Home on Apple Blossom Road (Life in Icicle Falls) (14 page)

“Col. Where are you?”

Colin froze, half in and half out of his new fashion accessory, and Mia’s eyes popped open. “Your dad!”

The romantic moment died a quick death as they scrambled for their clothes.

“There you... What the hell?” Dylan Wright stopped in midstride, his eyes narrowing to slits and his lips pressed together in an angry slash. “Get your clothes on, both of you,” he growled.

He didn’t have to tell Mia twice. Face flaming, she turned her back and put on her bra. This couldn’t be happening.

“Jeez, Dad,” Colin protested, struggling into his pants. “You could have, like, given us some notice.”

“I’ve been calling you for the last ten minutes,” Dylan snapped. “Now, come on.”

Dylan grabbed his shirt and shoes.

“Mia, Beth wants you to help her slice strawberries.” A simple request, a nice, friendly request. Except the words came out like chips of ice.

She nodded and pulled on her shorts then scooped up her sandals and ran for the house.

As she went she could hear Dylan scolding his son. “What the hell were you thinking? And Mia, of all people. Do you know how that could have ended?”

And Mia, of all people
.

The words scalded her heart. Dylan had never been very friendly, but she’d had no idea how much he disliked her. What a fool she’d been, thinking herself worthy to someday become a real member of the Wright family. She was only the little orphan they’d taken in.

She found it hard to explain this to Colin, who later insisted that everyone loved her.

“Except your dad. I heard what he said.”

“He was just pissed off. He thinks we’re too young.”

It was more than that, she was sure. Of course, she supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised. The Wrights were well-off financially, and important. They owned an orchard, for crying out loud, and Uncle Mark had his own company. Dylan was a lawyer. Grandma Justine was one of the town’s leading citizens. And who was Mia? Her mother never got more than a high school education and her father was a loser.

The only way she could prove herself worthy would be to go out and really make something of herself. She was already taking Advanced Placement classes and checking into college scholarships for state schools. Now she’d have to up her game and climb higher on the prestige ladder. Any old four-year college wouldn’t cut it.

As for having sex, between Dylan’s reaction to their attempted lovemaking and Aunt Beth’s lecture on the sanctity of sex and how Mia should wait until she was married, she decided maybe she wasn’t ready, after all. She just hoped Colin would understand.

“This is between us,” he insisted the next time they were alone together. “It has nothing to do with anyone else.”

“I know, but now I want to wait. Your dad’s right. We’re too young.”
And I’m not in the same class as the rest of you.

Colin swore. Then he pouted. Then he got over it. “I’ll wait until you’re ready. You’re killin’ me, but I’ll wait.”

“When we’re older, when we know it’s serious.”

That made him angry all over again. “You think I’m not serious? I’ll prove how serious I am. I’ll get you a ring.”

“Colin, you’re just starting college and I still have to graduate from high school,” she reminded him.

“Well, guess what you’ll be getting for a graduation present.”

True to his word, he gave her a ring. It was made of Black Hills gold and decorated with a flower that had petals of black and pink. Between the fun of her senior prom and the thrill of being class valedictorian, graduation had been an exciting event. But Colin’s gift had been the biggest thrill of all.

“After I finish college and have some money, I’ll get you the real thing with a big, fat diamond,” he promised.

“I don’t care about diamonds,” she insisted. “All I care about is you.”

Too bad he hadn’t believed that enough to trust her when she went away to school.

* * *

“‘Maybe you need to take a hike,’” Colin read, bringing Mia back into the present. His brows knit. “
Take a hike
. That narrows it down.”

“Well,” put in Amy, doing her information-booth volunteer duty. “Our most popular hike is still Lost Bride Trail.”

“Is that the hike we’re supposed to take?” Colin asked her. “Did Gram tell you?”

Amy mimed zipping her lips.

Colin turned on the charm, smiling at the older woman and putting an arm around her. “Come on, Mrs. A., you know everything that goes on around here. Help us out. At least send us in the proper direction.”

“Your grandma told me not to tell.”

“Okay, how about this? If I’m right, give me a kiss,” he said, leaning down and pointing to his cheek. “Are we supposed to take the Lost Bride Trail?”

The old woman blushed and smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“Thanks! You made my day.”

