Zeke (44 page)

 “Go,” he growled to the
driver.

Enjoy this preview of
Betrayed-Alternate Ending
, the
exciting novel by Wodke Hawkinson

Chapter 49

Over the next week, Brook watched
the snow disappear around the cabin. She almost wished another storm would blow
in and cover the mountain in a heavy cocoon of white, wrapping them in its
silence, prolonging her departure. But the weather remained clear.

“You look worried,” Lance said one
evening.

“Hmmm?” Brook pulled herself from
her thoughts. “Oh, yes, I am. I’ve been thinking about going to the police.
It’s been months since the attack. I’m going to walk in there and tell them the
terrible things that happened to me and I’ll have no proof. All my injuries
have healed. What if they don’t believe me?”

Lance remained silent for a minute
and then surprised Brook when he stood and left the room. He returned in a
moment holding a digital camera. Brook looked from the camera to Lance with a
question in her eyes.

“I have to show you something
that’s going to be hard for you to see.” He turned on the camera, flipped a
switch, and handed it to Brook. “When I first brought you to the cabin I took
these pictures. I wasn’t entirely sure why; maybe to protect myself, I don’t
know. But, anyway, here’s your evidence.”

For the next few minutes, Brook
paged through the pictures, her face turning paler with each one. “Oh my God,”
she breathed quietly. “Oh dear God!” She dropped the camera into her lap,
covered her eyes with her hands, and cried.

Lance stood by, uncertain what to
do. He longed to hold her but felt she needed space.

“Oh, Lance!” Brook looked at him
with anguish. “They hurt me so badly. How did I even survive?” She stared at
him for a minute. “I know how I survived. You saved me! And now, you have given
me the evidence I need to hang those monsters.”

The shock of the images had left
her shaken. “Could you please hold me?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Just
hold me.”

Lance pulled her into his arms and
held her until she calmed.

The week passed quickly, far too
quickly, for the two lovers. Lance finally spoke the words they had both
dreaded. “We can make it to town, now. We’ll leave in the morning.”

That evening, Brook and Lance were
rarely out of touching distance. They sat together, not speaking, each just
enjoying the feel of the other’s presence. When they went to bed, they made
slow, leisurely love filled with lingering kisses, soft touches, and whispered words
of affection. Their hands stroked, lingering over every contour, so their hands
could remember when they could no longer do. They didn’t sleep until the wee
hours of the morning, and then they woke in each other’s arms and made love one
last time.

Brook had only a small canvas bag
containing the camera, sketches, journal, tiny that Lance had packed in a small
box for safe-keeping, and several other items she had accumulated. She stepped
through the cabin’s door without a backwards glance. It was so hard to say
goodbye to the place that had become home!

Gilbert pranced and bucked in her
pen, nimble in spite of her swollen belly. Lance would let her out when he
returned, but for now he grabbed a handful of hay and let Brook give her a bite
and a pat.

“You ever gonna have that baby? You
look like you’re about to pop,” Brook chided the goat, then turned somber. “I
bet it’ll be too cute for words. I wish it would’ve happened while I was still
here.” She sighed. Then she and Lance turned toward the path leading off the
mountain.

The trip to the road was slow
going. The path was muddy and Brook was glad Lance had insisted she put on the
many pairs of socks and his bulky boots. Her moccasins would never have
survived if she had worn them.

Brook noticed there was still an
abundance of snow under the trees where the sun couldn’t reach. Even some
places on the path were still drifted over.

Finally, they reached the road.
Lance looked at his bike, having forgotten that he would have to go get Old
Reliable. He looked back at Brook, cleared his throat, and said, “Uh, oh!”

“What?”

“I’m going to have to leave you
here while I ride to the trading post and get my truck. It’s about an hour’s
ride one way. I’m sorry; I should have remembered and went for it yesterday.”

“It’s no problem, Lance. In fact,
it’s fine. You ride down and I’ll start walking. The day is beautiful and I’ll
be okay. No one comes way up here, do they?”

“Rarely.” Lance still looked
unhappy. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

They lingered a few minutes,
hugging. Then Lance kissed her once, mounted his bicycle, and pedaled down the
road.

