Redemption Road: Jackson Falls Book 5 (Jackson Falls Series)

by Breton, Laurie

  It was dusk by the time they left, and the roads were slick. It had been a warm, sunny day, and the wet melt had started to freeze back up. When they got to Hilda’s house, Casey called Rob to let him know that they might be home later than she’d planned, because the roads were icy and they would need to take their time. Hearing her sister’s end of the conversation, Colleen could tell that he wasn’t pleased. Besides, she knew her brother-in-law well enough by now to know how protective he was of her sister. But it couldn’t be helped. They were here now, and they couldn’t very well walk out on their aunt, who’d prepared a sumptuous feast for her only nieces.

  The visit went better than Colleen had anticipated, reminding her, not for the first time, that dread was often ten times more painful than the thing that was dreaded. So she ate her aunt’s food, endured Hilda’s questions, and actually returned the woman’s hug when the visit was over. “See?” Casey said, as Colleen backed the car around and pulled out of Hilda’s driveway. “I told you it wouldn’t be that bad.”

  “Oh, shut up.”

  They drove in silence for a time before Casey said, “So? What do you think?”

  “About?”

  “What did you think of A Fleece of Heaven?”

  Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “I think the facility was impressive. And to tell you the truth, I’d forgotten how adorable lambs could be.”

  “I hear a ‘but’ in there.”

  “But…if you think you’re going to build something like that in your back yard…first of all, Rob is going to have a conniption.”

  “Rob’s good with this. We’ve already talked it over.”

  “Rob would rope the moon and reel it in like a large-mouth bass if you asked. That doesn’t mean he’s good with it.”

  “I can handle my husband. Let’s just leave him out of it.”

  “Okay. I think it’s a very ambitious undertaking.”

  “Nobody said it would be easy. Life isn’t easy. Most things, if they’re worth having, aren’t easy. I’m not sure I understand your point.”

  “I think you’re not realizing how much goes into something like that. This isn’t just some little cottage industry, something you can do in your spare time from your sewing room. We’re talking a serious business here. We’re talking business licenses and expensive equipment and reams of tax paperwork. Providing benefits for your employees. Putting up at least one building, maybe more. Sales and marketing. A massive learning curve. You don’t know thing one about shearing sheep, about spinning fleece or dyeing yarn. How are you going to learn that? And then, there are the animals. Animals that have to be kept warm and clean and fed every day, no matter what else is going on in your life, no matter how lousy you’re feeling or how dismal the weather is.”

  “Do you think I don’t know that? Come on, Coll, we grew up together on that farm. We both did 4-H. We both raised heifers. We both won blue ribbons.”

  “Okay, so the animal part is second nature to you. What about the rest of it?”

  “I’ll learn about shearing and spinning and dyeing. I’m not an idiot. I learn quickly.”

  “And what if this turns out to be a very expensive hobby? What if, after you’ve invested all this time and money, you decide you’re not interested in it anymore?”

  “For the love of God, I’m not a six-year-old with a new puppy she got for Christmas!”

  “You don’t know a damn thing about running a business!”

  “That’s why I need you! Damn it, Colleen, that’s why I asked you to come with me to that place with its idiotic name! I wanted you to see it, too. If I do this, I’ll need a business partner. One who knows what the hell she’s doing!”

  The silence between them was so thick, so dense, she could taste it. “How did I know that was coming?”

  “I keep waiting,” Casey said. “Waiting for you to realize this is where you belong. With me. For years now, I’ve felt as though something was missing. Some part of me, and I couldn’t figure out what it was. Until you showed up at my house, driving this god-awful car and without a penny to your name. The missing part of me. My sister. The one I used to climb trees with, and play cars and trucks in the dirt with. The one who dyed my favorite doll’s hair purple with Mama’s food coloring. The one I used to fight with, the one I used to sing with. The one that, no matter how much we squabbled, always had my back. The one I shared a room with until I was twelve, when Bill got married and moved out, and I got his room. And those first few weeks, we were so lost without each other that you used to sneak across the hall and climb into bed with me. I want my sister back!”

