The River Valley Series

by Tess Thompson

  Later that afternoon, she had just put the last of the frozen meals in the freezer when Drake came into the kitchen. “Listen, I’ve been thinking. And I have an idea. A way to keep Alder safe. And you.”

  She watched him, unsure what to say.

  “I think you two should move into one of my guest suites. Just until the police find this guy. I have a high-powered electric fence all the way around this property. There’s no way to get in or out. Alder can stay with me while you’re at work. I have a guest quarters in the outside building as well, but I’d feel better if you stayed in the house with me.”

  She stared at him. What did he mean? Stay here? With him? Why would he do such a generous thing for a stranger?

  He brushed a hand through his thick hair. “No agenda on my part or anything. I’m sure a beautiful woman like you has a lot of creeps trying to get in your bed. It’s nothing like that, I assure you.”

  Again, she could think of nothing to say. He thought she was beautiful? She tugged on a damp curl at the nape of her neck.

  “I’ll keep a close eye on Alder while you’re at work. He’ll be safe here.”

  “I, I don’t know,” she finally managed.

  He pulled on his left earlobe, like a tired child. “Anyway, I think you should take me up on my offer. It’ll be temporary until they catch this guy. No one in town knows me, so if he starts asking around no one would possibly guess you’re here.”

  “That’s a really good point.”

  “Legit,” he said, smiling.

  She smiled back. “Yeah, that’s pretty legit.” She sobered. “But he’s going to find me at the restaurant. There’s no way around that.”

  “Just make sure you’re never alone there.” He paused, shoving his hands in his pockets again. “I can pick you up.”

  “I work late most nights.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t sleep much.”

  “But why would you do this? I thought you didn’t want to ever leave here again.”

  His eyes clouded into something more like a murky winter sky than the clear blue of a mountain lake of the moment before. “I have my reasons.”

  “How do I explain this to Alder?”

  “Does he know about his father?”

  “He knows he exists and that I had to leave because he hurt me. But it’s never really been a topic of regular conversation. Except for a brief relationship a couple years ago, it’s just been the two of us. It’s our normal.” She paused, rubbing her hand on the counter. “I’m afraid it will frighten him to know that Marco is out there and coming for us.”

  “Do you think he would buy it that I’ve asked you to be a live-in cook?”

  She cocked her head to the side. “Maybe. It’s just that he loves our little house and being so close to Ellen. And her dog. I think he’ll protest unless I tell him the truth.”

  “A child should never have to be afraid.”

  “But we can assure him he’ll be safe here and that the police are keeping watch for Marco.”

  His features soft, he leaned against the counter. “Whatever you want to do, I respect. You’re his mother. Mothers always know the best course for their children.”

  “No, you’re right. I won’t tell him. I’ll just tell him you need someone here at the house for a while.” She looked at her hands, pink and chapped from always being in water. “I’ll tell him now and then I should call my friends. I’ll need to get some things and I’m afraid to go home alone.”

  He took in a deep breath, resting his hands on the counter like he might do a pushup. “I’ll take you,” he said, quietly.

  “You don’t have to. My friends will come.”

  “I’ll take you,” he said, with a finality that made her imagine him in the boardroom of his company. Here, yet again, another side of Drake Webber. Twice now, he’d broken his vow to never leave the mountain. For them, no less.

  Chapter 7

  Alder was on the couch reading Huck Finn in the large front room. His eyes flew open wide when she told him they were moving into the guest suite.

  “But why?”

  “Mr. Webber needs a full-time helper for a while. To look after him.”

  “But what about Momo? She needs me.”

  “She’ll have to come visit you here.”

  “Mom, what’s going on? This doesn’t make any sense.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me the truth. Why did I have to come here today?”

  She looked at him for a long moment. He was too smart, she thought. Too old for his age. An old soul, Tommy always said. “Your biological father contacted me today. He’s been released from prison.”

  “He was in prison?”

