Hearts Unfold (17 page)

Chapter Eleven

It was past
dark when Jack returned.
 
Standing at the
window, Emily watched the beam of the headlights bounce across the snow-covered
yard, and her heart began to pound against her ribs.
 
It seemed to take hours for Jack to pick his
way through the now-icy path created by the earlier traffic.
 
The once pristine blanket of white was a
churned-up maze of tire tracks and footprints, the only thing left behind that
she had not been able to clear away.

Before she
could ask, Jack answered her question.
 
“He made the trip just fine.
 
They
were very impressed with what you did for him.
 
He was still unconscious, but they didn't seem to think his injuries
were life-threatening.
 
And we were able
to contact his manager through the state police.”

The news
brought a lump to her throat, and she fought for composure.
 
He was all right.
 
He was safely where he would be taken care of
now.
 
She could let him go.

Jack held out a
bag, watching her eyes widen at the sight of the greasy spots on the
paper.
 
“Hungry?”

Peering inside,
she let out a long, low “ooh.”
 
“How did
you know I was starving for a hamburger?
 
And fries, too?
 
Oh, Jack, thank
you!”
 
She threw her arms around his
neck, nearly knocking him off balance.
 
“Come on!
 
Let's eat them while
they're still warm!”
 
Taking the carton
of colas from his hand, she headed for the kitchen.

While she
unpacked their dinner, Jack sat down wearily at the kitchen table.
 
“You know you should get a medal or something
for what you did?”

Caught in the
act of cramming fries in her mouth, Emily frowned, her dark brows lowering
expressively.
 
“About that.
 
I really don't want anyone to know.
 
I don't want to have to answer a lot of
questions.
 
It would be too
embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing?
 
You saved a man's life.
 
How could that be embarrassing?”
 
Jack eyed her skeptically, immediately
suspicious.

“It's my
business.
 
I don't want to become the
topic of conversation at the coffee shop on Monday morning.”

Jack nodded,
knowing she referred to the group of town fathers who gathered every Monday to
mull over the problems of the world.
 
“I
see.
 
I suppose that makes sense.
 
It would be pretty sensational.
 
'How about the Haynes girl rescuing that
handsome young fellow from the blizzard?'
 
They could make something of that for sure.”

Emily grinned
at his imitation of the eldest member of the group.
 
But Jack couldn't help seeing the color that
rose in her cheeks.
 
Lowering her eyes,
she took a delicate bite of her burger.
 
“This is so good!
 
You wouldn't
believe how many ham sandwiches I've eaten in the past few days.”

“So how long
were you planning to stay here before you let me know what you were up to?”

“Oh, just a few
more days.
 
But then I prayed you'd come,
after. . .after the storm came.”
 
Again
she blushed, this time much more deeply.

“We have a lot
to talk about, Em.
 
Where do you think we
should start?
 
Maybe with the fact that
you lied to me?”
 
Despite the grimness of
his expression, she thought she detected a familiar twinkle in his eyes.

“I'm sorry,
Jack.
 
But it was the only way.
 
You'd never have let me come alone if I'd
told you what I wanted to do.
 
And it
wasn't exactly a lie.”

“You said you
were going skiing with school friends.
 
Poor Angela was worried you'd break a leg.
 
She said you'd never skied in your
life.”
 
The glint in his blue eyes was
sparkling a bit brighter.

“Correction.
 
I told you I'd been
invited
to go
skiing.
 
That was true.”

“Ah, getting off
on a technicality, I see.
 
I take it you
turned down the invitation?”

“Oh, yes,
immediately.
 
Then I decided I needed to
come home, and it served as the perfect basis for my little white lie.”

“Emily Haynes,
what would your father say?”
 
Now the
twinkle was at high beam.

“He told me to
come.
 
That's what gave me the idea in
the first place.”
 
She popped the last of
the fries into her mouth.
 
“When I tell
you, Jack, you'll understand.”

“Tell me
what?
 
Honestly, Em, you can't expect me
to believe J.D. knows you're here?”

“He might.
 
At least I think he must have hoped I'd
come.
 
But before we talk, can we clean
up this mess and go sit by the fire?
 
This may take a while, and we'd be a lot more comfortable in there.”

With a sigh of
resignation, he helped her clear away the waxed paper wrappings and watched
with some amusement as she thoroughly wiped down the table top.

In the front
room, Jack pointed to the Christmas decorations.
 
“So you came home to decorate the house for
the holidays?”

She knew he was
trying to find some way to ease back to the point.
 
“I had to clean first.
 
The place was a mess, dust on
everything.
 
And cold!
 
I've gone through a lot of firewood.”

“And you think
that's what your father wanted you to do this Christmas, come here alone and play
house?”

Immediately,
her gray eyes sparked.
 
“I'm not playing,
Jack.
 
And it
is
my house!”

“Another
technicality.
 
Right now it belongs to a
trust, which I'm
technically
the guardian of.”

“You know what
I mean.
 
It's my home.
 
Oh, Jack, I've been so unhappy.
 
No, not just unhappy.
 
I've been depressed.
 
