Wild Is The Wind, Part 3
Consciousness slowly returned, waking Sue Ellen in small doses, finally allowing her senses to return. She noticed the sound of her own breathing first. Then she could feel the cold concrete beneath her hands. Her stomach hurt. She was lying face down. She tried to move but her muscles rebelled with a dull ache filled with the sensation of a thousand stinging needles. She stopped fighting. Maybe she could just lie there for a little while longer. Wherever it was.
She became aware enough to open her eyes, trying to make sense of what had happened, hoping to see where it was she was lying. It did no good. Darkness surrounded her but soon vivid mental images returned including the horrible noise that still rang in her ears. The tornado. The storm cellar. They had survived.
"J.R.?" She weakly called our then coughed violently. Her mouth and lungs were still full of the heavy dust from the storm. "J.R., where are you?"
"I'm over here, honey," came a frail whisper she hardly recognized. "Thank God you're all right. You had me worried there when you didn't answer."
"I think I was knocked out," she said, fighting off the muscles aches as she tried to rise up off the floor. "Are you okay?"
"I've been better."
"What's wrong?" She answered, instantly on alert. "Tell me where you are, I'll come to you."
"No, stay where you are," he said, his voice a little stronger as he took command. "I need you to find the supply shelf … where the flashlights and lanterns are. I think you're close to it. Reach over … away from my voice. Feel for the metal shelves."
She did as he instructed, grateful not to have to think on her own. She wasn't sure if she could, she was still so dazed by all that had happened. After patting the floor for several seconds, she felt cold metal beneath her fingers and knew she had found the shelves.
"I'm there, J.R."
"Good girl," he said breathlessly. "The middle shelf … that's where they should be."
She stood up with difficulty, her legs stiff and bruised, but using the support of the shelf, she pulled herself up. Reaching out, feeling the contents of the shelf, a long cylinder was right where J.R. said it would be. She picked it up and pushed the switch. A portion of the small concrete storm cellar lit up including the shelf and she could see all the supplies in front of her now including two battery-powered lanterns. She flicked the switches on both, further illuminating the cellar.
Lifting one up, she turned, looking for J.R. To her surprise, he was lying on the floor not far from where she had been. He attempted to smile at her.
"I knew you could do it."
The pain in her muscles forgotten, she rushed over to him, kneeled down at his side. There was a deep gash on his forehead and blood covered part of his face. He was also trembling uncontrollably.
"You're hurt," she said softly, nearly unable to speak, and removed the handkerchief from his suit pocket, placing it against the wound on his head.
"You sure you're all right?" He replied, avoiding her statement. "Your cheek is bleedin'."
She reached up and touched her cheek with the palm of her hand. It stung and some blood wiped off but she knew it was only a scratch.
"It's nothing. What happened, J.R.?"
"Near as I can tell, the stable collapsed as soon as we got to the storm cellar. It crashed the hatch down on us but I think it also saved our lives." He coughed, grimaced at the pain, and closed his eyes, trying to stop the room from spinning. "Listen to me. We don't have much time.
"What do you mean?" She asked tentatively, a pang of fear ripping through her.
"My arm is broken, probably dislocated, and I'm pretty sure I have a concussion. I'm not sure how much longer I'm gonna stay conscious."
"J.R., don't say that."
"I'm fightin' it, honey but c'mon now … I'm countin' on you. You've gotta do a few things to get us outta this."
"Are we trapped in here?"
J.R. wasn't sure if they were or not but couldn't admit to it. "No, Bobby will know right where to look but if the stable did collapse on us, it's gonna take him some time. Over on the wall is a lever. Go over and pull it … it opens the outside air vent. We're gonna need some fresh air in here pretty quick."
Sue Ellen did as instructed, easily spotting the lever with the flashlight. The lever engaged and the vent clicked open but it also disturbed a spider that scurried away. She tried to withhold a frightened yelp.
"What's wrong?" J.R. asked, truly concerned.
"A spider," she replied, her voice still shaking.
J.R. couldn't help but softly laugh even though it made him cough again. "You mean to tell me you just survived a tornado and a little bitty spider scared you?"
"It wasn't little!" She said defensively as she came back to his side. His handkerchief was now soaked with blood. "Is there a first aid kit in here?"
"Should be, over on the shelf. The stable boys are supposed to keep this place stocked."
Sue Ellen went over to the shelf and after a short search, found the kit and some blankets. She scooped them up and returned to J.R.'s side.
"I didn't even know this cellar was here."
"Daddy put small ones like this all over the ranch, wherever anybody works. The tornados he saw in Oklahoma during his wildcattin' days really spooked him."
Sue Ellen smiled as she opened up the first aid kit and removed several items. "I didn't think Jock was afraid of anything."
"Just things he had no control over … like tornados … women."
That comment made Sue Ellen smile just as J.R. hoped it would, but the light mood didn't last long as she began to treat his head wound.
"You're going to need stitches."
"Just put some pressure on it. It'll be all right."
"Bet this isn't what you had in mind for your wedding day," she said as she opened a bandage package.