  “That’s precious, considering that you’re the one who left. Goddamn it, Casey, you were the only solid thing in my life after Mama died, and you ran off with Danny and got married, and just never came back. You abandoned me! Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”

  “Quite frankly, I didn’t think you cared. For three years, all you did was push me away.”

  “I cared! You have no idea what it was like for me. After Mama died, Dad was so wrapped up in his grief that he forgot I even existed. Travis left, and Bill was starting his own family. I was so damn lost, and you were all I had. And then you left, and I thought I might drown. You didn’t care. You didn’t even think about me. I might as well have been invisible.”

  “I was eighteen years old! Just a kid myself! I was in love. It had nothing to do with you. It wasn’t that you were invisible. It was that I couldn’t see anything or anyone but him!”

  “And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”

  “I don’t know how it’s supposed to make you feel. It’s all I have to offer you. It’s the truth!”

  If she’d been paying attention, she might have seen the patch of black ice ahead of her. Beneath her hands, she felt the tug of the steering as the car moved in a direction she wasn’t intending to go. “Oh, shit,” she said.

  Abruptly silent, her sister grabbed hold of the dash, while she fought the steering wheel. The car went left, then right, while she tried to remember whether she was supposed to steer into the skid or away from it. They took a leisurely stroll sideways down the highway, then spun around. The car gathered momentum and skidded backwards off the shoulder. It landed ass-first in the ditch, with a solid thunk that nearly shook the teeth from her head.

  It all happened so quickly that it took her a moment to catch up. “Jesus Christ,” she said. And looked over at her sister. Casey’s eyes were closed, and her face had gone the color of cottage cheese. Frightened, she said, “Are you okay?”

  “Just a little…déjà vu.”

  “Déjà—oh, damn, Casey, I’m sorry.” Her sister’s first husband had been killed on a snowy Connecticut highway after he lost control as they were driving back from Washington, D.C. “Are you sure you’re okay? The baby? We hit pretty hard.”

  “I’m fine.” Her sister took a couple of deep breaths. Said, “Why didn’t you tell me? How was I supposed to know if you never told me?”

  “I guess it was easier to hold it inside. That way, I still had justification to be furious with you.”

  “Idiots. Both of us, idiots.”

  “Speak for yourself. I’m not an idiot. I’m just—”

  “A bitch?”

  She leaned her head back against the seat, not sure whether she should laugh or cry. “That would probably be an accurate assessment.” She looked over at her sister, saw the merriment in her eyes, and snorted. Then they were off, in gales of laughter, some of it due to delayed hysterical reaction, some of it simply relief because they were still alive.

  “Oh, boy,” Casey said, wiping a tear from her eye. “How bad do you suppose we’re mired?”

  “I’ll hazard a guess and say that this old girl isn’t going anywhere without a tow truck.” She opened her driver’s door, checked the depth of the snow, and closed it again. “Yep. I was right.”

  “We can’t shovel it out?”

  “We’re six feet down a s
lippery embankment. My headlights are lighting the treetops. What do you think? Besides, I don’t have a snow shovel.”

  “You should always carry a snow shovel. It’s a crucial piece of your emergency kit.”

  “I didn’t have much need for one in Palm Beach.”

  Casey sighed. “That last house we passed…how far back was that?”

  “A mile. Maybe a mile and a half.”

  “Well, since I don’t want to sit here and freeze to death—”

  “I guess we walk.”

  The embankment was a sheet of ice. She pushed her sister upward, lost her footing and almost did a split, and together, they slid back down the hill. At the bottom, they lay panting in the snow. Colleen broke through the crust of ice, fashioned a snowball of sorts from the powdery snow beneath, and tossed it at her sister. Like some kind of low-level explosive, it disintegrated, spraying all over Casey’s face, her coat, her hair. “If it wasn’t so cold,” her sister said, “I’d make you pay for that.”

