Malsum Pass

by Forrest, Kimberly

  He pushed her gently into a chair. “Don’t move” he said before turning to the remaining brother. “Call Dad, tell him to get over here now but not with Ma.”

  He paced and she remained silent until the other two returned. Then the one she assumed was Conner spoke again. “We don’t doubt you, honey; Lord knows we can see the truth staring us right in the face, but holy shit! You can’t come into this town and announce that our father had an affair and you’re the result. Our ma won’t hesitate to tear you apart, little girl.”

  All three of them were nodding like bobble heads before the youngest, with a wide eyed expression of awe said, “I always wanted a sister.”

  He looked so sweet yet solemn, Tara wanted to hug him. “And I always wanted a brother and now I have three.” She smiled, “But if your father ever had an affair, I’m not the result. I’m twenty-eight, so I was conceived well before he married your mom.”

  The three of them looked at each other and then back at her before the middle one, Jacob said, “Well, it may soften the blow, but I still think she’s going to be howling.”

  Tara was curious to see what this woman who had married her father looked like to have so many people concerned about her reaction. Currently she was picturing a fire-breathing dragon with PMS.

  The one she assumed was Jacob snorted. “If she’s twenty-eight then Dad was barely out of high school when he got her mother pregnant. So much for his talks of how responsible he has always been and how he always made sure to have protection.”

  The youngest poked the oldest in the ribs “Guess you’re not the oldest anymore, Conner.”

  To which Conner replied. “Yeah, but I’m still the biggest and I’ll beat your ass you little pecker head.”

  And there it was, picking on each other with obvious love. Tara laughed and stood. “Any chance I can get a hug from my baby brothers?”

  All three didn’t hesitate. Amidst squeals and laughter, Tara was picked up, hugged, and passed from brother to brother.

  For the next several minutes they listened as she told them about her mother and their father, at least as much as she had been able to piece together. She even pulled out the two pictures she had found of them from her purse; the brothers particularly liked the one where Tarvahl was flipping off the camera. Then they told her some of their stories. Conner – who was indeed the tallest – owned and ran the bar, Jacob worked construction, and, the youngest, Zachary (who preferred Zack), was getting ready to head back to college for the fall semester. He wanted to be a veterinarian.

  “He had wanted to be a doctor until he realized people irritated the shit out of him. He’d much rather spend time with animals.” Jacob said with a laugh.

  “Most of the time, an animal is more appreciative of what you do for it.” Zack mumbled.

  Conner cleared his throat. “How long can you stay, Tara?”

  “Well, I have to give it some thought. You see –“

  “Alright, I’m here! What’s got you boys’ panties in a twist? I’ve got shit to do! Hell, I just…” Tarvahl Pierce walked through the door of the office and froze.

  Conner stood up and blocked her view of the door. “Dad, don’t freak out, but this is Tara.”

  Tarvahl put his hand on his son’s arm to move him aside and lock his gaze on Tara his eyes taking in every inch of her. “L.J. came to see me this morning. My God, girl, you are the most beautiful thing this old man has ever seen.”

  He was as tall as Conner, his dark red hair and lightened to more of a strawberry blond near the front; his red beard was also liberally streaked with lighter color. His face was tan and weathered, attesting to spending much time outdoors. He had broad shoulders, and tanned forearms that were dusted with light hair and large work worn hands. Tara let out a ragged sob and then launched herself into her father’s arms. “I was so afraid you wouldn’t want me.” She whispered brokenly.

  He squeezed her tight for long moments and then nudged her back slightly so he could see her face, ran a hand over her hair and gave a watery smile. “Not want you? Look at you. You’re the best parts of me. I loved you the moment L.J. told me about you.” Then he touched a finger to the tip of her nose before moving it to touch her chin, “I see a little bit of your mom, too. Probably a good thing to have her bone structure.” He chuckled and then sobered. “I’m sorry for your loss, sweetheart.”

