Eden's Promise, page 17
She glanced around the room, then rushed forward to embrace him. He hesitated a fraction of a second, then folded his arms around her. He waited to feel the familiarity he expected, but nothing was there. Odd, since they’d dated for two years in high school. But so much had changed.
Everything had changed.
She drew back and looked up at him, her hands still on his arms. “Where’s Eden? I thought she was the one coming for me.”
“We got separated, but we’re going to go find her before we get you home.”
“You got separated? What does that even mean?”
He blew out a breath. “It’s a long story. We met up with some other people and I needed to get one of them some place safe. Eden knew you were waiting, so we split up.”
Kelly’s expression hardened. “You left my baby sister alone out there?”
He stepped back, out of her reach, and forced himself to meet her gaze. “I didn’t want to. She insisted.”
“And you couldn’t stop a little girl?”
He shook his head. “You haven’t seen her in four years. Your father—he made sure she knows how to take care of herself.”
She pressed her lips together. “Then why are you worried?”
“Because no one should be alone out there.”
She studied him a long moment before she turned to include the thin man. “This is Geoff, my fiancé.”
Fiancé. He wondered if Eden had known about that, about another person traveling back with them. As it was, they were bringing back two strangers and a baby. Now another mouth to feed. But...Kelly’s fiancé. At least she’d had someone to get her through the past year.
“Geoff.” He offered a hand, leaning forward. The other man hesitated, then stretched out to take it. “We’ll be leaving in the morning. Have your things together.” He hoped Bill didn’t mind if he kept the truck just a little longer.
“Aaron, wait. There’s so much we need to catch up on.”
He was weary to the bone, and worried about Eden, though less worried about telling Kelly about his relationship with Eden. “Tomorrow. I need to get some sleep.” He turned to Sheridan. “You have a place for me to stay?”
He was directed to a barracks much like he’d lived in during basic training, where the single men slept. Families, he was told, got their own tent or trailer, as did couples, but there wasn’t enough for everyone.
This camp was much busier than the one in Tacoma, or even the one in Oregon. He saw as many people walking on his trek from the commander’s office to the barracks as had been in the mess tent at the Tacoma camp. Was it because Sacramento was warmer, or was California more dangerous, and people wanted the security of a government camp?
Despite his concern for Eden and the discomfort of the cot, as well as uneasiness about being around strangers, he fell asleep right away. When he opened his eyes, the barracks was dark. He hadn’t waited around last night to hear the rules, so he didn’t know when the mess opened. Since he hadn’t unpacked, and was unlikely to fall back asleep, he gathered his pack and slipped out past the other sleeping men.
The evening air had a nip. It was fall, now, he was pretty sure, though he didn’t know the date. He couldn’t even remember how long since they’d left the island. Too long.
He considered walking around, but didn’t want to explain himself to any patrols, so he headed for the center of camp. As he suspected, the mess was closed, but he sat on the ground outside, his pack in front of him. One of Eden’s pieces of fleece was in his pack, and he wrapped it around his shoulders, not caring that he looked like an idiot with the superhero fabric around him like a cape.
As he waited, hoping for coffee, he worked out a plan in his head. He needed a map to get the lay of the land, but he had the basics in mind. He’d take the truck part of the way, but he knew Eden was too smart to be on the main road.Still, crossing the land was just as dangerous. No telling who she’d run across. He just needed to find out which route she’d most likely taken, and hope she was still making her way south.
He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if something had happened to her.
He rubbed his hands over his face and froze when he heard someone approach.
A man approximately the size of Mt. Ranier stood in front of him. Adrenaline kicked in, and Aaron positioned himself to get to his feet quickly.
“Hungry?” the man asked, reaching past to unlock the door to the mess.
“Hoping for coffee,” Aaron replied, rising slowly, heart rate slowing.
The big man grinned. “That’s what keeps ‘em around. No coffee out there, I hear.”
“None that I’ve found,” Aaron said.
“Come on in. I’ll make you coffee but I’ll put you to work.”
“Sounds fair.”
Aaron couldn’t remember the last time he’d cooked—he may have barbecued with Bev a time or two, but otherwise, he was pretty clueless. The big man, Cooper, patiently showed him what he wanted—powdered eggs mixed with fresh, cheese added in, canned meat on the griddle, mixed with chopped onions so it had a better flavor. Aaron wiped at his tearing eyes with the back of his wrist and Cooper laughed.
“How many people are you feeding here?” Aaron asked.
“We’re right around eight thousand, I think.”
“Have you been here since the beginning?”
The other man was silent for a bit, and Aaron thought he might not answer.
“Pretty close to it. Took some hardships before I realized I couldn’t survive on my own out there.”
“Is your family here?”
“My sons. My wife died when we couldn’t get insulin. Both of us were just too stubborn for too long. Now I control my diabetes with diet, but there have been some bad days.”
“You think we’ll get things up and running again?”
Cooper stilled and looked at him. “You’ve been out there more than me. What do you think?”
Aaron shook his head. “It will take a lot of work at this point.”
“That’s what I think, too.”
