Run to Me: A Mountain Man Romance (Clarke Brothers Series Book 3)

by Lilian Monroe

  I’m not sure when it happened, but somehow, I feel like I’ve gained a family with them. I sigh and turn over in my bed, stretching my arm out to where Zoe would be if she were here.

  I’ve turned into a big softie, that’s what’s happened. I just never thought it would feel this good.

  Chapter 29 - Zoe

  “Do you have everything you need, Audrey?” I ask, throwing an apple into her lunchbox and zipping it up. She appears in the doorway between the bathroom and the bedroom, backpack on and shoes tied.

  “I’m ready! And don’t worry, Mom!” She says. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I know you will, monkey,” I say, handing her the lunchbox and walking with her to the hotel lobby. I’ve started viewing apartments and houses around town for us to move into, hoping to get out of this hotel room by the end of the week. I don’t have many options, but Katie and Mara are helping me contact people who might have a place for us to rent. There isn’t much in the way of real estate agents in this town.

  Audrey skips along beside me and we wait at the bus stop together. I check the time on my phone, anxious to see the big yellow bus coming around the bend. Another mother with her child appears, and Audrey looks a bit apprehensive, and my heart squeezes.

  The little boy looks at her and smiles. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” Audrey responds.

  “I like your backpack.”

  “Thanks,” she says. “I like yours too.”

  “It has a secret pocket–look!” The boy says, showing off his bag proudly. Audrey laughs and soon she’s engrossed in a conversation. I smile, and for the first time since I got this promotion, I feel like I might have made the right decision. Audrey seems to like it here, and she hasn’t mentioned the mean girls at her old school in Seattle since she left.

  I nod to the mother and smile, watching my daughter and feeling my heart swell. Before long, the bus comes around the bend and I send her off. I let out a big sigh as the doors close and Audrey waves at me through the window.

  “The first day of school never really gets any easier, does it?” The other mother says. I glance at her and chuckle, shaking my head.

  “Sometimes I think it’s easier for them than it is for us.”

  “Oh, there’s no question about it,” she laughs. “It’s absolutely easier for them.”

  By the time I get to work, my nerves seem to have calmed down. They’ve given me an office in the back of the building to go along with my promotion, and I’m starting to contact other rangers in the area. I’ll have a couple National Parks to look after in this job, which means more work than I’ve ever had before.

  A soft knock on the door makes me look up. Sherry looks in, smiling.

  “Morning,” she says, and her stern features soften. “How’s the new office?”

  “It’s perfect, Sherry, thank you,” I reply.

  “You settling in okay?”

  “I… actually, yeah. Audrey went off to school today, and my mother is down in the next town doing a pottery class. I think they’re finding this easier than I am.”

  Sherry chuckles. “That’s always how it is.” She stares off through the window for a moment and then turns back to me. “I heard you were looking for a place to stay,” she says. I glance at her, eyebrows shooting up. I nod. “Well, I don’t have anything for you and Audrey, but I do have a one-bedroom cabin on my property. I’ve rented it out once or twice, but mostly I just use it for family who come to visit. I know you said your mother likes gardening, and there’s a little veggie patch out back. She can come have a look to see if she’d like it.”

  Sherry is glancing at me with her eyebrows drawn and she’s wringing her hands in front of her. She looks almost nervous and my jaw drops as my heart grows in my chest. The thoughtfulness of the townspeople here will never cease to surprise me. I smile and dip my chin down.

  “I think she’d like that,” I respond. “I’ll let her know tonight and we can set up a viewing.”

  Sherry smiles, and I wonder how I ever thought she was stern. “It would be nice to have another woman my age to talk to,” she says. “Bernie seems wonderful.”

  “Thank you, Sherry,” I say. When she turns around and leaves my new office, I lean back in my chair and let out a big breath. Lang Creek is feeling more and more like home to me.

  When evening comes, I tell Sherry I’ll be over with my mother later and I head off home. Ethan and I have plans for dinner, so me, my mother, Audrey and Ethan end up walking over to Sherry’s house in the early evening. Ethan slips his hand into mine as we walk, and Audrey skips ahead.

