Cas: Heroes at Heart

by Maryann Jordan

  When he first saw her, he leapt to his feet, fists clenched, ready to take on whoever had hurt her. But between her sobs, he learned that her father was transferring, and they were moving across the country. It seemed Lucille had reached the end of her tether with living in suburbia and wanted to move to where her brother was in California. Her dad had not warned Bianca, giving in to Lucille’s suggestion that they keep Bianca in the dark until the last minute so as not to upset her.

  And today, the moving van arrived, loaded their belongings, and had just pulled out into the road. It felt as though his heart was splitting in two. He lifted his hand and rubbed over his chest, trying to massage the ache deep inside.

  He heard Miss Ethel’s screen door slam shut, and he looked behind him to see Bianca leaving the house, wiping her cheeks. She had been inside, saying goodbye to Zeke, Asher, and Miss Ethel.

  She looked up and saw him standing in the shade and hurried to him, her face crumpling once more. He opened his arms wide and enveloped her in a hug. They stood for a long moment, neither able to think of words that would fit the moment, the emotion overwhelming everything.

  Finally, sucking in a deep breath, she said, “You just graduated from high school, and you’re getting ready to leave. This is not how I thought we would say goodbye to each other.” She leaned her head back and peered up at him, her gaze searching his face before she added, “Shakespeare was an idiot. Parting is not sweet sorrow. It’s just plain sorrow.”

  Sliding his hands up to her cheeks, he tilted her head ever so slightly and bent to take her lips in the softest of kisses. He knew it was her first kiss, and while he wanted to take it deeper, he kept it light. Their tongues darted out, touching tentatively before he pulled back and pressed her cheek against his heartbeat.

  “It doesn’t matter that I’m going far away,” she said. “I laid in bed last night and realized that staying here without you while you left for the Army would have broken my heart. So, just think of it as us both going away at the same time.”

  Her father and stepmother came out of the house, locked it for the last time, and met the real estate agent on the sidewalk. They chatted for just a moment and then he turned the keys over to her. Looking across the street, her father called out, “Bianca! It’s time for us to go.”

  “I’ll never forget you,” he said, bending to kiss her one last time.

  “Nor will I forget you,” she promised, leaning up on her tiptoes to accept his kiss.

  As he regretfully forced his arms to let her go and watched her walk across the street one last time, he could not help but wonder when — or if — he would see her again.

  6

  Twelve Years Later

  Bianca stepped out of the courthouse into the hot California sunlight, her heels clicking on the granite steps. Her sleek, black hair hung in a sheet that reached below her shoulders, gently blowing back in the small breeze. She slid her tailored jacket off her shoulders and draped it over her arm. Her classic navy straight skirt that reached just above her knees and pale blue silk shell blouse gave her an air of sophisticated confidence.

  Standing on the top step, she pulled her sunglasses from her purse, gave them a flick, and slid them onto her face. She sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, feeling the stress and anxiety from the past several years slowly leave her body.

  Hoping to avoid another confrontation, she hurried down the steps of the courthouse and made her way to the parking lot at the side of the building. Approaching her small, old SUV, she heard her name called out and sighed heavily. I should’ve known I couldn’t just make a clean getaway.

  Turning, she watched as Lucille and her brother, Lionel, approach and prayed it was the last time she ever had to lay eyes on either one of them. Lucille, in her fifties, still dyed her hair solid black. Her clothing was expensive, and Bianca wondered how her stepmother would enjoy shopping for bargains. Of course, before that happened, she would probably marry again.

  Lionel, only in his thirties, also had black hair, but his was still natural in color. It had always angered her when people assumed that Lucille was her mother and Lionel was her brother simply based on their hair color. It had also angered her that her father so often did not correct other people’s assumptions. But she did. Every chance she got.

  Neither Lucille nor Lionel had worked a day in their lives, and she wondered if that would also change soon.

  “I don’t think we have anything else to say to each other,” she began as they neared. “The judge’s decision is final. My father’s will stands as it was written.”

  Lucille would be considered by many to be beautiful, but much of it was due to plastic surgery and a variety of monthly treatments received when she spent a day or so at the exclusive spa she was so fond of. But now, her mouth, slicked dark red with lipstick, twisted in an ugly sneer. “Your father never meant to cut us out. That was your doing!”

  She turned her head slightly and looked at Lionel. He had cleaned up his appearance for court, but she knew his true colors. Often drunk or high. Always looking for an easy way to make money, seemingly unwilling to admit that hard work might be the key. “My father would have given you much, but my mom’s inheritance was never something you were going to get. But then, considering he had seen you waste your life, he wasn’t about to offer you more.”

  Lucille’s fingers curled and Bianca swallowed, determined not to show fear, having felt the sting of her stepmother’s slap before. “Careful, Lucille. I’ve felt your claws and don’t intend to feel them again. There’s a police station directly behind us.” She noted both their eyes dart to the building before shifting back to her.

  Lionel stepped forward to place a hand on his sister, and Bianca assumed he was trying to calm Lucille. It was to no avail.

