by Edie Claire
He didn’t die.
At least, he didn’t die then.
Thane’s limbs felt leaden. He saw flashes of Kibbe’s brown fur through the leaves, along with some dark blue fabric. He stepped closer, and the toe of his boot struck something solid. He parted the brush with his hands and looked down.
It was a leg.
He pushed the ferns roughly away. A man was lying sprawled on the ground. He was wearing boots and rain pants, as well as several layers of shirts, but he had no jacket, and his head was bare. His clothing was soaked; his skin sickly pale. His eyes were closed and no part of him was moving.
The dog nuzzled at his master’s inert arms, licked the whitish face, and whimpered again.
Oh, God, no. He can’t be dead. Not now.
“Dad!” Thane heard himself shout. He tore off his gloves and touched the man’s cheek with the back of his hand. The pale skin was cool and slick with rain. He could see no flaring of the nostrils or movement of the chest. But when he grasped the man’s arm, he was relieved to find the limb limp and pliable. “Can you hear me?” He put two fingers in the hollow of the man’s neck beside the Adam’s apple and prayed to feel a pulse. “Jason!”
Did he feel a blip? “Jason, come here!”
A female presence appeared at his side; a small hand pushed his large one out of the way. “Let me check him, Thane.”
The presence soothed him, even though for a moment he couldn’t place the voice. He couldn’t look at her because his eyes were glued to the face on the ground. The rest of him was paralyzed.
“He’s alive,” her heavenly voice proclaimed.
His brother appeared behind them. Thane couldn’t see Jason, but he knew he was there.
“He’s very cold,” Mei Lin murmured as she examined her patient. “But I don’t think he’s injured. I think he collapsed from fatigue. Can you help me turn him?”
Thane and Jason both reached in and helped Mei Lin position the man more comfortably. Kibbe whimpered and dashed about nervously, disrupting the nurse’s efforts with a curious nose. Thane continued to stare at the face, of which he now had a clear, front-on view.
Dad.
It was him. The man he remembered. His hair was sparser and grayer, his face thinner. His whole body seemed small. His skin was deeply wrinkled, with unfamiliar scars along one brow bone and the base of his neck. Instead of laughing and joking and scuffling in play, he was gray and cold and wet and lifeless. But it was him. It was definitely him.
My dad. Our dad. He’s alive.
“Thane?” the tiny, sweet voice took some time to penetrate his skull. “Thane!”
With an effort, he tore his gaze from the face of his father and turned it instead toward Mei Lin. Her brown eyes were almost feverishly bright, but her voice was calm and steady. He had emergency training himself, but he ceded to her medical judgment. She was a nurse, and her brain — at least — still seemed to be fully functioning. “Yes?” he answered.
“We need to move quickly.” She looked over her shoulder and shouted at someone behind her to call a medevac. “Right now we need to get him dry and keep him warm.”
Jason’s voice floated over them both. “The ranger has a tarp and emergency blankets.”
“Perfect,” Mei Lin replied. She turned back to Thane. “Can you carry him back to the trail?”
Thane found the question mildly insulting. He scooped up the figure and stood, staggering slightly. The misstep was mental rather than physical; he couldn’t believe his father was so light. The sound of his own childish laughter teased his brain, and in his mind’s eye he saw the floor where the ceiling should be. Thane used to beg his dad to hold him by the ankles — upside down. How long had it been since he’d thought of that?
“You okay, Bro?” Jason’s voice asked.
“Of course I am,” Thane replied, more gruffly than intended. He took a step forward.
Jason’s broad shoulders instantly appeared in his way. “Better follow me,” his brother ordered. “Unless you want to do a faceplant.”
Thane grumbled, but complied. Jason was right; he couldn’t possibly see where he was stepping, and a stumble could be dangerous.
By the time they reached the trail, the ranger had a tarp laid out on the ground. He and Jesse stood on either end of it, holding a second tarp above to shield the area from the rain. Thane laid his father down on the dry tarp.
