He plunged in once more and waves of pleasure flowed through her.
She didn’t know how much time passed before he rolled over, took her hand in his and kissed her with such tenderness she never wanted to leave his side.
She couldn’t speak. Her emotions were running too strong to be properly expressed. She laid her head on his chest and her fingers tightened around his.
They were both silent, then she looked at the clock. It was eight a.m. Only two hours since she’d arrived, but it seemed much longer. Her life changed in those two hours. She didn’t know what would happen now, but she did know she had changed.
She needed to go, although part of her wanted to ask some questions first. She didn’t know nearly enough about his past, any relationships he might have been in or why he’d landed here in Covenant Falls in the first place. But she didn’t have time to ask those things now. She had to get home. She hadn’t expected to stay this long. She’d expected to see a sunrise.
Liar.
“How did you get these scars?” she asked, tracing her fingers over them. Something told her they had something to do with him coming here, something that changed his life.
“I was held prisoner by a rebel group in Africa,” he said, his tone steady. “Four of us were on a mission to extract a civilian medical group in a dangerous area. I won’t go into detail, but the civilians were already dead and we were ambushed. Someone had told them we were coming.
“Two of the team died instantly, another died of wounds several hours later. I was wounded and taken prisoner. I was traveling as a civilian doctor and other members of the team as paid guards. They never knew who we really were.
“The only thing that saved me was one of the rebels was badly wounded and I did a ‘hail Mary’ and indicated I could save him. I did, and they kept me around to tend their wounded. I was beaten when I didn’t succeed.”
She listened as he told the rest of the story in an emotionless voice.
“No one knew what had happened to the team until I escaped,” he finished. “The team had just disappeared as had the medical unit.”
“How long?”
“Two years, give or take a few weeks. I was passed around from one group to another. I finally escaped, but I’d lost a lot of weight and there was permanent damage to my joints. I couldn’t qualify as an active SEAL any longer.”
“You didn’t want to leave, did you?”
His arms tightened around her. “The navy was my family.” The words said more than the tone of his voice. She had never met anyone with so much self-control.
She’d settled in his arms now and took his right hand in one of hers, holding it tight. “What about your mother?”
“My mother’s family didn’t think much of my father—or me, for that matter. We ruined my mother’s perfect future. She remarried and her new husband shared those feelings. I guess I didn’t help things. But they bad-mouthed my dad all the time, even after he died.”
“You don’t see her.”
“She died in an auto accident while I was in Africa.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, tightening the hold on his hand. “How did you happen to join the SEALs?”
“It was all I wanted to do since I was a young kid. I read everything I could about them.
“I was seventeen and had just graduated from high school when I joined the navy. I needed parental consent and my stepfather was more than happy to give it.
“I had to wait until my eighteenth birthday to apply for SEALs training but I had been preparing for years. I ran track and was on the swimming team in high school.”
“I would call that determined.”
“Probably no less so in your path to become a doctor.”
“But why?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Maybe it was in my DNA, or maybe they represented the best to me, and I wanted to be part of that. A hard-ass unit that didn’t take crap from anyone. Once you’re in, you don’t want to get out. The brotherhood is too strong.”
“You miss it?”
“Part of me will always miss it. The adrenaline rushes. The friendships. The knowledge you’re doing something important for your country, something that a lot of people can’t do. But it’s no profession for a married man. It’s too hard on wives.”
“That’s why you never married?”
“That’s what I believed,” he said slowly. “But maybe not. Maybe it was the wreckage of my parents’ marriage. I think when my mother left and took me with her, my dad just didn’t care anymore. I looked up some guys who’d known him around the same time I joined the navy. They said he became more and more reckless after we left.”
“So now what? Where to after you leave here?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. I just got in the car and started driving, thinking I would figure it out somewhere along the way,” he said with a frankness that no longer surprised her. “I feel like a tumbleweed now.”
He hesitated, then added, “I planned to see the families of the other SEALs who died on that mission. I wrote them letters, but I owe it to them to visit in person, tell them about their son or husband or father. I’ll still do that.”
She snuggled into him. There was nothing to say, nothing to relieve the obvious pain and guilt that he survived and they didn’t. She wondered if that was the real reason he swam in frigid water every morning and ran in the middle of the night.
She touched the tattoo of the trident and bit her lip to keep a tear from falling. She could feel the weight of his losses. “Is that why you’re so good with Gordon? You knew what it was like to lose people you love.”
He rubbed her arm. “Maybe.”
“You’ve been good for him.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, then asked, “Are you going to tell him about this morning?”
“I’m going to tell him I came over here and watched the sunrise from your mountain.”
“If he asks anything more?”
“I won’t give him a detailed report or anything, but I won’t lie to him. It just makes things worse in the long run.” She stirred herself. “I really do have to go. They usually don’t get up early but...”
