Owen sank further back into the shadows of the bunk. He watched the women moving around the room, speaking quietly to ask one another about a certain herb or stone.
Chris sat in the corner, also silent. Although he appeared relaxed, Owen knew he was tense and ready to strike at any given moment. Doc sat still, his slowly flexing hands the only indication of the tension within. Dade was leaning against the wall, impatience clearly stamped on his face.
The quiet meeting at the admissions building was tense and upsetting to all. Old Charlie actually looked ill, so Gwen finally persuaded him to go lie down in his cabin and rest. With great reluctance, he finally agreed and left the building. Kevin sat silently with his head down, listening. Jean sat there with a tear-stained face, not making eye contact with anyone.
Cora was more upset with the fact Justin would not let her see the note. He had a reason for that. None of the women, Gwen included, had been allowed. The words had been written in the victims’ blood. Written with the tip of a knife, a fact that the men agreed would not be revealed to the women. Owen was sure not one of the men wanted to know, but agreed it would be better to shelter the women from the additional brutality.
He watched Leena as she selected herbs from a seemingly endless supply, in a small black case. He had to admit these four women seemed to be prepared for anything. Then again, this was only his second day at a gathering, and they had been at it much longer.
Owen glanced at the ribbon in his hand. He’d taken it off the wreath Leena gave him. She’d watched him take it and told him to keep it as a reminder of the parts he chose to remember. He’d remember it all, good and bad.
Earlier, he’d moved throughout the maypole dance cautiously, scrutinizing every face in the small group of celebrants. The others that were aware of the horrific discovery did the same. If it hadn’t been for the anguish weighing him down, Owen was sure he would have been awestruck as the men and women wove the ribbons around the pole.
For a bystander, it would have been something to see. The single people from the crowd danced around the inner circle of couples. The very few drummers left, beat quietly in time to the dancers’ steps. The couples across from each other, with their ribbons in hand, moved in opposite directions as the ribbons went up and over one another until they were only a few feet from the pole. The wreaths were tied to the end of the ribbons, so they hung to the ground in a circle of color.
Owen looked up from his hand when he heard a quiet conversation.
“Protection from crime or danger?” Kasey asked Chris softly.
“Do you have any fire opal in that bag, sweetheart?” Chris asked her quietly. “It will cover all aspects.”
She nodded, “of course. It will cover the emotional turmoil as well.” She turned back to what she’d been doing.
He noted from time to time, how each of the men regarded the different women. Although Chris glanced around the room as often as Owen did, Chris’ eyes always stopped at quiet little Kasey.
He turned slowly to see once again that Dade’s impatient stare hadn’t yet strayed from the exotic figure of Cora as she knelt and chanted quietly, passing small cloth bags through some sort of smoke he wasn’t able to identify by smell.
The Doc was either looking at his own hands or watching the dark-haired Rachel as she silently bent her head over some burning candles.
Owen’s mind drifted to the ribbon in his hand and the maypole dance again. Of course, if the earlier tragedy hadn’t robbed him of all good humor, he would have laughed when he’d realized that he’d been so distracted by the women and pole ritual the night before, he hadn’t noticed they had each placed two ribbons on the pole. Well, he thought with a sigh, at least the rain had eased into a drizzle for the maypole dance and they’d been somewhat dry during it.
He was disappointed that the morning ritual hadn’t enthralled him, as the night before. The shadow of the two deaths hung over the little group. When Leena reached up to kiss him as she removed his wreath, he saw the pain in her eyes and knew the kiss was for show, she wasn’t able to forget the heartache.
Dade sighed loudly, pushing himself away from the wall.
Owen sat up, tense and waiting.
Cora lifted her head and glared at Dade, lifting her hand in a gesture that, told him to stay put and stay quiet.
Pouting a little, Dade flopped down onto the bunk beside Owen shaking his head. Glancing down at the ribbon Owen was running through his hands, Dade offered him a helpless, defeated smile and leaned back with a loud sigh.
Cora brought the small cloth bags to Kasey, who placed a pebble-sized stone in each. He would have to ask her why she’d run them through the smoking dish later. Actually, he’d lost track of all the questions for later.
Cora nodded and went to Rachel with the dish of small bags. Rachel took the dish and placed it on the floor beside her candles. Dropping some dust onto the candles, she watched as they flickered. Then she picked up the black candle and dripped a drop of hot wax into each bag. She then did the same with the white and then blue, until she’d repeated the sequence for each bag. As Cora picked up the dish and walked to Leena, Rachel carried the candles, one by one, placing them on the little table beside the door to let them burn.
