St. Elias

by Meris Lee

  Elias was grateful. Everything was falling into place. There was nothing she could do about Sam now other than to pray for him. Andy appeared to be at peace with himself now, and Katy seemed sure being with Andy was the most important thing in her life, more important than a career or fancy wedding or a spectacular house.

  Although Wolfe was no longer an adversary and there was no imminent threat of being returned to prison, she was feeling weary of living in fear and uncertainty. She couldn’t plan her future if she was always worried about being arrested and sent back to prison. There was only one solution. She had to return to Texas and face the consequences of her parole violation. Yes, that was what she must do. She would endure whatever punishment came her way, get through it, and live in the light again. There, she decided she would leave for Texas at the end of summer. Strangely, despite the prospect of going back to prison, she could feel the oppressive weight of living as a deceiving fugitive coming off her shoulder immediately, and that was more liberating than anything. She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes and imagined making a red velvet cake alongside Helen once again.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Katy and Andy got married in front of a judge in Anchorage in the first week of September. Elias and Wolfe were present as witnesses, and so were Shuping and Gina. Andy’s aunt, Becky, and her husband, Steve, represented Andy’s family. Andy’s father, Joe, was nowhere to be found, but no one seemed to care. Nara sent a courier to deliver a gift. It was an amulet, made of Caribou antler, to protect Katy and Andy’s union. It was all Katy could wish for to have at least a message from Nara. She had not expected even that.

  The reception was hosted by Wolfe in his home. Elias helped Wolfe prepare the dishes. There were the famed Alaskan king crab cakes with Sauvignon Blanc cream sauce and melted butter, as well as fresh Copper River salmon tartare with cucumber, mint, and parsley. Elias made her Texas-style briskets using caribou meat instead of beef and smoked it with alder wood instead of mesquite. Mr. Mason delivered a French wedding cake, a two-foot-tall cone tower of beautiful macarons bound by golden spun sugar. The white ones were almond with rosewater, the pink ones wild raspberries, and the purple ones lavender.

  Gina couldn’t stop talking about her new experiences in China. She had enrolled in a university and wanted to work with victims of sex trafficking. Shuping became more involved in her family’s business and started to pay attention to her local government’s activities. News media in China were heavily censored, so Shuping decided to visit the US regularly to get the real news.

  “And I will continue to contribute to my community by shuttling tourists and their money here,” commented Katy.

  Andy stood up and tapped a fork on his glass of Prosecco. “I’d like to make a toast.”

  Everyone stopped eating and looked at Andy. He cleared his throat, a drop of tear glistening in his eye. “Katy, I know I’ve put you through hell. I don’t deserve you, but I so selfishly love you I’ll never let you leave my side.”

  Andy looked as if he were about to break down and cry, his hand shaking, making the wine dance in the glass he was holding. “I know you’ve wanted to study medicine, but on account of me, you chose not to go to college in the city. You gave up your dreams. Well, I cannot let you simply be the wife of a small-town tour guide. I cannot let you go through life without feeling you’re making a difference in the world.”

  Elias looked at Katy, who was also tearing up, the tip of her nose reddening, her lips pressing tightly together.

  “As you know,” said Andy, “I’ve recently come into a small sum of money from a scandalous deal I made.” He glanced at Wolfe, who frowned and waved his hands as if saying, why are you picking on me now? I just catered your wedding reception for free.

  “I’ve decided you and I should move to Anchorage so you could get a college degree and go to medical school,” said Andy. “I could be a tour guide anywhere. I can take people into Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains from Anchorage.”

  Katy’s jaw dropped. Elias couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “When you become a doctor,” said Andy, “I hope you’ll come back to these mountains with me. As you know, we’re in sore need of a full-time healer, since your mother is, pardon my directness, somewhat unreliable.”

  Katy broke down in tears as she smiled and stood up to embrace Andy. “Oh, Andy, I love you so much!”

