“Where are we going?” she asked as she peered out the windshield confused.
“You’ll see,” he said.
Moments later, they came to a grass clearing surrounded by trees. There was a small pond near the edge of the tree line, and the sun laying low in the sky was casting glimmers of orange all along the ripples in the water.
Misty’s mouth popped open slightly. “Oh, Dylan, this is beautiful. How did you find this place?” she asked, astonished.
“I had some free time today,” he said, happy that she liked the view. “If you’ll grab the dessert, I’ll grab a blanket and we can go sit down by the water.”
Once they were out of the truck, Dylan tucked the quilt under his arm then took Misty’s hand as they walked down to the water’s edge. He opened up the quilt and in one fluid motion had it spread across the ground. He held her hand as she sat down on the quilt before joining her.
“How about that dessert?” he asked.
She opened the bag and pulled out a white box and two plastic forks. She handed one to him and opened the box. They each took turns digging their forks into the cake.
“Oh my God,” Misty said when she placed the cake in her mouth. “This is like heaven.”
“What is?” Dylan asked with his mouth full.
“All of this,” Misty said and swallowed. “The cake, this place…you.”
He smiled at her and reached his hand up to her face. He placed his fingers under her chin and pulled her towards him, gently kissing her. Maybe it was the effects from the drinks they had with dinner, or maybe it was this place, he wasn’t sure. But he couldn’t think of anything being more perfect than this moment.
Every time Dylan kissed her, she seemed to lose all sense of time and space. She hadn’t realized till now that she was pressed against Dylan so tight that a piece of paper couldn’t squeeze between them. Every kiss sent her senses reeling. Raging hot desire filled her body with every touch. Before she had time to think she spouted out the words that brought Dylan’s kisses to a halt.
“What did you say?” Dylan asked catching his breath.
She thought about it for a moment and bit her bottom lip as she looked him in the eye.
“Make love to me, Dylan,” she requested with a hopeful look in her eye before leaning in to kiss him once more.
“Here? Are you sure?” he asked between short breaths and long kisses.
She moved her hands to the top of his shirt and started to un-do the buttons slowly. After the first few were undone, she let her hands run over the smooth texture of his chest and he let out a soft moan.
“Yes, I’m sure,” she whispered against his lips before pulling him down on top of her.
He hovered above her for a moment and stared into her eyes. “Tell me you love me,” he said and pressed his lips to hers.
“I love you,” she replied and his lips claimed hers once more.
“Then your wish is my command.”
CHAPTER 18
Dylan laid on his back with one hand behind his head while the other stroked Misty’s long brown hair.
“You’re quiet,” he said, twirling a strand of her hair.
“Hmm? Sorry, didn’t mean to be. I was just thinking,” she said, letting out a content sigh.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, leaning his head to look at her face.
She lifted her head from his chest and leaned up onto her elbow to look at him. “Oh, just about how this is the most perfect thing I’ve ever experienced. That was amazing.”
Dylan grinned. “You’re going to make me blush,” he teased.
She smiled back and stroked her fingertips very lightly down his torso. “I mean it though.” She leaned in and gently pressed her lips to his.
The evening sky that had once surrounded them was now giving way to the night. And the crickets and frogs had started to begin their nighttime symphony. A cool breeze started to blow, and as the air hit her bare back Misty shuddered.
Dylan pulled at the edge of the blanket, attempting to cover her more. “I guess we should probably be heading back home now,” he suggested reluctantly. He would love nothing more than for the two of them to stay this way forever. Holding her in his arms and being in this place, life seemed perfect.
She nodded and reached for her clothes that were lying on the grass next to the blanket. “Guess we should.”
After they were dressed and Dylan had the blanket all folded, he took her hand and they walked back to the truck. He tossed the blanket in through the open passenger window and wrapped his arms around Misty’s waist.
“I love you,” he said and tenderly kissed her forehead.
“I love you too,” she smiled.