  I don’t know if it’s the cool autumn wind that blows through my hair, or maybe it’s the two glasses of wind that I’ve had, but my heart flutters in my chest. My mother is humming to herself, and she looks up at the mountains and smiles.

  Somehow, everyone is happy. We’ve slipped in to a new life without too much fuss, and the stress of our life back in Seattle has mostly disappeared.

  Sherry’s cabin is lovely, and my mother agrees to rent it out on the spot. Before long, she and Sherry are discussing the intricacies of the veggie patch. After some time, all five of us head off for a short walk in the forest. I lean my head against Ethan’s shoulder as I listen to Sherry explain the ins and outs of soil composition for vegetable growing, or something of the sort. Audrey runs up ahead, inspecting bugs and picking up sticks as we walk.

  Without me realizing it, in the past few weeks all my worries have turned out to be baseless, and I’m actually happy. We walk until we get to a small grassy area by the river. Ethan, me, my mother and Sherry sit on benches as Audrey walks down to the water’s edge. I watch her pick up sticks and nimbly weave them together to make a watercraft, and I smile.

  Maybe Mrs. McCoy wasn’t so bad. At least Audrey’s getting some use out of her new skills. Ethan puts his arm around my shoulder and squeezes me closer, and I turn towards him. He lays his lips over mine and I shiver in contentment. Vaguely, I can hear Sherry and Mom deep in conversation about carrots and tomatoes, but all my attention is on Ethan.

  He wraps me in his arms and runs his fingers along my cheek. He kisses me tenderly and then leans his forehead against mine. I close my eyes for a moment.

  “Move in with me.”

  His words are barely above a whisper, but I open my eyes and stare at him. “What?” I ask, heart thumping.

  “I mean it. You’ve looked at half a dozen places and none of them were good for you and Audrey. I live near the bus stop, and she’ll be able to walk to the town’s soccer field and basketball courts. It’s a great location for you as well, near work, and–”

  I start laughing as he babbles, and he stops talking to look at me, confused. My eyes soften and I put my hands on either side of his face.

  “You would do that for us?”

  It’s his turn to chuckle. “I’m doing it for me, Zoe. I want you with me. I want Audrey with us. You make me happy.”

  My heart grows so much it feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest. My eyes start to mist and his face goes blurry, so all I can do is nod my head up and down. My voice is gone, and there’s a lump in my throat. I don’t need to say anything, though, because Ethan crushes his lips against mine and wraps his arms around me. My heart sings for him, and I kiss him fiercely. What have I done to be so lucky?

  We kiss until nothing else matters, and I forget where I am.

  I forget where I am until a gargled scream pulls me back to the present. My stomach drops and my head whips around to where Audrey was standing. I see my mother move faster than I’ve ever seen before, sprinting towards the river and jumping to where my daughter’s head has just disappeared under the water’s surface.

  Ethan jumps up, yelling at my mother to stop but she doesn’t listen. My voice is gone, and all I can do is run towards the two people I love most with my heart in my throat and panic coursing through my veins. The water splashes as I watch my mom jump in and dread grips my entire body like a cold hand.
My eyes flick to the center of the river, where the icy water is rushing dangerously fast.

  I watch in a daze as Ethan grabs a long stick, running towards the bank of the river. My mother is swimming with long, powerful strokes, and finally a scream rips out of my throat. My scream hits my ears as if it’s coming from another world, and the anguish tears at my chest. My feet are in the water and Ethan is yelling at me to stand back.

  My mom is diving down, and after three or four agonizing seconds, she reappears with my daughter in her arm. Ethan splashes in the water to his thighs and extends the stick towards her. She grabs onto it and I watch him pull both of them back to safety.

  I’m still screaming. Audrey’s lips and skin are an unnatural shade is blue. My mother is shivering. Ethan is saying something, but I can’t understand anything. I wrap them in my arms and I cry and cry and cry until powerful arms pull me away and drag the three of us back towards town.

