by Karen Rock
When the park ranger looked up Eli’s reservation and confirmed that her name was listed, she breathed a sigh of relief. They’d made the travel plans so long ago. Thankfully Eli hadn’t thought to remove her from the approved guest list.
Back on the bus, her heart sped as the tires churned up the log-lined dirt road. Colorful tents, cloth-covered picnic tables and metal food chests mixed with towering sequoias, the Sierra Nevada granite cliffs a postcard of a backdrop. She glanced at a number nailed to a white fir tree as they left a loop and turned down another. One hundred and fifty four. Only twenty sites to go and she’d be stepping off the bus. Would she be stepping into Eli’s arms?
“This is me.” She swayed down the narrow passageway when site #174 came into view. When the doors wheezed open she took a deep breath and plunged out, momentarily blinded by the sun bursting through the cloud cover.
She blinked the spots from her eyes and lowered her bag.
“Christie?” A familiar voice sounded behind her, making her heart squeeze. “What are you doing here?”
She whirled around and there he was, thinner and paler than she remembered, but as gorgeous as ever, his piercing blue eyes searching hers. The brilliant sunshine outlined him in light—already an angel.
Instead of answering she burst into tears. The flight, the bus rides and now seeing him. It was too much. Here she was, falling apart, every inch the weak girl he thought her to be. But she couldn’t help it. She loved him so much.
“Shh, sweetheart.” Eli dropped his water bucket and drew her close. He was shivering and the wind ruffled the flannel shirt he wore over a faded T-shirt. “Shh. It’s all right.” His large hands cupped her face, his thumbs brushing the steady stream flowing from beneath her lashes.
“No. It’s not,” she finally gasped and pressed her wet face against his chest. This was not the strong entrance she’d hoped to make. What a mess. She’d reinforced everything he’d thought, justified every reason he’d given for sending her away.
“Let’s talk.” With a firm hand on her waist, he guided her past his large green tent, a picnic table decorated with a mug overflowing with wilting dandelions and three fold-out chairs set before a fire pit. The smell of burned wood, charcoal and bacon wafted through the morning air. The peaceful quiet was broken by the sound of calling birds. Where were the children?
“Becca and Tommy—”
“Went with my neighbors and their kids on a scavenger hunt. We have a few minutes before they get back.”
She swiped at her nose and followed him to the rear edge of his campsite. He sat on a log in the midst of a thicket and she joined him, partly so they could be on the same level and partly to disguise that her knees were shaking.
They were not far from each other but he was holding back, she could tell. She wanted to reach out to him but kept her hands still, her voice steady. Time to dig deep, show him the strength that would make him trust her to stick around for the long haul.
“Eli. I’ve missed you and...and...” Her voice stumbled over the words jostling to be heard.
He opened his mouth but she held up a hand. She might lose her nerve if he interrupted and she’d waited too long to speak from her heart.
“I came here to tell you that you were right. I wasn’t strong enough. But not in the way you think.” She pressed a finger against his parting lips, her eyes begging him for patience. After a moment, his shoulders relaxed and she continued.
“Agreeing to leave you seemed like the right thing to do. You wanted it, and I honored that. But I should have considered how much you need me and I need you. Or that the children depend on us both. I know you think I can’t handle your cancer because of what happened with Bill.” She paused, and her stomach turned over, a sick, wrenching flip. “But I’m not eighteen anymore, and I’m not scared. I want to be a part of your journey. Wherever it takes us, however long and hard the trip. Because though we might lose our way, we won’t have lost each other. And that’s what counts.”
She stood and gazed down at his bent head. “I came out here because I never should have left you in New York. I wanted you to know that I’m sorry.”
She halted again, and this time the silence stretched out between them, longer and longer, a thread pulled impossibly tight.
When Eli looked at her, his eyes were overflowing. “You’re sorry? I owe you an apology.” He leaped to his feet and closed the distance between them. “I should have never asked you to go.”
“What?” She blinked at him in surprise, her heart soaring. Was he happy she was here? Wanted her after all?
“I never should have doubted you, Christie. It was my past, my issues that messed with my head. It had nothing to do with you and Bill.”
He lifted a hand as if he meant to touch her face then put it down hastily. “Staying with me should have been your decision to make, not mine.”
They looked at each other in silence for what was probably minutes but felt like hours. What to say? She couldn’t speak for the emotion overwhelming her. Finally, he continued.
“I was pigheaded and shortsighted. Mostly took the coward’s way out. When you love someone, you trust them, believe in them, tell them how you really feel. You taught me that and I didn’t listen.”
Relief and gratitude exploded in Christie’s heart, the shattered pieces coming together again to form a stained-glass version full of light. He loved her. She pressed her hands to her flushed cheeks, her fingertips covering her eyes.
“You love me,” she repeated, more to herself than him.
He gently lowered her hands and kissed her with an aching sweetness that stole her heart. “From almost the first moment we met. That sappy quote—what was it, something about oaks and roots? Your optimism drove me crazy, but then you jumped in and saved John’s life. You were so calm and capable. I knew you were special and it scared the hell out of me. I wasn’t ready to let someone back into my life. But the more time we spent together, the way you helped Becca, Tommy and me, my feelings grew.”
She’d never dreamed he would feel that way. Not in her most hopeful visions of this trip. Joy, impossible and fragile, took root in her heart in spite of everything.
“And now?”
“Now I love you, Christie Bates.” He kissed each of her palms then pressed them against his cheeks.
