LEAP OF FAITH (9 page)

He liked to break up his day by taking a walk in the woods or relaxing outside on the balcony for a few hours with a glass of ice tea, a good book, and the clean mountain air. Refreshed and ready for the second round, he would return to his computer and write for another four or five hours until evening rolled around. 

Abby was much more tenacious about her work and wouldn’t even stop to eat lunch if he didn’t coax her away from the novel. She usually started around ten o’clock and would plow through until six or seven at night. They may be spending their days apart, but at least their writer’s time clock wound down about the same time every evening. 

Jack checked the time and saw it was almost five o’clock, which meant Abby would probably work for at least another hour or two. He decided to head on down to her cabin and grab the steaks he had marinating in the refrigerator and start the grill. By the time the steaks were done, she would be finished for the day and no doubt famished from missing lunch. 

Chuckling to himself, Jack shook his head. The sole reason for purchasing the cabin ten years ago was because he hated the constant interruptions that went with city life. He hated the sound of traffic, the sirens from police cars and ambulances, the arguing neighbors, or the sonic blast of music from a party two blocks away. As for women; they were merely a distraction between novels, an indulgence that rarely lasted more than a month or so. That’s why it seemed surreal to have slipped into a routine with Abby so easily.

He’d dated off and on but was too selfish with his time to commit to a relationship or get emotionally involved. He resented having to set his writing aside whenever they complained about feeling neglected, which they all inevitably did, and demanded his attention. They invaded his space, derailed his train of thought and pulled him away from his story, which was why Jack had steered clear of seeing anyone on a regular basis for the past few years. 

But with Abby it was different. He didn’t want any space between them, and far from derailing his thoughts, she kept them moving on track. She didn’t pull him away from his story; she enhanced it because she
was
the woman whose lips ignited passion in his hero. It was her soft touch the hero felt and her tender body he buried himself in. His hero was losing his heart to Abby and so was Jack.

After grabbing a cold beer from the refrigerator, Jack took off down the path to her cabin.  He knew she would be working in the living room so he went around the side and came in through the sliding glass doors off of the kitchen. Popping the top of his beer, he took a couple of swallows before preparing the grill. He was just about to carry the steaks outside when he heard a noise that made him stop and listened. 

Jack almost dropped the plate with the meat on it in his haste to set it down. The sound was soft and muted, but it was definitely Abby, and she was crying as if her heart had been broken in two.

He found her curled up in a ball on the sofa with her face buried in the pillow and her slender shoulders shaking with each wracking sob. She couldn’t have heard him, but somehow Abby must have known he was there because she lifted her head and looked at him. It felt as though someone had punched through his chest and ripped his heart out when Jack saw the shattered expression on her tear-stained face. In three long strides, he crossed the room and scooped Abby off the sofa and simply held her for several minutes before settling back on the sofa with her on his lap.

Jack locked his arms around her, alarmed by Abby’s tears and the onslaught of violent tremors attacking her body. “What is it, Abby? Why are you crying?”

“It’s my b-brother, Gage, he’s been sh-shot,” she choked out.

“
Shot?
 Is he in the military?”

“N-no. He’s a detective and…and there was a shootout. My Dad called. Gage n-needs me,” she stammered, her voice clogged with emotion. “Daddy is on his way here to get me.”

“I’m so sorry, honey. I’m sure your dad has made sure that he’s getting the best care possible.”

Abby lifted her head, pain and fear hovering beneath the fresh tears. “He lost a lot of blood. He’s holding on but his condition is critical. I’m his only hope, Jack. What if I don’t get there in time? What if…” she shook her head, her beautiful face drained of color and etched with misery.

“You mean they need you to give blood? Isn’t there anyone else in your family with same blood type?”

“Gage and Scott are a match, but it will take Scott another day to get here because he’s in Greece negotiating a deal for Daddy.”

“You’re either a very close-knit family or this type of thing happens often enough you find it necessary to know each other’s blood type.”

Abby smiled thinly. “I guess we haven’t really talked about our families much, have we? Thankfully, he’s never been shot before, but there’s no doubt I’m a match. Gage is my twin brother.”

“I guess maybe we should have squeezed in some time to talk about our families,” Jack replied, hoping to calm her by focusing on something else for a few minutes. “So, do you only have two brothers or are there more siblings?”

“I have one sister and four brothers, including Gage. Oh, Jack,” she burst into tears again, “what will I do if Gage doesn’t make it?”

“He’ll be fine, honey, you have to believe that. I’m sure you’ll feel better once your Dad gets here and fills you in on Gage’s progress.”

