Bittersweet Promises

by Patricia Watters

  Gib's brow creased in a frown. "Are you sure he said Maddox Construction, not Maddox Demolition?"

  "I know he said Maddox Construction." She even remembered him stumbling over the name. "What do you know about Maddox Demolition?"

  "That's it's the largest demolition company in the Northwest."

  "If that's so, Curt has to be the one behind everything. If he's also involved with Carl Yaeger, they might make another move," Tess said, weary with the prospect of more trouble.

  But for the moment her only goal was reconciliation with Zak. Nothing else mattered.

  ***

  Tess stepped onto the porch of Zak's cabin and peered through one of the front windows. When she saw no sign of him inside, she glanced around. His truck was parked out front so she knew he couldn't be far. For a few minutes she stood listening to the sounds around her while scanning the surroundings. Gradually, she caught the unmistakable sound of an ax hitting wood.

  Following a well-worn trail into the forest, she hiked between tall fir and cedar and a forest floor covered with ferns and wild Oregon grape and other low-growing plants, walking in brisk strides toward the sound. At the edge of the woods she paused to gaze across a clearing to where Zak stood, brandishing an ax. One after another, he took a section of log from the pile beside him and set it on end, swinging the ax and splitting it in two. Over and over the blade cracked, and as soon as the sections fell apart, he propped up another and swung again.

  Tess had no idea why he was splitting logs in the middle of the summer, and going at it like a snow storm was on the way, but she couldn't help remembering the first time she'd seen him, which brought a smile to her lips. Nor could she stop herself from acting on it.

  Walking into the clearing, she called out, "Hey, Mister, you're holding that ax wrong."

  Zak stopped and turned, and when he saw her coming toward him, he set the ax aside and smiled. "The name's not mister, it's Zak. Zak Bertsolari de Neuville."

  "Well, Zak Bertsolari de Neuville," Tess said, continuing towards him, "is there room in your life for a stubborn, pigheaded logger lady who happens to love you?"

  Zak answered her question by opening his arms, and when she rushed over to him, he caught her up and kissed her soundly. And she kissed him back, with all the passion she'd held inside for seven long years. When at last the kiss ended, Zak looked at her, and said, "The bigger question is, will a stubborn, pigheaded logger lady take me back?" Then his face sobered. "I'm sorry about what happened, honey. Forcing you to shut down logging on the ridge was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. Am I forgiven?"

  "Of course." Tess tightened her arms around his neck and said in all sincerity, "Actually, I'm not sorry. I spent the night in jail. Rita was an interesting cell mate."

  Zak arched a brow. "She looked fascinating."

  Tess laughed. "No, really. She told me Jed Swenson's courting her."

  "Swenson courting?" Zak gave a rueful laugh. "From what I saw of the woman, he'd better not step out of line."

  "I don't think he wants to. He's a real Romeo, brings Rita flowers and all. Last Christmas, he hauled in a tree and cut and split it for firewood in her front yard, and now he's talking marriage."

  "So am I." Zak kissed her again, a kiss that sustained until they had to stop to catch their breaths.

  Hands still clasped around his neck, Tess peered up at him, and said, "I know of a more appropriate place to continue this."

  Zak looked at her with curiosity. "Are you thinking where I'm thinking?"

  "Umm, hmm."

  Zak's brows gathered, and he said, "Does this mean we've had enough substance?"

  Tess nodded. "I've had my fill of substance. I liked it better the old way."

  Zak gave her a broad grin, then took her hand and they headed for the grotto, all the while Tess felt almost giddy with eager anticipation. It had been years since they'd made love on a bed of cool, soft moss in the shadowy twilight of the forest. But when they came to where the trail crossed the ridge road before descending to the grotto, Tess looked beyond Zak and pointed. "That's Swenson's truck over there."

  Zak looked at the parked truck. "He's probably finishing the road. There's still some grading to do at the north end."

  "Then why is he parked here?"

  "Maybe he's checking to see how the road's draining after putting in a culvert. Come on, we have more important things to do." Taking her hand again, Zak led her across the road.

