Chapter Thirty Five

Elise had no idea what had happened here.

After sitting in a stupor on the porch steps for several minutes, simply absorbing her surroundings, she’d managed to motivate herself enough to stand up, cross the grassy yard, and step down onto the sand where the caution tape was fluttering softly in the breeze coming off the lake.

She looked up and down the beach, but saw no evidence of whatever crime had been committed.

She automatically looked to the guesthouse behind her for signs of life, but it too was dark and shuttered, a huge padlock on the door.

She wondered where Sophia was.

Well, where everyone was, she amended.

She didn’t know anything more than she did a few minutes ago, just that she was more scared than she was a few minutes ago, seeing some sort of crime scene.

God, she hoped there wasn’t a homicide here…

If something had happened to Betsy, Tucker, Jed, Rose or someone else, while she’d gone off in self-imposed tortuous exile to sort out her feelings about Tucker, she would never forgive herself for not being here to offer whatever protection she could.

She fervently hoped everyone was okay – they were her family, no matter what the future held.

She wandered down the beach a ways, to ‘her boulder’, the same boulder she had sat on the day Tucker had told her everything about his history with Sophia.

Now, she wished he were beside her again, talking about anything – even Sophia, as long as it meant he was safe.

She didn’t know what to do now.

She’d quit her job, quit her temporary home, so sure was she that Tucker and Timberline would welcome her back with open arms.

Instead, there was nothing but darkness and solitude all around her.

She knew she could call Dan and he would turn right around and pick her back up and take her back to the Eaglr River Inn, but she wasn’t ready to do that yet.

She wasn’t ready to see anyone.

Not yet, anyway.

Grateful for the steady pounding of the waves of Lake Superior, she stared out to the horizon, allowing her heartbeat to normalize and her breathing to return to normal after her scare with the supposed crime scene.

She felt herself relax, told herself to breathe, and watched the waves in their steady, rhythmic pattern, slowly losing herself in their constancy, they reliability.

A slight movement to her right caught the corner of her eye, and she turned her head, nearly falling off the boulder a moment later is complete and utter surprise.

She thought maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her.

She thought maybe she was imagining it.

It couldn’t be.

It had to be. It had to be or she would absolutely die on the spot.

Tucker Hale stood on the sand in front of Timberline, his eyes frantically scanning the beach to his right, before turning his head towards her, their eyes locking on each other.

Elise stood up, motionless, staring at him open mouthed for a long, long moment, both of them frozen in place, wondering if the other one real.

Without thought, Elise pushed herself off the boulder and ran full tilt towards Tucker, launching herself into his arms even as tears blurred her vision for the last ten steps.

He caught her, and something thumped to the sand at their feet as he gave a muttered “ooph!” as he caught her. His arms immediately went around her with a muted hiss, and she buried her face in the crook of his neck, sobbing.

He was real. Thank you God, he was real, and his arms were around her again, just as they should be.

“Oh my god, you’re all right. When I got here and no one was here, or anywhere, and the caution tape was up on the beach I thought something awful had happened and I was so worried and I didn’t know what to do, so I was just sitting here, worrying and feeling sick that I’d missed you, I’d missed our chance because I’m just completely stupid and insecure, that we might never seen each other again, but you’re here and you’re safe, and we’re together, thank you sweet baby jesus…” she rambled, not really knowing what she was saying, just so grateful to have Tucker to say it to.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” he said soothingly, running a hand down the cascade of her red hair and then gripping her closer. “I’m here, I’m right here. God, I’m so glad to see you…”

They hugged and hugged, and then Tucker bent his head and kissed her full on the mouth, taking her breath away and making her heart soar as it hadn’t done since she’d driven away from Timberline so many weeks ago. When she finally pulled away, though, she noticed a wince of pain on his face as he shifted from one leg to the other, looking a bit unsteady. She looked down at what had fallen on the sand by their feet – a cane.

“What… what happened?” She asked, looking him up and down frantically, noting his jeans and long sleeves, a leg he seemed to be favoring as he stood before her. “Are you okay? Tell me you’re okay. Please.”

He nodded, and then leaned over to pick up the cane. “I’m okay, but I’d be better if we sat. Can we sit?” He asked, gesturing to the nearby lawn chairs that were dug into the sand by the empty fire pit. She nodded and followed him, sitting down beside him, reaching out to take his hand, unwilling to lose physical contact with him for even a moment.

“I can’t believe you’re here…” he said wondrously. “I was at the apartment in Munising, and I just... I just had a feeling you were here. And that I had to come back to Timberline, no matter what. I drove straight through for almost four hours, just needing to be here, feeling like you were here….”

“I know,” Elise said, understanding completely. “I dropped my suitcase in the driveway and ran, as though I could hear you calling my name. But when I came around the corner of the house…” she gestured behind them. “No one was here, and everything was dark. Tucker, what happened? Where’s Betsy?”

“Betsy is in California, visiting some of her friends, thank God,” Tucker said. “She was gone when it all happened.”

“What all happened?” Elise asked, tugging on his hand until he looked at her, his eyes haunted and dark. “Are you okay? Really?”

Tucker nodded, then took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “A few nights after you left, Betsy was gone to California to visit friends and I was alone in the house. Missing you,” he added, giving her an almost shy smile, which she returned readily.

“I had just fallen asleep when I heard a noise in the bedroom. I had lit a fire in the fireplace in my room because the night had gotten pretty chilly, but I didn’t want to kick on the furnace and heat the whole house this early in the year. I saw a… a figure in the shadows of the fire.”

“Sophia?” Elise asked, already knowing the answer.

“Sophia,” he affirmed, wincing at the sound of her name. “Before I could get up, she came at me with something in her hands and smashed it down on my leg.”

