Six-Week Marriage Miracle

If only the summer sun would chase away the coldness inside her—the same coldness that had settled into every cell, the same coldness that had taken hold ever since she’d realized Gabe’s plane had gone down with her request for a divorce ringing in his ears.

She’d agonized for weeks over taking their separation to its logical conclusion before she’d contacted a lawyer, but they’d lived apart for nearly a year. After the adoption had fallen through, they’d simply shut down. It was understandable, she supposed. They’d been obsessed with the baby when she’d been pregnant, and then they’d focused exclusively on adopting a child. Their marriage had been so driven toward that end goal that their sudden failure had simply sidelined their relationship.

Consequently they’d drifted apart until the only solution had been to ask for a change of scenery. She’d wanted time and space to redefine what she wanted out of life and, more importantly, she wanted Gabe to have the same.

A year later, she’d finally faced the facts. Remaining in their legal limbo wasn’t doing either of them any favors. They both needed the freedom to pursue their dreams—she wanted companionship and Gabe wanted a family. Although she hated the idea of Gabe finding a woman who could give him what she couldn’t, it had seemed silly, selfish and almost spiteful to keep him from his heart’s desire. With the stroke of a judge’s pen, they would end their estranged state and could move on with their lives. To start over, as it were.

In the end, her altruistic decision had been wasted. Fate had stepped in and had the last laugh at their expense before he could sign the papers dissolving their marriage. Before he’d created the family he’d always wanted.

Since then, she’d told herself on a daily basis to stop beating herself over everything from procrastinating to her bad timing. After all, divorced or widowed, she was still alone.

Alone or not, though, it pained her to imagine what final thoughts had run through Gabe’s head. No doubt his last one of her had involved the unpleasant scene when she’d asked for a divorce. Some would say she was being too hard on herself. Others would say she was worrying over nothing. After all, if she wanted to completely sever their matrimonial ties, why did she care what his last thoughts of her had been?

In one corner of her heart, she’d wanted Gabe to realize their marriage needed as much attention as he gave his family’s charitable foundation, but if he’d entertained any regrets during his final moments, she’d never know. Chances were, she repeated to herself for the millionth time, he hadn’t thought of her at all …

Jane straightened, her gaze riveted in the distance. “Looks like they’re about two blocks away.” She glanced at her watch. “Right on time, too.”

Leah slowly got to her feet then brushed the seat of her scrub pants. “I wish we knew what we were getting,” she fretted.

“We’ll find out soon enough.”

A black Lexus squealed to an abrupt stop in the aisle of the parking lot. Apparently the driver didn’t care about the traffic snarl he’d created.

“Security is going to eat him alive,” Leah commented.

“Maybe you should tell him.”

The ambulance pulled in and began backing up to the dock, its warning beeps intermingling with the other city noises. “He’ll have to take his chances,” Leah said. “We have things to do and people to see.”

As the ambulance inched backwards, Leah heard someone call her name. A familiar figure, Sheldon Redfern had jumped out of the Lexus and was running toward her.

“Leah,” he panted. “Wait!”

“Sheldon, what are you doing here?” she asked, amazed to see him.

“I have to tell you—”

The ambulance braked. “Save it for later,” she ordered. “I’m busy right now.”

“This can’t wait.”

He grabbed her arm at the same time she saw Jane twisting the handle to open the back door. “Sheldon,” she protested. “I have work to do.”

“Leah,” he urged. “It’s about Gabe and the search team we sent.”

Instinctively, her heart sank. Sheldon’s eagerness to contact her only meant one thing.

“They finally located his remains,” she said dully, feeling her chest tighten and a painful knot clog her throat as her eyes dimmed with sudden tears. For all the problems they’d had, she hadn’t wanted anything so drastic and so final to happen to him. Yes, a divorce was like a death—the death of a marriage—but part of her consolation had been that they each would carry on and eventually find the happiness they couldn’t find with each other.

Unfortunately, Sheldon’s announcement had irrevocably destroyed that thin hope. Why had he felt compelled to deliver the news now, at this very moment, with patients breathing down her neck, when she wasn’t mentally prepared to deal with the finality of the situation?

“No,” Sheldon corrected in her ear.

“No?” She stared at him in surprise.

“What he’s trying to say unsuccessfully is that they found us.” Sheldon’s voice suddenly sounded closer … and deeper … and more like … Gabe’s.

And it was coming from inside the ambulance.

She focused in that direction, ignoring the paramedic to glance at the human cargo—two men and a woman. They looked tired and dirty in clothing that was tattered and torn, but broad smiles shone on their faces. An uncanny sense of familiarity struck her.

In spite of their gaunt and disreputable appearance, she knew all three. Yet her brain couldn’t reconcile what she was seeing with what she’d been told.

She homed in on the man who’d spoken. He was just as dirty as the other two and equally as disheveled. His right pants leg had been cut open at some point but in spite of being tied closed with strips of gauze, she glimpsed a white bandage circling his shin. A splint encased his left forearm and another bandage was visible above the open neck of his torn shirt. But there was no denying that this man was Gabe.

“I tried calling you all morning,” Sheldon babbled in the background as the identities of Gabe’s colleagues—Jack Kasold and Theresa Hernandez—registered before they stepped onto the concrete. “You never answered my messages.”

The pink scraps of paper tucked in her tunic pocket suddenly weighed like the proverbial ton of bricks. She’d ignored them when she’d seen who’d phoned because she’d assumed he simply wanted to hash out more details for the foundation’s upcoming charity ball. Apparently, she’d been wrong.

“I was going to call you during my break,” she said numbly as she looked past all the people to study her husband once again.

Tape bisected his forehead, his beard was scruffy, his hair shaggy, and lines of apparent pain bracketed his full mouth, but his midnight-black eyes were so familiar.

Could it be true? Really true? Her heart skipped a beat as she feared she might be hallucinating and hoped she was not.

“Gabe?” she finally asked, aware of how thin and reedy her voice sounded.

He stepped out of the ambulance, balancing himself on one crutch. His reassuring smile was one she’d seen before—the same one that belonged to the man she’d married when their future had been bright and it had seemed as if nothing could stop them from living their dreams.

“Hi, honey. I’m home.”

CHAPTER TWO

UNCERTAIN of the reception he’d receive when he finally saw Leah again, Gabriel’s tension had escalated with each mile closer to his destination. Considering how Sheldon hadn’t been able to reach her all morning, Gabe had expected her to be surprised and shocked by his astonishing return and she didn’t disappoint him.

“Gabe?” she whispered in that soft voice he remembered so vividly. “Is it really you?”

He met her gaze and offered a rueful smile. “A little the worse for wear but, yes, it is.”

“Oh, my.” She covered her mouth with both hands. Suddenly, she turned pale and a dazed look came to her eyes.

She was going to faint. Cursing because he wasn’t in a position to catch her himself, he roared, “Sheldon!”

Fortunately, his second-in-command was beside her and grabbed her arm. At the same time the paramedic did the same. For an instant she sagged, then straightened and shrugged off the two men’s hold.

“I’m okay,” she insisted, losing a bit of her deer-caught-in-the-headlights look.

“Are you sure?” The paramedic didn’t sound convinced as he eyed her closely.