Bound to You (12 page)

“Maybe we should just wait for the rescue team, then.”

He considered. “The rescue team will need to use rope as well, or a rope ladder. Besides, I don’t mean to alarm you, but a ‘rescue team’ from these parts is likely to consist of the sheriff and one or two volunteer firemen. I tend to trust Lila’s assistance more than Sheriff Mulligan’s,” he mused. “I’m a little worried about Sheriff Mulligan tramping around up there along with Rill and Katie Pierce—nothing against your friends. I hear Rill Pierce is a brilliant writer and director, but I don’t know what kind of an outdoorsman he is.”

“He can hold his own. But I’m up for trying whatever you think, John.”

“Lila?” he called.

“Yep?”

“Is it Sheriff Mulligan who’s coming?”

There was a distinct sound of spitting, an indication of Lila’s disregard for the county’s top lawman. “Yep, for all he’s worth. Him and that sorry-assed Hilbert Hanks. He’s the only volunteer fireman who didn’t get asked on a fishing trip up the Ohio.”

John sighed. It didn’t sound too promising. “Is there a good-sized tree limb hanging horizontally anywhere in the vicinity of the hole?” he bellowed.

“Yep,” Lila called succinctly after a moment.

He frowned, thinking.

“Whatever you want to do, John,” Jennifer said quietly beside him.

“Do you think you can handle the climb without anyone pulling you if you go up first? There’ll be loops and knots on the rope, but it takes a lot of upper body strength to climb a rope.”

He sensed her doubt in the silence.

“I’ll go up first,” he said. “Then I’ll be able to haul you up, and take some pressure off the ground beneath the rope too.”

“Okay.”

“I won’t leave you down here if you don’t want me to. But if I do go up first, it’ll be a matter of minutes before you’re up there with me. I promise.”

“I’ll be fine. I trust whatever you have in mind.”

The pressure in her voice told him she was thinking about what he’d told her last night, about Adele.

“It’s true, John,” she said quietly. “Even if it weren’t for a rescue squad consisting of a worthless sheriff and a sorry-assed volunteer fireman.”

He chuckled and reached up to touch her shoulders.

“Lila! Go ahead and send down the rope. Make sure to loop and knot it before you tie it off. Loop it over the tree branch to take some of the pressure off the lip of the hole.”

“I’m one step ahead of you,” Lila said, her voice sounding muffled and cranky from a distance. A moment later, he heard the subtle swoosh of the rope falling through the air. He put out his hand, and Jennifer placed the bottom loop of the rope into his palm. He leaned down over her.

“Are you sure you don’t mind waiting for a little bit?”

“I’m positive.”

He listened for a tremor in her voice, but heard no trace of it.

“The thing is,” he said quietly, “I don’t want you to stand here. In case the rope causes another cave-in, I don’t want you to be beneath it. I want you to go to the edge of the cave, the one farthest away from the mine collapse. Can you do that?”

“Yes. I’m not as afraid of the dark anymore. Not after last night.”

What a fucking amazing, miraculous woman. He leaned down and seized her mouth for that, quick and fierce.

“I’ll see you next topside. Go over to the edge of the cave,” he said, sliding the crook of his cane through a belt loop on his jeans. “We’ll both be out of here before you know it.” He waited, listening to the sound of her retreating footsteps. When she’d gone a safe distance, he slid his boot into the bottom loop and reached for a knot in the rope. As his muscles contracted as he pulled himself up, he could still feel the imprint of Jennifer’s lips on his mouth.

They were returning to the real world now. He couldn’t help but wonder if that had been their last kiss.

He frowned at the thought and pulled himself steadily out of the dark hole, heartened to feel the ground holding steady beneath the rope. Most would have considered it a hellish experience, being trapped beneath the earth with no escape. John couldn’t help but feel differently, though. If they got out safely, he’d remember the experience for the rest of his days. He’d remember Jennifer—her warmth, her humor, her sensuality and her generosity.

But he was returning back to earth now, where miracles were rare, brilliant and short-lived.

* * *

Jennifer watched John rise up the rope, his big, lean body bunching with effort and dangling in a ray of sunshine. Seeing him leave her sent a strange feeling through her, like she’d never see him again. Her heart jumped in alarm when a chunk of earth crumbled near the rope, breaking apart and spraying John with dirt and rocks. He paused in his ascent, coughing.