  Chapter 30 - Ethan

  This is my fault. If I hadn’t been so caught up with kissing Zoe, I would have noticed Audrey walking on the slippery rocks on the edge of the river. I could have called her back, and none of this would have happened. I try to forget the chilling scream that came from Zoe when she saw Audrey disappear under the water’s surface. My hands tighten on the steering wheel and I glance at the two of them in the back seat. Zoe is rubbing Audrey’s body, whispering to her and crying as we race down the highway towards the hospital.

  I look back at the road, trying to ignore the memory of my own father’s death. It was eerily similar, except it was Mara McCoy that fell in the river, and my father that jumped in after her. He refused to be treated at the hospital, the stubborn fool, and got pneumonia. By the time we got help for him a few days later, it was too late.

  Now, the nightmare that plagued me for years is happening again. My heart is splitting in two for Zoe. I never knew I could care so much about someone, but I do. I glance in the mirror again and the pain in my heart hardens.

  This isn’t my fault. This is Margaret McCoy’s fault. I don’t know how she’s done it, but somehow she’s caused this. She showed Audrey how to build those stupid stick boats. She planted the seed of fascination with the rushing, icy water of the river. The fury builds in my stomach until I can’t see anything except the road in front of me. I tighten my grip on the steering wheel until I think it might snap.

  I can see Sherry’s car in the rear-view mirror. She’s got Bernie with her, and our little convoy is breaking every road law there is to get them to the hospital.

  Zoe sobs in the back seat and the vice grip around my heart tightens.

  “It’ll be okay, Zoe,” I hear myself say. “We’re almost there.”

  “I should have been watching her,” she says, rocking back and forth. “I was so fucking happy and selfish.”

  “It was an accident,” I say through gritted teeth, knowing exactly how she feels because I feel the same way. “It’s no one’s fault.” Even as I say the words, anger flashes through me.

  We get to the hospital and it doesn’t take long for Audrey and Bernie to be rushed into a room together. The nurses tell Zoe in no uncertain terms to step aside, and I put my arm around her shoulder to lead her away. She’s shivering and watching the medical team work through wide, blood-shot eyes. Tears are falling down her cheeks and I doubt she even notices them drip off her chin.

  I glance at Sherry, who purses her lips and watches the nurses and doctors try to warm the two patients up.

  Just when I thought I was gaining a family, they’re being ripped away from me. My eyes fill with tears and I squeeze Zoe closer to try to distract myself from the pain in my heart. Zoe feels so frail in my arms, and she leans on me for support.

  “I’ll get a couple coffees,” Sherry says. “Take her to sit down over there.”

  For once, I welcome Sherry’s stern commands. She’s the one who took control of the situation by the river, telling me to grab Zoe and Audrey as she picked up Bernie as if she weighed no more than a child. She’s the one who told me to drive to the hospital, and she’s the one who spoke to the doctors. She’s been the voice of reason, and now, once again, I listen to her.

  I guide Zoe to a seat and wrap my arms around her, whispering everything and nothing into her ear as she stares off into space.

  Sherry reappears and hands us two steaming styrofoam cups of coffee. It tastes terrible. Zoe doesn’t even try hers, she just sits next to me and stares at the floor.

  “I was so focused on that stupid veggie patch,” Sherry says, glancing down the hall towards Audrey and Bernie. “I didn’t even know what was happening until Bernie was halfway to the river.”

  Zoe makes a strangled noise and Sherry crouches in front of her. My boss only looks like that when something has gone wrong at work and she needs to take control of a bad situation. Her usually impeccable grey hair is falling out of her bun, and the lines on her face are deeper than usual. She puts her coffee down on the floor and places both hands on Zoe’s thighs.

  “Now you listen to me, Randall,” she commands. Zoe’s eyes widen and she stiffens beside me. “Your daughter is going to be fine. These are great doctors, and she was only in the water for a minute. You hear me? She’s going to be fine.”

  “I’m a terrible mother,” Zoe says. Her voice is flat, and she doesn’t seem to know where she is.

