The Perfect Burn_A Thrilling Romantic Suspense

by Madyson Grey

  “Yeah, it’s all in there. Probably more than we need. And it I forgot anything, we’ll buy it along the road. All I need to put in there is the camera. I already have all the albums, the printer, and paper packed in there. That and my purse and me.”

  “I’ll have to call Mickey and tell him that we’re leaving early, but it shouldn’t matter to him.”

  “I want to stop and tell Grandma and Grandpa good bye on our way out.”

  “No problem.”

  As soon as they were dressed and ready, and Victoria had made the bed and tidied everything up, they headed downstairs to grab some breakfast and tell Lena of their spur-of-the-moment decision.’

  “I shouldn’t be surprised,” Lena said, laughing at their exuberance. “You two have been hot to leave all week, except for yesterday when you were too occupied to think about it. Go for it. We’ll all be fine here. Are you going to slow down long enough to eat some breakfast? I’ve got it almost ready.”

  “Yeah, we’ll eat,” Rafael said. “I can’t drive on an empty stomach.”

  Lena chuckled as she pushed the toaster handle down to make toast. She dished up hash browns and eggs while the bread toasted, and set the ketchup, butter, peanut butter, and jam on the table. The toast popped up and each one grabbed a hot slice and took it to the table to fix.

  They all chattered away while they ate, with both Victoria and Rafael giving Lena last-minute instructions about the house, the park, and keeping in touch with them. She finally laughed and held up her hand.

  “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the mama here,” she said. “I think I know how to take care of myself and the house. If I don’t by now, I need to be replaced.”

  “We’re sorry, Mama,” Victoria said with an apologetic smile. “We’re just so keyed up, and a little nervous about leaving the park so soon after it’s opened. But we really want to take this trip, so we’ve tried to cover our butts in every aspect. We’ll be gone it a little bit and you can have some peace and quiet for weeks and weeks.”

  “Yeah, sorry, Lena,” Rafael added. “Vic’s right; we’re just all wound up this morning. I’ve typed you out a list of stuff in case you need it—the pool man’s number, a lawn service that will take care of the lawn while we’re gone, the phone numbers of all three of the onsite managers down at the park, and a few others.”

  He handed the paper to Lena who scanned it quickly and then burst out laughing. The very first number at the top of the page was 911.

  “I think I knew that one,” she said, winking at Rafael.

  “Yeah, well, I just wanted to make sure,” he teased.

  After grabbing fresh water bottles and hugging Lena until she squealed, the two finally scooted out the door that led into the garage and got into the motorhome. Rafael raised the garage door with the clicker, put it into reverse, and rolled backwards out of the garage. At the foot of their driveway, he turned toward the Ericksens’ place so they could say goodbye to them. That took another ten minutes, but they were finally heading down the long drive toward the street.

  After a quick stop at the nearest supermarket to get milk, bread, cheese, some fresh fruit, and a dozen eggs, they were finally ready to roll in earnest. The first day would take them up the California coast as far as they wanted to go. Which happened to be just north of Santa Rosa. They found an RV park and pulled in for the night.

  Victoria fixed them some sandwiches and heated up a can of soup for their supper. Then they walked around the RV park a bit just to stretch their legs and get some exercise before turning in for the night.

  The next morning they continued their journey up the California coastline. They stopped several places along the way, especially when they got into the Redwoods. When they spied Paul Bunyan and Babe, his giant blue ox along side the highway, they just had to stop and see just what the mystery was at Trees of Mystery.

  They were up early Saturday morning and anxious to get all the way to Crater Lake National Park that day. After a quick breakfast of cold cereal, they were on the road again. It took them about four hours to go from Crescent City up to Crater Lake. When they first arrived in the park, they reserved an RV spot, and then drove on up to the rim.

  The park was a busy place that day, but they eventually found a place big enough to park the motorhome. They got out and walked over to the edge of the caldera and what they saw took their breath away. At approximately 1,942 feet deep, it’s the deepest lake in the United States. The perfect clarity of the water renders its vivid blue color. Approximately six miles across at the widest point, the lake partially fills the caldera of an old volcano.

  After Victoria got over her initial awe, she remembered her new camera and began snapping photo after photo, zooming in on Wizard Island, Phantom Ship, the far side of the caldera, and the intense blue-green water at the edge of the shoreline hundreds of feet below them.

  They walked along the sidewalk that edged the rim seeing the lake from different places. They learned that they could drive all around the lake, so decided to do that. But first, Victoria had to check out the gift shop. Rafael was glad she did because he discovered a snack bar inside the Rim Gift Shop and he was hungry.

  They bought sandwiches to eat there, and snacks to eat on the drive around the lake. Victoria bought postcards to mail to their moms and her grandparents, a t-shirt that she liked, and a beautiful sculpture of a cougar on a fallen log that she had shipped home. Rafael found a t-shirt that he liked, too.

