Lover's Knot (34 page)

With her back against his chest, he held her firmly, left arm clamped around her waist, right hand free. “Maybe we better start with something smaller’n them logs you think you split.”

“I’d ask you to teach me to do it better, only you don’t work that hard anymore.”

“This little pinecone here, it’s good for starters. See, you throw it up in the air like this, and you catch it like that.” He changed arms, his right clamping her to him, his left hand catching the cone.

“Now you try it,” he said.

She wiggled against him, struggling to break free. Suddenly she was aware that her movements were not having quite the effect she had planned. She turned in his arms. “Jesse…”

He gathered her close, the cone thumping against the ground at their feet. “Everything’s been closing in on me,” he said.

She knew that was all the apology she would get, and more than she’d thought him capable of. “But you got no call to pull away from me. I’m the one loves you the most. I want what you want. Maybe we cain’t exactly have it now, but we can have something good.”

His hands threaded through her hair. “Everything. It’s just everything going all at once.”

“I know. I know.” She rested her arms across his shoulders, righteous anger forgotten. “But it’s not everything. You got me. We got Birdie. We’ll have a little money and a place we can start again.”

He kissed her. The kiss was hungry and demanding and still somehow despondent. She knew he was desperate to lose himself in her and take some solace in their marriage. She felt him lift her skirt. In just moments he was inside her, and in moments more, he was calling her name, as if it were the only name he knew.

Time passed. A whippoorwill called his mate in the moonlight. Their cow lowed somewhere in the pasture. “I didn’t plan for it to happen like this.” Jesse stepped back and fastened his pants as she pulled her dress down.

She couldn’t analyze how she felt. Part of her was glad they had shared at least this much. Part of her felt as if she’d been used and now abandoned again.

That part was the stronger. “You didn’t
plan?
You’re sure? Isn’t this why you came a-saying you were sorry?”

One of the dogs barked; then the brush lining the path in front of the barn rustled. “Jesse? Leah? Are you out here?”

“Birdie’s looking for us,” Leah said softly.

“We’re over here,” Jesse called. “You go on back inside now. We’re just getting wood to bring in.”

Her voice floated toward them. “No, I can help. I’m out here anyway. No call to go back empty-handed.”

“You tell me before she gets here,” Leah whispered. “Was this all about having what you wanted? Or was there more to it? Just tell me so I’ll know!”

“You don’t know, then I got no reason to enlighten you, do I? Because you won’t believe anything I say!”

She grabbed his shirt as he started to turn, but at that moment Birdie came around the barn. Leah dropped her hands to her sides.

“I reckon you do all the hard work, Leah,” Birdie said. “And you don’t leave half enough for me. The least I can do is help. What with you doing all that negotiating with Mr. Flaherty, you hardly got time to do everything else.”

Birdie’s gaze flicked to Jesse, who had gone rigid with anger at the mention of negotiations. “Jesse,” Birdie added softly, “ain’t it your job to take better care of my sister?”

Jesse vanished so quickly that Leah almost doubted he had ever been there.

K
endra was amazed by how quickly Isaac took care of essentials like the back-country camping permit and a set of maps. At the visitors center they sought out Hank Armstead, who was delighted to show them the best route into Lock Hollow. He helped Isaac pinpoint the locations of the Blackburn and Spurlock farms on Isaac’s GPS, as well as the infamous cave.

“You’ll see the foundations and maybe more,” he said. “Last time I was there, some of the walls were still standing.” As a finale, Hank suggested a hut that abutted the Appalachian Trail where they could stay that night.

Once they were in the parking area closest to their starting point, they carefully divvied the gear between Caleb and Isaac. Kendra’s pack, which Caleb would carry, was smaller than Isaac’s, so there was no need to explain why the teenager was getting a lighter load. Caleb was new to backpacking and wouldn’t understand how a pack that felt comfortable at the trail’s beginning could feel like it was loaded with rocks by the end.

Before the carjacking, Kendra had carried her own gear and Isaac hadn’t been forced to make many changes in his own hiking habits to accommodate her. Now she felt lucky to be on the trail at all. They would hike three miles today, then two more tomorrow. If all went well, they would return the entire distance on their final day.

“You sure this is enough to eat?” Caleb skeptically eyed the freeze-dried food Isaac had asked him to carry.

Isaac was clearly enjoying himself. “I promise you’ll like it. Spaghetti one night, chicken and rice the next. When we get back, I’ll treat you to a steak dinner with all the trimmings.”

Kendra had a day pack filled with gorp, PowerBars, bottled water and sandwiches they’d bought in Luray. Her old hiking boots felt comfortable, if odd. She and Isaac had talked about buying real boots for Caleb, but new boots were worse than old sneakers. Instead, he wore high-tops with a pair of Isaac’s wool socks. Thanks to Isaac’s organization, in less than half an hour they were almost set.

He did one last run-through. “Got the map, got the GPS, got the ultraviolet water purifier—”

“How did you camp before you had so many toys?” she asked.

He grinned, then ticked off item after item until he’d finished. Finally he shoved the list in his pocket.

