Jake opened his eyes to find himself in bed. A Clark’s nutcracker called from somewhere outside.
“Taylor?” he mumbled.
“Jake!”
Taylor had been rocking back and forth in Abe’s rocking chair but now instantly hurried over to the bed. Cody beat him to it. The terrier hopped up next to Jake and began licking his cheek and ears.
“Easy, boy,” Jake moaned.
“Jake, are you okay?” Taylor asked, perching on the edge of the bed. “How do you feel?”
“I feel like someone used me for a piñata.” He blinked sore eyes. “Is it dark yet?”
Taylor laughed. “Jake, it’s morning. You slept the whole night.”
Jake could feel that something was wrong with his leg. He pulled back the quilt. His ankle had been bound tight with a soft leather wrap.
“Don’t you remember? A coyote bit you. Me and Dad cleaned it up and made a wrap with the balsamroot medicine. Dad scared the coyotes away,” Taylor told him. “And Cody helped.”
“Thanks, buddy,” Jake said, scratching Cody around the neck and ears. “I owe you one.”
“Dad’s butchering your deer out front,” Taylor said. “You remember the deer, right?”
Jake nodded.
Taylor gently punched him in the shoulder. “Awesome shot, Jake.”
“Ouch.” Jake rubbed his shoulder.
“Sorry. Want some more aspirin?”
“Yeah. And water.”
While Taylor went to fetch them, Jake closed his eyes and tried to relax. He couldn’t. His ankle throbbed. Weren’t you meant to get a shot from a doctor when a wild animal bit you? All he had was an arrowleaf balsamroot poultice. Medicine he’d boiled up himself.
“What are we doing out here?” he whispered to himself.
I could have died. Those coyotes could have torn my throat out. If Taylor and Dad hadn’t gotten there right then . . .
“Here you go.” Taylor was back, with a cup of water and the aspirin. Jake swallowed them down.
“Taylor,” he asked, handing the cup back to his brother, “do you ever wonder if we did the right thing coming here?”
Taylor looked confused. “What do you mean?”
Jake chose his words carefully. “I mean, it’s great to be with Dad again, and it’s cool to live somewhere so beautiful, but . . .”
“But what?”
Jake sighed. “I mean, this life is crazy. Look at everything we’ve had to deal with. The bobcat, running out of water, and now coyotes? How long before something really bad happens and we can’t get to a hospital because we’re out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“Dad knows what he’s doing. He’ll keep us safe.”
Jake sank back down, feeling worse than ever. When he’d first come here, he’d felt free. For the first time in his life, he could run anywhere he wanted—there were no fences, no rules. Now those summer days were gone, the winter was drawing in, and he felt like a prisoner.
“We’re going to be stuck here all winter,” he said.
“Well, I like it here,” said Taylor. “Dad’s fun.”
“What about Mom?” Jake asked softly. “What do you think she’d say if she knew we were living like this?”
The corners of Taylor’s mouth sagged.
Jake squeezed his brother’s shoulder.
“We didn’t even get to say good-bye . . .” Taylor said.
Then his lips pressed together, and his eyes shifted away. At first Jake thought he was crying. But he wasn’t. It was Taylor’s scheming face.
“What is it?”
Taylor’s eyes met his. “I know we can’t bring Mom back,” he said, “but . . .”
“What?”
“I found something that might help.”
“Spit it out already,” Jake said.
“Remember in the store, when Dad said he had a phone? Well, while I was digging through the first aid chest for the aspirin, I found it.”
Jake sat up straighter. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Taylor hurried to the first aid chest. Moments later he lifted out a large handset and brought it over to Jake. Cody sniffed at it and backed away, unimpressed.
“Geez,” Jake said, feeling the weight of the phone, “it looks like one of those giant cell phones you see in old movies.”
“I thought if Mom’s answering machine is still turned on, we could, y’know, listen to her voice one more time.”
“Let’s try it,” Jake said instantly. He had to do this quickly before he changed his mind. He took a deep breath and flipped the on switch above the number pad. A spluttering red light flicked into life.
