Hard Rain (16 page)

“What about you, Ian?” Jesse asked his son.

The boy shrugged. “It’d be okay.”

Amy smiled at her son. She threw her arms around him and pulled him to her.

“Mom,” he protested, trying to wiggle out of her embrace, but she wouldn’t let him go. She kept her arm around her son’s shoulders as she reached out her hand to Jesse. He held it tight. Amy knew they would not let go of each other, either. Never again.

That was how Amy’s mother, unable to put off her curiosity any longer, found them. Smiling, holding on tight. Together.

A
MY ROCKED
on the porch, looking out at the surrounding lands, waiting for the new Bronco with the star on its side to come over the horizon. Turning Point’s landscape had changed. There were gaping holes where trees had been ripped out by the roots, open spaces where once a house or business stood. Reminders of Damon’s wrath. Not that people were likely to forget. Yet they were getting on with their lives, rebuilding with the same stubborn determination that had created this town.

Amy gave a small yawn and stretched. She had finished her twelve-hour shift earlier that day and driven the distance from Beeville, where she was finishing her residency. After it was completed, she would take over Doc Holland’s practice. As Mitch had predicted, Turning Point’s doctor was ready to retire. In the meantime, Cheryl Tierney was working with him and studying for her nurse practitioner’s license. Together she and Amy hoped to set up a new urgent care medical facility, which would help to relieve the area’s sorely lacking medical emergency services. She and Jesse often got together with Cheryl and Noah Arkin, Turning Point’s
veterinarian. Noah had saved Cheryl’s life during the hurricane when he’d pulled her out of a car caught in the river’s violent current, and then captured her heart.

Nate Kellison, the paramedic who’d come with the Courage Bay team during Damon, was here in Turning Point, too, but Amy didn’t see him as much. He was busy running the ranch with Jolene Angel and anxiously awaiting the birth of her baby. His new boss and future father-in-law, Mitch, also kept him busy working for the town’s fire department.

Dana Ivie was here, too. Having finally met her match in pilot Micky Flynn, she’d found she couldn’t just walk away. And neither could Micky, whose past relationships with women had strictly adhered to his be-gone-by-breakfast rule.

Amy saw the Bronco come into sight over the slight rise and smiled. The vehicle parked. She watched Jesse emerge, and walk toward the porch, never failing to enjoy his easy gait, the large, long frame of his body.
Her husband.
Her mind would tell her that again and again, and still it did not fail to amaze her.

They had decided if Ian agreed to live in Texas, he and Amy would move there before the school year started so Ian wouldn’t have to change schools midyear. Ian had agreed, reluctantly, but once he arrived in Texas, Jesse’s cousin’s boys and the rest of Jesse’s family took him as one of their own. Spending time together on a daily basis had also cemented his relationship with Jesse, and although there had been bumps along the way, the two were steadily progressing toward the closeness shared by a father and son. Ian’s
complaints were now fewer and pertained more to chores and bedtime curfews.

With Ian’s blessing, Amy and Jesse had married last weekend in a simple ceremony on the land where his house had been rebuilt with friends throughout the community. Ian had been the best man.

Rachel had flown in with Guy and the baby to be Amy’s maid of honor, and in an unconventional twist that surely would have pleased Aunt Betts, Amy had asked her mother to walk her down the aisle and give her away.

Jesse climbed the steps to the porch. She lifted her face for his kiss as he came to her. Her brow furrowed slightly as she looked past him. “Where’s Ian?”

Jesse sat down in the rocking chair beside Amy. He took her hand as he began to rock, and kissed her fingertips.

“Aunt Edna asked if he could have dinner and sleep over with the boys.”

“Again?” Amy chuckled softly. “I thought it was our turn for the sleepover.”

“Probably, but Aunt Edna enjoys fussing over them. And—” he pulled her up by her hand and led her to his lap “—it gives you time alone with your handsome husband.”

She leaned down and kissed his lips, then settled her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her and rocked her.

“Jesse?”

“Mmm?”

“You know the back room we were planning on finishing next summer?”

“Mmm,” he murmured contentedly. “The one we were going to make a guest bedroom.”

“Will you have time to finish it before then?”

“Probably. Why? Is your mother after you to visit?”

“Always.”

Jesse chuckled and Amy closed her eyes, taking a moment to revel in the sound.

“You know Aunt Edna and Uncle Frank said they’d be glad to put her up until we get the house finished.”

Amy straightened to look Jesse in the eyes. “We don’t need the room for my mother.” She smiled as the puzzlement on Jesse’s face segued into understanding.

“Do you mean…?” He placed a large palm gently on her abdomen, where only a slight curve revealed the child inside. His comprehension changed into joy.

She covered his hand with her own and nodded. “During the storm.”

He laughed and kissed his bride.

“If it’s a girl, I’d like to call her Elizabeth.”

He nodded. “And if it’s a boy?”

Looking at each other, they blurted, “Damon.” Still laughing softly, Amy snuggled against her husband. He embraced her, and together they sat for a long time, silently rocking as the day drew to an end. In the coming darkness, a bolt of lightning split the sky.

“Storm’s coming,” Jesse noted.

Amy nodded, settling into her husband’s arms, listening to the beat of his heart, which matched her own. A clap of thunder followed the lightning. Soon
rain would begin to fall. Jesse and Amy sat together content. They’d faced much bigger storms than this one. And won.