“We’ll take our time, K. C. The minute you get tired, we’ll stop. The days are long. No matter how slow we go, we’ll have sunlight when we set up camp.”

She had no desire to be heroic. She knew she had a better chance of making the trip to Lock Hollow if she was careful in every possible way. And she wanted to stand where Leah and Jesse had stood, to add another piece to the puzzle she was assembling of their lives.

“I’ll put one foot in front of the other and we’ll see how I do,” she promised.

She did remarkably well. In a patch of woodland at the beginning of the trail, Caleb found the perfect walking stick, and she used it to propel herself forward. Her stride had improved markedly in the months since the accident. At the beginning, when she hadn’t been sure she would ever walk again, she hadn’t envisioned a day when she and Isaac would hike together again.

They took several short breaks but waited until they reached a clearing by a meandering stream before they ate lunch. As they walked, Isaac had explained the concept of “leave no trace” to Caleb. To prove he’d listened, Caleb led them to a clearing on a path that had been used by other hikers, instead of trampling a new one of his own.

They sat on rocks and listened to the stream gently wash over stones and fallen tree limbs.

“Hear that?” Caleb asked.

Kendra was instantly attentive. It was rare that he introduced a subject on his own. A bird fluted and chirped somewhere just beyond them.

Caleb cocked his head to listen again. “That’s a hooded warbler.”

“Good for you,” Isaac said. “I can only recognize a few songs.”

“A teacher gave me a CD with birdcalls.”

Kendra wondered how long ago that had occurred. “That’s one of the reasons you like my woods, isn’t it.”

“I’m making a list.”

“You know, Helen’s son-in-law is a birder, and so is their daughter Tessa. Have you met them?” She watched him nod. “They would love to take you with them, Caleb. Do they know you’re interested?”

He looked as if explaining an interest to strangers was a foreign concept. Kendra made a note to do it for him. Tessa was on a prolonged maternity leave with her toddler son, Ian, but she was a gifted teacher who genuinely liked teenagers. She would help draw him out of his shell.

As they took the next section of the trail, she thought about the way things were falling into place for Caleb. It wasn’t that country people had more time to involve themselves in the lives of their neighbors. People were as busy here as anywhere else, but they had to remain connected to prosper and flourish. Connections made all the difference.

They had made all the difference in her life. She’d come to the Valley to be alone, but no one had let her. The loving attention of neighbors and friends had helped her heal.

“That’s what’s been missing from our lives,” she said out loud.

Isaac was walking beside her, and Caleb was fifty yards ahead, taking photographs. “What’s that?”

“Connections.” She looked over at the man who was purposely slowing his pace to stay with her. “Neither of us is good at making connections, Isaac. Look at us. No family ties, at least not until this summer. Friends we see only occasionally. Jobs that keep us so busy we don’t have time for much else. We throw money at organizations but don’t get involved. We even chose a place to live that someone else furnished, so we could ignore that, too.”

“Is this one of those ‘life in the country is great and life in the city is terrible’ conversations?”

“No. I think we could be connected anywhere, if we just wanted to be.”

They walked in silence for a long time before he spoke. “ACRE was like a little family when I first got there. I wanted it to be bigger and more professional. I wanted it to be a stepping-stone to something even more impersonal. Maybe I should have thought more carefully about what I wished for.”

“What do you mean?”

“ACRE used to be fun. People were always having parties, impromptu get-togethers at bars or restaurants or somebody’s apartment. We were a community working toward a common ideal.”

“
We
didn’t go to many parties.”

“I was working too hard. So were you.”

She felt a stab of regret. “We’ve been good at slamming doors.”

“And ACRE’s not fun anymore. Not since Dennis came on board. Not since we’ve streamlined and shored up and started instituting rules for every aspect of working life. It’s not really safe to say what we think anymore. The others have been more aware of the changes than I have, since I’m higher in management. But it’s all coming to a head now.”

“That’s why you took off this week?”

“You’re not the only one who’s been forced to reexamine your life.”

He didn’t say more, but the silence stretched farther than the next step. She thought it stretched into the next phase of their lives and the way they would live them.

About an hour before dark, they reached the hut where Hank had suggested they camp. He had warned them the site might be crowded, but when they arrived, they were the only ones there. The only other hikers they’d seen had been day-trippers. And apparently no one hiking the Appalachian Trail had yet arrived at this outpost.

They inspected the structure, and when Isaac noted Caleb’s obvious disappointment at sleeping “indoors,” he announced they were going to pitch their tents in an overflow tent site. Kendra was delighted to see his-and-her privies, and made use of hers while Isaac and Caleb set up camp.

At dinnertime they went to the hut to cook over the fire pit rather than use Isaac’s tiny one-burner stove. They snacked on fresh fruit while they filtered and boiled water to reconstitute their meal. Caleb chose the spaghetti, and although it was supposed to serve four, there were no leftovers by the time they finished the chocolate peanut-butter pie that came with it.

As if the pie hadn’t been part of the deal, they made peppermint tea and s’mores over the fire. No one had joined them, and the only sounds were the chirping of crickets, the crackling of the dry tinder they’d found in the forest and the barely audible rush of a distant waterfall. Once something crashing through nearby brush stopped their conversation, but whatever had made the noise never appeared.

