Hunted in the Wilderness, page 18
And it felt good. But the trouble was, a giant piece of her heart was still missing, and she knew exactly where to find it.
Out in North Cascades National Park, with Ezra Dalton. Time and distance had done nothing to erase the deep connection they’d forged, and as excited as she was about the possibility of the new life before her, it wouldn’t mean anything without him.
As she stared at the message on her laptop, she prayed. Lord, is now the right time?
Peace flooded her heart, the kind that defied human understanding. Maybe Ezra wasn’t interested, maybe he didn’t feel the same way she did, but she had to try. Had to tell him how much she loved him.
She shot off a quick text to her father. Application submitted to UW.
His reply came back immediately. Congrats! Want the plane to celebrate? I hear the North Cascades are pretty.
A smile played on her lips. She’d explained everything that Ezra had done for her, but she’d been careful to barely mention him since then. Apparently, she hadn’t been as careful as she’d thought.
Thanks. Love you.
Her fingers hesitated over the email app. She’d only heard from Ezra once in the past month—a short message letting her know he’d cleared everything up with his boss, they’d found the Callahans’ horses, and he’d be appearing in court to testify against Ford and Chris. His email had come in the midst of sorting through everything with the lawyers, and though she’d longed to send back a lengthy response, she’d kept her reply as brief and on-task as his had been.
Did it mean he wasn’t interested? That he’d forgotten her, or moved on with his life?
She swallowed. There was only one way to find out, and if she didn’t seize her chance, she’d regret it the rest of her life.
Her message was brief. I know it’s last minute, but I’m flying into Stehekin tonight and staying at the lodge for a week. Needed some down time. If you get this, and you want to see me, you know where to find me.
* * *
The plane jolted to a stop after a bumpy landing on the grassy Stehekin airstrip. Haley opened the door, taking a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. The sky was bright blue, glistening with promise as fluffy white clouds danced across the jagged mountain peaks surrounding the valley.
It was the kind of day where anything felt possible.
She grabbed her overnight bag out of the cockpit, secured the plane and strode over the mown grass to the dirt road. A month had passed since the last time she’d been here, and yet it felt like a lifetime. She was a different person now, but was Ezra? He hadn’t responded to her email, though for all she knew he was out on the trail. But still the doubts nagged her—what if he didn’t come? What if he wasn’t ready to consider a relationship, or didn’t feel the same way?
Hopeful nerves fluttered in her stomach anyway as she caught the bus into the tiny town and checked into her room.
The next morning, over breakfast, she reminded herself that the earliest he could possibly arrive was probably later that day. Even if he’d left his house the second he got her email, he still had to either ride in on horseback or navigate his way to Chelan and take the ferry.
There was no reason to worry.
But as the days wore on with no word from him, doubts assailed her. Haley passed the time wandering around the grounds, going on a trail ride, and sitting on the lodge’s porch sipping iced tea. She couldn’t bring herself to visit the bakery or sit on the dock where she’d sat with him before.
Maybe he didn’t want to see her.
The final morning arrived. She could stall a little longer. Her father didn’t expect her to return until evening. Maybe it was time to ask about him, just to see if he’d had a chance to even read her email. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she traipsed down the wooded road to the ranger station. The uniformed man behind the desk looked young enough to be in high school, but she guessed he was probably a college student.
“Excuse me, but can you tell me where Ezra Dalton is assigned right now? He’s a backcountry ranger here.”
The kid pulled out a printed list and double-checked the dates against his calendar. “He’s on a six-day patrol. Scheduled to get home today.”
Her heart sank. He’d headed out the day after she sent the email. Maybe he’d missed reading it before he left.
Or decided not to respond until after his patrol. Wouldn’t that be the easiest way to let her down?
Sorry, I missed your message. Maybe it’ll work out next time.
“Okay, thanks.”
She gathered her bag off the floor and trudged the long, dusty miles back to the airstrip. Walking didn’t really help the pain squeezing her heart, but somehow it seemed easier than taking the bus.
As she approached the plane, she let her gaze wander across the mountains surrounding the valley. This would probably be her last visit out here. The thought stuck in her throat, making it hard to swallow.
But when she reached the plane, she stopped short. Blinked. Was that...
Ezra?
* * *
Ezra stood next to the pilot’s side, one arm casually propped up on the wing like waiting for the woman he loved was an everyday occurrence. He’d unloaded his heavy backpack onto the ground nearby, and he ran a hand through his mussy hair as movement flickered through the trees on the path leading to the airstrip.
Then she was there—blond hair blowing in the wind, cheeks pink with exertion, blue eyes widening as she finally noticed him. Even more beautiful than his memory had made her. His heart stuttered as she dropped her bag and flung herself toward him.
He caught her in his arms and she buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing into his shirt, the fabric balled up beneath her fingers. Holding her again, being the one to comfort her and keep her safe—it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Like finally coming home.
“Shhh,” he whispered, rubbing his hand on her back. He pressed the other against her head, his fingers in her soft hair. “It’s okay, Haley. I’ve got you.”
