Chapter Three
Levi
What. The. Fuck. I have a son? The concept nearly knocks me to the floor of Annie’s Café. So, there would be a Levi Aaron IV after all; but no. His name is Mason. Mason Wynter, not Strongbow. I have no right to any claim on this kid, but what Dallas is telling me makes me both upset and elated at the same time.
“My God, Dally. I had no idea…I’m…I’m sorry.”
She rips a flimsy napkin from the old-style metal holder on the table and blows her nose in it. “Sorry?” she says, her red-rimmed blue eyes registering disbelief. “Sorry for what? For fathering a child? For leaving me? Where does the list even start about ‘sorry?’”
“All of it,” I say, covering her hands that are knotted in front of her clutching the soiled ball of tissue. This conversation is far too critical to be had in a place like this. We need to leave. I need to take care of this, of her. Of a little boy whom I’ve never met. “We should get out of here. My truck’s a few blocks away. Come on.”
I toss a twenty on the table and signal to the server that we’re leaving. Reluctantly, Dallas allows me to pull her from the booth and usher her out the door. “I have to get home,” she sniffles, her dragging footsteps offering resistance as I guide her along the sidewalk, her arm securely locked in the crook of my elbow. “I have to tend to Mason. My mother’s probably worried sick where I am already.”
“I’ll take you,” I say. “Make sure you get there safe.”
“No!” Dallas insists. “I have my own vehicle, thank you. I’ve taken care of myself without your help for long enough, don’t you think? I hardly need you hovering over me now.”
“Look, I said I was sorry and I meant it. I had my reasons for leaving, believe me, and they weren’t because I didn’t want you. I didn’t know anything about your condition. I’d have come back somehow if I’d known. But I’m here now. I want to take care of you both.”
“You? Take care of us? How? You’ve gone off the map.”
“I have a place. A very private place. I can take you there.”
“Where? Looks to me like you’ve been living in a cave. That’s hardly the place to raise a baby. I haven’t seen you in almost two years. You can’t just sweep into my life again and take charge. What can you possibly offer us?”
I stop walking and spin her to face me, catching her firmly in my arms. “Love. I loved you, Dally. I still do. You tell me we have a son; you wouldn’t deny me the chance to know him, would you? I know I’ll love him, too. Isn’t that what’s most important in a family?”
“It takes more than that, Levi. A lot more. And I’m not talking about money. I know you have plenty of that. I just don’t know if I can trust someone who disappeared without so much as a text or phone call. Where in hell have you been all this time?”
“Not far from here. Northwest of Beaver. I can’t tell you where exactly. I’d have to show you.”
“No thanks,” she says, shaking loose from my embrace. “Look, my car’s right there.” She points to a beat-up, mid-size crossover vehicle. “I have to get back. I don’t have time to re-hash the last year and a half right now. Mason needs me.” She breaks free and stalks toward the car.
“Don’t leave it like this, Dally,” I call after her. “We need to talk about this. When can I see you again?”
She turns around, continuing to step backward toward her vehicle. “I usually come to town on Saturdays for the farmer’s market, if I feel up to it. I’ll think about what you’ve said. If you meet me there, we can talk. But I won’t be surprised if you don’t show. It’s what you do best.”
I deserve that. “I’ll be there. Can I ask you one more thing?” I say, ignoring the sting of her sarcastic words.
“What?”
“Did they ever catch the bank robbers?”
Dallas stares at me, one eyebrow raised. Strands of her blonde hair whip across her face in the chilly autumn wind. “Jesus, I guess you have been living in a cave. No. They got away with close to a million dollars. But one of them got gunned down in the parking lot. They never found the shooter.”
I nod in acknowledgment, pondering the ramifications of that. “Not a cave. But close to it,” I say. “I’m just glad you’re all right. Drive safe.” She shrugs and approaches the driver side of the car. I watch her drive away, noting the silhouette of a child seat strapped in the back. It’s as empty as the hole in my heart at seeing her go.
It starts to drizzle rain again as I trudge back to the ranger office. Who’d have thought a trip to town would end this way—me being a father. I can barely process the idea, nor the deep emotions I’m feeling, of the love that Dallas and I once shared, of protectiveness and pride at knowing I have a son. We hadn’t meant that to happen, of course. I guess we got careless a time or two. Like she said, she didn’t know she was pregnant until after I’d left—after that horrible day that I’ve only come to realize the full gravity of in the last few minutes.
