On Blue Falls Pond

by Susan Crandall

  Chapter Twenty-one

  AS TREVOR WAS loaded into the ambulance, everyone began to drift away from the accident. Glory canvassed to see if anyone had seen Jared in the last few minutes. None had.

  Eric followed the stretcher to the ambulance, talking to Trevor and Connie. Glory spied Granny headed back toward the house.

  “Gran!” She ran to catch up with her grandmother. “Have you seen Jared and Scott?”

  Granny’s eyes immediately registered Glory’s panic. “No. Did you check the garage? Jared likes to tinker with Pap’s tools.”

  Glory sprinted in that direction, calling, “Go tell Eric—tell everyone! We need to find Scott.”

  The garage was empty. She headed to the last place she knew Jared and Scott had been. On her way she passed the porch and called to Charlie, “I can’t find Jared and Scott.”

  “I’m sure they’re around somewhere,” Charlie said, but he did get to his feet and follow her.

  A few kids had returned to the dirt bike. She questioned them all, but no one had seen Jared since before the accident.

  Eric sprinted up just as Glory was debating on which direction to try next. “You can’t find them?”

  “No. No one’s seen them,” Glory said, trying to keep the panic from her voice. “I haven’t seen Lady either.”

  “Shit.” Hands on his hips, Eric looked around, as if hoping Glory had just overlooked them.

  Tula was breathless when she caught up. “Jared’s used to watchin’ young’uns. He’s real good with his little brothers. Maybe they just took a walk.”

  Eric looked doubtful. “And didn’t even check out the accident?”

  “We should get everyone to fan out in different directions. We could be missing them just because they’re moving,” Glory suggested.

  Eric looked toward the woods. “I’m starting there. You organize everyone else.”

  “Wait,” Glory said. “Here comes Jared.”

  They all turned to see him sprinting out of the woods. His face was a mask of fear. “Mr. Wilson! I just turned around for a second, I swear. When I looked back, he and Lady were gone. I thought they followed the track, but I can’t find them.” As he got closer, Glory saw tears running down his cheeks. “Scott never runs off. I didn’t think . . .”

  Fury flickered across Eric’s face, but was quickly banished. “Which way were you looking when they disappeared?”

  Jared pointed toward Trevor’s accident. “Curtis burned his leg and was screaming bloody murder. I looked at his leg, then Dad came and took him to get ice. I looked over there to see what was happening, then when I looked back—”

  “Okay, that pretty much rules out the direction of the house. Jared, run over to my car and get the set of walkie-talkies from the back.” While Jared was gone, Eric said, “I’m starting straight into the woods from where the track cuts in. I’ll take one of the walkie-talkies—cell phones are no good here. Glory, you organize everyone else. Find out if anyone has walkie-talkies; they’ll work a short distance and give us some communication. I don’t want to wait any longer to start.”

  Charlie stepped forward. “Glory, you go with him. Take Jared, too. You’ll be able to cover a wider piece of ground. Granny and I’ll get everyone else organized and moving; won’t do much good if everyone runs every which way.”

  Jared dashed up, breathless, and handed the walkie-talkies to Eric.

  “Okay. Let’s go. Jared, you’re with us.” He turned on the walkie-talkies and handed one to Charlie.

  Glory and Jared hurried alongside Eric as they entered the woods. It was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. They were only guessing that Scott had gone this direction.

  “We should call Lady,” Glory said. “Scott won’t answer, but maybe Lady will.”

  “Good idea,” Eric said.

  The three of them, with Jared in the middle, spread far enough apart that they could still see one another and worked deeper and deeper into the woods, calling Lady as they went.

  After about fifteen minutes, Glory yelled to Eric, “Do you really think they could be this far?”

  “I’m just hoping the dog is still with him.”

  Eric’s words sent a fresh shaft of alarm through her. Scott would be calm if Lady was with him. He wouldn’t understand the danger. But if he was alone . . . She couldn’t stand the thought of him lost and frightened; he understood so little of what went on around him already.