Leena accepted the bowl from Cora and placed it on her lap as she sat cross-legged on the floor. In front of her, Owen noted were four small dishes, three with herbs and a fourth that was smoking.
She picked up a pinch from one of the small dishes and dropped it into a bag, repeating this with each dish of herbs. When complete, she picked up the smoking dish, and blew the smoke over the bags. Nodding to Cora, she handed her back the bowl.
The other men stood, so he did also.
Cora walked with the bowl of little bags to Chris, Leena following with the smoking herb Owen watched as Chris dipped his hands in the smoke, then picked up one of the small red bags from the bowl. Drawing the bag closed with the string, he pulled the cord over his head and tucked the bag inside his shirt. Chris nodded to Cora, so she and Leena moved over to Steven.
Owen waited as the Doc did the same as Chris, followed by Rachel and Kasey. When Cora stepped in front of Dade, she lifted her head to hold his eyes as he too dipped his hands through the smoke and reached for the bag. All of this added to his list of questions.
When they stepped in front of him, he was glad they waited until after he’d had a chance to see what to do. Placing the ribbon inside his pocket he ran his hands through the smoke and pulled it toward himself, not taking his eyes off Leena as he did so. Then he took one of the last three bags from the dish and secured it around his own neck.
Cora nodded and turned toward Leena.
Owen reached over to take the smoking dish from Leena and hold it in front of her. Smiling, she ran her hands through the smoke and up over her head, then reached for her bag.
Cora watched as Owen turned toward her and she then did the same as the seven before her.
When the little smoking dish was finally placed on the table with the candles, Dade headed toward the door. “Now, can I go see if we can get the damn bridge back together?”
He paused with his hand on the raingear hanging near the door and looked to Cora. She nodded and silently clasped her hands together. He paused a moment and looked at her. “Stay together.” She nodded again.
Owen followed behind Chris and the Doc and called over his shoulder. “Lock it.”
Once outside, he caught up to Dade and kept stride.
“Put the ribbon in your gris-gris bag.”
“What?” He glanced over at Dade.
Dade grinned. “Take the little memento she gave you and put it in the gris-gris bag. A personal token will extend the protection to her, through you.” He shrugged, “just don’t tell her that.”
Owen reached into his pocket and pulled it out. “You don’t tell them everything, do you?”
Dade laughed as he reached in his own pocket and pulled out a shell, one Owen thought he’d seen hanging from Cora’s hair the night before. “Not if I can get away with it.”
After two hours of sitting and trying to read Leena tossed the book onto the bunk. “I’m going to the kitchen to make some tea to take to them.”
Cora tossed the pillow on the bunk. “Took you long enough!”
Kasey was already pulling a cape over her head. “They could have asked for help.”
“No, they treat us like helpless little women. We could use a touch of magic to help them somehow. You’d think the he-men would think of that.” Rachel snorted as she extinguished the candles.
They headed across the mud-drenched site, thankful the rain was now just drizzle. Justin stood outside the dining hall with Gwen, their heads close together.
He straightened up when the four women reached them. Looking from one woman to the next, he shook his head. “An uphill battle. We’ve almost got a post solid enough in place to get the logs across.” He glanced up at the sky, “it will probably get dark before we can get it finished.”
The silence that fell was an admission, no one wanted to spend another night in the isolated campground. Leena fought back a tremor. “Why don’t you go warm up a bit, Justin? We were just coming to get some tea to take to the guys.”
Gwen smiled at her. “I just put the kettle on, I’ll go find a Thermos or two.”
“This would be great to slide down on a toboggan,” Rachel forced a laugh as she struggled beside the women trying to trudge their way up the hill.
Cora slid to a stop. “You do that, Rach. We’ll watch.”
As they got closer to the bridge, each woman walked faster. They weren’t prepared for what they saw. The four men were struggling to push a log up onto the other embankment. Mud soaked shirts topped hip waders, from who knows where. Still the four were soaked and bedraggled.
Dade was halfway up the embankment on the other side, pulling a rope that was around a tree. Owen stood at the bottom in the rushing water with a rope in his hand. He was pulling as hard as he could.
