Hazardous Homecoming

by Dana Mentink

  Cooper slipped and slid, trying to help Ruby, but not able to keep his own footing very easily. It was going to be a rock slide, only this time, Ruby would be caught in it, as well.

  How could he prevent it? What could he do?

  They reached the bottom, a place where the crystal-flecked walls pinched together. There was almost no vegetation, just a twisted pine, gnarled and aged, silhouetted against the sky. Hank told them to stop.

  Cooper put Ruby behind him. “Heather thinks you’re a good father. How are you going to live with yourself knowing you killed the woman who was her best friend?”

  Hank twitched. “She doesn’t even remember Ruby.”

  “Oh, yes, she does. She has memories of her true identity. Somewhere deep down, she recalls playing in the woods that day and she remembers her mother, Josephine.”

  “Enough.” Hank backed up a few steps and positioned himself behind a boulder. “She’s not Alice Walker anymore.” There was a naked longing on his face. Hank Bradford, twisted though he was, really did love the girl he’d taken.

  “Yes, she is,” Cooper shouted. “You can’t change who she is.”

  “No,” Hank rasped, grunting as he shoved at the rock.

  “She’s Alice Walker.” The name echoed through the canyon and bounced across the lake. “Alice,” he screamed one more time.

  Hank yelled something and kept on pushing, but Cooper’s shouts reverberated, echoing back to the man who had stolen the name of an innocent child.

  * * *

  Ruby frantically searched for a way out. Cooper was doing the same, she knew. Now was the time, while Hank had to pocket the gun as he pushed, maddened to hear proof of his sin echoing through the air.

  The tree. They both seemed to fix on it at the same time. The branch was some seven feet above their heads. It was the only way.

  Cooper linked his fingers. “Here, up. You’ve got to reach it.”

  He hefted her up as high as he could, but she couldn’t do it. Cooper changed gears and jumped up himself. Wrangling like a clumsy bear, he tried to get a leg up. It took two tries before he made it and hoisted himself.

  The trickle of rocks had started and Ruby felt the ground shake as the giant boulder popped loose.

  Cooper braced on his stomach, lowered his arms down.

  “Grab on,” he screamed over the flood of debris.

  Ruby stretched until her vertebrae cracked, but she could not reach. He wriggled lower on the branch, and she could see him straining every sinew, but there was no way he could reach her.

  The wall of rock rushed toward him.

  “Cooper,” she screamed. A spatter of rock particles peppered her face, and she instinctively looked away from the roaring tide.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Cooper forced his eyes open again. Ruby was not there. He looked into the tumult of rock, the tons of shifting debris that flowed mercilessly only inches below. Dirt billowed around them. He clung to the branch, eyes burning for any sign of her.

  The sliding earth slowed, piling up nearly to the branch to which he’d clung. His stomach convulsed in fear. Where was she?

  A strange noise filtered down from the top of the trail, but he paid it no mind. He could not fear Hank and worry for Ruby at the same moment. He wiped the grit from his eyes with the back of his hand. “Ruby,” he called, but only a cough came out.

  Vaguely he was aware of movement behind him.

  Arms aching, he craned his neck.

  Ruby appeared on the branch next to him, face covered in dirt. A grin split her face.

  “Climbed up the trunk instead. You’re not the only one with skills.”

  He felt his limbs grow so weak, he nearly tumbled off. “Ruby.” Relief purged every other feeling from his body.

  She gave him a cocky nod. “Now you can appreciate my excellent climbing skills.”

  He sucked in a grateful breath and craned his neck. “I don’t see Hank, but...” he started, eyes wide in surprise. “Hang on. It’s okay. Come on, we can get down now.”

  They clambered down together.

  The ground shifted under their feet and they half walked, half crawled back up the slope. He, holding her arm in some places, and she, giving him her hand when his feet could not find purchase on the unsteady pile.

  “Are you sure Hank isn’t waiting at the top still?” she panted.

