From Glowing Embers

  ~ ~ ~

  In her room, Julianna felt disoriented. She had sat in a circle with Dillon, Paige and Jody, people she barely knew, and Gray, a man she knew too well, and she had let them comfort her. Outside, Eve had hurled the full fury of her destruction at the house, but inside, the small group of fellow sufferers had offered each other support and friendship. She had survived the terror of the past hours solely because of them.

  For years she had denied herself the comfort of others. Even Lehua, her benefactress, had never been allowed access to her deepest feelings. Lehua had understood; she had been a woman of great wisdom, but now Julianna wondered how much more comfort Lehua would have given had she been allowed.

  She heard a noise in the hall and turned to see Gray watching her. “Jody’s not with you?”

  “I thought she was with you.”

  “I thought maybe she’d come in here to pout.”

  “The winds could start again any minute.”

  “Eve’s got a large eye. We might have as much as fifteen more minutes, but it depends on whether we got the whole thing or just caught the edge.”

  “Let’s find her.”

  “You take a look in the bathrooms and bedrooms, and I’ll check the rest of the house.”

  “Shout when you see her.”

  “We’ll find her. Don’t forget to look under the beds.”

  “If I find her under a bed, I might stay there with her.”

  Jody wasn’t under a bed, nor was she anywhere else Julianna looked. She ran into Paige in the hallway and Dillon in one of the bathrooms, nailing plywood over the inside of the broken window to keep out the rain. Neither of them had seen the little girl, and both of them promptly dropped what they’d been doing to search.

  A minute later, four concerned adults gathered in the kitchen. Dillon was shrugging into his oilskin when Julianna arrived, and the simple act confirmed her worst fears. “You think she’s outside?”

  “She’s not inside.”

  “The back door was shut but not locked,” Paige added, visibly upset. “And I know I locked it this morning.”

  Julianna heard the harsh rasp of a zipper and saw that Gray was preparing for the storm, too. “Has anybody called her?” she asked. “Maybe she’s just out back.”

  “I did,” Paige said.

  Gray’s hand covered the doorknob. “We’ll be back with Jody before the storm hits again. Please, don’t either of you go outside.” He was gone before either woman could answer. Dillon was right behind him.

  Julianna listened to the slam of the door. Echoes were still resonating when she turned terrified eyes to Paige. Her own fear was mirrored on the other woman’s face. “What if they don’t find her?” she whispered. “The winds could start again any second.”

  “They’ll find her,” Paige said, with a lack of conviction.

  “She didn’t come when you called.”

  “Jody barely knows me. If Gray calls her, she’ll come whether she wants to or not.”

  “This is my fault. I should have explained how hurricanes act. She would have understood, but we didn’t even call Eve a hurricane in front of her.”

  “You’ve been wonderful with Jody. Besides, guilt’s not going to help.” Paige hesitated, as if trying to think of something that would. “Let’s see what we can do to make the den more comfortable. We’ve got a long wait before this is over.”

  “I’m going to look for her.”

  “You heard what Gray said.”

  “I don’t care what he said. I’m not going to stay inside while Jody’s out there.” Or while Gray is, either, she added silently.

  “Then I’m going, too.”

  Julianna shook her head. “Somebody has to be here in case she comes back on her own. She’ll be scared to death if the house is empty.”

  “You’re so tiny, the first good gust of wind will drop you in the ocean. Stay here and let Gray and Dillon find her.”

  Julianna caught Paige’s last words as she closed the door behind her.

  She understood immediately why Jody had felt safe enough to come outside. The storm did seem to be over. The dark, dense clouds of the early morning were gone, and although the sky was still gray, the sun flashed through at regular intervals, as if burning off the cloud cover. There was no rain, and the winds had died down to a strong autumn breeze.

  The ground was strewn with refuse. Fragrant flower petals mingled with branches and the contents of someone’s garbage pail. The twisted body of a spotted dove lay next to an uprooted No Parking sign like a piece of neo-expressionist sculpture. The luxurious subdivision had no overhead wires to ruin the landscape or provide hazards, and Hawaii had no dangerous reptiles, but Julianna picked her way carefully across the yard anyway, unsure what danger she might encounter with her next step.

