Familiar Stranger

by Sharon Sala

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Frank yelled.

  “Saving your stupid ass,” David said. “Now let’s get out of here.”

  “What’s going on?” the gunrunner asked.

  Frank spun, his eyes blazing with anger. “Leave this to me,” he said, and shoved David aside as he reached for the money.

  But the kid stepped on his fingers, stopping his intent. After that, everything became a blur. Before he knew it, both of the gunrunners were dead and David was staring at him as if he’d never seen him before.

  Time blurred the memories of what came next. All Frank could remember was pointing a gun in his brother’s face and then pulling the trigger. After that, he remembered coming to on the floor of the hut, smelling gasoline and feeling the heat of the fire against his face. He’d crawled through fire, living with one purpose only, and that was to make David pay for what he’d done. Over the years, Frank had chosen to forget that he was the one to fire the first shot. His entire purpose for living was revenge.

  And that same revenge had kept him alive in Vietnam, hiding in an empty village under the nose of the Vietcong until he was healed, then smuggling himself into Indonesia and stowing away on a freighter bound for New Zealand. He strangled the man who helped him on board, stole his identity, then hid in the hold among the freight until they docked weeks later. Within a year, he was working the opal mines in Australia and saving every penny he could get his hands on. Through every tough, hungry day and night of his life, one thing had kept him going—the knowledge that some day he would find David Wilson, and when he did, he would kill him.

  Finally, Frank slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep. As he did, he rolled onto his back, his arms flung out. Asleep, his scars gave him a look of vulnerability, but they were deceiving. He’d gone into this vendetta with nothing to lose. His beloved Martha was dead and his only child, like his brother, had turned into a traitor. There was nothing helpless about Frank Wilson, and everything to fear.

  It was three in the morning when the nightmares started. Cara woke abruptly, her senses on an all-out alert. David was still asleep, but curled up in a ball with his back to her. The muscles in his arms were jerking, and every now and then he would kick, as if fighting off an invisible foe. She reached for the lamp, quickly turning it on and illuminating their corner of the room with a soft, yellow glow. A thin film of sweat covered his skin, and the sheet that had been over his body was twisted around his ankles.

  Cara got up from the bed, untwisted the sheet and pulled it up to his waist before crawling in beside him. Then she spooned herself against the curve of his back, slid an arm around his waist and held on.

  He moaned.

  “Ssh, David, ssh. Everything is all right, darling. Everything is all right.”

  The softness of her voice seemed to penetrate his subconscious. He stiffened momentarily and then ever so slowly began to relax.

  Cara pulled herself closer against him, and as she did, he turned over and pillowed his cheek against her breasts. His face was streaked with sweat, his features twisted into a grimace. As she looked, she felt like crying. Instead, she held him close. Only after she heard the even tenor of his breathing did she close her eyes.

  David was no longer the fearless young man who’d first gone off to war, convinced of his immortality. This man who’d come back to her had been forged in hellfire and was holding himself together by nothing more than sheer will. He was hard to the point of brittle, and his smiles were far too rare for her peace of mind. He existed by day and suffered by night. And her rage for the injuries he’d sustained grew with each passing day. The only thing she had to give him was her love. She prayed it would be enough.

  Dawn finally broke, bathing the couple in the warm fingers of light slipping through the curtains. David was the first to stir, and as he did, he realized that something of a miracle had occurred. He’d slept the entire night through without waking up. And then he felt Cara’s arms around him and realized she must have held him while he slept. A great wave of peace fell over him, leaving him weak and humbled. Dear God—he didn’t deserve this woman, but he wasn’t going to give her up. Not now. Not when he’d finally found a reason to live again.

  He shifted slightly so that he could see her. The morning light was soft, shadowing the fine lines that time had etched on her face. So beautiful. She was so very, very beautiful. He thought of Frank and knew that he couldn’t put off their meeting too much longer. If Frank had even an inkling of Cara’s importance in David’s life, he would kill her just to see David weep.

  He shuddered, and as he did, her arms instinctively tightened around him. Even in her sleep, she seemed to sense his despair.

  He raised up on one elbow. She opened her eyes. For a moment, it was as if they’d seen into each other’s soul. Then David cupped her face and kissed her. She sighed as he levered himself above her body. He kissed her again. She shifted, making room for him to come in. He took her there, in the early morning light with her hair in tangles and love in her eyes.

  By mid-morning, Cara was in the kitchen packing a picnic lunch while David was rummaging in the storage shed out back, looking for Ray’s fishing equipment. Despite his claim to the opposite, Cara suspected it had been years since he’d done something as innocuous as fishing, especially for fun.

  The day was warm with a line of white puffy clouds in the distance, the wind almost nonexistent, making it a perfect day to go to the lake. She was putting the last of the sandwiches into the cooler when the doorbell rang. She wiped her hands and then frowned as it began to ring again. Someone was certainly insistent. She hurried through the house, peeked through the window before answering the door and then groaned.

  It was Harry Belton.

  He’d been trying to court her for more than a year now. She didn’t know how much plainer she could be without being terribly rude, but she wasn’t interested. Masking her irritation, she opened the door.