  “Bianca, I gave your father my best years and helped take care of him when he was ill—”

  “You walked all over him, wondering when he was going to die, assuming that you were going to get any money that came from my mother’s family. I’m only glad that at the end he saw through you.”

  Lucille opened her mouth to retort, but Bianca was done. Completely and irrevocably done. Throwing her hand up, palm outward, she said, “Everything that needed to be said was said in court. The judge made his decision that Dad’s will stands as written. I’m leaving here, and I never want to see either of you again.”

  She turned and hurried to her vehicle, climbing inside. She could hear Lucille continuing to call out threats, but she started the ignition and let the engine drown out the annoying voice. Driving away, she glanced at the rearview mirror, seeing both of them grow smaller in the distance.

  Smiling for what seemed like the first time in years, she thought of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and quoted out loud, “What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specs disappearing? It’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s goodbye. But we leaned forward to the next crazy adventure beneath the skies.”

  Continuing toward her small apartment, her plans already made and ready for executing, she grinned. Now, it’s my time for the next crazy adventure. And she was sure her father would agree.

  Bianca pulled into the small gas station. She climbed from her older model SUV, lifting her arms above her head in a back-cracking stretch. Once the gas tank was filled, she pulled into a parking space at the front and walked inside, pushing her sunglasses up onto the top of her head where they held her hair back from her face. After using the restroom, she glanced at the coffee station longingly but passed it by. Opting instead for water, she also grabbed some cheese crackers. Paying for her purchases, she glanced out the window, a little sigh leaving her lips.

  “You been on the road long?”

  She looked at the older man behind the cash register and smiled. His hair was white, patches of it standing out in odd directions. Nodding, she replied, “Yes. I’ve been on the road for thirteen days.”

  His bu
shy white eyebrows rose to his forehead and he blew out his breath in a long whistle. “Thirteen days! You must be on a sightseeing drive!”

  Twisting her long, straight black hair into a messy bun that she fastened with a clip, she said, “I decided it was time to make a change in my life. At the same time, I figured I might as well see some different parts of the country.”

  “Where did you start from?” He rested his weight on his forearms as he leaned onto the messy counter littered with packs of gum, candy bars, and an old dish filled with pennies next to the cash register. His attention was centered on her as though he had all the time in the world for a chat.

  She glanced around at the empty store and realized that on this lonely stretch of country road, he probably did not get a lot of traffic. Especially someone whose vehicle had California license tags. “I’ve been living in California for a number of years but spent some of my youth in Virginia. I’ve wanted to come back for such a long time.” Shrugging, she added, “And, since I was driving from the other side of the country, I decided to sightsee along the way.”

  “I ain’t been out of Virginia,” he said, then lifted his hand to rub over his scruffy beard. “Except for the year I spent in Nam, but that sure as hell wasn’t sightseeing.” He chuckled, then went into a coughing fit for a moment. He jerked his head toward the cigarettes lined up in neat rows in the display behind him. “Gave ‘em up years ago, but they still stole part of my lungs.”

  Uncertain what to say to that, she simply nodded and waited as he finished running her credit card transaction.

  “What all did you see?” he asked when he finally gained control of himself.

  “I drove up to Washington and then into Montana before heading south. I came through Wyoming and Colorado. I saw the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains.” She closed her eyes for a moment, the sights and sounds and smells of her trip moving back through her memory, and a little smile played about her lips. “I went south to Oklahoma and Texas, going all the way to Houston so that I could stand in the water of the Gulf of Mexico.”

  “Lordy be!” he exclaimed, and her eyes jumped open to see him still leaning forward, his eyes sparkling. “Where’d you go from there?”

  “I cut through Louisiana and Mississippi, hit the corner of Alabama before coming into Tennessee. I kept going north so that I could come through the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee and North Carolina. Made it into Virginia, and here I am.”

  “That sounds like a mighty fine trip to me.” He beamed as he slid off a stool. She was surprised to discover he was very short and she was now looking down at him. He continued, “Sounds like you went to a lot of places and saw a lot of things.”

  Nodding, she could not help but meet his smile. “I did. It’s been a good trip.”

  Cocking his head to the side, he stared up at her, and she felt his intense gaze peering deep inside before he lowered his voice. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

  His question surprised her, causing her to hesitate. Pulling her lips between her teeth for a moment, she finally released them as she sighed and shook her head. “No. Not exactly… not yet.” Swallowing deeply under his never-wavering perusal, she let out a long, slow breath. “But I’m hoping to.”

  “Do you know what you’re hoping to find?”

  Her tongue darted out to moisten her bottom lip. Somehow his probing questions did not feel intrusive. “I want to see if I can connect… to my past… if that’s even possible.”

  “And where’s your past?”

  “Richmond… it’s in Richmond. So, that’s where I’m going.”

  His blue eyes continued to sparkle underneath his bushy white eyebrows. Staring at him, she thought he looked just like one of the characters from a fairy tale book her mother used to read from. With a mental shake, she pushed that thought to the side. I must be truly tired.

  His gaze never wavered as he inclined his head toward the window overlooking the road. “You might want to stay off the interstate. I heard on the radio that there’s a big wreck up ahead and it’s got traffic backed up for miles and miles.”

