“Okay everybody, time to load up and move out,” Ben announced.
Ben pulled the canoe into knee-deep water, and Deidre handed him two large packs, the one she had carried and the one he had toted while he also carried the canoe. He placed them strategically in the bottom of the canoe, making sure the craft remained balanced, and then they stowed the small packs the girls had brought.
“Lifejackets, everyone,” Ben commanded, and they were ready to shove off.
The girls were tucked in among the packs. Deidre sat in front, and Ben in the stern. The adults paddled, and the girls dragged their fingers in the water. The day was as perfect as it could get.
They crossed three lakes, being able to pass from one to the other through narrows just wide enough to allow the canoe to be navigated. Late in the afternoon, the canoe scraped its way up on the gravel shore, and Deidre stepped out, steadied the canoe while the girls crawled over the packs and jumped to dry ground, and held it while Ben stepped into the shallow water.
“We’re home,” he announced, and Deidre could sense the peace in his voice.
She surveyed the site where they would camp for the next two nights and three days. A small river ran past, a short connecting waterway between two lakes, and the rocky channel flowed near the shore where she stood. Deidre would have perched on a rock and allowed the river to cascade around her feet, but Ben had another idea.
“Come on, gang. We’ve got to get the camp set up before dark. Girls, help me with our tent. Deidre, why don’t you set yours up right here?” He pointed to a spot of flat ground.
“And who made you boss?” Deidre asked as she jokingly jabbed him in the ribs. But she unrolled the tent that was made for one person. She thought two could squeeze in if they had to. Perhaps she’d invite the girls to cuddle a while before they fell asleep.
By late afternoon, the place felt like home in the wilderness. Their tents were set up, Ben had a small cooking fire going, a coffee pot was on the grate, and everyone had taken a dip in the river to cool off and wash away the day’s dirt.
Deidre leaned her back against a pine tree while she sat on her lifejacket. Ben was in his element, cooking supper, feeding the fire, and trying to keep a chipmunk from stealing from their food pack. She and the girls tried to get a jay to eat from their fingers. It would come within inches of their hands but then become alarmed, flying to a low-hanging branch while it screwed up its courage to try again.
After supper, they took a ride in the canoe, following close to the shoreline. Not far from camp a disturbance in the water, a black hump that was moving toward them, caught their attention. When they were too close, the beaver slapped its tail on the surface and dived underwater, much to the girl’s delight. In the distance, two loons called to each other. Deidre wished the tranquility would last forever.
“Time to go back to camp,” Ben decided, and he pointed the canoe toward their temporary home.
When they arrived, Deidre mixed a cup of mocha with hot coffee and instant hot chocolate. Ben was in the tent, trying to get his daughters settled in for the night, and twilight had turned the sky purple as Deidre stood by the water flowing past their campsite, her cup in hand.
She thought she heard the sound of paddles in the water but wasn’t quite sure. Then she heard a muffled voice. It was a man’s, and it sounded like he said there was someone at the campsite they wanted to use.
A canoe painted with camouflage markings rounded the bend of the river, and two men were paddling as fast as they could. Deidre waited for them to come closer and called out. “Care to stop for a cup of coffee?”
“No thanks, we’ve got to get to the next campsite before dark,” the man in front growled at her.
Their canoe shot by, aided by the stream’s current, but in that flash, Deidre got a good look at the bottom of the canoe, and a shiver jolted her body. An olive-drab duffle bag lay between the paddlers, and Deidre was sure she saw movement inside it as they whisked by.
Before she could react, the canoe and its occupants disappeared around the bend, and she heard one of the men curse. Five minutes later, the canoe scraped on the beach, and she heard the sounds of a camp being hurriedly set up.
Not thinking of the consequences, Deidre quietly slipped her canoe into the water and slowly worked her way downstream. In the distance, she saw the flicker of a campfire, revealing the location of the travelers.
