Unexpected Love (White Oak-Mafia #2)

by Liza O'Connor

  Noticing Mr. Barkman’s look of concern, Tess gave him the website of the bear sanctuary so he could see where Grumpy was going.

  “Dear God. The bear will kill every male bear they have,” Mr. Barkman said.

  “Steel said the same thing.”

  To Tess’s shock, Grams made her way to the kitchen and joined them for lunch, although she ate very little of the salmon.

  After lunch, she saw them both off and locked up. Tess had no doubt she’d returned to her chair the moment Tess secured the door. Her grams was going south so quickly. The thought released a flood of tears.

  “Tess, what’s wrong?” Mr. Barkman asked, pulling her to a halt. When she wouldn’t answer, his grip grew firmer. “Has Steel done something to upset you?”

  Tess shook her head.

  He sighed heavily. “If this isn’t going to work, I’ll find someone else.”

  “I’m not crying about Steel. He’s perfect for the position. You couldn’t have chosen better.”

  “If that’s true, why are you… Oh God, did he infer that I thought you or Helen built those mounds because I absolutely do not think that. In fact, the only rational answer to whom might have built them would be Indians, just perhaps not Paleo-Indians.”

  “It’s not that. It’s a family thing, which I can’t talk about. But I assure you I won’t let it affect my work.”

  “Oh…Oh!” he stated with more emphasis. “Well, I’m sorry for whatever has happened that has distressed you.” After a short pause, he added, “It doesn’t involve Steel, does it?”

  “No,” she replied softly. He no doubt thought her father had discovered Steel lived in her house.

  “Good. I’m rather fond of my friend. I’d never forgive myself if this job were the death of him.”

  “It won’t be,” she promised. “Our relationship will be nothing but professional.”

  Tess had never been happier to arrive at the mounds and be immediately dismissed. Mr. Barkman had to be the nosiest man in the world.

  She ran the whole way back to the house. Grams was asleep…or dead. What if she’d died? She didn’t want to wake her if she was sleeping, but what if she wasn’t sleeping?

  “Grams, you need anything?” she whispered.

  A faint answer of “no” calmed her. She quietly rose, gathered up her new computer, and sat down to examine the planning software.

  It was the same software they’d used in last year’s college course. She created the plan with as much detail as she could contrive, knowing it would later assist in daily and week scheduling. As her professor had explained, while building a service road might be the first core objective, cutting trees would have a higher prioritization since the road couldn’t be built before the trees were removed.

  Some of the students ignored his warning, and he had great fun embarrassing them as their main objective failed because they didn’t plan the items needed to get it done.

  She smiled with pride as she recalled him claiming her project was the best plan he’d ever reviewed in his classes or out in the real world. She only hoped Mr. Barkman and Steel would be equally impressed.

  For her, planning in detail was easy. Grams insisted upon a plan for each day. Otherwise, the wrong things would get done. And because there were always surprises, a plan should have recovery time set into it.

  Grams always had a list of prioritized improvements that required lumber to build, so when Sam dropped off the lumber, Grams would go down the list and select the first one that needed slightly less than the quantity of lumber delivered.

  Tess recalled Grams’ frequent lecture. “A half-bridge is worse than no bridge. Never start a project you can’t finish.”

  She’d lost track of time when she heard the door unlock and her two bosses enter. She saved her work and closed the computer.

  Placing her finger to her lips, she smiled at her two bosses and whispered, “Grams is sleeping.”

  “No, I’m not,” Grams replied. “So did you boys acquire samples for carbon dating?”

  “We did. And in doing so dislocated a small bone fragment that I will have DNA tested and carbon dated as well.”

  “You think it’s human?” Tess asked.

  Steel smiled, the excitement in his eyes evident. “I am optimistic it will come back human and date to the Woodland Era of the Paleo-Indians.”

  “Let’s keep this between the four of us,” Mr. Barkman warned. “These mounds are different than any that have ever been discovered before.”