  “Yes, Pickford is there, and Hank is handcuffed.” Grateful as he was that Hank was in custody, he was more grateful still that Ruby was around to see it. He thanked God that another precious woman’s life had not been snatched away.

  * * *

  When they scrambled up to the path, Pickford was indeed reading Hank Bradford his rights, but Ruby hardly paid any attention because Heather—no, Alice—was there, staring in mute horror at the man she had thought was her father. She looked at Cooper and then her gaze swiveled to Ruby.

  Something inside Ruby ached for the betrayal she saw in Heather’s eyes. She reached out a hand, but stopped before she touched her.

  “You two okay?” Pickford called, not unkindly. “Saw you made it to the tree. Need an ambulance?”

  Cooper shook his head. “No. How did you find us?”

  Heather began speaking, her voice oddly without emotion. “Got your message on my work phone. I was there looking for my cell. Dad...Hank took it from my bag while I was in the back at the station, trying to badger the cops into letting me see Peter. I called my contact and he traced Jane’s number quickly.”

  “And you realized Jane Brown was the woman you thought was your mother.”

  “She and Hank have been lying to me my whole life. I went to the cops. While I was there, Jane called the sheriff’s office and told them that she suspected I was, I am, not Heather Bradford. Pickford pinged my cell phone and we followed the signal from the last text here, to Sunstone Lake.” She gazed at Ruby. “So I’m Alice Walker. I’m the girl who disappeared in those woods twenty years ago.”

  Hank opened his mouth, then closed it. “You’re not Alice anymore.”

  She stared at him, with the hopeless look of a drowning woman.

  He tugged at his handcuffs, as if he meant to shuck them off and throw his arms around her. “I’m your father. The past doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “Doesn’t matter anymore?” Heather echoed. Her gaze swiveled to Ruby.

  “I’m so sorry about what happened,” Ruby whispered. “But I’m not sorry you’re alive.”

  She spoke slowly, dreamily. “All those years ago we were together, playing our little-girl games in the woods. And then in one single moment, everything changed. Why can’t I remember being Alice?” Heather looked at Hank. “You stole my life, and my identity.”

  Hank’s tone was pleading. “I gave you a new life, a better one. I gave you everything. I am a good father. I took you away from crazy Lester and a poor family that couldn’t give you enough.”

  “And who gave you the right?” Her face blazed with anger. “Why do you think you had the authority to decide that I shouldn’t be Alice Walker anymore?”

  “You are better off being Heather Bradford.”

  She shook her head. “The sheer ego, the self-inflated pride. How come I didn’t see it before?”

  “You’re better off...” he started again, but she cut him off.

  “Why would I be better off with a child abductor, an adulterer and a thief?”

  Each word made Hank flinch, and he shuddered visibly. “You grew to love me,” he said. “You can’t deny that. You love me.”

  “Well things can change, can’t they?” she said. Her voice dropped to a choked whisper. “You are not my father.”

  “I am,” Hank cried. “You will understand, if you let me explain. They are poisoning your mind, the Hudsons
and Pickford. You belong to me.”

  After one long look, Heather turned her back on him.

  “You belong to me,” he screamed again.

  Pickford grabbed him by the arms and handed him to a deputy. “You’ve had twenty years to talk to her. Now it’s over.”

  Hank shouted and thrashed, but the officer held him steady and he was hauled away.

  Heather watched until they disappeared out of sight. Pickford cleared his throat. “I will wait for you at the trailhead. Take your time.” He turned to go and then stopped. Grief pulled at the edges of his mouth. “Alice, I just want you to know that every day of my life I’ve kicked myself. I failed you and your mother. If I had been a better cop, maybe you wouldn’t have lost twenty years. I’m sorry.”

  With shoulders slumped, and head bowed, he left.

  Heather stared at the ground as if she were trying to figure out which planet she had landed on. “I don’t know who I am.”

  Ruby looked at Cooper and he gave her a nod of encouragement.

  “I know who you are,” Ruby said, stomach fluttering. “You’re Alice Walker. You are imaginative, loyal, fun loving and determined, and we were best friends.”

