The Cottage on Juniper Ridge

by Sheila Roberts

  “What happened to the husband?” Jordan asked.

  “Nobody seems to know,” Toni said. She continued reading. “People began to see Rebecca’s ghost up by the falls. Soon everyone was looking for the ghost of the lost bride. And people still see her today.”

  “I don’t want to go,” Jeffrey said suddenly.

  “She’s not like the woman with the golden arm,” Toni assured him. “In fact, this is a ghost people look for. Seeing the lost bride is good luck, like spotting a leprechaun. If you see her, it means you’re going to get married soon.”

  Jeffrey stuck out his tongue. “I’d rather see a leprechaun. I’m too young to get married.”

  “So, where can we find her?” Jordan asked.

  “We have to go up Lost Bride Trail,” Toni replied.

  Wayne shook his head. “You guys can leave me at the river. I’ll do some fishing.”

  “So much for family togetherness,” Toni muttered.

  “You created this monster,” he reminded her. “I want to get in some more fishing before we go home.”

  “I wish we never had to go home,” Jeffrey said.

  Now, that was gratifying.

  “All right, everyone, let’s get our water and our trail mix and hit the trail. We’ll see who can spot the lost bride first.”

  “Mom, you don’t want me to see the lost bride yet,” Jordan cautioned her.

  “But if you do, maybe it means there’s a cute boy in your future,” Toni teased. “Or a cute girl in yours,” she added to her son.

  “Yuck,” he said, and went to put on his shoes.

  Ten minutes later they were out the door, cell phones and electronic toys forgotten. They left Wayne at Icicle Creek with his fly-fishing equipment, then made their way to the trailhead.

  Toni was feeling very pleased with herself as they started up the trail. Fresh mountain air, good exercise— Yes, this had been a great idea. The hike was supposed to be a fairly easy one, and that was fine with Toni. Hiking wasn’t something she ever did. The only place she walked other than the treadmill in her office was on the golf course. And if that was eighteen holes instead of nine, she always opted for a cart.

  The sun hung in a blue, cloudless sky, and she hadn’t gone far before its warm rays coaxed her into taking off her sweatshirt. A butterfly flitted past her and landed on a lady slipper. It was so lovely up here, so peaceful.

  “My feet hurt,” Jordan complained.

  Well, almost peaceful. Toni swung her backpack off her shoulder and got out a chocolate-covered granola bar. “Here. This should make them feel better.”

  “I want one, too,” Jeffrey said.

  So did Toni. They paused for a break, sitting on some boulders that ran along the creek. Toni took in the scene and smiled. “Isn’t it pretty?”

  “It’s kind of creepy.” Jordan looked around. “I mean, there’s nobody else here but us.”

  “Lots of people hike this trail,” Toni said.

  “Well, I don’t see anybody. When will we get to the waterfall?”

  “Soon.” Toni hoped her daughter didn’t ask her to be more specific. They still had a mile to go.

  Jeffrey had finished his granola bar. He handed the wrapper to Toni and then bounded off. “I wanna follow the stream,” he called over his shoulder.

  “You be careful,” Toni warned. Part of her wanted to insist he come back and stay on the trail with her. But to a little boy that wasn’t any fun. She decided she’d let him enjoy himself...as long as she could keep him in sight.

  They started walking again, and after five minutes of hearing her brother’s whoops as he hopped from rock to rock in the creek, Jordan, too, veered off the trail.

  A few minutes later Toni could see her down there with Jeffrey. They were laughing and skipping stones. It was a picture-perfect moment. Darn. Why hadn’t she brought her camera?

  They walked on another quarter of a mile, her on the trail, the kids below. Now Toni could hear the rumble of the falls. The trail was taking a turn away from the creek and soon she wouldn’t be able to see them anymore. “Okay, you two. Come back up here,” she called.

  Like all children, they developed sudden deafness, hopping their way along the creek from rock to rock.

  Of course, it was hard to hear over the noise of the water. Toni raised her voice. “Come on back. Right now, you two!”

  Jordan started back. Jeffrey kept hopping.

  Jordan’s voice carried up to Toni. “Come on, Jeffrey. Mom’s gonna get mad.”

  She reached over to grab him and he danced away.

  A bad decision because in an effort to dodge his sister he slipped on a wet rock and went down. Part of him went down. But one foot had somehow gotten caught between two rocks.

  Toni was on her way down the bank even as her son cried out in pain. “I’m coming!” she yelled.

  She arrived to find him in torrential tears as Jordan tried to dislodge his foot. “It’s okay,” she told him, her voice reassuring. “Here, sweetie, help me move the rock.”

  Between the two of them, they got his foot freed. Toni inspected it, feeling for broken bones. She was pretty sure they’d dodged that bullet, but it was going to be a nasty sprain.

  She bent in front of him. “Here, climb on. I’ll piggyback you up to the trail.”

  She hadn’t given her son a piggyback ride since he was five. He was twice that age now and weighed as much as a small horse. She found herself panting as she struggled up the bank and her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might break through her chest. Once they reached the trail, she set him down on a nearby boulder and took another look at his ankle. It was already starting to swell. This was not good. How was she going to get this child down the mountain?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Even when your life doesn’t go according to plan, take time to appreciate it.