“He was taking a private plane to the landing strip just outside that little town ten miles out,” she said after tamping back her emotions. “By now, he should be on his way up the mountain. If I know my Dad, he’ll plow right over those evil potholes and be here in about twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes?” That didn’t give him much time with her. Jack looked down at Abby with an unhappy frown as another thought hit him. “How long have you known about this?”

“He called about two hours ago,” she admitted.

“Two hours ago! And you’re just now telling me? Why didn’t you come to me instead of trying to deal with it on your own?”

Abby pulled away from him, tears glimmering in her eyes. “Don’t be angry, Jack. I didn’t want to disturb you while you were working.”

Jack gathered her back in his arms. “Abby, honey, you should have come for me. You needed me and
nothing
is more important than being here for you. Hopefully, nothing like this will ever happen again, but if it does, I expect you to let me know right away.”

“I will,” she promised. “He’ll be okay, won’t he, Jack?”

“I’m sure of it, honey.”

Abby went silent for several minutes. “I think I hear Daddy,” she said at the same time Jack heard the distant roar of an engine.

His heart sank. It was selfish to want more time alone with her when Gage and her family needed her, but he couldn’t help it. Nor could he help blurting out, “Do you know how long you’ll be gone?”

“Daddy said that once they do the transfusion, it shouldn’t take long for the healing process to being. Normally, it would take a week or more, but he’s convinced Gage will be fighting with the doctors to be out in three days. I’ll stay until I know he’s not in any danger.” With a weary sigh, she climbed off his lap, launching herself back in his arms when he stood up. “I’m going to miss you, Jack.”

“Go take care of your brother, sweetheart. When he’s well again, you hurry back to me.” 

He kissed her then, the salty taste of her tears mingling with the sweetness of her mouth. It was the saddest kiss of his life.

“Do you have your bags packed?” he asked, reluctantly letting her go. “Purse, laptop, and all those female things you women like to tote around?”

She nodded with a wobbly smile. “Everything is by the front door.”

“If I give you my number, will you call and let me know as soon as your brother is out of the woods?”

“Can I call other times too?”

“Anytime you want, sweetheart. It doesn’t matter what time of day or night. If you need to talk, I’ll be here for you.”

She wrote his number down and put it in her purse. Then she jotted down her own cell phone number and handed it to Jack.

“Anytime day or night,” she said. They both glanced at the door. “Daddy’s here.” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with a desperation Jack felt to the very morrow of his bones. “Take care of yourself, Jack Burton,” she whispered.

His legs felt like lead as he walked her to the door and picked up her suitcase while she grabbed her purse and the bag with her laptop. The heaviness in his heart persisted as he followed her outside where her father was waiting beside a shiny black jeep. He’d only met Sam Travis. It was shortly after Jack had purchased his cabin from the previous caretaker of the Travis place. Sam had driven up personally to ask if Jack wanted the job, offering him generous compensation for doing so. 

He remembered asking Abby’s father why he wanted to maintain a cabin no one ever visited and was told the cabin held a lot of good memories. Sam’s hope was that some day one of his children would want to make a few good memories of their own in it. At the time, Jack thought it was silly and sentimental, but now he thanked God for it.

Sam Travis took the bag from Abby’s hands, set it on the hood of the jeep, and then put his arms around his daughter. “Are you okay, baby?”

Jack hung back, giving them a few minutes to comfort each other. Abby’s father was a very imposing man. It was difficult reconciling the hard, commanding personality of the Sam Travis he’d met when he took the job as caretaker with the Sam Travis who now treated his daughter with such great tenderness. 

He watched Abby’s face when she asked if Gage was going to be okay. 
Trust
, he thought,
complete and total trust
. If Sam said her brother was going to be fine, then Abby would believe it without question. He could almost see the tension leave her face, although she was obviously still worried, but the overwhelming fear he’d seen in her eyes earlier was gone. For a moment, Jack was envious of Sam for being able to ease her pain with his calm assurance, but guilt quickly followed. It was selfish to want to be the one who give her that peace instead of being glad some of the hurt had been taken away.

Abby picked up her laptop bag, glancing back at him with a sad smile, and then let her father help her into the jeep. Jack stepped forward and handed her suitcase to Sam.  After he’d tossed the suitcase in the back seat, Sam shook Jack’s hand.

“It’s nice to see you again, Jack. Abby said you’ve been a great help; cutting firewood and making sure she has everything she needs. I’m very grateful. When my son is out of the hospital and I can think a little straighter, I’ll give you a call and we’ll talk about increasing the financial compensation.”

Jack hadn’t thought about the implications to Abby if she found out he was being paid to watch over her. The idea of how she would react to the news panicked him. 

