The loud noise crashed on his sensitive ears and snapped him alert. He stopped inside the trees and peered out across the road. The road smelled of oil, gas, and human: but not human; not as human as it should have. He couldn’t figure it out.
Just as he was about to shift back into a man to puzzle over the curious combination of smells, a car pulled up in front of him. It eked to a stop in a turn-out by the side of the road, and the motor died. The door opened, and the bear froze in his tracks.
A curvy blonde woman got out of the driver’s seat and slammed the door behind her. She wore the same clothes she had at Kerr Homestead, except instead of her heeled dress boots, she wore rugged leather hiking boots. That delicious, sweet scent floated off of her into the bear’s nostrils, and made him rock in drunken delirium.
She hiked up the road and headed off into the woods without looking right or left. So, of course, she didn’t notice the brown bear watching her.
Chapter 4
Harmony’s thoughts and emotions churned in a jumble of confusion and competing loyalties as she hit the gas and skidded out of the Kerrs' driveway. What in the name of all that’s holy just happened in there?
No one and no single place had ever affected her like the Kerr family and Kerr Homestead. No place attracted her as much as that house, with its inviting cleanliness and comforting furnishings.
No doubt remained in her mind about the condition of the children on that Homestead. She never had to go back there on investigative business. That was certain; but old Laird Kerr had invited her back for a social visit. He had invited her back for dinner, even. Nothing tugged her heart strings more than that invitation. She wanted more than anything to go back there.
Even Celia blowing up in her face struck Harmony as right and good. It showed Celia really cared about her husband’s affections, and underneath all the bluster and blame, Harmony recognized something unidentified lurking, something unspoken. Celia wasn’t upset about Laird’s reaction to Harmony, though Harmony herself couldn’t deny his reaction was way over the top. He really did moon over her. Celia was right about that.
He didn’t moon because he found her attractive. Anybody could see that. She fascinated him. He wanted her around. He wanted to talk to her and find out all about her. Why?
That man at the counter found her attractive and fascinating, too. Harmony couldn’t deny that, but she forced him out of her mind. He was the subject of an official investigation. He wasn’t Barton, so he must be Hyatt Kerr. Harmony made a note about him in her notebook.
She tried again to shake him out of her head, but she couldn’t erase the sight of his eyes boring into her. He fascinated her, too. He heard every word she said: about finding a home; a family; and a place in the world.
Why did she say those words out loud? She never admitted her true feelings to anyone, especially not strangers – and in this case she was among strangers – baring her heart to people she was supposed to investigate. What was she thinking?
She wasn’t thinking. That was the plain truth. She was doing nothing but feeling since she first set foot in that house, on that Homestead. From the minute she got out of her car, a curious sensation came over her. Even as she told Laird she always looked for a home and family and a place in the world, she knew in her heart she’d already found it.
That house, that land – she belonged there if she belonged anywhere in the world. There must be a reason she came back to Iron Bark when she could have gone to Paris or New York or anywhere else. She came to find something, and now she had found it.
She had to find a way to clear her thoughts, and she wouldn’t find that in the office back in town. She wanted to linger near this place a little while longer, to cling to the sensation of belonging that surrounded every rock and tree and mound of dirt around the place. She wanted to touch them in wonder and love them with all her heart.
She drove away from Kerr Homestead, but she turned off the road back to town and circled back to a deserted turn-off hidden by trees. She sat in the driver’s seat for a while, but clarity eluded her. She had to get out there, into the trees, to taste the mysterious sensation one more time.
She changed her shoes and locked her car before she headed into the woods. The trees closed around her, and that feeling sprayed outward from her heart to encompass the whole world. These woods enfolded her in a strange sense of rightness, the same rightness she experienced in the Kerrs’ living room.
Bruins’ Peak stood up beyond the trees. It guided her. It pulled her toward it with a steady gravitational force she couldn’t resist. She belonged to it.
What was wrong with her? How could she belong to a mountain, or to a backwoods tribe of hicks, or to their log cabin house? None of this made any sense.
All at once, a crunching noise startled her out of her reverie. She stopped in the middle of the path and looked all around, but didn’t see anything until a large dark shape moved between the trees. Her hand flew to her pocket, and she laced her fingers through her keys to defend herself.
Forget Bertha’s crucifix. She should have brought a shotgun instead. All the hair-raising tales she ever heard about Bruin’s Peak rushed into her mind. She could wind up skinned and gutted and turned into a lampshade in some psycho’s cabin in the forest. No wonder she saw most pick-ups driving around the mountain with guns racked in their back windows.
She kicked herself for laughing at the danger when the dark shape materialized in the path before her. The sun caught a shade of golden brown, and two glinting black eyes flashed in the shadows. Before she could react, a huge brown bear stepped between the trees and blocked her going any further.
Harmony braced herself and tightened her grip on her keys, but fighting wouldn’t save her. This creature could crush her with one swipe of its paw. He would drag her into the bushes and make a nice tasty lunch out of her.
So this was the big danger around Bruins’ Mountain: no devil’s spawn; no witches dancing on moonlit nights; just wild animals being wild. This must be the little girl that killed Morton Campbell’s friend. They never found the man’s body because it was in pieces in the bear’s stomach, and that’s where Harmony would be.
