On Wings of Love (15 page)

It was too late to change his mind. The moment had arrived. Ruth wasn’t with him, but he felt God’s comforting presence cloak him.

“Hi, Mr. Barton, I’m Dale Smith. This is my wife Angela and son Benjamin.”

“Pleased to meet you all.” Noah shook hands with the portly man with the balding head, and the tall, thin woman. Then he shook the boy’s hand but his attention shot back to the girl.

“And my daughter, Jessica.” Dale’s voice held a trace of pride.

“Hi, Jessica.” Taking her hand in his, he experienced the strong, steady shake, not unlike the vise grip his son used to tease him with to make sure he felt his handshake. Noah blinked and crouched to be at eye level with the girl.

Tears crested the little girl’s pale eyelashes.

Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.

No such luck. A tear as pure as the water that baptized Jeremy slid down her smooth, rosy cheek.

“I just want to thank you for giving me your son’s heart. Now I can attend a normal school and do most of the things other girls my age do.”

“That’s wonderful.” Though Noah had no idea what things she meant, someday he hoped to find out if he was blessed with another child. “So what are your favorite subjects?”

“Art and music, though I’m a science whiz like my dad. My mom thinks I should be a doctor or something, but I want to be a musician.”

Noah’s lips creased into a smile. “Being a musician would be cool, but being a doctor or a nurse and saving lives would be cool, too. There’s some medical staff you should meet today. If my friend shows up, I’ll have to introduce you to her.”

A distant memory surfaced at the thought of careers. His son had always told him he wanted to help people and save lives. Noah stared at the light dusting of freckles on the girl’s nose and cheeks. Jeremy hadn’t had to grow up to do that. He’d helped in his death. “Jeremy wanted to be a fireman.”

A strange expression crossed Jessica’s face. “Did your son like to eat Rocky Road ice cream and chocolate?”

Noah stilled, willing the gnawing sensation in his stomach to go away. “Those were his favorites. Why?”

“It’s really weird. I used to just like cupcakes and cookies, but after I got my new heart, I can’t stop eating Rocky Road. Now I know why. Thanks.” She threw her arms around his neck.

Bewildered and stunned at the contact, Noah looked at the girl’s parents. They didn’t seem to mind their daughter’s hug. Should he do it? Could he hug her back?

Hesitation gripped him.

He should. He shouldn’t.

He should.

As he did, he felt the steady thump of Jeremy’s heart beating inside Jessica.

A tear slipped down his cheek. A piece of Jeremy still lived.

He squeezed Jessica’s hands and rose to his feet. “Thank you for taking such good care of my son’s heart for me.”

Noah stared down into the crystal-blue eyes of Jessica Smith and swore he saw a tiny speck of Jeremy staring back at him.

God was good.

A
little late, Ruth pulled her rental car into the nearly full parking lot of the park. Tall palm trees lining the sidewalk swayed in the slight breeze. Newly mown green grass beckoned. So did the smell of grilling meat. She couldn’t wait to see the joy on the faces of the recipients and their families, and also those of the donors. This picnic was their day. A way to say thank you for their generosity.

Ruth squeezed her car between two white pickups, neither of them Noah’s. Pain radiated from her heart. She’d wondered if Noah would be here today, but it looked like he wasn’t and that seemed apropos for all the relationships in her life.

Although if she thought long and hard about it, she realized the feelings had pretty much been one-sided. Clutching the strap of her purse, she extricated herself from her car and followed a family of five walking toward the entrance.

The banner strung between two light poles thrummed in the slight breeze: Welcome Families. Ruth inhaled a steadying breath and walked beneath the sign.

“Hi, Ruth. Nice day today, isn’t it?” One of the office staff greeted her from behind the check-in table stationed underneath a pop-up tent.

“It sure is, Tonya.” Ruth signed the register and found her name badge in the stack of F’s while Tonya turned to help a couple with a question.

At the beverage table stationed near the barbecue grills, a strange awareness started at the base of her neck and traveled to her hairline. There was only one person she knew that had such an affect on her. Too bad their friendship had dried up like spilt water on cement in July. Grabbing a cup of lemonade, Ruth downed the contents and crushed the cup before throwing it in the garbage can. Impossible. Noah had decided to come?

Her heart gladdened at the thought that he must have been able to meet some of the recipients after all. But he’d come alone like he’d said he would that day at his condo. Disappointment suffocated her budding happiness. Still, Noah had every right to be here just as she did. Even after the way they’d parted in the hospital, they could be cordial if they ran into each other.

Time to grab something to eat and then lose herself in a conversation with someone who cared. Turning, she collided with a rock hard chest. Noah. For the space of a heartbeat, she leaned her head against him and imagined herself wrapping her arms around his waist. They fit so well together, both inside and outside the aircraft. Yet Noah refused to take the chance.

Ruth stepped back from the contact, needing to free herself from Noah’s space. She couldn’t think clearly in his presence. “Oh, excuse me. I’m so sorry.”

“No. I’m sorry.”

An uneasy silence hung in the barbecue-scented air.

