Our Last Chance - Chapter 1 - ( Sheridan, Luis, Julian and Eve )
by pip
 
 

Our Last Chance – Chapter One
The ringing of the phone woke Luis from his restless sleep. “Lopez-Fitzgerald here.” Luis assumed it was the station calling.

“Luis, this is Julian Crane.”

Luis paused. He hated the man. With good reason. On top of Julian’s various attempts to separate him from Sheridan, Luis’ instincts told him that Julian was behind the boat explosion. The explosion that could have, should have, killed both of them. Luis snarled, “What the hell do you want, Julian?”

Julian recognized the unconcealed hatred in Luis’ voice. He knew that he deserved it, but he’d been a changed man since his recent contact with Eve Russell. For once, he’d do the right thing by his sister. He hoped that it was the right thing. “Luis, put aside your resentment and listen to me. I’m calling about Sheridan.”

Luis held his breath. He had to listen to whatever Julian would say. Sheridan disappeared several weeks ago. Antonio was frantic. But, of course, her husband didn’t know why she’d taken off. Luis knew why.

Julian continued, “My sister is at the Crane mountain lodge. Until the last few days, she called to check in with Eve Russell every day. This early blizzard brought the phone lines down up there, and she hasn’t called Eve on her cell phone. Her battery must be dead, and she can’t recharge it if the electricity is out too.”

Luis processed Julian’s words. The snow had isolated Sheridan at the Crane cabin, and her baby, his baby, was due soon. “Why the hell didn’t you contact me sooner, Julian?”

“Sheridan insisted that she needed to be alone. She was safe up there until this storm.” Protecting Eve, Julian didn’t explain that Eve had only told him where Sheridan was a few minutes ago.

Luis raised his voice. “Safe up there? In her condition. Julian you’re a fool. If any harm comes to her, I’ll hold you responsible.”

Calmly, Julian accepted that judgment from Luis. “Yes, but right now I am concerned for her well being.”

Luis threw his clothes on without putting the phone down. “I’m on my way up there now, Julian.”

“I’ve already tried the sheriff in that county, and he said the road to the cabin was closed last night.”

“I’ll get through. I’ll find a way,” Luis asserted. He didn’t add that nothing would keep him from Sheridan now that he knew where she was. He didn’t need to tell Julian that.

But, Julian knew. Since he’d reconnected with Eve, he understood far too well. Unfulfilled love. Julian knew every dark corner of it. The desperation. The magnetic draw of one’s heart’s desire. Luis would get to Sheridan. Julian didn’t doubt it.

Before Luis hung up on him, Julian said, “Call me when you get to her. Let me know that she’s safe.”

Punching the END button on his cell, Luis scowled. Since when did Julian care about Sheridan’s safety? God, he prayed that she was ok. The little fool had run off. He understood that between Antonio and Beth, she believed their future was hopeless. But, her disappearing act.... Damn. He couldn’t think about what she’d done, only that he had to get to her.

After Julian hung up the phone, he hesitated before he called Eve to tell her that Luis was going to Sheridan. He recalled his last meeting with Eve. They met on the wharf on a foggy night, giving their meeting a clandestine aura. When they parted, Julian assured Eve that he’d find their son. Julian stared into space, lost in the memory. Eve’s voice floated back to him on the swirls of mist. “Julian, even when you find him, we have no future. You understand that; don’t you?”

Julian smiled back at Eve. The smile was a grimace, a mask of pain. Into the gray dampness, he murmured, “Reminds me of a movie.”

Eve was so in tune with him at that moment that she offered, “Casablanca.”

Julian nodded.

Eve begged, “Please, don’t say it.”

“But it’s true, Eve.” With Bogart’s demeanor, Julian delivered the line, “We’ll always have Boston.”

Eve looked down shaking her head, and then she slowly raised her face to his. Her eyes crinkled with a smile. With laughter in her voice she admonished, “I love that movie. Don’t take that from me, Julian.”

He answered solemnly, “I never want to take anything from you, Eve. Only give.”

She weighed him down with the gravity of her plea. “Then find him, Julian. Find our son.”

Julian promised her.
 

Sheridan bent to place another log on the fire, and then she settled into the pile of blankets on the floor before the huge stone hearth. This was the only warm spot in the cabin. She snuggled deeper into her nest and tried to get comfortable. The lower backache that began during the night would only ease for a few minutes at a time. She wondered if she’d strained her back lifting logs for the fire. Sheridan had never heard of back labor. She had no idea that she was in the early stages. After all, Eve Russell had said she had several weeks before the baby was due.
 

An hour later Luis crawled up the mountain road in the Harmony PD four-wheel drive SUV. He’d never seen a road this treacherous. At one point, he thought if this vehicle couldn’t make it through the snow, he’d commandeer a snowplow. He scratched that idea when only a mile into the drive, he passed a plow off the shoulder at a switch back in the road. The plow hung from a drift of snow by its huge back tires. Its headlights glared out over the valley below. He was relieved to see no one around it. The emergency road crew must have rescued the plow driver. Thank God. All of his instincts told him that he needed to get to Sheridan quickly. They’d always had this connection, and he knew when she was in danger. Fear gripped him. Every muscle in his body tensed and strained as he hunched over the steering wheel and pushed his face closer to the windshield, trying to see the road ahead through the heavy snow.
---------
 
 
 
 

Chapter 2
Site Index