Acting frisky, with her butt tucked almost in a scoot, Bella raced down the gravel slope and disappeared around the corner of the brush-encroached path beyond the Renshaws’ property. The dog left a trail in the faint snowfall for Warner and Sylvia to follow as they strolled behind, enjoying the beautiful December morning. Wearing a bright white jacket with lime-colored stripes along the sides, his mother pulled the hood tighter to protect against the winter breeze. The small opening for her face formed a tight constellation of eyes, nose and mouth, with the occasional burst of breath to cloud in the cold.
“The tree we picked should be right around the bend,” Warner said.
Sylvia tilted her head down so she could watch her footing. “I wish Kendra was here.”
“Me too, but her career’s important. Let’s hope this is the last year she has to be gone for the holidays. You know, having you out here is good for her—for all of us.”
Following the slick path, Sylvia took hold of a nearby branch for support. “All this brush crowding the road makes me nervous. You still have Bob’s handgun I gave you?”
“Yes.”
“You should carry it.”
“You know guns make me nervous…” and I don’t want to escalate things.
“Your father never had a problem with them.”
“He was a cop. I’m more the geek type.” Warner smirked at his mother.
“You are not. Still, the gun might be handy if you stumble across another bear.”
They talked while continuing to walk until they reached a tall, perfectly shaped Douglas fir tree.
“Here it is, our first Christmas tree,” he said. Smiling, he turned to face his mother and saw a hint of pain pass over her face.
“Your father would have loved this,” she said quietly, then the shadow of emotion passed and a glint returned to her eyes. “Of course, if he were still around, we’d still be out here by ourselves while he stayed inside and watched the game on TV.”
Warner appreciated his family’s familiar way of coping with hard times through humor. We’ll get by without Dad—we have to. And once Kendra and I start our new family, the grandkids can help fill everyone’s loss.
“I’m still surprised Troy’s coming with Mary and the boys for Christmas,” Warner said.
“Yes,” she said excitedly. “Having them with us at our cabin is going to make the first Christmas here extra special.”
Catching his mother’s reference to the cabin as ours brought a smile to Warner’s face. Taking a deep breath of the crisp forest air, he lifted the hacksaw from his shoulder and glanced at Bella, who was rolling carefree in a nearby bed of fern.
“Sooner I cut the tree, sooner that mule can drag it back to our cabin.” They both laughed.
-- : --
Hidden behind a thick brown mat of dead bracken fern, Chad crouched beneath the towering hemlock and watched Lina bound through the winter brush toward the Renshaws’ cabin. Her small shoulder purse bounced across her back, as she broke free to the grassy yard dusted with snow. Coming to a stop, she stared at the silent home. She’s like a wild animal—but is it a rabbit or a rat? That’s what I’m here to find out.
Scurrying through the tall grass, Lina reached the front porch and leaned against the cedar siding. She then slowly made her way to the French doors before disappearing inside.
Hunched beside the ancient hemlock, Chad felt uneasy. Is what Luke said true? Was Lina using me all along? Could she set me up for jail after all I did for her? He sighed. I have to believe once she sees Luke doesn’t want her she’ll come around. Who else do I have? For that matter, who does she?
His anxiety lightened, buoyed by a returning confidence, before sinking as fast as it rose. He had to admit that what he felt and what the facts hinted at did not add up. What if everything she said was a lie, somehow connected to what she’s doing at the cabin? He kicked at a moss-covered root. I can’t tell what’s true anymore! Luke may be right—she’s crazy as a mountain beaver—but I don’t wanna be alone….
Glancing in both directions to make sure the way was clear, Chad stepped onto Wa-Wilkin Road without a sound. To evade detection from the cabin, he bent over and slunk up the county road toward his unoccupied trailer.
I can’t let her go without knowing the truth….
-- : --
Closing the French door behind her, Lina stood in the living room of the cabin. Having watched the Renshaws stroll down toward the river, she was certain the home was empty. Is Luke’s cabin ready for our New Year’s Eve celebration?
