Chosen

by Denise Grover Swank

  She should be horrified with herself for letting him kiss her, for wanting it as much as he did, but she wasn’t. How long had it been since she kissed a man, let alone… her mind went back to the night Jake was conceived. She wouldn’t go there. She couldn’t. That night was firmly locked away where it belonged. Instead, her mind wandered back to Will, the longing in his eyes when he told her that he wanted her. She wondered what would have happened if Jake hadn’t interrupted.

  Jake didn’t appear affected by what he saw. If anything, he seemed elated. Emma attempted to discuss it with him but he was uninterested, only saying he wanted her to be happy. But she was far from happy.

  After Will had been gone an hour, she began to worry he might not come back. But he was going to leave her in South Dakota today, anyway. Did it really matter whether he left her now or later? She wasn’t ready to say good bye to him yet. At least not this way.

  He showed up half an hour later, carrying a small bag of food. His anger was gone, replaced by a quiet resolve. He set the bag on the small kitchen table and disappeared into his bedroom. Emma handed a breakfast sandwich to Jake, her stomach too tangled to eat more than a few bites. Will came out of his bedroom and disappeared into the bathroom, the sound of the shower running a few moments later.

  “He’ll be okay,” Jake said.

  “Jake, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Jake’s eyes softened and the corners of his mouth lifted into a small smile, making Emma wonder if somehow he did.

  Will came out of the bathroom about ten minutes later, his hair dripping water onto his t-shirt, his face taut. He looked exhausted and worried. Emma longed to comfort him but knew she was probably the last person he wanted sympathy from.

  “Go ahead and pack up. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.” He disappeared into his bedroom and shut the door.

  There wasn’t much to pack so it didn’t take her long. Jake became quiet again, but she was so concerned about Will she didn’t pay much attention. She was ready for this to be over with.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Will carried Emma’s suitcase out to the truck along with his bag and metal case. Emma and Jake followed behind, Jake kicking stray rocks in his path. Will loaded up the luggage in the back seat while Emma watched. She clenched her fists, unsure what to say. The damaged side of the truck taunted her, accusing her of taking him for granted.

  “Will?” she hesitated.

  His expressionless eyes turned to meet her gaze. “I’m sorry about this morning. It was completely inappropriate and it won’t happen again.”

  “Will…” She started to reach for his hand but he pulled it away.

  “Emma,” he sighed. “Just get in the truck.”

  Defeated, she climbed in the front seat. Jake sat in silence, staring at the fire pit. Emma didn’t blame him. It was safer to stay out of the line of fire although at this point it seemed to be a war of silence. Will turned in the cabin key at the office then headed onto the mountain road back to Denver. Emma leaned her elbow on the window frame, resting her chin on her hand watching the endless parade of trees pass by. She couldn’t shake her feeling of dread.

  A haze hung over the road casting an eerie pall and it matched Emma’s mood perfectly. There was no hope of anything between her and Will, but she hated to part this way. Her head hurt thinking of it all and her stomach began to revolt from the few bites of breakfast sandwich she’d choked down.

  “Will, pull over.”

  “What?” Her words shook him out of his contemplation and he looked over at her in confusion.

  “Pull over, I’m going to be sick.”

  “What?”

  “Are you freaking deaf? I’m going to throw up!” It came out harsher than she intended but she didn’t know how long she could hold it.

  The road was a tangle of curves, and Will cast a worried glance her direction. “I’m trying.”

  A short straight stretch of road appeared after the next curve, but a steep incline bordered the narrow shoulder.

  “Stop there!”

  “Emma, you’ll fall down the hill if—”

  She suppressed a gag and covered her mouth with the back of her hand. Will whipped the truck over and Emma had the door open before he completely stopped. She tumbled out the door on the shoulder, already losing her breakfast as she fell out. Balanced precariously on the edge of the drop-off, she bent over at the waist. God, this is embarrassing.

  “Are you okay?” Will asked, his head leaning out the passenger door.

