Wildfire Wedding (10 page)

“Nana?”

Silence.

Where was everyone? She entered an empty kitchen.

A first aid kit’s contents were spread across the top of the counter. A few drops of blood spattered the cutting board, where a knife and some partially sliced carrots sat beside a tray, along with a stack of cut broccoli.

Someone had cut themselves. Why didn’t Nana wake her?

Krista went back to her room and picked up her phone. She'd plugged it into the charger. Except, the charger wasn't plugged into the wall and now her phone was dead.

The light filtering through the bedroom curtains dimmed, as if a cloud had drifted across the morning sky.

Oh, Lord. Please, let that be rain clouds.

A rushing noise outside overcame the stillness in the house. Krista went to the back door. The hills beyond the house to the southwest were ablaze. Flames soared above the oak trees and a dark cloud squeezed the light from the sky. Krista wanted to move, but her legs seemed bolted to the floor. Racing down toward the housing development, flames grew closer, fanned by the wind gusts.

I can't move.

#

“Calm down, Nana.” Luke say in his truck while he tried to track people down. “Explain again.”

“I cut my finger while making a vegetable tray. Sami had just gotten there, so she drove me to the weekend emergency clinic. We tried to call Krista from the doctor’s office, but Krista wouldn’t answer her phone.”

“Why are you so worried? Just go home.”

“I—I can’t. Lightning started a fire not far from our cul-de-sac not long after we left. They’re not letting anyone back into the development.”

“Didn’t they send anyone door to door to make sure everyone was out?”

“I don’t know, but if they did, Krista’s a heavy sleeper.”

“Where are you, Nana?”

“Sami and I are at the end of the street. We can't go anywhere.”

He gritted his teeth and ignored the firebrand of pain in his shoulder and turned the ignition. “I’m almost there.” Luke floored the accelerator. His truck shot passed the city limits sign for Settler Lake. He’d be there in one minute. He just hoped Krista had one minute.

#

The sky glowed an eerie shade of burnished copper. Wind blew ashes through the air.

Krista ran for her keys and purse inside the house. Her dress—the family pictures. She stopped herself and grabbed a tote bag from the front hall closet. In went the dress the pictures, the packet of vital records Nana kept in quick access for times like this. What else to bring—how could someone fit keepsakes into one bag? Her breath caught in her throat at all the things she saw.

Move!

“Jesus, please, help me get out of here.”

Krista let the front door bang behind her and ran for her Jeep. The Jeep’s engine wouldn’t turn over.

“C’mon, c’mon!” Priceless seconds slipped through her fingers. She tried again, but nothing. The wind yanked at her hair. Her cell phone rang and she flipped it open. “Luke—”

“I’m coming—”

“The Jeep won’t start, and I don’t think I can outrun this.”

“Turn on the lawn sprinklers.” A plane passed overhead, nearly drowning out his voice.

“Okay.” Krista craned her neck to see the plane head over the treetops. She couldn’t see the flames yet, but. . .

“I’m coming for you. Crack some windows open in the house. Worst case scenario, get in the pool.”

“Okay.” She grabbed the duffel bag and ran, holding the phone clamped to her ear.

“I’ll be waiting.”

“I love you.”

The phone went dead and she ran for the house. Before she went inside, she faced the street, her only exit. Flames licked at the homes on the main street.

The sprinklers! Krista ran to the outdoor timer, slipped on the back patio, and nearly wrenched her ankle. She gave the handle on the main water control a twist. Water sprang up in a feeble arc from the watering system. She turned the handle on full blast. Nothing more. What had happened to the water pressure?

She dialed Nana’s cell phone. “Nana, where are you?”

“Don’t worry about us! Get out of there.”

“I—I can’t. The Jeep won’t start.” He throat hurt, “But Luke’s coming.”

“Lord, please keep my granddaughter safe, and surround her with Your protection—” Nana began to pray.

The phone went dead again.

“Thanks, Nana. Amen.” Krista whispered. Her hands shook.

#

Luke didn’t bother to bypass the roadblock prohibiting vehicles on Southern Hills. He parked on a side street and secured his truck. He slung his pack onto his back, checked to be sure he had his flare blanket just in case.

He gasped from the pain, feeling like a wimp. If he could make the sensation of a hot knife gliding through butter go away, he would.

Krista’s face came to mind. She’d sounded scared, but not panicked. He knew his future wife had a good dose of common sense in her head, but when cornered, some people’s senses vanished. Luke broke into a run. The smell of burning filled the air—of old leaves, of new wood. He darted through a backyard at the edge of the cul-de-sac and found a crew working at beating back a finger of flames threatening to enter this edge of the development.

Their crew chief raised his head. “What you doin’ here?”