Ruth stared at the smattering of dark, curly hair protruding from the V of his sand-colored polo shirt. But that wasn’t what caused her eyes to widen beneath her sunglasses or her heart to beat a little quicker. For a moment, she’d thought she’d heard him thank God for finding her here.

“Ruth. I’m glad I ran into you. Literally.” He picked up her hand and held it in his, the gentle pressure warm and reassuring. Her emotions careened like an out of control car. Noah wasn’t acting like the same person who’d left her at the hospital. “How are you feeling today?”

Ruth stared the man she’d fallen in love with. Her heart ached because he didn’t love her in return. Instead of reaching out and caressing away the fatigue and unhappiness etched in his expression, she pulled her hand from his and forced it to her side.

Finally she found her voice. “Fine, thank you. How about you?”

“Better now.”

Ruth’s heartbeat accelerated until she thought it would bruise her skin. His fingers traced the delicate veins on the back of her hand before he turned it over and brought her palm to his lips. Noah’s actions confused her. “Noah, why are you here?”

“I came to meet someone.”

His words dashed any hope that had crept into her heart. He hadn’t said he’d come to meet her. No. He’d come to meet someone else. He’d made his feelings clear at the hospital when he’d walked away without looking back. Why had she come today? Ruth mentally kicked herself. She’d fallen in love and chosen unwisely again, but this time she didn’t know if her heart could take the rejection.

“Did you find them?”

“Yes. And I’d like you to meet her. She’s right over
there.” Noah placed his hand on the small of Ruth’s back and guided her across the freshly mown grass. His hesitant grin expanded as he led her over to a small group of people standing near the food line.

“Ruth, this is Jessica Smith and her family. Jessica received Jeremy’s heart. Jessica, this is Ruth Fontaine, the person I wanted you to meet earlier. Ruth is just one of the many people who make all the organ donations possible. I’m also doing my part by flying the medical teams around to retrieve them.”

“I’m glad to meet you.” Ruth shook the little girl’s hand first and then her parents’ and brother’s. She loved looking into the eyes of a recipient and seeing God’s work done on Earth.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ruth caught Noah’s expression. At the look of pride and acceptance stamped in Noah’s features, she realized that meeting with Jessica had given him the final closure on his son’s death. Satisfaction filled her, even though she wished things could have ended differently between them.

Her BlackBerry rang. “Excuse me a second, please.”

She stared at the number on the screen and her heartbeat accelerated. Great. Just what she needed right now, but as she’d told Noah at an earlier time, her job only knew opportunities. This was her life, her work, God’s will for her. “Ruth Fontaine.”

Giving a small wave to the departing family, Ruth’s stomach flopped worse than if they’d just flown through an air pocket. She inhaled sharply and adjusted the phone against her ear to make sure she’d heard the person on the other end correctly. The tremor that started at her feet rioted through her body, and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth to keep the gasp inside. “Can you repeat
that, please? I didn’t quite catch the name of the recipient.”

She stared up at Noah’s questioning expression and longed to ease the uncertainty creeping into his features. A tentative smile crept over her lips.

“Thanks, Lou. Tell the driver I’ll meet him and the team at Phoenix Memorial. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” Disconnecting the call, Ruth flipped her hair behind her shoulders.

“It’s Marissa’s heart, isn’t it?”

Ruth shook her head.

“Tommy’s?”

“No.” Ruth shook her head again, though she wished she were going on recoveries for her kids as well. Still, happiness radiated from inside. This was the first recovery she’d go on where she actually knew someone close to the recipient. “But it’s someone you know.”

“Hannah?” Hope and relief radiated from Noah’s expression. “A kidney’s become available?” He whooped, wrapped his arms around Ruth’s waist, picked her up and then twirled her around. Instinctively, Ruth wrapped her arms around Noah’s neck and held on, his giddiness contagious, and she found herself laughing along with him.

“Yes. Apparently so. Now if you’ll put me down, I can go get it for her.”

Her feet back on the ground, yet still a little dizzy, Ruth maintained her grip around Noah’s neck. She gasped for breath. The instant surge of energy at the contact made her knees buckle and her heart race. Especially when she felt the weight of Noah’s gaze. His excitement held more than a promise for what could come if he’d allow himself to love again.

“Come on. Let’s go. I’m coming with you.”

“Really?”

“Really. I want to be a part of it.”

“Oh, Noah.” Moisture crested on her lashes.
Don’t you dare cry, Ruth Fontaine.
Too late. A tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another. For a heartbeat that seemed to stretch into the next minute, Ruth stared in Noah’s sunglasses, almost not recognizing the grinning reflection staring back at her. “Then what are we waiting for?”

“Nothing.” His gentle fingers wiped away her tears before he locked his hand over hers and headed toward the parking lot. “But why are you meeting a driver? Where’s the kidney?”

“Casa Grande. AeroFlight has a van that will take the team and I down to recover the kidney and then bring us back.”

“Why not take a plane?” Noah matched her step for step as they strode across the grass, bypassing several families waiting at the check-in table.