He nodded and stood. “Want a quick shower?”
She definitely needed one. She probably smelled like sex. He gave her a hand and pulled her up, then kissed her lightly. “I’ll have some coffee ready.”
Fifteen minutes later, she was on her way home, knowing that her world had been forever changed by Jubal and the connection she felt to him.
Would her siblings notice? Would she look as different as she felt?
She thought about swinging by Maude’s to pick up some rolls as an excuse, but they already had so many baked goods at the house. She had done her best to put her hair back in order, and touch up her makeup. Her clothes didn’t look too wrinkled after ending up on the floor of Jubal’s bedroom. She smiled at remembering how quickly they’d discarded them. Then she smiled at being able to smile. No regrets this time. Not ever.
When she reached home, her sister was up, drinking a glass of orange juice.
“Good morning,” she said. “Is your brother up yet?”
“Nope.”
Relief flooded her.
“Where were you?” Kerry asked.
She wasn’t going to lie. “Watching a sunrise. Mr. Pierce invited me over. He said it was spectacular, and it was.”
“Maybe next week I can see it, too,” her sister said, obviously accepting her explanation.
“If you can get up that early.”
“Where did you watch it from?”
“That mountain at the end of Lake Road. You can see the entire valley from there, as well as the entire town. There’s probably a great sunset, too. We can take a picnic up there this evening i
f you like.” She avoided saying it was next to Jubal’s cabin. Was that lying by omission? She got busy making a pot of coffee.
“Want some eggs? Pancakes? Biscuits?” She had several cans of biscuits that you just popped in the oven. And she wanted to change the subject.
“Pancakes would be great,” Kerry said. “Do you like Mr. Pierce?”
“Sure, don’t you?” Was deflection also a form of lying?
“Yeah, he’s hot. And nice, even if he doesn’t say much.”
“Well, he won’t be here long. Neither will we.”
Her sister was looking at her with speculation in her eyes. Of course she would.
Gordon walked in, his long hair still tousled. “What’s for breakfast?”
“Kerry picked pancakes, so pancakes, it is. Or you can have some of the coffee cake that’s left.”
“Pancakes sound good.”
Lisa saw her sister look startled. Usually it was a fight. If she wanted pancakes, he wanted eggs and sausage. “Any plans for today?” she asked.
“I thought I would bike over to Mr. Daniels’s ranch. Maybe I could do a few things for him, too. Like Mr. Pierce. Earn enough for lessons.”
“I’ll pay for them,” Lisa said.
“I would rather work for them.”
Kerry’s mouth fell open. Lisa’s own stomach dropped. It should have been a good sign but deep down she feared it wasn’t. “It’s a long way,” she said.
“I know, but I need to build up my muscles. I’m thinking about trying out for the track team, too.”
Lisa’s stomach flopped again. “What about schoolwork?”
“I did it last night. It’s easy.”
“That’s not what you said in Chicago.”
He shrugged, went to the fridge and poured himself a glass of orange juice.
She waited for Kerry to say something about this morning, but she didn’t. Instead, her gaze was on her brother. They hadn’t seemed close in the last few months, when Gordon started ignoring her and running around with boys Kerry clearly didn’t like. They teamed up, though, in their opposition to moving to Colorado. Now both of them were settling in, and appeared happier than they’d been since their mother’s death.
I’m only going to be here a year. And Jubal? How long would he be here?
She recalled his exact words. “I just got in the car and started driving, thinking I would figure it out somewhere along the way. I feel like a tumbleweed...”
An honest answer. A warning. She just didn’t think she could heed it, and if not, what damage would she cause her already broken family?
CHAPTER TWENTY
LISA KEPT HERSELF busy most of Sunday morning. She did some overdue cleaning, then took a leisurely bath. Kerry worked on homework so she’d be finished in time for her riding lesson at Eve’s; she couldn’t wait to tell Eve about the new foal.
Gordon asked if he could drive the car to Luke’s ranch. Lisa agreed as long as he, too, finished his homework first.
At two, Eve picked up Kerry, and Lisa walked to the clinic to do some paperwork which seemed endless. She wished she could stop thinking about Jubal but she couldn’t. She kept reliving his kiss, the feel of his body on hers, the ease of being with him. And yet there was another voice telling her she was headed for heartbreak.
She’d been working an hour when she received a call from a frantic husband. His wife had started labor more than six weeks early. Her contractions were coming fast, and she’d had a quick labor with her previous pregnancy.
Lisa asked the husband if he could bring her to the clinic. Since the baby was so early, she would have preferred sending the patient to the Pueblo hospital, which had the facilities for preemies, but she didn’t think there was time. She checked with an air ambulance but none were available at the time. Better here than on the road somewhere.
