Peter's Return

by Cynthia Cooke

  Suddenly, Rosalia gasped and her stomach tightened as another contraction hit her. “Come on, Rosalia, push!”

  Rosalia lifted herself up and pushed, screaming with the effort.”

  “There it is!” Emily said with excitement. “I can see its head. We’re almost there.”

  Rosalia let out a deep breath and fell back against the bed, breathing heavily and trying to gather her strength, but Emily didn’t like how tired she looked, how pale.

  “Okay, honey, one more time,” Emily said as she felt another contraction begin. As gently as she could, she held the baby’s head and guided it as Rosalia pushed.

  “The head is out now, Rosalia.” Emily said, as she cradled the little head in her hand. Wonderment filled her as she stared at the tiny miracle. “Okay, Rosalia, one more big push!”

  Rosalia screamed and pushed with all her might. The baby slid out of her thin, trembling body and into Emily’s hands. She quickly wrapped it in a towel, cleaned out its nose and mouth, and rubbed its little back, then stared down into his beautiful little face and almost cried.

  “It’s a boy, Rosalia. A beautiful, perfect baby boy.”

  Rosalia’s face sagged and she tried to catch her breath. Snake was rubbing her hand and grinning from ear to ear. “Did you hear that, Rosie? A boy.”

  Rosalia nodded, smiling as they hugged each other with joy. Emily continued to rub the baby’s back and feet and soon it was inhaling its first lungful of air and crying.

  Peter stuck his head in the door. Emily turned to him with tears shimmering in her eyes and showed him the baby still cradled in her arms. Peter’s smile was small, and Emily realized he was worried about her. But she’d be fine. This baby was a miracle. Confirmation that God is good, and there is hope for a better world, a more loving world.

  “I’ve heard word from your contacts,” he said, looking at Snake. “Baltasar’s almost here. I’ve informed the neighbors and asked them to evacuate the village.”

  “Can you give us a few more minutes? We’re not quite done.”

  “It will be cutting it close.”

  “Please.”

  Her gaze met his for a long moment then he nodded. She quickly placed a clamp on the baby’s umbilical cord, then handed Snake the scissors. He looked surprised, but gingerly did as she asked. Once the cord was cut, she handed Snake the baby. “Okay, Rosalia, I need just one more push, okay?”

  Rosalia was limp but was doing her best. Still, Emily couldn’t get the bleeding to stop and to top that off she didn’t have time to suture the tears. Vigorously, she rubbed Rosalia’s stomach, trying to get the uterus to clamp down and stop the bleeding.

  “We’re going to have to go and hope for the best,” Snake said.

  Emily sighed. “I guess we don’t have a choice.” She took the baby as Snake scooped his sister up, carried her outside and propped her up on a pile of towels in the back of the Jeep. Emily climbed in next to her then handed Rosalia her son.

  “Gracias, Dr. Armstrong, for everything.”

  Emily smiled. “You did a good job, Mom. He’s a beautiful baby boy.”

  Rosalia smiled at her baby and Emily wished, not for the first time, that they were safe in a hospital room and Rosalia was getting the care she needed. Instead, they were heading into the jungle in a Jeep that with each bounce and jiggle caused Rosalia an extreme amount of discomfort and pain.

  “If you can, I need you to try and nurse your baby,” Emily told her. “The sooner the better.” Emily hoped that by nursing, Rosalia’s body would produce enough oxytocin to slow or stop her bleeding.

  Rosalia nodded, and though she was pale and tired, she did what she could. Snake drove down one dirt road after another speeding away from the village. In the passenger seat, Peter turned around looking behind them every now and then, his jaw tight, his muscles tense as if he expected to see Baltasar on their tail at any moment.

  As he met Emily’s gaze, she trembled at the stark concern in his eyes. It was much worse then when they were at the compound. Suddenly, she realized how much danger they were in and fear grew within her. They had to be okay. They couldn’t have gone through all this and not be okay.