  “That’s who I was.” Her voice was flat. “Yesterday, I was Heather Bradford and today, I’m someone else. Who am I now?” Her eyes seared into Ruby’s. “Who am I now?”

  The words hung in the air, humming with the desperation of someone who’d had everything snatched from her hands by a vicious, howling evil.

  Ruby swallowed. “This is going to be hard, so hard for you. I can only imagine all the things you’re going to have to reconcile in your mind and heart.” She moved closer. “Alice...”

  “Don’t call me that,” she snapped. “I’m not...” The air leaked out of her and her face crumpled. “I don’t know who I am.”

  Ruby took a deep breath. “I can’t fix anything, but, if you’ll allow me, I will walk through it with you.”

  Alice stared at her.

  Ruby held out her palm.

  Slowly, tentatively, Alice reached out her own, and after twenty years, Ruby joined hands with the friend she had lost and found.

  * * *

  It was a week later that Cooper, Ruby and Alice gathered on the rickety steps of Josephine’s cabin. There had been numerous tumultuous meetings between Ruby and Alice, and Cooper couldn’t be prouder of Ruby for her calm and steadfast support in the face of Alice’s tidal wave of emotion. At Alice’s request, they were with her when she prepared to meet the stranger who was her mother. Ruby, along with Pickford and a psychologist from the hospital, had met with Josephine to explain the inexplicable. Ruby was not sure how much Josephine grasped, except for the giant, glorious truth that her daughter Alice had finally come home again.

  Cooper checked his watch. Ten thirty. Peter had been attending an A.A. meeting every morning faithfully since the police had released him with no charges. He was maintaining the sobriety he’d clung to steadfastly, except for the day he’d been arrested.

  “I’m going to beat it every day because Heather...” he’d said, shaking his head. “I mean Alice needs me. We’re good for each other.”

  Much to Cooper’s surprise, he agreed. In the face of Alice’s life-altering revelation, Peter had been a strong and steady support. Cooper didn’t fool himself into thinking it would be smooth sailing from now on, but he thanked God that Peter was truly committed to his sobriety and to Alice. It’s not your job to save him, he reminded himself. But maybe, this time, Peter would be able to save himself, with God’s help.

  Josephine opened the door, blinking. Her expression was clear of the confusion she’d experienced in the hospital. Alice took a step back, face pale, but Ruby reached for her hand. “Mrs. Walker, this is your daughter, Alice.”

  A smile more dazzling than an Oregon sunrise broke over Josephine’s face. Her mouth trembled and gently, she touched her fingertips to Alice’s cheeks. “I knew you would come home, baby. They told me to stop believing, to give up hope, but I never did. I knew you would come home one day.” She clutched her daughter in a hug, tears streaming. Alice’s face went from fear, to shock, to the tiniest flickering of joy, as she returned her mother’s hug.

  Cooper wondered if it meant something for Alice to know she had been wanted, grieved over, mourned and, above all, loved for all the precious days of her life.

  They went inside and Josephine produced a tray of cookies. “Oatmeal raisin, you always loved oatmeal raisin,” she clucked.

  A bemused half smile flitted over Alice’s face. “Yes, I do love them. I wish I could remember more. I just have vague memories of climbing in a big tree and a tall man with a beard. I thought they were dreams.”

  “That was your father, Lester.” Josephine smiled, produced a photo album and seated herself next to her daughter. “They told me you might not remember much at all. Here are some pictures.” She looked uncertain, twisting her hands together. “Do you...do you want to see them? We could look later, if you don’t feel right about it now.”

  Alice cast a panicked glance at Ruby. Ruby gave her a slow nod. “I think it would be good to see those memories. I know how much it comforted Josephine to look at them over the years.”

  Alice gulped in some air. “Okay. Let’s look.”

  She settled back while Josephine laughed and cried, pointing to the old photos that had kept her daughter alive until her return.

