Together in the Wild: Clean Romance Novella (Alaska Adventure Romance Book 4)

by Hart, Renee

  “Quicksand! Ashley stay back,” he warned her.

  Tossing his rifle on the bank, he looked around for a branch or anything to grab onto, but he was too far from the edge. Ashley grabbed branches and tested their strength but everything was old or rotten and broke off in her hands. She turned to see that Graham was still sinking as he fought the urge to struggle.

  Thinking quickly, Ashley turned away and stripped off her jeans. Graham tried not to stare at her pink polka-dot undies as he wondered how this was going to help. Tossing him a leg, she held tightly to the other and braced her feet against a tree root.

  “You’re going to have to lay forward and pull yourself along a little bit at a time,” she said as she gritted her teeth.

  Graham wrapped the denim around his arm and put his trust in her strength as he did what she said. It was a slow, pain-staking process as he slowly freed himself from the morass, but it was clearly working. He reached the bank soaking wet and covered with muck. Ashley’s pants were equally soaked and dirty. She turned away to put them back on as he tried not to think about what would have happened if she hadn’t pulled him out.

  The sound of the dogs barking their ‘happy’ barks caused the two of them to try to push through the brush to find the dogs. As they rounded the bend, they saw Lacey straddling a log. It was obvious they were trying to cross the stream, but she’d gotten scared. Her arms were locked in place around the tree. Devin was trying to coax her free, but the excitement of the dogs was creating havoc for him.

  He froze as his father and Ashley came into sight.

  “Daddy! Daddy,” Lacey cried in relief at the sight of her father.

  Graham hurried over to grab hold of her before she fell into the stream. Ashley reached out for her as he then turned to check Devin over. By shear luck they were both unharmed by their misadventure. Devin had a look of relief on his face as he avoided looking at his father.

  The four of them kneeled down on the bank and tried to catch their breath.

  “Why are you two all muddy?” Lacey asked.

  “Your Dad found some quicksand,” Ashley said with a smirk.

  Ignoring her attempt to be funny, Graham attempted to face this head on with his son.

  “Would you like to explain where you thought you were going with your little sister?” Graham asked looking hard at Devin.

  “I was taking her home,” he retorted in a defiant tone. “We want to go home!”

  “Devin, do you have any idea how far you’d have to walk to get anywhere out here?”

  “Ravensong told me the city was up this river!”

  “Sure, Son, but it’s hundreds of miles of wilderness until you get there and then you’d be in a city where you don’t know anyone. Your home is here with me now.”

  Devin folded his arms across his chest and stared at the ground.

  Graham sighed in frustration and got up.

  “We need to get back to the others and head home. It’ll be dark soon and the trail’s pretty rough.”

  Ashley took Lacey by the hand and the two of them led the way. Devin fell in behind them while Graham whistled in the dogs and brought up the rear. It wasn’t long before they saw the faces of Ravensong and his friend watching their approach. As they drew near, the Elder stood up with a small bundle in his hand. Lacey was delighted to be reunited with her doll once again.

  “You found my baby doll,” she crowed with delight as she snuggled the wet bundle.

  “You’re lucky the doll hospital gave her a wooden head. She was floating down instead of swimming along under water,” Ravensong said with a wink at Graham.

  Noticing how Graham and Ashley were soaked and covered in muck, he raised his eyebrows in a question, but they both ignored him. The six of them headed back to Graham’s UTV without any further comment. The dogs were pretty tired and the men were forced to slow down so they could keep up with the UTV’s. Stopping to put some gas in Graham’s vehicle, they hurried to get on their way as everyone was cold, tired and hungry.

  At the river turnout, Ravensong paused to let Ashley speak to Graham, but their conversation was brief. She headed back to the village with the two men. Graham didn’t even think to ask her to come back to the cabin with them. He didn’t feel like he had any right to ask her for anything more.