  Leaving the gift shop, they began the rim drive. There were numerous turnouts along the way where they stopped to take more photos and to be amazed at the beauty of the lake. Part way around the lake, they came to the only trail that the public is allowed to hike down to the lake on. The boat dock was at the bottom of the trail. They inquired at the ticket booth about getting a boat ride that afternoon. They had barely enough time to hike the 1.1 miles down to the lake and catch the last boat of the day. The man in the ticket booth radioed the boat captain to tell him that he had two stragglers on their way down and to wait for them.

  Going down was pretty easy, even for out-of-shape people like Victoria. The trail was nice and wide, with large rocks along the way to sit and rest on. They were the last ones to board the boat, and as soon as they were life-jacketed and seated, the boat took off. The cruise around the lake was fabulous, and the boat’s captain entertained them with information and stories about the lake.

  The hike back up the trail to the parking lot was a different story. They then understood the joke in the gift shop when one of the employees told them that it was 1.1 miles down and 11 miles back up. It may have been the same distance both ways, but it certainly felt farther climbing several hundred feet in elevation. The thin air of 6-7,000 feet in elevation left them winded in no time at all.

  They finally made it back to the parking lot and collapsed in the motorhome, catching their breath for a couple of minutes before continuing on the rest of the rim drive. The circle drive ended at the national park’s visitor’s center, but it had just closed, so they drove back to the campground and parked the motorhome in their assigned spot.

  They went for a walk and found a small convenience store and the Annie Creek Restaurant and Gift Shop. More treasures beckoned Victoria to browse the store, while the wonderful aromas emanating from the restaurant side reminded Rafael that the strenuous hike had depleted his reserves of food. Before they walked back to the motorhome, they were both satisfied with full tummies and a bagful of souvenirs.

  The next morning they headed out, again taking the rim drive part of the way to where taking a left fork in the road took them out of the park and onto a highway that would carry them north for a ways before they would need to branch off onto another highway going east. They made Mountain Home, Idaho, by nightfall, but it was a long day. There wasn’t much to see across eastern Oregon, but the novelty of seeing new places kept them interested all day.

  On Monday, they crossed Idaho and got into Jackson, Wyoming, in time to r
ent a nice RV spot for the night. The following day would be the Fourth of July and their first wedding anniversary.

  “Well, I guess we didn’t make it back to the Queen Mary for our first anniversary, like we had talked about a year ago,” Rafael said as they were getting ready for bed.

  “No, but I’m having just as wonderful of a time, and we’re seeing new places,” Victoria said. “I’m not disappointed. Are you?”

  “Not at all,” Rafael said. “I’m having a great time. What I could see of this town as we were driving in looks really cool. I’d like to check it out more in the morning before we drive on in to Yellowstone, if you’re good with that.”

  “Sure! I thought it looked interesting, too,” Victoria replied. “Looks like a fun place to begin our first anniversary.”

  At the crack of dawn, they both awakened almost at the same time. Victoria had to get up and go potty, which woke up Rafael. When she returned to bed, he pulled her close.

  “Happy Anniversary, my love,” he said tenderly. “I love you even more today than I did a year ago.”

  “Happy Anniversary to you,” Victoria returned. “I love you so much more, too. We’ve been through so much together already, but you’ve stuck by me through thick and thin.”

  Their lips met in a passionate kiss that led to passionate lovemaking. Having started their anniversary off in the right way, they got up and prepared for another full day of sightseeing. Exploring Jackson took most of their day, and when they learned that the RV parks inside Yellowstone were full, they decided to just stay another night where they were and drive into Yellowstone the next morning.

  They found a really cool restaurant with an Old West flavor to have dinner in. And when it began to get dark, they made their way to where the fireworks show would be. It was a quite spectacular show, and they both enjoyed it. After the fireworks were over, they walked back to the motorhome to make some fireworks of their own.

  Just before sleep overtook them, Victoria whispered in Rafael’s ear. “This has been a perfect first anniversary. I love you so much, I can’t even tell you how much.”

  “It has been perfect,” he murmured. “I love you, too, so much.”

  And they drifted off into a blissful sleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next morning they drove up into Yellowstone National Park, and to the location of Old Faithful. They hung around for about fifteen minutes until it was time for it to go off. Right on time, a jet of water shot out of the ground and into the air. They spend the day seeing the other interesting phenomena in the park, including the bubbling hot mud pots, Morning Glory Pool, and Emerald Pool. Of course, Victoria took gobs of pictures.

  That evening back in the motorhome, she printed out the ones from that day and the day before. She even managed to capture a couple of the biggest fireworks that looked really cool. She put them in the album, and wrote the pertinent data with one of the pretty pens.

  Early the next morning they were on the road to Cody, home of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Touring that huge museum, which is really five museums in one, took most of the day. Under one roof are the Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indians Museum, Whitney Western Art Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, and the McCracken Research Library. And the requisite gift shop.

  Even Victoria found the Cody Firearms Museum fascinating. In addition to guns of all kinds covering many years, there were also guns there that had been used by movie stars such as John Wayne in movies.

  Back in the motorhome, which was again parked in an RV park, Victoria printed out photos and placed them in the album while Rafael wrote postcards to his mom and to Lena. Victoria wrote one to her grandparents. They also called their moms to check in with them and let them know that they were fine and having a wonderful time.

