Forever Wishes (Montana Brides Book 4) (14 page)

Jake leaned across and kissed her cheek. “Uncle Jake to the rescue.”

She blinked back more tears, managing to tilt her lips into a half smile. “Can a girl put in an order to be rescued or does she have to wait to be asked?”

“I’m an equal rights kind of guy. I like the idea of a girl rescuing me.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Do you know anyone who might be willing to take on a man who doesn’t know one end of a vacuum cleaner from the other?”

She took a deep breath. “Depends on whether he’s open to new learning experiences.” Jake’s smile replaced the sadness in her heart with a burst of happiness.

He held her warm hand in his.
 
“I’m ready, willing, and eager.”

Erin closed the cupboard doors, pleased to see the last of the plates stacked on the kitchen shelves. “I’m glad I’m not on clean-up duty tomorrow morning.”

 
“At least we got to spend some time together.” Jake closed the lid on the commercial dishwasher and stood in front of her. “There has to be some benefits to being inside instead of roasting marshmallows on the campfire.” Leaning forward, he nudged the side of her neck with his mouth.
 

A fine tremor ran along Erin’s skin. “You’re going to get me into trouble with the boss, Mr. Williams.”

“I can’t see why, Miss. Reynolds. Besides, I’ve got something I want to show you.”

“Why does that ring alarm bells in my head?”

Jake smiled. “Hold those bells until after you’ve seen the place I took Scott to last summer.”

Erin left the dishtowel on the counter. “As long as it doesn’t involve getting naked, then I’m all yours.”

Jake held her hand and pulled her toward the back door, grabbing a flashlight off the top of the freezer. “We’re going to get close to nature, but not the naked kind. Unless you want it to be?”

The hopeful note in his voice made Erin smile. “That would definitely fall into the category of wishful thinking.”

“You can’t blame a man for trying.”

She smiled as Jake led her across an open field. She’d been doing a lot of wishful thinking herself over the last few days. But they were friends. Friends with a mega dose of spine tingling attraction.
 

“Over here.” He moved toward a grove of trees not far from the lake.

If she was going to kiss Jake then this would have been the perfect spot. It was far enough away from the camp to give them privacy, but close enough that she didn’t feel as though they’d get lost walking back.
 

So much for a good old fashioned friendship. Her hormones were going into overdrive just thinking about being alone with Jake in the woods.
 

Her mom had always said that you needed to kiss a few frogs before your Prince came along. After more years than she cared to count, and one mixed-up fiancé, she’d given up hope of ever finding a man that came close to being her Prince. Until Jake, that is. He was funny, intelligent, patient, and kind. All the qualities she wanted in a man.
 

It didn’t seem fair that he had such a huge aversion to being a father. If he’d been even remotely interested in having children, she’d be dragging him down the aisle. In the last few weeks her six-months-at-tops plan had deteriorated into a pile of mush.
 

“You’ll need to crawl through the opening of the cave. I’ll turn on my flashlight once we get inside.”

Erin blinked. Somewhere between communing with nature and kissing frogs she’d stopped paying attention to where they were going. Jake stood beside a gap in a wall of rock no taller than a leprechaun.

“You want me to go in there?” She peered inside, imagining all sorts of creepy crawlies just waiting to land on her.

“It gets bigger as soon as you’re inside. Just keep to the right hand side of the cave.”

“You do realize that librarians aren’t known as the most adventurous people on the planet?”

Jake shook his head. “You’re stalling. It’s going to be worth it.”

“Does anyone else know we’re here?” She had visions of falling into an underground stream and being lost for weeks. Or landing in a deep hole and not being able to get out.

“I told Lucy,” Jake said. “You’ll be fine.”

Erin took a last look at the itsy-bitsy cave opening and crawled through. She prayed like crazy that Jake knew where he was going and that the flashlight batteries didn’t run out of power.
 

Jake pulled himself through the opening after her. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that this would have to be the craziest thing I’ve ever done.” She held her breath as something fluttered past her cheek. She wouldn’t scream. She never screamed. It was probably a cobweb or something. But cobwebs meant spiders. Big, black, hairy spiders that could kill someone half her size. “Turn your flashlight on, Jake.”

“What’s the matter?”
 

Light flooded the cave and Erin looked frantically around, brushing her face with her hands. “Something soft and hairy hit my cheek.”

Jake looked around and grinned at a spot above her head. “Could have been a bat.”

She looked up and peered into the darkness. “I hope you’re joking. You’d better show me what’s in here fast, or I’m going to head back to camp.”

Jake flicked the beam of light to their right. “Think of this as character building. Just follow me and don’t look down.”

Erin couln’t help herself. Her gaze darted to her feet. Just to be safe she shuffled closer to the wall. “Don’t tell me we’re on the edge of a cavern?”

“Not yet. The cave doesn’t start going downhill for a few hundred feet and we’re not going that far. Follow me.”
 

Jake started walking and Erin stayed glued to the heels of his boots. She didn’t like closed in spaces. She didn’t like being in pitch black darkness. And she most definitely didn’t like being underground, or in the ground, or anywhere that wasn’t in the open.

“I’m turning the flashlight off for a few seconds,” he whispered. “Sit on the floor beside me.”

“Why are we whispering?”

