His lips twitched again. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“I’ll see you later then?”
Fox nodded. Aidan made to leave but turned back when Fox called his name. He met his son’s apprehensive gaze.
“Would it be okay if I called you dad?”
Aidan felt like he’d just taken an electrical jolt to the heart. He stood perfectly still and prayed his voice didn’t fail him. “I’d love that.”
“Great.” Fox beamed. “See you later…Dad.”
Now his voice completely failed him as his throat clogged with tears. He nodded and ruffled Fox’s hair again.
What a mess she’d made of everything. Raven sank into the couch cushions, cradled her head in her hands, and swallowed a sob. Tears would have to wait until later. There was still clean-up to do. Who the hell was she kidding? There was no way to clean up the mess she’d made of her life. Pregnant at eighteen, unwed, single parent, she’d lied to her child, lied to her child’s father. And for what? Fox had found out who his father was anyway, from her enemy. The last person on the planet she wanted speaking to her son, let alone revealing secrets. Another sob escaped her. What was she going to do now?
How did she make this right?
The front door opened and closed. Raven jumped to her feet, wiping at the tears that had stolen down her cheeks. “Fox?”
“Yeah.” Fox shuffled into the room, looking so much older than his eleven, almost twelve, years.
“Honey—”
“Mom, stop. I can’t talk about this now.”
“But—”
“I’ve been angry for a long time, just kept it buried. Now it’s all bubbling to the surface.” He glanced away from her again as though it was hard looking at her. “Aidan—my dad—said that it’s better to wait to talk until I’m not so mad.” He nodded his head. “I think he’s right.”
“But—”
“I’m going to bed.” Fox turned and headed down the hall to his bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him.
Raven sank to her knees, her body racked with silent sobs. She’d lost so much. She couldn’t lose her son. He was everything to her. Every decision she’d made in the last twelve years had been for his benefit. She wrapped her arms around her middle and leaned against the side of the couch, muffling her sobs.
Nothing in her life mattered but Fox. If she lost him…
She wiped her eyes. Fox was acting more mature than she was at the moment. She’d created this problem. She could have told Fox who his father was when he was a child. She could have told Aidan that he had a child.
It was a waste of time thinking of what she could have done. She had her reasons. Real, big, scary reasons. And she knew if she had to choose to do it all over again, she’d do the same thing. Her biggest mistake was underestimating Earl Harte.
She wouldn’t make that mistake with Aidan.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Aidan wrangled his emotions and had them corralled by the time he’d walked to the lodge from Raven’s place. He’d had a moment of confusion when he realized he didn’t have a ride back to Earl’s. He hoped he could catch a ride from someone at the lodge or spend the night in the room Fiona had been loaning him. Lynx would probably jump at the chance, just to keep Aidan from hanging around the place. Besides, he needed to have a talk with Pike.
He opened the door to the restaurant, the heat hitting him in the face, a severe contrast to the freezing cold outside. He unzipped and removed his coat as he made his way to the bar.
“Hey, Pike,” Aidan greeted the man behind the counter, who was currently filling a beer mug. He hitched onto a stool.
Pike studied him a moment, narrowing his eyes. “What else happened?”
Was he so readable? Aidan hoped Pike wasn’t seeing the emotional turmoil he’d been through this afternoon. “Someone tried to bash my head in.”
Pike scoffed. “Guess they didn’t know how hard-headed you are. Want a beer?”
“No, but a cup of coffee would be good.” He wasn’t much of a drinker. The few times he’d gotten drunk, his actions had scared him when he’d sobered up. Besides, he remembered all too clearly how chained to alcohol his mother had been.
Pike poured him a cup of coffee. “Did you get a look at who hit you?”
“Nope. Knocked me clean out. I woke up in the snow. It was hell getting inside the cabin.”
Pike slowly lowered the coffee pot back onto the burner. “Whoever is causing you trouble means business. You could have died out there.”
