Mountains Apart (Mills & Boon Heartwarming)

by Ross, Carol

  “Yes, he will. Franklin said he was leaving today.”

  Amanda looked down at her shoes, which had begun tapping out a rhythm on the floor. “I happen to know for a fact that Kim couldn’t get him out on a plane tonight. Well, she got him on a plane, but only to Dallas.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah,” Amanda murmured, her face twisted into a look of exaggerated disappointment. “Unfortunately, she could only get him as far as Dallas tonight. And then tomorrow he’s getting on a plane that’s going to Seattle, where he will again be delayed for quite some time. And then, in Anchorage there will be yet another delay and I just...” She shook her head sadly and said, “I don’t think he’s going to make it in time, Em. I’m sorry.”

  Emily was shocked at Amanda as her words began to register. She flopped down onto the sofa next to her. “I love you, Amanda.”

  “As well you should. Now, let’s get going, because it’s really bad form to be late for a surprise party.”

  * * *

  BERING WAS DEEP in thought as he drove into the parking lot of the Cozy Caribou. He was also a little grumpy, as he’d wanted to spend the evening alone with Emily. It would be their last night together before the vote. And he wanted to savor these last moments before everything unraveled. But his mother had insisted that he meet her and Janie for dinner. The only reason she’d agreed to this small of a party was because Bering had threatened to not show up at all if she planned anything larger. So they’d compromised on a quiet dinner with just her, Janie, Tag and Shay.

  Tag was standing outside the door when he arrived, and grabbed him in a bear hug. “Hey, happy birthday, cousin.”

  “Thanks, Tag. And thanks for coming tonight, man. I really don’t feel like listening to Mom and Janie interrogate me about Emily all night. Maybe at least now they’ll be on you about Amanda, too.” Bering chuckled and slapped Tag on the shoulder as they stepped into total darkness.

  “Why are all the lights out? Maybe they blew a breaker,” Bering said as he groped around for the light switch.

  “Surprise!” A crowd of people jumped out from under tables and behind the bar as the place lit up. Music came on amid cheers and more shouts of “Surprise!” and “Happy birthday!” His mom and Janie were instantly by his side.

  Bering glared at his mother. “Mom, I thought you said we were having a quiet dinner?”

  “We are,” she said, “having dinner. It’s just not going to be quite as quiet as I implied....You’re not mad at me, are you, honey?”

  How could he be mad at this woman who’d given him nothing but love and support his entire life? “No, Mom.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and then Janie’s, too, although he added a whispered threat in her ear.

  He was visiting with a couple friends when he looked up and saw her. He gritted his teeth. She was wearing red. Her hair was swinging around her shoulders as she talked and gestured with her hands. Bering wanted to grab her hand and walk out the door and forget about the people, the party, tomorrow’s vote and all the rest of this mess that they were tangled up in.

  Then she met his eyes and smiled. Her entire being seemed to transform with that smile. And his heart swelled because he knew that it was only for him. He imagined for a moment that she shared a love for him as strong as he had for her.

  He walked toward her and didn’t stop until he was standing right next to her. She was talking to Cricket Blackburn, but thankfully, this time Bering didn’t feel so much like punching him, especially when she reached up and threaded her arms around his neck and kissed him quickly and sweetly on the lips.

  “Happy birthday, Bering.” She whispered the words with her lips still touching his.

  “It is now,” he said as he grinned down at her.

  * * *

  EMILY HAD FUN, and in spite of Bering’s initial irritation, she could tell that he did, too. He barely left her side, and anyone who had doubts about the status of their relationship before the party wasn’t left guessing by the end of the evening.

  “Well,” Emily said several hours later as she followed him into his house. “No thanks to you, I got you something for your birthday.”

  “What do you mean, no thanks to me?” He slipped off his jacket and threw it on a chair. He went toward the fridge, opened it and removed two sodas. He unscrewed the tops and handed her one.

  “What’s this?” Her face lit with delight. Usually the only beverage Bering gave her outside the Cozy Caribou was water or some type of vegetable or fruit concoction that he whipped up in his blender.

  “It’s a special occasion,” he said with a smile.

  She put a hand on her hip. “Yeah, and you didn’t even tell me it was your birthday.”

  He moved closer and kissed her softly on the lips. “I hope it’s this sweater,” he said. He set his bottle down and pulled her into his arms, splaying his hands across her back.

  “You hope what’s this sweater?”

  “My present—I hope this is it. I like it. Where did you get it?”

  “I ordered it online, and I’m glad you like it.”

  “I do. Now let’s go watch a movie so I can admire you in it.”

  “I want you to open your present first.” She removed the gift from her bag and handed it to him.

  He peeled the paper away and opened the box. He looked puzzled as he peered down at it. “Emily, you can’t regift this. I already gave it to you.”

  She smiled at him. “I know, but it’s not quite the same. Look at it again—closely.”

  He stared at it hard for several minutes. Finally he looked up. “You did this?” he asked incredulously.

  “I did.”

  “I’ve been trying to find out for weeks who did it.”

  Emily lifted her brows in surprise. “Well, you should have asked me—or Amanda.”