  “Yes. For hurting me. And drugs.”

  “He knows where we live?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does he know about me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think he wants to meet me?” His eyes were innocent, almost hopeful.

  “Honey, no, he’s not…” she trailed off. How could she tell him that his father was a dangerous man and that he had threatened to hurt them? “He hates me, blames me that he had to spend ten years in prison.”

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Drake standing in the doorway. They made eye contact as he came into the room and sat on the edge of the coffee table. “Alder, this is hard to understand when you’re still a kid but sometimes our parents are not good people,” he said.

  Alder nodded, his eyes wise and sad. “I know that. He used to hurt my mom. It’s just that I would like to meet him, just to see his face, to know where I came from.”

  Annie stared at him, tears in her eyes. She had no idea he felt this way. Why hadn’t he ever told her this?

  “I understand,” said Drake. “My father left us when I was little. And even though I hated him for abandoning us I still wished he would move back home. It’s hard to understand unless you’ve been there.”

  “Right,” said Alder, his eyes sadder than Annie had ever seen them.

  “But your mother has reasons to believe he’s dangerous to both of you. And for that reason, I want you to stay here with me until the police can sort it out.”

  “You have a big fence,” said Alder, nodding solemnly.

  “I do. You’ll be here with me while your mom’s at work.” He gestured towards the wall of books. “I have a lot of reading material.”

  Alder looked over at Annie. “But what about swimming with Momo?”

  “This is just temporary. The police will take care of it.” But even as she said it, she could hear the doubt creeping into her voice.

  “But, Mom, what about when you’re at work? You won’t be safe then.”

  “I’ll make sure that people are always with me,” she said. “Lee and Cindi are almost always in the front of the restaurant. And Billy is in the back with me. Plus all the servers. And Linus just next door. They’ll all look after me.”

  “And we’ll take your mother to work and pick her up,” said Drake. He paused, glancing towards the window. “I might like to take you swimming. There’s a swimming hole down the road here. Come look.” He and Alder went to the window. “See there, where the river bends?”

  “Yeah,” said Alder, as Annie joined them.

  “That’s a perfect swimming hole, wide and deep. And a little sandy beach and rocks to jump off of. We’re the only ones who have access to it. I had a special road built to get to it.”

  “Mr. Webber, why would you do this for us?” asked Alder.

  “I have my reasons.” He tugged on his earlobe in the way that she now knew was habit when he was thinking something through. “The main thing is no child and their mother should ever have to be afraid of a bad man harming them.”

  “And my father’s a bad man.” Alder said it resignedly, as a statement of fact.

  Annie’s heart ached. Why had she ever made the decision to let Marco into her life? Here it was, all these years later, coming back to haunt them both.

 
“I’m afraid so,” said Drake. “I’m sorry, bud.”

  “It’s okay.” He stared out the window for a moment. “I’m sorry about your dad too.” Still facing the river view, he looked up at Drake. “Did your father ever come home again?”

  Drake shook his head. “No, he never did. He died a long time ago. After he left us, he never reached out to my sister or me. But I had a wonderful mother.”

  “Just like me.”

  “That’s right,” said Drake, with a smile. “Just like you.”

  Annie brushed a tear from the corner of her eye, turning away so neither man nor child would see.

  “Come on, Alder, let me show you and your mom where you’ll be staying,” said Drake. “You’ll like it. We had it built for my sister but she won’t be visiting anytime soon, so it’s all yours.”

  We? Again.

  They walked down the hallway towards the other end of the house. There were five closed doors. He pointed to the door at the end of the hallway. “There’s the master suite, where I sleep,” he said to Alder as they stopped at the first door. He pointed to the room opposite of the guest suite door. “This is a guest room, where you can sleep if you want, or there’s a fold-out couch in the guest suite if you would rather sleep closer to your mom.”

  Alder glanced at the door and then back at Drake. “Can I think about it?”

  “Sure. Good plan.”