  Tess realized how different. “Then you think there are human remains residing under the two animal-shaped mounds?”

  “Possibly. Unless I just happened to come upon a bone fragment that had been in the dirt they used to build the mound. We’ll know more once we get GPR equipment in. But for that, I’ll need people.”

  Tom groaned. “Anyway you can get me even a partial plan that I can use to hire your help?”

  “How far out in planning do you need?” Tess asked.

  “For this? First month in detail, both milestones and staffing requirements, plus a general layout of the first year.”

  “Tom, that will take months to do!” Steel yelled.

  “Can this be a preliminary plan, subject to change?” Tess asked.

  “Absolutely,” Tom replied.

  She returned to her computer and turned it back on. “Now this is just on the forest side, but I’ve got a rough draft of my first four months, including time to train them on my procedures.”

  Both men stood behind her, staring at her work. “I had already planned for two strong lug-and-carry rangers to help me with boardwalk building, plus another fellow with some building skill who I would train to carry on after I return to school. Instead of two, I could ask for four and then give Steel two while the other two guys lug lumber.”

  “Can you print this out?” Tom asked.

  “Sure, but it’s still rough,” she reminded them.

  “And print me the higher level one-year schedule,” he added.

  “Okay, but since I’ve yet to lay out the details, none of the dates can be locked in,” she warned.

  Tom opened his mouth, as if to challenge that, but then his eyes widened. “Dear God, you did all this in four hours?”

  “Yes, so it is subject to change,” Tess insisted, now rather sorry she had offered it up.

  She made sure the printed version had a DRAFT watermark across each page.

  She made four copies so Grams could have a copy, too. Then they sat around the coffee table and made alterations, which Tess typed into the program. Steel added four more people, including a technician capable of running geological equipment.

  Tom chuckled and winked at Tess. “Yes, we need to ensure none of our trails are on sink holes or underground creeks which might give way.”

  Helen spoke up. “Actually, that’s a real concern. The reason the road up here is so bad is precisely due to those issues. So you probably should…ah, here it is in month three. Good girl, Tess.”

  Tess grinned at her grams for her ‘good girl’ praise, then focused on Tom. “But we really do need to verify trails, so could we bring on a second one in three months?”

  “Let’s address it then,” Steel said.

  Tess shook her head. “Steel, that defeats the whole purpose of planning. You don’t address things when you get to them. You plan in advance so everything you need done gets done in a logical and productive fashion.”

  “I’m with Tess on this,” Tom added.

  Steel threw up his hands. “Plan for another one then. But someone is probably going to question why we are planning for one surveyor now and another in three months. Hopefully in three months we can go public with our findings…”

  Tess sighed. “I can delay my surveyor until spring then. At that point, we need to reassess everything after the spring thaw, and we’ll need to do it quickly, thus we’ll plan for a second surveyor.”

  Both Tom and Steel smiled at her with eyes of adorati
on. That made her feel pretty good.

  Still, when Tom insisted she email him a copy of her plan, she felt a little sick to her stomach. “Please make sure whomever you show this to knows that it’s still a rough draft.”

  “Trust me,” Tom said and squeezed her shoulder.

  Trouble was, she didn’t.

  Steel offered to show him out, but she didn’t trust him to properly lock up, so after Tom said his goodbyes to Helen, she followed them up.

  Upon seeing Tom off, she closed and locked the cabin door. The moment they returned downstairs, Steel pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “You are incredible! And saved the day. I was anticipating months lost to seventeen iterations of a useless plan that I’d never use.”

  She pushed out of his arms. “Hold on! I do intend on using this plan, and I expect it to be followed when I’m off at school.”

  Instead of looking outraged, Steel smiled. “Tess, I will follow this plan to the letter. In fact, I will call you every night and let you know of any deviations so you can keep it up to date. This is the only workable schedule I have ever seen in my life.”

