by Anna Schmidt
He was driving directly into the storm now and, even with his wipers on high, he could barely see. He slowed down, straining to identify every shadow and shape ahead. He was halfway around the lake road already and had seen no signs of either Megan’s old sedan or the Armstrong kid’s sports car. Where are they? Please, show me the way.
He had made the turn at the far end of the lake onto the road that would take him past the lake homes on the other side when he thought he saw something.
Megan was soaked and still she had seen nothing. She’d stopped at the Armstrongs’ summer home, but no one was there. Caleb’s mother had ordered a cake to donate for the party, telling Megan that she and her husband would be in Eagle River all day and evening. Caleb’s car was gone, and there was no sign of his brother’s sports car, either. Although something that expensive might well be inside the three-car garage attached to the enormous log home.
Leaving the car running and the flashers illuminated in case someone came barreling down the drive, Megan raced up to the front entrance and hammered on the door. When there was no answer she walked the length of the porch, peering in windows and shouting “Hello!” at the top of her lungs. But she was no match for the storm’s fury. Her cries were answered only by thunder-claps and the howling wind and pelting rain.
She raced back down the stairs and slid into her car. The cloth seat was soaked because she’d left the window down. Where is she? Please help me. I can’t find my daughter! Oh, I wish Jeb were here. He would know what to do.
She forced herself to breathe deeply and let it out slowly as she rested her forehead on the steering wheel and tried to think of where to look next. Suddenly her head shot up and her eyes widened. The cave. Why didn’t I think of it before?
She thrust the car into gear, rolled down the drive and turned back the way she had come. The cave wasn’t really a cave at all. Rather it was a hollowed-out place set into the rocky hillside above the lake where loggers had worked over a century ago. More recently—even in Megan’s youth—it had become a favorite place for kids to go when they didn’t want adults to know what they were up to. She and Danny had gone there more than once that summer.
That summer when we thought we were in love, she recalled. And as she tried to hold the car on the road and move as fast as possible, Megan prayed that her daughter had not fallen for the oldest trick in the teenage boy’s book—if you love me, you’ll…
The tires spun as she whipped the car onto the overgrown and rutted lane. Water ran toward her like a creek, obliterating the ruts and forcing her to slow to a crawl. She peered through the darkness of a storm-drenched dusk and saw, not Caleb’s car, but the sports car belonging to his brother.
She had barely cut the motor before she was outside her car and running for Kyle’s. She wrenched open the door and bent to peer inside.
Kyle was slumped against the steering wheel. He was snoring loudly and there was no sign of Faith.
Chapter Fifteen
“W hat have you done with my daughter?” Megan shouted as she shook the young man hard. She refused to use the question that had sprung immediately to mind: what have you done to my daughter?
The interior of the car reeked of alcohol, a smell that Megan thought she had successfully banished from her memory for all time once her father had left for good. But it hit her in the face with as much force as the rain had blasted her all afternoon. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook Kyle again. “Where is she?”
Kyle mumbled something and shrugged her off. That’s when Megan saw her daughter’s purse lying on the floor and noticed that the passenger door was open.
“Faith!” she screamed, running around the car and climbing over a tangle of wild raspberry vines to reach the passenger side. Nothing.
“Faith?” This time her voice cracked and the sound was no more than a whimper. Oh, please let her be all right. Megan repeated this mantra for several moments and then realized that everything around her had gone silent. The rain had slackened to a drizzle, the wind was calm and the clouds that rolled across the sky cast an eerie greenish-yellow glow.
“Tornado,” Megan whispered. She stumbled to her feet and back around to where Kyle was now staring at his surroundings as if trying to figure out where he was.
“Get out of that car now,” Megan ordered. She started up the barely visible path that led to the shelter loggers had once dug into the hillside and the teen population of Singing Springs had maintained ever since. “Come on. Move,” she called, as Kyle staggered out of the vehicle and started to follow her.
“Mom?”
Megan looked up and for a moment thought she must have conjured Faith’s image, so desperate was she to see her daughter safe and sound. But the figure running toward her was no mirage. Megan held out her arms and caught Faith in a bear hug. “We have to get to the shelter,” she said.
“I know. I went there when I heard the siren change from watch to warning.”
“But you came back because you heard me calling you?”
“No.” She glanced back at Kyle with disgust. “When things got so calm and the sky turned that putrid green color I figured I’d better get him up to the shelter if I could. Much as I can’t stand him, he was going to be a sitting duck if a tornado comes through here.”
“Oh, honey, you are such a good person.” Megan wrapped her arm around her daughter’s shoulder as they climbed up an even narrower path that led over the rise and down to the shelter. She glanced back to be sure that Kyle was still following them, but he’d stopped on the trail and was staring at something in the western sky.
Megan followed his gaze just as the wind began to pick up again and debris from the forest floor began swirling around their feet. In the sky to the west she saw a row of black thunderclouds, and dropping out of one of them was the unmistakable funnel of a tornado. “Go,” she cried, pushing Faith ahead of her then turning back to Kyle.
She grabbed the young man’s hand. “Tornado,” she mouthed and was relieved to see some semblance of sobriety register in his bloodshot eyes. “Let’s go.”
