Purple Knot

by Raquel Byrnes

  “Please have faith in us, Rain. Don’t give up.”

  “What?”

  He squeezed my hand, not letting go. “This will work out. I don’t know how, but all of this chaos that we see right now, it’s only temporary. God has given me peace about this, Rain. We’ll be OK. But I need you to trust that we’re not alone in this.”

  My breath caught in my throat and my heart soared. I felt like a million pounds just slid off of my chest. “I thought you were breaking up with me,” I gasped through tears. “I thought…”

  He pulled me closer. I could feel his heart race against my side. He ran a finger along my jaw and then wiped a tear from my cheek. He took in an uneven breath and shook his head.

  “Ma chér, I would never do that. I love you. That has never, and will never change. I was afraid just then that you were having second thoughts about me because of the horrible things my family has done to you these past few days.”

  “Me?”

  I finally understood his relief.

  “I was terrified, actually, that you were just about to end things between us, again.” His face was apologetic, sad, and I realized that the strength of his faithfulness wasn’t in question here, mine was. I’d run before and he was afraid when things got tough, I’d do it again. My face burned with shame.

  My heart was fickle, not his. I had not been steadfast, he was.

  He was asking me not to hurt him again, because even then, he wouldn’t be able to stop loving me. He didn’t believe Mona and Parker. None of it mattered to him.

  Floored, my hands trembled as I took his in mine I whispered softly near his ear. “Remember when we were in high school and you used to drag me to your youth group meetings?”

  His gaze searched mine. “Yeah…” he said slowly.

  “Remember that everyone used to hold hands and go around the circle, and if you wanted to pray for something, you could?”

  Jimmy nodded. His eyes were rimmed in red.

  I felt my heart thud in my chest and I struggled for breath. “Maybe, you could do that now, for us.”

  Jimmy looked at me stunned. “You want me to pray?”

  I’d gone with him and Summer to their youth group meetings in high school, but I’d never participated. Later, after Jimmy’s dad died and we were in college, Jimmy never went to church. We didn’t talk about religion, or Jesus, or what had happened to his faith. It wasn’t until after the accident, when he changed, did we broach the subject. Only by that time in our relationship, anything having to do with God ended with me yelling.

  But now I saw Jimmy’s heart, full of faith again. I wanted that. I was drawn to his strength without reason, to the peace despite the circumstances. He’d been given a promise, one he’d patiently waited for, and he was unwavering in his belief that God would deliver. Jimmy believed in us despite what I did, or what was happening. He had faith that made me marvel.

  I was beginning to think this relationship of his with his Savior was something more than theory. Maybe it was something more than songs, and buildings, and books. Maybe a relationship like that was real.

  “Yeah, Jimmy,” I whispered. “I’m willing to try, if you are.”

  Jimmy’s voice failed him. He pulled me to his chest, and he whispered in my ear. He prayed for our relationship to remain in God’s hands. He prayed that those trying to hurt us would fail. But he prayed most fervently for me to understand grace.

  I didn’t know what he meant. Not then.

  Purple Knot

  28

  Jimmy and I tore apart his kitchen and determined that there wasn’t anything even remotely edible. He flashed me his crooked smile and shrugged.

  “I usually go to the grocery store on my way up here.”

  I held up the can of condensed soup.

  “Well, do you have crackers? We can share.”

  He smiled and pulled me to his chest in a hug.

  “There’s home style diner a couple of miles up the road. How does chicken-fried steak sound?”

  I made a face.

  “Should one ever really fry steak?”

  “They serve a mean pot roast,” he offered.

  “Sold.”

  “Great, I’ll get our coats.”

  He pecked me on the forehead and bounded off into the living room. I grabbed my purse and headed outside. An hour ago I thought all my happiness was ending, and now, I had a future with Jimmy. I felt blessed beyond belief and incredibly grateful.

  Jimmy finished locking up the house, and we drove down the dark dirt road again. It was hard to get used to how pitch black the night got with no street lights. I snuggled up next to Jimmy’s shoulder and we listened to the radio.

