After recovering from her illness and the Christmas Snowstorm, Lil thought that the complications in life with Russell were pretty much over. Other things occupied her mind like getting Dr. Benjamin Pennington back to the cabin and together with Nancy Summerhill, Lil’s choice as his permanent dancing partner. How to accomplish that, however, becomes a problem as life does a slight turn on Lil when two men chase her through Russell’s forest then try to shoot at her. And successfully shoot Russell.
The ensuing mystery would become the most difficult problem she would have to unravel. Worse than being kidnapped twice, or shot at by the poachers, or beaten up by the youngest poacher, or even fighting her third brain tumor as she had last summer.
Even being killed by Arnold Pittsman then returned to Russell by the Lord couldn’t have prepared her for this. This time, the ultimate price is demanded – and paid unwittingly by a friend.
And, Batsy finally learns just what a crack shot he really is with his rifle when death visits the mountain thrice in one summer. The consolation comes in his Andy, and a surprise that knocks the wind out of his father and even his mother.
Well, one is never sure how the Lord will keep His promises. And Lil was proof positive of that.
Excerpt:
The next morning, Russell’s grunts were heard coming from the upstairs bedroom where the Bowflex machine was – taking delight in the new exercise apparatus Batsy had given him for Father’s Day. Having already done her exercises, Lil loaded the washing machine with the dirty towels from the bathroom. Today’s plan was to drive over to Spokane for some needed shopping – a six hour round-trip, not including the shopping time. But he was still upstairs and sweating.
Glancing at the two-story bay windows as she headed toward their bedroom, Lil was struck with the beauty of her surroundings. Her next glance was up at the bedroom where Russell was working on his Buff. She’d leave him a note. The mountain air hadn’t warmed yet which meant that she needed a light knit jacket with her jeans.
A few minutes later, Lil was slipping occasionally while descending the graveled cutoff that connected the cabin to the national forest dirt road. Her efforts to use the quick route straight down through the trees instead of using the winding route for vehicles were clumsy at best. Her Klutz almost sending her onto her butt several times while she laughed. If Russell could see her, he’d laugh too but would insist on helping her. His constant thrill was catching her!
Between the fifth and sixth sections of the seven hairpin turns on the cutoff, Lil’s left foot kept going when her boot stepped into some loose dirt and she landed hard on her right hip. Stunned, her skin pinked a little with some embarrassment while she straightened her right leg out. Then, she laughed, wondering how she would explain the new bruises to Russell. And the stains on her jeans.
Just as she started to stand up, a small patch of mushrooms caught her eye. Lil leaned forward then reached to pluck some of the debris her foot had disturbed from the tops of the pink spores. When she stood to continue down the cutoff, she glanced around and noticed other things she had missed.
“Who wants to go shopping when I can see all of this?” she said aloud, inhaling the smell of the moist, soft ground under her feet. And immediately coughed. Nothing like a little emphysema either! she laughed to herself.
At the bottom of the cutoff, she turned right, walking along the dirt road while heading for nowhere in particular. Her Klutz required that she watch her feet more than she wanted to so stopping to simply inhale deeply of her surroundings happened frequently.
Zipping the light knit jacket higher, she walked a little farther where she could see a wider view through the trees then stopped. The temperate rain forest climate of Kootenai National Forest meant that the mountains were actually covered with trees – one of the reasons she loved the view from the cabin’s vantage point on the rocky ledge. She could actually see the peaks of the mountains around her.
A few bees zipped past her face, heading for somewhere then a fly buzzed her. Then, she had the strangest feeling of being watched. Lil struggled with her desire to “watch” whatever it was herself then realized that since it was already watching her, outsmarting it would be difficult. Remembering Russell’s reports of two bears in the area, she decided to turn calmly and head back toward the cabin. Even with their Spring hunger, a bear wouldn’t attack if she slowly moved away from it. However, perhaps the animal watching her wasn’t a bear. Perhaps it wasn’t even dangerous.
As usual with her calculations, Lil miscalculated. This one was.
“Russell!” she shrieked as he grabbed her teetering body. “How long have you been following me?!”
“Since I heard you stumbling down the cutoff through the bedroom window,” he chuckled, smelling of sweat.