  The bumping and jolting sent shafts of pain flashing across Rosalia’s face. She clutched her child to her chest. Emily patted her arm and said a silent prayer. Please, God, don’t let Baltasar find us. Help us through this hard time. Help us escape this evil that threatens to hurt this innocent woman and her child. Let us all survive this day.

  Peter’s face froze.

  Following his gaze, Emily turned and looked behind her out the Jeep’s back window. A cloud of black smoke rose above the trees and frightened birds flocked in the air, squawking in protest. Sounds carried and she heard shrieking that made her skin crawl. Her breath hung in her throat.

  Rosalia gasped and, sensing her stress, her baby started to cry.

  “What is it?” Emily asked, not wanting to hear the answer.

  “Baltasar. He’s burning the village.”

  Chapter Ten

  Peter stared at the smoke rising in the distance and felt anger turn in his stomach. Baltasar was pure evil, and he needed to be stopped. That was why his work was so important, even if Emily couldn’t see that. One day she’d have to.

  Snake continued driving, without looking back, without flinching. Peter knew he had no choice. He had to save his sister and her child. There was nothing he could do for the people of the village now. He’d have to leave their fate up to the mercy of a madman, and to God.

  After a while, Rosalia’s cries in the back seat grew in intensity.

  “Isn’t there any way we can stop and let her rest?” Emily asked. “This bouncing is really hard on her.”

  Snake turned and looked at his sister, then looked at Emily. He pulled the Jeep off the road and into the jungle and turned off the engine. Peter wanted to say something, but the look of relief on Emily’s and Rosalia’s faces was so strong, he didn’t have the heart. He and Snake got out while Emily checked Rosalia’s bandages. “You feeling okay?” he heard Emily ask, but didn’t hear Rosalia’s reply.

  He turned to Snake. “Isn’t there anywhere safe we can leave the women?”

  Snake stared at him, his gaze unreadable.

  Peter didn’t like asking, didn’t like having to work with someone he didn’t trust, and certainly didn’t like being responsible for so many innocent lives. “We can’t take two women and a newborn baby with us to the lab. Surely you must know someone we can leave them with?”

  “It’s too risky,” Snake said.

  “More risky than taking them with us?”

  “The women aren’t safe anywhere in Venezuela,” Snake replied.

  “Then what’s your plan?” Peter hated the way the words sounded, hated having to ask Baltasar’s number-one thug what they were going to do next. This was his mission, Emily was his problem, but the worst part was that right now he didn’t see any other alternative.

  “Once we’re in Colombia, it will be easier to get them to America.”

  “What about the lab?”

  Snake rubbed the stubble on his jaw. “There’s a village I know—friends I trust—fifteen miles on this side of the border. We can leave them there then I’ll take you to the lab. You do what you need to, then I’ll do what I need to for Rosalia and Dr. Armstrong.”

  “You can leave Dr. Armstrong to me,” Peter said, not liking the way Snake was taking claim to Emily.

  Snake raised his eyebrows, but didn’t ask. Which was good, because Peter wasn’t about to explain.

  Emily climbed out of the Jeep. Her face was drawn and she was wiping blood off her hands and onto a towel.

  “How’s Rosalia?” Snake asked.

  “The bleeding is slowing, but all this bouncing around is not helping. Her body needs time to heal.”

  Snake nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Peter stepped toward her and held out his hand. “Let’s go for a walk.”

 
; “Don’t go far,” Snake muttered.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” Peter responded. “How is Rosalia, really?” he asked Emily once they moved away from the Jeep. He could see the concern in her eyes. It was what made her such a good doctor, her ability to care about anybody, even perfect strangers, when she should be caring about herself.

  “Not good, I’m afraid. We really need to get her to a hospital.”

  Peter agreed. “We need to get you both out of here as quickly as we can.”

  “I understand that, but can we just rest here for thirty minutes?”

