Hannah blew out a huge sigh of relief. “You kind of jumped down the inventory list a bit,” she teased, trying to distract him a little from the pain.
“Pretty sure it’s mostly my hip,” he said. “Maybe my right leg a little.”
“Okay, that’s good. Not about the hip,” she added, “but the rest. You’re doing really great, Jake.”
And then he did the damnedest thing. He smiled at her, truly smiled, rain soaked, scratched up, injured and all, and said, “You are, too.”
Her breath hitched just a little as a fresh threat of tears gathered, even as she laughed. “Thanks. So, let’s say we get ourselves out of here.”
“I’m good with that,” he said gamely.
“Your phone, is it on you?”
“Yes. But . . . in my right shorts pocket.”
She looked and realized which one he meant. The one with a tree on it. “Ah. Okay. Plan B.” Maybe her phone still had a shred of charge in it. She squinted through the tree branches in the direction of the stone building and suddenly realized that the rain had slowed, and the wind had died down completely. No more thunder or rumbling skies, either. The storm had passed over the meadow like a blade scraping along a flat surface, only with a lot of violent turbulence following along in its wake. “I think the worst of the storm is over,” she told him.
She shifted slightly, careful not to disturb the sleeping lamb, and was surprised at how quickly she was able to get her bearings now that the storm fog had lifted, the rain had lightened up, and the wind wasn’t whipping things around any longer. From her spot in the middle of the branches, she could actually see more clearly. The leaves had all been flattened by the rain—the ones that hadn’t been torn off by the wind—so that helped, too.
She immediately spied a far more direct route out of the tangle of tree limbs and thought, Now you tell me. In her panic to get to Jake, she’d just gone flying and crawling in, but the path out looked fairly simple if she just moved directly toward the main tree trunk. She looked back to Jake, who was watching her with surprising calm. “Okay,” she told him. “I’m going to take the baby to the stable and get my phone, call for help.” She didn’t tell him that it might be dead. They’d deal with that when and if the time came. “You are not to move. Do you hear me?” She gave him a pointed look, affection and love right there for him to see, too. “No moving.”
Jake smiled again, even as he winced. “Got it. No moving. I swear. It’s not much fun anyway.”
Her heart clenched a little at that. “I’d lean down and kiss you on the forehead, but—” She gestured to the lamb. Instead she pressed her fingers to her lips, then pressed them to his forehead. She was actually just trying to feel whether he was cold or hot, not that she was sure what she’d do about either one. It was just the mom instinct in her. To stroke foreheads and soothe.
She saw color steal into his cheeks at her action. She’d probably embarrassed him. “Sorry,” she told him. “It’s a mom thing. It’s what we do.”
She saw a flicker of some unreadable emotion pass through his eyes, and they grew a little glassy. Hannah realized then what she’d said, how it might have sounded, and worried that he’d thought she was trying to take his mom’s place or something. She opened her mouth, to say exactly what, she didn’t know, but to try and fix her gaffe, but he spoke first.
“Thanks,” he said, looking straight at her. And that was when she saw it, right there, shining from his green eyes. A look she recognized, one her heart recognized in an instant. One she had missed, so much.
“I like it,” he added, and his voice broke in that post-adolescent croak.
“Good,” she said, and maybe her eyes were glassy then, too. “Because you might be getting more of them.” She gave him a wry wink. “Fair warning.”
He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again and looked right back into her eyes. If there was any doubt about what she thought she’d seen before, he left no doubt now. “I’m good with that,” he told her. “Really good with that.”
She hoped he saw the exact same emotion in her eyes, because it had filled her heart up to overflowing the instant that tree had started to fall. I love you, too, she said silently. “Hold down the fort,” she told him, and got an eye roll and a smile. “I will be very fast.”
Hannah scooped the lamb up in her arms and carefully held it against her body. She’d expected it to wake up and start thrashing, but it was well and truly exhausted. Poor thing, she thought, but was glad. It would make the task ahead a lot easier.
