“Hard ground and bugs.” Karen wrinkled her nose.
“You’ll get used to it,” Joanna told Karen, feeling like a bitch, but the thought of Karen being under the same roof as Marcus was not one she wanted to entertain.
“Okay, I suppose we’d better get pitching.” Karen shivered and hugged herself as she looked around the camping field.
“I’ll get Julian for you.” Joanna ducked her head inside the tent. “Julian, you have to go and help Karen pitch a tent.”
“Can’t someone else do it?” Julian asked, lounging across Joanna’s bed.
“You have to pitch your own tent, Dad,” Reece told Julian. From the moment Julian and Joanna had adopted Reece and Winnie they had insisted on calling them mom and dad. It broke Joanna’s heart to hear Reece still call him dad even though Julian had left them “Come on, we’ll help.”
“Don’t you want me to stay here with you?” Julian asked, not moving.
“This is our tent,” Winnie told him bluntly. “There isn’t any room for you.” Reece and Winnie scooted past Joanna and left the tent.
“I thought we could make a go of being a family again,” Julian spoke before Joanna had a chance to leave.
“As usual, you thought about what you wanted before asking us.” Joanna’s firm tone caught Julian’s attention.
“Us? Or you?” he asked. “Because I remember when you were begging me to stay that you kept telling me how I wasn’t considering the children’s feelings in all this.”
Joanna closed her eyes for a second. “I still believe families should fight to stay together. But you left, and we adjusted to that.”
“And what now? Do you expect my children to adjust to having that Ranger Rick in your life?” His words were meant to hurt, but they didn’t. There was nothing he could say, or do, anymore that could inflict pain on Joanna in the way he had before.
“What business is it of yours?” Joanna asked. “You left. Our marriage is over.”
“It’s my business when you’re walking around half naked.” He smirked. “I wonder what Karen will think about your suitability as a parent when she notices half your buttons are missing. What was it, a quickie behind the tent?”
“What if it was? I’m a free woman. You are the one who left, remember?” Joanna felt anger surge inside her, but then it stalled. This was what she wanted. In the months after Julian left, she’d fantasized about him leaving his new partner and coming back to her.
Now here he was, as if her dream had come true and fate really had stepped in and given her exactly what she wanted.
Or thought she wanted.
Chapter Sixteen – Marcus
“Okay, today’s activity is all about trusting your partner.” Those words sounded ironic in his head as he watched Julian laughing and messing around with his children. Joanna hadn’t arrived yet, he’d seen her talking with Karen after breakfast, but his shifter hearing hadn’t stretched far enough to hear what was being said.
“Where’s Joanna?” Kylie asked before Marcus had a chance to explain what the aim of the activity was.
“She said she had some chores to take care of,” Julian explained, his gaze flicking toward Marcus. “She’ll join us later.”
Marcus nodded at this new information and turned away to gesture toward the wide-open area in front of them. “You’ll be taking turns wearing a blindfold while your partner guides you. Start at a walk, then if you feel confident you can jog or run.”
“Sounds fun,” Tabitha said.
Marcus smiled despite his heavy heart. He’d seen people change during their time here at Chance Heights, but he’d never seen anyone change so completely in such a short space of time. It was a miracle.
Let’s hope we get our own miracle, too, his bear said morosely.
Do you think we’re going to give up on Joanna so easily? Marcus asked.
Yes. If that’s what she wants. Her happiness is the most important thing. She’s our mate and we have to do what is right for her.
Being with us is right, Marcus replied. He was convinced that they belonged together. Fate didn’t make a mistake. Not of such epic proportions.
There’s always a first time, his bear replied.
“Okay, so let’s find our partners.” Marcus waited for everyone to pair up. With Joanna absent, there was an even number of people. He couldn’t help smiling when neither Reece nor Winnie wanted to go with their father, who eventually ended up paired with Chuck.
Had he seriously lowered himself to such pettiness?
Too right, his bear replied.
Marcus gave each of the pairs a blindfold and went over the safety precautions. Then he let the pairs loose on the open area. This part of the week always amused him, it also gave him great pleasure to watch how trust slowly built between the partners.
Reece was paired with Winnie, as if he wouldn’t trust anyone else to look after his sister when she was so vulnerable. The same was true of Stu and Jude, who seemed to communicate without words as they raced around at full speed.
The pair that interested him the most was Kylie and Tabitha who had gone from a place of uncertainty with each other, to one where they were open and expressive, helping each other with words and gentle touches.
“Okay, now that you’ve gotten more confident with each other, we’ll move on to the next task.” Marcus led them all toward a fenced off wooded area and opened the gate. “There are two hundred trees in this area. Your task is to take your buddy to a tree and help them explore it. This can be through touch, or words, or sounds. Listen to the sounds of the forest around you, what the wind through the leaves of your tree sounds like. Run your hands over the bark, and don’t forget to talk about colors or the shape of the leaves.”
“You want us to hug trees?” Julian said dispassionately. Perhaps his day wasn’t turning out quite how he had expected.
“Yes, I want you to hug a tree. Then you lead your partner back here and we remove the blindfolds.” Marcus gave a devilish smile. “The person who was blindfolded then has to go and find their tree. With no help from their partner.”
