The Understorey, Book One of The Leaving Series (48 page)

Paying attention to Jules was infuriating the
doctor examining me and he threatened to separate us. I settled
down but never kept my eyes from Jules’. My poor Jules.

    Eventually, they insisted
we had to separate, so Jules could get a CT scan and have her head
bandaged and her feet and chest could be stitched.

I was being prepared for surgery and got the
distinct impression I’d wake, from my second surgery in two days,
to the hysterical faces of my family lingering above me but what I
really wanted when I woke, was Jules in my arms. I didn’t want her
to be away from my touch ever again. She was mine to protect and
admittedly I hadn’t done a very good job thus far, but that was all
going to end. I promised myself.

I woke to the sound of beeps and soft
murmurs.

I barely had to lift my lids before Jules
said, “He’s awake!”

She leaned towards me, barely reaching my
face since she was in a wheelchair.
    She brushed hair from my face, tears in her
eyes, “Hello my love.”
    “Hello.Jules.,” I said, kissing her hand.
We were at a loss for words, just stared at each other in total awe
of the other.

My mom broke the silence, “Elliott,
honey....,” but she couldn’t finish.

“Mom.it’s.okay.”

“No, it’s not okay sweetheart but it will be.
We love you baby. We are
all
so happy to see the two of you
alive.”

I scanned the room and piled high to the
rafters were our families. I could hear talking in the hall and
recognized more family members.

    “It’s not allowed but we
didn’t care and they didn’t really put up much of a fight
considering.....” my dad said.

He stood at the foot of the bed and squeezed
my leg. We understood each other so well, no words were necessary.
I nodded at him.

    Jules’ mom and dad were
sitting in the corner, red eyed, looking more tired than even Jules
and I did.
    Gerry and Ann Jacobs stood and walked to the
side of my bed.
    “Thank you,” Gerry told me. “Thank you.”
I signaled for a pad and pen.
    I confidently wrote,
Of course Mr. Jacobs.
It’s my destiny to protect Julia, my calling.
    “We can see that,” Ann said softly. “We can see
that,” a single tear reaching the hand she held so tightly in her
own.

Epilogue
A Single, Rapturous Kiss

Eight weeks after surgery and I
was almost back to normal. I still had the sling around my shoulder
but it was healing nicely. My jaw was no longer wired shut and it
was still very difficult to eat but unlike most invalids I’d known,
for example, Andy Frasier one of my team’s lineman, my broken jaw
hadn’t made me lose weight and I had Jules to thank for that. She
kept me well nourished, bringing a hearty soup for lunch every day
and a nutritional shake for breakfast.

She picked me up every day before school,
except the first couple of weeks, when our parents had to drive us
because Jules had to stroll around in a wheelchair. You should have
seen her rolling around beside me with my ridiculous jaw and
shoulder. We looked insane together.

When things had died out a little bit, my mom
insisted we take a picture together to remember our ‘cuteness’ but
insisted that ‘as cute as y’all are’ that it better never happen
again. I say ‘when things died down’ because our real concerns had
only begun to dissipate, at a turtle’s pace I might add, just after
the first several weeks.

After an extensive search for Jesse, his body
never turned up and Jules would practically beg me not to leave her
for the night in fear that he’d return and finish what he started.
She was especially fearful when she wasn’t able to stand on her
own. She knew that if she ever saw him again that he or she would
have to die and she worried that, without me, it would be her.

When my shoulder healed well enough to
maneuver how I’d need to in order to sneak into her window at night
I would sleep on her floor. Despite the fact it was cold and I was
really uncomfortable on her wood floor, the weeks I slept next to
Jules were the best because she would drape her hand off the side
of the bed and keep it against my arm. It was pure bliss.

Taylor Williams and Marisa Hartford
cooperated fully with the police once they knew the extent of
Jesse’s damage and escaped with probation and lots of community
service. Both, when they saw us for the first time in our battered
states, pleaded for our forgiveness, insisting they had no clue
what Jesse had really planned. We believed them. We thought them
stupid, but we believed them.

