A Time in Heaven (4 page)

The storm continued for quite a
while
, and if possible seemed to grow in intensity.  The air was charged with electricity and the lightning crackled as it struck near the cabins.  Katie didn’t like it much, but it was Sadie that was terrified and whined with each clap of thunder. Katie sat with her on the b
ed and f
ell asleep listening to the storm
.
  She was
even
more tired than she thought from all the excitement of the day.

Jesse had lit the lantern in the cabin.  He had
decided to
play his guitar for a
while.  As he reached for the instrument, there was a blinding flash of lightning.  It had struck the fireplace, blowing it to bits.  The propane tank in the back of the cabin exploded in a ball of fire. The roof was on fire and the old wood of the cabin started burning quickly. 
Jesse grabbed his guitar, fishing gear and clothes, and ran out of the cabin. 
By now the entire side of the building was burning.  Another bolt of lightning struck a near-by tree, shattering it and sending shards of wood everywhere.

“Get to cover,”
Jesse said out loud. Katie’s cabin was closest so he headed there.  Another strike came as he reached the door. He grabbed the door knob.  The door was locked.  He banged on her door a couple of times before she opened it. “Jesse?”
She exclaimed as he pushed into the cabin. 
“What’s going on?
I heard an explosion
”

Jesse replied totally out of breath, “Lightning struck my cabin and
it’s
on fire!”

“We’ve got to put it out,’ she said as she headed for the door.  Jesse grabbed
her
by the arm
and said, “No. 
It’s
too dangerous out there.”  He pushed the door closed just as another lightning bolt struck right outside.  Sadie ran under the bed.

The flash of light and deafening sound startled the two of them so that they jumped into each other’s arms
.
Outside, the storm grew; there was a
nother strike, and another, and still another came. 
The storm was intense. 
Katie and Jesse found themselves lost in the other’s
eyes.

Wit
h
lightning flashing and thunder exploding all
around, the two vacationers
found themselves
locked in
a fervent
kiss
.  As the st
orm
intensified
, so did their passion. As they made their way to the bed, Jesse took Katie’s shirt off over her head and kissed her between her breasts. The last shreds of clothing were on the floor as they crawled beneath the blanket on the bed
.
  They made love
with the same
intensity
as
the storm outside. T
he thunder shook the cabin over and over again
,
and lightning crackled outside the w
indows.  T
he night was charged as they collapsed
in
to
each other’s arms. 
With
in minutes the ferocity of the storm gave them renewed energy.  T
heir hot, sweaty bodies made wild abandoned
love again. 

As the storm started to move away, Katie and
Jesse fell asleep
cradled
in each other’
s arms.

Katie woke just as the sky was starting to lighten. As
her eyes focused
,
she saw Je
sse l
ying
wit
h his face just inches from her
s.  She could feel his breath on her face.

“What have I done?” she asked herself.  She remembered the night of passion she had just shared with t
he man she most admired in the whole world. Katie’s head was spinning.
Suddenly she had
as the reality of the situation hit her
.  “What happens next?  What we will do in th
e morning?  Will he see last night as a one-nigh
t stand?
What will he think of me?
” She had so many questions and she was
troubled with what
the answers
would be
.

Katie softly touched Jesse’s cheek.  She
was afraid to get up in case he would wake
and she would have to face what had happened between them.  S
he
closed her eyes and fell back
into a restless
sleep.

It was only a short time later
when Jesse woke up face to face with Katie.
He smiled as he remembered the passion he felt last night.  It was a feeling that he hadn’t experienced in ages. “L
ast night had been incredible”,
he whispered.
Jesse couldn’t beli
e
ve the attraction he
had
for this stranger
lying
beside him.
He lightly kissed her forehead. She st
irred and opened her eyes.  Jesse ever so softly ran his hand along the side of her face.  They
gently kissed and without saying a word, made love. 
This time
it was slow and deliberate
, without the urgency of last night. 
During the storm they were driven by the rhythm of the thunder and rain.  This morning there was
tenderness
between them.
They both knew that this was going to become a special relationship for
both of
them, and it frightened them.

As the sun
shine
started streaming
in
through
the windows and th
e birds were singing outside, the
lovers
found themselves
lost in each other’s eyes.
“Katie,
I was attracted to you from that first moment we met on the plane?” Jesse admitted t
o Katie as they lay together.  “
But I convinced myself that I did not want to get involved in a relationship.  I’ve found that my career and relationship
s just don’t work.
Right now, my focus has to be on my career.
I was actually glad
that
you
said you would respect my privacy and would leave me alone
.
If it had been my decision, I do
n’t think I could
have
stayed away
from you
.”

