Page 14 of Natalie's Nighthawk

“I don’t know. For many years, I was busy taking care of Maddie, so I focused on finishing my degree and getting a steady paycheck. But she’s been doing so well … amazingly well actually, that maybe Icanstart planning for my own dreams.” It hadn’t occurred to her until that moment that she probably could have her own studio. It was a realization that would need some serious mulling over.

“I hope someday you achieve everything you want.”

Natalie blushed. She’d never once in the last twelve years imagined she deserved to have her own dreams fulfilled. She loved her job, loved teaching, and every aspect of it. She couldn’t imagine a day without seeing their smiling faces. The joy they experienced while they created something from their own imagination fulfilled her. Some days, though she hated to admit it, she yearned for more.

“It certainly looks like you’ve achieved some success of your own,” Natalie said. “Your complex is impressive.”

“It’s taken a long time to get there, and we still have a long way to go. But I’m happy with it. It was a group effort. Those guys tonight have done more for Nighthawk than I can ever repay. I’ve been very lucky.”

“Have you been interested in Search and Rescue since the night of the tornado?” That day, thatnightwas etched into both their memories. Briefly, they flashed back to the moment when from his car, they watched as the tornado barreled down on their neighborhood.

“In a way. I just didn’t know I could do it for a living at that time. I had intended to be a business major or an engineer. I hadn’t decided yet. But in my first year of college, I joined a group of other students for spring break. We headed out to Illinois to help people recover from flooding. It was our job to remove the old, moldy drywall from houses that had been affected and replace it with new. But while we were there, the rain started up again.

“It was crazy. One minute we were just doing our job, the next, the street was completely flooded again. The river encroached, flooding the houses we had just repaired. We were suddenly trapped. The house next door had an old rowboat in the driveway. We ‘commandeered’ it to get out.”

“Interesting way to put it,” Natalie smirked.

He smiled. “As we went along, we saw people everywhere, trapped on porches, on roofs, on anything high they could get to while the water continued to rise. We took as many as we could, got them out, then went back for more.”

“That was very brave,” Natalie told him, impressed by his giving nature.

He shrugged. “We just did what was right. They were all so grateful. It made me feel … important, I guess. I don’t know how else to put it. It was an awesome feeling to have helped so many people.”

“I can understand that. It’s kind of how I feel when a student finally ‘gets it.’ A joy every teacher loves to experience.”

“Exactly,” he smiled at her, happy that she understood so easily. “Eventually, I met a guy who was with the National Guard and we got to talking about that feeling. He told me as a police officer in Chicago, he had taken some special training courses for search and rescue so that summer, I found a place that offered similar courses and was hooked.”

“Why did you decide to open your own training facility?” Natalie asked beyond curious to learn his story.

He smiled sadly. “I’ve spent most of my adult life traveling the globe. Pitching in on some of the biggest disasters. I’ve been on many missions; digging people out of whatever situation they’ve been trapped in. The skills I’ve learned have enabled me to save lives.” He paused and sighed sadly. Natalie grew concerned, noticing his furrowed brow. “Then there are the recovery missions. So many recoveries. So many that I couldn’t save. The tsunami in Indonesia was the worst. I needed a break from it all and thought I could share my skills with others. I discovered there was a need for the type of training I could offer in this area.”

Natalie reached for his hand, entwining her fingers with his and squeezing gently in sympathy as they rocked slowly back and forth on the swing. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’ve heard stories about how horrible the tsunami was, but I never realized you were there. I can’t imagine what you’ve seen.” She shivered slightly, whether from the chill in the air or from imagining the horrors of that disaster, she couldn’t say.

“Cold?” he asked in concern.

“No, just a little chill,” she replied. He let go of her hand and placed his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to his side, sharing his body heat with her. It was a sweet, almost romantic gesture. She couldn’t hold back the contented sigh as his warmth enveloped her.

The tender sensation of Natalie leaning into his warmth as he wrapped his arm around her had the magical effect of chasing away the images of bloated bodies he’d seen in Indonesia. He felt more than heard her sigh of contentment, struggling to contain his own groan as desire rushed through him.

Shit!Even after twelve years, she still had a devastating effect on him. He flashed back to that kiss by the lake. A kiss he’d measured all other kisses against for the last twelve years. All of which fell short of the passion and heat of that one simple kiss.

Twelve years! Graham felt an overwhelming regret at the loss of all those years. He didn’t understand how one afternoon by the lake could have changed him so dramatically. He had dated through the years, of course, but they had all left him feeling flat; nobody could measure up to his little chickadee.

He’d spent the last twelve years thinking he was crazy. It wasn’t possible to fall for someone in one afternoon; that was just crazy. Then he saw her standing in his conference room earlier today, and something clicked. The others he’d dated never felt right because they weren’t Natalie. It terrified him to think that he’d found his other half, and he still didn’t know if she was married or not.

“Can I ask you a question?” she queried quietly.

“Absolutely.” He knew he would answer anything, tell her anything, give her anything if he could keep her by his side a little while longer.

“Why did you never come back to visit?” The town they had both grown up in was about an hour south of Lake Haven, over the border in Indiana at the bottom point of Lake Michigan. After the tornado, he’d had to move farther away from the lake he loved and had never gone back. He would never understand why he didn’t go back. “I mean, after the tornado and you guys left to live with your grandmother, I thought surely I’d see you again, especially at your graduation. I looked for you,” she finished softly, looking down at her lap.

The tornado had left his house uninhabitable, so he and his family had spent a few days crashing with friends, helping with the clean-up in town. He had kept an eye out, hoping to see Natalie around, and had found out what had happened to her sister, after which he’d assumed she’d spent most of her time at the hospital.

Eventually, his family was forced to salvage what they could and move to live with his grandmother until they could rebuild. By the time the house had been rebuilt, Graham had been in college and then gone off on his search and rescue endeavors. He’d barely had time to visit his parents during those years. And when he’d been ready to start up Nighthawk, his parents had moved to Virginia. “They let me finish up the school year by correspondence. I got my diploma by mail and never made it to graduation.”

“Oh,” she said feebly. “You had lots of friends here. Didn’t you want to reconnect with any of them in twelve years?”

“No,” he answered honestly.

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