by Bev Prescott
“Is she meeting us at the shore?” Zoe reached for a handle on the side of the carrier.
“Yes. She’s getting the boat ready.” He stood still, as if contemplating something to say. “You and Alex have become good friends, haven’t you? I mean, you have to be. You were the one she listened to when it came to getting her to stay for the summer.”
“I consider her a friend, definitely.” Zoe let go of the carrier. She hoped he couldn’t read in her expression that Alex was so much more than just a friend.
“You must know my family’s dirty secrets by now. How do you think she’s doing?”
“Mr. Marcotte, please. I don’t think it’s fair to Alex for me to talk about this with you.”
“Did she tell you I’ve been going to therapy with her?” Daniel averted his eyes.
“She mentioned it, yes.”
“I… I’m not a bad father,” he blurted.
“Mr. Marcotte, you don’t have to go into this with me. It really isn’t any of my business. I care about Alex, but we can’t talk about this when she’s not here.”
“I need for you to know something, though.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I never cared that Jake and Alex were gay. I still don’t.” He hesitated. “I just didn’t know what to do. My wife was so upset, and I was afraid of what the world would do to Alex and Jake if they were gay. The kids at school had already tortured my Jake.” He pointed at the carrier. “It’s sort of like the eagle here. In a sense, we tried to keep our kids in captivity so they wouldn’t be hurt by the world. What I’m learning now is that I wasn’t protecting them by trying to convince them to rethink this whole gay thing.”
Zoe bit her tongue. It wasn’t her place to question his motives, but she found it impossible to believe that Daniel’s only intent was the innocent desire to protect his son and daughter from a homophobic world. She could also see that he was in pain. “With all due respect, why are you telling me this?” She felt sorry for him despite what his paralysis had done to Alex and her brother.
“I saw the way she looked at you that night at the dance.” He glanced away. “And the way you looked at her when you went after her. I may be inept as a father, but I’m not blind.”
“Mr. Marcotte—”
“Hear me out. Will you?”
“Of course.”
“When I asked Alex if there was something going on between you, she never answered me. Her silence spoke volumes.” He swallowed whatever emotion caused his eyes to moisten. “If you’re part of what makes her happy again, I don’t want her or you to think I would ever stand between you.”
“I’m relieved to know that. But it isn’t me you should be telling. Please say it to Alex.”
He shook his head. “I can’t. It’s been so long since I’ve known how to talk to my daughter.” He breathed a sigh laced with sarcasm. “Or anyone else, for that matter. After all that’s happened, I don’t think she’s able to hear me through the noise of our history. I hope you understand I’m not trying to make excuses. I still haven’t figured out what she needs to hear from me.”
“I mean you no disrespect by saying this, but if you don’t know, you still aren’t listening. You might start with something simple, like ‘I’m sorry.’ And, ‘I love you.’ Say what you feel like you just did with me.” Zoe grabbed the handle on the side of the carrier again. “If you don’t mind, sir, we really need to get the eaglet out of here before the day gets much hotter and the kids discover we have him.”
“Thank you for listening.” Daniel grasped the other handle and lifted the carrier in sync with Zoe. “Alex should be at the shore with the boat, ready to go.”
“Perfect.” Zoe struggled to hold the pet carrier level with the much taller man on the other side. She put her head down and ignored the pain in her shoulder from the heavy load. The lump in her stomach weighed her down even more. In the little time she’d spent with Alex since the day at the chestnut tree, Alex seemed to pretend they’d never been intimate, which broke her heart, but she refused to give up. Her anger had dissipated, but her desire to help Alex had increased.
Daniel said, “There she is.”
Zoe lifted her gaze and saw Alex loading a dry-bag into the boat. Alex waved, hopped out of the boat, and jogged toward them. When she arrived, she reached for the handle on Zoe’s side of the carrier. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
Zoe let go, happy for the break, and even happier to see Alex. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” Alex carried Dac the rest of the way with her father.
