She shuddered as the memories of the night before flooded back to her. The darkness, the cold, the pain in her ankle.
And worst of all, the howling of the wolves.
She’d been lying there in the hot water for almost an hour. Every few minutes, there would be a light knock on the door and Grady would come in with another pot of hot water. As she gradually came more and more to her senses, she grew shyer and shyer. At first, she’d been so out of it that she’d just been grateful Grady was there, taking care of her, and that the water was heating her body.
Now that she felt more herself, she was embarrassed by her nakedness.
“No more water,” she called out to him when he knocked again.
“You sure? You feeling yourself again?”
“Yes,” she called out, embarrassed to be even talking to him through the door.
“Okay, well there are towels in there. Take your time. I’ll try to find something for you to wear.”
“Thank you,” she said.
She felt surprisingly relaxed as she lay there. The room was made of beautiful, rich wood and as far as she could see, the only thing separating it from a luxury cabin or resort in the mountains was the fact that it didn’t have hot water. There was electricity, she was pretty sure, because there was an electric bulb in a fine brass fixture above her. It wasn’t turned on, the sun was pouring in through the window, but she felt confident it would work if she flicked the switch.
She stood up and was immediately reminded of the pain in her ankle. She put a little weight on it but it was still tender. She grabbed a rich, soft, white towel and wrapped it around her waist. The cabin might be rustic but Grady’s taste wasn’t. She climbed out of the bathtub and saw for the first time how ornate it was. She’d seen tubs like that in catalogues and knew they weren’t cheap. It had an authentic, antique feel to it, and went well with the rest of the fixtures in the room. She hopped over to the sink and looked in the little cupboard behind the mirror. Grady’s toiletries, his razors, shaving cream, soap and scented lotions, were all from the same expensive department store her gifts had been ordered from.
She smiled to herself. She could have guessed he’d enjoy the little luxuries like that, even if he’d decided to renounce civilization and make his home in a remote cabin.
“You okay in there?”
“I’m good, Grady. I’m coming out now.”
She opened the door and stepped out to the main room of the cabin. She took it all in with a single glance. The huge fire roaring in the hearth, the fine quality wood, the rich rug and comfortable furniture, the iron cooking things above the fire.
“Here,” Grady said, handing her his man-sized housecoat. It was as rich and expensive as the towel and she pulled it around herself tightly.
“This is beautiful,” she said, motioning to the cabin.
“Sit,” Grady said, pulling a leather chair closer to the fire. “I’ve got some coffee ready and there’ll be venison stew in a little while.”
Autumn smiled and sat on the comfortable chair. She was snug and cozy and would have happily sat there for hours.
“You feeling okay?” he said.
“Yeah, much better, thanks to you.”
“I noticed you limp.”
“I twisted my ankle when I was escaping the hotel.”
“They tried to keep you there.”
“They locked me in a room when they realized I wanted to leave.”
“What pushed you over the edge?” Grady said.
“Well, I called home and found out they hadn’t been sending my paychecks to my mother like they promised. I confronted them about it and they got mad. Locked me up.”
“God,” Grady said, furious. “I should go over there and give them a piece of my mind. If the man wasn’t so old I’d kick his ass.”
Autumn laughed. “That’s okay, Grady. Just as long as you don’t send me back there, I’ll be satisfied.”
“I’d never send you back,” he said.
He got up from his seat next to hers and bent down in front of her. Shyly, she shut her legs and tried to hide more of herself under the housecoat.
“Don’t be afraid. I just want to look at your ankle.”
Timidly, she let her leg peek out and he took it gently in his and examined it.
“It’s not broken,” he said. “Just a sprain. It will get better in a few days if you stay off it.”
He caressed the ankle in his hand and she felt a thrill rush through her. Then he let go and went to the fire. He poured them each a cup of strong, black coffee and handed her one. Then he went to the bedroom and returned with a thick, patchwork blanket that seemed to compliment perfectly the forest and cabin.
“Thank you,” she said, sipping the coffee.
It was stronger than she was used to but she liked it. It reminded her of dark chocolate.
“You just rest up, Autumn. We’ll get you back on your feet in no time and then I’ll help you get wherever you want to go. No one’s going to take you back to the Hildegards.”
She smiled and nodded. She wouldn’t have minded staying right there with him and Destiny. She looked behind her at the baby. She was lying asleep in a handmade crib close to the window, basking in sunlight like a cat.
“That’s beautiful,” she said, motioning to the crib. “Did you make it?”
Grady nodded.
“I’ve been fixing up this place, trying to make it more comfortable. I mean, I’m a guy, but ladies like a few more comforts than a cabin usually offers.”
“Ladies?” Autumn said, before realizing how nosy that sounded.
“You know. Destiny. I don’t want her bugging me to move into town as soon as she’s old enough to realize the difference.”
Autumn nodded, relieved that the baby still seemed to be the only lady in Grady’s life.