  All her anger dissipated. How could she remain angry at such happy compliments and promises to follow her plan?

  Chapter 10

  Tess rose early in the morning to check on her grandmother. The speed in which Grams was getting worse frightened her. Grams’ skin had turned a sickly yellow hue. She prayed it was just the sunrise distorting her skin tone.

  After she coaxed her grams to eat a small bit of oatmeal, Tess kissed her on the forehead and hurried to the woods. The sun was bright, the birds chirping, but a cloud of doom hung over her head.

  At noon when she returned to check on Grams, the yellow hue of her skin seemed even stronger. Grams smiled at her arrival. “Good. Those rescue people are here for Grumpy. Any chance you can take me to the hairpin curve where he likes to sleep? “I told them to set up just below that spot.”

  “Of course,” Tess assured her. She had a great deal she needed to get done, but work could wait. Her grams could not.

  She realized how little time Grams had when it took her nearly a half hour to climb up the steps into the cabin above. By the time they reached the top step, Grams was breathing hard and Tess was fighting back her tears.

  Once they entered the ancient cabin’s kitchen, Grams sat down at the old table, anger and anguish flickering from her eyes. “This is no life for anyone, especially not me.”

  Tess nodded in agreement and looked out the window as tears rolled down her cheeks. To see her vibrant, strong Grams taken down so hard and so fast… It was more than she could bear.

  After fifteen minutes of silence, other than the occasional sniffing from both of them, her grams finally spoke. “Can you help me up?”

  Tess gently eased her up and supported her as they slowly walked to the cars.

  “Let’s take my Rover. Yours isn’t Grumpy proof.”

  Tess smiled through her tears. When they reached the old Range Rover. She lifted her grams into the seat like a baby. Tess didn’t ask if she were okay. The pain in her face left no doubt nothing would be okay again.

  Tess closed her door, allowing herself to cry as she walked behind the Rover to the other side. Taking a moment to dry her eyes and compose herself, she opened the driver’s door.

  Her grams spoke before she climbed in. “You forgot to lock up the cabin. And this could take a while, so why don’t you bring your computer with you and work on that plan of yours while we wait?”

  Tess grimaced. She had meant to do that, only she’d forgotten when she discovered Grams was so weak she couldn’t walk without support anymore. But to leave the house unlocked—that should have gotten her a severe scolding. Grams probably didn’t want her last words to be a lecture. And Tess could no longer deny the truth. Grams was dying.

  She ran back downstairs, grabbed her computer, and left a note for Steel and the keys to her car if he wished to join them, then hurried upstairs. This time she remembered to lock the cabin door.

  Upon climbing into the Rover, she struggled not to burst into tears at her grams, head tilted against the window, eyes shut, and her skin sickly yellow.

  “Grams?” God, had she died?

  “Did you forget how to drive a stick?” Grams asked.

  “No, I remember,” Tess replied, relieved she still had more time.

  She started the engine and slowly drove down the hill, being careful to miss the potholes.

  When she spotted the white truck in the road, she slowed and stopped a hundred yards behind it. A guy climbed out and tried to wave her to go around. “I’ll be right back.” When her grams didn’t respond, she reached across the seat and touched her arm. “You okay?”

  “I’m alive,” Grams whispered. “Go on.”

  Tess got out, wiped the tears from her eyes, and hurried to the annoyed fellow glaring at her. He rather looked like a bear himself. His hair stuck out in all directions, his clothes were rumpled, and he needed a shave. He didn’t look older than her, but God what a mess he was. She didn’t care. As long as he took Grumpy away, he could dress however he wanted to.

  “Hi, I’m Tess Campbell, my great grandmother Helen Campbell is in the Rover. She wants to see the bear, Grumpy, captured.”

  The guy shook his head. “No way. If that bear is near the size the lady claimed, you won’t be safe in that vehicle.”

  “Actually, it’s been tested and survived the assault. My last car, however, was not so lucky.”

