Gage watched Merry gripping the arm rests on her seat, her eyes closed and her lips barely moving, but he knew what she was doing. She had to be terrified, a case of where the cure is worse than the sickness, but she withstood it. They lifted into the steel gray sky, dipped north at first, then did a half turn back to the southwest. They were on their way home, finally.
Moses dominated Gage’s attention on the ride, asking him question after question about how he felt, what he thought happened, how they’d survived. But Gage never stopped being aware of Merry sitting one seat away from his. Jack spoke to her a few times, probably interrupting her bubble counting, but beyond that she was silently coping with the flying.
Jack stood abruptly, bent over to avoid striking his head on the roof of the copter, and went to speak to Lester. The next thing Gage knew, Merry was taking the seat beside him, settling in, then looking at him. It was all he could do not to stroke her hand where it rested on her thigh. “How many?” he asked.
She frowned, but that cleared as she understood. “Beyond what I can count,” she confessed. Then a wide smile touched her face. “You’re feeling better?”
“A lot. Now that we’re on our way back, I’m just fine.”
“Yeah, me too,” she said. She seemed to be hesitating for some reason. “You win,” she stated.
It was his turn to be confused. “The bet?”
She nodded. “I suspect that you’ll have your steak dinner and be warm tonight.”
“We’ll have it,” he corrected her and didn’t miss the slight shock in her expression before she shook her head.
“As hard as this is for me to say, I will keep my end of the bargain, since you won. I will take one flying lesson when I am able.” She blew out a sharp breath. “One.”
He should have told her he wouldn’t make her do it, but instead, he said, “Good, because a bet’s a bet.”
“I will try to do it before you leave, or when you come the next time, maybe. “Just let me know when you’ll be in town.” There was no smile on her face now.
He didn’t have any idea why those words hit him so hard, but he could barely catch his breath.
He’d leave.
Yes, he would. And he’d return once in a while, more often if his company won the bid for the development project. But Merry would be in Wolf Lake, forever, if she could. Now he wondered if he shouldn’t find a reason to venture back to Wolf Lake even after his business was complete.
When Merry leaned closer and her hand covered his, the contact made him feel unsteady. More so when she whispered into his ear, “Thank you for everything. I mean that. Thank you so much.” She tightened her grip on his hand for a moment, then drew back. But before she turned away from him, he could tell her green eyes were bright with unshed tears.
* * *
MERRY BIT HER lip hard and turned away from Gage as Moses gestured to get his attention. The two men bent forward toward each other and Merry stared at her hands tightly clasped in her lap while they spoke. She was going home. She’d be there soon. This was what she’d prayed for since the crash had happened, but now it was a reality and she felt slightly disoriented, less focused on what she wanted to do and more focused on what she’d done.
Merry wanted to talk, to put whatever was going on into words, but there was no one to talk to. Just the stranger in the seat next to her. A man who had, over a few days, touched her on some soul-deep level she hadn’t even known existed before. At some point, she’d thought they might have died together. But they weren’t going to die. They would live. They would both go home. Gage would do his work, and she’d do hers, and their lives would follow separate paths.
Jack startled her when he touched her arm, abruptly jerking her out of her thoughts. She turned to look at him.
He was smiling, showing that Carson dimple. “Are you doing okay?” he asked her.
“Oh, sure, just...” She didn’t know how to put how she felt into words right then. Sad, relieved, scared, worried, happy? Nothing fit exactly. “I’m just glad Gage is doing better.”
“We weren’t sure what we’d find, but then those flares went off last night. The pilot was low on fuel, or we would have tried to make contact then.” Running a hand roughly over his face, he shook his head. “After what you two went through, it’s incredible that nothing too serious happened to either of you, beyond a demolished plane that’s insured.
What an understatement that “nothing serious had happened,” Merry thought. All she had to do was look at Gage and she knew that her life had shifted in some way she couldn’t begin to understand. She didn’t know if it was for the good or the bad, but it would never be the same again.
She sat back, hugging herself when the pilot called over the speakers, “We’re almost there. Get ready.”
Merry looked past Jack out the windows, seeing the whole sprawling desert floor sweep into sight. She could make out the ragged pattern of the Rez nestled into the mountainous high country, old and secure in its place with snow dusting the rough terrain around it. The town spanned the low country in the distance, a nucleolus of houses and buildings in the middle of the land, with ranches spreading out from there.
Home.
Jack touched her arm again and motioned to something the helicopter was sweeping toward. An ordered pattern of endless pastures and empty crop fields below were dotted by majestic buttes and mesas, draped with thin snow. “The ranch,” he said. “Moses called ahead to have everything ready.”
“Good,” she said, thinking that Gage might need some extra care for his ribs. “I just want to get home.”
“You’ll have to talk to Moses about that,” Jack said.
The doctor must have half heard their conversation, because he cut in then. “We’ll see when we get there, after I check you completely.” Moses smiled at her. “I know you’re anxious to see the kids, but they can wait a bit longer.”