  Her hair fell around the side of her face and she looked up at him, trying to push it back. “Do I look okay?”

  “Do you want me to do something?”

  “Yeah, wanna come hold my hair?” She regretted her snippiness but another round of nausea hit her and she vomited again. She pitched forward and her footing slipped. Her body tumbled over the ledge and she found herself rolling down the twenty-foot hill. Emma cried out as her body was assaulted by sharp rocks. As the bottom blurred into view, her forehead smashed against a rock, the pain obscuring all the others. She heard Will yelling her name as she reached the bottom and lost consciousness.

  ***

  Will’s heart skipped a beat as he watched Emma fall over the side of the mountain. He scrambled out the door and stood on the shoulder, looking down the hill. At the bottom, the ground leveled out for about five feet then blended into a thick forest of elm, pine and birch trees. Clouds overhead darkened and churned. They tumbled furiously over one another until angry gray streaks shrouded the sun. The air turned cool as gusts of wind burst out of nowhere.

  “Emma!” He started racing down the hill.

  “Will,” Jake called.

  Will stopped, irritated at the interruption.

  “Don’t forget your gun.” Jake held the rifle out the window, the tip pointed toward the sky.

  Only a few feet down, Will turned around and climbed back up, grabbing handfuls of brush to aid in his climb. He wondered if it was worth the effort, but he knew he shouldn’t leave his gun again. The ascent was steep and he briefly wondered how he was going to get Emma back to the top. He reached the truck and grabbed the gun.

  “Please take care of my mom.” Jake’s intense eyes pierced into his.

  “Don’t worry, Jake, she’ll be okay.” Will knew he was trying to convince himself more than Jake.

  Jake’s mouth lifted into a small smile and his eyes shimmered with tears. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  Will looked back over his shoulder at Jake before he descended toward Emma’s still body. If Jake was worried…Will’s heart beat wildly, scared of what he’d find at the bottom of the hill. He almost fell several times in his haste and he wondered again how he would get her back up.

  “Emma?” She lay on her side, hair covering her face. He touched her shoulder and she moaned in response. He laid his gun down and knelt, carefully sweeping her hair off her cheek. Her eyes were closed. Blood trickled from a gash on her temple, down her cheek and into her hair. A purple knot was already forming under the cut.

  She moaned again, her eyes fluttered open and she tried to sit up. He eased her back down.

  “Just rest for a minute. Are you hurt anywhere?” His hands ran along the length of her legs and ankles checking for swelling.

  “Never one to miss an opportunity to feel a woman up,” she said in a raspy voice.

  Some of the tension released from his shoulders. If she was mocking him, she couldn’t be hurt very badly. He continued onto her arms. They were covered in cuts and scratches and a deep gash slashed across her left upper arm. “Well, you know me, ever the opportunist. Of course, it’s not every day I have a woman falling for me.” He didn’t feel any obvious broken bones on her limbs but the wound on her head and the cut on her arm worried him.

  “Maybe I was falling to get away from you.” Her mouth lifted into a smirk.

  “A bit extreme, even for you. Do you want to sit up now?”

 
; She groaned as she struggled to get up. Will reached an arm behind her back and eased her to a sitting position. She sat up, legs extended in front of her.

  “Do you hurt anywhere?” His arm lingered on her back.

  “You mean other than my pride? Yeah, my head is killing me.” She reached her hand to her temple and flinched.

  “Did you pass out?”

  “I don’t know, maybe. I remember hitting the bottom and then nothing until you were feeling me up. But I’m okay now.” Her head swayed and her face was pale.

  “You don’t look like you’re okay. Let’s just sit here for minute, okay?”

  He sat next to her. His arm was still wrapped around her back for support. He pulled her head to his chest.

  “Ever the opportunist.” She mumbled, but relaxed into him.

  “Of course. Would you expect anything less?”

  Her hair covered her face and he gently pulled it back away from her gash. The strands were soft and silky and he admonished himself for noticing.

  “A little late to be holding my hair back now, don’t you think?”

