But now she was in the forest, wet, shivering, alone. A lost hunter from Shad Bay had died of hypothermia the previous year, and it had taken them a week to find his body. How long would it take them to find her? Would she die this very night, think her last thoughts, breathe her last breaths? She started to cough, and a dull cold penetrated her very core. Though it seemed impossible to comprehend, Ebony knew she might die, knew she would die. But how cruel life had been to her. Maybe it was better to give up and go on to something better, a world without pain. She lay down and trembled, wanting to close her eyes and drift into a numb sleep.
Then she caught herself. No, she would not give up without a fight. She had to keep her mind working. Yet with the onset of hypothermia, her thoughts were unclear, her judgment irrational. Lightning again ripped open the sky directly above her, and the rain fell in driving sheets, dripping off the trees and swelling the river by the minute. She was so cold. So cold.
Suddenly, Ebony thought she saw a flash of something in the woods. She froze, wondering if it was a hallucination. She craned her head forward and stared, eyes wide open. There it was again. Something was moving in the trees. It looked like a flashlight, but how was that possible?
Then, in a small opening, the form stopped, and a light scanned side to side. Ebony was about to call out when the man shone the beam directly on her. There was a moment of hesitation as she squinted in the light, her hand in front of her face. Ethan suddenly ran toward her, jumping over fallen trees and pushing his way through branches and bushes. For a brief moment, Ebony thought he was a figment of her imagination, a mirage brought about by the onset of hypothermia. But the sound of him rushing toward her, the sight of him, the wildly flashing light moving in his hand—she knew that it was him, her man, the one she loved. He fell at her side, chest heaving. His face was alive with excitement and tremendous relief. He hugged her, and it seemed he might literally burst with emotion.
“You came back,” she stammered through hot tears, holding her head to his chest. “You came back to me, Ethan.”
“I will never leave you again,” he promised, taking off his raincoat and wrapping it around her.
“How did you find me?”
“My heart led me to you.”
They embraced, clinging together as if letting go meant certain death. The wind, the rain, all the trials they had endured, it all disappeared in a deliciously exquisite moment of joy, a moment Ebony would have given anything to savor for all time. She felt a tremendous love for him, a bond that surpassed meaning and could not be expressed in words.
Ethan held her tightly and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, Ebony Evans. God, how I love you.”
Ebony was going to ask him something when she suddenly started to cough. It was a deep, hoarse cough that persisted for several seconds and robbed her of breath. When it finally ended, she was shaken. Her breathing was labored, and Ethan had to help her stand.
“Where were you?” she asked, clinging to him for support and covering her mouth to cough.
He told her the whole story as quickly as he could. “But I don’t want to talk about her.” He touched Ebony’s forehead. “You’re hot. And why can’t you put any weight on your foot?”
“I sprained my ankle when I fell into the river.”
He gathered his bearings. “Everything looks different at night, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, very different.”
“We’ll keep walking along the river. Bern Baxter built a camp just past the Stillwater. It’s our best hope. It will be tough going, but at least we won’t get lost.” He looked at her. “Are you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
At first, Ebony tried walking, holding on to Ethan’s shoulder for support, but her ankle was too swollen and sore. She glanced at him with frustration, the wind tossing her long, matted hair, branches dipping and swirling all around them.
Ethan bent at the waist. “Climb up on my back.”
“I’m too heavy.”
“Get on my back,” he insisted. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. If you try to walk, it will just slow us down. We have to get you warm and dry as soon as possible.”
His tone left no room for argument, so Ebony climbed onto his back and held tightly. With a powerful movement, Ethan stood and started to walk through the dark forest. They could barely see, but the river gushing past acted as their guide. The rain poured down in cold torrents, and the wind howled, bending trees and flinging water off their branches. Lightning flashed with greater frequency, and the roaring thunder, trapped by the hills, boomed menacingly. Ebony clung ever more tightly to her man, reveling in the strength of his masculine body. She held so firmly that they began moving like one living form, and she was conscious of the sweet, blissful sense of union. If he stumbled, she felt it. If she moved, she knew he felt it.
Ebony enjoyed the warmth of Ethan’s body, the moist heat radiating from his back and flowing into her. As they moved quickly through the nearly impenetrable tangle of alders, gently rocking with each step, Ebony could not help thinking that they were united in one body, one mind, one heart. They were one body. But eventually Ethan began laboring for breath.
“Rest,” Ebony said, wiggling off his back.
