Lumberjacked
CHANCE CARTER
CHAPTER 1
AUTUMN
Autumn Lane sat motionless, staring out the window of the train at the passing, endless forest.
She’d never seen a landscape of such grandeur, and never felt such a strong sense of foreboding. Every passing mile took her further from the world she knew, deep into a forest that looked like something out of an ancient fairytale.
She half expected to see wolves, their eyes glowing in the twilight. Or children lost and scared in the vastness, the branches of the trees reaching out for them like gnarled fingers.
Gone were the familiar fields of the prairies, their comforting towns in the distance marked by a grain silo or a water tower. Gone too were the farmhouses, the gas stations, the Walmarts and fast food restaurants.
In their place were snowcapped mountain peaks, the granite so gray it looked more like steel. The blue sky had been replaced by oppressive low cloud. And of course the trees, millions of them. Thin trunks, spindly branches, and needles more black than green.
She shivered and picked up her phone.
She still had signal.
For the first time since leaving fourteen hours earlier, she called home.
“Mom?”
“Autumn, honey?”
She struggled to keep her voice from breaking. It wouldn’t do to cry on the first call.
“Sweetie, is everything all right?”
“I’m fine, Mom. I’m still on the train. We’re passing through the Rockies now.”
“The Rocky Mountains,” her mother said, awed that any daughter of hers had managed to wander so far from home. Then she fell into a fit of coughing.
“Mom? Are you all right?”
“It’s the new meds. I swear they’re worse than the old ones.”
Autumn held the phone tight to her ear. “The doctor said they’d take a few days to kick in, Mom.”
“Yeah, and the longer I take to die, the richer those doctors and drug companies get.”
“Don’t say that, Mom.”
Her mother was coughing again.
“I’m sorry, honey. I know I have to be positive.”
The signal began to cut out.
“Mom?” Autumn said, a touch of desperation straying into her voice. “Mom?” She wasn’t ready to let go. “Mom, I love you.”
It was too late. The call had dropped.
They’d warned her when she got on the train there would be no signal in the mountains. She wondered if that included her destination, the isolated town of Destiny, Montana, population two hundred according to the Wiki page.
They were scheduled to arrive just after midnight. She looked at her watch. It was six thirty, time for dinner. She looked at the itinerary she’d been given with her ticket. There would be no more stops before Destiny.
No stops. No towns.
She didn’t dare think what the wilderness would be like when she was six hours deeper into it.
She gathered her things, a book of poetry, an old iPod with a cracked screen, her notebook and pen, an almost empty Coke bottle, and put them in her knapsack.
She didn’t think she was the last passenger still on the train, but she was close to it.
She made her way to the back of the carriage and pulled open the metal door. The noise and cold air rushed around her as she passed to the next car, steadying herself against the shaking walls.
The dining car was completely empty and she let out a small sigh. She’d been hoping for the comfort of other people. She took a seat at one of the tables. It was comfortable in an old-fashioned way, with a white table cloth and a metal lamp screwed to the table.
There was a menu card and she looked it over. Three options.
A slim man in a black and white waiter’s uniform came over.
“Quiet tonight,” Autumn said.
“Always is after Fairfax. This last stretch of the line is a loss-maker for the company.”
“Why do they still operate it?”
“State legislation. This area would be too remote to survive without train service.”
“Nice they do it,” Autumn said.
The man nodded. He was a little older than Autumn, skinny, with a hint of dark stubble on his cheeks.
“I take it you’re here to eat?” he said.
“I’ll have the roast beef.”
“Horse radish?”
“Yes please.”
The man nodded and wrote something on his notepad.
“You want something to drink with that?”
“What have you got?”
“Red wine, white wine, beer, liquor.”
Autumn smiled, flattered. “I’m only nineteen,” she said.
The waiter smirked and looked up and down the empty car conspiratorially. “I won’t say anything if you don’t.”
Autumn looked at him gratefully. After the long and lonely journey, it felt so good to be having an actual conversation with someone.
“How much does a glass of wine cost?” she said, very aware she had all of forty dollars in her pocket and no bank cards of any kind to pick up the slack.
“Don’t worry about it,” the waiter said. “You look like a fun girl. I’m sure we’ll find a way for you to pay me back.”
Autumn didn’t know what to say to that so she nodded mutely.
He left with the order and she thought about what he’d said. Pay him back.
Her mother had told her a million times to be careful, to look after herself, to remember who she was.
The only problem with that advice was that it assumed Autumn knew who she was.
She looked back in the direction the waiter had gone. Pay him back.
She took a twenty from her pocket, half her money, and put it flat on the table. Then she rose, picked up her knapsack, and made her way back to her seat.
She was hungry, but she wasn’t that hungry.
CHAPTER 2
GRADY
Grady Cole pulled into a gas station with an attached diner and killed the engine. It was snowing, it was dark, his baby was crying. A hot meal and a tank of gas seemed about as good an idea as he was likely to have.
“Come on, baby,” he said as he unbuckled the carseat.
Or rather, as he tried to unbuckle it. The damn thing was more complicated than it looked.
He’d picked it up that morning at a shopping mall, roughly thirty minutes after filing the last of the paperwork that gave him custody of his daughter. A month ago, he’d have laughed out loud if someone said he’d be the owner of a carseat, let alone a child to put in it. Now he had both, a little girl with bright blue eyes, dressed in a hospital issued white onesie, and a four hundred dollar carseat that looked complicated enough to take her to the moon and back without injury.
He finally got it open and picked up the crying child, tucking her inside his jacket next to the warmth of his chest.
Careful to keep her shielded from the icy wind, he hurried into the gas station.
There was a kid behind the counter and Grady threw him his car keys.
“Fill that up for me, would you?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And I’ll take this map too,” he said, grabbing one from the rack by the counter. “I’ll be in the diner in the meantime.”
The kid nodded.
Grady proceeded to the diner and took a booth as far from the door as possible.
He kept the child inside his jacket like a baby kangaroo in a pouch. She seemed happy to be there.
She wasn’t crying at least.
He made a face at her and she looked into his eyes in a way he’d never known possible.
He was a father.
He put the map on the table and pulled some papers from his jacket pocket. They had the look and feel of important government documents. They’d been given to him by child services along with the baby and Grady clutched them like they were the only thing between her and certain death.
One was a birth certificate.
He looked at his name, clear for all the world to see in the box marked Father.
The baby was already six months old, but for Grady she hadn’t existed until two days ago when he got the call from the authorities.
He looked over more of the details and noted grimly that the mother’s time of death was four minutes before Destiny’s time of birth.
He shook his head but refused to think of Ravenna. Her decisions had led to her death and it was only by the Grace of God she hadn’t taken Destiny to the grave with her.
“You’re in my hands now, aren’t you?” he cooed.
He offered her his finger and she reached toward it, giving him the world’s tiniest high five.
“You hungry? Because I sure am.”
Child Services had given him a bottle of formula and he’d fed it to the child periodically throughout the day. Now he read over the feeding instructions in more detail. They said at six months she’d be able to eat a little pureed fruit or vegetable. Not much though.
He sighed and looked into her face.
He was out of his depth, but God was she beautiful.
A waitress came over.
“What have we got here?” she said.
Grady opened his jacket and let her see the baby’s face.
“Well, isn’t that just the most adorable little thing.”
Grady nodded.
“You don’t happen to sell baby formula do you?”
“I’ll see what I can find,” she said. “I’m sure there’s something in the store.”
“We’d appreciate that.”
“And for daddy?”
Grady looked up. Daddy. That’s what he was now. He didn’t know if he’d ever get used to that.
“I’ll have a cup of coffee and the chili.”
“Coming right up.”
He continued to read through the papers. In theory, they contained all the information a man would need to keep a six-month-old alive and healthy and he folded them carefully before putting them back in his pocket.
Then he opened the map and spread it in front of him on the table, flattening it out with his free hand. It was enormous, bigger than the table.
He looked over it, searching for the remotest, most peaceful spot he could find. Grady had family ties in California, but he wasn’t in the emotional or mental state to go back there. He wanted a fresh place, a clean slate, somewhere to start a new life with his daughter.
His eyes fell on a tiny dot in the farthest, most remote part of the Rockies, a single windy road and a lone rail line leading up to it, Destiny, Montana.
“Well, if that ain’t a sign,” he said to the child.
The waitress returned and put a cup of coffee in front of him.
“Thank you,” he said.
“We’ve got formula in the store but we don’t have any bottles.”
“I’ve got a bottle in the car,” he said.
He handed Destiny to the waitress and went out to the car for the bottle. He also grabbed a blanket he’d bought when he bought the carseat.
When he got back inside, the waitress was cooing and Destiny was laughing.
“Thanks,” Grady said.
The waitress looked him up and down as she handed back the baby.
“You two make an odd couple,” she said.
Grady knew how he looked. He had tattoos on his arms, stubble on his face, and fire in his eyes. Domestic wasn’t a word anyone would ever use to describe him.
“It’s my first day on the job.”
“Really?”
“Three days ago I didn’t even know this little one existed.”
“And now you’re daddy?”
Grady nodded. He knew the waitress wanted to ask about the mother, but she didn’t say anything so he didn’t offer the information.
He sat down and the waitress took the bottle.
“I’ll run this through the washer,” she said.
Grady played with the baby, fed her the formula, and wolfed down his own meal with a hunger that surprised even himself. Afterward he went to the counter to settle up.
“You have a good appetite,” the waitress said.
“It’s been a big day.”
“I’ll bet.”
She handed him the bill and he gave her the money, including an extra twenty.
“What’s that for?”
“For helping with the formula.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
Grady shook his head. “I insist.”
She looked at him. He knew what she was thinking. He knew that look. She wanted to know if he was single.
She leaned forward on the counter, giving him a nice view of her ample cleavage. Grady felt his cock twitch in his pants.
She wasn’t bad looking either. In her early thirties, same as him. Pretty smile. Nice breasts under her apron. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to go home with her, feel some warmth against his skin.
But he couldn’t do it. He’d been burned too badly, too recently, to be in any mood for romance.
“Well, thanks again,” he said, and went to the gas station counter in the next room.
He paid the kid for the gas and the map and got his keys.
“You know the way to Destiny?” he said.
The kid seemed surprised.
“That ain’t an easy road,” he said.
“Is it paved?”
“Mostly, but it will be covered in snow, maybe even snow drifts.”
Grady nodded. “Give me a set of those snow chains too then.”
CHAPTER 3
AUTUMN
Autumn woke just as the train was coming to a stop. She looked at her watch. It was one thirty in the morning. An hour late.
She grabbed her things and headed for the exit. When the doors opened, the icy air shocked her. She clutched herself for warmth and stepped down onto the platform. Wind blew straight from the mountains causing flurries of snow to race down the tracks. She looked up and down the length of the train. She was the only person to get off.
She hurried into the station and shut the door behind her. She was in a small waiting room with a few benches and a pay phone. There was a ticket desk and a snack stand but both were closed.
She rubbed her hands together and breathed on them for warmth.
She’d been told someone would meet her at the station. She went to the front door and looked through the window.
Her first view of Destiny.
It was a single street lined with old-fashioned buildings and lit by streetlights on black iron posts. It looked like something out of a western movie. There were no cars and no people.
She took her phone from her pocket and scrolled through her contacts.
Mr. Hildegard.
She pressed Call but nothing happened. No signal.
She sighed and looked over at the pay phone.
Please work.
She searched her pockets and found three quarters.
She dialed the number and waited apprehensively.
A gruff voice answered.
“Raven’s Nest.”
“Mr. Hildegard?”
“Yes.”
“This is Autumn Lane. I’m at the train station.”
There was a brief pause.
“You’re late.”
“Yes, Sir. Sorry about that. The train just got in.”
“I was there an hour ago but didn’t wait.”
“No, of course not. If you give me directions I can walk to the hotel.”
Autumn shivered at the thought of hauling her knapsack through the blizzard. One thing Destiny had already shown her was that the jacket she’d brought was not going to be up to the job here in the Rockies.
“Three miles,” Mr. Hildegard said, “I don’t think so.”
He hung up and Autumn chose to believe that meant he was on his way. She sat on her knapsack, it was warmer than the bench, and waited.
Fifteen minutes later a very old pickup truck pulled up outside.
Autumn could see two people sitting in the cab but neither made a move to get out. She stood there a moment looking at the truck, at the cloud of exhaust fumes coming out the back, and then the horn honked twice.
She took a deep breath, grabbed her pack, and ran out into the snow.
As she approached the truck, a lady in her sixties climbed out of the passenger side.
“Throw your bag in the back,” she said.
Autumn did as she was told and climbed into the cab. The lady climbed in after her, sandwiching her with the driver.
“I’m Mr. Hildegard,” the driver said.
“But you can call him Master,” the woman said.
“Master?”
“That’s right,” Mr. Hildegard said. “And you’ll call my wife Mistress. You got a problem with that?”
“No, no,” Autumn stammered.
“No what?” the lady said.
“No … Master,” Autumn said, the word sounding strangely foreign in her mouth.
Mr. Hildegard, her new Master, put the truck in drive and pulled out of the station and onto the main street of Destiny. Autumn peered out the window at the stores. They were quaint, something from a bygone age, and she wondered what they sold.
When the stores ended, the road continued through pitch black forest and Autumn was very glad she hadn’t been taken up on her offer to walk. She had no doubt wolves, bears and all sorts of other monsters inhabited the darkness that enveloped them. In the small patch of light cast by the headlights she saw nothing but snow.
They drove in silence for a few minutes and turned through an iron gate onto a private driveway. That led to a grand building that looked more like an old English manor than a Montana hotel.
“Welcome to Raven’s Nest,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
They got out of the truck. Autumn grabbed her pack and followed the Hildegards up the stone steps that led to the entrance.
Inside was a great hall and Autumn was relieved to see a fire raging in the massive, stone fireplace. Instinctively she was drawn to it but didn’t dare move from the spot by the door where she was standing.
The Hildegards stood in front of her, assessing her in the light for the first time.
“A little scrawny,” Mr. Hildegard said.
His wife nodded. “We’ll whip her into shape,” she said.
She turned to Autumn.
“This is the Grand Hall, where guests arrive and check in.”
Autumn looked around her. The hall was paneled with smooth, dark wood and lined with old paintings, portraits of stern-faced people wearing outfits from the eighteenth century. There was a massive staircase, intricately carved, and all around her were the stuffed heads of deer, caribou, bison, bear, wolf, and every other kind of animal that might be hunted in the surrounding forest.
Autumn realized her mouth was wide open and shut it.
“Now, I don’t intend to give you the grand tour at this hour, but there are a few ground rules I want to make very clear from the beginning.”
“Yes … Mistress.”
Mrs. Hildegard nodded in approval.
“First of all, the reason you’re here is to work. And we expect work. Every day.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“This isn’t a summer camp or a daycare, so get rid of any evil notions you have of being idle here. You will earn your keep, and if you don’t, you’ll be on the first train back to your mother, do you want that?”
Autumn could think of nothing she wanted more, but she didn’t voice that longing.
“No, Mistress,” she said.
“You do as you’re told at all times. You obey me and Mr. Hildegard in everything. The slightest insolence or disobedience will be harshly punished.”
Autumn wondered what that could possibly mean but didn’t ask.
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Any shortcomings, the slightest infraction, the smallest mistake, and you’ll forfeit your entire pay for the week.”
Autumn wasn’t sure that was legal but she found herself nodding. She needed this job so badly.
“If you do right by us, obey us in everything, serve us tirelessly in every way we command, you’ll have nothing to worry about. Your mother will receive your pay promptly every Friday evening by wire transfer.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“And we all know how expensive those doctors are, don’t we?” Mr. Hildegard piped in.
Autumn turned to him, the first time she got a good look. He was short and fat with a red face and white, bristly whiskers. He wore small, round glasses and was busy lighting a pipe.
“Yes, Master,” she said, determined to earn what was needed for her mother’s medical bills.
“Now, follow me. I’ll show you to your room,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
Autumn followed up the staircase and then down a long, wood-paneled corridor. There were doors to either side, all shut. At the end of the corridor was a slightly smaller door and Mrs. Hildegard took a big keyring from her dress and unlocked it. She pushed it open and it creaked loudly.
“We haven’t used this level for a while, not since our daughter, Betsy, met her tragic end.”
Autumn nodded and peered ahead at the narrow staircase rising steeply in front of her.
“What’s up there?” she said, dreading the answer.
“Your room,” Mrs. Hildegard said flatly and led the way.
