Page 46 of Fearless
“Me, too,” she says with a warm smile. She continues to hold the compress to my head, and I eventually begin to doze off. The coolness against my wound is replaced by the soft touch of her lips as she kisses my forehead. Thinking I’m asleep, she says, “I love you,” and then leaves.
As promised, every hour for the next few hours, Harper comes into the room and shakes me awake. After the third time, she says, “Simms just made contact.”
This day feels like it’s gone on forever, but it’s not over just yet. My eyes pop open, and I sit up a bit too quickly. I need to get my bearings after being hit full force by a dizzy spell. “Ooh, that’s a doozy,” I quip, swaying back and forth.
“Take it easy. There’s no rush,” Harper says, sitting down beside me. “We can record everything and let you get some more sleep.”
I let my head clear and stand up slowly. “I want to be present more than I want sleep.”
“But youneedsleep more than youneedto be present,” Harper snaps back but helps me anyway. She supports my elbow and grabs my hand as I shuffle toward the door. “Roger, you’re always there to take care of others. It’s time you let us take care of you.”
“Next thing you know, you’ll be offering to change my diaper,” I say jokingly.
Harper doesn’t laugh.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “This is not how I ever wanted you to see me.”
“And how do you think I see you?” she asks. When I look away, she moves to block my exit and stands like a sentinel in front of the door. “Tell me.”
“Weak. Feeble. Unable to keep up with you,” I say under my breath.
She laughs mirthlessly. “That is not how I see you at all. I see you as courageous, strong, and steadfast. I see you as a man of God—faithful, dedicated, and loving. Your physical attributes, while quite appealing to me, aren’t the first thing I notice when I look at you. What do you see when you look at me? Is it my age?”
“No,” I say adamantly. “It’s not the first thing I see, but it is a factor, Harper. Your father isn’t happy with us right now, and that probably has more to do with the fact that I graduatedhigh school while you were still in diapers than it does with him considering me family.”
She lets go of my elbow and moves in front of me, placing her fists on her hips and pursing her lips. “When you put it like that, it sounds creepy, Roger. But when I’m 60 and you’re 77, will it still seem weird to you? Nope, and that’s because the gap diminishes the older we get. And as far as my dad is concerned, he’ll just have to deal with it. He gets to live his life, not ours,” Harper admonishes.
When I move toward Harper, she takes a small step backward until her back is against the door and there’s nowhere left for her to go. I cage her in by placing one hand near her head, paying particular attention to the way her breathing accelerates at my proximity. I gently stroke the side of her arm until I reach the ring on her finger. “I don’t want to be the wedge that comes between you and your parents, Harper.”
Harper entwines our fingers together and glances down at them, then at me. “If there is a wedge, it won’t be because you placed it there. It would be because they do.”
“And you can live with that?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “Can you?”
I bring her hand up to my mouth and kiss each finger tenderly, moving my lips to the inside of her wrist. My eyes never leave hers when I whisper, “Yes. I’d prefer to have your father’s blessing, but I can live without it.”
The corners of Harper’s mouth lift. “My father’s blessing isn’t the one that matters. It’sourFather’s blessing that’s important. I firmly believe that God made me for you and you for me.”
It’s at that moment that the love I have for Harper shifts from friendship and attraction to something more; something deeper and more meaningful.
I close the gap between us, lifting our joined hands above her head. I kiss the dimple on her cheek and slowly make my way to her soft, supple lips. She slides her hand around my neck, deepening the kiss. A low growl escapes me when she runs her fingers through my hair and then tightens her grip.
Before we can get carried away, there’s a knock on the bedroom door. “Save the hanky panky for later! We have work to do!” Jessie exclaims, her voice becoming more distant as she strides away.
Harper giggles. “There’s nothing like a good dose of reality. Jessie’s timing is impeccable.”
I touch our foreheads together and close my eyes. Letting out a long sigh, I reply, “She’s like an annoying little sister who manages to always ruin a moment.”
“Yeah, but you wouldn’t have it any other way,” Harper says with a genuine smile.
I chuckle as I let go of Harper and motion toward the door. “Maybe just this one time, I would have,” I say, giving Harper a light peck on the lips. “However, Jessie’s right, and we have a case to solve. No rest for the weary.”
A few minutes later, the four of us are seated around the coffee table as Elijah connects to the link that Agent Simms provided. We have almost half an hour before the drop is supposed to occur, and all we have is a black screen. “We have audio but no visual. Why?” I ask no one in particular.
Elijah answers anyway. “It’s dark outside, and there’s nothingto see. Agent Simms warned us that they would be ‘lights out’ and using night vision goggles to monitor the situation. We can’t communicate with them, but we can listen in.”
I can’t get Simms’ parting words out of my head as his and Monroe’s voices filter from the speakers.“Maybe you’ll learn something.”