Both men had lines tied around their waists, and Steven sat, holding both ropes, leaning back with all his weight and pulling them. The only thing stopping both men from being washed away in the fast-moving current was the ropes. The river was angry, if they slipped, it could be fatal.
Chris slowly slid toward the edge as he tried to keep the log from dropping onto the heads of the men in the river.
Leena handed the Thermos to Cora and stepped to the edge. “Morons.” She closed her eyes briefly, and then she opened them and raised her hands. The log then rose up a foot off the embankment and moved over far enough to land in place on the other side. All four men turned to look at her. “Maybe your muscles needed to be flexed, but your brains need the exercise far more.”
Dade waded through the rushing water and started to climb back up, “Probably. We had help until a few minutes ago, and Justin warned us off anything other than physical labor.” He grinned lopsided at Cora, “and this way our muscles get bigger.”
Leena sighed. “Oh. I didn’t realize. Justin didn’t say who was here.” She leaned over and watched Owen climb the embankment. “I thought you were using a truck.”
Chris accepted the steaming cup from Rachel. “It’s being used to find some suitable logs.” He took a small sip and closed his eyes as the liquid sent warmth through him. “We won’t be getting out of here tonight, ladies.”
Owen sat on the ground, not caring how wet it was. “We can still try. I’m willing to give my muscles a rest and let the ladies flex their powers.” He grinned at Leena. “You just placed that log, first try, when we dropped it into the river more than once.” She handed him a steaming cup. “Thank you, darlin’.” He winked and took a small sip.
Cora looked across the river. “Was the old bridge completely gone?”
“Pretty much. The main post on the other side washed out with the rain. We salvaged as many of the logs as we could, but we need new ones for support.” Dade dropped to the ground beside Owen.
Kasey offered them a granola bar from the bag she carried. “Can we help?” She looked back on the path to see if anyone followed them.
Steven winked at her. “Sure, if you could just fly on over there and tie off that log to the big one sticking out of the ground, then we’d be on our way.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Cute. You know we can’t fly or we would.” She handed him a granola bar and cup and glanced at Leena. “Right?”
Leena smiled and walked over to the edge. “We can’t, but that doesn’t mean the rope can’t.” She glanced at Owen. “Let me know if we have company.” Owen looked quickly down the path then back to her. She looked at the rope on the ground beside the post on the other side. “Rachel, how are you at knots?”
Rachel grinned, “I was a Girl Scout.”
Chris walked back down the path to keep watch while the two women stood at the bank.
Leena raised her hands, and a slight breeze passed over Owen’s head and rustled Dade’s hair beside him. Rachel was chanting and staring at the rope as the wind lifted it. He wished for a camcorder as the rope began to wind around the log then twist itself around the post.
Chris cleared his throat, and the rope pulled one last time to tighten, and then dropped. Justin and Kevin walked into sight just down the pathway. Justin grinned at Chris and glanced past him at the log then down to the steaming cup in Chris’s hand. “Good work.” He looked over and smiled at Leena, knowing that the resting men had little to do with the log being in place.
Dade stood up. “Have any luck finding one long enough?”
Justin nodded, “Yeah, they’re cutting it down now, and then we’ll haul it here.” He glanced at the sky. “Doubt we’ll get it in place before dark.” He turned to look at Leena again. “It’s too risky to work in the dark near the river.”
Leena lowered her head and accepted they wouldn’t be able to lend any further aid to the cause until morning. “So, we finish in the morning. Any word from the rescue?”
“They’ll be clearing some fallen trees down the road leading to here in the morning, then if the bridge is ready, we can head home.”
Home. A word that meant more to them then it had in a long time. They stood silently looking across the bridge, no one wanting to discuss it any further.
Justin looked at the men. “Why don’t you guys head down and get dried out. I’ll tell them to drop the log here and we’ll resume this in the morning. Early.”
Cora gathered up the cups. “I’ll go give Kathy a hand in the kitchen getting dinner ready.”
Justin turned back toward the gates. “We’ve got the wood stove going in the admissions office if you guys want to warm up a bit.” Then he silently headed back down the path, with Kevin following behind.
Kasey started after Cora. “I’ll give you a hand in the kitchen.” She turned back and watched the others follow. “Stick together, right?” Not waiting for a reply, she slid down the slope through the mud.
Owen dropped his arm around Leena’s shoulder. “We all stick together tonight.”
She nodded and kept her head down, watching where she put her feet.
Three hours later, the women stared at the men as they came through the door of their cabin. “What are you doing?” Leena asked.
