Discovering Sophie (22 page)

Gritting his teeth together, he struggled to sit up. His head swam, and he felt beads of perspiration dot his forehead. He drew in a slow, deep breath and waited for the dizziness to pass. Before he could start to move toward the tent door, it opened up and Sophie slipped inside, holding a small LED lantern.

“Hey, I thought I heard you wake up.” She knelt beside him. “How’s the pain?”

“Bad enough I might consider a shot of morphine.”

She gave him a small smile. “At this point, oral meds would be much better. They last longer and will give you better pain control.” She placed two pain pills in his palm. “You should take these now,” she said, offering him a water bottle.

“Thanks.” He swallowed the pills and watched as she leaned over to check his leg. The soft glow from the lantern silhouetted the curve of her cheek, her full lips and the gentle slope of her perfect small nose. She was so beautiful.

Her fingers lightly brushed his leg as she checked the sutures. Her touch did more to combat the pain than any pill did. She replaced the bandage and glanced over to catch him staring at her.

“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

“No.” Jack gave her a sheepish smile. “I was just admiring my pretty doctor.”

He watched the slow curve of her mouth lift into a radiant smile. “I think I like you this way.”

"And what way would that be?”

She moved to sit beside him. “All sweet and saying nice things.”

“I’ve said you were pretty before.”

“If I remember correctly, you said, ‘I have no desire to take a beautiful woman into the jungle.’”

Yeah, he had said that. “But I also told you how pretty you looked in the dress I bought you.”

“True.” She gave him a level look. “Then you sat with another girl and let her feed you fresh fruit.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t remind me.”

Sophie gave a soft giggle and pulled out a protein bar from the pocket of the Texas A&M sweat pants she had on. “I brought you something to eat.” She opened the package and broke of a piece. “Would you like me to feed it to you?” she teased.

Jack grinned. “Yes, please.”

Shaking her head, Sophie slanted forward and placed the chocolate morsel between his lips. The soft touch of her fingers against his mouth made his heart skip, then take off at a rapid pace.

A faint blush colored Sophie’s cheeks as she eased away from him. Their eyes held, and Jack knew he had been wrong. Having a woman feed him did do something for him.

He swallowed, and Sophie anticipated his need for a drink, offering him the water bottle. “Thank you.” His voice came out low and soft, intimating the eddy of emotions rushing through him. He was falling more and more in love with her by the minute and wasn’t sure how long he could hold back from telling her.

“You’re welcome.” She moistened her lips and handed him the rest of the protein bar. “You need to finish this so the pain meds won’t upset your stomach.”

Feeling slightly dizzy, whether from her touch or his injury, he took the bar and bit into it. The sooner he ate it, the sooner he could lie back down.

Sophie brought her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on top, watching Jack with a soft look. “We won’t be able to travel for the next few days.”

“I’m sorry.” He grimaced, feeling guilty for holding up their journey. “But we’re only a day or so away from
Del Sol
. I’m sure if I rest tomorrow, I’ll be up for the travel the next day.”

He took another bite of the protein bar as Sophie sat up and shook her head. “No you won’t.” She pointed to his leg. “You need at least forty-eight hours with your leg elevated or lying flat to prevent swelling. After two days, we’ll evaluate things and go from there.”

“I’m a fast healer,” he said, finishing off his meal. When he saw she was ready to protest again, he said, “But, like you said…we’ll see.”

“Yes we will.” She took the empty wrapper and stuck it in her pocket. “Now you need to lie back down and go to sleep.”

Jack’s stomach tightened with anxiety as she moved toward the door. He wasn’t ready for her to leave. Even though he knew it was selfish, he reached out and took a hold of her hand. “Please don’t go.”

“What is it?” she questioned, her brown eyes filled with concern.

“I…I don’t want to be alone.” The words were so literal to him—he didn’t want to be alone anymore. Discovering Sophie after all these years had been a gift from God, and Jack was going to do everything he could to make things right and accept it.

“Okay.” She settled next to him, once again hugging her knees to her chest and resting her chin on top. “I’ll stay here until you fall asleep.”

“Thanks.” He licked his lips. “Maybe you could answer a few questions for me.”

