“Lady, we don’t have time for dramatics,” Fred said, and caught her by the shoulder. “From where I stand, having the bank president as a hostage looks fine. You’re just in the way.” He cracked the door and with a quick motion, pushed her through it, yelling, “Hold your fire, cops!”
Paul Martin ran up the sidewalk in a crouch and dropped beside Sarah. “You okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine, but they’ve got Asa. He’s been shot.”
“Damn! Let’s get you out of here.”
They ran back toward the circle of police cars to a safe spot where Sarah explained the situation. Captain Sims listened, then began issuing orders. As he reached for the bullhorn so that he could communicate with the robbers, Sarah grabbed a flashlight and motioned for Paul to follow her.
“Where are we going, Sarah?”
“To get Asa.”
Sarah moved quickly across the street to the Grimsley house, broke a pane in the door and slipped her hand inside to open it.
Paul whispered uneasily, “What are you doing, Sarah?”
“I’m getting us into the vault. Do you have your gun?”
She turned on the flashlight and played it across the room at a far wall. According to the diagram it had to be that wall that hid the entrance to a second room. She walked up to it, pressing, knocking. When she came to the panel by the fireplace she heard the hollow sound she’d been searching for. The entrance was behind the wall, but how to get there?
The fireplace. She played her hands along the bricks, feeling, testing. If Mr. Grimsley’s safe opened on a pressure combination, maybe the entrance to the tunnel operated the same way.
But nothing was happening. Could she be wrong? Could the tunnel have been discovered and dismantled years ago? Just as she was about to give up, a panel in the hearth slid open, revealing a narrow passageway beneath. Sarah sat down on the floor and slid into the narrow black gap.
“Wait, Sarah.” Paul tried to follow but couldn’t. “The opening is too narrow. I can’t get inside.”
Sarah shined the flashlight along the crude tunnel. It was obvious that nobody had used it in years. Only because the walls were brick had it lasted.
“Sarah, you’d better take my gun,” Paul said in a loud whisper.
“No thanks. I wouldn’t know how to use it if I did. Go back to Captain Sims and tell him that, with any luck, I’m going to get into the bank behind them. I’ll cause a disturbance of some kind, so he should be ready to come in quick. Tell him to keep a lot of noise going so the crooks won’t hear me. Then come back and see if you can make this opening larger in case, well, just in case.”
Sarah took a deep breath of fresh air and turned back to the tunnel. She didn’t like small, dark places. She didn’t like spiders. She didn’t like rats and she had a feeling that she was facing all three.
Whoever had built the tunnel intended for it to last, and except in a few spots, the shoring was still holding. It had survived the shelling of Atlanta during the Civil War and was withstanding the construction of the parking lot overhead.
Cautiously Sarah picked her way forward. She didn’t for one minute believe all that nonsense Asa spewed out about Jeanie. He was trying to protect her and she loved him for it. She couldn’t tell how badly he was hurt because he never let anybody know about his pain. But she knew she had to get to him right away.
After a few minutes that seemed like hours she reached an intersection. What looked like some rough steps led off to the right. Straight ahead was a wall of loose dirt where the roof of the tunnel had collapsed. Sarah said a silent prayer that the steps would take her into the bank. Relying totally on her memory of the drawing now, for the flashlight battery was weakening, she put one foot on the first step and began to search for an exit.
The air was very stale and she began to feel almost light-headed. If she didn’t get out soon she could very well faint. That wouldn’t happen, she vowed, forcing herself to take quick little breaths and holding them in as long as possible.
She took two more steps that ended at a door, a very old door with the handle on her side. Please open. She caught hold of the handle and pulled. It didn’t move. She groaned. To come this far and not be able to get in … No, she wouldn’t accept that. Frantically she flicked the light up and down the door, until she saw the problem. An iron beam had fallen across the door, effectively blocking it.
Sarah tried to lift the beam, but time and pressure had wedged it in place. She finally found a loose brick in the wall, and by using it as a hammer, she was able to force the rail up. She didn’t know how long she took. She could only hope the robbers hadn’t heard her pounding.
