by Laurie Lewis
A narrow trail, carved into the steep hillside, had been denuded by years of foot traffic, but the slim path was the only claim man held in the forest. Thick roots pushed up from the path and jutted out from the hillside, making Olivia constantly veer over and around obstructions. After several awkward near trips and falls that brought her closer to the steep drop-off than she cared to be, she realized her ankles had weakened during her recovery and were unable to make the quick, nimble adjustments to stabilize her on rough terrain. To compensate, she tightened her other leg and calf muscles, adding to the fatigue already wearing them down. She found herself looking anxiously ahead for a break of blue through the trees or the sound of the sea above the hush of the forest. There was none.
The burn in her legs was joined by a jelly-like weakness that finally caused her to humble her pride and admit that she was in trouble. She leaned against the hillside to rest her legs. Before she said a word, Laurel was beside her, wide-eyed with worry as she assessed their position on the trail. “I’m sorry, Laurel. I should have listened to you.”
“Never mind that now. We’re more than halfway. You’ll never make the uphill climb back to the car in your condition. There’s a rest stop about twenty yards ahead. Let’s get you there.”
The words were comforting, but the fear trembling in Laurel’s voice was not. Olivia nodded silently as Laurel took the backpack, placing it on her own back. She also moved to the front position, laying Olivia’s hand on her shoulder. “Lean on me to steady yourself, okay?”
They set off again, with Olivia mirroring Laurel’s steps over and around obstacles. After a few minutes, they reached a scenic overlook of the ocean where a bench was waiting. Olivia bypassed the view, making a beeline for the seat, where she plopped down and bent over, breathing hard.
Her phone began to ring from inside the backpack, but she made no effort to retrieve it.
Laurel fished it out and looked at the screen before holding it out to Olivia. “It’s Hudson.”
Olivia shook off the information. “I don’t want him to know—”
Laurel pressed the phone’s button. “Hello, Mr.—I mean, Hudson. Really glad you called. We’re in a bit of a—”
Olivia snatched the phone and sucked in a calming breath. She replied quickly with, “Hello, Hudson. What can I do for you?”
Silence preceded Hudson’s confused response. “You called me the other day about something critical. I promised to call when I returned to the states. Remember?”
Olivia’s brief recovery shifted into a new panic as she remembered the reason she contacted him—to confess the news about her pending lawsuit and to alert Hudson to Larry’s smear campaign. When too many unanswered moments passed, Hudson began asking questions.
“What was Laurel saying before you took the phone? Are you okay? Where are you? I’m at the house and no one’s here.”
Cold sweat broke out over Olivia at the news. “H-How can you be here? You were in the Philippines yesterday. You said it would take two days.”
“I hitched a ride on a cargo plane to California. It was easy from there.”
Her shoulders slumped in guilt at her obvious ingratitude. Hudson must have altered his plans and rushed on, thinking she was having an emergency, and now, because of her impetuousness, she likely was. She kept making a mess of things, and the fallout somehow kept landing at Hudson’s feet.
“Liv? Just tell me where you are and what’s going on.”
She choked back her rising emotions. “I’m fine, Hudson. Please don’t worry about me. Just rest. We’ll be home soon.” Then she ended the call.
But Laurel took her own phone out and texted Hudson. After pocketing it, she shot an unapologetic look Olivia’s way. “I’m sorry, but we’re in trouble here. We need his help. He wants me to get you down to the beach. He’s on his way.”
Olivia did not argue.
The rest helped, but Laurel’s steadying shoulder was required to help Olivia make it down the last hundred yards of steep decline. A picnic area greeted them at the base, and that was where Laurel deposited her.
“You’re sopping wet and exhausted. Let’s not add dehydration to the mix. Drink, drink, drink.”
After Olivia complied, Laurel helped her hobble to the restroom provided by the Park Service, and then back to the picnic table. Exhausted in body and spirit, she lay down and drifted off to sleep.