Autumn had to wipe cobwebs from her face as she followed. They were in almost complete darkness until they reached the top where Mrs. Hildegard hit a switch and a single lightbulb flickered on.
Autumn’s eyes adjusted and she saw they were on a small landing in the attic. The ceiling above sloped. There was a sofa on one side of the landing and a bookcase on the other. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs. There were also two doors.
Mrs. Hildegard took out her keyring again and unlocked the door to the right.
“My room?” Autumn said.
Mrs. Hildegard nodded as she struggled with the rusty lock.
“What about the other room?” Autumn said, and she was already nodding because she knew the answer.
“Betsy’s. Don’t go in there.”
The bedroom door opened with another loud creak and Autumn shivered as she followed her mistress inside. Another light switch, another flickering bulb.
The room was sparse. There was a small bed and next to it was a table and a lamp. On the table was a bible and an old clock that didn’t seem to work. Against the back wall was a closet, also small, which was just as well because the slope of the roof didn’t allow for much else. Next to the closet was a desk with a chair, a mirror over the desk. On the other wall was a big dormer window and Autumn imagined she would sit there and read or enjoy the sunshine. The dormer contained a comfortable looking wooden bench with floral cushions scattered along it. There was also a fireplace. Under her feet was a dusty old Persian carpet.
To the right was a small bathroom with a toilet, a porcelain sink, and an old clawfoot tub.
Apart from the dust and the stale air the room was nice, like something from a country inn.
It was creepy, there was no doubt about that. The cobwebs and mousetraps made sure of that much. But it was cozy. Autumn could make something of it. She knew she could.
“This is it,” Mrs. Hildegard said. “You’ll want to get the fire lit. You’ll freeze soon enough otherwise.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“And be downstairs by five. We get an early start around here.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“If this bell rings,” Mrs. Hildegard said, pointing to an old bell connected to a cable running into the wall, “report at the great hall immediately.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Mrs. Hildegard made to leave, but paused at the door. “And under no circumstances enter Betsy’s room.”
“No, Mistress.”
Autumn stood there as Mrs. Hildegard left. She went out to the landing and listened carefully as she climbed down the stairs. She wanted to know if Mrs. Hildegard was locking the door at the bottom. She heard her shut the door but there was no clinking of the lock.
She sighed in relief and eyed the door to Betsy’s room nervously.
Had Betsy died in that room?
She went back into her own room and shut the door behind her. There was wood by the fire and she piled it up and lit it with a match. Very soon, a small fire was burning in the hearth. It would take a while for the room to heat up but it was a start.
She went into the bathroom and began to undress. She checked the water. There was both hot and cold, she was relieved to discover, and she ran a bath.
“This is nice,” she said, trying to reassure herself.
She took off the rest of her clothes and just as she was climbing into the bath, the bell rang.
CHAPTER 4
GRADY
Grady felt a shiver run down his back as he approached the Raven’s Nest. The place looked like an abandoned castle but apparently it was the only decent hotel in town. As he parked outside, he prayed it was open.
The baby was asleep and he packed her carefully inside his coat before grabbing his bag and opening the door of the car. It had been snowing for the past fifty miles and he knew the wind would be bitterly cold.
He ran up to the hotel and pushed the door open with a heave. The wind came rushing in after him and he had to force it closed with his back. There was no one at the desk but a big fire burned across the room and he went over to it.
“So this is our new home,” he whispered to the baby who was still sound asleep.
The flames danced on the logs and he let the warmth wash over him.
“Can I help you?” a stern sounding voice said from behind him.
He turned to see a woman in her sixties with straight white hair and a strong face.
“My name is Grady Cole,” he said, not quite certain why he was introducing himself to the woman.
“And I’m Mrs. Hildegard, Mistress of this hotel.”
“I was hoping you had a room.”
The lady looked him over from head to toe, her gaze lingering a few seconds extra at his crotch. Grady felt strangely exposed as her eyes devoured him.
“For a fine man like you, we’ve always got room.”
The woman yanked a tasseled velvet cord and somewhere far off he thought he heard a bell ring.
Something about her gave him the creeps. If it hadn’t been so late, and if the road hadn’t been so long and treacherous, he would have considered driving back the way he’d come. He’d chosen the town because it had the same name as his daughter but sentimentality only went so far.
“You don’t also happen to have a crib, do you?”
The woman walked forward, stopping just a few feet in front of him. She inhaled deeply, as if breathing in his scent.
“We’ve got it all,” she said in a sultry voice.
Grady wanted to take a step back but he stood his ground. The woman was wearing a silk, white robe, loosely tied at the waist, and matching silk slippers. He was fairly certain she was naked underneath and as she stood there, her hand moved to the belt as if she was going to give the knot a little tug and open it.
He pictured the robe falling open, revealing her naked body, and he didn’t know whether the thought aroused or disturbed him.
“Have you come a long way?” the woman said.
“Yes, ma’am. Quite a way.”
“I imagine you’re tired.”
Grady nodded.
“I could do something for that,” she said, taking another step toward him.
She was close enough now that he could have reached out and touched her. In fact, he felt that was exactly what she wanted him to do.
“I imagine you could,” he said.
“I could get on my knees right now,” she said.
“Excuse me?”
“Get on my knees, open those uncomfortable jeans, and take you right into my mouth.”
Grady looked her steadily in the eye. There was no question she was serious. He’d met a lot of crazy women in his life and this was surely one of them.
“You say that to all your customers?” he said.
“Just the ones who look like you.”
“You mean guys who are holding six-month-old babies?”
The woman scoffed.
“The runt won’t notice a thing. I’ll swallow every drop and she’ll sleep right through it.”
The woman reached out and put her hand on the crotch of his jeans. Despite the surreal circumstances, he felt himself stiffen as her hand gripped his manhood.
“You called, Mistress?” a voice asked timidly from the staircase.
Instantly the woman let go and stepped back.
Grady smiled.
“Caught in the act,” he said to her as his gaze went to the stairs.
“Just keep my offer in mind. Every single drop.”
Grady might have kept her offer in mind if it hadn’t been for the sight waiting him on the staircase. There, halfway up, was a young girl, she couldn’t have been more than eighteen or nineteen, standing against the bannister. She wore a plain black cotton dress that came to just above her knee. She wasn’t smiling but she had the face of someone who smiled often. Her hair fell over her shoulders and framed her startlingly pretty face.
As if her beauty had snapped him back to reality, he took a step away from Mrs. Hildegard and cleared his throat.
“Where have you been, you stupid girl?” Mrs. Hildegard said. “Take this man’s bag to room seven.”
Grady watched her come down the rest of the steps and hurry to grab his bag.
“That’s okay, Miss,” he said to the girl. “It’s heavy.”
“She’ll manage,” the old lady said.
Grady didn’t feel right letting such a small girl carry his luggage for him. Instead he handed her the baby.
“You take the child,” he said.
The girl caught his eye before reaching out and taking Destiny. She held the baby close as she nestled comfortably in her bosom.
“You want me to check in or something?” he said to Mrs. Hildegard.
“You go on up with the girl. We can take care of the paperwork in the morning.”
Grady gave her a little nod before following the girl. He couldn’t help look at her butt as she led the way up the grand staircase. She led him down a corridor until they got to room seven.
“This is your room,” she said, trying the door.
It opened and she stepped inside.
The room was dark and Grady hit the light switch. For the first time he saw the girl up close. She was standing right in front of him, her pretty face looking into his, and the way she was holding Destiny made something inside him tremble with affection. She was so pretty.
He shook his head, trying to shake the desire from his mind. The girl was like something out of his deepest desires, pure and beautiful and innocent, but she was almost young enough to be his daughter. Grady was a lot of things, but one thing he never did was take advantage. He’d been with all kinds of women, but never one as young as the girl standing in front of him right then.
“My name’s Grady,” he said, trying to break the silence.
“I’m Autumn,” the girl said softly.
Grady took a deep breath. “That’s pretty.”
The girl smiled and looked down at Destiny.
“Your baby is so beautiful,” she said, running a finger over the sleeping child’s face.
“Thank you,” Grady said. “Her name’s Destiny.”
“Where’s her mother?”
Grady looked at the girl. Her cheeks were like peaches, he thought. He took a step into the room and threw his bag on the bed.
The room seemed comfortable if a little feminine. Everything had lace trim and tiny flowers embroidered on it. Still, it had everything he needed. There was a small fireplace with a stack of wood and some matches in the corner and a private bathroom. A big window overlooked the darkness of the forest.
“Was that woman your grandmother?” he said to the girl.
“No, my mistress.”
“You been working here long?”
“I just started. Arrived on the train less than an hour ago.”
“And she’s already got you working?”
“I have a feeling I’ll be working pretty hard here,” the girl said.
Grady smiled. “Nothing wrong with that.”
“Oh no, not at all,” the girl said. “I want to work. I want to be a good employee.”
“Well, don’t let her talk to you that way. Don’t let her mistreat you. You deserve better.”
The girl shrugged. “I really need this job. My mother’s sick. I took the work to pay for her treatment.”
Grady looked into her eyes. He wondered what was wrong with her mother and whether there was anyone else in her family who could help, but he supposed there wasn’t.
There was a noise at the door and Mrs. Hildegard appeared.
“I see you two are becoming acquainted,” she said, a hint of mockery in her voice.
Autumn jumped, as if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t, and Grady could tell she was afraid of Mrs. Hildegard. He couldn’t blame her. It must have been her first job, her first time away from home, and Mrs. Hildegard was a bully.
“Get on out of here, you stupid girl,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
Autumn handed him the baby and almost ran out of the room.
Grady’s gaze followed her and lingered on the door after she left.
“Will you be having breakfast in your room?” Mrs. Hildegard said.
“I will,” he said.
“I’ll bring it at eight.”
“That would be perfect.”
Mrs. Hildegard looked at him and Grady wondered what she was waiting for. She stepped inside the room and shut the door.
“Is there something else?” he said.
Mrs. Hildegard’s hand went to the belt on her robe again, and this time she did pull the tie. The knot unraveled and her robe slipped open.
Grady looked at her pale skin, her bare breasts, the tuft of hair above her pussy.
“Won’t you take me?” Mrs. Hildegard said.
Grady’s cock hardened. He stepped toward Mrs. Hildegard and she let the robe slide down over her shoulders, revealing more of her breasts, as she anticipated his touch. He leaned in toward her, but he didn’t touch her. He opened the door behind her.
“It’s been a very long day, Mrs. Hildegard.”
Mrs. Hildegard looked angry but said nothing. She pulled her robe back up over her shoulders and stormed out of the room.
Grady shut the door behind her and let out a deep breath.
What had he gotten himself into?
Where was he?
There was a key in the door but he didn’t turn it. He sat on the bed and looked around the room.
There was a stink and he realized to his horror that Destiny had soiled her diaper. Destiny started to cry and Grady let out a little laugh.
“Come on, baby. I suppose that diaper couldn’t last forever.”
She was still wearing the diaper the nurses had put on her back at the hospital and Grady grimaced at the thought that he’d never in his life changed a diaper. He hadn’t even had the foresight to pick some up.
He brought Destiny into the bathroom, removed her dirty diaper, and threw it in the trash. He tied the plastic trash bag tightly. Then he held the baby over the sink as he washed her bum with warm water. He was careful to make sure the temperature was right and Destiny stopped crying as he patted her dry with paper towels.
“There,” he said, holding her out over the sink, “that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Destiny looked at him like she was questioning whether or not he really had the skills for the job of being daddy.
“Now, what are we going to put on you?”
Without any fresh diapers, Grady resorted to taking a pillow case from one of the pillows on his bed and tying it at the corners around Destiny’s chubby legs and waist.
“That will have to do,” he said to her.
He checked her onesie and it didn’t seem to be dirty, but he didn’t want to put Destiny back in it, just in case. He opened his bag and took out a pair of his own clean boxer shorts. They fit loosely over Destiny’s diaper and the waist went all the way up to her chest.
Grady smiled.
“I won’t be winning any parenting contests but they’ll do for tonight.”
Destiny made no sign of protest and he took that as agreement.
“We’ll get you some girl clothes in town tomorrow, okay?”
He lay her down on the bed and she was asleep by the time he got in next to her.
He lay on his back with his arm around her, warning himself mentally not to roll over in the night. He looked up at the ceiling, listening to the sound of the baby’s tiny snores.
“This will work,” he said quietly, more to himself than the child. “We’ll be all right. Everything will work out.”
As he fell asleep, he pictured Autumn’s pretty face.
CHAPTER 5
AUTUMN
Autumn woke to the sound of Mrs. Hildegard’s bell and looked at her phone to see the time. Five in the morning. She also checked to see if she had any signal but she didn’t. She sighed and pulled herself out of bed. She ran a quick bath and let the hot water revive her.
She’d slept well and the little fire in the corner had been a comforting nightlight.
She’d never had her own room before and she had to admit, she liked this one. Her own fire, her own bath, her own window nook and cozy bed. It was perfect, apart from the fact that it belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Hildegard.
She washed and dressed in her plain black cotton dress. Her mother had given it to her before she left. She said it looked like a hotel maid uniform and it did. Autumn liked it too. She felt smart and professional in it.
She hurried down stairs and found Mr. and Mrs. Hildegard in the staff kitchen, sitting at a big farmhouse table sipping coffee.
“Master, Mistress,” she said with a little curtsy, remembering her manners.
Mr. Hildegard looked up from his newspaper but said nothing. Mrs. Hildegard pointed to the stove.
“I take it you can cook some eggs.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Good, you’ll find some in the fridge over there. I take mine scrambled, Mr. Hildegard takes his boiled hard.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“You may make yourself some as well.”
“Thank you, Mistress.”
Autumn’s morning was busy. She made the eggs and toast and ate at the table with the Hildegards. Then she cleaned up the breakfast things and the rest of the kitchen, swept the hall and stairs, lit the fires in the hall, the dining room, and the Hildegard’s private quarters. When she looked at the old grandfather clock in the hall she felt as if she’d already done a day’s worth of work. It was only seven thirty.
“Make some eggs for Mr. Cole in room seven,” Mrs. Hildegard said, “and boil some milk for the child. Bring it up to him at eight on the dot.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Autumn said.
In the kitchen, she tried to imagine how Grady liked his eggs and wished she could go upstairs and ask him. She wanted to give him what he liked. She settled on frying them over easy. She’d never met a man in her life who didn’t like his eggs over easy, and she fried four of them, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and placed them carefully on four slices of hot, buttered toast. None of the yolks broke.
She also made coffee and boiled milk for Destiny. She put everything on a silver tray and took a moment to admire her handiwork. The china was delicate and fine and looked so pretty on the tray. She was sure Grady would be pleased.
She carried the tray carefully up the stairs and balanced it on one arm while she knocked on the door to room seven.
There was no answer.
She knocked again.
No answer.
She stood there for a moment, uncertain what to do, when she heard the sound of Destiny crying.
She bit her lip and tried the door. It was open. She stepped inside, put the tray on the desk, and picked up the baby.
“There, there,” she cooed as she rocked the child in her arms. She immediately quietened down. “That’s better, isn’t it?”
The baby clung to her as if she knew her. Autumn took it as a sign she remembered her from the night before.
“Where’s your daddy, little one?” she said and at the same moment, the bathroom door swung open and there stood Grady.
Autumn’s jaw dropped. She’d never seen anything like it in her life. Grady was tall and broad with muscular arms and the chest of a quarterback. His body was tanned and smooth and every inch of it was covered in tattoos. She could vouch for the fact that every inch was tattooed because as well as taking her completely by surprise, he was stark naked.
His chest was hard and chiseled like a stone statue and beneath it was a perfect set of toned abs. The abs seemed to form a V-shape that led down to a patch of dark hair and then a long, thick penis that was bigger than Autumn ever dared possible. Not that she was any expert on the matter, being a complete and utter virgin who’d never even come close to kissing a boy, never mind seeing the cock of a God of a man like Grady Cole.
“Oh my,” she cried.
She didn’t know where to look. Her eyes darted from his perfect penis, over his chest, up to his gorgeous face, and then immediately back to his penis.
Bad eyes. Stop looking there.
She forced herself to look away but no matter how hard she tried, they kept jumping right back to that exquisite cock.
And to her amazement, it grew. In the few short seconds that she stood there, bewildered, embarrassed, mortified, his cock stiffened and grew and began to rise up as if it was trying to point at her.
Take aim at her!
What the hell?
