Mountain Homecoming

by Sandra Robbins

  Rani glanced up at Matthew and detected a hint of tears in his eyes. He blinked, looked down at Noah, and swallowed hard. Rani rose and slipped into the chair across the table from them. They sat without talking for what seemed an eternity before the door to the bedroom opened.

  Her mother eased out of the room and closed the door behind her. The look on her face told them she didn’t bring good news. She walked to the table, and her eyes softened as she looked down at Noah.

  She bent down and placed her hand on Noah’s shoulder. “Noah, I’m so sorry, but your mother has passed away.”

  The boy’s lips trembled, and tears filled his eyes. “Has she gone to be with Jesus?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Yes. Do you want to see how peaceful she is now?”

  He didn’t answer but slipped out of Matthew’s lap and placed his hand in Anna’s. Together they stepped into the bedroom. Rani stood at the door and watched Noah approach the still figure on the bed. He stared down at his mother for a moment then bent and kissed her forehead. He turned to leave, then broke into a run, dashing through the house and out the front door.

  Rani and Matthew ran onto the porch, but he had disappeared. “Noah, come back!” Rani cried out as she started down the steps.

  She’d reached the bottom step when Matthew caught up with her and grabbed her arm. “Let him go, Rani. He needs some time alone. I’ll go look for him in a few minutes.”

  Rani nodded and stepped back onto the porch. She looked over her shoulder for Matthew, but he wasn’t behind her. He had walked to the corner of the house and stood looking toward the mountains in the distance. She started to go to him but hesitated.

  As she stared at his straight back and broad shoulders, she knew Noah wasn’t the only one needing some time alone. Matthew wanted it too. Perhaps Bertha’s death had stirred memories too painful to be shared. Later he might need her, but not now.

  Matthew had no idea where to begin looking for Noah. He could have secret hiding places anywhere in the thick tangle of vegetation that covered the fields around the cabin. It pained Matthew to look at those overgrown fields that once had produced some of the best hay crops in the Cove. An apple orchard Matthew remembered from his childhood had vanished from the field behind the cabin as if it had never been. Gone also was the open-sided shed that had sheltered Mr. Ben Campbell’s beehives. Once they’d been said to yield the sweetest honey in the Cove.

  Matthew shook his head in disgust. Wade hadn’t been any better at taking care of the land his father had passed to him than he had been at providing for his family.

  He pulled his hat off and wiped his shirt sleeve across his forehead. The day had warmed up, and Noah might be anywhere. He tried to think where he would have gone to be alone when he was a boy. Somewhere that would conceal his whereabouts but would allow him to keep an eye on what was happening around him.

  Of course.

  The hay loft.

  The ramshackle barn behind the cabin would be the ideal hiding place. Matthew didn’t glance up at the opening of the loft above the barn door as he ambled across the hardened earth of the former barnyard. A feeling that he was being watched from above reminded him of the times he’d kept an eye on his drunken father while the man staggered around yelling for him to come out of his hiding place.

  Matthew stepped into the barn and closed the door behind him. He glanced around in the dim interior. The absence of any animal sounds or smells and the deserted stalls confirmed the notion that Wade no longer kept livestock in the building. Near the other end of the aisle he could see a ladder that led to the hay loft. A rickety bench sat beside it, and he sauntered toward it and eased down. The bench creaked and swayed, but it held his weight.

  Matthew sat still for a moment and listened for a sound from above. A floorboard creaked, and he smiled to himself. A piece of wood lay on the ground. He picked it up and hummed a tune as he pulled out his pocket knife and began to whittle.

  After a few minutes, he heard a rustling sound from above. “Hey there, Noah,” he said. “I wondered where you’d gone off to.” He waited for a reply but none came. “Miss Anna didn’t need me right now, so I thought I’d come out here and sit awhile. I like to pass the time by whittling sometimes. Come on down, and I’ll let you take a few swipes with my knife.”

  “You will?”

  The soft voice came from right above Matthew’s head, and he looked up. Noah was peering at him through the opening to the hay loft. Matthew smiled and motioned for him to join him. “Sure will. I hate to whittle alone anyway. I suppose it won’t be a treat for you, though. You probably whittle all the time.”