12
When Olivia awoke, Laurel was gone and a scruffy, disheveled man was seated on the attached bench with his head resting on his arms, which were wrapped around a rolled blanket. Panic rose in her at the initial shock of the homeless-looking stranger, but she withheld her gasp once she realized that the stranger was, in fact, Hudson.
He was fast asleep, and it appeared that sleep was sorely needed. A thick reddish-brown stubble covered his face, and his dark hair was a tangled mop. Olivia wondered what he had been through to reach her and look as he did.
She reached out to gingerly finger a sweat-curled strand of his hair. Like a touchstone, the shared nearness shot a wave of memories through her. The result was a stark mix of joy and pain, happiness and sadness, want and anger. She withdrew her hand and sat up to end the thoughts. Her movement caused Hudson to awaken as well.
He seemed equally confused, clearing the sleep from his voice and rubbing his fingers deeply into his eyes as recognition and welcoming filled them.
“You’re awake.”
“You too,” Olivia replied with a dip of her head. “I’m sorry about … about all of this.”
Hudson raked his fingers through his beard as he turned to survey the horizon. “A storm’s brewing, and the rain will make the steep path slippery. That nap is the first real sleep I’ve had in thirty-six hours, so I don’t think carrying you up the mountain on my shaky legs is a good plan.”
“I could make it if I just had a little—”
Hudson cocked his head in incredulity, and she surrendered the notion.
“Help is coming. We just need to hunker on the beach until it arrives. There’s a large cave down by the tidal pool and a fresh waterfall where we can refill your water bottle. It’s the best option while we watch for our ride.”
Olivia observed the steady stream of hikers and picnickers making their retreat up the trail from whence she and Laurel had come. “Where’s Laurel? Did you send her home?”
Hudson nodded. “There was no reason to keep her from her family. Let’s get you down to the beach.”
He stood and tucked the blanket roll under one arm while extending the other to Olivia. She accepted his offer, fitting into his support as if it was meant for her all along. She leaned on Hudson more heavily the further they went until he was bearing the majority of her weight by the time they reached the ancient cave. Two surfers in wetsuits were exiting the cavern and gathering up their boards as Hudson and Olivia arrived. They, too, had their eyes on the darkening sky, but they shifted their attention to the couple and down to Olivia’s legs.
“Sprain?” the taller of the two asked.
“More likely just muscle strain,” replied Hudson when Olivia failed to reply.
“After we get our boards loaded, we can head back down and help carry her out.”
Olivia stiffened at the thought of being hauled out by strangers like a sack of potatoes. Hudson made brief eye contact with her, evidently catching her mortification, and replied to their offer. “Thanks, but we’ve got it.”
The shorter surfer glanced back at the dark cave and offered Hudson a knowing chuckle. “Gotcha.”
In reply, Hudson shot him a look that ended his smirk, following up with a pseudo salute, effectually sending the dudes on their way.
Alone now on the beach, Hudson led Olivia to the cave, which bore the signs of frequent use. The sandy floor was clean and cleared of debris, except for the pile of rounded rocks in the rear, smoothed and carried in by the tides. Kindling and small branches were stacked near the cave’s mouth, a few feet from where the remnants o
f someone’s fire still sat in a charred circle.
Hudson untied the bedroll and several items fell onto the sand. Another good snap, and the blanket spread across the cave’s entrance. Hudson lowered her gently to the soft fabric. Relief filled her, and she leaned back and nestled into the soft sand. Her sigh brought the hint of a smile to Hudson’s beard-framed lips. It was short-lived. His face slackened as his dark, penetrating eyes fixed on her. His breathing seemed to stop, as did hers. Heat rose deep within her torso, spreading like fire through her face and neck from the intensity of his stare. A sheen of sweat broke out on her skin, and yet she shivered. She touched her face, expecting to feel the fire radiating there, but the motion seemed to break the moment. Without a word, Hudson took her empty water bottle and left, leaving her shaky and confused.