It turned out not to be all that hard now that she’d found the easier path out. Once she was clear, the mud and carrying the lamb kept her from flat-out running, but she made it through the paddock gate and over to the lamb house fairly quickly. She gently deposited the baby in the first empty stall, hoping it wouldn’t wake up and be frightened to be alone, but she figured Bailey would want to check her over and make sure she was okay, and this way it would be easy to know which lamb it was.
The minute she was free of her little burden, fresh adrenaline coursed through her. Hannah turned and all but fell on her backpack, finally having to force herself to slow down and make her fingers stop shaking so she could pull the clasp down the cord and open the drawstring top. Her phone was right on top. She said every prayer she knew and pressed the button.
When the screen lit up, she cried out in relief and immediately punched in 911. They would have to come by helicopter, she thought, silently willing the operator to pick up. When nothing happened, she pulled the phone away and saw there was no signal. She bit back a scream of frustration.
She looked outside, saw there was still a steady, though much calmer rain coming down, and quickly dug in her bag and found the baggie she’d used for her sandwich. She jammed the phone in the bag and zipped it up, then ran back into the rain, searching for a signal. Then it hit her. She always had a signal where she set up her easel and stool to paint. Naturally it was in the opposite direction from the fallen tree, but it was her best shot. If she ran back to Jake and got no signal there, her phone would surely die before she made it all the way back across the field.
Slipping and sliding as she ran around the paddock fence, she skidded to a stop the moment she got close to her spot and hit the call button again. “Come on, come on,” she murmured. “Do this, phone. Do this.” And then 911 picked up. “Oh, thank God.” Hannah quickly explained the situation, giving their location as best she could. She explained it all twice, and they told her a medivac helicopter would be coming, but with the storm still in the area, they couldn’t give her a clear time frame. Hannah wanted to get back to Jake, but the operator told her to stay on the line, and she knew if she moved, she’d lose the signal. However, right then her phone finally died, freeing her from having to make that choice.
She prayed the chopper would get to them sooner rather than later, and that she’d given them enough info to find the meadow easily. Hopefully they got her GPS coordinates before her phone died. There was nothing else to do now but get back to Jake, keep him calm, and wait.
By the time she made it through the tangle of branches to his side, taking the much easier way in this time, the rain had stopped completely. “We’re all set,” she told him, and lowered herself carefully beside him once more. “I’m sorry it took so long, but help is on the way.”
“Did you tell Dad?”
“I told the operator your name and his and gave them all the information they needed, but then my phone died. I know they’ll contact him.”
“Good,” Jake said, then let his head relax back now that the rain wasn’t stinging his face. He slid a hand across the dirt, palm open.
Now that neither of them had the lamb to contend with, she reached for it immediately and held on to it with both of hers.
“I’m okay,” he told her.
“You’re better than okay,” she said with a grin, feeling almost giddy with relief. Help was coming. Jake was going to be fine. “So, while we
wait, I want to tell you something,” she said, thinking talking would distract him from the pain. And because of that moment they’d shared before she’d gone to make the call, she didn’t want him going another moment without knowing, without understanding. “I know I haven’t been real great about spending time with both you and your dad. At the same time.”
“Hannah,” Jake said, his expression instantly alarmed, “you don’t have to—”
“No, it’s all right, Jake,” she said and smiled. “It’s going to be fine.”
He closed his eyes briefly. “Okay. That’s good.” He kept them closed another moment and then looked at her again.
She felt bad for alarming him. She’d been trying to do the opposite. She had no idea what she looked like, probably not good, but hoped he saw the sincerity in her eyes if nothing else. “I was having kind of a hard time,” she began.
“I know,” Jake said. “Dad and I talked about it. He was going to talk to you out here. Today.”
Surprised, and feeling worse now knowing she’d really worried them both, she said, “You did? He was?”
Jake nodded, then gritted his teeth.