“Sir, I really don’t…”

“I need to get going, we’ll talk later.” Sam said as he turned to leave. 

Jack watched them drive away, suddenly feeling more alone than he had ever been in his life. Walking listlessly back to Abby’s cabin, he put the steaks in the freezer and grabbed the beer he’d left in the kitchen. Disheartened after roaming through the rooms and turning off lights, he left the cabin and followed the path back to his own place. 

As difficult as the next few days were going to be for him, Jack knew it would be ten times worse for Abby. He wished he could be there with her and was hurt that she hadn’t even suggested it. Another selfish thought on his part, but Jack couldn’t help it; he wanted to be the one she turned to for comfort, the one she trusted implicitly. 

Jack dumped the warm beer down the sink, tossed the bottle in the trash, and grabbed a fresh one. It was way too early to worry about missing her call, but he wasn’t taking any chances. After carefully placing his phone on the charger, he wandered out to the balcony and plopped down on a lounge chair. And then, like the love-sick fool that he was, Jack began counting down the hours until Abby returned to him.

***

Less than two hours later, Abby and her father entered the hospital where Gage lay in critical condition. She was immediately ushered into a private room so they could draw her blood. As much as she wanted to see Gage, getting her blood drawn was more important so they could start the transfusion. Abby watched numbly as the nurse inserted the small tube into her arm. 

According to her dad, Gage had lost nearly four pints of blood when the bullet burrowed through her brother’s chest, narrowly missing his heart. Because his blood type was AB negative, he needed a donor with the same type, and since that particular blood type was extremely rare, the hospital hadn’t been able to locate a local blood bank with any on hand. 

Gage’s best chance at survival was to receive blood from a relative. Her oldest brother, Scott, shared the same type as they did but he wouldn’t be back in the country until tomorrow evening. Replenishing at least three pints of blood was crucial in order to stabilize Gage’s condition, but given Abby’s weight, the doctor didn’t want to take more than a pint because of the possible side effects.

Abby didn’t care what the side effects were as long as she could help save Gage’s life.  She’d asked her dad to talk to the doctor and see what he could do to allow her to give two pints. It would take four hours for each unit to enter Gage’s body once they set up the I.V. drip with her blood and started the transfusion. If they took the two pints, it would at least get her brother off the critical list. Then it would only be a matter of hours before Scott arrived to give the third pint Gage needed.

After twenty minutes, Abby started to get anxious. The bag was almost full and neither her dad nor the doctor had been in to see her by the nurse returned to her side and prepared to remove the tube from her arm. Abby was just about to demand to see the doctor first when he entered, followed closely by her dad. The doctor introduced himself before addressing the issue. 

“Your father told me what you want to do, Miss Travis, and I’m afraid the risk is just too high.”

Abby’s temper flared instantly. “The risk is too high? My brother’s life is at stake here and you’re worried about whether I’ll get dizzy or be a little anemic for the next few weeks?”

“It’s a little more serious than that, Miss Travis. Your pulse rate could spike, your blood pressure could drop, or you could even go into shock.”

She glared up at him. “What are the chances I’ll die from any of those conditions?”

“Well, the chances are very low,” he admitted.

“And what are the chances my brother will die if he doesn’t get the second pint before tomorrow night when Scott gets here?”

“Fifty to sixty percent, but…”

“Then take the damn blood!” she yelled.

“Abby, honey,” Sam tried to calm his daughter.

She turned her rage on her father. “Don’t you even think about trying to talk me out of this, Daddy. If you had the same blood type, you would demand they take whatever they needed to save Gage and to hell with what it did to you.”

“Miss Travis, I’m afraid…”

Abby’s eyes narrowed and her voice dropped several octaves. “You take the second pint, Doctor, or I’ll go to the nearest blood bank and have them draw it and then carry it back to you myself.”

The doctor turned to her father for help. “Mr. Travis?”

Sam looked at his daughter and the determined set of her chin. She was so much like her mother, it frightened him. Anne Travis rarely lost her temper, but when she stuck her beautiful chin out as Abby was doing now, there was nothing to do but hope damage control would be minimal. Sam let out a heavy sigh.   

“She’ll do it, Doctor. I suggest you take the second pint so we can at least keep an eye on her.”

“Mr. Travis, I really have to advise against it.”

“My son’s life is on the line,” he said evenly, “so I don’t really give a damn about your advice right now. Take the blood before she slits her wrist to get it to you.”

“It would be faster if I did,” Abby said, and then laughed when the two startled men turned and stared at her in horror. “I was kidding!  Just get this over with so I can see with Gage.”