  The guests clapped and cheered Andy and Katy on. “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” they chanted until the newlyweds satisfied the demand by bringing their lips together. Elias was so happy for Katy and Andy she thought it a crime to feel sad thinking about Sam, but he was on her mind. Her nose tingled, and tears came streaming down her cheek. Something white flashed in front of her, and she looked down to see a tissue being held out by Wolfe.

  Elias quickly dabbed the tissue to her eyes. “Thank you.”

  “You sure I can’t change your mind about going back to Texas? You can stay with Katy, and I’m not going to bother you,” said Wolfe. It felt so surreal to Elias because not so long ago, Wolfe was keen on exposing Elias and sending her back to the punishment he thought she deserved.

  “I’m thinking about Helen a lot,” replied Elias.

  “Your stepmother?”

  Elias nodded. “I think it’s time for me to go home.”

  “But you have a new life here,” said Wolfe. “You’re risking prison going back to Texas.”

  “Helen’s my only family, and I must return to her. I miss her.”

  “If you feel that way, I’ll go with you.”

  “You will?”

  “I need a vacation.” Wolfe grinned. “Besides, it’ll work in your favor with a law officer around if you get stopped by nosy people along the way who want to make trouble for you.”

  “You mean nosy people like you?” Elias teased.

  Wolfe chuckled. “Precisely. And I can talk to your parole officer. Maybe work out a deal.”

  “No,” said Elias. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

  “I want to do something for Katy’s friend, and I’m going to do it. You can’t talk me out of it.”

  “All right,” said Elias. “We’ll leave when Kennecott shuts down at the end of next week.”

  “What are you two whispering about?” Katy shouted at Elias and Wolfe. The guests had all broken into little groups and were talking loudly over one another.

  “Tell you later,” Elias shouted back.

  It was Katy’s night, and Elias was going to enjoy her last summer soiree with all of her loved ones as much as she could, too.

  »»•««

  It wasn’t easy going home when Elias thought about the likelihood of returning to prison for possibly longer than her original sentence, but her resolve to be honest stilled her heart and emboldened her mind. Wolfe chartered a boat to take them from Valdez to Seattle, where Wolfe rented an RV. They took scenic byways and stopped in national parks, monuments, and forests to see the country, as Wolfe put it.

  “Look, Elias,” said Wolfe as they drove on a road flanked by deserts and bizarre sandstone formations in southern Utah. “I want to apologize for how I treated you before. You have to understand I care very much about Katy’s wellbeing.”

  “I know.”

  “So, no grudges?”

  “None.”

  “Good.” Wolfe smiled. “Oh, look.” Wolfe pointed to a rock ledge in the distance. “Bighorn sheep, the other wild sheep of North America. We have the Dall sheep in Alaska. Did you get a chance to see them?”

  “No, there are lots of things in Alaska I haven’t seen.”

  “Then you have to visit Alaska again.”

  “I don’t know. It could be years…”

  “Well, we’ll miss you. I know Katy will.”

  Elias was touched. She smiled at Wolfe. “I might have to miss her baby shower and college graduation and everything.”

  “Now you’re thinking way ahead.”

  “It helps to dream.” Elias bit her lower l
ip as she looked out through the window at the twisted layers of rocks in the distance.

  “Should we detour to Atlanta?”

  “No.” Elias’s felt her heart ache. “I just want to get back to Helen as soon as I can.”

  “I wasn’t nice to Sam. I don’t like that about me. I’d like to think I treat everyone the same, but I know I’m far from it. My father was from a time when different people weren’t allowed to mix. Someone long ago must’ve drilled the prejudice right down into his father’s father’s father’s DNA, and it just kept being passed on through generations.”

  “But you fell in love with Nara.”

  “Yes.” Wolfe chuckled. “I couldn’t help it. My father used to say that Nara had cast a spell on me.”

  “Did she?’

