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“I got you, Misty,” I hear Zak puffing through the haze, squeezing my whole body again until the last of the water’s out. “By God, I’ve got you baby, and I’m not ever letting go, not ever again.”
My hands reach for his face and once I find it I know I’ll never let go again either. Not now, not ever.
I don’t even have to try and say it, because once Zak sees I can breathe again, that I’m safe, his mouth is over mine giving me the best revival, the only life I need.
His kiss mixing with mine.
“Oh, Zak!” I gasp, and looking up again, finally able to see, his eyes are so close to mine that I finally feel safe again.
Close enough for us to read each other’s thoughts without words, to know I’m okay and that he’s saved me. That he’ll always be there to save me.
“Let’s get you home,” he says, his own teeth chattering with the cold as I recognize the heat in my own body starting to turn to ice before growing red hot yet again.
“Zak?” I ask him, frightened now, only having small fragments of memory and not knowing how we’ll even get all the way back up the hill.
“I got you. I got you,” is all he says.
It’s all he has to say as he clutches me tighter.
I feel his solid steps biting into the shore, then over boulders, and finally up the muddy slope, with his eyes looking down at me the whole time until I finally succumb to blackness again before we even reach the top.The low murmur of Zak’s voice, followed by the pop of the fire makes me wake with a start.
Familiar, strong hands squeeze me gently under a thick blanket that smells like my favorite man.
“Easy, Misty. Easy. It’s alright,” I hear Zak whisper gently, falling back into him, a feeling I want to last forever.
Better than the last fall I took, that’s for sure.
My body against his again. The hard muscles of his body perfectly cupping the softness of every one of my curves.
Like a perfect puzzle, finally solved.
It’s my Dad’s voice which startles me fully awake though.
My eyes open wide now, I can make him out, sitting by the fire, that copper cane resting under his hands. His face looks like he’s seen a ghost.
I press one hand to Zak’s under the blanket, then sit up on my elbow, not sure if any of this is real.
“It’s alright. Misty,” Dad says softly, his voice cracking with emotion, his eyes red. I know he’s been crying.
“I get it. I know about you and Zak,” he says with some restraint, his eyes darting to Zak though, telling us both he might know but he’s far from happy about it.
He sighs loudly, then winces. His back, it’s no better really.
“Zak saved your life today,” he continues, looking from me to Zak with a softer gaze. “And that’s the most thankful I’ve ever been for anything in my whole life. Bringing you back to me, after I saw you go over that ledge…”
Zak squeezes me again. “Your Dad and I went after you, to try and bring you back after you ran out. We were acting like a couple of kids,” he says, and I can feel him looking over to Dad again, but Dad seems far away now.
“Your Dad was behind me, trying to keep up when that hillside gave way, that mud sucked you away like-”
His voice freezes, and I feel his powerful body shivering behind mine.
It looks like I’m not the only one with a tale to tell.
“Zak did save your life honey, but I didn’t think he’d be the one who also wanted to take it away from me,” Dad says, without too much bitterness but his voice certainly has an edge to it.
I want to say something, but I feel so weak, so tired. I just want to lay back in Zak’s arms.
If Dad knows, and he’s not throwing a fit over it, then that’s good enough for me for now.
I’m alive, and for the first time in my life, I want to stay that way with the man I love. The man I hope will ask me to spend the rest of mine with him and him alone from now on.
The old kitchen time rings and if I’m not mistaken, the sound of a turkey timer pops in tune with the logs in the fireplace.
I almost want to try and sit up again, but Dad’s voice assures me I have plenty of time for a nap yet before we have to worry about Thanksgiving dinner.
“I gave all my thanks already,” I hear him murmur, Zak chuckles behind me, rocking me as I drift back to sleep.
“Oh, hush Mark, you just didn’t want to get your boots dirty is all. Guess I did that for ya.”
