Circumstantial Memories

by Carol Ericson

  Shelby sobbed, but her head disappeared from the side of the ledge. Julia swung her body forward and cycled her legs to find a foothold on the face of the rock. The soles of her sneakers slid against the rough slab, dislodging small plants and pebbles.

  Her body swayed, and the bush she clung to dipped lower as a root pulled free from the crack. She held her breath, afraid to make a move. She hoped Shelby would just wait on the trail for someone to come. Would someone come in time to help her?

  She’d tossed her cell phone in the backpack, but it might as well be on the moon. She couldn’t risk reaching back with one hand to retrieve it.

  Her shoulders ached and her hands stung from the prickly bush she clung to with all her strength. Another ledge extended about ten feet below her. If she let go and dropped onto this outcropping she might break her leg, but if she fell she could very well roll off and plunge another fifty feet to her death.

  She inched her toe up the side of the rock and felt another scrubby plant to her right. She tested the plant with her foot, and it stayed in place. Gripping her lifeline, she hoisted up her body with her foot balanced on the plant. As she inched higher, she released one hand from the bush to reach for another one above it.

  The plant below her right foot gave way, and her knee slammed against the rock as she grabbed for her secure handhold. A sob ripped through her throat.

  Don’t panic. Don’t lose control.

  She searched the rock with her left toe, finding an indentation. If she could use this hole to push up again, she could grab that higher, sturdier plant and get closer to the edge. She took a deep breath and tensed her muscles.

  “Julia?”

  “Ryder! Ryder, I’m down here. Where’s Shelby?”

  “Shelby’s safe.” Ryder’s head appeared over the edge of the rock. “Oh my God. Julia, don’t move.”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t plan on going anywhere.” Her shoulders burned now and her bloody hands throbbed with pain, but she felt an insane joy at seeing Ryder’s face hovering above her.

  “Hang on for one more minute.” His face disappeared and despair descended again like a heavy cloud of dust.

  “Ryder, don’t leave me!”

  “I’m right here.” His head popped back into sight. “I have a rope with me. I’m tying it into a lasso.”

  Julia closed her eyes and concentrated on the light breeze caressing her face. She didn’t know how or why, but Ryder arrived just in time. He’d save her.

  “Ready?”

  Peering up at him, she called out, “Yes.”

  A circle of rope twirled down to her right. “Did that make it over you?”

  “No, but I think I can reach it with my right hand.”

  “Don’t. I’ll try again.”

  The rope slithered up the wall of rock and then whistled as it flew toward her again. This time the rope landed around her shoulders.

  “It worked.”

  “Okay, take one hand at a time and slip it through the rope. The object is to get the rope under your arms and hold on to it. I’ll yank the lasso tight and then pull you up. Can you do that?”

  “Yes.” She uncurled her hand from the scrubby plant, slid it through the circle of rope and then grasped the line leading straight to Ryder. “Okay, that’s one.”

  Holding on to the rope was more secure than the bush, so she had an easier time with the second hand. With the rope encircling her body underneath her arms and both hands holding on to it, she called up, “I’m ready.”

  The lasso tightened around her. Even if Ryder had disappointed his parents with his ranching skills, he had a handle on this cowboy stuff.

  “I’m going to start hauling you up now. Scream and yell if there’s a problem and hold on to the rope.”

  Julia braced her feet against the rock and as Ryder pulled up the rope, she walked up the side of the cliff. She arrived at the top and Ryder scooped his arms beneath hers and yanked her over to solid ground.

  She collapsed on top of him and they lay together, their breath escaping in short spurts. Ryder tightened his arms around her and she rested her cheek against his chest, listening to the echo of his thundering heart.

  When her lungs stopped hurting, she raised her head. “We have to get off of this trail. Where’s Shelby?”

  He rolled to his side and pointed to where the trail widened. Shelby sat on a log and waved.

  Julia lurched to her knees, the tears flowing down her face. Ryder helped her up and she rushed to Shelby’s side and gathered her in her arms.

  Ryder followed and crouched beside the log. “Shelby found me up the trail and brought me back here. She’s amazing.”

