Torn Apart (31 page)

Then the chopper was down.

“Wait here!” an intern said, and the crew rushed forward pushing a gurney.

Katie groaned. Wait? How could she wait? Didn’t they understand that her little boy had, almost miraculously, been raised from the dead?

She shifted from foot to foot with the bear clutched beneath her chin, agonizing for her first glimpse. And then they opened the chopper door, and she saw J.R. bracing himself to step down. When she realized he was carrying Bobby, her heart leaped.

Despite her orders to wait, she couldn’t. She started moving toward the chopper with her gaze fixed on the sleeping little boy.

Then they were taking Bobby out of J.R.’s arms, and she saw him stir, then wake, then begin to panic. When she heard him scream, Katie started to run.

J.R.’s eyes had been on Katie the moment the door was opened, but then Bobby had begun to rouse, and his focus quickly shifted back to him. As they emerged from the chopper into the waiting hands of a hospital team, things began to spin out of J.R.’s control.

Someone took Bobby out of his arms and laid him on the gurney. The moment he lost touch with J.R., Bobby woke. He took one look at the strangers around him and started to scream.

J.R. moved back into Bobby’s line of sight as the hospital staff started pushing him away from the chopper.

“It’s okay, buddy. It’s okay. Daddy’s here. We’re at the hospital. These people are going to check you over…make sure you’re okay.”

“Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! I wanna go home!” Bobby wailed.

J.R.’s gut knotted. There was no way to make this easier.

Then he heard Katie’s voice and looked up.

She was coming toward them on the run. Behind him, the chopper took off into the air, whipping the wind even higher and harder, but it didn’t slow Katie down.

“Bobby! Look, buddy…it’s Mama! Mama’s coming, and she’s got Oliver.”

Bobby sat up on the gurney and then rolled over on his knees, even as they were trying to subdue him.

Katie was crying Bobby’s name, and then suddenly she was there.

Bobby leaped from the gurney into his mother’s arms and began sobbing as if his heart had broken. “He kept saying… The monster said you were dead. He said you were
dead
.”

Katie gasped, caught the look in J.R.’s eyes and knew she had yet to hear the worst. Then she quickly looked away. Right now, nothing mattered but the warmth of her son’s little body against hers and his arms wrapped tight around her neck.

“Well, that bad old monster lied, didn’t he, honey?” she said, and then smothered his face with kisses.

At that point the gravity of what this child had endured brought everything to a halt. Nurses hardened to the grimmest of life’s tragedies were in tears. The doctor stepped back, allowing the family their moment, knowing that what was taking place now was more powerful than any medicine.

Finally Katie set Bobby down on the gurney, then managed a teary smile as she looked him in the face. It took every ounce of control she had to speak calmly.

“How did you get your black eyes and puffy nose, honey?”

Bobby put a hand on his nose, then the back of his head, and felt the knot.

“I got tied to the bed every day. Once I almost got away. I was all the way out the door, and then the bad man hit me in the back of the head with something and made me fall down. When I woke up, my nose and my lip were bleeding. It still hurts, Mama.”

“Son of a bitch,” a nurse said softly.

The doctor put his hand against the back of Bobby’s head, gently feeling the knot and a half-healed cut on his scalp.

“We better get you inside, little guy. And while we’re going, why don’t you tell me how you almost got away? I’ll bet you were running really fast.”

Bobby looked nervous, until Katie plopped Oliver down in his lap.

“You better lie down so Oliver doesn’t fall off,” she said softly.

Bobby reluctantly stretched out on the gurney, then inhaled deeply as he stuffed the bear beneath his chin.

“Oliver smells good, Mama.”

Katie smiled. “He got a bath after he went through the tornado.”

“I need a bath, too,” Bobby said. “I didn’t take my clothes off. Not even once.” Then he frowned. “I didn’t want to. Was that okay?”

“Hell, yes, that was okay,” J.R. said shortly. “You did everything right, son, and don’t ever forget it.”

