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Cash was missing, as I’d come to understand was the usual unless there was something important going on with their family.
And River…River was down at the water with Nolan, the two of them skipping rocks.
“You did it, Daddy-O! Did you see that? You had five whole skips!” Nolan jumped as his little hand sporting all five fingers jabbed toward the sky. “My turn!”
Nolan grabbed a giant rock and tossed it. It blobbed against the water and sank straight to the bottom. “Whelp, guess I don’t got any extra points for that. I’d better take your advice and get a different kind of rock. That’s because you got smart ideas, right, Dad?” he asked as he started to poke around in the line of rocks that had gathered on the beach.
River chuckled that sound that rolled through me like greed, and as if he felt it, he turned to me. That dark gaze raked over me, and his expression shifted, a promise of what he was going to do to me later.
I bit down on my bottom lip.
I couldn’t wait.
That man had had me in every way. Constant and unendingly. And I knew I would never get enough.
But right then, this time was about family.
About our family, and I stood from the blanket and started down the shore.
“How about we take a break from rock skipping and take a little walk?” I asked, my nerves rattling inside me.
Nolan squealed and clapped his hands, bouncing toward me as he asked, “Like a hike? I’m really good at hikin’.”
“Yeah, like a hike.”
River looked at me from over his head. Awareness pulled between us, and emotion gathered thick at the base of my throat, this heaviness that was also the lightest light.
I took Nolan’s left hand, and River took his right, and we began to wind up the trail to the spot we had picked for this day.
It was no surprise that Nolan had been traumatized that day two months ago. He hadn’t let me or River out of his sight for two weeksbefore he’d felt safe and confident enough to move around the house on his own. Once in a while, he still cried out for us in the night.
But he’d begun to heal, and I knew it was time.
We climbed up the winding trail that wound through the dense, soaring trees.
Nolan’s little feet scuffed behind me. “Whew, this hike is really tough, isn’t it, Miss Charleigh? You got hard puffs from your mouth, too?”
A soft, affectionate giggle rolled out of me. “I sure do. But we’re almost there.”
We finally broke out in the clearing where we’d climbed to the short cliffs that overlooked the lake. Beyond, we could see the cabins that lined the area, hidden beneath the swells of lush leaves.
Theo’s motel, The Sanctuary, was down at the base below us.
From here, the lake appeared crystalline, a scatter of diamonds glinting over the top.
It was gorgeous. Awe-inspiring.
But not close to the beauty I saw when I turned to look at River standing there holding Nolan’s hand.
“Come over here, Nolan, I have something really important I need to tell you.”
He didn’t hesitate. He trotted along at my side as I led him to a big rock that gave an extraordinary view of the valley. We settled down onto it, the stone worn from the weather and storms.
We were far enough back that there was no danger of falling over the edge but close enough that it felt as if you hovered right over the lake.
I pulled Nolan onto my lap and angled him sideways, and River came and sat beside us.
“So, what you gotta tell me that’s really important?” He was all grins, kicking his sandal-clad feet as he beamed between us.