“Why do you have blankets?” Rachel looked at Steven.
Dade dropped his blanket onto a bunk and grinned. “Stick together, remember?”
Cora laughed. “We are. You are not sleeping in here.” She turned around the tiny space, “there isn’t enough room.”
Chris held up his hand. “Relax, we’re not going to stay. We brought blankets because none of us have felt warm since playing in the river, which we get to play in again soon, and we thought you ladies might like to leave your cabin at some point and use the bathroom or kitchen. Or whatever.” He dropped down onto the bunk and wrapped his blanket around his shoulders.
“Oh.” Cora sat back down and glared at Dade.
Leena grabbed her cape and headed toward the door. “I, for one, am quite happy with the visit. I’ve been wanting to head to the kitchen to get some tea before bed, well, hot water to make some herbal tea anyways.” She looked over at Owen as he pulled his jacket on.
“Let’s go.”
She took his hand when he offered it to her and flipped her flashlight on.
“So, Leena what do you do?” He gestured around them. “Outside of all this.”
Smiling, she realized he really didn’t know much about her. “I’m a plant supervisor at a paper recycling plant. The girls all work there, too.”
Owen grinned. “Let me know if someone recycles my books, would you? It’s not a good sign if they end up in the trash.” When she laughed, he felt warm again, finally. “What do the others do there?”
Leena steeped over a branch on the ground. “Cora works in the office, yelling at drivers and other collection plants mostly. Rachel works in the shipping department. Don’t ever get in her way. When driving one of the forklifts through the plant, she is like a possessed woman.” She grinned at him. “Kasey runs the line, and don’t let her shy exterior fool you. She can yell louder than a foghorn if needed, when it’s not running according to plan.”
“And you run around and try to keep the peace and everything running smoothly?”
“Close enough. Of course, someday I’d like to be doing what I want, like you do.”
He walked quietly for a moment. “Oh, there are times when writing is the last thing I want to do, especially when my editor is bullheaded and publishers want something faster. But most of the time, I want to write.”
As they walked up the steps to the kitchen, he stopped her and turned her toward him. He smiled, holding her in his gaze. “About one of those stolen kisses I mentioned hours ago.”
Leena placed a hand on his shoulder. “I thought you’d forgotten about that.”
Owen shook his head and pulled her gently to him. He whispered against her mouth. “I could never forget about that.” Gently, he brushed his mouth over hers, once, twice. Feeling no hesitation, he moved closer to taste more. He deepened the kiss and felt her melt into him in return. Keeping to his word wouldn’t be easy, but he’d follow that rule until the time came to break it. Leaning away from her lips, he grinned. “Mmm, that’s the first time I’ve been warm all day.”
She smiled and brushed a hand down his shoulder. “I have to agree.” She turned back toward the door. “Now, to get the water and help everyone else warm up.”
He held the door for her. “We could mention that kissing takes off the chill, but that could get weird in translation.”
Leena chuckled, “No doubt. No, I think this is better left between you and me.”
“If that’s the way you’d like it, for now.”
She didn’t comment on the tone she’d heard in his voice, recognizing the I’ve staked my claim attitude of maleness. “Owen, did you move back to Russle, or are you just visiting Dade?”
Pulling up a stool, Owen watched as she moved around the kitchen. “I’m back for good. Got tired of running here and there, and needed a home base. Bought a house in the same neighborhood as Dade It’s newer. Townhouses mostly.”
“There’s nothing like coming home, is there? Even if no one you know is left, it’s just the feeling that gets you.”
Owen nodded and took one of the biscuits she set in front of him. “Exactly.”
As the men headed to their cabin later that evening, each felt the strain of the day.
“So, I was heading back from the bathroom with Kasey and Cora and happened to glance toward the kitchen.” Chris paused for a moment and cleared his throat. “That looked an awful lot like Leena wrapped around you on the steps, Owen.”
“Yep.” Owen grinned and offered no more.
Dade stopped and looked at him. “How did you manage that? And judging by the dumb look on your face when you got back last night, it wasn’t the first time.”
“Nope.” Owen stuffed his hands in his pockets and wished for a hot bath.
Doc tapped him on the back. “You do know once she gets over that bridge tomorrow she’s going to run as fast as she can.”
He nodded, “I know. Good thing she can’t run faster than I can.” He grinned at the redheaded man and unlocked the cabin door.