Beyond These Hills (40 page)

She stumbled backward, looking at Jimmy as if pleading for him to say it wasn't true. The young man's eyes sparkled with moisture. “I stayed and tried to beat a path through the fire for them, Laurel, but it didn't do no good. That fire was just vicious, and the wind just spread it everywhere. I caught one glimpse of Andrew with Glenn on his back right before the escape hole through the flames closed.”

She gasped for breath and shook her head. “He was caught behind the fire?”

Jimmy nodded. “I tried to get to him, but there wasn't anything I could do.”

She backed away and shook her head. “But he's not dead, Jimmy. I know he's not.”

Jimmy glanced at his father again, and he inched closer to her.
“Laurel, I know it's hard, but you have to face facts. That fire just exploded all around us. Even the trees at the top of the mountain were blazing when I looked back. There's no way he could have gotten out.”

Wild-eyed, she darted quick glances from Ted to Jimmy. “But he shouldn't even have been up there. He's been scared of fire ever since he was a child. Why didn't he run down the mountain with the rest of you?”

“Because he wouldn't leave Glenn behind,” Jimmy said. “I told him I'd go help, and he shoved me back and told me to get out of there while I could. He saved my life, Laurel.”

A roar like the sound of a wounded animal tore from her throat. “He's not dead,” she wailed. She reached out, clutched the front of Jimmy's shirt, and shook him. Soot rose from his shirt and covered her face and hands.

He clasped her hands in his, and she looked into his eyes. The sorrow she saw there pierced her heart, and she gave another long wail as she sank to her knees. Ted and Jimmy reached down and lifted her to her feet. Tears ran down her face as she allowed them to lead her back to the hotel.

When they reached the hotel, Josie and her mother helped her into the bedroom where she'd slept since arriving. They pulled her shoes off and settled her on the bed, but she said nothing.

Josie leaned over her and squeezed her hand. “Maybe Andrew made it out of the fire, Laurel. You rest for a while, and we'll keep watch for him.”

Still she said nothing. She rolled onto her side away from Josie and closed her eyes. All she wanted was to remember how Andrew had looked when he'd waved to her from the train's steps. At that moment he'd been young, in love, and happy. How could things change so much in such a short amount of time?

Tears leaked from her closed eyes and her body shook with great wracking sobs. All she wanted was to awaken from this horrible
dream. But she wasn't asleep, and there was no dismissing the horrible truth. Andrew was gone from her life, and she had no idea how she could face the future without him.

Laurel awoke sometime later and sat up in bed. She realized she was still wearing the clothes she'd had on when Josie and Mrs. Davis had helped her to bed. She stared through the window at the darkness beyond and listened for sounds in the house, but she heard nothing. What time was it? At that moment, the grandfather clock in the entry hall struck two o'clock.

She threw her legs over the side, pulled a quilt around her shoulders, and tiptoed through the hotel to the front porch. When she stepped outside, she found that she wasn't alone. Ted Ferguson sat on the top porch step. He stared toward the orange glow that lit the sky in the distance.

He looked over his shoulder and smiled when he heard the door open. “Laurel, what are you doing out of bed?”

She walked over and sat down beside him on the step. “I woke up and wondered what was going on. I thought I'd come outside.”

He pointed to the sky. “The fire's still burning, but it's traveling away from us. I don't think we have anything to worry about now. I sent everybody else on to bed and told them I'd watch for a while just to make sure.”

Fresh tears pooled in her eyes, and she blinked them back. Instead of giving in to her grief, she turned to Ted and smiled. “Josie was so worried about you and Jimmy. I've never seen her act like that before. She kept saying she didn't know how she'd live if anything happened to you.”

Ted shrugged and shook his head. “It was probably Jimmy she was so concerned about. She sure does love that boy.”

“She loves you too, Ted. Don't ever doubt that. You were the one she ran to first.”

Ted cocked his head to one side and smiled. “Come to think of it, I was.” He appeared lost in thought for a moment before he chuckled. “I guess I've loved Josie ever since the day your grandma saved her life.”

Laurel laughed. “I've heard that story all my life, but I never get tired of it.”

Ted nodded. “I was about five or six years old, and Josie was just a toddler. All the folks in the Cove had come to build Cecil and Pearl a barn after theirs had burned. Pearl missed Josie, and Miss Anna asked me and my sister to look for her. I'll never forget how scared I was when I found her floatin' face-down in the pond. Simon waded right in and pulled her out, and Miss Anna worked on her and breathed in her mouth.”

