The Fire Within

Chapter 11

Grace wakes in the middle of the night to the sound of a thunderstorm. Thunder echoes all around while flashes of lightning light up the late night sky. She moves out of bed and puts on her robe. She moves silently through the house to the front hall where she opens the front doors and steps outside onto the large front porch.

The sound of the pouring rain relaxes her as the thunder reverberates through her body, vibrating her core. It’s both comforting and exciting at the same time. She’s always loved the sound of fierce thunderstorms when she was a child, the sounds were just enough to drown out the thoughts that always plagued her about her family and the injustices that she watched around her.

Grace moves toward a group of rocking chairs that line part of the porch and sits to watch the storm moving all around the house. The rain pelts the house harder as the thunder gets louder and louder. This is one of the worst storms that she’s ever witnessed, but it’s phenomenal. The sound is so loud that she doesn’t notice the presence that moves toward her and sits in a chair next to her. When she sees the movement next to her she jumps slightly with surprise.

“Hello Grace, I guess I’m not the only one that enjoys storms,” Zachariah declares.

“I’ve always loved storms, they are so soothing but so powerful…” she trials off as another lightning bolt dances across the sky creating the illusion daylight in the darkness just for a moment and the crash of thunder resonates on all sides of them.

Zachariah smiles, “The day my mother died, there was a horrible storm outside and I swore when I looked up into the sky, I saw an image of her in the clouds. Ever since, storms calm me, like it’s her saying hello or something.”

Grace looks at him in surprise and smiles, he’s usually so guarded with his feelings and who he really is, she likes it when he’s open. “So, how long are you and Ezekiel here for?”

“We are going to have to leave next Monday. We are meeting the rest of the regiments near here just outside of Philadelphia. About 350,000 men are moving north and are set to converge near here to cut off the Rebels before they move too far into the north.”

“When I’m better, how will I know where you are?”

He sighs and looks down, “I wish you wouldn’t try to rejoin. Why can’t you just stay here and wait for our return? You’ll be safe here.”

“Zachariah, I thought you understood.”

“I’m sorry Grace, but I don’t. I don’t understand why you want to risk your life.”

“I just need to be there. I need to…” she trails off. For so long this has been about righting the wrongs of the past, but now things are different. Why does she need to be there? She no longer feels like it’s her job rectify the past. Since she’s been reunited with Helen, she no longer feels like it’s her job to fix everything. So what is driving her now? Is it Ezekiel? But Ezekiel is a colonel and is more than capable of taking care of himself and if she’s there she knows that he would lay down his life for her. Is that what she wants? Then she looks at the man sitting next to her and suddenly she realizes why she wants to go back. She wants to be near him.

She knows that he will be leaving soon, and the idea of being away from him unnerves her. She’s never been able to let go of her past and allow herself to look at any man the way she is looking at him right now. She didn’t look at him this way yesterday, did she? She talked to Ezekiel about him last night and he encouraged her to give Zachariah a chance. Zachariah has expressed his desire to get to know her better, he doesn’t push or act like most men do, he’s respectful and caring. All of the sudden she’s completely nervous and doesn’t know what to say. How did this happen? When did this happen? Her heart hammers against her chest as she quickly realizes that she’s falling for this man. But, what is she supposed to do?