Heart racing, Jake punched in the numbers he knew by heart. The earpiece popped and clicked like a broken-down radio.
“Sorry, Taylor. I don’t think it’s going to go through.”
More clicks. Then he heard another sound. A ringing.
“It’s ringing!” Jake said, and pressed the phone to his ear.
Taylor lifted Cody out of the way and huddled in as close as he could.
Heads together, they listened to the line ring. Jake knew what he’d hear next. The number you are calling is not in service. Please hang up and dial again.
The ringing tone stopped. Silence. And then:
“Hi, this is Jennifer Wilder. I’m not home right now . . .”
Jake and Taylor sat like rabbits in headlights, unable to breathe, listening to their mom’s voice. For some reason the old answering machine was still working. Jake silently thanked whatever power had made that happen.
“It’s like she’s alive,” Taylor whispered.
Jake’s throat tightened. They listened to the entire message, all the way to the beep.
Taylor mouthed the words, Should we say something?
Jake shook his head.
There’s no point. Mom’s gone, Jake thought.
Just as Jake was about to hang up, however, he heard faint words coming from the earpiece.
“Wait. I’m here,” the voice said. “Don’t hang up.”
Jake quickly raised the phone back to his ear, his heart galloping wildly.
“Hello?” he asked cautiously.
“Hello?” came the other voice again. “Who is this?”
“MOM?” Jake and Taylor shouted together.
“Jake! Taylor! Is that you?”
The phone crackled, but there was no doubt who the voice on the other end belonged to.
“Mom! It’s us!” Jake shouted. “You’re alive!”
5 “Oh my God!” Jennifer cried on the other end. “Are you okay?”
“We’re fine!” Jake burst out. “Mom, you’re okay. I can’t believe it!”
“Of course I am, honey! I’ve been worried sick. When I woke up in the hospital and you weren’t there . . .”
Jake thought back a few months to when Bull had put their mom in the hospital. They’d known they had to get out of there.
“Where are you boys?”
Breathe, Jake told himself. He forced himself to calm down. “We’re in Wyoming with Dad.”
“You’re WHAT? Jake, did you just say ‘Wyoming’?”
“YES! We came out here, and . . . Mom, we’re sorry we left. We had to.”
“Bull said you were dead!” Taylor howled. “We never should’ve believed him!”
There was silence for a second. Then their mom asked, “Have you heard from Bull?”
“No,” Jake said quickly. “We don’t know where he is. He could be anywhere.”
“Jake, please!” There was worry in Jennifer’s voice, but she sounded more determined than Jake had heard for years. “If you know anything about where he is, don’t be afraid to tell me.”
“Mom, I’m telling the truth. We haven’t heard from him. We don’t know anything.”
The boys heard static, then the words “Bull . . . missing . . . money?”
Jake felt a fresh wave of panic. The ancient phone was cutting out.
“What, Mom? What d
id you say?” Jake pleaded. “I can’t hear you!”
“Bull’s friends keep asking where he is,” their mom said, her voice frantic. “Well, not exactly friends. I think I’m in a lot of trouble. . . .”
“You don’t have to worry about Bull anymore!” Taylor shouted happily, drowning out their mom’s words. Jake managed not to shove him off the bed, but only just. He made a throat-cutting gesture at Taylor. Taylor nodded, wide-eyed, his mouth clamped shut.
“What do you mean, Mom?” Jake almost shouted. “What kind of trouble?”
There was a long pause, and Jake worried that the line had cut out. But then he heard a terrified whisper:
“Bull’s boss says he’s going to shoot me!”
Jake reeled back, as if hit by a bolt of lightning. He knew what he had to do, and the words were out before he had a chance to stop them.
“We’re coming, Mom.”
“No!” Jennifer yelled. “Stay with your dad! You can’t come. It’s too—”
And right then the connection died.
Jake looked at the phone. The red power light was dark. Frantically he pressed the power button, but it was no use.
Jake and Taylor stared at each other for a second. Then they rushed outside to find their dad.
Jake forgot all about his injured ankle. He could have been walking on air.
