Uncharted Destiny (The Uncharted Series Book 7)

by Keely Brooke Keith

  “Revel doesn’t owe us anything.” Sybil hung her apron on a peg by the doorway and took her cup of water with her. She looked back at him from the hall. “I’m glad you’re here, Revel. Even if it’s only for a short stay.”

  If everyone in his family gave him the same grace Sybil did, maybe he would come back more often and stay longer when he did. He picked up Sybil’s empty plate and stacked it with the others by the sink.

  As soon as they were alone, Eva began haranguing him. “It’s one thing for you to shirk your duty here and go run around the Land, but I won’t let you fill my son’s head with irresponsibility too.”

  “Is that what you’re mad about?”

  “For starters.” She thrust a rubber plug into the sink and stomped on the wooden foot pedal that pumped hot water into the basin. “You shouldn’t be working for every possible person in the Land when you have a father who is too old to run the business you will inherit.”

  He began wiping crumbs from the dirty plates into the scrap bucket. “That is between me and Father.”

  “Not when I’m stuck here doing your job.”

  “You enjoy running the inn. You always liked being in charge. Don’t pretend otherwise.”

  “Fine.” She blew a loose strand of hair off her face. “I don’t mind keeping up with reservations and trade payments, but managing the whole operation—the farm, the workers, the maintenance—it’s more than I want to do at this stage of life.”

  “What stage of life?”

  “I have a son—in case you hadn’t noticed—and he needs schooling. There aren’t any teachers or schools out here, remember? His lessons take several hours out of my day.”

  He hadn’t thought of that. “Claudia helped Mother with our lessons. Can’t she help you with Zeke?”

  Eva accepted the dirty dishes from him one at a time after he scraped them. Her sudsy rag swished as she scrubbed the dishes in the water. “Claudia is getting older. It takes her all day to do the housekeeping. Half the time, Sybil and I have to help her finish in the afternoon then Sybil has to prepare dinner and I tend to the guests and help serve the meal. We had to do all the laundry too when Claudia was nursing Leonard back to health after his stroke, still do some days.”

  Her words stirred the guilt that always lurked beneath his skin. “I didn’t know about any of that.”

  “Solo helped us so much. It was part of what made me fall in love with him.” The sharpness in Eva’s voice lessened a degree. “He took over Leonard’s and Father’s chores. Now, he’s managing the stables full time. I hired a new man, Isaac Owens, to manage the farm and he will be arriving soon.”

  “Sounds like you have done a great job running this place, as always.” He dried his hands on a tea towel. “You don’t need me here, Eva.”

  “You won’t ever stay here permanently, will you?”

  That question he could answer emphatically. “No.”

  “Why would you abandon your family like this?”

  “I haven’t abandoned anyone. I don’t belong here.”

  She waved one soapy hand as she spoke. “This is your home, your inheritance. I don’t understand how you can say you don’t belong here.”

  No, she wouldn’t understand. She’d always been Father’s favorite and had taken to the work with such power she’d made Mother feel useless. Mother had told him as much when he was in Southpoint. It had eased his heart to learn that her leaving Falls Creek wasn’t his fault.

  He wouldn’t lay that blame on Eva though. Inflicting guilt was her game, not his. Arguing wasn’t his game either. He changed his voice, hoping she’d hear his sincerity. “You have Sybil to help you, and Claudia and Leonard, and now Solomon too. You aren’t alone here. Never have been.” He caught her eye. “I will make sure you are all taken care of, but I can’t live here. I just can’t. This isn’t my place. Besides, Father would rather work with you. He always loved you the most.”

  “That’s not true.” Her chin crinkled as she fought tears. “He loved Mother the most.”

  It was true. After years of watching his father try and fail to keep their mother happy here, it was no wonder he didn’t want to inherit the inn and take his father’s place. He didn’t want that life. Or to be that kind of man—always chasing a woman’s heart who had no desire to give it fully.

  Neither of them said a word while the shared sadness of their mother leaving their father hung in the air. Finally, he rubbed Eva’s shoulder. “I will visit more often, I promise.”

  She pressed her lips together in a flat line. “I’ll take what I can get, but that won’t be enough to satisfy Father.”

  “I talked with him last week. He knows I need to work with Connor to keep the Land safe.” Though how much his father understood or would remember of that conversation, he didn’t know.

  Eva let out a long breath and nodded, not in acceptance but in momentary resignation. “And Bailey?”

  “What about Bailey?”

  “You want to keep her safe too.” She raised a thin eyebrow at him and went back to washing dishes.

  He found a clean towel in the upper cabinet and started drying dishes. When he looked back at Eva, she still had her eyebrow raised as if waiting for an explanation. She wasn’t getting one. He tried to ignore her but she kept staring, just like when they were children. “What?”

  “You know what.”

  He didn’t have to look to know she was smiling. “You always could see right through me. Yes, I feel especially protective of Bailey.”

  Eva laughed one sharp cackle that sounded like their mother. “I knew you were intrigued with her.”

  He gave the doorway a quick glance. “Would you please keep your voice down?”

  With a teasing smile she whispered, “Don’t worry, Rev. Your secret is safe with me.”