  “Oh, hush,” Sherry says. “You’re a wonderful mother. Everyone can see it. Now you need to be the great mother that you are and be ready to be strong for your family. You hear me?”

  That seems to have some effect on Zoe. She sits up a bit straighter and wipes her eyes on the back of her hand. She nods to Sherry, and takes a sip of coffee before grimacing.

  Sherry chuckles. “Worst coffee I’ve ever had,” she agrees, standing up and glancing down the hall.

  Sherry stays with us until the early hours of the morning. She nods off on a chair at one point, but she’s there, with us, the whole time. Zoe seems to come around after a couple hours and tells Sherry to go home. Sherry laughs. “You won’t get rid of me that easily,” she says, and that’s that.

  Every minute is agony and every hour is endless as we wait. I try to stop my mind from drifting back to that day by the river over a decade ago, when my father did the same thing for Mara McCoy. It was the start of the decade-long feud between the McCoys and the Clarkes that tore this town in half. Now, I’m reliving that nightmare and somehow it feels even more visceral.

  Finally, a tired-looking doctor appears and nods to us.

  “Audrey is going to be fine,” he says unceremoniously. Zoe makes a horrible strangled sound and immediately starts sobbing. The doctor nods, waiting for her to compose herself before continuing. “Bernadette is still in critical condition,” he says. Zoe makes another horrible noise and I put my arm around her shoulders.

  “Can we see them?” I ask. The doctor nods, and leads us down the stark white hallway to their room. It smells like antiseptic and the fluorescent lights are giving me a headache. Zoe’s shaking.

  Zoe goes to Audrey, climbing in the bed beside her and putting her arm gently over her daughter’s body. She puts her head next to the pillow and cries silently as Audrey sleeps. The organized is returning to the girl’s cheeks and lips, and Sherry squeezes my arm as she lets out a sigh of relief.

  I glance at the next bed, where Bernie is laying. She looks pale as a nurse attends to her. She has thermal blankets over her entire body, and the nurse is jotting down her vital signs on a chart. I pull up a chair between the two beds and find Bernie’s hand, holding it in my own. It’s cold. Memories flood my mind and for a moment, I see my father laying on his death bed in this same hospital.

  “Don’t die,” I whisper to her. “Please, Bernie, don’t die.”

  Chapter 31 - Zoe

  My mother dies in that hospital bed. She’s too old and too frail to sustain that kind of shock to her system. The doctors aren’t able to get her body temperature back to where it should be,
and she never wakes up.

  I’m numb.

  She passes as I hold her hand and Audrey sleeps in the bed next to her. The pain in my heart is indescribable. The mix of guilt and shame and misery swirling around inside me feels like a thousand cuts to the flesh, slowly bleeding as I watch my mother breathe her last breath.

  She saved my daughter and it cost her her life. Ethan and Sherry are beside me, but I don’t see them. I just see my mother and her eerily pale skin, the peaceful look on her face and the eyes that will never again sparkle as she laughs.

  I think Ethan puts his hand on my shoulder at one point, but I’m not sure. I just sit there and look at my mother’s body until the pain inside me is almost too much to bear.

  Sherry says something about not worrying about coming to work, and Ethan says something else, but I don’t hear any of it. One of them puts a jacket over my shoulders and some food appears beside me, but nothing makes me move from my seat next to my mother’s bed.

  It’s not until I hear Audrey’s voice behind me that I’m pulled out of my stupor. What she says breaks my heart all over again.

  “I’m sorry, Mommy,” she says in a whisper. “My boat was getting stuck in the rocks and I just wanted it to float down the river.”

  I turn to my daughter and shake my head, wrapping her in my arms. “Shh, Audrey. It’s not your fault. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “What happened? Where’s Grandma?”

  My heart breaks all over again and I take a deep breath. This is one of the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but I look in my daughter’s eyes and brush a strand of hair off her face.

  “Your grandmother was very brave. She ran into the water to get you out. She saved you from the river, and she’s the most amazing woman I’ve ever known.”