Mountain Moonlight

chapter 6



When Vala awoke in the morning, the dream was still haunting her. It took her a few moments to realize that Davis wasn't in the tent, which didn't alarm her. On this trip he'd almost always been up and about before she roused. As she dressed, she thought about the dream and suddenly realized Davis hadn't been in it, any more than he was in the tent. He was what she'd left behind. Something she'd never do.

Shaking her head, she emerged from the tent and glanced around. The day was fair and slightly cool. Neither Davis nor Bram were in sight. Undisturbed--Davis was in good company--she poured herself a cup of coffee and sipped at it while she breathed in the fresh mountain air.

When, from behind her, Bram said, "Good morning," she almost dropped the cup in her startlement.

"You scared me half to death, sneaking up behind me like that," she accused.

"Not intentional. Davis sleeping in?"

She gaped at him for a moment, belatedly aware her son was still nowhere in sight. "He wasn't with you?"

Bram shook his head. "Haven't seen him at all this morning. You mean he's not in the tent?"

"No!"

As one they turned to look at the horses. All four were still tethered. Davis hadn't taken any of them.

"He's lost!" Vala cried. "He's lost up here with poisonous snakes and lizards all around. He could have fallen off a cliff or..."

"Calm down." Bram told her. "Where we are now there are no cliffs he could fall off. And he knows about poisonous reptiles. My guess is he went exploring while he was waiting for us to get up."

"But you sleep outside. You must have seen him."

"I slept later than usual."

"Do something, can't you?" she demanded. "My son's lost on this cactus-infested mountain and you stand there telling me to calm down." She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Davis!"

An echo was the only reply.

"We've got to find him before it's too late," she said. "I'll go this way and you go that." She started off.

His hand gripped her arm, stopping her. "I run this outfit." His voice was flat and hard. "I give the orders. We don't split up. I repeat, we do not split up. First thing you know there'd be two lost people instead of one. And I don't mean me."

Panic rose in Vala. Wasn't he going to do anything? "He's only nine," she reminded him.

"Davis has been to summer camps. And he's listened to my reminders of what to do if you get lost. It may take a little time, but we'll find him."

"Your reminders!" She flung the words at him. "I can barely recall whatever advice you gave. If I was lost and scared I wouldn't remember a word."

"Davis isn't you. I have faith in the kid." He knelt, eased something from a pack and slid it into his pocket. "Okay, follow me and we'll do a widening circle search. He can't be far off."

"Then why didn't he answer me when I called him?" she demanded as she trotted after him, trying to keep up with his long strides.

"Sounds carry differently in the mountains." He shouted Davis's name. Again, nothing.

"It's all your fault," she said, beside herself with worried apprehension. What if Davis was lying somewhere hurt?

"It's no one's fault. Davis got an early start, maybe on purpose, while I wasn't awake to see him take off from camp."

"What do you mean on purpose?"

"That early, neither of us was around to stop him and so he probably figured it was an ideal time to go look for the bear. Kids always think they can find their way back. For him it'll be a lesson learned the hard way."

"He must be scared to death. And maybe hurt."

"Don't borrow trouble."

Easy for him to say, she thought resentfully as they started another, wider circling. Davis wasn't his son. She called Davis's name again, the uncaring echo sending a shiver down her spine. She pictured him rushing this way and that and getting more and more lost as he moved farther and farther away from the camp.

As if reading her mind, Bram took care of that scenario by saying, "He won't be far away. Once he realizes he's lost, he'll stop and stay in one spot."

Vala remembered that not moving was one of the things Bram had emphasized. But how could he expect a scared kid to dredge that up?

"Davis!" Bram bellowed.

Mixed in with the echo, Vala thought she heard something else. "Listen!" she cried.

"I hear him." Bram stopped and turned his head in one direction, then the other. "That way," he said, pointing. They found Davis with tear-stained cheeks, huddled against a rock. But when Vala rushed to hug him, he backed away, warning, "Don't touch me. I'm full of stickers."

She held, belatedly noticing the cactus spines sticking through his clothes. "Oh, my poor b--" She caught herself before "baby" slipped past and humiliated him. "Poor Davis," she said.

"I did what you said," Davis told Bram. "I stayed put." He sniffed and wiped his face with a grimy hand. "I should've stopped where I was sooner but I got scared about being lost and that's how come I stumbled into the cactus."

"You're a brave kid," Bram said. "Not everyone would have calmed down and remembered to stay in one place. Especially after getting stabbed with all those spines." He pulled a pair of pliers from his pocket. "Brought these along, just in case."

Most of the spines were on the backs of Davis's legs and in his behind so Vala was able to let him lean against her while Bram went to work.

