“Caitlan! Oh, God, Caitlan, no!” Be scooped her gently into his arms and cradled her close, desperation ruling him. Touching his fingers to her neck, he felt a faint pulse, reaffirming that she still lived.
She can’t die
, he tried to reassure himself, but the panic within him wouldn’t subside.
Gingerly, he touched the bright red spot on her sweatshirt. His fingers came away wet and stained, and he moaned like a wounded animal. “Shit, you’re bleeding!” he said in disbelief. “You can’t be bleeding....”
Her lashes fluttered open and she attempted a smile. A
smile
, for chrissakes! Pain bracketed her mouth. Her eyes were glassy but more brilliantly violet than he’d ever seen them before.
“I’m not ... invincible, Johnny,” she said in a wispy voice. She gasped for breath, then an anguished groan slipped past her lips.
Despair clutched at J.T. “Call Dr. Henson!” he bellowed as Frank came running up to the scene. “And have him get an ambulance here immediately! Caitlan’s been shot!”
Frank bolted toward the house, and J.T. glanced back at Caitlan, whose face had gone deathly pale. The pain and tears he’d never shed for Amanda gathered in his throat. “Please don’t leave me, Caitlan. Please!” he rasped. “Hold on just a little longer.”
“It hurts,” she said, her breath catching. “I didn’t think it would hurt so much.”
“Shh,” he soothed, brushing her hair away from her face. A tear seeped from the corner of her eye, and he tenderly wiped it away with his thumb. “Baby, hang in there. You’ve got to hang on!”
I won’t let you leave me, not without a fight!
Caitlan lifted her hand to his face and touched her fingers to his lips, wincing at the effort it cost her. “Johnny, I have to leave. My mission is over.” She drew a breath that trembled the length of her body. “I was sent to protect you. Johnny ... I told you I couldn’t stay.”
A broken sound of torment passed his lips and he shook his head in denial. “No!” Grabbing her hand, he pressed her fingers to his mouth, absorbing her warmth, her softness, everything about her.
She gave him another shaky smile, enough of an attempt to crease the dimple in her cheek. “I never thought it would hurt so much to leave you again,” she whispered. “Let me go, Johnny.” Her voice was barely audible. “We’ll be together eternally ... I promise.”
“You can’t leave me!” Holding her close, he rocked her in his arms. A sob caught in his throat and tears burned his eyes. He lifted his gaze to heaven, ready to bargain away his soul if he had to. “Please don’t take her from me again,” he pleaded, his voice rough with emotion. Surely if there was a God in heaven he would spare him this loss. “I can’t live without her.”
He placed her palm over his beating heart, willing to sacrifice the very life of him for her. In the distance he could hear the scream of an ambulance’s siren and knew she’d be leaving him soon. Knew, too, that he was powerless to stop her inevitable departure from earth. Again.
The tears he’d held at bay for so many years broke free, filling his eyes so that his vision blurred. In desperation, he grabbed the medallion that had linked them so many times and pulled it off her, clutching the warm gold in his palm.
“God, Caitlan, I love you!”
“I love you, Johnny,” she whispered.
A strange, shimmering warmth invaded J.T.’s heart and soul upon their simultaneous declaration. Then she was being lifted from his arms by two paramedics, and it was like they were tearing his heart from his chest. J.T. knelt there, too paralyzed by the loss to move as the two men gently placed Caitlan on a stretcher and hurriedly carried her toward the waiting ambulance.
I’ll love you forever, Johnny
, he heard whispered on the breeze.
And minutes later, as the ambulance pulled away from the drive, J.T. knew this was the end. Caitlan was gone, and she wouldn’t be coming back. Slowly, defeatedly, he stood. An absolute emptiness enveloped him, as dark and black as the sky above, and he knew he’d never be the same again.
“No!” he raged to the heavens, his anguish echoing on and on. He choked on a deep sob, his heart and soul twisting with such agony, he wanted to die. Indeed, a part of him
had
died with her departure.