  There was no sign of Dillon or Gray, nor was there any sign of Jody. Instinctively she knew the men had split up to cover more ground. She called Jody’s name in a clear, strong voice, hoping that her plea, added to theirs, would bring the child back.

  Once Julianna had been a stubborn little girl herself; she appreciated the quality, since it had probably ensured her survival. Now, however, she wished that Jody were a little less stubborn, a little more acquiescent.

  “Jody!” The wind took the shout and dispersed it. Julianna wondered if she was imagining that the wind was already growing stronger, the sky darker. She shouted again, skirting the workshop and the cannonball tree as she remembered Dillon’s words of caution.

  “I told you to stay inside.” Gray appeared from behind a wall of shrubbery, his face betraying his fear.

  “You haven’t found her?”

  “Please, get back inside.”

  “Where could she have gone?”

  “For all I know she’s walking to the airport right now. Would you get back inside so I can look for her?”

  “No. Listen.” She grabbed his jacket angrily. “Stop wasting time. We’ve got to find her.”

  “You think I can find her with you out here?”

  “You’d better.” She dropped her hands.

  “Then stay close to the house. When Eve hits again, she’s going to hit with more fury than hell’s ever seen.”

  She watched him disappear around the side of the house, but his words had produced the desired effect. She knew what happened to people in storms. She blinked back tears and shoved her trembling hands in the pockets of her pants. “Jody!”

  Frantically she tried to remember the places where she had hidden as a child, places where she had felt safe and in charge of her life. Places where no grown-up could find her. Up in trees, under porches, inside cars.

  Down on her knees, she peered through crisscrossed slats under the back lanai, hoping to see Jody peering back at her. Her search yielded mud stains on the knees of her pants, but nothing more. “Jody!”

  The wind was picking up. She could feel its sting against her bare arms and face. She felt a splash of rain, then nothing, as if the rain had been only a warning. A deadly one. “Jody!”

  The wet ground gave under her feet as she zigzagged through the tropical shrubbery, calling Jody’s name over and over like a prayer thrown into the blackest night. “Answer me!”

  Her answer was the distant shriek of the wind and a glimpse of a wall of water so dense it wasn’t rain but a wave, a surge of water rimming the hurricane’s eye and heading right toward her.

  “Get inside.” Julianna heard Gray shout behind her.

  “Have you found her?”

  “Not yet. She’ll come out when she hears the wind.”

  “Jody! The storm’s coming back. You’ve got to come inside!”

  Julianna waited, but no answer was forthcoming. The storm was perceptibly closer. “Gray, did you check the workshop?”

  “First thing.” His voice went from stern command to tortured plea. “Julianna, sweetheart, go inside. I can’t take care of you and find Jody, too.”

  “I’m going to check for m
yself.”

  “No you’re not!”

  She ran toward the workshop, terror turning her steps to flight. The cannonball tree towered above it, shading the workshop from the few rays of sun that still broke through the clouds overhead. Julianna threw open the door before Gray could reach her. “Jody! Are you in here? The storm’s about to hit again.” She knelt down to look under the table and workbench. It was a perfect hiding place, but no little girl was hiding there.

  “She’s not in here.” Gray grabbed Julianna’s arm. “I told you, I checked.”

  In the seconds before harsh winds began to buffet the tiny building, Julianna heard a faint whimper.

  “I heard her.” Julianna held herself back. “I heard her!”

  “We’ve got to get out of here. That tree could come down on top of us.”

  “But I heard her!” she screamed at him.

  “She’s not here!”

  Julianna jerked her arm away and pointed to a door. “What’s back there?”

  “The woodpile.”

  “Did you check there?” she shouted.

  “Yes!”

  She threw open the door and peered into the darkness. “Jody?” If there was an answer it was inaudible over the howl of the wind. She stepped forward and took another step before Gray grabbed her once more.

  “Don’t make me carry you out of here!”

  Something large and furry brushed past her legs, and Julianna screamed.

  “What the hell?” Gray blocked the animal’s progress with his leg.