  But as they started down the trail to the grotto, Tess tugged against his hand, and said, "I'm feeling uneasy about this. I think we should go back. I'm worried about Swenson's truck being parked where it is. Something's not right."

  Zak looked in the direction where they'd come. "It does seem odd," he said.

  They headed down the trail, but when they came to the road, a muffled explosion not far from where they stood, caught them up short. "That came from the direction of the ridge," Zak yelled. "Come on."

  They ran past Jed Swenson's truck and continued up the road and past the Cat, which sat in the middle of the road with the blade down and a blade-width of gravel up against it, looking as if the Cat had been abandoned while in the process of spreading gravel.

  "Swenson blowing up his own road doesn't make sense," Tess said, as she ran with Zak.

  "Maybe not, but he's blowing up something, and it isn't far from here."

  "There he is!" Tess cried, pointing ahead.

  "Swenson!" Zak yelled. "Hold it there!"

  Jed Swenson looked back briefly, then dropped to his hands and knees and crawled into a four-foot high concrete culvert that ran under the road. As Zak approached the culvert, Curt Broderick scrambled out the opposite end, a backpack gripped in his hand, and raced toward the woods. Swenson scrambled out of the culvert and tripped and fell. "Get him," he yelled to Zak. "He tried to blow up the culvert."

  Zak raced after Curt Broderick, lunging for him and grabbing him around the legs as he headed for the woods. Curt fell to the ground and Zak crawled on top of him, but before Zak could pin him to the ground, Curt heaved Zak off, sending him sprawling on his back. Zak rolled over and jumped to his feet, then crouched in front of Curt, arms out, ready to block Curt if he tried to get away. "You're not going anywhere, Broderick," he said.

  Before Zak realized what happened, Curt rushed him with knotted fists. Zak shot an arm out, blocking Curt's punch with his forearm, while at the same time, Swenson grabbed Curt's arm, jerking him off balance. As Curt fell to his knees, Swenson pinned his arm behind him in a hammerlock, and said, "Now you're gonna talk, Broderick."

  "Not to you, Swenson."

  Swenson tightened his grip on Curt's arm and lifted. "You were tryin' to blow up the culvert. Why?"

  Curt winced, but said nothing.

  "Talk you bastard," Swenson bellowed, pushing the pinned arm higher. "You're behind everything that's happened and you're tryin' to put the blame on me."

  "Take it easy," Tess said. "Don't break his arm, just hold him while I check out the culvert." She walked over and crouched and looked inside.

  Zak crouched beside her and pointed to where several jagged cracks gaped open. "If he was planning to blow it up, he didn't make it."

  "He may not have been trying to blow it up," Tess said, "just fracture it so the first truck loaded with logs would collapse it."

  "You could be right. Let's see what he has to say." They walked over to stand above Swenson, who still had Curt pinned to the ground.

  Looking down at Curt, Tess said, "You worked for Maddox Demolition and you set the charge that caused the landslide."

  Curt's eyes flared, then he looked away and said nothing.

  "Fine," Tess said, "but if you don't want to talk here, we'll get it out of you in court. I suspect we'll also learn that you shot the skidder tire and cut the hydraulic line on the Cat. That should keep you comfortably behind bars for a while."

  "I'm not taking the blame for Carl Yaeger," Curt said.

  "So it was
Yaeger," Tess mused. "What was in it for you?"

  "Yaeger said he'd give me part interest in his operation and make me foreman if I got your father to sell to him. He's the one who put me up to it, the landslide, the skidder tire, the culvert."

  "Yaeger might have put you up to it," Tess said, "but you're the one who carried it out. You could have come to me."

  Curt said nothing, just sat on the ground with his shoulders slumped, and his head down.

  Zak reached for the back pack that Curt dropped, then unzipped it and rummaged inside. He drew out a taped packet of half-sticks of dynamite, then shoved them back into the pack and said to Tess, "Go call the sheriff and I'll stay with Swenson until he arrives."

  Tess nodded, but before she left, she looked at Jed Swenson, who was standing over Curt, and said, "I owe you an apology. Maybe we can't work together, but I think you're a good man."

