Leigh Bale - Reunited By A Secret Child

Reese gravitated toward her, grateful to see a familiar face. Right now, he felt adrift in a stormy sea of doubt, with multiple leaks in his life raft. She was like a lifeline, reeling him in. For the first time in a long time, he needed someone else’s help, and that left him feeling strangely humbled.

“What’s going on here?” Martin Sanders, the chief of police, got out of his squad car and strode toward the mob.

Reese hesitated. As a teenager, he’d had plenty of altercations with this officer. So had his father. Reese couldn’t remember the number of times his dad had been locked in a cell overnight for being drunk and disorderly or writing a bad check. Either Reese or his mom had always bailed him out. Most of the money Reese made working summer jobs had been taken by his dad to buy booze. Instead of buying new school clothes, Reese’s mom had let out the hems in his old pants and mended his threadbare socks and shirts. Being poor because of his father’s penchant for drink had taken its toll on Reese’s morale. He hated being the child of a drunkard.

Chief Sanders looked older now, with gray at his temples, but he was still big, tall and capable. He tugged up his duty belt, laden with a gun, handcuffs and a Taser. It was obvious from his fierce demeanor that he knew how to handle himself with these reporters.

“Thanks for coming, Chief Sanders. I’ve asked them all to leave, but they’ve refused,” Charlie said.

“What’s the big deal? We just want an interview,” Bruce Miller called.

Sanders turned and looked at Reese. “Are you the cause of all this ruckus?”

Reese nodded. “Yes, sir, but I don’t mean any harm.”

As the policeman sized him up, recognition flashed in his eyes, followed by a glaze of distaste. Reese couldn’t blame him. No doubt the lawman remembered every rotten act he’d committed when he was a youth. Destroying property, tagging fences with spray paint, getting drunk with his friends. In retrospect, Reese didn’t know why he’d done such things. It was as if he’d wanted to get back at his father for all the pain he caused at home.

“Do you want to give them an interview?” Sanders asked.

Reese shook his head. “No, sir. I have nothing to say to any of them.”

A thought occurred to him and he suddenly knew how they’d found him. Over an hour earlier, Milly Carver had delivered extra towels to his room before he went to lunch. No doubt the maid had blabbed that he was here and news had spread like wildfire.

Sanders faced the crowd. “You heard him, folks. You’ll have to leave now. Most of you are from out of town. I suggest you get in your cars and keep on going.”

“I’d like another room here for the night,” Bruce said.

“Sorry, but since you checked out this morning, I have no rooms available for any of you,” Charlie said.

Reese hated to be the cause of the man losing business.

“If you take the main road into Carson City, I’m sure you’ll find accommodations there, or in Reno. Or you can stay at Rigbee’s Motel down the street,” Charlie said.

“Yeah, sure,” Bruce groused.

They all grumbled but slowly drifted away, leaving Reese in peace.

“Take him inside the office.” Charlie nudged Katie, but she didn’t move, seeming frozen in place.

“Come on. Follow me.”

Reese looked down and found Chrissy holding his hand. Locking her jaw and lifting her chin with determination, she led him into the relative safety of the reception room. There was something familiar about the way she tilted her head, but he couldn’t figure it out. Nor did he understand why this child and her mother were trying to protect him. He wasn’t used to being rescued.

Inside the office, Reese breathed a sigh of relief. He could still hear the reporters outside and Chief Sanders’s booming voice as he directed them to pack up their equipment. Maybe Reese should leave town, but he hadn’t gone to the cemetery to visit his mom yet. He wanted to stay at least long enough to pay his respects to her. So, what should he do? Where could he go?

“Thanks for that,” he said to Charlie and Katie. Highly conscious that Chrissy was still gripping his hand, he politely withdrew.

“They’ll just come back. What can we do?” Katie asked her father.

Charlie shrugged. “He’ll have to leave, of course.”

“But where will he go?” she said.

Reese chuckled. “You know, I’m right here. You don’t need to talk as though I’m not listening to your conversation.”

Katie licked her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, Reese. I’m just concerned, that’s all. I don’t want trouble.”

“Neither do I,” he said.

“What do you want to do, then?” she asked.

“You’re right. I can’t stay here, that’s for sure,” he stated.

“Don’t be sad,” Chrissy said. “Mommy says that things always have a way of working themselves out. We just need to have faith.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Reese gave a stiff smile.

He couldn’t believe that this little girl was trying to comfort him. He found the child endearing, but her clinging presence also made him uncomfortable. He didn’t know why she seemed to like him so much.

“What about Cove Mountain?” Charlie asked.

Katie glanced at her father, her eyebrows drawn together in a frown. “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Charlie said. “It’s a great place to hide out. It’s rugged and isolated enough that most reporters would get lost trying to find it. Without four-wheel drive, their cars would bottom out on the washboard roads and they’d end up with a broken axel.”

“Cove Mountain? You mean your cabin up there?” Reese said.

He recalled that the Ashmores had a log cabin in the lovely mountains surrounding the town. Reese had been there a few times with his Boy Scout troop, before he’d become too wild to enjoy fishing and hiking. The times he’d been there had been idyllic. That was when he’d decided that he wanted to fight wildfires. About twenty miles outside town, the three-room cabin was tucked back in a forest surrounded by tall Douglas fir and pine trees.

“Yes, our cabin. You’ll go to Cove Mountain,” Charlie said with finality.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Reese asked, conscious of little Chrissy listening intently to every word.

“I am,” Charlie said. “If we’re careful, no one will discover you. Katie can take you in the back way. There’s no cell phone service, but Martha Murdoch lives near the cabin and she has a landline you can use in an emergency. She’ll notice smoke coming from the chimney, but she’ll think it’s us. Even if she finds out you’re staying there, she hates gossip and won’t bother you.”

“That sounds fine. I’ll pay you rent,” Reese said.

Charlie shook his head. “That’s not necessary. It’s too rustic for us to charge a fee.”

“Why are you helping me?” Reese asked. He could hardly believe this generosity. After all, he’d done nothing to deserve it.

“Because you’re a Minoa boy, and we take care of our own,” Charlie said.

Once again, Reese was touched by this family’s kindness toward him. He had no idea how he could ever make it up to them.

“Thank you,” he said.

Speaking those words felt good. Mainly because it’d been a very long time since he’d said them to anyone.

“You’re welcome.” Charlie reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a set of keys, which he handed to Reese. “Katie will drive you up there. It’s a pretty deserted road.”

“Come on, let’s get going,” Katie said, her frown still firmly in place.

“I want to go, too,” Chrissy said.

“Not this time, bug. I need you to stay here and help me watch the front desk.” Charlie reached down and tickled the girl’s ribs.