The medallion in his palm retained its warmth, and he defiantly slipped the chain over his head. It was the only connection he had left to his one true love, and he refused to give it up. He refused to let the memory of her being at the Circle R fade.
Thunder rumbled and lightning streaked across the sky, signaling the arrival of the storm. Bloated clouds floated overhead, and the temperature dropped to an icy chill.
With an odd kind of detachment J.T. watched the sheriff take Randal into custody and take statements from the men who’d witnessed the ordeal.
Mike approached J.T., his gaze going over him with concern. He shoved his fingers through his hair, still shaken by the incident. “Are you okay, J.T.?”
No. I’ll never be the same again
. J.T. looked at Mike, wondering if his eyes reflected the bleak despair eating away at him. He knew he owed Mike his gratitude for helping to apprehend Randal, and an apology for suspecting him of the incidents that had happened around the ranch, but at the moment he couldn’t summon the words for all the anguish swirling in him.
“Caitlan’s gone,” he said instead, his voice sounding oddly distant even to his own ears.
Mike gave him a perplexed look. “They’re taking her to County hospital. The paramedics said it looked like the bullet went clean through her shoulder and she should be fine. Heck, she’ll probably be able to come back in a week or so—”
“She won’t be coming back,” J.T. said, his tone harsher than he’d intended.
Mike nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I guess she’d want to go back home to be with her family.”
J.T. glanced up at the heavens. Caitlan’s home. Scrubbing a hand down his face, he cursed all the lonely years he’d have to endure before they were joined again.
Mike touched J.T.’s shoulder, his brow creased in concern. “Hey, man, you okay?”
“I’m fine,” J.T. replied gruffly, already feeling bitter resentment settling in where his heart had been ripped out. He touched the medallion, the warmth comforting him. He wouldn’t allow the sweet memories of Caitlan to fade. Ever. Not as long as he wore the medallion that kept her a part of him.
With a loud boom that reverberated beneath J.T.’s feet, the sky split open and huge drops of rain and sleet fell from the heavens. Everyone headed inside the barn to stay warm and dry. Not J.T. He stood out in the storm, waiting for the numbness of the cold, icy rain to make the sorrow and heartache go away.
* * *
Amanda sat silently in the Superior’s summons room, watching as Mary paced back and forth, her gauzy white gown swirling around her legs. A week had passed since she’d left Johnny, and Amanda still couldn’t shake the sorrow insulating her soul. The Superiors had given her the week off to recuperate from the emotional trauma she’d sustained because of the return of her memory, but Amanda knew she wouldn’t recover from this particular heartache until Johnny joined her eternally.
She hoped she could survive that long without him.
“We
really
botched this mission up,” Mary said on a heavy sigh, looking from Amanda to Christopher. “The memory of Amanda being on earth is supposed to fade. As long as he wears the medallion it will keep him vividly connected to all the memories of
Caitlan
being on Earth.” Exasperation laced Mary’s voice.
“He won’t take the medallion off so we can confiscate it,” Christopher told her. “He wears it night and day.”
“Send Jay to fetch it.”
“No!” Amanda said, springing from her seat. Both Superiors stared at her.
Desperation clutched Amanda’s heart. How could she explain that no matter how selfish it might be, she didn’t want the memory of her time on Earth to subside from Johnny’s mind. They’d shared so much, had forged a new love that superseded the old feelings they’d harbored for one another as children. In a short span of time she’d matured as a woman, had experienced a passionate love so beautiful and rare, she wanted it to flourish to its fullest capacity. That dream, she knew, was an impossible one.
“You know he cannot keep the medallion,” Mary said firmly after a few tense moments had passed. “It’s bad enough he knew who you were, Amanda, but he cannot continue on like this.”
“I know,” she whispered past the tight ache in her throat. “But I don’t want him to forget me.”
Mary smiled gently. “He won’t ever forget you. His love for you is too strong. You will always be a part of his heart, even without the medallion.”
