Lavender Morning (37 page)

“Couldn’t find designer boots?”

“She couldn’t find anyone who wanted to be alone with her on a wilderness trail,” he said softly, looking at

Jocelyn.

It was natural to slip into his arms and to share a kiss. His mouth came down on hers slowly and tentatively

at first, then deeper. As his arms tightened on her and his body came closer, she knew that he wanted her. If it

had been up to Jocelyn she would have made love there in that beautiful spot, but he pushed her away.

“I can’t,” he said.

“That’s not what your body says,” she said, her voice husky.

“No, I mean, I don’t feel that I have a right. This thing about the…the marriage. I have to straighten that out

first. And us. I want us to know about each other. I want—”

“Not to make a mistake again,” she said.

He didn’t say anything, but she knew that’s what he meant. Minutes later, they were stretched out on the

ground, the water before them, and he pulled the next part of Miss Edi’s story out of his pack. His grandfather

had given it to him last night.

“Shall I read or you?” he asked.

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“S

3/16/2010 hall I read or you?” he asked. Jude Deveraux - Lavender Morning.html

She liked his voice and liked that he’d said
shall.
“You read.” She put her hands behind her head and

prepared to listen.

19

ENGLAND

1944

W
ITH THE RAIN coming down so hard, it was difficult to even see the bridge. When they did, they both

drew in their breaths. The river was high and already running over a bridge that didn’t look like it could hold a

bicycle, much less a heavy car.

“That thing is pre-Columbian art,” David said as he slowed down, wiped the windshield, and stared ahead.

“Late medieval,” Edi said. “Look at the stone pillars on the side. They—”

“So help me, if you start giving me a history lecture, I’ll throw you out.”

She thought he was lying for effect, but she wasn’t absolutely sure, so she said nothing more.

David put his hand over the back of the seat and reversed the old car. “I’m going to hit that bridge at a run.

We’ll either get across it or we’ll skid and go over the side, probably upside down. Are you ready?”

Edi braced herself and nodded.

“On second thought, why don’t you get out and wait for me?”

“If another man impugns my courage I’ll take one of the rifles out of the back and shoot him.”

David blinked at her. “Rifles in the back,” he said under his breath. “I’m driving an antique tank. I bet this

thing was used in Sarajevo.”

In spite of the situation, Edi gave a bit of a smile. In 1914, World War I was started when Archduke

Francis Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo. It looked like that, in contrast to his

seeming crassness, Sergeant Clare knew a bit about history.

She held her breath as he got to the top of a little hill and gunned the motor, then he moved the shift down

to low, let up on the clutch while his foot was on the brake, and in the next minute they went toward the old

bridge in a dense flurry of mud and water. Edi could see nothing. The windshield was covered in seconds and the

wiper blades refused to even try to cut into the mud.

The only way she knew they’d reached the bridge was when she heard the bottom of the car hit the wood.

There was a hollow sound that incongruously made her think of
The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

When they hit the road again and the bridge was behind them, they both yelled in triumph.

And that was when they saw the cow. The rain had washed enough of the mud off the windshield that they

could see, and lazily walking across the road, as though she had all the time in the world, was a huge black and

white cow.

“Hold on!” David yelled as he tried to move the heavy car to the side and not hit the cow. At the moment,

he wouldn’t have cared if he smashed the thing, but a cow that big would make them crash.

But they crashed anyway. The car hit the hedgerow at the side of the road, went into a spin, then turned

around twice before heading back toward the bridge. David fought the big steering wheel with all his might, but

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around

3/16/2010 twice before heading back toward the bridge. David fought the b

Jude Deveraux - Lavender Morning.html ig steering wheel with all his might, but

then the leg brace tightened up on him and he couldn’t move his knee. While turning the wheel, he had to lean

toward Edi as he fought to get the clutch all the way to the floor so he could downshift and try to slow the car.

But the clutch, the brake, and the mud were all too much for him and the old car.

The car flipped over, Edi tumbled upside down, and the big car slipped on its top down into the river,

beside the bridge that they’d just successfully crossed.

For a few seconds both of them were stunned, not able to realize what had just happened. There was

blood on the side of David’s head and Edi’s right arm hurt.

“You have to get out,” David said, reaching for her.

She’d been thrown, so she was on the roof of the overturned car, but David was still behind the wheel and

hanging with his head down. She followed his eyes and saw that the water was rising around them. The only thing

keeping the water out was the closed windows of the car—but that wouldn’t last long.

“Yes,” she managed to say. She was dazed, not sure what was happening. “I’ll open the window and we’ll

swim out.” She was pleased that she’d been able to see what needed to be done.

“Can you swim?” he asked.

“Yes, quite well,” she answered. Her head was clearing with each second. “What about you?”

“High school swim team,” he said and gave her his little grin that she’d seen several times.

“Okay, then,” she said. “Are you ready? We need to go as soon as I get the window down.”

“Hey, Harcourt,” he said softly. “A favor? How about a kiss before you go?”

“A kiss? You think that now is the time to—” She broke off when she realized what he’d said repeatedly.

When
she
went, not him, just her. “What’s wrong with you?”

“It’s this damned brace,” he said. “Bad luck on my part. It’s steel and it’s stuck. I can’t get out.”

Edi gave a look out at the water surrounding them and the rain still coming down hard. In minutes they were

going to be completely underwater and the pressure would probably burst the windows and they’d drown.