  Peter hesitated. “Let’s sit down.” He led her into a private clearing, and they sat on a fallen log. He felt a pinch on his arm, and immediately wiped away a large insect. Without some form of bug repellent, they were going to get eaten alive.

  “She really needs it.”

  “All right,” he relented. He had no choice in the matter. It wasn’t his Jeep, and it looked as if Snake had taken control of his mission.

  “Thanks, Peter. She’s had a real tough time.” She filled him in on what Rosalia had told her about Baltasar. “Why do you think Snake continued to work for Baltasar after that?”

  “I can’t imagine,” Peter said dryly. There were a lot of things about Snake he just couldn’t put his finger on. “See what you can find out from Rosalia.”

  She stiffened. “Peter, we all had a rough night and an even tougher morning. Please don’t tell me to start prying into other people’s lives.”

  This was so typical of Emily, trying to force him into a defensive position. “The last thing in the world I would want is to tell you what to do, Emily. Even if you do owe me.”

  “Owe you? How can you say that? I saw that plane barreling down the runway and I thought you left me. I had no choice but to go with Snake.”

  Surprise choked him. “How could you think I left you? I defied orders twice to come back for you.”

  “You did?” It was her turn to look surprised. “You put me before your job?”

  “I’ll be lucky if I still have a job after we get out of this.”

  “Really?” A grin of immense pleasure covered her face.

  “Don’t look so happy.”

  She tried to force a serious expression on her face, but the smile kept poking through. “Okay, I won’t.”

  He shook his head and couldn’t help the grin teasing the corners of his mouth. She had to be the most exasperating woman ever born. He’d come halfway around the world to get away from her and here she was messing up his life like some huge cosmic joke.

  “I am glad you came back for me,” she admitted. “Even if we did miss the plane.”

  “I could never leave your life in someone else’s hands,” he muttered, even if he really, really wanted to.

  “I guess it’s good for me that you like being in charge and handling things on your own.”

  “You’re right, I do, and I definitely don’t like working with Snake.”

  “He’s not so bad.”

  He looked at her sharply. “What was that supposed to mean?”

  She grinned. “Compared to you, that is.”

  He knew he shouldn’t, but he wrapped his hand in her hair and pulled her to him. “Stop looking at me like that,” he said, his lips mere inches from hers.

  “Like what?” Her large luminous eyes bore directly into his.

  “With that sparkle on your face. I don’t like it.”

  “You don’t?” She pouted, her bottom lip sticking out, looking even more luscious, even more desirable than he remembered seeing it. He knew it was a mistake, a colossal mistake, like many others he’d made since he first saw her in Baltasar’s office, but he just couldn’t stop himself.

  He pressed his lips against hers and kissed her with everything he had, and all he’d missed during the last three years he’d spent in the jungle. His lips moved against hers and he was filled with longing for her touch, for her smile at breakfast in the morning, for her arms wrapped around him at night as they drifted off to sleep. He was filled with her—his wife, his love.

  He pulled away. He had to stop. She looked at him questioningly, her aching vulnerability shining in her eyes. He just let her believe they had a chance, a future. Now he’d have to disappoint her all over again. “I was so afraid something had happened to you,” he said. It was true, but it was also a feeble excuse for his inability to control himself around her.

  She ran a finger across her swollen lips, and smiled. “I’m pretty good at taking care of myself.”

  “Really?” he said.

  “You don’t believe me?”

  “You are a disaster waiting to happen.”

  “Ha!” She smacked his arm. “You are in serious trouble now.”

  He looked at her with mock horror. “Please don’t hurt me.”

  “You’d better watch it, buddy, or I’ll give you a little taste of what I gave to Esteban.”

  A twinge of anxiety poked him. “You messed with Esteban?”

  “Let’s put it this way. I think Esteban will think twice the next time he tries to mess with me.”

  Peter tried to hold back the laugh rising in his throat. She couldn’t be serious.