As he departed, she shifted to watch him pick his way through the primitive beauty of the area, around scrub brush, through the teeming tidal pools, to a glorious waterfall spilling from the rock wall.
Robinson Crusoe-esque with his rumpled clothes, his beard, and wild mop of tangled hair, Olivia was unable to tear her eyes from him. Gone was the shyness and gangly motions of his youth. The business titan who could buy or sell his own barrier reef or string of creature-filled islands now moved with confidence and care, as protective of a single mollusk or anemone as he had been as a beach-combing science student a decade ago. She wondered what made him that way. Clearly, the young man who had been everything to her back then was an even more splendid person now.
The all-too-frequent burn of tears hit her again. Pepper had been on the money. Olivia had loved Hudson in college. If only he had been the one to propose instead of… Guilt tore at her over the thought.
Hudson returned and knelt as he handed the water bottle to her, turning away to pore over the items that fell from the bedroll. They both seemed anxious to avoid meeting the other’s eyes. With his back still to her, he spoke in a voice hoarse and low.
“I brought an analgesic cream to … massage into your muscles. It should reduce the pain.” He cleared his throat and added a thought in a stronger, more steadied voice. “Or you could do it.”
Olivia’s own tongue seemed thick as she replied, “I’d appreciate your help.”
With his eyes planted anywhere but on her face, he sat, laying her calves across his bent leg. Gingerly, he slid one of her pant legs well above her knee and squeezed an inch of cream into his hand. In steady, even motions he methodically worked it into her muscles. The press and massage of his strong, warm hands along her knee and behind her thigh sent her heart pounding. Could Hudson feel her reaction? The concern caused her muscles to contract.
“Relax,” he urged softly.
The firm, assured timbre of his voice caused the opposite reaction. Her muscles tensed in waves as images of the past crowded in on her. She set her gaze on the sea and tried to make light of the situation. “I caught the look those surfers gave us. It seems this place has a reputation, and they figured we were adding a new chapter.”
A puff of breath escaped as Hudson chuckled softly in reply. “It’s a family beach by day. But at night?” He shook his head. “I’ve heard some tales. That was never my style.”
The melancholy in his voice caused Olivia to face him. “Did you ever find anyone special?”
Olivia felt the conspicuous halt of his hands. “Are you asking whether or not I’ve been in love?” His onyx eyes rose to meet hers and then held as he said, “Only once,” in a pained whisper that brushed past Olivia’s heart as if on torn butterfly wings.
Hers was not the only heart that had known the ache of rejection. “What happened?”
Having completed the massage of the one leg, he slowly pulled the yoga pants back over her knee and smoothed the creases from the fabric, making eye contact and again holding her gaze like a tractor beam. “Our timing was off.”
The explanation gripped Olivia’s heart until she couldn’t feel the next beat or breath. She considered how many women he had met since her marriage. Beautiful women … women like Pepper. The therapist said things hadn’t worked out, but she had avoided sharing details about her relationship with Hudson. Had their timing been off?
Silence passed between them. Hudson dropped his gaze and returned to his work, raising the fabric of the other pant leg over her knee and working lotion into her sore muscles. Olivia could find no comfortable segue away from the moment. Gratefully, Hudson provided an unusual one.
“Did I ever tell you that my father’s grandparents were Blackfoot Indians?”
She was mesmerized by yet another unknown aspect of this complex man. She shook her head.
“They moved to Alberta, so we didn’t see them often, which suited me just fine when I was young, because they always seemed old and strange and poor. When I was fifteen, I discovered how wrong I’d been. My great-grandfather had passed, and Nuna was ninety-three and not well, so I was sent to spend the summer with her to help out. It changed my life.”
Hudson elevated Olivia’s leg and rubbed circles into a knot in her calf as he continued.
“She didn’t have a lot in the material sense, and what she had frightened me at first. Her home was decorated with strings of beads, tanned pelts, and animal teeth, and she had the skull of an elk nailed to the wall across from her favorite chair.”
“A skull?”