“Luke Hansen, off duty. My fiancée is stranded at 10 Valley View Circle. What’s the containment in there?” Precious seconds ticked away. He pictured the blaze inching closer to Nana’s street, but he had to know what he was running into.

“We got some boys attacking that edge. The latest report came at the top of the hour. They’ve held the line. ‘Course, if the wind changes—”

“Got it. I’ll keep going.” Luke resumed his jog, which turned into a sprint when he heard shouting behind him.
I’m coming for you, Krista.

The smoke in the air grew thicker the closer he got to the south end of the development. Just a sprint uphill to Valley View and Nana’s. Just a sprint. He glimpsed a news crew set up at the entrance to the development, their cameras rolling.

He ran, off balance, his shoulder burning again. Sweat soaked his undershirt. The smoke intensified suddenly, and Luke pulled up short. One more block and he’d hit Valley View.

The wind had changed and just as he feared, the heat of an open fire rushed to meet him, faster than anyone could sprint.

#

Krista sat on the front steps, trapped. Logic told her to run. But she'd seen the flames racing through the field toward the houses, and her main way of exit was blocked. If she ran, like she wanted to, she could run straight into a wall of fire.

Something else told her to sit tight and wait for Luke. She had no equipment, no vehicle. A dead phone—the cordless landline at Nana’s had been off the hook too long. People died running from fires. People probably died sitting on the step, just as she was now.

A figure running into the cul-de-sac caught her eye.

Luke
!

He was shouting something.

“What?” A roar from behind the house obscured the sound of his voice.

“The pool! Run to the pool!”

“It’s in the backyard, closer to the fire!”

“Go, it’s our only chance! The wind’s changed direction, it's all headed this way—”

Her legs wouldn’t move. “Luke—”

He grabbed her arm so hard she thought he would snap it from the socket, but the shock was covered up by a kiss as he dragged her into the front hall. She skittered along the tiles, then followed Luke through the kitchen, and out the French doors.

NINE

They hit the patio running. She almost skidded to a stop when she saw the brush and trees behind the house in flames. The pool beckoned from a few yards away. Krista clutched Luke’s hand as they raced across the patio, and they jumped.

Tepid water splashed around them. Krista clung to Luke’s jacket. He smelled like two days of no shower and of campfire. She didn’t care. Now the tears.

He rubbed massaging circles on her back. “It’s going to be all right,” he said, then began to pray. “Lord, we know that You are with us right now, even in the fire. Be our refuge. Deliver us. Give us a new beginning from this day forward.” She could not look at what caused the roar that flared past the house.

Krista forced her eyes open and peered over her shoulder. Another beloved live oak, more than one-hundred years old, went up in a flash of flame. But so far the clearing she and Luke had worked on all spring held the fire back from the house.

She shifted and looked into Luke’s eyes. “From this day forward?” She laughed, despite the grave situation.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now.”

“Me, either,” she whispered, “except maybe on a beach in Hawaii with you.” She smiled.

“Listen, I want to do something today. God is here, as our witness.” Luke took her hands.

“What?”

“Practice our vows.”

“Now? Here?”

“What better place? C'mon.” He grinned at her. “I, Luke Hansen, before God our Father, take you, Krista Schmidt, as my wife.”

She tried not to tremble as she tore her gaze from the flames around them and looked into Luke’s eyes.

“For richer, for poorer, through laughter and pain, through fire and rain.” He gritted, his teeth showing white on his grimy face. “For the rest of my days on earth, I pledge myself to you and you alone, as God is our witness and guide. I make my heart your refuge.”

“You've been practicing. And, you're so calm.” Krista managed to smile in spite of herself.

“We did well on prepping the land around Nana’s house. No fuel, no fire. The planes are doing their work, too. We just need to wait for this heat to die down. Now it’s your turn. C’mon.”

She should be terrified out of her wits, but now, all she wanted was to be right here in the circle of his arms. “I, Krista Schmidt, take you, Luke Hansen, as my husband.”

She’d spoken them to him in all seriousness, the words she had rehearsed in front of the mirror countless times. “For richer, for poorer, through joy and pain, through fire and rain. For the rest of my days on earth, I pledge myself to you alone as God is our witness and guide. I make my heart—”

She couldn’t say it and turned from him.

“What? What is it?” With callused hands, he cupped her face.

“I mean those vows with all my heart, but I’m terrified, Luke.”

“That I am going to disappoint you again?” Luke let her hands go and winced. “I’m human, Krista, and I guarantee you I will let you down. But I am not the man I was years ago. I willingly walked away from the best things God gave me—my walk with Him, and you. I won’t do that again.”

“I know you won’t.”

“I know because I’m going to build us a defensible space. Just like we did around Nana’s house.”