  “I did ask Amanda,” he said. “She seemed the logical person to ask, since Cam-Field donated it. Now that I think about it, she didn’t actually say that she didn’t know who’d drawn it....”

  “She wouldn’t,” Emily said happily. “She was just protecting me. I didn’t want anyone to know. She’s a very good assistant.”

  He looked at it again and then at her as if he couldn’t quite believe it.

  * * *

  BERING WAS HAVING a hard time. He couldn’t reconcile the image she’d created in the sketch with who she was as a part of Cam-Field. He liked it, but it bothered him, too. He couldn’t believe that someone who could see a picture like this and capture it so beautifully could just as easily destroy it. He was struggling to comprehend it. But for now he knew he needed to put it out of his mind and enjoy the fact that she’d given him such a precious gift.

  “Emily, you’re really talented.”

  “Thank you. But there’s something I want to talk to you about, too,” she said.

  “Okay,” he agreed. “Can I ask for something first?”

  “Of course.”

  “A kiss,” he whispered and touched his lips to hers.

  “Thank you for this,” he said. “I know exactly where I’m going to hang it.”

  “You do?” she answered. “Already?”

  “Yep,” he said. “Afterward, I kind of wished I hadn’t given it to you.”

  “Bering!”

  “Well, I didn’t think you would appreciate it like I would, is all.” He chuckled and rubbed a hand over his chin. “But who knew you had drawn it? I am in awe....”

  “Bering, I—”

  The chirp of his cell phone interrupted them. He looked at the display with a scowl. “It’s Janie. I have to answer it,” he said, but what he didn’t say was that he knew it had to be important, because she wouldn’t bother him tonight if it wasn’t. At least it had better be....

  “Janie, he
y, what’s up? Gareth? What? Have you called Tag? Okay, good. Yep, I’ll be there as soon as I can.

  “It’s Janie. She’s, uh, she’s in labor. But it’s still too early. I have to go and be with the boys while my mom meets her at the hospital.” He grabbed his jacket and slipped it on.

  “Is there anything I can do? Would you like me to sit with the boys so you can go to the hospital?”

  “Um, maybe... Can you come with me right now?”

  She put on her coat, grabbed her bag and they headed out the door.

  * * *

  EMILY SPENT THE NIGHT at Janie’s, and Bering spent the night at the hospital. Emily had slept intermittently on the sofa. Bering had finally called her from the hospital around 4:00 a.m., but it was six in the morning before he felt comfortable leaving the hospital.

  Now he was telling her that while Janie’s condition had been extremely serious, she was currently stable and so were the babies. They had managed to stop the labor, but she was going to have to stay in the hospital for a few days and take it easy for the remainder of her term. Which meant the rest of the family would have to step it up to help her with the older boys.

  “Mom has already written up a schedule so someone can pick the kids up from school every day. I have Tuesdays and Fridays.”

  “Bering, please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. He buried his face in her hair. “Emily, you’ve done so much already. Staying here all night like this so I could be at the hospital...” He whispered softly, “Thank you.” Then he pulled away and looked down at her.

  She smiled warmly at him. “It was the least I could do. I’m so glad she’s doing okay.”

  “How are the boys?”

  “Worried about their mom. They were up late, but they are still sleeping. They were relieved that they didn’t have to go to school. Why don’t you go lie down for a while and get some sleep? I don’t have to be at the office until ten.”

  Bering took her up on the offer and slept soundly until nearly ten when Emily came in to wake him. Tag was calling on her cell phone looking for Bering....

  * * *

  BERING MET THE SENATOR at the Cozy Caribou. He shook his hand and sat down opposite him in a booth. “Jack, thank you so much for coming—I didn’t expect you to actually show up for the vote.”

  “You’re welcome, Bering. It’s my pleasure—and a really good excuse to get out of Washington for a couple days. Tag told me about Janie. How is she?”

  “Still in the hospital, but it looks like she and the twins are going to be fine.”

  “That’s wonderful news. She’s a strong woman.”

  “That she is.” Bering nodded and waited for the senator to continue.

  “The reason that I’m here, Bering, is that things have moved even faster than I anticipated. It didn’t take much digging to piece it all together. And...long story short—there are indictments.”

  “Indictments?”

  “Yep, this investigation has taken on a life of its own. And we have you to thank for that, Bering. The Department of Justice guys served Franklin Campbell and the CFO at their office this morning. But it seems that his nephew, Strathom, the senior VP, is on the run.”

  “On the run?”

  “In transit, anyway. He was supposed to be here in Rankins last night, but apparently there was some kind of mix-up with his flight and he ended up in Great Skeet for the night. We’re assuming it was unintentional.”

  “I would say so,” Bering said. “They don’t even have an airport up there.”

  Senator Marsh smiled at Bering. “Apparently, they have an ice field that’s suitable as a landing strip. Word is he had to spend the night in an old maintenance shed. And now there’s a storm moving in up there. But I’m here to hold a press conference and announce the indictments before the town-council convenes. I tried calling your house and cell phone several times during the flight and again this morning but I couldn’t reach you, which is why I called Tag. We have notified the news outlets, so I wanted you to be here for this.”