  —Muriel Sterling, author of Simplicity

  Today I’m going to hike up Lost Bride Trail, a popular local landmark near Icicle Falls. I can hardly wait to see the waterfall. Maybe I’ll even catch a glimpse of the ghost of the lost bride, a woman who disappeared back in pioneer times. They say if you see her it means there’s a wedding in your future. I’ll post pictures later so you can try and spot her.

  “This is beautiful,” Jen said, gazing at the cataract before her. “Right, Tiny?” she said to the Saint Bernard who was Jen and Cecily’s hiking companion. She gave the dog’s head a pat and Tiny wagged his tail.

  Jen had taken to borrowing Cass’s dog whenever she went for a walk or a short hike. Cass was happy for Tiny to get the exercise and Jen was glad to get her dog fix. She’d always wanted a dog, but, for once, she’d reminded herself that she was trying to simplify her life and refrained from impulsively running out and getting one. Better to wait. Meanwhile, she could always borrow Tiny.

  She took out her cell phone and snapped a picture of Lost Bride Falls. She wished she’d invited her sister along. Toni had talked about bringing the kids up here.

  “I’m glad you’re finally getting a chance to see it,” Cecily said. “Want me to take a picture of you with the falls in the background?”

  Jen nodded. “Here, Tiny, let’s get your handsome doggy self in the picture, too.” She pulled the dog close and he cuddled up to her, drooling on her shoe.

  Cecily snapped the photo and they checked it out. “Good picture of Tiny’s drool,” Cecily observed.

  Jen laughed. “And a great one of the falls. It was nice of you to play hooky from work today and show me.” She gave Tiny a moment off his leash so he could go down to the creek for a drink, then turned to admire the falls again.

  “I’m not feeling too guilty
about that,” Cecily said. “I put in enough time working on the fall catalog last week to burn out half my brain cells. This week I’m taking it easy.” She plucked a wildflower and put it in her hair.

  “Do you ever have trouble finding the balance in your life?” Jen asked.

  “Not since I moved back home. And I always make time for friends.” Cecily picked another flower and handed it to Jen.

  “How about romance?” Jen asked shyly. She’d heard that Cecily had two men dangling after her. It was probably rude to be so nosy, but she couldn’t resist asking.

  “A woman should always make time for romance, too,” Cecily replied in a thoughtful voice. “But making time and meeting the right person are two different things.” She pointed in the direction of the falls. “See anything?”

  Jen had hoped to catch a glimpse of the town’s famous ghost, but all she saw was tons of water plummeting over rocky crags. She shook her head. “No wedding in my future, I guess.”

  “You don’t have to see the ghost to have a wedding in your future,” Cecily said. “Somehow, I’ve got a feeling you’re going to find someone special here in Icicle Falls.”

  Jen had also heard about Cecily’s famous intuition. She had a gift for steering people toward their perfect match. “Anyone in particular come to mind?”

  Cecily just smiled. “I think you’ll figure it out,” she said, and started off down the trail.

  Well, that was a disappointing early morning hike. No sign of the lost bride and Cecily Sterling and her impeccable intuition had been no help at all.

  * * *

  “Jordan, do you have your phone?” Toni asked. She’d never thought she’d hear herself say that.

  Jordan stared at her as if she’d gone nuts. “You haven’t let me bring it anywhere.”

  “My foot hurts,” Jeffrey whimpered.

  “I know, sweetie,” Toni said, wiping the tears from his cheeks. “We’re going to get you to a doctor as soon as we can.” And it looked as if the only way that was going to happen was if she carried him. How she wished Wayne had come with them. How she wished she had a cell phone so she could call him! Was there reception up here? Who knew? She would’ve welcomed the chance to find out.

  She got her son onto her back again and they set off down the trail. How long would she be able to do this before she collapsed?

  Don’t think like that, she scolded herself. A mother could do anything.

  Except carry an eighty-pound boy down a mountain trail. After twenty minutes, she stopped. “Okay,” she huffed. “We need to take a break for a minute.”

  Jeffrey was still crying and his ankle looked like a cantaloupe. What circle of hell was this?

  “Here, Mom,” Jordan said, handing Toni her water bottle.

  The only good thing about this awful experience was that it was bringing out the sweet girl Jordan had always been—until recently. “Thanks,” she said, and gulped down half its contents. She was sweating like a pig and even half a bottle of water barely quenched her thirst.

  “How much longer?” Jeffrey asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Toni said. “I hope not too much.”

  He began to cry again and she wanted to join him.

  “I can help carry him,” Jordan offered.

  “No, you’ll hurt yourself.” Toni already knew this from personal experience. The muscles in her back were shrieking.

  “Mom! I hear something,” Jordan said.

  Toni strained to hear. Yes! Voices! Other hikers were coming down the trail. Maybe they had a cell phone. “They should catch up to us in a couple of minutes.”

  “My foot hurts,” Jeffrey reminded her.

