Wilderness Paradise Pt. 06

"Don't leave me," she whispered.

She had no idea why she said that or why she felt this constriction in the middle of her chest but at that moment he meant everything to her.

His eyes flickered open, "Ah, my little angel, I shall never leave you. Never. I'm going away for a while -- that's all."

He reached up and cupped her face with one huge palm. He did it so gently that it surprised her. She held on to his hand in both of hers, kissing the back of his palm and then pressed it to her heart.

"You can't ... you promised to keep me safe," she was crying.

He smiled and closed his eyes.

"Tell Luke ..." his breathing was shallow and ragged now, "... he's a brother I never had. And you, you my darling, you don't ever worry. I'm with you always. We'll dance, I promise, in another life ..." his voice was fading, "I promise, missy ..."

"Shhh, baby, shhhhh ..."

She leaned over and kissed his forehead first and then gently on his lips; a sweet, tender, lingering kiss. He looked up at her, his brilliant sea-green eyes shining again for one fleeting moment, an evanescent iridescence, before dying out. Then, without a struggle, he was gone.

*****

Losing a Brother

And that's how I found them; Rachael sobbing with Daniel's head on her lap and Kyla and Sarah by their side. And, I knew, the instant I saw her, that my friend was dead. It was the most heart wrenching moment of my life. It left a void in me that I couldn't comprehend until my son was born a few years later.

Rachael rarely spoke about those final moments but she did tell me once that the sky had turned a darker shade of pale and the trees had screamed in agony, their leaves hissing within the turbulence of an impromptu breeze. She heard wolves howling and dogs baying and even caught a glimpse of a huge bear in the distance. It seemed to her that the Mountain and the Northern Wind were paying tribute to their gnostic son, the reincarnation of Paul Bunyan. And I knew it to be true.

What it taught me, no, what it taught us was there are no guarantees in life. You had better live now and love those you do with a passion and that hate, with all its baggage, was a waste of time and energy, engendering only more hate. Josh Woodard and Luther Cooley have never again entered my thoughts.

So, as soon as we got back, Rachael and I moved to Colorado and moved in together. We told Mom but felt it best to keep up appearances for Dad's sake. Rachael told him she was going to finish school at Fort Lewis College in Durango, which she did but that wasn't the reason we moved. And as far as he knew, I was still in Chicago. It didn't serve any purpose to upset him with our endogamous arrangement.

Two years after Bella Coola, Dad passed away and Mom came to live with us. It was perfect. She was a not only a wonderful babysitter for her grandkids but a big help in our embryonic business. We opened a small convenience store catering to the needs of outdoorsmen and women. It also offers guided treks through the San Juan Mountains, with Rock Climbing and Rafting and fishing junkets along the Animas River. Rachael and I are blessed that we can make a decent living doing what we both truly love. It was Dad's gift to us -- the love of nature and adventure.

We have two kids. Our oldest is a girl, Danielle Margaret Meacham, a beautiful child with bright blue eyes and golden hair like her mother's. A year later, we had a boy and named him Benn Thomas Meacham. Now this is where it gets strange -- my eyes are light brown and Rachael's are blue but this boy has fists the size of Texas with curly brown hair and the brightest Aquamarine eyes you'd ever see.

No one in our family that we know of has eyes or hair like his, no one, that is, except Daniel Benn.

The End