“Sure.” She eyed him curiously. “That is, if I know the answers.”

Part of him didn’t want to talk about those days following the betrayal by his fiancée, his brother, and even his parents, but he knew in order to find his way back to God, he had to talk about what had happened.

“When Heather told me she was pregnant.” Jack’s voice faltered, and he cleared his throat. “I was hurt and very angry, not only with her and Adam, but with my parents and…with God.”

“That’s understandable.” Her eyes softened. “I can’t imagine how painful that time was for you.”

He clenched and unclenched his hands. “When Adam came to talk to me, his idea of an apology was to tell me it was my own fault for leaving Heather alone so I could go and build houses for poor people and preach to them about Jesus.”

“What a jerk,” Sophie said, surprising him and making him laugh.

“Yeah, well I hit the jerk in the face and broke his nose.” He smiled. “It really messed up the wedding pictures.”

“That must have been hard for you,” she said quietly. “To have to attend their wedding.”

“It was.” He swallowed and met her gaze. “But I don’t recall one person ever acknowledging my feelings. My parents were angry with me for hitting Adam. They were even angrier when I’d made it clear I had no intention of attending the marriage ceremony.”

“How soon was the wedding?”

He gave a humorless laugh. “Believe it or not, since the church was reserved and paid for, they kept it on the same day Heather and I were supposed to be married.”

“You’re kidding!”

“I wish I were.” He loved the indignant look on her face. “It was like my parents and Heather’s parents thought everyone would think Adam had always been the groom and there had just been a mistake on the wedding announcements. I was messing up their plan by not yielding to their wishes to get over my anger and support my brother.” He laughed again. “My parents even had our pastor talk to me about how my sin was greater by not forgiving Heather and Adam. In the end, I was made out to be the bad guy because I wasn’t doing what God wanted.”

“That’s ridiculous. You didn’t even have time to process everything. Even God knows you needed time to work through all your emotions.”

Was that really true? Had God been willing to let Jack forgive when he was ready? Still, Jack had a hard time with all that had happened, especially since he had been doing God’s work.

“Even if you’re right, why would God have allowed that to happen to me in the first place? I was out doing exactly what the Bible teaches, and the thanks I got was my fiancée pregnant with another man’s baby—my brother’s baby.”

Jack hated how harsh his voice sounded. He wanted to get rid of this bitterness once and for all. He just didn’t know how to.

Sophie’s eyes remained soft and understanding, without a hint of condemnation. “God didn’t make Heather and Adam betray you. They made a choice, and as much as it pained both you and God, it was still their choice. The hard part is what
you
choose to do. You can choose to turn your back on God and remain unhappy and angry, or you can choose to forgive and see what else God has in store for you.”

Her simple words were exactly what Jack needed to hear. He’d had a choice. Like it or not, how he’d handled everything had been his choice. Even now, he had a choice. Since hanging onto his anger hadn’t brought him any peace, maybe it was time to pick the other option.

Suddenly, there in a small tent in the middle of the jungle, Jack knew what he wanted more than anything. He shut his eyes and prayed in his mind for God to forgive him. He prayed for strength to forgive his parents and to forgive Heather and Adam. An intense pressure of warmth squeezed his chest and spread through his limbs, and his eyes burned with emotion.

“Jack,” Sophie whispered. “Are you okay?” Her fingers were feather light as they wiped away a tear that had seeped out from under his eyelid.

He opened his eyes to find her face close to his own. “Yeah.” He cupped her cheek with his palm and met her gaze. Could it be that this woman was what God had in store for him? His heart slammed against his chest as he finally acknowledged the extent of his feelings.

“I…love you, Sophie,” he said in a shaky voice.

Her eyes widened, and she sucked in a sharp breath. He could tell she was shocked.
Shoot
. The stupid pain meds were making his tongue loose. He was about to make some wise crack about his premature declaration but stopped when Sophie’s mouth curved up into the most radiant smile.

“Oh, Jack.” She hiccupped a light laugh. “I love you, too.”

He relaxed and ran his thumb across her bottom lip. “I think I knew that.”