I was so lost.
 
Then I went to visit Pop over Thanksgiving,
and I think he must have known.
 
He
talked to me, Jack.
 
He said words that
meant something.
 
I knew he wanted me to
come home and figure out how to get on with my life.”

He waited,
listening without saying a word, as she told him about the visit.
 
Encouraged that he was willing to hear her
out, she described her elation when she’d realized she could build a life here,
and that this was the life she was meant to have all along.
 
When he continued to sit in silence, staring
at the lights on the mantel, she hoped he was at least thinking over what she
had said before he started pointing out all the flaws in her plan.

“I'm so much
happier here.
 
I know I'll still have to
finish school and get a job, but I'm sure I can figure out how to make things
work as I go along.
 
I'll need your help,
Jack.
 
But think about it; think about
all they taught me.
 
I know this place
inside and out.
 
Why not come back sooner,
rather than later?”

She was shocked
by his first words.
 
“Have you ever
considered becoming a nurse?”

“Not
really.
 
Why would you ask that?”

“Well, for one
thing, you just saved a man's life.
 
And
I remember how great you were with your mother.”
 
He continued to stare into space, his face
unreadable.

“I suppose I
could look into it.
 
Right now my major's
human biology.
 
I had some notion of
doing medical research someday.
 
A lot of
my credits might transfer.
 
There might
be jobs around here, public health, or maybe home health.
 
You know, the more I think about it, it just
might work.”

“You know how
much work this place is.
 
It wouldn't be
easy for just one skinny little girl to do it all.”
 
He grinned down at her, where she sat
cross-legged on the floor.

“I managed okay
so far.
 
And you'd be here to help me,
wouldn't you, if I really needed something?”
 
She returned his grin, sensing she'd at least made some headway.

After another
silence, he leaned forward.
 
“I'll tell
you what, Em.
 
If this is what you really
want, I'll do everything in my power to see that you get it.”

So stunned at
her victory that at first she could scarcely accept it, she gaped up at
him.
 
“You mean it?
 
You really will help me?”

“I always
figured it would come to this.
 
I just
didn't expect you to take matters into your own hands quite so soon.
 
You caught me off guard.”

With a little
yelp of joy, she jumped to her feet and threw herself on his neck.
 
“Oh, Jack, you can't know what this means to
me!
 
I was so afraid you wouldn't
understand!”
 
Just as she had as a child,
she kissed his cheek, hugging him tightly.
 
It felt so good, she thought, to hug somebody again.
 
It had been a long time.

“Oh, I
understand.
 
I still think you could do
better than this old farm, but what do I know?”
 
He shrugged, as she again knelt at his feet.
 
“But let's get one thing straight.
 
Don't try to pull the wool over my eyes
again, okay?
 
I can't take too many
shocks like the one I had today.
 
When I
heard there was smoke coming from up here, I was prepared for the worst.
 
And poor old Miss Hagen was sure some of
those awful hippies had moved in on you.”

Emily had to
laugh.
 
“I promise.
 
And I hated lying to all of you, really I
did.
 
It just seemed the simplest thing
to do.
 
I thought about telling you I was
invited to Florida for Christmas, which I was, but I knew you'd never believe
that.”
 
Turning wide eyes up to him, she
wondered what his response might be.
 
That brief visit to the home of her only aunt had been a memorable
disaster.

He scowled down
at her.
 
“You're darned right.
 
I still think I should have called the
authorities down there.
 
You sure can get
yourself into some fixes, young lady.
 
First your aunt and her 'parties' and now a half-dead boy wandering into
the yard.
 
You sure you can be trusted on
your own here?”

“I'm sure.
 
Pop knew what he was doing, don't you think?”

“Maybe.
 
Or maybe it was just time.
 
Maybe you're ready now.
 
I know one thing, it was lucky for that boy
you were here.
 
But Em, that could have
been a real tragedy.
 
You two could have
been stuck here for a lot longer, or he could have died.”

Emily smiled up
at him, a sweet little half-smile that instantly made him think of her mother
again.
 
“But he didn't, Jack.”

They continued
to sit by the fire, talking of things past and things to be done.
 
He would have the phone turned on, he said,
so he wouldn't have to drive up here to check on her every day.
 
She insisted that she'd be fine.

“All the same,
the next man who wanders this way might not be so helpless.”

“I think I
could defend myself,” she protested.
 
To
which Jack replied with a grunt that she probably could at that.

“You've grown
up to be quite a force.
 
How are you
handling those college boys?”

“Just the way I
handled the high school boys, I guess.
 
I
don't.
 
I really haven't met anyone I
wanted to waste that much time on.”

“Sensible; but
don't think you won't fall for someone someday, usually when you least expect
to.
 
And when you do, all of this may not
seem so important.”
 
His gesture took in
the whole of the valley.
 
“Land and a
house won't substitute for a family, Em.
 
Don't expect them to.”
 
She made
no reply, but they both stared into the fire for a while, each considering what
they knew of loneliness, she suspected.
 
Finally, he stirred and in a weary voice said, “In the meantime, I think
I'd better turn the water on for you.”