“Believe me, I know.” He probably owed Raven his life for showing up when she had. Great. Did she own part of his soul too? Who was he kidding, she’d always owned part of his soul.
“Want me to call Eva and have her check you out?”
“Hell no.”
Pike gave a graveled laugh. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for.” He leaned his arms over the bar and lowered his voice. “I’ve been keeping an eye out for suspicious characters, like you suggested. As you know, most Alaskans aren’t the norm, but a few have stuck out more than others.”
“A few? How many are we talking?”
“Well, there’s this woman who checked in last week—during the week—then she came back this week. Again, during the week. We get most of our visitors on the weekend in the wintertime. Snowmobiling, snowshoeing, ice fishing. You know how it is. But this woman is alone.”
“She say why she’s here?”
“Some story about finding herself. Getting back to nature. That kind of shit.”
“Getting back to nature is all the rage now days.” Aidan took a sip of his coffee. Starbucks it wasn’t. He reached for the sugar and added enough to rot his teeth.
Pike grimaced. “Don’t I know it. But we usually get those types in summer. Who wants to get back to nature when nature, more than likely, will kill you this time of year? Besides, there’s something familiar about her. I could be wrong, but I think she strips or used to strip for the Lonely Lady.”
“Since when have you been a patron of the Lonely Lady?”
“Don’t judge me, you young whippersnapper. Winter gets cold.”
Aidan bit the inside of his cheek. “No judging.” He regarded the ‘nature girl.’ Strippers and nature kind of went together, but there was nothing natural about her.
“So, who else have you noticed?”
“A young couple came in today. They seemed anxious. The girl, especially, skittish. They’re sitting over there in the corner.” Pike nodded in their direction. “Sure like to know what they’re whispering about.”
Aidan turned and regarded the man and woman bent over the table, their heads together in deep discussion.
Holy shit.
Aidan was off his stool and striding over to their table, ignoring Pike’s protests. “Lana? Peter? What the hell are you doing here?”
“Aidan!” Lana jumped up, the action reinforcing her cheerleader good looks. She threw her arms around his neck, and squeezed. “I’ve been trying so hard to find you.” Tears flooded her eyes, and tracked down her cheeks, when she let go of him. “I’m so glad you’re all right and that you’re here.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “And how did you ever find your way to Chatanika?”
“Better have a seat, Aidan,” Peter said, taking a stand next to Lana, rubbing her back. “We’ll explain everything.” A grin cut through his somber expression. “Damn, but it’s good to see you.”
Aidan offered his hand for a shake. Peter took it and also added in a man hug, with a slap to his back, his dark Russian heritage sharpening the features of his face as he suddenly looked more the man than the teenage boy of last summer.
“How about introducing me to your friends?” Pike asked.
“Pike Maiski, meet Peter Savonski, and my cousin, Lana Harte.” They nodded to each other. Peter and Lana retook their seats. Aidan and Pike pulled up chairs and joined them.
Lana looked at Pike and then to Aidan. She’d gotten her tears under
control but had a skittish look about her like a rabbit about to be mowed down by a semi. “Aidan, Peter and I need to talk to you.” She flicked a worried glance toward Pike. “Alone.”
Aidan glanced at Pike who had an I’m-not-going-anywhere look written all over him. “Lana, we’ve had some trouble here. I doubt you showing up is a coincidence.” He reached over and covered her hand with his. “Pike’s the head of the village council. If something is going on, he needs to be aware of it.”
“He isn’t a trooper, is he?” She nibbled her bottom lip.
“Hell no,” Pike answered, folding his arms over his chest. “We take care of our own around here.”
“Lana, I’ve known Pike all my life.” Aidan regarded the man in question. “I’ve always known him to be fair.” More than fair. He hadn’t jumped to conclusions when his own brother had ended up dead, like Raven had.
“Aidan—” Lana leaned over the table “—this is family business.”
“Tell you what,” Pike said. “I’ll make us a new pot of coffee.” Pike gave Aidan a look that said, he’d give them their privacy for now, but he expected every detail.