  “Cara! How are you, dear?”

  “Harold?”

  “I know I should have called, but I was in the neighborhood and couldn’t bring myself to leave without saying hello.”

  She frowned. He was lying, and they both knew it.

  “You really should have called,” she said. “I was just going out.”

  Ignoring the hint she had just given him to make a graceful exit, he stepped inside the door and then peered over her shoulder.

  “I see by the car in the driveway that you have company. I hope I’m not intruding.”

  “Actually, that’s what I was trying to—”

  “There’s the silliest rumor going around Chiltingham that there’s a stranger staying in your house.”

  Cara’s eyes flashed angrily, although she maintained her calm.

  “No. There’s no stranger staying in my house,” she said.

  He smiled and put his hands on her shoulders. “There now! I knew when Macie said it that she was just telling tales. Even though Ray has been gone these three years, you just aren’t the kind of woman to—”

  Cara watched his eyes widen and his mouth drop. The fact that he’d forgotten what he was saying told her that David must have come in the house.

  Harold glared at her, and the tone of his voice changed from happy to accusing.

  “I thought you said you were alone.”

  “No. I didn’t say I was alone. I said there wasn’t a strange man in my house. David isn’t a stranger.”

  Harold’s face turned a dark, ugly red, his eyes narrowing angrily.

  “If I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes, I would never have believed it.”

  Suddenly, David was standing at her back, his voice dark and full of unleashed anger.

  “You’ve never seen a fishing pole?” David asked, and then thrust a rod and reel in Harold’s face. “Then here, take a real good look before I shove it right up your—”

  Cara stifled a grin as Harold dropped the rod and bolted for the door. Only after he was on the porch with th
e screen door between them did he stop and turn. It was a mistake, because David was right behind him. Now the only person still in the house was Cara.

  “Don’t touch me!” Harold screeched.

  “Don’t ever raise your voice to her again, do you hear me?” David asked.

  There was a look in the man’s eyes that Harold seemed afraid to challenge. He nodded.

  David continued. “And you better hope I don’t hear one denigrating word being said about Cara Justice or I’m coming after you.”

  “But what if I’m not the one who said it?” Harold muttered.

  “Then I suggest you pray.”

  “My word!” Harold gasped, and bolted for the car, leaving dust and gravel in the air behind him as he drove away.

  Cara came outside and slipped her hand in the crook of David’s arm.

  “My hero.”

  David looked at her and then shrugged. “He ticked me off.”

  She smiled. “I could tell.”

  “Are you mad at me?” he asked, suddenly aware that he might have run off someone she actually cared for.

  She laughed. “For getting rid of Hasty Harold? No way!”

  “Hasty Harold?”

  “It’s an unfortunate nickname, but one he’s certainly earned. He’s the first man on the doorstep when a woman gets divorced and the first one to express his sympathy when there’s a new widow in town. I’ve been fighting off his advances for three years now. Thanks to you, I think I’ve just seen the last of the pest.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said, and then slipped his arm around her shoulders. “Are we still going fishing?”

  “Oh, yes,” Cara said. “I wouldn’t miss this trip with you for anything. Let’s load up before we have any more uninvited visitors.”

  They were on their way within the hour, and for David, everything seemed surreal. He had the love of his life at his side, a picnic lunch in a cooler in the back of Cara’s SUV, along with a couple of fishing poles and tackle. The sky was a pale blue-white with a few scattered clouds upon the horizon. All they needed to finish the postcard image was a couple of kids screaming in the back seat and a dog poking his head out the window. He glanced over at Cara, who was talking about something that had happened in her past. He was so fascinated by the fact that he was actually here in the moment that he lost track of what she was saying. Suddenly, a shiver of foreboding ran up his spine. The day was almost too perfect. He shrugged it off as a hangover from the life he’d just given up and concentrated on his driving and the directions Cara was giving him to the lake.

  “Look!” Cara cried, as they came around a bend in the road.

  It was a magnificent buck, momentarily spellbound by their oncoming vehicle.

  “Wow, a sixteen pointer,” David said, admiring the rack of antlers on the animal’s head.

  Cara was scrambling in the glove box when the buck suddenly came to itself and bounded into the surrounding woods.

  “Darn it,” she muttered. “I was going to take a picture.”

  “You brought a camera?”

  She nodded, holding up a compact 35mm camera with a telescoping lense. Her expression of joy suddenly stilled, as if she was afraid of his reaction.

  “What’s wrong?” David asked.

  “Nothing.”

  He frowned and then pulled off to the side of the road and turned to face her.

  “That look on your face is not nothing,” he said. “Talk to me.”

  She looked away, afraid he would read what was in her heart. “It’s no big deal. I just wanted to take a few pictures to remember this day.”

  It wasn’t what she said but what she omitted that hit him like the proverbial rock. God. It was just like before. She didn’t trust he would come back and was making memories for the day that he would leave. What hurt him the most was that he couldn’t promise to return. He could say he wanted to. But that didn’t mean he would live through his confrontation with Frank.