***
The drive home was a fairly quiet one. No words were necessary. They shared simple glances from time to time, both knowing that they were thinking of the same thing. Remembering every touch and every kiss they shared just a few hours ago. As Misty rested her head against Dylan’s shoulder, she couldn’t help but wonder if all of this was too perfect. She knew it was a silly thought but she wondered that if one day, down the road, Dylan would tire of her the way Brad had. Would he ever leave her for another woman? Would he ever cheat on her? Would he ever stop loving her? He had said himself on the drive to Colbourne that he was in a serious relationship for two years, and ended it when he fell out of love. Granted, he had told her that he had loved her from the moment he laid eyes on her. But was she going to live up to his expectations of the Misty he’d dreamed of?
“Dylan?” she asked quietly.
“Yea,” he responded keeping his eyes on the road.
“Are you sure that I’m the one?” she asked and waited for his reaction.
“What do you mean?” he asked confused.
“Just that, are you sure that you love me and not this dream girl you’ve created in my image in your mind?”
“Misty.” He sighed. “Of course I love you. Yes, I may have loved you from a distance all these years, but now that we’re together, well, it’s everything I could have wanted and dreamt of. You’re the perfect woman for me, Misty. I couldn’t have asked for a better friend and lover,” he explained and laid a kiss on the top of her hair.
“I feel the same,” she said and curled up to him closer and closed her eyes.
“Do you see that?” Dylan asked with a combination of excitement and confusion in his voice.
“Hmm? What?” Misty asked as she opened her eyes and sat straight up to look out the windows of the truck.
“That,” Dylan said and pointed. They had pulled onto the dirt lane that led to his ranch, and through the blanket of night there was a dark cloud of smoke billowing in the sky.
She squinted her eyes and replied, “It looks like smoke.”
Dylan pressed the gas pedal and drove faster down the lane, leaving a cloud of dust trailing behind him. As they grew closer to the ranch they could begin to see the faint orange glow beneath the dark cloud.
“Oh my God,” Dylan almost whispered and pushed the gas pedal to the floorboard. He fish tailed when he turned into the driveway and brought the truck to a skidding halt fifty yards away from the house.
“Call the fire department!” he yelled to Misty as he exited the truck, leaving his door open.
Misty fumbled with her cell phone as she stared at the horrific image before her. Never before had she seen a building fire, let alone one of this magnitude. The barn was fully engulfed in flames. She watched as the tips of the flames danced towards the sky, scattering flaming ash that looked like fireflies.
Dylan ran towards the barn, worried that the animals were stuck inside. His heart was racing so fast and hard that it felt like it was going to explode at any second. Just then, four horses came galloping out of the barn at full speed. Dylan jumped to the side and watched the barn door again for the fifth one. Moments later, the horse emerged from the barn with a bandana over its eyes and Katherine leading it out by its halter. She let go
of the halter once they were a few feet away from the flames and Dylan met her just as she collapsed into his arms.
“Mom! Mom!” he said, gently shaking her.
She coughed and looked into his eyes. Her face was smudged with soot and she smelled very heavily of smoke.
“Mom! What happened?” he asked, panicked.
She coughed again and Dylan felt her body go limp.
“Mom! Wake up, Mom!” Dylan urged. “Misty! Get an ambulance!”
Misty ran to his side with the cell phone to her ear and her hand flew up to cover her mouth as she gasped.
“Um, yes, sir, that’s the address. We need an ambulance too. Please hurry!”
***
Dylan sat in the waiting room of the hospital with his head in his hands and his elbows resting on his knees. Misty sat next to him with an arm wrapped around him attempting to comfort him. She looked up when the sliding doors opened and saw Beth and Alan hurry in the building. They rushed to the desk and Misty tapped Dylan on the shoulder.
“Dylan, Beth’s here,” she told him quietly.
