Kisses to Remember (13 page)

****

“Jesus!” Holden pulled Johanna toward the fallen tree. “Prop that end up and I’ll pull him out.”

“Kam’s alone back there.” Her voice was a whisper, yet every word had registered in Holden’s brain.

“Yes, and we’re going to get back there too. Lift and I’ll pull.” He picked up the branch and put it in Johanna’s hand.

She hesitated for a moment, her eyes still on the roaring, twisting beast heading their way.

“Johanna, let’s do this.” Holden nudged her again. He couldn’t remember if he’d experienced a tornado before, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to let himself—or Ted and Johanna—get sucked up into one today.

Johanna dug the branch in under the tree and pushed down on her lever. Ted let out a half-scream as the tree was lifted off his body. Holden rushed in and hooked his hands under Ted’s arms, tugging the man until he was clear of the tree. There didn’t appear to be any blood seeping from Ted. If they were lucky, he’d probably only have some broken bones.

“Grab his feet.” Holden tightened his grip under Ted’s arms.

Awkwardly, he and Johanna carried Ted to the farmhouse while that funnel cloud swirled ever closer. The howl of the twister drowned out the sirens, but somehow the loudest noise in Holden’s ears was his pulse.

They dragged Ted into the house and took a moment to rest on the kitchen floor, all three of them breathing heavily.

“Leave me here.” Ted gazed up at the ceiling. “Get downstairs.”

“We got you this far,” Holden said, rising to his elbows. “What’s a trip down a narrow staircase?”

A raspy, half-chuckle slipped from Ted’s throat. “Well, I did help Johanna drag your ass off that plane. Guess you owe me.”

“I settle my debts.” Holden nudged Johanna whose chest heaved up and down as she lay on her back on the other side of Ted. “You got this?”

“Let’s do it.” She sat up and grabbed Ted’s feet again.

As soon as they got near the basement door, it magically opened. Miles barked at them and Kam raced up the stairs.

“Stay down there, sweetie,” Johanna said. “We’re coming down.”

The noise level outside reached epic levels. Things were being torn apart as that funnel plowed across Johanna’s land. Holden pushed the images out of his head and focused on getting Ted downstairs. He went first while Johanna repositioned to cup her hands behind Ted’s knees. Together, they made it down and to the couch.

“I’ll call 911.” Johanna picked up her cell phone and paced away from the couch. When she paced back, she pointed to the three males and said, “We’re not calling 911 anymore after this. Got it?”

“What hurts, Pep?” Kam kneeled beside his grandfather, and again, Holden was struck by this kid’s maturity.

“My legs, mostly.”

“Can you feel them?” Holden asked.

Ted wiggled his feet. “Yeah.”

“That’s good. Do you want—” A horrible scratching above them cut off Kam’s words, and the boy edged closer to Holden.

Instinctively, Holden put his arm around Kam’s shoulders while Johanna hung up her cell phone.

“An ambulance is on their way.” She threw a glance up to the basement ceiling as the scratching noise grew louder then faded away.

“Did you tell them we’re down here?” Holden asked, Kam still beside him.

Johanna nodded. Her eyes closed, and she collapsed on the rug, her body making a soft thud as it hit the ground.

“Mom!” Kam ran over to her. Miles pushed his nose into her cheek several times until Kam pulled the dog back.

Holden kneeled beside her and put a hand to her face. “Johanna? Can you hear me?” God, she looked even more like an angel with her eyes closed and her hair spilling from her baseball cap.

“What happened to her?” Kam tugged on Holden’s sleeve. “Is she all right?”

The boy’s panic was tangible, and Holden supposed having one parent in jail made you value the other parent all the more. What were his own parents like? Were they wondering where he was? Did they live in Texas too? Were they dead?

The word
dead
spun around in his head, took shape much like the tornado outside. It scoured through his brain as he stared down at Johanna. She looked dead, and that thought propelled him to shake her. Shake her hard until she mumbled something incomprehensible and opened her eyes.

Kam pushed forward and leaned over her. “Mom! Are you okay?”

