A Time in Heaven (22 page)

“You can ask me anything and I’ll do my darnedest to do it
for you
.  I’m just happy you’re doing so much better.  What can I do for you?” Katie smiled at him
adoringly
.

“I want to go upstairs.  I
really
need to use the bathroom and then lay in a real bed.  Will you help me?”

It took a long time for Jesse to climb the stairs
one step at a time
.  They stopped at the top to rest a couple of minutes.  Katie helped him into the bathroom, and told him she’d be back but wanted to get the bed ready for him.  She finished turning down the bed and turned around to see him standing in the door.  “I
made it this far, but I’m pretty dizzy.
”  Katie helped him into bed.  When he was comfortable, s
he
lay
down beside him, making sure she had her hand on his chest.
They both slept the rest of the day and through the night.

Jesse continued to improve over the next few days, but Katie insisted he stay in bed, except to use the bathroom.

One sunny morning,
Katie
checked on Jesse’s healing leg. 
The bite wounds we
re getting smaller all the time, and the bruising was fading.
She
figured that it was
safe
to remove
the stitches
.  They both knew that it was going to hurt like hell.  There was still some whiskey left.  Katie didn’t offer it to him and Jesse didn’t ask. The procedure didn’t take long, but Katie thought a couple of times that Jesse was going to pass out.  He didn’t though
. H
e sat qu
ietly for an hour or so after the last of the stitches
was
removed.  He then silently lay
down on the bed and fell asleep
.

Even though it was early afternoon,
Katie crawled into bed
,
too.  She was worn out
.  She still
felt the need to sleep with her hand over his heart - a
habit
that
would stay with her.

With the stitches out
, Jesse’s
grizzly bites continued to mend
.  He, Katie and Sadie would take short walks
every day
to keep his leg from stiffening.  All the while they paid very close attention to their surroundings just in case the old grizzly
,
that
they
started calling Bruno, made another appearance.
None of them felt
entirely
safe in the place they had grown to love.

OUR LIFE HAS JUST BEGUN

One bright but chilly morning, the pair decided to take a different direction for their walk.  Just north of the lodge, they disco
vered another path.  They had seen it before, but
i
t was part
ially grown over with weeds
and brush
.  It
looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time.

“It looks like it’s a dead end. We should go back,” Katie
suggested
as they started down the path.

“Wait!” Jesse said. “It goes past this stand of pine trees.” He kept walking
. Katie turned to find Sadie. When she turned back Jesse had
disappeared.

“Jesse!”  Katie yelled as she went after him. 
What she found w
as that he had made a sharp right
turn through an aspen grove.  “
Where do
you suppose it goes?” He asked a
s he pointed down the trail.

“I don’t know.
” She took his hand and gently pulled him toward the lodge.
“
Do you think that you are up to taking a hike?
And, what about Bruno?
” She asked with concern.

“I’l
l be fine.  Let’s go.” He saw Sadie getting far ahead of them on the path.
“We need to
keep Sadie close.”
Jesse whistled and the lab came bounding back to him.
“The shape we saw ol’
Bruno the last time we saw
him
,” Jesse shuddered thinking of the encounter,
“
I doubt that he has survived this long.
But, we still have to be careful”

Katie watched as Jesse and Sadie started walking in front of her.
Jesse by
now
was
walking with a noticeable li
mp.  She
worried that even though his leg looked like it was healing well, the infection could come back.
“Jesse, please, I don’t think we should go too far,” she called to him.

Jesse was determined to explore this new trail, so t
hey continued down the path through
the aspen grove
.  Suddenly, it
ope
ned up into a vast meadow.  The couple abruptly
stopped to take i
n the grandeur of this place. W
ildflowers were blooming everywhere.  There were lupines and columbines as well as f
ireweed and forget-me-nots.
The smell of all these flowers was intoxicating.
On
the far side of the meadow was a stand of tall pines
.
  Rising above the pine
s
could be seen
snow-capped mountains.  It
was breath
-taking
.

Across the meadow they saw a cabin nestled in the pines. “Shall we check it out?”
Jesses asked looking at Katie.

“Only if your leg is okay.” Katie didn’t like the idea, but she knew he was going so she followed along.

The path
led through the meadow
of wildflowers
to the porch of the cabin. 
As they approached they could see a sign on the railing of the porch.  It
read
in big re
d letters
, “Caretakers Cabin Keep Out”.

Jesse had worn himself out getting to the cabin.
He was breathing heavily and was now almost dragging his injured leg.
Katie insisted that
he sit on the steps and rest.  As he sat down, she continued onto the porch.
She casually felt his forehead as she
passed. She was relieved that his temperature
felt normal.

