Chapter 10 Gwen
10
C H A P T E R
Gwen
G wen woke up early the next morning and stumbled into the kitchen. “What can I do?” she asked.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” Millie said, smiling at her. “You can take the bread, butter, jelly, and toaster out to the counter in the middle of the dining room. People can make their own toast. Then, you can take out the orange juice and glass, as well as the coffee pot and cups.”
Millie stirred some scrambled eggs while Tessie flipped the bacon. Gwen snagged a piece of bacon and munched on it while she completed her assigned tasks.
Everyone poured into the dining room at six-thirty, since the rooms would have gotten cold quickly. After they ate, everyone took their dishes into the kitchen. Gwen offered to help, but Millie shooed her out. She and Tessie had it covered.
Feeling a little lost, Gwen meandered her way back into the dining room. Her mother sat at one of the tables, lost in a book she had found in the library. Gwen sat next to her.
“Hi, Honey. How are you doing?” Audrey asked.
“I’m alright. About the same as everyone else, I suppose. You?”
“Same. I saw you putting blankets on Sawyer and Lucas.”
Gwen nodded. “I felt so bad for them. It was obvious that they were completely exhausted.”
“Yeah. You know the Johnsons really are great people. Unless you knew who they were, you wouldn’t guess they were billionaires. I’ve never seen them treat anyone with less than kindness. Their cook, housekeepers, and ranch hands are treated like family and they all eat at the same table.” Audrey laughed. “Caroline, Sawyer’s mother, has always been over the top. When she throws a party, it is a massive affair. They are also very generous with their money and are willing to help anyone who needs it.”
“I remember that she was nice. She always bought Kyle and me nice gifts, especially for Christmas and birthdays. I remember a fundraiser they did to buy school supplies for kids. She was with everyone else, stuffing backpacks full of pens, papers, and everything else kiddos need. Why didn’t they help Dad during the drought?”
“They couldn’t. The Johnsons do have a river, but it wasn’t overflowing during the drought. There was enough water for themselves and they were able to irrigate, but they couldn’t divert the river or send water to our farm. That would not have been legal because of how water rights work in Colorado. Plus, it just wasn’t feasible. They did buy our farm, but they offered to sell it back to us, at cost. We could have made payments for it with no interest.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“I thought so, but your father was bitter and thought they should have just given the land back to him, I guess as a gift. Your dad wouldn’t listen to me.”
“That is a doozy of a gift. The biggest gift I ever wanted was a car for my birthday.”
Audrey laughed. “I know.
“Kyle could have continued in med school. Your father and I could have helped a little and he could have got a job. I suspect that he was drinking while he was still in school and used losing the farm as an excuse. Your father was blind, though, and refused to see the truth. As far as he was concerned, the sun rose and set on Kyle.”
“I guess I was so young when it all happened. I was fourteen when he dropped out of school so I wasn’t paying much attention. Then all I heard was Dad’s version of events.”
Audrey took a sip of her sweet iced tea. “I should have spoken up, but I guess I felt like it was useless. No one can hear my voice over your dad’s.”
“I’m sorry that you feel that way, Mom. I didn’t realize.”
She shrugged. “It is what it is, I suppose.”
“I promise I’ll hear you from now on,” Gwen said. “Maybe this avalanche was good for something. It gave us a chance to talk.”
“Yeah.”
Gwen hugged her mom and left the table in search of Sawyer. He was in the library, sitting in a recliner, next to the fireplace with a book in his hands. She sat in the recliner across from him.
“Can we talk?”
“What about?” his voice was cold and hard.
Her heart sank. He didn’t want to talk to her and she couldn’t blame him.
“I’m sorry for the way I treated you. I just talked to Mom and I realized that I’ve been an idiot. As a matter of fact, Brent tried to tell me a couple days ago, because he had asked why Dad called you a murderer and I explained the situation. I didn’t listen. I really only heard Dad’s side of the story, especially after Kyle died, and didn’t even bother to get to the bottom of everything and figure out the truth. Deep down inside, I’ve questioned whether his view of things was wrong, but it was easier to go along with it. I was wrong and I hope you’ll forgive me.”
Sawyer looked her long and hard for a minute and then nodded his head. “Of course, I’ll forgive you. I’ve never been one to hold grudges.”
“You’ve been a hero. The only thing you need is a cape and to wear your underbritches on the outside of your pants. Oh, and you’ll need a leotard.”
Sawyer grinned. “Mmm, I can’t see that happening. I’m no hero. I just did what any decent human being would do. People were buried, I could use the business end of a shovel, so I helped. Wood needed to be brought in, I have arms, so I did. Zaid broke his leg, I’m able to fix it the best I can without a hospital, so I did.”
“It’s a lot. So, um, what have you been doing recently?” she asked, feeling awkward.
“Just working a lot, which was why Lucas was able to talk me into a vacation. I helped Ryder take down a couple of puppy mills lately. He just married a doctor. She and I helped him doctor them up. I can’t remember how many dogs we rescued in total, but there were a lot. I think Lane still has twelve or so out on his property living the good life there until they can find homes. Other than that, I just hang out with family and take care of sick and hurt kids. What about you?”
“I’m a high school teacher in Colorado Springs at one of the rougher schools. I love the kids. The salary isn’t great and, like all teachers, I have to put in a lot of hours I don’t get paid for. I’m sure I’ll be paying off student loans in my next lifetime. Somedays, the kids get so crazy that I wonder if it’s worth it. Then, I get that one kid who lets me know that I’ve made a difference for them. That is the real pay of being a teacher.”
