Their Forever Home (13 page)

The last few days—and nights—had been heaven for him. Sleeping with Vella wrapped around him and waking to her warm breath on his neck or shoulder gave him a peace he’d never felt before. Sinking into her body had been the sweetest kind of pain, and when he came, his entire world exploded and reformed again, just a little better than the last time. He loved her. He’d die for her.

“Carver? Aren’t you tired carrying all that weight around?” Vella asked, looking over her shoulder at him before turning her head back to watch where she was going. “Those furs have to be heavy.”

“Nope. They’re not that bad. I want to show that Lance and I can provide game and pelts, as well as work them into clothing. It will go a long way in proving we’re going to be good for the community and not a dead weight,” he told her.

“What about me? Are they going to be okay with me being there?” she asked.

Carver could hear the worry in her voice. He was about to reassure her, but Lance spoke up first.

“You’re a woman, hon. That’s all that matters. You’re part of the future of the community.” Lance grinned at her over his shoulder. “Besides, you’ve got your secret weapon.”

“Huh? What secret weapon?” Vella’s confused-sounding voice was so cute that Carver nearly chuckled. He didn’t laugh.

“You’re super-duper photographic memory. There’s no telling what all is in that amazing brain of yours that might be important one day. Plus, any books they have there you can read and memorize for future use.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” she said.

After a quick lunch of dried meat and stale bread, the three of them hiked deeper into the thickening woods. Carver wasn’t sure if they were still technically in Montana or if they were in a sliver of Idaho, but they should be close to the settlement. The time to admit his affiliation with the bondsmen was just about past.

“Vella. I need to tell you something about my past you don’t know,” he began.

“What? You’ve already told me about being part of a big bad motorcycle club. I’m not too naive that I don’t know that you weren’t exactly law-abiding citizens, Carver. I’m okay with that.” She sounded so sweet, and it thrilled him that she accepted that part of his past, but would she accept the rest?

“It’s more than that, Vella. After everything went crazy, I…”

“Stop right there,” a deep voice called out from ahead of them. “Put down your weapons and keep your hands where we can see them.”

Beast growled and started to lunge into the trees, but Vella held on to his scruff, telling him no.

Carver lowered the rifle he’d been carrying and sighed. It looked like that time had come and gone. He’d blown it with Vella. Unless no one recognized him there, he wouldn’t get another chance to come clean with her. Pain squeezed his heart with needle-sharp talons that dug in.

Lance dropped his rifle gently to the ground and held his hands out away from his sides, as well. He looked slightly less nervous than Vella did. At least let them all get to the community where they would feel a little more at ease before someone exposed him.

“Is that a wolf?” another voice asked.

“No, it’s a really huge dog,” Vella said softly, soothing the dog’s fur.

“We’re here to join the community we’ve heard about. We’re looking for safety and fellowship with others who want the same things,” Lance said.

There was complete silence for a few long, nerve-wracking seconds before the voice spoke up again.

“How did you hear about the community?” the voice asked.

Beast started growling and making barking noises that weren’t quite like a dog’s. Carver could tell that Vella was scared to death, but she kept the animal next to her.

“Everyone has heard about it, but it’s hard to get information on the place to be able to find it,” Lance said.

Curses came from different areas around them. “But you found it.”

“Just because she had a map of where you were located and the best route. We just started out on our own going by logistics and stories,” Carver began. “Then we met Vella, and she had a map.”

“Please. We want a home where we’ll be safe,” Vella told the as-yet-unseen men.

“Are these your men, or are they keeping you?” the man asked.

“What? No! I mean, yes, they’re my men. They aren’t keeping me hostage or anything. They saved me from some other men when I jumped into a stream that had a lot of rapids in it. I would have died if they hadn’t risked their lives to save me.”