“I guess Mother Nature had a different plan.
” Katie looked deep into his eyes.
“
Are you upset
that last night happened?” She
asked with a little apprehension in her voice. 

Jesse
tenderly
kissed her and said
,
“It scares me how
intense I felt
with you last night
.  I haven’t experienced feelings
like that for a long, long time.  But do I regret making love to you?  Not in the least.  There are no regrets.
You?”
  Jesse
gazed
lovingly in
to the eyes.

“I have no regrets, either.  Last night was exciting, but let me te
ll you, this morning was magical
.”  They kissed, and Katie said, “Let’s go see the sun rise.”

“You like to do th
at kind of thing?”  Jesse asked a little surprised.

“Oh, I love getting up early.  It’s the best part of the day.
Everything is fresh and new.
”

“Hm, n
ever found too many women who want to get up early, let alone
go outside and
watch the sun come up
.”  Jesse responded thoughtfully
,
almost to himself.

They both were feeling the excitement of a new relationship.  The
n, the
mood turned serious as they faced the reality that they were from different worlds. Would this work?

Katie
kissed Jesse and then
wrapped the blank
et around her as she got out of bed.  She
grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom
. 
Jesse found his pants and quickly put them on.  After dressing,
Katie made coffee and
something for Sadie to eat.  The lab
hadn’t eaten since yesterday. She had finally come out from under the bed, be it cautiously.  Then
,
the poor dog realized that she was starved and very thirsty.  They both smiled as they watched Sadie
almost inhale her food.
Katie asked, “Are you hungry, too?”

“Not now.  Let’s just take our coffee outside and
watch the sun come up, ok?”
Jesse said as he walked to Katie.

Katie handed Jesse his coffee. They went outside.  There was debris from the storm everywhere and the faint smell of s
moke from the burned
cabin.  Jesse
c
leaned off the one chair that had been left on the porch
and
motioned for Katie to sit down.  He
pulled out anot
her chair from inside and sat down
beside her. 
Sadie
went out and did her business. She came back up on the porch and
, made
herself comfortable between the chairs.
Jesse patted the lab on her head.

As they sat there together looking down the path to the bay, the sun
peeked
over the mountains to the east.  The colors were spectacular as the lig
ht bounced across the water.  The magnificence of nature took their breath away. T
hey turned to each other and kissed softly
. They went back
to watching
the changing colors dance on the water.

The pair
sat outside together for almost an hour
after the colors
of the morning
faded
. Finally
,
Katie
went inside to get them each another cup of coffee.  Jesse watched as the sun came
shining brightly thr
ough a few high clouds
.  The sky showed little sign of the violent storm the night before.

Jesse and Katie sat in silence holding each other’s hand
,
and drinking their second cup of
coffee. They
were obviously avoiding talking about what was becoming an ever intense attraction
between them
.  Jesse thought about how he was
going to handle
his
growing attachment to this woman
and the fact that
back home,
his career was taking off again.  After these
next
two weeks
in Heaven
, he would be leaving her to get on a plane that would take him to Asia for a month.  “How do I get involved with Kati
e and turn around and leave her?
”
He
thought.
He knew this old pattern
of loving a woman and then going off to do the work he did
,
just didn’t make for a lasting relationship
. 
The women he had in his life in the past just h
adn’t been able to adjust to him
being away from home so often, and, they didn’t want to travel with him.
“Surely this relationship would have the same outcome,” he thought.  He should just stop it now, but he didn’t want to. And, he wasn’t going to. This woman was special, she was different.  His b
rain answered his heart
with reason
, “Ok
, Jesse
.  You’ve only known her less than 24 hours
,
things can change
.”

True.  Two weeks might change his whole ou
tlook on her. But what if it does
n’t?

Katie looked over to Jesse.  He
seemed
a million miles away.  She thought to herself, “How can this be happening?” 
Here was a man that she had followed his
career for years.  She had been to his concerts, she had all his CDs, and she had watched him on television.  She had even spent a summer in the Rocky Mountains just hoping to get a glimpse of him.  “You’re his fan,” she told herself, “Now you’ve slept with him.  You slept with Jesse Danvers. Doesn’t that make you a groupie
or worse
?”  She didn’t feel like it.  She had real feelings for this man
sitting beside her, and she knew
he had feelings for her.  His touch
this morning was not that of someone who just wanted sex.  But he will be leaving her in a couple of weeks.  What will happen then?