  He frowned. “You’ve seen this bear then?”

  “Yes, we call him Grumpy.”

  “And his size?”

  “Six hundred pounds.”

  “Then you definitely need to get back in your car and take the old lady home. A bear that size is lethal.”

  “I agree, which is why Grams paid you twenty thousand to lure it away with a female bear. You do have tranq guns once he climbs into your truck, right? Otherwise, he’ll probably cause your truck to roll before you get down to decent roads.”

  “We have tranq guns, but honestly we might not have to use them. I understand this bear has been three years without a female?”

  Tess shrugged. “Well, I haven’t followed him around to verify that, but I have never seen any other bears in these woods, so I’m guessing that’s true.”

  “Then he should be happily distracted during the ride back.” The guy waggled his eyebrows at her.

  Tess’s cheeks warmed as she realized why. “Okay, then I’ll get back to my safe Rover.”

  “Lady, you need to leave. The bear isn’t going to show if there’s a ton of people about.”

  “The bear is very familiar with us.” She turned and hurried back to the Rover. This guy would argue until Grumpy ate both of them. Once she climbed in, Grams opened her eyes. “Problem?”

  “The guy says we have to go home, but I’m ignoring him.”

  Gram’s patted her leg. “That’s my girl.”

  Grams resumed sleeping while Tess opened her computer and worked on her plan. She was pleased to see her new PC had an eight-hour battery life.

  She worked through winter-prep chores in great detail. These would occur while she was at school, so she needed to be very specific since someone else was going to follow her instructions.

  Suddenly, the scent of bear musk overwhelmed her. She looked up and yelped at the sight of Grumpy staring at her from the other side of the window. Grams softly spoke. “Not another yelp. You sound like prey.”

  Grumpy’s mouth stretched wide. Tess knew inside that giant mouth of death was something called Jacobson’s organ, which enhanced their ability to smell. “Your lady isn’t here,” she said softly.

  As if hearing her, he turned his open mouth to the van and cautiously moved forward. First, he walked all around the truck, checking out the men in the cab, the engine, and its undercarriage. Only then did he wander to the back and slowly lumber up the heavy log plank. Given the plank was barely wider than a singl
e paw, he wobbled on occasion, causing him to pause.

  Either they hadn’t believed the bear was as large as promised or they wanted him uncomfortable on the plank so he’d move into the truck, rather than to remain poised outside.

  “Go on, Grumpy,” Grams said. “Life’s too short not to go for it.”

  The damn bear wobbled on the plank for fifteen minutes before losing its balance and falling off. That sent him running to a nearby tree.

  The guy climbed out of his truck and stormed toward her Rover.

  She rolled down her window and yelled. “The bear is still here!”

  When he kept coming, she repeated her warning.

  It wasn’t until the guy was at her window that her words and the sight of giant blackness caused him to open the back door of the rover and leap inside.

  Grumpy slammed against the vehicle and roared in fury. Tess’s heart was about to pound out of her chest. She’d barely gotten her window up in time. Had the bear gotten his claws hooked onto the edge of the glass, he would have shattered the whole pane with a single pull.

  Grumpy body-slammed against the Rover again, still roaring in fury.

  “Get the hell out of here!” the guy in the back screamed.

  “Hush!” Grams ordered. “You are exciting the bear, and it’s riled up enough.”

  The guy stopped screaming, but his words remained just as insistent. “You need to start this car and get the hell out of here now.”

  Grams continued her scolding. “If you’ll just settle down, the smell of that female will distract him. He just thought for a moment he was going to have a tasty gift to bring her. What the hell were you thinking getting out of your truck and going for a walk when there’s a six-hundred-pound bear courting a female?”

  “Steve said he’d run off.”

  “Well, Steve needs glasses. The bear was simply embarrassed at falling off your skinny plank so he went behind a tree to sulk.” She turned and glared at him. “Is this your first time capturing a bear? Because so far, I’m not impressed, young man.”