Divine Mortals

by Allison, J

  I finished quickly, a little frightened at being on my own in the dark, away from Will and my belongings. I was about to step into the opening again when a hand came around my mouth silencing the scream I tried to let out and pulling me hard back towards them. I kicked out backwards, striking a shin with my heel and biting the hand in my mouth at the same time.

  “Dammit Ava.” His voice was smooth, if a little irritated, in my ear.

  “Robert?”

  “Shhhhhh,”

  “Ahhh, why?”

  “Because I’m not meant to be here,” I could hear the smile in his voice, “I’m not part of the official search party, Fred left me to mind the Ranch while him and the others came looking for you, there’s quite the search out you know.”

  I didn’t care, I reached out tentatively at first and then threw caution to the wind and clung onto him, squeezing him in a huge hug, I was far too glad about being found to feel shy around him at the moment.

  I felt him chuckle,

  “Glad to see me then?” he sounded pleased with himself,

  “You bet, how did you find me?”

  “I could find you anywhere.” he chuckled again, “I’ve been here for the last few hours, I couldn’t leave you alone out here could I.”

  “I’ve got Will.”

  “So I see,” his voice was oddly remote, “Who is Will exactly?”

  I was confused by his tone,

  “A friend, why?”

  “Hmm,”

  “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “So you said.” I could hear him smiling but he seemed to be restraining himself a little.

  “I don’t like the way he is around you.”

  My mind flashed back to when Will had caught me earlier, when he had sat next to me by the fire, just how long had Robert been out here? If he had seen that he must also have seen my reaction to those things.

  “You should go back,” he murmured, “If Will wakes and finds you gone he might worry.”

  “Oh,” I stopped, considering this for a moment, “I guess you’re right.”

  I turned back towards our small camp, I could barely make out the shape of Will from where I was, I guessed he was still where I left him. I swung back towards Robert, instantly afraid of leaving him.

  “You won’t leave will you?” I hated sounding so needy.

  “Not until the others arrive, then I’ll head back to the ranch before Norma or Fred know I’ve left.”

  I nodded and then realized he probably couldn’t see this. Or could he?

  “How well do you see in the dark?”

  “Fairly well, it’s like night vision goggles, everything’s in darker tones but still crystal clear.”

  “Right…” I sighed, mimicking his earlier tone.

  “Go.” Robert nudged me back towards the clearing, although his face was fixed on the sleeping shape of Will. I reached up on my toes and kissed him on the cheek, I felt him startle, the outline of his head swinging towards my face in a shocked movement.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled feeling instantly stupid, what was I thinking?

  “I’m just glad you’re here.” I muttered pathetically, and before he could answer I started slowly back towards our ‘camp’. The last thing I wanted to do now was trip in the dark and break my leg.

  I pulled my towel back over me and lay my head down, turning to look towards Will. He was facing me, his body turned towards mine, and even though I couldn’t see his eyes from this distance I had the disconcerting feeling that he was awake and watching me.

  I closed my own eyes and rolled onto my back, trying hard to go back to sleep, a much easier task now that I knew Robert was here.

  The sun was coming up when they found us, the barking of dogs woke me to a brilliant array of pinks and oranges staining the dawn sky.

  “Pink at night Sheppard’s delight, pink in the morning Sheppard’s warning, they’re coming can you hear them?”

  Will was sitting up, watching me, I stretched feeling sore in at least a dozen places along my back and shoulders.

  “Sheppard’s warning aye…” I mumbled scrapping my hands down my face and trying to feel alive.

  “Hmm, means it will probably rain today.”

  I didn’t answer, instead swinging the towel off me and standing to feel my cold tight muscles scream in protest and my stomach gurgle in sympathetic hunger.

  The barking was closer now, they would be here in a matter of minutes, I looked back towards the bushes where Robert kept watch, wondering whether he still waited or if he had returned to the ranch to start his morning jobs.

  I stretched my neck slowly side to side, trying to loosen the tight feeling that pulled across my shoulders. I glanced back at Will who was staring into the bushes where I had just been looking, a thoughtful expression on his face. He seemed to feel my eyes on him though and turned back to me, his usual good humour plastered on his face.

  “Ready to be found or would you like to spend another romantic night under the stars with me?”

  “No offence but I’m ready to go home, I would kill for a shower.”

  Will laughed,

  “Maybe some other time then?”

  “Maybe not,” I grimaced, “I’ve never been a big one for camping, especially unprepared camping.”

  “Well in that case…” Will stood and turned towards the sound of the barking.

  “We’re over here!” he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth, “Heeeyyyyyyyy.”

  The banking started up again in earnest and I began stuffing my towel into my pack.

  Before long I saw a number of figures with dogs appear across the field, Pop amongst them.

  “Is your father with them?” I asked turning to Will.

  His answer was simple and for once he didn’t met my eyes,

  “No.”

  It felt so good to be home again, Nan fussed over me, making me an extra strong cup of coffee and filling me with chocolate cake until I thought I would burst. I ran a steaming hot bath and sat back to soak, feeling my muscles slowly relax after a hard night on the cold ground.

