by Janet Eaves
She bought her ticket and waited for the chair to make its way around the cable. No one else waited at this hour of the morning. She was just as well left alone with her thoughts. She wanted to be alone.
With a swoosh, the chair glided around and underneath her, lifting her up and out over the wooden platform. She pulled the bar down over her head and thought of Michael, remembering how comforting his arm was around her shoulders on the Ferris wheel. It was the first time she felt like she could love him.
The cable pulled the chair up the incline, her legs dangling. Her line of vision was even with and above most of the tree-tops. It was peaceful and relaxing and somehow she didn’t mind the height at all.
Birds chirped beside her within the rustling leaves. Below a ground hog waddled along, dragging some kind of plant. The chairs steadily climbed. The last leg of the trip took her up a steep rocky incline. She found herself face to face with the sheer rock, a deep crevice cutting horizontally into its facade.
A quick glance over her shoulder showed her how high she’d actually climbed up the mountain. The chair platform she’d left a few minutes earlier was a tiny particle below. A lone man rode in a seat far behind her. She turned back as the sheer stone jutted upward. Her stomach jumped and she gripped the bar tight. The chair glided over the precipice and onto level land. She breathed more easily as the chair reached the platform.
A young boy working the lift grabbed her arm and hoisted her up and out of the chair while it continued around the platform on its never-ending journey up and down the mountain.
The path led around the side of the mountain at a fairly level pitch. The path of dirt and stone was worn smooth from the soles of tourists and locals alike, and the fury of nature. An occasional wildflower bloomed along the way, but most of the foliage along the sides of the trail looked like weeds to her. Learning to identify wildflowers was something she’d always meant to do, but never got around to doing.
The walk was only a couple of hundred yards, and then suddenly, she was there. It took a few seconds for it to sink in that the rock she was about to step out on was the infamous Legend Mountain Lover’s Leap.
She supposed there was a Lover’s Leap in most every mountain chain, large or small. This one held local lore, particularly in and around Legend, of star-crossed couple in a time past—a Cherokee Indian maiden and a Cades Cove settler.
The stone was smooth, time worn from wind and rain. She stepped a few feet out, in the center, safe from the unguarded edge. How easy it would be for a person to slip from its sides. Although they were not extremely high, one looked out over the tops of trees on either side. The left side in particular, more treacherous than the other.
There was no one else out this morning, except for the man she had seen earlier on the lift and two park employees. Kate assumed that a Thursday was not their busiest day. The weekends, she was sure, would have been more crowded, especially on such a nice, warm fall day.
She sat cross-legged on the sun-heated rock and stretched her eyes out over the horizon. She could see an extremely long distance away, a smoky-blue haze in the distance. The hills before her were tree-covered, full of the colors of fall. Red oaks and orange maples mingled among the evergreen of the cedars. The subtle shades of sumac and sycamore, and the coppers and golds of other trees she couldn’t identify completed the palate spread out before her. For some reason, the beauty quelled all her fears and worries and she was at peace.
Pulled into the serenity of nature’s work, she felt as one with the strong, sturdy chunk of earth beneath her. She shared this one moment in time, however small, with a magnificent piece of nature’s art. She felt alive and part of the ever-evolving spirit of the environment.
Her hands glided along the smooth rock, resting on names and initials and dates carved years ago by vandal’s knives. Some of the dates were thirty years old or more. It seemed a shame that it would take centuries to smooth out and erase the carvings that only took a few minutes to create. There were laws protecting the tarnishing of the natural resource now, and she was glad.
The sun warmed her back as she leaned back on her elbows. Her eyelids grew heavy as she lost herself in the heated fall breeze that enveloped her body. For some odd reason, she felt safe, rather than vulnerable, laying on this outcropping of rock jutting out into the blue sky.
Had there been lovers that leapt to their deaths here? What kind of turmoil had possessed them so that they chose to plunge to their death to end the pain? Could she imagine doing that? Her life had been so full of pain lately, yet she couldn’t imagine taking her own life.