  When they got home, he made some soup for the children and sent them off to bed. He sat at the table a long time after they’d gone upstairs and thought about the events of the day. His children were safe, but their situation was far from resolved.

  Devin wasn’t convinced that this was their home and Graham was starting to understand why. If he had to worry about the children running away every day, he was going to be more in the role of a prison guard than a father. They clearly didn’t understand the dangers of wandering about in the wilderness and he didn’t want to use fear to control them. Maybe they were just too little to understand. Their situation was clearly at an impasse and he couldn’t see a way out from where he sat. On that thought, he gave up and went to bed.

  Chapter 8

  Graham let a couple of days go by before he proposed a trip to the village. Lacey was excited and hurried to get ready. Devin didn’t say anything, but his dawdling showed his reluctance to face Ashley and Ravensong. He was the last to get his shoes on and walked outside dragging his feet all the way. Graham ignored the way he was acting thinking it would pass once they got to the village.

  The skies were clear and they set off early enough in the day to be back before dark. They made good time and reached the village before anyone had to use the bathroom for a change. Devin didn’t ask to drive this time.

  Graham went to see Ravensong first as he hoped his friend would have some words of wisdom for Devin. The boy seemed to have far more respect for the Elder than for his own father. Ravensong was really Graham’s last hope in reaching his son. If this meeting failed, Graham wasn’t sure how he was going to make it as a father to his own children.

  Ravensong was sitting on his porch when Graham drove up. The three of them got off the UTV and sat down beside him.

  “Greetings, my friends,” Ravensong said. “What brings you to the village today?”

  “Daddy’s UTV brought us,” Lacey piped up.

  The two men laughed at her comment.

  “I was hoping you might like to take a walk with Devin,” Graham hinted to his friend.

  “That’s a fine idea,” Ravensong agreed. “There are some things I’d like to show him.”

  “Great! Lacey and I are going over to the Community Center. You can meet us over there when you’re done.”

  Graham and Lacey hopped back on their ride and headed back the way they’d came. Devin hunched his shoulders as he waited for the scolding he knew he deserved. Ravensong was quiet as he cleared away the shavings from his latest work. He realized how much Graham was relying on him to find a way to reach the boy.

  Finally, he stood and held out his hand.

  “Come with me, Devin. I’d like to show you some things.”

  The boy rose without a word and followed the Elder down the path.

  ***

  As Graham stopped near the Center, Ashley came out onto the porch with a large box in her hands. He noticed she was packing a small trailer that was already half full.

  “Hi, Ashley!”

  Lacey ran over to the woman and stood before her.

  “Can I help you?” Lacey asked.

  “No, darling. Just let me put this in the trailer and we can get some ice cream, okay?”

  “Are you moving?”

  Lacey’s eyes grew wide as she put the idea together with the conversation they’d overheard by the river.

  “What is all this?” Graham asked quietly.

  “Oh, this is all the extra teaching materials that need to be returned to the main office. Clearly, there’s not as many students out here in the village as the registration indicates. I think most of them moved to the cities with their families last year and didn
’t remove their names.”

  “Do you have time for a cup of coffee?”

  “Sure. Just help me load the rest of my boxes and we can sit down and take a break. I’ve been at this all morning.”

  Graham settled Lacey on the porch with a book and helped Ashley finish up her packing. As they worked, they tried to talk about anything but what had happened a few days earlier. With the extra hands, their task was quickly finished and they sat down just out of Lacey’s hearing.

  “Ashley, I didn’t get a chance to thank you for saving my life the other day.”

  “That’s right! You didn’t and I don’t want you to think I’d go and take my pants off for just any ole guy!”

  Graham smiled grimly at her attempt to deflect the situation with humor.

  “I also want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me and Lacey and Devin. You’ve come to mean a lot to all of us. I know I don’t have anything to offer you, but I want you to stay.”