“You okay?” she called anxiously.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

He continued up the rope. She wasn’t sure if she drew breath until she saw his boots finally disappear over the edge of the hole.

John pulled the rope up after him. “I’m up, Jennifer. Hold on while I find the most secure place to pull you up.”

“Okay.”

A few minutes later, the rope snaked back down the beam of sunlight, but the end of it didn’t look the same anymore. Instead a sort of harness was there, with several knots above it.

“Step into the harness and get it beneath your hips,” John called. She yelled back when she’d done what he instructed. “Now reach
around
the rope and hug it to you. Don’t try to hold on to it with your hands, just grip your elbows with your hands, so that your forearms, upper arms and chest make a sort of square around the rope, then hug tight. Don’t break the hold for anything. Do you understand?”

“Okay,” she called when she’d endeavored to follow his directions.

“Sit down in the loop. Give the rope your weight,” he shouted.

She did so, swaying in the air when her boots left the ground. It took more muscle tension than she would have expected to keep her body balanced on the rope.

“Feel secure?”

She bit her lip nervously.

“Absolutely,” she called.

“Okay, I’m going to pull you up, now. Hold on tight.”

She suddenly rose three feet in the air and bit off a gasp. The rope cut into her hips and thighs; it pulled painfully against her forearms, straining her biceps and shoulders.

“You okay?”

“Yes!”

A loud grunt of effort tore through the air. She jerked another three feet, and the cave started to drop away from her. She heard another grunt from above and higher she went. About halfway up, she remained suspended for several seconds, swinging back and forth. She looked up through the hole, seeing the rope had been tossed over a tree branch fifteen feet above the ground. John was pulling it at an angle away from the hole, the tree branch taking much of her weight off the possibly fragile lip of the sinkhole. She couldn’t imagine the effort it must be costing him to haul her up.

Her hands were growing sweaty where they gripped her arms, but her discomfort was quite manageable. She was worried about John. Was something wrong?

“John? Are you okay?”

“Hold your horses, Missy,” Lila muttered near the edge of the cave. “You think it’s like playing on the monkey bars for him to haul you out barehanded?”

Embarrassment swept through her. She opened her mouth to contradict the cantankerous Lila, but stopped herself. “No, of course I don’t think it’s easy. I was just worried something was wrong. Is he okay?” she asked quietly, for Lila’s ears only.

“He’s fine,” came the reply, softer than Jennifer would have expected. “That boy is stronger than an ox, body and spirit. He’ll get you out of there.”

She thought she heard John gasp for breath. “It’s okay. I’m ready. Hold on, Jennifer.”

She flew higher, this time in two rapid, strong jerks of the rope. Her heart leapt with excitement when she reached up and touched the edge of the ground. A gray-haired, wrinkly-faced woman wearing a frown stuck her head over the edge.

“Give me one of your hands,” Lila ordered.

Jennifer put one of her hands in Lila’s. Her skin was dry and leathery, but the old woman had a wiry grip.

“One, two,
three
,” Lila shouted.

Lila yanked. Jennifer heard a mighty grunt of effort and then a sustained growl from John, and suddenly she was sprawled on the surface, her forehead pressed against a patch of weeds. Lila’s hands were on her, swinging her hips and legs onto the ground. Jennifer came up on her elbows, panting. The brilliant sun shining in her eyes made the forest look unreal, like a flickering, golden and green fairyland. For the first time, she realized Lila was also lying on the ground.

“Stay spread out on the ground, keep your weight disbursed. Less likely for a cave-in that way,” Lila instructed. “Now crawl toward John.”

Jennifer did as she was told, keeping John in her sights the whole time. He stood with his feet braced against the gnarly roots of an oak tree, the rope wrapped around his forearms and hands several times. Even though he wasn’t pulling on the rope anywhere near as hard as he must have been moments ago, his muscles still kept the rope taut. She couldn’t begin to imagine the strength it must have taken him to pull her out of that hole, drawing on the rope in an almost vertical motion from where it was suspended from the tree branch.

“I hope you know a good chiropractor. You’re going to need it after pulling me out of that hole,” she said regretfully as she neared him, doing an army crawl.

His mouth twitched. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Her attention was diverted when she heard a whining sound.