  “No, I ain’t never done it before. I ain’t got no knife.”

  “Well, you can use mine. Come on down and sit a spell with me.”

  Noah swung his body around to the ladder and climbed down. When he hopped off the last rung to the ground, he paused and took a hesitant step. He glanced down at the knife Matthew held and then back up. “Who taught you how to whittle?”

  Matthew shrugged and slid the knife down the wood again. “I reckon I just picked it up on my own. But I’ll teach you if you want me to.”

  A big grin pulled at the boy’s mouth. “I shore would like to learn.”

  “Then come over here and let me show you.” Noah settled on the bench beside him, and Matthew handed him the knife. “Now you have to be real careful not to cut yourself. Hold the knife in this hand and the wood in the other.”

  Noah wrapped his right hand around the knife handle and turned his left hand up to take the stick. When Matthew had positioned Noah’s hands, the boy looked up. “Now what do I do?”

  “Slide the blade down the wood away from the fingers of your left hand. I don’t want you to cut a finger off.”

  Noah laughed. “Me neither.”

  For the next fifteen minutes Noah whittled the wood until he had shaved it into a sharp point. Matthew took the piece, held it up, and nodded. “I think this is the best first job at whittling I’ve ever seen. No telling what kinds of things you can make as you get better. But you have to remember not to use a knife unless a grownup is with you. It’s too dangerous for a boy to do by himself.”

  Noah’s smile disappeared and tears filled his eyes. “Then I guess I won’t never git to do it. I don’t have a ma no more, and my pa don’t hardly ever come home. I ’spect I’ll be by myself all the time.”

  Matthew closed his knife, stuck it in his pocket, and put his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “My mother died too, Noah. I know how you’re hurting right now. You need to think about the good times and how much she loved you. That’ll help you feel better.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t reckon I’m ever gonna feel better.”

  “Yes, you will. Your pa will be home soon, and he’ll take care of you.”

  “My pa don’t never pay me no mind,” said Noah. “I reckon he won’t like having to take care of me.” He stared up at Matthew a moment, and he tilted his head to one side. “Do you have a boy at your house?”

  “No, I’m not married.”

  “Would you like to have a boy?”

  “Well, yes, I would, but…”

  Noah directed a pleading look at Matthew. “Then how ’bout I come to stay with you? I’d work real hard.”

  “I’m sure you would.”

  “And I don’t eat much. I wouldn’t give you no trouble.”

  Matthew swallowed hard. “I know you wouldn’t, Noah, but I don’t even have a cabin. I’m staying at Simon and Miss Anna’s house right now.”

  “Maybe I could stay at their cabin with you.”

  Matthew shook his head. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  Matthew put his hand on Noah’s shoulder and exhaled. “Because your pa wouldn’t let you. You’re his son, and he wants you with him.”

  Tears ran down Noah’s face. “My pa won’t care. He’s gone all the time, and I’m scared to stay here. It gets real dar
k at night. What if a bear or a bobcat comes up to the cabin and tries to get in?”

  Matthew shook his head. “I don’t think…”

  Tears welled up in Noah’s eyes and threatened to spill over. “Please, Mr. Matthew,” he whispered. “I don’t want to stay by myself.”

  Matthew reached out and put his arm around Noah’s shoulders, and the boy threw his arms around Matthew. Noah’s body shook with wracking sobs, and Matthew remembered how he’d cried the day his mother died. “Don’t worry, Noah,” he whispered, “I’ll talk to your pa. We’ll work something out.”

  The door to the barn crashed open, and a flash of sunlight lit the aisle. Matthew glanced over his shoulder at the doorway and saw a man holding the reins of a horse. He led the horse into the barn and stopped a few feet away from Matthew and Noah.

  “Who are you, and what you done to make my boy cry?” the man bellowed.

  Matthew released Noah and rose to face the man he’d thought about for twenty years. He’d known the time would come when he would meet Wade Campbell, but he’d never dreamed it would be at a time like this.

  “Your son is upset, Wade. I was trying to calm him down.”

  Wade frowned and walked toward them. He stopped in front of Matthew and directed an angry glare at him. “How come you know my name when I ain’t never seen you before?”