“You could have showered!” she pointed out.
“I could have. But then I would have missed watching you enjoy our mountains. And I was watching for those two bears Harry reported. Which you weren’t.”
“I wasn’t,” she admitted. “But I’m getting better at it. I finally realized that something was watching me. I just didn’t know how dangerous the animal was.”
“I’ll take that,” he laughed, giving her a tight squeeze. “So, are we heading for Spokane or would you rather walk some more?”
He released her to swipe at a flying bug. She sighed. “I guess we could head for Spokane.”
“You sure?” he chuckled. “I thought you were going to start World War III and refuse to go even over your dead body.”
“Over what?”
“I believe that was your comment when I said we were getting you a swimsuit.”
“Over my dead body!”
“You see?” he laughed. “So, am I carrying you into stores or are you going peaceably. Because you are going to buy one. Unless you want to avoid clothing altogether…”
“Over my dead bo—” was quickly covered as the deadly dangerous lips on her husband covered her mouth.
However, he didn’t get past his firm Rembrandt because his body chuckled. Then he gulped while trying to keep their mouths together. Then, Russell simply gave up and laughed.
“Mrs. B, I can’t kiss you when I’m thinking about that or I’ll melt the entire mountain, this side of the State of Montana, and the Province of British Columbia north of us!”
No contradiction came out of her because he was absolutely right! However, the swimsuit problem remained.
“Maybe that means I shouldn’t buy one,” she pointed out, hoping for a change of plans. Or distraction. “Besides, you aren’t ready to leave.”
He shrugged and took her arm, guiding her back toward the cabin’s cutoff. “I’m retired and Harry is managing the Spring forestry schedule just fine. We can stay overnight which means attending the temple this evening. Good?”
She walked, not pleased with mention of the temple because she wouldn’t even be able to do the flimflam now. “You’re just trying to buy me by promising the temple, aren’t you.”
“Is it working?”
Lil sighed, “Yes.”
“Good!” he declared firmly, striding beside her. “Now let’s find a swimsuit. Pink, I think…”
Segment #2:
Suddenly the light from the kitchen assaulted her eyes.
“Everything okay?” Batsy’s baritone asked.
“Yeah, she’s fine,” Russell responded. “She’s just a little upset and worried.”
“I am too, Dad. I think we better talk.”
“Come on in,” Russell replied, motioning toward his son.
Batsy came into the room while Lil sat on the bed using her tissue and Russell turned her lamp on.
“What? Is something else wrong?” Russell queried. “One of the men?”
“No, Dad. The whole thing’s bothering me…” Batsy’s voice hesitated and his hand scratched his short lighter sable-colored hair. “It’s just that Agent Bartholomew could have shot one of us. If you hadn’t heard something, one of us could have been dead.”
“What I heard was the click of a pistol,” he explained while changing into his pajama bottoms. “And it wasn’t the man we had in sight.”
“I thought so but Bartholomew shot at someone without knowing who it was. Then I think someone else did, too. A different caliber went off.”
“You heard right,” Russell confirmed, reaching for his nightshirt. A gasp of air came out of him when Batsy pulled his father’s night T-shirt down, but Russell glared at Lil for jumping up to the rescue.
“Don’t you give me that look,” she retorted. “It’s my right as your wife and I’m taking it. Which pain pill?”
“I can’t. I need to stay awake—”
“Dad, you trained me very well now please trust me to know what to do. Besides, there are plenty of us and everyone knows their assignments. You take the pill now or I’ll send Pennington in here with a shot.”
Lil watched the short process of that thought on Russell’s face. He hated having Pennington in control.
“The oxycodone,” he finally relented, “and a little of my wife on the side.”
“That I can do,” she acquiesced softly, heading for the pills and some water. “So, Batsy… What’s the problem? Agent Bartholomew doesn’t know either of you that well or your abilities to sneak around on these mountains. Perhaps it would be wise to inform him?”
“I’m not sure it would have done any good,” Russell answered instead. “His excuse is that he heard and saw someone who looked like your Fred.”
“And why does that make sense?” she asked. “Wouldn’t they want to question him, not shoot him?”
