Christmas on 4th Street (Fool's Gold #12.5)(66)

“I’m sure that will be a good thing.”

“We’re continuing our planning for a search-and-rescue team,” she added. “I’ve been thinking about it for years, but what happened last week has made the need even more apparent. Getting the necessary funding will be a challenge, but we’re up to it.” She glanced at him. “Your parents are staying in town.”

“I just saw some of the real-estate listings they’re considering.”

“And you?”

“I’m leaving.”

“May I ask why?”

Because...because... Gabriel stared into his coffee, as if the answers were there. “I have to go back to the army.”

“Oh. I thought you’d fulfilled your time.”

“Yes. I’m up for reenlistment.”

“But you haven’t made your decision yet,” she said. “You’re still considering your options.”

He wasn’t sure if she was asking him or telling him. Both options were slightly unsettling. Mayor Marsha seemed to know far too much about him, and he couldn’t figure out how. Noelle would have mentioned any conversation with the mayor, and he couldn’t see either of his parents chatting with her. Or maybe he could.

“Felicia will be pregnant soon,” the mayor continued. “Gideon having a baby. That will be a show.”

Gabriel chuckled. “The two of them could be very intense parents.”

“Carter keeps them grounded. He’s a strong soul. He’s going to be an extraordinary young man. I would imagine in your line of work, you see the dark side of life. The thin thread that can be cut at any moment.”

The shift in conversation caught him off-guard. “It’s tenuous,” he admitted. “One second a soldier is standing there, laughing, and the next, he’s in pieces. You never get used to it.”

“No one could,” she murmured. “It’s not like that here. We have our tragedies. There are accidents and people die. But we are a community in every sense of the word. In Fool’s Gold, people belong. We work together to keep those on the fringes from slipping through the cracks. We’re not always successful, but we keep trying.”

She picked up her mug. “You’re familiar with Noelle’s past?”

“Yes,” he said, wondering how Mayor Marsha had found out.

“I admire her courage. She went through so much and survived, yet found herself abandoned by the very person who was supposed to love her. A lesser person would have been crushed, but she pulled herself together and started over. I have great respect for her.”

“Me, too.”

“Then stay and prove that there is a happy ending for both of you.”

He stiffened, the gentle attack surprising but strangely effective.

She took a sip, then put down her mug and reached for her large handbag. She opened it and pulled out a manila envelope.

“These are for you,” she said.

The conversational shifts had left him reeling. He couldn’t think of what to say, so he opened the envelope and was shocked to find dozens of cards and letters, all addressed to him. They were from former patients—soldiers he’d kept from dying in those first critical hours. There were drawings from their kids and pictures. Men and women, some scarred and missing limbs, but smiling and happy. Home, where they belonged.

He flipped through the cards, reading words of thanks and gratitude. Notes reminded him of forgotten moments, of a kind word or a promise that he wouldn’t let that particular soldier die, so not to give up.

He looked at the old woman sitting across from him. “How did you get these?”

“I have my ways. You don’t get to be my age without meeting a few people.” She rose and shrugged into her coat. “We need you, Gabriel. Not just for your skills, but because of who you are as a man. Fool’s Gold needs you, but just as important, you need us. You belong here. Take a step of faith. I promise it will be well rewarded.”

* * *

Noelle wrote down the information. “Got it,” she said with a grin. “Tell her I’m thrilled.”

She hung up and put her cell phone on the kitchen counter, then turned to Gabriel. “Pia had her baby. A boy named Ryder. They’re both doing great and—” She laughed. “You have no idea who I’m talking about, do you?”

“Not a clue,” he admitted. “But if you’re happy, I’m happy.”

True words, he thought as she moved toward him, stepping over kittens as she went. They were all wide-eyed and running around the house now. Seven kittens, two mother cats and dozens of boxes from his online shopping binge a week or so ago competed for space in her small house.

Noelle reached him and plopped herself on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lightly kissed him. “You’re such a guy.”

“So you’re not going to believe I used to be a woman?”

“Probably not. Although you certainly know how to shop.”

“I might have gone a little overboard.”

“You think?”

She rose. He released her reluctantly, wanting to feel her next to him. Time was moving more quickly every day. It was already the 22nd. He was scheduled to leave before New Year’s. What had been weeks was now days and soon it would be hours.