“That’s impossible,” Julian said, giving Marcus a look that said—and you get paid for this stuff.
“It’s not impossible if you work closely together. This is all about giving to another person and helping them when they are vulnerable. Only if you help them, can they find their way back.” Marcus noted Chuck’s expression and wished Joanna would magically appear in place of Julian, so everyone would be happy.
As if he’d conjured her from his imagination, he sensed his mate approaching. He half turned and watched as she entered the open area where the group had been leading each other around.
“Morning,” she said brightly.
“Good morning.” He studied her face, she looked tired, as if she hadn’t slept. “Are you okay?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I am.”
“Good.” He nodded, and his heart hammered in his chest, while his tongue seemed to swell to twice its normal size and stick to the roof of his mouth.
Good? That’s the best you can do? his bear asked.
Right now it was. His head was filled with foggy thoughts that he could not penetrate, and his mouth refused to work. He was struck dumb by the enormity of the situation. If Joanna wanted to be with Julian, who was the legal father of her children, then he would not stand in her way.
He could not stand in her way. Even if he wanted to. Joanna’s happiness was all that mattered.
“How are you?” Joanna asked, but as she did, Karen came up behind them and Joanna stepped away from Marcus.
“I thought I’d come and check out the activities,” Karen said, rubbing her back. “I think I slept on a tree root.”
“I can get you another foam mattress to sleep on,” Marcus offered, dragging his gaze away from Joanna. He didn’t want to cause a problem for his mate. If Karen wasn’t aware of his relationship with Joanna, then he was not going to be the one to tell her.
> “Thanks.” Karen gave him a bright smile. “I still wouldn’t say no to that bed in the house.”
“Sorry,” Marcus said and then stepped toward the wooded area where his group was weaving between the trees as they located the perfect huggable tree. “I should go and help my group.”
“What are they doing?” Karen asked with interest as she watched Reece and Winnie stroking a tree not too far away from the gate.
“One person is blindfolded and the other has to guide them to a tree. Together they have to explore the tree and describe it, so the blindfolded person can find it again,” Marcus explained.
“That sounds fun,” Joanna said enthusiastically.
“Perhaps you and Karen could pair up,” Marcus suggested, not wanting Julian to dump Chuck for Joanna as soon as he saw his ex-wife enter the area.
“Oh, not me. I’m here to spectate. You should let Marcus guide you.” Karen cast an appraising look over Marcus. “It would be good for the team to see their guide accomplish the task.”
“That would be great.” Joanna threw him an uneasy smile. His heartache increased. Yesterday they had been so easy in each other’s company. Today it was as if they were strangers, and he hated it.
“This way.” He led her through the gate, his body tense and his mind filled with all the things he’d like to do to Julian to make him leave.
We could bite his head off. That would be a permanent fix, his bear suggested.
I don’t want to spend my life in prison for murder, Marcus told his bear. But thanks for the idea.
You are welcome, his bear said solemnly.
“I’m sorry,” Joanna murmured as they entered the forested area and Marcus reached into his backpack and pulled out a spare blindfold.
“For what?” Marcus asked.
“For Julian. I had no idea he was coming. And I had no idea of his intentions.” Joanna closed her eyes as he fitted the blindfold over her head.
“Is that tight enough?” he asked.
“Yes, I can’t peek if that’s what you mean.” She tried to make her voice light but failed.
“Okay, take my hand and I’ll lead you to a tree.” He knew just the one, it was a large, old oak tree with a gnarled trunk and a split down the center from a lightning strike. It reminded him of himself at this moment in time.
“Hey, Mom.” Reece’s voice called out and Joanna lifted her hand and waved it in the direction of his voice.
“Hi there, are you both okay?” Joanna called back.
“We are.” Winnie lifted her hand off the trunk of her tree and waved.
“They sound happy,” Joanna said as her foot caught in a tree root and she nearly tripped. Marcus reached out and caught her with his large, strong hands. “I thought you were supposed to be guiding me?”
Her fingers curled around his lower arms and she didn’t seem to be in any rush to let him go. “I was distracted for a moment.”
Joanna stepped closer toward him, her body so close to his that he could smell her scent and hear the beat of her heart. “I don’t want you to ever let me go.”
“I don’t want to ever let you go,” Marcus told her. “But I would. If it was what you wanted, I’d let you walk away.”
“Without a fight?” she asked.
“Do you want me to fight for you?” Marcus asked, the need to wrap his arms around her and keep her close was almost too much. Yet this was not the time or the place.
“No.” She shook her head and the fight went out of him. Joanna had made her decision and as he led her to the tree and she placed her hands on it, he looked up at the split trunk that resembled his heart.
He had to find the strength to let her go, even if it killed him. If Joanna wanted her family back together, he would respect her decision.
As he talked to her about the oak tree and described its gnarly trunk that was rough around the edges from all the years it had stood there like a sentinel watching over the younger trees, Marcus knew that joy was slipping out of his life. Just as surely as Joanna was slipping through his fingers.