  “I was hunting with my father, up in the mountains near where Nara’s cabin is now, and I’d been waiting in the bushes along the edge of a lake for two hours before a caribou bull left its herd and waded toward me. My father had stepped away for a moment, and I didn’t want to wait for him to come back. I took a shot at the bull and saw it go down. I was beyond myself. It was my first caribou. I rushed to the animal, and just when I was about to put my hand on it, I saw a shadow flash in front of me. I looked up, and there was Nara. She was pointing her rifle at me. ‘Back off,’ she said. ‘This one’s mine.’” Wolfe chuckled. “We had shot the same bull at the same time. She was looking at me all serious and defensive. I dropped my rifle and offered to help her cut up the animal. She said, ‘You’d better go. I’ve got family coming, and my brothers wouldn’t like seeing you here on our ancestral hunting ground.’ Just then, my father showed up. I told him I was just there to admire her kill so he wouldn’t try to intimidate her into giving us the caribou. And then her people got there, five or six of them. My father must’ve gotten a little scared because he turned right around and told me it was time to go.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “I returned to that spot alone a few days later, hoping to run into her.”

  “And you did?”

  “It took me several weeks, but yes, finally, I cornered her when she was gathering berries by the lake one day. She wanted nothing to do with me at first, but I managed to charm her by the time the sun went down. We met there again several times. My parents were well off, and I had an allowance, so I could hire a bush plane to take us to many remote places. We’d just get dropped off and have a few hours alone to explore the wilderness before getting picked up again. That was the best time of my life.” Wolfe wiped a tear at the corner of his eye. “But my parents found out about us, and they would have none of it. Nara and I started to have fights. I don’t even remember why. Then this hippie showed up, and she was gone before I found out his name.” Wolfe shook his head and sighed.

  Elias felt sorry for Wolfe. He seemed like a victim in this case. But why didn’t he run away with Nara? He sounded like he had the money to do it, too. Elias decided not to bring it up. There was no point in analyzing and assigning guilt over something that happened so long ago.

  »»•««

  It took them two additional days to reach Texas. When they rolled into the Fort Worth city limit on US 287, Elias felt as if she were about to wake up from a dream. She couldn’t believe she had spent nearly four months away, during which time she earned a living, made friends, and fell in love in wild and remote Alaska where she had decided to go on an impulse. She could not have imagined it coming out of prison that day in late May.

  They exited the freeway in the southeastern part of the city. As they drove by the neighborhood clinic, Elias noticed that the vacant building on the other side of the street was demolished and a fence was put up with the slogan “Live, Dine, Shop” written across it. Elias wondered what it was about.

  “This neighborhood seems nice compared to McCarthy,” commented Wolfe. “You have schools and more than three stores, a clinic, and a bank over there.”

  “This is home, and I love it, no matter what other people say about it.”

  “What do people say about it?”

  “The whole county thinks it’s a crime infested neighborhood filled with crack heads and undeserving people on welfare.”

  “Is it?”

  “No,” said Elias. “People here try their best to get by, same as with people in most other neighborhoods. That’s what I think.”

  “And, speaking from decades of policing in all kinds of neighborhoods, I say you’re right.” Wolfe pulled up to the yellow house Elias missed so dearly. “Is this it?”

  Elias’s eyes grew hot with tears. She didn’t have the courage to face Helen.

  Wolfe opened the RV door for Elias. “Come on.”

  Elias put one leg out and then the other. She almost couldn’t feel her legs as she slowly walked up to the house and rang the bell.

  “Who is it?” Helen’s voice came from inside.

  Elias’s heart almost jumped out of her chest when she heard Helen’s voice. She was both afraid and relieved at the same time, afraid that Helen was going to be cross, relieved that the woman was still here for her.

  The door opened. Helen’s face appeared on the other side of the screen door. Her eyes enlarged in shock, and she covered her mouth with her hand. It took her a moment to swing open the screen door, tears coming down her face. “Elias…”

  Elias was expecting a deluge of angry words, but instead, Helen pulled Elias into her chest. “Child, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you.”

  Elias wrapped her arms around Helen as well. “I missed you so much, Mom.”

  They stood there in the doorway for a long while before Helen noticed Wolfe. She wiped her face and said, “Come in.”

  Helen held Elias’s hand as they walked into the house and Wolfe followed. Again, Elias smelled the mixture of Helen’s proprietary hair products and lavender-scented candles. She inhaled deeply. It was right to come home. It felt good to be home.

