Rescue Me(97)

“What are you talking about?” Sam said quietly.

“I . . .” Sierra blew out a breath. “I set you up, okay? I wanted you to go hiking with Willow so that you could see how amazing and beautiful she is—and maybe I was a little bit of a coward. I didn’t want to break your heart, Sam. So I thought if you fell in love with Willow, just a little, then maybe when I did cut you loose . . .”

Sam couldn’t move. “You wanted me to fall for Willow?”

“You’re so blind, Sam. Willow has loved you for I don’t know how long. I didn’t know it when we started dating, but the first time I let you kiss me, I knew the minute I told her that her heart was broken.” She shook her head. “And I didn’t know what to do about it. Until this weekend.”

Really?

Willow loved him?

“And don’t tell me that you didn’t figure that out, Sam. You were out there with Willow for two days, and the girl doesn’t exactly hide her feelings. Ever.”

No. That she didn’t. But wearing a crazy grin on his face probably wouldn’t help. Especially since Sierra looked like she wanted to go for his throat.

Ian hadn’t moved from his spot by the bed and now looked at Sierra, back at Sam. “Maybe I’ll just, um . . . go.”

“No, you stay right here, Ian Shaw, because this is for you too.”

Ian glanced at Sam, something of panic in his eyes.

Sierra advanced on them. “You both drive me crazy, you know that? You’re so consumed with blame and regret, it’s practically choking both of you. Ian, you’ve got to face the truth that either way, Esme is gone. I’m sorry about that, but blaming yourself—or me—is not going to bring her back.”

Ian stiffened.

“And Sam, you’re completely missing the important part here. The kids are home safe. No one died—and that’s a miracle. So you can either choose to see that and accept the amazing grace of God, or you can start pointing fingers and let all that darkness suffocate you.”

He didn’t want that, not anymore. He nearly spoke up, but Sierra cut him off, her gaze pinning him to the bed.

“You know why Willow is so amazing? It’s because she’s not afraid to let you see her heart and all the love inside it. And the amazing part is, that love isn’t from her—it’s from God. He’s the source of the light that is in Willow.”

“God’s light can overtake the darkness.”

Yes, that’s exactly what had happened. Perhaps God had pushed him over a cliff to get his attention.

To part the darkness, draw him to the light.

Sierra’s voice finally softened. “Sam. The only way you can escape the darkness is to stop looking at yourself and focus on someone greater. Someone who can truly set you free.”

Sierra looked first at Sam, then Ian. Back to Sam. “But in order to be set free, you’d have to admit you can’t fix it. That you are completely helpless. That you need rescuing. And you just can’t do that, can you?”

Sam glanced at Ian, who was staring at his shoes.

In the hallway, he could hear the hum of voices, the rattle of a food cart.

“I’m going to find my sister and take her home. Tell her that she’s the bravest person I’ve ever met.” She looked at Sam then, ice in her eyes. “Frankly, Sam, you don’t deserve her.”

His throat thickened as she swept out of the room, the door closing with a soft click behind her.

He couldn’t agree more.



“The wound looks pretty clean.”

Willow could barely hear the ER nurse over the echo of Sam’s words in her brain.

“It was just plain stupid.”

She knew it was his feelings of betrayal talking. She didn’t blame him—she had broken her promise. Yes, she’d saved them, but what if she’d been wrong? What if the commune hadn’t been where she thought?

By God’s grace they weren’t still wandering around in the woods, dangerously close to hypothermia.

“It’s too late for stitches, and you’ll have a scar, but otherwise, it’s not infected.” Nurse E. Hudson, by her badge, was in her midthirties, dressed in blue scrubs, wore her brown hair short, and didn’t seem affected in the least by the press and chatter of the parents crowding into the ER.

Not that any of them had spoken to Willow.

She’d walked right past Pete, who was talking with Tallie and a number of other media, as well as Maggy and Gus. Inside the ER bay, she spied Vi with her father, who was taking a look at his daughter’s splinted leg. Riley stood next to Vi, holding her hand.

Zena stood next to Dawson, who had planted himself at the foot of Vi’s bed and barely looked up at Willow as she passed.