Chapter Seventeen – Joanna
Marcus held her hands and placed them on the rough bark of the tree. Her fingers dug into the deep grooves as he told her the tree was old and gnarled, like something from a time gone by. It had stood here for decades after decades, growing in the sheltered arms of the mountain while the world around it changed.
Steadfast and true, it had coped with the changes life threw at it, even surviving when lightning had attempted to cleave it in two.
“Is it a deciduous tree?” Joanna asked as she listened to the rustle of the breeze through its leaves, the same breeze that ruffled her hair and caressed her cheek like the gentlest of lovers.
She longed to pull the blindfold off her eyes and gaze into the eyes of her lover. But now was not the time and here was not the place. She had to speak to the children first, and then to Julian.
“It is. When fall arrives, its leaves will float to the ground and lie on the floor until they decay.” His voice seemed strained.
“But it’s not fall. It’s the beginning of summer and it should be vibrant and green, full of hope, full of promise.” She moved her thumb and stroked the back of his hand. “Does it bear nuts or fruit?”
“It does.”
“And is it the mightiest of trees in the forest?” Just as the man standing behind her was the mightiest man of the forest.
“Most people would agree it is,” Marcus confirmed. “It’s time we made our way back to the starting point and let everyone see if they can find their tree.”
Joanna nodded and allowed him to lead her back toward the starting point. He held her hand so tightly she thought he might cut off the circulation. It was as if he were afraid to let her go. Did he think she might drift away like a leaf on the breeze if he didn’t hold onto her?
“Okay, now everyone remove your blindfolds and let’s see if you can find your tree.” Marcus watched as Winnie, Tabitha, Jude and Chuck all made their way back out into the forested area.
“Shall I go, too?” Joanna asked.
Marcus nodded, although his expression told her he didn’t want her to leave his side. “Yes, see if you can find the tree.”
Joanna closed her eyes for a moment to center her senses and block out all the other activities around her. She also wanted to block out Julian who was staring at her intently.
When she was ready, she recalled the touch of Marcus’s hands on her arms and the way he guided her to the left. Opening her eyes once more, she walked forward a few paces. A few feet further to her left she could see the tree stump she’d tripped over.
“I found mine,” Tabitha said excitedly. “I could smell it.”
Kylie shot her daughter a warning look. Tabitha had forgotten there were two strangers amongst them. Julian had no idea shifters even existed and no one had told Karen about Tabitha.
With renewed concentration, Winnie and Jude turned back to their task. So did Joanna. She was determined to find the tree Marcus had described to her. Not for herself, but for him. He was the group leader and she wanted him to succeed. She also wanted to prove to Julian what a good team they made.
Before she joined the group this morning, Joanna broke the news to Karen that she was Marcus’s mate. Since Karen knew about shifters, she now understood how awkward it was to have Julian here.
Luckily, she was also very supportive of her relationship with Marcus. Karen was more than happy Reece and Winnie would have a father figure who would never let them down or desert them.
Joanna stepped over the tree root that had snagged her foot earlier. Then she stood still, getting her bearings, listening to the wind through the branches and looking for the old gnarled trunk that had been split by lightning.
There. She could see it ahead, around fifty paces further on. Confident she had it right, she strode forward, aiming directly for the tree which was an old oak. “This one.” Her voice rang out clear.
“You got it,�
�� Marcus replied.
A small swell of happiness bubbled up inside her as she looked up at the old oak tree. Then she turned around and leaned her back against it, trying to absorb some of its wisdom as she watched the others.
Jude found his tree next. That left Winnie and Chuck, the latter seemed to have no clue, while Winnie was wandering around talking about spiky round things. She must be looking for a large horse chestnut.
“There.” She suddenly rushed forward, her hand outstretched as she spotted the tree.
“You did it!” Reece called out.
That left only Chuck. As the others all made their way back to the starting area, Julian was muttering something about a big pine tree. Joanna was also certain he said the word idiot under his breath. A stern look from Tabitha confirmed she’d heard correctly.
“You did great, Tabitha,” Joanna complimented.
“Thanks. It’s like it’s a whole new me,” she confessed with a bright smile.
Kylie placed her hand protectively on her daughter’s shoulder. “We’re so proud of you and the way you’ve handled the last couple of days.”
“You all appear to have gotten a lot out of this trip,” Karen stated as she approached the group.
“We have, it’s brought us closer together as a family,” Kylie confirmed.
“Would you recommend Chance Heights Activity Center to other parents?” Karen asked, taking out a notebook and scribbling something down.
“Definitely. I have been speaking to a lot of the moms and dads here and they all say what an amazing time they are having.” Kylie turned around to look at her husband and then caught Joanna’s eye. “We’ve met some really great people. People we will be keeping in touch with after we go home.”
“Especially since we’re all going to move to Bear Creek,” Tabitha told Karen.
“You’re what?” Julian asked, his eyes darting to Marcus.
“We’ve decided a fresh start here in Bear Creek would suit us all,” Joanna told Julian.
“Without consulting me?” Julian asked.
“Julian, you haven’t had much to do with the kids since you left,” Joanna reminded him.
Second Chance Bear Page 13