They got away. All except one. The one I shot dead in the parking lot. And his partners in crime might still be looking for me, not to mention the Seattle police that are likely still tracking an unsolved homicide. Despite the anguish I feel at having left Dallas and life as I knew it behind, I’d been right to disappear into the woods. And I’d better get my ass back there right fucking now. In addition to everything else, fear tops the list of emotions gripping my chest.
I slip inside the relative safety of my Chevy and drive away, out of Forks and onto the main road leading back through Beaver and into the foothills of the Olympics. I turn on the radio and watch the road ahead turn to mud between the swishing arcs of my windshield wipers. The events of that grim day replay in my mind like a looping reel of bad movie outtakes. Jesus, if I’d known Dallas was in danger, I’d have…You’d have what, asshole? Given up? Gotten down on the ground like a wimp and let them take your money, your truck, and most likely, your life? No. You’d have nailed them all, if you’d had a clear shot.
I’d left the bank, waved goodbye just like she said. Only I’d been carrying a gym bag full of cash, and driving a truck full of camping and hunting gear. My folks were gone, victims of a brutal mugging just a few months before. They’d left the family fortune to me, but I couldn’t face stewarding the future of Strongbow Enterprises in the wake of such violence. I was hollow and rudderless, mad at the universe and uncomprehending of such senseless, cruel turns of fate. I needed time and space, and the mountains of the Pacific Northwest offered just that. I’d planned a walkabout in the forest, living off the land and communing with nature. No time frame in mind, just however long it took to find a way to breathe again.
I realize now that the bastards would have been watching everything going on inside the bank before they made their move; they would have seen my hefty withdrawal. As I stood outside my truck, checking I had everything I needed, including the working condition of my dad’s .035 rifle, the hairs on my neck had raised. I’d sensed the presence approaching me, the bulky body giving off heated waves of adrenaline. Give me the bag, it growled, the voice seeming to house all the evil and violence that was wrong with the world.
The image of his veiled face is still imprinted on my brain, yet all I can define is a heavy beard and moustache. Not enough for a full police description, but a professional criminal wouldn’t take that chance. He’d meant to pull the trigger even if I’d handed him the cash. I remember reaching into the cab slowly, the rifle stock still warm from my handling.
Then I swung. And fired. He dropped like a stone onto the pavement.
My brain went blank. I vaguely recall starting the engine and driving away. My next memory was of the forest all around me. Quiet. Still. Dark. Safe. I knew then I wouldn’t be returning to Seattle, or any city, for a very long time. My assets would be frozen in my absence, and I had enough cash on me to last quite a while. I was done with the world, and at the time had nothing to lose.
Now I do.
Dallas and our baby.
I reach the tree-shrouded lane leading to my cabin and pull around behind it, but don’t get out. I sit, watching the falling leaves and the rain they carry pile up on the windshield. I curse myself for not offering anything more than buying her coffee. I should have given her all the cash I had on me, insisted on taking her home, or to a clinic. Dammit, she was sick, and so was Mason. They are both my responsibility, and I’m out here cowering in the mountain shadows. It’s been more than a year, and no one’s found me yet, though it doesn’t mean they aren’t still looking.
Maybe I’m overreacting, and the whole case has been shoved into the cold pile by now. Maybe I could waltz right in and take back my old life without anyone blinking an eye. Truthfully, I hadn’t tried to keep tabs on the news, nor even wanted to. I had no internet, no electricity. Was the media speculating on the mysterious absence of Strongbow Enterprises’ heir apparent? If so, it wasn’t news out here in Clallam County, Washington. I suppose that’s one of the major things I like about my current home…no one here cares about big-city bullshit. But it’s more than that. I’ve come to realize that scenery, the air, the cool green of the wilderness here is special. It’s gotten into my blood, and I like it. Do I even want my old life back?
Not the one with its problems; problems of endless enterprise, of balance sheets and liability insurance and stock shares. Of keeping up appearances and with the Joneses. Of worrying who is going to stab you in the dark on your way home from a fundraiser gala.
I thought I’d lost my family that night, that I was the end of the Strongbow line. Now the only other person I loved has given me a new family, a new reason to carry on. I can’t ignore that. But I also can’t ignore that Dallas seemed less than thrilled to see me. What if she doesn’t even want me to be part of her life, or our son’s life? The thought cuts me to the bone. I certainly haven’t earned that privilege. Yet.
I straighten in my seat behind the wheel. For the first time in a long while, I know what I want. I want to meet my son. I want to rebuild a relationship with his mother, if she’ll have me. If not, I still have to try, even if it means returning to Seattle. She and Mason are worth the risk. I may not know the answers to all my questions, but I do know where I’m going to be come Saturday.