Serenade

by Heather McKenzie

  “How is your chest?” I asked, needing to pull my gaze away from the river.

  Luke shrugged his shoulders.

  May I?” I asked, reaching for him.

  His grin suggested I could probably do whatever I wanted, so I took my time unbuttoning the front of his shirt. Then I peeked under a bandage—the skin beneath was much too swollen and hot looking. All the hair rose on the back of my neck. Infection was setting in, and that was bad, bad, bad… I was about to yell for Regan, but he appeared silently at my side. Thankfully, he was wearing pants.

  “I think there might be some infection going on,” I said, and every speck of the laughter from a moment ago was replaced with worry.

  Regan retrieved his beloved first aid kit and started peeling back the bandages. He dabbed at the wounds with antiseptic, and Luke flinched. I knew if I did it, it wouldn’t hurt as much.

  “I’ll do that,” I said, but I was ignored. Luke flinched again, and that crazy, overwhelming feeling to protect him came over me. I clenched my hands into fists and snarled at Regan. “Back off.”

  Regan put his hands up defensively and eyed me with smug curiosity. “Fine. Make sure you clean the wounds, apply the ointment, and bandage it well. And Luke, you gotta take those antibiotics every four hours. It’s a damn good thing we’ll be out of here by tonight.”

  “I’m sorry, Regan. I—I don’t know what came over me,” I said, trying to apologize.

  “It’s okay, Kaya. I get it,” he said with a discreet wink, and then he walked away.

  Holy crap. My head was a mess.

  “Well, I’m glad to be on your good side today,” Luke said, grinning.

  “I have no idea why. You’re just a good-for-nothing criminal,” I joked.

  “I think maybe you might like me, Kaya Lowen.” He grinned.

  I clamped my mouth shut so I wouldn’t reply and continued to carefully tend to his wounds. He closed his eyes and turned his face toward the sun, so I stole as many glances at him as I could, begging my hands not to wander from their task. When finished, I sat down beside him.

  “I could stay here forever,” I said admiring our surroundings but secretly revealing how I could stay next to him for eternity.

  “Not me. I feel like I am in a big, green prison cell,” he said, popping some Saskatoon berries in his mouth.

  “What? All this space? This beauty? This is the ultimate freedom.”

  “Yes, it’s amazing, but I am a city boy, Kaya. Ultimate freedom to me is driving around for an hour to find the perfect slurpee.”

  “Slurpee?

  “Yeah.”

  “Um, what on earth is a slurpee?” I asked, feeling dumb.

  “You’re kidding, right?” he said, straightening up and searching my face to see if I was.

  “No. I’ve never gone out driving around looking for… things like that…”

  “A slurpee is a partially frozen beverage, usually made with pop,” he said, happy to explain.

  “Oh.”

  “It’s sweet and cold and mind blowingly satisfying—as far as beverages go, anyhow—and if you find just the right one, not too frozen and not too melted, it can be the key to the perfect day.”

  “I don’t understand how a drink can make the ‘perfect day’.”

  “It’s just one of those ‘little things in life’, Kaya.”

  “So… you drive around? Going wherever you want? With no… plans?”

  He sighed, placed his hand on top of mine, and then picked it up off the pebbled beach. “There are so many things in the world I want to show you. You should let me.”

  I knew I was supposed to pull away, but I couldn’t. His fingers entwined with mine. “Soon, you will be delivering me to my father, and I’m afraid you won’t be able to show me anything. I’ll never see you again,” I reminded him, sadly.

  “You don’t have to go back, you know.”

  How could he say that? What else could I do?

  “You have a choice,” he added.

  “Do I?”I had already made a commitment to the man whose child I was carrying, and Henry would never give up looking for me. I stared out at the river with my hand in Luke’s and wondered why it felt so right—more right than anything else in this confusing world.

  “Kaya,” he said after a long pause, “I want to look after you and your baby.”

  He tightened his grip ever so slightly. My heart almost burst.

