A Man's Heart (25 page)

Wheeling out of the barnyard, they drove in silence to the Ramseys. The front porch light glowed as they pulled in. Cruz got out and followed Jules into the house. Minutes later they emerged, Cruz carrying a sleeping Ethan and Jules lugging a limp Olivia.

Cruz laid Ethan on the driver's seat, and then walked around and reached for Olivia. Jules got in and then took the sleeping child.

A Tracker wasn't that roomy. Two sleeping kids and two adults made for a cramped front seat. “Seat belt?” Jules frowned. “I can't get mine fastened.”

Cruz reached over and drew the belt across her and Olivia. Their faces at one point were so close he could smell her shampoo. Some floral scent mixed with the Pasco landfill.
Memories hit him hard. Drawing back, he reached for Ethan. “We have to put them in the backseat.”

“You're right.”

Together they shifted the sleeping children to the backseat and fastened the seat belt tightly around them.

“Let's hope we're not stopped on the way home. This is illegal,” Cruz noted.

“I'll take it easy.” The farms were a couple of miles apart. There'd be no traffic at this hour of the night. Switching on the engine, he backed up and turned the SUV around.

Jules's closeness was like a shroud. All these weeks she'd been back and he'd successfully avoided this closeness. Now she was sitting next to him, and it felt so right it hurt.

She broke the stilted silence. “What do you think about Crystal's windfall?”

“I'm happy for her.”

She smiled. “It is wonderful, isn't it? Yet Crystal is the least likely to want material things.”

“Can't imagine that she wouldn't welcome a million dollars.”

“Honestly? I think the fun of the mattress hunt brought her more happiness. And you and Adan have been so good to mow Lucille's lawn and care for her house. Why didn't she leave it to you?”

“Does it matter? Crystal will manage the money well. Maybe Lucille sensed that.”

Cruz approached the fork in the country road. “Even if your potato experiment doesn't work out, you'll have the money to fight for these children until we're old and gray.”

Jules glanced over. “That isn't our intent.”

“Yeah?” He turned to look at her. “What is your purpose,
Jules?” His anger boiled over. He'd lost most of his crops, he was flat broke, and now Jules was smack back in his life, the very thing he intended to avoid. What did God want of him? He wasn't a saint. “I can't fight you forever, and I'm not about to go out and marry the first available woman in order to get Sophie's children.”

Headlights appeared. An oncoming vehicle barreled over the rise as Cruz pulled onto the road.

“Cruz!”

Cruz saw the impact coming. He swerved, throwing the driver's side in position to take the full impact.

The sound of metal meeting metal. Shattering glass. Then silence.

Flashing red lights streaked through the night. Jules sat beside Cruz in the ambulance, praying. The children were in a second ambulance, unhurt. Liquid from tubes ran into Cruz's arm.

The teenager driving the second car was in a third ambulance ahead. None of the injuries were thought to be life threatening, but Cruz was still unconscious from the impact. Jules held tight to his hand, urging him to open his eyes as the paramedics worked.

The ride to Pasco encompassed an eternity, but the forthcoming wait while the doctors examined Cruz and the children was even more tortuous. Jules stepped to the waiting room and phoned Crystal.

Her sister answered as though she had been expecting the late night call. “The children are okay,” Jules started. “We've
had an accident and Cruz …” Her voice broke and she lost her earlier calm. “Cruz is hurt.”

“I'll call Adan and we'll be there within the hour.”

Jules returned to the emergency room. The doctors insisted that she be checked for injuries. The children were already in the process.

In time she was given a clean bill of health, and she walked back to Cruz's cubicle and found him sitting up on the side of the gurney. With a cry, she went into his arms.

Wincing, he held her, urging calm. “Careful. I have a couple of busted ribs and I can't breathe.”

Holding onto his neck, she whispered, “You scared me to death.”

“Oh yeah?” His hold tightened. “Consider it payback, honey.”

“You saved our lives.”

Color crept into his cheeks. “Did you check that guy's speed?”

“I did, and if you hadn't have turned your side into the oncoming impact, the driver would have hit us head on.”

“Ethan?” Cruz pulled back. “Olivia?”

“They're going to slap a stiff fine on you because both children were sharing a seat belt, but they're not hurt. Not a single broken bone or bloody nose.”

He nodded. “What about the other driver?”

“Scrapes and bruises. He was wearing a seat belt. A young kid—one of the seasonal workers.”

Her gaze forced his back to meet hers. “You literally saved our lives. Thank you.” Her eyes focused on the streak of blood covering his shirt. “Oh, sweetie. There's blood …”

He caught her hand. “Ketchup. Remember?”

She recalled the afternoon at the dump and glanced down to appraise her appearance. And stench. Pathetic.

Adan and Crystal arrived an hour later, still wearing the same clothing they'd worn all day. The Landfill Collection. Nurses and aides side-stepped the strange, reeking assemblage as they went about their work. Crystal soothed the children in their cubicles while they waited for dismissal papers. Cruz had to spend the night for observation.