Ethan was reluctant to stop, but Ebony would not continue until he regained his breath. They rested and held each other. The rain, falling with incredible intensity, hissed as it drenched the forest floor
all around them and frigid drops fell down the backs of their necks. The night had a bluish-black tinge, so ominous it seemed intent on swallowing them forever. As the storm raged, she felt freed and trapped at the same time.
“Ethan?” Ebony whispered.
“Yes?”
“I just want to say I feel safe here with you.”
He kissed her hand.
Ebony smiled strangely. “I feel like I could die in your arms tonight.”
“Don’t even talk about death.”
“I knew you’d come back to me.”
“It couldn’t have been any other way,” he said, pulling her more tightly to himself.
Lightning flashed and illuminated their faces. That second would be forever frozen in her memory. The wall between them—once a mountain—came crumbling down. Everything, even their very life forces, merged and melted together in that violent storm. But then Ebony coughed deeply and wheezed, straining to pull air into her lungs.
“Time to go,” Ethan said, kneeling beside her. “We have to get to the camp.”
“Okay.”
* * * *
The bank gave way, and Ethan slipped into the river. He frantically grabbed some branches with both hands, straining to stay upright in the frigid, gushing water. Though the river was running hard, Ebony clung tightly to him, never wanting to let go. With a mighty heave, he pulled them onto the bank, and they fell side by side, glancing at each other but not knowing what to say. Ethan caught his breath, and they continued their journey in the darkness. The rhythmic motion of his body reminded Ebony of being rocked in her one of her foster mother’s protective arms when she was a little girl sick in the night. She felt safe and whole. But then she coughed hard again, almost gagging, and struggling to breathe. Ethan winced at the sound and walked as fast as he could.
“We’re here!” he exclaimed after an arduous walk, the camp’s silhouette barely visible in the darkness.
“Looks like a castle under these conditions,” Ebony said.
Ethan carried Ebony inside, closing the door behind them. Suddenly there was no wind or rain, just a welcome silence, though the camp was damp and cold. He gently let her down and took a lighter from his pocket, fumbled with wet fingers to unwrap it from the sealed bag, then flicked it. The dim light illuminated a stove with cut, dried firewood beside it, a candle and containers on the shelf, and a single bed in the corner. They looked at each other, their faces, hair, and clothes dripping on the plywood floor. Ethan lit the candle and put it on an old gray metal table. He gathered newspaper and made a fire, kneeling in front of it and adding sticks as soon as he could.
“We owe Bern thanks for building this cabin,” Ebony said as she handed him hardwood from a pile.
“He wanted to kill me,” Ethan said, “but I could just about kiss him right now.”
Ebony laughed. “God works in mysterious ways.”
“Never have truer words been spoken.”
Ebony wanted to continue speaking, but she felt so cold and miserable that she just sat on a wooden chair with her arms around herself, shivering. Ethan stoked the fire again, and the wood crackled. Then he opened a crude wooden box near the bed.
“Just what I was hoping for,” he said, taking out plastic bags filled with three flannel blankets and a pillow. “We’re in luck. Everything is bone dry.”
Ebony shuffled her chair near to the stove and tried to get some warmth back into her trembling body. Tilting her head forward, she wrung the water from her hair, then quietly watched Ethan walk to the bed and spread blankets on the large mattress.
“There’s something we have to do.”
“What?” she asked, looking up at him with her teeth chattering.
“We have to take off our clothes.” He looked her in the eyes. “Because if we don’t, I’ll probably get pneumonia, and you will for sure. So take off your clothes, and dry yourself with one blanket. Hang your clothes on the chair beside the stove. Then crawl into bed and get under the other blankets.”
“Okay.”
“When we got here, I noticed a box outside. There may be some things in it that we can use. When I get back, be in bed. You need warmth right now. Your life depends on it.”
He walked out the door. Ebony quickly removed her clothes and did as Ethan instructed. She felt dry, gloriously dry, and though she was undressed, a tremendous sense of security and comfort swept over her.
“That’s the best place for you,” Ethan said when he returned, placing a lantern on the table and lifting the glass to light it.
“Do you think we’ll be all right?”
“We’ll be fine,” he said, lowering the glass as the room filled with lantern light.
He turned his back to her, removed his shirt, and draped it across a chair near the stove. Ebony gazed at his muscular back. As Ethan brushed the water out of his hair, his muscles twitched, and the bulky thickness of his masculine frame moved in a way that fascinated her. But she turned away and faced the wall. Only then did she realize how violently the storm raged outside. Gusts of wind shook the cabin and howled along the overhang of the roof, whistling eerily, like howling demons escaping from a cave. The rain pounded against the cabin and lashed against the windowpanes. Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled, echoing through the forest.