  He suppressed a laugh. “Better late than never.”

  “Hmm...” Her breathing slowed and her body grew limp.

  “Emma, are you sleepy?” Her dark lashes lay against her pale cheeks.

  “Yeah, a little.”

  His chest tightened. “Don’t go to sleep, okay?” He held his hand up in front of her. “How many fingers do I have?”

  She focused on the three fingers he had raised. “Well last time I counted, you had five. But right now you’re holding up three. See? I’m okay. Let’s get back up that hill and get out of here. Jake’s up there all alone.”

  Will glanced up at the sky. The turbulent clouds swirled overhead. There was no telling how long it would be before all hell broke loose. He grabbed his gun and stood up, extending his hand down to her. “Can you stand?”

  She leaned against him and swayed as she regained her balance. “I’m a little dizzy but I think so.”

  Will held her arm as they stood at the base of the hill. “Take it slow. I don’t want you falling down again. You go first and I’ll follow behind you.”

  She stepped away and took a deep breath. “Okay, I can do this.”

  Will heard the sound of a car approaching on the road above. He tensed in apprehension, but he told himself there was nothing to worry about. This was a public road. Of course, there would be other traffic.

  The clouds darkened to a smoky gray. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and thunder rolled, shaking the ground under their feet.

  Things are changing. Jake’s voice whispered in his head. Will’s stomach dropped.

  “Jake.” Will’s eyes widened in alarm. He charged forward and began to scramble up the hill.

  Emma stood on the clearing behind him. “Will?” Her voice rose in fear. He turned to see confusion on her face.

  “Emma, go hide in the woods!” He shouted as he continued to climb, rifle in his hand. “Jake! Get out of the truck!” He shouted as a burst of wind assaulted him, making him lose his foothold and he fell down several feet. His words were lost, carried away with the gust, which just as quickly ceased.

  On the road above, the tires screeched to halt. Car doors slammed closed, the sound magnified, echoed off the mountain walls. The steep incline prevented Will from seeing who was above him, but he didn’t need to see. He already knew.

  “Jake!” Emma screamed. The terror in her voice felt like a knife in his gut.

  Will froze in indecision, torn between saving Jake and protecting Emma. He looked up at the truck. Jake was unprotected and Emma was completely exposed on the hill. He couldn’t save them both.

  Your job is to protect my mom. Jake’s voice reverberated in his head.

  “Jaaake!” Emma lunged for the hill. Her hands dug into the earth, trying to find a handhold. Her body convulsed with sobs. “Jaaake!”

  The cocking of guns echoed in the mountains. Emma ignored it and continued crawling. The sound of her weeping hung eerily in the air. The clouds seethed, shooting off a lightning bolt that slashed nearby and struck a tree. Cracking wood and the explosion of thunder followed milliseconds behind, chased by the sound of gunfire. Will’s head jerked up. Emma. Without thinking, he dove for her, covering her body with his. He pried her hands from the brush and dragged her down the hill.

  “Let go of me!” she screamed, hysterical. She bucked, trying to shake him off.

  Will ignored her and pulled her toward the trees behind them. She continued to fight and he wrapped his arms around hers. “Emma, you don’t have a gun. We’ve got to take cover,” He grunted in her ear. He pulled her behind a thick pine tree and hid behind one close to her. Her tears mixed with the blood that ran down her cheek. Her face was so pale he worried she would faint.

  From behind the tree, Will saw a black SUV at the rear of the truck. Two men dressed in jeans and black t-shirts walked toward the truck carrying rifles in their hands.

  “I need to change positions and get a better angle. Stay there.” He darted to the tree next to him to get closer to the back of the truck, then glanced back at Emma. She leaned around the tree, crouching, on the verge of running up the hill. “Emma! Don’t do anything stupid!”

  She looked up at him, her eyes crazed with fear, and in that instant he knew she would do anything to get to Jake. Emma bolted for the hill just as Will ran to intercept her. She made it to the opening of the clearing when he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back to the safety of the trees.

