Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Three hours later, Sophie got out of the hot truck. She’d finally accepted the truth that they weren’t going to make it home for the rehearsal and had called Ivy to let her know.
They’d run into so many roadblocks on their way here that it felt like they’d been driving in circles. The only reason she hadn’t had a proper freakout yet was because what Ben had said earlier was true. He knew these mountains and forests better than anyone, except for maybe his five brothers.
Their mother had left them when they were children, and their father spent most of his time in France buying grape vines for his Virginia winery.
As far as she could tell, the Mosby brothers had raised themselves.
Or had been raised by wolves. Both stories explained why they’d been allowed to run wild through the mountains since childhood.
She finished her water bottle and tossed it onto her seat.
Ben stood on the other side of a twenty-foot tall fence lined with razor wire, talking to people in different uniforms. They’d already gone to Mt.
Weather and those people there had sent them here, to some secret military spot near the West Virginia border.
A base that was much closer to the fires.
Because Ben hadn’t shared what he’d learned, she wasn’t sure where the fires were burning or how they were going to get home.
Ben had asked her to trust him and since she did, she’d stayed silent. Except now Ben was waving his arm toward mountains that loomed around them. A large, heavy plane flew in the distance, dropping clouds of red flame retardant.
She coughed and got back in the truck. It was six-thirty in the summer, but it seemed much later. Ben left his meeting, opened the driver’s door, and a waft of smoke made her cough again.
She opened a new water bottle and handed it to him. “What’s going on?” She understood his need for secrecy, but she was beyond frustrated.
He drank deeply and used his fist to wipe the water off his chin. Then he turned on the ignition. It didn’t take long to leave the base and head westward. “Good news or bad news first?”
“Is the bad news worse than not making it home for the rehearsal?”
“Yes.”
“Hmmm.” She focused on the mountains ahead of them. Now that they’d left the foothills, plumes of black smoke rose from the southern and northern ridges. Earlier, a few planes had dropped water, but now they were dosing the trees with flame retardant.
He drove down the narrow road slowly, toward the darkest part of the sky. “I’m sorry we’re missing the rehearsal. Pastor Mark promised we can still get married tomorrow.”
She nodded and hid her disappointment. “Good news first.”
“The fires haven’t gone as far south as Kingsmill. So our town is safe.”
She blew out a relieved breath. “That’s great.” Since she’d already finished her lunch, and was hungry again, she took a granola bar from the box situated between their seats. “Can we go home now?”
“No.” He glanced in his rear-view mirror. “One of the two pieces of bad news is that since we’re farther north, we’re boxed in by fires and we’ll have to find a safe place to wait it out.”
“Why can’t we head east, toward D.C., then head south, and then west again?” Like making a circle around the fires.
“The roads heading east are closed so emergency vehicles can move west. And I need to do something before we head home.”
“Ben?” She bit into her granola bar and struggled to keep the annoyance out of her voice.
“I’m resigned to missing the rehearsal, but at midnight I have to go into hiding until I see you at the wedding.
I don’t want any bad luck following us into our marriage.
We’ve had enough of that during the ten years we were apart. ”
“There is no bad luck.” He glanced at her. “I promise.”
She shrugged. “If I had my way, I’d forget everything about my past.”
“We’ve talked about this, Sophie. We agreed that from now on, we’re not going to let our past define our future. And for the record, I wouldn’t want to forget any of it. I loved the woman you were then, and I love you now.”
She pondered his admission. “I’m not going to be a hypocrite and deny I was highly attracted to your younger, darker, motorcycle-riding, leather-wearing persona.”
He sent her a triumphant smile. “Tell me more.”
She laughed, grateful for the release of tension in her tight chest. “When I first saw you–one of the infamous Devil’s Renegades–riding on a black Harley with no worries and no fear, I thought you were sexy as hell and as dangerous as sin.
And now that we’re a decade older…” She paused to find the right words.
“I crave the man you’ve become. A man of quiet strength and fierce honor with a side of sexy self-assurance I envy. ”
He took her hand and kissed it. Then he pressed her palm against his thigh, his larger, warmer hand covering hers. “I promise we’re getting married tomorrow.” He slowed the truck when the road turned into an unpaved lane. “But I need to do this first.”
“Can you share what this is?”
He looked in the rearview mirror again, then turned to her with eyes tinged with sadness. “I need to keep my promise about not letting my past define our future.”
She removed her hand from his thigh and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Which past? The near past—like last week when you saved your niece’s cat from that coyote?
Or the farther past…. the one where we got to know each other in a very adult way, secretly, without the Black Jacks or Devil’s Renegades knowing? ”
A secret love affair that almost got them killed and led to their decade-long separation.
“The farther past.” He took her hand from his neck and kissed her knuckles.
They’d finally entered the woods, and the trees pressed in while branches scraped the roof. They were driving southwest, still going up the mountain, still heading deeper into the forest filled with straggly pines and majestic oaks. With lots of smoke swirling around them.
“Sophie, I need to make sure my younger self’s mistakes are behind us before we get married tomorrow.”
“We both got away from those motorcycle clubs. You left the Devil’s Renegades and are now a real-life sheriff. And I’m done with the Black Jacks. Unless the Black Jacks are trying to restart their chapter here in Virginia?”
When he didn’t answer, she turned toward her side window, only to have her visibility limited by smoke and foliage. “This doesn’t feel right, Ben. I’m scared.”
“We’re miles from the active blazes. Because we’re lower on the mountain, the smoky air is settling downward. When the southern roads are clear, we’ll go home. Until then, I need to do this.”
“Why do we have to do it now?” Seriously. Couldn’t he have done this soul searching weeks ago? Not the night before their wedding?
“I need to prove I’m not responsible for this fire.”
Whoa. She stared at his handsome-yet-firm profile. “That doesn’t make sense. We’ve been together all day. Why would you be responsible for these fires?”
“I didn’t start the fires, but I think I know who did and why. And it’s the why that might be my fault.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Before we get married, I need to confirm whether my suspicions are true.” He turned on his emergency radio and staticky voices came through.
The sounds of back-and-forth chatter of emergency personnel filled the truck.
While she knew he wasn’t responsible, there was nothing she could say to make him feel better.
With the radio on, he obviously didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
He was using his work to shut her out. Again.
“Why do you keep looking in the rear-view mirror?”
“It’s the second piece of bad news.” He hit the gas despite the road’s terrible condition. “We’re being followed.”
She looked behind, but only saw smoke and trees. “By whom?”
“Black Jacks.”