“We need entertainment,” Kendra said, when the s’mores were gone, the last cup of hot tea was finished, and she, at least, had taken a brief sponge bath and brushed her teeth to prepare for a night in a sleeping bag. The stars were entertainment enough for her, but she suspected Caleb needed more.

“We could tell ghost stories,” Isaac said. “Only I don’t know any.”

“Caleb, do you sing?” Kendra asked.

He grinned and shook his head. In the firelight, the grin transformed his face into something wonderful. She glimpsed the man he would be, but even better, she glimpsed a boy finding some pleasure in the world around him and the people in it.

“Well, I have something.” Kendra stood and pulled a sheaf of papers out of the pocket of her windbreaker. “I brought these with me. They’re copies of letters from Leah Spurlock to her best friend Puss, who had moved away from the hollow.”

She explained how she had gotten them. “I haven’t read many of them yet, but I thought I’d read a couple out loud, unless you guys would be bored silly. They’re folk remedies.”

“What kind of stuff was she trying to fix?” Caleb asked.

Kendra took out the first page and read a little bit. “Well, here’s one for something called low blood.” She looked up. “Maybe like anemia? From a poor diet, maybe.” She scanned a little more. “Oh, that would be it. Here’s what she says.” She began to read out loud.

“‘I am sorry your brother is looking a little peaked. It is no wonder he feels tired when he works so hard. With spring just beginning, the help he needs is springing to life from God’s green earth. Pick him a mess of poke greens and cook them up the way your mama always does. Get only the young ones, and change the water three times. Make him eat all he can. Other greens are good, too, and better if you cook them in an old iron pot with a little vinegar.’”

Kendra looked up again. “Greens are filled with iron, and the iron cookware people used on their stoves actually leached into the food they cooked and provided dietary iron. At least I think it did.”

“Leah must have thought so,” Isaac said.

“What else does it say?” Caleb sounded interested.

She scanned the letter and smiled. “She says to give him a tonic of sulfur and molasses.”

“Yuck.”

“Sulfur is sometimes used to kill parasites,” Isaac said. “Molasses is another source of iron, and, for that matter, calories.”

“A good multivitamin sounds better. And how do you know all that?”

“I took a boatload of chemistry and physiology classes in college. I thought I might want to be a doctor.”

“Then you could have worked even
longer
hours.”

“Is that possible?” He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

“What else do those letters say?” Caleb asked.

She scanned the next couple. “‘Sassafras root tea if you’re feeling puny.’ Hasn’t sassafras been proved to be carcinogenic?”

Caleb looked interested in the new word. “What does that mean?”

“It means it causes cancer,” Isaac said. “And I’ve heard that, too.”

Kendra put the letter behind the others. “I guess we’d better take Leah’s advice with a grain of salt. She didn’t have lab rats to experiment with.”

She read advice from a couple of others until it was clear she was losing her audience. “And that’s your bedtime story, boys.”

Isaac got up and stretched. “Caleb, let’s bear-proof the area.”

These were words that would normally strike fear into hearts, but Caleb was fourteen. He nearly leapt to his feet. “Bears? You think some might visit?”

Isaac draped his arm over the boy’s shoulder. “Only if we leave stuff where they can get to it. We have to take everything that smells like food and hang it from a tree. Ten feet up, four feet out. Even soap and toothpaste, so we’ll wash up first.”

Caleb looked as if someone had handed him a bouquet of balloons. They went off to gather up anything remotely edible.

Kendra watched the dying fire send spirals of smoke toward a million visible stars. She started to put the letters away, but noticed that the next one was longer than the others. She scanned it, then read it more closely. The letter was dated June 1934. One sentence stood out.

She felt as if Leah had come back to tell her to dig deeper. Had Leah wanted a relationship with Daniel Flaherty so badly that she had committed murder? Obviously some people had believed it. But Leah hadn’t ended up with Daniel. She had ended up alone, giving birth to Jesse’s baby in a primitive cabin in Toms Brook. And, more important, the woman Kendra was learning to know was not one who would kill to get what she wanted.

One person would know for certain how intimate that relationship had become. Kendra wondered if Daniel Flaherty was still alive. He would be well into his nineties, so the chances weren’t good. But she had the resources to find him if he was.

Or had Daniel been one of the bodies in a cave in Little Lock Mountain?

She was still clutching the letter when Isaac came back to the fire.

“Caleb’s gone to bed, but he won’t sleep. He’s praying for bears. It’s going to keep him awake.”

She slid the letters into her windbreaker and held out her hand. He helped her up.

“This has been one of the best days we’ve ever spent together,” she said.

He pulled her close and kissed her.

Isaac had spent his working life saving the wild places of the earth. Now, as he stood in the morning sunlight looking over the last traces of the farm where his grandparents had lived, he knew how they must have felt when they realized it would soon be lost to them forever. The irony was extraordinary. Someone in Washington had taken the same position he might have taken had he been working for the government. The earth needed protection. The earth belonged to everyone, and everyone deserved to enjoy this piece of it.