Cooper’s regular helpers came in then, one of his sons, Dan, and a young woman, Brittney. Aaron thought they might have been a couple, but didn’t have a chance to ask as the first of the breakfast crowd came in. He was shown how to serve limited portions, and understood why Kelly was so thin.
When Sheridan came in and beckoned to him, Aaron removed his apron and joined the other man.
“Keeping busy?” Sheridan asked with a small smile.
“Not much good at staying idle. You get me some extra eyes?”
“About a dozen. They’re meeting up in front of my office at oh-eight-hundred. You have a plan?”
“Travel north, off the main road, until I find her.”
Sheridan nodded. “I want my men back by nightfall.”
Aaron’s stomach clenched. “Will they have their own vehicles? Because I’m going to look until I find her.”
“And what if you don’t?” Sheridan asked reasonably, just as Kelly and her fiancé walked into the mess and met his gaze. “What if something’s happened to her?”
“Then there’s hell to pay.” He rose as Kelly approached the table, shoulders back, chin up, looking more like the girl he’d once known.
“We’re coming with you to find Eden.”
He opened his mouth to protest. The two of them hadn’t been beyond the fences of the refugee camp in months. What did they know of the world out there? Of course, he didn’t know if the men Sheridan was giving him were any stronger, didn’t know if they’d been beyond the fences. And at least Kelly would be determined. The fiancé, he wasn’t so sure about.
“We’re packed, and we’ll do whatever you tell us,”she continued when he didn’t say anything. “She’s my sister, and I need to find her.”
If she felt like that, why hadn’t she tried to get home instead of coming to California? He meant to ask, but not in front of strangers. Instead, he nodded. “We’re leaving at eight. Meet in front of the commander’s office.”
She rolled her eyes. “We don’t have a clock. And stop trying to push me away. I have questions.”
He swallowed his impatience. “Fine.” He rose and motioned for her to precede him out of the mess.
He wasn’t looking forward to this. This woman, who he’d known so well, was a stranger, and she’d not be happy to know he’d fallen in love with her sister.
She headed toward a cabin, but he guided her away, near the fence. He was too accustomed to being outside these days, and being inside felt suffocating.
“What happened between you and my sister? Why did you come to California with her and then leave her?”
“I told you. I had other responsibilities, a woman with a baby. We agreed to split up, and rejoin when we could.”
“Where is this woman and baby?”
“Someplace safe. I thought Eden would be here by now. She should have been.”
Kelly’s spine snapped even straighter. “So you think something happened to her?”
“I don’t know. I’m going out there to make sure nothing has.”
“A little late, don’t you think?”
He turned on her. “And if you’d come home instead of coming to California when this all happened, none of us would be here right now.”
She tucked her chin in, and tears flooded her eyes. “I didn’t know how to get home. There’s no way we could have sailed on our own, and you don’t know what it was like then, Aaron. People were losing their minds. We couldn’t trust anyone. We had to wait days to get into the refugee camp and those were the most terrifying days of my life. People were dying just because of the possessions they had, just because they had food. Don’t judge me because I wanted to live.”
“Fine. Don’t judge me for my choices, or your sister’s. She’s every bit as stubborn as you.”
“I’m surprised my father allowed her to come,” Kelly said bitterly.
Aaron’s heart sank. Of course she wouldn’t know. “Your father died a few months ago.”
The color that had infused her face as she railed at him drained away now and she staggered. He caught her before her trailing fiancé could, and lowered her to a nearby bench that sat against the fence. He crouched before her and looked into her face.
“I’m sorry,” he said simply, not knowing what else to say.
“I thought he’d live forever. He sure planned it that way.” Her voice was just a wisp on the breeze before she focused her tear-filled eyes on Aaron. “How?”
He lifted a shoulder. “It happened before I got home, but I understand people were trying to get to the island and he was trying to stop them. There was a firefight and he was shot.”
She made a gurgling sound in her throat and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the fence.
“There’s more. Your mother is ill. She sent us to find you. We don’t know if she’s okay. We’ve been away for weeks now.”
She squeezed her eyes so the tears trickled down her face. “God. I should have known there was a reason you’d risk so much to come for me. I didn’t think it would be to tell me I had no family left.”
“You have family,” he said sharply. “Eden is out there, and we’re going to find her. We found you, didn’t we, with nothing more than an old address.”
She nodded and dropped her head forward, rubbing her eyes. Aaron straightened and looked at her fiancé—Geoff, he thought she’d said—and motioned for the other man to take over.
“The two of you wait here. We’ll be heading out in a bit.”
He rose and moved away, not wanting to be part of her grief, knowing that made him a coward. This had been a woman he’d cared about, but she had someone else to take that burden now. And he needed to focus on finding Eden, so that she did have family left.
He was pacing in front of the commander’s office waiting for the other men to show up when shouts rose from the front gate. Curious, he trotted through the buildings and saw dust kicking up from the road leading to camp before he heard the rumble of an engine.
A truck.
“Crazy,” he heard one of the guards say as he stood at the ready. “No new people in weeks, and two vehicles in two days.”
As last night, a group of onlookers had gathered, and Aaron’s instinct was to shoo them away. No telling what kind of threat approached. He moved through the crowd to stand near Kelly and Geoff.
