Evangeline, Alone. (Book 1): Evangeline, Alone

by Styles, M. A.

  The man was big and broad, over six feet easily, with rust colored hair cropped down and brushed just slightly to one side. The woman had her thick brown curls pinned in an elegant up-do. Her bright white gown stood out against his black tuxedo, and they both were looking at each other with extreme joy, their smiles spreading across their entire face.

  “This is your Momma and your Daddy,” Evie said, pointing to each one as she introduced them.

  Emma looked from Antonia to Evie and back again. She pointed to Antonia, “Momma.” Then to Evie, “Momma,” very matter of factly.

  Evie looked at Antonia as she pulled the sweet toddler close to her chest and gently squeezed her with a hug. Emma took the picture back and was pointing to the full bouquet of blue and purple hydrangeas the woman held. Then she brought it to her nose and sniffed, pretending she could smell them. “Ooo!” With that she got down off Evie’s lap and out of her embrace to walk over and show Antonia the flowers in the picture.

  “So pretty!” she said to the little girl who gazed up with her father’s sea foam green eyes and her mother’s dark brown curls swinging unruly around her face.

  Evie started to pick up all the scattered paraphernalia of a woman she barely knew. Anything she did know she got from the things she was now gathering back up, but she would never forget. The last thing she put back into the clear plastic slot was the license of Adelaide Brown. The woman’s face stared back at her with a much different expression than the wedding photo. Serious, but kind, and Evie unconsciously nodded at her like they had an understanding. She threw the wallet back in and reached back down to the bottom where she felt the bottle before. As she pulled it out the pills jingled, and Antonia looked over at her and down at the label, her eyes widening.

  Evie zipped the purse back up and respectfully slid it to the back of the closet again, behind the boxes and blankets. “It’s not for me,” she said ,emotionless at Antonia’s concerned expression.

  “Ok,” was all she said in reply.

  Evie rose up from the floor and walked back out of the room to where her pack laid on the floor. She unzipped one of the smaller pockets and pushed the pill bottle as fair down as it would go. She closed it up again and turned back to see Antonia standing in her doorway at the end of the hall.

  “It’s about time for her to take a nap. Would you like to put her down before you go?” A sad smile stretched at the corners of her mouth.

  “Yeah, that’d be perfect,” she started back towards the room. “Thank you,” she said to Antonia as she reached her at the door.

  Antonia held her arms out and put her hands on Evie’s shoulders, giving each a squeeze, then pulled her into a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered into her ear, then let her go and walked towards the kitchen.

  Evie walked back into the closet where Emma was already laying on her makeshift bed holding a stuffed giraffe she remembered jamming into her pack well over a year ago with everything else for this tiny little person. In the back corner opposite the bed was a rocking chair partially obscured by hanging clothes. Evie went over and sat in it.

  “Let’s have a snuggle, little beast.” She opened her arms down to her.

  Emma wiggled herself out from her nest of blankets and over the side of the covered, slatted wood to Evie who scooped her up. She started slowly rocking back and forth. For the next ten minutes the woman softly whispered her love for the child, and how she would miss her long after she fell asleep. Eventually she crouched down at the side of the bed and laid her in, tucking the pink blanket around her. As she stood back up, she saw the photo had been placed on the sill of the round stained glass window.

  CHAPTER 15

  Returning

  The horses were lined up and ready to go when Jack rounded the other end of the barn with Richy. He gave him a friendly slap on the back and a wave goodbye to Jack as he made his way to the house to finally get some sleep. He stopped at the small group of three to say goodbye to Mac, giving her a hug that picked her up just a bit off the ground. Jack could see she didn’t really like it, but that’s probably why everyone made sure to do that stuff to her, like a family would. She still gave him a small smile and a roll of her eyes. Jack walked past the horses towards the group too, giving Aries a pat on his hind quarters and a nod to Henry who was getting him ready.

  “We heading out now or do I have anymore lessons I need to take before we go?” Jack asked, with a crook of his eyebrow and a grin to Mac.

