Sympatico Syndrome Trilogy Box Set

by McDonald, M. P.

  “How many are there?” She prayed all four of them would return.

  Sean squinted then grinned. “They’re all there, and walking fine. I don’t think anyone’s injured.”

  Elly waved her arms over her head, and shouted Cole’s name.

  The group paused as a couple of them waved their arms in response, and they appeared to pick up their pace. Relieved, she turned to Sean. “See? I told you he was special. He brought everyone back safe and sound.”

  “Yeah. I guess he did. That’s my brother for you—always the hero.” For once, there was no rancor in his tone. She might have even detected a hint of pride.

  The next week, Sean got the windmill going, and water flowed into the house. Cole shot several fat geese, and a few ducks when small flocks had stopped at the beach on successive mornings. They now hung cleaned and plucked in the last cabin, which had been transformed into their food storage since the shed had burned.

  Elly and Piper figured out how to make flour from the acorns and cattail roots, and while it wasn’t quite the same as wheat flour, they managed to make some decent biscuits from it. They were planning to use it to make stuffing for the geese for Christmas dinner, too.

  But, what was the most exciting was the air of secrecy as presents were thought of and made for each other. Cole chuckled. The little ones were going to make out like bandits. They wouldn’t get video games, but he was sure that the scrawny pine he’d chopped down and they’d decorated with scraps of paper, a string of popcorn and homemade ornaments from whatever they could find would be awash in gifts come Christmas morning. The tree didn’t have lights, of course, but the kids didn’t seem to mind.

  Cole’s gift efforts included the stuffed animals for the kids, cigars for Joe and Sean, spices he’d scavenged for Piper—although he had to admit, that was a gift for everyone. He wanted something he could give everyone though. Some kind of surprise. Everything he planned to give had been scavenged and had always been intended that all of the supplies were for the group. It felt wrong for him to hold the best items back and give them as gifts. When he’d said as much to Elly, she’d pointed out that he’d killed the goose for dinner, and that was a gift of sorts. But, it wasn’t a surprise. His only real surprise was a ring for Elly. It had been his grandmother’s ring. When he’d asked Brenda to marry him, it hadn’t occurred to him to do anything but buy her a ring of her own. Later, when his mother had passed away, he had received his grandmother’s ring, and Sean had received their mom’s ring. When Brenda had died, he’d kept her ring to remember her by, but decided to give it to Hunter. Maybe someday he’d want to give it to Sophie.

  An idea for a group gift finally came to him so whenever he had a spare moment, he retreated to the work shed. He scratched a drop of white paint off the corn hole game he’d made for them to play. They could even play it out on the ice if there wasn’t too much snow. It seemed silly but he couldn’t think of anything else to make—not anything he had the skills to actually build. It had been hard enough creating the round holes in the boards without power tools but at least he had plenty of sandpaper on hand.

  Cole blew sawdust from the top of the wood and brushed his palm over the edge of the hole. It was as smooth as he could make it, but he decided that if there was time, he’d give it an extra coat of paint to prevent the wood from splintering.

  Elly was in on the plan and had made the beanbags already. After the first coat of paint, he checked out her handiwork. One set was blue, the other white, and they’d decided to fill them with sand instead of beans, since food couldn’t be wasted like that. She sewed the squares out of heavy duty cotton that would be sturdy, and would also dry quickly in the sunlight if the bags got wet. He eyed the drying board, but resisted the temptation to test the bags. The paint wasn’t ready and if he tossed one now, it would ruin the finish. He tossed a bag a few feet in the air, testing its weight. Perfect.

  Tomorrow was Christmas and even as silly as he felt his gifts were, he couldn’t wait to see how everyone received them. He hadn’t had this much anticipation for the holiday since before Brenda had died. They’d only had five Christmases together as a family before she’d been killed, but they were the best of Cole’s life.

  After her death, he and Hunter had spent Christmas with Sean and his family, but it was never the same. The Christmas after Brenda had died had been the second hardest day of his life—ranking only after the actual day of her death.