Sophie smiled. “Are you sure this isn’t the pain medicine talking? You told me I shouldn’t take you seriously.”

 “I’m feeling pretty cloudy, but not enough to make me say something I don’t mean.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not good enough for you, though.”

“Jack—”

He stopped her with another intense look. “I’m not. But I’ll do everything I can to be worthy of you.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I think I’d like that.” She turned her face and pressed a kiss to his palm.

His head felt fuzzy as the pain medicine kicked in. “You better go back to your own tent. I’ll call if I need you.” He smiled playfully and amended his words. “Well, I know I need you, so I’ll call if I need more pain medicine.”

She traced the curve of his mouth with her fingertip. “Okay. Good night, Jack.”

He kissed her finger. “Good night.” She started to pull away again and Jack stopped her one last time. “Hey, Sophie…I really do love you.”

She grinned. “I know.”

He gave a low chuckle. “Oh no, you’re starting to sound too much like me.” He could feel his eyelids growing heavy.

Just before letting go, he felt Sophie press a kiss to his forehead and whisper, “I really love you too, Jack.”

* * *

Jack sat on a log, pouting like a spoiled little boy, his arms crossed over his chest in defiance. “I can walk, so I don’t see why we can’t leave.”

Sophie bit her lip and mentally counted to ten. Talk about a non-compliant patient. His idea of feeling better meant he could do everything he had done before, including leaving their campsite. She met his scowl. “Don’t look at me like that. If you rip open your stitches, we have to start all over again.”

“I won’t rip out the stitches,” he growled.

She marched over and stood in front of him, placing her hands on her hips. “You are so grouchy this morning.”

His mouth tilted up slightly. “Yeah, well, you’re really bossy this morning.”

This coming from the man she’d taken care of for the past twenty-four hours. “I am not bossy. I just expect my patient to follow my orders.”

“Sophie, we can’t stay here forever,” he moaned, trying a different tactic.

She snorted unladylike. “One day is not forever, Jack.” She knelt down to check his leg. “It actually looks pretty good. Maybe if we take it slow, we can leave tomorrow.”

Jack reached for her hand as she stood up. “What difference will it make to wait another day?”

He twined their fingers together, and Sophie’s autonomic nervous system immediately responded to his touch, increasing her pulse rate and making her brain foggy. “The rest will aid in the healing process. Please, just trust me, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Really?” She eyed him warily. “You’re going to listen to me?”

“Yep.” Jack tugged on her hand, pulling her down onto his lap. “So, are you going to stay by me and entertain me all day?”

“Sure. But I don’t sing or dance. If I had a few balloons, I could make you a dog or a giraffe.”

“Well,” he said, giving her a mischievous smile. “Since we don’t have any balloons and you can’t entertain me otherwise, I’d like to hear just what it was that made you fall in love with me.”

“I’d have to say it was the charming way you consented to take me along with you the first day I met you,” she said dryly.

“Hey, I want to hear my good qualities. Come on, remember I’m injured.”

“Right.” The playful look in his eyes gave her an answer. “You make me laugh, even if I don’t want to.”

He winked. “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.” He pulled her close to him. “What else?”

She may as well go along with this. After all, it was going to be a long day. “Hmm, you are very attractive.”

He raised an eyebrow and flexed. “Don’t forget ripped.”

Bulging muscles had never been her thing—until now. Her mouth went dry. “Well, there is that.”

Jack gave her a smug smile. “Keep going.”

She twisted their joined hands so his was on top. “I like your hands,” she said tracing the veins on his very masculine hand with her finger.

Then she trailed her fingers up his arm and across his chest. “And you have a good heart.” Through her flattened palm, she could feel his rapid pulse beating beneath his shirt. Looks like Jack’s autonomic nervous system reacted just like hers.

Her hand moved from his chest to his face, his whiskers rough beneath her palm. Once again, she gazed into pools of blue and noticed the smug look was no longer there. “But I think the thing I love the most are your eyes.”

Jack took a ragged breath. “Okay. That was good. But maybe you should tell me what you don’t like about me.” He sat back, releasing her hand. “Good grief, woman, you can’t say stuff like that when Hector isn’t around.”