Of course that’s what happened with Romeo and Juliet. Star-crossed lovers, destined to be apart, choosing what seemed to them to be the only plausible solution. Death. Their only release from a life of misery.
But there were forces pulling Romeo and Juliet apart—forces they could not control. What kind of forces were pulling at her?
The force of her brain telling her what she should and shouldn’t do?
The influence of a man thought long dead, but now alive. Rob had an enormous hold over her, in life and in death. Ever since he swept into her life, he controlled her. Even in supposed death, he was there, etched in her brain, even in her dreams. Would he continue to control her? Even if she didn’t want him anymore?
And Michael. Could she believe him? Trust him? Love him?
Questions. There were too many. Sooner or later, she would have to make some decisions.
A red-tail hawk soared high into the blue sky above her. Lifting her face to the sun, she watched him float in lazy circles, his wings caught in the updraft swirling throughout the mountains. She laid her head back against the rock, one arm laying over her forehead shielding her eyes from the rising sun.
Oh, to be so free, so secure, so sure of one’s world…
****
The windshield wipers on Michael’s cruiser swished in rhythm. The rain was falling in vertical sheets and he could barely see. Still, he wasn’t stopping for anything.
Patti’s directions were simple enough, but peering through the storm was difficult. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he passed the turn-off to the cabin a while back.
Frustrated, he pulled to the side of the road. He read the directions again and mentally retraced his steps. Convinced that he had not missed it, he pulled back onto the road throwing wet gravel in an arch against the hillside.
The rain slacked up long enough to see he was still on the right track, the Pottery Queen was up ahead. A few more feet and he saw the narrow lane.
His heart beat wildly as he sped up the dirt drive. His clammy palms gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles grew white. He was almost there. How would she react? Had he come all this way for nothing? Would she demand that he leave before he had a chance to talk to her? To explain? To tell her he loved her?
He wouldn’t let that happen. He had to talk to her—to get this thing out in the open, so both of them could get on with their lives.
He turned into the clearing; the cabin sat before him. Water surged under the footbridge separating him from her. He shoved the car into park and flung open the cruiser’s door.
****
The first raindrops fell cold on her face. Kate opened her eyes to the semi-darkness that surrounded her. During her nap, ominous black clouds approached from the west and overtook the sunny fall morning. She wondered how long she had slept.
“Crap!”
Rising, she fled. A thunderous boom told her that she was none too soon in leaving.
The path to the chairlift gave little protection from the now driving rain, and she knew soon she would be drenched. She rounded the clearing to the left in time to realize that it was standing still. Motionless. No one was around. The operator long since gone. Anticipating the storm?
Lightning pierced the sky as the rain pelleted her. How would she get back to her car? A half-mile hike down the mountain in this thunderstorm was not a pleasant thought. She needed to find shelter. Pushin
g back wet strands of hair with the heel of a palm, Kate frantically glanced in all directions. The last thing she needed was to get lost in the mountains.
Wind whipped around her and she wished she’d brought a jacket. She jumped as another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a thunderous reverberation. Her heart echoed the pounding.
Against the darkening afternoon, a man’s silhouette flashed on the path before her. He rushed forward. Kate took shaky, hesitant steps backward. Her skin crawled. Even through the curtain of rain she could make out the features of his face and she didn’t like what she saw. His crazed eyes terrified her.
Rob.
Her only reaction was to run. Within seconds, she reached the rain-slick crop of rock, the Lover’s Leap. Sheets of now icy water slid off her back as she sprinted blindly across the monstrous stone. The well-worn soles of her leather tennis shoes gave no traction against the wet rock.
Her ankle twisted in a crevice and her feet flew out from under her. Her body slammed against the ungiving stone. At the second of impact, a piercing pain shot through her elbow, radiating up to her shoulder. Lesser pain encircled her left ankle.