“Because kidneys can remain outside the body longer so there’s no need to add the extra expense of an airplane.” Ruth acknowledged her boss’s wave and mimicked a phone call. The white-haired man nodded and gave her a two-fingered salute.

“But what if I insist. I can fly everyone to and from Casa Grande before the van would even get there. Then Hannah would have her kidney that much sooner.”

Ruth slowed and turned toward him before she stepped onto the pavement. “You’d do that for Hannah?”

Noah tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and let his thumb trace a line along her jaw and over her chin to rest against her lips. “Yes. I’d do it for Marissa or Tommy or any one of the children if you asked me to. And I’d do it for you. You’re not afraid. Are you?”

Ruth shook her head and grinned up at him. “Not with you as the pilot.”

“I’ll call Brad. You get the team to the airport.”

Regret and anticipation cohabited inside Ruth when Noah ended the contact, yet she grinned at him as she pulled out her phone. “You are something else.”

Once Noah’s Citation came to a stop on the tarmac in Scottsdale, he stared at the cooler by the Ruth’s feet. He wondered what the kidney looked like. A chicken liver, only bigger? Red or brown or some sort of pink? Did it pulse on its own without signals from the brain? Or did it just lie there, waiting.

Someday he’d have to ask Ruth.

Wonderful things did happen, and he’d been a part of making this one take place. But he was certain God had played a larger role—not only in this, but in bringing Ruth into his life.
Thank you, Lord.

He secured the plane and opened the door for the surgical team to unload and walk toward the waiting ambulance. With her job mainly completed, Ruth stayed behind, finishing up her paperwork. Beside him, Brad hovered like a lost puppy.

“Why don’t you follow them to the hospital? I’ll finish up here.”

“Thanks, Noah.” Brad ran down the steps and sweet-talked his way inside the vehicle.

“Hang on, Ruth. I’ll be done in a second.”

Ruth looked up and gave him one of her sunny smiles that melted the last remnants of any resistance. “No problem. I’m almost done myself. Besides, since you drove, I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

“No, I suppose you don’t. I’m hungry. How about you?
Let’s go grab something to eat. I know a great little Italian place you’d like, and then we can take in a movie.”

Ruth hooked her arm through his and rested her head against his shoulder. “Sounds like a plan. I hope you like romantic comedies because I’ve wanted to see that new movie that’s been getting such rave reviews.”

“I’m game.”

Hours later Noah stood outside Ruth’s front door, the entryway well lit by the motion lights he’d installed. When Ruth stifled a yawn, Noah knew he should leave, yet he didn’t want the night to end.

He loved Ruth. Pure and simple.

He wanted her in his life to share the triumphs and the disappointments. To wake up next to her in the mornings and hold her until the sleep disappeared from her eyes. To come back from a flight and have her in their home with waffles on the table and a little boy or girl waiting to wrap his or her chubby arms around his legs.

He wanted a do-over with Ruth. He wanted another relationship. He’d rather love Ruth and take the chance on losing her again than remain alone for the rest of his life. She fit so well with him. He hoped he could convince her they had a future together.

Nervous as a truant student, he shifted on his feet. The next few minutes would change the course of his life in a way he couldn’t have imagined a few weeks ago. Rivulets of sweat formed on his brow. “May I come in for some coffee?”

“Sure. It’ll only take a few minutes to make.” Ruth unlocked the front door and stepped inside.

Noah followed behind Ruth and barely made it down the hallway before his cell phone rang and broke the still
ness. After eyeing the number on the screen, he warily flipped the phone open. They’d barely brought Hannah’s kidney back four hours ago. Had something gone wrong? “Hi, Brad. How’s Hannah?”

Tangible relief flooded him at his partner’s words. After disconnecting, Noah shoved the phone back into his pocket and grabbed Ruth around the waist. Her hands gripped his forearms as he swung her around the kitchen. Her surprised laughter joined his. “What happened?”

“The surgery was a success, and Hannah’s fine. Thank you, Ruth. We make a good team, don’t we?”

Ruth’s laughter died, and her expression grew serious, leaving him wondering if he’d done something else wrong. Another bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. Had he made an error in judgment?

“Yes, we do.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, and in that instant he knew everything would be all right.

When she gazed up at him, he thought of warm summer nights and fresh baked cookies. He could never grow tired of being near her. The kitchen light reflected the gold in Ruth’s hair but her true riches lay deep inside. She’d been brought into his life because he’d needed her to guide him back into the light. He looked out the window at the midnight-blue sky, and more peace settled around his shoulders.

“Does this mean what I think it means?” A smile hugged her lips.

Noah set her back down in the floor and rubbed her back. “It does. I love you, Ruth. You’ve shown me how to live again and brought me back to God. The past few days apart have been awful. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Ruth stilled and tilted her head to look up at him. Her
green eyes widened as a sob caught in her throat. His fingers traced the contours of her cheeks. Then Noah dipped his head and slanted his lips over hers. Forget about words right now. He didn’t need them to communicate what his heart felt. His actions would do more.