As the morning light streamed through the large windowpanes above, she paused in the center of the comfortable room and looked up at the cedar paneling covering the high peaked ceiling—It’s so beautiful. I can’t wait! I ain’t never lived no place this nice before. Opening her jacket, she stepped in front of the warm cast-iron stove and breathed in the scent of raw cedar blended with the smell of burning wood. Another scent, subtle and flowery, hung in the air near one of the two chestnut-brown leather chairs. The oddly familiar smell reawakened her tangled memories and she felt a crush of desire overlay her anxiety.
I deserve a second chance with Luke. We belong together, here….
Letting her heartbeat slow, Lina allowed the familiarity to invade her. The feeling grew stronger with each visit and this time nearly overwhelmed her.
Where’s Mr. Tollman’s velvet Jesus?
Swinging her small purse forward, she took out her kit and lit the loaded pink pipe using her mother’s ornate silver lighter. Taking her first sweet inhale, she squinted through a trail of thin smoke rising toward the peak of the high ceiling. Past mixed with present and she wandered down the familiar hallway, glanced in the familiar kitchen, and approached the familiar bedroom. Alone, no longer disturbed by reality, she wrapped herself in obsession and entered… Luke’s bedroom.
Standing inside the doorway, she stared into the dim room. A new quilt—white and yellow daisies scattered across a deep red background—lay covering the plush mattress. Wasn’t the quilt solid red? Did Luke replace it?
Her heart filled with longing while the soothing smoke from her pipe drifted about the room. Glancing at the side table, she saw a glass half-full of water sitting under a simple pedestal lamp. Shouldn’t we be drinking red wine? Yeah, cause she got the champ drunk.
A blast of anger surged through her body as she recalled the worst day of her life—New Year’s Eve, five years ago—when she had discovered… I was too late. She already got Luke in bed, taking ‘vantage of him being sick.
Stepping to the side of the bed, Lina slid her hands across the cool cotton of the quilt. Clutching one of three matching throw pillows, she climbed onto the mattress and rolled onto her back. Stretching full length, she took a draw off the pipe and filled her lungs with her ticket to a temporary escape. Holding the breath a moment, she exhaled with a languid sigh before summoning her intimate fantasies. Drawing her hands over her breasts, she felt their arousal match her memory. Her right hand spread, pressing as it passed down the flat of her stomach. Lost in a desperate desire, she relived that special night with Luke—and prepared for her next.
“Oh, Luke,” she said with a moan, “this time you’ll come for me.”
-- : --
Across from the Renshaws’ cabin, Chad paused to stare at the front of his sky-blue trailer. It’s still the only place I got. He suddenly felt poorer than he had ever felt in his life, even while in jail. What did I do to deserve this? Feels like I’m about to lose everything.
As he unlocked the trailer door, his anger wrested his self-pity aside, and the corner of his mouth drew down in a tight frown. Stepping inside, he looked around the dark interior. What am I looking for anyway—something on Luke or Lina? His stomach grumbled and his throat felt dry. Only the truth…, but do I really want to find that? He shook his head. Come on, if I can handle being in foster care and a year in jail, I can take the truth about Lina.
He looked toward the kitchenette. Not the best place to stash a secret. All right, think like a girl with something to hide. He chuckled. That’s a good one, numb-nuts. Luke would bust my balls over that. Okay, get serious. I know the trailer better’n Lina. Find a place near the warmest part—near the bed.
He opened the storage above the bed; it was too dark to see within. I’m not poking around in there without a light—could be spiders. Annoyed at being unprepared, he scanned the trailer’s surfaces until he found a small penlight on the window ledge next to the bed. Shinning the light into the cabinet, he rustled through the deep overhead storage to discover a sweat-rimmed ball cap, a couple of his threadbare sweaters—looks like she’s been wearing them—and a few textbooks he remembered from high school. Shoving everything into a jumble, he slammed shut the cabinet. Just packed full of pathetic junk from my pathetic life—not exactly what I’m looking for. Probably too tall for her to reach anyway.
Getting down on his knees, Chad leaned over and opened the deep storage below the bed. More junk! I’m a bigger pack rat than I thought. Guess when you grow up with nothing, you keep everything. Inside, he found some of Lina’s things mixed with his own. This looks promising. Continuing to dig through the clutter, he came across a small bag of marijuana.