“That story's been told a lot in the Cove all these years.”

Ted smiled. “Yeah, Miss Anna saved Josie for me. Of course I didn't know it at the time, but I guess the good Lord already had it planned for us to marry one day.”

The tears she'd tried to suppress gushed from Laurel's eyes. “I saw Andrew when the train stopped here.”

“You did?”

“Yes, he asked me to marry him, and I said I would.” She moaned and buried her face in her hands.

Ted reached over and patted her on the shoulder. “Laurel, you know our families have been so close through the years that I think of you as the daughter I never had. I'm sorry you're hurtin' right now. But I want you to know that boy is a hero in my book. He didn't have to go back for Glenn, but he chose to do it. When things cool off on that mountain, I aim to go back up there and search for his remains. I promise you I'll bring him back to have a decent funeral.”

She leaned over and squeezed Ted's arm. “Thank you. I appreciate that. Now why don't you go on inside? I'll bet Josie would like
that. I'll stay out here and keep watch for the rest of the night. You deserve some rest after what you've been through today.”

“I think I'll take you up on that offer.” He pushed to his feet and smiled down at her. “And who knows? That boy may walk out of those mountains yet.”

“That's what I'm praying for, Ted.” She stared at the orange glow in the distance. “That's what I'm praying for.”

Andrew awoke with a start. He lay still in the darkness and listened for any sound, but he heard nothing. No hissing fire or blowing wind. Only silence. Hesitantly, he placed his hand on Glenn's back. He breathed a sigh of relief at the steady rise of his body.

Andrew pushed to his knees and crawled down the tunnel toward the entrance. With the absence of the crackling and hissing he'd heard before, he guessed the fire had passed them by. Now a new fear filled him. What if debris from the fire blocked the cave's entrance? There could be charred trees or even a rockslide that had been triggered by the fire. Not to mention layers of ash and dust that might have sealed them in this tomb.

As he crawled closer to the entrance, a few beams of light danced on the cave walls. And then there it was, just as it had appeared when he first saw it. Nothing blocked it.

He crawled out of the cave, pushed to his feet, and stared in wonder at the landscape around him. Burned-out tree trunks from the summit above littered the side of the ridge in crisscross patterns. Huge boulders lay scattered about and ashes covered the ground.

Andrew turned in a complete circle and surveyed the damage the fire had inflicted on the mountain. Desolation lay everywhere except at the mouth of the cave. The words from the last verses of the Psalm flashed in his mind as he stared at the cave.
The L
ORD
shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The L
ORD
shall
preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore
.

He sank to his knees in the ashes of what had once been a great forest, raising his hands and face toward heaven. “Thank You, Lord, for providing a safe place for us in the fire and for saving our lives. I promise You from this day forward my goal in life will be to serve You and show Your love to every man I meet. Now I ask You to give me strength to get Glenn down this mountain. I'm weak this morning, but I know You'll be helping me with each step I take. Amen.”

He kept his face turned up to the sun for a few minutes. Its rays penetrated every pore and sent a warm rush through his veins. It was good to be alive. He smiled, pushed to his feet, and crawled back in the cave to get Glenn. He had a long walk ahead of him, and carrying Glenn wasn't going to be easy. But he could do it. He had a promise that he would never walk by himself again. God would be there guiding each step.

Laurel had kept her vigil since the wee hours of the morning. Josie hadn't insisted she join the family for breakfast and the noon meal and had even brought them to her. Now with mid-afternoon approaching, she'd grown restless. She stood up from her chair and paced back and forth for a few minutes.

The front door opened, and Jimmy stepped onto the porch. “How're you making it?”

She stopped pacing and went to stand by the porch railing. “I'm fine. I keep hoping that I'll catch sight of Andrew coming into town, but so far it hasn't happened.”

Jimmy stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Laurel, I wish I could give you some encouragement, but I don't think that's going to happen. You didn't see that fire. It would have taken a miracle for anybody to survive it.”

“But that's exactly what I'm hoping for, Jimmy. A miracle.”

Jimmy shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know, but it ain't likely that happened.”

Tears pricked her eyes again, and she blinked. “I can't give up, Jimmy. I love him. He asked me to marry him when he got off the train yesterday, and I said yes.”

A big breath gushed from Jimmy's mouth. “I guess that don't come as no surprise to me. I saw how you two looked at each other when I was visiting your folks. I didn't want to believe it. Maybe I still had some notion that someday you and me would get together. Our folks have always wanted it that way.”