  “You’re being very brave. Just a little longer now,” Toni promised.

  He nodded and rubbed his eyes.

  A few more minutes brought the hikers into sight, two women and a large dog. One of the women was Cecily Sterling, whom Toni had met when she’d attended the Icicle Falls book club meeting with Jen. The other was... Toni blinked, sure she was hallucinating. Her sister never hiked. “Jen?”

  Jen broke into a smile. “Hey, sis! You should’ve said you were going to hike this trail today. We could all have come up together.” The words were hardly out of her mouth when she took in the scene. “What happened?”

  “Jeffrey fell and sprained his ankle,” Toni said.

  “Mom’s been carrying him down the mountain,” Jordan added.

  “Seriously?” Jen gaped at her sister. “You should have called for help!”

  “We didn’t have our cell phones with us,” Toni said. “Anyway, I figured there probably wasn’t any reception.”

  “Actually, there is here,” Cecily told her. “You lose it higher up the mountain, though.”

  Great. If they’d had their darned cell phones, they could have called someone.

  “My foot hurts.” Jeffrey’s voice was plaintive.

  Cecily immediately took out her cell. “I can call 9-1-1.”

  “We’d just lose time waiting for someone to come,” Jen said. “I’ve got a better idea. Jordan, help me find two long sticks.” And with that she plunged off the trail into the brush, Jordan following her.

  “What are you doing?” Toni called after her.

  “We’re going to put Tiny to work and haul Jeffrey down the mountain,” her sister called back.

  “Good idea,” Cecily approved. “I’ll have someone meet us at the trailhead.”

  Within ten minutes they’d cobbled together a makeshift dogsled with branches and sweatshirts and Tiny’s extendable leash. “Okay, Tiny, mush,” Jen said.

  Tiny fell into step beside her and the little parade started down the trail. “You’re going to have some adventure to tell your friends about when you go back to school this fall,” Cecily said to Jeffrey, who was trying hard not to cry.

  They were almost at the trailhead when they saw two medics coming their way. Saved, Toni thought, and breathed a sigh of relief.

  One of them, a burly twentysomething guy, knelt in front of Jeffrey. “How you doing there?”

  “I’m okay,” Jeffrey said, wiping the tears from his cheeks.

  “Hurts a lot, doesn’t it?” the medic said as he examined the foot. To Toni he murmured, “It looks like a sprain, but you’ll want to get it X-rayed to make sure it’s not broken.”

  Toni had been brave all the way down the trail, but now she was done. She burst into tears.

  “It’s okay, Mom,” Jordan said, putting an arm around her.

  She hugged her daughter fiercely and vowed never to complain about her family’s obsession with technology again.

  The rest of the day was spent first at the emergency room in the little Icicle Falls hospital and then back at the cabin, getting Jeffrey set up with ice packs, ibuprofen and ice cream. Fortunately, the medic had been correct; he only had a sprain. That evening Jen arrived with root beer, popcorn and a board game. And once the kids were settled, she brought out the other goodies she had in her trunk—wine and chocolate.

  “After the day I had, this is exactly what I need,” Toni said as she took a sip of wine.

  “I figured as much,” Jen said.

  Toni looked over her wineglass at her husband. “Remind me never to complain about our technology again.”

  He smiled and raised his own glass to her. “But there’s such a thing as balance. It’s been good for all of us to have a little less technology and a little more time together.”

 
“I’ll drink to that,” Toni said. She took another sip and then sighed. “I just hope I haven’t scarred our kids for life.”

  Or ruined the Fourth of July, which was right around the corner.

  Meanwhile, though, Jeffrey was happy to spend the following day playing Battleship with his dad, while Toni kept Jordan busy baking cookies. Once the cookies had been delivered to the invalid on the couch, Jordan took some for herself and flopped in a chair on the porch to paint her toenails.

  She hadn’t been out there more than five minutes when Toni heard a bloodcurdling scream. Her daughter ran inside the house and slammed the door shut behind her. “There’s a bear out there!”

  “A bear?” Toni rushed to the window and looked out just in time to see something big and black disappearing into the woods.

  “A bear? Cool,” Jeffrey said, scrambling up from the couch, his ice pack falling forgotten on the floor.

  “Whoa there, don’t be walking on that foot,” Wayne cautioned.

  “It’s gone now, anyway,” Toni said. Thank God. But would it come back?

  “I’m not going outside here anymore,” Jordan said, glaring at Toni as if it were all her fault they’d been invaded by the local wildlife.

  “There was nothing mentioned in the website about bears,” Toni said in her own defense. If there had been, she would never have brought them here.

  Later that afternoon, her daughter tossed aside the ratty book she’d been reading and said, “This is boring.”

  Okay, maybe they should’ve gone to Disneyland. At least the wild animals there were fake.

  * * *

  “How’s Jeffrey’s ankle?” Jen asked when she and Toni met for coffee at Bavarian Brews a couple of days later.

  “I think he’ll be good to go by the Fourth, thank God,” Toni said. “No bounce house or climbing wall for him, but as long as there’s food he’ll be happy.”

  “And what about Jordan?”