Chapter Four

“We’re here, miss,” the man behind the wheel of the car said, jolting Elise awake.

It had been a long day, to say the least. Her oh dark thirty flight out of Cedar Rapids had been delayed by a thunderstorm, and then in Chicago her connecting flight was cancelled because the jet that was scheduled was held up at another airport, so she’s shambled around O’Hare for an exhausting nine hours before catching the last flight of the day into Hancock, Michigan – a town she hadn’t even known existed until just days before, but was ever so grateful to see now.

Mrs. Raisenen – Rose -- had reassured her, though, that her ticket was all paid for by Mr. Hale, and that a driver would be waiting to pick her up from the airport, regardless of the hour she arrived and would bring her to Timberline directly.

Elise had nearly cried when she’d finally stumbled out of baggage claim with her minuscule amount of belongings to see a man holding a “Ms. Blake” sign and a wearing a smile.

Jed Higgins was a friendly, middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair, an easy smile and a reassuring air. He’d expertly grabbed her luggage and gently steered her to a sleek Lincoln Town Car, left idling at the curb.

Apparently terrorist threats didn’t precipitate parking acrobatics at this airport, Elise thought wryly, looking around at the tiny facility. Jed had settled her in the back of the plush car and told her to relax – the drive was easy, and Timberline was only twenty or thirty minutes away.

No sooner had he pulled away from the curb that Elise had fallen asleep.

“Miss?” Jed repeated, turning now in his seat to look at her. Embarrassed, she straightened up and touched her hair self consciously, hoping she hadn’t been drooling in her overly exhausted state. “Ready to see your new home?”

Elise smiled then, a slightly nervous but enthusiastic smile, even as she pushed the door open before Jed could jog around and do it for her. “You’re sure this is all you have, miss?” Jed asked again, gesturing to her two suitcases. “Nothing else for me to pick up from freight or the post office?”

“That’s all there is. I’m a girl with few needs, and I travel light,” Elise said casually, though she didn’t go into the details of why – foster kids learned early on not to become attached to anything: toys, clothes, personal items, anything. It was always jettisoned when the next family took over, when the move came unexpectedly, when it was time to move again. She’d lost anything of sentimentality or value years before, so now her belongings consisted mainly of clothes, toiletries, favorite books and her beloved Nikon SLR camera – the one possession she would never part with. The rest of her items from the apartment in Cedar Falls were dumpstered or given to the local Goodwill – and good riddance too, she’d thought as she entered her new life, ready to start fresh.

Jed smiled and shrugged, then took Elise’s arm to steer her away from the car, and to help her with her footing on the gravel drive. She was so busy watching her feet that she didn’t look up for several seconds – but when she did, she lost her breath.

She had pictured a rustic cabin on some shady ground with Lake Superior around somewhere, but Timberline…

Timberline was a mansion.

A huge house – in cabin style, she noted wryly – sat perched on a grassy knoll, surrounded by pine trees lightly swaying in the breeze off the lake. Beyond the enormous wood structure, she could just see the last of the sunlight glinting off the water of Lake Superior. Perfectly manicured gardens lined the drive and surrounded the house, and a four car garage was nestled discreetly in a copse of trees.

It was like a fairy tale image of a cozy cabin, she mused, her eyes roaming over the structure. Huge windows faced the lake, and everything looked – immaculate. As she and Jed ventured further towards the house, Elise gasped and dropped her large shoulder bag.

She’d known Lake Superior was nearby, but this…

The shore of the lake was less than a hundred yards away across a small expanse of grass and down a small berm. Without thinking, she let go of Jed’s arm and bolted across the lawn, scuttling down the berm and onto the soft sand below.

She looked left and right, her eyes filling with tears, her lifelong dream of seeing an ocean – and this was as close as one, she argued – finally fulfilled. The waves weren’t huge, but made that satisfying whoosh whoosh noise, and the sand beneath her shoes was white and soft and seemed to stretch for miles in both directions, the view interrupted only by the occasional boulder or overhanging tree.

She stood perfectly still, suddenly aware of how big the world was around her, and how small her part to play in the cosmos really was.

She discreetly wiped away the tears that had escaped notice until that moment, so overwhelmed was she by the view. She couldn’t wait to stand in this very spot with her camera, trying to capture the beauty and solitude of the place. Though she didn’t fancy herself a professional photographer, she knew she could capture things with her camera that many others couldn’t, and she prided herself on taking beautiful pictures, even if she was the only one to ever see them.

After one more lingering moment, she then turned and climbed back up the berm, rejoining Jed with a self conscious smile.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” he said, seeming to understand her emotions right away. “Been living here all my life, and she still takes my breath away.”

“She?”

“Superior has gotta be a she,” Jed said with a wink. “As unpredictable, temperamental and deep as she is.”

Elise grinned in return and gestured to the house and grounds. “Tiny little place, I see.”

It was Jed’s turn to grin. “Think you can suffer through it?”

Elise could only nod, once again drinking in the view of the absolutely enormous windows, the huge front porch facing the lake, and the immaculate surroundings. “I had no idea Mr. Hale was Daddy Warbucks.”

Jed laughed out loud at that. “But with better hair.” He picked up her suitcases. “C’mon, let me show you in, at least.”

“Is… is Mr. Hale here?” Elise hesitated, not sure she was ready to meet her mysterious benefactor yet.

Jed shook his head no. “Been on business in Oregon for the last week – not sure when he’ll be back. It’s good though – gives me time to get the rest of the roses planted just there,” he gesturing to a flowerbed dug and tilled, and obviously awaiting a splash of colour.

“You’re the gardener?” Elise asked, stepping onto the porch behind him.

“Gardener, handyman, driver – I’m just a regular Gal Friday,” Jed said lightly.

“But with better hair,” Elise teased, a touch hesitantly, only to be rewarded with a loud chuckle.

“I think I’m going to like you, Elise Blake,” Jed said, swinging the front door open. “Welcome to your new home.”

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