  She flailed in panic, hitting and scratching his arm, “Let go of me!” The words escaped in a high-pitched shrill.

  Thunder roared. The air felt ripe with electricity.

  He heard two more shots. The men had seen Emma in the clearing and now shot into the woods. The SUV had pulled to the front of the truck and sat idling. Its brake lights glowed in the dusk created by the storm. The men had also moved to the front giving Will better aim.

  Emma began to kick Will’s legs in protest and he tightened his arm around her waist. “Emma, if you run up that hill they will kill you,” he growled in her ear. “You won’t be able to save Jake. Let me do this.”

  She stopped struggling; her breath came in short bursts. “Oh, God, Will, please.” She twisted around in his arm to face him, pleading. The desperation on her face tightened a vise squeezing his heart, catching his breath in his throat. “Please save him. I’m begging you.” Her legs buckled and she sank into his chest, sobbing.

  He closed his eyes for a moment, holding her close, wishing it would all go away. But he knew it wouldn’t. It never did. He pulled her away from him and cupped her cheek in his hand. “I’m going to save him. But you have to stay hidden. Promise me.”

  She nodded, her body shaking from fear. He looked down at her tear-stained face and to his amazement realized he wasn’t doing this because of his job, he was doing this for her. He finally believed in something other than himself. Without thinking, he leaned down and kissed her, a quick kiss offering her comfort, what little he had to give.

  Will placed Emma behind another tree. “Stay here, okay?”

  She nodded.

  A slow, steady roll of thunder filled the woods, the rumble constant and building. The smell of rain hung heavy, clinging with the scent of pine and the decay of the forest floor.

  He darted to a tree closer to the front end of the truck and gripped the rifle handle, his hand still wet with Emma’s tears. Two men stood in front of the truck. Their posture told him they didn’t consider him a threat. He realized they didn’t know he had a gun. He needed to use that to his advantage. One of them pointed into the woods, and the other turned back to the SUV, shouting orders, but they were lost in the wind. Will suspected the gunmen were planning to come after them. He raised his gun and took careful aim at the man who had pointed. His finger squeezed the trigger and the man fell limp to the pavement. The other man watched his friend collapse, and befo
re he fell with Will’s next shot, he threw a small round object toward the truck. The tires of the SUV squealed as it pulled away.

  Will tensed. Déjà vu washed over him and he froze, reliving long-suppressed nightmares. Dread crept up his spine and nestled at the base of his neck. He’d lived this experience before. He knew what to expect.

  “Jake!” he cried out in horror.

  The sound of the explosion burst through the air with a deafening roar. The force of the blast knocked Will to the ground, hitting his back on a tree on the way down. He pushed himself up to his knees and searched for Emma. She was sprawled on the ground several feet from the tree but was already scrambling to her feet. They spun toward the road.

  A fireball of flames engulfed the truck. The heat of the blaze scorched Will’s face and his breath stuck in his chest. Flaming embers rained down the hill, minute pieces falling through the tree canopy.

  Emma dropped to her knees. “Noooo!” She wailed. “Nooo! JAAKE! The wind carried her screams into the forest and they echoed off the trees. She fell, burying her face into the forest floor. Will crawled to her and lay across her back. His touch jolted her and she shook him off. She pushed herself to her feet and rushed to the hill.

  Thunder boomed as rain spilled from the sky, sizzling as it hit the flames.

  Will caught her and pulled her back to the edge of the forest. The heat of the fire burned his exposed flesh yet the raindrops instantly soothed the pain. “Emma, it’s too late,” he whispered in her ear. She tried to fight him, but he was stronger.

  “Jake!” she screamed.

  “Emma, he’s gone.”

  “No,” she moaned as she twisted to face him, shaking her head. Her eyes were wide in horror, dark orbs sunken into her deathly pale face. “No, no, no.” She turned back toward the hill, clawing at Will’s arm around her waist. “NO!” She collapsed, folding over his arm, her body heaving with sobs. He lifted her up, pulled her against his chest.