  “I see,” Bering said weakly. His head was spinning. He looked across the room and saw that a pool table had been moved and a podium set up in its place. There were people milling around with microphones and cameras. Just then another news crew came in through the door and headed toward the crowd. “I was at the hospital all night and had switched it off. I saw that you called, but I never thought...”

  Bering hadn’t even dreamed there were going to be indictments. The senator had told him about the investigation, but in Bering’s experience, things didn’t usually move so quickly where Washington, D.C., was concerned. He had assumed that the senator would bog the project down in some type of political red tape, but he hadn’t been expecting this. He wished he had time to tell Emily; still, it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. If the project was stopped—it was stopped. And he knew Emily well enough to know that she would not want something illegal to be going down within her own company.

  “I almost feel sorry for Campbell’s stepdaughter. I wonder how she’s going to take the news. Has she arrived yet? I’ve been curious about her—we haven’t been able to pin any of this on her yet. It’s easy to assume that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but as she didn’t actually come from the tree... Who knows, right? The employees sure seem to love her, but it’s hard to believe that she could have such a key role in the organization and not know anything.”

  Bering felt a cold numbness spread through his chest. “His stepdaughter?” he repeated, even as the notion began to seep into his consciousness.

  “Yes, I assumed you knew. This Emily Hollings who’s been running the operation here? She’s Franklin Campbell’s stepdaughter. And from what I’ve garnered, she is also Strathom’s fiancée. Like I said, it’s pretty hard to believe that she wouldn’t be involved in some capacity, isn’t it? But regardless, we’re shutting this thing down, and someone is going to pay for this egregious and illegal activity.”

  Bering heard the words, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to respond. He stood, but then remained motionless as Senator Marsh got up and strode across the room, stepped up to the microphone and began to speak. Bering watched the unfolding scene play out but he had no idea what to do about it. It was as though he was suddenly frozen in his shoes, unable to react as the probable repercussions of what he’d precipitated began crashing down around him.

  “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I’m honored to be here this morning as one of your senators from the most awesome of all the states in our great union, Alaska, and happy to be serving in Washington, D.C., as an advocate for the town of Rankins. I know you were all expecting a vote from the town council at tonight’s meeting, and I understand that passions have been running high on both sides of this issue for the last several months, especially so in the last few weeks. But I’m here to inform you that there will be no vote tonight or anytime soon, for that matter. As of this morning, indictments have been handed down alleging fraud, bribery and conspiracy against Franklin Campbell, the chief executive officer of Cam-Field Oil & Mineral, Damon Kryzinski, the chief financial officer, and Jeremy Strathom, the senior vice president of operations.

  “As a result, the environmental-impact reports for the project here in Rankins have been subpoenaed, an investigation has been launched, thus rendering Cam-Field’s operations here on hold indefinitely....”

  * * *

  EMILY HAD KNOWN that something was wrong before she’d even stepped through the door of the Caribou. Amanda had called in a panic right after Bering had left, informing her that news crews were arriving at the diner and that Laurel had called to say that Senator Marsh had arrived and was holding a press conference in regard to Cam-Field’s proposed development project.

  But she’d know
n, in her heart, before this. She’d felt at the town-hall meeting that things weren’t right, and she’d felt it when Bering had asked her to cancel that last rally. And Laurel had sensed it, too. Things had been too quiet. She should have paid attention to those warning signs. Heeded her instincts. Clearly, she had allowed her feelings for Bering to cloud her judgment. But what did this mean exactly?

  Emily’s brain fought to make sense of the senator’s words. Indicted? Franklin indicted? She felt as if she was standing on a thin sheet of ice that had begun to slowly crackle beneath her feet. She could almost feel the swirling tentacles of icy water waiting to grab her and pull her under. Her stepfather wasn’t exactly an environmentalist, that was true, but as far as Emily knew, he’d always done everything by the book. She would have known if he’d been breaking the law, wouldn’t she?

  She saw Bering standing near the front of the crowd. How could he do this without even telling her? He could have at least given her the courtesy of a warning. And he hadn’t even glanced her way. He was standing there looking tough and hard—as if he was made of stone. He’d made her care about him, and all so he could have her stepfather indicted and make a fool of her in front of this town that she’d come to love with all her heart? She’d been right all along—about not being able to separate business from her personal life. How could she have been so stupid? All her life she’d lived by a set of principles that had served her well in business, and now, the one time she hadn’t listened—the one time she’d allowed her heart to intrude—she was paying for it big-time. She should have known better.

  She was intensely disappointed with herself. Her radar had been malfunctioning ever since she’d arrived in Rankins, and if she was any kind of true professional, she would have made allowances for that. She’d known that she wasn’t at the top of her game—she should have bowed out and let someone else do this job. But her stupid pride had been at stake. Well, if it had been in shreds before, it was completely gone now, just...blowing away on the Arctic breeze. Not to mention the playing fast and loose with her heart—what a joke. She was the joke. Bering must be enjoying the laugh of a lifetime. But she had more important things to worry about than herself now.