  “Keep going forward,” Eric called. “The others can start another direction.” Glory saw him say something into the walkie-talkie. Then he yelled to her, “Charlie has people fanning out. We should keep going.”

  Glory waved her agreement, then called Lady again.

  A minute later, Jared called, “I found something!”

  Glory’s heart sped up.

  She and Eric, reached Jared at the same moment. The boy held up Scott’s quilt. It was filthy, and the binding had been torn loose on one side.

  At least there was no blood. Still, Glory felt like throwing up.

  Brittle fear flashed across Eric’s face, but his tone was encouraging when he said, “We’re on the right track, then. Keep a sharp eye out; he could be hiding or hurt.”

  . . . or hurt. God, how could he get those words out without choking?

  Eric focused like a trained rescuer, looking carefully at the ground and at the vegetation surrounding where they stood. “Paw prints. Lady’s still with him.” He concentrated on the ground as he began to move. “This way. Spread out again.”

  He called Charlie on the walkie-talkie and told him where they were and that everyone should concentrate in this direction.

  Glory looked at her watch. It had been nearly an hour since the last time anyone had seen Scott. A lot could happen to a little boy in an hour.

  They called the dog with renewed vigor, careful to listen for a bark or a rustle in the brush in response. They headed into a ravine through which a rapid-flowing stream passed. It sounded like heavy rain as it tumbled over rocks and hurried downhill, making it less likely to be able to hear a small boy’s cries.

  Glory knew from experience that those wet rocks could be very slick. If Scott had fallen and hit his head, he could drown in only a few inches of water.

  As she hurried down the steep slope of the ravine, her feet slipped out from under her. She slid on her backside a good twenty feet before she was able to stop and get back up.

  Eric called, “You all right?”

  “Yes.” She rubbed her abraded palms together to reduce the stinging, but kept going.

  They all three reached the creek at the same time, Glory downstream of the other two. She called Lady again.

  “There!” Glory’s heart leaped with relief. The dog barked off to her left, farther down the sloping ravine. “This way!” She hurried—there was no running on this rocky and uneven slope—in the direction of Lady’s bark.

  “Lady!”

  The dog barked again.

  Oh, God, please let him be all right.

  Glory moved faster. If something dreadful had happened to Scott, she didn’t want Eric to be the first one to get there.

  Lady barked again without being called. Why wasn’t she moving this way?

  Glory nearly ran straight over the edge of a drop-off. She skidded to a stop, pinwheeling her arms to regain balance. She heard several stones tumble over the edge.

  Lady barked again. Right beneath her.

  When Glory looked over the edge, she was relieved to see it was only about a four-foot drop. “Scott?” She was ready to lower herself over the edge when she saw the ground sloped down about five feet to her right.

  Lady barked again.

  “I’m coming! Scott, I’m coming!”

  She scrambled down and around the outcropping.

  Scott, whole and apparently unhurt, sat next to the rushing stream with his gaze fixed on the moving water. Lady was circling around him.

  Glory scooped him up, clutching him to her ch
est. “Here!” she yelled. “He’s okay! He’s okay!”

  Scott stiffened in her arms, but she couldn’t let him go. She kissed his sweaty head and squeezed him tighter. “Thank God. Thank God.”

  Eric jumped from the overhang, landing right beside her. Jared scurried down the way Glory had come.

  Glory handed Eric his son. And for the first time since all this began, she saw Eric begin to crumble. She put a hand on his back and murmured, “He’s all right,” over and over again, as tears ran down her cheeks.

  “And Lady stayed right with him,” Glory said to Granny late that afternoon, after the excitement of the day had died down and all of the Bakers had packed up their toys and headed home. The two of them sat on the porch swing while Eric was upstairs giving Scott a bath. “She didn’t leave him to come and get us. She just barked until we found them. She was circling around him—I think she was trying to keep him out of the water. It was amazing. And she hasn’t even had any training.”

  Gran nodded. “Some creatures are just born to protect.”