  * * *

  After a few hours’ of deep sleep, the soft rain pattering against Bailey’s window awakened her. She parted the curtains and stared out across the dark property. Sophia was sound asleep on the other side of their double bed. The inn was quiet except for the rain. Thank God they had made it back to the inn with Tim before the showers started.

  It was too early to be awake, especially considering how badly she needed to catch up on sleep. She missed having the two-way radio for its digital clock but didn’t miss the heartache of listening to static during all of those weeks Tim was lost.

  Now he was in the room across the hall, weak and clinging to life. He’d said he wanted to be alone at dinner and had been asleep when she checked on him before she went to bed. After all they had been through together, she couldn’t bear the thought of him dying alone.

  She pulled her hooded sweatshirt on over the nightgown Lydia had given her in Good Springs. Back then, she would have traded anything for a few plain T-shirts, but now, knowing the love that was shown in that simple gesture, she had a new appreciation for the clothes Lydia gave her. Not that she was in a hurry to wear the Sunday dresses waiting for her in Good Springs, but she appreciated every stitch that had gone into making them.

  She wanted to show that kind of love to people too. If Tim was awake and needed company, he shouldn’t be alone. She grabbed the compact flashlight from her backpack and tiptoed across the hall.

  As she opened Tim’s door a crack, he said, “Bailey? That you?”

  “It’s me.” She stepped in and closed the door behind her, trying not to wake anyone else in the house. “Sorry if I woke you.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “I just wanted to see if you were—”

  “Still alive?” Though his words floated out on a labored breath, his humor shone through the dark room. “Well, I am. For now.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t talk like that.” She sat on the edge of his bed and shined her flashlight at the ceiling so they could have a little light on both of their faces. “You just need time to recover.”

  “Since when are you such an optimist? I miss that butt-kicking undergrad who would rathe
r knock a guy out cold than let him take her out on a date.”

  That got a smile out of her. “I’m still her. I’ve also learned how to be hopeful. In the Land it’s like… it’s like anything is possible.”

  “Except my recovery. I know my body, kid. It’s had enough of this life.”

  “I know you said I shouldn’t feel bad about us coming to the Land and all of this happening to you, but if we had stayed in America you’d be fine.”

  He scratched his scraggly beard. “I was dying anyway, but for your sake the Lord gave me a few more weeks.”

  She’d never heard him talk like that. He used to roll his eyes whenever she mentioned her faith. “What happened to my empirical science-loving professor who’d rather discuss plant evolutionary developmental biology than the possible existence of a Creator?”

  “He met his maker.” He chuckled lightly. “The Lord and I had a lot of time together when I was lost. But now I’m found.”

  Something inside her lifted. “That’s really beautiful.”

  “There’s something else I need to tell you, Bailey.”

  He had used the same opener when he told her that he was her father. She drew circles on the ceiling with the light beam, hoping he didn’t have any more bombshells for her. “What is it?”

  He spoke slowly, pausing between phrases as if talking taxed him of more energy than he could spare. “I’ve been thinking about what you said… about how the gray leaf tree medicine seemed to fight and kill the vine’s poison in your bloodstream.”

  “It was just how I felt or what I imagined was happening. I was really struggling to have any clear thoughts while the gray leaf medicine and the vine’s poison were both inside me, so don’t give my words too much thought.”

  She expected him to speak but he didn’t. He drew a shallow breath through his mouth.

  She aimed the flashlight at the headboard so she could see him better. “Tim?”

  Only another short breath. His eyes closed.

  She turned off her flashlight. “I’ll let you sleep.”

  As she stood, he caught her hand with a loose grip. “The gray leaf tree holds back the deadly vines. The gray leaf is the reason the vines don’t come over the mountains.”

  “I don’t understand.” She turned her flashlight back on.

  “Remember in class when I lectured on Ailanthus altissima—the wretched Tree of Heaven that is taking over the forests of America and Europe?”

  “Yes.”

  “And how there is a toxic substance in the aqueous extracts of its foliage?” He continued without her answering. “And that substance was proven to be allelopathic and adversely affecting native species, thereby ensuring their seedlings don’t survive?”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “I believe the gray leaf tree might have a similar property that works against the poisonous vines. Think about it. The gray leaf tree is a prevalent species across the Land from the eastern coast all the way to the river by the mountains. Yet there were no gray leaf trees in the mountains and the vine thrived on the western slope of the mountains. I believe the gray leaf holds back the poisonous vines by excreting an allelopathic substance that targets the vines.

  “You told me over the radio that from the middle of the Land to the mountains there are very few gray leaf trees.”

  “Yes.”

  “And that Connor believes the gray leaf gives off a molecule that helps keep the Land hidden from the outside world.”

  “Yes.”

  “Bailey, you must tell the people of the Land to plant more gray leaf trees throughout the western plains and the foothills.”

  “Plant more gray leaf trees? To keep the poisonous vines from leaving the mountains?”

  “And to keep the Land hidden.”