  “Rain,” Jimmy began but stopped.

  “What is it?” I sat up and looked at him. He had a funny look on his face.

  “You know what Mona said to you, about me staying with you all night on the boat?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded. The conversation with her seemed like so long ago.

  “I think it would be a good idea for me not to do that anymore,” he said quietly.

  “I don’t understand. It shouldn’t matter what Mona thinks.”

  Jimmy shook his head and sighed. “It’s not about her. It’s about how hard it is to be near you and not want you.” Jimmy was amazingly brave to say out loud what I’d been thinking.

  I could barely breathe when he was close, let alone think clearly. I could see how easy it would be to slip up again. “OK,” I said quietly.

  “OK,” he said, and looked relieved.

  Behind us headlights flipped on and Jimmy squinted as they glared off of his rear view mirror. “Ugh,” he said. “They have their brights on.”

  I looked behind at the truck speeding towards us. It was big, like the kind used to tow other cars.

  “Uh, Jimmy, he’s going kind of fast. He sees us, right?”

  “How could he not?” Jimmy muttered. “The brake lights would be right in his face. Jimmy tapped the brake a few times but the truck didn’t slow, it sped up. Jimmy pushed me away from his side. His voice was tense. “Rain, buckle your seatbelt.”

  “What’s going on?” Blood rushed through my veins.

  “Nothing, I hope.”

  But it wasn’t nothing. The truck sped up abruptly, and I screamed as it rammed into the back of the SUV. Jimmy gritted his teeth, fighting to keep the SUV straight on the tiny dirt road.

  “Jimmy!”

  The truck hit us again, and we veered off the road and skid against the wall of rocks on my side. Sparks flashed against the window and the tearing metal screeched in protest as Jimmy pulled us back onto the road. “Hold on!” Jimmy pushed the SUV as fast as it would go on the dirt road, and we careened wildly over holes and rocks.

  My mouth snapped shut and I tasted blood. I ground my teeth and braced against the dashboard. “He’s speeding up again,” I panted. “Pull off the road.”

  “We’re on the drop-off road,” Jimmy shouted.

  I whipped around and saw the sheer drop off. The road skated along the edge of a deep ravine. The truck hit us again and the contents of my purse flew, landing on the seat and my lap. I felt the SUV dip sharply and I screamed and reached out for Jimmy.

  He yanked the steering wheel to the left and a growl escaped his lips as he strained to keep us from going over the edge.

  The truck hit us again. This time the spinning wheels of the SUV ruptured against the jagged edge of the blacktop and sent us flying across the road toward the ravine again.

  A scream ripped out of my throat, and I saw Jimmy reach for me when the truck hit us at an angle. We went up and over the edge. Everything flew against the side windows. My stomach flopped, and we were in the air upside down, tumbling down the ravine.

  Pain seared through my neck and shoulder as I whipped forward, up, and out of my seat and then against the door again as we rolled. The windows burst and spidered. Rocks and grass from the outside flew around the cab of the SUV. I heard Jimmy yel
l for me, but I crashed against the side of the door again. Bright lights flashed as my head slammed into the side window.

  We cart-wheeled crazily down the ravine over and over until we hit the bottom with a final bone jarring crash. Everything went still. We were tilted over on my side of the SUV. Jimmy’s body hung suspended over my left side. The blinking blue light from the clock flashed across his features. His eyes were closed and blood streaked across his forehead.

  Stunned, I counted one, two, and then the wave of pain rushed over me. My stomach and shoulder screamed under the restraint of the seatbelt. I was lying against passenger side window and I writhed and moaned and tried to get away from the hurt. Finally, slowly, I found that I could control my breathing and push through the throbbing in my head. I opened my eyes.

  Jimmy didn’t move.

  “Jimmy!” I shouted and pulled on his dangling arm. “Jimmy please wake up!” My heart skipped in my throat.