“She’ll love it here, Grady. It’s really beautiful.”
“It still needs a bit of work, but we’ll get there.”
Autumn sipped her coffee and suddenly all the emotion of what had happened in the past twelve hours started to catch up to her. Being safe and warm, having a chance to breathe and collect her thoughts, was too much. She took a deep breath and felt like she was going to burst into tears. She tried to hold them back but couldn’t.
“Autumn,” Grady said, “everything’s going to be okay.”
She laughed at herself, feeling silly, and wiped her face.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. You’re allowed to cry.”
“Really?”
He laughed, and she burst into a mixture of laughter and sobs.
“This is all so nice,” she said. “You’ve done so much for me.”
“I’d do a lot more,” he said, and then stopped himself from saying more.
She felt a rush of emotion, wondering what he meant by that, but she had too much on her mind to let thoughts of romance or adventure get very far.
She cried again and Grady went to the bedroom and came back with a box of tissues.
“You’re so kind,” she said, before blowing her nose in the napkin, mortified that her nose was running and that she was sobbing in front of him.
“We’ll sort everything out, Autumn. It’s all going to be okay.”
She nodded, but she couldn’t fool herself so easily. Her mother was in a desperate situation and she knew it. She wanted to stop crying and enjoy her coffee with Grady, but she couldn’t ignore reality.
“How can we sort it out?” she said to him.
He smiled, as if he’d been hoping she’d ask him that.
“Just tell me what’s the matter,” he said.
“What’s the matter? The real question is what isn’t the matter.”
“Start at the beginning, Autumn. Trust me. It’s amazing how much better you feel when you talk through your worries with someone else.”
She felt silly, immature, turning to him for help, but she also felt such a strong need, a need for help, and s
he couldn’t resist it. She knew enough about the world to know everyone felt overwhelmed at times. Everyone needed a friend to lean on. Everyone needed help. She helped people whenever she could, and she owed it to herself to allow Grady to help her through her issues now.
“I’m worried about my mother,” she said hesitantly. “The Hildegards never sent her my pay, and now she probably thinks I forgot all about her. She’s been kicked out of the good hospital she was in and now she’s in a free clinic. They can’t give her the help she needs at the clinic though.”
“The Hildegards never sent the checks? Even though they knew it was for your mother’s medical bills?”
Autumn nodded and began crying again. “And the worst part is, my aunt thought I was holding back the money on purpose.”
“Your mother won’t think that, Autumn.”
She shook her head. “What if she does?”
“Do you love your mother?”
“Yes,” she conceded.
“And does your mother know that?”
“I think she does.”
“Believe me, Autumn, she knows it. How could she not? You’re such a good, warm, intelligent, kindhearted girl.”
Autumn laughed in embarrassment.
“Come on, we’ll take care of this right away.”
“Take care of it? How?”
Grady took his phone from his pocket and checked for signal. “I rigged up an antenna,” he said. “My cell works. Do you want to talk to your mother?”
“More than anything,” Autumn gasped.
“Here,” Grady said, handing her the phone. “Call her and tell her you sorted everything out. You thought she was getting the money and now you’ve fixed it.”
“Fixed it? I haven’t fixed a thing.”
“Yes you have, Autumn. Tell her she has to get right back to the hospital. Tell her the hospital is waiting for her.”
“The hospital kicked her out.”
“They’ll take her back,” Grady said.
Autumn didn’t know how that was possible, but Grady spoke with such confidence that she was already starting to believe what he said.
She called her mother and between the tears, had the most passionate, heartfelt talk with her she’d ever had.
“I’m so sorry, mom. I thought they were sending the money.”
“I know, sweetheart. I didn’t doubt you for one second, despite what your aunt said. I knew you’d never forget about me.”
“I wouldn’t, mom.”
“I love you every second of every day, Autumn. Never forget that.”
“Mom, listen to me. You have to go back to the hospital.”
“They won’t take me, sweetie.”
“They will now, mom. Just tell your doctors you’re going back. They’ll be waiting at the hospital for you by the time you get there.”
She said goodbye to her mother and Grady took the phone.
“What’s the name of the hospital?” he said to Autumn.
“Western General,” she said, then she listened in amazement as Grady called the hospital, got transferred to the billing department, cleared all her mother’s bills and got his credit card placed on her file.
He hung up and smiled at Autumn. He was so handsome, and the combination of his looks and the confidence with which he’d just taken care of the medical bills made Autumn feel weak with longing. She’d never known what it was like to have a man around. She’d never known her own father. The way Grady took care of things was exactly how she’d always thought a man should be. Strong and capable and competent.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
Grady nodded. “Now, from what they told me, it sounds like your mother’s condition is pretty serious.”
“It is,” Autumn said. “My aunt said she probably didn’t have much longer to live.”
“I know what it’s like to watch someone you love get sick,” he said.
Autumn nodded, unsure what to say to that.