"No, but I think it was easier."
She smiled again then fell silent, pondering the question that was burning in her mind. After a moment, she finally asked. "Why did you come after me?"
"You didn't know what you were gettin' yourself into. But I'm not sure which was worse, tryin' to make it over here in time or pullin' you along with me." He smiled. "Damn! Did you have to fight me so hard?"
"How was I supposed to know you were trying to save my life?
"With a tornado that size barrelin' down on us, I was hopin' you might notice."
"Honestly … I didn't know what to think. You sure picked a hell of a time to go noble on me."
"Noble? Aw, hell … don't pin that on me. I just wasn't about to let my son grow up without his mamma."
The comment surprised her. "Do you mean that, J.R.?"
J.R. smiled again. "'Course I do. We took 'until death do us part' to the extreme today, didn't we?"
Even though his comment was light, the seriousness of the situation began to weigh down on Sue Ellen. "I'm sorry I put us both in danger. I had no idea. All I wanted to do was get out of there."
"I know," J.R. gently replied. "What happened upstairs … it shook both of us up." He paused for a moment then continued. "What were you doin' in my room?"
Sue Ellen looked at him, into his eyes for several long seconds. "Saying goodbye." She took a breath that ended in a sigh as she struggled to control her emotions. "J.R., it's got to end. All the damage we keep inflicting on each other. I'm not sure how much more I can take."
He nodded. "When we get outta here, we'll find a way … I promise. But for right now, we are stuck together. Think we can we call a truce?"
She nodded and smiled. "Sure."
With that, Sue Ellen tried to push all that had happened out of her mind. Finished with his bandage, she spread a blanket over him and he shivered.
"That feels good," he quietly said. "I'm so cold."
"You're going into shock, aren't you?" She needed confirmation of what she already knew even though she dreaded hearing it.
J.R. nodded his head slightly, trying to keep his eyes open. "Yeah. And I'm scared. I don't think I'm gonna beat this one, darlin'."
He never admitted defeat or fear and it startled her. Made her relive the time not so many months ago when she had pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger. It didn't matter that only one of the three bullets barely scraped him. It was the thought she had wished him dead. Now, seeing him stretched out before her, pale and shaking from his injuries, knowing there was absolutely nothing she could do to save him, his death was the last thing she wanted.
"Please don't talk like that, J.R."
"Do one more thing for me?" He said as if he didn't hear her.
"What's that?"
"Just hold my hand … just for a minute."
Sue Ellen sniffed, trying to hold back the tears that blurred her eyes. She picked up his hand, held it in both of hers. It was so cold, so unlike the other times he had touched her, even like not so long ago, in his room, in front of his mirror. That now seemed years away.
His eyes closed and she called out his name. "J.R.! Don't you leave me! Don't you leave John Ross! Not like this. You keep fighting, you bastard! Do you hear me? You keep fighting because it can't end … not here … not like this!"
J.R. attempted to grip her hand even though his eyes remained closed. Her voice was becoming so distant. He knew he had to hang on but could hardly feel her hand.
"The first time … the first time I saw you," he whispered, he speech becoming slurred. "Knew I'd … love you … 'til the day I died." He could no longer feel the cold … the pain. His face relaxed into a smile. "I … was right."
His grip relaxed in her hand and he was gone, finally taken into unconsciousness by the shock and trauma from his injuries.
Sue Ellen wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand then placed it on his chest. There was still a shallow rise and fall from his breathing.
In the deafening silence of the room, looking down at the man who had just been so uncharacteristically heroic and saved her life at great risk to his own, the bits and pieces of what had happened began to come back to her.
She had run out the front door of Southfork, not noticing the terrible wind. All she cared about was reaching her car, getting off the ranch for good. The encounter with J.R. had disturbed her, made emotions resurface she thought she would never feel again. Emotions so close to love it frightened her.
He had abandoned her to win Kimberly Cryder and West Star. He had killed Nicholas even if it had been a terrible accident. He was involved with a sweet young girl he had seduced simply for the thrill of it. God, he was such a monster. Yet by the time she had reached her car outside, looked out to see the huge twister coming right at her, his was the arm she felt go around her, pulling her towards the main stable and the storm cellar they were now in. He had raced to her side, saved her life when he could have so easily just let her go.
So much of the past year had been spent hating him, plotting revenge. Thoughts of making him pay had consumed her. Yet she wouldn't have survived the day without him. She wouldn't have lived to see John Ross grow up and graduated high school … college … get married and make her a grandma.
John Ross. After all the battles they had fought over him, he was the only thing that mattered now. Out of it all … out of the storm and her bitterness and hatred for J.R. … an emotion surfaced, so strong it took her breath away. A feeling she hadn't experienced in a long time. It was hope. They would both survive this because their son needed them. Both of them. If anyone would find them, it would be Bobby. He would be there it in time to save J.R. He always was.
Yes, they were going to survive. She was going to make damn sure they did. There was too much unfinished business between them to let J.R. die.
He wasn't going to get out of it that easy.