“And you made mine, you rascal. You two have fun,” she said, and turned to greet a young family who had just appeared in the doorway.

Colin and Mia headed for the Lost Bride trailhead. Then, armed with bottled water, they started up the trail to Lost Bride Falls. Mia had seen the fabled lost bride back when they were first engaged. The famous ghost of Rebecca Cane, who had so mysteriously disappeared back during the mountain town’s gold-rush era, was rumored to lurk behind the falls. A sighting always meant a wedding was in the future for whoever happened to see her. Mia remembered the day she’d seen the ghost, but Rebecca sure had failed her...

* * *

Aunt Beth hosted a graduation party for Mia, complete with balloons in the Icicle Falls High colors of gold and purple. The requisite Congratulations, Graduate! sign had been hung in the dining room, and the table was loaded with a huge platter of barbecued chicken, a variety of salads, chips and dip, and a fancy cake from Gingerbread Haus. Grandma Justine and Grandpa Gerald had given Mia a check for a hundred dollars. “For spending money when you get to school,” Grandma said. Aunt Beth had given her a Target gift card so she could furnish her dorm room. Dylan had handed her a card, signed stiffly, “Congratulations, Dylan.” He’d enclosed a check for fifty dollars. The gift felt mandatory. She would so much rather have had a genuine smile and a hug, but that would never happen.

Anyway, all the gifts paled compared to Colin’s.

“I knew you two would end up together,” Aunt Beth said. “Just like Uncle Mark and me. We were high school sweethearts, too.”

“You’re not going to do anything rash.” This from Dylan, half question, half command.

“Of course not,” Mia had said sternly. “We’re both going to graduate from college first.” Honestly, even she knew they were too young to get married.

“Let’s not wait that long,” Colin begged later as they walked up the trail to Lost Bride Falls.

“Col, we have to.” They were going to school on two different coasts. Anyway, his roots were planted firmly in the rich soil of the Cascades. There was no reason to uproot him.

She convinced him to stick with the plan, to wait and get married after they were done with college. And he convinced her not to wait to seal their love. They were as good as engaged and that meant as good as married.

Aunt Beth’s cautionary words from the last summer surfaced.
I know it’s hard to wait, but marriage is the safest, best place for sex. If you make such an intimate commitment too young, you’re guaranteed to get your heart broken
. Now she wasn’t so sure about that reasoning. Marriage was no shield against emotional wounds. Colin’s dad and her mother were proof of that. And besides, Colin would never break her heart.

The falls was a beautiful setting for their love scene, and their union was as perfect as possible for a first time.

To add her blessing, the ghost of the lost bride made her appearance. “Look!” Mia cried. “I see her!”

Colin looked. “Where?”

But then, like an elusive rainbow, the bride was gone.

* * *

The ghost’s disappearance had been as much an omen as seeing her. Mia just hadn’t realized it at the time.

Would either of them see the bride today? She had her doubts.

October 26, 2005

Dear Emmaline,

I certainly enjoyed our chat last week. I’m so impressed with all your new computer skills. Yes, one of these days I suppose I should get a computer, but this email thing sounds complicated. I rather like communicating with cards and pretty stationery. But you’re right. Email would be so much faster. I’ll think about it. Maybe I can get Gerald to buy me a computer for Christmas. We could share. Dylan’s been trying to convince him for ages to start using a computer for the business. It’s hard to break old habits, though. Gerald still keeps his records the old-fashioned way. Anyway, we’ll see.

Now, as for news, Colin is off to visit Mia at school this weekend, and all of us old people are going to Zelda’s restaurant for a Halloween party. Even Dylan is going, although he’s annoyed about having to wear a costume. Bethie wants to make him a Zorro cape and mask. I think he’d be a very dashing Zorro! She’s turning Gerald and me into apples. How I’m going to be able to sit down in an apple costume, I have no idea, but Bethie assures me she’ll make it work.

Next week is my last pie-baking class. We’ll be baking pumpkin pies to get everyone in the mood for Thanksgiving. At my age I shouldn’t be in a hurry to get from one holiday to the next—time is flying by fast enough as it is!—but I am looking forward to Thanksgiving when our Mia will be back and we’ll all be together. Of course, I’m happy to see the young ones leave the nest and spread their wings, but it’s always good when they come home for a visit.

