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  “I haven’t even been in yet,” he said. “When I was driving to the station, Cole called me and told me to come. I just got here.”

  They reached the ICU waiting room and were told to have a seat. Cole was paged and the three women sat with Grace in the middle, holding hands. David anxiously paced the small room. He was a man of action and waiting around clearly made him uncomfortable. Finally, Cole came through the doors, covered with ash and soot, followed by a young female in a white coat.

  “He’s okay guys, he’s going to be okay,” Cole said, as Elizabeth hurried over and wrapped her arms around him. Everyone hugged someone and then hugged someone else.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” tears streamed down Grace’s cheeks.

  “Cole, what happened?” Lila was wiping tears from her own eyes.

  The young female doctor stepped forward towards Lila. “You must be Luke’s wife, Lila. I’m Grace’s doctor, Sarah. I was on call at the hospital when I heard that Luke had been brought in. I’ve been helping out, since I thought it might be good for him to see a familiar face until you got here.”

  Lila nodded. She had heard Grace speak very highly of her physician, Sarah, but was unsure how Luke would have known her. Sarah continued, “He was asking for you before he passed out. Let’s sit down and I can explain everything to you.” She then addressed the whole group “You all must have been so worried.”

  They sat down and Cole told the family what had happened in the fire. They had gotten all of the campers out safely and were at a meeting spot away from the fire when the hiker realized she had lost her dog. She panicked and ran back towards the fire. Several volunteers followed her back in, but it was Luke who caught up with her first. As he was restraining her, a burning limb fell from a tree, landing on Luke’s shoulder.

  Sarah explained that Luke had suffered injuries to his collar bone and right shoulder, as well as some burns to the skin where the branch had hit him. The pain from the injury had caused him to pass out, soon after arriving at the hospital.

  “I need to see him.” Lila stood up and walked towards the doors.

  “I’m sorry, but we have to wait a bit longer to be sure his vitals are where we want them.” Sarah tried to place a reassuring hand on Lila’s shoulder, but Lila politely turned away. Sensing Lila’s need to be alone, Sarah gave her a sweet smile, then walked over to Grace.

  “Grace, can I speak with you a moment?” Sarah pulled Grace aside and was talking to her quietly, Grace nodding as she spoke.

  Grace walked back to the group. “I need to go with Sarah for a bit, nothing to do with Luke, Lila. Don’t worry, we will make sure that you are the first to see him.” She gave Lila a quick squeeze, then headed down the hallway with Sarah.

  “Are you okay, Lila?” David asked, placing a hand stiffly on Lila’s shoulder. She nodded, crossing her arms across her chest, tightly for comfort. “I am going to call Heather,” David said, reaching for his cell phone and heading towards the exit.

  Cole and Elizabeth were whispering intensely in a corner. Lila could barely hear them, but did catch the words “where were you” from Cole. Elizabeth saw Lila, standing alone, looking at them and untangled herself from Cole, heading over to Lila.

  “I am so sorry Lila, how are you holding up?”, Elizabeth asked, rubbing Lila’s back lightly.

  “I just need to see him. I need to see that he’s okay.” Lila broke down in sobs, her body collapsing into her chair.

  Chapter 7

  Lila sat in the stiff, plastic chair, staring at Luke’s sleeping face. His coloring was pale and he had a huge bandage covering his right shoulder. There was a brace around his neck. Lila couldn’t take her eyes off of him. She gently stroked his hand and arm. Everyone else had gone home for the night, once Luke had been moved out of intensive care, but Lila had refused. Lila had been sitting by his side for hours. She could feel herself nodding off, the stress of the day and brutal fatigue taking its toll on her.

  “Lila,” Luke’s hoarse voice snapped her out of her daze.

  “Luke, oh my gosh, Luke.” Lila flew out of her chair and leaned over him, smoothing a hand over his cheek. Luke lifted his good arm and tried to tuck a wave of hair behind her ear.

  “Lila, Lila.” Luke coughed, wincing in pain as he did.

  “Shh. Luke, don’t talk, just rest.” Lila buried her face in his chest. “Oh, Luke, I was so worried.”