  Alice stiffened as she peered at a picture. “I remember,” she breathed. “I remember I caught a fish, but I didn’t want it to die. I cried and he...dad...my father unhooked it and threw it back.”

  Eyes full, Josephine grasped her forearm. “Your Daddy was a hard man, but he loved you more than the sun, moon and stars. He called you...”

  “Sunshine,” Alice whispered, swallowing hard and taking her mother’s hand. “Oh, I remember. He called me Sunshine.”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  Josephine reached into her pocket and opened her palm. “It’s your locket,” she whispered. “Sheriff Pickford let me have it. Your daddy and I picked it out special for you.” She paused. “Will you wear it? I understand if you won’t want to, right now.”

  Alice stared at the golden heart. Then she reached out and fastened it around her neck. Tears flowed unchecked down both their faces.

  Cooper drew Ruby outside to allow the women some privacy.

  Ruby wiped a sleeve across her eyes. “They have so much hurt to get through before they can come to terms with what happened.”

  “I’m proud of you,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “You have been a rock for Alice.”

  “And you’ve been a rock for me,” Ruby said, sending a thrill through him. There was peace in her now, an exquisite comfort that made her even more beautiful. “I was horrible, I said terrible things about Peter.”

  He turned her to face him. “You were forced into an unwinnable situation, an eagle protecting her nest against someone bent on destroying it. You lashed out.”

  “Against the guy trying to help save my nest.”

  He grabbed both her hands. “I’m not holding on to what happened. I wish you wouldn’t either.” The light teased out the amber depths in her brown eyes as she looked at him and he found himself talking. “I’ve been thinking,” he said, squashing the jitter of nerves in his gut. “That I’m going to stick around for a while. Stay in the cabin to support Peter and help him with expenses.”

  She kept those luminous eyes on him. “What about your job?”

  “I’ll commute.”

  “I’m glad. Maybe we’ll see each other more often.”

  “Would you like that?”

  “Yes,” she said, gaze flicking away from him. “It’s handy to have a botanist around.”

  “Good, because you still owe m
e a date.”

  “I do not.”

  “Oh, yes. All those years ago, you said you’d go out with me and I intend to collect.”

  “What if I say no?”

  He pulled her close. “You won’t.”

  “So sure of yourself?”

  “Yes, I’m sure that I’m a charming guy and I’ve got serious botanical skills. Wait. Stay right there.” His heart thumped a lively jazz tune as he scrambled toward the tall grass and picked a half dozen yellow flowers. She was laughing by the time he returned, swept her a courtly bow and handed her the scraggly bunch. “Oenothera biennis, or for the laypeople, the evening primrose. They may not look all that fancy now, but they will open at dusk.”

  She giggled. “Impressive.”

  “Ruby Hudson, would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?”

  She blinked. “I thought this was just a date.”

  “That’s just for starters. One date and then a lifetime.”

  She started, her lips parted in surprise. “A lifetime? You’re pretty sure of yourself. What makes you think we’ll have a lifetime together?”

  “Because,” he said, tucking a flower behind her ear, “I love you.”

  Something warm and sweet pooled in her eyes, a softness that stole across her features and trickled straight into his heart.

  “You love me, plant guy?”

  “Without a doubt. You’re a zany bird-loving, family-loving, passionate nature gal and I could not ask God to design a better partner for me.”

  She gasped, but he was worried that there was no joyful smile on her face. Had he misstepped? Perhaps he should back off, but there was no chance, no way he wouldn’t put it all on the line to have her for his own.

  “Cooper, I can’t forget what I said.” Her forehead creased. “I was happy to see your brother blamed to spare mine.”

  “And I wondered if your father wasn’t covering up to protect Mick, so we’re both guilty of loving our brothers. So be it. Guilty as charged.” He took her cheeks in his hands, that perfect, freckled face. “I love you, Ruby. I’ve loved you since I was a kid. Tell me you can love a geeky plant guy who won’t eat yellow vegetables and gets his thrills categorizing mushrooms.”