Picture Perfect (River's End Ranch Book 45)

by Cindy Caldwell

  “What?” Olivia asked. “Out with it.”

  “Yeah,” Allen said. “We’re dying here.”

  They’d explained over pizza to the whole family what they were looking for, and Opal’s Uncle Aaron and his wife, Gillian, had been very interested, as well as Olivia and Fred.

  “I think—well, Bernard, what do you think?”

  “Well, I’d love to see this on the big monitor. We’ve been looking for over a week.”

  “Oh, come on. Spill the beans. We can’t stand it,” Gillian said and his heart warmed as Opal squeezed his free hand.

  “I think we’ve found bear cubs,” Opal said, and he knew they were on the same page. He’d seen two little cubs, four little ears and eight little paws.

  His heart leapt to his throat, and he shook his head. He couldn’t remember being this excited about anything before.

  Opal seemed just as excited as they passed the camera around the table. In the excitement, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, whispering in her ear, “We did it!”

  He laughed harder when she wiped a tear from her eye and whispered, “And it’s not Bigfoot.”

  “I couldn’t help but overhear,” a woman’s voice said from over Bernard’s shoulder. “You have pictures of bear cubs? My name is Belinda Weston, and I’m a fish and game warden here and I’d love to see them.”

  Bernard turned around to see a pretty younger woman standing behind him, smiling at Opal.

  “Oh,” Opal said as she reached for the camera that Olivia was now holding. “Nice to meet you. You must be one of the River’s End Ranch Westons.”

  The woman looked down for a moment before raising her smile again to the table. “Yes, I’m married to Wyatt Weston. But I am a warden, and my territory includes the ranch now. It’s just about time for bear cubs to be born, and we’ve been keeping our eyes peeled. Sometimes they’re a little too close to the ranch and we need to know if you see any. Have you?”

  “We’re not exactly sure,” Opal said as she handed Belinda the camera. “It’s a little hard to tell. We’ve been looking for a week and we took these pictures this morning.”

  Belinda peered at the screen and held it up to the light.

  “You’re right, it is hard to tell. We’ll keep looking, but if you see anything more definitive, please let me know right away. Bears change dens every year and there are several close to the ranch that the bears rotate through. Mama bears are really protective, and it can be dangerous for people, so don’t get too close. If you can confirm that’s what they are, I’ll need to know.”

  She smiled and walked back to her table, and after Bernard watched her leave, he bet Opal’s gaze with wide eyes of his own.

  “So, what do you think?” he asked.

  “Probably the same as you. First thing in the morning?”

  “Yep,” he answered as he reached for another slice of pizza and waited for the next round of trivia questions.

  Chapter 12

  The next morning, Bernard hopped out of bed before the alarm even sounded. He wasn’t sure he’d slept much at all, and he’d fallen asleep looking at Opal’s pictures of what he was positive were bear cubs.

  He couldn’t wait to get out on the knoll again to confirm. He’d packed the backpack the night before, so all he had to do after he got dressed was fill a thermos with coffee, and he was off.

  He knocked quietly on Opal’s door, and she opened it immediately, her eyes gleaming.

  “I can’t believe it. I hardly slept a wink,” she said as she followed him along the path to the knoll.

  “Neither could I.”

  He glanced behind him several times, and smiled as Opal trudged along after him. The night had only gotten better after they saw the pictures of the bear cubs—they’d won at trivia, and everyone had agreed to use the gift card the following week. He was surprised at how exciting that sounded to him. He was even looking forward to watching the medal round of curling with Opal’s dad the following day. Things had really changed in his world, and he liked it.

  Bernard groaned as his phone rang with that familiar ring tone, just after they reached the knoll and they’d started on their customary coffee and croissants.

  He quickly hit the red button and dropped his phone back in his pocket. “She just doesn’t ever give up.”

  “What do you mean? Who was that?”

  Bernard swallowed the last of his croissant as he looked out over the valley.

  “My mother.”

  Opal raised her eyebrows. “You don’t want to talk to her?”

  Bernard laughed wryly and put the trash back into his backpack for them to carry out. He screwed the top on the thermos before he said, “No.”

  Opal was silent for a moment, and when he looked over at her, she looked shocked.

  “How...why...how is that possible?”

  He laughed again and said, “If you knew my mother, you’d know how and why.”

  “I..I can’t even imagine that,” Opal said softly. “My mother passed away when I was younger, and I miss her every day.”

  Bernard ran his hands through his hair. How could he possibly explain to Opal what his mother was like? She wasn’t normal, wasn’t caring, wasn’t anything like what he imagined Opal’s mother had been like.

  He glanced at Opal from the corner of his eye. She’d finished her croissant and was looking through her camera’s viewfinder at the glen across the valley, halfway up the mountain. He knew he should say something, but couldn’t find the words. Not that it surprised him—talking about his mother was something he’d never done. Ever. Not even to his grandparents.

  And now wasn’t the time to start. All he could think of to say to Opal was, “I’m sorry,” and he meant it. He was certain that the loss of Opal’s mom had hurt her deeply, as well as Allen and Olivia. He just didn’t happen to feel the same way about his own mother.