  Luke smiled weakly. “Never been better, beautiful.” Then he nodded back off to sleep.

  Lila stood by his side, tears of joy streaming down her face. Hearing his voice, she knew what the doctors had told her was true. Luke was going to be fine. Recovery would take a few weeks, but luckily he was left handed, which would make the injury much easier to deal with.

  There was a light tap at the door, then it opened gently and Sarah poked her head into the room. “Everything okay? I just wanted to check in before I clock out.”

  “Yes, he woke up for a minute, we spoke, then he fell back asleep. Is it normal that he is sleeping so much?” Lila asked anxiously.

  “He will be fine. He is on some pretty strong pain killers, and his body has experienced some trauma. He is going to be sleeping a lot.” Sarah stopped to read the board on the wall, listing the names of the doctors and nurses that were attending to Luke. “And he has a great team working for him.”

  Lila’s curiosity got the best of her. “Sarah, how do you know Luke?”

  “Small town, Lila. We all know everyone. Mostly though from Grace bragging about him all of time.” Sarah winked. “She loves her kids and she is especially proud of Luke’s character. He came in with her a few times over the last couple of months.”

  “Came in with her?” Lila was confused to hear that Luke had been home recently.

  Sarah blushed. “Oh, um, I’m sorry, Lila, I shouldn’t have said anything. I don’t want to breach Grace’s privacy.” Sarah hurried to the door, calling “take care” over her shoulder as she quietly closed it.

  Lila couldn’t worry about this now. Her only focus was on Luke’s recovery. She sat back down in her chair, head propped against the wall and fell fast asleep.

  Lila relished how good it felt to have finally taken a shower, as she dried her hair with a fluffy white towel. She had been sleeping on a cot in the hospital, at Luke’s bedside, for two days. They had finally released him and he was resting comfortably at Grace’s cabin. Lila had not left him for more than a few minutes since the accident.

  There were plenty of people around to help and they all encouraged Lila to take some time to herself. Grace was constantly trying to feed her and get her to take naps, but Lila stayed by Luke’s side. She finally gave in when Heather whispered in her ear, “Girl, I think you might need to go grab yourself a shower. You look like a hot mess.”

  Lila took her time drying her hair, and putting on a touch of makeup. She put on one of her cute new outfits, a short black skirt with a flowery top.

  Luke was propped up on their bed, eyes closed. He opened them and looked up at her as she came out of the bathroom.

  “Hi, beautiful girl. Come here.” Luke reached out with his good arm to embrace her. She walked over and leaned down to kiss him. His hand trailed down her back and over her skirt, lightly brushing the top of her thigh with his fingertips.

  Luke frowned. “Lila, this skirt is entirely too short. You need to change”

  Lila laughed, “Oh, Luke, nobody cares.”

  “I care. You need to change.”

  “Luke, I don’t have anything else to go with this top. And I don’t think it is too short.”

  “Okay then.” Luke placed his hand firmly on the small of her back. “If the skirt is in fact, not too short, then lay yourself over my lap and I will only spank the part of your bottom that shouldn’t be showing.” He gave her his ‘I mean business’ look.

  Lila looked at her husband. Thankfully, after the x-ray came back, they discovered that his injuries were not as serious as they had first thought, so the
brace had been removed. He was sitting up, with no shirt on, shoulder bandaged. A light quilt covered his legs and was pulled up to his waist. He gently patted his lap with his left hand. Lila swallowed hard. She imagined herself, standing by the bed, bent over at the waist, lying over his lap, her skirt riding up to expose the sensitive spot where her bottom met the top of her thighs. Judging by the tone in Luke’s voice, she didn’t think he was talking about a sweet sexy spanking.

  “Um, that’s okay, I’ll think I’ll change,” Lila decided quickly.

  Lila hurried over to her suitcase. She purposely bent over at the waist, reaching down into it, taking her time to find a change of clothes, giving her husband a little show. She giggled when she heard him emit a low growl as she skipped off to the bathroom to change.

  “Good girl,” Luke said sleepily. “Lila, you are going to be the death of me,” Luke muttered before he fell back asleep.