“I imagine it is. I think in the end, all we really want to know is that we matter and we made the world a better place – or at least our little part of the world. That’s the only legacy worth leaving behind.”
“Is that why you wanted to be a doctor?”
“No. When I was in school one of my friends died of bone cancer. He broke his ankle playing football and it never healed. He went through chemo and radiation, but nothing worked. We watched him slowly die a very painful death. I saw what it did to all of us, but especially his parents, brothers, and sister. I had always been interested in science, but after Quinton died, I decided I wanted to do what I could to help others.”
“Always a hero.”
“Why did you want to be a teacher?”
“I love learning. I also saw how teachers make a difference for kids, both the good teachers and the bad teachers.”
“Noble.”
She was about to reply when Tessie knocked on the door to get their attention. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Millie was wondering if you wanted to be her assistant chef for lunch.”
Gwen jumped up. “Of course.” She put her hand on Sawyer’s shoulder and smiled. “It was good talking to you.”
“You, too.”
She was busy until after lunch dishes had been washed, dried, and put away.
“Let me know if you need help for dinner. I’m your woman.”
“Thanks, Gwen. I don’t know how I could have done all of this without you.”
Brent was in the living room playing a video game with Zaid, who, despite his pain, seemed to enjoy spending time with the boy. Emilia was nearby, playing dominoes with Maddie and Samantha. Gwen was about to get her coat on and get some fresh air when her father roughly pulled her arm.
“I walked by the library and saw you getting all cozy with that Johnson boy.”
She sighed heavily. “I apologized to him for the way I treated him.”
“Why? You know what he did.”
“Neither he nor the rest of the Johnsons did anything wrong and you know it.”
Jerome started to speak, but she held up her hand. “I don’t want to hear it. I’ve been listening to it for the last twelve years, and you were wrong.”
“You need to stay away from him. He is bad news.”
“No, he isn’t. During this entire situation, he’s gone out of his way to save people, help out around here, and take care of Zaid. The only thing you’ve done is be rude to people and try to make life more difficult for everyone.”
“How dare you talk to me that way?”
“It’s about time someone did, Dad. I love you, but you’ve been a jerk and it’s been a little embarrassing.”
Before he could reply, she walked away from him and went outside.
The cold air stole her breath away when she stepped outside. She carefully walked into the front yard of the lodge, laughing when she sank into the deep, fluffy, snow. Bright sunlight made the snow sparkle. Green pine trees had managed to shake off the snow and made a beautiful scene. She wished that she was an artist so she could capture it all on canvas.
She walked toward the side of the house and heard Oliver and Daniel talking.
“We have enough gas for the generators to last a week. After that, we’ll be cooking and heating the house on open flames. I don’t know what we’ll do about water.”
Oliver sighed. “We have enough food for about that long, too.”
“The good thing is that there is plenty of game out here, small and large. No one is going to starve.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Gwen went back inside and reported what she heard to Sawyer.
“I remember when you rescued us, someone talked about getting all the supplies out of the cabins. Maybe we should do that.”
Sawyer nodded. “Let’s go talk to the others.”
Everyone was in the living room and dining room. Sawyer asked for their attention and explained that resources were limited.
“I think we should go back to the cabins and gather everything we can find in each of the cabins and bring it back here. Lucas and I can go down the tunnels because we don’t want anyone else to be trapped there. We can bring up everything that we find and other people can tote them back to the lodge.”
The three college women, Darren, Joseph, Elsie, and Audrey agreed to help. Brent wanted to go, but Gwen gently reminded him that the snow was over his head in places.
“You need to stay here and take care of me,” Zaid said.
Brent sighed and agreed.
Tessie supplied them with bags to carry the supplies in. It was slow going. Although the snow had hardened and they could walk on top of it of most of the time, once in a while, someone sank and had to be pulled out by the others. Despite the dire situation, there was a lot of laughter.
Lucas and Sawyer crawled through the tunnels and ransacked the cabins. They pulled bags full of different canned goods, hot chocolate, coffee, breakfast bars, and even some wine and beer back through the tunnel with them. The others would haul the supplies back to the lodge and then head back to the next cabin to wait.
After a couple of hours, all of the cabins had been searched. They were tired when they went back into the lodge, but Gwen felt good that she had been able to help.
“Thanks, everyone. This will help a lot,” Oliver said. “Now, we need wood brought in.”
Groaning good-naturedly, they headed back out. Between all of their efforts, they had the wood box overflowing in no time.
Gwen had just taken off her coat and boots when Millie announced that dinner was ready. Emilia wheeled Zaid into the dining room so he could eat.
That evening, Gwen wandered back into the library. She didn’t want to play board or card games with the others. Sawyer was standing in front of the bookshelf.
She stood beside him and looked at the series he was inspecting.
“Michael and Kathleen Gear write very engaging historical fiction books. They include legends, myths, and information that is known about a Native American Nation or Tribe and weave a story around them. I love them. I’ve read all of them at least once.”
“I’ll have to check them out,” Gwen said. “You know, this hasn’t been a bad vacation, per se, except for Zaid’s leg. I’ve had new experiences that I never dreamed I would have.”
Sawyer looked at her and smiled. “True. And I’ve had a little down-time to relax and read.”
Gwen looked into his chocolatey brown eyes and smiled. She stood on her tippy toes and brushed a kiss across his lips. Electricity exploded inside of her and coursed through her body.
He stared at her in shock.
She had no idea what had come over her. Apologizing, Gwen ran out of the library like a pack of hellhounds were chasing her.