Was she looking at a real life erection? Was that what they called a boner?
Was he attracted to her?
Was he going to have sex with her?
All of those thoughts flew through her mind in the instant it took for Grady to realize what was happening and grab a towel from the rack inside the bathroom door.
“Holy hell,” he said, a broad grin spreading across his face. “Autumn, I’m so so sorry. I had no idea you were in here.”
“No,” she stammered, “it’s my fault.”
She backed toward the door before realizing she was still holding Destiny.
“The baby. She was crying.”
“Oh,” Grady said, a look on his face so guilty anyone would have thought he’d just committed a grievous crime. “She was fast asleep. I thought I’d grab a quick shower.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Autumn said. “You’re allowed to bathe.”
Grady smiled. “I’m new at this.”
“You’re doing great. A little crying won’t do her any harm.”
Autumn looked at his powerful, bare chest and realized she was holding her breath. Before she knew it, her gaze had dropped to his waist, and the towel tied tightly around it. She would give anything to see that towel fall to the floor.
She looked away, putting her attention on the baby to avoid staring at Grady’s body.
It was then she noticed Destiny’s strange outfit, a pair of man’s boxer shorts pulled up over a pillow case. She laughed.
Grady looked at the baby and laughed too.
“I’m hopeless,” he said.
“You’re doing fine. How old is she?”
“She’s six months, but I’ve only had her a day.”
“A day?”
Grady nodded.
“In that case, you’re doing great.”
“I didn’t have any diapers.”
“Looks like you figured out a solution,” Autumn said, holding up Destiny and handing her back to him.
When Grady took the baby and held her against his bare chest, Autumn felt her body quiver with a strange mix of longing and desire. It was something she’d never felt before in her life.
She imagined Grady holding her that way, pressing her small frame against his hard body, holding her with that much love. The thought put butterflies in her stomach.
She felt herself blush and searched the room for something to distract herself. The baby’s bottle was by the bed and she went and picked it up. She passed Grady to get into the bathroom, his bare skin just a few inches from her, and felt a tingling of desire run through her body. She rinsed the bottle and filled it with the warm milk she’d brought.
She handed the bottle to Grady and he brought it to Destiny’s mouth.
Destiny let out a whine and turned away from it.
Grady looked at Autumn.
She smiled and took the child from him.
“Here,” she said, “like this.”
She held the baby in toward her own breasts and put the nipple of the bottle right where her own nipple would have been.
Destiny took it in her mouth and began to drink. Autumn smiled at the look of complete contentment on her face.
“You’re good at this,” Grady said.
“I babysat a lot for my aunt back home,” Autumn said.
“I wish I had someone like you to help me out.”
Autumn looked up at him, his handsome face, his kind eyes, the hint of stubble on his jawline. She’d help him out with anything he wanted.
Anything.
“You’re doing great,” she said. “You already made it through the first day. It’s all downhill from here.”
Grady laughed and picked up the plate of eggs and toast.
“You made this?”
“Yes,” she said, still feeding the baby.
Grady took a mouthful of the food and nodded.
“Delicious.”
Autumn smiled.
Grady sat on the bed and ate hungrily.
“Have a seat,” he said.
Autumn sat next to him and fed his baby as he sat in the towel and devoured the breakfast she’d made him.
CHAPTER 6
GRADY
Grady felt guilty. He’d never been so aroused by a girl in his life as he was by Autumn, and it was all he could do to stop himself from devouring her every time he saw her. He wondered what age she was. Was she an adult? She could be, but he wasn’t sure.
He shook his head.
What was he even thinking?
He was thirty years old and she was little more than a teenager. She was too innocent. Too pure.
And she was so kind. The way she took the baby and fed her. The way she looked after him, bringing him breakfast and telling him he was doing a good job with Destiny. It was too much.
He looked over at the bed. Destiny was asleep, lying where Autumn had put her before getting back to her chores.
Grady found himself wishing he had a reason to call her back.
He wanted to see her face again, her sweet smile, her kind eyes.
He’d almost died when he came out of the bathroom and she was standing there, holding his child. She was like a dream, so beautiful, and he was completely naked.
He shook his head in embarrassment at the memory. He’d even started to get a boner before he could grab a towel.
The thought made him hard all over again. He was still in the towel and he pulled it off and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, imagining what Autumn must have thought when she saw him. His cock was stiffening as he looked at himself.
You’re an absolute disgrace, Grady Cole.
He grabbed his cock in his fist and gave it a squeeze. It throbbed with desire.
She’s barely a child.
He couldn’t help it. He hadn’t had sex in months, he hadn’t even wanted to, but for the first time since Ravenna’s death, he wanted it. He wanted to feel himself sliding into that poor girl. He wanted to rip her cute little black dress off her and feast his eyes on her naked body. He pictured her breasts, small and tender and white. He pictured her pussy, bare and pink. He pictured the sound she’d make, the look on his face, as his massive cock slid into her tight, wet pussy.
Was she a virgin?
Was she old enough?
He tried to stop thinking about her. She was too good. She didn’t deserve some older guy perving on her.
He thought about the weird encounter he’d had with Mrs. Hildegard, the way she’d come on to him, practically thrown herself at him, but he couldn’t stop his mind from jumping back to Autumn.
She was the opposite of Mrs. Hildegard.
He shut his eyes as his hand ran up and down his shaft, pumping his cock forcefully, getting increasingly rapid.
As the pleasure built up, his mind refused to picture anyone but Autumn, and when the first surge of cum flew from his tip, landing in the sink a foot in front of him, it was Autumn’s name he gasped in his ecstasy.
He opened his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror. His cum gushed, flying into the sink and then dripping down over his hand in weaker spurts. He gasped as the orgasm subsided, then wiped his hands clean and got dressed.
The baby was still asleep and he didn’t want to wake her.
There was a television in the corner across from the bed and he was going to turn it on but without knowing why, he went to the desk instead and picked up the phone. He dialed nine for the front desk and it was Autumn’s voice that answered.
“Front desk.”
“Autumn, it’s me, Grady.”
“Oh, Mr. Cole, how can I help you?”
His mind went to all the ways her body could help him, could bring him to the deepest depths of pleasure, but he forced himself to behave.
“Do you have a laundry service?” he said.
He didn’t even have any dirty laundry, but he wanted to see her again.
“Of course. I’ll be right up to collect your things.”
“Thank you,” he said and put down the phone.
The window was set into the wall in an alcove and there was a wooden bench there. He sat in the sunlight and admired the view of the forest as he waited for her.
A minute or two later there was a knock on the door.
“Yes,” he said, unable to hide his anticipation, but when the door opened it wasn’t Autumn at all.
It was Mrs. Hildegard.
“You have some laundry?” she said.
With a sigh he nodded. The clothes he’d worn the day before were in the bathroom and he went and got them. Then he thought of the pillow case on Destiny and he picked her up, took off the shorts, untied the pillow case, and added them to the pile. Destiny was still asleep and he laid her back down before handing the clothes to Mrs. Hildegard.
“Is that one of my pillow cases?” she said.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t have a diaper.”
“I’ll thank you not to use hotel property in such a way in future, Mr. Cole.”
“Of course,” he said. “You can add the cost of the pillow case to my bill.”
“I most certainly will,” she said. “And I shudder to think how that poor baby will turn out if that’s your idea of taking care of her.”
“I’m sorry,” Grady said.
“Where’s the mother, if I may ask?”
“She’s …” his voice trailed off.
He looked at Destiny and it was as if all his deepest fears struck him at once. A week earlier, he didn’t even know he was a father, now he cared more about taking care of this child than he’d ever cared about anything. He prayed he’d be able to raise her properly.
The door shut and he turned to see Mrs. Hildegard was gone.
He got down on the bed and pulled the baby close, wrapping them both in the warmth of the blanket.
“I’ll be a good father to you, little Destiny,” he said.
CHAPTER 7
AUTUMN
The next day was Sunday and Mrs. Hildegard told Autumn she could have some time off once she was finished her morning chores. By the time she’d lit the fires, cleaned the toilets, mopped the floors, cooked and served breakfast, vacuumed the carpets, and brushed down the curtains it was already noon. She was just on her way to her room to change and go explore the town when Mrs. Hildegard caught her with one more chore.
“Girl, I almost forgot, Mr. Cole’s laundry has been waiting since yesterday. I’m sorry but you’ll have to do that before you head off.”
Autumn had been excited to go into town but the thought of doing Grady’s laundry pleased her even more.
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Oh, and in future when you polish the silverware, don’t forget the vases in the dining room.”
“No, Mistress.”
She hurried to the laundry room and found the small pile of Grady’s laundry. There wasn’t much to wash. Just a pair of jeans, the brown t-shirt he’d been wearing that said Harley Davidson across the chest, two pairs of boxer shorts, and some socks. Autumn recognized the one pair of boxers as the ones Destiny had been sporting the day before. The second pair must have been the ones Grady had been wearing.
She picked them up fondly and looked at them before throwing them in the washer. They were tartan, like a Scottish kilt, and Autumn imagined what Grady would look like in them. She felt a flurry of desire at the thought.
She put on the laundry and then found herself with a little time to relax while she waited. There was a big bookcase in the entrance hall and she went to it and browsed the books. It seemed Mrs. Hildegard had a healthy reading appetite and there were hundreds of books that Autumn knew she’d enjoy reading. Everything from historical romances set in regency England to paranormal romances about sexy men who could turn into wolves or bears and seduce women in the forest.
There was one book about a bear shifter she liked the look of. It was called Cabin Fever. She picked it up and examined the cover. It sported a sexy hunk with a huge grizzly rising up from the forest behind him. A log cabin sat in the distance.
She took it back to the laundry room and read the first twelve chapters while she waited for Grady’s laundry. She took the clothes from the washer and put them in the dryer and read another four chapters before taking the warm clothes from the dryer and folding them neatly. She took her time while folding the boxer shorts, thrilled at the thought they’d touched Grady’s naked body.
When she was finished, she brought them up to Grady’s room, which was empty, and left them on his bed. She glanced one final time at his underwear before leaving the room.
Then she went to her own room and grabbed her bag. She put Cabin Fever in it and intended to go into town and finish the novel at the diner.
On her way past the reception desk, Mrs. Hildegard stopped her.
“Going into town?”
“Yes, Mistress. I thought I’d treat myself to a coffee at the diner.”
“Mr. Hildegard will drive you.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Autumn said, none too thrilled at the thought of sitting in the pickup alone with the old man. “I’d like to walk.”
“Nonsense. You’ll catch your death out there dressed like that. He’s going into town anyway.”
Autumn waited by the door for Mr. Hildegard, who came down the stairs dressed in a tweed suit that made him look like an English country gentleman.
“Come on, honey,” he said, leading the way to the pickup.
Autumn followed and climbed into the cab. Mr. Hildegard climbed in on the driver’s side and put his arm along the back of the seat. It was a bench for seating three people and his hand was painfully close to Autumn’s back. She leaned a little forward as Mr. Hildegard turned the ignition and pulled out of the driveway.
“You’re a pretty little thing, ain’t ya?” he said as they drove along.
Autumn didn’t know what to say to that so she said nothing.
“The old lady isn’t giving you too hard of a time, is she?”
“Not at all, Master,” Autumn said, and the word master stuck in her throat.
She felt strange saying it. She didn’t mind working hard, and she didn’t mind having a boss, but calling him master was too much.
“I could get her to let up on you a little,” he went on. “Make it so that you have a fine old time.”
“I like working,” she said.
“But you like playing too, don’t you?”
“I’m sorry?” Autumn said.
She looked at Mr. Hildegard and he leered back at her with a lecherous grin on his face. Autumn started to feel claustrophobic in the truck with him. It was as if the cab had suddenly shrunk in size and there wasn’t enough air to breathe. Her seatbelt rubbed against her neck and she tried to loosen it but it was stuck. She edged against the door, trying to create what distance she could between herself and Mr. Hildegard, but there was little she could do.
When his hand slipped down from the back of the bench and grazed her neck she almost expected it.
“Come on, I know you modern girls. I know how you like it.”
“Please, Mr. Hildegard.”
“Master,” he corrected.
His hand was on her shoulder, caressing it, and he lifted it to rub her cheek with the back of his fingers.
“Master,” she repeated. “I don’t want to get in any trouble.”
“Trouble? I’m just offering you a little fun.”
He ran his hand down her arm and she pressed herself even tighter against the door.
“Please don’t touch me, Mr. Hildegard.”
Mr. Hildegard looked at her, eyeing her breasts and the place in her lap where her pussy would be found. He patted her on the knee and then put both hands back on the wheel.
“I get it, you’re a tease. Well lucky for you I like playing games.”
Autumn didn’t say a word, she hardly dared to breathe, and when the truck finally came to a halt outside the diner she leapt out without saying goodbye. She stood on the sidewalk and watched Mr. Hildegard drive off.
What had she gotten herself into?
She’d been looking forward to leaving her mother’s cramped home and making a life of her own for months. She couldn’t remember now what she’d been so excited for. School and her home life hadn’t always been easy, but they were a walk in the park compared to life at Raven’s Nest.
She took deep breaths until she felt a little calmer and then made her way straight for the store across the street.
“Can I help you, Miss?” the clerk asked as she entered the store.
“Do you have diapers?”
“Right there, second aisle.”
She grabbed a pack of diapers and used her only twenty dollars to pay for them. She had enough change for a coffee and spent the next three hours in the diner, sitting alone in a booth by the window, getting lost in Cabin Fever. When she finished the last page she let out a sad sigh. She looked at her watch. It was time to go back to the hotel. She wished she was the girl in the book, locked away in that cozy cabin with a man who turned into a massive grizzly bear at night. They seemed to do nothing but have fun, make love, and go on adventures.
She, on the other hand, had nothing but the reality of the hotel to look forward to.
It felt more like a prison.
She trudged through the snow for the three miles up to the hotel and her entire body was numb with cold by the time she got home.
“Where were you?” Mrs. Hildegard’s grating voice demanded as she came in the door.
“I was at the diner, Mistress.”
“I was worried sick.”
“I’m sorry. I was just enjoying my day off.”
“Well, you’re not free to simply come and go as you please. What if I needed you?”
“I’m sorry,” Autumn said, unsure what more she possibly could have been needed for that day.
“What have you got there?”
“I bought some diapers for Mr. Cole. I noticed he was using a pillow case as a diaper yesterday.”
Mrs. Hildegard nodded.
“Quite so, give them to me. I’ll see he receives them.”
CHAPTER 8
GRADY
Grady spent the day driving around, exploring the town, and it was already dark when he got back to the hotel.
“Will you be taking dinner in your room, Mr. Cole?” Mrs. Hildegard asked on his way in.
“That would be lovely,” Grady said, relieved he didn’t have to go back out to the cold to find food.
“I’ll have it brought to your room in an hour,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
Grady looked at her. She made no sign of being embarrassed about what had happened when she came on to him and he was glad to put the whole awkward event behind him.
“Thank you,” he said, wondering if it would be her or Autumn who’d be bringing it up. He knew who he hoped it would be.
Once in his room, he bathed Destiny and took a quick bath himself. Then he turned on the television and flicked through a few channels. It wasn’t long before he heard the knock on his door.
“Come in.”
His eyes lit up when he saw Autumn’s face.
“I have your dinner here, Mr. Cole. I brought a bottle for the baby too.”
“Oh, thank you, Autumn. You’re so thoughtful.”
She stood at the door for a second as if thinking of something to say. He let his eyes drift down over the small mounds of her breasts. She looked perfect in her little dress. He knew her employers were hard on her and felt an overwhelming desire to look after her and rescue her from them.
“Would you mind if I fed the baby?” she said.
He smiled.
“I’d love it, Autumn.”
Just like breakfast the day before, Autumn held the baby and fed her while Grady ate the food she’d brought. It was a heaping plate of roast beef with gravy and mashed potatoes and he devoured it.
“This is great. Did you make it?”
“No, Mrs. Hildegard did.”
“She can cook,” Grady said.
Autumn nodded. “My mother used to cook the most amazing roast beef. It would literally melt in your mouth.”
“Yum,” Grady said.
“That was before she got ill, of course.”
“You mentioned she was sick.”
Autumn nodded. “Cancer.”
“That’s a tough one,” Grady said.
“She had it coming. She smoked like a chimney for as long as I can remember. I tried to get her to stop but you know how it goes.”
“I do.”
“I just hope she responds better to the new treatment she’s on. It’s not cheap but apparently it can work wonders.”
