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No one could have walked away from that inferno unscathed.
She peered through the flames but didn’t see anyone in the burning wreckage. A flash of blue on the green grass caughther eye, and she turned to see a figure there. It was a female in a skirt, and Savannah slammed her eyes shut. The woman had lost most of one leg and blood was everywhere, flowing out onto the grass and staining the mud and the skirt with red.
Savannah’s first instinct was to drop to her knees to help, but the certainty settled in her chest that the woman would be beyond human assistance. She sank to her knees amid a strong coppery stench but wasn’t sure where to apply pressure to stop the massive amount of bleeding. But she could pray, so she did.
“Savannah, help me.”
Savannah’s head swiveled toward the woman’s blonde hair.
Her brain refused to believe it was her sister’s hazel eyes peering at her through tangled, singed blonde hair.
“Jess.” Her sister’s name felt wrenched from her. “Oh, Jess.” A massive amount of blood poured from everywhere. Savannah needed a tourniquet for the badly damaged leg, but she had nothing, not even a belt.
She grasped both hands around Jess’s thigh and tried to apply enough pressure to stop the hemorrhaging, but the flow didn’t falter.
Jess grabbed Savannah’s arm. “I’m s-sorry. F-for everything.” Her teeth chattered and she struggled to speak.
Her sister was going into shock, and Savannah had no help to offer. The wail of a siren came from somewhere. “The ambulance is on its way. Hang on, Jess. You’ll be okay.” It was a lie. The paramedics would never arrive in time, not with the way the color was gone from Jess’s face. This couldn’t be happening.
“Liar,” Jess whispered. “Sorry, so sorry. Forgive.”
“I forgive you, Jess.” Savannah gripped her sister’s handswith both of her bloody ones. “Of course I forgive you. Hang on, help is coming.”
“Simon. Promise.”
“I’ll take care of him until you’re better. You know I will. Hang on, Jess. Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me.” When Jess’s lips moved with no sound, Savannah slipped her arm under Jess’s head. “Save your strength. The ambulance is nearly here.”
Jess gasped as she looked at something past Savannah’s shoulder. “He’s here. He came.” She coughed, blood bubbling from her blue lips. “I don’t deserve, but... he forgives.”
Savannah turned to look behind her, but no one was there.
“His eyes... they’ve always watched.” Wonder crept across Jess’s face.
“Who, Jess?” But Savannah knew Jess was glimpsing someone not of this world.
“His eyes... his eyes.” The expression of wonder still on her face, Jess expelled a long breath, her lids closing partially. Then her body fell slack and lifeless.
“Jess?” Savannah clutched her tighter as no more breaths came from her sister. “No! Jess, please, no.”
The siren’s wail was a shriek, but it was late, too late. Savannah clutched her sister’s body to her chest and keened, rocking her sister back and forth in her arms. “Oh, Jess.”
Then Hez was there on the grass beside her, murmuring her name and enfolding her in his arms. “I’ve got you, babe.”
“She’s dead. Jess is dead.” She finally released her sister to turn and bury her face in Hez’s chest. “Jesus came for her.”
Chapter 31
There was no siren wailing in Augusta’s police car, but Savannah heard the ghostly shriek in her head as she sat in the back of the vehicle. Even wrapped in Hez’s arms, she was cold, so cold. How did she adjust to life without her sister? A thousand memories churned in her head: teaching Jess to swim, helping her pick out a dress for her first dance, staying up late cramming for Spanish class.
Where did it all go wrong? When had that smiling little girl turned into the woman consumed with revenge? If Savannah could go back in time to the moment it had started, maybe she could have stopped it. But life wasn’t like that. One wrong step led to the next and the next until there seemed to be no way of turning around. If only she had one more day to change what had happened.
Hez pressed his lips against the side of her hair. “We’re here, babe. Augusta has been waiting a few minutes, so we’d better let her get back to work.”
Augusta turned toward them from the front seat. “Take your time. I’m so sorry, Savannah.” Her warm brown eyes held a wealth of sympathy.
Savannah blinked. She hadn’t realized the car had stopped.She lifted her head and saw Jess’s mansion. Jess had been so proud of her home and how beautiful she’d made it. She’d never brew coffee in that beautiful kitchen again, would never tend the flower bed or watch the leaves shimmer in the wind. Fresh tears sprang to Savannah’s eyes, but she blinked them back. She had to be strong for Simon.
She opened her door. “Thanks for delivering us, Augusta.”