  Her father wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her to the couch against the far wall. “How long can you stay? We have so much to catch up on.”

  “I was just about to tell your sons that I have to give it some thought. There’s nothing really waiting for me in New York and Grandpa has already told me that the house just outside town is mine. I work wherever my computer is, so it’s not like I’d have to give up a job. It’s just a big decision so I want to be sure. I know I’m definitely staying until after Addie’s barbecue – did Grandpa tell you about that?”

  Her father shook his head. “If he did, honey, it didn’t stick. I’m afraid after he told me about you, all I could think about was how much of your life I’ve missed, I’m afraid it put me in a really foul mood and I needed to run off the anger.”

  She patted his hand. “I understand. When I found the letters I was angry too.”

  “What’s this about a barbecue? Please tell me Addie’s going to roast a pig.” Jacob interjected to break the pall that had fallen.

  Her father shook his head. “My boys are always thinking with their guts!”

  Tara laughed. “Last I spoke with Addie the plan included a pig.”

  Zack spoke up next, his voice laced with excitement. “We can do a deer run that night too, to celebrate. Let Tara run with the family.”

  She noticed her father gave a sharp shake of his head, but she smiled at Zack. “You guys run at night? Isn’t that dangerous or do you light up the main road or something? I try to run every morning, but always with the sun up.”

  Her father cleared his throat. “Maybe if Tara decides she wants to stay on here we’ll plan something.”

  “I hate to be a wet blanket and all,” Conner smiled at Tara, but then looked pointedly at Tarvahl. “What are we going to do about Mom?”

  Their dad frowned but then nodded. “You let me worry about your Ma.”

  Chapter Eight

  Later that night, after leaving her father and brothers and joining her grandfather and Addie for dinner at their house in town she’d come home eagerly anticipating a bath. Tara leaned back and sighed in the old fashioned claw foot tub. Bliss was being able to submerge your entire body in a warm, bubbly bath. This, right here was another reason to want to stay. In fact, so far the only down side to Malsum Pass was a lack of convenience as far as restaurants. Well, that and the strange way the residents reacted to new-comers by staring. Maybe she’d become too used to New York where the norm was to avoid eye contact, mind your own business and walk on. Virginia Beach tended to be a mix of avoids or greet with a smile, but mostly the latter.

  She was really tempted to just call her landlord and give notice and then call a moving company to pack up her stuff. What was stopping her? Yes, there was the dreaded step-mother that was apparently awe inspiring in her wrath that she had yet to meet, but the Pierces lived on the opposite side of town. How often would she see her? Well, logically, with one dining establishment, one grocery store and well, basically only one of anything she would probably run into her quite often, not to mention this town seemed really big on gatherings that brought together the entire community. There would definitely be no avoiding there. Her father had assured her he would speak to Sherry and let her work out her anger by screaming at him so that hopefully when she met Tara, she’d have her temper under control; especially before the next gathering at Addie’s barbecue. Everyone would be there, including her step-mother. Apparently the people of Malsum Pass saw absolutely nothing wrong with closing down the town to celebrate.

  But, oh, that sounded so nice – an entire community coming together
to celebrate whatever events, whether major holidays or small achievements, they all made the time according to her father and brothers. In fact, she learned from her father, who held a seat on the council that Malsum Pass seemed to exist in its own little bubble from the outside world. If someone in the community needed something they went to the council that consisted of twelve members of the town – all native. They handled disputes, legal issues, construction issues, and whatever else came up. Plus, all the businesses in the towns gave back to the community. There were no big corporations in Malsum Pass, nor were they welcome. Everything was town owned and town run. No one here was wealthy or strived to be, they all seemed comfortable and content to see each other the same. It seemed like some sort of perfect utopia. Maybe that’s what was holding her back? Nothing is perfect – there had to be something she was missing. So for now, she’d give it a little more time to wait for the other shoe to drop.