  “Yes.” Glory’s mind immediately turned to Eric; that was the best way she knew to describe him, born to protect. Maybe there was truth to Jill’s insinuation that they were getting back together for Scott. Perhaps he’d discovered Scott needed rescuing more than Glory did, and returning to Jill was the best way to accomplish that goal.

  Granny interrupted her thoughts. “I wonder which one of them led the other into the woods.”

  Glory shrugged. She had wondered the same thing. She doubted they’d ever know. But, she wondered, as disconnected as Scott appeared most of the time, what were his memories going to be like?

  She’d begun to wonder a lot of things about Scott’s world these past days. She’d attributed it to her burgeoning interest in service dogs, but the reality was it had much more to do with her growing feelings for Eric. To help Scott was to help Eric.

  “After this, I’m thinking even more strongly about the dog training idea,” Glory said.

  “I think you should do it.”

  It was rare for Granny to take a side in someone else’s decision making. “You do?”

  “Seems a good Christian effort—helpin’ others.”

  Glory laughed. “A good Christian effort would be doing it for free. I need to make a living.”

  “God don’t ask people to starve for their good deeds.”

  Glory wrapped an arm around Granny’s shoulders. “I love you, Gran.”

  “You, too, Mornin’ Glory.”

  After a moment, Granny said, “Today we more’n made up for all them Baker reunions without splints or stitches. Always knew we was on borrowed time.”

  “Could have been worse,” Glory assured her. “Trevor escaped a spinal injury—” Connie had called a half hour ago with that report. “Scott returned unscathed from his adventure. We’ve been pretty lucky.” She got up. “I’m going to check the dryer.” She’d washed Scott’s clothes and thrown them in the dryer just before Eric took Scott upstairs for a bath.

  When she came back to the porch, she was carrying Scott’s freshly washed quilt. “Do you think we can fix this?”

  She handed it to Granny.

  “’Course. Just needs new binding.”

  “Can you do it? I mean, with your eyes—you haven’t sewn anything since I’ve been back.”

  Granny handed the quilt back to Glory. “No, I cain’t. But you can.”

  “Gran, you know I can’t hand sew.”

  “Cain’t never did anythin’. Go get my sewing box, and I’ll talk you through. It ain’t brain surgery.”

  Glory looked at the quilt. The stitches were fine and even, hard to believe a human hand could be so consistently precise. She was sure to screw it up. “Maybe one of your friends—”

  “Shush, girl! I ain’t never seen anybody so afraid of a needle and thread. Just go get the box.”

  The sound of Eric’s footsteps coming down the stairs echoed though the screen door.

  “Maybe we should put it away ’til later,” Glory said. “If Scott sees it, he’s going to want it.”

  “Good idea.”

  Eric stepped out on the porch just as Glory stuffed the quilt behind her. Scott was in his arms, wrapped in a bath towel. His hair was wet and stuck to his head, and one little fist was knotted in Eric’s not-so-clean shirt.

  Glory was surprised by the urge she had to get up and put a kiss on Scott’s bath-rosy cheek. “His clothes are folded on the dryer.”

  Granny had spare clothes here for Scott, but Eric wanted to take him home in the same outfit he had come in. Glory wondered if Eric would tell Jill about today’s incident.

  “Thanks.”

  As Eric went back inside the house, Glory noticed he was holding his son just a little more tightly than usual. And for the first time, she felt compelled to do the same. And that reaction frightened her just a little bit—she couldn’t explain why. For weeks she’d been thinking her reaction to Scott indicated she was broken in some way. Shouldn’t she be relieved finally to feel something normal?

  A few minutes later, Eric returned with Scott dressed and his hair combed. He hesitated before he went down the front steps. “Want to walk me to my car, Glory?”

  The tone of his voice said he had something more to say than good-bye. She nearly shook her head no; if she didn’t hear the words, she could hang on to the idea that there might be a future for the two of them. But, of course, she didn’t do anything so childish. She got up and walked to where he stood.

  He said, “’Evenin’, Tula.”