  “I told you to wait, Shelby.” Julia buried her head on Shelby’s back. She didn’t want her daughter to see her crying. Shelby had already witnessed too many of her mother’s breakdowns.

  “I waited, but I heard whistling. I knew it was Ryder. I knew Ryder would help you, Mama.”

  “And he did.” She wiped her hands across her cheeks and turned to face Ryder. “He saved me. What were you doing up here?”

  “I knew you took this hike almost every morning, so I waited for you at The Twirling Ballerinas. I wanted to talk.” He took her hands and turned them over. He ran a light fingertip over her scratched and bleeding palms. “And it’s a damn good thing I did. Let’s walk back and treat your cuts. Are you hurt anywhere else?”

  “Just a few bruises.”

  Ryder hoisted Shelby on his shoulders and rested his hand on Julia’s hip as they picked their way back over the trail where the boulder fell. Julia glanced up at the rocks. The sun had crept up higher in the sky since the rock had knocked her over the cliff, but right before she heard it rumble, a shadow passed over the sun. The rock was falling downward. It couldn’t have blocked out the sun on its descent.

  Julia stumbled and Ryder grabbed her waist. “Steady, just a few more steps.”

  When the trail widened, Julia spun around and lifted Shelby from Ryder’s shoulders. “Go pick some flowers and we’ll put them in a vase when we get home.”

  Shelby scampered ahead and dived head first into the field of summer blooms.

  “I’m glad to see the incident didn’t scare her.” Ryder tilted his chin toward Shelby rolling in a mass of petals.

  “Didn’t scare her, but I’m even more frightened now than when I was dangling in space. Ryder, someone pushed that boulder off the cliff, someone waiting for us.”

  Ryder’s eyebrows shot up. “How do you know? Did you see someone?”

  “I saw a shadow before the rock fell. Someone was up there and he wanted to kill me…us.” Her knees started to tremble and she sank onto a boulder, similar in size and shape to the one some monster pushed toward her and Shelby.

  Kneeling next to her, Ryder clasped her hand in his. The warmth and steadiness of his grip calmed her nerves.

  Why did she push him away yesterday? He had his reasons for keeping quiet about their relationship. She should have given him an opportunity to explain.

  When she first saw him on Main Street, a tiny hope flared that she’d found her long-lost husband and Shelby’s father. One of those scenarios had come true. She should be thrilled Ryder turned out to be Shelby’s father and not Jeremy. Shelby had a father to fill her with pride.

  “When I get you two home, I’m coming back up here to have a look.” Ryder waved his hand toward the jagged rocks above the trail.

  “I guess my secret admirer doesn’t admire me anymore.”

  She rubbed her arms to quell the shiver stealing across body.

  Ryder squinted into the sun. “If he can’t have you, he wants to make sure nobody else does.”

  RYDER SETTLED Julia and Shelby at the house. Now that Julia’s stalker had taken his show on the road, he could avoid the cameras. Who knew about the cameras besides Zack Ballard and Dr. Jim Brody? Hell, anyone hiding out with a pair of binoculars could’ve watched him install the cameras.

  He tramped back up the tra
il, a slow blaze kindling in his gut. Julia had pissed off this maniac by not cherishing his pathetic gifts and then made things worse by keeping company with him.

  Not that it mattered. The man stalking Julia had a tenuous hold on reality. There wasn’t much she could’ve done to appease him. Any action on her part would have resulted in the same outcome. The man wanted her or he wanted her dead.

  Before the main trail narrowed, a smaller trail forked to the right, leading up to the craggy rocks and crevices that overlooked Silverhill. Ryder scrambled over the first rock to take this alternate route.

  He crept along the trail, hunched over, peering at the foliage along the sides. Judging by the snapped twigs and crushed leaves, someone had recently climbed this trail, but imprints of hiking boots and running shoes criss-crossed each other, obscuring any clear set of footprints.

  He reached the outcropping of rocks that rose above the narrow path of the trail below. Moist earth and moss marked the spot where the boulder had come loose. He examined the area and found a broken board. Had Julia’s attacker used that as leverage to dislodge the boulder?