Do let me know how Joey’s appointment with the cardiologist goes.

Love,

Justine

Chapter Twelve

C
olin and Mia’s walk up the trail to Lost Bride Falls was a quiet one, the conversation carried by the birds singing and the squirrels chattering in the trees. Colin suspected that, like him, Mia was caught in a fresh net of memories.

Eventually, he heard the thunder of the falls, and then they saw glimpses of it between the trees. Finally, they came to the scenic look-out that framed the cataract in all its glory.

Seeing the waterfall was like stepping behind the curtain of time. He found himself reliving the magical time they’d spent up here, as well as the experiences that had led to it.

* * *

Colin had accepted Mia’s childhood adoration as his due, and actually considered her his best friend—although he would never have admitted that to his buddies. But then along came puberty. His body began to change. So did hers. Breasts. Mia had breasts. Whoa, they were fascinating.
But don’t stare! Okay, stare, but don’t let her catch you. Wait a minute, this is Mia. She’s like your sister. What are you doing staring at your sister’s boobs?

So the inner dialogue went. Colin’s eyes and brain agreed that there were other breasts in Icicle Falls, other girls to ogle, even date. The dates never evolved into anything serious, though, because the one vital organ that had been left out of the equation was his heart. Mia owned it. And it seemed his friends all knew that, since none of them ever hit on her.

Then Gram took in Adrian Malk, and Colin experienced heartburn for the first time in his life. Things had started out well enough, all friendly with video games and shooting hoops at the park, but that changed once Colin saw Adrian in action, making fun of Joe Coyote, asking him why he wasn’t living on the rez, taking over the lunch table and giving poor Andy Forrester a bad time because he was overweight. Colin, Neal and Bill Will switched to a different lunch table, taking Andy with them, and Adrian replaced them with guys who were losers and bullies. How soon until Adrian aged out of the foster-care program and left Icicle Falls? It couldn’t happen quickly enough for Colin.

“Are you and Adrian not hitting it off?” Gram asked him once.

“Not really,” he’d replied. Adrian was a shit, as slimy as an eel. And he, too, was fascinated with Mia’s breasts. He didn’t even care if she caught him staring. That alone made Colin hate him.

“So, have you done it with her?” Adrian asked one day late in March when he and Colin were in the orchard, raking brush. Actually, Colin was raking. Adrian was leaning on his rake, watching.

Colin frowned at him. Mia was too young to be doing it with anyone, including him.

A corner of Adrian’s mouth lifted in a sneer. “Didn’t think so. Bet you haven’t done it with anyone, farm boy.”

“Yeah? And you have?” Colin retorted.

Of course he had. Adrian Malk had probably had sex with every girl in his school in Seattle. And he’d probably been kicked out. How had he ended up all the way over here? All Colin knew was that things hadn’t worked out with Adrian’s last foster home. If you asked Colin, things weren’t working out here, either.

“Girls are easy,” Adrian said.

“Mia isn’t,” Colin snapped.

“Yeah? I could have her anytime I want.”

Something hot and fierce raced through Colin. He pointed a warning finger at Adrian. “You stay away from her.”

There went that sneer again. “You got a little crush, farm boy?”

“You touch her and I’ll break your neck.”

Adrian laughed. “You and who else?”

Adrian might have been a couple months older and a few inches taller, but Colin knew he’d have no trouble tearing the guy apart like a soft pretzel if he came anywhere near Mia.

He was about to say so when Gramps appeared at the end of the row, and Adrian began doing an imitation of a worker.

“How’s it going, boys?” Gramps called.

“Great,” Adrian called back.

Yeah, great.

After that conversation in the orchard, Adrian began to set his trap for Mia. He’d flirt with her, tugging playfully on a lock of her hair or tapping her on the nose, winking when he passed her in the hall at school. And she fell for it like a starving mouse looking for cheese.

The worst was when Gram included Adrian in their annual Easter treasure hunt. It wasn’t the first time Gram or Aunt Beth had included an extra kid who was staying with them. Colin had never minded before. He sure minded this time.

“An Easter egg hunt? What are you guys, five?” Adrian mocked when it was just him and Colin. But once Mia showed up he changed his tune. “Okay, Mia, you’ll have to help me out here. You’re the smart one.”