  Granny smiled as she continued to swing. “’Evenin’, Eric.” She blew a kiss to Scott. “Night-night, little ’un.”

  Eric was quiet as they walked across the yard. The sun was behind the trees, casting near-vertical fingers of golden light through the breaks in the leaves. The dew had yet to fall and the locusts droned.

  Normally, this was Glory’s favorite time of day, especially in the summer. It was calm, the bridge between busy day and relaxed night. She wished it could be prolonged. But it always slipped away long before she was ready to let it go.

  And she feared Eric was about to do the same.

  He fastened Scott into his car seat before he said anything to her. After he’d closed the back door of the Explorer, he said, “I wish I could stay longer. But Jill’s expecting Scott home.”

  “I understand. I was going to try to repair his quilt, but if you think he’ll need it to sleep . . .”

  He looked surprised. “You’re going to fix it?”

  “I said I’m going to try. Gran seems to have faith that I can do it.”

  He smiled and touched her cheek. “So do I.”

  Glory broke eye contact before she said something she shouldn’t.

  Eric said, “He shouldn’t miss it. He has another one he sleeps with at Jill’s.”

  Glory lifted her gaze and tilted her head to one side. “Are you going to tell her about what happened today?”

  Eric’s mouth twisted with indecision as he looked toward the woods. Then he looked at Glory. “Yes. I couldn’t keep something like this from her.”

  Oooh, honesty. One of the building blocks of a serious relationship.

  Eric glanced over Glory’s shoulder, as if to make sure Tula wasn’t looking this way. Then he leaned down and kissed her quickly, but there was an undercurrent of urgency to it. “Can you come by my house later? I’d come back here, but . . . what I have to say I want to say in private.”

  Glory couldn’t find her voice, so she nodded.

  “It might take a while at Jill’s. I should be home no later than nine-thirty.”

  She managed to squeeze out an “Okay.”

  She watched him drive out the long lane, feeling like she was watching him exit her life. Of course he would want to remain friends, would want to help her as one friend helps another. But she’d recently come to understand that was not at all what she wanted from Eric Wilson.

  Glory took a shower
and changed her outfit three times in her indecision about how to approach this evening: Did she want to dress for seduction? Let Eric know just what he’d be missing if he let her go? Once she had the low-cut dress on, she nearly laughed at herself—she was no seductress.

  Then she tried the sophisticated, self-assured, I-really-don’t-give-a-rat’s-ass-what-you-do linen slacks and prim sweater twin set. Of course, Eric wasn’t a man to play those kinds of chase-me-if-you-really-want-me games.

  In the end, she put on a comfortable pair of jeans and a gauzy white shirt; a might-as-well-be-comfortable-when-he-dumps-me outfit.

  Then she went downstairs and decided to forget trying to fool Granny about her reason for heading into town at nine o’clock on a Sunday evening.

  “I’m going to see Eric,” she said simply.

  Granny was reading the large-print book that Glory had picked up at the library on Friday morning. She pulled her glasses off and looked up. “All right.” Then she put her glasses back on and her nose back into the book.

  Glory stood there for a second. She’d prepared a long explanation about why she and Eric needed to talk. “Don’t you want to know why?”

  Granny didn’t look up. “Not partic’arly.”

  Glory shifted her weight from one sandaled foot to another, biting her lip. “There are a few things he and I—”

  Granny’s gaze snapped up and her mouth puckered with impatience. “Really, Glory. You’re a grown woman.” She took off the glasses again and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t need no explanation about why you’re going to see Eric—or anyone else for that matter.”

  “Oh.”

  “And I’ll ’ppreciate the same consideration from you when it comes to my affair—ah, activities.”

  Glory sat on the couch next to her grandmother as carefully as if she were sitting next to a bottle of nitroglycerine. “Have I done something to upset you?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then why the throwing down of the gauntlet?”

  “’Cause I can see it comin’, just as sure as the sun comes up in the east. You’re gonna try to take care of me. And I’ll tell you right now, if that’s the case, you’re gonna have to find someplace else to live.”