“It’s in God’s hands,” Grady said.
He finished his food and sat there, admiring the angel that sat before him. He was at the desk and she was on the bed, her pretty legs crossed demurely. The baby had finished her bottle and was sleeping peacefully in Autumn’s arms.
Grady thought how easy it would be to lie Autumn back on the bed, pull down her panties, and slide into her.
He’d been burned in love before, he’d all but given up on ever finding someone to share his life with, but looking at Autumn, the sweet smile on her face, the serenity in her gaze, he realized he’d found someone who could bring his wounded heart back to life.
“What age are you?” he said without thinking.
Autumn smiled. “Nineteen. Almost twenty.”
Grady nodded. She was young, ten or eleven years younger than he was, but was she too young? Maybe not. He’d known couples who were ten years apart. He even knew girls as young as Autumn who’d settled down with men in their thirties before. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.
“Are you a long way from home?” he said.
Autumn nodded. “I’ll say. My aunt put me on a train at five in the morning and it was after midnight by the time I arrived here.”
“If you wanted to go home to see your mother, or if you wanted to get away from here, would you have anyone to help you?”
Autumn looked at him a little skeptically.
“I’d have to ask the Hildegards for money.”
“Are they paying you well to work here?”
“Supposedly. But they send the money directly to my mother. She needs it for the meds.”
“You don’t get to keep any?”
Autumn shook her head.
“I don’t need money. I only need my mother to get better.”
Grady looked at her. He wanted to offer her help. He wanted to give her money. But he knew he couldn’t. Men like him couldn’t simply go around offering cash to pretty girls. It wasn’t proper. People would think he was up to something.
He tried to think of a way he could tell Autumn he’d help her if she needed it, but they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
The door opened and Mrs. Hildegard appeared.
“You still up here?” she said to Autumn.
“I was just leaving, Mistress,” Autumn said, handing Destiny to Grady.
Grady wanted to protest, he wanted to tell her to stay, but she was gone in an instant, leaving him alone with Mrs. Hildegard.
“I see you liked my roast beef,” Mrs. Hildegard said, taking his empty plate.
“It was delicious. Did you make it?”
“I did, and I thought of you the entire time.”
“That’s very kind,” Grady said.
“I could give you lots of delicious things,” she said, holding his gaze.
“I bet you could Mrs. Hildegard, but I’ve had my fill, really.”
She nodded, resigned to the fact he wasn’t going to jump into bed with her, at least not yet.
“Oh, I thought of you while I was in town too,” she said, holding up a package. “I picked you up some diapers.”
“That’s so thoughtful,” Grady said.
Mrs. Hildegard put the diapers by the bed.
“It will save my pillow cases too.”
Grady laughed.
“I said I’d pay for that.”
“Oh, I’m just teasing you,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
“Well, thank you for the diapers.”
Mrs. Hildegard nodded and made her way to the door.
“I’ll leave you be, Mr. Cole, but there’s one more thing before I leave.”
“Oh yeah?”
“It’s about the girl.”
“Autumn?”
“Yes. Please make sure you keep your wits about you with that one. Don’t believe a word she says. She’s a delinquent.”
“A delinquent?”
“Yes, and a girl of very poor virtue, if you know what I mean. Watch your belongings around her, and don’t fall for her false charms. She’s not to be trusted. A liar and a slut.”
Mrs. Hildegard turned and left before Grady had a chance to respond.
CHAPTER 9
AUTUMN
Autumn had just finished her bath and was about to start another of Mrs. Hildegard’s romance novels when she heard a noise coming from the room next to hers.
Betsy’s room.
A shiver ran down her back. Ever since seeing it, she had a distinct sensation that the room was haunted.
She crossed her room and held her head to the wall. There was definitely noise, creaking floorboards, like someone was walking around in there. She stood and listened for some minutes, remembering Mrs. Hildegard’s warning not to ever go in.
She sighed.
She didn’t want to, but she knew if she didn’t go and look, she’d lie there all night conjuring up images of ghosts and bogey men. She tiptoed to her door, carefully opened it so as not to let it creak, and went to the door of Betsy’s room.
The door was ajar and she peered in.
A ghostly white figure drifted toward her and she screamed, before realizing that her ghost was just Mrs. Hildegard in her silk nightdress.
“Oh my God, you scared the crap out of me.”
Mrs. Hildegard looked very amused.
“I thought I told you not to come in here.”
“I heard something.”
“Oh, you heard something? I guess that means you can forget what I said.”
“I thought you were a ghost.”
Mrs. Hildegard laughed, then her expression turned more mischievous.
“I suppose you want to know what I was doing up here?”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Autumn said. “I’ll go back to my room. I promise to mind my own business in future.”
“No, no, you’re here now. I might as well show you.”
“Show me what?”
“Come over here,” Mrs. Hildegard said and led the way to the far side of the room.
She pulled the bed from the wall and sat down on it.
“Come, sit,” she said.
Autumn sat next to her and followed Mrs. Hildegard’s view to the floor.
“See? There?” Mrs. Hildegard said.
Autumn peered at the floor and saw there was a hole in it. Through the hole she could see straight down to the room below.
Grady’s room!
“Room seven. I always put the hotties in there.”
“The hotties?”
“You have no idea how filthy men are, child. All they think about is touching themselves. I’ve seen it a thousand times.”
“Touching themselves?”
“As soon as they’re alone, they pull out their cocks and start stroking. Mark my words, Mr. Cole will do it if we sit here and wait.”
“You watch?” Autumn said in shock.
“You bet I do,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
Autumn stood up and made to leave but Mrs. Hildegard grabbed her by the arm.
“Let me go,” Autumn said.
“No. You’re going to sit here and watch with me. It’s more fun doing it with friends.”
“I’m not doing anything,” Autumn said.
“You’ll do as I say, you wicked child, or you’ll be sorry.”
“Sorry?”
“What if I tell Mr. Hildegard I caught you in here?”
“What? I wasn’t in here?”
“What if I send you down to him right now, and tell him to take off your panties and spank you till your bottom turns pink.”
“He can’t do that.”
“Do you want to go down and test him?”
Autumn shook her head. After the truck ride earlier, she intended to avoid ever being alone with Mr. Hildegard again if she could help it.
“Then sit down and watch this hunk. I bet you’ve never seen a cock before in your life.”
Autumn sat down.
“Have you?” Mrs. Hildegard said.
“Have I what?”
“Ever seen a cock?”
Autumn looked at her. “No,” she lied.
Mrs. Hildegard shook her head. “You’re such a disappointment.”
They both sat there and watched Grady through the hole in the floor. Contrary to what Mrs. Hildegard had said, he didn’t whip out his cock and start stroking it. He was sitting on the bed with Destiny in his arms. He was talking to her, telling her a story. Autumn couldn’t quite make out the words but it seemed to be a fairytale of some sort. Destiny was asleep and after a while Grady put her down on the bed and went into the bathroom.
Thankfully, Mrs. Hildegard’s little spy hole didn’t afford a view of the bathroom, but when Grady came back to the bedroom, he was naked.
Mrs. Hildegard hit Autumn on the arm.
“See! What did I tell you? Watch. I bet he jerks it off next. Have you ever seen a man cum?”
“Of course I haven’t,” Autumn said, unable to take her eyes from Grady’s naked flesh.
“You’re in for a treat then,” Mrs. Hildegard said, and Autumn noticed her putting her hand up inside her nightdress.
Mrs. Hildegard’s hand start moving vigorously inside the dress, and it was a moment before Autumn realized what she was doing. She was pleasuring herself.
She wanted to say something, to protest, but she said nothing.
They watched as Grady got down on the floor and began doing pushups before bed. The muscles in his back were perfectly visible. They rippled sensually as he exercised. His buttocks were so perfect and despite the terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, a feeling of guilt for invading Grady’s privacy in this way, and a feeling of disgust that she was sitting next to a woman who was very obviously fingering herself, she couldn’t help imagining what it would be like to sit on Grady’s back and ride him like a horse.
She wanted to clench his muscular buttocks in her fingers and squeeze.
“Touch yourself if you want,” Mrs. Hildegard panted, getting more and more fired up as she flicked her fingers rapidly back and forth over her clit.
“That’s okay,” Autumn managed to say.
“Do it or I’ll send you down to Mr. Hildegard for a spanking.”
“I will not,” Autumn said, and stood up and left before she had to witness Mrs. Hildegard cum all over her hand.
CHAPTER 10
AUTUMN
Try as she might, Autumn could not get to sleep. Her mind kept wandering to Mrs. Hildegard in the next room, spying on Grady. For some time she could hear Mrs. Hildegard moaning quietly to herself as she masturbated, and when she finally went back down the stairs it was after midnight.
Autumn lay there and waited. She wondered if Mrs. Hildegard was gone for good. She wondered what Grady was doing now. Was he asleep? It certainly sounded like the entire house was asleep.
As quietly as she could, Autumn climbed out of bed and walked barefoot to the door. She opened her door carefully and went out to the hallway and checked the door to Betsy’s room. It opened with a loud creak and she froze, listening for any sign that Mrs. Hildegard had heard. She imagined that the old woman would guard jealously her little secret spying spot. She wouldn’t take kindly to Autumn stealing a little peek of her own.
When she was satisfied the coast was clear, she went quietly to the bed and pulled it back from the wall.
There was the hole, a little patch of light in the dark floor.
She sat down and peered through it. Grady was lying on the bed, on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Autumn saw his face and recoiled in fright, thinking he was looking right at her. Then she realized there was no way he could see her. She could see him clearly, down in the bright room, but to him, the tiny hole in the ceiling was nothing but a little black crack among countless others in the wooden panelling.
She gasped as she took in the view. There, lying before her, was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen in her life. Grady was completely naked, his body glistening in a light sweat after his pushups. He had the faint trace of a smile on his face and he was breathing deeply but slowly, perfectly relaxed.
Autumn’s eyes followed down over his tattooed chest, over his perfectly chiseled six pack, all the way to the cock. She leaned closer to the hole in the floor, trying to get a better look. She’d never before had the opportunity to look directly at a penis and she wasn’t going to waste this one. She felt guilty for spying but she told herself there were plenty worse things in the world than one curious girl taking a peek at a God of a man and getting a thrill from it.
She wasn’t doing any harm, she was just looking.
But then, wasn’t that what Mrs. Hildegard had been doing?
She felt her pussy dampen with desire as she stared intently at the semi-hard cock that was resting against Grady’s muscular thigh. She wondered what he’d think if he knew she was looking. Would he cover himself up, or would he put on a little show.
A wave of desire washed through her body at the thought of him putting on a show for her.
Her pussy was bare beneath her nightdress and she reached down and touched it, staring intently at Grady’s cock while she did so.
A part of her mind told her she was every bit as filthy as Mrs. Hildegard, but she couldn’t help it.
She ran a finger over the moist fold of her clit, pleasure tingling up through her.
To her surprise, at the very moment that she touched herself, Grady’s hand moved too. He reached down over his stomach and brushed his fingers over the shaft of his cock.
Autumn gasped. It was almost as if he was joining her in the stolen moment of pleasure, except for the fact there was no way he could know what she was doing.
She licked her finger and rubbed it more vigorously over her sensitive clit, all the while staring at Grady as his cock grew and stiffened. It rose up away from his body and pointed at the ceiling, at Autumn. She looked at Grady’s face and felt as if his beautiful, piercing eyes were looking right at her.
She imagined that she was lying on him, straddling him, and those eyes were really looking into hers. She imagined that his erect cock, now glistening and engorged from Grady stroking it, was inside her pussy. She had no idea what a cock would feel like in her pussy, until this moment the thought of it had terrified her, but now she knew it was something she wanted. A deep instinctual need inside told her she had to have it, she had to feel it. She had to know the pleasure of Grady’s cock sliding into her deep, delicious pussy and pouring its sticky seed inside her.
She’d do what Grady wanted.
She’d be his woman.
If he wanted, she’d do anything he asked.
He could stick that huge shaft inside her tiny spot and pour himself into her. Her pussy would swallow every drop he had to give her and beg for more. She’d be his, if only he asked.
And then something amazing happened. White semen gushed from the tip of Grady’s cock and flew up over his abs and chest, landing in a long streak over his tattooed muscles.
Autumn imagined it was pouring into her pussy, splashing against her cervix, and the thought of it pushed her over the edge. A surge of delicious pleasure gushed through her pussy and she gasped for air, clenching every muscle she had as her climax overpowered her. She tried to contain herself, she tried to remain silent, but a cry of pure lust escaped her lips before she could stop herself.
She was looking at Grady’s face and saw his reaction.
He’d heard her!
She had no doubt.
He rose up, listening for the sound. She put her hand over her mouth, the very same hand that was soaking from her juices, and forced herself not to breathe, not to move, not to make the tiniest, faintest sound.
Grady looked up at the ceiling, almost second guessing whether he’d heard anything at all, and then grabbed a napkin from the table by his bed and cleaned up the mess he’d made on his chest.
Autumn looked at her fingers. She’d never cum so hard in her life. She was intoxicated. She wanted to cum again. She wanted more.
She wanted Grady.
CHAPTER 11
GRADY
Grady lay naked on the bed and allowed himself the pleasure of thinking about a woman for the first time in a very long while. Ever since Destiny’s mother had died, he’d been too hurt, too shocked, to even think about being intimate with a woman.
Now, his lust had returned and it was stronger than it had ever been in his life.
Something about that girl, Autumn, made him wild with desire. The way she carried herself, the way she spoke to him, the way she looked, pretty and sweet and innocent and oh so sexy. She was too much for him to resist.
Nineteen, almost twenty, she’d said.
Old enough, he’d thought.
Old enough to be with a man. Old enough to go all the way. Old enough to fall in love.
He wanted her, he wanted to be the one who took her from the innocence of girlhood into the wild, passionate experiences of full womanhood, and he wanted her to want him too.
As he lay there, his cock growing with desire, he gave in to his urges and began to stroke himself, picturing Autumn’s face as he did it. He imagined her sitting on his lap, looking down into his eyes, her delicious pussy clenched around his rigid cock like a fist gripping him.
He wanted her to cry out with pain and pleasure as he slid into her, stretching her around the one thing in life she was made to receive, a hard, naked cock. He wanted her to feel him cum, the muscles clench, the cock spurting semen into her tiny body so forcefully it would be like an ocean wave overpowering her in a storm.
He wanted to cum so hard inside her that she’d heal every wound his soul had ever suffered, and he wanted to make her cum so powerfully that she’d never be able to forget him, never be able to look at another but him, never be able to get rid of the feeling that he was inside her, deep inside the very core of her body, for the rest of eternity.
He lay there, stroking himself faster and faster, his fist gripping his shaft tighter and tighter, and just as he was about to explode in pleasure, he heard a voice, her voice, moaning as she came with him. It was magical. His cum flew from his cock and landed so far up his chest it almost hit him on the chin. He came harder than he ever remembered cumming.
He sat up on the bed and tried to hear the sound of her moan again.
Had he imagined it?
He must have.
He listened for a moment before shaking his head at his silliness.
The spookiness of the old hotel was getting to him, getting inside his head, and making him hear things that weren’t there.
She was inside his head so much that he was hearing things.
He cleaned up the mess he’d made, checked on the baby, and then fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
In the morning, Mrs. Hildegard brought his breakfast and it was nowhere near as nice as when Autumn brought it. Afterwards, he got dressed, dressed the baby, and went down to his car.
He had a goal in mind and today was the day he was going to do it. He drove down the single main street of the town until he found a realtor’s office. Taking the baby, he went inside.
The office was small and tidy with a young woman at the reception desk and a wall full of photos of the properties that were for sale.
“Can I help you?” the woman said.
Grady looked up at her. “Just taking a look at the listings.”
“You’re in the market to buy?”
“Yes, ma’am, if I see the right thing.”
“And what would the right thing look like?”
He glanced over the pictures. “I was thinking a nice little cabin in the woods, you know? Something cute and old fashioned and romantic. A place to start a new life with this little one,” he said, holding up Destiny.
“Oh, isn’t she darling,” the woman said.
Grady smiled.
The woman stood up and Grady walked over to show her the baby. As they both admired her, an older man stepped out of an office behind her back.
“What have we got here? A little visitor?”
“Her name’s Destiny,” Grady said.
“Well, isn’t that a sign if ever I saw one. You name her after the town?”
“Other way around,” Grady said. “She’s the reason we picked this town.”
