All Fall Down (28 page)

Blaine swallowed more water. She was losing consciousness. For just a moment her father’s face flashed before her eyes. Then Martin’s, Logan’s, Robin’s, Tim’s, Ashley’s…

Suddenly strong arms were pulling her out of the creek. She heard screaming, a dog barking, someone ordering, “Blaine! Blaine,
breathe!
” But she couldn’t. If they would stop pounding on her chest, she could tell them that, she thought irritably. If they would just stop pounding—

Abruptly she convulsed, rolled onto her side, and began spewing water. “Come on, Blaine! That’s it!” someone shouted. “You can do it, Blaine!” Logan? But it couldn’t be him. It was all a dream—a dream of being saved.

She was rolled onto her back. She was cold and sick and unbearably sleepy, but she looked up. It
was
Logan. Somewhere far off she heard a woman shrieking. A dog was alternately licking her face and whirling to bark at the screaming woman. And a little face appeared over her. She blinked repeatedly until it came into semi-focus. It beamed down at her. “Ashley found Daddy and a bunch of men in the woods looking for me. She led them here. She
tracked
us.” Tim? He gazed triumphantly up at his father’s anxious face. “You see, Daddy, my dream was right? I
told
you a big gold dog was gonna save me!”

And then she slept.

“The woods don’t seem haunted anymore,” Blaine said. “If there is an
orenda
, or some kind of spirit animating the trees, it’s no longer trying to tell us something.”

Logan smiled. “I’m surprised you can come back here at all after what happened. If the search party hadn’t been so close to your house when Ashley found us, if she hadn’t been so good at tracking you through the storm, if we’d been two minutes later pulling Joan off you, if the emergency squad hadn’t been so quick—”

“I spent two days in the hospital imagining all those horrible things that might have happened, then I decided such thinking is useless. Everything turned out okay for Tim and me. That’s what I try to keep in mind.”

The day was bright and dry as they strolled along the path, listening to Tim and Robin up ahead, laughing as they tossed a frisbee for Ashley to catch.

Logan looked at her closely. “Are you sure you’re all right now?”

“I’m more all right than I have been for a year. I finally know Martin didn’t hate me for the accident. You know, Logan, I always thought he killed himself, but I was afraid he’d deliberately fired into that tree and replaced the cartridge in the gun so that it would look like murder and I’d be a suspect. I did him a terrible disservice, but it’s over. And Robin and I have finally made peace.”

“I guess when she realized the hell you’d gone through in the summer over Martin’s death without ever mentioning to the police that she knew where the key to the gun case was, she had to know you cared about her.”

“Yes, it made a difference. I guess we’ve both been blind.”

“And how were you blind?”

“By not thinking about how often Joan came out here to see Martin before his death. They hadn’t seemed so close before. I think she got a sick thrill out of seeing him so helpless, as if it were a punishment for loving Charlotte and later marrying me instead of her. And I should have realized that, considering the eagle eye Joan kept on Rosie, she would have known about her affair with Rick.” Blaine sighed. “What’s going to happen to Joan?”

Logan looked troubled, almost haunted, and Blaine remembered how much he had always liked the woman. “I’ve heard she spends most of the day grooming herself, or pretending she’s winning the Miss West Virginia pageant, or having imaginary conversations with her parents and with Martin and Rick. In her mind, they all adore her. And she sings. ‘Ring Around a Rosy’ seems to be her big favorite. It’s my guess she’ll spend the rest of her life in an institution.”

Blaine dug her hands deeper in her pockets. “You just wonder how someone like that can function normally in society for so long.”

“We all wear masks sometimes. Joan managed to wear one
all
the time. She fooled everyone—everyone except her father. And, unfortunately, Rosie near the end. If only the girl had kept her suspicions about the mythical Derek Van Zandt to herself.”

Blaine frowned. “I have a feeling none of that really made any difference. Rosie’s death warrant was signed when she became involved with Rick.”

“Love seems to get a lot of us in a hell of a lot of trouble.” Logan reached over and took Blaine’s hand out of her pocket, holding it tightly. “I’ve agreed to give Dory a divorce. I should have insisted on it months ago, but I thought keeping the family together for Tim was best. But it wasn’t. He almost died that night because of her.”

“That night wasn’t exactly Dory’s fault,” Blaine said. “But you’re right—Dory apparently doesn’t want to be a mother, and Tim shouldn’t be subjected to her unhappiness. How does he feel about the divorce?”

“I’ve done my best to explain things to him. And he’ll be spending a certain amount of time with Dory each year, although she doesn’t want joint custody.” He smiled ruefully. “Too much responsibility for her. But Tim will adjust. He’s a tough little guy.”

“You’re telling me!” Blaine laughed. “You should have heard how he tried to stand up to Joan.”

Ashley bounded back to them, bandage on her side where Joan’s bullet had nicked her, orange frisbee in her mouth. Tim and Robin were close behind. As usual, Blaine was startled by the change in Robin’s appearance. She looked flushed and lovely, the tension that had turned her face surly for almost a year now finally gone. She knew her father hadn’t killed himself, nor had Blaine killed him. And she was dating Tony Jarvis, who it turned out had been lying about being with his mother the night Robin claimed to have met him, all to protect her.

“We keep telling Ashley she’s supposed to bring the frisbee to us,” Robin said, laughing.

“But she just
won’t
do it!” Tim knelt beside the dog and gave her a fierce hug. Ashley dropped the frisbee and licked his face.

“I guess you’ll just have to come out and work with her regularly,” Robin said.

“Oh, I will!” Tim answered fervently. “I’ve heard Grandma say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but
I
can. Besides, Ashley’s the smartest dog in the whole world.
And
the bravest, don’t you think, Robin?”

“I certainly do.”

Logan had dropped Blaine’s hand, and he looked at Tim. “I suppose it’s time for us to go home, son.”

Blaine saw mixed emotions pass over the child’s face—hope, reluctance, a little anxiety. But he said cheerfully, “Yeah. Mommy said she’d call me to talk about the di—di…”

“Divorce,” Logan said.

“Yeah. Besides, I’ve got to do arithmetic. I’ve
always
got to do arithmetic!” Tim’s arms fell away from the dog, and he gazed up at Blaine. “I had a real good time today.”

“So did we. How about coming back next Saturday to continue Ashley’s frisbee training?”

Tim brightened. “Can I, Daddy?”

“Sure, son. You can come anytime you’re invited.”

“Am I invited?” Tim asked Blaine.

“I told you before—you have an open invitation. Come out anytime you want.”

“And Daddy?”

Blaine smiled into Logan’s eyes. “The open invitation goes for him, too.”

As Logan and Tim walked across the wide back lawn, leaving Blaine and Robin standing on the path, Robin put her arm around Blaine’s shoulders. “So what’s going on between you two?”

“A very wise young lady once told me that love might be put on the shelf for a while, but it doesn’t die.”

“And what do those wise young lady’s words mean to you?”

Blaine smiled. “At this moment, they mean I get all my satisfaction out of being alive and having you and Ashley. As for the future…”

Suddenly Tim turned around, flashed them his wide smile with its missing front tooth, and called, “We’ll see you real,
real
soon.”

“As for the future,” Blaine continued, waving to Tim, “I’ll be here waiting.”