Lana sighed with relief as Pike walked away.
“Okay, want to tell me what has both of you traveling all the way to Chatanika?”
“Dad sent me a letter,” Lana said.
Roland Harte was currently on the lam, wanted by the troopers for questioning in his part of the summer’s murderous outcome at fish camp. And the part he might have played in the deaths of Sonya and Peter’s parents fifteen years ago.
Aidan glanced at Peter. “Have you informed Sonya and Garrett about this?”
Peter tightened his jaw. “No. I advised Lana that we should, but she made me promise not to.”
His little cousin must have Peter tied tight around her little finger to get him to agree to that, since he had a vested interest in bringing Roland to justice. Peter and Lana had started a sweet romance last summer, but Aidan didn’t know it had continued once the season ended. In fact, how had it? Lana was attending the University of Minnesota. He wasn’t sure where Peter had decided to go to college but doubted it was somewhere in the lower forty-eight.
“How did the two of you end up here?” he asked.
Peter began the explanations as Lana seemed too upset. “Lana called me when she received the letter from Roland. I’m at currently at UAF—”
“You’re attending college in Fairbanks?”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “Decided at the last minute when Sonya and Garrett got married. Needed some distance from the newlyweds, you understand.”
“She married him, huh?”
“Uh…yeah. You okay with that?” Peter looked apprehensive.
“As long as the fish cop makes her happy,” Aidan admitted, realizing it was actually true.
“Well, anyway,” Peter said. “When Lana called, all upset because she couldn’t get a hold of you, we kinda came up with a plan. She flew into Fairbanks, and I picked her up, and then we came here.”
“What did you think you were going to do when you got here?” Aidan looked from one to the other. “What was in this letter?”
“Dad’s really upset about Uncle Earl dying,” Lana started. “He said he was coming here.”
Aidan remembered all too clearly the bitter, hateful words Roland had yelled at him after Aidan had killed his only brother. Roland and Earl were not only brothers but cohorts. There was nothing the two of them had liked better than causing mischief and mayhem. It was still hard to swallow that they’d added murder to the mix.
“What does that have to do with you two ending up in Chatanika?”
“Dad’s after something. Something Uncle Earl had. And I’m afraid of what he’s going to do to you.” Lana reached into her purse and pulled out the letter, handing it to Aidan. “He’s already in so much trouble. We have to stop him before he does something worse.”
Aidan gingerly touched the bump on the back of his head. Had Roland knocked him senseless and left him to die this afternoon? Had he been the one to toss his rental and blow through Earl’s place? Aidan took the letter. “What’s he looking for?”
“I haven’t a clue. But whatever it is, I think he’s willing to do anything to get it.” Lana pointed at the letter Aidan held. “Read it. See if you can make any sense of it.”
Aidan unfolded the well-worn paper. Lana had been over this more than a few times. He read the letter twice. The hairs on the back of his neck rose. Roland was definitely on his last fish fry. He studied both Lana and Peter. “Huh. Well, looks like Uncle Roland wants me dead.”
“Uh, yeah,” Peter said. “That part about you being gutted and your innards strung out for the wolves was a good indication.”
“Aidan, you’re the closest thing I have to a brother. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” Lana’s eyes once again filled with tears. Aidan reached over and squeezed her hand.
“What do you think he meant about claiming the windfall that is now rightly his?” Peter asked. “Was Earl rich?”
“No.” Aidan frowned. “I haven’t found any evidence of bank accounts, tax records, investments. Earl lived under the radar. After he’d served in Vietnam, Uncle Sam wasn’t going to get another piece of him. Hell, I had to apply for my own social security card when I left home. It explains why someone has been searching Earl’s place, though. There must be something hidden in the cabin.”
He took a deep breath, and narrowed his eyes. “I’ve spent the last few days going through everything, and I haven’t found anything of interest.” He reexamined the letter. “What kind of windfall would Earl have? Money never seemed important to him. Just causing trouble. ”
“Maybe it isn’t money,” Peter said. “We are in gold country.”
