Surge (St. Martin Family Saga: Emergency Responders) Book 3: St. Martin Family Saga: Emergency Responders (9 page)

“I’m going to go say hey. I’ll see you tonight.” She squeezed his arm. “I love you.”

Chapter 9

By Saturday Jackson
was ready to get out of town and he sensed Clara was too. This weekend was to be her last hoorah before she joined the fulltime work force. She’d spoken with her father and, while he was accommodating, he did keep her options open if she ever decided she’d like to return to school.

Glad this weekend was finally here, he was almost euphoric as he thought about not having to hide his love for her. He wouldn’t let himself fully experience what he was feeling until it was clear her brother would accept them as a couple. There was a part of him that was held by the gangly wooden and knotted fingers of doubt. Fingers that reached to him and scratched like those of a hundred year old tree covered in moss with outstretched branches and limbs. Doubt that once the truth was in the open her family would let him continue to see her. Doubt that she would even want to be with him if her family turned on him. He shook his head to clear it of those unwelcome thoughts that led to him breaking out into a cold sweat.

“Cracker Jack, I more than love you.”

From the passenger side of the car Clara’s sweet voice came to him, soothing and assuaging his mood. He forced a broken smile her way.

“That’s just pathetic.” She squeezed his free hand in hers. “Stop worrying. No matter what happens it’s you and me forever.” The smile she offered was far from pathetic. Her eyes sparkled and her deep dimples called to him like a beacon in a storm. More than once he’d thought he’d like to shrink down small enough to live in them.

He wanted, hell he
needed
to be intimate with her in that very moment. Maybe some of her goodness and contentment would rub off onto him.

“How do you want to do this?” Jackson asked.

“I was thinking we wouldn’t do anything except be ourselves. No more lies.”

“How will that accomplish revealing that we’ve been together?”

“Trust me, people can tell that we love each other. Hands tangled together, simple but meaningful touches and glances. We just won’t hide it. I feel like if we go in with a script we will make it into something huge. Don’t get me wrong, our love is huge, but it’s also uncompromising.” She shrugged. “There’s no need to open the door to conversation about it. Together. Forever. Simple as that.”

She was wise beyond her years. He loved how she problem solved big issues and broke them down into manageable, simplistic parts. In a way she’d done that with him and it had helped him deal with his trust issues. He’d been afraid to seek solace in another individual—afraid that person would also be violently snatched from his life just as his parents had been. He was afraid to admit to himself that he was extraordinarily happy. It had caused some strife in their relationship early on, but she’d told him to live in the moment and get over himself. Day by day they let things play out. They didn’t attempt to quantify what they did: dating, kissing, and loving. It had freed him from worrying about the deep and unrelenting pain born of loss. He knew that pain all too well and never wanted to experience it again.

“Jackson.”

“Yeah?”

“I called your name three times before you answered. Tell your brain to stop tormenting my lover. Do we need to pull over?” Her brow rose in question. “Maybe for a kiss?”

“Absolutely for a kiss. There’s a Dairy Queen at the next exit. Can I interest you in a chocolate dipped cone?

“As long as it comes after a kiss.”

“It will most definitely be after a kiss.”

Approaching the restaurant he searched for the most privacy possible and pulled into a slot, parking in front of a wooden fence. Before he could turn to her she had crawled over the gearshift and straddled his lap, her hands threaded through his hair as her powder-blue eyes looked down into his. She smiled her dimpled smile above him. “Hey, you.”

He inhaled slowly, taking her scent deep into his lungs. “Hey.” She brought her mouth down on his and placed a kiss so sweet on his lips his eyes grew swimmy at her tender care.

“Why do you stay with me?” He asked.

Her brows furrowed inward as she regarded him with a look of concern. “Jackson,” she whispered. “If you don’t know the answer then I’m not a very good girlfriend.” She lowered her chin to her chest.

“Hey”—he cupped her chin in his grip and tilted her head up—“you’re the best. You give me a reason to exist. I just don’t know what I give to you that you couldn’t get from some fun guy closer to your age. Not some intense old-timer with a ton of unsettled issues and a mountain of responsibilities and debt. How can you even have fun with me?”

“Frankly, given that description I’m amazed we even let you out of the basement. You should remain chained there for all of eternity.”

He cracked a smile, “Don’t I know it.”

“You accept me and affirm my endeavors, but it’s more than that even. You make me feel wanted and needed and smart. You listen and really hear what I have to say. I feel innately connected to you by a bond that comes from something not of this world. Maybe it’s astrological.” She shrugged. “I don’t know, but I
do
know we’re supposed to be together. Neither of us could survive without the other. We are two parts of a whole. You push me like only you can”—she pointed at her bangs and smiled—“to be the best person I can in this life. You care about my wellbeing and happiness and I love your intensity surrounding all things me. I might not always understand what you’re doing, or even why you’re doing it, but I always know it’s going to benefit me and make my life better because you won’t stop until I have more than what I need.”

She kissed his eyes, nose, and lips. “I hope that gives you a starting place for you to begin to understand why I love you. I’m a little sad that you don’t already know.” She stuck her lips out in a pout. He kissed his index finger and pressed it to her mouth.

“I did know all of that, but sometimes it’s just nice to hear it out loud. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.”

≈

He drove them to Jackson Square and they parked on the street. Something was unsettled in the air. Clara didn’t want to upset Jackson so she’d kept it to herself, but she was convinced the big reveal wasn’t going to go so well. What else was there to do? The family needed to know.

She sighed.

“Everything okay?” Jackson asked.

She nodded and they exited the car.