Zoe slipped a couple of paces behind and watched Alex and Daniel working together to bring the carrier to the boat. Their familial resemblance was striking. They had the same facial features and tall slender build. Even their gaits were similar. The universe had a way of teaching lessons through its metaphors. There had to be a lesson in the fact that Alex and her father were taking Dac home. Maybe it was the other way around. Maybe Dac was taking them home.
Alex and Daniel carefully hoisted the carrier into the back of the boat and set it on the floor. Daniel stood at the controls. “Do you have everything you need, Zoe?”
Zoe slipped the backpack from her shoulders. “All set, thanks.” She sat down near Dac’s carrier.
“All right, then.” Daniel turned the key and throttled the engine to back the boat off the sand.
Alex took a seat across from Zoe.
“I’m glad to see you.” Zoe glanced at Daniel, whose attention was focused on the lake ahead of them. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said about time. The summer’s going to be over soon. I want to spend as much time with you and Dac as I can before I go back to California. If you’ll let me, I’d love to help you keep watch over him in the coming weeks.”
Zoe took in the sight of Alex. The need to memorize her face overwhelmed her. “I’d like that.”
“Good.”
They sat for the remainder of the ride in silence until Daniel rounded the back of the island and slid the boat smoothly up on the sand. Not only did he and Alex look so much alike, it was clear from whom Alex got her boat-operating skills.
Zoe took the binoculars from her backpack, zipped it closed, and put it on. She scanned the trees for the parent eagles. Dac’s sibling, Terry, sat in the nest, looking curiously over the edge. He was big enough for his body to be visible in the nest, not just his head. Soon he would be perched on the edge of the nest with his wings spread wide, testing the feel of the wind against them.
“I don’t see the parents,” Zoe said. “I’m sure they aren’t too far away. They’re probably nearby hunting for breakfast. This is a good time to bring Dac home.”
Daniel shut the engine down. “How can we help?”
Zoe pointed at a large boulder at the base of the tall pine holding the nest. “We’re going to leave him next to that boulder. It’s close enough to the lake for him to grab a drink of water if he gets thirsty in this heat.”
Alex glanced from the boulder to the nest. “I still don’t understand how he’s going to get up there.”
Zoe patted the underside of the backpack. “Remember that chopped salmon we tried to feed him at the rehab center? I’m going to leave a bunch of it on top of the boulder. When he gets hungry, he’ll have to take the first step of figuring out how to get on top of the rock. Once he does that, he’ll be close enough to go to the next level by getting himself from there to one of those lower branches on the tree. I’m hoping he’ll hopscotch his way back into the nest.”
“That would be remarkable if he’s able to make it,” Daniel said.
Zoe’s gaze bore into Daniel’s. “With some encouragement from his parents, he’ll make it.”
Daniel smiled for the first time she could recall since coming to the camp. “Let’s get this little guy home.” He reached for a carrier handle. Alex took the other. They toted the carrier the rest of the way to the boulder.
&
nbsp; Zoe unpacked the plastic container with the salmon pieces. She grinned at Alex. “This could get stinky, remember?” She climbed onto the boulder and emptied the container’s contents on top of it. She hopped off of the big rock. “Time for the moment of truth.”
She pulled a large, heavy towel from the backpack. She slung it over her shoulder and unclipped the fasteners that held the carrier’s top to its bottom. Alex helped her lift the top off. Dac must’ve noticed the sun on his body. He moved his head, clearly curious about his surroundings. The leather helmet still covered his eyes.
“I had no idea he would be so big,” Daniel said. “I thought the heavy weight was all from the carrier. He seems even bigger than his parents. And he doesn’t have a yellow beak or feet.”
“They do look bigger because their feathers are different. But they don’t weigh quite as much as their parents.” Zoe put the towel over the eaglet and lifted him from the carrier. She set him down on the ground by the boulder and removed the towel. “When I take off his helmet, he might decide he needs to defend himself against us. Give him space. We’ll grab our stuff and leave him to the business of getting on with his life.” She reached for the helmet.