  “I don’t even know you—”

  “Yes, but we have a connection. You can feel it, I know you can. I am trying to be respectful of your, um, situation, and I don’t want to push you into anything. And… I promise I will get you back to your family if that’s what you want… but you have to know this: you have options. You have a choice.”

  I didn’t at all. My choices had been made for me.

  “Besides,” he continued, “it will kill me to let you go.” He pulled in a lungful of air and slowly poured his sky blue eyes into mine. “There is nothing I want more in the world, than to be with you.”

  I was at a loss for words. I wanted him too, but if I let him know that, it would hurt him even more when I went back to Oliver—which is what I had to do. So, I was going to have to lie to Luke. Somehow, I was going to have to tell the most beautiful man in the world that he was only a crush. The only person who had calmed my anxiety, been the first to show me respect by letting me make my own decisions, and vowed to protect me even though it went against everything he knew before—the love of my life—was the one I had to let go of.

  I gathered my courage. I practiced the lie in my head. But before I could get a word out, Regan’s voice boomed through the entire valley.

  “Luke!” he yelled.

  We both jumped to our feet as he ran toward us grinning ear to ear with a cell phone in hand. He looked like a little boy who had gotten a shiny new bike for Christmas. Seth was close behind with just as big of a grin plastered across his face.

  “You’re not going to believe this!” Regan said, literally trembling with excitement. “I’ve got Lisa on the phone… and she has Louisa May!”

  Luke stared at the phone and stumbled backward. He was tentative and unsure, Regan’s words too much to fathom. I reached out and pushed him gently toward Regan’s outstretched hand.

  “Really Luke, it’s her,” Regan assured.

  With trembling hands, Luke put the phone to his ear, afraid to speak. When he finally did, his voice broke my heart. “Lisa? Yeah, I’m okay. Um—you really did it? Is she all right? You’ve got her? Could you please, put her on…?” he said, stunned.

  We all listened while he held his breath.

  “Louisa? Hey sis, it’s me, Luke,” he said, and tears spilled from his eyes as the little girl’s voice on the other end set him free. He dropped to his knees and put his hand over his chest, speaking calmly while trying to hold himself together. I melted as I listened to him—to the way he calmed the crying child, talked to her about bunnies and making a snowman, then promising her he would see her soon.

  He would be a great father someday…

  When the conversation ended, he stayed on his knees and stared at the phone in disbelief. He gently shook his head, trying to make sense of what had just transpired.

  “I owe you guys. I am forever in your debt. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart,” he said, struggling to keep from breaking down.

  Seth moved toward him, pulled him up off the ground, and gave him a long, silent hug. Regan did the same. Time stopped for a brief moment while the three men reveled in the completion of part of their mission. “Anything for you, my friend,” Regan said softly in Luke’s ear.

  Luke turned to me. The emotion on his face so raw I just wanted to smother him with every ounce of affection I had. “I’m sorry you were used to get my sister back, Kaya, and I hope you can forgive me, forgive us.”

  I didn’t have to think too hard about that. “Apology accepted,” I said. “I forgive all of you completely. And for the record…
I admire what you guys did. I respect you all for never giving up on her.”

  Luke’s jaw dropped slightly. He stood taller and looked me square in the eye, wordlessly telling me that he wasn’t giving up on me, either.

  The longer we walked, the louder the river became, the increasing rush of water changing from a smooth, purring kitten to a raging, roaring tiger. The rocky beach narrowed into a moss-lined path of flat stones that wound up steep banks. Water swirled and kicked up spray, cooling our skin but also making the ground impossibly slippery. We walked single file with Seth and Brutus leading the way. I didn’t want to slow everyone down, so I didn’t mention that I was battling dizziness and strange stomach pains. When I stumbled, Regan steadied me from behind.

  “You don’t want to fall into that,” he warned, pointing toward the rushing water beside us. “The rocks will break you in half, and the current will carry you off to only God knows where.”

  The river had split in two an hour ago, and we had been following the volatile section that contained immense caves and divots lining the canyon walls. It was fascinating, and so was Regan’s narrative of Native legends, but I eventually had to give up admiring and listening—it only added to my dizziness.