  Peering over the edge, Ryder had a clear view of the trail. The man loosened the boulder and then waited for Julia and Shelby. Ryder’s jaw tightened along with his fists. He had to protect Julia and their daughter from this madman. He had to take him out before he did any more damage.

  He stirred the dried leaves on the ground with his foot. The corner of a shiny object appeared in the dirt. Ryder pounced on it, feeling like those old prospectors must’ve felt almost a hundred and fifty years ago when they struck a vein of silver ore in these hills.

  Pinching his find between two fingers, Ryder shook the dirt from it. He cradled the rectangular silver case in his palm and then pressed a small release lever. The lid to the case popped open, revealing a stack of thick cards embossed with gold letters: Dr. James Brody, Licensed Clinical Psychologist.

  Ryder clutched the incriminating case in his hand so tightly, it bit into his flesh. He had all the proof he needed to get Brody out of Julia’s life for good. And if he couldn’t count on law enforcement to lock him up, well, he had his own methods.

  Shoving the card case in his back pocket, he clambered over the rocks and dropped back onto the trail. Once they dealt with this freak, he and Julia could discuss their daughter and their future…together.

  BY THE TIME Julia placed the last bunch of wildflowers in a vase, Shelby had crashed on the sofa. She slipped off Shelby’s shoes and carried her to the pink princess bed. Positioning a pillow beneath Shelby’s head, Julia studied her daughter’s face.

  She thought she’d memorized every detail, but now she noticed long lashes tipped with gold, like Ryder’s. How had she missed the resemblance between her daughter and the man who came to Silverhill to save her? Had she really missed it or had she stuffed the creeping realization that Shelby was McClintock through and through deep into the shadows of her mind?

  Now the truth screamed at her from all sides. The electricity between her and Ryder from the first moment he touched her. Ryder’s interest and obvious pleasure in Shelby’s company. Shelby’s own comfort in Ryder’s presence.

  She’d been a fool.

  Even Dr. Brody figured out the connection between Ryder and Shelby or maybe he just imagined it in his paranoid state. How many other people in Silverhill realized the truth about Shelby’s paternity? She knew it wouldn’t take long for word to spread.

  The latch on her front gate squeaked and Julia peeked through a gap in the curtains. Ryder strode up her walkway, a frown marring his handsome features. Guess he didn’t find anything. Sheriff Ballard wouldn’t be sending any search parties out for a phantom.

  She opened the door before he had a chance to knock. “You didn’t find anything.”

  “Wrong.” He slid his fingers into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small, silver rectangle.

  “What is it?” Her pulse ticked up a few notches. She hadn’t imagined that shadow over the sun.

  Ryder flicked the case open and held it out.

  A dull pain throbbed behind her eyes. Despite his unethical behavior and frantic phone calls last night, Julia had a hard time believing Jim had been stalking her. Now the proof swam before her eyes in black and white, or rather, gold and white.

  “He must be out of his mind. Why would he risk everything, his career, his reputation?”

  “You said it. Out of his mind. I’m calling Ballard right now, and he’ll contact the Durango Sheriff’s Department. I don’t know if this will be enough proof to arrest him, but it’s going to put a serious crimp in his skulking.”

  “The phone calls.” Julia pointed to her answering machine. “Jim left several messages last night, desperate, drunken, rambling messages.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “I—I didn’t want to talk to you last night.” A dark cloud passed over Ryder’s face and his pain sliced her heart. “I wasn’t ready…last night.”

  Almost two hours later, after Sheriff Ballard came over and collected the card case and the tape from the answering machine and took Julia’s statement, she collapsed on the sofa. “It’s over. Dr. Brody won’t be able to hide from the Durango Sheriff’s Department.”

  “Are you ready to talk now?” Ryder propped his shoulders against the doorjamb and folded his arms. “We have a lot to clear up, a lot to remember.”

  “I have a better idea.” Julia curled her legs beneath her. “Shelby’s going to a sleepover tonight at the Stokers’ with their granddaughter. I’ll cook dinner for you, and we can figure all this out.”

