Nothing Lasts Forever (14 page)

He was right. The storm was over and there was no time to waste, they could help find others. For hours they stood among the firefighters, policemen and volunteers who hurled every piece of metal and debris from the piles and piles on the ground to make sure there were no bodies or people alive.

Chapter 12

The two worked with others throughout the night with the help of generators and lights. Abby worked right beside Jon, taking his hand, holding on to him as they covered each square mile in the search for others until it ended as the morning sun began to rise. Abby didn’t realize how many hours went by, it seemed as if the disaster happened moments before.

“Go on inside and get some breakfast,” the manager of the campground told them. “They brought food in, you worked alongside of us all night. Go on.”

Abby stumbled beside him, her legs stiff and hurting as she followed him inside and realized his wound must be sore by now. “You worked non stop with that wound. We better take a look and clean it, Jon.”

He grinned or winced, she wasn’t sure but went downstairs for the first aid kit. Jon followed her down the steps and after she dressed his wound, he grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

She kissed his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Same here.” It was an awkward moment because people surrounded them, coughing and moving around. Abby wanted to be alone, to get over this tragic event where others couldn’t see the raw pain in her eyes or hear her sobs. But they no longer had a home. Their temporary home got ripped apart by a tornado as if a monster came along and tore the campground apart. “What are we going to do?” she asked, her voice shook so bad he kissed her quiet.

“We can go to a hotel baby. Jake left me a card to use since we’re still waiting on ours to show up. Let’s go eat and try to come up with a plan.” He took her hand and guided her up the steps.

They joined the others and got a plate of food before they took it outside. Abby sat down on the grass and leaned back against the office wall, it’s concrete structure cool against her back, glad to have food to eat. They ate in silence until one of the firemen walked by and pointed to Abby. “You may want to have those cuts dressed,” he told her and kept walking.

She looked down at her legs to see them covered in mud and small cuts on her skin where she banged herself over and over again as dried and fresh blood mingled together. “Minor stuff compared to everyone else,” she told Jon when he stooped over to check them.

He agreed. “When we’re done eating it’s your turn at the first aid kit.” She smiled inside because she didn’t seem to have the energy to even chew her food. Her eyes began to droop and her plate fell to the ground. It stirred her awake with a start.

She gazed over at Jon to see him staring at the grounds. “Hey.”

He looked in to her eyes, exhaustion in his own. “Nothing lasts forever, does it baby?” His quiet words took her back to Kevin and now this. She didn’t know what to say, so she stayed quiet and moved her head back and forth, raw emotions filling up her heart and soul about to spill over. She took his hand in hers. “We can get through this, one day at a time,” he continued. “I don’t regret this trip one bit even though it’s brought us so much hurt. I’m so thankful and relieved we made it through this tornado, that we’re both here to look each other in the eye. To touch each other and make love and wake up together every single morning. We’re lucky.” He brought her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips against her skin, dirt and all.

His words renewed her spirit. “If nothing lasts forever we must make this journey the best life we have my love. Every single day I want to wake up beside you, to love you and have you look at me with those dark, sexy eyes. I want to know you want me so much that I can’t bear to be without your touch. I want to have a baby.”

“A baby?” He began to grin then it turned in to out right laughter. He gathered her in his arms even though a groan ensued while he did so. “We are sitting here in the middle of chaos and you decide out of the blue you want a baby?”

She nodded, her face in his chest. She smelled his scent even with all the dirt and grime on his clothes and closed her eyes. “I do. Not any baby, ours. We will be great parent’s love. Look at Kevin. We have so much to give a child.”

He picked up her left hand and kissed the cheap ring on her finger. “Do I have any say in this?”

“Not much. Although I’m certain you’ll want to help, or not.” She grinned in to his chest.

His arms tightened around her and he titled her chin with his finger. “No one else will give you a baby but me, understand?”

She smiled in to those serious eyes. “I do.”

“Promise? I know how you operate Abby. You go at things full throttle until you get want you want.”

“True my love. Besides, my birth control pills are lost somewhere in this mess. If you don’t agree to have a baby, we can’t make love until we get back to the Keys. Even then, I’ll have to wait until I get another prescription and -”

He shut her up with a long, drawn out kiss that made her toes curl. “I don’t wait, Abby.” He stood and pulled her up so they faced each other in the middle of the tornado’s aftermath.

“I love you Jon. Every single thing about you, I love. I hate what we lost and how we lost Kevin and there’s a lot of sadness right now, but I wouldn’t want to go through this without you.”

Jon hugged her to him and then looked up in the air. He pointed and grinned. “Hey, look up.”

Abby gazed up in to the blue sky and saw an array of colors coming at her. She almost jumped back but realized it was Pete, her beloved parrot. Penny began to bark so loud others looked at them. With all the chaos that surrounded them, the green and orange colors were like a sign from the heavens. “Pete, you made it!” She began to click her tongue as the bird landed on her shoulder, it’s claws sharp against her skin but she didn’t care.

“He made it home,” Jon said out loud.

“Yeah. Guess it’s true. Home isn’t about a house made of bricks or wood or stone or whatever. Home is truly where the heart is. I get that now more than ever.”

“We’ve done all we can here. I’m calling a cab,” Jon said as he pulled out his cell.

“Are you sure? There may be something else we can do to help. You’re a doctor after all, don’t you need to stay here and lend a hand?”

He shook his head as he put the phone to his ear. “I’ve checked everyone, no injuries and we’ve done enough. It’s time to get started on that baby.”

Abby laughed out loud as Jon spoke to the cab service, then began to ask the rescue workers to guide them to a hotel that allows pets. His determination was incredible to find them a place to stay. She called out to him. “I love you, Jon.”