She stood looking at the St. Louis Cathedral with its triple steeples and thought how lovely it would be to marry there. Great wedding traditions abounded in New Orleans. Entire wedding parties would walk through the French Quarter led by a brass band playing “When the Saints Go Marching In.” She wanted that for her wedding. She also wanted to be surrounded by her family as she publicly appointed Jackson her partner for life. The plaque on the front of the church read
1794
. That was a lot of wedded bliss and she wanted to be part of the rich heritage.

“Bug, what’s wrong?”

“I’m just tired.”

“Are you sure that’s all it is?” He rubbed her back and she leaned into his side.

“Yeah, babe.” She pulled him along into the middle of the Square. All around were performers within every possible genre. A saxophonist belted out bold rough tones while a one man band dueled with him for ownership of the airwaves. A mime enacted a comical scene on the church steps. Hip-hop beats blared from speakers as a group of three men danced in synchronized perfection. Lone ballerinas, twirlers, sculptors, and caricaturists each demonstrated their skills for passersby and hoped for a little coin to be tossed their way. Actors, magicians, and even ministers performed for no one in particular, but orated in clear, deep vocal tones, which echoed across the courtyard. A woman sat in a chair, her shirt and bra pulled to reveal her breast to the air as she benefitted from the skills of a tattoo artist.

It was truly astonishing. Clara had never really given the Square much attention before. Perhaps more in abundance than even the musicians were the psychics. With a quick survey of the area before her Clara counted nine. For some reason the Square comforted her. Perhaps it was because one could seek, without judgment, the answers to life’s questions.

She took a seat beneath the umbrella of a palm reader. “Hi.”

“Hello, have you chosen me?” Middle-aged with deep set and penetrating eyes, she possessed an abundance of deep mahogany hair that tumbled to her waist.

“Yes, I have.” She smiled.

“Welcome, I’m Claudia.”

“Clara.” She sat in a lawn chair, Jackson stood behind her. Claudia focused on her with intense coffee bean eyes.

“What are your needs?”

“I need to know everything will by okay. That
we
will be okay.”

“Who?”

“The one I love.”

“Are you entering a new phase in your life?”

“I hope to be.”

“We’ll use the cards to guide you.” She placed a deck in front of Clara. “Shuffle the deck.”

Clara picked up the cards that were a little too big for her hands and did her best to shuffle.

When she finished, Claudia took them back and fanned them in her hands. “Choose four.”

Clara scanned the deck. She hovered with her fingers twitching above the cards. She pulled one from each end and then worked her way in until she’d selected four.

“Okay, now choose two cards.”

Claudia revealed the cards, her head bopping from one row to the next. For several seconds she studied the cards. “You’re up and down all day, every day. Highs and lows. Good and bad.”

Her eyes scanned Clara for feedback. So far the reading was right on the money. “You’ve drawn the three of swords here.” Her hand indicated the top row. “But then later the ace of swords.

“Let’s talk about the first one that’s going to hit you. The three of swords: heartbreak, loneliness, and betrayal.”

Clara’s lips parted and she took a harsh breath. The card boasted a giant red heart with three daggers plunged through it.
No!

“It’s got to come in order to clear out the past and make the path clear for the future. When your pain reaches its zenith the tide will start to turn. You will experience great loss and sorrow.” Clara didn’t like the suggested path ahead, but Claudia’s hand hovered over another card. “And then a complete change and pursuit of ultimate truth. Ah, we’re hatching from the chrysalis, fresh and new. A rebirth.”

That sounded much better.

“You will walk through the fire first. When you do, hold on to what you know to be the facts, dump the rest.”

Facts. Dump the rest.

Jackson’s finger twirled a curl at her nape as she sat and enjoyed that his touch was never far from her.

“It will get you to great love.” Her hand rested on a card that resembled Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. “Love and sex, a union, and the strongest force of all—a relationship built on deep love, the highest of all unions.” Her hand was on the move again and settled over The Empress
.
“Extravagance, giving and receiving pleasure, health, and harmony.” The two of cups next. “Marriage, healing, peace, forgiveness.” Finally, she touched the ten of cups. “Joy and family.”

She saw Clay and Eve approaching in the distance and Jackson made no effort to remove his hand from massaging her neck. She looked up at him to see if he was paying attention. He was looking directly at Clay. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. Claudia whispered so only she would hear, “It’s going to get rough before it gets better. Don’t give up even when he does.”

Her jaw fell open and she inhaled a ragged breath. Her gut seized with the thought of Jackson giving up on their love. What else could she mean, it had to be that. Quickly she stood and met his deep blue gaze. “Jackson, promise me now, quickly, that it’s you and me together forever against the world.”

His forehead creased. “Bug?” His stare was intense. “What’s wrong?”

“Please hurry, tell me before they get here. Tell me no matter what happens we will always have each other.”

His lips tightened into a thin line as his gaze shifted to Claudia and back to her. “You know how I feel. I can’t live apart from you. I’d say that’s pretty solidifying.” He tangled her fingers in his. “Always and forever. You and me against the world.” They walked hand in hand to meet Clay and Eve.

Clay waved and they returned the greeting, each step bringing them closer to their destiny. Toe to toe now, Clay took in the locked fingers between their bodies and raised his brow.

“How was the drive in?” Clay asked.

His voice was low and soft, an unusual attribute for him. Clara tried to remember when he’d ever been so quiet, but she couldn’t. He continued to speak softly with Jackson about the traffic. Next to him, Eve toyed with her own confusion at their linked hands. Her gray eyes traveled from their hands to Jackson’s face and back to Clara.

Their connection was severed when two kids playing a game of tag around the statue of Andrew Jackson ran through the space that linked their hands. Like magnets they reconnected once the space between them was cleared. All eyes were on their hands.

The tension was getting palpable. Eve spoke up. “Clay is taking me to see the tomb of the Voodoo Queen.”