  Julianna looked down and saw a half-grown tiger cat, its yellow eyes terrified. As she watched, it dodged Gray’s leg and ran under the table in the main part of the workshop.

  She turned her attention back to the woodpile. “Jody, are you here?”

  Gray dropped Julianna’s arm and pushed past her. “Jody!”

  They both saw the little girl’s shoe at the same moment. It was wedged between two logs on a neatly stacked pile of firewood. Gray reached the pile first, followed closely by Julianna. Jody lay on the floor near the rear of the pile, her eyes closed, her head pillowed on a two-by-four. As Gray bent toward her, her eyes fluttered open. “I fell,” she said groggily.

  Gray threw enough logs into a corner so he could get to the little girl. Julianna stood close behind him. “Should we move her?” she asked softly.

  “We’ve got no choice.” Gray went down on one knee and scooped Jody up in his arms. “Find some rope and tie our belts together. Do it quick.”

  Julianna realized he wanted a stronger defense against the storm. Two bodies functioning as one. In the main part of the workshop she found a ball of sturdy twine. As Gray stood beside her, she looped it around and under both her belt and his, leaving six inches between them. Ten loops later, she tied it off with a strong square knot and cut the cord with clippers hanging on a nearby peg.

  “Now take off my jacket and cover Jody.”

  Julianna reached past Jody’s body and unzipped the jacket, then helped Gray slip it off. She draped it over Jody and tucked it around her, closing the zipper underneath her small body. “The cat,” Jody murmured.

  “The cat will be fine where it is, and it won’t come with us anyway.”

  “Can we make it?” She heard the catch in her own voice.

  “Come on, sweetheart, don’t get shaky now. It’s a short trip, and we sure can’t stay here.” Gray pulled her forward. “You’re going to have to dig in as hard as you can or we’ll never get there,” he warned. “I can’t do it for both of us and Jody, too.”

  She nodded, taking a deep breath as he flung open the workshop door.

  Chaos reigned. Julianna realized how insulated she had been inside the house. There the hurricane had been terrifying; here it was beyond comprehension. The rain seemed to fall from the ground up and from the sides of trees and houses. The wind sucked up everything it touched, sending fountains of loose debris dancing in midair.

  “Let’s go,” Gray shouted.

  Even though she was right beside him, Julianna could hardly hear his words. Hooking her fingers in the waistband of his pants, she stumbled out into the storm.

  The house seemed miles away. Each step they took moved them only inches toward their goal. The wind assisted them by blowing in the right direction, but they had to compensate for its power or be blown to the ground. Julianna stumbled, almost taking all of them down. A moment later she was down, knocked there by Gray to avoid a tree branch swirling through the air where their heads had just been.

  The storm was the nightmare she had never gotten over. Incoherent with dread, she tried to stand, but her knees wouldn’t hold her. She felt the tug on her belt and heard Gray’s shouted encouragement. She tried again to get up and succeeded, only to be blown off her feet by a blast of wind so fierce she had no strength against it.

  “Come on, Julianna. You can do it.” Gray crouched beside her, Jody in his arms. “Come on.”

  She tried once more, with the same result, but the next time she made it, stumbling to her feet and taking two steps before she was knocked to the ground again.

  Gray and Jody fell, too, dragged down by her weight. Julianna knew what she had to do. Weeping now, she unbuckled her belt with trembling fingers and slipped it off, freeing Gray. “Go! I’ll make it. Get Jody inside.”

  “No!” He tried to pull her to her feet, but Jody began to slip in his arms. “Hold on to my belt,” he ordered. “We can do it.”

  “Go on.” She gestured toward the house, tears mingling with the water surging around her. Through them, she saw the desolation on Gray’s face.

  “I can’t leave you.” He reached toward her again.

  “Go. For Ellie!”

  She knew he understood. Holding Jody against his chest, he turned away and started toward the house. Julianna tried to stand and follow, but the wind threw her forward into the stream of water running down the slope from the house. She crawled another foot on her hands and knees, grasping for holds that weren’t there.

  Something hit her on the top of her head, and she cried out. Dazed, she continued to crawl, hoping she was going in the right direction. Water ran into her eyes, blinding her, and her head throbbed unmercifully. The water turned red, and she knew it was blood.