  Swenson crooked his neck and shot a spate of tobacco juice into the dirt, this time aiming away from Tess, and said, "Just doin' my job."

  CHAPTER 13

  When her breathing became steady, and her heart rate settled, Tess looked at Zak, and said, "Was it this good years ago?"

  Zak kissed her temple. "Yeah, honey, it was this good, and it will always be this good because our bodies belong together."

  "That's what you told me the first time we made love and every time after that, and I was convinced you were right." While nestled together on a bed of spring moss, she cuddled closer against Zak, the closeness of him like a tonic for her soul.

  "I'm still right," Zak said, "but I'm getting too old to roll around with you on a bed of ferns. I want a nice soft mattress and all night to do what it just took us five minutes to do here, which means getting married… soon." He kissed her lightly. "I also want to repeat the same vows as before. Do you remember the words?"

  "Of course." Tess looked at him. "How could I forget? Our vows. The ring. Being in the grotto as Adam and Eve. I thought it was the most perfect wedding any girl could ever wish for. It might have been make-believe, but when you slipped the ring on my finger and promised to love me throughout eternity, I felt very married."

  Zak lifted her hand and stroked her bare finger with his thumb. "What happened to the ring?" he asked.

  Tess looked at her hand in his, and replied, "I buried it."

  "Where?"

  She pointed to the big oak tree. "It seemed appropriate to lay it to rest in our Adam and Eve tree so I put it in a tiny plastic bottle and shoved it inside a hole where those two lower limbs join."

  Zak looked at the tree and frowned. "That must've been soon after I left because the hole's filled in."

  "It was the day before I ran off with David. I put the ring in the bottle and came here, and after I shoved it in the hole, I stuffed in some dirt and leaves and more dirt to close the hold so no one would find it, then I cried so hard I had trouble convincing myself I was happy about marrying David, and when I did marry him, even while the judge was reading the words that would make me David's wife, all I could think was... How could you do this to me? How could my father do this to me? How could I ever be happy with David?" She tipped her head so she could look into his eyes. "Even when I was married to him, you were always somewhere in the back of my mind, and my soul."

  "You were with me too, over the years," Zak said, "but I gave up the idea of our being married a long time ago."

  Tess cuddled closer. "Well, that's behind us now. Our only problem from here on out will be worrying about how to keep a couple of bull-headed old men from killing each other. It will definitely be a challenge, and we still have the issue of the property line, and my father isn't about to back down, and yours is ready to sue. Maybe we should've let Curt finish blowing up the culvert so my father would get disgusted and sell the place. I'm tired of working crews of men. Being a wife and mother sounds a whole lot more appealing, but right now I have this millstone around my neck called Timber West Logging."

  "Not for much longer," Zak said.

  Tess looked at him, curious. "Then you must know something I don't."

  "Only that when you're my wife you won't be running a logging camp or heading a crew of men. If necessary, I'll buy the place so your father's free, then sell it." Zak leaned over her and kissed her again. "But while we're on the subject of you being my wife, will you be comfortable living in the house in Navarre?"

  "Comfortable? You say that like living there would be a hardship."

  "I mean, under the same roof with my family. My father, that is, although we'd have the south wing to ourselves, with its own entrance, living and dining, and kitchen. But now with the winery going strong and my father occupied with that, I can finally start increasing our herd of sheep, that is if you don't mind being married to a herdsman instead of a wildlife biologist, but I'd still want to make certain you'd be happy living in the big house and—"

  Tess pressed her fingers to his lips to silence him. "Honey, I'd be happy living anywhere with you, but the house in Navarre is fine. Besides, I promised to build Peio a tree house there."

  "So that's what you and Peio were talking about outside when I was telling my parents goodbye," Zak mused. "I wondered what that was all about."

  "Actually, it was a bribe. You have to do that with kids sometimes. I told him I'd build him a tree house if he promised he'd never, ever, climb up to the old one again, and he promised." Her lips tipped in a satisfied smile. "It'll be tricky staying one step ahead of my new son, but I think I can manage."