She took hold of the handle and pulled again. The warped door resisted stubbornly. She pulled harder. She wasn’t about to give up now. She’d get through. She had to.
She gave the door one last desperate jerk. It opened a crack. Then the crack widened and she found herself in what appeared to be a closet instead of the vault.
No, she was in a small washroom. But where? Cautiously she crept forward in the darkness, until she came to a wall. By following it she found another door and turned the knob.
The bank manager’s office. She could hear the murmur of voices beyond the half-open door. Taking a long, deep breath of fresh air, Sarah moved forward.
Peering out, she could see that Fred and Lennie were standing beside the front door, watching the outside activity. Asa was slumped in one of the chairs in the lobby as though he’d passed out. His hands were tied. Though he appeared to be very weak, she figured that his condition was likely a pose meant to lull his captors into a false sense of security.
Glancing around, Sarah studied the situation. What she needed was a way to create a distraction. Then she saw it—a round brass paperweight on the desk behind her. She hadn’t been a star ballplayer all her life for nothing.
Slipping through the door she made her way silently to a spot just behind Asa. Drawing back, she took aim and threw the brass ball. She watched it sail through the door. Amidst the shattering of glass panes, she called out, “Asa!”
“What the—” Lennie began firing at the police.
Asa instantly came to his feet. Sarah grabbed him and led him to the office. Just as they reached the washroom, Sarah heard Fred’s voice. “After him, he’s getting away!”
“Where are we going?” Asa growled.
“Caving! Shut up and follow me!”
She shoved him through the hidden wall panel, followed, and pushed the beam back across the door.
They leaned against the door in the darkness, hardly breathing for fear of discovery.
“He’s gone. Where’d he go?” they heard Lennie ask.
“Hell, I don’t know. He just vanished. Maybe he got into that vault.”
Sarah exhaled in a long jerky sigh. Moisture filled her eyes and spilled over on her cheeks. “Asa?” she managed to whisper. “Are you all right?”
“I’ll survive.” His voice, though low, was harsh and cold. “Do you know what a chance you just took?”
“Me? You were the one who got shot,” she replied, making her way down the steps.
“You knew that they had a gun and you came back into the bank like you think you’re invincible.”
“Sorry. I suppose I should have let you stay and get your thumb cut off too.”
“Untie me, Sarah.”
“Why? So you can go back inside and get yourself killed? Forget it.”
“Then I’ll do it myself.”
Asa began to work at the crude rope as he followed Sarah through the tunnel. Her flashlight died halfway back and they had to walk in the dark, feeling their way along the wall. Sarah knew that she must look like a chimney sweep. Her face felt gritty from wiping the tears away with hands that were covered with dust and grime. She fell a couple of times and skinned her knees and her ankle stung where something had scratched her.
When she reached the entrance to the Grimsley house she stopped. There was nothing behi
nd her but silence. She’d concentrated so hard on getting to the end that she’d failed to make sure Asa had kept up with her. Maybe Asa was hurt worse than she’d thought and had fainted. She whirled around and began to run back down the tunnel when she collided with a rock-hard object—unyielding, immovable, and familiar.
“Asa,” she whispered, “are you all right?”
“Yes,” he said, putting his now freed arms around her and leaning against her for a long, sweet moment. “I should have known that you’d come back. You told me that you weren’t one of those temporary people.”
“I’ll always be here, Asa. If you need me.”
His grip began to loosen and Sarah thought that he was pulling away again, just as he did every time they came together. Then he added in a weak voice, “I never thought I’d say it Sarah. But I think I do.”
He slid to the ground, unconscious.
“The bullet went through his shoulder,” the doctor was saying. “He just lost a lot of blood. Any other man would be flat on his back in intensive care.”