That wasn’t what Amanda meant. She wanted to live in his memory with vivid clarity—Heaven help her, she wanted to be with him on Earth, feel his touch, experience the joy of his love. A chasm of loneliness echoed in her soul, and Amanda turned away, sure her misery reflected in her gaze.
The intensity of her emotions confused her. Why hadn’t she felt this same anguish when she’d left Johnny the night of her eighteenth birthday?
“Amanda, what is it?” Mary asked, seemingly sensing her distress.
Amanda looked back at both Superiors, hoping they could help her understand the turmoil swirling in her. “When I first passed on to this plateau sixteen years ago I felt whole and complete and at peace with myself. Now, I hurt way deep down inside, this incredible sadness that won’t recede.”
Mary and Christopher exchanged worried looks.
“Why do I feel so different?” Amanda persisted. “Why do I miss him so much?”
“Your heart and J.T.’s blended before you left Earth,” Mary finally admitted.
Amanda frowned. “My heart already belonged to Johnny. What do you mean?”
Mary grasped Amanda’s hand, her touch comforting. “Just before you died, you both declared your love for one another at the exact moment, binding your hearts and souls more intricately than before.”
Bewilderment assailed Amanda. “I don’t understand. What will happen to Johnny?”
“He will be unable to love another for the rest of his mortal years,” Mary replied sadly.
Christopher nodded his agreement. “Before we sent you on the mission we had designs to send him a sweet woman who would bear him two more children and see him through the rest of his years. Now, it will be useless.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, ashamed for having caused so much havoc with Johnny’s destiny. “I know He must be disappointed in me.”
“No, child,” Mary began, understanding and compassion threading her voice. “Once in a great while these things happen. He is very forgiving.”
“Surely there is something we can do for her,” Christopher said.
Mary shrugged. “Short of sending her back to Earth, there is nothing we can do for her heartache.”
A slow smile curved Christopher’s mouth. “We could petition to send her back as a mortal.”
Amanda sat up, anticipation speeding up her pulse.
“Christopher,” Mary admonished, squashing Amanda’s hope. “That is a highly unorthodox suggestion! It’s impossible.”
He lifted a brow, “
Nothing
is impossible.”
“It’s an outrageous request.” Mary dismissed the idea with the wave of a hand. “The board of Superiors will never approve of such an appeal.”
“A love as strong as Amanda and J.T.’s is meant to be together,” Christopher argued.
“I don’t know about this,” Mary persisted, her lips pursed. “You and your wild ideas,” she mumbled, then offered Amanda an encouraging smile.
“J.T. is being extremely stubborn about letting go of the medallion and the memory of
Caitlan’s
time on Earth,” Christopher went on, championing Amanda’s cause. He came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, radiating reassurance to Amanda while he spoke to his equal. “They’ve both been through so much, Mary, in their previous life and with this mission. Now that their hearts are intricately blended, both of them will be miserable until they are once again joined,”
After a long minute Mary let out a defeated sigh. “You always were a softy, Christopher.” Her rebuke held a note of fondness.
Christopher beamed at the compliment and squeezed Amanda’s shoulders for that one small victory. “I only believe it would be in everyone’s best interest if we released Amanda to spend the rest of a mortal life with her eternal love.”
Mary smiled, a sudden soft, dreamy quality entering her eyes. “It is kind of romantic, isn’t it?”
“Indeed it is.” Christopher’s grin held triumph. “Who could deny these two the love that brought them together not once, but twice?”
Mary looked thoughtful as she considered Christopher’s plea. Amanda held her breath for Mary’s response until her lungs began to burn.
“Oh, I suppose you’re right,” Mary finally relented. “It would be difficult to deny two people so deeply in love and committed to one another. Not to mention that J.T. isn’t being very cooperative with the medallion.”
“Precisely,” Christopher stated.
“Oh, Mary, Christopher, thank you!” Amanda breathed, smiling for the first time since her mission had ended. She embraced both Superiors. Happiness chased away the gloom of despair that had hung over her since her departure from Earth.