“Get those wet things off him as quickly as you can,” Mei Lin ordered, opening the pack on Thane’s back and pulling out the jacket Stanley had left in the kayak. “We’ll put this back on him and then wrap him in the thermal blankets.”
Thane felt like he was all thumbs as he and Jason attempted to remove the sopping clothing from Stanley’s pale, limp body. The task was more difficult than he might have imagined, and when someone offered him a penknife he took it without question and expedited the process. Once or twice, he believed he saw Stanley’s lips move, and he kept one eye out as he worked, praying he had not imagined it.
He had not. All the jarring and manipulation must have had some effect, because just as they finished wrapping Stanley in a cocoon of thermal emergency blankets, his eyelids began to flutter.
Thane almost said “Dad,” but stopped himself in time. Jason didn’t know — he couldn’t let his brother find out like that! “Stanley!” he said instead, patting one pale cheek. “Can you hear us?” He was sitting on the tarp, cradling his father’s torso against his own chest for warmth. Beside him, Jason had Stanley’s lower body across his lap, protected from the cold ground. Mei Lin crouched just outside the cover of the tarp, watching anxiously.
The eyelids fluttered for some time before making any progress. But at last Stanley’s blue eyes became visible… at least most of them. Squinting through a narrow slit, his bleary gaze rested first on Jason, then moved up to Thane. Neither man said anything as the corners of Stanley’s pale, whitish lips tilted slowly, unbelievably, into a smile. A hoarse rumbling came from his throat, followed by two faint, but clearly distinguishable words.
“Handsome devils.”
Chapter 29
Mei Lin was scared.
Stanley had been found and the medevac plane was on its way, and she was very grateful for both those things.
Still, she was terrified.
His body temperature was disturbingly low. He could be in shock. And whether that shock was septic or not, it was still very dangerous. Stanley’s pulse was rapid and weak, his respiration shallow. His color did not speak well for his heart or circulation, and his mental state was questionable. He had regained consciousness only very briefly, and although the words he had spoken might have indicated that he was aware of his surroundings, Mei Lin couldn’t swear to that. Since then he had slipped into a fuzzy, in-and-out state where he could barely focus his eyes — and any further speech seemed beyond him.
She stood now in the parking lot by the trailhead, watching with a pained sense of helplessness as Stanley’s stretcher was loaded into a van. Everything was happening so quickly; the events of the last hour felt surreal. Rescue team reinforcements had met them on the trail and helped to transport Stanley back to the road on a litter, where Sandra Gruber had begun proper medical treatment, including oxygen and IV fluids.
No one had asked Mei Lin if Stanley wanted treatment. There was no discussion of how he had refused a medevac earlier in the week, much less any worry over whether he had ever signed a Do Not Resuscitate order. Not even Sandra Gruber, whose assistance Stanley had refused a mere three days ago, seemed to have any qualms about following the standard life-saving procedures now that he was unconscious. Mei Lin felt a niggling, irritating prick of guilt about that… but not nearly enough to affect her actions. A lot had happened in those three days. Had Stanley truly set out on this bear hunt with the intent of suicide, or was he merely being his usual, reckless self? Mei Lin didn’t know. What she did know, even if no one else yet did, was that unlike the last time he couldn’t speak for himself, S
tanley now had next of kin in attendance.
The stretcher was secured in the van and Sandra Gruber climbed in beside it. The nurse practitioner would travel with Stanley to the Gustavus airport, where he would be loaded onto a waiting medevac jet for the fifteen-minute flight to Juneau.
Mei Lin’s medical services were no longer required.
As the doors of the van closed, she realized that her arm was intertwined with Thane’s. She had no memory of gluing herself to the man’s side; his comforting presence just seemed to draw her in. “Are you all right?” she whispered quietly up towards his ear. He had said nothing to anyone about being Stanley’s son… at least not that she had heard. She had no idea where his head was at; for the last few hours she had barely been in touch with her own.
Thane nodded silently. His eyes watched the van as it pulled out of the lot and disappeared down the road.
“Are you sure?” Mei Lin asked gently. He had so very much to take in — and virtually no time to absorb it.
“Will he make it?” Thane asked, his deep voice falsely stalwart.