  He set his jaw and picked up his camera, pointing it in the same direction as Opal had.

  “I don’t see anything. Do you?” Opal asked

  “Here, take my camera with the better lens. I’ll grab the binoculars.”

  She reached for the camera, and it took a second for him to realize he’d never let anyone borrow it, not even touch it. He’d kept it close to his heart—either this one or one like it since he was a little boy—and it felt a little strange to see it in her hands.

  He shook his head and grabbed the binoculars, pointing them at the glen.

  At exactly the same moment, they both drew in a sharp breath.

  “Did you see that?” Opal whispered, even though what they were looking at was miles away, across the valley.

  “I think so,” he said slowly, dropping the binoculars to his chest and squinting in that direction, as if his eyes could discern better than the magnifying lenses.

  He lifted the binoculars again and watched as two baby bear cubs peeked out of the clearing, into the sunlight that was just peeking out from over the mountains. They tussled a bit, one bear cub tumbling over another as they slid down a patch of snow into a clearing.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Opal said slowly as the shutter of her camera clicked as fast as she could make it go. “They’re darling.”

  He watched through the binoculars as they battled at each other and played, and he smiled as he watched. They couldn’t be very old, maybe just out of their den. He realized he didn’t really know how old that would be, as he knew zilch about bears.

  He set down the binoculars and grabbed his phone, intending to look it up on Google. What time of year were bear cubs born? How long were they in the den before they came out and played? Where was the mother, and did she look after her cubs? For how long?

  Just as he was searching, Opal gasped.

  “Bernard, look,” she said, her voice tinged with excitement.

  He dropped his phone in his pocket and looked through the binoculars. He blinked several times before he believed what he was seeing.

  The cubs had rolled down
a small hill, and right behind them was a huge mother bear who grabbed them by the scruff of the neck—two at a time!—and carried them back into the darkness behind the stand of trees.

  As they disappeared, he let out a whoosh of breath. He’d been so engrossed with what he was doing, he hadn’t noticed if the shutter of Opal’s camera—his camera—had been clicking.

  “Did you get all that?” he asked as he dropped the binoculars and looked out over the valley.

  When she didn’t answer, he scooted further up the boulder and glanced in her direction. She sat stock still, the camera on her lap as she gazed across the valley.

  He moved closer to her and rested his hand over hers. She seemed to be mesmerized, and he waited as she looked down and closed her eyes.

  “What is it, Opal? Are you okay?”

  He sat silently as she brushed at her cheek with the back of her hand. She smiled and looked at him, and he was surprised to see tears sparkling on her eyelashes in the morning sunlight.

  “Yes, yes, I’m fine.”

  He’d never actually seen a woman cry before, and he didn’t quite know what to do. He wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad, and didn’t even know if he should ask.

  He finally asked, “Why are you crying, then?”

  She smiled at him and lifted her hand to his cheek, her glove soft against his skin.

  “Can you imagine how very few people have been fortunate enough to see something like that in the wild? Brand new baby bear cubs, tumbling down a knoll, and brought back to safety by their mother? There was no way she was going to let anything bad happen to them.”

  It had been a magnificent scene, surely, but he hadn’t thought about it quite in those terms. Since he’d been sent to boarding school when he was ten years old, he’d just done whatever was right in front of him, and hadn’t had anyone to talk to about things like this. So he’d never really noticed. Beyond that, he’d never thought of anyone’s mother—especially his—as having anyone’s best interest at heart besides their own.

  But looking at it through Opal’s eyes—Opal’s lens on the world—he could see that there was more than his own view. More than what he could see through his own eyes.

  She reached over and squeezed his hand, and he felt as if the entire valley belonged to them, to the bears, to the sunlight.

  He had no choice but to pull her close to him, let her rest her head on his shoulder. His heart craved the feel of her next to him, and when she stilled, he pulled back, lifted her chin and kissed her.

  Her tears tasted sweet on his lips, and he closed his eyes, etching this moment in his memory.

  Chapter 13

  Opal sighed as she dropped her camera. She thought she’d gotten good shots of the mother bear pulling her cubs back to safety, and the natural instinct of the mama to protect her babies overwhelmed her.

  Tears welled in her eyes as she dropped her head, and when Bernard wrapped his arm around her, she let her head fall on his shoulder and wept. Wept at the beauty of nature, the wonder of the world and her good fortune to witness something so magical, so lovely, as a mother’s love for her babies.

  When Bernard pulled her chin toward his and she felt his warm lips on hers, she sank into the moment and let her tears fall.

  She thought of her own mother, and how she missed her, of Bernard’s mother and how his heart must ache without a mother’s love...but most of all, she thought of how tender his lips felt on hers. How much she wished he’d felt the love of his mother, and how much she missed her own.

  She smiled as he pulled back and brushed his thumb across her cheek.

  “Well, that was unexpected,” she said as she reached for her camera.

  “Which part?” he asked as he lifted his binoculars and looked out over the valley.

  “All of it,” she answered as she took several more shots.

  She cleared her throat as he gathered the remnants of their breakfast and placed them in his backpack.

  “Yes,” he said slowly. He clicked the lens cap back on his camera, and she did the same with hers.

