She swung it hard at the back of Ray’s head. He grunted and stumbled but stayed upright. He whirled on her, eyes savage with fury, and growled. At least he was no longer armed. Not that she could see. But his eyes weren’t quite focused, even as he looked at her.
He was ill. Gravely so.
“Ray, you’re sick. Really sick. If you don’t get treatment you could die. How about we all stop fighting and head down the mountain together. Get us all to a hospital, huh?”
Ray threw his head back and laughed. She’d never heard him laugh before, and it was a hideous, bone-chilling sound.
“I’d rather us all die up here,” he said, still swaying on his feet. “Like God intended for us.”
Gia’s eyebrows shot up. Ray had never been a religious man, though, like her, his mother had been. Had he come to some kind of spiritual revelation up here on the mountain? Or was he hallucinating sightings of the divine?
“Ray, none of us have to die. You can have your money. We can go our separate ways.”
Ray sneered. “I’d rather gut you open and feast.”
Gia’s stomach dropped. He truly sounded crazy now.
He lunged towards her. Gia couldn’t move out of the way fast enough, and this time his aim was true. His fingers wrapped around her throat and the momentum tumbled them both back into the knee-deep snow.
Ray squeezed tighter around her throat until she choked from lack of air. All the breath had been knocked from her lungs in the fall and now they burned for oxygen, but Ray didn’t loosen his grip.
“Die for me, wife,” he gritted out, tightening even further.
But then Elijah loomed over them both. He wrapped his arm around Ray’s throat and dragged him away from Gia. As soon as his hands were off her throat she sucked in a giant lungful of air, and then another.
Ray struggled desperately in Elijah’s grip, fighting him to get free.
Gia rolled and grabbed the bag of money. “Are you sure you don’t want this?” she asked, when his eyes locked avidly on it. She sat up to give herself a better angle and then flung it towards the cliff’s edge. He watched it land, teetering near the edge.
He was tempted, she could see. But he tore his gaze away and focused back on her. “I’m beyond that, now.”
Then she’d have to think of something else. The gun where he’d dropped it earlier caught her eye and scrambled towards it. She dived, grabbed it, and rolled onto her back, aiming the gun at the two men.
“Don’t, Gia,” Elijah warned. And he was right. If she didn’t aim exactly right, she’d hit Elijah instead. So she widened her eyes, trying to signal him to let go and step away.
Ray twisted, impatient for something to happen and frustrated Elijah had immobilized him. He threw his hand down and gripped the knife handle still embedded in Elijah’s thigh. Before Gia could yell a warning, he’d twisted the knife until Elijah cried out in agony.
But Elijah still didn’t let go. Not for a long, terrible moment. And then he released his grip and stumbled back. Gia didn’t hesitate. She squeezed the trigger once, twice, three times.
The gun only fired once.
Either the gun was jammed or out of bullets and Gia didn’t have the expertise to tell the difference.
Her one bullet had hit the target, though. In the shoulder, so he was still standing upright with a baffled expression on his face. She waited for him to go down, collapse. But instead he staggered towards her.
“I won’t die until I kill you,” he told her. The sun was behind Ray, sinking behind the vast mountain range and casting him into silhouette. His footsteps crunched in the heavy snow as he struggled towards her. If she tried to run, her ankle would never hold her.
She tried to fire the gun again but it clicked uselessly. She drew her arm back and threw the gun right at his head. He dodged instinctively, then continued wading through the snow in her direction.
She had nothing left to fight with. She couldn’t even stand. She’d fight, of course. Until she had nothing left. But Ray had made it clear he had to lose. He was beyond pain, beyond fear. Beyond all but a desire to see her dead. She didn’t know how to fight that.
After everything, this is how it would end.
Her last thoughts were of Elijah. Of how she wished things had been different. How she should’ve told him she loved him. And how she’d never know whether she was carrying his child.
But then, he was there, limping behind Ray, his long strides eating the distance between them even with his uneven steps.
He reached Ray, wrapped a hand around his chin.
And snapped his neck.
Ray fell to the ground, dead. Just like that, the source of all her pain and terror was snuffed out in an instant. She stared at the man she’d married, knowing he could no longer hurt her. She was free.
The shakes started, whether from cold or relief or adrenaline, she didn’t know, but they wracked her frame.
“A bit different than a rabbit,” Elijah commented, staring down at Ray’s body.
“He probably deserved it more,” she replied, unable to take her eyes from Ray. It was over. It was really over.
“Yeah.” Then, Elijah collapsed heavily in the snow, red blood spreading into the white snow beneath his thigh.
And Gia’s heart shattered.
Chapter 25
Five days later, Elijah led Gia into the small town at the base of the mountain, Ray’s body slung over his shoulder.
His thigh was bleeding again. No surprise, since he hadn’t given it enough time to heal before getting Gia off the mountain. She’d spent three days tending him, following his directions on how to care for both of them while they healed enough to make it the rest of the way to town. She’d applied a tourniquet to his wound, found all the moss and herbs he asked her for, and worked on the gash in his thigh with his first aid kit until he was no longer in danger of bleeding out.