  The memory gave him pause. This year was going to be that kind of day for Sean, Jenna and Piper. He sighed and flicked a bit of dead grass from the almost dry board. He wished he had something special to give them, but his skills weren’t up to it. With his thumbnail, he picked at another errant drop of white paint. Nope. His skills were definitely not up to special. Barely adequate was more like it. At least the dark blue paint looked nice and he’d tried the angles on the boards and found they were good, so the game was usable.

  As a bonus, the blue paint he’d found in the shed matched the trim on the cabins, so everything coordinated. Cole chuckled at that thought. As if it mattered. The white drops came from the white stripes he’d added above and below the holes.

  If only he could make something useful. Sophie had taught Piper how to knit, and Hunter had something up his sleeve. Cole hadn’t figured it out yet, but he was busy making something in the cabin they’d been using as a quarantine. Now that Sophie and Jake were out of it, it had been washed down and used for projects. Mother Nature, after blasting them with a couple of storms that dropped a foot of snow total, had turned milder, making it possible to even work outside for short spells.

  He’d heard sanding, hammering, sawing, and smelled glue, paint and varnish over the last week or so. Joe had crazy woodworking skills, although he said he had to limit some of what he could do due to lack of electric tools. Still, Cole had seen some of his handiwork and was impressed. The older man had returned to his home a few times and gathered paint, varnish, shellac and tools that he’d had in his basement workshop. Cole was certain he’d come up with something much more impressive than a simple corn hole game.

  “Santa came! Hunter! Cole! He came!” Lucas stuck his head in the door. “Get up!” The boy disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared, but his voice echoed in the hallway as he pounded on Jenna and Sean’s door next.

  Cole sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, yawning. Hunter groaned at first, clamping the pillow over his head, but then he popped up and grinned. “It’s Christmas!” He tossed his pillow at Cole, jumped into his jeans and sweatshirt, and raced out of the room to find Sophie. Cole had thought about working on trading sleeping arrangements so Hunter could be with Sophie, and Elly could be with him, but so far, they hadn’t discussed it.

  The aroma of something wonderful enticed him out of bed, and after dressing, he ambled out to the kitchen to find Jake and Piper making pancakes. The sausages Cole and Elly had figured out how to make from the leftover bits of deer meat and spices, fried in a cast iron pan. “Smells fantastic, guys.”

  Jake waved a thanks, then put a dot of batter on Piper’s nose. She laughed as she wiped it off. “Stop, Jake!” After flipping a pancake, she turned and smiled. “Merry Christmas, Uncle Cole.”

  “Merry Christmas.” He eyed the two. They were still young. Jake was about eighteen, and Piper close to his age. A year ago he’d have thought they were way too young to be in a serious relationship, but they sure seemed to have a good time in each other’s company.

  It took a few minutes for everyone to gather and to pry the kids away from the tree to eat breakfast. “Come on, Zoe, you can look in your stocking right after you eat, okay?”

  Elly drew the little girl to the table and made her a plate with one pancake and one sausage. They didn’t have syrup, but they still had strawberry jam and a bottle of honey. Sugar stores were getting low but Cole put it out of his mind for now. Today, he would take a holiday from worry.

  After the meal, they all went into the living room and Hun
ter and Piper took charge of handing out gifts. Scraps of paper had been tied to the packages as makeshift tags and soon, he started accumulating a stack of gifts beside his chair. He held off opening them, wanting to enjoy the others opening their presents. He’d tossed a sheet over the corn hole game and the boards were leaning up against the wall behind the tree.

  Lucas received a couple of beautiful wooden cars with moving wheels. To Cole’s surprise, they weren’t from Joe, but one was from Jake, and one from Hunter.

  “Where did you learn how to make those, Hunter?”

  “Remember Boy Scouts? Pinewood derby.“ Hunter grinned. Cole remembered how Hunter had some kind of race but he’d had to miss it when his job had sent him out of the country. The cars were painted like muscle cars from the sixties and he raised an eyebrow at his son. Hunter saw the question in his eyes, and nodded at Jake. “He painted them. He’s an awesome artist.”

