Gone Wild (2019 Reissue)

by E Cleveland

  Not that I mind. There’s something sexy about a man who takes care of his woman. Takes care of his family.

  “Let’s get you out of this heat.” Sawyer jerks his head toward the cottage and lifts the basket of food I’ve been gathering with his free hand.

  Cottage doesn’t do our house justice. More like a log chalet perched on a mountainside with the sparkling lake a mere hundred feet away from the front door. I love sitting out on the balcony at night, listening to the crickets and watching the brightest stars I’ve ever seen light up the night sky.

  When I look out over our property and see the fireflies dancing over the lawn, it’s impossible not to feel the magic of childhood course through your veins. Like dreams can still come true.

  Mine did.

  Even the childhood dream I once had of having Belle’s library is now a reality I enjoy. The Catcher in the Rye might be our favorite book, but it’s far from the only one in our house. Sawyer has a two-story loft wall filled from the floor to the rafters with books. I asked him why he built it and he said winters are long. Every time he cracked the cover of a book, it was like an instant escape from the desolation and loneliness the icy landscape brought. Some people take trips to Florida to escape the winter blues. We read.

  I follow Sawyer to the house and smile, knowing this hot, lazy day turns to a tranquil night and that will blur into another long, summer day, until it’s a new season. Then the weather will be different, but our lives will be the same. Even when our baby decides to enter the world, we’ll still live a simple life where happiness and togetherness mean more than anything else.

  “I love you,” I whisper and lean into Sawyer as we walk up the front stairs of the cottage together.

  “I love you just a tiny bit more.” He smiles and kisses my hand gently. He loves to say that. No matter how much I protest or pout, he won’t relent that his love is an iota stronger, runs half an inch deeper and a tiny bit wider than mine.

  Today, I don’t argue. Instead, I smile. Let him think he loves me more. Let me think I love him more. If that’s our biggest disagreement, then I think we’ve got it pretty good.

  Pretty perfect, really. I throw my arm around his waist and snuggle in against his hard shoulder, letting the moment marinate in my soul. Enjoying every second of every day that I have with him on this earth.

  And living it to the fullest.

  THE END

  One Year Later

  Sawyer

  “My beautiful girls,” I admit it, I’m gushing a little as Elsie steps out onto the porch with baby Olive.

  My axe glints in the sunlight over by the sharpening stone and cloth. Even though the snow just melted a month ago, I’m already thinking about winter. I stare down into my daughter’s face and promised myself I won’t miss any details to get us through those harsh months. I’m not fucking around up here, I’ve got to keep my family alive. Overlook enough tiny details and you will freeze to death before the plants fold up from the spring-warmed earth.

  "Can you hold her for a sec?” Elsie lifts Olive out to me and I’m happy to snuggle her in my arms. “I’m going down to the stream to wash up."

  "Of course,” I smile down at our baby and she coos at me and wraps her tiny fist around my beard and gives it a good tug. “You go take as long as you need, but Elsie?”

  She stops on the second step and looks back at me over her shoulder, “Yeah?”

  “Don’t you forget for one second that I like when you’re a little dirty too,” I smirk.

  I love that I can still make her blush. A smile spreads across her face, that same smile that's had me in a trance since the moment we met.

  "After Olive goes down for her nap, maybe we can get a little dirty together," she purrs.

  “Oh yeah?” I arch my eyebrow. “Well then, you shouldn’t worry about getting cleaned up then.

  “Why’s that?” She puts her hand on her hip.

  “Because when I’m done with you, you’re gonna need another fucking bath.”

  It's been over a year now that we've been out here alone living like pioneers, well, until Olive joined us. I see her as soon as I open my eyes in the morning, at every meal, throughout the day, and she’s the last thing I see before they shut at night. Some people would go crazy being around their partner constantly. Not me. Every second I'm with her my love grows. She is my oxygen. I need her around me to live.

  “Well, I don’t want to miss a second of that,” she’s blushing again. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Holding Olive close to my chest, I walk to the edge of the step and kiss Elsie’s soft lips. I watch her carry her towel toward the water. I’ve got half a mind to go down there with her, but my daughter kicks her chubby legs in the air and gurgles and it steals my heart. I am the luckiest man on this earth. Living out here in this serene mountain paradise with my perfect little family, it almost feels like a dream.

  When I turned my back on society, I figured I’d be living out my days like a monk, isolated in reflective solitude. Not to mention the whole celibacy thing. Elsie obviously proved that one wrong in many ways.

  I slowly rock Olive as she drifts of to sleep.

  “Rock-a-bye-baby, on the treetop...."

  “Sawyer!" There’s unmistakable panic in Elsie’s voice.

  My head snaps up and. She only has a towel clinging to her chest. Elsie is doing a frantic scramble up the small hill from the stream. She looks fucking terrified. She must have seen a bear. Oh, hell, its early spring. What if she got between a mama and her cubs?

  I rush down the stairs and across the field and Olive cries out with surprise.

  "Elsie, What's wrong!"

  "I... I..."

  “What’s going on?” I search over her shoulder, expecting a big grizzly to appear on the bank.

  “There was… there is a… Sawyer, there’s a man!” She puffs out a big breath. “He’s coming… through the trees.”

  "What? Are you sure?” I squint at the forest edge.

  "Yes! He looks dangerous!"

  "Did he see you?"

  "I don't think so,” she crinkles her eyebrows in thought.

  "Take Olive and go barricade the door.”

  "Sawyer?"

  "GO!"

  I run back to the porch, grab my axe and make my way toward the stream.

  My heart thuds hard in my chest as I make my way down the stoney embankment. I haven't felt adrenaline like this since Afghanistan. Not since the days when my next move would either get me killed or let live to fight another day.

  My fingers numb from the death-grip I have on my axe. I scan the trees for movement. The whole world seems to slow. Everything comes into focus. But I don't see anything.

  Slowly, I creep in past the tree canopy, blood surges my veins. I'm ready for battle. I'm ready to destroy anything or anyone who threatens my family.

  Crack!

  My head whirls toward the sound of the snapping branch, and then I see him. My breaths are shallow and I swallow hard as I watch the dark shadow move behind a large tree. I didn’t think it was possible to hold this axe tighter, but here’s my hand pinching into the metal, proving me wrong.

  "Show yourself!"

  Nothing.

  "NOW!" I shout.

  “Sawyer, please, put the axe down!" I jump when he says my name. I wasn’t expecting that. And the little hairs on the back of my neck tingle, don’t I know that voice?

  “Who are you?” I squint into the shadows.

  I can’t believe it. “Cole?” I shake my head.

  “Sawyer, thank God I found you,” he steps toward me and I can see it’s him. I mean, sure he’s got a beard now, but so do I. There’s no mistaking my best friend’s face though. That’s Cole all right. “We're in fucking trouble,” his voice is pleading and his eyes lock onto mine. “We need your help."

  "We?"

  Cole turns to the side and from behind the dark trees, a woman steps out uncertainly from behind the pines.

  “Yeah
. We. Please, help us.”

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