"They all have to come out or they fester," Bram warned. "And it'll hurt when I yank them free, can't help that. You can yell if you want, nobody around to hear but me and your mom and we know it's painful. I'd yell if someone was doing this to me."

"Screaming's more my style," Vala put in, knowing the worst thing she could do for Davis was to start weeping over the pain he must be feeling, pain that would get worse while the spines were being pulled out.

She steeled herself not to wince as Bram gripped the first one with the jaws of the pliers.

"Ow!" Davis cried as Bram yanked it out.

By the time every spine had been pulled from his skin, Davis was unabashedly crying. Vala gathered him into her arms, being careful not to touch the sore spots.

Bram, hunkered down to the boy's level, put a hand on his shoulder and murmured, "You did good, partner."

After a time, Davis pushed away from Vala and swiped a hand across his face. "It hurt a lot," he muttered.

"Yup," Bram agreed. "What we have to do next is get you to Pauline's. It's not far, but you'll have to walk. Think you're up to it?"

About to ask why they couldn't ride, Vala realized Davis must be too sore to sit on a horse.

"I guess so," Davis said uncertainly. "Who's Pauline?" "She's a Superstition Mountain hermit, and not the only one around, either. Lucky for us, she knows me and will let us in because she's a medicine woman and can help those spine stab wounds of yours heal a lot faster than they would otherwise."

"They won't hurt so much?"

"You got it. So if you can make it to Pauline's, you'll soon be feeling better."

Back at the camp, Bram and Vala stowed the gear and, with each of them leading two horses, with Davis they picked their way on foot up a rocky slope and into a wide crevasse. Set into the crevasse was a rickety-looking cabin perched on a bed of boulders.

"Is Pauline a real medicine woman?" Davis asked. By now he was limping, but he hadn't complained "A Ndee, I mean?"

"No one's sure what she is or where she came from, but she's a medicine woman, all right."

Davis looked at Vala. "Is it okay if I call her Pauline?"

"No one ever calls her anything else," Bram said.

"Then I guess you can, too," Vala told her son.

Bram stopped a fair distance from the cabin, cupped his hands together and blew into them, making a strange wailing sound. He then waited until the cabin door opened and a tall thin woman appeared on the tiny porch holding something that looked to Vala like a shotgun. She caught her breath.

"Bram Hunter," he called. "Got a hurt boy here."

The woman waved them on toward her cabin.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Vala asked in a low tone. "She'd have shot over our heads by now if she didn't want us here," Bram said. "She might turn me away sometimes, but she'd never deny help to a child. Pauline's kind-hearted."

Maybe, but the woman also carried a shotgun. Still, if she could help Davis, was all that was important. Bram said she could, and Vala believed him. She did trust him and was ashamed of blaming him when they'd found Davis missing. As he'd said, it was nobody's fault.

"Don't offer to pay her," Bram warned before they got to the cabin. "You'll insult her. I'll tell her we'll arrange for supplies to be sent to her when we get back down the mountain. She won't say yes, but she won't refuse."

"That's like barter," Davis said unexpectedly. "We learned about barter in school. She gives me some medicine and you guys give her some supplies."

"Right again, partner," Bram told him.

Up closer, Vala saw the cabin was made of planks and metal haphazardly clobbered together. The roof appeared to be sheets of tin.

"Used to be a prospector's cabin in the old days," Bram said. "After he died it was abandoned until Pauline moved in and fixed it up some."

"A prospector for gold?" Davis asked.

"Yup. He couldn't've found much, to judge by the looks of the cabin."

"Maybe he hid what he found, like the Lost Dutchman Mine."

Bram shrugged. "By all accounts, he died flat broke, like the Dutchman."

By now they were almost to the porch and the woman standing there obviously overheard the last remarks because she said, "Crazy men. These mountains keep their gold." Pauline's voice was surprisingly melodious, in contrast to her stark appearance. Two dark braids, streaked with gray, fell almost to her waist. She wore a long brown dress that looked as though it might be made from homespun cloth, with a deerskin vest over it.

Vala couldn't begin to guess her age, through she had to be at least sixty, since she had wrinkles and Bram had called her old.

"I got stuck by a cactus," Davis told Pauline before anyone else could speak. "Bram says you can heal up the holes. I sure like your headband. Mokesh had one, but his was sort of worn out." Davis winced as he climbed the porch steps.

Pauline smiled at him. "Mokesh, is it? We'll talk about him later, after you feel better. First things first."

"I'm Vala and he's my son, Davis," Vala said, stepping onto the porch, trying not to notice the shotgun, now leaning against the cabin. "I'm pleased to meet you, Pauline."