Outside raged a storm of the elements. Inside Ebony raged a storm of emotions. She felt a tremendous surge of love for Ethan. He had come back to her, and she knew he would never leave her again. Desire blossomed and grew. She wanted to touch and hold and squeeze her man. But just as strong as this urge was a blissful sense of security. She wanted things to remain exactly as they were and never to change. Here, alone with Ethan at this moment in time, she was happier than she had ever been in her entire life. She felt whole and fulfilled.
Without thinking, Ebony rolled over and faced Ethan. He was naked and beautiful in the soft lantern light. His body was powerful and taut from rowing, his cock heavy and full. He was raw, but to Ebony he looked spectacular, like an erotic dream in the early morning. Ethan stoked the fire, squatting with his powerful, muscular legs, his strong buttocks attracting her in a fascinating way. Suddenly he turned to her, smiling so handsomely that it sent a chill down her spine. Then he blew out the lantern and candle.
It was pitch-dark for a moment as everything went black, but light emanated from small holes in the bottom of the stove where flames and light from the glowing embers danced.
“Ethan?” Ebony whispered.
“Yes?”
“Do you love me?”
“Yes, Ebony, I truly love you.”
“Are you sure? Could you make a total commitment?”
“I already have.”
“What about trust? Can you trust me to trust you?”
“I think we both already answered that question.” He paused. “When I was searching for you, things became clearer to me than ever before. All that matters to me is you. You are my life, my hope, my breath. You are me. I cannot live without you.”
“But can you accept being just an ordinary man?”
“This is no ordinary love. I think love makes a person extraordinary.”
“I knew you would come back. I knew it in my soul.”
“You are my soul, Ebony. You are a part of me. I want you to be my wife and the mother of our children. We’ll go to church arm in arm every Sunday. We’ll coach the Little League baseball team together. I never want to be separated from you again.”
“But will you tire of me?” Ebony asked gravely, still not convinced.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Ethan leaned over and kissed her forehead. Then he slowly and tenderly pressed his lips to her neck and bare shoulder. The rain pounded on the roof and lashed against the windowpanes. Outside, the storm unleashed its fury, but inside, the fire crackled and blazed, sending flickers of dancing light scampering across their two bodies as they touched, parted, and moved closer toge
ther again. She could feel his heat, his heft, his manly presence merging with her.
“Tell me, Ethan,” Ebony said after pulling away from a passionate embrace, “when you were away those five years, did you remember me often?”
“No,” Ethan answered immediately and sincerely, rising to stoke the fire.
Ebony felt stabbed to the heart. She had asked the question simply because she wanted to hear Ethan tell her how desperately he’d missed her. But he had not remembered her. A stinging anger rose within her. For a moment she considered running away—anything to be free of this man. But she was too weak, too sore, too tired. She decided to simply not speak with him no matter what he said.
At that instant Ethan turned to her with the stove door open and the fire bathing his body in a mellow glow. “I didn’t remember you,” he murmured, “because you can remember only what you have forgotten.”
Ebony paused for a moment, digesting his words. Then her heart opened to him.
“I love you,” he said. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
The rain pounded and lashed with tremendous intensity, but to Ebony, it sounded like music. Though the darkness was filled with sound, Ebony was being irresistibly drawn into a silent world where only she and Ethan existed. She felt nothing but the gentleness of his hand stroking her arm, the warmth of his body, the fullness and girth of the male form. It soothed and relaxed her. As Ethan stoked the fire, Ebony rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
* * * *
“Can I tell you a story?” he asked.
“Only if it’s happy.”
“It’s not only happy, it’s about us.”
“By all means then,” Ebony whispered, “tell me our story.”
“There’s an old Greek legend,” Ethan began, “that says long ago, before the beginning of time, all people of this earth—past, present, and future—lived in heaven. But, unlike the human beings we know, these people were not split into men and women. Each individual was a man and a woman sharing a single body—mind, heart, and soul. No division existed between them. Each individual was a perfect, harmonious whole. But then the devil split these unions in half, separating men and women into different persons. For the rest of time, these two halves of one person search for each other, trying to reunite. But the devil erects many barricades in order to prevent the reunion and sends the two halves down the wrong paths and into dark places, doing anything he can to keep them from reuniting. Many people are born thousands of years apart or thousands of miles away from their other halves. When, by some strange chance, the divided masculine and feminine halves do meet and come together, the evil force tries everything in his power to separate them. He raises pride in one, casts mistrust in the other. Usually he is successful, but once in a great while, when love is so powerful that nothing can stop it, the reunion takes place. And that is a moment of pure beauty.”
The Reunion Page 17