“Dad!” Taylor shouted. “It’s Mom! She’s okay. She’s home!”
“What?” Abe asked, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What do you mean?”
“Mom,” Jake said. “She’s alive. And she’s home! She’s okay!”
Abe froze. “Boys, that’s not funny. There are some things you just don’t joke about.”
“No joke,” said Taylor. “We just talked to her on your phone. We wanted to hear her voice,” Taylor continued. “So we called our old number and got the message machine. And then she picked up!”
Abe put down the tools he was using to work on the deer. “You’re sure?” he asked incredulously. “One hundred percent sure it was her?”
“Positive,” Jake said. “The connection was bad, and then the battery went dead, but not before we got to talk.”
Abe looked from Taylor to Jake. A stunned smile crept across his face. His eyes lit up like Jake had never seen. “And what did she say? Is she okay?”
“We told her we were here with you and that we were fine. But, Dad, she said she’s in a lot of trouble,” Jake said.
Taylor blurted out, “Bull’s boss is going to kill her!”
Abe suddenly darkened. “Slow down. Tell me exactly what she said.”
Jake filled his dad in on the whole conversation and watched as he went through a lifetime of emotions—happy that Jennifer was okay, but disturbed at the dark turn her life had taken.
“I can’t believe it,” Abe muttered, unable to take it all in, pulling Jake and Taylor into a protective hug. “I know you must be worried, boys. I am too. But the most important thing is that she’s alive. It looks like this Thanksgiving we’ve got a lot to be thankful for.”
6 The rest of the afternoon the boys helped prepare a feast while Abe finished butchering the deer. The main course would be roast venison with wild onions, carrots, and potatoes, along with steamed wild asparagus they’d harvested earlier in the season. For dessert, wild berry cobbler cooked in a Dutch oven.
Jake hadn’t cooked anything fancy at home in Pittsburgh, so he couldn’t wait to show his mom how much he’d learned. He glanced at the table and thought, We’ll need another chair soon. He grinned. Soon Mom would be here with them, safe from harm.
Taylor was still bubbling over from the phone call. “Don’t you think Mom’s going to love it out here?” he asked Jake, for what must have been the eighteenth time that hour. “We’ll be a family again!”
Jake hacked an onion in half. “We need to keep her safe. That’s all that matters.”
Taylor nodded, thinking it over. “The guys looking for Bull must be the ones who hired him to do the job he messed up.”
“Probably,” Jake said, remembering the horrible fight they’d witnessed several months ago. Bull had fought with a man who had come to get back money . . . there was a shot . . . Jake and Taylor had taken the money when they’d fled to Wyoming.
“Dad will know what to do. If we set off tomorrow, we can get Mom back here before the snows come,” Taylor said.
Abe crashed in through the door, his arms full of firewood. A blast of icy air followed him in. He turned around and kicked the door shut, then dumped the wood down by the stove.
“Dad,” Taylor asked, “what are we going to do? Can we leave tomorrow to go and get Mom?”
Abe said nothing, but Jake saw that his eyes were red and weary. He smacked the dirt off his hands. He avoided looking either of the boys in the eye.
“Smells good in here,” he said quietly. “There’s nothing quite like fresh meat you’ve seen to yourself. Jake, set the table, please.”
Jake did as he was told, but the tension set him on edge. It reminded him of being back in Pittsburgh—the meals eaten in silence, the fearful glances at Bull, the dread of an argument waiting to erupt.
“Dad?” Taylor insisted. “When are we leaving to get Mom?”
“You don’t understand, boys,” Abe said, shuffling awkwardly from one foot to the other. Eventually he looked up and finally met their eyes. “We’re not.”
Jake and Taylor sat deathly still. Finally Taylor asked, “You mean we’re not going tomorrow? But we’ll go soon, right?”
“I mean we’re not going at all,” Abe said, in a sad voice just above a whisper.
Without another word Abe went outside, leaving Jake and Taylor to stare at each other, stunned. Then, at the same time, they scooted their chairs back and raced after him. They found Abe next to the outdoor fire pit, staring at the dying embers.
