Bonds Of The Heart (17 page)

              The hand on her belly fell to her side and he realized she no longer held onto her father’s dog tags. When he turned to head back to the Jeep an EMT tried to stop him. Blake forced himself past him and jumped into the water. The rain still pouring off him. He cursed himself for letting this happen. Why hadn’t he gone after her that night and told her how he felt? She’d be safe in his arms if he hadn’t been suck a dick. Now, he had to find those dog tags.

              Now that the emergency crews were there, they’d take care of Erika. He saw the dog tags hanging from a piece of broken glass on the driver's side door. He waded over to the Jeep as the water crashed into him. His feet slipped on the rocks beneath him and he fell into the water. He found his footing on a rock, only to lose it again. The water current swept him under the Jeep, the roar deafening in his ears, the muddy sluice stinging his eyes and nose, his chest aching without air. He caught himself on the tire. Pulling himself forward, choking on the muddy river water, Blake could hear the emergency crews trying to get to him. He climbed into the jeep, the glass cutting his hands, the dog tags teetering on a tiny piece of glass shard just a foot away from him. He was about to be washed away with the Jeep if he didn’t get to those dog tags fast enough. The broken glass sliced his fingers when he closed them around the end of the chain. He brought them to his face with a bloodied hand. Now he could let the emergency crews pull him from the water.

              Blake—now as white as snow—watched as the EMT’s secured an unconscious Erika onto the ambulance gurney. A bandage was affixed to her head where there had been blood and now an oxygen mask was over her beautiful face. She was breathing and alive, he repeated to himself though it didn’t help him one bit.

              He shivered, and the blanket the police officer wrapped around him didn’t help to keep the cold he felt at bay. He watched the EMTs close the doors to the ambulance and rush Erika to the hospital. He’d relived the entire agony as he told the police what he found when he got to the scene and told them all how he pulled Erika from the Jeep. When he got to his brother’s truck, he called his mom and told her the news.

              “Blake! Have you found her yet?” his mother asked.

              “Mom.”

              The tone of Blake’s voice had Maureen cemented to the spot where she stood. She turned to look at Brianne.

***

              “Where the hell is my daughter?” Brianne cried out as she barged through the emergency room doors with Maureen trailing behind her.

              Erika could hear her mother’s voice through the fog in her head. What had happened? Her head felt like it had been run over by a dump truck. And it hurt to breathe. The last thing she remembered was her Jeep being thrown around the bridge like a pinball.

              “She’s right in here, Mrs. Gibbons. She’s very lucky.” A nice young nurse with wisps of blonde hair pinned on top her head ushered Brianne and Maureen into the small area of the emergency room where Erika lay.

              “Erika.” Brianne sobbed and took Erika’s hand. “Is she okay? When can I take her home?”

              “She has a few bruised ribs and a nasty contusion to her head. She has a concussion, some broken bones, and a lot of internal bruising so we need to keep her here for a few days just for observation. You’ll be able to take her home after that. Hello Erika, how are you feeling?”

              “My head hurts.” Erika’s voice was just a bit shaky and hoarse. It sounded like she screamed all night at a Maroon 5 concert. Speaking of concerts, was someone playing the drums in her head?

              “I bet it does. I can’t give you anything for a few more hours, but as soon as I can, I’ll bring something in for you, okay?”

              Erika nodded and turned to her mom. “What happened? I remember being on the bridge, in my Jeep.”

              “God, Erika, I thought I'd lost you.” Brianne squeezed Erika’s hand. “Why didn’t you stay in Culpeper?”

              “I wanted to get back to you. The weather was getting bad. I didn’t expect a tornado to drop out of the sky.”

              Brianne just shook her head; her daughter could be so stubborn at times. “You’re so lucky…” Brianne broke off another sob.

              “I’m okay, mom. I just wish I knew what happened.”

              “You really don’t remember anything from the bridge?”

              “No. The doctor said that would happen since I hit my head so hard to knock me out. Who found me?”

              “Blake found you.” Maureen stepped forward. “I’m glad to see you’re okay. Your mom was so worried.”

              “Blake?!”

              “Yes. He found your Jeep sticking out of the river. You had been tossed from the bridge. You must have hit your head when the Jeep was thrown. He pulled you out from the Jeep and got you to the riverbank. He was able to get the police and ambulance to you. They said that if he hadn’t, you might not have survived.”

              After the way she treated Blake, he had risked his own life to save hers. How could she be so full of anger now toward him? She’d have to try and find him to thank him before leaving. She was still upset over the picture but Blake saving her life changed everything.

              Erika reached for her father’s dog tags. Surprised not to find the tags around her neck, her eyes welled with tears. “Dad’s dog tags,” She whispered.

              “Don’t worry about those. It’s more important that you’re okay. That you’re here.” Brianne tried to reassure her daughter.

              Erika nodded, but inside felt like she lost her father all over again. Pain, emotionally and physically, swept through her. Resting her head back on the pillow, Erika closed her eyes. It was too much loss for one person. She’d lost her father, lost her heart to Blake, lost her Jeep, and now she'd lost her father’s dog tags. All she had left now was her mother and her life in California. In a few days, she’d be back out west. She’d meet Maggie at the airport and struggle to put her life back together, though there would always be pieces missing.

              “Mom.” Erika opened her eyes and turned her head to her mother sitting beside her, and wiped her eyes. “Mom, I’m okay. You should go home and rest. I’ll be fine here. They’ll take good care of me. When they let me go home…” Erika sighed, “I have to go back to California.”