  “Gray,” she sobbed as she crawled. She remembered crying for him when she had given birth to their daughter. He had cared then; he would have been beside her if he could have been. If there were a way, he would be beside her now.

  The thought gave her the strength to battle the storm. She looked up and saw the blurred image of Paige’s house. Her head throbbed, and the image disappeared, but she began to crawl again.

  Gray fought his way toward the house, stumbling twice, but catching himself both times. Even Jody’s insignificant bulk made it more difficult to stay upright against the buffeting of the winds.

  Each step took him closer to the house but farther from Julianna. He didn’t dare turn around to see if she was making any progress. He couldn’t bear to think of her alone, forced to face the storm’s fury without his support. He increased his pace until every muscle in his body screamed from the effort it took to keep his balance, but he was frantic to get back to her, frantic to bring her to safety.

  When he was still yards from the house he saw the broad-shouldered figure of a man leap down from the lanai and start toward him. Moving against the wind, Dillon’s progress was slow, but he reached Gray at last. Gray saw his mouth move, although his words were lost in the hurricane’s roar.

  “Julianna!”

  Gray pointed over his shoulder, but before Dillon could move in the direction he had signaled, Gray grabbed the sleeve of the Australian’s oilskin. Then he shoved Jody toward him. “Take her,” he shouted near Dillon’s ear. “I’m going back.”

  He saw Dillon’s mouth move, and he heard remnants of his words. “You’re exhausted. Let me.”

  Gray shook his head, and Dillon, left with little choice, took Jody from him.

/>   Gray turned and started back in the direction he had come. The wind at his back had been treacherous, but nothing had prepared him for the experience of facing it head-on. It was as if he were trying to batter his way through a stone wall with nothing except desperation to aid him.

  He bent low to give the wind less of a target, but by bending, he lost sight of all landmarks. He stumbled on, seeing nothing except the water rising around his ankles. He screamed Julianna’s name, even though he doubted she would hear him.

  Julianna was crawling on gravel she hoped was a path. The rocks bruised her knees as water rushed past her. The wind whipped long strands of her hair across her face and into her mouth, and she felt the sting of something sharp slice the palm of her hand. Disoriented, she lifted her head again, afraid she might be moving in circles.

  “Julianna!”

  At first she thought she had imagined Gray’s shout, but in a moment she heard it again. “Julianna!”

  She tried to stand once more. “Gray!” she managed, before she fell to her knees.

  She saw him coming toward her, making slow progress against the wind. Crawling again, she started in his direction. Blood and rain mixed with her tears.

  Strong arms closed around her. “I’ve got you.” Gray clasped her to his chest. “I’ll help you stand. Come on.”

  She tried to tell him about the pain in her head, but her tongue didn’t seem to be able to form the words. He pulled her to her feet, one arm tightly around her waist for support. She stumbled, but he held her upright. “Jody?” she croaked against his ear.

  “Dillon’s got her,” he shouted.

  With Gray as her anchor, she took one step, then another. Her foggy brain judged that they were halfway there. Her knees buckled, but Gray managed to hold her up, swaying unsteadily until she leaned back against the wind. He began moving, pulling her along beside him once more.

  Gray was giddy with relief. He had been plagued by fear so intense that he had understood, for the first time, how Julianna must feel about storms. The hurricane had become a diabolical force separating him from the woman he loved.

  There was no time to examine it, but suddenly there was no doubt in his mind that he still loved Julianna. Nothing else could explain his terror she would come to harm; nothing else could explain his joy at bringing her to safety. He loved her, and he had loved her for ten long years.

  “We’re going to make it,” he shouted, and he hoped his words were prophetic. “We’re just about to the house.”

  Gray’s words were punctuated by an explosive crack. Julianna turned, her head reeling from the effort, and watched the cannonball tree fall straight toward them.

  Gray heard the crack at the same moment. His choice was so simple that there was no choice at all. In an instant Julianna was lying in a stream of rushing water with Gray covering her. She groaned, her head spinning, then she fainted in his arms.