  It was at that moment he made up his mind to quit thinking negatively. He, by God, was going to come back and he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. He brushed the side of her cheek with the back of his hand, then gave the lobe of her ear a gentle tug.

  “That’s good. We can look back on them when we’re old and gray and remember that I was the one who caught the most fish.”

  Cara turned her head, saw the challenge in his eyes, and in spite of her fears made herself smile. Two could play at this game of pretend.

  “The most fish? You’re already telling me this is going to be a competition in which you’re going to win and you haven’t even wet your hook?”

  He grinned as he pulled onto the road. “So I like a little challenge now and then. What’s so wrong with that?”

  “Absolutely nothing,” she said. “And I’m going to add a little something to the pot, okay?”

  “Why not? I know how to be a good sport. Name your something.”

  “The loser has to clean the fish.”

  He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t know. I don’t want you hurting yourself.”

  She laughed. “My word! The utter gall of the man. Not only have you announced yourself winner before the game even starts, but you’re already concerning yourself with my inability to clean a fish.”

  “Not a fish, my darling woman. Lots and lots of fish.”

  “Fine. I accept your challenge.”

  He nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Now…is this the turnoff you told me to take, or do we take the second one posted on that sign?”

  “This is it,” Cara said, pointing toward a narrow blacktop road leading off to the right of the highway. “Caribou Lake, dead ahead.”

  It was late afternoon before Cara showed signs of wearing out. They’d shared a picnic and taken pictures and reminisced about so many people that David’s head was flooded with things he had spent years trying to forget.

  To his delight, she’d caught the most fish, and her pride had been obvious. His claim to fame for the day was that he’d caught the smallest, which she had promptly recorded for posterity with a demand for a pose. Laughing, he’d held up the four-inch fish on the line, measuring it with his thumb and forefinger for the camera as she snapped the shot.

  He glanced at her again, as he had so often during the day, smiling about the smear of dirt on her forehead and the faint hint of sunburn on her reddening nose and cheeks.

  “Don’t you think it’s time to call it quits?” he asked.

  She looked at him, her eyes snapping with challenge.

  “Only if you’re the one who’s saying uncle.”

  “Then uncle…and aunt, and cousin Joe, and Uncle Bob, and whatever the hell else it takes for you to admit you’re as tired as I am.”

  She grinned. “All right then, just one more cast and I’m yours.”

  “Now you’re talking,” he said, and then watched as she made a perfect cast into the lake.

  “Good one,” he said. “Where did you learn to fish like this?”

  “My son, Tyler. He demanded his time between ballet lessons and cheerleading practices.”

  David nodded, wondering where Ray Justice had been during those years. So far, Cara rarely mentioned his presence in their everyday lives. Then her next comment answered his question without being asked.

  “Ray was always working,” she said. “Someone had to do the guy stuff with our son.” Slowly, she reeled in the line, skillfully playing the lure in the water as she talked. “I got pretty good at it, too. In fact, there for a while, spending the night at Tyler’s house was all the rage because his mom wasn’t squeamish about worms.”

  David grinned.

  Suddenly, Cara’s line jerked.

  “I’ve got one!” she shouted, and began backing up as she reeled.

  The pole was bending, the line quivering and taut. When it was less than five feet from the shore, they could see the shadowy shape of the fish beneath the water.

  “It’s a big one,” she squealed.
“Just look at him fight.”

  David glanced toward the water just as she took another turn on the reel. In that moment, the fish slipped the hook. The tension went from constant to nothing and the hook came up and out of the water like a pronged bullet, heading straight for Cara’s face.

  David reacted without thinking, spinning between her and the missile, then flinching in pain when the hook set itself deep within his back.

  Still blinking from an impact that never happened, Cara saw David reaching over his shoulder, feeling his way around the wound. When he removed his hand, it came away bloody.

  “David?”

  “It’s in my back,” he said. “If I had a pair of needle-nosed pliers, I could pull it out.”

  “Oh, my God,” she moaned, and made him turn around. “I saw it coming and just froze. If it hadn’t been for you, it would have been in my face.”

  “It’s nothing,” he said. “Lord knows I’ve had worse. Now go look for the pliers, will you?”

  “I will not,” she stated firmly, and took a pocketknife out of her tackle box and quickly cut the line. “We’re going to the emergency room. You’re going to have that taken out like a decent human being, not ripped out of your flesh like some barbarian.”

  “But I am a barbarian,” he muttered.

  “Not in my world, you’re not.”

  “Damn it, Cara, it’s a little bitty hook.”

  “That’s imbedded in your back,” she retorted.

  He glared.

  She frowned.

  He sighed.

  She began gathering up their things.

  “Give me those,” David said, taking the heaviest of their gear out of her hands. “I’m not crippled.”

  “No, just difficult,” she said, and then started to cry.

  “God…don’t do that,” David said, as he followed her to the car.

  “I have to,” Cara said.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m a woman and because if I don’t cry, I might say something stupid. Trust me. It’s better if I cry.”

  In spite of the burning pain in his back, he had to grin.

  When they reached the SUV, she opened the back door and slid the rods inside.