“Wait,” Alex said. “Would it be all right if I touch his feathers one last time?”
“Sure,” Zoe said.
Alex lightly stroked the thick, soft feathers on Dac’s back. “Good luck, little one. We’ll do our best for you.” She stepped back near her father.
Zoe lifted the helmet from Dac’s head. He blinked in the bright sunlight. He spread his wings wide, put his head back, and called out loudly.
“We should go.” Zoe gathered the towel into her backpack while Alex and her father each grabbed a section of the carrier and headed toward the boat. “It’s all up to him now.”
Daniel stopped and looked over his shoulder. “This might be the most important thing that has happened to this camp in a long time. I intend to do everything in my power to protect this eaglet.” He seemed to gather strength from Dac in the same way as Alex had.
Zoe saw an expression pass over Alex’s face that she hadn’t seen before. It reminded her of the way she’d looked up to her own father when she was a child.
Chapter 27
Zoe noticed the subtle definition of muscle in Alex’s slender shoulders as she held the binoculars to her eyes. Clad in a pair of shorts and a bikini top, Alex was impossible to look away from.
Zoe knew what it felt like to have Alex’s lips on hers. She longed to know the rest. Unfortunately, dwelling on her desire was self-induced torture. She tore her gaze from Alex and scanned the island for any sign of Dac. She gripped the cockpit rim on Alex’s kayak tighter to keep her close. The anchor attached to her own kayak kept them from drifting.
“It’s been four days since we put Dac on the island, and we haven’t seen him since.” Alex lowered the binoculars. “That’s a bad sign, isn’t it?”
The question snapped Zoe back to the task at hand: looking for Dac. She weighed whether to answer from the optimistic peak in her heart or the pessimistic pit in her stomach. Every hour that passed with Dac on the ground increased the likelihood that his chances at life were quickly ticking away. “I’m worried. But I’m not ready to give up on him.”
“Maybe we should land on the island and walk around in the brush to see if we can find him that way. He might be hungry and all he needs is a little more food.” Alex pointed at the big boulder. “All the salmon we left for him is gone.”
Zoe didn’t have a lot of confidence that Dac had actually eaten the salmon. Any number of small predators or birds might have helped themselves to the easy pickings. She did intend to land on the island at some point to look for him, but she assumed that when she did so, it would be to locate his body. Given all that Alex was going through, Zoe didn’t want her to have to witness finding Dac’s carcass. But not letting Alex have a choice in the matter made her feel guilty.
“Let’s wait a little while longer and let Mother Nature run her full course,” she said. “We shouldn’t interfere now.”
Chirping came from the nest. Zoe gazed up to see Terry climb out onto its edge. He spread his wings wide and made his presence known with a long, strong call to the world.
“What’s he doing?” Alex asked. “Is he trying to get his parents’ attention? I haven’t seen either of them since we’ve been out here.”
“He’s getting ready to fledge, which means he’s ready to learn how to fly. See how he’s keeping his wings spread open wide? He’s testing to see how the wind feels. Eventually, he’ll be brave enough to let wind gusts lift him from the nest and back down until he’s ready to try flying from limb to limb in the nest tree, a little at a time until he goes for it.”
“What do you mean, goes for it? It’s hard to imagine he can learn how to use his wings hopping from limb to limb.”
“I don’t think it’s as much about learning how to use his wings as it is about trusting them. Essentially, when he’s ready, he’ll stand on the edge of the nest, spread his wings wide, wait for a good wind, and take a leap of faith.”
Alex switched her attention from Terry to Zoe. “That’s how they learn to fly? They just let everything go and step into the wind?”
“Yeah, that’s a great way to describe it. They simply step into the wind. What I wouldn’t give to know how that feels. Maybe it’s the same feeling a kid gets riding a bike for the first time without training wheels. They just do it because they know they can. All they need is faith. I’ll have to keep that in mind for my presentation tomorrow on how birds fly.” Zoe smiled at Alex. “I’m nervous. I don’t really know how to talk to little kids.”