  He moaned and stirred. I cried with relief. Outside the SUV’s engine ticked as it cooled, and one headlight cast a cone of light out across the dirt. I thought about the truck up on the road overhead, and panic clawed at my throat. What if he climbed down and finished us off? What if he had gun?

  “Jimmy,” I whispered. “Jimmy we have to go.”

  He shook his head and looked down, his eyes out of focus. “Rain, are you OK?”

  “I think so.”

  I tried to move each leg and arm. I was banged up and cut, but bones weren’t broken.

  Jimmy moaned and reached for his seat belt release. He snaked his body out of his seat and landed next to me. “Are you sure you’re OK?”

  “Yeah, Jimmy,” I answered urgently. “What if he comes after us?”

  Jimmy looked at me and his eyes swam for a second. “Stay here, I’ll go and check.” He climbed through to the back of the SUV and out the back hatch. I could hear his footsteps near my head outside as he walked around.

  I fought with the seat belt and got it to release. I righted myself, but my vision grayed, and I had to hold myself up against the side of the seat. Jimmy leaned back in through the back hatch.

  “He’s gone.”

  Relief flooded through me and I whispered a prayer of thanks.

  “Can you crawl out through the back?”

  “Yeah,” I called back. “Hold on.”

  I made my way to the back, and Jimmy helped me the rest of the way out. He held me close, took in a ragged breath, and kissed me on the forehead.

  We stood there shaking, stunned, and grateful to be alive.

  “We need to get some help. Do you think you can climb back up the ravine? There’s a ranger station a mile up the road.” Jimmy looked up the side of the ravine and then back at me.

  I nodded and the ground tilted under my feet.

  “Whoa…are you OK?”

  I tried to say that I was fine, but the trees behind Jimmy started to pull to the side and spin around us. I lost my footing again and Jimmy called my name, but I couldn’t get my mouth to work. The ringing in my head got louder and louder, and then I saw Jimmy’s face get pale. He held up a hand with a lot of blood on it and then he was sailing away from me down a tunnel. He pulled further and further away, and his voice echoed slowly in my head. Then everything went black.

  Purple Knot

  29

  The unmistakable smell of hospital antiseptic stung my nose, and I grimaced against it. Immediately, I heard Jimmy’s voice and felt his hand on my forehead.

  “Rain? Rain, can you hear me?”

  “What happened?”

  “Open your eyes. Can you open your eyes?” His voice sounded relieved.

  I was in the emergency room by the look of the frantically cheerful privacy curtain hanging from the ceiling. Oxygen shot a cold and irritating breeze up my nose through the nasal canella, and I sat up and pulled at it.

  Jimmy looked down at me. He was all bruised up. Stitches snaked up from his temple into his hairline, and one of his hands had a bandage. He looked like he hadn’t slept.

  “How did we get here?”

  “I called for help from the Ranger station.”

  “Oh…I climbed up?”

  “Uh, let’s just say we both used my legs,” Jimmy said with a smile.

  He’d carried me? How did he make it up that ravine in the dark? My thoughts crashed together, and I thought I could still taste dirt in my mouth.

  A doctor walked in through the gap in the curtain, and she smiled at me. She had strawberry blonde hair and freckles. I thought she looked like a grown up Pippi Longstocking.

  “See, there?” she said to Jimmy. “He wasn’t convinced you’d wake up on your own.”

  Jimmy didn’t look at her. His eyes never left me.

  “I really hate this nose-thing.”

  My voice was scratchy. I cleared my throat.

  She helped me take it off and flashed her little pocket light across my eyes a couple of times. “You have a mild concussion. The MRI scans don’t show anything and your eye reactions are fine.”

  “Can I go home?”

  “We’ve just convinced Mr. Corbeau here not to transfer you to Virginia Mason Hospital. He was this close to hiring his own helicopter.”

  I turned in time to see Jimmy shaking his head in a, ‘Don’t tell her that,’ gesture.

  “I’m glad he didn’t,” I said and sat up. “I’m fine.”

  “I promise I’ll take good care of her. I’ll hire a nurse if I have to.” Jimmy put his hand on my shoulder. I could tell he was still worried.