  “How much farther?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound whiny.

  Brutus seemed agitated too, growling into the trees and staying glued to Seth’s side. “Just before we hit the falls this trail snakes off and heads north. Since I can already hear the falls from here, I’d say we have another hour and a bit to go,” Seth yelled over the roar of the water, and then he scolded Brutus for whining.

  “And then what?” I asked.

  “Well, then we get the hell outta here.”

  The reality that I would be saying goodbye to Luke by the end of the day was settling over me more and more. He was ahead of me, offering me his hand to pull me up over a slippery patch, and I didn’t want to let go.

  “What about part two of your plan? Shutting down Eronel?” I asked.

  None of them answered.

  “I think you should still follow through with it,” I said, slipping, and I was thankful yet again for Regan’s quick reflexes, “I want you to use me. I want to help.”

  Seth stopped and turned around, holding on to a tree branch sticking out over the path to steady himself. The whole group came to a screeching halt behind him. “Use you how, exactly?” he asked, intrigued.

  Before I could answer, Luke intervened. “No way. Not happening. Nobody is using you for any reason whatsoever,” he said, clearly agitated.

  “But Luke, I want to help. Henry wouldn’t even know I was on your side. You all could still get what you want before you have to take me back.”

  His face paled and he looked like I’d stabbed him. “You’re going back?” he said in shock.

  “Uh, yes, you know I have to. I’m—”

  Regan butted in. “You know Kaya, you’re a smart girl, but you can’t seem to see what’s plain as day and right in front of your face. You were taken advantage of by an older man—someone in a position of trust. That sick bodyguard fiancé of yours preyed on you—on a lonesome teenager! Besides, you are in love with this guy!” he said loudly and pointed at Luke. “Are you taking crazy pills, or what? Why would you even consider—”

  “Regan,” Luke hissed, but Regan continued.

  “I mean, you can go back to that Oliver fellow if you want, out of some stupid sense of duty or commitment, but I think that’s wrong when you are clearly in love with someone else.”

  “I love Oliver. That’s why I agreed to marry him in the first place! And what the hell does it matter to you, anyway? You don’t care about me,” I said fiercely.

  “I care about my friend, Luke, and it’s just so obvious that the two of you—”

  “Regan!” Luke yelled. “Stop it. She’s pregnant.”

  Regan’s eyes slowly widened, and his mouth parted in shock. He glanced at my flat stomach and then took a step forward so he was only inches from my nose. Rocks slipped out from under his feet and rolled over the edge into the rolling water.

  “Oh my God,” he muttered, and it was obvious that something painfully heartbreaking was playing out in his mind. “Miranda wanted a baby so bad—tried everything. She miscarried twice but finally was able to carry to term. The child was stillborn.”

  “Your sister, right?” I asked, my anger dissolving under the hurt in his eyes.

  “Yes.”

  “Regan, I’m so sorry.” I wanted to offer a hug or some kind of comfort, but it just didn’t seem appropriate—or safe. The narrow pathway was so steep I might just topple him over. As I searched for something to say, he reached for my face with his big, dirty hands. I felt Luke shift uneasily behind me.

  “Kaya, I never would have treated you so badly had I known. All the drugs I gave you—I shouldn’t have—oh my God. I’m so sorry.” There was a dazed look about him, and I had the feeling he wasn’t looking at me, but at the sister he’d lost.

  “Regan, let’s get moving, okay?” Luke urged gently.

  But Regan didn’t budge. His face was vacant, eyes distant.

  “It’s not your fault, Regan. You know that,” I said.

  My voice brought him back to reality. Startled, he let go of me. “Those injections I gave you… I don’t know the side effects. They could interfere with the development of…”

  I wasn’t listening. A small shadow fell across the path behind him. It was probably just a bird, but it seemed pretty big, and Brutus started to growl.

  “…and when your heart stopped…” Regan was saying.