“I’m glad Claire finally persuaded you to do it. The kids are going to love you. I saw how you were with Michelle. She was mesmerized by you. Besides, they’re going to be on their best behavior since their parents will be there. I’m betting with your talk, and Patch making an appearance, followed by the puppy fashion show, they won’t have time to misbehave.”
“It was actually your father who convinced me. He said it would be a great way to win the parents over and get their buy-in about protecting the eagles. I was skeptical about making the eagles’ location public, but he has a point. If more people learn to care about them, peer pressure might be enough to keep visitors away from the island, especially with the Fourth of July weekend coming soon. Your dad really seems to mean what he says about protecting the eagles and the island.”
“We’ll see how good his word is when it starts to hurt the camp.”
Zoe gathered her courage. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I have to ask: do you think you’ll ever be able to forgive your father?”
Alex’s gaze met Zoe’s. “I hope so, if he asks. I’d love to let go of having a hard heart. It hurts to have it covered in stone all the time.”
“Why not do it for yourself, then, regardless of whether he asks? Aren’t you the one paying the price by letting your heart stay buried?”
“What if he’s not sorry at all?”
“Why does it matter?” A large brown bird soaring through the sky caught Zoe’s eye. She looked from Alex toward the sky.
“What is that?” Alex asked.
“It’s a juvenile eagle, probably a couple of years old. I’ve seen it hanging around the past few days.”
The young eagle soared high over them, circling in the updrafts of wind. It banked and flew in successively lower arcs around the island, heading in the direction of the nest.
Zoe searched the tree line on shore for either of the eagle parents. “Where are you, Mom and Dad?” This was not good.
“Do you think the new eagle’s curious about whether the nest is occupied?”
“I’m sure it knows. Eagles may be majestic and inspiring, but like humans, they can be opportunistic invaders.”
The invader screeched as it continued its tack toward the nest. Terry frantically climbed out of the nest and onto one of the anchoring branches
. He scooted to the end of the branch as far as he could go, tucked his wings close to his body, and hunkered down as if trying to be invisible.
“He’s terrified,” Alex said. “What’s happening?”
Zoe hoped the invader wanted whatever food it could grab in the nest while the parent eagles were away. It was a good thing for Terry that he had the instinct to get out of the invader’s way. It wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. She pulled Alex’s boat closer and wished Alex wouldn’t see the likely outcome if Terry’s parents didn’t show up soon to protect him.
Alex placed her hand over Zoe’s and helped her hold the kayak steady. It was the first physical contact they’d had since the day at the chestnut tree. Alex’s touch took her breath away.
The invader swung around to the front of the island and landed on the large boulder where they’d left the salmon for Dac. Zoe suspected that the invader had likely stolen the food and come back for what was in the nest. It may have already killed Dac. The invader opened its wings and flapped them together as it hopped from the rock to a branch low on the nest tree.
“That’s a good sign,” Zoe said.
“What is?”
“It can’t figure out how to get into the nest by flying. Have you noticed how the parents always enter the nest from the back of the island? That’s because there’s a clear path they can take without getting their wings caught in the tree branches that hold the nest. This bird is going to try to climb the tree with its talons to get there. It’s not going to be easy in all those thick, needle-covered branches. That ought to buy the parents some time to get here.”
The invader hopped to another, higher branch that couldn’t hold its weight. The branch snapped. The young eagle tumbled out of the tree and disappeared into the heavy brush.
There was still no sign of the parents when the tree’s thick, bottom branches started to move. The dark green needles shielded the invader from her view, but Zoe knew there was no question of its giving up. With its talons locked into the rough bark, it continued to walk its way up the tree trunk instead of hopping from limb to limb. Occasionally, its progress would stall when its unwieldy wings got caught in the whorls of branches and it had to pause to untangle them.