  “You don’t believe me?”

  “I never doubt you,” he said, and the moment the words left his mouth he knew they were a lie. He did doubt her. All the time. He doubted she’d ever be able to put her fears behind her and trust what they had. He doubted she’d be able to commit her whole heart to him, because she’d always keep a little back in reserve in case he got hurt again, in case he didn’t come back home. And that little bit of her heart that she kept from him would be all she needed to convince herself to leave him.

  And he couldn’t go through that again.

  He stood, he couldn’t do this anymore.

  “Peter, wait.” She placed her hand on his arm.

  He looked down at it.

  “I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve given you.”

  He looked into her eyes, trying to gauge her level of sincerity.

  “I know I should have taken my chances with the motorcycle. I should have left with you and Robert. My stubbornness has put us all in this terrible situation.”

  “Emily, if you had gone over the wall or had gotten on that plane, then Rosalia and her baby could have died.”

  Emily nodded, her face grim.

  She knew what he was saying; he could see it in her eyes. He took a deep breath and continued. “I have to believe that God wanted you here to save them, otherwise, why would all this have happened?”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  “Why do you look so surprised?”

  She turned away, sadness and guilt heavy in her expression.

  He took her by the chin, and turned her back to him. “What is it?”

  “After the explosion, when you were in the hospital, I promised God if He let you live, I’d never leave you, that I’d be the best wife ever.”

  His breath caught in his chest. He vaguely remembered hearing her voice as she sat by his hospital bed, pleading to God to let him live. He had lived. Only she hadn’t stayed. The memory clutched his heart in its icy grasp. As soon as she found out he’d be okay, she walked out of his life and never turned back.

  “I obviously broke that promise,” she said with a catch in her voice.

  He didn’t say anything, couldn’t trust himself not to sound angry or bitter.

  “I was too afraid you’d go back out and do it again. I’m sorry, Peter.” Her eyes misted with tears. He stared at the ground beneath his feet and concentrated on the giant ants moving around on the jungle floor.

  “I’ve had a hard time forgiving myself for that decision.”

  He could only imagine.

  “And worse, I let myself believe that God hadn’t forgiven me, either.”

  He looked at her in surprise. “God doesn’t hold grudges, people do.”

  “I know, but I guess it was easier to believe
that than to think about it too much. I gave up on us and I gave up on God. It wasn’t until I’ve been here that I’ve allowed myself to open up to Him again. To hope that maybe He has forgiven me.”

  “Seek the Lord and you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and soul.”

  She smiled. “Marcos helped tear down the wall I’d built around my heart.”

  He couldn’t help feeling surprised as he listened to her. She’d never been this honest with him before. Maybe she had changed.

  “I only knew him for a short time, but he was such a special child. Even after all he’d been through, he loved without fear, without holding back.”

  “The innocence of babes.”

  She smiled. “Baltasar was so lucky to have him. I hope he realized that.” She paused. “I’d have given anything to have a child like him. To have your child.”

  A heavy silence lay between them. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before, but this time things were different. This was a road they would never be able to take. Not anymore. Not since the explosion had left him unable to father a child. “I’m sorry, Em.”

  “Me, too.” She sighed. “But I’ve learned something about myself through all this. I don’t like people telling me what to do. I don’t like other people deciding things for me. And I really don’t like my total lack of control over the decisions you make, and the tremendous effect those decisions have over my life. In other words, I don’t like the chances you take.”

  “And that’s a new revelation?”

  “No, but I’ve learned that I don’t have enough trust, either. Trust that you’re good enough at your job to come home safe, or trust that you’ll put me first above your job.”

  “Haven’t I just proved that to you?”

  “Yeah,” she smiled. “I guess you have.”

  “Em, I don’t see how any of this can change things between us. Our lives have gone in different directions.”

  “No, your life has taken the turn, not mine. I’m still sitting at home waiting for you to come back. I just hadn’t realized it.”