  “I can’t do that. I’ve already told you that my dreams for my life don’t work out here in the bush. I want more than a cabin in the middle of nowhere. As much as I care for you and the children, I know I wouldn’t be happy just trying to survive every day. Besides, I think this is too much to ask of your children. I know you’re punishing yourself by hiding away out here, but what have they done to deserve to live like this?”

  Graham was shocked into silence at her words. She’d never expressed any disapproval of his lifestyle before this and he wasn’t sure how to take it. He’d never considered his move to Alaska as a way of punishing himself, but from her perspective, he could see her point. Especially when he considered it in light of Devin’s reluctance to embrace this world. The children were dragged from everything and everyone they knew and dumped in a strange world without clocks and televisions, schools or shopping malls. They had absolutely no choice in any of this.

  Lacey got out of her chair and came over to stand in front of them.

  “Are you two having a fight?” she asked.

  “No, honey. We’re not having a fight. We’re just talking,” Graham said sadly.

  He looked up to see Devin coming with Ravensong. The two of them were walking side by side and Graham could definitely see a change in his son. It was as if the boy was charged with a new sense of confidence and wisdom. His gaze was no longer fixed to the ground and he appeared fully engaged with the world around him. Graham knew that once again his old friend had pulled forth the right words from the Creator.

  Reading the looks on the faces of Graham and Ashley, Ravensong’s heart sank. He knew their conversation hadn’t gone in the right direction. Taking charge of the children, he invited them to the store to get some ice cream. It wouldn’t give those two much time to find their path, but it was the best he had to offer.

  “Where are you going when you leave Alaska?”

  “My family’s from Idaho. My mother’s there and I have some property near the town of Lewiston. Graham, please, let’s get married and go live there together. We can come back here for vacations in the summer...”

  Ashley stopped at the look on Graham’s face. He appeared shocked as he tried to take in all that she’d just said. His mind was struggling with the idea she was leaving and he knew he wanted her to stay, but getting married and being a family was too many steps for his brain.

  His thoughts reeled as her words overwhelmed him. He knew those were all logical steps for normal people, but he wasn’t a normal person in his mind. He was a failure as a husband and a father. Why would a woman as smart and confident as Ashley want to marry someone like him? The question rolled around in his head like a loose wrecking ball and he just sat there stunned.

  Ashley took his silence as rejection and got up to go inside the Center. She’d laid all her thoughts and feelings out on the table. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing more to say to this man. Obviously, he didn’t feel the same way about her. She fought back tears as she hurried to be away before the children came back outside. There was no way she could face them without crying now.

  Graham was sitting on the UTV when the children came back outside with Ravensong. The Elder knew with one look that things hadn’t gone well for his friend. His heart was troubled as he took in the distant sound of thunder.

  “A storm is coming, my friend,” he said. “It might be best to stay here until it passes.”

  “No. We need to get home. We’ll be fine, just the three of us,” Graham said grimly.

  Ravensong knew he wasn’t talking about the storm and he watched them drive away helplessly.

  ***

  They hadn’t gone very far before the wind started to pick up and blow leaves and dirt around them. The trees were whipping back and forth in the heavy gusts. Dead branches littered the trail ahead and behind them and Graham was forced to slow down. The sky grew dark and heavy with clouds. The children were clutching their father with tight grips that hampered his movements.

  Suddenly, a tree on the right side of the narrow path snapped off. Graham heard the crack and barely caught the sight of the tree falling towards them. With his left hand, he tried to shove Lacey out of the way as his right arm came up to deflect the blow. The violent crash threw her off into the bushes and Graham took the full weight of the massive tree on his right side. Devin was knocked backwards and escaped injury.

  Fortunately, the tree bounced off Graham and landed across the trailer. He was seriously injured, but his main concern was to find Lacey. She wasn’t making any sounds he could hear over the noise of the storm. When he tried to stand up, he fell back to the seat as he stifled a scream of pain.

  “Devin, are you okay?”