  While she processed his words, his shallow breaths became more rhythmic and his wrinkled hand dropped away from hers as he fell asleep. She turned off her flashlight and whispered, “We’ll talk about it more tomorrow.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  After breakfast, Revel left the dining hall a full but unsatisfied man. He flopped his flat-brimmed hat onto his head to keep the rain out of his eyes as he stepped onto the inn’s side stoop. The screen door snapped closed with a quick bang. He yanked it open again to check the spring at the top.

  Rusted.

  Maybe there was a new spring in the maintenance supplies in the barn. No one liked a banging door, especially road-weary guests.

  As he crossed the yard, movement in the greenhouse caught his attention. The neglected building’s glass was opaque with years of dust. Through the yellowish-brown panes, a wide sponge rubbed circles from the inside of the greenhouse. He slowed his gait to get a better look. Why was Bailey cleaning the greenhouse glass? With all she was going through, he couldn’t believe Eva had put her to work.

  On second thought, knowing Bailey, she probably begged for a way to earn her keep.

  He would come back to have an important discussion with Bailey in a few minutes, but first he needed to find a new spring for the door so he didn’t forget the long-overdue chore.

  He jogged through the light rain to the barn. Both of its doors were propped wide open, looking like the Colburns’ barn during the day. Connor stood in front of a cabinet, selecting tools. When he saw Revel, he lifted his chin and asked, “Are you going to work with Leonard today?”

  Revel shook his head. “I came to get a spring to fix the side door. What are you working on?”

  “I’m going to install a handrail in the washroom for your dad.”

  Revel never would have thought of that. “Thanks.”

  “Sure. No problem.” Connor rummaged through the tools. “Levi and Everett need to head home tomorrow. I told them it was okay because you’d stay with me and the girls until Tim is ready to travel.”

  Revel kept his voice quiet even though he knew where Bailey was and that she couldn’t overhear him. “Sophia doesn’t think Tim will live through another night.”

  Connor heaved a breath. “I know. I’m trying to stay upbeat for Bailey’s sake.”

  Revel glanced out the open doors toward the greenhouse. Bailey was still scrubbing. “She knows the truth about Tim’s condition.” But did she know the truth about Revel’s feelings for her? He chose his next words carefully. “By the way, you were right.”

  “I’m always right.” Connor grinned cockily. “But what exactly was I right about this time?”

  “Bailey and me.”

  Connor’s hands hovered over the tools. “You and Bailey?”

  “Well, me. You were right about me. About my…” his mouth felt drier than Falls Creek during a summer drought, “my attraction to Bailey.”

  “Have you told her?”

  “Not yet.”

  “So you plan to?”

  “Yes.” He hated explaining himself. Connor was the leader of the security team and had been right to order Revel to put aside his feelings and focus on the mission while they were on their way to rescue Tim, but that was over now. Mission accomplished, as Connor liked to say.

  Still, he wanted Connor’s approval on personal matters too. “Listen, I followed your advice and thought through the things from my past that I didn’t want to affect my future. And now that I have, I’m ready to move forward.”

  “You’re ready to move forward,” Connor repeated dryly. “Are you telling me you are cool with settling down and committing your life to a wife’s happiness?”

  “No, I—”

  “Good, because Bailey isn’t ready either.”

  “Do you mean for marriage or for courting?”

  “Any of it.”

  Revel almost shot back with a fiery response, but it wouldn’t stop a man like Connor. Instead, he sank his hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out one of the ancient coins from the mountain cave. He rubbed its dull metal between his fingers, remembering the day he took care of Bailey. “She and I have already been through a lot together. We would make a good
match. We understand each other.”

  Connor looked at the coin Revel was holding. His voice took on a kinder tone. “Then you understand she’s dealing with a lot right now.”

  “So was I until I followed your advice. I went to see my mother when we were in Southpoint, and we talked. That took a load of guilt off my chest that no one even knew was there. Then I spoke with Eva last night, and I think she’s starting to see my side of things. And I feel like…” He closed his mouth, embarrassed to hear himself even use that phrase. The only way forward was with honesty. “I feel like since we reunited Bailey and Tim and I was able to help her… to take care of her… I’m no longer remorseful over what happened at the shore when they arrived. What happened that night isn’t my proudest memory, but I’m done beating myself up over it.”

  Connor gave Revel a stiff pat on the shoulder. “Good for you, man.”

  That wasn’t the reaction he expected. “I’m ready to talk to Bailey, to make my intentions known.”

  “Fine. Whatever.” Connor went back to looking for tools. “Just don’t come crying to me if she roundhouse kicks your intentions.”

  Revel didn’t know what that meant and didn’t care. He slid the ancient coin back into his pocket. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

  As soon as he found the spring he needed to fix the door, he left the barn and hurried across the yard to the greenhouse. Three sections of the front windowpanes were already clearer than he’d ever seen them. When he opened the greenhouse, Bailey was humming a somber melody.

  She stopped her song abruptly and looked at him, her amber eyes ready for bad news. “Is it Tim? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” He shook the cold rainwater off his hat and stepped inside. “I simply had to see what powerful force was making the greenhouse transparent again.”

  She pulled a thick, wet sponge out of a bucket. It dripped profusely. “This. And woman power,” she joked as she went back to scrubbing.