Once again the sky had gone black as midnight, and Megan had trouble seeing the way as she pulled Kyle along with her. Stupid to leave the flashlight in the car, she thought, and her anger at herself served to fuel her strength as she dragged Kyle along, oblivious to his cries of protest when he ran into brush and thorns.
“Oh, stop being such a baby,” she ordered, turning to glance back at him and failing to see the fallen tree that blocked their way.
“Mom!” was the last thing she heard as she went down hard and felt her forehead collide with what could only be one of several granite boulders that pocked the hillside.
Jeb had driven almost the entire circle of the lake, stopping at houses along the way to see if Megan and Faith had taken shelter there. There’d been no sign of them and now the winds and rain had calmed and the sky was definitely lighter. He glanced at his watch. Seven-forty. Other than a slight yellowish cast, the sky looked normal. Maybe it’s over, he thought and turned on the radio.
Through the static he heard the otherworldly voice of the emergency services announcer. “Series of tornadoes traveling east-northeast across Wisconsin. Seek shelter immediately. Tornado sighted two miles southwest of Singing Springs….”
Jeb pulled onto a narrow, overgrown side road and got out to scan the sky to the west. The clouds were black and thick and rolling toward him, picking up speed and debris as they came.
Jeb sheltered his face with his forearm and the hood of the slicker. He knew he had to get away from his car but there was no ditch he could use to ride out the storm. Scanning his surroundings, he thought he heard shouts. And then a flash of lightning revealed a split-second glimpse of Megan’s old car, flashers blinking weakly.
Without further thought for anything other than finding Megan before it was too late, Jeb started to run toward the faltering amber light. The closer he got, the harder he prayed. Please let her be all right. Let her ha
ve found Faith and together let us find shelter from the storm so we can start a new life together. Please, God. Whatever bargain Megan has made with You this time, let it be one You have heard.
Megan’s car doors were open and the interior was unoccupied, as was the sports car parked a few feet away. Ahead was a hillside and Jeb caught a glimpse of movement.
“Megan,” he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“Rev Jeb!”
Faith.
Jeb scrambled up the hillside. What was the kid doing out here in the middle of nowhere with a tornado coming? “Seek shelter,” he shouted. “Now.”
Easier said than done, Jeb thought, as he clawed his way up the slippery slope of the hill.
“Oh, Rev Jeb,” Faith cried when she saw him. “It’s my mom. She fell and hit her head and there’s blood and I’m afraid to move her and…”
Jeb found his footing and knelt next to Megan, who moaned as he touched her face. “She’s coming around,” he said. “We have to get out of here. Is that Kyle?” He jerked his head in the direction of a figure doubled over and retching.
“He’s pathetic,” Faith said with disgust. “There’s an old logger’s shelter just over the rise there. That’s where we were headed when Mom fell.”
Jeb handed Faith the flashlight from his pocket and scooped Megan into his arms. “Lead the way,” he told the girl. “Kyle Armstrong,” he shouted. “Move. Now.”
His mind went into overdrive, considering the situation from every possible angle as he had when he’d been running the corporation.
“He’s not coming,” Faith shouted, and hesitated.
“Go,” Jeb ordered. “I’ll come back for him.”
Faith scurried forward and suddenly disappeared over a rise. Jeb followed and in seconds they had reached the man-made cave. He quickly surveyed the situation. The solid rock wall that shaped the place would take the brunt of the storm’s force if they sustained a direct hit, and a second boulder at the entrance would be another barrier for protection. “Sit there,” he instructed, pointing to the narrow passage between the rock wall and the boulder. He was thankful that Faith did not question him. When she was crouched next to the large boulder, he laid Megan down so that her head rested on Faith’s lap. “Cover your head with your arms and bend forward to cover your mother.”
Faith nodded and did exactly as he asked. Jeb grabbed the flashlight and turned just as Kyle stumbled into the enclosure.
“I’m so sorry,” he blubbered, bracing both palms flat against the boulder that blocked the entrance.
“Save it,” Jeb snapped, barely able to control his fury at the young man. “Sit over here, cover your head with your arms and brace yourself.” Just as Jeb squeezed in next to Faith and Megan, sheltering them both with his arms and body, hail the size of golf balls bounced off the rocks.
Then in the distance they heard a roar coming closer. “It really does sound like an oncoming train,” Jeb heard Faith say, and at that same moment he felt the girl’s hand snake into his and hold on tight.
Megan’s eyes were squeezed shut against the noise of destruction that accompanied the tornado. Outside they heard trees crack and splinter as if someone had set a charge of dynamite at their core. Whirlwinds of leaves, pine cones, sticks and small fist-size rocks whipped through the narrow passage and then out again. Fragments of fallen trees made their way past the protective barricade of the boulder and showered them with debris. Megan pulled Faith closer.
Her head was throbbing, though whether that was from the injury of her fall or the incredible pressure of the air around them, she could not have said. All she knew was that she felt as if she might explode into a thousand pieces like the trees outside or the glass and wood of the homes and businesses across the lake if the tornado struck Singing Springs.