The bear swung toward her with his big head swaying from side to side. He grumbled low in his deep chest, but he didn’t charge or menace Harmony. He regarded her from a few yards away with his beady eyes.
She studied him from up close. The sun shone through the long guard hairs in his golden coat and turned them every rainbow color. The bright gold shone almost purple, and a halo glowed all around him. Rays of sunlight beamed through the tree branches in a starburst pattern like a stained glass window in a church.
The trees, towering overhead, raked the crystal sky. Every detail of this tableau appeared beyond perfect – almost heavenly. This forest was Harmony’s church; the bear represented a spiritual being, its soul perfected and honed in the holy wilderness. Her heart exploded toward the bear. He belonged to the forest and the forest belonged to him in spiritual bliss.
The bear returned her gaze with no fear. He read her thoughts, and something in his eyes connected with her heart. They understood each other on a level beyond words. He growled under his breath, but the sound didn’t frighten her the way her mind told her it should. Her fingers loosened around her keys. He wanted to speak to her, to make her understand him.
He took a step closer and stopped again. He inspected her with his fierce small eyes, but when she didn’t move, he dared another step. He stood right in front of her; so close she could see every individual hair on his snout. His damp nose glistened in the sun, and his nostrils twitched when he caught a whiff of her scent.
Without thinking, Harmony took her hands out of her pockets. Her keys jangled against her fingers and startled the bear. He huffed once through his nose and jerked his head back, but he didn’t run away. He settled back down to watching her.
Ever so slowly, Harmony put out her hand out toward him. She exposed her palm to his face
in a beckoning gesture. He lowered his head and took a deep sniff. She eased an inch closer until her hand hovered right below his nose. He craned his neck forward, and his cold wet nose touched her fingers.
A charge of excitement shot through Harmony’s being. Never would she imagine touching a wild animal like this, but this bear didn’t mind her stroking his face and neck. He rumbled in his chest at her touch, and he smelled up her arm to her chest. He took deep breaths around her neck and hair and sighed heavy sighs.
Harmony dared not touch him as much as she wished to. She combed her fingers through the long fur around his cheeks and down his neck, but no further. He could turn on her and attack her at any moment. He could kill her in an instant.
He tolerated her presence for a few minutes more, but then he turned to go. He gave her a few more friendly grumbles before he lumbered up the path in the direction from which he’d come. He swung his head around to glance back at her and barked a deep rumble. Then he padded into the trees and out of sight.
Harmony stood transfixed to the spot and stared after the disappearing bear. What amazing phenomenon had she just experienced? No one would believe she just reached out, touched a wild bear and lived to see him walk away, like it never happened. He let her pet him like a dog. He even seemed to enjoy it.
She gazed up into the steeple treetops. The sun sent its halo rays down in a circle of glory around the spot. The forest looked even more church-like, and ecstatic rapture filled her soul. She could almost believe she had just touched the face of God – but that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Why would God be a bear? How could the forest be a church?
She drove all the way back to her office with a thousand questions plaguing her. When she parked her car in the parking lot and made her way back to her desk, her coworkers mobbed her. “So what was it like? Are they inbred and toothless? Is it really scary up there? Are the kids all right?”
Harmony forced her way through the throng and dropped into her chair. “The kids are just fine – at least, the Kerr kids are. We have nothing to worry about where they are concerned.”
Molly Shannon rounded on her colleagues. “What did I tell you?”
Florence Maitland swatted Harmony in the shoulder. “Come on. Spill the beans. Tell us all about it. What’s the Homestead like? Is it a regular hillbilly camp full of scrap metal and vicious bulldogs? Did they drive you off with their guns?”
“No, the place is really nice and clean. I’d say the Kerrs are doing very well for themselves with their milling operations, and the people are nicer than you could ask. They welcomed me, and old man Kerr even invited me back for dinner.”
Molly hooted. “I always said so, but none of you ever believed me.”
“You’re the only one of us who ever went up to Bruins’ Peak. You can’t blame us for being curious. “Florence turned back to Harmony. “Did you see any bears or devil wolves?”
“There are no devils on Bruins’ Peak. Of that I’m quite certain. You never saw a more beautiful forest. I did see a bear on my way out, though.”
Florence’s eyes popped open. “You did? What was it doing? Did it attack you?”
“That’s the really weird thing. After I left the Kerrs, I went for a hike in the woods, and I stumbled on this bear in the path. It didn’t attack. In fact, it walked right up to me and let me touch it. I think it might be tame.”
The circle of social workers surrounding her all looked at her with wide eyes. No one said a word. They just stared. Molly broke the silence. “A tame bear? That’s impossible.”
“I know. That’s what’s so weird about it, but it wasn’t the least bit afraid of me, and I wasn’t the least bit afraid of it. I can’t explain it.”
Molly narrowed her eyes. “You better not try. No one would believe that story. You were lucky to get away with your life.”
“I hardly believe it myself.”
Molly sat down at the next desk and went back to work, but she didn’t say much to Harmony for the rest of the day. The other social workers drifted back to their own offices with whispers and exclamations. Florence took a little longer. She regarded Harmony with an unsettling mixture of fascination and incredulity before she humphed, turned and disappeared.
