the curb. Nate reached over the seat to squeeze Pam’s arm and wish her a happy trip.
While Rick helped them with their bags, Nate lowered the car window to say goodbye to his father, who’d come around to the driver’s side. He’d always been a strong man. This morning his grip on Nate’s shoulder was almost bruising.
“Thank you, son. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he whispered.
“When we get back, I want to sit down with you and Rick. We’ll talk about everything.”
He nodded. “Sounds good.”
A minute later Rick climbed into the front seat. Nate took advantage of a break in the traffic and headed away from the terminal.
“I don’t think Pam said more than a dozen words on the way down from Breckenridge.”
“She did while Dad was paying the bill.”
Nate turned his head toward his brother. “Problems already?”
“I don’t know what to think. She said she’d been waiting for the right moment to explain why she was at our house the morning I surprised them. Apparently Dad had just picked her up at the Copper Mountain Inn where she’d been staying all month.
“To quote her, ‘Your father and I did a lot of soul-searching on the previous night. The love he felt for your mother poured out of him. All I could do was listen. When he asked me to come to your house for breakfast, I told him I was terrified he was going to say our engagement was a mistake.’”
Rick took a deep breath. “She told me that after they’d eaten and she was helping him with the dishes, he admitted that getting married could be a mistake. But apparently he said it might be an even bigger one if they didn’t find out what there could be between them.”
“That’s interesting,” Nate murmured, “and we know Dad’s traditional enough to insist on marriage, but we still don’t know what she’s all about.”
“Nope, and Dad isn’t the type to tell us something personal about her until he’s ready.”
Nate was about to say their father might never be ready, but his cell phone rang. Curious, he pulled it from his pocket and checked the caller ID. “It’s the ski shop.”
“Already?”
“You heard Dad earlier. We’re in charge now.” He clicked on. “This is Nate. What’s up?”
“Hi, Nate.”
“Nina?”
“I wouldn’t be bothering you if I didn’t think this might be important.”
“Go ahead.”
“A woman phoned the shop a few minutes ago looking for a Major Hawkins. She said she’d seen you driving the Blazer and wanted to talk to you, but she didn’t leave a name or number.”
Laurel Pierce had her nerve, he’d say that much.
“For security reasons I didn’t give out any phone numbers. However, I did tell her you’d probably be in the shop sometime tomorrow. In case it was someone from the military, I thought you should know.”
“Thanks, Nina. You did exactly the right thing. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He clicked off the phone, then gave his brother a speaking glance. “Spade’s wife is looking for me.”
“After the way you treated her, you’re not really surprised, are you?”
“I thought you were on my side.”
“Always.”
“She knows I know her secret. It appears the woman has no shame.”
“I agree it looks that way,” Rick murmured.
“It is that way.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing. If she has the temerity to show up at the ski shop, it’ll be a wasted trip for her. I didn’t tell you I saw her this morning while you were inside getting Dad.”
“Did she try to talk to you again?”
“No, but then I didn’t encourage it.”
Rick eyed him for a moment before turning his head away.
Nate saw his brother rummage in his pocket for something.
“Here. I picked these up in the lodge.” Rick handed him a candy bar. “What do you say we go home and take a couple of runs on Eagles’ Nest for old times’ sake?”
“You’re on.” An afternoon tearing the mountain apart wasn’t like taking to the sky, but it would do. Anything to put off thinking for a little while.
Within an hour they’d returned to Copper Mountain. After they’d donned their old ski outfits and Laplander hats, they went to the laundry room off the kitchen, where their mom had made a place for the family to store their skis and poles.
Her favorite pair of G-41 Vokyls were still there, as if waiting for her to grab them for a quick run. Nate noticed his brother staring at them for a moment before he reached for his own.
One of these days they would stop reacting to reminders of her and the avalanche that had come out of nowhere to sweep her and two friends to their deaths.
A series of storms had hit in early September. Carrying their skis, the three women had hiked up in the back country to get the first fresh tracks of the year. Normally fall wasn’t avalanche season. Colorado Search and Rescue speculated that they’d dropped down from a cornice, which had started a massive slide.
It shouldn’t have happened.
Spade’s crash shouldn’t have happened, either.
Nate’s mouth thinned. He collected his skis and poles. “Ready?” he called to his brother.
“As I’ll ever be. Let’s go.”
He followed Rick through the house to the front door. A wind had come up while they were inside, and it had started to snow. They’d be lucky to get in one run before it grew into a blizzard and the lift shut down.
As he stopped to lock the front door, he heard another car pull into the driveway. He turned in time to see a figure get out of the front passenger side. A pregnant figure in black.
Nate froze in his tracks.
She hurried toward Rick who was putting his skis on the rack of their Blazer. If they exchanged any conversation, it was brief. She darted back to the waiting car before Nate could make it down the front steps of the house.
By the time he caught up with his brother, the driver had backed up and headed off.
Rick’s speculative glance swiveled to Nate.