              “But Erika—”

              “No, Mom. I have to. Work needs me. I’ve been gone too long. Don’t worry about the Jeep. I’m sure it’s totaled. Just let the insurance company deal with it. I’ve already changed my flight. That’s why I was in Culpeper.”

              Maureen listened as Erika tried to explain why she needed to go back to California. She knew there was something else Erika wasn’t saying, something that had to do with her son. She could see it on his face when he walked into the house earlier. She could tell in his voice when he called to let them know he had found Erika. She would make it a point to find out what.

Nineteen

***

Maureen found Blake in the kitchen staring at a barely touched coffee cup. He looked like he’d been through hell. He wore the same clothes for the past week because he ran out of laundry detergent and couldn’t bring himself to go to the store to get more. His eyes were shadowed from lack of sleep. He hadn’t shaved and would soon be sporting a full beard to rival ZZ Top. She sat next to him and placed her hand over his.

              “How is she?” Blake asked.

              “She’s good. She doesn’t remember the Jeep leaving the bridge or you finding her. You saved her life.”

              Blake nodded. Finding Erika’s limp body in the Jeep, the water sloshing it around, had replayed in his head over and over. It was like reliving the nightmare and he knew that scene would never be one he would forget. He had told Erika he loved her and she never heard it. He had carried her from the Jeep, from the river. He gripped the dog tags in his other hand, below the table.

              “Blake.” Maureen waited until Blake looked up to face her. “What happened? Between you and Erika?”

              “Nothing.”

              Maureen shook her head. “I stood back and let you drink yourself stupid when Jared died. I gave your time and the space you needed to get through it. I didn’t interfere as much as I wanted to just hold you and tell you that everything would be okay. I let you push people away, including myself and your father because you didn’t want to talk. Well, I’m not stepping back now. I love you, Blake. And I know you love Erika. Are you just going to let her go that easily?”

              Blake took a deep breath. His mom was right. He had pushed people away. And didn’t he just get done visiting the cemetery and telling his brother he wouldn’t do that ever again?

              “I saw Jared today. I went to the cemetery before…I didn’t deal well with Jared’s death. I’m still not okay; I have a long way to go. I told him I was sorry for not visiting sooner. That I had made excuses to myself for not coming, not dealing with what I should have. I told him about Erika, how she’s just like Lori. I told him…”

              “He knows Blake.”

              “I told him I loved Erika and that I want to marry her.”

              Maureen’s heart swelled. She’d known it was only a matter of time before Blake would be able to move forward. And she’d have to thank Erika for helping him do that.

              “She’s going back to California.”

              “I don’t blame her.”

              “Blake Hamilton! You’re just going to let her go?”

              “I have to, mom.” Blake sighed and turned to look out the small window. “I did something…or rather I didn’t do something. Do you remember the pictures Jared had sent before…”

              “Yes, I remember them.”

              “There was a picture of him and his unit commander. Do you remember that one?”

              “Barely.”

              “Jared’s unit commander was Erika’s father.”

              Maureen removed her hand from Blake’s hand to cover the gasp that wanted to escape.

              “I didn’t know it. I never looked at anyone else in the pictures before the other night. When I realized it was her father, I should have told her right away. I didn’t. I made that mistake and now I’ll live with it. She’s mad at me for keeping that piece of her father from her. I can’t blame her for being angry with me. I would be if the situation was reversed.” Blake took one look of his cold coffee as his stomach churned. “I need to go get Erika’s Jeep out of the river. Robbie’s in his room. I’ll be back later.”

              Blake rose from the table and walked out the front door. Maureen's heart broke for her son.

              Blake, with the help of the state police emergency crews, pulled Erika’s Jeep from the river. He towed it to Blackie’s and did his best to drain the water from it. He hung her father’s dog tags around the rearview mirror of Jared’s truck, next to his brother’s tags. If Erika was going back to California, she’d want her Jeep. And he knew she’d want her father’s dog tags, too.

              If he had to spend all his free time getting her Jeep fixed he would. He didn’t need sleep. He didn’t want to see Erika’s frail body in the Jeep or on the river bank or in the back of the ambulance in his dreams. It was bad enough he saw them during the daytime.

              The visions came that night anyway. The cloying water. The blood. Good thing he didn't need sleep, because he didn't get any. In the morning he headed to one of the bare fields to run his brother’s truck through. It helped with all the emotions swimming through him. He stopped home to grab a shower and headed to the hospital. He wanted to see Erika. But would she want to see him?

              He sat in the parking lot arguing with himself whether he should go in or not. He came back that afternoon and watched as Erika’s mother entered the hospital room with some of her baked goods. No doubt bringing them to Erika. He headed back to the empty field and finally back to Blackie’s where he worked on Erika’s Jeep.

              The following day, he watched as Erika was wheeled out of the hospital in a wheelchair and her mother picked her up to take her home. She looked better. Her skin was no longer pale or bloody but instead vibrant and flushed. She still had a bandage on her head and she winced a little as she stood from the wheelchair to get in her mom’s car. Blake thought seeing Erika doing better would make him feel better. It didn’t. It only made him ache more for her. He didn’t know when she was leaving town, but he knew he had to let her go. For now. He’d fix her Jeep and then go after her. She was so mad the last time they’d been together; he knew she needed time before he could see her again. Before he could tell her how he felt. Before he could explain everything to her. Before he could risk his own heart and ask her to spend her life with him.

***

              Erika exited her mom’s car while Brianne fussed over everything. She rushed to open the door for her. And when Erika tried to push her away to do it herself, her mother reached for her arm to escort her to the house.