  The boy shook himself a bit and nodded at his father. His eyes were wide with fear as he looked at the blood on Graham’s face. He knew his father had taken the blunt of the falling tree and was badly hurt.

  “Devin, you need to find Lacey for me,” Graham said as calmly as he could. “Don’t move her. First, we need to find out if she’s hurt. Can you do that for me?”

  Devin nodded and crawled over to the side of the trail to look for his sister. He found her curled up against another tree.

  “Lacey. Lacey! Are you hurt?” he asked into her ear.

  She turned her head and looked up at him with glazed eyes, but didn’t speak.

  “Daddy! She’s right here, but she won’t talk to me.”

  Graham forced his body to move and collapsed to the ground next to Devin. He knew his right arm was broken. It was possible some ribs and his collarbone were also broken, but he was more concerned about his daughter. He needed to assess her injuries before he figured out his next step.

  Stretching out alongside Devin, Graham felt over Lacey checking for broken bones or blood, but there was nothing he could find. Calling her name, he noted her glazed response and considered that maybe she’d hit her head on the tree.

  “Devin, can you get me the sleeping bag from the trailer?”

  His son disappeared from view and came back a few moments later with the bag and the first aid kit. Graham spread the bag around Lacey and had Devin tuck it under her. Using the bag, the two of them pulled her out of the bushes and cuddled her next to her father. The effort and the pain overwhelmed him and he shut his eyes.

  “Daddy! Daddy! Wake up!”

  Graham opened his eyes at the sound of Devin’s cries and looked into the face of his son.

  “I’m here, Devin. I need you to look at the UTV and the trailer and tell me what’s wrong with them.”

  The boy hurried to comply and Graham could hear him moving around behind them.

  “Dad!”

  Graham forced his eyes open again.

  “The trailer’s smashed under a big tree. I can’t move it, but I can pull the hitch pin like I did before back at the cabin. The UTV’s okay, I think.”

  “Devin, do you think you can make it back to the village and get us some help?”

  “Yes, Daddy. I can do that. I can f
ind Ravensong and bring him here. He’ll help us.”

  As Graham lay there in the middle of the trail next to his little girl, he realized that his stubbornness was the cause of all of this. Ravensong tried to get him to wait for the storm to pass, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He listened to the sound of the UTV as his little boy fought to find a way through the brush around the fallen tree. The engine stuttered as Devin struggled to control the heavy machine.

  As the sound faded with Devin’s departure, Graham turned his attention to the noises around them. The wind was still blowing, but the storm was moving away from them. He could pick up some bird sounds nearby. Mostly there was silence. He tried to talk to Lacey. She didn’t respond. The effort to talk nearly made him pass out so he decided it was safer for him to stay quiet.

  He didn’t know how long the two of them laid there before help arrived. He’d lost all track of time as he faded in and out of consciousness. Their rescuers seemingly appeared out of nowhere and went to work while he was completely out of it. He didn’t fully become aware of anything until they were loading him and Lacey into the rescue plane. His awareness was brief as pain once again shut down his brain and all he managed to understand was that they were all safe.

  Chapter 9

  The next few days were touch and go for Graham. He had a major concussion, several broken bones and some serious internal bruising. Lacey only had a minor concussion and she was much quicker about getting back to normal. She’d made several friends in the hospital long before her father was fully aware of his surroundings.

  Ashley divided her time between their two rooms. She berated herself for caring about this man when he didn’t care about her, but she couldn’t just walk away. She’d made the decision to leave Devin in the village with Ravensong. It was a difficult choice, but the plane only had room for one more person and it didn’t make sense to send an eight year old.

  With Lacey out of danger, Ashley turned her attention to Graham. He was asleep most of the time as his injuries took their time to heal. She’d sit and watch him sleep. Sometimes, she’d talk to him about their summer and the things they’d done together. He never gave any indication he was listening. The doctor told her this was caused more by the heavy pain medication than his injuries.