“That’s why Merry got on the plane with me to begin with. Her kids,” Gage stated. “She was worried to death that they wouldn’t understand she’d been delayed, especially the little girl, Erin.”
Merry heard Gage’s words, and she couldn’t believe that after those first catastrophic hours in the plane, the kids had slipped farther and farther down her list of concerns. Her first reason for being with Gage had shifted to her world revolving around the man, not the waiting children.
“They have no idea about any of this, since we didn’t even know Merry was with you, but they’ll be thrilled when Merry’s with them again,” Moses said.
As they flew lower, approaching the back of a sprawling multi-storied adobe house, Merry looked over at Gage. By virtue of her nomadic upbringing, moving all over and saying goodbye to friends before they could almost become friends, she had left so many people behind. But she knew that walking away from Gage would be harder after these few days than it would have been after two years.
The helicopter started to hover, and Merry looked out and down, seeing Gage’s mother and father, holding on to each other, their eyes riveted on the huge machine landing by a massive barn ringed with stalls and snow spotted pastures. She was surprised to see a tall woman behind the Camerons, then she recognized Mallory Sanchez, Willie G.’s niece and the owner of the old inn in town. She was waving wildly at them, her long dark hair swirling from the blowing air currents.
“We made it,” Moses exclaimed as the helicopter landed easily on the packed earth. The motors were switched off and were gradually winding down. There was an almost strange silence for a second before Herbert Carson, a large, gray haired man in denims, was opening the door. He was up in the chopper before anyone inside had time to move. He rushed over to his son and hugged him with unabashed relief.
“Hey, Dad. Watch the ribs,” Gage warned, but not with much conviction. His father drew back a bit, then said, “Welcome home, so
n,” and turned to call out to his wife, “Your boy looks good, sweetheart!” His eyes fell on Merry with obvious shock as he turned back from the open door. “Miss Brenner? What—?”
Moses cut in. “We’ll explain later,” he said to the older man.
Merry stayed where she was as Gage eased up and out of his seat with Moses offering him support by taking him by the arm. Gage stopped and looked down at her, then held out a hand that she could see was slightly unsteady. “We’re home,” he told her, his ragged voice betraying his emotions.
She reached for him, holding his hand in both hers, then nodded. “Yes, home.”
He hesitated before letting his brother and the doctor get him out of the helicopter. Merry watched his mother hug and kiss him. Then Mallory was there, hugging Gage, before stepping aside to embrace the doctor. She beamed up at Moses. The two men took either side of Gage, and Mallory fell in behind, following them to the house.
Merry stopped and closed her eyes, wanting to take in everything that was happening. They were home. Home.
A hand touched her shoulder, and she expected it to be one of the EMTs, Luther or Patrick. But Lark Carson was less than a foot from her.
The woman had a timeless beauty, with tiny stature and midnight dark hair that was starting to streak with gray. Her jeans and shirt were denim, but both had significant applications, hand done, that displayed her Native heritage. “Miss Brenner?” she said. “We had no idea you were with our son, but I think we should be thankful that you were.”
“I’m thankful he got us down in that storm,” Merry responded.
“If he had been up there on the mountain alone... I don’t know what would have happened.”
Merry remembered that horrible moment when she’d seen the blood, and then Gage lying there unconscious. “Your son knew just what to do, and we made it.”
Lark slipped an arm around Merry’s waist and urged her to continue following the men. She and Lark fell in step, and the older woman never let go of Merry. “We have a guest room that is yours as long as you need it,” she was saying.
Merry stopped at the edge of a huge stone terrace that fronted multiple glass doors set into the adobe on one side of the house. Gage and the others were already going through the open space, but Merry looked down at Lark hesitantly. “Oh, no, I’m not staying. I need to get back to my place.”
Lark motioned to the house. “Let’s get in where it’s warm and we can talk about this.”
There was nothing to talk about. When either Jack or the doctor headed back to town, she was going too. “I really appreciate the offer—” she began, but Lark cut her off.
“Good, you’ll love the west guest room. With three boys, I never got to decorate any room in a feminine way, but this guest room became my pet project just a few months ago,” she spoke, not giving Merry a chance to argue.
But when they passed through a great room with the fireplace Gage had spoken of in the middle and came to a wide staircase framed with an intricate iron rail, Lark finally paused for breath before asking, “Can you make it up the stairs?”
“Yes, of course, but I thought we would go right to the hospital.”
“I’m sure if either one of you needed emergency care when you were found, Moses would have made sure you went directly there.” She patted Merry’s hand and offered a kind smile. “Thank goodness he feels it’s safe for you and Gage to be here. Also, if you knew Gage, you’d realize he wouldn’t go to a hospital unless there was no other choice. He’s always been like that, all the boys are.”
Lark peered up at Merry. “Now, I have a smaller room down here, but it’s not nearly as nice and it doesn’t have its own bathroom.” When she smiled this time, Merry was taken aback to see a very small version of the “Carson dimple” appear by the older woman’s lips. “I know you’re looking forward to a hot shower or long bath or both.”