The air was brisk. Brook strolled
slowly, picking up the pace occasionally to warm up, then slowing again. She
looked into the forest, watching as birds flew from one tree to the other, and
caught sight of a squirrel. It ran for a second, only to stop and sit on its
haunches, searching the area with its black eyes, before darting to another
spot where it would repeat the process. She looked up at the robin’s-egg blue
sky that held not a single cloud. Smiling, she thought this was probably one of
the most peaceful spots in the world right now.

It didn’t seem long before she
heard a vehicle coming. Suddenly panicked, Brook looked around for a place to
hide.
What if it’s them? What if they find me again?

She darted toward the trees. Before
she ducked inside the woods, a truck’s horn sounded and Lance called out,
“Brook?”

Heart racing, Brook turned back to
the road. This was Lance’s truck. She was still safe.

“Brooklyn? Are you okay?”

“Oh!” Brook clutched her chest for
a second. “I was suddenly afraid that it was
them
. Coming to get me!”

Lance hugged her close. “I
shouldn’t have left you alone.”

“No, it’s okay. I have to learn to
manage my fear. It’s just that this is the first time I’ve been away from the
cabin, away from safety. I just freaked out for a minute.” She smiled to show
everything was fine.

Lance pointed out sights as they
moved toward town. “See that tree?” Lance asked, pointing to a large pine at
the side of the road. “Once, on the way down on my bike, I got to going too
fast. Before I knew it, I had lost control. I ended up in the lower branches of
that tree. I can still remember Denise’s face when I walked into the Trading
Post. She took one look at the needles covering my clothes, the dirt streaked
on my face, and the pinecone stuck in my hair, and started laughing. I thought
she was going to roll on the floor before she got control of herself.” Lance
laughed at the memory.

“Wasn’t she worried you were hurt?”
Brook asked, frowning over the woman’s heartlessness.

“Oh, she saw me walking in. She
could tell I wasn’t injured; well, maybe just my pride.” He chuckled as he
remembered.

Brook put her hand on Lance’s arm.
“I’ve been thinking about something. When we get to town, I want you to drop me
off at the police station. And then I want you to leave.”

“Drop you off?” Lance glanced at
her and then returned his eyes to the road. “First of all, Haylieville doesn’t
have a police station. There’s a sheriff’s office that covers several small
towns. Secondly, I’m not going to just dump you off, honey. I’m going in with
you.”

“No.” Brook shook her head. “You’ve
gone to all this trouble to make a new life, the kind of life you want. I won’t
let you jeopardize that on my account.”

“Brooklyn...”

“I mean it, Lance. Please. Let me
do this one thing for you, after all you’ve done for me.”

They drove on in silence.

“It doesn’t seem right.” Lance took
his arm from around her and pulled to the narrow shoulder of the road. He put
the truck in park and turned to face her.

His mouth was set in a firm line.
Brook traced his lips with a finger, and his eyes softened. Then she used the
words she knew would give her an unfair advantage. “Lance, I’m asking you to
respect my wishes. Please?”

A pained look crossed his face, but
he recovered quickly. “I guess we’d better say our goodbyes now, then.”

“Thank you.” Brook sighed. She
wrapped her arms around Lance, and he returned the embrace. With a final kiss,
he released her.

She dabbed at her eyes as he pulled
back onto the road. Before long, they reached the outskirts of town.

Brook turned to face Lance, urgency
written on her face. “I changed my mind. I don’t want to go to the police right
away. First, I need to find a phone. I have to call my parents.”

“You could do that from the police
station,” he said.

“No, I can’t wait. Please, Lance.”

Lance nodded and pulled into a
convenience store with a phone booth outside. “Will this do? Or, do you want
somewhere more private?”

“No, this is fine.” Brook started to
step from the truck, but stopped. “Damn, I don’t have any money.”

“Don’t worry.” Lance entered the
store and returned carrying three rolls of quarters. “They didn’t want to give
these up, but I insisted.” Lance kissed Brook’s forehead and went to lean on
the back of the truck, giving her privacy to make her call.