  “But it is,” Colleen said. “Cold. Come on, we’ll walk the ditch until we can get back up onto the road.”

  It took them some time, but eventually, they made it back up onto the icy pavement. It was dark here, dark as only rural Maine could be in winter. No street lights, no houses, no traffic. “Where the hell are we?” Colleen said.

  “I don’t have a clue. Which direction did we come from?”

  “Beats me.”

  “Well, then.” Casey looked right, then left. “Should we flip a coin?”

  “Since it was all your fault we went off the road, I reserve the right to decide.”

  “My fault? You’re the one who was driving.”

  “You started the fight.”

  “I did not,” Casey said. “You did.”

  “We’re going this way.” She pointed right. “Sooner or later, if we walk far enough, we’ll find something. This is Maine, not the Northwest Territories.”

  “I hope you’re right. Rob will be freaking. He worries all the time.”

  “He loves you. And you most certainly did start the fight.”

  “I don’t even remember what we were fighting about.”

  Colleen snorted. “Neither do I.”

  They fell into step together, moving with caution until they reached dry pavement. The silence between them was comfortable, the temperature tolerable as long as they kept moving. Overhead, there were a million stars in the sky. “I slept with Harley,” she said.

  “About time.”

  “I think I might be in love with him.”

  “Oh?”

  “Actually…I’m pretty sure I’m in love with him.”

  “Congratulations.”

  “That’s all you have to say about it? Congratulations?”

  “That’s not enough? If you’d like, I could ask you if the sex was good.”

  “A little personal, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Between sisters? I don’t think so.”

  They walked for a while in silence. “How’s the sex with you and Rob?” she said.

  “Fabulous.”

  “I figured. That’s pretty much how it was with Harley.”

  “There,” Casey said. “We just had a genuine sister moment. That didn’t hurt so bad, did it?”

  Another five minutes passed before she said, “I thought I’d feel guilty. Because of Irv. You know? But I didn’t. It just felt…right.”

  “That’s how it should feel. If it doesn’t feel right, you should run like hell in the opposite direction.”

  They rounded a curve, and like an oasis in the desert, a house appeared, its lights a welcoming glow in the darkness. “I don’t know what to do,” she said.

  “Why?”

  “I’m leaving in April. How can I get involved with him when I’m leaving in April?”

  Her sister stopped walking. Said, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “What?”

  “You’re still harping on that? Still determined to leave?” Casey shook her head, shoved her hands into her coat pockets, turned into the driveway and strode toward the house.

  “Don’t you understand?” she shouted, slipping and sliding as she tried to catch up with her sister’s brisk stride. “There’s nothing here for me!”

  Casey marched up the front steps and punched the doorbell. “I’m here,” she said. “Your son is here. And Harley’s here. If that’s not reason enough to stay, then I don’t think I’m the idiot.”

  ***

  Saturday morning, her car was towed home by some bumpkin that AAA had sent over. As the winch slowly lowered the Vega to the ground, he took off his greasy cap, ran his thumbs inside the edge of it to smooth something only he could see, and said agreeably, “You could probably get a couple hundred out of her if you sold her for parts.”

  Colleen, standing beside him, freezing, arms crossed over her chest as she looked at what was left of her car, said, “Can it be fixed?”

  “Oh, she can be fixed. She’s drivable. There’s only a few bumps and bruises.” He returned the cap to his head. Adjusted it until it met some standard of perfection known only to him. “The question is, why would you want to fix her?”

  She thought about kicking him in the shin. Instead, she spun around, gave her brother-in-law a dirty look, and marched into her sister’s house.