  *****

  “Okay. Sounds good. Thanks again, Cecelia.” Lila hung up the phone and closed her laptop. She was sitting at Grace’s countertop, just having checked in with her peppy co-worker. Luke was not up for traveling yet, and Lila was not yet ready to be away from him. Cecelia was all too happy to keep Lila’s position while she was gone, and by the sound of it was doing it just as well as Lila.

  Lila was surprised how disinterested she was with work at the office. More than once on their long phone call, Cecelia had to stop and say, “you with me Lila?” because all Lila could focus on right now was Luke’s recovery.

  “Hey there, honey!” Heather strolled up to the counter and kissed Lila on the cheek. Heather was a breath of fresh air for tired Lila. Her and David were going back and forth from their hometown, helping out as much as they could. Elizabeth and Cole came over to visit every evening, but didn’t stay for long on account of the rowdy twins.

  Heather poured herself a cup of coffee from Grace’s always ready pot on the counter. “Girl, we got to get you outta here for a bit. And I need to hit some civilization. How about we drive over to the mall.”

  “Oh, Heather, I can’t leave Luke.” Lila propped her elbows on the counter and put her head in her hands.

  Heather walked back over to Lila and gently placed a hand on her arm. “Luke called me and told me to get you out of here. He said you refused to take a break, and I think you need some retail therapy. Grace and David have everything covered.”

  Lila gave the idea some thought. It would be good to get out for a bit. And it would be nice to get some one on one time with Heather. Relenting, she said, “Okay, let me just say good bye to Luke.”

  As she rounded the corner to their bedroom, she could hear Luke and Grace talking in hushed whispers.

  “I’m just not ready, Luke. All in good time,” Grace said.

  “Okay, Mom. When you are ready. Sarah said it would be better for you to share with others though,” Luke replied.

  What on Earth were they talking about? And why was Sarah talking to Luke? She was about to clear her throat to announce her entrance when Grace asked, “Have you and Lila found a tenant for the old house yet? I think Maisy might be looking to downsize.”

  Lila and Luke hadn’t spoken about the house, or anything for that matter. She was trying to let him rest as much as possible and they had mostly kept their conversations light. Plus, there had been so many people around and Luke was still sleeping a lot of hours during the day. They really hadn’t had a true conversation since before the fire. She hated to eavesdrop, but really wanted to know what Luke thought about the house.

  “Why don’t you call her and let her know that it’s available. I want to get Lila back to the city as soon as possible. I hate that she is having to miss another week of work to take care of me, but I’m not going anywhere right now, Mom.”

  “Honey, we are all hopeful about a speedy recovery, but I think don’t think that you are going to be up for travelling for some time. And I know how you feel about staying close to home right now. We have plenty of help here. We should both do our best to assure Lila we have this under control so she can return home. I’d hate for her to become unhappy here, or feel like she’s getting behind at work. She gets so much fulfillment from her career.”

  “Good idea, Mom. I’ll talk to her today. Maybe she could head out Sunday and be back to work by Monday.”

  Lila’s heart sank. Leave Luke here for his family to care for? The idea of returning to her normal work routine was a little bit enticing, but it wasn’t just Luke that she would have a hard time leaving. Being around Luke’s family had been the most fun Lila had had in a long time. It hurt, though that Grace had called this Luke’s home, and he hadn’t corrected her. Was he regretting moving from this small town? She definitely wasn’t ready to up and leave her job and move to the blue house. Was she?

  Chapter 8

  Lila and Heather sat at the mall food court drinking lemonade and talking. Heather, as usual, had Lila in stitches. Now she was doing impressions of the older people at her church, with her funny southern accent. “Oh, dear Lord take me away!” She said throwing her head back and pretending to feel around with a cane, both of them erupting into a fit of giggles.

  “How does David live with you without his cheeks falling off?” Lila had never laughed this much in her life.