With shaking hands, Brook dialed.
She fumbled over the familiar numbers, restarting twice before getting them
right. Several rings passed before she heard the loving voice of her mother
through the receiver.

Brook choked up and couldn’t speak
for a moment.

“Hello?” her mother repeated with a
questioning tone.

“Mama,” Brook managed.

A second’s silence met this word,
and then, fearful she had misunderstood, “Brooklyn?”

“Yes, mama, it’s me!” Tears were
streaming down Brook’s face, as the answering sobs of her mother filled the
receiver.

Brook’s mom called for her dad and
then his excited voice sounded close by. “Where are you, baby?” her mom asked,
her words tripping over each other. “Are you okay? Oh, God, we’ve been sick
with worry. We were so afraid…” she broke off.

“I’m okay! Really. It’s a long
story and I
will
tell you everything.
Soon
.”

“Tell us now! What happened to you?
We have to know, Brook.” Her father had picked up the extension.

“I was taken, Daddy.” Brook’s eyes
filled with tears again as she gave them an abbreviated version of her
abduction and captivity.

“Oh god!” Anguish was plain in her
dad’s voice.

“I’m safe now,” Brook said. “I’m
safe now.”

Her mother interjected, “Does Clark
know? Have you talked to him?”

“Not yet,” Brook said. “But I will.
I’ll call him as soon as we hang up. Please don’t call him; let me do it.”

“Alright, honey. We won’t talk to
him until after you tell us it’s okay,” her dad said over her mom’s protests.

“I’m afraid things are going to get
crazy for me in the next few days. Can you tell Gregg and Alice? Just ask them
to keep it to themselves. The news will get hold of the information soon enough
on their own.”

After receiving affirmations to her
wishes, they talked for a long while. Brook used over two rolls of quarters
before she could bring herself to hang up, to let go of the contact with her
mama and papa, no matter how tenuous
. She
promised to call again as soon as she was home. She had a hard time convincing
them not to jump on a plane and come immediately. “I have to deal with the
police, and get back to Denver. If you could come after that...”

“I’ll do some rescheduling, get
someone to cover my practice, and then we’ll be there, honey,” her dad said.
“Within a week.”

“I love you,” Brook said. “Don’t
worry. We’ll see each other soon.”

Brook stared at the receiver after
she disconnected the call. Finally, she hung it up and turned to Lance. She was
trembling when she went to him. He gathered her into his arms and held her
until she stopped shaking.

“Now, I need to call Clark.” She
pushed away from Lance with a small tug of guilt

“I’ll wait in the truck.” He slid
into the seat and closed the door.

Brook returned to the phone and dialed
the number for Clark’s cell phone. He didn’t pick up. When she got his voice
mail, she paused, unprepared. Finally, she cleared her throat and said, “Clark,
this is Brook. I’ll try to call your office. I’m safe, and I’m coming home.”

She then dialed his office and
learned that Clark was in a meeting outside the office. Her message was simple.
“Tell him his wife called.”

“That was fast,” Lance said as she
climbed into the truck.

“He wasn’t available.” Brook looked
out the window.

“Okay.” Lance started the truck and
pulled out of the parking lot. “To the sheriff’s office?”

“Yes,” she agreed.

Brook changed into the moccasins
Lance had made for her while he drove. She ran her fingers through her hair and
gently rubbed her eyes.

When Lance pulled up in front of
the sheriff’s office, Brook gazed into his dark eyes for only a moment, the
ache of their separation threatening to overwhelm her. She saw Lance struggling
with the same torment. Quickly, she leaned in to kiss him goodbye. He met her
halfway and they lingered briefly over the kiss. Neither spoke of their love,
they had told each other many times the night before; the time had come to put
these words aside.

Brook got out of the truck and
walked up to the building. In the windows fronting the office, she could see
the reflection of Lance sitting in his truck. Her heart squeezed. She blinked
back tears as she watched him pull away.

Lance pointed his truck toward
home. Although there was a lot he needed to replenish after the winter, there
would be no shopping today. He needed the comforts of his cabin now.