She tried to look in
the window of the cabin, but it was
pretty
grimy. S
he co
uldn’t see much inside,
even when she wiped away some of the grim
e
.  She
took a few steps and tried the screen door. It was unlocked.  There was a loud creak
when she opened it.

The noise
made Jesse turn around to see what she was doing.  “Where are you going?
!
”

“Just want to do a little exploring,” Katie said as she opened the inside door.

“Wait,” Jesse snapped.  He didn’t want her going inside the cabin alone.  They had no idea what or who was in there.  The sign was
pretty clear.  What if the place
was booby-trapped?

“Please, just sit here with me a while.  Then, we’ll go exploring together.”

Katie joined him on the step.
They sat
together
taking in the magnificent scenery in front of them. 
After a few minutes,
Jesse
had
caught his breath
and was feeling better
.  Katie helped him to stand, and then they
went inside
the cabin
very cautiously. 
What they saw
was a complete
surprise
.

Unlike the other buildings at the camp, this place had been
well
taken care of. 
The furnishings were obviously old, but clean.  There was no clutter.  Everything had been put in its place.

They walked into
a large, main room with a fireplace on the outside wall.  To their right was a rather modern looking kitchen.  A
wooden
table
with four chairs
separated the two spaces.  The whole place looked warm and inviting.

Katie crossed the large room to one of the three doors on the opposite side.  She had a momentary flash of the horror they found when they opened the closet door at the lodge. 
She reached for the door handle of the door to her left, but hesitated. She looked at Jesse.  Then, h
er curiosity got the better of her and
she
slowly
opened the door
.
“Look, Jess!” 
As she looked in, she motioned for Jesse.

He walked over to the door
. As he looked past Katie, he
saw a
n
astonishing bedroom.  The
re
was a large four-post bed
that took up the major part of the room. A dresser with a mirror, an overstuffed chair and a
night stand filled the rest of the room.
On the outside wall was a large window
. The curtains were outdated but looked clean.

“It looks like it has had a woman’s touch.” Jesse commented.

Katie carefully opened the door on the inside wall.  Here she found the bathroom.  It too was outdated but clean.  She wondered why this place was so well cared for while the rest of the camp was so run down
and filthy
.
She had no way of knowing that the caretaker’s cabin had been occupied during the
early summer last year by Hank and Emma Dobson.  Hank
had been in charge
of maintenance around the camp,
while Emma
was in charge of the kitchen and ordering supplies.  When the camp owner’s health started to fail and the finances weren’t taken care of, the couple
quit.
  They had left in early July.  No one had been in the cabin since.

“This place is wonderful!” Katie exclaimed.  “Jess, can we live here?”

He looked over her shoulder into the ba
throom and kissed her neck.  “It
would be a lot
homier
than the lodge, and it would be easier to heat.” He tho
ught for a second. “Sure. Let’s move our stuff here
.”
He put his hand on his injured leg. “But, Babe, with this leg I can’t make that many trips from the lodge let alone carry anything.  We’ll have to wait a few
more
days until I get all my strength back.

Katie looked disappointed.  “But it’s so great here.”  She turned to Jesse.  “W
hy can’t I carry what I can from the lodge
tomorrow?  I’ll just work until I get everything we need to this place.”

“OK, but as you’re carrying things here, I
’ll work on putting them
away.”
  Jesse smiled.  He liked the idea of
be
ing
able to
work as a team with this new woman in his life.  It was s
omething new for him.  With a
ll of his ot
her relationships everything had been
either yours or mine; it was never ours.

Suddenly Sadie
started
barking from the porch.  They hurried to see the five wo
lves crossing the clearing. The pack
took a quick glance at the little group standing on the porch as they disappeared
into the trees,
with their tails raised high
.

“They act like they own this island, don’t’ they, Jess?”

“Evidently, they do,” He snickered.

After resting a while in the cabin,
they went back to the lodge
.  Both Jesse and Katie
were excited
with the anticipation of moving the next day.

Katie was up at the c
rack of dawn the next morning. It was a beautiful clear day – perfect for making their move to the cabin.
She took Sadie out
for her walk
. 
After making
Sa
die and Jesse breakfast,
she
started packing.

“Good morning, Sunshine.” Jesse said as he came into the kitchen.  He went to Katie and kissed her between her breasts.  He got two cups from the cabinet and poured them each a cup of coffee.

As they ate breakfast, they talked about their plans for the day.  Katie had already filled their backpacks with food that would be taken on the first trip to the cabin. 
When they finished eating
they didn’t bother
to clean up before leaving
for their new cabin.
Jesse said that he could handle one of the packs and Sadie.  Katie took the other pack. She
also
carried Jess
e
’s guitar and another suitcase.