Wildfire Wedding (8 page)

Krista circled back around to her earlier request. “Which is why I think Jeff represents everything you left behind.”

The muscles clenched in Luke’s jaw. “You told me it was all right to have him be the best man.”

“Months ago it was. Only now, hearing his comments and seeing him again—I honestly hadn’t thought much about what it would be like to see him again. I mean, the Bible says love covers a multitude of sins, but. . .” She clamped her lips together. Everything was coming out wrong. Her gaze shifted to the low rolling hills. A finger of gray smoke rose miles away to the southwest.

Fire? Please, not now.

“I won’t change my mind. I’m trying to reach out to him and keep a connection—”

“I think you could probably have chosen a different mode of outreach other than having him as your best man.” There. She’d said it. Stress—memories—whatever. This all had to be wedding jitters, stress over the details. . .

“Like I said before, you should have told me how you really felt months ago when we were deciding this.” Luke’s phone buzzed. He unclipped it from his belt. “Hang on—”

Krista paused, but she had half a mind to grab the phone and stuff it in his ice cream.

“A message from D.J. I have to go. They need me right now. Grass fire. And it's a big one. And the wind's supposed to be pick up tonight.”

The lump in her throat kept the words from coming out, and even if she could talk, she didn’t know if the words would be the right ones.

Luke stood. “All this aside, I love you, Krista Schmidt. I’m going to marry you, no matter what.”

She followed him from the shop. What a hypocrite. She had been raised to show the love of God, and she wasn’t doing a very good job at it. Okay, she probably could have told Luke months ago that she wasn’t truly comfortable with Jeff being best man. Luke would have chosen Barry if she’d insisted. But then, she figured she'd been insistent enough.

Communication was key to a good marriage. And now look at them. He wordlessly unlocked the door for her, and she slid onto the passenger seat without breaking the silence. A fire raged somewhere, and it now called Luke away from her.

This was not her—their—dream wedding. Not at all.

When he dropped her off at Nana’s, he gave her an extra kiss good-bye.

“Don’t leave without saying anything, Krista.” Luke caressed her cheek.

“This wasn’t how I planned to say good night, the night before our wedding. There is so much to say. . .”

“I love you, and I know you love me. I’ll be praying while we’re apart, and I know you will, too. If we can get through this—”

“We can get through anything.” Krista gave him one last look, searching for words that still escaped her. Instead she only found her purse and left the truck. Luke sped off, leaving her on the curb.

#

Luke jammed the accelerator to get to the house. He had ten minutes to grab his gear and meet the guys at the department.

“Lord, I hadn’t planned any of this. What happened to Krista and me getting married without a hitch?” He still stung from her words. Where was the forgiveness she had supposedly offered? If she still harbored such feelings for Jeff, what about him?

He parked in front of the house and jogged up the walk, then let himself in. Jeff had ESPN up at full volume. An empty bottle stood on the coffee table. His friend lay prostate on the couch, snoring.

“Jeff!” Luke shook his shoulder. “Wake up.”

He blinked and rolled onto his side. “Man, what’s going on?”

“There's a fire. If you need anything, call. . .” Luke knew he couldn’t say “Krista.” He fumbled for a name. “You can call Barry.”

He moved to the front hall closet and pulled out his gear, already double-checked for such a time as this.

“How long are you going to be gone?”

“I—I really don’t know. It depends on the fire.”

“But your wedding—”

“I know.”

“How’s Krista taking this?”

“She knew this was a possibility. We’ll figure something out.” Luke shouldered his pack. “I’ll call you when I get a chance.”

“Stay safe, man.” Then Jeff surprised him by clapping him on the back in an awkward hug.

“I will.” Luke headed out to his truck. He opened the hatch and slung his pack into the back.

When he arrived at the fire station, the rest of the team was assembling.

“All right, Luke’s here! Thought you were getting married.”

“I’m planning on it.” But he could only guess at what the fire had in store.

#

Krista rummaged through the bureau for her swimsuit. After finding it on the clothes dryer in the laundry room, she changed and joined Nana and Sami at the pool. Being with them ought to cheer her up.

That, and some chocolate would be good right about now. Especially since she'd left her chocolate-peanut butter cup sundae melting at the shop.

“There she is! Are you doing better, dear?” Nana waved at her from her spot in the hot tub.

“Yes, I am.” She left her towel on the patio table and sunk into the hot water. Yet her gaze wandered to the southwest. She couldn’t see a cloud of smoke streaming across the sky, but she knew it was somewhere miles away in the darkness.

“Hey, are you going to do some laps?” Sami called from the main pool.

“Maybe in a few.” She smiled at Nana, not wanting to worry her. “The water feels great. Every muscle in my shoulders, back, legs—you name it—it’s tight.” The lump in her throat threatened to lodge itself there again.

“What’s got you tied up in knots? I can venture a guess.” Nana’s soothing voice and the hot water were making Krista relax.

It’s the wedding, the fire, everything at once.” Krista tilted her head back and watched steam from the bubbling water drift into the sky and disappear. “Mom's here, being Mom. Dad's, ah, oblivious—I need to run interference between them, and Jana got here, and I'll have hardly any time to see her at all. I’ve got the caterer all set, plus the musicians, the cake, the. . .” She sighed.

“But there’s something else, something more than Luke fighting the fire, isn’t there?”

Krista nodded. “Luke and I—we had a spat right before he left. There we were, trying to take a moment just for us—”

The story rushed out liked a fire sweeping across a dry field, from Krista’s own struggle about Jeff, to the fire flaring up, to the fight at dinner. The ugly words from Momma went unspoken.

Krista ended with, “I know I can trust Luke, that he won’t let me down again, yet I am still scared.”

“We don’t have guarantees.”

