Genesis: A Harte's Peak Prequel (17 page)

Out of the corner of her eye, Maggie caught a glimpse of a plaque in Richard's office, the door left uncharacteristically open. Richard was private about his office, the only place he'd ever restricted Lexi from entering.

What Maggie saw glinting in the sun rays spilling in from the window had to be some kind of mistake, and it drew her further into the office as she stared at the plaque.

It couldn't be, and yet it clearly read
“Matthew Bradshaw, Teacher of the Year, Denver County Public Schools.”
Maggie picked it up in her hands, turning it over. No.

The full measure of understanding hit her like the wind on a frigid day.
The missing boxes
. Paula, after all, had helped with the packing. And while Maggie had been certain that every box had been moved into her new home, she'd been wrong about that. Matt's mementos were not missing at all. They were all here, under the Bradshaws' roof. Once again, they had taken something from her that they had no right to take.

Maggie held the plaque to her chest with shaking hands and carried it out of the office as Paula and Jack were coming back inside.

“What's wrong?” Jack asked.

He'd known her a month, and he could tell.

Paula's eyes were riveted to what Maggie held in her arms but she didn't say a word.

Maggie took a deep steadying breath. “I need to talk to Paula. Will you excuse us, please?”

She ignored Jack's questioning eyes and led Paula into the living room. Paula turned to her, eyes wide and pleading. “Let me explain.”

“I'm listening.” She didn't owe Paula anything at all, but in truth, she wanted to know. She needed to know why.
God, please give me strength and lend me the spirit of forgiveness because I cannot do this on my own.

“You weren't supposed to go in Richard's office.” Paula's lips trembled.

“I wasn't supposed to go in there and see this. What else do you have that belongs to Matt?” Maggie's voice rose while her throat constricted as though filled with sharp pins.

“It was Richard.” Paula put a hand to her head and took a seat on the couch, ignoring the fact that she'd once told Maggie no one ever sat in this room.

“How? Why?”

“When you were moving Lexi into the house you bought, I think he realized he'd lost. It hit him hardest then. He hadn't really cried since Matt died, but on that day, it hit him. Imagine what he has to live with, Maggie. He didn't accept what Matt wanted to do with his life when he was alive. When he saw the plaque, he found a pride in Matt he couldn't dredge up when he was alive.”

Maggie's heart ached for Richard. He was so lost. Too lost to even know it. Hadn't she told Jack that the lost were some of her favorite people? “Do you have everything else? I assumed the boxes were lost or misplaced. I never dreamed you would purposely hang on to them.”

“I told him he should have asked you if he might have some of Matt's belongings, and that I'd never known you to be anything but kind. But you know how he can get. I had hoped to gradually talk Richard into giving them back. Things don't replace people, and I've told him a hundred times. I have my memories, and the love Matt and I had for each other remains with me. Richard doesn't have that.”

“I've been telling Lexi the same thing. Matt's mementos won't replace him.” Funny how they'd both made the same foolish mistake.

“You might think that Richard is worried you want Lexi to forget we exist, but the truth is he's afraid you'll let her forget Matt.”

“I would never do that.”

Lexi would always have the benefit of wonderful memories of a loving relationship with Matt. They'd never wasted a moment of affection. If it were up to her she'd let Matt's parents have everything that was left of him on earth because she couldn't imagine the pain of losing a child.

“Mom?” Lexi stood at the entrance to the living room, Jack standing a few feet behind her.

“Look what I found.” Maggie turned the plaque in Lexi's direction. “I guess we just forgot the boxes here. We should have thought of that.”

Paula rose, and her trembling lips formed a smile. “I'm sure we can find the rest of your dad's things around here somewhere.”

“You found the missing boxes,” Lexi said with a grin. “This day gets better and better.”

Maggie handed the plaque to Lexi and tucked a lock of dark brown hair behind her ear. Tugging Lexi into her arms, Maggie hugged the living, breathing memento of Matt and whispered in her ear. “Be especially nice to your grandpa today.”