“One would think so,” Russell agreed. “That’s why we were sneaking, trying to circle him without him knowing we were there. Then all hell broke loose and everyone hit the ground. The guy ran right past Pennington who tried to make a grab for him but the second shot went off and Pennington landed on his back.”
Lil handed him the pill and the water then he drummed the glass a little with his fingers, giving her that look.
“Mrs. B?”
“Okay, okay!” she replied then reluctantly took her pill too.
“Mom, none of this is making any sense and that’s what worries me,” Batsy cut in. “We have drug problems here off and on because of the close proximity to Canada. One time, Tom came up, asking if we had noticed anything unusual then told us about some men that were flying drugs and guns across the border by landing a float plane in Lake Koocanusa.”
“That’s the worst fishing I’ve ever done,” Russell chuckled. “Tom had five boats of us running up and down that lake non-stop, pretending we were fishing.”
Batsy shook his head, cackling. “Yeah, I remember. Dad caught so many trash fish that I learned a couple new swear words. Then, when I finally had a large Pike on my line, he started whizzing the boat down the lake!”
“My best defense was an offense. Much like what your mother does,” Russell explained, chuckling at his son. “But I was the one with the big trout on when we finally spotted the plane. I quickly cut my line while we watched the plane circle then land the second time. Tom’s men were already in place so we thought our part was done. We were just about to shore when the plane revved up.”
“Man, I thought I was going to pound a hole in the bottom of Wally’s boat!” Batsy snapped, unhappy. “After all the planning and waiting, the pilot got away. They arrested the men that were waiting on the bank in a boat, but the plane went right off the radar into the mountains. The Canadians never found him or the weapons cache but they got the rest of the crop.”
“Could this be the same bunch?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Batsy answered, his brows knitting together. “But wouldn’t it be a strange coincidence if it were.”
“Too strange,” Russell sighed. Then nodded at his son. “Go get some rest now. The action is probably over for the night.”
Batsy nodded back and left the room, closing their bedroom door behind him. Lil doubted that Batsy or anyone else other than themselves and maybe Nancy would get any sleep. At least, Lil hoped Nancy would sleep later.
Not having Pennington barge into their room with a shot for each of them worked because his tenor voice could be heard in the common room laughing with Nancy’s deep female voice about something very funny. In fact, Pennington was paying less attention to Lil and Russell and more attention to Nancy which meant Nancy wasn’t under foot all the time.
In the bed, Russell cuddled Lil from behind as he usually did. The room was quiet other than the murmurs from the common room activity. Then Russell sighed.
“Mrs. B?”
“Umm?”
“I think he’s teaching her to dance.”
“That’s good.”
“No, that’s great. He finally has his own dance partner instead of mine…” the lips whispered against her hair. “But I’m not dancing.”
That wasn’t exactly true. His hands were dancing around in a variety of places and Lil started giggling then laughed out loud. He laughed himself and tickled her even harder until she wheezed.
“Oh my,” she gasped. “You watch those hands of yours or I’ll—” Her brain and voice hesitated. He’d take it as a challenge.
“Yes, Mrs. B? You were saying? Or you’ll what?” he chuckled behind her. “Ummm?”
Uh…got it!
“I’ll giggle loud enough that Pennington will come running in here to check on his patient.” Hah! She had him and he knew it. And he knew she knew it!
“That’s cruel, Mrs. B. Downright cruel. However…”
She turned to see what his point was and understood it immediately. “Ummm!” met her mouth as he applied his Slam to her, firmly holding her with his muscles as usual. Pulling on his hands or forearms didn’t help. Unfortunately, the hands that were holding her face to his, her mouth to his were a little stronger than hers. Perhaps a lot stronger than hers. Then he rolled over her enough to stop the flailing of her arms.
Blast it! She had won this one! Unfortunately, the Slam usually removed most of her objections. That’s why he did it.
“You don’t win,” he gasped, finally letting go. “Never, Mrs. B. Never.”
She gave up. What did she care who won? Except…
“Payback,” she wheezed. “Payback…”
“I’m looking forward to it. When?”
“Ah. That’s the rub: When. Probably next year some time.”
“Don’t you dare to that to me! I demand my paybacks while I can still remember what they’re for!”
She rolled her eyes in the dark and replied, “That is the payback.”
He chuckled then laughed against her body. He understood.