Not where guys are concerned
, Colin thought bitterly as she blushed and smiled as if she’d won the lottery.

The Easter goodies in their baskets that year were a lot like winning the lottery—Cadbury eggs, ten-dollar bills, gift cards to a couple of shops, movie tickets, Peeps marshmallow chicks.

“Pretty cool,” Adrian decided.

He gallantly gave Mia his Peeps but Colin noticed he kept the other stuff for himself. Yeah, real impressive. Colin gave Mia the chocolate eggs and promised to spend his Herman’s gift certificate on her that Friday.

She thanked them both with a kiss on the cheek, but she blushed when she kissed Adrian. And Adrian sent Colin a superior smirk. It was all Colin could do not to push his fist through that smirking face.

Adrian’s presence covered Colin’s spring days like a shadow, sucking the fun out of Sunday dinners and family card games. Adrian shirked chores and cheated at cards and made fun of Uncle Mark’s bald spot when he was alone with Colin in the orchard, Colin working and him loafing. What a jerk.

Dad didn’t much like him. Neither did Uncle Mark, and Gramps soon picked up on his slothful ways and told him off a couple of times.

“He needs love,” Colin once overheard Gram say to Gramps after Gramps had reamed Adrian out.

If you asked Colin, he needed to be gone. But he stayed. Come May, rumors started flying around school that he was sleeping with a senior girl, but that didn’t stop him from flirting with Mia.

Then she invited him to the end-of-school party at the river. As if he was one of them, as if he belonged. He didn’t belong in Icicle Falls. He was a cancer, ready to spread.

Like Gram and Aunt Beth, Mia made excuses for him.

Okay, so he’d had it rough. So had a lot of the kids who’d come to stay with Gram, but they’d been different. They’d wanted to get their lives together. Rudy Gonzales had become a star quarterback at Icicle Falls High. He’d grown up, settled in town and was now a councilman. Shelley Burwell had discovered a flair for drama and gone to Hollywood, where she was making TV commercials. Andy had gotten adopted and had a 3.9 grade point average.

But when it came to Gram’s good influence, Malk was like Teflon. Nothing stuck.

“That kid’s trouble,” Dad had predicted when Adrian came on the scene. Dad had been right.

Colin had tried to explain to Mia what a loser the guy was, but would she listen? No.

“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself,” she’d insisted as they headed to the annual gathering at Riverwalk Park.

Her inviting Malk had pissed him off big-time. He’d been looking forward to the party, to horsing around with his friends, roasting hot dogs. Maybe going for a walk along the river with Mia. Maybe even kissing her. This acting like they were brother and sister thing wasn’t really working anymore.

But now? He was disgusted with Mia’s lack of taste. Fuming, he left her as soon as they got to the party and went to hang with the guys.

“What’s with you?” Bill Will asked on seeing his glum face.

“Nothing,” Colin muttered.

“Cheer up, man,” David Simpson said with a grin. “We’re seniors now. We rule.”

If Colin was a ruler, Malk would’ve been banished from Icicle Falls.

The evening wore on, and he continued to ignore Mia in the misguided belief that she’d get that he was angry and come apologize for being so stupid. But once the sky turned dark, he suddenly—ironically—saw things clearly.
He
was the one being stupid. What the heck was he doing, ignoring Mia when he wanted to be with her? Did he suppose he was punishing her? The only one he was punishing was himself. Meanwhile, Malk was probably flirting with her, buttering her up so he could...

What had he been thinking, leaving her unguarded? Colin broke off from his buddies, who were drinking beer, shooting the bull and tossing rocks in the river.

“Where are you going?” asked Neal.

“To find Mia.”

“Big surprise,” cracked Bill Will.

“If she’s with Malk, you’re out of luck,” Neal warned.

“If she’s with Malk, I’ll kill him,” Colin growled.

“Hey, dude, don’t be stupid,” Bill Will called after him.

On the contrary, getting Mia away from Malk would be one of the smarter things he’d done.

Mia was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t farther down the river or at the bonfire with the other kids.

“I saw her go off with Malk,” said Andy, pointing toward Bluebird Island.

“And you let her go?”

“What was I supposed to do?” Andy retorted. “Beat him up?”