Lexi gave her a puzzled look, but the important thing was that she hugged back.

 

 

 

 

12

 

“You want to tell me what that was all about?” Once Jack got Maggie in his truck, he turned to her. The tension in the room had been palpable, and he'd had to bite his tongue not to intervene.

Maggie latched her seatbelt. “They had the missing boxes all along.”

“On purpose?” This had to be Richard's doing, but although the man was a bully, Jack wouldn't have pegged him for a thief.

“Richard kept them from me when we moved out. He was trying to hold on to something of Matt's, and he'd already lost his bid for Lexi.”

“You're not mad.” She seemed calm, at peace, but if it were him, he'd need a punching bag right now.

“I was mad, for about five minutes. Now I'm sad more than anything else. Richard is such a lost person. He has to live with the fact that he didn't love his son the way he should have, while he had the chance. None of us are promised tomorrow.”

Those words hit him in the gut like he hadn't expected. His thoughts ran immediately to Robert. “It sounds like he has regrets, but that has nothing to do with you.”

“Maybe not, but I had my own regrets. I looked back and wondered if I could have done anything to affect the outcome. If I might have talked Matt out of taking that drive. Even so, I believe that all things work together for the good of those who love God. And I know Matt loved God. It's just that the story isn't over yet.”

There was only one event he relived over and over in his mind.
What if?
He changed the subject, because he wasn't here to burden Maggie but to keep her busy. “Do you mind if I take you on a drive?”

“I do have the day off.”

“Then I've got something I want to show you.” Jack figured Chief would be OK at home for a couple of hours since he'd already proved himself. The dog obviously belonged to someone. Jack wondered who would have been careless enough to lose such a great dog.

He turned left on to Highway 129 and started the drive toward Pinecrest, the location of the ski lodge and a fifteen-mile drive from Harte's Peak. Though comfortably situated at a three thousand foot elevation, the altitude increased with every mile toward Pinecrest, at five thousand feet. Small patches of snow still remained on the sides of the highway and in small melting dollops that clung to the trees even though the snow had already melted in their town.

Just before Pinecrest, he turned on to a side road. Empty land lay on both sides, part of the county's protected land. His secret place. “This is it.” He turned off the truck. “It's just a short walk.”

They hiked a small distance into the woods, approaching the cavernous forest valley of trees that lay below. He saw the rock immediately, a large boulder completely out of place in these woods. It stood about four feet tall and far enough from the cliff to be safe.

Jack climbed on to the rock and offered Maggie his hand. The top of this rock offered a unique view of the wide expanse below them, and trees glistened in the sunlight as small bits of snow melted away, the only remnants of winter. He wanted Maggie to see the beauty of the landscape, something they took for granted every day. This was the only place in which he almost felt the presence of God.
If God is anywhere at all, He has to be here. And He must be proud of His creation.

“Wow.” Maggie seemed to drink it in and smiled. “How did you find this place?”

“I was called to help a stranded motorist who neglected to bring chains. I saw the rock in the distance, and I came back here a few weeks ago. Quite a view, isn't it?” Maggie was also beautiful, and he'd never tire of admiring her.

“High enough to where I can see everything but not too close to the cliff where I might fall.”

“Are you afraid of heights?” He didn't think Maggie feared anything but losing her daughter.

“No, I'm afraid of falling.” She met his gaze and then turned her attention back to the valley.

He jumped off the rock to allow Maggie to have a better look.

Maggie took a tentative step toward the side, and he offered his hand, but in the next moment, she tripped over a crevice in the rock and fell right into his arms.

His luck might have finally taken a turn for the better, and maybe Somebody up there liked him after all. She'd literally jumped right into his arms.

“I'm sorry.” Maggie's eyes were wide. “There's a reason I'm afraid of falling.”