Sarah took a look at Asa and thought that was where he ought to be, instead of sitting on the edge of the examining table in the emergency room. She was still in shock. When Asa had passed out, she’d screamed. Paul Martin had pulled up the flooring and jumped inside to help get Asa out. On the way to the hospital, Paul explained how the two robbers had been apprehended, thanks to Sarah’s help.
The doctor put the last piece of tape on the bandage and stepped back. “Okay, Deputy, if you’re determined to leave, that ought to hold you. I’ve had the nurse arrange for you to have enough antibiotics and tablets for pain to get you through the night. I’ll want to check this tomorrow.”
“Fine.” Asa came unsteadily to his feet, steeled himself to walk, and moved out of the cubicle past Sarah. At the door he stopped and turned back to her.
“Let’s go home, lady, before I collapse and embarrass myself in front of all these people.”
A wide smile appeared on Sarah’s face as she took the two steps to Asa’s side. “Are you sure?” she asked, sliding her arm around his waist.
“No, but let’s say I’m willing to talk about it.”
Yet they didn’t talk that night. Sarah took Asa to the barn, gave him his medication, and put him to bed. He was asleep before she could comment on the navy blue briefs he was wearing. He was safe and that was all that mattered. With a heart filled with joy she took off her clothes and slid in beside him. If he woke in pain during the night, she’d be there to share it.
Epilogue
They spent almost all day in the woods looking before Sarah spotted it.
“There, I knew it was here somewhere. That’s the one.”
“Are you sure? That tree looks like it ought to go on the governor’s front lawn.”
“That’s it. Pop and I spotted it years ago and we saved it for a special occasion. I wanted to cut it the last Christmas he lived, but he said no. Now I know what we were saving it for.”
Asa caught Sarah in his arms and planted a kiss on her lips. “For me?”
“For us. For our first Christmas.”
Asa cut the tree and dragged it to the van. He had to trim eight inches from the bottom so it wouldn’t drag on the ground as they drove down the dirt road to her place.
The lake beyond the barn was filling nicely. And the foundation for the house overlooking it was laid out, ready for construction to begin.
“Oh, Asa.” Sarah sighed and moved into his embrace as soon as they’d stopped and gotten out of the van. “If anyone had told me a year ago that I’d be married now I wouldn’t have believed them.”
“I know,” he said quietly. “I still pinch myself every morning. Speaking of being surprised, you should have heard Jeanie yell when I told her.”
“Jeanie?”
“Yes, she called this morning. She and Mike are on their way to Arizona, where his family lives.”
“How is she?”
“She seems very happy. She’s going to have a baby.”
“Oh?” Sarah felt her breath quicken. Asa had been outspoken about not having children. He didn’t seem to want close friends, or family either. He was so afraid that something might come between the two of them. Sarah was worried. She’d suspected the truth for several weeks before she’d learned that in spite of their best efforts, she was pregnant.
“Mike is beside himself,” Asa was saying. “He’s even agreed to take a job with his father’s company, and Jeanie is going to retire for a while. I never thought any of that would happen.”
They dragged the tree to the barn and lowered the grate. Sarah ran upstairs to guide the tree into the loft as Asa operated the pulley. After several false starts they changed positions. Finally the tree was inside the loft and Asa secured it to the floor with two-by-fours and guy wires.
“There,” he said. “But I don’t know how you expect to decorate it. We’ll have to use a stepladder.”
“Probably,” she agreed. “But after it’s done, we’ll open the doors and just think how beautiful it will look to anyone passing by. It fills the space as if it was meant to be here.”
“Just like me,” Asa said. “There was no room for me anywhere until you took me in.”
“Shall we decorate it tonight?”
“Later,” Asa said, in a low voice. “Right now I need you to love me, Sarah. I need to feel you around me, to be the other part of me.”
“Oh, Asa, I am. I’ll always be a part of you.”
Every time they’d made love in the three months they’d been married, Sarah had marveled at the wonder of Asa’s need for her. Instead of lessening, it grew. Instead of reaching a saturation point, it seemed that every glance, every look, every touch made them more aware of this wonderful thing that existed between them.