  “You cook?”

  “I know I never cooked before, but I learned a few tricks since coming to Silverhill.”

  “You remember?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  From the wicked smile breaking across Ryder’s face, he was recalling a lot more than her inability to cook. She didn’t have to tell him she remembered their torrid affair. She planned to show him.

  And that’s exactly what the old Julia would do.

  RYDER SHOWED UP for dinner, clutching a bottle of French wine in one hand and a six-pack of beer in the other. Good thing Rod installed a wine cellar at the house and stocked it with pretentious labels. Julia always loved a good bottle of Bordeaux.

  She opened the door a crack before swinging it wide, and he almost dropped the bottle of wine on the ground. A slip of a summer dress skimmed Julia’s curves and her dark hair danced along her shoulders, free of its customary ponytail.

  “I come bearing gifts.” He thrust the bottle in front of him.

  She snatched the wine from his hand and peered at the label. “Impressive, but the old Julia is not quite up to full speed. I don’t drink much anymore, not enough to do justice to this bottle. I didn’t need alcohol fuzzing up my already fuzzy brain.”

  “Keep it for when Julia number one makes her triumphant return. Rod won’t miss the bottle. I take that back. He probably keeps an inventory of the wine cellar, but that’s tough luck for him.”

  “Ryder, what if Julia number one never completely returns? I’m not the stylish, madcap, rich girl living among sophisticates in Paris anymore.”

  “I know.” He clunked the six-pack on her kitchen counter, and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You’re the mother of my child.”

  “About that.”

  He ran a thumb along her jaw line. “We have time to work it out. If you haven’t noticed I’m crazy about Shelby, but you’re her mother and you know what’s best for her. I’ll follow your lead.”

  His confidence in his ability to win Julia back and gain the love and trust of his daughter gave him the luxury of making that concession. Julia would never shut him out of Shelby’s life, and he had to make sure she’d never shut him out of her life, either.

  Julia’s face brightened. “Well, then, follow my lead to the kitchen. You can toss the salad while I put the finishing touches on my teriyaki chicken. It’s better when I grill i
t outside, but…”

  Her eyes shifted to the back door that led to a wooden deck and she shrugged. “No word yet?”

  “The Sheriff’s Department will find Brody, if they haven’t already. He must know they’re looking for him. He’s not going to show his face around here again, especially with the cameras watching.”

  “You’re right.” She shook her head and her silky hair caught the recessed lights over the counter.

  He wanted to run his fingers through her shimmering tresses, but she had to make the first move. He dumped the chopped vegetables into a big bowl of lettuce and inexpertly wielded a long wooden fork and spoon to toss the contents.

  Julia snorted. “We went out to eat a lot, didn’t we?”

  “No, actually, I was an expert chef in Paris, studied at Le Cordon Bleu and whipped up fancy cuisine for you all the time.”

  “Yeah, right. Once all my memories start rolling in, you’re going to have some explaining to do.” She shoveled some rice from a rice cooker into a bowl and then spun around. “What happened to the CD? In all the…er…excitement, I forgot to ask you.”

  “I sent it to the Black Cobra offices in Washington.”

  “Black Cobra has offices in Washington? I thought it was a top secret agency.”

  “It is. The offices are as bland as any other government agency office.”

  “Have they gotten back to you yet?”

  “I doubt Black Cobra is going to tell me the contents of the CD, but they did verify it’s one of theirs. Jeremy breached security and stole it.”

  “Stand-up guy, my ex-husband.”

  “Don’t start beating yourself over the head again because you married Jeremy. You already did that. The guy could charm a snake out of a basket, and you were vulnerable. He fooled everyone, not just you, and you’re not even a top secret agency like Black Cobra. Imagine how Jeremy’s employer felt when he turned.”

  “As foolish as I do.”

  He chucked her under the chin. “More. After all, you had Jeremy’s number before Black Cobra did.”

  “I fell for Dr. Brody’s act, too.” She bit her nail and wrinkled her nose. “Seems I don’t have very good judgment when it comes to men.”