  All was well on the home front, with the crowds continuing to pour into Thornton Park daily. Lena reported that Mickey was doing a fine job of running things, and everyone appeared to be doing their job very well.

  Manuela told Rafael that she had been to visit Mateo and he seemed to be a little less angry and hostile. She had hopes that he would see the error of his ways and someday be able to apologize to Rafael and Victoria, and really mean it.

  Rafael checked in on RAVA, and saw that, indeed, the sales were good as were the gate admissions. Everything looked just perfect, and they were both relieved. Both of them were certain that things would be all right while they were gone, but it still made them feel better to hear and see that things really were going well.

  Friday morning, they began the trek from Cody, Wyoming, to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in southern Montana. The trip was going well. They were enjoying the varied scenery and loving every minute of being footloose and free from duties.

  About two-thirds of the way between Cody and Ranchester, where they would turn north to swing up into Montana, the road started climbing a mountain. The road was rather twisty in places and made Victoria rather nervous. Not that she’d never been on mountain roads before, but this one was rather scary to her.

  She was quiet, letting Rafael concentrate on his driving. He seemed relaxed and was taking it all in stride, but she noticed, too, that he quit talking and kept his eyes on the road, rather than looking around at the scenery as he had been doing. They crested the summit and started the twisting, winding trek downhill. Victoria wasn’t too sure which was scarier, going uphill or down. It seemed that Rafael was letting the motorhome coast too fast, so she finally said something.

  “Slow down, please, babe,” she said. “You’re scaring me.”

  Rafael touched the brake and slowed the coach down somewhat. But as soon as he let up again, it speeded back up.

  “Please?” she said, her voice betraying her fear.

  “I can’t ride the brakes all the way, they’ll burn,” he said tersely.

  “Gear down?”

  “I’m going too fast. It’ll strip the gears.”

  Finally they leveled out a bit and Rafael was able to bring the rig down to a slower speed, and Victoria heaved a sigh of relief. But the danger wasn’t over yet. They came to another downhill stretch that wasn’t quite so curvy, but they picked up speed again. Victoria held her breath as he negotiated a broad curve.

  Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the motorhome began wobbling all over the place. Rafael fought the steering wheel, but they careened toward the guardrail. Victoria screamed and then fainted. When she came to a few seconds later, the motorhome had stopped.

  “Don’t move a muscle,” Rafael said through clenched teeth. “Not one muscle.”

  Victoria looked out the windshield out into … nothing.

  Book 5 Sneak Peek

  Keep reading for a three chapter preview of Book 4: The Perfect Revenge.

  Chapter 1

  Holding her breath to keep from screaming again, Victoria was frozen in place. Rafael’s command to not move was unnecessary, because she couldn’t have moved if she’d had to. Rafael moved his hand slowly, ever so slowly, and put the transmission in Park. Then he reached carefully for his cell phone to call 911.

  The 911 operator took his information and told him she would dispatch an officer and a tow truck immediately. As they were quite a ways from any town, it took about thirty minutes for the tow truck to arrive. However, a state policeman was on the scene within five minutes.

  He assessed the situation from outside, and then got a tow cable from his SUV, carefully hooked it to the back bumper of the motorhome and then to his front bumper. Backing up his SUV a couple of feet put enough tension on the motorhome to hold it in place so that Rafael and Victoria could get out of it safely.

  Once they were on solid ground again, they saw that the motorhome wasn’t as far over the edge as they had thought. Only the right front wheel was suspended in mid-air, and the guardrail was essentially holding the rig from plunging over the embankment. Filled with relief at being safe, Victoria began to tremble all over. Rafael was
n’t too far behind her, although being the man, he tried his best to hide his nervousness in order to calm his wife.

  They were still very worried about their motorhome, but the officer assured them that the cable would hold it until the tow truck arrived. Checking in on his radio, the officer learned that the tow truck was now only about fifteen minutes out. While they waited, Victoria took several photos of the motorhome in its precarious position on her smart phone and posted them on Facebook with the caption, “We are safe!”

  The tow truck finally arrived and got the motorhome back with all four wheels on solid ground, and then he put on a new tire.

  “What made the tire blow?” Rafael asked the tow truck driver. “The motorhome is practically brand new. There aren’t more than ten thousand miles on those tires.”

  “Not sure,” the man replied. “Looks like there could have been a defect in it. It’s so shredded that it’s hard to tell for sure.”

  Rafael took care of the paperwork for the insurance company, and then gave the driver a tip. He offered the police officer one, too, but the officer refused, saying that he wasn’t allowed to accept any gifts. He stayed by until Rafael and Victoria were back on the road. Rafael had learned from the tow truck driver that if he geared down out of overdrive to third gear, and set the cruise control, that the rig wouldn’t freewheel downhill as readily. So the rest of the way down that long grade was covered at a much more sensible speed, much to Victoria’s relief.

  In less than two more hours, they arrived at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. After eating some lunch first, they then got out and began to look around. The memorial to one of the most significant American battles was a solemnly grand place. As they read the information posted, and surveyed the vast battlefield with its rows and rows of markers, they were reminded of the awful cost of war, no matter which side is considered right.