Under the Midnight Stars (24 page)

Jack grinned.“Lanie it is then. Thank you, Lanie, for helping my sister.”

“Anytime, Jack.” She exhaled deeply to relieve her anxiety. “I’ll be back in a little bit to check on you.” She smiled at him. “Oh,” she shook her head foolishly again, “I mean to check on your sister.” She turned to Brielle. “To check on
you,
Gabby.” She wrinkled her dainty nose.

“We know what you meant.” Brielle smiled with amusement. “And you can call me Brielle.”

“Oh, that’s pretty. See you in a minute, Brielle.” She smiled and walked away, glancing back at Jack one last time.

Jack winked, meeting her desire-filled gaze.

Another smile was forming on Melanie’s face as she pushed her way through the curtain and disappeared.

Brielle smirked. “Why Jack Boyd Sinclair, you need to stop wagging that tail and wipe the drool from your chin,” she teased. “I think that poor girl is gonna have to use those electrocution paddles to restart her heart again.”

Jack chuckled. “You mean defibrillator paddles? Maybe I should use them on you to shock some sense back into you.”

“Ha ha!” Brielle replied in a neutral tone. “She’s pretty,” she added softly.

“Yes … she’s pretty,” Jack agreed knowingly.

“Are you gonna ask her out?”

“Are you gonna shut up?” he retorted playfully. “It sounds like you’re starting to feel better. And you’re getting some color back in your cheeks.”

Brielle raised a hand to her cheek. It was warm to the touch. Her headache was barely noticeable and the sickness knotting her gut was completely gone. Even the fog in her head had lifted, allowing her to think clearly again. “I feel a lot better.”

“Good,” Jack exclaimed with relief. “I thought you were gonna turn into a zombie there for a minute.”

“Funnee, Jack.” Brielle giggled.

The sun was quickly setting over the countryside, sending the streaks of orange and red sky disappearing into the darkening gray of the impending night. The business at the garage had taken longer than Colt had expected. It took every ounce of concentration to keep his mind on business and off Brielle. After he had finished, he rushed to the ranch as quickly as possible.

Standing on her front porch, he knocked on the front door. There was no answer. He went inside. “Brielle?” he shouted through the heavy silence of the dark house. He went upstairs and checked her bedroom. It was empty. So was the bathroom.

“Huh?” He hurried back downstairs and checked the hall bathroom before entering the kitchen.

“Brielle?” he shouted again, glancing out the window at the empty hammock on the other side of the patio.

Exiting through the kitchen door, he went out back to the barn. It too was empty.

“BRIELLE!” he shouted with his hands cupped around his mouth. The only reply was a sudden whoosh of wind. Disappointment filled him.
Maybe she started feeling better and went somewhere with Jack?

Deciding it best to call her, he grabbed his cell phone and dialed her number. It rang until her voice mail answered. “Dammit!” He sighed in frustration. He called Jack and received his voice mail also.

“Guess I’ll come back later,” he mumbled, more than worried. He decided to go home and look over the plans for the new garage to pass the time.

“I feel so much better.” Brielle smiled as she trudged up the stairs and through the front door. “Exhausted, but better.”

“You look much better.” Jack followed her inside. He pushed the switch on the wall, illuminating the living room. “But the doctor said to take it easy until they get the test results back. Now get your butt upstairs and get some sleep!” he ordered playfully.

“Don’t worry, Jack. That’s exactly where I’m headed. I don’t know why they had to keep me half the night.” She yawned her disapproval.

“To make sure you were done ralphing your guts out. That’s why,” he replied casually. “Now good night,” he urged. “It’s late. Get some rest. I’ll be in the barn if you need me.” He headed down the hall to the kitchen.

She followed him to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. As she went to the fridge, the breakfast table caught her attention. She envisioned the last meal she’d had with her father, when he divulged all of his plans for the future. And with his passing, and all of the recent chaos, she hadn’t yet shared her father’s plans with Jack.

