However, when the sound of a rooster crowing as the sun crested the mountains woke her, she realized she’d had no trouble falling asleep.
“What time is it?” She rubbed her eyes, trying to keep her breathing steady as she realized her leg was draped across O’Malley’s thigh.
“Seven.” He looked just as perfect first thing in the morning as he had when he’d climbed into bed beside her. As Hannah brushed her fingers through her knotted hair, she wished the same could be said about her appearance. “Stay there for a while if you want. I’ll go and get some coffee.”
“Do they have coffee?” she whispered, not wishing to offend their hosts. It wasn’t as if they could just pop to the store.
“I can smell it.” He slid across the bed and she lifted her leg, trying to make it seem as if it was the most natural thing in the world that her leg should be draped across him possessively. “I’ll bring you a cup.”
“I’ll get up and get dressed.” She stuck her leg out of the bed, surprised at how cold it was and instantly slid it back under the bed covers. “Maybe I’ll get dressed under the covers.”
He chuckled as he pulled on his clothes, covering his sun-bronzed skin, and then left the room. Hannah missed him immediately. He was her security blanket in this strange world they had traveled to.
On the back of a dragon.
She might need to pinch herself to check that it was all true.
Leaning out of the bed, she closed her hands around her clothes and pulled them under the covers. With some wriggling and body contortion, she managed to get dressed and then get out of bed which was growing colder now that O’Malley wasn’t in it.
Grabbing her hairbrush from her pack, she dragged it through her messy hair which she then braided. That should keep it out of the way while they were journeying across the mountain.
On their pilgrimage. She’d never have guessed that was why Karl came to the Himalayas. It wasn’t exactly the kind of place she’d imagined you came to find yourself. Or in Karl’s case, lose yourself.
He’d obviously thought something was missing from his life. Something he hoped to find out here in the wilderness.
Hannah packed her hairbrush back in her pack. She needed to find out more about this pilgrimage, along with any more information O’Brian might shed on her brother’s state of mind.
Leaving the bedroom, she took one last look at the bed she’d shared with O’Malley. Not that she could recall much after getting under the covers and falling asleep. But she’d slept soundly, not waking up in a cold sweat fearing the worst for Karl as had become her normal bedtime ritual.
“Coffee.” O’Brian handed her a cup as soon as she walked into the small kitchen area. “O’Malley is just making use of the bathroom.”
“Thanks, it smells good.”
“A local grower sells us a couple of sacks of coffee beans every few months. We grind it ourselves and Elvie adds some herbs and makes her own blend.” O’Brian spoke of his wife with such pride and admiration.
She didn’t ever remember her father talking about her mom like that. But then she couldn’t remember her dad talking about her mom at all from before she passed away. Since her passing, her dad had only talked of her with sadness. He’d never moved past his sense of loss to a time when he could celebrate their love and lives together.
Perhaps that was why Karl came here. He needed to find a way to move on from the past and find a new future.
Something Hannah seemed to have found in O’Malley.
Chapter Eleven – O’Malley
“Now that we’ve had breakfast and coffee, I suppose it’s time we talked about why you are both here.” O’Brian was seated at the table. Elvie had taken their two children to school, leaving the house quiet.
“I’d appreciate anything you can tell us,” Hannah said as she sipped a second cup of the delicious coffee. She looked adorable with her hair in braids, her cheeks were flushed with color leaving her looking fresh and ready to face the day ahead.
“There isn’t a lot.” O’Brian’s expression was filled with sympathy. “As I told you, Karl contacted me and asked if he could come and visit. I think he was after a place to unplug and clear his head. He said he felt as if he was at a crossroads.”
“A crossroads?” Hannah had no idea her brother had felt that way. None at all.
“Since he left the Army, he said he didn’t feel as if he really fit in. He had no purpose.” O’Brian glanced at O’Malley. “We both know what that feels like.”
“We do.” O’Malley nodded. “I don’t know if opening my bar gave me a purpose or whether it just filled the hole left after leaving the Army.”
“I only found my true purpose when I came here. I like helping the villagers and I love the simple life. Elvie and the kids are the center of my world. I don’t have to divide my time between a commute and family time.” He grinned, his red beard waggling. “Honestly, I wake up in the morning and think I am the luckiest man alive.”
“This is a special place and you have a wonderful family.” O’Malley smiled wistfully, a reaction that was not lost on his mate. “I’ve found a similar home in Cougar Ridge.”
“O’Malley is opening a new bar there in a few days.” Hannah gave O’Malley an apologetic look.
“So, you are on a tight timescale.” O’Brian shook his head. “I never saw you as a bartender.”
“I’m not just a bartender,” O’Malley answered. “I own the bar. If my new bar opens, I’ll own a small chain.”
O’Brian laughed. “You always did have ambition. I always thought you would stay in the Army and work your way up through the ranks. You would have made a good commanding officer. I bet you are good to your staff.”
“I try.” O’Malley sighed, time to steer O’Brian back toward his meeting with Karl. “So Karl came here.”