Mei Lin flipped back into nurse mode. It was a defensive response, rather than a choice. She couldn’t answer that question truthfully as herself without dissolving into a salty puddle on the asphalt. But Nurse Sullivan could handle it. “The next twenty-four hours will be critical. But for now, he’s holding his own.”
Thane nodded at the non-answer. Mei Lin wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tight.
“I’ve got four tickets to Juneau on the next flight out,” Ri announced, phone in hand. She had appeared in front of them quite suddenly, as had Jason. “Do we want them? We’d need to leave right now in order to get back to the house and pack and still make it to the airport in time. Otherwise, we’ll likely be hours behind him.”
Mei Lin blinked at her sister dumbly. How could Ri know that both Mei Lin and Thane would want to follow Stanley to Juneau? For that matter, why was Ri talking about herself and Jason going along?
“Yes,” Thane answered immediately. “Book them. We can make it.”
Mei Lin nodded in agreement, and Ri stepped away and spoke into her phone. Jason remained where he stood, and as Mei Lin lifted her gaze to his face, she noticed the intent with which he watched his brother. Jason couldn’t have helped but notice Thane’s concern for Stanley. What had he made of it?
Jason’s clear gray eyes flickered to Mei Lin, transmitting a plea she couldn’t ignore. He wanted to talk to his brother. Alone.
Mei Lin smiled weakly and — with way more effort than it should have taken — detached herself from Thane’s side.
***
Thane felt the sudden loss like a draft of cold air. His father had been taken away, and now Mei Lin had left him, too? He turned to follow her but was stopped by the firm clamp of a hand on his shoulder.
“Bro,” Jason’s voice demanded. “Talk to me.”
Like a coward, Thane avoided his brother’s eyes. How could he ever find the right words? He doubted there were any. But Jason had a right to know. What if they never saw Stanley alive again? Jason had to be told, because he would need to go to the hospital as well as Thane. But wait… wasn’t he already going? Why was that?
The grip on his shoulder tightened and gave him a shake. “Thane!”
Reluctantly, he met his brother’s gaze.
“You think I’m blind?” Jason accused shortly. “You think I’m stupid? I know who he is!”
Thane’s heart skipped several beats. He stared back without comment. Jason’s eyes were misty with emotion — a sight Thane hadn’t witnessed in years.
“I thought I heard you say ‘Dad,’” Jason whispered hoarsely. “I figured I’d misheard you. But the way you looked at him… as soon as I saw his face, I knew. For God’s sake, I wasn’t a baby when he—” His voice came close to breaking, and he swallowed and collected himself. “I do remember the guy, you know. Just because I don’t bring it up all the time…”
“I’m sorry,” Thane murmured, feeling like a fool.
“So how is it possible?” Jason demanded. “How long have you known?”
Thane shook his head forcefully. “I didn’t… Mei Lin figured it out yesterday. She only told me right before we found him.”
Jason was incredulous. “So why is he here at all? Does Mom know? What happened?”
“I can try to explain, if you want me to,” a soft voice answered. Mei Lin had rematerialized, bringing with her a wave of pure, blissful calm. “I’m sorry, Jason,” she continued. “I didn’t have time to tell Thane everything, either. It’s all happened so fast, and I was worried about St—” Her beautiful round cheeks flushed. “Your father,” she finished gently. “We need to hurry if we’re going to catch that plane. But we can talk on the way. I promise, I’ll tell you both everything I possibly can.”
Thane studied his brother’s face. The shock, trepidation, anger, and cautious elation he saw there perfectly mirrored his own emotions. He swung an arm behind his brother’s back and clamped an affectionate hand on his shoulder.
“Sounds good,” he told Mei Lin.
***
Margot hung up her phone with such a forceful stab of the finger that she broke off what was left of her nail. “Dammit!” she fumed, missing her old landline purely for the satisfaction of slamming the headset onto the receiver. “Now Jason isn’t answering either! Where are they?”
“You know where they are,” Doug said calmly, lifting her suitcase into the back of her car. “They’re out in the woods, out of cellular range. Where would you expect them to be? They’re not going to find that bear in a shopping mall.”