Colin took off at a run, his heart pounding. Malk couldn’t have her. He didn’t deserve her.

Colin was halfway down the winding path to the nature preserve when he heard her scream. Shit!

Not wanting to waste time on the scenic path, he cut through the woods, crashing through the underbrush. He emerged to find her pinned to a bench, Malk’s idiot pals holding her down while Malk had his filthy hands on her.

Colin had enough adrenaline flowing to take on a dozen Malks. Sadly, he didn’t have the size, especially with Malk’s goons falling on him.

He and Mia would both have been toast if his own posse hadn’t come riding in. At the sight of them, Malk and his worthless friends ran off like the gutless wonders they were.

Finding Mia in such danger had been a nightmare, and he rushed to hold her to assure both of them she was okay.

“You saved me,” she said to him, as if he was some sort of superhero instead a guy who’d just about had the crap beaten out of him.

He said as much, but she didn’t see it that way. She clung to him and began to cry in earnest.

“It’s okay. I’m here now,” he told her. And that was how it was supposed to be. He would always be there for her. They were supposed to be together. He kissed the top of her head. It was a small kiss but a big moment, one that changed everything between them. A boundary had been crossed, and they had left behind the simple friendship of childhood and moved into new territory.

“You’re with me now, Mia,” he informed her once they were back in his car. “That’s how it oughta be.”

“That’s how I want it to be,” she said.

And so it was.

His dad had lectured him about being rash and tying himself and Mia down too early. “You don’t know who you are yet or what you want out of life. Neither of you.”

Dad was wrong. Colin knew who he was. He was a farm boy as Malk had put it. He wanted to live in Icicle Falls, and he wanted to live here with Mia. He didn’t need to know anything more than that.

Once she graduated from high school he sensed another boundary about to be crossed. Mia was ready to leave home for a bigger world. That fall, she’d be attending NYU, going for a business degree. He had to make sure she didn’t lose sight of the vision, had to make sure she wouldn’t forget that they belonged together. So he gave her a ring. Not a diamond. He couldn’t afford that. Anyway, if he gave her a diamond when she was so young, everyone in the family, not just Dad, would have a fit. The ring he found was pretty and it showed that he meant business.

After her graduation party, they went up to Lost Bride Falls on Sunday afternoon. It was a sunny June day with blue skies and warm weather, great for a hike.

And other things. Colin had his trusty condom in his pocket again. This time he was going to use it. Nobody would find them up here and start lecturing. Anyway, they were a whole year older now and as good as engaged. There was no reason to wait.

It wasn’t a long hike, but it felt like a year as they wended their way up the mountain path, past firs and hemlocks and cedars, Lady’s Slippers peeping out at them from beneath the underbrush.

They rounded a bend—and saw the falls in all its mountain glory, crashing over the crag, concealing the cave that lay behind the cataract. He and his dad had gone behind the waterfall once and explored that cave. He still remembered how cold and dank it was. If ever there was an ideal home for a ghost, that cave was it.

Maybe they’d see the ghost of the lost bride today. He took Mia’s hand, and they stood there taking in the sight.

“Do you see the lost bride?” she asked.

All he saw was water. If he had to wait to get laid until he saw that ghost, he’d be waiting until he was ninety. He drew Mia close. “Never mind her. All I care about is seeing my own bride.”

Then he kissed her. And she kissed him back, enough to encourage him to lead her off the trail, down by where Icicle Creek began, with a front-row seat to the falls. Oh, yeah, here was a nice, mossy spot, private and hidden from view. He sat down and held out a hand. “Come here, you,” he said with a grin.

She cuddled up next to him and it was a perfect moment. They could have so many perfect moments if they chucked her out-of-state school plan and got married. She could go to school here in Washington.

Except she was determined to go to that university in New York, and of course, that was the practical thing to do. It was a great school and she’d worked hard to get that scholarship. It would be stupid not to take advantage of the opportunity.

But he hated to let her go. He voiced a thought he’d been kicking around ever since she got her letter of acceptance. “You know, I was thinking. I could come to New York with you, get a job out there. We could get married.”

For a moment she seemed excited by the idea. Then she frowned and shook her head. “You need to at least get your associate degree. If you quit after one year, your dad will blame me.”