It wasn’t easy to get her long legs and arms twisted around so she was upright and she could get to his legs,

but she did it. His foot was trapped under the crushed pedals of the car, and there was another piece of metal

that had stopped at his calf.

“Just move your leg, bend at the knee, and take it out. Is your leg broken?”

“I don’t think so, but it’s encased in a steel brace. You need to go. There isn’t time to waste. You have to

—”

“Shut up,” she said. “How do I get you out of this thing?”

“You can’t. You aren’t strong enough. My leg is trapped under some steel and—”

“Just for once in your life stop talking!” she shouted. “How do I move the brace?”

“In my pocket there’s an Allen wrench. It’s—”

“I know what an Allen wrench is.” For the first time, she saw that his right arm was bleeding. He couldn’t

get inside his own pocket. She moved so she was lying across him, then stuck her hand down deep into his

pocket and found the little piece of metal.

The second she had it, the window in the back of the car cracked and the interior started filling with water.

“Three screws in the round hinge at the knee,” David said. “You should go. Give me the wrench and get

out of here.”

Because the car was upside down, the last place to be filled was where David’s feet were trapped, but his

head was near the roof. Even if she got him loose, he might still drown before she could get him out of the car.

Edi half stood, half knelt on the roof as she reached up and pushed David’s trouser leg back and tried to

find the screws on the hinge to loosen them. She found one, twisted, and it moved. But she could feel the water

around her legs.

She looked down and David’s head was almost underwater. He was bending as far forward as he could,

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but he couldn’t move much because of the huge steering wheel across the front of him.

Edi took a deep breath, went under the water, looked at David, and touched his lips. It took him a full

second to realize what she meant. She kissed him all right: she released air into his mouth, then went back up to

the brace.

She got the second screw loose, then took another breath and went under to give air to David.

The third screw stuck, and she thought she wasn’t going to get it loosened. There were only inches of air

space in the car now. She went under again to give him more oxygen and he motioned for her to get out. She

didn’t waste her time shaking her head no.

She had to put her face up against the roof to get a breath of air, then she went under to loosen the last

screw. When the hinge gave way, she gave a hard push on his leg and it moved. He was free!

Edi went downward, toward David’s face to tell him to help her get him out, but his eyes were closed, and

he was limp. She pushed out with her legs to get to the roof for more air, but the car was full of water. There was

no air to be had.

Already, her lungs were hurting. She reached across David to the big handle that turned the window and

cranked it. It was difficult to move and she could feel her arms giving out and her head was feeling light. But she

got the big window down enough that she thought she could get him out.

The water made him lighter, so she was able to maneuver him toward the window enough that the current

of the river seemed to suck him away. Edi nearly panicked when David’s body disappeared, but in the next

second the current grabbed her too and she went flying upward.

When she came to the surface she took a deep breath, then was pulled down again. The next time she

came up, she looked for David, and saw him entangled in the roots of a tree just a few feet away. His eyes were

closed, but at least his head wasn’t under water.

She tried to swim to him, but the current was pulling her in the opposite direction.

“Grab this,” came a voice, and she turned to see a long pole just inches from her head. It seemed to be

attached to something but she couldn’t see what, nor could she see who had spoken. She had to lunge at the

pole twice before she caught it, then she held on with both arms.

“Him!” she yelled to the unseen person who’d saved her. “In the trees. There!”

Edi held on to the pole with her arms and swiped the water out of her eyes as she saw someone in a green

coat on the bank. From the shape of him, with his hunched back, he looked to be an old man. But he was

obviously strong as he pulled David by his collar and dragged him out of the water as though he were a big fish

he’d just caught.

Edi was battling hair and rain to see what was going on, but she didn’t dare let go of the pole. Turning to

her left, she saw that it was part of the bridge, maybe something used to ferry barges across the river. Slowly,

she began to use her arms to pull herself along to try to reach the end of the bridge and the land.

As she moved, she wondered what the man was doing with Sergeant Clare. Would the old man think he

was dead and make no attempt to save him? If Edi could get to him she thought maybe she could apply some

modern lifesaving techniques, and maybe she could get the water out of Sergeant Clare’s lungs so he wouldn’t

die.

“Come on!” she heard a man shout. “Only another foot and you’re home.”

Her arms were killing her and she was shaking with cold and fatigue, but she looked up and saw Sergeant

Clare standing there. The rain was so hard and the mist so dense that she thought maybe she was seeing a ghost.

Had he died and his spirit come back to help her across the raging river?

“Come on, Harcourt!” he shouted. “Get your back into it. I’d come out there and save you but I’m too

beat up. You’ll have to do something for yourself this time. You can’t always depend on
me
to save you.”

“You?” she managed to say. “Why you—” As anger surged through her, she began to kick with her long

legs and she pulled harder on the pole. But even with her anger and her renewed energy, she was giving out.

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Instead of coming closer, the bridge seemed to be going farther away.

She blinked hard to clear the water out of her eyes, but things were going hazy.

In the next minute, she felt a strong arm around her. “I have you now,” she heard in her ear. “You’re safe

now. Let go of that thing and let me have you.”

She obeyed the voice. Her arms fell away from the metal and went around his neck, and her head

collapsed against him. She felt him carry her out of the water, and she felt someone else’s hands on her.

“She dead?” she heard a man ask.

“No,” she heard Sergeant Clare say. He was carrying her and she could feel the drag of his leg from the

brace that he still wore. All she’d done was loosen the knee hinge; she hadn’t removed it.