Jake held the flashlight below his chin and smiled a wicked smile. “I’m creating atmosphere.”
 

He turned the flashlight off and Erin nearly screamed when everything went pitch black. “That’ll do it,” she muttered.
 

Holding her hands out, she felt Jake’s body fold toward the floor. She waited, then slid so close that she almost landed in his lap.

Montana was too cold for glow worms or fireflies. And as far as she knew, fireflies didn’t live underground. She hoped he wasn’t about to show her some prehistoric dinosaur bones glowing from radioactive particles. She peered into the darkness, waiting for something to happen before she started hyperventilating.

“Welcome to storytime…” Jake flicked his flashlight on and the wall in front of them lit up like a Christmas tree.
 

Erin stared at the prehistoric drawings painted on the sandstone. Red and white shapes that looked like warriors and animals looked back at her. “This is amazing. How did you find it?”

“Dad brought me here when I was about Ethan’s age. We used to tell each other stories about what the figurines were doing and where they were going. This one’s my favorite.”
 

Jake’s flashlight moved to the left. He pointed at a warrior leading three smaller shapes. “The big guy in the front was dad. He was taking me, mom, and Lucy on a trek across the desert. Can you see the cactus plants?”

Erin stared at the wall and could just make out the spiky points of what could easily have been cactus. “How old are the drawings?”

“I don’t know. The Pictograph Caves near Billings have paintings that are over two thousand years old. Dad and I visited the caves and they look similar.”

“Have you found any artifacts? There could be all sorts of tools and weapons buried close by.” And skeletons. She glanced at the floor. For someone who didn’t like the dark, a dead body or two wasn’t something she wanted to think about.
 

Jake shook his head. “We didn’t look too hard. The owner of the ranch didn’t want people finding out about the cave in case they were swamped with tourists. When they sold the ranch, they left the decision on what to do about the cave to the new owners.”

Jake moved the beam of light to the opposite end of the wall. “Dad liked this drawing the best.” What looked like a grizzly bear stood on his back legs. A warrior crouched beside him holding some kind of weapon. “You wouldn’t believe the stories we found in these pictures. Dad had a great imagination.”

“Did he bring Lucy and Scott here?”

Jake took a deep breath. “Lucy wasn’t interested and mom wouldn’t let Scott come when he was little. By the time he was in his early teens, dad had died.”

“I’m sorry, Jake.”

“If I’d known…” Regret and emotions that were still raw shadowed his face. “I miss him.”

Erin leaned into his shoulder. “He created some special memories for you. That’s something you’ll always have.”
 

Jake wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Thank you.”
 

“You’re welcome. Now tell me some stories.”

“You might be sorry you said that.” Jake smiled. “Once upon a time…”

“Did they have fairytales back in prehistoric times?”

“I don’t know. I’m using my imagination.”

“Okay. Keep going.”

Jake rolled his eyes and started telling her a story about warriors, fire, and horses with wings.
 

By the time he’d finished, Erin had a big smile on her face. “You should have been a writer. You had me hooked after the first few minutes.”

“Next time we come here it will be your turn to tell me a story. Are you ready to go?”
 

Erin nodded. “Just don’t turn the flashlight off on our way out.”

“It’s not the dark I’m worried about,” Jake said. “It’s the four legged animals that I want to keep away from.”

“What do you mean?” Erin didn’t like the sound of being joined by anything that had more than two feet.

Jake held her hand as they walked back to the cave entrance. “Caves don’t stay empty for long in Montana. I wouldn’t be surprised if a grizzly hasn’t made their home here.”

Erin peered past the beam of the flashlight, looking for any night-time visitors. “And you’re telling me this now?”

“It’s summer. We haven’t got much to worry about.”

“That’s not very reassuring.”

“I know. Was it worth it?” he asked with a smile in his voice.

“Yes, but next time I’m taking a long stick with me.”

“As long as you use it on the wildlife and not me, I’m happy.” Jake slowed down and passed Erin the flashlight. “We’re at the entrance.” He bent down and crawled outside on all fours.
 

Erin didn’t waste time enjoying the scenery inside the cave. She scooted out as fast as she could go.
 

“I take it you’re pleased to see the stars?”

Erin looked up and breathed deeply. “I loved the paintings, but being surrounded by rock gives me the jitters. What’s going to happen to the cave?”

“The Bernards were happy to leave the paintings alone. But with more camps happening each year, they decided to have someone assess them. They contacted the park manager in Billings and he came and had a look. A team of archaeologists are arriving in the next few days.”

Erin held Jake’s hand as they started walking toward the lake. “If they’re important to the area it could increase visitor numbers at the camp.”

“We’ll see,” Jake said. “There are plenty of other caves that people can look at. I’m not sure the Bernards want history buffs turning up on their doorstep. But it would be great for the kids, as long as they could get past the entrance.”

“How long have you been helping at the camps?”

“For about six years.” He nodded toward a mountain range barely visible in the fading light. “I started as a ski instructor, then summer time rolled around and the camp needed extra volunteers to work behind the scenes. I mucked out stalls, cooked meals, and helped where I could. It was a great escape from Los Angeles and my family were happy to see me more often. When Dan died I cut back on the number of camps I did. Spending time with Lucy and Ethan was more important.”