“You look different,” Jackie said directly. She cocked her head and put her little feet up as I handed her a cup of coffee. We had almost half an hour before her next class started. The turnout had been amazing. People had come from miles away…

“Different…?” I smiled without meaning to, feeling the blush creep up from my chest to my face.

“Holy shit, Mags! It happened, didn’t it? Joe finally got the hell over it, and figured out what he wants.” She put her cup down hard, and the coffee spilled up and over the rim. “I knew that’s why he showed up for this trip.”

“He came for the story, Jackie.” I looked up to meet her eyes. “And I think he felt like he had to. It’s that damned protective streak. He’s always felt so responsible for me… and for Dean, too, in a way.” I leaned closer and lowered my voice. “It always made me so angry. Like he was treating me like a child…”

“You don’t look angry anymore. You look like a cat with a mouthful of cream.” She smiled when I turned crimson. “How was it, honey? By the looks of you, I think I can guess…” She took my hand. “He knew to be gentle enough… to be careful…?”

I knew what she meant. All those years of nursing were showing in the concern on her face.

“He didn’t knock me up, Jackie.” I took a deep breath and wiped the damp skin under my neck. I smiled like a kid with a secret.

“He’s got plans for our first time. He wants it to be special…” I looked around at the new wave of people coming through the doors. “These aren’t exactly the ideal circumstances for a girl’s deflowering.” My smile began to fade. “And he wants to talk to Dean…”

She smiled at his name and nodded quietly, lost for a moment in her own thoughts. “It won’t be easy for him. You two have only just mended your own relationship. And he’s only just started to get the hang of the big brother thing.”

“Can you talk to him, Jackie? I know it’s a lot to ask, but you two seem to have a connection. He respects you… he listens to you.” It was Jackie’s turn to turn pink.

“He’s man who knows his own mind, Maggie.” I saw the hint of a smile and her eyes seemed to wander for a second. They settled on Dean, at the far end of the room. “I can’t promise anything… but I’ll try.”

By five o’clock, the last class was over. We’d planned to stay another day, but the event had been such an enormous success, only two small boxes of leftover handouts remained. RemedAid had been invited to come back next year, and I’d made more than a dozen valuable contacts offering both funding and services. By this time next year, we could easily be serving half a dozen or more needy communities just like this one. It was better than I ever could have wished for.

But we would also be able to head back home a day earlier than expected, and it was that, more than anything, that had my heart beating too fast. Joe would be back anytime, along with the others, and there would only be one more night apart. Once we were home, the cottage would be all the privacy we needed. And for me, it seemed like the perfect place… Young as I’d been, it was still and would always be the place where I’d fallen in love with Joe.

I helped to fold up the tables and clear away the last of our materials. Everyone pitched in, working in silent satisfaction after two long and demanding days. Joe hadn’t gotten back yet, and even I was amazed at how hungry I was just for a glimpse of him. It had always been like that. Even when I was little. Nothing in my life had ever felt right until he was beside me.

There were a handful of people who hadn’t left yet… an older couple who were talking animatedly with Jackie, and a few others who were clustered by the main doors. A woman stood, holding her little daughter’s hand and laughing with Henry. He and Ryan had shown up almost twenty minutes ago.

“Hey, guys.” I walked over, smiling at the little girl. She was skinny, and her knobby knees were pressed together.

“Has anybody heard from Joe?” I looked up at Ryan. “Wasn’t the school gonna be his last stop? He should be here by now…”

“We left a little before he did, Mags,” he replied. “He said something about making a stop at the corner market.” Ryan looked at his watch. “Shouldn’t be too much longer.” He smiled at me knowingly, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Ryan had always been able to read my mind. “He’ll be here.”

It was only late afternoon, but the light that came through the stained glass windows had started to dim. I opened one of the heavy wooden doors and the hinges creaked dully. The sky was a shapeless wall of clouds, and the road was flat and empty as it disappeared into them. No truck… no Joe… I shivered and felt sweat trickle between my shoulder blades…

“I gotta pee, Mama,” the little girl whined, as she crossed one leg over the other and stood on one foot. “Mama…”

“I’ll take her if you like,” I offered, as the young woman let go of her hand. “There are restrooms at the far end of the hall.” The woman nodded and turned her attention back to Ryan. The little girl took my hand and skipped along beside me, hurrying.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“I’m Maggie,” I said, smiling down at her. She was sweet with her blonde curls and big blue eyes. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Emily,” she answered politely. “And I gotta pee.”

I pushed the big door open for her and she rushed past. “I’ll wait for you here, Emily.” A few seconds later, I heard a gentle tinkle and a sigh.

The next sound I heard wiped the smile off my face. It was off in the distance… like the dull roar of thunder. But instead of rumbling away, the sound only grew louder. There was the crashing sound of rain on the rooftop and the light shifted… then for a second the sound was gone and it was dead, cold silence. In that pause, I heard Emily’s tiny voice cry out in fear.

The next thing I knew, the rain was beating down again, harder than ever, and the howling wind mixed with the groans of the wooden walls around us. I ran toward the stall where Emily shrieked.

“Maggie!”

I heard his voice and reached out, searching with my hands… “Joe!”

Another howl from the storm cut me off, but I felt his strong arms capture me and pull me against his chest. “Emily!” I called out. But the thunderstorm took no pity and drowned my words in its vengeance.

“Christ, Maggie… talk to me!”

I coughed and opened my eyes to a dark and shadowy underworld…

“Where is this?” I asked. I felt a cup pressed to my lips and I drank. He wiped my face and my eyes with a cool, damp cloth. I blinked hard and saw Joe’s blue eyes close to mine.

He kissed me, tenderly at first, then savagely. I could hear the rustle of bodies around us, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered… except that he was safe and next to me. No matter what happened now… nothing else mattered.

“You’re all right?” he asked intently. I felt his hands roaming my arms and legs. “Does it hurt anywhere? Fuck, Maggie… I should have been here.”

“You are here,” I said, holding onto his arms for support. I sat up gingerly and felt the room tilt. “I was afraid…,” I broke off in a sob. “I thought you were caught in the storm.”

He pulled me into his arms again and kissed me until the dizziness passed and the fear along with it. He was big and strong and real in my arms. He lifted his mouth from mine and even in the pale lantern light his eyes were blue… so beautifully blue… “Emily’s still upstairs…,” I whispered, the words catching in my throat.

I sat up in a panic and looked around. Dean and Jackie… Ryan and Henry… the rest of our crew… Then I saw her. Shocked and huddled into a corner of the basement. Emily’s mother…

“There’s a little girl, Joe… she’s still up there. She was in the bathroom. I took her in there… I was waiting for her to come out…” I saw the look on his face. And I watched his lips form a thin, grim line.

“Are you all right? Do you promise me?” he asked. He searched my face for the truth.

“I’m fine, I swear it. You have to find her. Just go!”

He tore his eyes from me and jerked his head toward Dean. Jackie came to sit beside me, and the next thing I knew, they were gone. Joe in the lead, and Dean right behind him. I could hear the storm’s fury, and wondered what the hell I’d just done.