"Ain't nobody said that to me and meant it for quite a spell," Pauline told her.

"I believe you can help Davis," Vala said, putting as much conviction into her voice as possible.

"Looks like maybe you brung me some good ones," Pauline said to Bram. She picked up the shotgun and led the way into the cabin.

Because the several windows were small, the one-room interior was dark but, Vala saw, clean and neat. The furniture consisted of wooden chairs and a table, plus a cot. A curtained alcove held, she supposed, a bed and, perhaps a dresser. One entire wall was taken up by shelved open cupboards, with a sink fitted into one of the cupboards. Plastic water bottles were lined up on the lower shelves.

The stove appeared to be either butane or oil.

In one corner was a stone fireplace with a very small fire burning. The place smelled of herbs.

"You got a cool house," Davis said as Pauline led him to the cot.

"It suits," she said. "Now you got to take all your clothes off."

"Right in front of everyone?"

"If that bothers you, I'll herd us all onto the porch till you're under that sheet on the cot, flat on your belly."

"Maybe if you just turned your backs, you and Bram and Mom."

When Davis was ready, Vala watched as Pauline swung out a large kettle that hung over the fire and poured steaming water into a basin before she swung the kettle back into position.

"I ain't gonna scald the boy," Pauline said, evidently catching Vala's worried expression.

"Might be best if you and Bram go set up your tent nearby while I take care of Davis."

"Good idea." Bram took Vala's hand, urging her out through the door.

"I don't know--" she began as he closed the door behind them.

"I do. Pauline won't do anything to harm Davis. Her potions will ease him and help healing. They're natural herbs. I don't have anything in my first aid kit that'll work as well as what she'll do."

Vala glanced at the closed door, then sighed and followed Bram down the steps. What she really wanted to do was hover over her son, just as Bram had accused her of doing. Was it so wrong? Still, if Davis had wanted her to stay, he'd have asked her to.

She recalled that the last time he'd been to the doctor, he hadn't wanted her to come into the examining room with him. Somehow she'd have to adjust to the fact her little boy was growing up.

Once they'd set up the tent and made sure the horses were tethered and fed, Vala faced Bram.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have blamed you for Davis getting lost. I was too upset to think straight."

He nodded. "I took that under consideration. The boy's smarter than maybe you realize. Courageous, too."

She nodded. "Even with those dreadful cactus spines sticking in him, Davis was so proud of remembering what you told him to do if he ever got lost."

"You got a good kid there, Vala."

"I know. If only--" She sighed and didn't go on. If only was no more than a dream because Neal would never change, never recognize his son's worth.

Evidently following her train of thought, Bram said, "There's more to life than organized sports. Davis has excellent balance, I bet he'd be good on skis. Has he ever tried skiing?"

"No."

"Might be the place to start building his confidence in himself."

"You've been doing a fine job of that," she said. "I really do appreciate it. Acceptance from a man means so much to him."

"I didn't get much of that when I was a kid."

If she'd remembered rightly about Bram living with his mother only, then he must have had an absent father. No wonder he understood Davis so well.

Time to change the subject Bram told himself. She didn't want to hear about his past problems. "I'll lay odds Davis is not only comfortable by now, but asleep."

"I hope so."

He nodded toward the cabin. "If I'm right, then Pauline won't throw us out again. Come on."

He'd hit it on the button. Davis, lying on his stomach, was sound asleep on the cot. Bram listened as Vala explained to Pauline that Davis didn't wake easily so there was no need to be particularly quiet.

"I been waiting to tell you if you put that boy on a horse tomorrow you'll undo all the good that's got started," Pauline said in her deep, melodious voice. "He'd best stay right here for one more day."

"We'll do whatever you say," Bram told her.

"Good. 'Cause I need some roots and plants you two can fetch for me before dark. Gonna tell you right where they can be found. Lots quicker getting there with horses than on shank's mare, like me."

"We'll be glad to help out," Vala told her.

"'Course you will. Couldn't be raising a fine boy like your son if you wasn't all right yourself."

Pauline eyed Bram. "Might be some rabbit stew on the fire when you get back. Old feller from the back of nowhere brought me a couple real early this morning."

Bram knew the rabbits must be payment for one of Pauline's remedies. "I'll take right kindly to that stew," he told her, grinning.

"Always making fun," she grumbled. "Get you going or the boy and me might just finish all that stew before you get back here. Here's the directions."

He listened while she told him what she wanted and how to get where the plants grew, then took the trowel, clippers, and basket she handed him.

Vala took another look at Davis before they went out.

"He'll do without you for a time," Pauline assured her. "Might be somebody else'd appreciate your attention, though. Providing he deserves it."

