"
Daddy couldn't speak for several minutes. I thought I'd go
crazy if he didn't say something soon. Finally he said, 'Kit,
Burke's gone.' He might as well have been speaking a foreign
language cause I didn't understand a word he said. After a few
minutes, the meaning of his words hit me like a slap in the face.
Then I fainted."
"I never intended to hurt
you," he said, low and measured.
She walked over to where
he sat, leaned on the pew in front of him and said to his face.
"Then what did you mean?"
"
I meant to not get married. Period. I struggled with
doubts."
She sunk to the pew with a
heavy sigh, blinking away the burning tears. "Why didn't you tell
me how you felt?"
He rested his elbows on
his knees and stared at his hands. "I thought I could go through
with it. I thought the doubts would pass."
"
Go through with it? Burke, I wasn't forcing you to marry
me." The trembling increased and her teeth chattered as if she were
cold.
"
I realize that," he answered, stretching his hand toward
her, but dropping it onto the pew before he touched her.
Belle glared at him, her
eyes narrowed and her lips pale. "If I recall, you asked me to
marry you. What made your feet suddenly turn so cold?"
He sat back and looked
into her eyes. "When the pro draft came after my junior year, it
took me by surprise. My life took a turn I hadn't
expected."
"
You won the Heisman that year, Burke. The draft should have
been no surprise," she interjected, caustic.
"
The Heisman, the draft. It overwhelmed me and went to my
head."
She thought his excuse
sounded lame, and it infuriated her. "You make no sense, Burke.
Your whole life focused on football, on being the best, on winning
the prize, on going pro. You want me to believe that going pro a
year earlier than you intended changed you into a completely
different person?"
He swept his brawny hand
over his cropped blond hair and tried again. "I knew it would be
hard to explain this to you and now that I'm saying it out loud,
even I can't comprehend my own reasoning. That was twelve years
ago."
"
Burke, there had to be more to it than just going pro. What
happened?" she asked.
"
All right, here it is," he said, flinging his arms wide as
if opening his heart, setting all caution aside. "That spring I
went to my first pro training camp. You remember my walk with the
Lord wasn't that strong at the time, so the glamour of professional
football captivated me. And while I had prepared to be a
professional athlete, I hadn't prepared for the life that came with
it.
"
I met other women, Belle. Nothing happened with any of
them, but nagging doubts started pursuing me about our
relationship. We'd been together for so long I didn't know if we
were getting married because we truly loved each other, or if we
were just comfortable, doing what everyone always expected us to
do."
"
Like an old pair of worn boots, eh?" Belle said cynically.
Hearing Burke admit he met other women was not a surprise, she'd
suspected it all along, but nevertheless, the confession
stung.
"
I just wanted to postpone the wedding. I tried to tell you,
but every time I looked into those beryl green eyes of yours, my
heart overruled my mind. I loved you, Belle, but I wasn't ready for
marriage."
"
So, how'd you finally get the guts to run out just before
the ceremony?"
He grimaced. "I'd pretty
much talked myself into going through with it."
Belle narrowed her eyes at
him. "How charitable of you."
"
Hold on now, hear me out," he said, holding up his hands
for peace. "I figured once we were married I'd feel the way I used
to feel about marrying you and life would be good again. But when I
took the time to seriously contemplate our wedding, the ceremony,
the reception, and the honeymoon, I knew I had too much doubt to go
through with it. As much as I thought I loved you and, for as long
as we'd waited to be together, I couldn't enter into something so
precious if it didn't mean the world to me. And, at that point in
time, Belle, it didn't."
Tears were streaming down
her face. "How is it you break my heart, humiliate me, and end up
sounding noble with that excuse?"
"
I'm sure I'm not noble, but that's my reason."
"
Do you know what it's like to crawl into bed alone and
broken on the night that was supposed to be your wedding
night?"
"
Yeah, Belle, I do," Burke said, leaning toward her,
catching her eyes with his. "I checked into a cheap motel and cried
myself to sleep that night. I needed to call my best friend, but
I'd just broken her heart."
The image of him alone,
hurting and confused, weighted with the burden of his actions
touched her heart with tender compassion. Fresh tears spilled onto
her cheeks. Yet, a small piece of her remained unwilling to let it
all go so easily. She challenged him, ready for a fight. "So, you
got a whole new life, and I got the shattered one you left
behind."
"
You seemed to have recovered nicely," he countered,
slightly sarcastic.
Belle fumed and hopped off
the pew, replying with vigor, a steady cadence in her words. "I had
no choice."
He started to reply, but
she'd had enough. The conversation had zapped her emotional
strength. "Look, Burke, I gotta go," she said, brushing away tear
stains with the back of her hand. She marched down the aisle and
out the chapel door into the dark evening.
"
Wait, Belle!" he called, charging down the aisle after her.
But by the time he reached the chapel door, she'd yanked Trixie's
reigns from the post and ridden away.
Thunder peeled in the distance
as Burke stood on the steps and watched Belle ride away toward a
dark, eerie horizon. He felt burdened by the rocky road their
confrontation had taken.
Lightning slithered across the
sky and a blast of wind from the northwest whistled through the
tall grasses of the chapel's yard. At the hitching post, Tracer
snorted and pranced nervously.
"
I hear ya, old boy," he said, quickly dashing inside to
gather Belle's guitar and saddlebag. He secured the chapel door and
headed Tracer in the direction of the Bar J, hoping to make it
before the clouds broke.