The old man chuckled. “You’re a man after my own heart. I once lived in a town called Esther for four years because I’d been in love with a girl called Esther in my youth. She died, sadly, but when I saw the name on the map I knew I had to go there.”
“How’d it turn out?” Grady said.
“Well, I met my wife there and we’ve been happily married for forty years now. So I’d say there are worse ways to pick a town to live in.”
“Let’s hope Destiny works out that well for me and the little one.”
“Oh, I’m sure it will,” the receptionist said, looking up at him with fawning eyes.
Grady smiled at her and directed his attention back to the realtor.
“I was just saying, I’m looking for an old style cabin. Something quiet and remote.”
“Do you need power and water?”
“I don’t need it but I’d like it,” Grady said.
“Well, I’ve got something I could show you. A really beautiful little place overlooking the town. It’s a beautiful, pristine little valley, but close enough to town that you could get here easily.”
“And it has power and water?”
“It does, but not hot water if my memory serves. A beautiful fireplace though. You’ll like it.”
“When can you show it to me?”
“No time like the present,” the realtor said.
They rode in Grady’s car up to the cabin which was on the same road out of town that his hotel was on. When they passed the hotel, the realtor asked Grady if that was where he was staying.
“Yes it is,” Grady said.
The old man’s eyebrows rose. “Funny couple who run the place.”
Grady nodded.
They drove on a little farther and turned up a logging road that led steeply up and curled back toward the town. When they got to the top the view took Grady’s breath away. He could see for miles to the south, down over the little town and the forested valleys below. It was stunning, with the sun high in the sky above it all.
They’d driven four miles to get to the cabin but because of the way the road curled, they were scarcely a mile above the rooftops and smoking chimneys of the town.
The cabin itself was just as perfect. Some steps led up to a wide, hand-built porch that was bathed in the morning sunlight. Grady could imagine sitting on that porch with his morning coffee. The door led into the main room of the cabin, which was a decent size, log walls, high arched roof, and windows on three walls. To the right was a huge stone fireplace that would heat the place all winter easily. Off to the side was a good size bathroom, well built with aged wood, but without heated water for bathing, or a bathtub. Still, it had a toilet, which was the main necessity.
The only other room was the bedroom, which had a smaller fireplace, a window and door leading out to a smaller side porch, and a massive bed that was made up with the most beautiful handmade quilt Grady had ever seen.
“What about bathing?” Grady said.
“That’s what the stream is for,” the old man said.
The stream ran right past the house, gently gushing over rock. Grady looked at it from the bedroom porch and saw a fish leaping. He smiled.
“Bet it’s icy.”
“Oh, it is to be sure, but that’s what keeps us strong, right?”
“If you say so,” Grady said. “Does it freeze in winter?”
“Not completely. It’s running too fast.”
An hour later, back in the realtor’s office, Grady was signing the paperwork that made the cabin his. He placed a call to his bank in San Francisco and while he was at the realtor’s office, called his family’s home in California and spoke to the daughter of the man who’d raised him. Her name was Lacey and Grady loved her like a sister. She wanted to know how he was getting on with the baby, and really wanted him to bring her home to be fawned over, but she understood when Grady told her he needed some time to rediscover his place in the world.
He left the realtor’s office feeling happy and full of optimism. He’d bought the cabin of his dreams. His family back home knew he was safe. His daughter was sleeping in his arms with a smile on her face.
He put her in the carseat and made his way back toward the hotel. Just as he was leaving town he saw a girl trudging through the snow at the side of the road, heading in his direction. He pulled over and she ran to the car and climbed in.
His heart skipped a beat when he saw it was Autumn.
“Hey, what are you doing out here?” he said.
Autumn looked at him and blushed, and he couldn’t have pictured a prettier image. Her cheeks were already red from the cool air and her embarrassment only made them prettier. He wondered what she was blushing at but supposed girls her age didn’t need much reason to be shy.
“I just needed a little fresh air,” she said.
“You want a ride back to the hotel?”
“Definitely. I’ve had my fill of air. My feet are freezing now.”
“You need some winter boots and a new coat. I don’t know what winters are like where you’re from, but up here things can get about as cold as you’re likely to see anywhere in the world.”
“I know,” Autumn said. “I’ll have to see what I can do. I don’t have a lot of shopping money right now.”
“You better ask Mrs. Hildegard for a raise,” Grady said, grinning.
“I don’t know how she’d take to that idea.”
“Oh, she’d love it,” Grady said. “She really looks like someone who likes parting with her hard earned dough.”
Autumn sighed. “Tell me about it.”
Grady looked at her. God, she was pretty. She was like the first flower that pokes it’s head out of the ground at the beginning of spring.
“How do you like working at the hotel?”
“It’s going okay.”
“The old lady’s not giving you too hard of a time, is she?”
“She’s got her moments, but I think I’ll be able to cope.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I’d hate to think of you struggling.”
Autumn turned to him and they looked into each other’s eyes. Grady stared a moment too long and almost drove the car into a ditch.
“Sorry,” he said as he maneuvered back onto the road, swerving.
They drove on in silence for a few minutes and Grady just thought about her eyes. He wanted to tell her she was pretty but he didn’t want to come across as a creep. If she’d been a little older, or if she looked a little more experienced in the ways of the world, he’d have told her what he thought of her and asked her out for a drink, but something about her was just too innocent and pure for his usual tricks. He felt he owed her, and God, more respect than to take advantage of something so beautiful.
Besides, he was a father now. He had to set a good example to the world.
At last, it was Autumn who broke the silence.
“The thing I really like about the hotel is my room,” she said.
“Oh yeah?”
“It’s very cozy, with a nice bed and it’s own fire. I’ve even got my own bathroom with a nice hot bath waiting for me every night. I never had anything like that back home.”
“You like being cozy?”
“Yes I do.”
“And what about being up here in the mountains?”
“I think this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been in my life,” she said. “Not that I’ve been to too many places.”
“You haven’t been to London and Paris and Rome, I take it?”
“Not yet,” Autumn said, “but I will. One day.”
“I bet you’ll make it, too,” Grady said. “They’ll love you in Paris.”
“Me? Really?”
“Definitely. There’s no place in the world that suits a beautiful girl like Paris does.”
Autumn blushed again and Grady felt his cock throb with desire when he looked at her. He tried to think of something different, something less sexual, but he couldn’t, and his cock continued to grow until he had a full erection in his jeans. It made it uncomfortable for him to sit in his seat.
In the back of the car, Destiny stirred and let out a little cry. Autumn reached back, released her from the carseat and held her on her lap. She cooed at the baby and almost instantly, Destiny fell back asleep.
When Grady saw the way she was holding his baby, his cock throbbed even harder and it was all he could do not to reach across, grab Autumn, and crush his lips against hers.
He’d never wanted anything so much as he wanted her in that moment.
“You know what’s really nice about my room?” Autumn said.
“What?”
“The room next to mine has a really, really beautiful view.”
Autumn was blushing again as she said that, but he couldn’t tell why.
CHAPTER 12
AUTUMN
Later that night, Autumn was lying in her bathtub thinking about Grady when she heard a knock on her door.
She stood up and as she was reaching for a towel, the door of the bathroom opened, startling her. She let out a little scream when she saw Mrs. Hildegard standing in front of her.
“Oh,” she stammered.
“It’s still my house,” Mrs. Hildegard said. “I’ll come and go as I please.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Autumn said, standing there entirely naked, water dripping from her body.
She reached for the towel to cover herself up but Mrs. Hildegard grabbed it.
“Come on, girl. Follow me.”
“What? Now?”
Mrs. Hildegard rolled her eyes, as if Autumn’s question was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard, and led the way back through the room.
“Come on, hurry up.”
“I’m just grabbing something to put on.”
“No. Come as you are.”
Autumn was too startled to respond and ran on after Mrs. Hildegard.
Mrs. Hildegard led the way into Betsy’s room and pulled out the bed. She sat down and motioned for Autumn to sit down next to her. Autumn felt intensely uncomfortable, sitting there naked, dripping, next to her employer.
“What’s going on?” she said in a hushed tone.
“Just shut up and sit there. Watch me.”
“Watch you?” Autumn said, horrified.
Mrs. Hildegard was in her white nightdress and as her hand crept up under it, Autumn shuddered in disgust.
“I don’t want to,” she said, even more quietly than before.
“You’ll watch or your mother won’t get that check for her medicine.”
“You sent it?”
“First check will be in the mail tomorrow morning, so long as you do as you’re told.”
Autumn sat silently as Mrs. Hildegard’s hand began moving up and down inside the nightdress. Autumn knew exactly what she was doing and when she looked down into Grady’s bedroom she saw why. He had lit his fire and was sitting in the chair next to it, dressed in a pair of boxer shorts and nothing else. He was reading a big novel and as he sat there quietly, Autumn felt a strong pull of desire.
He looked so good, so serene and comfortable, so relaxed. In a strange way, watching him relaxed like this was even more intimate than spying on him naked.
Autumn felt her cheeks flush and her hands begin to quiver. She felt humiliated as she sat there, entirely naked, while Mrs. Hildegard stared down at Grady and pleasured herself. She wondered what Mrs. Hildegard was getting out of this. Why did she want Autumn to sit there and watch? Did Autumn’s presence somehow make the spying less invasive, less pathetic, than if she did it alone? Did being watched give her a heightened sense of excitement?
What was she doing?
Autumn knew she couldn’t judge too harshly. The first thing she’d done herself after finding out about the peephole was sneak back in and pleasure herself.
She thought back to what she’d witnessed the night before, Grady’s cock growing to prodigious size as he increased his pleasure. The white semen flying out from it like a volcano of passion erupting. The look on his face when he heard her muffled scream.
She got aroused just thinking about it.
Then Mrs. Hildegard moaned softly and the sound brought her back to the present. She was disgusted.
She sat in silence until Mrs. Hildegard finally climaxed, her breathing and gasping making it obvious that she’d brought herself over the edge.
Looking slightly more sheepish, Mrs. Hildegard looked up at Autumn as she wiped her fingers clean on her panties.
“What are you looking at?” she said. “Don’t think I don’t know you came in here last night. Don’t think I don’t know exactly what you did, you little pervert.”
Autumn felt a wave of humiliation rush over her.
Mrs. Hildegard knew!
“I know what you did. You’re every bit as horny as I am and if you ever tell a soul about this, I’ll tell what you did.”
Autumn shook her head.
“That’s right, you dirty little slut. You know about my secret, but I know about yours too.”
Autumn, painfully aware that she was sitting there naked, stood up and made to leave.
“Oh,” Mrs. Hildegard said, slipping off her panties and throwing them to Autumn, who caught them in disgust, “wash these for me. They’re soaking.”
Autumn held them out from her body.
“Yes, Mistress.”
She walked to the door and then stopped. There was something she had to ask Mrs. Hildegard and she thought this was about as good a time as any she would get.
“Is there anyway I could make a phone call to my mother tomorrow? I need to talk to her but my cell gets no signal up here.”
Mrs. Hildegard looked up at her and Autumn knew by the expression on her face that she was going to be kind. Not too kind, but kinder than she usually was. Something about the secret they shared now seemed to have made them confidants of sorts.
“There’s a payphone at the diner in town. You can go tomorrow after you finish your morning chores.”
CHAPTER 13
GRADY
The next day found Grady in the main supermarket in town. He was stocking up on all the things he thought he and Destiny would need in the new cabin and was having a hard time finding everything.
He stood in complete confusion in the aisle for baby supplies. He didn’t have the slightest idea what he should buy to make the baby comfortable. They had a surprisingly extensive choice of baby foods, formulas, diapers, clothing, toys, medications, and everything else you could think of. If the hardware store had half this selection, he thought, he’d have no trouble turning the cabin into a comfortable home.
“You look like you could use a hand,” a familiar voice said from behind him.
He turned and his heart leapt when he saw Autumn’s face.
“What are you doing here?”
“I saw your car outside,” she said. “I was on my way into town to make a call home.”
“No cell signal up at the hotel?”
Autumn shook her head.
“Me either,” Grady said.
He looked her over and felt a shiver of desire as his eyes took her in. She was wearing the same simple black dress she always wore and she seemed to have somehow pulled three pairs of socks on over her tights to keep her feet warm.
“They have surprisingly good winter boots and coats here,” Grady said.
“Oh, I don’t have money for shopping right now.”
“Let me grab you a pair. I feel bad every time I see you trudging through the snow in those things,” he said, looking at her black leather shoes. “Those look pretty, but they’re no match for the weather up here.”
“Oh, I couldn’t let you spend your money on me,” Autumn said.
She looked uncomfortable at the thought and Grady understood. People really weren’t in the habit of accepting gifts like that from people they barely knew. He’d have felt the same way in her position and didn’t want to embarrass her.
“I’d really be honored,” he said, but when she shook her head he decided to let the matter rest.
“What about you?” she said, changing the subject. “What are you looking for?”
“To be honest, I’m a bit overwhelmed. I can’t make sense of all this. What’s the difference between all these pacifiers?”
Autumn laughed, and he wanted to lift her into his arms when he heard her. She was so full of joy and life. She was everything he needed, and seeing her right there made him crave it deep in his soul.
“I can help if you like.”
“Really? You wouldn’t mind?”
“Of course not. It would be my pleasure.”
“Well, Destiny would thank you, I’m sure.”
They shopped together for half an hour, picking out all sorts of baby items including clothing. When Grady put food and kitchen supplies in the cart, Autumn looked at him.
“What is the adult food for? You don’t like what you’re getting at the hotel?”
Grady laughed. “Oh no, it’s great. Apart from you, the food is the best thing about that place.”
Autumn blushed. “It just looks like you’re stocking up,” she said.
“Well, I bought a little cabin overlooking the town. This is to stock the place up.”
“You bought a cabin?”
“Yeah. I brought Destiny out here to start a completely new life.”
“Things weren’t working out for you before?”
Grady smiled. “You could say that. It’s a long story, but let’s just say there comes a time in your life when you realize that what you’re doing isn’t working.”
“And you need a completely fresh start?”
“Exactly,” he said.
“I get that.”
Grady looked at her. She was a little young to be thinking of a fresh start to life but looking in her eyes, he could tell she’d seen more of the world than a lot of girls her age. There was a depth to her that usually took many more years to develop. He knew from experience it came from hardship.
She looked into his eyes then, and for the first time used his first name.
“I’ll be really sad to see you leave the hotel, Grady.”
He looked back at her. Hearing her say his name had an unsettling effect on him. He felt like he’d just ridden a rollercoaster.
“Well, it’s still a small town. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
She nodded, but there was a real sadness in her.
“It’s just, you arrived at Raven’s Nest the same night I did. I’ve never been there alone. I’ve always had the comforting thought that if I really needed you, you were there. Even though we didn’t really know each other.”
Grady nodded. He had to admit, the thought that he’d be seeing less of Autumn had been one of his biggest concerns since buying the cabin, but he hadn’t stopped to think she might feel the same way. It made perfect sense. Raven’s Nest was the creepiest hotel he’d ever been in. Mr. and Mrs. Hildegard were like characters out of a Charles Dickens novel. No girl in the world would be happy to be left alone with the two of them, least of all a girl as sweet and innocent as Autumn. She just wasn’t equipped for the kind of treatment she was likely to get at their hands.
“If it makes you feel any better, I can come by and check in on you from time to time,” Grady said.
Autumn smiled, partially consoled by the thought.
“I’d like that,” she said.
They finished their shopping and Autumn waited with Destiny while Grady ran everything through the checkout. Her jaw dropped when the cashier announced the total. It was over six hundred dollars.
Grady swiped his credit card without a second thought and carried the bags out to the car.
“Now, how about we go to the diner for you to make that phone call.”
“Sounds good,” Autumn said.
“And this time you’ve got to allow me to thank you for all your help.”
She nodded. “Well, it looked like they have pretty good ice cream sundaes there.”
“It’s a date,” Grady said.
CHAPTER 14
AUTUMN
Autumn felt safe and secure as she sat next to Grady in his car. It was a strong, masculine vehicle, a vintage charger with luxurious leather upholstery and a redesigned dashboard that included all the modern technological advances.
“Nice ride,” she said.
“Thanks. I built it myself when I lived in Florida.”
“Does it go fast?”
Grady laughed.
She liked the way he drove, with confidence, self-assured. He threw the car into gear like he was getting ready for a race. She imagined that he did everything in his life like that. Like he meant it. Like the whole world was riding on his next move.