“So when the fire comes it will burn around us?”

The sound of a plane overhead made Krista look to the sky. The hold of the plane opened up beyond the canopy of flames and dumped a reddish rain on the fire.

“Yes, it will. But inside, we’ll be safe.”

The roaring around them intensified. Krista’s head swam. She blinked and looked at Luke again. His face, while dirty, had turned an ashen color. The water was too warm. She felt like she had in the hot tub last night.

“We need to get out of this pool,” Krista said. “We need to get out of here.”

“We can't outrun this. We need to be still.” Now it was Luke’s turn to lean on her, and she held him in her arms, not wanting to let go.

Another plane roared overhead. Did she hear shouts? Krista looked toward the front of the house and saw nothing but smoke. She coughed. Her clothes clung to her and in spite of the heat, her body wanted to shiver. A firestorm raged around three sides of Nana’s property.

“Does anyone else know we're here?”

“I passed a crew right before I ran into the cul-de-sac. They’ll get us out as soon as this flash fire is under control.”” His teeth glowed white in his soot-covered face. Krista kissed his dry lips.

“Well, for now, I’m safe right here with you.”

Think we’ll eventually make it to the church on time and make this marriage official on paper?”

“I do.”

EPILOGUE

Was it just three days ago she and Luke had been caught in the fire? Krista smoothed the gown that fell to her feet where the cute shoes Sami had helped her pick out winked at her. Cute shoes? The firestorm must have done something to her brain. Krista shook her head and smiled at her dad, who tucked her hand under his arm. 

“Are you ready?” Nana poked her head outside the chapel doors.

“Nana! You’re supposed to be seated already—go!” Krista laughed, waving her bouquet of lilies at her grandmother. The delayed delivery of the flowers had been a gift, and would never have lasted if they'd arrived on time for Saturday.

Nana grinned at Krista, then pulled her head inside the chapel like a turtle going back into its shell.

“Now the question is: Are you ready?” Dad’s eyes twinkled.

“I’m past ready.” She couldn’t stop smiling, which was a good thing. At the strains of the wedding march on the organ, they entered the chapel together.

And there Luke stood. Sami stood opposite Luke and Jeff.
Thank You, Lord, for a good friend to come and stay for my wedding. And Jana, and Momma, too.

Uncle Al beamed from his seat and nearly blinded her with a flash from his digital camera. The photographer they’d originally hired couldn’t make it today, but Krista knew she'd be happy with whatever Uncle Al, and the other bevy of amateur photographers were able to capture.

Aunt Vangie’s mascara was already running along with her tears. As was Momma's. Her mother glowed in her “MOB” dress of salmon pink, along with matching shoes, as she sat in the seat of honor at the front of the chapel.

Luke's fellow volunteer fire fighters and their families took up three rows, and the sea of faces blurred the farther Krista moved down the aisle. Among the congregation were several families who had lost their homes. Four homes lost in the fire that still smoldered. Nana’s house and most everyone else’s in the cul-de-sac were spared, despite the flash fire.

In the nearby reception area, empty boxes stood waiting for collections of food and clothes for those in the community who'd lost everything in the fire.

Everything else drifted away when she caught sight of Luke again. Dear, sweet Luke who had come through the fire just to be with her. And in more ways than one, she had come through the fire the fire to be with him. Dad pulled back her veil, kissed her on the cheek, and released her to Luke’s care. Yes, they'd take care of each other, come what may.

Pastor Mike began, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to witness the covenant of marriage between this man and woman. Because God is our refuge and strength. . .”

THE END

Introduction to Staci Stallings' book:

It is my pleasure to introduce “Cowboy” by #1 best-selling Christian author Staci Stallings. While my book in this box set, “Wildfire Wedding”, is set deep in the Heart of Texas, “Cowboy” takes you into the heart of a Nashville superstar who is searching for a reason to keep living after the death of his wife. “Cowboy” has hit the #1 spot in Contemporary Christian Romance twice since it was first published and has been called “an incredibly addicting story.” I know you will be inspired by this simple yet profound love story.

Enjoy!

—Lynette Sowell

About the Author

Lynette Sowell is the Carol award-winning author of more than 20 novels and novellas, several of which have made the ECPA best-seller list. When she's not crafting stories, she works as a freelance reporter and columnist for her local newspaper. She was born in Massachusetts, raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and makes her home on the doorstep of the Texas hill country with her husband, a duo of cats, and a Texas heeler named Mocha. In no particular order, Lynette loves coffee, chocolate, reading, cooking, watching movies, and is always up for a Texas road trip. You can find her on Facebook at facebook.com/lynettesowellauthor and on Twitter @LynetteSowell. She also blogs at NotQuiteAmishLiving.com and InspyRomance.com.