Holden helped her sit up. “You passed out,” he said to her silent, furrowed brow question.

“The fact that we just ran here while a tornado approached…it overwhelmed me for a minute.” She rubbed her temples and hugged Kam who had climbed into her lap. “It’s okay, baby. I’m all right.”

“Sounds like we’re
all
all right.” Holden offered her a hand and guided her to standing with Kam clutching her around the waist.

She cocked an ear toward the ceiling as she smoothed Kam’s hair. “It’s passed. The question is what did it do out there?”

A new set of siren noises rang out. Sure that she was steady on her feet, Holden released his grip on Johanna. “I’ll go up and bring the emergency folks down here.”

“Thank you.” She dropped a kiss on the top of Kam’s head and went to Ted on the couch.

As Holden climbed the stairs, Miles darted ahead of him and rose to his hind legs. The dog pawed the doorknob and the basement door swung open. Holden wanted to be impressed, but instead he braced himself for what was waiting beyond the door. Only a threshold of wood separated him from the illusion that everything was intact upstairs.

He pushed the door open in slow motion. The hallway revealed itself, and Holden was encouraged by what he saw…or didn’t see.

No wreckage blocked the hallway. No light streamed in from gaps in the roof. No broken glass sparkled on the ground. With Miles by his side, he stepped into the hallway and walked to the kitchen. Everything appeared to be fine in there as well. A quick peek out to the back porch showed the barn to be still standing.

He pushed open the front door as an ambulance screamed up the driveway. Holden hailed them to come in through the front.

Then he saw it. Beyond the downed tree that had nearly flattened Ted.                 

A pile of jagged construction debris jutted up into the still blackened sky. A pile that used to be Ted’s cabin.

****

Johanna was relieved to be able to say she was Ted’s family. She was so not in the mood for another battle with hospital personnel. The EMTs loaded Ted onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.

“You riding with us, ma’am?” one of them asked Johanna.

She volleyed glances between her car and the ambulance, then looked at Holden who stood behind Kam as if blocking him from...

“Oh my God.” She gazed beyond Holden at what used to be Ted’s cabin.

“What’s the matter, Mom?” Kam started to turn around, but Holden clamped two hands on his shoulders.

“I think she needs another hug.” Holden prodded the boy forward.

Johanna accepted Kam’s hug and collected herself. This was not the time to come unglued. Would that time ever come? She’d been waiting for it, but someone else always needed her. Kam, Ted, random pilots from Texas. 

She released Kam. “Thanks, honey.” She glanced once more at the rubble behind Holden. How much would that cost to fix? She’d kick in some of the payment. Ted had his own money, but he did so much for her and Kam. She had to help out.

Kam had backed up and was standing by Holden, almost as if he had decided Holden was the most stable of all the adults present.

Maybe he’s right.
Kids had a sense about these things, didn’t they?

“Kam can stay with me,” Holden said as if reading her mind. “If he wants to.” He squinted up to where the dark clouds were parting, revealing glimpses of the approaching night sky. There’d be no more wild weather tonight.

Johanna waved Kam over to her and held up her index finger to Holden. “Give us a second, okay?”

Holden nodded and backed up to sit on the porch steps. He rubbed at the dried mud spotting his legs from their Ted rescue then leaned back on his elbows. He looked so right on her porch, like he belonged there.

“Do you feel comfortable staying with Holden?” Johanna hooked a hand on the back of Kam’s neck, drawing him close to her so no one would hear their conversation. What kind of a mother was she if she left him with a man she’d hardly known a day? It would be so much easier if Kam stayed home though. He hated hospitals. They’d spent enough time there with Kallie.

“Sure. He’s no one to be afraid of.” Kam threw a look over his shoulder toward Holden and waved. Holden saluted him back, and any concerns Johanna had leached into the rain soaked earth beneath her feet.

“Run inside and get my purse.”

Kam ran back to Holden and bounded up the stairs while Holden stood. He walked toward Johanna beside the ambulance where the EMTs settled Ted.