He looked up and quickly stood up from the chair to walk over to Beth. Misty watched as Beth flung her arms around Dylan and then gently pushed him back to talk to him. She assumed from the look on Beth’s face that Dylan was explaining what happened. He then gestured to Misty and the three of them proceeded to the waiting room. They were just saying their hellos when the door to the emergency room opened and a nurse with a clipboard stepped out, holding the door open with her foot.
“Family members of Katherine McCoy?” she called.
Dylan raised his hand, “Right here.”
“Follow me please,” the nurse instructed.
The four of them followed the nurse down the hall and into a semi-private room. When they entered, Katherine was lying in the bed with multiple tubes flowing from her arms to machines with bags of clear liquids. She was wearing an oxygen mask and her eyes were closed. Misty took Dylan’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“The doctor will be in to see you in a few minutes,” the nurse informed them as she walked out of the room.
“Oh my God,” Beth said as she took in a ragged breath and brought her hand up to her mouth. Alan wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she fell into his embrace, letting her tears flow freely.
Dylan walked closer to the bed and pulled a chair up. He carefully took Katherine’s hand in his and Misty watched as his eyes filled with tears. She walked over to stand behind him and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
There was a light knock on the door and a young man wearing a white lab coat entered the room. He lifted his eyes from the clip board and looked to each one of them.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Lukawitz,” he said, extending his hand to Alan.
“Nice to meet you, doc. I’m Alan and this is my wife Beth. She’s Katherine’s daughter,” Alan explained.
Beth reached out her hand and shook the doctors.
Dylan stood up from his chair and leaned across the bed to shake hands with the doctor as well.
“I’m Katherine’s son Dylan, and this is…Misty,” Dylan said, gesturing towards her. He wanted to introduce her as something more than just Misty, but he wasn’t sure what to call her. Girlfriend seemed too informal when he thought of her as more than that. Fiancé would have been a better selection, but they weren’t at that stage yet. He would have loved it if he could have introduced her as his wife, but that as well was a stage they hadn’t made it to yet.
“Nice to meet you all,” Dr. Lukawitz said. “About your mother,” he started and walked closer to the bed. “She’s inhaled a lot of smoke and is going to need to stay for observation overnight. She also has a pretty decent size burn on her right shoulder. We’ve cleaned it up and bandaged it so it should heal just fine. We’re going to keep a close eye on her. You’re more than welcome to stay if you’d like, but I can always have a nurse call you when she wakes up,” the doctor offered.
“Thank you doctor but I think we’ll stay. Just till she wakes up,” Beth said.
“Not a problem. Do you have any questions for me?” Dr. Lukawitz asked.
“No, not at this time. Thank you,” Dylan said.
“Ok then, I’ll be back in a few hours to check up on your mother then,” the doctor told them and then made his way from the room.
They all took seats in the room and waited patiently for Katherine to open her eyes. After a few hours had passed, Alan tapped Beth’s shoulder and suggested they go get a bite to eat. Before leaving the room they asked Dylan and Misty if they would like anything, and they appreciatively declined. The room was silent except for the soft beeps that came from the monitor next to the headboard of the bed. Dylan’s head rested on the hand that held Katherine’s. The other hand was resting on Misty’s knee. Misty stroked his back in a repetitive up and down motion. She had never seen Dylan so distraught. She remembered earlier when she saw the tears in his eyes and the look of pain on his face. It was a sight that made the inside of her chest tight, and that tightness rose from her chest to her throat making it hard for her to swallow. She could feel her own eyes fill with tears and wished that there was something more she could do or say to make him feel better.
Just then Katherine’s eyes started to flutter and she started to mumble. Misty tapped Dylan’s shoulder and he lifted his head.
“Mom? Mom are you awake?” he asked hopeful.
Katherine’s eyes fluttered again and she continued to mumble.
“Misty, can you find Beth please and let her know that Mom is waking up?” Dylan asked.
“Of course, I’ll be right back,” she said and hurried out of the room.
As soon as the door shut Katherine opened her eyes and stared, confused by her surroundings.