  “What are the other two doors?” asked Alder.

  Drake’s face darkened. He looked at the floor. “Please don’t ever go in those rooms. They’re private.”

  Alder nodded, his round face earnest. “Oh, I won’t if you say so.”

  “I appreciate that.” Drake glanced over at Annie.

  She shied away from his gaze, fixing her eyes upon the door instead. There was something about him that was both painful and sad. She’d been wrong about him, she thought. He was a man in pain, not an angry, rude man as she’d first thought.

  Drake opened the door to the guest quarters. There was a sitting area with a couch and chair, a full-screen television mounted on the wall, and a gas fireplace made of what looked like river rock.

  “Sweet television,” said Alder.

  “Don’t get too excited,” said Annie. “Same rules as home. One hour max.”

  “Mom, really?”

  “Really.”

  Behind another door was the bedroom, with a four-poster, king-size bed and matching dresser made in walnut. Long white curtains hung over large windows. There were two sitting chairs in a light tan fabric, facing one another, with an ottoman between them. On one wall was another fireplace, this one made with jagged and uneven gray rocks. The bed was made up with white linens, a tan throw blanket, and one blue and white accent pillow.

  “This is a beautiful room,” said Annie.

  Drake went to the window, pulling back one of the curtains an inch so that it matched its mate hanging on the other side of the window. “This space was designed for my sister. She lives in Los Angeles. But she might not ever come to visit.”

  “Why?” asked Alder.

  “She’s a make-up artist for movie stars. Loves her work. And she has a boyfriend,” he added, with a wry twist of his mouth. He didn’t like the boyfriend. That was obvious. But why?

  “Oh,” Alder said, nodding his head like he knew all about women and their boyfriends. “That explains it.”

  Drake shrugged, a look of disdain on his face. “I can’t imagine how anyone could live down there with all those phonies, but she likes it. For now.”

  Annie glanced at her watch. It was just after three o’clock. “Should we get going? It might take us an hour to get packed up.”

  “Sure thing,” said Drake.

  In Drake’s car on the way to her home, the air conditioner blew on her face so that her curls tickled her forehead and cheeks. Alder, in the back seat, was quiet. She resisted the urge to ask him if he was all right. He hated it when she hovered over him lately. Motherhood was a constant exercise in letting go, she thought. Every day they grew more independent from their mother. As it should be, of course. She knew that. But it still hurt.

  She told Drake where to turn off the main highway. “Just stay on this road for five or so miles. I’ll tell you when to turn onto our road.”

  They drove for a mile or two in silence. “Haven’t been this way before,” he said.

  “A lot of the older homes are out this way.” She told him briefly of her rental arrangement with Lee and of their shared history, both what brought Lee to River Valley and the story of opening the restaurant, leaving out the part about how much danger Lee had been in when she first arrived.

  He glanced over at her. “I remember the story from the papers. The high tech community was shocked when her husband committed suicide. Matter of fact, I had my eye on Lee Tucker. She was well respected in my circles.”

  “She’s a great businesswoman. What she’s done with the restaurant is nothing short of amazing.”

  “Your food is the biggest part of that.”

  “Yeah, Mom,” said Alder from the back.

  She smiled. “Well, my point is, she runs the business side of things so I can focus on cooking. I barely know how to turn on a computer and she’s a whiz with spreadsheets and all that kind of thing. We’re a great team.”

  At the curve in the road before her driveway she let him know to turn. He did so, slowing the car as the road turned to gravel.

  “Would you like to come in?” she asked, glancing at the house. It was an old farmhouse, freshly painted white with black trim and with a sweeping porch in the front. Nothing like the majestic mountain retreat of Drake Webber’s home, but home nonetheless for her and Alder. They’d been happy here, both of them grateful to live in a newly remodeled home, especially compared to the small apartments and trailers of their past.

  “I’d better,” said Drake. “Make sure it’s all clear.”