  The shadow grew larger. Was it another mountain lion? A bear? “Regan, there’s something—”

  I didn’t finish. Suddenly, there was one of Henry’s men standing fifteen feet away, with a rifle aimed at the back of Regan’s head. I recognized the steel-grey eyes immediately.

  “Put your hands up!” yelled Mark Reicht. His face was bloody and scraped, and his camouflaged clothes were covered in dirt. He looked like he’d been thrown into a blender with a couple of knives and a wasp nest. Regan turned slowly to face him. “I said, put your hands up!” Mark demanded again. “All of you! And tell that mutt to stay put, or I’ll shoot it!”

  Brutus bared his teeth, and Seth ordered him to be quiet.

  “Are you all right, Miss Lowen?” Mark asked, his voice slightly less harsh as he addressed me.

  The knuckles on his trigger hand were raw, and deep gashes ran up his wrist. I drew in a slow breath and forced myself to be calm; I knew what this man was capable of. “I am perfectly fine,” I said. “This is all a misunderstanding. You can put the gun down.”

  He shook his head. “Nope. Now come over here, and get behind me.”

  My feet were frozen in place from equal parts shock and fear.

  “Now. Or you will have the redhead’s brains splattered all over your face,” Mark said, his crude response serving as a warning.

  I slid past Regan, his hands steadying my hips until I was securely past him, but he didn’t let go.

  “Get your hands off her, or you and your buddies will be dead in two seconds!” Mark yelled.

  I looked hard into Regan’s eyes, which were now burning with hatred for the man giving him orders. “It’s okay. I know him,” I muttered, and Regan reluctantly let go.

  I inched slowly toward Mark so that I was between him, the gun, and the three men I’d decided to defend. “Mark, they mean me no harm. This is all a misunderstanding. They were actually trying to help me get out of here,” I said, trying to sound casual while I was actually terrified.

  Mark kept his gun aimed at Regan—the barrel of which now was just inches from my fingertips if I reached…

  “I know who they are, Miss Lowen, and I have my instructions. Now get behind me, and close your eyes,” Mark ordered.

  I gulped. “Your instructions? Close my eyes? Why?”

  “Just thought I’d spare you the gory details. You’ve seen enough death. No nee
d for you to see more. I have orders to eliminate them,” he said coldly.

  Luke must have moved, because suddenly Mark shifted the gun in his direction. I felt the blood drain from my face. “Mark, please, put the gun down,” I begged.

  Marks steely eyes narrowed into a glare. His intent was obvious. I leaned to the left, getting as dangerously close to the edge of the path as I could without toppling over, and used my body to block his aim at Luke.

  “Move away from there,” he said nervously.

  The spray of the roaring water soaked my cheeks.

  “Kaya, you’re going to fall. Just listen to him, and do what he says,” Luke said.

  The obvious panic in Luke’s buttery voice made my thoughts that much more clear. I had to save his life, and not because of my selfish love for him, but because he had a little sister who desperately needed her big brother.

  I shifted my shoulders, leaning even more toward the river because my feet could go no farther. Another step, and I’d be in the drink. I stared into Mark’s robotic eyes, his programming courtesy of the monster who is my father, and saw the same thing I’d seen in Oliver’s eyes: the desire to kill. I knew there was no point reasoning.

  When Mark returned his aim toward Regan, I knew what I had to do—I swung my arm out against the barrel of the gun and lunged at Mark. The shot fired off into the sky, and we both toppled over the edge into the rushing water.

  I heard the sound of bones snapping, but they weren’t mine, and the cold took my breath away. I was pulled under. I fought to get my head up, surfacing only to be pulled under again. I tried to swim, but my arms and legs felt like jelly. Luke’s frantic voice and the sound of Brutus barking pulsed in and out of my ears, and then there was screaming… Regan? Something hard hit my head, and a flash of white burst before my eyes.

  And then I saw her.

  A beautiful baby girl. She was in my arms and laughing as I bent to kiss her soft cheek and peer into her blue eyes. Sandy-brown hair swirled around her forehead… and a white light pulled her away. My head was stinging, my lungs were burning, and I struggled for air. Where was I?