  Matthew’s stomach roiled at the strong odor he’d often smelled on his father. He might have been away for years, but he still remembered the smell of moonshine whiskey. “You’ve seen me before. You just don’t recognize me. I’m Matthew Jackson.”

  Understanding dawned in Wade’s eyes, and a taunting grin pulled at his mouth. He stroked his scraggly beard for a moment before he spit a wad of tobacco to the ground. “Well, well, well. I been gone for a while, but I heared you done come back to the Cove. I wondered when I’d git the chance to meet up with you again.”

  “I wondered the same thing, but I didn’t think it would be under these circumstances.”

  “What do you mean, circumstances?” Wade snarled.

  Noah huddled closer to Matthew. His body trembled, and Matthew reached down and clamped his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I was at the Reverend’s home when Noah came for Anna. He said his mother was sick. I came with Anna and Rani to check on her.”

  Tobacco juice trickled from the corner of Wade’s mouth, and he wiped it away with his sleeve. “Ain’t nothing wrong with Bertha ’ceptin’ she’s lazy. If she’d git up and do somethin’, she wouldn’t have time to think ’bout doctors and things that are gonna cost me money.”

  Matthew shook his head. “You’re wrong about that, Wade. I’m sorry to tell you Bertha passed away just a little while ago.”

  Surprise flashed across Wade’s face, and he glanced back at his son who slipped behind Matthew. “Now if that just ain’t the last thing I needed to hear today. What am I gonna do with that there young’un? I ain’t got time to be taking care of no boy.”

  Matthew’s hands balled into fists, and his body stiffened. “He’s your son, Wade. He needs a father.”

  A smirk pulled at Wade’s mouth. “I guess you know all ’bout what a father should do, seein’ as how you had such a good one.”

  Matthew took a step toward Wade, but he stopped when he felt Noah tug at his arm. He glanced around, and his heart slammed against his chest. Noah’s face registered the terror he had often felt at the boy’s age. He turned back to Wade. “It doesn’t matter now what kind of father I had.”

  Wade laughed and sauntered over to a stall. He dropped the reins he still held, pulled a rifle from the back of the saddle, and opened the stall door for the horse to enter. When he turned around, he propped the rifle on his hip and glared at Matthew.

  “I reckon I done ev’rybody in the Cove a favor the night I killed your old man. When you and your ma left, I figured we were through with the likes of Luke Jackson in these parts. Never figured his son would have the gumption to come back.”

  Noah clutched at Matthew’s back, and he put a hand behind him to pat the boy’s shoulder. “I didn’t come back for any trouble, Wade. All I want is to live in peace on my old farm.”

  Wade threw back his head and laughed. “And you ain’t got no hankerin’ to even things out with me for what I done twenty years ago?”

  “No, and I don’t have a gun, Wade. You can’t claim self-defense this time.” He shook his head. “Like I said, I don’t want any trouble.”

  Wade’s eyes narrowed. “Boy, you had trouble the minute you rode across the ridge into the Cove. You think I don’t know you come back here all ready to settle an old score? Now step away from my boy.”

  Matthew’s heart hammered, but he reached to push Noah away. The boy only tightened his grip on Matthew. “Noah, you need to let go.”

  “No!” Noah’s cry pierced Matthew’s heart.

  “Boy!” Wade’s voice thundered through the barn. “You git away right now!”

  “No, Pa,” Noah wailed. “He’s my friend.”

  Wade raised the gun. “Noah, I’m warning you…”

  “Mr. Campbell, what are you doing?” Wade whirled at the voice from the door, and Matthew gasped at the sight of Rani stepping into the barn. He wanted to rush to her, but he feared any sudden movement would cause Wade to pull the trigger.

  Wade stared at her. “This ain’t no concern of yours, girl. This is between the two of us.”

  She glanced from Matthew to Wade. “It looks like you’re the only one with a gun. If anything were to happen here today, I’d be glad to testify to that in court.”

  Rage blazed in Wade’s eyes. “Don’t you go a-threat’nin’ me, girl. You better git on out of here if you know what’s good for you.”

