Flying Home (15 page)

Merry didn’t ask for any clarification. She knew a family matter when she heard about it. After Gage finally took a sip of his tea, she asked, “What’s happening at the gate and in town?”

He gave her an easy smile. “This storm, that at any other time could have been bad for us, has turned out to be a blessing. There’s no one at the gate, not with snow coming down like it is, and in town, it’s full of skiers making their way to the slopes.” He took a breath. “I heard that the inn is fully booked and most other places to wait out the storm. I haven’t spotted any broadcast vans in a while.” He drank more tea and the smile came back. “I think my fifteen minutes are over and you’re free to leave.”

Words she’d wanted to hear so much, any yet....
Free to leave.
“That...that’s terrific,” she said, and was surprised to realize she was forcing a smile and enthusiasm for how the situation had been altered by the snowfall. “Did you know about this storm?”

He looked blank for a minute. “That it was coming, you mean?”

“I mean, when we were in the plane, did you know anything about it?”

He looked away from her as he fingered the handle on his heavy mug. “No, but I worried about another one hitting us up there. Who wouldn’t have been?” Then he looked up at her, his dark eyes narrowed, and he changed the subject. “I went by the center earlier.”

He said that so casually, but it really took her aback. “Why?”

“To see those kids you’ve been talking about so much.” With an exhale of air, he added, “You have your hands full with them, don’t you?”

She chuckled. “Oh, yes, but believe me, they’re worth it...and they’ve improved so much in the past six months.”

“Wow, I don’t want to think about what those six months entailed.” Gage rested his elbows on the table, the mug cupped between his palms. “I spoke to a lady there by the name of Merlot. I think that was her name.”

She smiled with amusement. “You probably talked to Marsala.”

He laughed. “I knew it was a type of wine. Yes, Marsala.”

“And what did she have to say?”

“A lot. But I did get to tell the kids that you’re just fine, that you got delayed because of the weather, and that you’d either call them or be back sometime today. Hedging my bets there.”

She never dreamed he’d do that for her. “They’re not all upset?”

“Didn’t seem to be, although I think I met Erin, the little girl you spoke about. Bright red curly hair?”

“That’s Erin,” she said fondly. “She’s okay?”

“I don’t know. She just stared at me and stayed right beside a kid named Joseph, who really did seem upset that he—”

Merry filled in the rest of the sentence. “Didn’t have a huge red van to go driving around in to look for me, right?”

“How did you know?”

“Search and Rescue has always been his dream, and the focal point of everything he does. He’s truly into rescuing anything he comes upon. I’ve never figured out the origin of that obsession in his life, but it’s very real to him.”

“He’s pretty adamant about it—getting a red van, I mean?”

“Yes, he is,” she conceded. “He’s one of the kids that really needs so much, but has so little.”

Gage drank more tea, and she followed suit. Then he set his mug down on the table with a soft thud. “Sometimes I forget about the poverty in Wolf Lake. It’s something no one really talks about, or that they really see, unless they’re doing work like you’re doing.”

“That’s par for the course,” she said, holding her cup just inches from her lips and watching Gage over the rim. “Out of sight, out of mind, and...” She glanced around the spacious kitchen. “You haven’t had to deal with any of that.”

He exhaled. “No, I guess not.”

“And you aren’t around here much anymore, so it would be easy to never see any of it.”

He narrowed his eyes on her again, almost as if he didn’t like what he saw at that moment. “Maybe I’m just blind,” he muttered.

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, you didn’t,” he said and stood. “So, do you want to get out of here now?”

She realized there had been a bond of closeness between them while they talked, and now it was gone, as if it had never even existed. “Yes, I’d like to,” she said. “Give me five minutes and I’ll collect my things.”

He didn’t move as she left the room, and she hurried upstairs to get her jacket and luggage, and put on her boots. When she came back down, arriving at the bottom of the staircase, she met Gage and his mother coming out of a side room. They both looked up at her, then she hurried quickly over to them. “I’m ready.”

Gage took her bags from her. “Me, too,” he murmured and headed toward the back of the house.

Lark stopped Merry from following by laying a hand on her arm. “Take care of yourself, and come back and see us soon?”

“Thank you,” Merry said, knowing she probably wouldn’t, but it was nice to be asked. “For everything.”

“I think I owe you a thank-you for Gage’s present to me when he got back—the snow globe?”

She’d totally forgotten about that.

“He told me you said you thought it was just what I wanted.”

Merry reddened a bit. “I thought you’d like it.”

“I love it,” Lark said, gave her a hug, then stepped back. “I was thinking about those kids of yours... I know young’uns around here love horses, but most can’t afford to keep them anymore. Do they like to ride?”

“Absolutely. Despite some of their limitations, they ride when they can.”