She hated the thought of him checking out of the hotel, of leaving her behind, but there was nothing she could do about that so there was no point dwelling on it. Life had taught her that lesson a long time ago.
She would make the most of what she had, and what she had was the next hour alone with Grady and his baby, no Mrs. Hildegard, no Mr. Hildegard, to get in the way.
They pulled up outside the diner and instinctively, Autumn took the baby before Grady could.
“Oh, thanks,” he said.
“I love holding her,” Autumn said.
They grabbed a booth and looked over the menus. When the waitress arrived, Grady ordered the two biggest sundaes they had and coffee to wash it down.
Autumn went over to the payphone to call home. She felt nervous as she dialed the familiar number. The week since leaving home had been the longest time she’d ever gone without speaking to her mother.
“Hello?” her mother’s voice said.
“Mom, it’s me.”
“Oh sweetheart. It’s so good to hear your voice.”
“You too, Mom.”
“How’s Montana? How’s the food? Are they feeding you well?”
“The food’s great, Mom.”
“And the weather? Your Aunt Shirley said it’s cold up there in the mountains.”
“It’s not that cold, Mom. You’d love it here though. It’s so beautiful.”
“And the hotel?”
“The hotel is perfect,” she lied. “My room is the cutest place ever. I’ve got my own fireplace, my own reading nook, my own bathtub.”
“Oh, that sounds adorable.”
“It is, Mom.”
“And what about the men out there?”
“Mom!”
“I’m just asking, sweetie. An old lady can dream, can’t she?”
“I’m not here to go to parties.”
“But you’ve got to set aside a little time for yourself, sweetie. You know I appreciate everything you’re doing for me, but I worry sometimes that you’re doing too much.”
“I’m not doing too much, Mom.”
“Just promise me you’ll take the opportunity to get some things going for yourself too sweetie. I don’t want you worrying about me the whole time. Make friends. Kiss a boy. Live your life.”
“I’ll try, Mom,” Autumn said.
“And get yourself some new clothes. I’m sure the girls up there are more fashionable than the farmers’ daughters around here.”
Autumn hadn’t told her mother that she was sending her entire paycheck home every week. Her mother would have died if she’d known how much was being sacrificed for her.
“How are the new meds?” Autumn said.
“They seem to be working better, sweetie. I need to refill the prescription soon. The damn things cost more than my mortgage payment.”
“They’re pretty crazy, I know,” Autumn said, “but that’s because they’re the best.”
“Well, we’ll see.”
“My boss said she’d be mailing you some money today. It’s not a lot but it should cover the prescription refill. I guess you’ll have it tomorrow or the next day.”
“Oh, you’re too good to me, sweetheart.”
“You gave me life, Mom! I’d do a whole lot more than buy you medicine, you know that.”
“I do, honey, and that’s just the problem. You do far too much. You really have to promise me you won’t spend your whole time out there worrying about me.”
“I won’t, Mom.”
“I want you to meet a nice young man and bring him home to meet me.”
Autumn laughed. Her mother’s priorities were totally out of whack with reality. She was always thinking about boys and dates and new clothes, even while their world collapsed around them. It was good in a way, Autumn supposed. She often wished she could have her mother’s carefree attitude. Her mother had the most difficult life of anyone Autumn had ever met, and still found time to laugh and have fun every day.
“Well, just keep an eye out for that check. I’m not sure how long it will take to arrive.”
“Thank you so much, sweetie. You’re the best daughter a mother could ever hope for.”
Autumn felt emotional as she hung up. Despite all the talk of new medications and new treatments, deep down she was terrified her mother wouldn’t be around for very much longer.
She went back to the booth and took the baby from Grady.
“Let me hold her.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. If you two are moving out soon, I have to make the most of the time I have left with this little angel.”
Grady smiled. He was so handsome when he smiled. Autumn still couldn’t believe she’d actually watched this man orgasm, and felt a little guilty, but the truth was, there was more of her mother in her than she liked to admit. And as responsible and careful as she was about things, she also knew that life was short and that she had to take every opportunity she could, while she could.
“This is delicious,” she said as she dug into the sundae.
It was enormous, a tall, glass bowl full to the brim of every flavor of ice cream the diner had, interspersed with big dollops of whipped cream and topped with a bright red cherry.
The baby tried to reach for the ice cream and Autumn scooped some whipped cream onto her finger.
“Here, baby. Try this.”
The baby sucked the cream and a huge, bright smile crossed her face. Autumn looked up at Grady and he laughed.
“She likes that,” he said.
“Of course she does. What lady doesn’t like a little whipped cream?”
Grady was looking so intently into Autumn’s eyes she had to look away.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“For giving her a little feminine care.”
“Oh, you’re doing a great job with her, Grady. It’s amazing you’re doing so well. I mean, she literally just fell into your lap.”
“I’m doing my best but there’s something different about the way you are with her. I can see it.”
“Well, I’ll admit us girls do have a way with the little ones. If you ever need help with her, you know where to find me. I’d love to watch her for you from time to time.”
“From time to time. How about every day?”
Autumn laughed.
“You hear that, Destiny?” she cooed, “Daddy’s trying to find you a mommy.”
As soon as she said the words, she regretted it. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the idea, but it was far too soon to be making jokes like that in front of Grady. She looked up at him and saw something she never imagined she’d see in a million years.
Grady was blushing!
Hah, she thought. It was his turn to be embarrassed.
She played with the baby in order not to rub it in, but secretly she was thrilled something she’d said had embarrassed Grady. If she could embarrass him, it meant he cared about what she said, and more importantly, what she thought of him.
They finished their ice cream and even on the drive home, with the baby cooing and playing happily on Autumn’s lap, Grady remained shy and sheepish.
There was something so natural about the three of them being together, something that just felt right, and when they arrived back at the hotel, Autumn felt a pang of sadness that their time alone together was coming to an end. She felt so comfortable and free when she was with Grady. She felt she could be herself and he liked her for who she was. At the hotel she had to deal with Mrs. Hildegard.
Mrs. Hildegard didn’t like her for who she was at all, and would take every opportunity she could to make sure Autumn knew it.
She took a deep breath as she entered the hotel.
She knew things would be very different without Grady around. She had to be strong. She had to find a way to stand up to Mr. and Mrs. Hildegard. She couldn’t let them bully her.
She said bye to Grady as she handed him Destiny. She thanked him for the ice cream and he thanked her for helping him buy baby supplies.
When she got to her room she was overcome with emotion. She’d been able to keep it together downstairs, but now that she was alone in her room, she realized that she’d come to rely on Grady and his presence in the hotel far more than she’d been willing to admit earlier.
She had more than just a crush on him, and the fact that he was moving out was devastating. She’d miss him terribly, even though she’d hardly spent more than a few hours with him. She realized she’d grown accustomed to him, to knowing he was close by. She’d gone about her chores at the hotel with the thought in the back of her mind that maybe he’d notice what she’d done. Maybe he’d come across her and appreciate her hard work, admire her skill, maybe even admire her. She looked forward to the chores she had to do for him and constantly told herself, maybe her next chore would be to cook for him, or take care of Destiny for him.
Without even getting to spend time with him, she’d been developing feelings for him. Strong feelings.
And now he was leaving.
She lay down on her bed and to her surprise, started to cry. She let the tears flow, and when they came to an end, she had a long, hot bath.
She didn’t sneak into Betsy’s room that night. She realized she’d been holding out hope that something would develop between her and Grady. Something real. She’d been flirting with the idea of the two of them getting together. That was why she’d watched him, not because she was horny like Mrs. Hildegard, but because it felt like the beginning of a real relationship. Now she knew it wasn’t, and that knowledge made watching him too painful.
CHAPTER 15
GRADY
Grady felt sad as he packed his bag and gathered his things to leave the hotel. He couldn’t say he’d liked staying there, but knowing he was leaving Autumn alone with the Hildegards didn’t sit right with him. He knew it wasn’t his business though, and he’d learned the hard way that he couldn’t just barge around doing whatever he thought needed to be done to save a woman.
He’d tried that before. He’d tried it with Destiny’s mother. He’d taken her in. He’d helped her get clean and overcome her drug addiction. He looked after her throughout her pregnancy, even though the last thing he’d ever wanted was a child with her.
He swore to stand by her and he did everything in his power to save her from herself.
But it wasn’t enough. He woke up one morning to find out she’d been chatting with her drug dealer the entire time. She’d totally played him. She’d thought him weak and spineless for trying to help her.
It still pained him to remember the words she said.
He knew the situation wasn’t at all similar with Autumn, but the fact remained, she had her life to lead and she didn’t need his help living it. She was on a path of her own and the last thing she needed was some busybody stepping in and messing things up for her.
Maybe if he’d learned that lesson sooner, Ravenna would still be alive. Sure, she’d have been a drug addict, but who was he to decide what was right for her?
His only consolation, the only thing that reminded him that everything he’d tried to do for Ravenna hadn’t been in vain, was the fact that Destiny had been born healthy. Deep down, he knew that by interfering in Ravenna’s life, he’d saved the life of his daughter. He’d thought he failed, he’d thought Destiny had died in the car crash, but by some miracle she was alive.
He held her close to his chest as he settled his bill and checked out of the hotel.
“It was a real pleasure having you here, Mr. Cole.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Hildegard, you were very hospitable.”
“I’d like to be a whole lot more hospitable to you,” she said with a sly wink.
Grady gave her a smile.
“You know what, Mrs. Hildegard? I know you’re saying that like it’s a joke, but don’t ever sell yourself short. You’re a beautiful woman and if I was closer to your age, and if you didn’t also happen to be married, I’d be more than happy to show you a thing or two.”
Mrs. Hildegard’s jaw dropped and Grady smiled to himself as he turned and left. At first he’d been alarmed by Mrs. Hildegard’s behavior, and he still wasn’t happy about the way she seemed to want to boss Autumn around, but he knew in his heart that her only real crime was that she was lonely. What little he’d seen of Mr. Hildegard didn’t suggest he was a good husband to her. He mostly ignored her, and as far as Grady was concerned, if a man was going to take a woman and make her his wife, the very least he owed her was the attention she deserved. Mr. Hildegard didn’t give his wife that attention and she suffered for it.
He didn’t blame her for coming on to him. He just thought it was sad that she had to do it that way. She deserved for a man to come on to her, for a man to woo her and sweep her off her feet. That wasn’t likely to happen as long as she was in her current marriage, but maybe one day she’d figure things out, either with her husband or with someone else.
“Mr. Cole, you forgot your card,” she said, hurrying out the door behind him with his credit card.
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, and let his fingers graze her hand softly as he took it from her.
She smiled and blushed, and he could see a prettiness in her face he hadn’t taken the time to notice before.
“Please make sure you come back and visit us from time to time. Our door is always open.”
He smiled and made his way to the car. He was sure he would return, if only to check in on Autumn and make sure they were treating her right.
He paused when he reached his car and glanced up at the mansion, searching the windows on the third floor, trying to figure out which window was Autumn’s.
And then he saw a lace curtain move.
That was it. That was her.
She was watching him leave.
The thought warmed him. He was sad he hadn’t had a proper chance to say good bye to her, but he didn’t want her to think he was trying to take advantage. And he also sensed that if he showed her too much attention, Mrs. Hildegard would get jealous and take it out on her. He couldn’t put her in that position, especially when he didn’t even know if she had any feelings for him.
No. It was best to leave quietly and let the pretty girl in the black dress have some peace.
He’d created enough hardship for people before. His new motto was to find somewhere quiet, keep to himself, and do no harm to anyone.
And that’s the thought he kept in his mind as he drove up to the cabin. He tried not to think of Autumn and the way she’d made him feel. He tried not to think about the fact that she was the first girl in over a year that had made his heart feel anything other than pain and disappointment. He tried not to think about the fact he’d been quietly falling in love with her presence, with her gentle personality and her modest demeanor.
The best way to keep his mind from Autumn was to keep busy, and that’s what he did. He bought tools and supplies from the hardware store on the way out of town and when he reached the cabin he got straight to work, fixing the roof, repairing the siding, oiling the door hinges, making sure the windows opened and sealed correctly. By the time evening arrived, he’d given the cabin a thorough seeing to and made sure it was a safe, comfortable and cozy home for himself and his baby daughter.
“What do you think, Destiny?” he said, playing with her on his lap. “You think we’re going to be okay here?”
Destiny reached out and grabbed his lip, laughing when he made a funny noise.
“I know, it’s going to be quiet, but I promise I’ll find you a nice school, you’ll have lots of friends, and this will be a good place for you to grow up and learn about the world. When you’re older we might have to rejoin civilization, but that’s not for a very long time.”
He leaned close to her face and she looked up into his eyes. He’d never seen anything so perfect as her bright, sparkling eyes.
How had something so pure and clean and new come from someone as messed up as Ravenna?
That was a miracle that God alone had the secret to. The secret of recreating innocence and purity every generation.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
It was a simple prayer but it summed up his feelings.
He’d cleaned up the bathroom and made sure the plumbing worked, but there was an empty spot in the corner where a bathtub should have been and the cabin had no hot water, so he decided to bathe in the gushing stream that ran by the side of the house.
He propped the baby up by the side of the stream and lowered himself into the icy water.
“Geez, that’s cold,” he said to Destiny.
Destiny watched in wrapt attention as he washed. When he got out he was naked but he doubted Destiny would object. He brought her into the cabin and left her lying on the bed alone for a few minutes as he cut a small pile of logs and stacked them up in the living room by the fireplace. It felt good to work naked, and the exercise soon warmed him.
A little while later he had a nice fire going, a bottle of milk heating in a pot of water, and a steak from the supermarket grilling in the open flame.
“This ain’t so bad, is it baby? You and me taking care of each other? We’ll be okay up here, won’t we?”
Destiny fell asleep after her bottle and he ate his steak in silence, watching the flames of the fire. He put her into his bed and climbed in next to her, mentally noting that he needed to make her a crib of some sort the next day.
CHAPTER 16
AUTUMN
The next few days were the most difficult for Autumn since leaving home. Every morning she woke with the knowledge that she was alone with the Hildegards. Every night she went to sleep knowing she was practically a prisoner in their strange castle. She went about her chores as diligently as possible, she kept to herself and tried to avoid the Hildegards when she could, she ate alone quietly in the kitchen, and she read.
Reading was what kept her sane. She made her way through one book after the next on Mrs. Hildegard’s bookshelf and to her surprise, Mrs. Hildegard didn’t give her a hard time about it. For some reason she’d been nicer to her in the days since Grady had checked out.
It was as if he’d left a warm feeling in her heart.
There were no guests, something which wasn’t unusual for that time of year, and that meant Autumn had a lot of free time. She’d sit in her nook, her little fire crackling in the corner, and drink tea while she read. In the afternoons she walked into town hoping to see Grady but so far she hadn’t come across him. She’d have treated herself to a coffee or sundae at the diner but she didn’t have money, not a penny, and refused to ask the Hildegard’s for any.
They were sending her mother what was needed for the medical bills and that was more than enough in her eyes. After all, that was the agreement they’d made. She wasn’t going to start asking them for a little extra just because she needed a diversion.
Besides, there was plenty of good food and snacks in the staff kitchen at the hotel.
She often thought of Grady and wondered how he was getting on in his new cabin with Destiny. She wanted to walk up to the cabin, it was only a mile or so further up the road and it would have been a simple enough walk, but she was too shy.
What would she say when she got there?
How would she explain the visit?
Would he think she was silly?
She could always say she was visiting Destiny, but her shyness still kept her from doing it. Besides, she told herself she was saving it. Just knowing his cabin was there, up the road, and that she could visit him eventually if she ever got too desperate, was enough to keep her going.
A few times, she even decided she was going to visit him but when she got to the end of the driveway, she always turned downhill toward the town instead of up toward the cabin.
She was sitting in her window nook pouring through yet another historical romance novel and sipping hot tea when a knock on her door brought her back to reality.
“Autumn?”
“Yes, Mistress?”
“A package arrived.”
Autumn leapt up and opened the door.
“A package? For me?”
Mrs. Hildegard handed her a brown cardboard box and stood there waiting, nosy to see who it was from. Autumn read the return address but it only had the details of the department store the package had been ordered from. An expensive department store.
Autumn was confused. No one in her family shopped in a place like that and they never would have been able to spare the money to send her a gift. If her mother sent anything, it would have been hand-knitted or homemade, and she doubted even that was possible at the moment with the way her health was going.
“Thank you,” she said to Mrs. Hildegard.
“Aren’t you going to open it?”