It was very late when they pulled on their robes and finally finished placing the last ornament on the tree. “All we need now,” Asa said with satisfaction, “is the star. Where is it, Sarah?”
Sarah glanced around and frowned. “I was sure that I put it with the other things when I took the tree down last year. But it isn’t here, is it?”
After they turned the loft upside down they finally found it, in a shopping bag with wrapping paper and ribbons.
They added the star and placed the gifts beneath the tree. Like a child, Asa picked them up and shook them, guessing the contents of each one.
“Can’t we open one?”
“You already talked me into waiting until the day before Christmas to put up the tree,” Sarah admonished. “But there’ll be no peeking at the presents until tomorrow morning. What would Santa Claus think if there were no gifts under the tree?”
“Santa doesn’t need to come, Sarah. I already have everything I’ll ever want.”
He was so sweet that Sarah couldn’t resist. “All right. You can open this one very small package.” She pulled out a tiny box, wrapped in red paper and tied with gold ribbon.
“And you open this one.” Asa’s gift to her was wrapped in green paper with a silver ribbon.
“I want you to know,” Sarah said, “that this is the beginning of a tradition that I expect to last for fifty years.”
Asa heard a catch in Sarah’s voice, happiness welling inside him. He didn’t intend to disappoint her. He ripped the paper off and removed the top of the square white box. Inside was a small wooden Christmas ornament. He lifted it out. “A cradle?”
“Yes. Now let me open my gift.” Sarah hurriedly pulled the wrappings off and let out a cry of joy. “Bracelets. Silver bracelets.” She slid them on one wrist and pressed them against her face. “They’re lovely, Asa.”
“They’re much more than bracelets, Sarah. They’re a symbol of what we mean to each other. They’re meant to say that you’re a treasure more valuable than I can ever say.”
“Oh, Asa, that’s so lovely. My gift must seem plain in comparison, but it’s symbolic, too.”
“I don’t understand.”
; “Asa, you’ve given me a child. I know that we didn’t plan to have children, and I know how you feel about sharing me. But nothing in this world will ever come between us. There’s enough love in my heart for you and our child. I am so happy. I hope that you’ll be happy, too.”
“A child? You’re going to have our child?” The thought took Asa’s breath away. He could only stare at her in wonder. She was right. He’d been afraid to think about bringing a new life into the world. He hadn’t been certain that he could stand up to the responsibility. But now that it was happening, he realized it was wonderful.
A child. His and Sarah’s child, born of their love. There was a lump in his throat as he tried to speak. “It’s fine, Sarah. It will be a new beginning.”
He took her arm and touched the bracelets. “Our child will link us forever. And these silver bracelets are a promise to you that my love will never end.”
Asa stood up and pulled Sarah to her feet. He added the cradle to the tree, just below the star. Sarah turned off the lights in the room as Asa opened the loft doors wide. Together they watched the beauty of their first Christmas tree send its magic across the barnyard and the pasture beyond.
A church bell pealed.
“It’s Christmas Day,” Sarah said.
Asa slipped his arms around her, pulling her back against his chest while his hands cupped her stomach. “Merry Christmas, dear Sarah.”
The silver bracelets clinked, sending out a soft melody as she placed her hands on his. “Oh, yes,” she whispered. “Oh yes.”
THE EDITOR’S CORNER
Welcome to Loveswept!
I truly believe that one of the best things in life is spending long, leisurely days curled up with a book. Whether it’s a novel of erotic discovery and hidden desire like Stacey Kane’s scorching e-original CLAIMED, a sizzling small town romance like Elisabeth Barrett’s fourth e-original Star Harbor book, SLOW SUMMER BURN, or an electrifying story featuring hockey hunks like Toni Aleo’s contemporary e-original BLUE LINES … it’s a wonderful feeling to be transported to a new and exciting world … especially one filled with sexy heroes and vibrant heroines. Pick up these reads and lose yourself in romance and love.
Silver Bracelets: A Loveswept Contemporary Classic Romance Page 13