Jenna floated above watching as a S.W.A.T. team came running out and secured the scene. As soon as he could get up, Derrick ran and checked the boats. He found his sister and her friends. Yelling for his mother and step-father, they came out but a deputy stopped them from boarding the boat. Quickly the deputy took pictures of the girls, and then as he untied each from the rail, Derrick helped the victim onto the dock and his parents then walked them to the edge of the floating docks. Eventually they had all of the girls on shore.
Derricks mom turned to him. "Where's Jenna?"
Derrick ran checking every slip until he found her. She was barely alive. He didn't even realize he was screaming until an officer wrapped his arms around him and tried to make him stand. He refused. A first responder arrived, spoke into her radio and then began giving Jenna blood as soon as it was brought to her. "We will treat her here before we make any attempts to move her."
Standing after fifteen minutes, he noticed a coast guard boat coming up river from the Ohio. All of the light made him see his grandfather sitting on the bank, hugging a tree. Kneeling, he bent over, kissed Jenna, and whispered in her ear, "I love you Luna Ray, please don't leave me alone on this earth."
Standing, he rushed to the end of a boat and jumped the four feet, landing on the river bank. Quickly he made his way over to his grandfather. Wrapping his arms around the man, he hugged him and cried. "Oh grandpa, I never worked up the courage to tell Jenna I loved her until now. I hope she lives long enough. You just witnessed our first kiss."
Atsadi held his hand out and was moving his lips as if he was praying. Derrick began praying, while holding his grandfather. It was probably a half-hour before emergency personnel made their way to where he and Atsadi were. They carried Atsadi back to the parking lot where a triage area was set up.
Derrick stood and watched as Jenna was loaded onto a gurney and then into the coast guard boat. They motioned for Derrick, so he jumped from the bank, back onto the dock and then boarded the boat.
They nodded towards Jenna, so he leaned over and put his ear by her lips. "Find my parents, say to them papa bear dink-dink still loves you and mama bear binky said arf. Tell them I love them. Promise me Grey Wolf. I love you." She drifted back into oblivion. He climbed back onto the dock and watched as the Coast Guard boat sped off with the woman he now knew he loved, totally. They would take her up river where it was clear and she could be life-flighted to the city.
As he made his way, Derrick was stopped by the deputies. He explained where knives, guns, other evidence he could think of fell into the water. After showing them the areas, he made his way back to the parking lot. His parents were still there. He climbed into the squad with his grandfather and smiled when they explained they were going to transport him to the hospital.
"Grandpa, they found Jenna and gave her blood. She told me she loves me. Please go and get checked out so perhaps they will let you go out with us again. I'm fine now. I've walked through the mist but I now see the sky." Kissing his grandfather, he climbed out, signed a paper giving the nursing home phone number and watched as the squad left.
Swallowing hard, Derrick walked towards his mother. She was standing outside the back of a squad with her husband in an embrace. A deputy was inside, getting Darcy's statement. "Mom, Mr. Reed, I need to go and find Jenna's parents and let them know she might not make it and to deliver a message. Tell Darcy if she ever does this again, she better hope you two find her before I do."
Climbing into his vehicle, he noticed the wheelchair setting beside it so he got out, put it in the back, then climbed back inside. Looking through Jenna's purse, he found her phone. Happy it was not password protected, he looked up her mother's phone number and called.
"I'm working Jen, what do you need?"
"This is Derrick. Jenna Raye was helping me search for my sister. We found her but Jenna was hit on the head and has lost a lot of blood. The coast guard left with her and are taking her on the river to meet life-flight. They are going to take her to the city. They gave her two units of blood before moving her because she was so critical. She had a message she wanted me to give you and her dad, in person. Do you want me to catch up with you at the hospital where you work or the city?"
Jenna had always said her mother was a calm person, but she was shrieking at the top of her lungs. Ending the call, he dialed her father. " Hello Jenna."
"This is Derrick, there's been an accident and the Coast Guard is taking Jenna up river to a spot with no fog so life-flight can get her to the city. She gave me a message she made me promise to say to you and her mother. Do you want me to meet you at your house, or where your wife works or at the hospital in the city?" Waiting a couple of moments, Derrick heard a thud. Ending the call, he called 911, explained they needed to trace her father's phone and also call and check on her mother.
Driving as fast as he could in the fog, Derrick prayed he had the chance to straighten out this mess also called his life. Strange how life and death helps one put everything in perspective. He wanted a solitary life, yet he didn't want to be lonely. You can't have one without the other. He would work up the courage and ask Jenna to marry him. He used to long to have love from his step-father. Now, it didn't matter, as long as the man loved and was good to his mom and Darcy.
As for his own situation, it was a shame he had anger issues as a teenager. He would love to be a S.W.A.T. officer and help good combat evil. Being a game warden would be great as he could be a steward to mother earth. Perhaps he could get some training.
