Damien laughed. “No worries. I like hairy legs. Besides, I think your legs are spoken for. I just want to see your ankle as a medic.”
“Of course,” Elise said, embarrassed.
Once again, their voices faded out, and the warm, calming darkness called to me.
My body shook once violently, and the darkness was beyond my reach again. Apparently, every time I got close to being completely encased in the darkness, Damien gave me a shot of something. I both appreciated it—since I didn’t want to leave Elise—and didn’t appreciate it—because it was so warm and peaceful in the darkness, and I was cold.
Elise was still holding on to one of my hands tightly with both of her own. If she held my hand any tighter, I would end up with broken bones before my time was over.
Gage asked Elise to tell him what happened so he could make notes about the events for the case file and for future references, should it be necessary. I also suspected he wanted to keep Elise’s mind off of the situation. She recounted every moment from the time she was kidnapped until when we were found. They chuckled at a couple of parts. There were three of the kidnappers who tried to get her in England, and she fought back, so they drugged her.
“We thought your message to your father was very brave,” Gage said.
Elise said, “I pay attention to the news. There was no point in funding these terrorists’ next move if Dad wasn’t going to get anything in return. I knew as soon as they got the money, I was as good as dead.”
She continued on with her story, wistfully reliving her memory of the bath she had at our Iranian host’s house. “I don’t care how many baths I have in the future with huge bathtubs, bath bombs, jacuzzi jets, or whatever. There will be nothing as amazing as sitting in that little tub, cleaning all the dirt off of me. I had enough dirt on me that the farmer could have used it to plant a whole new field.”
Although it took way too much energy to smile, even in this state, I enjoyed her humor.
“It’s good to know that you can see the good in the situation and even make light of some of your experiences,” Lucien said.
“Well, I can either take the experiences as they were, focusing on the frightening and terrible and shrivel up until I am nothing more than a shell, or I can learn from them and laugh at some of them. I’m too much of a fighter to simply shrivel up and die.”
Yes, she was, and that was one of the reasons I had fallen in love with her.
Elise had also told the guys about her experiences at the hostel. “For those women who find themselves without foundation, I discovered that in desperate times, a person could use mud. If you add just enough water and make the mud the same as a thin pancake batter, it slides on very smoothly.”
“Are you sure that it was just mud?” I heard Damien ask.
“Nope, but it couldn’t have been that bad. It gave me a nice complexion, and people use guano for makeup. I figure a little cow, sheep, or deer poop won’t hurt too much.”
They all laughed. She was certainly entertaining the crowd.
I focused on her words, on her voice. She was my rock and my strength right now.
We were getting close to our landing spot. Gage handed her a phone and had her call her father.
I could hear the excitement in her voice when she told him they were getting close. She said that the adventure had been interesting and life-changing. She said that she was ready for a hot bath, a real meal, and a soft bed. Elise also told her father that she was going to miss my company. “He was a true hero, Daddy. He kept me safe the entire time. He was a perfect gentleman and is truly wonderful.”
I heard Damien cough when she told her father that I was the perfect gentleman. I knew she wouldn’t have told them about our adventures on the side, but they weren’t stupid. They could read the signs.
Right before the chopper landed, I felt Elise press her lips against my forehead. The darkness moved in again, and everything was gone before I could tell her goodbye. I wasn’t ready to let her go.
18
Elise
Iheld onto Jared’s hand as long as I possibly could, until they had to almost physically separate us so he could be treated. I kissed his forehead. I wanted so badly to tell him that I loved him, but I was afraid to. I didn’t want to declare my love in front of a bunch of people that I barely knew if he didn’t feel the same as I did.
Dad was waiting for me, as I knew he would be. I ran to him, but I looked around him to watch Jared being loaded into a waiting ambulance. I was aching to go with him, but I didn’t know if it would be appropriate, or if I would be welcomed. I would have to wait a day or so, and then try to find him. Hopefully, the guys at his company would tell me.
Dad had a million questions for me. I told him that I would tell him everything after a shower and some real food. It had been too long since I was able to sit down and eat a meal—an American meal, that is.
The hot water that poured over me was a blessing. I could stand under the streaming heat as long as I wanted. I didn’t have to worry about the bad guys busting through my door, trying to kill Jared or me. The only thing I had to worry about was the hot water heater pulling the plug on me.
I was under that warm stream of heaven for half an hour or more. My fingers and toes were shriveled up, but I didn’t care. I was finally clean. I’d had dirt, sweat, and grime in crevices I didn’t know that I had.
My second moment of heaven was pulling on clean clothes. I threw the bra and panties away. They were beyond saving. I hung on to the t-shirt, sweatshirt, and sweats I was wearing. I was pretty sure that I would never be inclined to wear them again, but I thought they would be good mementos. Perhaps they could be put in a huge shadow box.