Within seconds Rob was upon her. The scowl on his face brought terror to her heart. It was like a dream. One of her worst nightmares. He had no face, at least not the face she had grown to love.
“Katie!” He screamed over the roar of the storm.
She struggled, his body pinning her into the rock. She didn’t like looking up into his eyes. Something was wrong. Her brain spun. What did he want?
“Rob, let me up! What are you doing?”
“Not until I get answers.”
Kate dismissed the intense pain in her shoulder and pummeled his face with her fists. “Get off! You’re hurting me!”
“No. I need to know what you know,” he shouted. “What has Lehmann told you about me? What do you know?”
“I know nothing!” she screamed.
A wild look flashed through his eyes. His right hand pulled back and struck her in the face. Kate wondered if her lip had split in two. The wind howled in her ears as tears stung her eyes. The pain was unbearable.
No one had ever struck her before. No one. Rob had never been violent. What was wrong with him? Everything blurred. Her ears rang and her throat constricted with a sob of disbelief.
The rain was coming down with such force that she didn’t know where the rock left off and the sky began anymore. Rob rolled off her and pushed her away in disgust. Her body froze, not believing that he had let her go. Stunned from the pain and the face that she had been struck.
She rolled over, her cheek lying flat against the stone and sobbed.
****
Unlocked, the cabin sat empty. Kate’s suitcase still lay open across the mussed bed, so she hadn’t left for good. But where was she? In his haste, Michael hadn’t noticed her car was not parked by the bridge. Now, as he stood looking across the swollen stream to his car, he wondered where in the world she had gone.
He tried not to think the worst. That Rob had somehow found her before he had.
Dammit! No.
She would be back soon. He would wait. He wanted, needed to make everything right with Kate. To take her into his arms and hold her. To ease her fears and to soothe his guilty conscious for not coming clean sooner.
He paced the porch for nearly an hour, sensing things he would rather not feel. Something was wrong. Gut feeling. Definitely wrong.
Bolting off the porch, he crossed the footbridge to his cruiser.
He had no idea where to start, so he just drove, trying to spot her car somewhere, anywhere. Then he saw it.
****
“Do you love him?”
Kate stared at Rob. She did love Michael. And she’d pretty much sent him away. Now, she might never get a chance to say those words to him again.
I love you, Michael.
“Yes, Rob. I love him.”
He dropped closer, his face hovering over hers. Rain dripped from his hair. His nose practically touched hers. “You can’t marry him. You’re my wife.”
“You were dead.”
Rob threw back his head and laughed. “I’ll never die,” he hissed. “And you’ll never see Michael Lehmann again.” Rob pushed back and stood over her then, looking into the storm. In his right hand was a small handgun. His old Glock, she thought. Rain ran in a small rivulet off the nose of the gun, pointing downward toward the rock.
I’m going to die up here.
The words echoed through her brain. Piercing rain stung her swollen cheek as the wind whipped her hair around her face. It roared through the valley below, its power shaking the earth beneath her.
And like the wind, everything important began slipping away—her sanity, her last chance for love, her life.
She thought of Michael and Danny.
No one knows I’m up here. I don’t want to leave them.
She wanted to live and love again. She wanted to have another child. Michael’s child. Oh, God. Help me. She had to get out of there.
She lifted her face to what she thought was the direction to the path, her hair hanging down on either side of her face. Water puddled beneath her. She wasn’t going to let him stop her.
I love Michael.
Pushing herself up on one elbow, she cautiously sat up and examined her ankle. It was already swollen and tender. Walking very far seemed out of the question, let alone running, but she had to try.
She swiped the water out of her face and watched Rob. He stood, facing out over the Smokies, in defiance of the storm. Like he was gathering strength from nature’s fury. His chest heaved with each rush of the wind over and through the valley. His left fist clenched, opened and closed again. The rain swirled around him creating an illusionary mist.