According to Danny, Jesse never contacted
either of them or his family since disappearing into the water.
Taylor kept a very clear distance from us and barely looked in
Jules’ eyes. Marisa, on the other hand, offered apologies often.
Eventually, I had to tell her that she was forgiven and forbidden
to apologize again or I’d yell at her. She laughed and said she
would never ask again but that she was going to make it up to us. I
didn’t even want to know what she meant by that but nodded anyway
just to get her off our case.

Jules and I thought about visiting Jesse’s
mom and dad but knew that it would be inappropriate, causing them
additional pain they really didn’t need but we still wanted them to
know that we didn’t blame them, not in the slightest. They were
good people who just happened to have a messed up son. We saw them
at the grocery store once, together, and nodded with a solemn
smile. They returned the favor but with tears in their eyes.

Danny told us to move on.

    “Jesse drowned in that
water boy. Stop creating problems for yourself. Live your life.
Enjoy your girl,” he finally demanded of me after weeks of me
hounding for details on the open case. I knew he was working hard
to find him and just wanted us to try getting some peace from the
whole ordeal.

I knew that, more than likely, Jesse had
drowned in the freezing water that day but it haunted me that they
couldn’t find his body. I tried really hard to focus on living life
but it was difficult with the hole in my shoulder staring back at
me in the mirror every day.

After two months, though, and Jesse never
showing, Jules and I started to become a lot more comfortable and
eventually we thought about him less and less.

While I was recovering in the hospital, Jules
and I had to spend New Year’s Eve with our families inside my
hospital room. Let’s just say, it wasn’t the most romantic night of
our lives. So, Jules and I had decided that once we were well
enough, we would go to the rock bridge and celebrate the New Year
on our own.

“We’ll just pretend,” she grinned as I drove,
for the first time since our injuries, toward the creek. “I have a
surprise for you too.”

“Surprising me again at the rock bridge
Jules?”

“I guess so,” she mused.

Jules had her picnic basket full to the brim
and I couldn’t wait for our little party to start.

    “That basket better be
full of food honey. I’ve been deprived of some awesome stuff and
I’m tired of waiting,” I teased.
    “No worries!” She said patting the side of the
basket, “I have you covered Elliott. Trust me. It’s all warm too.
It was a lot of work but worth it. It’s a late Christmas gift as
well.”
I brought a gift for you too
, I smirked to myself before my
thoughts turned one hundred and eighty degrees to answer.
    “You’re surviving was gift enough for the rest
of our lives,” I shuddered. “How’s the scar?” I whispered.

“Healing.”

Jules didn’t like talking about the night at
Blackwater Falls. I didn’t blame her and didn’t want to push her,
but I wanted to make sure she was moving on in a healthy way so I
would periodically bring it up to her. ‘Healing’ was a better
answer than the shrug she had given me last time. It was progress
so I dropped it at that.

“Jules?” I asked

“Hmm?” she answered, her eyes staring at the
trees along the road, distracted by her thoughts.

“We’re here, love.”

“Oh,” she laughed, clicking the buckle of her
seat belt, “sorry.”

I helped her from the truck and carried her
basket for her.

It had snowed the night before and had laid
an even thicker blanket for us to trudge through. I didn’t mind
because it added to the experience. The snowy carpet shone like
hidden diamonds in the moonlight. The perfect backdrop for what was
to be a lovely night.

It was around ten at night and our parents
gave us both permission to stay “at the rock bridge only” until at
least two-thirty in the morning. That was pretty generous of them
and we happily agreed to keep to the confines of our marble slab. I
guess they figured it’d be too cold for clothing to be removed and
they trusted us when we said we would stay put.

Jules’ dad had talked to me, last year before
Thanksgiving, go figure, about the importance of his daughter
staying as she was and I could, in all honesty, look him straight
in the eye and agree to keep it that way.

He told me that he might end up liking me
after all if I could be man enough to endure the conversation and
still look him in the eye afterwards. Though I honestly meant what
I said when I agreed to keep her that way, it didn’t change the
fact that I was still shivering in my boots when I left that night
back to my own home.

The talk sure did make coming around Jules’
house a lot easier. He even trusted us to be alone in their house
as long as we promised to stay away from the bedrooms. It wasn’t
unheard of for them to come home and find us sprawled out on the
living room floor doing homework, or sitting and watching
television alone.