Autumn hesitated. She wanted to take it over to her bed and savor it, opening it in private.
“Go on,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
There was an insistence in her voice and Autumn knew she had no choice.
“Yes, Mistress,” she said and pulled the tape that sealed the box.
Inside, once she got through the packaging, was a pair of the most beautiful winter boots she’d ever seen. They were black, went a little higher than the ankle and had a small heel. They were of very fine Italian leather and lined with white fur. Autumn couldn’t believe it.
“Did you buy me these?” she said to Mrs. Hildegard.
Mrs. Hildegard was watching with great interest.
“Of course not, idiot. I’ve got better things to be spending my money on.”
Beneath the boots were numerous pairs of rich, wool socks, the most luxurious Autumn had ever felt. There must have been silk in the wool to make them so smooth.
“Those are very fine,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
Autumn rubbed the soft wool. “I’ll be very warm this winter.”
“What’s that?” Mrs. Hildegard said, pointing at the next item in the box.
Autumn pulled it out and her jaw dropped as she held it up. It was a fine coat, long and black, with soft lining and a stylish cut that flowed from the fur collar down to the hem at her knees.
“Your family obviously isn’t as destitute as you made out,” Mrs. Hildegard said, admiring the coat. “I’d say this coat is worth over a thousand dollars.”
Autumn believed it. She’d looked at coats like that in department stores before, although just for fun. She’d never in her wildest dreams imagined she’d ever be able to afford one.
Next in the little box of goodies was a leather purse that went perfectly with the coat, some cashmere sweaters in various neutral tones, white and grey and tan. There were even a couple of dresses, just like the plain one she wore every day, but made by an expensive French designer and of vastly superior quality to what she was used to.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
“There’s a note,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
Autumn was about to grab it but Mrs. Hildegard was too fast. She snatched it up and held it away when Autumn tried to grab it from her.
“Please,” Autumn said.
“I just want to see,” Mrs. Hildegard said, and tore open the envelope.
It was a slightly impersonal note, typed neatly on a card that bore the logo of the department store.
“Courtesy of Mr. Grady Cole. No more cold feet,” Mrs. Hildegard read, and as she read it, Autumn’s flash of joy was tempered by the look of complete anguish on Mrs. Hildegard’s face.
“I thought,” Mrs. Hildegard stammered, “I thought …”.
“You thought what?” Autumn said, confused.
“I thought … I thought he wasn’t that interested in you.”
Autumn suddenly realized, to her surprise, that Mrs. Hildegard was jealous. She looked down at the ground and said nothing, trying to dispel the tension in the air.
Mrs. Hildegard stood there, ruminating. She was genuinely hurt. Autumn thought of apologizing for receiving the gift but realized that would only make the matter worse. It was best to pretend she hadn’t noticed.
“Make sure you clean all the toilets today,” Mrs. Hildegard said.
“Yes, Mistress.”
“And then come to our private quarters. I’m sure Mr. Hildegard will have some chores for you.”
Autumn looked up at her. She had no doubt that was a punishment for being the one Grady had sent the gift to, but she didn’t show it.
“Yes, Mistress.”
Mrs. Hildegard left and Autumn shut her door. She took another minute to admire her gifts. She’d never received anything so nice and couldn’t believe that Grady had been thinking of her enough to order everything. He’d taken his time and really thought about what he was sending her. It was as if he’d wanted to make her feel cared for and looked after. She’d be very comfortable in the snow.
Despite having to spend the next four hours cleaning all the bathrooms in the entire hotel, she had a smile on her face that wouldn’t wear off. It was only when she was finished and had to report the Mr. Hildegard that she began to feel a sense of foreboding. She’d done her best to steer clear of the old man, ever since his attempt to feel her up in the car. Now she was knocking on the door to his private quarters, her heart pounding in her chest, while she waited for a response.
“Come in,” he said.
Autumn opened the door and saw him sitting in an armchair, smoking a pipe.
“Mistress said you might have some chores for me,” she said, standing in the doorway.
“Come in, child, come in,” he said. “I don’t bite.”
Slowly, she stepped into the room.
“Shut the door and come in, girl.”
She obeyed and walked over to him. He stood up and looked her over, taking his time to admire all the details of her appearance.
“What would you like me to do?” she said.
“Well, your Mistress told me that you’ve been falling short on some of your duties.”
“Oh?” Autumn said, certain that the only reason she was there was Mrs. Hildegard’s jealousy.
“Yes, and let me remind you, we take the performance of our employees very seriously here at the Raven’s Nest.”
“Yes, Master.”
“As I’m sure you do too,” he said.
“Yes, Master.”
“I know how much your dear mother depends on your paycheck every week.”
Autumn nodded.
“So how do you suppose I’m to deal with your failings?”
Autumn looked him in the eye.
“I’ll do a better job,” she said.
“A better job? Yes you will. But I was thinking of a little corporal punishment too.”
“Corporal punishment?” she said, not liking the direction the conversation was taking.
“Yes, a spanking I think.”
“A spanking?”
“Didn’t your daddy ever spank you as a child?”
“My father died when I was a baby.”
“Well that explains it,” Mr. Hildegard said. “You’ve been completely undisciplined. I find that the only thing to keep a girl in line when she’s acting up is a spanking.”
“I bet you do,” Autumn said.
“Excuse me? Was that insolence I heard?”
Autumn said nothing.
“Unless you’ve decided your mother no longer needs her treatment, I’d advise you to watch your mouth, young lady.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Now,” he said, a look of gleeful anticipation on his face. “Please remove your panties and bend over the side of this chair.”
Autumn looked at him and then looked at the leather arm chair he wanted her to bend over. The dirty man wanted to put his hand on her bare butt and she knew it had nothing to do with punishment. She looked at his crotch and saw the bulge of his erection clearly in his pants.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said.
He drew himself up taller, trying to project an air of authority.
“I assure you I am not kidding.”
“If you think I’m going to take off my panties and let you put your hands on me, you’re wrong,” she said.
“Wrong? I’m your Master, how can I be wrong?”
“Oh, you can be wrong, Mr. Hildegard. And what’s more, you can be sorry.”
“Is that a threat?”
“If you think I’m going to let you do what you’re thinking, then you’re damn right it’s a threat.”
“I could have you fired for such insolence,” he spat. “What would your mother do then?”
“She’d be proud of me, Mr. Hildegard. She didn’t send me here to be your plaything, she sent me here to do fair work for a fair pay. That’s the arrangement we had and if you no longer want me to work for you under those terms, you can give me what you owe me and I’ll be on my way.”
Mr. Hildegard was flabbergasted.
“Your mother’s treatments,” he stammered.
“My mother would die a thousand times before seeing any daughter of hers mistreated by the likes of you.”
Autumn didn’t know what had come over her. She’d never stood up to anyone in a position of authority over her like this before and the act both thrilled and terrified her. She knew what she’d said was the truth. Her mother really would be proud of her for standing up for herself and not letting him fondle her, but she was also terrified she’d lose her job and then lose the one thing that was keeping her mother in hospital.
She left Mr. Hildegard’s quarters and went straight to her room, half expecting at any moment to be turfed out onto the street. She sat on her bed, wondering when Mrs. Hildegard would show up and give her her marching orders but she never came. Autumn didn’t know if it was because Mr. Hildegard hadn’t told her about the incident or if he’d told her and she’d decided not to take any action, but as she got ready for bed that night, she was grateful she hadn’t lost her job.
She was woken in the middle of the night by the little bell that had been installed. She threw on a housecoat and slippers and hurried to the front desk.
“There you are,” Mrs. Hildegard said, as if she’d been waiting an eternity.
Autumn looked up to see a customer checking in.
“This is Mr. Jones,” Mrs. Hildegard said. “He’ll be staying a few nights. I’ve put him in room seven.”
Mrs. Hildegard gave her a conspiratorial wink.
“Room seven, yes, Mistress.”
“The name’s Jackson,” Mr. Jones said to Autumn.
Autumn gave him a polite curtsy and led him to his room. She could see exactly why Mrs. Hildegard wanted him in room seven. This Jackson Jones was as good looking as Grady. In fact, the two men could have been brothers. Jackson had rippling muscles that were visible beneath his white shirt, and tattoos that covered his arms and peeked out at his neck.
“Nice place you got here,” he said.
“Thank you,” Autumn said, not sure whether she agreed or not. “This is your room, Mr. Jones. There’s a fireplace and wood which you’ll probably need to keep warm tonight. If you need anything else just call the front desk.”
“Thank you,” Jackson said.
Autumn left and went back down to the front desk to see if Mrs. Hildegard wanted anything else from her.
“He’s a bit of a looker, isn’t he?” Mrs. Hildegard said.
Autumn nodded.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into the place lately. First Mr. Cole, now this hunk. I feel like I’m on the set of Baywatch.”
Autumn laughed. She’d never watched the show but knew what it was.
“Right,” she said, and went back up to her room.
A few minutes later she heard Mrs. Hildegard creeping into the room next door.
CHAPTER 17
GRADY
Grady woke early as he had every morning since moving up to the cabin. He did his chores, cut wood, worked on a few things around the cabin that needed work, and then went inside to boil water for coffee and to make breakfast.
He kept the baby with him throughout the day while he worked, and he liked to think she was getting a healthy taste of the outdoors. She certainly seemed to be doing well. She was growing by the day, looking happy and healthy and strong. She was always smiling or laughing at him. When she was outside, she looked around with curious eyes that were full of wonder and amazement at the world she was gradually becoming more aware of.
Grady was tentatively beginning to feel that his child might not be in bad hands after all. By no means did he think she didn’t need a mother in her life, but he was at least coming to terms with the fact that she probably wasn’t in any urgent danger by being in his sole care.
He played with her on his lap and fed her a bottle of formula while his bacon sizzled on a cast iron pan over the fire and his coffee brewed in a little metal pot next to it. He loved the rustic lifestyle the cabin afforded. He felt like a cowboy cooking bacon and brewing coffee over an open flame.
Destiny grabbed his finger and he looked into her eyes.
“What do you say we go get you some ice cream today, little monkey?”
He still remembered fondly the morning he’d spent in town with Autumn. For such a small thing, Autumn sure did devour her sundae. Ever since, he’d had a fondness for ice cream he’d never had before. He knew Destiny was partial to a little whipped cream too.
He packed Destiny into the car and made his way first to the hardware store, where he’d placed an order for a big, brass bathtub. He was glad to see it had arrived and he paid them for it. They said they’d drop it off at the cabin and he told them to go right inside and leave it in the bathroom if he wasn’t home. He couldn’t lift it alone.
From the hardware store they went to the grocery store and he stocked up on a few essentials they were running low on.
Then they went to the diner and he took a booth as far from the door as possible. He didn’t want Destiny catching a chill.
“What can I get you?” the waitress asked.
Grady recognized her.
“Could I get the same ice cream sundae I had last time I was here?”
“You certainly can,” the waitress said, “and will your other daughter be joining you?”
Grady looked up at her and laughed. “Oh, that girl wasn’t my daughter,” he said.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” the waitress said, tripping over her words. “Girlfriend, I mean.”
“She’s just a friend,” Grady said, “and unfortunately she won’t be joining us.”
The waitress left as quickly as she could and Grady chuckled to himself while he waited for the ice cream.
Daughter!
She was only eleven years younger than he was. Maybe he wasn’t as dapper as he liked to give himself credit for.
“Did you hear that?” he whispered to Destiny. “Even the waitress thinks I’m losing my edge.”
Grady wasn’t really bothered though. He was more amused. He knew Autumn’s innocence gave her the air of someone even younger than she was, and him having the baby made him seem a little older and more settled than he was used to. It was all just part of life and he wasn’t one of those people obsessed with appearing young. He’d seen so much in his life that the thought of growing into maturity with grace appealed to him. He had no desire to relive his turbulent youth.
He ate the ice cream but it didn’t taste nearly as good as it had when he’d been with Autumn. Even Destiny didn’t seem as interested in the cream.
“It just ain’t the same without her, is it?” he said to the baby.
He couldn’t be certain, but he felt the baby agreed.
They sat there a little while enjoying the bustle of the diner. It could get a little quiet being up in the cabin all the time. Grady watched the customers, watched the waitresses, and was sipping his coffee when a man walked up to his table.
“What the hell are you doing here, you old bastard?” the man said.
Grady was caught unaware. He’d been looking down at Destiny as the man approached. He looked up now and the expression on his face flashed rapidly from confusion, to recognition, to joy.
“Jackson! You son of a gun. What the hell?”
“Thought I’d drop by and check in on my little brother,” Jackson said.
Grady got up and threw his free arm around Jackson, giving him a hearty hug. Then he handed Jackson the baby.
“Say hello to your niece.”
Jackson took the baby in his hands, threw her up and caught her. Immediately she started laughing. Being a father himself, Jackson knew exactly what babies liked.
“She’s beautiful, Grady. Well done.”
“I don’t know how much credit I deserve,” Grady said, sitting back down.
Jackson took the seat across from him and flagged down the waitress.
“Two fresh cups of coffee,” he said.
Grady smiled as he remembered Jackson’s habit of ordering for him.
“Here,” he said, sliding his unfinished sundae across the table to Jackson. “Finish this.”
“I didn’t know you had a sweet tooth,” Jackson said.
“I don’t,” Grady said. “I just had a hankering for something.”
Jackson ate the ice cream and the waitress brought them a fresh pot of coffee.
She looked at them, the two sexiest men ever to set foot in the diner of Destiny, Montana, and lingered for longer than was necessary.
“Either of you two gentlemen need anything, anything at all, you let me know.”
Grady looked at Jackson and grinned.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Anything at all,” the waitress repeated before leaving.
“Friendly place,” Jackson said.
Grady nodded.
What followed was a long, warm conversation between the two men that did more good for Grady than he cared to admit. He liked to think of himself as strong and independent, but it was a huge comfort to know he still had the support of his brothers.
Jackson told him that they all understood his decision to come out to the mountains and make a new beginning. He’d been dealt a tough hand in the past, especially with Destiny’s mother, and he had to do what he felt was right for himself and the kid.
“I only wish I’d done more when Ravenna was still alive,” Grady said.
Jackson shook his head.
“You did as much as any man could, Grady. You stood by her through the pregnancy, even though you weren’t in love with her. You helped her to stay clean for the entire nine months and that’s the only reason your baby is healthy. It was her decision to go back to her old ways in the end, and there’s nothing you could have done about that.”
Grady nodded. He knew that was all true, but it didn’t remove the guilt he felt.
“So, where are you staying while you’re up here?” Grady said as he finished his third cup of coffee.
“The Raven’s Nest,” Jackson said.
Grady nodded. “How long are you staying?”
He was thinking Jackson being there might be enough of an excuse for him to go back and see Autumn again. He couldn’t shake the feelings he’d developed for her and he desperately wanted to see her, but without making a big deal about it.
He was curious to see if his package of clothing had arrived. He felt foolish for ordering it, and knew he shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t help himself. If she didn’t want them, she didn’t have to wear them, but one way or another he had to buy them for her.
“I’ll probably head back tonight, brother. I didn’t come up here to interfere with your plans or anything. I don’t want to get in the way. I just wanted to make sure you knew you still had all of us, all the brothers, and Faith, Lacey and the rest of them. You’re our family, Grady. And family’s forever.”
Grady’s eyes teared up as he said goodbye to Jackson. They weren’t brothers by birth, but they were true brothers in every true sense of the word, and he knew they always would be.
CHAPTER 18
AUTUMN
As the days passed one by one, Autumn’s life gradually grew more and more lonely. She’d never realized how isolated she would be at a hotel like Raven’s Nest. Most days, the only people she saw were the Hildegards, and for obvious reasons, she kept her interactions with them both to a bare minimum. She was thankful Mr. Hildegard hadn’t tried anything with her since she’d told him he couldn’t spank her, but she was still wary of him and got shivers down her spine every time she was in a room with him.
She didn’t have the key to the lock on her bedroom door, and thankfully Mr. Hildegard had never tried to enter while she was sleeping, but even still, she took to sliding a small dresser in front of her door at night, just so she’d have some warning if he ever decided to pay her a visit. It wasn’t a feeling she enjoyed, locking herself away like that.
She never felt completely safe in the hotel.
Whenever a man checked in, or even once when a couple had stayed for a night, Mrs. Hildegard put them in room seven and spent the night spying on them. Autumn hadn’t ventured into the room since Grady had checked out, and was grateful Mrs. Hildegard hadn’t tried to make her join her either.