“But what if something happens?”

“Krista, things will always happen. I know in some aspects you’ve had wedding bells ringing in your ears and stars in your eyes, but days will come when Luke will not be your favorite person.”

“I know.” A movement from the direction of the pool caught Krista’s attention.

Sami left the pool and used the handrail to slide into the hot tub. “I hope you don’t mind me joining.”

“Not at all.” Nana moved over a little.

Krista shifted in front of one of the water jets and let it pound her back. “Nana’s giving me a pep talk about marriage.”

“Is it getting through?” Nana smiled at her.

“I think so.” Krista returned the grin, though her heart still quavered a bit.

“I ought to take notes.” Sami flicked her wet ponytail over her shoulder. “I’m not even seeing anyone. It’s been ages. I got burned once, figured the right guy will pursue me long enough if he’s the one. What does Nana say?”

“Nana says you need to pray lots, not just for the heart of the man you’ll marry, but about the state of your own heart.” Nana stood and moved for the railing. “Girls, I should prepare for bed. We’ve got a big day tomorrow. Don’t stay up too late.” She carefully stepped out of the hot tub, fetched her towel, and headed across the patio to the rear of the house.

“She’s in great shape for a lady her age.” Sami gestured with her head.

“That she is. Every morning, without fail, she does twenty minutes of stretches.” Krista extended her legs in front of her and let the bubbling water massage them. “Would you believe she can still do the splits?”

“Honest?”

“Yup.” Krista closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She grinned, but the expression felt like a tied-on mask.

“What’s eating you now.”

“I was really rude to Jeff. In spite of myself, I do care. And I can’t take back what I said. But he had the nerve to suggest Luke went wholeheartedly into his party life, headfirst.”

“Jeff is right, you know.” Sami held up one hand. “Don’t get mad at me for agreeing with him. Luke’s a red-blooded adult male who’s capable of making his own decisions. God gave him free will just like He did to you. To all of us.”

“I know that, too. Here I’ve been blaming Jeff one-hundred percent for influencing Luke to leave his faith and leave me.” Krista swallowed hard. “But now—the idea that there’s a possibility that one day Luke could let me down like that again—like I told Nana, that terrifies me.”

“Love is a risk. Which is why I’m steering clear until I know I’ve found a man I can trust with my heart.”

“You’re a smart woman not to settle. I’ve seen people do just that.” Krista lifted her left hand out of the bubbling froth and looked at her sparkling ring. Luke had placed that ring on her finger under the shadow of a large oak tree on her great-great-grandparents' former farm.

“Krista, you should see your face. The night before your wedding, and you look mopey. The whole idea of having a wedding is speaking your vows before God, your friends, your family. We’re all behind you two lasting for the rest of your lives.” Sami’s grin spread across her face. “Now that’s a cause for celebration. You could spend time worrying about what could go wrong. Just think about everything the two of you have gone through and all that can go right.”

Krista tried to smile, but her thoughts lay miles away with the fire and not the wedding.

SEVEN

              Smoke rose high above the rippling acres of ranch land and mocked the line of firefighters trying to hold the fire back. Luke gritted his teeth and swung his ax, removing some low-lying scrub from the earth. The fire would not win, even if his group had to work through the night when humidity was on their side.

He paused to snatch his water bottle from his pack and surveyed the progress. They'd cut a swath of defensible space twenty feet wide from the edge of the fire. His fellow workers in their yellow Nomex jackets showed up against the ground among the pines.

“Okay, boys!” D.J. approached the line. “We got a report that the southwest edge is contained, but that don’t help us much. The winds are supposed to pick up toward dawn.  We’ve got to get this western section under control before we join the gang on the northwest side.”

Northwest? Settler Lake lay to the northwest. There was the off chance that the winds would change and could blow the fire toward the community.

“D.J?”

“Yeah?”

“How close is the fire to Settler Lake?”

D.J.’s toothy grin flashed in the glare of their working lights. “Far enough away to be under control by your wedding.” He socked Luke in the arm. “Now gebbacktawork!”

Luke put the cap back on his water bottle and stuffed it inside his pack, then slung the pack onto his back. He wouldn’t let the fact that he was getting married in less than twelve hours distract him. He’d put in his time and see if D.J. would have mercy on him and let him out for a while Saturday afternoon. They were volunteers, and volunteers stayed.

He prayed for help against the fire.

“Look out, we got a flare-up!” Someone called out in a hoarse voice.

Luke’s gaze darted to a sudden flash to his right.  A small cedar bush about the size of a Christmas tree succumbed to the encroaching fire. Another oak tree close to the seven-foot torch was next in line.

“Let’s get it!” Bud, the guy next to him in the line, grabbed his ax.

Luke did likewise. They ran to the tree and began swinging at the trunk.  Sweat stung Luke’s eyes.  He could barely remember anything except the urgency to get this fire line held back. Krista. He ached to hold her, to tell her how much he loved her, how sorry he was that they had fought at dinner. A million little things swept through his mind.

He chopped harder at the tree. Bud gave a push, and the pine fell. “We won, Hansen!”

“Not yet, we haven’t.”

“Don’t worry, Romeo. We’ll get it done so you can get back to your bride.”

They joined the rest of the line and Luke picked up the pace. Luke’s shoulder started to hurt, so he backed off a bit. He wouldn’t be any good to them if his shoulder blew again.

“You feelin’ lonely, Hansen?” One of the guys hollered.

“What, with all of you around? No way!” Luke grinned and kicked at a bit of earth.

“Aw, leave him alone. It stinks having this happen right before his wedding.” The sound of more chopping punctuated the air.

“It’s okay, guys.” Luke straightened and then flexed his back. “You do me the favor of helping me make it to the wedding on time, and you’re all invited.”