“Yes. He stayed for three or four days. He liked the simple way of life. But when I told him about how I met Elvie, it was like he became obsessed. He thought that if he went on a pilgrimage, he would find his way forward and know what he was supposed to do with his life.” O’Brian glanced nervously at Hannah. “I am sorry for my part in this.”
“None of this is your fault,” she assured him. “I wish he’d opened up to me about where he was in his head.”
“It’s not your fault either,” O’Malley told her firmly.
“No one can take the blame for the actions of another if that other is acting of their own free will and are in a sound state of mind.” O’Brian grinned. “That is what my Elvie has told me many times.”
“She’s a wise woman.” O’Malley would love to spend time here with his old friend, but they really needed to leave.
“So Karl left. Which route did he take?” Hannah got up and went to her pack. When she returned, she had a map which she spread across the table. “Any information would be a great help.”
“As I told the search party that came looking for Karl, he took this route, heading for the cairn here.” O’Brian stuck his finger down on the map. “This is where the pilgrims go before they walk along this crest of rock here.” He moved his finger along the ridge that spanned the distance between two low peaks.
“Is it safe?” Hannah asked.
“Yes. As long as you stay sober and don’t do anything stupid. Unfortunately, I have no idea if Karl respected those two rules. Don’t worry, it’s nothing like trying to climb Mount Everest.” O’Brian sighed and leaned back in his seat. “But I should tell you, after I heard that Karl was missing, Elvie and I went out together and scoured the area. We didn’t find any sign of him.”
Hannah’s shoulders slumped forward. “I didn’t know that. Thank you.”
“Karl was a friend. I searched for him, we sent word to the other villages along the route. We did what we could.” O’Brian pressed his lips together, his eyes downturned. “I wish I could give you a glimmer of hope. But I have no idea what happened to Karl. No idea at all.”
“Thanks for y
our honesty.” O’Malley drained his coffee cup and stood up.
Hannah finished her coffee and placed her cup down on the table. “Thank you so much for your hospitality. Will you thank Elvie again for me, too, please?”
“I will and if you come back this way again, know that there is always room for you under my roof.” O’Brian stood up and cleared the breakfast things while O’Malley and Hannah collected their backpacks.
After another round of thank-yous, O’Malley was leaving town with his mate by his side. He wished they had more information to go on.
If O’Brian has already searched for Karl, we might be wasting our time. His cougar was right, but he was also wrong.
Hannah needs to do this. So until she tells us otherwise, we are going to follow the trail Karl took. O’Malley needed to prepare Hannah and help her accept that she might never find out what happened to her brother. It was a loss she might have to live with.
“Ah, I was hoping to catch you two before you left.” Elvie ran to meet them.
“Elvie, thanks so much for being so kind.” Hannah was in good spirits now that they were finally on their way to find Karl. Despite O’Brian’s warning that they might not find the trail, she seemed hopeful.
“You are more than welcome. O’Brian loves visits from old friends. So don’t be strangers.” She licked her lips and glanced at Hannah as she fell into step with them. “I told one of the mothers at school that you were here. Everyone knows about the search and rescue crew that came through here looking for Karl.”
“What did she say?” O’Malley was confident Elvie hadn’t run to catch up to them just to tell them that. There was more but she seemed reluctant to say.
“She said… I have no way of knowing if this is true or not.” Elvie leveled her gaze at Hannah and she stopped walking, her fingers playing with the fabric of the long woolen skirt she wore over sturdy leather boots. “She said that the trail we thought Karl took was blocked at the time he would have reached it. Both the search party and O’Brian and I took that usual route. The route the pilgrims take.”
“Which section of the trail?” O’Malley asked. This might be the breakthrough they were looking for. Something that someone else missed.
Hannah stuck her hand in her pack and drew out the map. “Can you pinpoint it on the map?”
“I can.” Elvie took the map and unfolded it, her eyes scanning the area until she found the location she was looking for. “Here.” She placed her finger on Hanta Pass. “It was impassable, there was a small landslide. The people from another village cleared it a couple of days later. It was only when I was talking to her this morning that she made the connection.”
“Thanks, Elvie.” Hannah hugged her new friend. “This could make all the difference.”
“It might not have been the exact time when Karl took the trail. I can’t say for sure. It might have been before or after.” Elvie shrugged apologetically. “We don’t live by the calendar here.”
“No, it’s fine, every piece of information helps us put together the facts of what happened to Karl.” Hannah gave a short laugh. “Knowing my brother, he might have decided to leave the pilgrim’s path anyway if he hadn’t found himself on the first day.”
Elvie grinned. “Men are not known for their patience, are they?”
“No, they are not,” Hannah agreed.
“Present company excluded.” O’Malley grinned as Elvie rolled her eyes.
“That remains to be seen.” She placed her hand on his upper arm. “But O’Brian thinks a lot of you. He spoke about you. Before you came. It was all good.”
“He’s a good man, too. A little hotheaded but O’Brian has the biggest heart.” O’Malley hugged Elvie. “I’m so happy he found you and found happiness.”