  “We’d better get back down to the ranch to tell Belinda what we saw. She was pretty adamant that we let her know if we saw cubs, or a mother bear in particular.”

  “Right,” he said.

  She reached for his hand as he held it out to her and pulled her to her feet. She was surprised that her legs were a little wobbly, and grateful that he wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her.

  They fell into silence as they followed the trail back down the hill, each in their own thoughts.

  Opal replayed the scene with the mama bear and the cubs over and over in her mind, re-living the joy of that as well as the unexpected kiss. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it—she’d let him into her life, but even though he’d kissed her, he hadn’t let her into his.

  She hadn’t thought about meeting anyone as she had her father to take care of, but if she did, she wanted it to be someone who shared as much with her as she did with him. And so far, Bernard hadn’t been willing to do that.

  As they reached the ranch, Opal pulled Belinda’s card from her pocket. She reached for her cell phone, but realized she had no reception.

  “Do you have any bars on your phone?” she asked Bernard.

  He glanced at his phone and shook his head. “Nope.”

  “I know I have reception at the cafe.”

  Bernard smiled as her stomach grumbled.

  “Good call on both counts. We can get something to eat, too, and look at the pictures you took. And we’ll have to tell Kelsi sometime.”

  She looked up at him in surprise as he took her hand and pulled her toward the cafe. She’d thought that the kiss had been a spontaneous outpouring of emotion, a reaction to seeing the bears and the splendor of the moment. But now that her hand was in his, she wasn’t quite sure.

  Bernard rested his hand on the small of her back as he opened the door of the cafe for her, gesturing for her to go in ahead of him.

  She stomped her boots for a moment, and clapped her hands together as she entered the warm cafe and headed for her regular booth.

  “Hi,” Kelsi said as she waved from behind the counter, and Opal and Bernard exchanged glances. She imagined that he wasn’t looking forward to crushing Kelsi’s hopes about Bigfoot any more than she was.

  They slid into the booth and took off their gloves, reaching for their cameras almost in unison. She remembered at the last moment that she’d been taking pictures with his camera and set hers back down on the table as Kelsi came up to take their order.

  Kelsi set down a pitcher of cream and held the pot of coffee as Bernard splashed some in his mug.

  “So, did you find anything?” Kelsi asked as she poured a cup of coffee for Opal, her eyebrows raised as she looked from Bernard to Opal.

  Bernard cleared his throat and flipped through some of the pictures.

  “Well, I think we have some good news and some bad news,” he said as he held the camera out to Kelsi.

  She set the coffee pot on the table and reached for the camera, her eyes wide.

  “Oh, these are really cute. What great pictures of bear cubs. They’re darling. And there’s their mama,” she said as she flipped through the pictures. “Great shots, you guys, but...”

  “And that’s the bad news,” Opal said as she patted Kelsi’s elbow. “They’re bear cubs, not Bigfoot.”

  “Oh, shoot,” Kelsi said as she handed the camera back to Bernard. She took in a big breath. “Well, I was prepared for anything. I was very hopeful, mind you, that you two would be the ones, but I guess you’re not. Good pictures, though. Thanks for trying!”

  Opal blinked a few times as Kelsi walked back behind the counter, and when she glanced at Bernard, they both covered their smiles with their hands.

  Opal sighed. “I have to say that I truly hope someday Kelsi finds Bigfoot. She deserves it.”

  “She sure does,” Bernard agreed.

  “So, we need to call
Belinda, don’t we? She said if we found out there were bears, we needed to call right away.”

  “Right,” Bernard said, but he was already flipping through pictures again.

  Opal pulled out her phone and the card with Belinda’s number on it. She punched in the numbers, and when Belinda answered, she told her what had happened.

  “Yes, we have pictures,” she said when Belinda asked. “Yes, we could take you to the knoll and show you exactly where the bears are. Okay, I’ll wait to hear from you.”

  She clicked off her phone, and smiled as Bernard was still looking through the pictures.

  “These are absolutely amazing. You got some great shots,” he said as he shook his head. “Look at this one.” She took the camera from her and studied the picture.

  “Oh, this one is awesome,” she said, her eyes tearing up again. “It’s perfect of the mother with the cubs...so cute. It shows how much she loves them, doesn’t it?”

  She looked up and her eyes met Bernard’s. His eyes clouded for a moment and he looked away.

  “Yes, it does. Lovely.”

  Opal’s heart tugged, happy that she’d have pictures to look at in addition to the memory of the cubs that would be etched on her heart forever.

  “It really was a spectacular moment, wasn’t it?”

  Bernard continued to flip through the camera, and she cocked her head as she frowned at him. He was so engrossed in the pictures that he hadn’t asked what Opal had said, and he hadn’t even touched his coffee.

  “Bernard?”

  “Hm? What?” He didn’t lift his head from the camera.

  “I said, wasn’t that a spectacular moment?”

  He looked up at her and blinked a few times.

  “Oh, yes, it was. It was great. It’s amazing to capture something like that on film, and you did a great job. The lighting is perfect, and you got tons of action shots.”

  He looked back down at the camera, and Opal leaned back in the booth and crossed her arms over her chest.