  “I don’t need a nurse!” I was mortified.

  “She’s right,” the doctor agreed. “You won’t need a nurse, but you do need to take it easy. That blow to your head wasn’t light. You needed stitches.”

  My hands automatically went to my head. Sure enough, under a layer of hair I could feel a small shaved spot and a few stitches. “Oh, great,” I muttered. “They itch now.”

  “I think it’s all in your head.” The doctor chuckled.

  “Nice.” I smiled at the double meaning.

  She pulled out a prescription pad from her lab coat, jotted something down, and tore it off. Handing it to Jimmy, she nodded to me. “You’re both going to be sore after that accident. This is a mild painkiller for the body aches you’ll probably feel tomorrow morning.” She eyed Jimmy and shook her pen at him. “You need to sleep.”

  “I’ll sleep,” he promised. “Can I sign us out?”

  “Yeah, just follow me out to the reception desk. I’ll get the paperwork together.” She turned to me. “Do you have any questions?”

  I shook my head and felt a wave of nausea.

  “I’ll be right back,” Jimmy said and squeezed my hand.

  Jimmy followed her out, and I watched them talk at the desk. When I got off of the bed, I realized I was in a hospital gown. My clothes were on the rolling shelf near the wall. I grabbed them and got dressed. An orderly met me at the door and wheeled me out to Jimmy. I saw that it was a tiny facility. We must still be near the sanctuary. He smiled and took my hand.

  “What time is it?”

  “It’s after noon,” he said checking his watch. The face was cracked.

  “It’s the next day?”

  I’d lost the night and morning. Something about that upset me more than being run off the road. The sun hit my face when we walked out of the hospital, and I turned my face up to it. A large dark sedan pulled up to meet us at the curb, and Jimmy pulled door open for me. We got in and a driver who wasn’t Stern pulled us out of the parking lot.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Back to Seattle,” Jimmy said flatly.

  “What’s the matter?

  “I never should have let you dig into this Parker thing.”

  I watched his face. He was completely serious.

  “You didn’t just say that.”

  “Rain, Mona left a message on my phone that she had urgent news. I’ll give you two guesses what she wants to talk about.
”

  “She wants to tell you about the fake documents,” I said sadly. “She said Parker showed her before he gave them to his lawyer. She believes him.”

  “Exactly,” Jimmy said angrily.

  “Uhm…you’re going to have to explain. I’ve had a recent head injury.”

  Jimmy looked at me. “Don’t joke about that,” he said, but smiled. “Mona and Parker are trying to hurt you through me, you’ve been getting threats presumably from Parker, and a man tried to run us off the road last night. I think the message is pretty clear.”

  “You don’t think it was Parker?”

  “He’ll have to come up with an alibi. The police came to the hospital and took my statement. You have to give one today or tomorrow. I told them about the attacks on you in San Francisco. They’re contacting Detective Wicket out there.”

  “Oh, that’ll be helpful. Detective Wicket hates me on principle. I’m a private citizen with a gun and a lawyer boyfriend. Besides, I can’t have detectives meddling in my investigation,” I grouched.

  “You’re so one track minded!”

  His sudden irritation startled me.

  “What’s the matter with you?”

  “There is someone after you, Rain. Whether it’s Parker, or someone else, the danger is the same. We were run off the road. Someone followed us and tried to kill us!”

  “I’ll be careful, Jimmy but I’m not giving up.”

  All the attempts to scare me off had done the opposite. I was so going to find this person. I was going to track them down and make them sorry they ever messed with this chick.

  “Look, with Parker’s past arrest for battery, and Summer’s death, he’s already under suspicion. I told your lawyer Sierra Hopkins about Parker and Mona’s attempt to extort you with falsified documents. She said she’ll call and deal with Parker’s lawyer. I’ll have a talk with Bennet tomorrow about Mona’s part in this.”

  I could tell he was angry. His voice always got super calm when he was trying to keep his cool. Mona had seriously messed up this time.