  Cole gave Jake a look. He wouldn’t have pegged the kid for an artist. Well, good. They needed artists in this new world.

  Everyone received thick, knitted caps from Piper and Sophie, while Jenna had taken the deer hides and made warm mittens for everyone. “I would have made gloves, but that was a lot more sewing.” She held up a hand and wiggled her fingers. “You would not believe how hard it is to sew leather by hand.” She smiled, looking around the room, then the smile wavered for a moment, and blinking hard, she lowered her head to examine a pretty macramé necklace Elly had made for her.

  He knew what she had been thinking in that moment. Out of habit, she’d scanned the room looking for her children, and had found only Piper. He’d done the same the first year after Brenda. Hunter had opened some gift and he’d looked up to catch Brenda’s eye, as he’d always done, but of course, she wasn’t there.

  Cole tried on the mittens Jenna had given him. She’d attached a string so he could take them off and not lose them. He laughed at that, and held them up, hoping some gentle teasing would return the smile to her face. “You think I’m three years old, Jenna?”

  She glanced up, and as he’d hoped, she laughed. “Yeah. Seriously, I thought it would be easier if you’re out and about, working in the woods or hunting, and need to get your hands free quickly. Losing mittens these days can mean frostbite and no medical care to treat it.”

  Nodding in appreciation, he thanked her then watched the kids open the stuffed animals he and Hunter had found for them. Zoe hugged her floppy dog like she’d never let go, rubbing her cheek on the soft ears of the dog. Lucas tried to pretend he was too old for stuffed bears, but he sat it on a car and pretended the bear was driving it.

  Zoe got some picture books that Cole recognized as having been in Piper’s library. He’d read a few of them to Piper, Trent, and Hunter in the past, and was touched that she was willing to give them up to the little girl. Sophie had created a doll with a knit body, button eyes, and yellow yarn for hair. Jenna had sewn tiny outfits. Immediately, Zoe sat the dog and doll across from each other on a chair, and started making them talk to each other.

  It took Cole a moment to realize what he was seeing. She was talking.

  The room hushed as they listened to her prattle on about tea and cookies, unaware of the effect she was having on everyone.

  Then, Hunter was in front of Sophie, his mother’s ring in his hand and he knelt in front of her.

  After Sophie accepted his proposal, they announced to the others the impending new arrival.

  Cole’s corn hole game was received with greater enthusiasm than he’d expected, especially after all of the other gifts, but he was happy they had things to look forward to for once—a wedding, a baby, and even a silly game to play in the spring.

  After Hunter’s proposal, Cole decided to wait and give Elly his great-grandmother’s ring in private. Maybe on New Year’s Day. He still had the pink life jacket he’d scavenged earlier and she seemed thrilled with it, trying it on and pirouetting in front of everyone.

  After finishing his meal of goose, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans, he pushed his plate away. “That was delicious.” There was no dessert, but he didn’t think he could eat anymore. Today, he’d eaten more than he had in months and he was so full, he could barely move.

  He glanced down the table, stopping short when he reached Jake. The young man’s plate was barely touched. Since they had returned from the weird kidnapping, the guy had eaten like every meal was going to be his last, so to see his plate full set warning bells off in Cole’s mind.

  “Jake? Didn’t you like the goose?” Maybe he just didn’t care for the gamey flavor of the meat. It was different from turkey or chicken.

  Jake shook his head. “No, it tastes fine. I’m just not very hungry. I guess I woke up too early or something.” He took his plate to the counter, putting his nearly untouched slice of goose in a bowl set aside for leftovers. “What should I do with the rest?”

  “Leave it, Jake. I’ll deal with it.” Jenna smiled. “I might make potato pancakes in the morning with the leftovers. Sound good?”

  Jake nodded. “Thanks for all the presents everyone. If you don’t mind, I’m heading back to our cabin and hitting the sack. I’ll build up the fire, Elly, so it’ll be nice and warm when you get in.”

  Elly and Cole exchanged looks, and he raised his eyebrows. “Jake, I think I’m staying here tonight. Hunter and Sophie will be staying in my room for a while.”