  Anger boiled up in Matthew, and he stepped forward. “Don’t talk like that to her, or there will be trouble between us.”

  Wade jerked the butt of the rifle to his shoulder and stared down the sights. “Don’t come any closer, Jackson, or you’re a dead man.”

  Rani rushed past Wade and headed toward Matthew and Noah. Wade’s finger twitched on the trigger, and Matthew’s heart leaped into his throat. He held out a hand to warn her off. “Rani, get out of here before you get hurt!” he yelled.

  She narrowed her eyes, pursed her lips, and shook her head, still walking steadily toward him. When she reached him, she whirled to face Wade. Matthew grabbed her shoulders to push her away, but she planted her feet in the soft dirt of the barn and struggled to shake free of him. “No, I will not let him do this.”

  Matthew looped his arms around her waist and picked her up, but she kicked his shins and slipped from his grip. She clenched her fists and took a step toward Wade. “Now I suggest you put that gun down and get up to the house. You need to take care of your dead wife and son instead of acting like you think you’re the toughest man in the Cove. My father just arrived, so you need to get out of here before I yell for him to come out here. I’m sure you wouldn’t like for the preacher to tell everybody you know how you acted on the day your wife died.”

  “You got a smart mouth on you, girl.” Wade glared at Rani for a moment before he took a deep breath and lowered the gun. He glanced at Noah and shook his head. “Git yourself over here, boy. Now!”

  Matthew grasped Noah’s arm and pulled him around to face him. His hand shook so he couldn’t control his grip. He released Noah and stared down into the child’s face. “You’ve got to go with your pa, Noah. I’ll see you later.”

  Before Noah could say anything, Wade rushed forward and grabbed Noah by the arm. “Don’t come near my boy agin, Jackson. You hear?”

  Matthew swallowed the fear that still burned in his throat and nodded. “I hear.”

  Wade turned and stormed from the barn with Noah in tow. The boy looked over his shoulder before they disappeared out the door. Big tears rolled down Noah’s face. Matthew groaned and turned away.

  He closed his eyes and tried to forget how he’d felt when his father turned on him. The same anger
he’d seen in his father’s eyes had been in Wade’s eyes today, and he feared what consequences Noah would face when they left.

  “Matthew, are you all right?”

  Rani’s voice sent renewed anger surging through him. Rage like he’d felt many times in the past boiled up in his soul. He spun to face her. “Why in the world did you do that?”

  Her eyebrows arched. “Do what?”

  “What made you think you had the right to interfere?”

  A puzzled look shadowed her eyes. “Interfere? I was trying to save your life. When I walked in, I thought Wade was going to shoot you.”

  “So you thought you’d let him shoot you instead?”

  “He was angry, but not angry enough to shoot the preacher’s daughter.”

  Matthew raked a hand through his hair. “You can’t be sure of that. He was too angry to think clearly.”

  Her lips tightened and her eyes narrowed. “All I wanted to do was help you.”

  “Help me? Like you helped me with George?”

  Rani’s mouth dropped open. “What are you talking about?”

  Matthew gritted his teeth and shook his head. “You stepped between Wade and me just like you did when George found us at the cemetery. I can handle my own problems, Rani. I don’t need a woman to protect me.”

  Her face grew red. “I was afraid he was going to shoot you, Matthew. I couldn’t stand by and let that happen.”

  The hurt look on her face hit him like a kick in the stomach. She couldn’t possibly understand. His words had pained her, and he regretted them. He exhaled. “That’s just what my mother used to say every time she stepped in front of me to take the beating my father intended for me. I won’t live like that again, Rani. I won’t watch someone else I love get hurt because of me. Do you understand?”

  She sucked in her breath, and tears flooded her eyes. “All I wanted to do was protect you.”

  He nodded. “I know. But you can’t protect me from everything I have to face. I have to do it on my own.”

  A tear slid down her cheek. “I’m sorry if I offended you. I won’t do it again.”

  He took a deep breath. “I’ll see that you don’t. When we get back to your cabin, I’m going to tell Simon and Anna that it’s cutting into my workday to keep traveling back and forth. There’s a spot in the barn where I can sleep until the cabin’s rebuilt. I think it would be better if I stayed there.”