He stopped what he was doing and turned to her. Others were within earshot but he didn’t care, she could see how proud he was to proclaim his love for her. “I love you baby. More than my own life, more than anyone I’ve ever loved. You are my home, my place where I can escape from this harsh world. I will treasure every waking moment with you.”

Abby ran in to his arms as the chaos surrounded them. Firefighters still worked on the piles of rubbish as people left the area to find their own place to go. Policemen directed traffic around the street, but she wasn’t aware of anyone or thing, except the man who held her in his arms. She didn’t need to find herself or go on a road trip to search for something else. She wanted to go back to her house on the beach with the man she loved above all others. If it took them a long time to get there, it didn’t matter, because she was where she was meant to be, in Jon’s arms. She was home.

The End

Read on to find out what’s in store for Abby and Jon in the last book of the series, Promise Me Forever

About The Author

Thank you for reading book #2 of Jon and Abby’s journey.

The last novella, book #3 is now available. As always, I would love if you sign up to my mailing list at
www.cyndiraye.com
. Enjoy the first chapter of Promise Me Forever:

Chapter 1

“I don’t know where to start or what to say. All I know is I went to Memphis with a dream and a hope to make children happy and I came back with a broken heart. It’s torn in two and so deep in my soul I don’t know if I can ever volunteer again in public. But there’s one thing I know, Ma, I came home with a stronger than ever purpose.”

“Oh sweetheart, I am so sorry you have a broken heart.”

Abby stared at her mother and shook her head. “No, don’t be sorry. I have a new purpose in life. I want children, my own and others, and I also want to take away the pain of homelessness to orphans who need a family like mine. It’s my new mission in life. Perhaps Grandpa knew his money would be used for the greater good someday.”

“Abby, are you certain? Maybe it’s too early to be thinking this way yet.”

“Look around Mama! Look at this property. It’s big enough to house a dozen or more children and I plan to do so. Jon feels the same way. If we found out anything on our journey, it’s that we know for certain what we want out of life.” Abby closed her eyes. She placed the glass of wine to her lips and took a sip as she thought about their journey home after the devastating tornado and loss of Kevin, the little boy who stole their heart at the Children’s hospital in Memphis.

Abby’s mom poured another glass. “Tell me about Kevin.”

She smiled. “Kevin had the sassiest blue eyes ever. When he looked at me it was as if I were his whole world. He even called me Mommy.”

“You would make a wonderful mother.” She leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Abby sighed. At one time she was so angry at her mother and her dad for choosing to become spies over raising their own daughter. But she learned to forgive and appreciate they loved her enough to want her to have a normal life.

Abby nodded. “I know that now. I will be a great mom. Kevin’s mother gave him up because she loved drugs more. And men. She left Kevin on his own whenever she whored for money to buy drugs. He went out on the balcony one day and fell from a loose rail two stories below. She didn’t even know it until the ambulance showed up and banged on her door to come out. They said she was so high she stumbled around at the hospital until she signed over custody of him.”

“That’s horrible.” Abby’s mother cried, tears dripping down her face. Even though her own mother faked her own death to go undercover a few years back, she did made sure Abby was taken care of by her grandfather, who gave her a good life. Abby thought it was cruel what her own mother did to a teenager, but what Kevin’s mother did to him was inexcusable. At least her own parents had a noble excuse, not like this one who cared about herself and her drugs and threw that little boy to the curb.

“Kevin was five years old and yet terrified because his own mother put him in a dumpster out back to punish him. He begged us not to put him back in the dumpster.” Abby’s tears ran free as the memory of the fear on his face set in her mind so clear it was as if it happened yesterday. She curled in to her mother’s open arms and her body racked with sobs.

“Let it out, Abigail. I got you. I’m here for you.”

After a good cry, she leaned back in her chair and stared out at the mesmerizing dark sky lit up by the natural light of the moon and stars. They were on the private beach by the water, the moon shining down, its reflection like a mirror for miles until it disappeared over the horizon. “Kevin will like it here.”

“Did you bring his ashes?”

Abby nodded. “Yes. Sallie pulled some strings and let us bring him home. I used to hate that woman.”

Her mother wrapped her arms around Abby. “Whoever she is, it sounds like she did you a big favor.”

“She did. At first I thought she wanted Jon and I’m sure she did. But then after she realized our love was too strong for her to tear him away from me, she gave up and helped us get Kevin. I will forever be grateful.”

Penny groaned from her place beside Abby. She giggled because the dog acted as if she could understand who Abby talked about. “Penny wasn’t too crazy about the woman either.” The screen door slammed shut.

“Sounds like your man is home.” Her mother got up and gave her a kiss. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Mom, I wish you and Dad would stay with us in the house. Don’t you tire of living on a sail boat?”

“No baby, we don’t. Did you ever tire of living in the RV?”

Abby shook her head and laughed as her mother began her trek towards the boat tied to the docks. “You got me there, Ma.”

“Hey.” Two strong arms came around her from behind and she could feel the warmth of his embrace. Jon placed a gentle kiss on her neck before he sat beside her. His knuckles brushed against her cheek. “How are you?”

Abby shrugged and looked in to his dark eyes. “I’m good. No Jon. I’m great. It’s a great day to be alive.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t want to move from this spot.” He took her hand and brought it to his mouth and held it there while they looked out in to the night, mesmerized by the ocean’s lure.

“Kevin would love this,” Jon said, his voice cautious.

“I said those same words a few minutes ago. Everything seems clearer now with a good cry in my mother’s arms.”

“I feel so lost, so broken.” The strain in Jon’s voice was clear. The blow to his heart was so real she wanted to make it better. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the Keys, but there’s something missing from my life now. I can’t seem to shake this.”