  The others looked at Cole, Elly, Hunter, and Sophie as Sean shrugged. “It’s about time you guys quit hiding. The little kids can share Sophie’s bed for now.”

  Jake coughed a few times then shrugged. “Okay. I’ll still build up the fire.” He gave Hunter a wan smile. “You dog.”

  23

  Cole threw another log on the fire and stirred up the coals until flames licked at the wood. He’d need to bring more logs in from the woodpile. The cabin’s pile wasn’t quite as large as the one at the house since they didn’t do any cooking in here. He’d emptied the box he’d made to store it right outside on the deck. It seemed that his days consisted of refilling the boxes constantly—the one here and the one at the house. He wondered if the wood he’d cut last summer and fall would last them until it was warm again.

  While he didn’t have numbers to prove it, just a thermometer attached to the side of the house, it seemed like this winter had been especially snowy and cold. A foot of snow had blanketed the ground since a little before Christmas and after that, a pattern set in. Every few days, a snowstorm would hit, followed by bitter cold with the thermometer reading well below zero, to warming up to the teens for a day, only for another snowstorm to hit.

  A crease of gray lit the eastern sky but there was no hint of sunshine. Was it going to snow again? He used to take for granted flipping on the news and watching the weather forecasts. Without satellite radar to go by, they had to resort to looking at the sky. That might have worked a hundred years ago, but those skills had been lost. He’d been trying to pay attention to the signs—different clouds meant different things—and all that but he mostly had to guess. But, whether it snowed or not, chores needed to be done, and with almost everyone else down with bad colds, most of it fell to him.

  A creak of the floorboards caught his attention and he turned to find Hunter, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he shuffled into the room.

  “Hey, how are you feeling?” Cole eyed the flush in Hunter’s cheeks. His fever didn’t look like it had abated.

  “I feel better. I thought I’d go take care of the animals.”

  Cole shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’d already planned to deal with them.” The goats needed milking, and the hens needed to be given water and their eggs gathered. He’d need to find some more supplemental feed for all of the animals soon. The cracked corn he’d found at the farm was nearly gone. If there wasn’t so much snow, the animals could have foraged for some of their food, but the winter had been brutal so far.

  They were getting low on meat. With so many of th
em to feed, and relying on it every day, the four deer they had managed to bring down in the fall were almost gone. The bay was frozen but a few holes in the ice had yielded a few nice catches.

  “What about cooking? I can do that.” He punctuated the offer with wracking coughs.

  Cole threw an arm over Hunter’s shoulders and turned him around, giving him a gentle push in the direction of the bedroom. “Get back to bed, son. Don’t worry about anything. I have it covered. And tell Jake that goes for him, too.” Jake’s door was closed, but Cole heard an occasional cough from the other side.

  Hunter balked, turning back. “But you’re doing everything.”

  “Not quite. Piper has been helping a lot.” She was the only one besides Cole who hadn’t been hit with whatever it was everyone else had caught. He worried they might not be getting the right vitamins, or enough food, making their resistance lower, but they hadn’t had periods of hunger, yet. He feared that would come later in the spring.

  Jenna said if she could get seeds, she’d plant spinach and strawberries in the spring to help combat vitamin deficiency. That reminded him and he called to Hunter, “And don’t forget to take your vitamin.”

  “But I want to be with Sophie.”

  “I know you do, but there just isn’t room right now, and I need you to keep an eye on Joe. He has me worried.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I will,” Hunter threw a worried glance at Joe’s door. “He hasn’t eaten much.” He turned back to Cole. “Tell Sophie I’ll be up there to see her this afternoon, okay? And tell her why I have to stay here for now.”

  “I will.”

  Hunter’s shoulders slumped as he shuffled back to bed.

  “Don’t worry about anything until your fever is gone. Don’t worry—I saved plenty of work for all of you to catch up on when you’re all better.” Cole followed Hunter to the room. “It’s still early, so get some more sleep. Later, if you feel up to it, you can come out and work on those lamps.” A few simple lamps were providing their light in the evening so they could save their candles.