“You know what, maybe we shouldn’t be talking about this now. Rest as best you can. Keep your eyes open, but try and do that slow, steady breathing thing I talked about before. It will help manage the pain. I can talk, but you probably shouldn’t. I’ll . . . tell you a story.”
Jake looked at her. “You can finish the one you started,” he said.
She hesitated, and he said, “Does it have a happy ending?”
She let out a short laugh at that and nodded.
“Then that one,” he said, and smiled at her. “Please.”
She dashed her fingers at the corners of her eyes even as she flashed a brief grin. “Okay,” she said, then tried to find the right words this time. “I didn’t mean to worry you, or your dad, but I guess I did. I wanted to talk to your dad about it, but . . . I wasn’t sure what was really bothering me.” She laid her hand over Jake’s again and he turned his over so they could hold on to each other. “It wasn’t about Liam,” Hannah told him. “Or anything to do with not wanting to be with you. I love being with your dad. I love being with you. I wasn’t sad. In fact, you two make me the happiest I’ve been in a very long time. I just had this really bad, really weird anxiety, whenever I thought about us all together, and that was really confusing to me, because I want to be with you guys. Very much.”
“Was it because you were afraid of being part of a family again?”
“In a way, but that’s not it, not exactly.” She shifted carefully around in the small space until she could lie on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, so her face was more level with his, and so she was closer to him. She shifted her weight so she could put her hand back in his and he immediately held on tight. That made her heart fill right up and she squeezed right back. “I didn’t figure it out exactly until I saw what was happening, with the lightning and the tree.” She held his gaze then. “I realized I wasn’t afraid of having a family again.” She squeezed his hand. “I was afraid of having one, and losing it again. I think some part of me thought I shouldn’t risk caring so much that I could get hurt again and, in its own weird way, it was trying to protect me by making me feel yucky enough that I wouldn’t try.”
“You won’t lose us, Hannah,” Jake said, his gaze searching hers.
She could have told him that she was talking about the kind of loss no one could control, but there was no need for that. “What I realized was that if that part of my brain, or my body, thought it could somehow protect me by not letting me get attached to you two, well then, it didn’t do a very good job.”
Jake looked confused.
“Because it’s too late for that. That ship has sailed.”
Jake flashed her a grin. “You mean it?”
“I’m afraid you’ve lost your chance to get rid of me. You’re stuck with me now. At least for as long as you’ll have me.”
Despite the pain, and the fear, Jake’s eyes were bright now, and there was more than a little relief shining in them, too. “Good.”
Hannah was really glad she’d told him now. She hated that she’d made them worry. “Yeah,” she told him. “I think so, too.”
They both heard the vibrating sound that pulsed through the air. Hannah shifted onto her knees, then stood and scanned the skies the best she could. She saw the medivac helicopter a moment later and waved her arms overhead. “The cavalry has arrived,” she said. “Looks like you’re getting a free hop to the top of the hill.” She shot him a grin. “The things people will do to keep from having to pedal their mountain bike up that trail.”
“Right now, I’ll take it,” he said, his smile tired, but brave and still there.
She sat back down beside him. “Won’t be too much longer now.” She reached out and gently brushed his hair from his face, careful to avoid the injured area, then ruffled the front a little bit, just wanting, needing to touch him, soothe him, if she could.
“Why do adults do that?” he said. Now she was smiling.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Will found her in one of the triage cubicles in the emergency area of the Turtle Springs hospital. “Hannah,” he said, relief instantly replacing the worried expression on his face as he spied her behind the half-drawn curtain.
Hannah slid from her seat on the end of the hospital bed and went straight into his arms.
He didn’t say anything, just wrapped her up tight and held on. He finally loosened his hold enough so he could look at her. Hannah had seen herself now, so she knew she looked worse than a fright show, but you’d never know it from the look in his eyes. If she hadn’t already figured out she was head over heels in love with him, that look would have done it.