When the excitement died down, Cruz lay on the gurney in a sedated sleep. When Adan offered to spend the remainder of the night, Jules demanded that she stay.

Adan grinned. “Okay. You win. You stay. I'll help Crystal get the kids home and into bed.”

“You're right in the middle of plowing,” Jules reminded. “Joe will run things for me, but you'll have to pick up the slack for Cruz.”

Adan saluted. “Will do. Sir!”

Watching the couple carry sleepy children to the emergency entrance, Jules closed her eyes.
Thank you, God. For being there tonight. For protecting the children, and for protecting Cruz.

“What about the Tracker?” Adan's voice drew her back.

“It's totaled.” She would miss the truck and its many memories. The vehicle was a part of her … and Cruz.

“You need a new car anyway,” Crystal soothed. “I brought the farm pick-up in case you need it. I'll ride with Adan. Thank the good Lord that everything turned out all right. This could have been a tragedy.”

The couple and children disappeared through the double emergency room doors, and Jules rested her forehead against
a cool window frame. Losing the car bothered her, but not nearly as much as the man lying upstairs hurt.

Cruz, heavily medicated for pain, slept through the night. She settled beside his bed, into a leather recliner and dozed. Around 5:00 a.m her cell phone rang. It was Crystal.

“Guess what.”

“I can't imagine.” The past twenty-four hours had been one crisis after the other. Digging through a landfill. Finding over a million dollars stuffed in Lucille's old mattress. The accident. Cruz's injuries.

“The Delgados' tractor was stolen. Adan called a few minutes ago.”

Closing her eyes, she murmured, “It doesn't surprise me.” She glanced at the patient. If it weren't for bad luck, Cruz wouldn't have any luck at all.

L
ight streaked the sky when Jules left the hospital. It looked to be another picturesque Washington harvest day. She had sat with Cruz, holding his hand as he slept. Once, he'd lifted his head and kissed her—he was totally out of it, and told her not to worry. He was fine. She'd shamelessly taken full advantage of his muddled state and kissed him back. Several times.

Now she left him to sleep off the numbing effects, totally drained. After a quick stop for fuel and a cup of coffee, she headed home. She'd catch a couple hours of sleep, and then return to the fields. Adan would pick Cruz up when he was dismissed.

As she approached Heaven's Rise, she automatically turned into the scenic spot. Killing the engine, she slid out of the pick-up. The sun topped the rise, spreading golden rays over the grassy knoll. She paused to study the intricate way the mellow light spread like a soft blanket over the grassy knoll. Out there somewhere Sophie's ashes rested.

Dropping to her knees at the edge of the cliff, she whispered, “Hi, sweetie.” Settling into an Indian position, she
crossed her legs and chatted. “You know how much I miss you? Especially now?”

Chirping birds flittered from bush to bush as the new day broke through a wall of cumulus clouds. Jules fixed on the sunrise. The sobriety of the duty Sophie had entrusted her with smothered Jules.

“I can't do it, Sophie. I want to, but I can't keep your children. They belong to your brothers. Their financial situation hasn't changed, but Cruz offered to give his life for the children last night. If a man will give his life for a child, then he would make a fine dad, regardless of his bank account. Cruz has always been wiser than me. And Adan's a fine man. I want to drop these silly lawsuits. Neither Cruz nor Adan has the time or money to fight this; they're having a hard enough time trying to keep the farm alive. Something's got to give, and honestly, I'm tired of fighting. So, you have to understand that I would do anything for you, anything but keep the kids away from their flesh and blood. And if you must know, I
do
love him. Just as you accused. I'm guilty. I love your brother with all my heart and soul, and I can't keep hurting him. Not even for you.”

Shifting, she tried to remember Sophie without the scarf around her hair, eyes alert and bright, not emotionless or in enormous pain.
God, it's so unfair. She had only begun to live. Why did you take her?

Crystal's voice swam in her head.
“Don't question God's motives; use your energy preparing for the eternal. “
How many times had she said that over the past few weeks? She and Crystal were as different as yarn and lace, yet they shared a true faith in the Almighty. “I'm starting to wonder if Crystal and I are as different as I think.” They didn't share the warmth and giggles like she and Sophie did, but in time that might come.

She smiled, reaching out to snatch a hint of wind. “I know you're not here. I picture you in heaven, laughing, racing through fields of blooming flowers, or perhaps walking with God in a lovely garden. You've surely met Mom by now. Tell her I said hi, and I'm sorry I didn't keep in closer contact with her. I'm happy for you, truly. If only there were some way that we could communicate, and everything is as perfect as I believe it to be.”

Lying down on her side, Jules closed her eyes, recalling the days when she and Sophie lived life as though death could never touch them. What she wouldn't give to live one more day with her best friend; have one last Coke, one last laugh, one last good cry. She could smell Chanel, Sophie's favorite perfume. See her puckish grin …

Settling deeper into the grass, she drifted off beneath a warm sun.