  “Oh, no!” Her shoulders slumped. She had no end plan at moment other than to find a hotel for the next few evenings, at least until she discovered if her past still existed in the present. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in traffic.

  “You can stay on the back roads, though. There’s lots of nice country roads around here. It’ll give you a chance to see some scenery.” Chuckling, he added, “Never know what you’ll find along the road when you take a chance.”

  With that, he handed her credit card back to her. She placed it into her wallet, then hesitated before thanking him. She walked back out into the sunshine, lifting her face toward the sun for a moment. The air was clear, and she felt strangely lighter. After climbing into her vehicle, she pulled onto the road. In the last two weeks, she had seen mountains, plains, rivers, lakes, oceans, farmland, big cities, and small towns. She had seen places of great beauty, and in each one she had wondered if it was a place she could settle.

  But her heart longed for something else, and she had learned to listen to that feeling inside. So, she continued her journey to the east. Perhaps toward the only place she had ever truly felt love and friendship.

  Checking her GPS, she could see no evidence of traffic on the highways or mention of an accident. As she came upon the entrance ramp to the highway, she hesitated. At the last second, she flipped off her blinker and stayed on the country road.

  An hour later, she was glad that she had made the decision. The radio station now mentioned an accident that had just occurred on the highway and was telling people to avoid the traffic. She thought it curious that the radio announcer had the time of the accident wrong since the gas station attendant had mentioned it earlier.

  She drove along small roads that sent her through farmland and woods. The day was perfect for a drive, with white fluffy clouds dotting the clear blue sky. A strange sense of peace began to settle inside. It was not as though the view outside her windshield was any more or less spectacular than what she had been seeing for the past days of her travels. In truth, she had seen other places that were more breathtaking, the kinds of views that would be found in the background of a movie setting.

  No, what she was feeling was different than just an awesome view. She could only describe it as an ease in her chest as though she were coming to the end of a long journey.

  According to the GPS, she did not have far to go to get to Richmond. With little plan other than to revisit a place that she had remembered from childhood, she hated the idea of spending another night in a hotel.

  GPS guided her down another country lane, woods on either side. Coming home. The thought moved through her and she smiled. Traveling slowly as she went around a curve, she spied a ‘Cottage For Rent’ sign nailed to a mailbox. That was all she could see, considering the house was hidden from the road and trees flanked the gravel driveway.

  She flipped on the blinker and turned, the sudden action surprising her. The drive was narrow with thick forest all around. Two cars could have barely passed each other. It curved gently several times before she came to a clearing with a small wooden cabin sitting in the middle of the woods surrounding it. There were no other cars around, and she parked in front. Climbing out, she felt the sun as it beamed onto the little house. She listened to the sound of birds chirping in the trees, and a cool breeze rustled the leaves.

  She walked to the front porch that ran the length of the house. Curiosity took over and she peeked through the windows, seeing a small, furnished living room with wooden floors, cream walls, and a stone fireplace. By shifting to the side, she could see a table that led into a U-shaped kitchen. A hall disappeared down the middle, leading to the back where she assumed the bedrooms were. A ‘For Rent by Month’ sign was tacked to the front door, the real estate agent’s phone number listed. By month?

  She left the porch and walked around to the back, discovering a
shaded stone patio with steps that led to a back door. She sat down on one of the steps, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands. All she could hear was birds singing and the scampering of squirrels near the edge of the trees. Rose bushes, in desperate need of pruning, had been planted at the back of the house.

  After years of wanting to escape and weeks of traveling wherever her whims took her, she closed her eyes against the tears that threatened to fall. Whatever she was looking for, it was as though her heart clicked into place at this little cottage. Giving into an impetuous whim, she pulled out her phone and called the agent. Assuring that she was not in a hurry and could wait for him, it was not long before the agent pulled into the drive.

  He hopped out of the car, his hand already extended in greeting as he approached. “I’m Dave Porter of Porter Realty. Nice to meet you.” As soon as the pleasantries were out of the way, he admitted, “I was so excited to get your call. No one is interested in a small property out this far, even though it’s only a fifteen-minute drive into the city. The owner had died, and his children were not ready to sell but wanted to rent instead. Plus, the electricity is already on and there’s a well and septic system. Of course, you’d have to get internet service. But the cabin is all clean, nicely furnished, and there’s lots of privacy.”

  He continued his litany of the cabin’s virtues as he opened the front door and stepped inside. She tuned him out as she wandered into the living room. Built-in bookcases flanked either side of the fireplace. A wingback chair sat nearby, angled both toward the fireplace and toward the sofa under the window. As he droned on, she closed her eyes and visualized the bookshelves filled to the brim and a basket of yarn on the floor next to the chair.

  Jerking her eyes open, she turned and walked to the dining room, the scarred wooden table surrounded by chairs reminding her of meals lovingly prepared and enjoyed with lively conversation. The cabin was tiny, only two bedrooms and one bathroom, but it was perfect for her. At least for now. At least for a little while. At least while she healed. While she rediscovered who she was.