  Will had been right about the weather, as I lay my head against the back of the old claw foot bath I heard the rain start to patter on the tin roof above me, soft at first and then steadily harder until it was a thunderous noise that made me want to curl up in bed and go to sleep, even though it couldn’t be much later than mid-day.

  I eventually emerged from my steaming tub of bliss and after a bowl of soup and another coffee I ventured out onto the back porch. The rain was pouring down, huge fat blobs of water pounded the yard beyond the house. The heat was still there though, in spite of the downpour, and I felt my hair start to curl and snap with static electricity.

  I hadn’t seen Robert since our impromptu meeting in the bushes last night and I wondered if he was out in the rain now, dripping wet. I wandered down towards the hammock and pushed it gently with my hand, watching it swing backwards and forwards softly as I thought of the night we had sat here together. When he had told me, or more accurately, shown me what he was.

  I was nervous about seeing him again, had I been too forward last night?

  Damn. What was I thinking when I kissed him on the cheek.

  “Ava.” I jumped in fright, I hadn’t heard anyone approach, I whirled around to find Nan standing with the phone clasped in her hands.

  “Sorry honey, Joel is on the phone.”

  “Oh,” I smiled, taking the phone from her, before settling myself into the hammock.

  “Hey,”

  “Hey, I hear you went camping last night.”

  “Yeah you could say that.”

  “And with a boy, think of your reputation,” Joel teased, tutting in a badly impersonated English accent.

  “You know considering you’ve been in London for four years you should be able to do a better accent.”

  “Nah,” he laughed, “Once a yank always a yank… that’s what the Poms tell me anyway, so about this camp you
had, sounds like Nan was worried?”

  “Yeah she was,” I couldn’t help but smile, “We were okay though, we had food and fire, it wasn’t too bad.”

  “Right,” Joel sounded thoughtful, I knew him too well, I could almost hear his mind ticking over, even if I was four thousand miles away from him.

  “What?” I asked cutting to the point.

  “Well so far you’ve fallen from a horse and broken your ribs, almost been bitten by a Rattle Snake and gone M.I.A on a rafting trip.”

  “For the record I didn’t choose to fall off the horse.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Well no I don’t really, so a few things have happened since I arrived, I’m not used to this country stuff.”

  “You’ve only been there three weeks Ava, and you’ve nearly killed yourself three times.”

  “I’m not doing it on purpose you know, and I think your overreacting a little,” I grumped at him.

  “I know, I’m just trying to tell you to be careful, I don’t wantto have to come scrape you up.”

  I cringed at his last words.

  “Sorry.” he mumbled, I could hear the pain in his voice, “Bad choice of words, I didn’t think.”

  “So how’s Susan?” I decided to change the subject, away from my constant life threatening events and our parents untimely deaths, to Joels stuffy English wife.

  “She’s great, we both are, actually that’s why I rang?” I could hear the excitement building in his voice, “She pregnant, you’re going to be an aunt!”

  “Wow!” I gushed, “Really, Joel that’s great, it’s amazing, did you tell Nan?”

  “Ah no, I wanted to tell you first.”

  “Wow I’m so excited, I don’t know what to say.” I really was excited, I couldn’t believe I was going to be an aunt.

  “Well you could try congratulations,” he teased.

  “Congratulations.” I breathed, laughing with my excitement, “How, ahhh, I mean when is she due?”

  “She’s eight weeks gone so seven months to go, she’s due sometime in February.”

  “Far out, that’s great, it’s so great.”

  “You may not think it’s that great when you think right into it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well you’ll have to come over for the christening,”

  “Oh.” this stopped me dead, the thought of being on a plane all the way to England took a substantial shine off of the whole event.

  “You aren’t backing out of it Ava, you have to be there as chief aunt.”

  “I know,” I stumbled over the words, “I guess I can.”

  “You will,” Joel laughed again, “there’s no excuse, you have seven months to get used to the idea.”

  “I know,” I mumbled, trying not to sound terrified.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll book you business class, that might help.”

  “You think?” I sounded sarcastic without meaning to, a high chiming voice rose in the background.

  “Ava I gotta go, we’re heading out to dinner, I’ll call you in a few weeks okay?”

  “Sure have fun,” I pushed my future travel plans from my mind, “Take care, look after Susan and my niece or nephew.”

  “I will,” he promised, sounding rushed, “Oh and Ava,”

  “Hmmm,”

  “Take care of yourself aye, be careful.”

  I laughed this time,

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

  “Make sure you are.”

  “Good bye Joel, Go before your taxi leaves without you.”

  “Bye, talk to you soon,”

  “Love you.”

  “You too.”

  I was going to be an Aunt, which was incredible, the travel on the other hand definitely was not.

  I looked out from the porch once more, the rain had eased from the pelting force it was earlier to a steady drizzle, creating a veil along the landscape in the late afternoon.

  I watched Pop drive between the stable and the big shed and make his way to the fence in front of the house where he parked.

