Chapter 21
Present Day
On the day of the trial, Sophie, Dina, Celia, and Ruth woke before dawn and sat on the back porch, watching the sun glow through the mountains and rise over the other side.
Unable to eat anything, Sophie sipped her coffee and mentally scrolled through what she’d decided to say in court today.
If she was honest, if she was true to herself and her nature, Dina was sure she’d pull through.
Sophie wasn’t so sure. Like Ruth, she was scared by promises that couldn’t be kept. She knew that so much could go wrong.
Dina and Sophie needed to be at the courthouse an hour and a half before the hearing.
Dina drove Sophie, fidgeting with the radio until they found a station of nineties hits.
Dina hummed along, then laughed and said she and Ruth used to listen to these songs all the time back at Yale, back when they’d first met.
“It takes me back to brighter days,” she said.
“Back before Ruth was pregnant. It felt like everything was possible back then.”
Sophie considered this. “Were you disappointed when Ruth got pregnant with Sloane?”
“Disappointed? No. Living with Ruth and baby Sloane during undergrad was actually incredible. It grounded me in ways that I’ve always thought were essential for my life later on.
” Dina explained that she now had children of her own.
She also mentioned that for a little while, she and Ruth hadn’t spoken much.
“She was angry and worried and panicky about everything. She liked to take out her fears on those who cared for her the most. I’m so grateful that we found our way back to one another.
That’s what real love is. It always forgives. ”
It was a surprise to learn that Ethan, Jen, Cedric, Lizzie, Freddy, and their lawyers were all seated in the same waiting room as Dina and Sophie.
They were all quiet, dressed in black. Sophie felt Ethan’s eyes upon her as she walked by.
She felt the burn of his gaze. She refused to look over at him.
She remembered the last time she’d seen him, when he’d been kissing that girl outside that bar, mere days after he’d abandoned her at a hospital with burns up and down her body.
Sometimes that story felt like it belonged to someone else’s life.
Other times, like when she looked at the light scars on her arms, she knew that story was entirely her own.
How could I love someone who could do something like that to me? she wondered. She promised herself—with as much might as she could find—never to do something like that again.
As she sat, Sophie spotted Jen looking at her, arms crossed, cheeks sunken in. Was that guilt, echoing from her eyes? Sophie prayed that Jen wasn’t planning to go back on her word. She prayed that she’d tell the judge exactly what had happened.
The next hour passed slower than any hour ever had. Sophie was nauseated.
When it was time for their hearing, Sophie, Ethan, and his wealthy friends stood and walked into the main hall.
Their lawyers followed, talking to one another in ways that suggested most of them already knew each other.
Sophie guessed these wealthy twenty-somethings had been in trouble before.
Their parents always knew where to turn, and their lawyers had had time to bond.
Sophie slid into a row and sat by herself, while the rest of the people she’d camped with sat together two rows back.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and forced her eyes to the judge, who studied what was probably an analysis of their case on a piece of paper.
He was balding with pillowy lips. When Sophie glanced back, she saw her mother and Ruth entering through the back door, their faces open and slightly panicky.
Sophie still burned with memory of what Ruth had told them the other night—about the desperation of her life so far and all she’d lost. When they returned to Bluebell Cove, Sophie promised herself she would help Ruth put her world to right.
She would do anything she could to make amends for what the Caldwecks had done to her.
The judge called the court to order. It wasn’t like on television. He didn’t use a gavel, and his voice was higher-pitched than she’d imagined.
“I want to begin by saying that this case is incredibly painful for me, personally,” the judge said.
“As it is for most everyone who knows and loves Oregon. In previous years, wildfires have raged across the state, destroying forests, homes, and animals. It’s been a devastating advance in climate change, and it's something we must fight to avoid. The fact that the five of you went into the woods—so arrogantly—and built a fire despite warnings fills me with dread. And, I must say, anger. If you’re capable of that, what else are you capable of?
” The judge wet his lips. He looked exhausted.
“That said, there’s always more to the story than meets the eye,” the judge went on. “I suppose that’s the reason we uphold these commitments to law and order.” He cleared his throat, then announced that one of the park rangers scouting the mountains that April night would speak first.
The park ranger was in her mid-fifties. “I’ve been a park ranger for the Oregon Parks Department for the past thirty years,” she said. “It’s been the privilege of my life to know these mountains so well.”
The judge asked the park ranger to explain how she’d discovered the fire and whether she’d suspected a campfire in the area.
“I saw a few cars hightailing it away from where the fire seemed to have started,” the park ranger explained. “But it was hard to tell if they were running from the fire because they started it, or because they were protecting themselves.”
The judge asked the park ranger to explain the site of the fire’s origin.
“There were tents. Camping equipment. Beer cans. It was clear that whoever was out there wanted to spend a few nights around a bonfire.” The park ranger’s steely gaze landed on Sophie, and Sophie’s eyes filled with tears.
This woman was her hero. She couldn’t believe she’d disappointed her so greatly.