“Hi, Enzo. Thanks for supper last night,” she greeted. The tawny- and black-haired German shepherd sitting near John wagged his tail.

She’d almost reached John when a woman shouted from the path.

John’s head jerked around. “Pierce . . . Mulligan?”

Jennifer stuck her face up over the weeds and saw that John was correct. Several people stood on the distant path. She made out Katie Pierce’s golden hair and her anxious expression and tall, broad-shouldered Rill standing next to her. A brown-haired man wearing a police jacket stepped off the path.

“Keep back,”
John shouted. “This ground is dicey. It’s liable to give with any more weight. We’re coming toward you.” He reached for Jennifer when she crawled up next to him. He released the tension on the rope and helped her to remove it from her hips.

He touched her shoulder and she looked into his face. His eyes weren’t just blue, like she’d thought in the cave. They were a startling azure color in sunlight. “Go ahead toward Katie and Rill. I’ll follow Lila.”

“Do I have to keep crawling?”

“Yeah, just to be on the safe side. You can stand up when you get to the Pierces.”

A few seconds later, Katie was pulling her up from the ground and hugging her.

“Oh my God, are you all right? We were so scared.”

“I’m fine,” Jennifer assured. “Where’s the baby?”

“Olive Fanatoon took her,” Katie explained.

Rill Pierce stepped up to her, looking dark, handsome and intense. She’d starred in one of Rill’s films four years ago, and was excited to be doing another with him this upcoming autumn. Of course, there wasn’t an actor in Hollywood who wouldn’t be thrilled to take part in one of Rill’s movies. He’d flown her out to his house in the Shawnee National Forest four days ago to talk over some things about the screenplay and her character. She was already friends with his vibrant, tell-it-like-is, beautiful wife because Katie was the little sister of Everett, her former lover.

“I thought I told you not to go off the forest preserve path,” Rill scolded before he hugged her just as hard as Katie had. Jennifer glanced at Katie next to his shoulder and they shared a little smile. Katie had told her that Rill’s accent came out the most when he was angry or worried, and his Irishness was fully evident at the present moment.

“You’ll be glad when you see how the walking off the beaten path strengthened my acting skills,” she teased.

Rill released her, giving her a stern look that was ruined by the small grin tugging at his mouth. John approached with Lila. Sheriff Mulligan, a middle-aged man with skinny l
egs, a large belly and what appeared to be a perpetual expression of discontent on his face, started peppering John with questions. Jennifer accepted a bottle of water from Katie. She sipped it while she listened to John explain their ordeal.

“And neither of you are injured?” Sheriff Mulligan demanded.

“I’m fine. Jennifer? Are you all right?” John asked.

“I’m fine. I can’t really speak for the state of my hips and thighs where the rope bit, and I’ve got a rope burn on my jaw, and bruises from the fall yesterday, but all in all I’d say I’m in excellent condition.”

John walked toward the sound of Jennifer’s voice, stumbling slightly against a man who had been standing rather uselessly in the midst of everyone. Jennifer supposed he was Hilbert Hanks, the volunteer fireman Lila had mentioned. He had a length of coiled rope hanging off one thin shoulder. He’d been gawking at Jennifer ever since she’d reached the path. Katie had noticed Jennifer’s growing discomfort at the man’s nonstop staring and came to stand at an angle that blocked his vision. Hilbert mumbled under his breath when John ran into him, but John just ignored him and kept coming toward her. She took his outstretched hands when he neared her.

“You should go to the hospital and get checked out,” he said.

“I agree,” Katie seconded.

Jennifer squeezed John’s hands. His hair really was as black as midnight. It hadn’t just been the shadows in the cave making it seem so. Distantly, she was aware of Katie watching their interaction with interest, but most of her attention was exclusively on the man who stood before her.

“You should probably come to the hospital too, John,” Rill said. “We’ll drive you both there.”

“I don’t need to go, I’m fine,” John said, his face still turned toward Jennifer. “But you’ll see Jennifer does?”

“No, John . . .” Jennifer paused in her protest when she glanced down at his hand. It was red with thick, swelling rope welts. She gasped.

“Oh my God. Look at your hands,” she muttered, horrified. She grabbed his other hand. It was worse. The skin had been completely torn back in a couple spots. Blood was smeared on the palm.