   ethanseth
2009-10-25 . chapter 22Wendie, as I’ve said before, I am completely smitten with this story! It is so well written, so animated and real. I feel like I’m in a holodeck or some sort of virtual world because I can see the characters so vividly and hear them so clearly in my head. The WTR writers should have hired you!
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“Jules? Honey? Did you hear me?” Gage wondered if she was formulating an argument after all.
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“No, sweetie, that’s not part of the plan. At least not right away,” he said soothingly. ”The most important thing right now is to make sure you are safe and you show up at that hearing tomorrow. If Ronson isn’t back behind bars by then, we can discuss all the available options.” It was the best he could offer.
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“No, honey, straight to the airport.”
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I just love this affectionate side of Gage that he seems to wear on his shoulders when it comes to the women that are most important to him. He’s really soft to be such a bog muscular guy.
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“I said—“
“I heard you, dammit! I wish I hadn’t, but I heard you. Good God, Trent, when you screw up, you really screw up, don’t you?”
“How is it my fault that some stranger abducted Callie? I got here as fast as I could, Sean!” Trent shouted in his own defense.
“If you had stopped trying to have your cake and eat it too, she never would have left in the first place. You should have done the right thing by her a long time ago.”
Trent couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Are you saying you knew? And you pick now to tell me?”
Sean sighed, long and loud. “I first realized it at your birthday party at the ranch last summer. You didn’t move more than three feet away from her all afternoon and even an old curmudgeon like me noticed that you touched her a lot more than what a platonic partnership would require. I didn’t interfere because I saw how good she was for you, and because neither of you ever let it get in the way of the job.”
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I knew that Sean and Collin knew about Callie and Trent’s relationship!! But as long as no one verbalized it, it wasn’t real. Love just refuses to be hidden or denied. And in the process of trying to hide or deny love, Trent has denied himself—and Callie—happiness, just as Miguel explained early on. Funny, his advice was meant for Syd and Gage, but traveled across relationships.
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“Oh no, the job never suffered one bit. Not that I give a rat’s ass anymore about the job. All I care about is finding Callie before it’s too late. So, are you going to help me or not?”
“Of course, I’ll help you, Little Man. We all will. I can have ten or twenty of the brethren on their way to you in no time. We won’t leave a single stone unturned,” Sean replied reassuringly, the ‘brethren’ being his favorite way of referring to their fellow firefighters.
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Sean was offering his (and the brethren’s) help finding Callie, in geographical terms but Trent also needed to find Callie, emotionally. Right now he was lost without her and to find her would be his safe haven of coming home.
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To Trent’s utter shock, Sean didn’t erupt. Instead he let out a little chuckle and said, “My, my, little brother, I didn’t know you had it in you.” Then, serious again, he added, “Although I suppose I should be glad one of us does.”
“Don’t give me too much credit and don’t sell yourself or Collin short. You and Olivia only started trying recently, and Collin and Jenna have only been married for two months. Hell, Callie and I weren’t trying at all. We were very careful. I still don’t know exactly how this happened.”
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I wondered why Jenna had a nursery ready, but was so sad earlier that morning. Are they having trouble? Maybe it is that Collin and Sean have their life partners and have established a foundation but it is taking a different strategy to get Trent to turn in the direction that he needs to. Not that he would not have eventually realized the route he needed to take but Trent needed a little push off of the fence.
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“She’s pregnant.”
“No, she didn’t,” he admitted shamefully, “and I still wouldn’t even know she was pregnant at all if I hadn’t traded a few punches with the Texas Ranger she was dating as a cover for us. She was afraid to tell me, Sean, afraid I wouldn’t want the baby. God, I am such a numbskull! Going on and on all the time about my precious ‘freedom’. Who was I kidding? She’s owned me heart and soul since the day I laid eyes on her. She told Gage that I’d think she got pregnant on purpose to force me to marry her. You want to hear the best part? I went to her house this morning to propose to her before I even knew about the baby.”
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“If anything happens to her or the baby—“ Trent stopped suddenly. Sean had no trouble imagining how Trent would finish that sentence—I’ll never forgive myself—but as it turned out, he didn’t finish it at all.
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“Wait!” Callie shouted, jerking her head around to face where she guessed Jason was.
“Please, listen to me! I’m pregnant! I’ll do whatever you ask, just please don’t give me any drugs,” she begged, no longer able to hold back her tears.
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Funny how both Callie and Trent, in different places, have both taken a back seat to the baby. Though they have not acknowledged it to each other, this baby means more to them than anything. And as much as Trent enjoyed his ‘freedom,’ he’s ready to be a husband and a father. Like Gage, he was just running from something that had already snuck in through the back door and consumed him.
This was really awesome, Wendie! These guys have done nothing but piss of Gage more. And Trent would be totally irrational right now because he knows that he has to prove that he is worth having Callie back and if anything happens to her, he will blame himself, completely. These guys have just added gasoline to an already raging fire. Though there was nothing between Callie and Gage, she is one of the three women that he loves—all three in different ways—so the kidnappers had better be ready to pay Gage’s price.
Please hurry with the next chapter. I guess I should nag you periodically, just to let you know that I’m dying to see what happens next.
Sheila |
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