“Um, Jack, wait.” Brielle stopped him before he went out the back door. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about, but I just never found the right time.” She motioned with her head for Jack to follow her to the breakfast table. She sat in the same seat her father had last sat in, and ran her hand over the smooth tabletop where his hands had last been.

Jack sat adjacent to her and sprawled back comfortably. “What’s up?”

Heavy-hearted, Brielle took a minute to mentally prepare herself for the emotional pain that she was about to relive.

Jack took his hat off and hung it on the back of the chair next to him. He ran a hand through his hair and then crossed his arms. After settling down, he sighed impatiently and opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when his eyes locked with hers. A look of concern crinkled his forehead, but he remained silent.

Brielle swallowed the lump in her throat before she spoke. “The night of the accident…” Her eyes filled with tears but she held them back. Exhaling deeply, she continued. “That night … before he left for the bar…” She ran her hand over the smooth surface again. “He sat right here … in this very spot … and ate beef stew and biscuits with me.”

The sadness in Jack’s eyes was evident. He didn’t speak.

“He told me that he was gonna quit drinking the next day. And that he was gonna start being here for us again.” A warm but painful smile crossed her face. “He said that he was gonna start fixing up the ranch again. But he wasn’t going into the cattle business again — he was gonna fill the ranch with horses this time … because he knew how much you’ve always loved horses.”

Tears filled Jack’s eyes. His chin trembled. He clenched his jaw to steady it and shook his head as if trying to shake away the pain.

With an unsteady voice, she continued, “And he said that he couldn’t be more proud that you wanted to be a firefighter…”

Jack grimaced and shook his head again. Then he rested his forehead on his hand and broke down crying. “It’s all my fault! If I would’ve just taken my phone with me when I went in the house for a glass of water, he’d still be alive today!” He released his pent-up pain.

Seeing her brother’s sorrow, Brielle was suddenly powerless to stop her own tears. She went to his side and wrapped her arms firmly around him.

“It’s not your fault, Jack! It’s not! It was never your responsibility to take on the burden of babysitting Dad when he was drunk. You did it because you loved him —
not
because it was your duty. He should never have come to rely on you in such a way.
Never!
”

“I know,” Jack cried against her shoulder. “I know … I just miss him so much!”

“I know you do…” She cried with him. “I miss him too, Jack… I miss him too…”

She comforted him for a moment longer before she pulled away and sat back down. Using the back of her hands, she wiped her tears away.

Jack used the bottom half of his T-shirt to dry his face. He shook his head and sucked in a deep ragged breath. “I just don’t understand why all this has happened to us.”

Brielle sniffled. “I don’t know … but it’s gotta get better. It’s
got
to!”

He nodded. “It sure as hell better.” He exhaled heavily and put his hat back on. “Thanks … I’m really glad you shared this with me.” He sniffed and straightened in his chair. “I felt so guilty every day, thinking I’d let him down because I didn’t wanna help out with the cattle business. I thought he hated me.”

“No, Jack.” She shook her head. “Dad
loved
you!”

“I know that now…” Jack said softly. Tears glistened his eyes again. “And I’m glad he was all right with me being a firefighter. I’d always felt like a disappointment to him … I didn’t know he was proud of me.” He pursed his lips and ran his hands over his eyes to dry the tears before they fell.

“And you know what I’m gonna do now?” he asked with a renewed sense of confidence as he stood and smacked his hand on the table. “I’m gonna clean out the barn and get it ready for Dad’s horses! Not a whole business of ’em like he’d planned — I can’t run a horse ranch and be a firefighter … But enough to enjoy for ourselves and bring the ranch back to life. Of course, I guess we really can’t call it a ranch anymore. It’s gonna be strange calling it anything else though.”

Brielle smiled with awe. “Your plan sounds perfect, Jack. But all we really need to call this place is home.”

Jack grinned. “You’re right … Now” — he grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet — “you need to march your butt upstairs and get some rest.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going.” She stopped and stared into his eyes. “I think me and you … we’re gonna be okay.”

