Rebecca Winters: Home To Copper Mountain

“Thanks for picking her up. Did she seem all right to you?” Pam asked in an anxious voice.

Putting two and two together, Rick realized that if Pam had been at her cousin’s bedside both at the hospital and here at the house, then she knew about the nightmares. Maybe she feared Audra had suffered another debilitating episode. Under the circumstances, Rick could well understand her concern.

“She’s fine.”

He didn’t dare say anything else. It was important that Audra trust him.

They walked up the steps of the house together. “Is everything okay with you?” he asked her.

“I’m not sure. Better ask me after today is over, Rick,” came her cryptic remark.

THE DINING ROOM was Audra’s favorite place in the house. It had a huge eighteen-foot ceiling, an enormous fireplace and circular bay windows. In the past, with the addition of several round tables surrounding the main dining-room table, the room could hold forty-five Jarretts comfortably. But tragedy had struck, limiting their numbers.

Today the remaining fifteen family members were joined by Clint Hawkins and his son. Uncle David, whose thinning gray hair still showed traces of auburn, presided at the head.

Several of the other family members in the room had inherited the Jarrett trait of red hair. Audra had been forced to put up with a lot of teasing because of it. She didn’t envy her cousins’ children for what they’d have to deal with as they grew older.

Her uncle told Audra to sit at the opposite end of the table where she could rest her cast without any obstruction. Then he asked the boys—her male cousins now in their thirties—to get up and finish bringing in the rest of the food from the kitchen.

Audra didn’t dare glance at Pam just then. The vexed expressions on the boys’ faces would have caused both of them to break into laughter.

To Audra’s relief, their uncle had placed Pam and Clint on his right, with Rick next to his father. Jim, Sherry and their two children sat on his left. Next to them came Greg and Diane and their two kids. Tom and Annette and their two offspring took up the rest of the places.

Being at opposite ends of the table meant Audra didn’t have to look into a pair of intelligent gray eyes that had been privy to sights she didn’t want anyone to see.

Trying to overcome the shock of finding Rick Hawkins standing over her when she’d awakened, screaming her head off, she concentrated on her food.

As far as Audra was concerned, Pam was the best cook in the Hill Country. She’d outdone herself with her country-fried chicken, giblet gravy, dumplings and a half-dozen side dishes that were her uncle’s favorites.

Audra felt terrible for not contributing anything. The cast couldn’t come off soon enough to suit her.

“This is a fine meal, Pam.” Their seventy-two-year-old uncle appeared to be enjoying himself.

“Clint helped me. In fact, he made the dessert, a Hawkins-family recipe.”

“Which one is that, Dad?” she heard Rick ask.

“Rocky road.”

“I’ll bet it’s good,” their uncle commented.

“My brother and I could never get enough of it, but then we’re chocolate lovers.”

So was Audra. She helped herself to the creamed potatoes with peas, waiting for the rest of the Jarrett side of the family to chime in. But the others just talked horses and ranch business among themselves, acting for all the world as if they were alone at the table.

According to Pam, none of the boys had ever shown the slightest interest in Clint or knew anything about him except that he’d come from Colorado. They’d never asked any questions. Their distrust of outsiders, plus their jealousy of Pam, had made communication impossible.

Pam, on the other hand, had welcomed their wives into the family. She’d shown love to their children, and had done everything she could for them. Yet they ignored her new husband as if he didn’t exist. Their unconscionable rudeness toward Clint and Rick infuriated Audra. This couldn’t be allowed to go on.

She turned to Tom’s thirteen-year-old son seated on her right. “Hey, Bobby? Have you thought of a subject for your technology report yet?”

He frowned. “I was going to show how phones have changed to become cell phones, but a lot of the kids are planning to do the same thing.”

Good. He hadn’t gotten started on it yet.

“Would you like an idea that’s different? I can promise no one else in your class will have thought of it.”

“What’s that?”

“Skis and boots.”

“Huh?”

“They’ve changed a lot since the days when someone tied his shoes to wooden slats with a couple of pieces of rope and used sticks for poles. I bet when Clint won his gold medal in the Olympics, his skis and boots were a lot different because of technology.”

Bobby’s head jerked toward the other end of the table. “You won a gold medal at the Olympics?” By now everyone else was staring at Pam’s husband in surprise. It was about time the family opened their eyes and ears to the kind of man she’d married.

Clint flashed Audra a private smile. “It was a long time ago, but Audra’s right. Since then, skis and boots have undergone tremendous changes to make them faster, lighter and safer.”

“What did you win the medal in?” Michael wanted to know. He was Jim’s eleven-year-old.

“The giant slalom.”

“Whoa.”

Delighted over the kids’ reactions, Audra said, “He and his now-deceased wife owned and ran a ski business in Copper Mountain, Colorado.

“Fabulous skiers from all over the States and Europe flock there for the World Cup races. There probably isn’t anything he doesn’t know about the changes in ski technology.

“His wife won a silver medal at the same Olympics for the women’s downhill, Bobby,” Audra continued. “If I were you, I’d pump Clint for all he’s worth. You’re bound to get top marks with such an original report.”

She flicked her glance to Sherry. “Would you mind passing me the corn on the cob? It’s so good, I’ve got to have another one.”

“Sure.” Sherry picked up the bowl and handed it to Bobby, who gave it to Audra.

“Do you ski, too?” Sherry directed her question to Rick. Jim’s wife, like Annette and Diane, couldn’t seem to take her eyes off Clint’s son. And the boys didn’t seem to like it.

Audra smiled to herself. The racetrack lover had blown into town. Watch out, guys. He’s not only easy on the eyes, he’s a breed apart from the rest of you.

“Every chance I get,” came Rick’s quiet reply.

“Rick won the Junior World Slalom Championship when he was a teenager,” Pam volunteered.

“Cool!” This from several of the children.

Audra didn’t know that. “Rick Hawkins is a man of many talents.” All of them had to do with speed and danger.

At that comment, his gaze met hers head-on. She refused to look away. Pete had lost his life in a freak car accident. According to Pam, Clint figured it was only a matter of time until his son was seriously injured or killed on the track in a fiery crash. Audra didn’t want to think about that happening.

Clint adored his boys. If anything ever happened to them he would never get over it. The pain would put a blight on Pam’s marriage. And there’d been too much pain in the Jarrett family. Her cousin Pam didn’t deserve any more.

Not only would it be a pointless tragedy, it would destroy Pam and Clint’s newfound happiness. Audra wanted their joy to last forever.

She could always lock Rick up in a barn and keep the key. There was a tantalizing thought. But aside from hog-tying him, she was powerless to prevent something ghastly from happening.

Fastening her attention on Bobby once more, she said, “If you traced the Hawkins family’s experiences testing out ski equipment, I have no doubts you’d tap into exactly what your teacher had in mind when she gave you the assignment.”