She steered the canoe near a large rock, and soundlessly stepped out. After wedging the canoe between a tree that had fallen in the water and the rock, Deidre began to creep toward the men, stopping only when she was close enough to observe their actions and hear their conversation. One of them was untying the duffle bag.
“That’s the biggest damn northern I’ve ever seen,” one said. “Must be close to forty inches long,” the other answered.
He reached into the bag and pulled out a huge fish that flopped in his hands. It was still alive.
“If we put it in the water on a stringer tonight we might be able to keep it alive until morning. This baby’s going on my wall as soon as I can get a taxidermist to do the job.
“But let’s get our stories straight. I don’t want anybody to know where we caught it. Let’s say it was in Ojibwa Lake. That’s not too far from here, and once in a while, somebody catches a good-size fish there.”
Deidre sat in the brush, her heart pounding and feeling weak as the adrenalin in her system dissipated. She listened as the fishing buddies recounted to each other the experience of catching a lunker. Then, as quietly as she had approached them, she slunk off through the woods, reached her canoe, and paddled back to camp.
Ben was standing by the water’s edge, anxiously waiting for her to return.
“Where the heck were you?” he asked. “I was getting worried that you had gotten lost.”
“No,” Deidre said as nonchalantly as she could. “The water was so calm, I just wanted to float downstream a ways and listen to the evening sounds without any background noise. Are the girls asleep?”
Ben nodded and took Deidre in his arms. She was still shivering, and he thought she was cold. “Come, let’s warm you by the fire.” He led her to the blaze.
The two of them talked until the drone of mosquitoes leaving the underbrush in search of prey began to sound ominous. “Sleep tight,” Ben said, and kissed Deidre good night. They went to their separate tents.
She had just crawled into her sleeping bag, when she heard scratching on her tent, and she lifted her head to see what was making the noise.
“Deidre, is it okay if I come in with you for a few minutes?” It was Ben.
“That’d be okay, I guess,” she answered. “Are the girls still asleep?”
She heard the zipper of her tent come undone, and Ben crawled in and lay beside her. It was a tight fit, and she could feel his body next to hers, although she was inside her sleeping bag and he outside.
“There’s something I want to talk to you about,” Ben began, and Deidre detected the nervousness in his voice.
“What’s that?” she asked, wondering what to expect.
“I just wanted you to know before somebody else told you that I’ve met someone I’m going to ask to be my wife. I didn’t want you to hear the news through the rumor mill or before the girls spilled the beans.”
Deidre’s mind spun, and she bit her lip to keep from blurting out the question, “Who is it?” Instead, she took a deep breath. “How long have you known her?” was all she could think to ask.
“Quite a while. She was awfully hard to get to know, I’ll say that, but when we did, our love for each other just grew, at least mine did.”
Deidre was silent for many seconds. “What will become of the girls if she says yes?”
“I suppose they’ll learn to call her mom. I think it’ll work out really well. She tells me
she loves them.”
But not like I do, Deidre wanted to say.
Ben continued. “She was a high school classmate of mine.”
But that means she was a classmate of mine, too. I wonder . . . It’s got to be Jolene. That tramp. Ben, you could do better than that.
“We couldn’t stand each other back then. In fact, years ago she hurt me, bad.”
Deidre turned to face Ben, but the interior of the tent was too dark to make out his expression. “Oh. You mean she jilted you?”
“No, I mean she hurt me. Broke my foot when she stomped on it.”
Finally, the light bulb came on in Deidre’s head. “But of course you didn’t deserve it.”
“I deserved it. I was a jerk.”
“Yes, you were,” Deidre said, and tried to suppress a laugh.
“Deidre, will you marry me?” He choked up and couldn’t say any more, but he took Deidre’s hands and held them between his.
“Yes!” was all Deidre could squeak out as her throat tightened around the words. She leaned forward and kissed Ben, and from the other tent she heard two high-pitched voices call out in unison.
“Good night, Mom.”
A River Through Two Harbors Page 29