me to check on her?” Heidi asked Jackson. They’d been friends for a while. She’d started with the sheriff’s office the same year he’d taken a full-time position with Firehouse Number 3. The town actually only had two fully manned stations. Number 1 was an honorary title given to the historic red barn holding dive gear for rare underwater rescues.
Shoulders squared, chest aching at the sight of Ella out on the station’s concrete surround, hunched over, bracing her hands on her knees, Jackson said, “Thanks, but let me.”
“Sure? I’m thinking this situation calls for a bit more finesse than your usual growling self.”
“Give me a break,” he said, setting his already emptied cup alongside Ella’s.
“I’m just saying…” His friend held up her hands, flashing a wry smile.
He shook his head.
Outside, the day was fine. Bright and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. Not at all the kind of day that suited his mood.
He aimed for Ella, but some GI Joe decked out in full-on camo gear beat him to the punch. He’d slipped his arm around Ella’s quaking shoulders, giving her sympathetic pats.
Why, Jackson couldn’t have said, but even from where he stood a good twenty feet away, possessiveness tore through him. He and Ella were going through this godawful ordeal together. He’d be the one to comfort her. See her through it. Guarantee all three of their boys and this baby they’d carted off were safely returned.
Marching to Ella’s side, he cleared his throat and said to the guy still rubbing her back, “I’ll take it from here.”
“I’m good,” the National Guardsman said.
Lowering his voice to the universal back-off tone, Jackson said, “Seriously. She’s with me.”
“Oh.” The guy eyed Ella, then him, then backed away. “I was just trying to help.”
“I know. Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Once the Guardsman had left, Jackson shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. He wanted to comfort Ella—damn bad—but something inside him felt broken. As if Julie had taken a chunk of him with her when she’d taken off.
“Look at me,” Ella said with a messy sniffle. “I’m a bona fide wreck.”
“I’d say you have a right to be.”
“You’re not. A mess, that is.”
Wanna bet?
“Here we’ve both been trained to deal with all manner of emergencies, yet I’m falling apart.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” he said, “but they probably didn’t teach you much in med school about what to do in the event your twins go missing.”
She laughed through more tears, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. “You’ve got that right.”
“Come on,” he said, reaching for her hand. His movements were awkward, landing his knuckles against her thigh before fumbling for the tear-dampened fingers of her left hand. But once he had hold of her, he held on for all he was worth. “I’m meeting up with my ex in a little while, but for the moment, it looks like we’re just in the way here. There’s somewhere I think you should go.”
“Just me?” Trailing beside him, her red-rimmed eyes were trusting, yet at the same time, wary.
“Well…” He squeezed her hand. “Obviously, we’re both going. I’ve got my cell should there be any news.”
“Good news,” she said.
“Absolutely.”
“Because that’s the only kind we’ll accept, right?”
Lord, how Jackson missed the days back when he used to be filled with hope. When he used to believe prayer really worked. Back before Julie had left for greener pastures. He’d already lost his marriage. If he ended up losing his son, as well…
“Right, Jackson? Good news is all we’ll take?”
He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Uh-huh.”
“HOW DID YOU EVER find this?” Ella whispered, oddly afraid to speak in her full voice, almost as if the wondrous place’s spell might be broken.
“Accident,” Jackson said with a shrug. “Long story short, we were working a three-car pile-up alongside the highway, and I needed to take a leak.”
The answer was so unexpectedly honest—not to mention inappropriate—that she burst out laughing.
“What?”
“You. You’re not exactly brimming with social graces, are you?”
“That a problem?”
“Considering what we’re going through, not at all. However, once our boys are safely home, and we’re back to our old routines, if you ever get a hankering to ask out Deputy Heidi, you may wish to bone up on your suave skills.”
At that, he was the one laughing. “Thanks. It’s been years since I’ve had that good a laugh.”
“Let me guess. You’ve never exactly been brimming with suaveness, either?”
“Ding, ding, ding. You win the prize.” He lifted a pine bough for her to step under.
No, judging by the present view, they’d both won.
They’d walked maybe a mile to where the small town faded to forest. To where historic brick homes eventually led the way to thousands of acres of farmland and sky. But here, in a secret glade time had forgotten, Ella stood gaping at the ghostly form of a paddle wheeler. Though the decades hadn’t been kind, the iron behemoth was still elegant in its sea of stately oaks and pine. Listing slightly to the right, as if weary, like her.
“Jackson…It’s amazing. Why…? How?”
“You mean what’s it doing here?” he asked, flashing her a sad half grin. “A buddy of mine who’s a history buff said back before the river was diverted, it used to run through this little valley. There’s been talk of somehow salvaging her—turning her into a museum, but the amount of cash involved would be…” He whistled.
“Still—to think this has been here all this time. There should at least be a proper path leading to it.”
He shrugged. “Probably that’d only encourage teens coming out here to drink and do miscellaneous other dirty deeds.”
“Yeah…You’re probably right.”
For a few moments they quieted, absorbing the forest’s tranquility. A woodpecker hammered a nearby tree, breaking the stillness.
“Why’d you bring me here?” Ella asked.
He
