Page 49 of An Uncertain Road

Inside, brass fixtures hanging from the high ceiling provided electric light for the room. It was silent, Archie’s form lying still under a blanket on the only one of the eight beds that was occupied. There was no missing the ramifications of the accident. The length of Archie’s legs under the bedding was far too short. They’d both been amputated.

Nearby, Sam was sprawled in a wooden chair with his chin almost touching his chest, heavy breathing indicating he had dozed off. Should they announce their presence or not? Jensen was ready to turn around and tiptoe out when Archie’s voice croaked out his name. “Don’t go. I’m awake.”

At the words, Sam jerked out of his sleep, jumping up from the chair as soon as he saw them. “Oh, hello. I’ll go and give you a few minutes. The doctor said he needs to rest a lot, so it can’t be long.”

He skirted out the door, leaving Jensen and Flora alone with Archie. They went to his side and stood in awkward silence until Archie relieved them of the pressure of figuring out what to say. “I guess I owe you my thanks. Sam told me you gave up your opportunity to win to stay with me.”

Jensen shrugged. “We couldn’t leave you there.”

“You could have. It’s what I might have done if the situation was reversed.”

Flora gasped at the blunt words.

Archie barked out a harsh laugh. “You may not want to hear it, but that’s the truth. I was awake enough under there that I had to think about some things, to look back at how I’ve been acting. And if I’m honest—which I’d like to be from here on out—I’m not sure I’d have even stopped if you were the ones upside down in that ravine.” Archie fought to push himself up on the pillows.

Before he could think better of it, Jensen reached out and put an arm around the man’s shoulders to help.

Archie nodded a brief thanks, then grimaced as he settled back against the headboard. “You’re too polite to mention it, but no doubt you’ve noticed the doctor had to take my legs, both at the knees. They were too crushed to heal.”

The words hung in the air between the three of them. Flora sank to the edge of the bed next to Archie. Her voice was raw when she finally spoke. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed so hard to get to the bridge first. I hope you’ll forgive me someday.”

He looked up, clearly startled. “Forgive you? You didn’t make me pull out there. It’s not as though you drove me off the road or anything. I would have done it to you, given the chance, but no one would ever believe you caused this. I was blinded by wanting revenge and made a stupid choice. I’m just glad the one suffering the consequences is me, not Sam or any of you.”

Jensen didn’t know what to do with the sincere change in Archie’s demeanor. “It would be better if no one had to suffer. I hate that our feud came to this. We could have cleared the air years ago if I wasn’t so set on protecting myself. And here you’re letting a tragedy change you for the better, something I could never manage to do.”

Archie tilted his head as he thought about that. “You’re right, we should have handled this a long time ago. But we didn’t. Both of us are at fault for that. But we can do better moving forward.”

A weight Jensen hadn’t even been aware of lifted from his heart. He stuck out a hand and shook Archie’s. “We can and we will.”

A knock sounded at the door a second before a nurse opened it wide and gestured for Jensen and Flora to leave. “Mr. Franklin needs to rest now. You’ll have to go.”

They left the room with promises to visit Archie once he was recovering back in Philadelphia. As they headed toward Fred and Beth, who had walked to the far end of the hall, Flora finally spoke to Jensen. “I want to find Sam. I need to speak with him. Alone.”

Nodding, Jensen paused and watched her until she disappeared around a corner. Maybe talking with Sam would help her see the truth in what he’d tried to tell her that afternoon rather than cement the idea that he had sabotaged them. But whether it did or didn’t, the conversation with Archie had brought clarity to his mind. For the last five years, Jensen had been blinded by regret for his failings. It hadn’t driven him to change—instead, it had caused him to hide.

Until Flora.

Now, instead of sending him running in the wake of another mistake, her encouragement over the last week showed him there was hope that he could work through the problems his choices caused. He didn’t have to remain stuck in a life that was going nowhere. And he was ready to stand and face it all if it meant he might get to have her next to him when he came through the other side.

CHAPTER 22

Flora found Sam sprawled in a chair in an alcove at the front of the hospital, a dim space that was empty of other visitors. The late hour and long day were starting to take a toll on Flora, and she felt as drained as Sam looked, but she needed some answers. Quite frankly, she didn’t know if she could trust anything Mr. Franklin or Jensen would say to her. So she dropped onto a cushioned chair next to Sam and let her head rest in her hands.

Sam straightened in his seat and reached out to rest one hand on her shoulder. “Flora, you should go to the hotel and rest. There’s nothing anyone can do here.”

Looking into his grief-ravaged face, she patted his hand, trying to communicate as much comfort as possible. “No, we can’t heal his body. But you both need friends around you to keep your spirits up.”

“What about the tour? You can still finish.”

Anguish over losing points—and their chance to win—overtook Flora for a moment. There had hardly been time during the day to think through all that the events had cost them. But Flora pushed away the feeling. She’d shed enough tears in her room earlier. There were more important issues to face now. “I don’t have any right to worry about a silly car race when we almost lost two lives today.”

Sam shook his head. “You have a responsibility to Mr. Harrison to finish. You should honor that. Archie and I are together here. We’ll be fine until I can get him home. That will take longer than it will for the tour to finish. You have one more day, Flora. Go finish it.”

Unable to sit, Flora stood and paced the small space between their pair of chairs and another set of empty ones nearby. “What’s the benefit in finishing? I’ll probably make another thoughtless, ambition-driven choice that will harm someone else.”

Looking up in surprise, Sam’s voice grew stronger with resolve. “That’s completely untrue. You didn’t cause this. Archie chose to try to pass at the last second. He knew we were far too close to the bridge.”

No matter what Sam or Jensen said, there was surely more she could have done. But there was another pressing matter she needed to bring up before she lost the chance. “Sam, what did you mean about Jensen sabotaging our team?”