Bobby managed a crooked smile, then hugged the bear a little tighter.

At that point they began moving the gurney toward the hospital, and Katie’s gaze went straight to J.R.

“He swore he didn’t touch him,” J.R. said.

Katie’s chin quivered. She tried to speak, but nothing came out but a sob. At that point she walked into J.R.’s embrace and buried her face against his chest.

“I don’t care what happened. I just care that I have him back.”

“I know, baby,” J.R. said softly, then took her by the hand as they ran to catch up. Whatever happened, they would face it together.

Epilogue

New Orleans, Christmas Day

B
obby sat in front of their Christmas tree, posing for a picture with his dog, Hero, sprawled across his lap. Just as the flash went off, the half-grown black Lab looked up and licked Bobby under the chin.

Bobby threw back his head and laughed.

“Eww…Hero…your breath stinks,” he said, and then grabbed the dog around the neck and rolled, taking the long-legged puppy with him.

Deliriously happy to be wrestling, the dog nipped and yipped and appeared to be laughing.

“Look at them,” J.R. said. “Just alike. Both long-legged boys with a whole lot of growing up yet to do.”

Katie scooted onto the arm of the chair where J.R. was sitting, and then laughed when he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap.

Bobby heard the sound and immediately stopped, just to make sure he wasn’t missing out on something fun. When he realized it was just Mama and Daddy kissing again, he rolled his eyes and fell backward with a groan.

Hero pounced, and their game continued.

The kiss between J.R. and Katie was sweet, with a promise of more to come.

“Hold that thought for later,” J.R. whispered, as Katie leaned back with a sigh.

“Don’t worry. That thought’s always with me,” she said softly.

J.R.’s eyes darkened. “I love you, Katie.”

The smile slid off her face. “I love you, too.”

Instinctively, they both turned their attention to their son. The past few months had been agonizing, as Bobby had battled what his doctors called post-traumatic stress disorder. His youth was a positive. And the older he got, the more he would be able to understand what had happened, and how fortunate he’d been at what had not.

They’d slept with him between them in their bed until he’d finally accepted that his nightmare was over. And once Hero had come into his life, his nights had turned around. In his mind, with Oliver in his arms and the small black puppy at his side, and all of them no longer living in Bordelaise, he would be safe. The more time that passed, and the larger the dog grew, the more confident Bobby became.

And it wasn’t only Bobby who’d faced down a demon and won.

Katie and her son each had their own brand of hell to exorcise. Ironically, New Orleans had turned out to be their refuge and not the hell Katie had expected it to be.

Just lying in J.R.’s arms and watching Bobby and Hero play was its own reward. They’d all learned the hard way that nothing was impossible when you were backed by people you loved.

Just then Bobby stopped, sat up and got quiet.

Hero was still chewing on his shoe, but Bobby didn’t seem to notice.

Katie saw him, frowned, then sat back, uncertain what was happening.

“Everything okay, buddy?” J.R. asked.

Bobby was still frowning as he turned to his dad.

“Daddy…?”

“Yes, son?”

“I’ve been thinking.”

Katie’s breath caught in the back of her throat. Were they about to experience their first backslide? The psychiatrist had warned them it might happen.

“What about?” J.R. asked.

“My friend Holly.”

Katie held her breath. It was the first time he’d mentioned anyone or anything from Bordelaise since the rescue.

“What about her?” Katie asked.

“I miss playing with her. She would like Hero. Do you think we could go visit her someday? And maybe we could take Hero with us?”

Katie exhaled softly. This had to be a good sign.

J.R. smiled. “I’ll give her parents a call later. Maybe we can drive up one day during Christmas vacation.”

A slow smile broke across Bobby’s face. “Yay!” he said, and then rolled back onto Hero and the wrestling began anew.

Katie leaned back in J.R.’s arms with a sigh.

“That was a first,” she said softly. “He’s never even mentioned Bordelaise since we got him back.”