  Huge dark circles framed his eyes and I felt a sharp pang of guilt at the thought of him up all night searching for me, he was too old to have that sort of stress. His eyes lit upon seeing me though and I stood and went to meet him at the edge of the porch.

  “You’re drenched.” I frowned, watching him take the last stair to stand dripping in front of me.

  “I am,” he smiled “But we needed the rain, it’s been a dry summer, I’m ready for a hot shower though I’ll tell you that much, is your Nan inside love?”

  “She is, come on let’s find her, I’ve got some news.”

  13.

  Pop only stayed indoors long enough to warm up, hear my news about Joel and eat, before hurrying back out to finish the jobs the rain had hindered. Nan had gone to her vegetable garden to pull some fresh carrots and corn for our dinner and I wandered from room to room feeling exhausted and energetic at the same time.

  My muscles were aching from my rough sleep but my mind was going a million miles an hour. Robert was back from the muster and I couldn’t wait to see him again, whenever that may be. I was also filled with thoughts of Joel and my future role as Aunt. I couldn’t help but wish my parents were here, they would have been so excited to become grandparents.

  The back door flew open, hitting the hallway wall with force and making me jump in fright, Nan and Pop came rushing in, both of them looking terrified.

  “Ava we have to take Jed to the hospital,” Nan yelled over her shoulder as they headed towards their room, I followed quickly watching from the door as they tossed a few items of clothing into an overnight bag.

  “What’s happened? Is he okay?” I was instantly worried for their smiley head rancher, I liked Jed, he was always friendly, if a little too heavy with the sympathy.

  “He rolled the tractor,” Nan spoke quickly, looking into her bag, assessing what she had grabbed.

  “He’s crushed his legs, Roberts putting him in the car now, and we’re taking him to Denver.”

  She seemed satisfied with what she had gathered and quickly zipped the bag closed.

  “Shouldn’t you call an Ambulance?” I asked, confused.

  “Ha!” Grandpop scoffed, “by the time one got all the way out here honey we could be halfway to Denver.”

  I must have looked worried,

  “It’s okay Ava, your grandfather has already called the hospital from the Sat phone, an ambulance will meet us on the way.” Nan zipped the last bag shut and picked both up off the bed. “We’ll only be gone overnight, we’ll be back tomorrow.” She stood back, finally looking up at me.

  “Shawn is away this week visiting his family in Texas, but Roberts here, you’ll be fine, he can finish the jobs that need done today, and we’ll be home by dinner time tomorrow.”

  “Oh.”

  Even in the midst of all this panic, and my worry for Jed, I felt a surge of excitement at the prospect of being alone with Robert on the ranch.

  Nan and Pop hurried from their room and through the kitchen, oblivious to my thoughtful look. I immediately felt guilty, I should be worrying about Jed.

  Moving quickly, I grabbed three bottles of water from the fridge and followed them outside tucking the water into Nans handbag.

  “Here,”

  “Thanks Darling,” Nan smiled before turning her worried look towards Jed who was now propped up in the back seat of their pickup. I ventured a look over her shoulder, he was very cut and bruised, his face screwed up in pain. One eye was already swollen shut, he sat across the back seat, both legs stretched in front of him, an old blanket covered them and I was thankful that I couldn’t see the full extent of the damage.

  “Norma let’s go!” Grandpop yelled from the front seat, already revving the engine, Nan turned to me, giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

  “Take care love,” she jumped in and pulled the seat belt across.

  “We’ll see you tomor
row night.” she called through the window and with that the truck flew off faster than I had ever seen my Grandfather drive. I watched until the car was out of sight, leaving only a dust cloud hovering above the road that would take them to the main highway.

  Robert was standing opposite me, had he been on the other side of the car all along?

  “You heard him, didn’t you,” I asked, trying my best to sound like this was totally normal, “Jed I mean.”

  He nodded a little embarrassed.

  “He’s lucky we have you around.”

  Robert smiled softly, the worry for his friend painted vividly on his face.

  “I’m really sorry Ava,” he sighed, “I have so much to do now with everyone gone, I really need to start or I’ll be working all night.”

  I frowned a little at this, was he not going to even say hello?

  “Sorry,” He chuckled, taking in my expression and covering the distance between us quicker than I could blink.

  “Hi,” his smile made my heart stop, “I really want to see you, can I come by later?”

  Could he really not hear my thoughts? I was starting to wonder.

  “Sure.” I sounded a little breathless, calm down.

  “Can I help with anything?” I asked, trying again to sound calm,

  “Ahhh,” I could see he was trying to think of something suitable girly and inconsequential for me to do. His golden face lit up as it came to him.

  “You could put the hay in the stalls for the horses and measure out their feed. I’ll put them away when I get back,” he added quickly seeing my expression, “I’m guessing you don’t really want to lead them into the stables do you?” His usual cheeky grin, the one I loved, played across his face.

  “Sure, yeah I can do that. The feed, not the leading.” If I didn’t have to touch the horses I was happy,