Carver prayed they would at least take her in. He’d been told they were good people there. No one would force her into anything. He’d take that. Just as he was about to suggest to Lance that they let her go so they knew she’d be safe, a very tall man with broad shoulders and long black hair stepped out of the thick cover of the woods. Another man followed him. This one had a scar across his right cheek that barely missed his eye. He had coal-black hair that he had pulled back. He couldn’t tell how long it was.

“I’m Abe Waverly, and this is McCall Granger. Mind introducing yourselves?” he asked.

“I’m Lance Backer, and this is Carver Windom. Our wife is Vella Lockhart.”

“Okay. Vella, I want you to gather all the weapons and bring them here. Then you can rejoin the men. We’ll show you the way to the settlement and talk more about this,” Abe told her.

Carver was surprised when she didn’t immediately jump to do his bidding. Instead, she looked to him as if for direction. Her eyes had storm clouds shadowing them as if she were a little afraid. It hit him. Of course she’d be afraid of a strange male telling her what to do. He swallowed hard at the amount of trust she was giving him. He relaxed his features to calm her as much as he could and nodded.

She looked over to Lance, and when he nodded, Vella began gathering all of their guns and rifles. She left the knives as they were. Then she carried them over to the man called Abe and gently laid them at his feet. She was back between him and Lance in a flash, unease tightening her face into a brittle smile.

Carver clenched his hands to keep from snapping at them not to scare her. He hated seeing the worry in her eyes. She shouldn’t have to worry about anything now that they’d gotten there.

“Okay. Follow us. We’ll lead you the rest of the way,” Abe told them. “It’s another thirty-minute walk, so, ma’am, if you get tired or need to stop a minute, let us know. We can stop.”

Carver’s opinion of the man eased up a few notches. He seemed to genuinely care about women. Or was it their woman? Was he looking at her as a possible wife?

Not going to happen. Even if I end up having to leave, Lance will take care of her. He might need to choose someone else to help him, but she isn’t going to end up with total strangers. I’ll damn well make sure of that shit before I do leave.

* * * *

Vella was equal parts excited about finally arriving and scared out of her mind with how they’d been greeted. Yeah, they had to be careful, but considering they were essentially a family now, why would they still treat them like this? Did the community treat every new family that arrived as if they might be dangerous? It didn’t help that she’d started getting the feeling along the way that Carver was reluctant to find the place. Then he’d been about to tell her something that sounded like it was important. She’d have to ask him once they were alone again.

Both men kept close to her, making sure she didn’t stumble over something and that all the branches where kept away from her so she didn’t get scratched. It gave her goose bumps all over the way they took her comfort so seriously. She still couldn’t believe her luck to have stumbled or swam her way into their path.

“How are you doing back there, ma’am?” Abe asked.

“I’m fine. Thank you.” She looked over at Lance and noticed how he and Carver exchanged worried glances several times.

The tension between all of them as they walked through the woods had her belly rumbling a rollercoaster of loops that threatened to empty its contents. When she’d pictured finding New Hope, as she called the settlement, Vella had thought there would be questions and maybe some unease from the others, but she hadn’t expected this amount of paranoia. Had something happened to put them on guard like this?

“Why are you so nervous of people finding you? I thought you wanted new families to help build up the community,” Vella finally built up enough courage to ask.

“Not really nervous, just cautious, ma’am. We’ve had some rumblings of a group of bondsmen…”

McCall interrupted him. “Black market bastards, you mean.”

“Right. Well, they’ve been spotted within a couple of day’s ride from us, and we don’t want them anywhere close. Plus, we don’t trust that they won’t try to pose as settlers to get in and smuggle out information or kidnap our women,” Abe explained.

“Oh. I didn’t realize they were out this far west and north.” She felt the air around Carver seem to shift.

Looking over at him, she caught the brief hint of fear in his eyes before it was gone and a steely determination flooded his expression. She’d just thought the tension was high before. Now Carver seemed to be vibrating with it. Why was he so upset to hear about the bondsmen? Was he afraid of them for some reason? Vella would never have believed Carver would be afraid of anything. That one realization bothered her more than anything. If he wasn’t comfortable with Abe and McCall, how could she be?