The witnesses continued to come to the front of the court to testify: about the fallout after the fire, about the CCTV footage that suggested the five East Oregon graduate students had been the criminals who’d started the fire in the first place. Sophie’s stomach sloshed with guilt.
The first of their party to be called to the stand was, miraculously, Sophie. Sophie hadn’t known this would be the case. But when she stood, walked to the front, and slid into the chair, she decided it was a good thing. She could speak for herself before the others could.
The judge peered down at her. “Sophie Harper,” he said. “You are a grad student at East Oregon State, correct? Would you kindly tell the court what your major is?”
“I was a grad student,” she said, her voice shaking. “But after the incident in the mountains, I dropped out.”
The judge leaned back in his chair, waiting.
“I was majoring in environmental science,” she stammered. “But after what happened, I couldn’t bring myself to…” She trailed off, unable to articulate what she meant.
The judge tilted his head in thought.
“The thing is,” Sophie continued, “I’ve trained my entire life, learning about the natural world and falling in love with it.
I wanted to go into the mountains to indulge in all that beauty.
I wanted to appreciate it. The fact that things got so out of hand is something I will never forgive myself for.
” Sophie’s voice broke, and tears began to fall down her cheeks.
Still, she went on. “I know that the majority of wildfires break out because of human error. I know that. And now, I find myself embroiled in a case much like all the cases I’ve spent years learning about.
I hate it. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it. ”
Sophie dared to raise her eyes to the four people she’d been camping with, all of whom looked at her, their expressions marred with disgust. Dina, too, looked confused.
Why was Sophie letting herself take the fall for this?
Why wasn’t she telling the judge that it wasn’t her fault?
She was throwing herself at the mercy of the court.
“You were the only one in your party to spend any time in the hospital, correct?” the judge asked.
Sophie nodded, her eyes on the ground.
“You need to give us a verbal response,” the judge reminded her.
“Yes. That’s right.”
“The hospital says that nobody stayed with you. That your party dropped you off and sped away,” the judge said. “Will you tell us who drove you to the hospital?”
Sophie bit her lower lip. “Ethan did.”
“You’re referring to Ethan Campbell? Will you describe your relationship with Ethan at the time of the fire?” the judge asked.
“He was my boyfriend,” Sophie said. “But we’re not together anymore.”
At this, Sophie dared to look Ethan in the eye. This time, she overpowered him, and he dropped his gaze. He looked like a frightened teenage boy.
The judge asked another series of questions, mostly about the nature of Sophie’s environmental studies. Sophie kept reminding him that her days at the university were through.
Eventually, the judge dismissed her and called Jen to the stand.
Jen swaggered up and sat down, glowering at her ex, her ex-friends, and the people who’d gotten her into this mess.
It wasn’t long into the questioning that she announced that she hadn’t touched the fire, that it hadn’t been her idea, that she hadn’t wanted to go camping in the first place.
“And, yeah,” she said, waving her hand, “Sophie was going on and on about how we shouldn’t make a fire, how it was wrong or illegal or whatever. So really, if you ask me, she and I shouldn’t even be here.” She crossed her arms angrily.
Things calmed down after that. Ethan, Lizzie, Freddy, and Cedric all came to the stand and told versions of the same story, a story they’d clearly cultivated together and agreed upon.
But they told their stories with such arrogance, proof of how well off they were in the world, that the judge’s lips seemed to curl in disgust.
Sophie could feel the tides turning. She could feel that the judge’s mind was at work.
When it was over, the judge announced that, due to insufficient evidence, he couldn’t do much to punish the young people in court today.
Ultimately, he sentenced Ethan, Cedric, Lizzie, and Freddy to hefty fines and community service.
He sentenced Jen and Sophie to hours of community service, minus the fines.
And then, he set his gaze on Sophie and said, “And Miss Harper. It’s up to you to return to your studies.
I spoke to each of your professors, and they all are awaiting your call.
What you said about your studies truly moved me.
All we can do, when things like this happen, is move forward with what we’ve learned.
I hope one day you can see that for yourself.
” He tapped once with his gavel and excused the court. Just like that, it was over.
In the hallway, Sophie turned to Dina. "Why community service? Jen said I tried to stop it." Dina squeezed her shoulder. "You were present at the scene. In Oregon, that's enough to share liability, even if you opposed it. Honestly, community service with no fine is a win. Take it."
As Sophie walked out of the court, her arms and legs felt like jelly.
She soon fell into her mother's open arms, and her mother smoothed her hair and told her how proud she was. When Sophie raised her head, she found that Ethan was watching her again, a look of yearning on his face. She wondered if, when the new semester began, she and Ethan would ever run into one another. She wondered if they’d ever speak again.
But just as soon as she thought it, Ethan’s new girlfriend, the same one that Sophie had seen outside the bar months ago, walked up and took Ethan’s hand.
Sophie heard the girl say, “That was crazy.”
With Ethan’s attention diverted, Sophie led Dina, her mother, and Ruth out of the courthouse and into the main square. Soon, they’d fly back to Bluebell Cove. Soon, they’d fight for Ruth and all she had left to live for.