A Wishing Moon (24 page)

After completing the call, Arabella went to check on Jade. His session with the physical therapist was in full swing and when she walked in, she was overjoyed to find him standing up exercising. When the young woman had arrived, Arabella had been embarrassed helping her move the massage table back to where it would be used. Her name was Lisa, and gratefully, she had not asked any questions. Jade had made wonderful progress. The nerves and muscles were responding well, and each step he took seemed to be easier than the last. Dr. Francois had insisted Jade make an appointment at the hospital, so he could run a full brain scan and properly evaluate the area that had been so severely injured in the fall.

In a short while, Jade would be well enough to do anything he wanted to. Arabella trusted him implicitly, but she could not help but wonder where she would fit into his life once he regained complete mobility. He had an important and promising career to return to, and his attention would be pulled in many different directions. She hoped the gods would give her strength to realize she would have to share him with many other people.

Leaving them alone to complete his therapy, Arabella began to gather supplies to take to the Townsend’s to ready the house for its sad task.

Evangeline found Arabella in the kitchen filling a box with floor cleaner, furniture polish and other supplies. “What are you doing?”

“
I am about to go to the Townsend’s and clean the house in preparation for Kathy and Lea’s funeral.”

“
Oh no, we were all about to drive in to Austin for lunch and I have an appointment with one of the orientation advisers to get a private tour of the campus. Let me try and reschedule so we can go and help you.”

Arabella could tell Evangeline was certainly willing to change her plans, but she knew this was something her cousin had been looking forward to for years.

“
Absolutely not. I am perfectly capable of cleaning a house on my own. I’ll scoot over there and take care of this and be back by the time you are.”

“
Are you sure?” Evangeline never liked to disappoint her cousin.

Arabella gave Evangeline a quick hug and kiss. “Yes, go and enjoy yourself. I’ll be fine.”

When it was time to go to the Townsend’s, Arabella looked for Jade to tell him her plans. She wished he could go with her, but she didn’t know if his wheelchair would fit into the car. She headed toward the sunroom and found a smiling Jade standing up and walking slowly with the help of an aluminum cane. If she hadn’t been afraid of hurting him, she would have thrown herself at him in sheer joy.

She gasped. “Look at you!”

“
Lisa said I am outdoing myself.” He was obviously pleased.

“
Jade, I am so proud of you.”

“
You alone are responsible for this, Arabella.” He grew serious. “You came to me when I needed you most and you didn’t give up until you rescued me from total despair and worse.”

The words he said were beautiful, but Arabella developed goose bumps listening to them. She didn’t want his gratitude, she wanted his love. She would accept any affection he offered, but she swore in her heart she would never make any demands on him. He must never feel he owed her anything. Mentally, she shook her head—now wasn’t the time to dwell on her own feelings. The important thing was Jade and his recovery. Putting a smile on her face, she answered him. “I’m just thankful I found you.”

He noticed the box of cleaning supplies on the floor next to her. “What are you doing?”

“
I have to go to Rachel Townsend’s. I promised her I would give the house a quick cleaning. The funeral arrangements have been made for Kathy and Lea, the relatives will all be coming in and Rachel is in no shape to handle this alone. Tomorrow we will take food over so they won’t have to worry about cooking.”

“
How considerate you are. Can I come along?”

“
Of course,” she readily agreed. “Now that you’re mobile, you are free to do anything your heart desires.”

His eyes immediately darkened with passion. “What I want to do is take you back to bed, but I’ll settle for watching you clean.”

Her cheeks flushed. If they were together for seventy years, he would always have the power to bring instant heat to her body. “I will always want you with me. However, you don’t have to go over there. You can stay here and catch up on the news or read, if you’d rather. I am used to being by myself.”

“
You have me now. You don’t ever have to be alone again.”

Words like that could not go unrewarded. For just a moment, she carefully enfolded him in her arms and pressed a chaste kiss on his cheek. His promise warmed her heart. She prayed he would always feel that way, but she vowed she would never tie him down. When he got strong enough to go back to his world, she would try her best to be glad for him.

She had helped him into the car, loaded the cleaning supplies and quickly made the short trip to Rachel’s home. When they arrived, she went ahead of him, located the key under a false rock in the flower bed and opened the door. Arabella held her breath as he carefully maneuvered the steps into the house. She didn’t want to be a nuisance, but she had sense enough to know a fall could be devastating. The medical tests were scheduled for the following morning, and she couldn’t wait to hear the results. Perhaps, the news would alleviate much of her worry.

The kitchen and downstairs living area was where she wanted to begin, so she helped Jade find a comfortable place where he could be near her for most of the time. She turned on Rachel’s television and bent over him for a quick kiss before she began her work. The kiss turned into more than she had originally planned, for he seized the moment and laid claim to her lips. It was so tempting to sink down into the chair with him and indulge herself in his arms, but she playfully pushed him away. “Time for play later, Romeo. I have work to do.”

He reluctantly let her go and she began her chores. Arabella had never minded cleaning, so she found her rhythm and made good progress.

Finishing the downstairs, she headed toward the den to inform Jade she was going upstairs to change linens and clean the bathrooms. Her mood had significantly lightened and she looked forward to finishing up here and taking Jade home where they could, hopefully, spend some time alone together before the rest of the family got back from Austin.