  She found Casey at the kitchen counter, chopping vegetables. Paige sat at the table, eating a bowl of cereal and listlessly thumbing through the morning paper. Emma, in her playpen, chewed contentedly on the ear of a stuffed polar bear. Colleen headed directly for the coffee pot, poured herself a cup, and took a sip. Leaned against the counter and said gruffly, “Morning.”

  Her sister raised both eyebrows. “Same to you.”

  “How are you feeling after last night?”

  “A little sore. You?”

  “Same here.” She took another sip, eyed her sister over the rim. “It could have been a lot worse.”

  “It could have.”

  This was stupid. They were skirting around the big issue. The elephant in the room. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “For what?”

  “For everything. For being so rotten to you last night, blaming you for all my problems. For starting a fight with you.”

  Neatly slicing a green pepper, Casey said, “I thought I started the fight.”

  “I only said that because I was pissed off at you for trying to trick me into staying here.”

  “I asked you to be my business partner. That hardly qualifies as trickery.”

  “Maybe trickery’s the wrong word. How about coercion? Or possibly bulldozing?”

  “I can’t tell you how to live your life, Colleen. You have to make that decision on your own.”

  “Thank you.”

  Casey sighed. “Do you think we’ll ever agree on anything?”

  “It’s not looking too promising, is it?” Her sister winced, and Colleen lowered the cup. “Hey, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. Just a twinge. I—” Casey gasped and dropped the knife. Hands pressed to her abdomen, she closed her eyes and leaned over the counter.

  “Casey? You’re scaring me.”

  “I just—oh, my God.”

  “Sit! You need to sit down. Come on.” She set down the cup and tugged at her sister’s elbow. “I’ll help you.”

  “You sound like…you’re talking to..a dog.”

  “Shut up and sit down!”

  Her sister turned. A splotch of red bled through the front of her cotton skirt. “No,” she said, as blood trickled down her leg and dripped onto the floor. “This isn’t happening. Not again.” She took a single step toward the table before her legs gave out and she silently, almost gracefully, slithered to the floor.

  “Jesus Christ.” Colleen dropped to her knees beside her sister. “Paige, get your father!”

  When there was no response, she turned to look. The kid was staring at her, open-mouthed, as if she couldn’t comprehend what she’
d heard. “Goddamn it,” Colleen snarled, “get your father! She’s losing the baby!”

  Paige raced from the room. “My baby,” Casey moaned. “Why is this happening to me?”

  “I don’t know, hon.” Colleen stroked her sister’s hair. It was terrifying, the amount of blood pooling on the floor between Casey’s legs. How could one small woman lose that much blood? She’d never seen anybody hemorrhage like this. Help. She needed to call for help. But they were fifteen minutes from the hospital. At the rate she was losing blood, by the time help arrived…

  She refused to even consider the possibility. “You’re going to be fine. Do you hear me?”

  “Rob,” her sister whispered, and wet her lips. “Where’s Rob?”

  “He’s coming. I hear him now.”

  She said a silent prayer of thanks as her brother-in-law’s swift footsteps approached the kitchen. Rob took a single look and assessed the situation instantly. “Shit,” he said. He shrugged off his coat, and without missing a beat, strode across the room, bent, and scooped his wife up into his arms as though she weighed nothing. Wrapping the coat around her, he said, “It’s all right, babe. We’re going to the hospital. Paige, stay with your sister. Colleen, the keys to the Explorer are in my right front pocket.”

  As she pulled out of the driveway onto the blacktop, he said, with quiet urgency, “I don’t know how fast you can drive without killing us, but you might want to step on it.”

  Breathing hard, she pressed the accelerator until she was exceeding the speed limit by a good fifteen miles per hour. While she drove, Rob rocked his wife in his arms, spoke soothing words to her, wiped away her tears. “Oh, Flash,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Shh. There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

  “The baby. I know how excited you were.”

  “There’ll be other chances. Other babies.”

  “I’m bleeding all over you. All over the car.”

  “And you think I care about that?”

  “I’m so tired. I need to sleep.”