  She turned to him. “You tell me. Are you going to need more than the one you just had?” she retorted, giving it right back to him. Her straight face not giving away whether it was a joke or not, made Jack chuckle.

  Jack looked down the line of horses and saw Cara and Charlie at the head of the line. “No, thank you.” He put his hands up in mock surrender as he backed away towards his friends. “Richy’s a very good teacher. I think I may actually be able to let one loose now,”

  “You don’t say.” Mac gave him a bit of a smirk this time, and then turned back to Wyatt and Rae.

  When he reached Cara and Charlie, Beth had just carried a small stool over to them, and placed it at their feet next to the horse. Jack gave them both a look as he stared from the wooden stool to them.

  “Yeah, act like you’re not gonna need it. I’ll see where you’re at when it comes time to get back on these monsters. There isn’t a giant rock around this time,” Cara said to him, slapping his arm.

  Wyatt, Cara, and Mac started for the horses, stopping at Electra first. Mac put her foot in the stirrup and well practiced, she pulled herself right on to the back of her. Wyatt gently handed her full pack up and she carefully put it on. The bottom of it rubbed against the back of the saddle.

  Jack realized then that he didn’t even know what, if anything, they had given to them for the Block. Whatever was in Mac’s backpack definitely didn’t seem like enough to get them through and the smile that had been on his face slowly melted away.

  “You ready?” Henry asked from atop Aries. Jack hadn’t even noticed him getting on.

  “Uh…” He looked to the head of the line where Wyatt was helping Cara up from the stool, and Rae was watching as Charlie waited for his turn with it. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  Henry gave him a grin. “You want the stool, or you want to try?”

  Jack looked back to Charlie who was struggling to get on the horse even with the stool. Wyatt’s boisterous laughter floated down to them as he watched the big man. “I guess I’ll just give it a go.”

  Henry gave him an encouraging nod as he reached his hand out to him, helping to pull Jack up from the leverage of using the man’s foot already in the stirrup. He swung himself over the back of the horse, still a bit clumsily, but better than the first time and he smiled to himself.

  “You’re a quick learner,” Henry said to him. “Good for you.”

  Just then they heard the kitchen door of the house bang closed behind them and they turned to see Antonia and Lizzy coming their way, basket in hand.

  “It’s not too long a journey, but you’ll need a little something,” Antonia said as she handed Mac a little square package wrapped in a once fancy cloth napkin, white with grape vines embossed around the edges.

  Lizzy went down the line taking one out of the basket for each of the other members of the group for their journey back home. “Have a safe trip. I hope to see y’all again,” she said with her little sweet voice after she had given them each one.

  “Thanks, Lizzy,” Charlie said, holding up his package to her, then sliding it into the other pocket on his jacket.

  Antonia gave Mac’s calf a squeeze then stepped back. “I’ll see you soon, eh?” she said with a tone that said it wasn’t a question, but an order.

  Mac gave her a genuine smile and nodded her head. “Yes, the usual timeline, unless something comes up,” she said with a raise of her eyebrows and a slight shrug of her shoulders.

  Antonia looked down the line at the strangers that had come asking for aid
and sighed. “Well, try and make sure nothing else does, eh?”

  “I’ll do my best,” she said also looking at the people lined up in front of her, then back at Antonia. “Thank you. For everything, Toni.”

  She waved a hand at her, brushing the sincerity away. “Yes, well, the favor will be returned I’m sure,” she said giving her a look that didn’t seem as confident as the statement.

  “Alright, everybody ready back there?” Wyatt asked as he turned back to look at everyone.

  Evie turned away from Antonia and looked at him. “Yup. Let’s head out.” With that Wyatt gave Tank a little nudge with his foot and off they went.