“Figures,” he said, pocketing the find.
Reaching farther into the compartment, he shoved aside two old puzzle boxes. Then, in a far corner, he discovered an unfamiliar shoebox reinforced with gray duct tape.
Flat on his stomach, he wriggled inside far enough to stretch out and drag the box closer with two fingers. Scooting back to exit, he rose onto his knees; a chalky dust marked the front of his jacket, t-shirt, and to the knees of his blue jeans.
When he set the dilapidated box on the pink blanket covering the worn mattress, he caught an unpleasant odor. Leaning forward and sniffing, he realized the mattress reeked of stale sweat and mold overlaid with a sweet minty smell, like toothpaste. Has it always stunk this bad?
Sitting back, he lifted the lid off his discovery and was immediately disappointed: a rusty Swiss army knife, three small black buttons, and a worn black leather wallet lay on top of a pair of dingy boy’s underwear. He flipped open the fold of the wallet to find a picture of a teenage boy staring back at him—Luke. When he was seventeen maybe? The only other items inside were two worn candy wrappers, a Cherry Mountain and a Smarties, both precisely folded together. Dropping the billfold onto the blanket, he picked up the box and wrinkled his nose—no way I’m touching someone else’s tighty-whities. He spilled the contents onto the blanket. Penned in black marker along the waistband of the underwear were the initials L. T.—Luke’s right, she’s twisted. Chad couldn’t help breaking into a grin. She’s got Luke’s undies in a bundle. Then he noticed a folded sheet of blue-speckled paper at the bottom of the box. Chad’s smile faded and his eyes widened as he unfolded the paper.
Jayden’s birth certificate.
He read the name of the birth father….
-- : --
“I’m glad we didn’t pick a bigger tree,” Warner said. Pausing, he shifted the weight of the ten-foot fir propped on his shoulder before continuing to haul it down the drive.
“And I’m glad we didn’t pick one farther away,” Sylvia said, adjusting her own bundle. “Carrying all this garland is pooping me out. I can’t imagine how you’re doing.”
When they stopped on the patio at the side of the cabin, Bella trotted over to stare up at the small window outside Sylvia’s bedroom.
“Come here, girl,” Warner called.
The dog ignored him and continued to look at the window.
-- : --
Inside the cabin, Lina scrambled off Sylvia’s bed and the last tendrils of burning marijuana curled off the end of her pipe to dissipate into the room.
Why do they always gotta ruin things for me? And why’s it taking Luke so long to get our place back? Ain’t the Renshaws got the message yet? This ain’t their home—it’s ours.
-- : --
“What are you looking at, girl?” Sylvia asked, stepping next to Bella who was now practically dancing outside the bedroom window.
“Probably smells a mouse in the eaves,” Warner said, chuckling. “I’ll drag the tree around front and trim off the lower branches. Why don’t you drop the garland here and we’ll put it up after the tree’s done?”
“Sure. I’ll just pop in and put some water on to boil.” Sylvia laid the garland down and walked over to the side door. “I’ll be happy to get out of these cold boots and put on my house slippers.”
Lowering her haunches to sit below the small side window, Bella began to whine.
-- : --
Peeking out the small window of the bedroom, Lina watched Warner haul a tree around the corner toward the front porch. When she heard the side door in the hall outside the bedroom open, fear of discovery broke through her high and she tiptoed to the bedroom’s exterior door. Thank Jesus for this door!
Unlocking the dead bolt and doorknob, she pulled the door open just wide enough to slip outside. Her heart raced as she eased the wooden door closed. Tilting her hands up in front of her, she waited in the cold air as if preparing to ward off an attack. A moment passed without event. Good, no one saw me.
Something cold and wet nuzzled her from behind and she muffled her shriek. Bella danced aside with her broad pink tongue lolling off the corner of her black muzzle. When Lina slapped Bella’s nose, the startled dog went rigid with a growl. While she and the dog exchanged suspicious glares, Lina stepped off the narrow wood deck to quietly retreat along the drive. Bella stalked her to the workshop, where Lina darted a glance over her shoulder.
“I don’t like ya no more,” she said. “You’re a bad dog.”