When we watched TV, we snuggled pretty
closely together but when we heard that key jingle it was our cue
to sit up and slightly far apart. That was about as bad as we got,
not because I promised her father but because I loved her, so
completely and so whole-heartedly. I couldn’t bear to think of
taking something that didn’t truly belong to me yet.

    Our boots crushed through
the knee deep snow and we listened quietly to the rhythm of our own
feet. The air still smelled like winter and the sky was a deep,
dark blue and freckled with sparkling diamond-like stars.

Occasionally, we heard a few animals here and
there scratching, already awake from their winter’s nap. It had
been over two months since we had been to the rock bridge and it
was surely the sweetest sight for the sorest eyes. I peeked over at
Jules with the largest grin on my face and saw her eyes glistening
with happiness and a smile that melted my heart into a puddle at my
feet.

    “You’re so beautiful,” I
blurted out.

Her eyes widened and then narrowed at the
unexpected compliment. I had, for once, caught Julia Jacobs off
guard. I laughed at her and she kissed my cheek before I took her
by the waist and set her on the rock.

She spread out the thick blanket and sat down
next to the basket. She wriggled herself closer and began to remove
everything she’d brought. In several porcelain dishes sat fried
chicken, creamed corn, mashed potatoes and biscuits the size of my
hand.

    “
What
? Is that what
I think it is?”
    “Yes it is. My mom went to Babe’s for me in
Roanoke and Mary Beth had everything ready to go. She got home
right before you picked me up, just in the nick of time. I was
afraid we’d have to wait for her to get home and my surprise would
have been ruined.”
    “You know me so well.”

“The way to your heart Elliott Gray is
through your stomach,” she laughed.

“Speaking of surprises, sweetheart,” I said,
taking the plate she made for me. “I got you something.”

    “Got me something?”
    “Well, I had something made for you.”
I pulled a blue velvet bag from my coat pocket and handed it to
her.
    “I can tell by your facial expression that I’ve
caught you off guard. That’s twice in one night missus, you’re
losing your touch.”

Jules stuck her hand in the bag and pulled
out a white gold three dimensional clasp bangle.

“I had the jewelry maker place raised
ranunculus around the top of the cuff. Do you like it?”

Tears spilled from the corners of her
eyes.

“They’re my favorite flower,” she said.

“I know.”

“This is one of the most beautiful things
I’ve ever seen Elliott. It’s just so....so....”

“You?”

“Yes,” she giggled, through watery eyes.
“Very me. Thank you my love.”

She reached for me and hugged my neck
tightly.
    “Thank you,” she said in a gasp of air, trying
to control her emotions.
    “But there’s more,” I whispered into her hair.
“Yes. Here, let me put it on you.”
I grabbed her small wrist and clasped the bangle together and a
sharp intake of breath passed through her lips.

“I discovered something while you were in
Mauch Chunk Jules. I was researching surveillance cameras online
and needed a pen to write down the models. Anyway, I reached for a
pen, the same pen you used to finish your homework a few day before
you left, and felt
you
. A miniature blast of Julia shot up
my arm and thrummed through my heart.

“Apparently we can store our current. That
pen was a gift from my grandfather to my father and was pure gold.
We never noticed it before because I think it can only be stored
within gold. So I experimented. I had this made for you and slept
with it in my hands for several days. The current can only survive
for a few days but it can be recharged.”

“That’s amazing,” she said. “Can we get you
one?”

“Ranunculus aren’t a good look for me.”

“Shut up,” she laughed. “You know what I
mean.”

“Already done.”

I raised my arm and showed her a leather cuff
wrapped around my right wrist. I removed the cuff and showed her
that I had a small plate of gold sewed on the inside of the cuff
right over the pulse point. Also, I never showed her this, but I
had the initials JG, for Julia Gray, etched underneath that plate
out of sight on the cuff side. It was a few months premature but I
didn’t care. I handed her the cuff and she instinctively tucked it
into the hem of her jeans, the gold against the skin of her hip so
it could ‘charge’.