  They were all getting out of the car when there was the sound of another car coming down the long dirt driveway. She tensed, anticipating the worst. But it was only Tommy’s truck, bouncing in the potholes. Lee was sitting beside him, her strawberry blond hair blowing in the breeze from an open window. Ellie-Rose was in a car seat in the backseat.

  “Who is it?” asked Drake, his eyes alert.

  “It’s just Lee and Tommy,” said Alder.

  Tommy pulled up next to Drake’s car. Lee hopped out almost immediately, her gaze on Drake, while Tommy opened the back to get Ellie-Rose.

  “We came by to steal some herbs from your garden,” said Lee. “Hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all.” Annie gestured towards Drake. “You remember Drake Webber.”

  “Of course. My best customer for two weeks there.” Lee smiled in her gentle way but her eyes were distrusting. She didn’t like him, Annie could tell. She’d been skeptical when Annie first told her what he’d offered to pay for one day of cooking. It still took Lee a long time to trust anyone outside her tight circle of friends.

  Tommy, with Ellie-Rose on his hip, reached out to shake Drake’s hand. “Don’t believe we’ve met, though,” said Tommy.

  “You’re the singer,” said Drake. “I recognize you from your posters.”

  “That’s right. You should come hear us some time. We play four nights a week in the summer.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Drake. “Not my kind of thing.” He was staring at Ellie-Rose, like someone looking at an old photograph, perhaps pained at seeing the past one could not get back.

  “Sure. Of course.” Tommy’s face was open and kind, as always, but she could see he was trying to understand this mysterious man.

  “Can you guys come in for a minute?” asked Annie. “I need to talk to you.”

  Ellie-Rose was squirming in Tommy’s arms. “Dada. Down. Me play with Alder.”

  Alder held out his hands as Tommy set her on the ground. “Come on, munchkin. You can help me pack.” They headed, hand in hand, towards the house.

>   “Pack?” asked Lee, twisting around to look at Annie. “What’s he talking about?”

  “Wait,” called out Drake to Alder. “Don’t go inside without me.” His voice was loud, almost panicked. Alder jumped and scooped up Ellie-Rose in his arms, standing still in the middle of the yard.

  “Alder, you two stay out here until I make sure everything’s all right,” said Drake.

  “Okay, we will,” said Alder.

  “Swing,” said Ellie-Rose, pointing at the swing hanging from the large oak in the front yard. Alder put her down and she ran towards it with him behind her. He set her on top of the flat swing. “Hold on tight,” he said, pushing her in a two-foot arc back and forth.

  Drake looked over at Annie. He reached inside his car and pulled a small pistol out of the glove box before stuffing it in the pocket of his pants. “Don’t worry,” he said to Annie. “I took shooting lessons for months. I’m perfectly safe.”

  Tommy and Lee both stared at him as he headed towards the house. At the front door, he stopped. “Is it locked?” he called to Annie.

  “Oh, yes, right,” she said, feeling Lee and Tommy’s gaze boring a hole through her backside. She sprinted to the porch where she took the key from her purse and opened the door. “I don’t think there’s any way to get in,” she said to Drake. “The house is fairly secure.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” said Drake. “We’re never safe. Especially not in a house without a security system. You need a locked gate and a system installed in this house. Even then, it’s not safe.” He looked at her, his eyes empty of expression. “You stay here. I’ll go in and make sure it’s clear. Keep your friends and the kids out here, too.”

  He reached for his gun, cocked it and went inside. He almost seemed like a cop the way he handled the gun, she thought. Or some kind of crazy vigilante.

  The screen door slammed. She turned to see Tommy and Lee standing on the steps.

  “What the hell’s going on?” asked Lee, her face both scared and angry. “Why does he have a gun?”

  “Sit,” said Annie, pointing to the steps. “I’ll tell you everything.” She hesitated when tears threatened to stifle her voice but as succinctly as possible she told them of the phone calls from Marco and Drake Webber’s offer.