“Well, we have some very nice horses that would be good for children to ride, and they need exercise. I was thinking, when the snow lets up and it clears a bit, bring them on out for a day to ride, or hike, or just play.”

“That’s so nice of you. They’d love it.”

“Good,” Lark said, patting Merry’s shoulder. “Call me as soon as you think you can arrange it.”

“I will,” she said and hurried off in the direction Gage had gone.

* * *

G
AGE
WAS
AT
the back door when Merry came around the corner into the kitchen. “Over here,” he called to her, and she went to where he stood. “Got everything?”

“I think so,” she said.

He didn’t move. There was something he wanted to say, but wasn’t sure what would happen if he did. He blurted, “Just because I’m not here a lot, that doesn’t mean that I’m cavalier about what happens in Wolf Lake.”

She seemed taken aback. “I’m sorry, I never meant to—”

He turned away and stepped aside as he got the door open, then let her step out before he did.

She started to go past him, then hesitated, and whirled around to face him. “Listen to me,” she said in a tight voice. “I never meant that, at least not the way you think. Surely it’s the case that since you’re not around, Wolf Lake has to be lower on your list of priorities.”

He had to admit she had a valid point, but that didn’t stop him from feeling off balance. “Well, I guess that’s irrelevant because I won’t be here much, and you’ll be busy with your kids.”

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it wasn’t to see the tears suddenly welling up in her eyes. Before he could say he was sorry, she ducked her head and rushed away from him. “Merry?” he said, trying to catch up to her in the falling snow. “Hey, just a minute.”

“The truck? We’re taking that?” she asked, pointing to the black pickup they used at the ranch.

“Yes, but—”

She pulled the door open and got in, slamming it behind her. Rushing around to his side, he opened the back door, tossed in her things, then climbed in behind the wheel. “Hey, I thought we were friends,” he said, starting the truck to get the heater going.

She gazed out the window, ignoring his words, or not hearing them. He didn’t miss the way she clasped her hands firmly in her lap.

“Did you hear me?”

That’s when she turned, her eyes clear now. “I heard you.”

He drove slowly toward the gates. “Can’t we be friends after everything we went through together?”

“Sure,” she said without any conviction in her voice. “Why not?”

“Forget it,” he muttered, and pressed the release for the gates as they got close to them.

As the barrier opened for them to pass through, Gage stole another glance at Merry. She was sitting upright, staring straight ahead. He wasn’t sure what had just happened, but he knew that right then he was looking at a stranger.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

T
HEY
DROVE
TO
town through the steady snowfall in total silence, neither one breaking the tension between them. When they hit the main street, Gage finally chanced a glance at Merry. She hadn’t moved, but her teeth were nibbling on her bottom lip. He didn’t want this at all, not certain exactly what he did want, but he knew he didn’t want her to ever look at him with that coldness again.

“So, straight to the center?” he asked mildly.

“No, home, my home,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

“The house on Rock Line?” he clarified, remembering her telling him about renting Willie G.’s place.

“Yes, please.”

He drove past Wolf Lake Inn. It was one of the oldest adobe structures in the area. The original part of the building had housed the first hotel in town. Now, Mallory kept up its history as much as she could.

“So, you really want to try and buy the house you’re renting?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“I wish you good luck in getting Willie to let go of anything he owns in this town.”

“You think I don’t belong here, so he won’t sell to me, is that it?”

Where had that come from? “I never said that.”

She kept staring ahead.

He knew where her house was, on the street with the elementary school, and veered off the main road onto the side street. That’s when he realized that the main street must have been cleared earlier, because the side street was deeper in snow. His truck took the challenge, but he knew any car wouldn’t, unless it had four wheel drive. He saw the old Victorian ahead and on the right, snow drifting up to the wraparound porch. The driveway that led to the garage was a slight indentation amongst all the powdery whiteness.

“Your car’s in the garage?” he asked.

“Oh, shoot,” she said, slumping back in the seat.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s parked in the long term lot at the Santa Fe airport. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that at all.”

He came to a stop, and let the truck idle as he turned to her. “You had way too much going on.”

She put her head back against the headrest on the seat and closed her eyes. The action exposed the sweep of her throat, and he knew that his stupid idea of being friends wasn’t what he wanted at all. He wanted more, and most importantly, he didn’t want to lose contact with her. “Go on inside and change, do what you need to, and then I’ll run you over to the center when you’re ready.”

She sat up and turned to him. “Oh, no, I can’t ask you to do that. I’ll call and see if someone over there can come and get me.”

“No. I’m here, and I don’t mind waiting, I don’t have anywhere to be just yet.”

She stared at the house and then at him. “All right. Thanks,” she said and grabbed the handle to open the door.

She got out quickly and trudged up her front steps that were thick with snow. After fumbling in her jacket pocket for the keys, she finally unlocked the door, and then, without a look back at the idling truck, disappeared into the old Victorian.