He nodded and smiled. “It scared me every time I entered the room, so I finally asked her about it. She said it was a love token, and that it reminded her of my great-grandfather.”
He smiled as his gaze drifted over her shoulder to a spot on the horizon. Whatever he saw in his mind’s eye caused his eyes to sparkle and glisten.
“According to Nuna, bull elk attract many cows, which they lead to good grass and to sweet water. The cows know their bull will protect them and their calves, even to his own death. These bulls became the symbol of a man’s passion and love for his mate. Like the bull elk, a good man will provide for and protect his mate. He will build her a good tipi and introduce her to his family, where she and her future children will be welcomed and loved.”
Prickles rose on Olivia’s arms. Her eyes misted as Hudson listed every one of her dreams. “Your great-grandfather did those things for your great-grandmother?”
“Yes,” he replied, drawing the word out like a pull of sweet taffy. “Nuna still felt his love every time she looked at the home he built her or rocked in the chair he made.”
“That’s a beautiful story, Hudson.”
“It became very important to me. Perhaps because it reminds me what we can miss if we don’t make the effort to understand.”
Hudson’s eyes held hers as if he were willing her to comprehend some cryptic message. After giving Olivia’s leg a gentle, final squeeze, he drew the pant leg over her knee and set both of her legs back on the blanket. “Nuna told me I was like her husband, Black Moon. That when I found the right woman, she would see my love in the simple gifts I would bring her, and she would know my heart. I believed that. I may have counted on it too much.”
Biting her lips to still them, Olivia coughed to stay the tremble at her throat. “Did you tell the woman that you loved her?”
His head shook in refute. “People throw the word love around so casually.”
She considered her own desperate need for affirmation from Jeff. “It doesn’t diminish the word’s importance. Women need to hear it. We need those words.”
Hudson’s lips parted as if he were about to speak. Olivia tensed for his rebuttal, but he said nothing verbally. His shoulders drooped, his back rounded, and his neck retracted, bit by bit, until he was sitting back on his heels, thinking deeply, perhaps about what she had said. She felt her bravado weaken in the face of the compassion etched on his face.
“I’m sorry, Liv. You deserved better.”
“So did you, Hudson.” She sat up, rounding over her knees and wrapping her arms around her legs. Her chin moved back and forth across the fabric of her pants as sh
e spoke. “I know we blindsided you. I’m sorry. School was ending. I didn’t know where I belonged, and there Jeff was when I needed to feel loved.” The memory and confession drained her.
She rested her chin on her knees and stared off at the far-reaching sand. “Every instinct told me he was playing me, but the need to be wanted won out. And then he showed up the next day, asking me to marry him. I was so confused. He said the way I kissed him back made him believe I felt the same way. It sounded as if I was the one who had used him. So I did what I thought was right: I accepted his proposal. And in an hour, the trajectory of my entire life changed.”
She looked up, unable to read Hudson’s expression, which seemed as veiled as the sun by clouds gathering off the coastline. The air suddenly changed as the wind kicked up and a low howl broke through the trees. Hudson jumped to his feet. Liv scanned the horizon to see if the gathering clouds had suddenly shifted into thunderheads, but the storm still seemed far off.
“What is it?”
“It’s our ride. I need to signal to them.”
The sound increased as he ran off to the center of the abandoned beach, but Olivia could not see a boat nearing the shore. The wind increased to a gale force, whipping the sand into a cloud around Hudson. She looked up and saw a helicopter arriving from around the cove.
As a basket descended from the chopper, Hudson ran back to her.
“I thought a boat was coming.”
“This seemed the best option. Can you walk, or should I carry you?”
Her attempt to stand proved wobbly at best. “Can I lean on you?”
He spread his arm again, welcoming her in. Their eyes locked, and heat spread from her heart to her limbs. She forced her mind to put his kindness back into perspective. She needed help. Helping is what Hudson loved. She gathered more strength and independence as they made their way to the gurney-like basket.