  “Oh, girl. I behave myself around my man. I try to keep it under control. I just let loose when I’m with the ladies. Besides, David would take me over his knee if he ever caught me doing impressions of the older generation.” Heather casually took a sip of her lemonade. Lila wasn’t sure if Heather was just talking, or trying to broach the subject with her. After all, Luke had specifically called Heather to take her out.

  She decided to be brave, “Heather, does David really, you know?”

  Heather looked at Lila pointedly. “Spank me? Of course. I’m sure you’ve heard the story about my little sports car incident.” Heather paused, as if debating whether or not to share something. “Lila, I think I should tell you that I had a little chat with Luke.” Lila raised her eyebrows in surprise, as Heather continued, “He’s like my little brother and he used to come to me for relationship advice when he first started dating you. Man, he was head over heels. Still is, Lila Belle.”

  Lila smiled but didn’t say anything, not knowing what to say. Thankfully, Heather never had a problem filling in the silence.

  “Now, he didn’t tell me anything too personal, or anything like that.” Heather emphasized her words by waving her hands in a crossing motion in front of her. “Never does, but he did say that you two had been trying out a different style of marriage lately, and that he had been taking the lead. He also mentioned that he thought you might be struggling with the idea of not being in charge, and that I might be good to talk to.”

  Lila was relieved that Luke hadn’t told Heather anything further, but was a little miffed that he had talked to Heather at all. On the other hand, he was right. She did need to talk to someone and she really admired Heather and felt comfortable around her.

  “Lila, mostly I just wanted to tell you I’m here if you need me, or if you ever want to talk, or ask questions. I know you must be curious about me and David’s lifestyle. Most people are.” Heather winked at Lila and patted her hand.

  Lila blushed. It was now or never. “I guess I would like to know more about your style of marriage. I mean, you and David seem so solid. Luke and I are solid too, but it turns out he was unhappy for weeks before even telling me. And he naturally is drawn to being the ‘Head of the Household’, as he calls it. I’m just so used to being in charge at work, I guess I had been steamrolling him without even realizing it.”

  “Us girls like to have things our way. Let me ask you though, how have you felt since Luke’s been taking the reins a bit?” Heather looked at her questioningly.

  Lila thought for a moment before she replied, “Honestly? Peaceful. Taken care of. And when he puts his foot down, he’s usually right. Like he was about us taking this trip. And I’ve enjoye
d feeling… I don’t know, feminine? Not in control?” Lila could feel herself blushing.

  Heather was nodding emphatically. “Yes. That’s exactly right. Submission is a gift a wife can give her husband. And it’s even more precious when it comes from one of us strong willed women. It takes a lot of practice and hard work to let your man take control, but when you let go, it just works. And isn’t the sex hot?” Heather laughed at Lila’s crimson face. “Okay, I shouldn’t have said that. See, I’m still learning. David would tan my hide if he found out I said that to you.”

  “No, I’m good. I like being able to have this talk with you. Thank you for sharing. And yes, the sex is hot. Way hot.” Lila laughed, surprising herself by having shared such an intimate detail about her personal life.

  Heather’s laugh trailed off, as her face turned serious. “Honestly though, I was going down a rough road before I met David. I mean it. Drinking, burning through men, no respect for others. Just did whatever I wanted. I was the only child of a washed up homecoming queen, single, mama. Bless her heart, but all she did was wait tables and drink booze. Bad men in and out of her life constantly. I had to take care of myself as a teen and I did whatever I wanted to, which was mostly men. I just felt lost, you know?” Lila nodded, wanting Heather to continue.

  “Any who, this girlfriend of mine, Cherry, yes, that was her real name… anyway, we used to get drunk on Wild Irish Rose in her Honda Civic, then go grind on the dance floor of the club every Saturday night. Well, she stopped comin’ around and I was wondering what happened to her. A few months went by and she came by my trailer, telling me about how she met Jesus, and she was getting good grades, and she was going to graduate and get herself a college education, and asked me did I know Jesus loved me too? Well, of course, I laughed in her face, but she was so sincere and looked so happy, you know? Like really happy. I was wondering what all the fuss was about. I started going to church with her. Push comes to shove, I got saved and turned my life around.” Heather paused her story to drink some lemonade.