Bram put his hand over his heart. "I'm a most deserving man."

Pauline snorted. "They all say that." She fixed her attention on Vala and added, "He's better'n some."

On that note he and Vala left the cabin. Not until the horses were saddled and they'd mounted--Vala could now swing onto Susie Q like a pro, he noted--did he speak.

"How deserving do you think I am?"

"More than some," she said, imitating Pauline. "I've never had rabbit stew, by the way. How is it?"

"Anything Pauline cooks is good."

"I don't know how she can live as she does--so isolated and alone."

"I do. I have the tendency myself once in a while."

She stared at him. "I guess I like people around too much to understand hermits."

He half-smiled. "I'm no hermit, though I admit the genes may be there."

"Genes?"

"My father was a wanderer. Or at least that's what my mother always called it." Inwardly, he cursed himself.

What was there about this woman that made him want to dump the past on her, to tell her more than she'd want to know, more than he'd ever told anyone?

Abruptly, he shifted to something else. "Want to try sleeping under the stars tonight?" he asked. "There's going to be a penultimate moon."

"What kind of a moon is that?"

"My term for one night short of full. Hard to tell the difference, actually."

"Never in my life have I slept outside."

"Past time to try it, then." He didn't understand why he needed to share the experience with Vala, but he did. He wanted her to feel what he did--the awesome beauty of the night and the stars and the universe.

"If I can reserve the right to retreat to my tent," she said.

"You won't want to." He glanced up at the sky, all but devoid of clouds, and saw a hawk circling in a thermal.

Vala must have followed his gaze, because she said, "Isn't he gorgeous? I've sometimes wondered why predators so often are. Eagles, cougars, wolves--all graceful and deadly."

"They're doing what they were born to do--hunt for food. Like men used to in the old days. The Ndee were never in one place long enough to grow crops--hunters, all of them."

"I can't think they found much to hunt in the Superstitions."

"There's game here. But the Ndee didn't trespass much on their sacred mountain."

"Have you studied the Ndee? You seem to know them well."

"Something like that."

No matter what subject they started out with, the conversation seemed to circle back to his past. No doubt because it was so easy to talk to Vala that he forgot to be careful what he said.

"Oh, look!" she cried, pointing. "That must be the landmark."

Bram looked, then turned to grin at her. "You spotted the guide bear, all right."

"I can't wait to tell Davis, but I hope he won't be too disappointed he wasn't the first to see the bear."

"Look at it this way. If he hadn't gotten lost and blundered into that cactus, we wouldn't have come to Pauline's and we wouldn't be where we are now. So Davis can take part of the credit."

"Wounded but justified," she said, smiling at him. "Interesting old Mokesh's map has been accurate so far," Bram said. "The bear isn't as well known a landmark as the lizard. I knew roughly where it was, but not exactly. We'll have to change direction some when we hit the trail again."

"Do you actually think we might find something when we reach the map's end?"

"If you mean treasure, I doubt we'll find gold."

She sighed. "There has to be something. Davis will be heartbroken otherwise. You see, he trusted Mokesh, so he believes in that map."

"Mokesh was a medicine man; Davis won't be disappointed." Bram wasn't sure how he knew this, but, as though Mokesh himself was whispering into his ear, he had no doubt he was right.

"Davis trusts you, too," she said.

Bram was well aware of the boy's hero worship. He hadn't earned it. All he'd done was try to help a kid like he'd once been, feel better about himself. Considering he was a man who avoided entanglements of any kind, it was strange how involved he'd managed to get with both Vala and her son. He ought to put an end to it. He could, couldn't he? Yeah, he told himself. Sure. And I suppose you think inviting Vala to spend the night with you under the stars is your first step to disentanglement.

His momentary uneasiness about involvement was erased by a rush of anticipation about what the night might bring, anticipation so intense it filled his mind--and body.

Vala, glancing at Bram, caught his dreamy smile--at nothing--and wondered what he was thinking. Why had he mentioned sleeping under the stars? Now all her thoughts were irrevocably focused on that. She should have said no, but the idea intrigued her.

Or was it the man who intrigued her?

Foolish question. She'd been caught up in something beyond her power to resist every since he'd walked into that cafe in Apache Junction and looked into her eyes. Though it may have been a mistake to bring Bram back into her life, she was glad she'd ignored that crossed-off name and called him. Never mind that she hadn't expected to feel so drawn to him, he'd made her feel young again, made her feel attractive even in her jeans and long-sleeved shirt trail clothes.

Much as she loved her son, Bram had made her realize there was more to life than being a mother. Not that she'd ever neglect Davis, but she'd been reminded she had a right to a life of her own. A right she just might seize and explore tonight under the stars.