“But what if they’ve left already? What if they’re on their way back here right now, and we pass each other in the air?”
He grinned at her devilishly. “Then we’ll have a second honeymoon in Alaska. Just you and me.”
She could not help smiling back at him. He was always so positive about everything. “You do think I’m doing the right thing? Don’t you?”
“You know you are, honey. We’ve been over this.”
“I know!” she exclaimed with frustration. “But it still seems so… hasty.”
Doug loaded his own suitcase next to hers and closed the door. “That’s because you know it will be hard, and you’re not looking forward to it. That’s understandable. But it’s also the perfect reason to get it over with as soon as possible. They could be up there a week or more, and we both know you’ll go crazy every day until you get this settled. Besides which,” he took her hands in his. “I really want to go, myself. You realize we haven’t been up to Alaska since Buck died?”
Margot nodded sadly. Doug had accompanied her to both of her in-laws’ funerals, but those had been somber occasions. Stanley’s parents had been good to her, despite the rocky nature of her marriage to their son, and she had genuinely adored them right back. Taking the boys up to Juneau for visits had always been a joy, and truthfully, she did miss the place. But still…
She shuddered with angst. “My God, Doug. How can I possibly enjoy any part of this? The boys are going to be furious. They’ll blame me, and they’ll hate me, and he’ll come off smelling like a rose! I’ll be lucky if they ever talk to me again!”
Doug’s expression became stern. “Margot, we are both getting on that plane, and that’s all there is to it. You could argue with yourself for two more minutes or two more weeks, but we both know you’d wind up making the exact same decision. There’s no reason not to get it over with as soon as possible.” His expression softened, morphing into a lopsided grin. “Particularly since the sockeyes and pinkies are running.”
Margot let out a chuckle. He would think of that. She was still terrified and she would probably second-guess herself a dozen more times, but thanks to Doug’s steadying influence she knew she would stick to her decision. “You know you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she said affectionately. “Right?”
Doug’s grin widened as he leaned
in for a kiss. “Yeah,” he replied smugly. “I know.”
Chapter 30
Thane sat in Stanley’s room in the critical care unit of the regional hospital in Juneau, staring at the inert figure in the bed and wondering if the plethora of machines that blinked and clicked all around them were actually doing anything. He wondered why all medical places smelled alike. He also wondered why he, who had no problems camping on permafrost, couldn’t endure one night in a climate-controlled hospital without feeling like he would freeze to death.
He’d had time to wonder about all sorts of things. Stanley had been unconscious upon his arrival at the ER, and he’d pretty much stayed that way as evening turned to twilight and he was moved to the CCU. They’d all taken turns sitting with him while the brief Alaskan night passed by, but although Stanley occasionally stirred and moaned, not once had he opened his eyes. Now the long hours of dawn had begun, and Thane watched the figure on the bed with trepidation. The staff had insisted that Stanley could regain alertness at any time, that he was not in a coma but was experiencing the deep, restorative sleep of a body overspent. Thane wanted his father to wake up. But despite all the time he’d had for contemplation, he had no idea how he would feel when it happened.
Mei Lin had explained to him and Jason why Stanley did what he did, or at least she had passed on what Stanley had told her. She’d admitted that there was more to the man’s biography than she was telling, but insisted it would be better for Stanley to explain some things for himself.
The rudiments of the situation were clear enough. Thane was not judgmental by nature, and he bore no ill will over the decisions his father had made at the time of the kidnapping. He knew that if he himself were a parent, he would do anything to protect his children. But understanding Stanley’s actions from Stanley’s point of view did nothing to stop the searing, burning sensation that festered in Thane’s gut right now.
He’d been lied to by the people he loved the most. He’d missed out on twenty years — twenty years! — that he could have spent with his father. His mother had not only been complicit in that, she’d probably been happy about it. And now, just when Thane had a theoretical shot at making up for lost time, his father had to go and nearly kill himself! Had Stanley even missed the sons he’d left behind? Didn’t he want to know the men they had become?