“Dad,” Jake asked, “what are you talking about? We can’t leave Mom in Pittsburgh. Didn’t you hear us? She’s in danger!”
“She needs our help, Dad,” Taylor pleaded.
“I know,” Abe said, putting his arm around Taylor. “And we’re going to help her. We’re going to get her out of danger. But rushing off to do it ourselves isn’t the way. I’ve been thinking; we need to stay calm and work something out.”
“ ‘Work something out’?” Jake mocked. He couldn’t believe he was talking to his dad this way, but he was too angry to care. He thought Abe would be happy. Jake thought that Abe would want to get back to Mom straightaway.
Abe bridled. “Jake, would you please listen to me? We can’t go get your mom now, even if she wanted us to. A snowstorm’s coming—I can feel it in the air, and from the way the animals are acting. We’ll get caught in it if we try to go anywhere now.”
“What are you talking about?” Jake shouted, picking up a stick and flinging it off into the darkness. “You have a sixth sense now? It’s not even snowing! Admit it. You’re scared. Scared to face Mom after you ran off and abandoned us!”
There was silence for a long time.
Abe jabbed the fire with a stick, sending up a flurry of sparks. He took a deep breath. “Look, boys, I love having you both out here with me. Leaving you all those years ago was selfish. I realize that now. But living in the wild with my family was always the big dream. When I first married your mom, it was our big dream.”
“So make it happen!” Taylor said. “We just need to go get her!”
“What about what your mom wants. Have you thought about that?” Abe paused and ran his hands through his long hair. “Not long after Taylor was born, something happened that changed your mom’s big dream. . . .”
“What, Dad?” Jake demanded.
“Taylor got sick, and I went out to find some herbs to treat him with. Your mom wanted to take him to the doctor, but I knew it wasn’t that serious. I wanted to do things my way, nature’s way. And while I was out in the wasteland, I . . .” Abe coughed, embarrassed. “I disturbed a copperhead and got bi
t.”
So that was where their dad’s strange scar had come from. “But you didn’t die,” Jake said.
“No, but I nearly did. Your mom called 911 when I didn’t come home. I woke up in the hospital. The moment I saw the look on her face, I knew.”
“Knew what?” said Taylor, his voice thick.
“That for her the big dream was over.” Abe threw his stick into the fire. “Your mom loves you boys so much. No way was she going to take you away from hospitals, away from civilization. Even though she loves nature every bit as much as me, she loves you two even more.”
Jake felt a lump in his throat and tears stinging in his eyes. But he was still furious. Abe’s stubborn refusal to compromise had torn their family apart once before, but Abe was still refusing to budge.
Abe looked at the boys. “What did she say when you said you were coming to get her?”
“She said not to come,” Jake answered reluctantly. “To stay here with you. But—”
“Exactly,” Abe interrupted. “I don’t know who these guys harassing her are, but if they’re anything like Bull was, they’re dangerous. Very dangerous. Your mom is smart. If she wants you to stay away, it must be for a very good reason, because I’m sure she’s desperate to see you. But more than anything else, she wants to keep you safe.”
“We’re smart too,” Jake insisted. “We can go get her and bring her back here without anyone knowing. Then we’ll ALL be safe.”
Abe shook his head. “Don’t be naïve, Jake. You know I like to do things for myself, but sometimes the only smart thing to do is ask for help. We need to contact the authorities. They’ll arrest the guys threatening your mom, and keep her safe. Then she can decide what she wants to do. Either come out here and live with us, or take you boys back to Pennsylvania. I’ve tried the phone again, and the signal is still down, but it should be back up soon. And if it isn’t, after the snowstorm that’s heading our way, I’ll trek into the village and make some calls there.”
“But—” Jake’s head was spinning with all sorts of reasons why that plan wouldn’t work. Even if the stupid phone did work again tomorrow, if the police got involved, Jake and Taylor would have to tell them about Bull, and the money that they’d taken. Anyway, if it were that simple, Mom would have gone to the police by now.
The Journey Home Page 3