Chapter 5
, on either side of his head, extended the same distance as they did on the bear’s powerful frame.
He looked across the open green lawn spreading around a bright white Victorian house set among the trees. A granite fountain tinkled in the rose garden set in the lawn, and a white picket fence surrounded the whole scene.
No one could see the red timber barns and steel sheds hidden in the forest nearby. The Dunlap tribe kept those things out of sight to preserve the serenity and beauty of their Homestead.
As Aiken watched, three boys ran down the steps and bolted across the lawn with a shout and a jump. They dove into the woods and disappeared. Behind them came two stately women, one with greying hair pulled back in a bun behind her head, and the other with long curling tresses which touched her shoulders. Both women wore long dresses set off with lace.
The women stopped on the front porch and gazed toward the woods where the boys had vanished. The younger woman noticed Aiken standing just inside the trees and waved to him.
Aiken sighed; so much for making a subtle entrance. His mother and sister wouldn’t let him slip away again without interrogating him about everything he did since he left. He couldn’t visit his best friend at Kerr Homestead without giving a full report when he got home. The longer and more often he stayed away, the more they hovered and henpecked him when he got home.
He comforted himself with the knowledge that they did it out of love. His mother worried he spent too much time alone as a bear in the woods. She always asked when he would find a mate and settle down. That’s all parents ever cared about.
Aiken envied those young boys. He knew exactly what they would do, now that they got away from the Homestead. They would run through the woods, climb trees, swim in the streams and camp out as bears until they felt like coming home. No one enjoyed that life more than Aiken.
Aiken enjoyed it, but not as much, now that he took on more responsibility around the Homestead. His father, Jasper, wasn’t young anymore, and his oldest brother, Boyd, would take over as Alpha. They both wanted Aiken to take an even bigger share in running the family business.
Aiken set off across the lawn and stopped at the foot of the steps. He smiled up at the two women. “Morning, Ma.”
His mother Beatrice compressed her lips, but she couldn’t stop herself from smiling down at him. “Good morning, Aiken. Did you finish all your work?”
“For now; Barton said he’ll let me know when he needs me again.”
His sister Clarissa spoke up. “Then you can go inside and wash your hands and change your clothes. You look like you just crawled out of the sewer.”
Beatrice murmured over her shoulder. “Clarissa, dear, that’s not polite.”
“Well, look at him. You look like one of those no-account Farrells, with your wife-beater T-shirt and your muddy work boots. Don’t even think of coming inside dressed like that.”
Aiken bit back the words he really wanted to say. “I can take my boots off, Clarissa.”
Beatrice laid her hand on her daughter’s arm and spoke the words for him. “Is it any wonder he spends so much time away from home when you talk to him like that? Aiken, dear, you missed breakfast again. I left your ham and sausage in the fridge for you.”
“Thanks, Ma. I ate at the Kerrs, but I’ll eat that for lunch.”
“I don’t want my boys seeing like this, Aiken,” Clarissa interrupted. “It’s bad enough they see their friends from the other tribes dressed like they just finished digging a ditch. I want them to grow up respectable, like real Dunlaps, not like the rest of the riff-raff on this mountain.”
“First of all, Clarissa, the so-called riff-raff on this mountain are Bruins just like us. They work for a living, and if they get dirty
doing it, I for one don’t respect them any less for that. And second of all, your boys won’t see me dressed like this because they just ran off into the woods. They won’t want to be around you any more than I do if you insist on scrubbing behind their ears every time you see them.”
Beatrice held up both hands. “Children, children, let’s have peace in this house.”
Aiken unlaced his boots and kicked them into the grass. He pushed his way between the two women and headed for the door. “Sure thing, Ma; I didn’t mean to upset anybody.”
Just then, his father, Jasper, and his younger sister Marla came out of the house. Jasper wore a black business suit and worked a cell phone in one hand. “There you are, Aiken. I’ve been looking for you.”
“How are you, Dad? How did the contract negotiation go?”
“It went just fine. We got the delivery date moved up, so I need you and Boyd to get on the harvest right away.”
“Sure, Dad; no problem. I suppose Boyd is out at the harvester right now.”
“No, he’s in the office finishing up the paperwork, so you can put your work boots right back on—as long as you don’t need to go back to the Kerrs any time soon.”
“No, I’m done there for now.”
“Is everyone alive and well over there?”
“They’re fine. They had a few more complaints from locals, so there was a social worker there this morning. She’s investigating the accusations, so I expect she’ll work her way around the mountain the way they always do.”
Jasper looked up from his phone. “Is that so? We’ll have to spread the word. I’ll send Brody Farrell a text. What’s the social worker look like?”
“She’s blonde and young and very nice, as far as I can tell. She charmed the pants off Laird Kerr.”
Marla snorted and tossed her layered copper-red hair. “It looks like she charmed the pants off you, too, Aiken. Man, you need a girlfriend if you’re looking at human social workers.”
Aiken rounded on her. “Will you please be quiet, Marla? The man asked me a simple question, and I’m answering it.”
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