  "Yeah, honey, I know you can, and with your experience handling men, if we have one or two more sons I'm sure you'll stay a few steps ahead of them as well."

  "Only sons?" Tess asked. "You don't think I can handle daughters?"

  Zak stared at her like the idea had never crossed his mind. "I guess I never thought of you with daughters," he admitted.

  Tess laughed. "Honey, I do like pretty things, and I also like to dress like a woman on occasion. If we had a daughter, I might even take up sewing and make little dresses. Actually the idea of having two or three daughters sounds very attractive right now."

  Zak bent over and kissed her. "Sons or daughters, you'll do fine."

  After they'd made love again, and while Tess lay nestled against Zak beneath the massive oak limbs of their Adam and Eve tree, Zak looked at Tess and said, "Does this mean we're back to sex and no substance?"

  Tess rolled her head to look at him and said, with a snicker, "I certainly hope so."

  ***

  Tess studied intently the chess board resting on the table in her cabin. After a moment, she moved her pawn forward and said to her father, "It was really no surprise to learn that Curt had been employed by Maddox for several years."

  Gib's brows drew together above intense eyes. After a stretch of silence, while he studied the board, he moved his queen. "I still can't get over Yaeger putting Broderick up to it though. You have any thoughts about that?" he asked, while waiting for Tess to make her move.

  "When I think back over everything that happened I realize I should have put things together earlier on, but I'd already made up my mind it was Swenson, so I wasn't considering the obvious, which was Curt." Tess slid her rook across the board.

  "Pay attention," Gib said. "That's not a very good move. You can take it back if you want."

  Tess contemplated the board, then rolled her eyes and said, "That was pretty dumb." She moved the rook back two rows.

  "That's better. You've got to stay alert. You can't let your opponent distract you."

  Tess advanced a pawn, "What do you think's going to happen now?" she asked.

  Gib studied the board. "They're looking at conspiracy and several felonies, and by the time I collect damages, Yaeger won't be too anxious to pull anything like that again."

  Tess looked up from the board. "You really plan to hit them hard?"

  "Hell, yes. Timber West was doing pretty good before they started their dirty dealings... might not have had to depend on the pole ti
mber if they hadn't caused all the problems they did. If we can collect damages, we might be sitting pretty good."

  "Then... would you still want to try and make a go of it here," Tess asked in a weary voice.

  Gib sighed. "I'm about ready to throw in the chips. I guess I just don't have the fight I used to have to keep this place going."

  A wry smile touched Tess's lips. "Don't worry about fight, Dad. You still have plenty of it. You'll be blowing off steam till your dying day. I can hear you at your funeral, 'don't jerk the casket, the hole's not deep enough, who the hell sent all the flowers.'"

  Gib laughed, and said, as he set down his bishop, "Am I that bad?"

  "You're impossible." Tess grinned. "You're also about to lose your bishop."

  "What!"

  "Pay attention, Dad. You can't let your opponent distract you."

  The sound of a vehicle out front caught their notice. Tess stepped to the door and opened it as Zak and his father were getting out of Alesander's SUV.

  Zak bounded up the porch steps and kissed her, and said, "We stopped by because my father wants to talk to your father."

  Tess peered around Zak. "Hello, Mr. de Neuville. Uh... please come in." She gave Zak a questioning look and stepped aside for them to enter.

  Alesander nodded. "Miss O'Reilly." The hint of a contrite smile touched his lips, which had Tess curious.

  Gib stared intently at the chess board, ignoring their guests.

  "Dad?"

  Gib raised his eyes to Alesander, and said, "If you're here to settle out of court you've wasted a trip. I'm not about to give up anything that's rightfully mine."

  Alesander moved to stand above the chess board. "I didn't come to talk about the hearing, but I do want to discuss another deal with you," he said, his eyes moving over the chess board as he studied the positions of the pieces.

  Zak took Tess's hand. "I want to talk to you." He pulled her toward the door.

  Tess glanced at the two men. "We can't go now," she said. "They'll kill each other."