  “Bye!” Lizzy called after them. Jack turned back and gave her a wave with the hand that wasn’t holding onto Henry. When he looked back he saw her standing next to Antonia and Beth as they watched them go. They started to descend the hill, and the group turned, heading back towards the house and barn. He saw Lizzy give a wave to the house and Jack looked up before they had gotten low enough for the land to block it. First he noticed Brooks, rocking away in his chair on the front porch, a little puff of smoke noticeably coming out of his mouth. But as he was about to turn back around he saw Nico standing above him on the balcony in front of the triangle of windows, each gleaming from the sun overhead. Lizzy must have been giving him a wave, but he was staring at the group as they left. He must have woken up from his rest after his night shift, but not in time to see them off. Jack was pretty sure who he was really watching leave. Not for the first or the last time, he knew.

  They continued the ride for about ten minutes, just like the ride to the house before. When they got out of the maze of barbed wire, they all dismounted from their horses ungracefully, save for Mac who took the lead from Electra and handed it to Henry so he could guide her back to the barn with the rest of them. He tied it to a strap at the back of Aries’ saddle.

  Charlie looked up at Wyatt and Rae. “I want to thank you for your hospitality and aid. We definitely appreciate it, and hope to be of service to you at some time in the future.”

  Cara rolled her eyes at his attempt at being a well spoken leader and his very late attempt at promoting better relations between the group.

  Wyatt gave him his toothy, boyish grin. “Well don’t worry about that, there Chuck! We’ll be coming over real soon, and you can more than return the favor as much as you like.”

  Rae gave a slow blink, and let out a sigh as she smiled at them. “Don’t you worry about it. It was real nice to meet you.” Then they all began to guide their horses back around to start their ride home through the camouflaged wire entrance, but stopped to give a more personal good bye to Mac.

  Wyatt reached his hand out for hers and shook it real tight. “Evie! I love ya! You can bet we’ll be there soon. Wouldn’t want you to miss us too much.” He gave her a wink and then started through the spiked metal opening.

  Rae bent down as far as she could while still atop the horse, Mac stood on her tip toes and they gave each other as much of a hug as they could. “Don’t go so long this time, Evie, or you might not be able to stop us from looking for you now that we know where you’re supposed to be.” She brought herself back up and gave Evie a look of warning.

  Mac looked at her. “No. I don’t think you’d ever be that stupid. Wyatt, maybe, but not you.”

  Rae laughed then looked back down at her a little sadly. “Well, unfortunately, it wouldn’t be just me and Wyatt who’d feel the need to search.” She let that hang in the air for a bit, then kissed the finger tips of her hand and waved it at her before she took off after Wyatt.

  Henry followed giving them all a wave, but reaching down to give Mac a shake of the hand. “Safe travels,” he said.

  Then they were gone, not even the sound of hooves could be heard. Mac turned to face her three companions, all of which were looking to her to start them off.

  “It’ll be about four hours, if we go our usual pace,” she said, looking at Charlie. “So let’s get moving.” She hiked her pack up gently on her shoulders and started past them, each turning to follow as she walked by.

  Within about forty-five minutes Charlie had started to lag behind. It was better than the last few times they had started off, and it was obvious from what Mac said when they began that she planned for it. Cara stayed behind to give him support and to keep his pace up. Jack found he was able to keep up with Mac much more, though it was probably more like she was letting him keep up.

  They walked in relative silence, not wanting to attract anything to their presence. Jack listened to his breathing and the crunch of leaves and sticks underfoot. It was warming up even more, so the forest floor was starting to dry out. Chipmunks and squirrels ran about, and some birds sang here and there, which he took as a good sign. The animals usually knew before they did if anything was wandering around they didn’t want to meet. After about half way through their journey Jack started to hear a strange sound. It was definitely familiar, but he couldn’t really put his finger on it. Little sharp notes, muffled somewhere close. Mac stopped just in front of him and turned to the group, then waited a moment for Charlie and Cara to reach them.

  “We’ll take a quick break,” she said pointing to a fairly cleared area of the forest floor that had a natural wall of small brush to one side they could sit by for a bit of cover.

  Each one of them looked at her surprised as she slid her pack off delicately and placed it against a tree. None of them even expected to get a break, let alone so soon. Charlie was the first to make his way over and drop to the ground pulling his water bottle out of his pocket. As he chugged a good third of it, Cara walked over to him and pulled it from his mouth.