He scanned the layout of the garage and house. Nice place. He’d noticed this old blue Victorian before, but never really looked at it. It did need work. The construction mind of his saw the warped gutters, the wood that was starting to separate on the siding, and single paned windows that leaked any heat as fast as an old furnace could produce it.

Yet, despite all that, Merry wanted this old, run-down house, and he wondered once again if Willie G. could be encouraged to sell it to her. After all, the old coot had no real interest in it, and he had known what he was doing when he’d rented it to her and moved into another house that was in closer proximity to the restaurant he owned and ran near Santa Fe.

The front door swung back and Merry reemerged. She was wearing the same clothes, but her hair had been neatly tugged back from her face, and she now wore heavy boots that went partway up her calves. She hurried sure footedly down the steps, around the front of the truck, and the door opened to let in a gust of wind and snow. She quickly climbed in, shut the door on the weather and glanced at Gage.

“Thanks so much for offering to take me to the center. I’m carless for now, I guess.”

He backed slowly out onto the road, headed toward the main street and stopped at the corner to let the heavy skiing traffic crawl past at a snail’s pace. He sat back, his hands resting on the bottom of the steering wheel. “Skiing here just before Valentine’s Day is crazy.”

“I guess so,” she said softly.

He glanced at her, and saw color in her cheeks along with the touch of a smile at her lips. “Are you going to share?”

She blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You look as if you just heard you won the lottery.”

She chuckled softly. “No lottery, but I’m going to see the kids. That’s winning on every level.”

He saw the gleam in her eyes, the smile growing a bit. She looked happy, and on some level he was jealous that he seldom felt that way anymore. Not that he was depressed, or a negative person, but the highs in his life just didn’t draw that much pleasure for him, at least not lately.

“I guess it is,” he said. The traffic parted and he pulled onto the road, heading toward the hospital and the family center adjacent to it. “Mind if I ask a question?”

“Sure.”

“What happens to the kids when the grant’s gone?”

She sighed softly. “I intend to be around here, in one form or another, and I think that if I work it right, I can still be in the kids’ lives, and maybe kids that show up later on, too.”

“What about the rest of your life? The life beyond your work at the center?”

“What about it?”

He maneuvered around some cars that were double parked in the snowy street. “What is it going to be like?”

“The million dollar question,” she murmured, and when he had the chance he glanced at her again.

She looked out the window ahead to the street, her hands once again clasped in her lap. Her teeth worried her bottom lip, a trait he recognized she did when she was thinking hard. “That’s pricey,” he said.

“I just...I’m not sure. I know I want that house, and I want it to be my family house. Maybe when my stepfather retires, they could come and live there, at least now and then.”

“And what about you?”

“I think that maybe, by then, I’ll have my own family, and make this town our home. A place they’ll leave when they grow up, but a place they’ll always come back to.”

“Like you did?”

“Yes, exactly.”

He had to ask the next question, something he’d wondered about, something she’d never hinted at during their time together. “Do you have someone in mind to build that life with?”

“Oh, no,” she said quickly. “There might be someone, but even if there isn’t, there are lots of kids out there that need someone to love them, like Erin, and adoption is a real alternative for them.”

Kids, maybe a husband, maybe not, a long life in Wolf Lake. Again, he felt some envy at her situation. She knew what she wanted, and she was on that path. Just as he knew what he wanted and was on his own path. Maybe he wasn’t as passionate as she was about her plans, but he still had his plans and they were every bit as firm as hers were. Build the business, keep moving, don’t be bored, and maybe he’d meet someone who shared that vision and maybe he wouldn’t. As far as kids went, he’d never even thought about them. He wouldn’t start now.

He felt Merry sit forward a bit, and excitement filled her voice. “Oh, finally, it seems like a lifetime since I left here!”

He saw the center, by the glass and steel visage of the hospital with a sprawling parking lot that was slowly being hidden by the steadily falling snow. The center was as theme-oriented in structure as the hospital was clearly functional. The center had been designed to touch the past, with adobe appearing walls, two stories with a line of windows on each that were framed by rough timber, a flat roof, and a huge side yard with every imaginable playground toy that the money an anonymous donor had supplied.

The massive letters that looked carved into the adobe front above the second line of windows, spelled out, “Wolf Lake Family Center.” Gage drove toward the partially covered semi-circular drive that swept past the massive wooden entry doors, one with a carved eagle in flight and the second door with a wolf, head lifted, baying at the moon.

“Oh, wow,” Merry breathed, opening the truck door before Gage had brought it to a full stop. “Thanks,” she called back over her shoulder as she sprinted away from him as quickly as she could in the ankle-deep snow.