All with an awful sprain of her own.
It filled him with awe and admiration, and made him fall in love with her more and more every second.
He hadn’t told her that, though. Because all she talked about was leaving him. Reassuring him she’d soon be out of his hair.
After everything she’d been through on the mountain, he couldn’t blame her for wanting to escape.
But it still broke his heart.
Because Elijah knew not only he belonged on that mountain, but she belonged there with him. Their child should be raised there.
He couldn’t force her to stay.
They stumbled into Sara’s diner and collapsed at one of the tables. She came from the kitchen at the noise and her smile died the instant her gaze landed on them, Ray’s body at their feet.
“What the hell happened to you?” she asked.
“Long story,” he told her with a weary smile.
“That’s what Aaron said when he was here yesterday.”
Elijah straightened. “Aaron’s alive.”
Her eyes grew sad. “Last I heard. They took him to General. No news since.” Gia placed a comforting hand on her arm.
“I think that’s where I need to be,” he said, swaying slightly. Gia was there in a second, sliding into the seat next to him and holding him upright.
Sara immediately hurried off to call for help, so Elijah turned to Gia. “Will you come with me?” he asked.
“I need to take care of the body. Arrangements, that kind of thing. It’s expected,” she said, kicking Ray’s body.
“I should have left him to rot up there,” Elijah said bitterly.
“He’d poison the mountain,” she said. “Besides, without a body, I’d have to declare him missing and go through all kinds of paperwork to get divorced. This way we can say he fell and broke his neck.”
He nodded. That was fair. He didn’t want her tied to that monster for any longer than necessary, either. And he didn’t want to think about Ray frozen on his mountain forever.
But at the same time, he knew this might be the last time he
saw her. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye, but if she didn’t come to the hospital with him, he didn’t know when—or if—he’d see her again. The thought choked him with panic. He couldn’t lose her, not after everything. But what could he possibly say to get her to stay?
“Gia,” he murmured, pressing her forehead to his. “I—”
A woman and a man in uniform burst into the diner, far quicker than Elijah had expected.
“Already?” he blurted out.
They grinned. “We were nearby, waiting. Your friend Aaron told us you were lost out there and might need some help. There’s a search and rescue team looking for you, but we’ll let them know you made it back on your own.”
He turned to Gia, and she gave him a watery smile. “Go.”
“They should see your ankle first,” he declared.
She shook her head. “You were stabbed, and you’re bleeding again. My ankle isn’t an emergency. I’ll deal with it in a little while.”
“But—” he protested. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye. And by the tears in her eyes, neither was she. But what could he do, or say? Someone had to stay behind to deal with the authorities about Ray’s body. They couldn’t leave it on the floor of Sara’s diner.
And Gia wanted to leave him. She’d said so on the mountain.
The paramedics bundled him into the back of the emergency vehicle. It was a 4x4, not an ambulance, easier for traversing the tough terrain up here. Gia stopped them from driving off by knocking on his window.
“Hey,” she said through his window.
He opened the door, his heart leaping in hope.
“Thank you for everything,” she murmured, then leaned forward to place a kiss to his cheek.
“It was nothing.”
Her eyes told him she didn’t believe the words. He didn’t believe them, either, but he’d still do it all over again if it meant he’d meet her.
“We’ll see each other again,” she promised.
He didn’t know what that meant, whether she promised him a future, or a goodbye. His cheek still tingled from her kiss.
“Bud, we gotta go,” said the male paramedic from the driver’s seat.
Gia nodded and stepped back.
“I lo—” he managed, before the door shut. He had no idea if she’d heard him, because the engine roared at the vehicle pulled away, leaving Gia standing outside the diner, watching them go.
He kept his eyes on her until he couldn’t see her anymore, then continued to stare at the last place he’d seen her for an endless moment longer.
Weeks later, Elijah was already beginning to build his new cabin. Aaron had helped him map it out while the two of them recovered in hospital, after Aaron had told the story of him treating his own gunshot wound and making his way down the mountain.
This time, the cabin would have electricity, from a windmill. A fridge, a freezer, a stove. Geothermal heat pumps. A wider variety of fruits and vegetables in the garden, and even a small greenhouse to have plants all year around.
The cabin itself would have two bedrooms, with room for building more, as well as a root cellar to store goods. A radio, one with a signal strong enough to reach town, and Aaron’s place on the other side. No TV, but a bookcase big enough to fit all kinds of books. A fireplace, too, for atmosphere and the coldest of nights. It would heat all the rooms at once.
Everything Gia had asked for.
He’d already stocked the pantry. Coffee, chocolate, and cinnamon had been his first purchases.
He was so pleased by the designs of the building, he’d barely thought of his old cabin. In fact, it had been as freeing as it had been terrifying to have it destroyed. Gia had been right. There was no reason Elijah had to continue his father’s legacy of complete isolation. He could stay in the mountains where he belonged, and be comfortable while he did it.
All he’d need was Gia there beside him.