“Me, too. It was fate and I will not hear it said otherwise.” Elvie sniffed and stepped away from him. “Now go, you are wasting daylight.”
“Thanks again.” Hannah adjusted the straps on her backpack.
“Come back and tell us what happens,” Elvie called out. “Good or bad, let us know your news.”
“We will.” O’Malley raised his hand and waved as they resumed their journey back out of town.
“Do you think you might be able to pick up his trail after all this time?” Hannah asked. “If Karl did leave the pilgrim’s trail, would you be able to track him?”
“There’s a slim chance.” O’Malley was not going to lie to her. “Very slim. Rain will have washed away his tracks, any scent would also have degraded.”
“Oh, Karl. Where did you go?” Hannah asked the wind as they left the small village and followed the trail walked by countless people who had come to the mountains to find themselves.
The cold air swept down from the higher peaks. It was invigorating, to say the least, but if they kept moving, the cold didn’t seem too bad. Hannah coped well with the terrain, the path had been worn down over the years and any large obstacles moved out of the way.
As for the view, it was incredible. O’Malley had never seen such vast emptiness as he looked down on the world below.
“We should take a break,” he suggested after they had walked for a couple of hours.
“I can go on longer,” Hannah insisted.
“I know but we need to pace ourselves. If we take short breaks and rest and rehydrate, we should be able to keep going for longer.” He arched an eyebrow at her questioning look. “It’s true. Believe me.”
“You are the expert.” She looked around and took a couple of steps off the trail to sit down on a large boulder. “It was strange hearing them talk about Karl like that. Telling me things he’d shared with them that he’d never shared with me.”
“Sometimes it’s easier to talk to people who are not emotionally involved in your life.” O’Malley took a couple of energy bars out of his pack and handed one to Hannah. “It’s why people visit therapists rather than just talking to those around them.”
“I thought people visited therapists because they are trained in helping other people.” Hannah’s eyes sparkled with amusement.
“True.” He wagged his energy bar at her. “But it’s also because they can keep themselves detached. They have no emotional investment in what secrets might be revealed.”
“I see your point.” Hannah bit into her bar and chewed. “This is surprisingly good.” She looked down at the wrapper. “I’m sure I don’t want to know what is in it.”
“Just as we don’t always want to know what is inside the people around us.” He chuckled as she shook her head at him. “It’s true.”
“I know.” She sighed and looked out across the barren rocky area below. “There are some things I would rather not know about my family. But they are my family and so you take it all, the happy and the sad. You listen to the good things and the bad. Share the celebrations and the heartache. It’s what makes us family, it’s what stitches us together.”
“Have you found a piece of yourself on the pilgrim’s trail?” O’Malley asked.
“I just might have.” Hannah finished her energy bar and then took a drink of water. “How about you?”
“I found most of myself back in the bar yesterday.” He winked at her as he put his water bottle back in his pack and stood up. “The rest of me was already there. I found it at the bottom of a glass. Although not in the way you think.”
“Your bar.” Her jaw tightened. “I’m sorry I pulled you away from it.”
“I’m not.” O’Malley held out his hand and she slid hers into it. He pulled her to her feet. “This is where I am supposed to be right now. With you. Here.”
“Well.” She leaned forward, her eyes fixed on his. “We shouldn’t be here.” She dodged around him with a laugh. “We should be here.” She took a step forward. “And here.” She kept walking. “This isn’t a sightseeing trip, you know.”
“Yes, sir.” He gave a mock salute and strode after her.
There is no place we would rather be, his cougar said.
Oh, I don’t know, O’Malley replied. I would rather be snuggled up with Hannah under the covers at O’Brian’s house.
But as they climbed higher and talked about the small things in life, O’Malley decided his cougar might be right.
Step by step, he was learning about the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with.
Chapter Twelve – Hannah
“I think it’s time we tried this tent of yours.” O’Malley’s words were more than welcome. Her legs didn’t want to obey her brain when she asked them to take another step and another step. For the last hour that’s all she’d focused on, putting one foot in front of the other.
It had consumed her as she’d dug deep and found the strength for one more step and then another.
“I can go on further,” she insisted, although she suspected they both knew she was lying.
“The light will fade rapidly. We should find a place to camp and set up the tent before dark.” He pointed to a flat patch of ground just off the trail. “Plus, that’s the best campsite I’ve seen for the last hour.”
“That’s the best?” The area was big enough for the tent but not much else. “Snug.”
“That’s what I thought,” he teased. “Come on. It’ll be fine. We’ll pitch the tent, get a fire going, and have something hot to eat. Then sleep.”
“Sleep I can do.” Hannah stumbled after O’Malley who looked surprisingly full of energy. “This is nothing to you, is it?”
“It’s everything,” he answered swiftly, his eyes leaving her in no doubt as to what he meant.
“I mean climbing the mountain. You could carry on all night.” She screwed her face up and groaned. “I should have let you and O’Brian come and stayed behind. I’m only slowing you down.”
O’Malley began setting up the tent and she helped, needing to feel useful.
O'Malley: Summer (Shifter Seasons Book 7) Page 8