He watched her for a moment, transfixed by her spirit and enthusiasm. “Hey,” he called after her, realizing she hadn’t taken her things with her, but she kept going. Quickly, he turned off the truck, left it by the entry and headed after her. By the time he pushed back the doors to go inside, she was nowhere in sight, but he knew where she was going. The second floor, suite B, the same place he’d gone earlier in the day. He passed through the reception area, by walls displaying wonderful murals of children playing, backdropped by the suggestion of the low desert.

He got to the bank of elevators, spotted Merry’s name on the register, “Dr. Merry Brenner, Therapy & Counseling, #2B” and passed it as he stepped onto the car that had just arrived. In a few seconds, he was on the floor obviously dedicated to her kids, from the brilliant primary colors, to picture after picture of kids that lined the walls. He headed to the door marked 2B, a few feet from where he’d stepped off the elevator.

Before he could push it open, he heard squeals and laughter. He then stepped into a massive room obviously decorated for children. More primary colors, interactive games and activities were everywhere, and scattered in a space off to one side that had what looked like sleeping mats. But the main focus of Gage’s attention was in the middle of the room.

Merry.

Surrounded on a round carpet that was probably twenty feet across, fashioned in deep green pile, was Merry with the six or seven kids he’d seen that morning. Then he saw Merry reaching out to the little girl, Erin, a tiny thing pushing her way into Merry’s arms. And Merry was smiling. That sight almost took his breath away.

Earlier he’d thought Merry’s pleasure at thinking about seeing the kids was stunning on her face, but the smile right then eclipsed that by a mile.

He almost backed out, but she saw him, and motioned him to come over to her. The kids parted to let him near, but they kept very close to the woman on the floor. The boy he’d been introduced to as Brandon Sage sat by Marsala, and he got up, limping over to Gage. He was about ten, skinny with a flushed face and a walking cast on his left leg.

Cocking his head a bit to look up at Gage, he said, “So, you came back?”

“Yes, I came back,” Gage said, trying to get his bearings before actually speaking to Merry.

“My uncle, Big Mike, from the Rez, says he knows you, that you’re some bigwig that crashed in an airplane. Is that right?”

He saw Merry blanch slightly, before he nodded to the kid. “That’s me, but
crashed
is a bit strong. The storm was bad and I had trouble landing.” He spread his arms at his sides. “As you can see, I survived just fine.”

“He says you used to live here, but now you live in some big city and make tons of money. Where do you live?”

“Where do I live?” he echoed.

“Yeah, where? Big Mike couldn’t remember.”

The kid was persistent and Gage could feel Merry watching him carefully. Where
did
he live? In the small single room apartment he’d had in the same building as his head offices, or did he live in his plane? Or at least, the next plane he’d buy? Or did he live here in Wolf Lake? Nothing fit, so he just said, “A long way away.”

That actually seemed to satisfy the boy, who turned and limped back over to Merry to ask her a question. “How come he knew you were back when he came here this morning?”

Merry stood, but each hand of hers held the hand of a child. There were two girls and four boys, ranging in age from what he’d guess was about six years old to ten or eleven. He knew Brandon Sage. Joseph, the one obsessed with red vans, held Merry by one hand, and Erin hung on her left hand.

“He met me, and said he’d let you kids know I’d call you or come by this afternoon,” Merry explained. “I wanted to see you, not call, so he gave me a ride to come and see all of you.” Her green eyes met his. “Let me introduce you to my friends.” One by one she introduced the kids, ending with Erin.

She’d mentioned adoption with Erin, and he thought he could see why. The little girl held tightly to Merry, her eyes huge and watching him warily. She looked a bit like a scared fawn. Maybe she was afraid of Merry leaving again. Or maybe the fear came from some new person walking into this world uninvited.

“I left my things in your truck, didn’t I?” she asked.

Along with a black hole of emptiness, he thought with a very uncomfortable poetic bent that didn’t make it any the less true. But when he spoke, he said, “Yes, but since you’re without a car, I thought I could run you back to your house on my way home when you’re finished here.” He glanced at the snow still coming down. “It’s no day to walk.”

She nibbled on her bottom lip for a long moment, then said, “An hour or so. I need to do a few things with the kids, catch up on a couple of—” She shrugged. “Just a few things, and I would appreciate a ride. Thank you, again.”

He didn’t know why he felt so relieved that she’d accepted his offer, but he knew it was a lot better than heading away from here alone. “Good, that’s good.”

She looked around. “First I need to figure out how to put together a table a donor gave to us, but it’s in pieces, and I don’t like puzzles.” She frowned. “The table could take a while to get right.”

“Lady, you’re looking at a construction master,” he said, smiling broadly at her. “I’ll do that while you do whatever else you have to do.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Watch me,” he said, and then turned to Brandon. “Can you build stuff?”

“Me and Joseph do Legos a lot,” the boy offered.