“What was it?”

“A fireplace poker,” Tucker replied, and Elise bit her lip to keep from crying out at the thought of how much that must have hurt him. “She smashed it down on my leg, breaking the tibia in two places. Hence the cane,” he added after a moment, a wry look on his face. “I’m going to be in physical therapy for a while, once the cast comes off.”

It was only then that Elise noticed the jeans were awfully loose fitting and that his left leg was firmly encased in a cast underneath, from knee to ankle. She marveled that he was as mobile as he was, now that she knew more of the story.

“So, it wasn’t like I could get up and restrain her,” Tucker said, continuing his story. “I was kind of busy writhing around in pain. So she took the opportunity to scoop up some of the hot ashes from the fireplace in the coal shovel I had nearby and throw them on the bed to try and light it on fire.”

“Oh my god!” Elise exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes filling with tears again at the pain he must have endured at the hands of a woman who claimed to once love him.

“The bed didn’t ignite, thank God, but some of the coals landed on me, burning my arms pretty badly, and part of my chest. It, um, hurts.”

“How are you not still in the hospital?” Elise demanded. “These are serious injuries!”

“I don’t like hospitals. I discharged myself when I couldn’t take another day in a hospital bed. I’ve only been out a couple of days, I swear. I stayed in as long as I could.”

“So… Sophia breaks your leg and burns you with hot coals. Then what?” Elise asked, not sure she wanted to hear any more of the story.

“The whole time she’s in my room, she’s ranting and raving, clearly completely out of her mind, not making any sense at all. I found out later that she knocked Mrs. Williams completely unconscious, but she’s recovered now. Anyway, Sophia figured she’d done me in, so she took off through the house, just knocking things over and smashing whatever got in her way. She eventually made it back outside and headed for the beach.”

Without thinking, Elise glanced at the caution tape, then back to Tucker wordlessly.

“She… she threw herself into the lake,” Tucker said haltingly. “They found her body washed up on the beach the next morning.”

“Oh God… oh Tucker, I’m so sorry,” Elise said, tears falling even as Tucker tried to bite back his own tears. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. I should have been here for you.”

“No,” Tucker said firmly. “I’m glad you weren’t. If I’d known you were in the house, I would have gone out of my mind with worry that she might have hurt you. No matter how badly I was hurt, I was grateful to be alone, that you and Betsy were gone. If something had happened to either one of you, I never would have forgiven myself. Never.”

“But, Tucker, to go through this alone…” Elise said, and then halted. “I don’t even have words for what you’ve gone through. My heart aches for you.”

“It was awful, yes, but I think I’ve known for a long time that Sophia wasn’t going to gracefully grow old. Maybe it was a blessing for her to just…slip beneath the waves. I don’t know. I’m still trying to come to grips with it all.”

“Of course,” Elise said, her voice full of sympathy. “You have to mourn her. You loved her, for all her faults and problems. Of course you need time to come to grips with it.”

“But knowing you’re here… that you… that you cared enough to come back. That helps a lot,” Tucker said haltingly, his voice husky. “It’s been so hard since you went away, Elise. I missed you. So much.”

“I missed you too,” Elise said, her voice rough with emotion. “So much.”

“I mean, now that you’re here, and you’ve seen… what I am now,” Tucker said, gesturing down at his leg in cast. “I could understand if you wanted to walk away.”

“Because of a broken leg?”

“That may never heal all the way,” Tucker said glumly. “I feel like a ninety pound weakling, not being able to get out and swim every day. Honestly, I haven’t felt like doing anything since you went away, swimming or otherwise.”

“Well, it’s time to change that,” Elise said easily, giving him a gentle smile. “Timberline won’t be the same without a naked lord of the manor hitting the lake every morning.”

“But… I also have this…” Tucker said, wincing as he rolled up the sleeves on his long sleeve shirt, exposing skin that was red, mottled and burn-scarred. “Not a pretty sight.”

“I still think you’re beautiful,” Elise said simply, her eyes never leaving his face but to glance at the scars for a moment. “And if you think I would care about a few scars or a limp, that you never knew me at all.”

“And there’s still that age difference.”

“Bring that up again, and I’m going to call you ‘Grandpa’ for the rest of your life. Or sir.”

“No,” he said, laughing. “Anything but ‘sir’. You know how much that hurts me.”

“What if I kiss it and make it better?” Elise asked, standing up and placing herself in his lap, careful of his broken leg, not wanting to hurt him. “Will I be forgiven?”

“Try it and let’s see…”

Elise kissed him, lightly at first, the more deeply, loving the feel of his arms wrapping around her, pulling them more closely together. They remained that way for a long time, wrapped up in only each other, impervious to the dark and cool temperatures that fell around them, simply kissing and murmuring to each other.

“Do you know what I think?” Tucker asked, what felt like hours later.

“What?” Elise asked, still tucked against his body, her head on his chest.

“I think we should get married and raise Betsy together.”

Elise’s heart stopped, then started again with a lurch. She sat up quickly, then apologized when she jostled his leg in her excitement and made him wince slightly. “Are you… are you serious?”

“I’ve never been more serious,” Tucker said. “I… I picked out a ring.”

“When?”

“Before.”

“Before what?”

“Before our little… intermission. Actually, I bought it the day after we…” he raised and eyebrow and she laughed.

“Hedging your bets until we did the deed, huh?” she teased and he laughed out loud, then grew serious again.

“Annaliese Blake, will you marry me, with all my faults? With our age difference? With my temper? With my broken body but complete spirit?”

She smiled then, a tender, soft smile for her future husband and answered without hesitation. “A thousand times yes.”

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