“Take her to your place,” he said softly to Geoff. “We don’t know who this is.”
But before Geoff could convince Kelly to move away from the fence, the truck slowed and the door opened before it came to a complete stop. A young woman with cropped hair, wearing well-worn fatigues climbed out first, her eyes wary but familiar. Christine? Behind her, a blonde with a swinging ponytail hopped out, hanging on the door, and scanned the crowd with bright eyes.
“Eden!”
Unmindful of the people in his path, he pushed through, his heart racing, his mind not quite believing what he was seeing. He pressed past the guards and swept her into his arms, only then believing his eyes. He lowered her to the ground, took her face in his hands and slanted his mouth over hers, not the least interested in being gentle, only in feeling her against him, in tasting her, in surrounding himself with her. After a second of surprise, she kissed him back, her arms around him, pressing herself against him.
Finally he got his fill and eased back.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, just as he asked, “How did you get here?”
“Looking for you,” he asked. “Scared the hell out of me when you weren’t here. We were just about to go look for you.”
“And Kelly?” She pulled free of his arms to scan the crowd beyond them.
“There.” He pointed.
With a squeal of happiness, she pulled free of his arms and ran to her sister, who’d come out of the gate after him. With Christine by his side, he watched the two women embrace, holding each other and sobbing, Kelly dropping to her knees, Eden following, not letting go.
“Where’s my hug?” a familiar voice said from his left.
Aaron turned and his heart jerked harder than it had when Eden had gotten out of the truck. Brice Hawkins, a member of his SEAL team, leaned laconically against the front of the truck.
“Hawk! Holy hell, what are you doing here?”
The two men embraced almost as passionately as the sisters, and Aaron could have sworn he heard Hawk sniff before they drew apart.
“Returning that to you, apparently.”
“How did you come across her? What are you doing in the middle of California?”
After everything had gone to hell, the two men had crossed the ocean together, both eager to get back home. Hawk’s home had been in Colorado, so he’d headed west when Aaron headed south. The day they’d separated had been one of the hardest of Aaron’s life. They’d been through some rough times together, and had matching tattoos, along with six other men, to commemorate it.
Hawk lifted a shoulder. “Family’s gone, thought I’d keep heading west, stumbled onto an opportunity. It’s worked well for me.”
Aaron didn’t ask. He got the feeling it was best he didn’t know.
“She’s a tough one, your Eden. Wouldn’t give up until I brought her here.”
Aaron chuckled and looked at the two women. “I do know that.”
“She said she knew you, but was unclear on how well.” Hawk sobered. “I take it things didn’t go well in Texas.”
Aaron swallowed, turning away from the reunion. He couldn’t look at that joy and remember Bev’s fate. “Not well at all. She was dead when I got there.” He couldn’t use a euphemism anymore. Dead was dead. “How did Eden know you knew me?”
“Saw my tattoo.” His eyes glinted.
Aaron tensed before he remembered Hawk’s tattoo was on his arm, more visible than his own. The jealousy that rose in him was a surprise. He hadn’t felt it since before Bev died. He returned his gaze to the women, who were standing now, arms around each other, heads bent together. Aaron wondered if Eden was as shocked by Kelly’s appearance as he’d been. He wanted to go to her, but the sisters needed some time on their own.
“Now what?” Hawk asked.
“Now we head home.” He turned to his friend. “You’re welcome to come with us.”
Hawk gave a snort. “Me, hemmed in on a little island? Nah, I’ve got a good thing going here, like I said. If you decide you can’t handle it anymore, well, Eden knows where to find me. I could use someone like her, too.” He eased away, toward the still-open door of his truck. “You take care, Jenk.”
Aaron was surprised at his longtime friend’s sudden farewell. “I don’t suppose I could get you to take us over to the coast where we could get a boat.”
Hawk frowned. “Not enough fuel for there and back. And I need to save what I’ve got for business.”
“And this?” Aaron motioned to Eden.
“This was for you, my brother.”
Eden turned to see him standing by the door, and ran the short distance. “Are you leaving so soon?”
“This wasn’t a reunion, sweetheart. I have business.”
She put her hand on his arm and rose to press her lips to his, a sight that jolted Aaron to his toes, despite the innocence of the kiss. “Thank you.”
“Don’t give him any trouble,” Hawk said with a nod to Aaron.
The two men clasped hands and embraced again before Hawk turned away, tossed three packs out of the bed of the truck, and climbed in, gunning the engine in salute before he drove away.
Eden reached for Aaron’s hand as they watched him leave. “You came back for me.”
“I never should have left you.”
Her fingers tightened on his as they turned toward the camp. “We made it.”
“A near thing,” Christine muttered as they approached Kelly and Geoff. “And I don’t even get a kiss for my trouble.”
Eden stepped around Aaron and gave Christine a smacking kiss on the cheek.
“Pretty free with those today, wouldn’t you say?” he scowled.
She cupped her hand over his cheek and looked into his eyes. He saw relief there, joy, but behind them, a shadow of pain and fear before she kissed him again, softer this time.