Finally, she pulled back, swiping at her cheeks and turning her face down, as if she wanted to hide.
He tilted her chin back up and brushed a tear away from her cheek. “I missed you. So much, it’s been killing me.”
Haley’s whole face brightened, like she’d been worried he didn’t care. “I missed you too,” she said. “There are so many things I’ve wanted to tell you. I emailed last week before I came out here, but maybe you didn’t get it. Which reminds me—aren’t you supposed to be on patrol?”
“Yeah, about that...” He laughed. “Our internet was out before I left so I couldn’t check email, but apparently a few days ago this bigwig CEO called headquarters to talk to my boss, who then called me on the radio and said I was needed at Stehekin Airport just as soon as I could get in here.” He glanced at his watch. “Which was about twenty minutes ago.”
Her cheeks glowed. “My dad told you I was coming?”
He grinned like a kid at Christmas, remembering that message coming through on his radio. Haley had flown in, just to see him. If he’d entertained any doubts about his feelings, they’d evaporated at that moment. “You can believe that was the fastest I’ve ever hiked in my life.”
So much had happened in his heart since that painful day they’d had to separate in Seattle, when he’d realized exactly how deeply he’d fallen in love with Haley and how much it hurt to be apart from her. A different kind of raw, aching loss than he’d felt after Sarah’s death, but just as painful. In these last few weeks, God had been at work, gently teaching, mending, nudging him onward in faith. It was time to offer that newly healed heart back to Haley. From the way she’d sobbed into his shirt, he had a pretty good idea the feelings were mutual.
He took her hands in his. “After I lost my wife and daughter, I never thought I’d feel that way about anyone ever again. Then you came along, totally different than Sarah, this whirlwind of life and energy—” his heart swelled as he soaked in every inch of her face “—and I fell in love with you. It terrified me. I felt like I was betraying Sarah’s memory. But then I realized, she wouldn’t want me to live stuck in the past. She would’ve wanted God to heal my heart and let me find love again. To be happy. The same thing I would’ve wanted for her. She and Kaitlyn will always have a place in my heart, but—” he blinked away the tears pushing into his eyes “—this month away from you has been torture. I can’t imagine facing the rest of my life without you.”
Her lips parted, eyes glowing softly under a sheen of moisture. “I’ve been lost in my work for so long, and in this effort to impress everyone around me. Unwilling to admit my loneliness or trust myself in another relationship after my horrible breakup. But for the first time, with you, I saw how pointless all my striving was and how someone could love me for just who I am. You challenged me to be the best version of my true self. You make me come alive, Ezra.”
How was it possible to bind so much happiness up into one heart? Especially when he thought he’d never feel this way again? God was so good.
A question was burning its way through his insides, and the time had come to ask it. His lips tilted at the way Haley’s eyes widened as he dropped down onto one knee. “Haley Whitcombe, you are God’s gift in my life, and I never want to be apart from you again. I know there’s no jumbotron, but will you—”
“Yes!” She pried one hand out of his to wipe her cheeks, then pulled him to his feet. “One hundred percent yes. I’m so in love with you, Ezra Dalton, I didn’t know I could hold this many feelings.”
“You didn’t even let me finish the question.” Typical Haley. His lips twitched as joy bubbled up inside.
“Yes, I will marry you. I applied to graduate school for a Master’s degree in engineering, so if I get in I’ll have to be in class most of the year, but we can live out here in the summer if you want. Or stay in Seattle. I don’t care. As long as I’m with you.”
“No CEO?” He glanced around at the pristine wilderness surrounding them. “Though I’d miss it, I’d give this up for you.”
“No CEO. That’s not who God made me to be, not really.” She drew in a deep breath. “I’m just a girl who wants to design cool stuff and get lost in the woods with her handsome park ranger husband.”
He leaned closer, until his face was only inches from hers. “Now that’s a plan I can get on board with.”
Their lips pressed together in a kiss, the first of many in a lifetime of love and adventure.
* * *
If you enjoyed this story, don’t miss Kellie VanHorn’s next thrilling romantic suspense, available next year from Love Inspired Suspense!
Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com
Keep reading for an excerpt from Vanished Without a Trace by Sarah Hamaker.
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for hitting the trail with Ezra and Haley! I’ve never been backpacking myself, but I had a blast imagining their wilderness adventure. To plan their route, I ordered a topographic map of North Cascades National Park online. One of my teenage sons spent hours poring over the map with me, and now he has big plans for us to go backpacking in the Cascades.
Both Ezra and Haley wrestle with why God allows bad things to happen in our lives. Deep down, Ezra wonders if he can truly trust God or if he has to protect his own heart. Haley thinks she must earn God’s favor. They both come to learn that while we can’t avoid the trials of life, God offers us the ultimate gift—Himself—and we’ll never have to face the hard things alone. May we find our hope and joy in that comfort!
I love hearing from readers, so feel free to get in touch on Facebook (Author Kellie VanHorn) or through my website www.kellievanhorn.com, where you can sign up for my newsletter.