“Has it been decided I’m not a child molester?” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his cotton shorts—Alex’s cotton shorts.

“For the moment.” Johanna glanced down at her dirt-covered jeans.

“We’re ready to get him to the hospital. You riding with us?” the EMT asked again.

“I’ll follow you. That way I have a ride back.” Johanna took her purse from Kam and dug out her keys.

The EMT looked at Holden as if to ask,
“Can’t he come get you?”

“He’s got a concussion,” Ted said from inside the ambulance. “And he’s already over-exerted himself coming to my rescue.”

The EMT nodded and got into the ambulance. He told the driver they were ready as he closed the back doors.

“Kam, you make sure Holden rests.” Johanna kissed her son and had an urge to do the same to her guest.
Stupid.
On the drive to the hospital, she’d have to pick up some common sense. She’d obviously lost hers.

“I will, Mom.” As Kam turned toward the house, he caught sight of the tornado’s aftermath. “Oh, Pep’s house is gone!”

“Why don’t we draw up some plans for a new one?” Holden steered Kam back toward the farmhouse. “Your mom told me you’re always building something.”

At this, Kam’s face brightened. “I’ll get some paper!” He ran inside, almost tripping over Miles who had been watching everything from the screen door.

“Thank you. That was the perfect thing to say to Kam.” Johanna edged toward her Bronco.

“It’ll keep him busy and feeling useful.” Holden shrugged.

“Try to get some rest. Kam won’t give you any trouble. I’ll call as soon as I know what’s going on with Ted.”

“Don’t worry about anything here. We’ll be fine.”

And she believed him. She really did.

Johanna followed the ambulance down the driveway. Its sirens blared to life, and as she pulled onto the main road, she focused on the flashing lights. Not on the trees bent at awkward angles. Not the torn off roof shingles littering her path. Not the flattened homes on the left side of the road.

Not the people gathered in clusters in front of the wreckage, holding each other, sobbing.

That could have been me.
A shiver worked its way down Johanna’s back. She’d seen worse wreckage after a tornado, but still, some families would be suffering. Amazing that the only damage on her property had been to Ted’s cabin, which was the oldest structure and honestly not much more than a shack anyway. She’d tried to get Ted to add an apartment onto the farmhouse after Alex had been incarcerated, but he’d insisted on staying in the cabin.

“We ought to keep our separate spaces, Johanna,” he’d said. “I don’t want to be in your way.”

He’d never been in her way. Not once. The real issue was Ted didn’t want to be too close to the house where police had come to arrest his son. Where Alex had walked down the front walkway with his hands cuffed behind him. Where Kam had cried for his daddy. Where Kallie had died on the front lawn.

Ted would have no choice now. Assuming his stay in the hospital wouldn’t be long, he’d have to live in the farmhouse until they could rebuild his cabin. He wasn’t going to like it. Plus, she had wanted to keep Ted and Holden separate. Not going to be able to do that when everyone was stuffed under one roof.

Why wasn’t life easy once and a while at least? Did it always have to be an uphill climb?

She listened to the radio for the rest of the drive to the hospital, noting there was no evidence of a tornado this far out. A few small branches down here and there. Must have been a localized funnel. She parked in the visitor parking and walked to the emergency entrance where the ambulance had unloaded Ted.

“We’re going to get him right in,” one of the EMTs said. He motioned to the waiting room. “Give your name as a relation to the patient to the front desk there, then make yourself comfortable.”

“Will do. Thanks.” Johanna grabbed Ted’s hand. “See you in a few, old man.”

“You got it.” He squeezed her hand back then released it as the EMTs wheeled him to the exam area.

Johanna took a seat in the waiting room after giving her name. She glanced at the magazines covering the small end table beside her chair, but a fleeting thought of the millions of hands that had paged through them had her clasping her hands in her lap instead. While not a full-blown germaphobe, she could get a little squeamish about the spread of colds and such. She had a bottle of hand sanitizer in her purse for any public exposure to questionable objects. She had to stop herself from taking it out when she spied a baby across the waiting room gnawing on the armrest of its mother’s chair.