“Mom? It’s me, Dylan,” he said, gently squeezing her hand.
She turned to look at him and smiled slightly. She reached a weak hand up to her face and felt the oxygen mask. She attempted to pull it down and Dylan assisted her. She wheezed a little as she took in shallow breaths and smiled at him once more.
“Hi,” she said in a barely audible tone.
“Hi.” He chuckled and kissed the back of her hand.
“Where am I?” she asked, her voice a little louder and scratchy.
“At the hospital. Do you remember what happened?” he asked, hoping that she could give him some insight as to what caused the fire.
She nodded slightly. “The barn was on fire. I was asleep and then I smelled smoke.” She took in another shallow breath and coughed. “I ran to get the horses out and one of them was just too spooked from the flames. The others ran out and I used the bandana I was covering my nose and mouth with to wrap around the one horses eyes so I could lead it out of the barn. I don’t really remember much after that.”
Dylan stroked the back of her hand with his. “So you don’t know how the fire started?”
She shook her head. “No idea.” She sat there for a minute, breathing slowly and closed her eyes. Dylan thought she was about to fall back into unconsciousness but she opened her eyes again. “How bad is the barn?” she asked.
He shook his head. “It’s gone.”
He watched as a tear slipped from her eye.
“It’s ok, Mom. I know it may not seem like it now, but it will be. I promise.”
“I’m glad that you’re being so optimistic, son, but this isn’t good,” she said, taking in a ragged breath. “All of our hay was in the loft and stacked up in the back section. Without that we won’t be able to feed the cows through the winter.”
“It’s ok, Mom, we’ll buy some hay,” he told her, trying to sooth her.
“With what money? Dylan, we’re flat broke. If your father hadn’t taken that money from Trent and used it for the mortgage we’d be homeless. I don’t have the money to buy hay let alone afford the upkeep on the ranch,” she explained and another tear fell down her cheek. “I guess Trent Montgomery is going to get his way.”
She started to speak again when the door opened and Beth came rushing inside, followed by Alan and Misty. Beth ran to the bedside and sobbed as she carefully hugged Katherine. Alan came to stand beside her while Dylan stood up from his chair and walked toward Misty.
“I need to take a walk. Do you want to join me?” he asked and she could see that something was bothering him.
“Of course,” she said and they walked out of the room.
They made their way down to the lobby and out to a private garden area and sat on a stone bench.
“Are you ok?” she asked cautiously.
He looked at her and sighed. “Not really.”
She reached for his hand and tenderly cupped it with both of hers. “Talk to me.”
He looked to the ground and she waited patiently. “I don’t know exactly how to ease my way into this conversation but here goes. We aren’t exactly doing well money wise on our ranch. My parents were having some issues while I was away in Oklahoma and I didn’t know, neither did Beth. The bank was planning on foreclosing on the ranch but my father ended up making a business deal that saved him from that. Well, as you know, my father died but the deal was never completed. So now, this man has been coming around demanding he get his money back or we give up the ranch to him.” He looked up and stared into her eyes. “And now with the fire, it’s ruined our stock of hay. Even with the hay in the fields that we haven’t harvested yet, it won’t be enough to cover our cattle for the winter. My mother is pretty much to the point of giving up now.”
“Dylan, that’s horrible. I had no idea,” she whispered. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure yet,” he said and looked down to their hands. He gently stroked the back side of her hand with his fingertips. “But I’ll be damned if I’ll ever let Trent Montgomery set foot on my property ever again. He’ll never own what my father spent his whole life building.”
She watched as his jaw clenched and realized the severity of the situation. She made her mind up that as soon as she was home she would speak to her father about it. Surely there was something he could do to prevent this Trent Montgomery from taking Dylan’s ranch out from underneath him. Misty slowly removed her hands from Dylan’s, placing them on either side of his face and kissed him. “It will be ok. We’ll work all of this out somehow. I promise.”
When the Heart Falls Page 15