Merry was desperate for either one of them at that moment. She heard voices from upstairs, male voices, and then a door was closed and the sound was cut off. “When will Dr. Blackstar be leaving?”
“Not for a while. Moses is going to check the both of you thoroughly, and then make a decision about further treatment. That’s going to take him a few hours at least.”
“I’d like a hot bath,” she admitted, then realized she had nothing with her. Her luggage was still back at the wreck. “But I left my things on the plane.”
“Your bags are here. They got them before you all took off. I’ll have your luggage brought in, and taken up to your room.”
Merry hesitated, wondering if she was just being weak and foolish, her better judgment to leave quickly, being distorted by the lure of a hot bath. “I really need to get back to town,” she said. “I work with these kids and they—”
“Oh, yes, I know all about that. I’ve heard from people at the hospital and the center about your program there. They say you’re making a difference with those young lives that are so challenged, and bless you for your work there.”
“They need to see me, and I really want to see them and show them I’m okay.”
“Oh, I don’t believe that Moses would have told them about the airplane crash, because he didn’t even know you were on the plane until they found both of you in the wreck.” Lark patted her arm again. “They certainly need to see you, but they need to see a rested, healthy you. And they will, just as soon as possible. But right now, you need to freshen up and get some food in your stomach.”
Merry couldn’t deny that she just wanted to strip off the clothes she’d been wearing far too long and soak in warmth. And she was starving too. “Okay,” Merry agreed, for now, and started up the stairs with Lark by her side.
At the top, they turned away from the source of the muffled voices, and to a room at the other end of a hallway that was lined with photos and paintings—a lot of them were portraits, some distinctively Natives, some not. She almost wished she had the time to look at each one, but she kept going. A moment later, she stepped into a spacious room, with a wall of windows that let plenty of light inside. A four poster bed was decidedly feminine with lavender linens and a bank of pastel pillows arranged against a white wooden headboard.
Merry could have fallen face first onto the bed and not moved for a week, but a bath was her priority. Lark took her into the adjoining bath with a vanity that looked like an antique chest, and a large, claw-footed bathtub. After setting out towels and toiletries on the vanity for Merry, Lark surprised her by reaching out to draw her into a hug. “We are grateful you are both back safely.”
Merry had been taken off guard by the show of affection, but she found she actually liked it. Then Lark stood back, swiped at her eyes and said, “Get in the tub and I’ll tell Alma to bring up your things. Are you allergic to any foods?”
“Oh, you don’t have to—”
“Of course I don’t, but I will,” Lark said firmly.
“Thank you. No, I don’t have any allergies.”
“Oh, one last thing. Your parents. They need to know you’re okay.” She pointed toward the nightstand. “The phone by the bed works, and call anywhere you need to, to let them know you’re okay and where you are.”
“Thanks, but my folks never even knew I was on the plane, either. I’ll call them from my house when I get there.”
Lark nodded. “I’m glad they didn’t have to go through that worry,” the woman said softly, before leaving.
Finally alone, Merry quickly stripped off her clothes, grimacing at the thermals and the still wet boots scattered on the floor. Minutes later, she was in the tub, with luxurious, warm water up to her chin. The tears came then. She wasn’t sure why she cried, whether out of relief or just plain nervous tension seeping out of her, but she didn’t fight them.
CHAPTER TWELVE
MERRY FELT RELAXED and safe and closed her eyes. A soft knoc
k caught her attention and she yawned before calling out, “Yes?”
“Ma’am, your things are on the bed,” a woman said through the bathroom door. “Can I get you anything else?”
“No, thank you,” she responded and waited until she heard the soft click of the outer door closing before slipping lower into the water. Shutting her eyes again, she just soaked in the sweet scent of the water and exhaled deeply. She would have fallen asleep if she hadn’t slipped a bit more and got bathwater in her mouth. Coughing, she got out of the tub and dried herself on a huge white towel that was obscenely soft. She towel dried her hair, then tossed the towel on the vanity and reached for a second towel to wrap around herself as she headed out into the bedroom.
Her purse and small suitcase were all resting on the bed that had been turned down to expose silky lavender sheets. The bank of decorative pillows had been neatly stacked on the floor to one side, leaving two thick sleeping pillows against the white headboard.
A covered tray sat on the nightstand, and Merry caught a hint of something savory. Her stomach growled with hunger as she crossed to lift the cover. There was a ceramic bowl of rich, creamy looking soup, accompanied by a carved turkey sandwich on a thick French roll. A cup of steaming coffee topped it all off.
After quickly dressing and pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she climbed into bed, reached for the tray and began to eat a meal that was as delicious as it smelled. Warm both outside and in, she laid the tray of empty dishes on the nightstand before sinking back against the pillows.
* * *
GAGE WASN’T IN BED. Despite Moses warning him about staying still, letting his bruises and ribs heal, Gage was on the phone with his head office. He downplayed the crash, said he’d be up and running in a day or so. Then, he added with emphasis, that he didn’t want them talking to anyone about what had happened, no matter what news media outlet approached them. “No comment,” was the phrase of the day. Period.
Flying Home Page 15