She prayed that her father and Reba and Jessica and her family and all her friends and neighbors were safe. She prayed for those people she did not know who might suffer in the storm. She prayed for the patience to hear Kyle out once he tried to explain how her daughter had come to be in such a dangerous situation in the first place.
But most of all she prayed for the future she had imagined sharing with Jeb—a future where at long last she and Faith would have a real home, be a real family and she would know the true love she had dreamed of all her life.
Gradually she became aware that the storm had passed and lost power over the lake. She opened her eyes. It was still dark inside the shelter and yet the sky beyond the entrance seemed lighter—a normal summer’s dusk. It seemed like hours since she’d left the church to search for Faith, but her watch told her that barely an hour had passed.
“You okay?” Jeb’s breath fanned her face as he ran his fingers gently over her forehead.
“Yeah. You?”
“Never better.”
Faith squirmed between them to raise her head and look out. “It’s over, right?”
“It’s over,” Jeb assured her, “but it looks like it might take us a while to get back to the cars—that is, if the cars are still there.” He pointed toward the giant tree that had fallen across the entrance. “Any ideas?” He looked at both women and then over at Kyle.
“I think I might be able to squeeze through those branches there, sir, and then I could go for help,” Kyle offered, still slightly slurring his words. But he was sobering up, and he had always been respectful and courteous when he wasn’t drinking.
“You stay here with Mom, Rev Jeb,” Faith said, “in case—you know—she passes out or something from loss of blood.”
“It’s a scratch and a bump,” Megan protested. “I am perfectly capable of…” But when she tried to get to her feet a wave of dizziness washed over her, forcing her to sit down again. “Or not,” she admitted with a weak smile.
“Keys,” Faith said, holding out her hand.
“Left mine in the car,” Jeb said.
“Me, too,” Megan admitted.
Faith turned to Kyle, hand extended.
“Oh, no way,” he protested. “You are not driving my car. In fact, you aren’t driving, period. You’re not old enough.”
“I was old enough for you to make a pass at me,” Faith told him, her eyes locked on his until he had the decency to look away. “And I have my learner’s permit. And I have no record of DUIs. How’s your record, Kyle?” she asked sweetly.
“I…I’m…”
“You’re an egotistical creep and well on your way to being a drunk,” Faith continued. “Now we can keep on debating this or you can ride shotgun so that I’m not breaking the law by driving into town for help. Either way I am so outta here.”
Megan watched Faith wriggle through an opening in the branches that seemed too small for a cat, much less her suddenly grown-up daughter. She had never been more proud of the child in her life. Thank You, God.
Kyle was still standing with his mouth open. “Well, I’ll be,” the young man finally muttered, and followed Faith’s path through the fallen tree.
“Do you think she’ll be all right?” Megan was having second thoughts about not asking Jeb to go for help and keeping Faith close by.
Jeb grinned. “She’s her mother’s daughter to the core. She’ll be fine.” He knelt next to Megan. “You’re the one we have to worry about. That’s a nasty bump you got there.” He ran his thumb over her forehead, then down her temple to caress her cheek. “Do you have any idea how worried I was? What if something had happened to you?”
Megan saw more than concern in the way he looked at her. She realized that he had been truly frightened. And why not?
“Jeb, I’m right here.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “I was so afraid of losing you,” he admitted. “Both of you.”
They kissed, each reaching for the other to offer love and reassurance.
“You know what I was thinking?” Jeb asked a minute later as they leaned against the shelter wall and heard nothing but the birds singing and the soft breeze rustling through
the trees.
“What?”
“I was thinking that—if you’re willing—why not get married right away? Why wait?”
Megan was certain that he was reacting to the trauma of the day. Once they were back in town and could see that everyone was all right, he would regret such a rash offer. “Jeb, you don’t have to marry me to be sure I’m going to be here. I mean, don’t you want to—you know—date awhile and see how that goes?”
“We’re not kids, Megan. We both know what’s at stake in a relationship like ours, and no amount of time spent testing the waters is going to change that. I’m thinking we should just dive right in and get started on what I believe is going to be a spectacular life for the two of us and Faith.” His eyes brightened with understanding. “That’s it, isn’t it? You want to give Faith time to adjust to the idea.”
“I want to give you time, Jeb.”
“I don’t need time. I need you. Since I met you I’ve come to realize how much I had put my life on hold after the accident. Oh, sure, I made big changes, but they were more external. Until you came along and I began to…to feel again. That’s when I realized that leaving the business world and getting my divinity degree—those were just stepping stones to this—to us.”
“I do love you,” Megan said, feeling suddenly shy yet more sure than she’d ever been of anything in her life. “I know now that the jolt of recognition I felt that first Sunday you took the pulpit was God’s tap on the shoulder.”
Jeb pulled her into his arms. “And what was God telling you?”
“I thought He was reminding me that I had gotten too comfortable with my past, that living here in Singing Springs, where everyone knew my story and had moved on, had become too safe. I thought He had sent you to remind me that there would always be new people who would hear the story of my past and make their own judgment.”
“I never judged you, Megan.”
“I know, and that confused me for a while. You were so different from Reverend Dunhill. I mean, it had never occurred to me that my minister might also be my friend…and more.”