He kissed her bruised and scratched up face, then pulled her right back against him, burying his face in her hair. “Let’s not do this again, okay?” he said, and she heard both the residual fear and the abject relief in his voice.
“Deal,” she said, wholeheartedly. “How is Jake doing?” Her phone was still dead, so she hadn’t been able to communicate with Will directly, but the EMTs had told her Jake was on his way in, and she knew Will would have gone straight to Jake’s side the moment he got there.
“He’s okay. Banged up pretty good, but amazingly, nothing was broken. The cut on his head ended up not being as bad as it looked. No stitches or anything.”
Hannah felt almost woozy with relief. “Oh, thank God.”
“Addie Pearl and Bailey are in with him now. The doctor ran a few other tests and we’re just waiting for the results, but he should be cleared to go home in an hour or two.”
“I’m so thankful he’s okay.” Hannah slid her arms around Will’s waist and nestled against his chest, her cheek pressed against his heart. Boy, do I need a lot of this. “He was really amazing, Will. You’d have been so proud of how he handled himself. I know he was in pain, and he had to be scared, but you’d never have known it.” She looked up at him. “He was smiling, even joking with me. Though I should tell you he’s really over having his hair played with.”
Will barked a hoarse laugh at that. “Yeah, so I learned.” His voice choked up with emotion when he added, “Thank you, Hannah. For what you did for him, for getting help, for keeping him calm. When I got that call—” He broke off, then just leaned his head down and kissed her, gently, intently, as if trying to pour out of him everything he was feeling and couldn’t put into words.
She understood every bit of it.
He lifted his mouth from hers, then tucked her close again, as if trying to offer her shelter, and protection, and whatever else he could offer of himself to help shield her. “I’m so, so sorry you had to go through that.”
Hannah kissed his chest right over his heart. “I’d do it again,” she said without hesitation. “For you. For him.” She’d known the truth of that the moment lightning had struck that tree. But if she’d had any doubts, they’d vani
shed when Jake had looked at her with all the love in his heart, right there for her to see, right there for her to take. And she knew she wanted all of it.
Will loosened his hold, cupped her tender, bruised cheek in his hand, and searched her eyes. “We would do anything for you, too. You do know that, right?”
Hannah nodded, sniffled, then laughed and dabbed at the corners of her eyes. “I promised myself I was all done with those.”
He slid his thumb over and dried one for her, then another, making her sniffle all over again, and they both laughed.
She looked into his eyes then, and her breath caught. Her heart might have skipped a beat, too. Because right there was the same emotion she’d seen in his son’s gaze, only this time it was all grown up, but every bit as much all for her. “Will,” she said, and now her voice was choked with emotion. She wanted to tell him she felt the same way, say the three words that she’d been wanting to say for weeks, but couldn’t.
But now that she had talked with Jake, he needed to know that part first. “I told Jake something today, when we were waiting for the EMTs. I need to tell you, too.”
Will looked immediately concerned. “What is it?”
“He told me you two talked, and that you were planning to talk to me. About my not spending time with the two of you together. That’s why you planned the picnic.”
He looked alarmed at that, as if she might be angry. “Hannah, I—”
“No, Will, it’s okay,” she said. “I’m really sorry I worried you both.” She smiled briefly. “I worried me, too. I wanted to talk to you about it, but I honestly didn’t know how to explain it without really alarming you since I couldn’t even explain it to myself.”
“You can always talk to me,” he told her. “Even if we don’t understand what we’re dealing with, it’s got to be better finding a solution together than suffering on your own.” She nodded, sniffled again, and he gently stroked her face. “So, tell me now. What was going on?”
She should have gone to him, talked to him, as Chey had suggested. She realized that now. She might not have fully trusted that he’d be there for her, no matter what, but looking into his eyes right now, she knew she’d never doubt it again. “I was having these, well, I guess you could call them kind of anxiety attacks with crying jags.”
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