The patient, Selma Weeks, arrived ten minutes later. Selma was in transition, the final stage of labor. The moment Lisa got her on the bed, she started pushing and screaming. Ten minutes later, the baby’s head crowned. It was small, just five pounds, and its first protesting cry was weak.
“A girl, a beautiful little girl,” Lisa told the mother as she laid the baby on the mother’s stomach.
Because the baby was more than a month early and appeared to be having difficulty breathing, she told Janie to declare an emergency to get an air ambulance faster. She gave the baby oxygen while Janie made the necessary calls, including calling the police to block off Main Street.
The air ambulance finally arrived and Lisa accompanied the mother and baby.
She waited at the Pueblo hospital until all the tests results were back. The baby would have to stay in the NICU while her lungs grew stronger, but the doctors there were optimistic she’d be fine.
It was ten in the evening before Lisa was ready to go. Except she didn’t have her car. It was too late to call anyone, and she didn’t want Gordon driving alone this late at night.
After checking in with the kids to make sure they both got home okay, she decided to call Jubal.
He answered after the first ring.
“Do you always answer so promptly at ten p.m.?”
“Your name showed up on the phone. Not many people call me—the ones that do are usually important.”
“I’m afraid I’m a bit of a damsel in distress at the moment,” she said, relieved that he’d answered the phone.
“How can I help?”
“I’m at the hospital in Pueblo. Not as a patient,” she added hurriedly. “I came with a patient in the air ambulance. I need a ride home and you said you don’t sleep much...”
“I’m on my way.”
“Thank you so much,” she said, then gave him rough directions. He hung up right after, which was par for the course with him. He’d said more this morning than he’d said in all their other conversations combined.
She looked in on the baby in prenatal care. She was so small. A surge of satisfaction ran through her. She might well have saved a life today. A new one. She’d thought she would miss that in a small town, miss the rhythm of a large hospital’s emergency room, but this was every bit as rewarding.
She went to the urgent care waiting room, knowing there would be coffee. She poured a cup and sat in one of the chairs. Not for long. She was antsy, both from the adrenaline hangover and the fact she’d called Jubal over anyone else.
Why did she do that? Why did she feel so certain he would come? She ended up being right about that, but why did it seem the most natural thing in the world?
Maybe it was the ease of this morning. They had understood each other without many words. Everything about it had just felt right.
There had been a tenderness that couldn’t be feigned, in the way he touched her, looked at her. She felt quite sure he hadn’t trusted the reason he’d left the SEALs with many people, but he’d shared it with her.
Or maybe a small part of her simply wanted to share the awe that she felt in bringing a new life into the world, just as he’d witnessed a few nights ago in Luke Daniels’s barn.
Different but both miraculous.
She had another cup of coffee, then went downstairs to an almost empty front hall. She checked her text messages. There was one from Janie: Are you all right?
She shot back: Fine. I’ll be back in the office tomorrow.
She called home for the second time and told Kerry she would be home late and not to wait up. It was about an hour and fifteen minutes before Jubal arrived. She went outside when he drove up and was inside his car before he could get out.
“Thank you,” she said as he turned the car toward Covenant Falls. “I didn’t know who to call.”
“Glad you called me. What happened?”
She told him. “No matter how many times you deliv
er a baby, it’s always awe-inspiring.” She angled her position so she could see him. “I imagine you felt a little like that with the foal.”
“Except the mother did all the work,” he said. “We were just there for moral support.” He glanced at her. “It must be really gratifying to save lives.”
She felt she was beginning to know him now, understand the nuances of his thoughts even if he didn’t say the words.
“The protectors are as essential as the healers,” she said, thinking about how much she’d changed in the past few days. Like so many who didn’t actually know warriors, it was so easy to stick to the stereotype. She didn’t think anyone could pigeonhole Jubal. He was so much more complex than that.
She studied him. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt. He glanced over and grinned. It was so unexpected she almost didn’t grin back. But she couldn’t help it. They were silly, stupid grins, the kind you get when something extraordinarily good happens that you didn’t expect.
They were silent for several moments, the easy companionship preventing any awkwardness. The traffic slacked off when they left the city limits and headed on a state road toward the mountains.
“Gordon came to the ranch this afternoon,” he said. “He wanted to know if he could pay for lessons by working at the ranch.”
“And did Luke agree?”
“You betcha. He loves free labor. But it’s up to you.”
“What do you think?” She was beginning to trust his instincts with Gordon more than her own.
“I think it would be good for him. His biggest problem is impatience. He wants to do stuff he’s not prepared to do, but he definitely has a feel for riding. I think Luke can keep him in line. Track would also be good for him.”
Lisa stiffened. She suddenly remembered something he said earlier this morning. He wanted to do track and swimming to prepare for the military. Anxiety bubbled inside her. “He hasn’t spoken to you about the military, has he?” The minute the words popped out, she knew they sounded shrill. Not only that, they sounded like a condemnation of all he was.
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