  »»•««

  Helen listened without interjecting except for an occasional gasp or look of bewilderment as Elias recounted, in concise, synoptic form, events of the last four months. Elias mentioned Sam and how he was injured but omitted the part where they fell for each other. Maybe, Elias thought, she would tell Helen about it someday in the future, but not now.

  When Elias was finished, she saw Helen’s lips quiver as she brought her hand to her eye and turned her head to the side. Elias felt a sting in her heart as she realized how much pain she had hurled upon Helen. It almost seemed like fate she should have gone to Alaska, and if it were fate, how could she have been able to stop it from happening, to tell herself to stay put when her mind wandered? Fate was the one who subjected Helen to this life of raising someone else’s child and the consequences thereof. Elias could blame it all on fate, and she would have if she were still the immature, irresponsible, impulsive infant that left the bosom of the only mother she’d ever known. But she had changed now. Fate might have dealt the cards, but it was she who got to choose how to play the hand.

  “Why hasn’t Elias’s parole officer reported her missing?” asked Wolfe.

  Helen turned to face Elias and Wolfe again. “I threatened her. She showed up a week after you left. I asked her why she didn’t come right away when we reported the monitor was broken. Rumor on the street was she was too busy with her side job as a bookie to follow through on her parolees. She didn’t deny it when I brought that up. So, I threatened to report her if she were to report you. Ooh wee, was she mad.” Helen chuckled, pointing at the front door. “She stood there just shaking and shaking her head till it looked about to fall off, her teeth showing and all. I had her beat. She had to put you in the low-risk category. You could do the rest of your parole without a monitor.”

  Elias couldn’t help but smile at the wits of Helen. “You’re the best mom ever.” She gave Helen a tight squeeze.

  “I knew you’d come back,” said Helen, looking over Elias as if proudly examining a fine masterpi
ece. “I knew I could count on you.”

  Wolfe smiled and stood up. “I guess I should get going now.”

  Elias and Helen stood up, too. “Stay a few days.” Elias turned to Helen. “He could stay with us a few days, right?”

  “Of course,” said Helen. “Mr. Wolfe, stay.”

  “Thank you, but I must get back to my job soon,” said Wolfe.

  “At least stay for the night. It’s getting dark,” said Helen.

  Wolfe peeked out the window. “I suppose I could if it’s not too much trouble.”

  “Not at all,” said Helen. “Let me buy you dinner at one of those new restaurants they built. The neighborhood got a grant and developers are building shopping centers and apartments.”

  “Is that what’s happening to the old vacant building across the street from the clinic?” asked Elias.

  “Yes,” replied Helen. “We’re going to see some nice changes in our neighborhood. Eloise and Queenie worry we’d be pushed out of here when it gets all fixed up, and people want to move in and drive up the rent and property tax, but what we got going on right now ain’t working for us neither, and it hasn’t for decades. So, I say, let them try something new. God knows we need some good companies to come and hire the young folks here, even though when it’s all said and done the neighborhood’s going to look completely different. I sure am going to miss some of them old homes when they get torn down, but they’re just wood and nails. I care about the people here more. Don’t you agree?”

  Wolfe nodded and glanced at Elias, who imagined him to be saying, See, Elias, development is a good thing, a necessary thing, and Andy ought to quit whining when he’s being handed a big favor.

  Elias shrugged. She knew little about the effect of development, either in the wild forests of Alaska or in a dilapidated urban enclave, to agree or disagree with it. But she did care about the wood and nails of the house she grew up in very much, and she wasn’t sure if she’d be okay for it to disappear and be replaced by a fancy restaurant like the one she visited in Anchorage.

  They went for chicken and waffles at Wolfe’s request. Wolfe and Helen had a grand time talking about Elias’s childhood, often to her embarrassment. Wolfe spent a night with them and got up early the next morning to get ready for his journey home. Elias walked him to the RV, and after a moment of silent debate with herself internally, hugged him before he climbed aboard.