Conclusion

Later, she dragged herself to bed once she was done with her ponderings. From here on out, it was about her, as it should have been from the beginning. As she drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t stop all the memories flooding to her head.
The phone rang and rang, but she was in to deep of a sleep to completely comprehend it. Then the shaking began; it wasn’t gentle, but harsh and frantic.
He screamed her name-had she answered the phone? Lexi coughed in an attempt to respond, but it caused her chest to burn.
Once again she felt the shaking and heard his voice begging her to wake up. She sat up in her sleep induced haze, but found that the haze was different. Fog floated around her room and it took her a moment to realize it wasn’t fog, but smoke. The alarm within the kitchen was blaring now. How had she not heard it?
Lexi sunk down the edge of the bed now as her adrenaline kicked in. Trying to crawl, she realized that the smoke had affected her more than she thought. Her muscles were weak and she found it hard not to cough. She stopped moving, even though she knew she was standing on death’s door.
The screams became louder now and she knew that somehow Mark was trying to save her. She pulled herself forward for him. Arm by arm, she worked to the bedroom door and than out the front door.
The sound of the sirens echoed through the night and it was the last thing she remembered before she closed her eyes.
The touch was familiar and warm; it sent waves of emotion through her body that she couldn’t possibly begin to explain. Her eyelids felt heavy, but she wanted to open them. She needed to know that she wasn’t dreaming.
“Lexi, I’m right here,” Mark said. He was there and he’d saved her; she wondered if even knew that. “Zach started the fire. Then out of hatred he called and told me what he’d done. He also admitted to being one of the men Amber slept with while I was gone. I called the fire department, but I knew it wasn’t enough, I had to try to reach you, but you wouldn’t answer.”
“But you were there Mark, urging me to go on when I couldn’t. You saved me and you weren’t even there-just like you have my whole life,” she said quietly in between coughs.
Mark leaned in and kissed her. It was natural and full of emotion as if they’d been doing it their whole life.
“Will you hold me?” she asked. “You bet,” he said as he climbed into the bed with her. He’d been right along time ago, when he had said they were soul mates; they were just too stubborn to admit it. Jen drifted off to sleep in the protective arms of the only man she’d every really loved.