Stopping when he saw the image of a small woman in the road, she was pointing for him to turn up a side road. Then she disappeared into thin air. He turned and made his way to the top of the hill. Stopping, he could see the flash flood roaring down the next valley. His guide had save him, so it was not his time. Hope creeped into his soul as he made his way to the hospital. Turning into the parking lot, security was waiting for him.
He was escorted straight to the emergency room, where Jenna's father was being treated. Her mom was with him. Derrick nodded to the physicians and her parents. "Jenna gave me the following order: find my parents, say to them papa bear dink-dink still loves you and mama bear binky said arf. Tell them I love them. Promise me Grey Wolf. I love you." Glancing from one to the other, both were sobbing harder after he delivered the message.
Turning to leave, her mother put her hand out stopping him. "Derrick, did she say parents or foster-parents?"
"She said parents. She said it exactly as I said it to you." He tried to take another step and she stopped him again.
"So my daughter told you she loves you?" The woman was standing now, staring into his eyes.
"Yes. I had whispered into her ear when I found her unconscious that I loved her and to please not leave me alone on this earth. Then I bent over and kissed her. It was the first time I had ever kissed her. I've hugged her a few times, but that's all. I respect her too much." Again he tried to walk away. This time, she grabbed his hand.
"I was told by a deputy that you fought three brothers and their father to save the women and stop their murders. Is that true?" This time, her mother was staring into his face.
"Yes. With the help of Jenna and my grandfather and I believe my spirit guides." Derrick was watching the woman.
"Good, when you become my son-in-law, you will fight for Jenna and any grandchildren you give me the same way. You need the wounds on your arms checked. Come this way as this one area might need stitches." She was leading him out of the cubical.
Derrick turned and looked at Jenna's dad. "You're no match for her mother son, go on and get treated, then we will all travel to the city together. Jenna would want you checked out by a medical team."
After receiving stitches in one arm, and having a wound glued shut on another, Derrick was ready to go when a nurse came in and gave him a couple of shots. He was standing at the vending machine when Jenna's mother came up. "No junk for you. We are eating in the limo, while my husband sleeps. Now, our real names are Ben and Amy Hatters, but you can call us mom and dad." The woman grabbed him by the hand and led him out to a waiting limo, where her husband was already strapped in.
Derrick now knew where Jenna got her chattiness from. The woman never came up for air. "I called your boss and you are off on sick leave tomorrow. We are picking up food and then going to Jenna. Did you bring Jenna's purse?" Nodding he watched as she went over how they received custody of Jenna after fifteen foster families didn't want her. It was then he began to understand Jenna. She was afraid to love, just like him. How lonely she must have been.
Accepting the large container of food, he ate half before stopping. The tea was unsweetened and he really needed some sugar for energy. Finally they arrived, only to learn Jenna was in surgery to relieve pressure on her brain. After the surgery, the doctors were cautiously optimistic that she would live. Derrick called his grandfather and insisted they hold the phone to Atsadi ear so he could give the good news. Finally Jenna stabilized and Derrick accompanied her father back home.
Arriving for work, Derrick became worried when he was told to report straight into the meeting room. Knocking first, he opened the door to find the entire staff of the small company where he worked waiting. His boss stood and began clapping. Soon every person in the room was standing and clapping. He stared as his boss came forward, hugged him and then turned on the overhead projector. A clip of Derrick, wearing his work T-shirt, escorting one of the women hostages off the boat, was part of a news story.
"Derrick, as a result of you rescuing those women, the contract we thought we lost has been renewed and we have a lot of new business. I thought we were going to have to close down, but now, we have enough business for the next year. And, a bank has offered to finance our much needed equipment and work with us to get us solvent. Not only did you save those women, you saved this company and the jobs of everyone here. Thank you Derrick! Now, everyone, I expect you to eat breakfast in the next fifteen minutes and then get to work, we have orders to fill!"
His boss patted him on the back, handed him a new t-shirt, and then walked off to take a call. Derrick got in line, filled a plate and ate in silence. His logging partner, Buck Jones, sat across from him, winked and chowed down. Everyone worked hard and long hours for the next two weeks. Finally Derrick had a day off.
For the past week, every night he had sanded on the ring of cedar he was making for Jenna. He had hollowed out one area and had placed ashes from their first smudging inside. He had sealed the hole with a tiny rock worn smooth by the creek water. Inside he carved G.W. a heart and then L.R. Metal was man made and he only wanted natural elements in this ring he was making her.
Arriving at her home, he watched as Jenna was unloaded and helped into the house. The homecoming party was huge. Derrick gripped the box containing the ring he had made her, which he has wrapped with a tobacco leaf and tied with sweet grass. Shoving it into his pocket, he stood back along the wall and watched as her friends gave her gifts.
After all of the money the guests had spent, there was no way he could present to her his gift, especially in front of all of the other guests. Stepping outside, he walked to the edge of the woods and gave the package a toss. She was from a rich and privileged world, he would have to love her from afar.