His arms filled with her, he didn't let go, grateful that she made no attempt to wrestle out of his grip. “Listen. What do you hear?”

“Nothing.”

Even though the highway was not far, at this time of day there were no cars passing by. “That's what quiet sounds like.”

“I'm not sure I like it.” Maggie smiled. “In my head, I hear music.”

He pulled her close and took a whiff of her sweet smelling hair, like warm vanilla sugar. Jack set her down, then framed her beautiful face and surprised himself by kissing her tenderly, her lips softer than he could have ever imagined. He was lost in Maggie again, and for a moment, he'd forgotten why he was here. He was here to keep his promise to Lexi, not to start something he couldn't finish.

“I'm glad you liked the view.” Jack let her go and shook himself back to reality.

 

****

 

Maggie's heart raced, threatening to jump out of her chest. Jack's hands felt like firebrands on her face. OK, so maybe she'd fallen a little bit on purpose, but she didn't think he realized that. And while his kiss took her breath away, now he walked toward the truck as if nothing had happened. Enough. They would have to talk about this once and for all.

“Where are we going?” She followed his long purposeful strides, trying to keep up.

“How about something to eat? There's a great place in Miwuk Village.”

“Stop this, Jack. Are you kidding me?” They couldn't ignore what had just happened between them. Could they?

“No. I never kid about food.”

She didn't even smile. “You know what I mean.”

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you. I don't think that's what Lexi meant when she asked me to make sure you didn't get lonely this weekend.”

“Doesn't what I want matter at all?” Even if he hadn't realized she'd jumped into his arms, surely he noticed that she hadn't exactly pushed him away.

“I don't know why when I'm around you, I feel like I'm coming undone somehow.”

“I sort of feel the same way.” She drew closer to him, as close as she dared.

“You realize this is a bad idea.” He took her hand in his own.

She thought about it. There was only one reason she hesitated surrendering her heart entirely to Jack, but she also didn't want to judge him the way she'd been judged by others in the past. “Why?” she whispered.

“First, you have a teenage daughter who isn't crazy about me.”

There was that, but she'd noticed that Lexi had softened towards him lately. She never would have pictured Lexi asking Jack, of all people, to hang out with Maggie.

“And second?”

Jack met her eyes. “I'm supposed to go back to Virginia. Although I'm not so sure about that anymore.”

Maggie sucked in a breath. She was supposed to talk Jack into going back to Virginia, not give him a reason to stay. Guilt pressed down on her bones.
It's not about me, not about what I want. He needs to go back. And I need to let him go.

“Aren't you? Why wouldn't you go back?”

“I like the scenery here.” He gave her a meaningful look, and heat crept up her cheeks.

“Kimberly asked me to talk you into going back.” Maybe she shouldn't have come out and told him that, but her first loyalty was to Jack alone. He was the man who made her feel alive again, and maybe she could help him somehow.

“She had no right to do that.” Jack scowled.

“Don't be upset with her. She cares about you, and you're like family to her. It's not fair for me to introduce my own agenda to you, but the truth is, I don't want you to go.”

“Maggie,” he said as he drew her into his arms.

This time when he kissed her, she twined her fingers through his hair which made him groan with pleasure. When they came up for air, they both realized they were standing by the truck but hadn't bothered to get in it. And when a passing motorist honked, it also became clear that they were visible from the road.

Jack tugged her toward the passenger door of the truck and opened it. “We need to get something to eat and then maybe take a hike by the lake.”

 

****

 

This was too easy. Hanging out with Maggie when he'd been asked to do so, should have been a chore but, of course, he'd known better. He might not have jumped at the chance otherwise. Might have made up some excuse that Lexi could accept. The reality was that she'd asked him to do what he'd wanted to all along. He wondered if that meant that he and Lexi had some kind of truce, temporary or not. Either way, he'd take it.

“We should go back and check on Chief,” Maggie suggested after their hike.