“Are there children there? I miss seeing children. There are so few of them now,” she said wistfully.

“Yes. We have several families who have children. Most are under the age of six, but there are a few around ten or twelve,” he told her without looking back at them.

“What are you doing about educating them? I’d love to help with teaching them if you need someone,” she said, voicing one of the things she’d been thinking about for the last couple of days.

With her ability to memorize pretty much anything, she could read school books and then help teach the children. She’d love doing that. Maybe they’d already have a school set up somewhere or would consider it since they had young children and wanted to have a community there. They needed a school. Children still needed to learn how to read and write, as well as how to survive now.

Vella risked a glance at her men to see what they thought of her offer. Lance was smiling a little, but Carver still had a tight expression that made his eyes narrow as he looked straight ahead. Something really was going on inside his head. He didn’t seem to have heard what she’d been talking about, or he was keeping his thoughts to himself. They really did need to have a talk, and sooner rather than later.

“We’re almost there,” Abe told them. “Another ten minutes and you’ll be able to see some of what we’ve been doing.”

That bit of news grabbed her attention. She started looking for signs of life around them. Would they have a fence up around the compound, or would it be open into the woods? Where would they grow their produce—close to the houses, or hidden somewhere away from the buildings?

There was so much she wanted to know, but she was afraid to broach the subject with Abe or the other guy. She figured she would learn eventually. If not, she’d ask others questions to help her figure everything out.

“Cows? Horses?” she asked before she could stop herself.

“Huh?” Abe sounded completely confused until McCall answered her.

“We’ve got both. Some of the cows are for milk, and some are for meat. We’ve even got a few goats and some hogs. The goats eat all the waste materials, like the stalks or peelings form the vegetable garden. It helps keep the trash problem down, and they give us milk as well. Some of the children have been intolerant of cow’s milk.” Abe didn’t seem quite as hesitant to talk about the farm now that they were closer.

It gave her a sense of hope that everything would be fine. Maybe he just didn’t feel comfortable away from home. If he had a wife and children, she was sure he’d be protective of them and worry about any strangers arriving.

She went with that thought and began to really look around as they walked, picking out subtle signs of there being a settlement nearby. For one thing, the trees were thinning out. Here and there, she saw evidence of pathways and wondered if they went to where they had their garden area or to other families’ homes.

Suddenly they walked out into a large clearing where off to the back stood a huge building that looked a lot like what she’d seen of old skiing lodges in books. She’d never actually been to one, but the massive structure before them sure looked like it to her. The dog moved closer to her, his ears twitching as if he wasn’t sure what to think of the place they’d brought him to. Excitement nearly bubbled over from inside her. They were really there. Finally.

“Come on in. This is the main lodge. It also serves as a community center of sorts. This place used to be a survivalist compound from what we’ve figured out,” Abe told them as he led them across the clearing to the deck, where he climbed the steps and opened the door of the lodge to admit them.

Vella suddenly felt shy. She grabbed both of her men’s hands as they climbed up on the deck then entered the building. It was tough going through the door, and Carver held back to let her and Lance go in first. She quickly reclaimed his hand, though, once he was inside with them.

“Celina! We have new company. Russell!” Abe yelled up the impressive stairs leading to the second story.

Vella looked around and noticed that McCall hadn’t come in with them. More than likely, he was gathering some of the others to come meet them. The massive stone fireplace looked majestic against the far wall with several couches and large, comfy-looking chairs circling around it. She could easily see families gathered around it talking and visiting at night. Maybe in the winter they would enjoy coffee and hot chocolate.

There were several other doors leading out of the room besides the large staircase at the opposite end of the building. The windows had huge, thick-looking drapes, as well as heavy-looking shutters that were wide open at the present time to allow the light into the room. There was no electricity she was sure. Very few people had it these days. The commune she’d left had begun installing solar panels to help furnish electricity for an icebox and lighting at night.