Warm regards,
Kellie VanHorn
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Vanished Without a Trace
by Sarah Hamaker
ONE
Henderson Parker stapled the last flyer onto a telephone pole on the outskirts of Twin Oaks. Helena’s lovely face stared back at him, the mischief in her brown eyes conjuring up memories of playing hide-and-seek on Martha’s Vineyard in the summer and building snow forts in the winter. Helena had been born three months after his adoption, the two of them growing up like twins. Her disappearance weighed heavily on his shoulders. If only he’d paid more attention to her, maybe he would have had a clue as to her whereabouts.
For nine years, he’d tracked down every lead, no matter how slim, in the hope it would lead to his sister, who he’d last seen in their hometown of Buffalo, New York, outside the courthouse. Even now, he could picture her sassy wave as she’d slipped into a friend’s van and been driven away. Because Helena often went weeks without contact with her family, it had been nearly six months before they’d realized she had vanished. By the time Henderson had begun asking questions as to where she’d gone, the trail had grown cold.
Trudging back to his vehicle, he climbed in and cranked the engine. Deciding to let the AC cool off the interior before driving back to the B and B, he pulled out the photo that had driven him to Virginia. Like most small-town papers, the Twin Oaks Gazette featured the life and events of its residents. In the July 20 edition, pictures of the town’s annual Christmas in July parade graced the front page and an inside spread. One of the crowd pictures had a woman with her face half turned from the camera—the resemblance to Helena was unmistakable. His first glimmer of hope in nine long years.
Arriving in Twin Oaks two days ago, he’d showed Helena’s picture all around town, but no one had seen anyone who resembled her. He’d also looked over the Gazette photographer’s other parade pictures, but could find no others with that same woman. Yesterday, he’d had a thousand flyers printed and then spent the morning putting up half of them all over the town’s quaint Main Street, with its variety of shops and restaurants interspersed with city hall and a U.S. Post Office.
Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, he contemplated his next move. Time to go to the county sheriff’s department to see if they would open an investigation into Helena’s disappearance now that Henderson had proof she could be in Virginia. He put the SUV in gear then glanced at his grungy attire. No one would take him seriously if he showed up in board shorts and a sweaty T-shirt. Better shower first and change into something more respectable.
He headed to Tall Trees B and B. Once inside the Federal-style mansion, he bounded up the stairs to his room, which overlooked the back gardens. Fishing in his pocket for his key—the bed-and-breakfast handed out metal keys instead of plastic keycards—he paused outside the door, noting the latch hadn’t fully caught. Maybe the cleaning staff hadn’t finished his room yet.
Pushing the door open, he stepped inside. At the dresser, a man wearing a baseball cap was rifling through a drawer with gloved hands.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Henderson charged toward the intruder.
The man whipped around, his eyes flaring wide above a mask obscuring the lower part of his face. Shoving away from the dresser, the intruder rammed Henderson in a full body tackle, sending him crashing into the four-poster bed. His head thwacked against one of the bedposts. Before he could recover from the exploding pain, the man punched him hard in the middle then dashed for the door.
Gasping for breath, Henderson pushed to his knees and snagged the man’s heel, bringing him down with a satisfying thud. The intruder kicked out with his other foot, catching Henderson’s midsection with enough force to loosen his grip.
The man scrambled out of the room.
Shaking off the pain, Henderson staggered to the door, slumping slightly against the jamb to clear his head before going after the man. Rounding the stair landing, something hard and wet struck the side of his face, sending him back against the wall. A vase shattered beside him, raining glass and flower stems onto the carpet.
The slamming of the front door propelled him to his feet.
Henderson raced down the stairs, wrenching the door open. On the paver stone walkway, the masked intruder grappled with a woman, who delivered a well-timed head butt that aligned the top of her head with the man’s nose. Blood soaked his camouflaged neck gaiter. Henderson headed toward the pair as the man growled like a wounded bear, punched the woman in the head and then spun her directly into Henderson.
Catching the woman’s arms, Henderson tried to move her aside as gently as he could, but his feet tangled with hers and the two of them landed hard in the flower bed bordering the walkway. Brushing her hair off his beard, Henderson craned his neck around the woman in time to see the intruder yank a motorbike out of the bushes near the gravel parking lot. Gunning the engine, gravel spewed as the man raced off.
Henderson restrained the impulse to smash his fist into something as frustration at losing the intruder roiled inside him. Glaring at the woman still in his grip, his eyes softened. It wasn’t her fault she’d foiled the capture.
“Sorry about that.”
Her melodious voice had a familiar tone to it. She squirmed to extract herself from his embrace, her elbow connecting with his ribs in the same place the man’s foot had collided.
Henderson grunted as pain radiated throughout his body. He rose on his elbows then rolled her slightly to the side to allow him to sit up. “Now I’m out of range of your elbows.”
She pushed to a seated position, her back to him. Mulch and broken flowers entwined her brown hair. He plucked a piece out, inadvertently tugging a couple of strands of hair with it.