“I think so too.” He winked. “Now go. I’ll be in the barn if you need me.”

“Goodnight, Jack,” Brielle said as he went outside.

“’Night, brat,” Jack replied before he shut the door.

Brielle shook her head and smiled. “Some things will never change, I guess.”

Exhausted, she got a bottle of water and gulped down half of it on her way to the stairs. She trudged up them, anticipating her warm comfortable bed. But she was sticky with perspiration. She decided to gather some fresh clothes from her bedroom and take a shower before bedding down for the night.

After her shower, she pulled on a pair of cotton shorts. Then she donned a tank top and another one of her father’s T-shirts, taking in a deep breath as she pulled it over her head. She’d often worn his shirts as nightshirts when she was a little girl — his familiar manly smell had given her a sense of security in the dark. Now, his scent seemed to put her heart at ease.

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, she pulled the hairband from her hair and ran a brush through it. Then she quickly brushed her teeth until they sparkled and headed for her bedroom.

When she opened her bedroom door, a thick cloud of smoke engulfed her, causing her to cough wretchedly. The walls of her room glowed orange.

She rushed to the window, horrified to see the barn engulfed in flames.

“Oh my God! Jack!” she shouted fearfully. Looking toward the front of the house, she saw Jack’s car parked next to her truck. She slammed the window shut and fled her room. She went to his bedroom, but it was empty.

“Jaaack!” she continued to shout as she ran down the stairs, through the house, and out the kitchen door.

“JACK!” she shrieked in horror as flames shot out of the upper windows of the barn. The doorway was a wall of fire.

“JAAACK!” she screamed again and started to cry.

“I can’t let him die! I can’t let him die!”
she shouted frantically to herself.
“Think, dammit! THINK!”

She turned and spotted the hose attached to the side of the house. Wasting no time, she yanked off her T-shirt and quickly doused herself and the shirt with the cold water. Then she tied the shirt around her face to cover her nose and mouth, took a deep breath, and rushed toward the flames shooting out of the doorway. Just then, two firm hands on her shoulders stopped her dead in her tracks.

“I don’t think so, baby!” Colt shouted as he spun her around to face him.

“Colt!” Brielle started to cry.

She removed her makeshift smoke mask and pointed to the barn. “Jack’s in there!”

“Give me that!” He took the shirt from her and tied it around his mouth and nose. “I called the fire department — they’re on the way!”

Brielle nodded and picked up the hose. She doused him completely from his hat to his boots. “Please don’t die!” she pleaded to Colt before he rushed into the barn. “PLEASE DON’T DIE!”

In the distance, the faint sound of sirens announced that help was on the way.

Brielle frantically paced back and forth through the blanket of heat surrounding the building. She wiped the sweat from her brow, straining to see through the smoke and flames swallowing the doorway. Colt hadn’t even disappeared into the furious inferno more than a minute ago, but it already seemed an eternity.

“Oh God, please, please save them!” she prayed breathlessly. There was so much fire. So much smoke.

Dread filled her. There was still no sign of the men she loved. She glanced down the road as the sirens grew louder, but the flashing lights were still faint. “They’re not gonna make it,” she whispered in a panic.

She turned her attention back to the barn. It was nearly engulfed. “They’re not gonna make it! It’s too late! There’s too much fire! Oh God, NOOOO!” she shrieked. Losing hope, she clasped her hands behind her head and fell to her knees. “COOOOLT! JAAAACK!” she screamed hopelessly.

She stared in shock at the spot where she’d last seen Colt before he’d leapt into the mouth of hell. “Please God … PLEASE!” she begged one last time, but her plea was drowned out by the shrill sirens approaching. Flashing red lights bounced all around. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, hoping her nightmare would end. Then, within the smoke and flames a shadow appeared, slowly growing darker and larger as it grew near, before it plunged forward and broke through the fiery wall.