“So, you don’t have to say yes, I don’t know what caused you to leave home in the first place, but if you want to see your mother, I’ll drive you.”
“What?”
“Right now, you, me and Destiny. We won’t get there today, but if we make good time we could sleep in a motel somewhere around halfway and we’ll be there tomorrow.”
Autumn burst into tears.
“Are you kidding me?” she said, unable to believe her ears.
“I’m not kidding,” Grady said. “If anything happens to her, you’ll remember this for the rest of your life.”
Autumn looked at him. There was something about the way he was talking to her that told her he was talking from experience. He’d lost someone, and she was fairly certain that if he could have one last chance to speak to that person, he’d take it. That’s how he knew how important this was to her.
“It’s such a long way, Grady.”
“I like driving,” he said. “I’ll take it that means you want to go.”
Autumn couldn’t believe what was happening. Ever since stepping on the train a few weeks earlier, she’d had some notion in her mind that it was forever. She’d thought she’d never be going home. She’d thought she was leaving for good. The distance of the train ride and the remoteness of the new town all served to strengthen that feeling. And then when she’d arrived at the Raven’s Nest, when she’d seen the way the Hildegards put her in a room in the attic and forced her to call them Master and Mistress, when she couldn’t get cellphone reception and had no money, something about it told her she’d never be going home. And in a way she’d had good reason to think that. The Hildegards had tried to lock her up. They’d had a strange notion they could turn her into a mixture of a slave and their dead daughter.
And now, out of nowhere, Grady was offering her a ride home. Just like that. She would be seeing her mother tomorrow!
It was too much.
If her tears had embarrassed her before, it was nothing compared to the loud sobs and bawling tears she shed now.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Autumn
It was still before noon when they were packing the car, not that there was much to pack. Grady put some baby things for Destiny in a bag with a few of his own clothes. It took about five minutes.
Autumn had nothing but the clothes she was wearing.
“Don’t worry. We’ll stop on the way and pick up whatever you need.”
“Really?” she said, unable to believe that anyone was being so generous to her.
She’d never been treated like that in her life. Her mother loved her, she came from a good family, but they’d never been the kind of people who had extra money lying around. The thought of running into a store on the way home and grabbing whatever she needed was completely foreign to her.
When she got into the car next to Grady, she felt a sense of ease and safety. This was what it was like to be with a man who knew what he was doing, who knew how to look after his family.
Family, she thought.
She knew that wasn’t quite what she, Grady, and Destiny were, but they sure felt like one.
Grady put snow chains on the car and they got on the road. A few minutes later they were passing the entrance to the Raven’s Nest.
“I bet that’s a place you never want to go back to,” Grady said.
Autumn smiled. “You have no idea.”
“They were strange people, and I don’t even have a problem with that. People have a right to be as strange as they want, in my opinion.”
“As long as they’re not harming anyone,” Autumn said.
“Right. And the thing about the Hildegards, is that you got the distinct impression that maybe they would harm someone.”
“I got that feeling sometimes too,” Autumn said.
Grady looked at her.
“The truth is, I felt guilty leaving you there with them. I had a feeling something bad might happen.”
“It wasn’t your responsibility to protect me,” she said.
/>
“I know, but I would have liked if it was.”
Autumn felt her cheeks flush. “Really?” she said.
Grady nodded.
“I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me,” she said. “At least, anyone but my mother.”
“What about your father?”
“I never knew him,” she said. “He died when I was very young.”
Grady nodded.
They drove on, through the town of Destiny and onto the winding road that led out of the mountains and back to civilization. Autumn watched the scenery pass. It was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but there was something scary about it too. It was so grand. The mountains rose so far into the sky you could no longer see the peaks. The forest was so dense you could imagine any type of wild animal living in there. The rivers gushed rapidly, icy water racing with currents that could kill.
She loved it. She loved the grandeur and the power of the Rockies, but she knew she’d never be quite at home there, she’d never feel truly safe there, unless she had someone by her side. Someone strong. Someone who knew how to handle himself and protect her from the wilderness.
She was feeling sentimental, she knew that, but what she was imagining was a life with Grady in the cabin. The cabin was quaint, comfortable, cozy and safe. It was a place she could live happily, so long as Grady was there.
She shook her head, feeling foolish for allowing her thoughts to get so far ahead of her. He was driving her home, not setting up with her in his cabin.
After they got out of the mountains they reached a real highway, an interstate, and Grady pulled over and took off the snow chains. When he got back in the car, Autumn spoke, breaking the silence the three of them had been enjoying.
“Thank you,” she said out of the blue.
Grady looked at her, and there was such affection, such kindness in his eyes. She had no idea where it came from. How could he be so nice to her? Why was he so fond of her?
“I’m just glad I found you, Autumn. I’d die thinking of you out in the cold, all alone.”
“I’d probably be back at the Raven’s Nest by now if it wasn’t for you.”
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