  Tara had just started to doze off a bit in the tub when she heard a noise that jerked her head up. What was that? It had sounded like a can hitting the floor. All her canned goods had been in the cupboard, so none should be hitting anything. She hauled her body quickly out of the water grabbed a towel that she merely held over her front with one arm and scrambled to her nightstand to get her gun. Images of a rabid raccoon charging her filled her head, or – oh no! Had the wolf from earlier found its way inside? She tried to remember if all the windows had been shut. Had she not closed the door tight when she came home? Her head had been swimming with all that had happened that day and she honestly couldn’t remember. For all she could recall she may have very well left the door wide open, though she would think habit would have kicked in automatically with so many years in New York where you locked your door with a deadbolt and more if you had it.

  She was trembling in fear as she stood at the top of the stairs looking down. Her heart was beating too fast, her breath coming too hard. She needed to calm down and steady the hand that was holding the gun or any shot she got off would be wild. She strained her ears, but couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of her own heart. Creeping down the stairs, keeping her eyes wide she tried to remember what the rude arrogant ass had told her: be aware, yes – she was definitely aware right now. Look big and make noise. Okay, she could throw her arms out and scream like nobody’s business. Don’t run. That was the hard one, her breath coming in puffs, no matter what beast she was about to see she needed to stand her ground.

  She heard a slight scuffing noise from the kitchen and her hands were still trembling too hard. She considered going back upstairs to use the phone by her bed, but all of the numbers for people she could call were written down in the kitchen. She dropped the towel to place both hands on her gun to steady it, took several deep breaths before letting out what could only be called a primal war cry, and launched herself into the room shooting off three rapid shots into the ceiling.

  At which point she was immediately tackled to the floor by a large rude arrogant ass and her gun pried from her stiff fingers.

  “Damn foolish woman!”

  Tara grunted, feeling rather battered and bruised from hitting the floor with probably two hundred pounds of man on her. “I’m foolish? What did you expect when you broke into my house? How did you even get in here? Dammit, get off of me!”

  A large hand moved down the bare skin of her side to her hip. The asshole actually had the audacity to grin and she realized it was the first time she’d seen him truly smile. It transformed his face from gorgeous to breathtaking – literally since she couldn’t breathe. “You’re naked.” He said, his eyes twinkling with glee.

  “I was taking a bath when I heard a noise. I imagined that wolf had somehow gotten into the house. ”

  “So you were going to rush it?” He turned his head to look up at the ceiling, “Because, sweetheart, if you were aiming to kill we need to work on that.”

  “I was trying to scare it away.”

  When his attention was back on her face he rubbed his thumb over her cheek to her jaw. Her eyes lowered to his lips and right at that moment she’d never wanted a man to kiss her so badly in her life. She mentally slapped herself. “What are you doing here?”

  “Right, sorry,” he said before pushing up off her. She didn’t fail to notice that his eyes took a long sweeping look down her body before he sighed, stood and turned his back so she could get up. With his back to her, he continued. “I was driving by and thought I saw someone creeping around your side yard. By the time I got out of the truck whoever it was was gone, so I just wanted to check the house.”

  Tara grabbed her towel from outside the kitchen door where she dropped it and wrapped it securely under her arms. “I’m covered.” She said, and then “You could have knocked.”

  Riley’s eyes once again swept down her body, “Sure I could have, and then I could have waited patiently on your front porch while you were robbed or murdered.” He shook his head. “The gunshots probably scared anyone away, but I’m going to take a look upstairs quick to make sure.” He nodded to the gun on the kitchen floor, “You go ahead and take that sweetheart, but for Christ’s sake, don’t shoot me!”

  Tara watched him quietly disappear upstairs and gripped the gun tightly. She heard a few doors open, long pause, and then shut again. Minutes passed. What if there really was an intruder up there? Should she go up to help or stay here? Should she call 9-1-1? Did Malsum Pass even have 9-1-1? Then his voice interrupted her thoughts. “I’m coming down, sweetheart, don't shoot. It’s just me.” And then a chuckle, “Damn, you’re just so full of surprises.”