As she stepped into the room, her world crashed around her feet—she couldn’t utter a single word.

Lyle Sessions stood at one end of the room with a deer rifle pointed at Jade’s head. “You whore witch, I am sick and tired of your meddling, fiendish ways. It’s time you paid for your sins. I’m gonna kill your lover and then I’m gonna kill you.”

Jade did not blink. “Run, Bella, run,” he commanded her.

Arabella heard his voice and decided to obey, although not in the way he had meant. Allowing this maniac to kill her love was completely out of the question. Without hesitation, she measured the distance to be covered and obeyed his voice without hesitation. With a prayer to the gods for strength, speed and safety, she ran. She moved heaven and earth as she covered the endless distance between the point where she had stood in horror, to the place where the shot was passing from Sessions’ rifle to connect with Jade’s body.

Arabella Landry intercepted the bullet meant for Jade Landale.

The bullet caught her in the upper back and passed brutally through her body, leaving a large exit wound in the front, over her left breast. The force of the blast threw her at Jade’s feet. She gasped from the red-hot rending pain, and then knew no more.

* * * *

Horrified, Jade watched her fall, a seeming fountain of blood seeping into the front of her white sweater, turning the color from snow to crimson.

Time stood still for Jade and Arabella.

He instantly fell to his knees and desperately sought to stop the flow of blood with his bare hands, he seemed totally unaware the killer was still in the room with him.

Lyle Sessions, however, wasn’t through. Although he hadn’t hit the one he aimed at, he had shot the witch. One down, one to go.

Unbeknownst to either Jade or the killer, Officer Myers had quietly slipped around the house and through the kitchen door. As the old man raised the gun to shoot Jade, the young officer burst into the room and another shot rang out. Sessions grabbed his arm, wounded, and quickly stepped backward from the room, firing shot after errant shot at the police officer. Officer Myers pursued him, but Sessions managed to exit the house and escape into the woods.

Returning to where the woman lay, Officer Myers placed a 911 call directing an ambulance and police to his location. “He got away.” The young man was breathing hard, obviously shook up. “I was across the street on surveillance. I watched him slip in the back, and I got here as fast as I could. Looks like I wasn’t fast enough.”

“
Get me something to press on the wounds,” Jade ordered him, his voice frantic with worry.

He rushed in the kitchen and came back with some towels. “Man, I’ve never seen so much blood. I don’t have a lot of experience with gunshot wounds. But, this don’t look good.”

Jade didn’t take time to converse with him. Together they worked frantically to apply enough pressure to the double wound to keep her heart from pumping every bit of her life giving blood from her body.

The ambulance arrived in record time, but for Jade the wait seemed an eternity. Tyler Garrison arrived moments after the EMS began working on Arabella. They had been the same team who had transported Jade from Tranquility
to Wildflower Way. Working feverishly, they finally managed to stop the biggest part of the blood flow. Detective Garrison phoned Elizabeth who was already on her way to the hospital.

Adrenaline pumped through Jade like a flood, he left his cane behind and walked next to the stretcher that held the pale, near lifeless form of the woman, who may very well have given her life to save his. Never had he felt such anguish and humility. There had been love in his childhood, but he’d never known this kind of selfless sacrifice even existed. She could have run away. She could have saved herself, but she didn’t. Jade felt as if his heart had been torn out of his chest.

The EMS attendants loaded Arabella into the back of the ambulance. “You can ride with her if you want,” one of them offered.

He climbed in, desperately wanting to be wherever she was. One of the men got into the cab to drive, while the other stayed at Arabella’s side. Jade quaked with fear. “Is she going to be all right?” He asked the man whose shirt read ‘Robert’.

Robert looked at the ashen, shaken man. “It’s going to be touch and go. She’s lost an awful lot of blood and her pulse is thready and weak.” As if in response to the words, the attached monitor began to beep loudly. “She’s coding,” the man spoke loudly. The driver, whose siren was already sounding, sped up even faster. Robert took out some paddles and turned on the battery-powered unit and he began to shock Arabella’s heart, desperately trying to get it started again.

* * * *

As if in a dream, Arabella left her body. She rose above her still form and saw Jade crying at her side. The sensation of floating and freedom felt quite pleasant. This experience wasn’t as substantial as their meetings on E-Rock had been. She tried to comfort Jade, but he could not see or hear her. His grief disturbed Arabella. She looked down at herself. Could she be dead?

Robert didn’t give up, he started CPR and then tried the paddles one more time.

“
Please come back Arabella,” Jade cried. “Please come back, I love you Arabella.” Heeding the voice of the one she loved more than anything else in the world, she submitted to the gravitational pull of her body beckoning her soul to return. The pain was horrid and mind-numbing and if she would have had the strength, she would have cried.

* * * *

“
She’s back, but I can’t promise for how long,” Robert explained as he readied Arabella to exit the vehicle. The ambulance pulled up into the emergency room entrance. Nurses rushed out to aid the attendants. Jade had to step back and let them wheel her into the emergency room. Elizabeth, Evangeline, Angelique and Nanette all rushed up to him with stricken, tear-streaked faces. “Tell us everything,” Nanette demanded.