But, first, he needed something to offer her. So he built as fast as he could. Aaron came up every day to help him and offer advice. Even Sara had been by to offer some suggestions from a “woman’s perspective” but Elijah suspected she was there to check up on them and make sure they weren’t working too hard while their injuries healed.
And all Elijah could think about with every chop of his ax was Gia. Was she safe? Was she okay?
Was she carrying their child?
He’d made sure to put considerations into the cabin’s plan in case there was a child. Or more than one.
He wouldn’t go to her, ask her to come home, until the cabin was ready, but he needed to have it done well before the child would be due.
So, he and Aaron worked side by side for months. When the cabin was almost done, Elijah planned how he’d find Gia. How he’d approach her. What he’d say.
Every time he considered it, a lump would form in his chest. He had no idea whether she felt the same about him, whether she’d want to come home with him. But he had to try.
He had to convince her.
Chapter 26
Gia hiked up the mountain behind Aaron, nerves increasing with every step. How would Elijah react to seeing her? Would he be pleased, or horrified?
She’d met Aaron at Sara’s diner that morning. When she’d asked him if Elijah had mentioned her much, he’d shrugged and told her he and Elijah hadn’t discussed her at all. Gia suspected he was lying, but didn’t know whether it was for good or bad.
Elijah had every reason to hate her.
She’d been responsible for the destruction of everything he’d cared about. She was the reason he’d been stabbed and nearly died. She was also the reason Aaron had been hurt, but thankfully he didn’t seem to resent her. When she’d apologized, he’d shrugged and told her it was his own fault for being a romantic.
Nerves pooled in her stomach. A few more minutes and she’d see Elijah for the first time in months. It had taken that long to take care of Ray’s body and estate. She’d donated all his money and property—a significant sum, none of it acquired legally—to various charities she’d handpicked. That it would have enraged Ray made it all the sweeter. She’d been shocked to find he didn’t have a will, and she’d therefore inherited everything, but made something good from her time with Ray.
Better yet, he’d put a life insurance policy on himself for reasons she still didn’t fathom. From papers and fragments, she guessed he’d been planning to run some kind of scam. She couldn’t figure out the details, and didn’t particularly care.
Ray was dead and buried now. Whatever schemes he’d intended could no longer affect her.
Aaron led her around a corner and suddenly Gia was in the most beautiful spot she’d ever seen in her life. A cabin stood in the middle of the clearing, bigger and sturdier than the previous one had been. More windows, too. A fledgling garden surrounded it, alive with color and butterflies and birds. There was a table with chairs, as she’d suggested so long ago.
A chicken coop, she recognized. But the greenhouse was new.
A windmill turned above the trees.
It was also only a few hours walk from town. Nestled in the woods, to ensure privacy, but a much shorter, easier distance than the previous spot Elijah had lived.
When Gia had come to town and asked to hire Aaron to take her up the mountain, she’d been bracing herself for a two-day hike. He’d said he’d rebuild, and she’d assumed he’d meant the same spot as his father’s cabin. She’d simply been grateful it was no longer winter for the hike. But when he’d said she could walk up by mid-morning, she’d had the first flutters of excitement.
Maybe Elijah had done this for her. Maybe he did care, maybe he wanted her after all.
The best part of this new cabin was Elijah himself. He had his back to her and hadn’t seen her yet. His hammer came down on the door, nailing the planks of wood together.
“You’ve got a visitor,” Aaron called.
Elijah spun around. When he caught sight of Gia, the nails fell from his mouth and dropped forgotten in the dirt at
his feet.
“Gia,” he whispered. He was as handsome as ever. He’d trimmed his beard recently. And the warmer weather meant he was in a t-shirt, showing off his impressive biceps. Her mouth watered. Oh, how she’d missed him.
She smiled, tentative, her heart full to bursting. He didn’t look unhappy to see her. But she couldn’t be sure.
“Hi,” she said. Her stomach clutched with nerves. How would he react to seeing her again after so many months?
“Hi,” he replied. He gestured to Aaron, no doubt giving him some kind of signal, because his presence immediately disappeared from behind her. But she couldn’t tear her eyes from Elijah.
She’d missed him so much.
“I know I messed up,” she said once they were alone. “Ray finding us, destroying everything.”
He stared at her with a blank expression, so she took a deep breath and plowed forward. She had to be brave, to get this speech out, or she’d never forgive herself. She had to put her heart on the line for him. “I understand if you can’t forgive me. But I’m here, asking—”
“Forgive you for what?” Elijah asked. Now, his expression was clear. Confusion.
“For the cabin. For getting you hurt. For everything.”
He took a few steps closer to her. “Gia, no. There’s nothing to forgive. Everything that happened brought me to you.” Her heart soared to hear the words, making tears well. It wasn’t too late. She hadn’t ruined everything. His voice lowered. “You’re the greatest gift I could have ever asked for.”
She didn’t know if she moved first, or he did, but suddenly they were running towards each other and then wrapped in each other’s arms.
“You’re here,” he said, words full of wonder.
“I’m home,” she mumbled into his chest, clutching him to her. He smelled so familiar. So right.
His arms tightened around her. “Yeah. You are.”
Stranded with the Mountain Man Page 17