  When he reached the first floor, she said “Is that really likely to happen? A robbery or murder in this town I mean, it seems so safe.”

  Riley shrugged his shoulders; both his hands were stuffed in the big front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. “It’s not common, for sure, but it can happen anywhere. We do occasionally get folks passing through from the camp grounds or hikers and naturalists, cross country skiers in the winter. Introduce any unknown element and you can never know what’ll happen. Better to be safe than sorry. I’ll check around the yard again before I leave. “His eyes traveled back over her scantily clad form and then said. “Trust me, Tara. I’m looking out for your best interest.” He headed for the front door and opened it, “I’ll come by at some point tomorrow and fix that ceiling you shot” a chuckle, “Good night, sweetheart.” And then he was gone.

  Riley checked around the house in case she was watching before jumping back in his truck and heading home. He breathed out a huff of air. She had warned him that she had a gun, but seeing her come running in bare ass naked, her fiery hair pulled up in a loose knot on top of her head with wet strands sticking to her neck and shoulders, eyes wide and gun blazing… well, that was just one image that would forever be burned in his brain. Damn, she was exquisite.

  He’d wanted to kiss her, touch her, hell – take her right there on the kitchen floor, and for a few minutes there, the look in her soft brown eyes had told him she would have let him. Christ, his erection had been throbbing – if it had had a voice it would have been screaming and then crying when he recalled that he was there for a purpose and sex wasn’t on the agenda, at least not for tonight. He adjusted his legs wider to hopefully loosen his uncomfortably tight jeans. “Soon, buddy,” he said “we just need some patience.”

  He pulled up to his A-frame cabin, unlocked the door, and threw himself down on the couch. He felt like a first rate ass for misleading her, but sometimes the ends justified the means. Reaching into the pocket of his sweatshirt, he pulled out a big white bottle and examined it. There were no stickers or labels to show it had come from a pharmacy, just the doctor’s name and phone number. He opened the top and sniffed and then growled. It smelled terrible. Then he shook the bottle over his coffee table until a few of the capsules fell out. There was no imprint or markings on the clear capsule, just some beige powdery looking substance inside.

  Tara had had no idea that her mother ha
d basically been poisoning her for years, filling her full of chemicals that suppressed her very being. She had just taken them as directed by this unknown doctor, having faith that it would fix her. She didn’t need fixing! Riley slammed his hand down on the table and watched as the loose capsules bounced before rolling to the floor. He wanted to flush them all down the toilet but he held off. He’d call the number on the bottle for the doctor and talk to him first and see what he could find out regarding any risks to Tara. The last thing he wanted to do was endanger her.

  He dialed the number listed on the bottle and it rang twice. Riley had expected it to answer with an automated voice telling him when normal office hours were, or an answering service like many doctors employed, but instead he heard: “Doctor Bascomb here.”, and Riley was silent for a moment, not sure what to say. Apparently Tara’s case warranted a direct line to the doctor’s cell phone. When the voice on the other end asked “hello” he prompted himself to say something.

  “Hi, Doctor Bascomb, my name is Riley Cooper and I’m sorry to be calling you so late but I got your number from Tara Mason, and I had some questions for you.” It wasn’t really a lie as he had in fact gotten the number from Tara, she just didn’t know he’d taken it, but whatever worked was worth trying in his opinion.

  “Is Tara unwell?” The doctor asked and Riley was glad to know the man actually seemed to care.

  “She is well, thank you, but she’s here in Malsum Pass, Vermont, visiting some family and she was wondering what would happen if her pills were misplaced.”

  “She’s visiting L.J.? That’s wonderful! As for any medication that Tara might be taking, I’m afraid I can only have that discussion with Tara, Mr. Cooper. If you would put her on the phone, I’d be more than happy to speak with her.”