The Jamison barnyard appeared
deserted when he finally rode in, head bent against the wind. An
unlatched barn door slammed wildly against the side of the long,
low building and the Bar J horses, Captain and Blue, whinnied from
their stalls. Burke led Tracer to shelter, noticing that Trixie had
not yet returned. Duke's horse Pepper was also gone.
Belle, where are you? Burke
wondered, closing the barn door behind him as he surveyed the
threatening sky. The howl in the wind and the dark swirling clouds
made him uneasy.
"
Twisters," he said and ran for the kitchen door.
***
"
Daddy?" Belle's panic call echoed through the house.
"Daddy, you here?"
"
He's not here," a voice answered from the den. Burke came
around the corner.
Belle brushed past him
when she heard the weather on the TV. "What are you doing here?"
she asked briskly, focusing on the weatherman's report.
"
You left your guitar and saddlebag in the chapel. I brought
them over. I thought maybe we could finish our
conversation."
"
Now?"
"
No, tornado warnings are in effect for the entire county.
The weatherman says if you ever wanted to experience an F5, tonight
might be the night."
"
Who in their right mind would want to experience an F5?"
she snapped.
"
You'd be surprised," he said with a raised brow, then
asked, "Are you looking for your dad?"
"
I can't find him," Belle said, snatching up the
phone.
"
Who you calling?"
"
Jake," she answered, then spoke into the receiver. "Jake,
where's Daddy?" As she listened, her face drained of all color.
"Okay, thanks." She dropped the phone on the receiver and bolted
for the door.
"
Where you going?" Burke grabbed her by the arm and whirled
her around to face him.
"
Pepper's gone from the barn. I thought Daddy might be with
Jake and Cole, but they left after dinner. I think Daddy's out in
the southern range, alone."
Lightning flashed, cracking the
ground beyond the kitchen door. The lights went out, flickered, and
then slowly burned again.
"
I'm going after him," she said, yanking her arm free of his
hold and reaching for her truck keys that dangled from a hook by
the door. In the barnyard, dust devils and loose branches swirled
in the air.
The wail in the wind changed to
the forceful sound of a locomotive.
"You're going to the
cellar," Burke said, blocking her path.
In the distance a funnel cloud
dropped from the heavens, twisting, whipping the ground. In the
next instant, it disappeared into the clouds, and then slithered to
the ground again.
"
Burke, I'm going after Daddy. Now, move."
He refused. Instead, he
barked commands over the screaming wind. "Get these dogs in the
cellar. I'm going to let the horses loose."
"
Hi-yah!" Burke hollered, slapping Tracer on the
hindquarters. Trixie, Blue and Captain raced away with him. "Belle,
the cellar. The cellar! Duke can take care of himself." His voice
barely rose above the screaming wind.
Another fierce, twisting
cloud touched down, and fear gripped Belle. With weak, trembling
arms she tugged at the cellar door. But the rusty hinges resisted
her. The dogs clamored at her feet, growling, their hackles raised
in fear. "Burke!" she called.
He joined her at the cellar
door, bracing himself against the driving wind. His corded arms
grabbed the handle and pulled.
The door yielded and Belle
stumbled down cracked cement steps into the cool darkness of the
cellar, the dogs still barking and growling as they followed
her.
She fumbled along the wall
until she reached the storage shelf and the emergency flashlight.
"I found a light," she said, shining the bright white glow at the
door, her hands trembling and her voice weak, waiting for Burke to
respond.
But he didn't answer.
"
Burke? Burke," she screamed, imagining the twister touching
down while Burke remained up top, exposed and
unprotected.
Oh Lord, please.
To her relief, the door
strained open and Burke dropped to the floor, the new Jamison
puppy, Little General, tucked securely under his arm. "He needed
rescuing," Burke said, catching his breath, and quickly latching
the rattling doors closed.
Belle sank to the hard
cellar floor and shined the light on his face. "You scared me," she
said, feeling weak. "I thought you were coming in right behind
me."
He jolted as something
heavy hammered down on the cellar doors. "I saw the pup out of the
corner of my eye, scared and frozen in place over by the side of
the barn. I couldn't leave him."
The image of the puppy,
terrified and alone in the storm, immediately drew her thoughts
back to her father. Anxiety knotted her middle. "Daddy's out
there," she whispered after a moment.
Burke settled on the floor
next to her. "Maybe not, Belle," he said, stroking Little General's
soft head. The puppy buried his nose under Burke's arm.
With determined, metered
words, he began to pray. "Lord, You are our fortress. Keep us safe.
Protect Duke. Protect my family. Let this storm pass right over
us."
On instinct, Belle dropped her
head to his shoulder and let the presence of her old friend, and
the power of his prayer, comfort her. In her mind and heart, she
prayed with him, pleading to the Lord for her father's safety.
Beside her, the dogs
howled, their pitch sending a chill over her scalp and down her
arms. "Hush now, fellows. You heard Burke. The Lord is watching out
for us."
The terror lasted only a few
minutes. The cellar door ceased to rattle and bulge. The wind no
longer whined like the engine of a lone train. They waited in the
dark for a few tense moments, listening.
Finally, Burke unlatched the
door and stepped out of the cellar into a soft summer breeze.
"
Hand me the flashlight," he said, the puppy squirming from
his arms and jumping to the ground.
She slapped the light in his
hand and found another one on the shelf for herself.
The dogs scurried up the steps,
barking and yapping.
"
Come on up."