J.R. was smiling as he nuzzled Katie’s ear. “Yeah. I think he’s gonna grow up just like me.”

Katie giggled. “What do you mean?”

“I was always a one-woman man. Looks like our little guy might be leaning that way, too. He hadn’t mentioned a single person from back then, and when he finally does, it’s a girl.”

Katie smiled.

“But what a girl! If it hadn’t been for her, we might never have gotten Bobby back.”

“I know,” J.R. said, and then kissed the back of her ear.

Katie sighed. “I am so happy.”

J.R. stilled, suddenly reminded of how much he had to be grateful for.

“So am I,” he said softly.

“So…what do you want to do?” she asked.

“Make mad, passionate love to my woman,” J.R. growled. “However, that’s going to have to wait until later. Right now I guess I’d better go make that call to the Maxwells and see if they’re up for a visit later in the week.”

“We can drop by and see Penny, too,” Katie said. “I owe her a lot.”

“Yeah, and we can make sure the contractor has cleaned up the storm debris off the property.”

Katie nodded. “I guess it’s time we all faced a trip back to Bordelaise.”

J.R. hugged her. “We both learned the hard way that places aren’t the monsters. It’s the people who live in them who can’t always be trusted.”

Katie sighed, thinking of the tornado and the damage it had wrought. “Too bad we’re such slow learners. It took an act of God to show us the way.”

They looked toward their Christmas tree, decorated with colorful lights and sparkling ornaments, and then both of them gasped and then yelled at the same time.

“Bobby! Look out for the tree!”

They were out of the chair and running toward their son just as he and the dog rolled under the tree.

A low-hanging limb poked Hero in the rear, startling him, and he spun toward it with a yelp. As he did, a strand of lights slipped beneath his head and drew taut against his throat. That was all it took to make the dog leap.

“Hero! No!” Bobby cried, but it was too late.

The gangly pup bolted, taking the lights—and the tree—with him.

Down it went, burying Bobby somewhere beneath.

“Help! Mama! Daddy! Get me out of here!” Bobby shrieked.

“Get the dog!” she yelled.

J.R. lunged for the dog and the lights, as Katie began pulling Bobby out from under the tree.

By the time she got him rescued and made sure he wasn’t hurt, J.R. was coming back carrying the quivering pup.

“What a mess,” he muttered, as he looked at the upended tree, the tumbled ornaments and the lights strung across the floor.

Bobby was verging on tears, clearly thinking he and his best friend were in serious trouble.

Then Katie started laughing.

Bobby froze.

J.R. paused.

Even Hero looked perplexed.

And Katie kept laughing.

And laughing. Until she was on the floor and rolling in the middle of the mess.

J.R. dropped the dog, got down on his knees and took her in his arms.

“You’re crazy,” he said, and then kissed the side of her cheek.

Katie threw her arms around his neck.

“This night is a miracle, J.R. None of this would be happening if we hadn’t gotten our little boy back.” Then she made a face and threw a wad of tinsel into his hair.

J.R. grinned, picked a silver ornament off a nearby limb and hung it in her hair.

Hero’s tongue dropped out the side of his mouth. His legs began to quiver. There was rolling going on. He liked to roll.

He glanced up at his master.

Bobby looked at the dog, then at his parents.

Mama was still laughing. He didn’t know why, but he wanted in on it, too.

He jumped off the sofa and threw himself into the mix, tossing tinsel and lights up in the air.

“This is fun! Right, Mama?” he yelled.

Katie sat up, wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down with them.

“Yes, little man. This is fun.”

At that point, Hero launched himself at them.

They all went down again in a tangle of arms and legs and a long wagging tail. Outside the sky turned dark, but in this house, the room was filled with light and laughter.

Katie Earle had been right.

None of this could have happened if they hadn’t been given a miracle. Their family had already been torn apart before the tornado hit. In an odd twist of fate, it was the storm that had put them back together.