Gold. Earl had killed for gold. Fox senior had paid with his life. It wasn’t a stretch to believe he’d horded whatever he’d found. But where would he hide something like that?
Another thing kept bugging him. If his uncle was serious about his demise, it didn’t make sense for Roland to hit him on the head and leave without making sure he was dead.
One thing you could count on about Earl and Roland Harte: when it came to threats, they kept their word.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“All right, sis.” Tern breezed into Raven’s place, tossing her fur-trimmed black suede coat over the back of the couch. “What’s so important that I had to leave town and travel to the boonies?”
“I slept with Aidan,” Raven blurted out, looking around the cabin for Fox even though she knew he was at school.
“Well, then.” Tern took a seat and crossed her legs, her fingers one-by-one pulling off her black leather gloves. “When?”
“Yesterday.” In the middle of the night, after she’d sobbed until she was bone dry, she’d decided to buck up and take control of her life—before others took control for her. She needed to arm herself and rebuild her fortress, so to speak. Time to go on the offensive. Which meant coming clean to her family before they found out the truth from someone else. That someone else being Aidan, or worse, Fox. Tern was the best one to start with. She wasn’t only Raven’s sister, but her best friend. And she was as honest and forthcoming as bitter coffee.
“Just yesterday? I’m surprised you held out that long.” Tern smoothed out her gloves, placing them on her crossed knee.
Raven scowled. “Not helping.” She took a deep breath. “There’s more.”
“Hit me with it. I hope it’s worth my while, since I’m paying Sue overtime to watch the shop.”
Raven quickly filled Tern in with everything she’d been keeping secret all these years, plus Fox’s secret.
“Give me a minute.” Tern reached into her purse, pulled out her phone, and made a call. “Sue, I’m going to be gone the rest of the day. Sorry, it can’t be helped. All right, fine. You can have Saturday off.” She flipped her phone closed. “Hope you’re happy. I had a hot date that I’ll have to reschedule now.”
“You wanted it to be worth your while.”
“You sure as hell didn’t disappoint.” She pursed her dark red-painted lips. “First, forgive me, but I have to get this out of my system. I told you so! I knew Fox was Aidan’s son. All those lies about some guy you met in a bar. Right. You were never the type to fall into bed with someone. Unless it was Aidan Harte.”
“Really not helping.”
She scoffed. “Helping? How am I going to help you out of this mess?”
“Tern!”
“All right, let me think.” She rose and like a runway model walked the area in front of the windows, her stiletto boots clicking with each step over the hardwood. Turning on her heel, she regarded Raven with a raised brow. “How was the sex?”
“What?”
She made a ‘give me’ motion with her fingers. “It’s been twelve years. Did the sex measure up to what you remembered?”
“How is that going to help?”
“Probably won’t. But I want to know.” She raised her chin, and Raven knew there wouldn’t be anything more forthcoming until she answered.
“It was…” She swallowed. “Great, it was great, okay.” Making love with Aidan again had been so much better than great. And thinking of having sex with Aidan was not going to help her situation. Only muddle it further.
“Great, huh?” Tern tapped her chin with the tip of her finger, calculating. “Bet that’s an understatement.”
A blush fired in Raven’s cheeks.
Tern smiled. “Okay, so you had awesome sex with Aidan—” She stopped and narrowed her eyes. “It was awesome, protected sex, wasn’t it?”
Raven’s blush melted as realization dawned. “Oh, God.”
Tern fell back into her chair. “Have you learned nothing from your past mistakes?”
“Fox wasn’t a mistake,” Raven was quick to reply. He might not have been planned, but she couldn’t imagine life without him. From the first minute she’d found out she was pregnant, she’d wanted her child, never considered adoption or the other. However the situation turned out, Fox had been conceived in love, and she loved him more than her life.
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