  “You haven’t learned a damn thing, have you?” she joked at him quietly, and then sat down next to him.

  Mac sat next to her pack and pulled out the little wrapped square Antonia and Lizzy handed out. Once everyone saw her do that they remembered they had one too and did the same. Jack took a seat slightly in the middle, closest to Mac, and began to unwrap his package. Laying in the napkin was a sandwich. The bread was filled with whole grains, very rustic and unbelievable appealing. He lifted the top slice to see a good layer of goat cheese and some pickled tomato slices. A little row of raisins rolled along one side of the sandwich against the crust.

  Jack looked up to show his friends, but saw they were already devouring their own. He smiled and looked over at Mac who had only taken a bite so far. Then he heard those sounds again. The high but soft staccato of something he could not place. He was about to ask Mac if she heard it too, worrying he was imagining things when Cara and Charlie didn’t have a reaction to it. But just as he was about to open his mouth, Mac began to pull the zipper back on her pack slowly, and the sound grew a louder.

  She reached in and pulled out a shoe box, carefully placing it on the ground. The lid was pierced with numerous, roughly edged holes, and he suddenly realized what the sound was. Mac lifted the lid, placing it next to the base of the box, and exposed five little chicks huddled in one corner. Old rags lined the bottom, and their little fluffy, soft feathered bodies heaved slightly with their breaths and chirps.

  Mac looked up at him. “They’re hungry.” She took her water bottle and poured a bit into its cap, placing it in the center of the cardboard box. Then she reached into her pack again and pulled out a very battered, old coffee can, and popped the lid. She sprinkled some of its contents onto the round piece of plastic that made up the top and set that in there too, taking up any remaining space in the box. The chicks scrambled over to each area taking what they could of the roughly ground corn meal and water. Mac filled the cap one more time before Cara came over.

  “Oh my God!” she exclaimed quietly, not trying to bring attention to their group. “Can I hold one?”

  Mac looked at her. “Well, they are technically all of yours now, so yeah, you can.”

  Charlie came up behind her and looked into the box as Cara scooped one up, her fingers sinking slightly into their
puffed feathers.

  “They gave us some of their chickens?” Charlie asked in disbelief.

  “It’s not much, but yeah. You’ll get some good eggs when they’re old enough to yield them. But you have some work to do.” As she was talking to him as he knelt down and gently plucked one out too, holding it in his large, rough hands. Mac sat back a bit more and ate her sandwich, throwing a few crumbs of her bread in there with the corn meal.

  Jack reached in and pulled one out, holding it up to his face to look at it closely. Its little beak worked a bit of food down its throat, and then it stilled, snuggling in a bit to the warmth of his hands. He looked up at Mac who was watching him. He suddenly realized what a gift these little birds were. The protein from their eggs would be more than a welcomed addition to their food stores and he was washed over with immediate guilt and awe at the woman who was still saving them.

  For a while no one really said anything as they stroked the little balls of fluff, and quietly baby-talked to them. Mac was petting the two who were still in the box, and they were slowly falling asleep nestled in next to each other in the corner of the box. She began to take the plastic caps out, both empty now, and placed them back on the top of their containers. Then she looked to the three of them.

  “Sorry, but we have to get moving again. I want to get back by dusk.” She reached her hands out for the chicks.

  As they returned them, they each got one last pet, and stood up. Mac placed the lid back on and packed it all back in. She carefully hooked her arms through the straps and rose up, ready to start again. They all stood to follow her, jamming the now empty cloth napkins into their pockets and heading off.

  A while later Charlie and Cara had drifted back to their spot a little ways behind Mac, and Jack followed her still thinking about the gift those chickens were. He picked up his pace just enough so he was next to her and she didn’t even look over at him.

  “The kids are going to go crazy when you bring those in,” he said with a joy he couldn’t really contain. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and could’ve sworn he saw her smile a bit from his periphery.