“Say that again.” She couldn’t hear it enough.
“I love you. More than I can say. My body might quit, but this—” he tapped his chest “—is yours. Forever.”
“I love you, too.”
His eyes lit up and he gathered her in his arms. She could hear him breathing now. His eyelashes tickled her cheek and their lips were a whisper apart then not apart at all. They brushed lightly then with firmer pressure, their kisses intensifying until he finally pulled back and stared at her, his eyes full of adoration and joy. They leaned together, breathless and content.
“I’m so happy,” she said at last, her head now pillowed on his shoulder. “Whatever happens. We’ll face it together.”
He tipped up her chin and gazed down at her, his expression sober. “I don’t think the trial is helping my cancer.”
Concern rose but she kept it from reaching her eyes. “You haven’t seen any signs? Your tumors are the same?”
A line formed between Eli’s brows. “I don’t have the radiology results back yet. But some people lost their nails, which means the treatment is working...for them.”
She twined her hands in his and squeezed. “Eli. Everyone responds differently. The important thing is that you keep trying. For the kids and for us. And I’ll be right beside you every step, no matter how dark that road gets.”
A smile ghosted across his face and he buried his hands in her hair. “Thank you. I thought I could do this alone, but I know now that I can’t. I need you—”
; She silenced him with a butterfly kiss that ignited a firestorm. His mouth traveled across her cheek and jaw before he captured her earlobe, murmuring endearments into the hypersensitive flesh. She moved restlessly against him, a shivering desire to be closer than close. His arms banded around her, his heart galloping in time with hers. Suddenly, they couldn’t touch or feel enough. She stroked his broad shoulders and rippling back as his hands skimmed along her neck and down to her waist.
Finally, he pulled back, breath ragged, and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Christie, I don’t believe your superstitions and struggle with that hope stuff. But I believe in you. In us. That’s where my faith will always lie.”
Christie’s eyes welled—happy tears, for the first time in a long time. Despite Eli’s prognosis and the difficult road ahead, she felt a sense of relief that drowned out everything else, including the worry about how quickly his health would deteriorate and how the kids would handle it. What mattered most was that they were together, and Eli wanted her, had faith in her. She felt him turn his head and lightly kiss her hair.
“You’re my guardian angel.” She both heard and felt him whisper it against her hair. “We have something few people ever find, and from here on out my life, such as it is, and my heart are yours—always.”
She brushed away her tears and took a deep breath. These sounded like vows, ones they might never get to speak in a formal ceremony, so she wanted to get it right.
“I’m the luckiest woman in the world and so thankful that you’re sharing the rest of your life with me, no matter the length. You’re the light of my life and I love you, Eli. I know things might get rough. But that makes our love even more precious to me. From now on there is no more you. And no more me. Only us. And we’ll handle what comes our way as best we can—together.”
He pulled her in for a searing kiss that left her breathless, her head in a whirl.
“Christie!”
Tommy and Becca!
They turned and held out their arms for the rushing children. Her heart nearly burst. It’d been so long since she’d seen the children she loved as her own. How beautiful they were, flushed and tan, their shrieks ringing from the treetops.
Tommy nearly knocked her over when he leaped, his arms and legs wrapping around her monkey-style. She staggered back, got her footing then held out an arm for Becca. The teenager hugged Christie hard, though it wasn’t until Eli joined in that they landed on the ground in a giggling heap.
“Nice,” Becca laughed, spitting out a pine needle. She stood and brushed dirt from her bare knees.
Eli pulled Christie to her feet and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Kids. Christie came all this way to be with us. For good.”
“And you’re not doing anything stupid again, like letting her go?” Becca playfully punched her father’s shoulder.
He made a show of rubbing his arm and grinned. “Not a chance.”
“Yay!” Tommy leaped and waved a fistful of dandelions in the air. “I’ve been picking these every day, Christie.” He shoved the crumpled bouquet her way. “Can we blow on one and make a wish?”
“Sure.” She pulled out one with an intact white head, its seed pods fully sprouted.
The group crowded around her. “One, two, three...”
A collective burst of air sent the white fuzz flying, some sprinkling pine boughs like snow while some floated on wind currents, disappearing into the sun.
“Wow!” Tommy exclaimed, turning in circles until he fell on the ground laughing. “It worked. Daddy’s cured!”
Eli crouched down and faced his son, his expression calm and reassuring. “We won’t know until I finish my treatment, Tommy.” He pulled up his son and gathered them all in a tight hug. “But we can have hope. That’s all we need.”
Becca nodded and rubbed her eyes. “Can we have hot dogs, too? For lunch.”
Eli laughed and shook his head. “Always hungry. Sure, Becca-Bell. Let’s get the fixings.”
Christie and Tommy trailed behind them. It filled her heart to see the father and daughter, their shoulders brushing, their closeness evident in the way they joked and horsed around on their way to the picnic table.
Tommy stopped her before they left the trees and reached for a piece of dandelion fluff in her hair. “Is hope better than a wish?”
“I believe it is. But it’s good to have both, don’t you think?” She nestled him against her side.
He nodded and grinned up at her, the buds of two new front teeth peeking from his gums. “What did you wish for, Christie?”
She tapped his nose and smiled, her eyes meeting Eli’s as he struck a match, the tiny flame cupped in his large hands.
“The very best kind...a wish for tomorrow.”
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460319154
WISH ME TOMORROW
Copyright © 2013 by Karen Rock
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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