He seemed almost too powerful.
Crouching on knees and one elbow, keeping an eye glued to him, Kate began a slow crawl toward the trail, staying low to the rock. She constantly monitored where she thought she was and stayed far away from its treacherous sides of the outcropping. Rain still pelted around her making it more difficult to see. Slowly she made her way a few feet.
How long could she creep at this pace, she didn’t know. How long the storm would hold Rob’s attention, she also did not know, but she did know that she couldn’t stay put.
She had to fight for her life.
Probably twenty or thirty feet separated her from her goal. Such a short distance, but it might as well have been a mile. The rain was slowing. It was now or never.
Favoring her weak ankle, she rose. Her heart pounded, her body ached. Her labored breath left puffs of steam in the rainy mist.
Rob didn’t move, still standing in rebellion of the rain, looking out over the valley as if mesmerized by nature’s afternoon matinee.
She turned and ran. A cloud above opened up with a crash of thunder.
“No!”
His body hurtled into hers, slamming her sideways into the rock. Searing pain radiated the length of her spine. A rush of adrenaline didn’t keep her down for long, however, and she kicked and clawed with everything she had in her.
Rob cried out as she connected with his groin, doubling him up. The Glock went skidding away on the slick rock. He growled and clutched her wet clothing, pulled her body over his.
They rolled.
She kicked again and broke away. Standing, she stumbled. His fingers caught her injured ankle. She winced and collided with the earth. Pain shot to her hip. The growing storm swallowed her wail.
With his free hand, he grasped her other ankle and dragged her backward, in slow torture.
“I’ll not let you go, Katie,” he screamed. “I want you with me. If I go down, I’ll take you with me.”
If I go down?
What did he mean? If he was caught and arrested, would he implicate her also?
Or, if he went over the side of the ledge, would he take her with him as they plummeted to their death?
She didn’
t plan to wait around and find out.
Using all her strength, she kicked, hitting whatever parts of his body she could, to no avail. Yanking her closer, he pinned one leg under his knee, then rose in a dominant position over her.
Somehow he’d found the gun again. He pointed it at her temple.
She hurt so badly that her energy was quickly spent. Every muscle fiber cried out.
Her body slumped in exhaustion.
The rain had almost stopped. A ray of sun tried to break through the mass of gray.
Rob’s demented gaze peered over her. “Tell me what you know.”
She glared.
“Tell me what you know,” he repeated, poking the gun into the side of her head. “What has Lehmann told you? You know he’s in this too, don’t you? Telling you lies. We’ll get out of this mess, honey. We’ll be together. We’ll have a baby. It will be wonderful.”
He leaned closer, still straddling her body. He placed his elbows on either side of her head. She jerked but Rob grasped her chin and held it tight. “Love me again, Katie.” His hand dropped lower, fingers encircling her neck.
She whimpered. His lips descended and caught hers, biting. She dared not move, fearing he would snap her neck. She endured his kiss, only because she thought she might be able to save herself from dying.
“There, honey.” He spoke softly. “That wasn’t so bad was it? It can be the same between us again. We can start over, right here, right now.”
His hand dipped inside her blouse and splayed across her chest. He smoothed and fondled her breast at the top of her bra. She closed her eyes, terrified of what was about to happen.
“I’ll take care of everything. Lehmann, too. No one will ever know. We can go away and start over. There are ways.”
No! Not Michael.
Rob threaded his fingers of one hand through her hair, weaving the strands into a fist tight against her head. The cold snub of the Glock bookended the other side. “But if you can’t tell me what you know about Lehmann and his schemes, then I’ll have to kill both of you. No one will suspect a thing.
“Poor Katie, they’d say. So distraught over the bad news about her late husband and the disappearance of her new boyfriend. Suicide they’d call it. Jumped to her death from Lover’s Leap. How appropriate. They might not even find your body for weeks. That’s what I’m counting on. There are places up here no one has seen for years.