The thought disgusted her, and she often felt guilty about the night she’d crept into Betsy’s room to spy on Grady. She reminded herself it had only been him she’d spied on, and only because she’d had genuine feelings for him, but she still wished she’d had the strength not to take that peek, however pleasurable it had been.
Whenever she thought of what she’d witnessed, Grady pleasuring himself, his cum pouring from his cock and landing on his chiseled, tattooed chest, she got wet with lust.
Because it was the low season, there were very few guests at the hotel, and despite Mrs. Hildegard’s best attempts to keep Autumn at work, there were many times when she had nothing to do. There were only so many times she could clean the bathrooms and polish the silverware, and with everything so spick and span, she often found herself with time to hide away in her bedroom with yet another of Mrs. Hildegard’s romance novels.
The last guest in the hotel had been Mr. Jones, and he’d only spent a single night. Autumn had watched him leave with a strange sense of foreboding. In his brief stay, he’d somehow managed to give her the same sense of comfort Grady had given her while he was there. Every time a man like that left, she felt doubly alone.
With all the free time, she’d have thought the Hildegards would allow her to go into town more often, but every time she tried to leave, one or the other of them would stop her. It was at those times they seemed most determined to find an urgent chore for her to do, and Autumn suspected they thought she’d run away if they let her into town regularly.
Autumn could have lived with that except for the fact she couldn’t make phone calls from the hotel, the Hildegards wouldn’t let her, and she missed her mother’s voice. A few times, she tried to use the phone at the reception but it required a code to make outgoing calls. She also tried using the phones in the guest rooms but they went through the reception and required Mrs. Hildegard to enter the same code.
A trip to the diner was required to call home from the pay phone.
She waited until Sunday to make her move. There were no guests and there couldn’t possibly be a chore the Hildegards could think of that she hadn’t already done. So she crept quietly out of her room and checked to make sure Mrs. Hildegard wasn’t sitting at the front desk. She wasn’t. She and Mr. Hildegard were in their private quarters and a quick listen at their door told her they were watching game shows and wouldn’t notice if she snuck out.
She went back to her room and put on the luxurious socks, boots, and coat Grady had so kindly sent her, and then let herself quietly out the front door. She walked briskly down the long driveway, very aware that a glance out the window by the Hildegards would give her away.
When she reached the end of the driveway without incident she breathed a sigh of relief. A half hour later and she was at the diner.
“Hi,” she said shyly to the waitress.
The waitress was older than her and seemed friendly. She’d served Autumn a few times before but they’d never spoken beyond that.
“How are you?” the waitress said.
“Actually,” Autumn said awkwardly, “I’m here to ask you for a little help.”
“Help?” the waitress said, a look of concern on her face.
“It’s not an emergency or anything,” Autumn said, “but I need to call home.”
“You’re the new girl at the Raven’s Nest, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Autumn said.
“They run a pretty tight ship up there.”
“Yes, they do.”
“And you want change for the phone?”
“Is that okay?” Autumn said uncertainly.
“Honey, think nothing of it,” the waitress said, fishing four quarters from the tip jar by the cash register. “I know how those two treat their staff. It’s shameful that you need to ask for a few quarters.”
“I’m sorry,” Autumn said.
“I can’t believe they don’t give you any money for such a little thing.”
Autumn nodded, and the gratitude in her face was more than enough to show the waitress how much she appreciated the kindness. She went straight to the phone, put the quarters in the slot, and dialed her mother’s number.
It rang and rang but there was no answer.
Getting a little worried, she tried her aunt’s number. This time it picked up.
“Aunt Shirley? It’s me. It’s Autumn.”
“You’ve got some nerve calling here,” her aunt said.
Autumn was shocked. Her relationship with her aunt was sometimes difficult, but she’d never heard her speak in that tone before.
“Aunt Shirley, what’s the matter?” she stammered.
“As if you don’t know.”
“I don’t,” Autumn said desperately.
“The money. You never sent a penny. You forgot about us the second you got out of town, like I knew you would.”
“I’d never forget about you,” Autumn said. “Aunt Shirley, you’ve got to believe that.”
“Then where’s the money you were supposed to send.”
“They told me they were putting the check in the mail every week.”
“Who told you?”
“My employers. The Hildegards. Didn’t you receive it?”
“We haven’t received one red cent since you left us,” Aunt Shirley said, her voice breaking as she realized Autumn had no idea what had been going on.
“They didn’t send my pay?”
“Didn’t they show you the checks?”
“No, they just said they mailed them.”
“They’ve been lying,” Aunt Shirley spat.
“How can they? How’s mother?”
“How do you think? She couldn’t afford to fill the prescriptions. They’re seeing her at the free clinic but it’s nowhere near as good as where she was before.”
“They kicked her out?”
“You know how that hospital is. As soon as you miss a payment, the only people you can talk to are in the billing department. She couldn’t see her doctor at all.”
“Where is she now?”
“She’s at the clinic, but they can’t give her the care she needs there, Autumn.”
“I don’t … I don’t know what to do,” Autumn said.
“You better go talk to your employers and find out what the hell they’re up to, because it looks to me like they’ve been ripping you off.”
Autumn thought she was going to collapse. She couldn’t believe it. All that time, the one thing that had kept her going was the thought that her work at the Raven’s Nest was helping look after her mother. Now it made sense why they didn’t want her coming into town, why they didn’t let her make calls from the hotel, why they’d been trying to keep her almost under lock and key up at the hotel. They were lying to her. They’d never sent a check. They’d never had any intention of doing so.
“I’m going to confront them right now, Aunt Shirley. I won’t quit until they send every penny they promised. Just wait.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. When her aunt’s voice came back she sounded softer, sympathetic.
“Honey.”
“Yes, Aunt Shirley.”
“You better make some plans to come home too.”
“Why?”
“It’s just … your mother … she hasn’t been doing well. There might not be too much more time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just make some plans to come home, sweetie. You should see your mother soon.”
Autumn didn’t need it spelled out for her. Her mother was dying. Her mother was dying and it was partially the Hildegards’ fault. They knew those payments were supposed to be for medical treatment. They knew what the stakes were. And now, her mother’s last weeks might have been spent thinking her only daughter had forgotten all about her.
She slammed down the phone and turned back to the waitress, her lip trembling, her hand shaking, but she refused to cry, at least while anyone was watching.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice cracking as she spoke. “I owe you.”
Then she ran out of the diner and began hurriedly trudging through the snow back to the hotel. As she half stumbled, half ran through the messy snow bank that lined the highway, she let the tears fall. She couldn’t hold them back.
So many feelings were rushing through her that she didn’t even know how to decipher them. The one thing she was clear on though, the one thing she knew for certain, was that she felt rage, pure rage, for Mr. and Mrs. Hildegard.
By the time she reached the hotel she was breathless. She pushed open the door without slowing down. She stormed through the hall, up the stairs, and straight to the Hildegards’ private quarters. She did nothing to prepare herself for the confrontation that was coming. She didn’t pause to catch her breath, she didn’t take a moment to rehearse what she was going to say, she burst through the door and threw the words at her employers like they were weapons.
“You lied to me,” she cried. “You never sent the money. You never sent any of it. My mother’s been kicked out of her hospital.”
Mrs. Hildegard was taken by surprise. She leaned back on her seat and threw her arms up as if to shield herself from Autumn’s words. Mr. Hildegard was quicker to respond. He leapt to his feet and marched straight toward Autumn.
Autumn didn’t care. She was beyond being able to care.
“You lied to me,” she screamed.
Mr. Hildegard grabbed her by the shoulders but Autumn shook him loose.
“She’s dying,” she cried. “She’s dying.”
By now, Mrs. Hildegard was up too and together with her husband, she clamped her arms around Autumn and restrained her.
Autumn struggled but the elderly couple was surprisingly strong.
“You said you were going to look after her,” she cried.
Mr. Hildegard, his arms wrapped tightly around Autumn, lifted her from the ground and yanked her further into the apartment.
“Let me go,” Autumn cried but she wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing to her.
She was too distraught. The world was spinning. Her head was spinning. They could have slapped her across the face and she wouldn’t have noticed.
Working together, Mr. and Mrs. Hildegard pulled her toward the strong, oak door that led to their bedroom.
“Let me go,” Autumn cried again, beginning to realize that she was being taken somewhere.
She struggled, determined to walk out of that hotel and never look back, but it was already too late. As she tried to fight them off, they pulled her toward the bedroom and flung her into it. She landed on the bed and leapt back up but they were too fast. The door slammed shut and an instant later, the clanking of a lock sealed her in.
“Let me out,” she cried, throwing herself at the door, but they didn’t answer.
She fell to the ground and began weeping uncontrollably.
How could she have been so stupid?
How could she let this happen to her?
How could she simply take their word for it that they were going to pay her mother’s medical bills?
She should have gotten the money and sent it to the hospital herself.
Mrs. Hildegard’s voice grated at her through the door.
“We’ll let you out when you’ve had a chance to calm down. There’s something you need to realize, you dumb bitch. You’re our girl now, not hers, and you’ll do as we command or you’ll live out your days locked upstairs like Betsy did.”
CHAPTER 19
AUTUMN
Autumn had only one thing on her mind as she plotted her escape, getting home to see her mother. The way Aunt Shirley had spoken, it sounded like there might not be much time at all.
She flung herself at the door a hundred times but there was no way it was going to budge. It was strong and solid and the lock was bolted securely. She threw herself against it until her side hurt but that was more to let out her own frustration than through any belief the door might actually break open.
When she was dong crying, she wiped her tears on her sleeves and began to think. She examined the window. The window would open normally, the problem was that it was a good thirty feet above the gravel driveway outside. It was obvious why the Hildegards weren’t scared of her escaping through it. A fall from that height would kill her.
Nevertheless, she opened the window and peered outside. When the cold air came in, she was grateful she was still wearing her warm coat and boots.
There was a drainpipe that ran down the wall of the hotel and from the window, she could reach it if she climbed out. She’d have to be careful, stretching out from the window sill to the drain, two feet away, and it didn’t look like it would afford her a very good grip. It was probably a sure way to kill herself, or at least cause serious injury, but she was desperate.
She would far rather die trying to climb out of that window than live, locked in that room like a prisoner, while the Hildegards figured out what they could do to make her their permanent prisoner.
She shuddered at that thought. There was something very weird going on with them and the longer she stayed at the hotel, the more she realized it. Mrs. Hildegard spied on every man that checked in like a sex crazed pervert. Mr. Hildegard had made it clear he had intentions of his own in that department, and it was only a matter of time before he made a move on Autumn. And what had Mrs. Hildegard meant when she said they’d lock her upstairs like they had done with Betsy? Had their daughter been some sort of prisoner? Did they think they could replace her by keeping Autumn there?
Autumn shook her head.
It wasn’t happening, not while she still had options open to her, even desperate options like climbing out of that treacherous window.
Apart from the drainpipe, her only other option was to somehow make it to the tall willow tree that grew outside the window. It was a few feet away, and she’d have to let go of the walls of the building completely, but the branch nearest the window looked like it could support her weight. If she leapt out and managed to grab hold of it, she’d be able to climb down the tree to freedom.
The drainpipe or the tree? Autumn looked at both options with an acute sense of unease. She’d never been overly comfortable with heights. As a child she had to quit the diving team when they started putting her on higher and higher boards. Looking down from those heights made her stomach turn.
She climbed up onto the window sill and out to the ledge. A strong gust of wind blew at her as if trying to knock her off the ledge and she clung to the window frame so tightly her fingers hurt. It was starting to get dark outside and the temperature was noticeably cooler than it had been earlier in the day. She shivered as she peered down at the gravel driveway.
Then, without thinking, without bothering to decide whether the tree or the drainpipe was a better bet, she leapt out into the icy air and reached for the willow branch like her life depended on it. She grabbed the branch and managed to hold on. She couldn’t believe it. But just as it stopped shaking, a loud crack told her it wasn’t going to hold. The next instant she was falling, crashing through leaves and branches, breaking everything beneath her, the twigs of wood scratching and scraping her skin like claws.
She hit the ground hard, but not as hard as if there’d been no branches breaking her fall. Her ankle bent painfully and she buckled, hitting the ground with a thud.
She was alive.
But she was hurt.
She tried to stand and pain seared through her ankle. She’d sprained it, maybe even broken it, but she didn’t have time to worry about that. It wouldn’t be long before the Hildegards realized what had happened. It didn’t seem like they’d heard her crashing down through the branches of the tree, but the cold wind from the window would tell them what she’d tried.
She didn’t have much time.
She hobbled down the driveway, half running, half limping, and with every step, pain rushed from her ankle all the way up her leg. It was excruciating, and she longed with each step to give up, but she refused. She didn’t slow down and she didn’t once look over her shoulder to see if the Hildegard’s were after her.
She kept going for what felt like an eternity, and when she reached the highway she began to sob.
Her ankle was already swelling and she didn’t know how much further she could go on it. The darkness was already setting in and the forest had always terrified her after sundown. The wind howled down from the mountains, driving snow against her, and she shivered despite her exertions.
But what really terrified her wasn’t the pain, it wasn’t the darkness of the forest or the coldness of the icy wind, it was the thought that as soon as Mr. Hildegard came down the driveway in his pickup, his headlights would light her up and he’d have her back in his truck. She’d never make it all the way to town before he realized what she’d done. And she had no way of getting back to her mother even if she did make it to town. There were two trains a week back to civilization, and no buses. The traffic on the single highway out of the mountains was so sparse that she could die of exposure before anyone stopped to pick her up, and the highway was all the way on the other side of the town. Even if she made it that far, it would be the first place Mr. Hildegard would come looking, and if Autumn was hoping to hitchhike, she wouldn’t be able to hide every time a pair of headlights came rolling down the road toward her.
So she did the only thing she could think of.
She didn’t turn down the road toward town, she turned up the road, higher into the mountains, where she knew Grady’s cabin was somewhere located.
She limped painfully up the road, higher into the wilderness, every step taking her farther from the safety and warmth of the town, but also further from the despicable Hildegards and their cursed hotel.
As she left the hotel behind, she heard the sound of an engine and saw the headlights of Mr. Hildegard’s truck driving from the hotel to the gate she’d just fled through. He didn’t even pause at the end, but turned down toward the town. Autumn watched until his red taillights disappeared.
She wondered if he’d turn and come up the road if he didn’t spot her on the way to town?
Probably.
She couldn’t have him doubling back and finding her on the way up the mountain. She had to leave the road.
If being on the deserted road, alone in the dark, scared her, leaving the road for the hidden dangers of the forest terrified her.
But then she thought of her mother. She thought of what it would mean if her mother died while she was locked away in her attic room. She’d never escape from up there. It was twice as high as the window she’d just almost died escaping from.
She clenched her fists, thought of her mother, and left the road for the darkness of the forest.
She wasn’t thinking straight. Even in daylight, with the snow falling heavier and heavier and the wind howling down from the mountain peaks, her chances of finding Grady’s cabin were slim enough.
Limping through the forest in the darkness of night, injured and lost, her chance was zero.
But she didn’t have time to figure that out for herself because as soon as she left the road, she felt as if the darkness of the forest swallowed her up. The ominous trees, their branches looking like fingers, reached out for her. The trees blocked out what little light she’d had from the moon and stars. The wind, which had been bad enough on the road, whistled as it flew through the branches. It sounded more like screaming than wind. Every branch rustled, creating a million sounds to terrify her. It was as if she was surrounded by monsters on every side.
And then, for the first time since arriving in Montana, she heard the howl of a wolf. It sounded close by, and it was met instantly by the howls of other wolves.
Autumn was terrified. She was blind with fear. Despite her injured ankle, she fled in sheer panic. She didn’t know where she was going, she didn’t know what direction led back to the road, she couldn’t even see what was three feet in front of her. But she ran, and with every step she took, she could hear the wolves closing in on her at her back.
And then she fell.
Her head hit a jagged rock.
And she was unconscious.
CHAPTER 20
GRADY
Grady got up and washed in the river before waking the baby and feeding her. He had a beautiful new bathtub in the cabin but it wasn’t hooked up to hot water so he still preferred the stream. After drying off, they both sat on the porch as the early morning sun rose above the trees.
“Beautiful out here, isn’t it, baby?”
Destiny gave him a smile for an answer.
“Now, are you going to be a quiet girl if daddy takes you hunting?”
She smiled again.
Grady was very aware that hunting wasn’t exactly the kind of activity people usually did with babies. In fact, he was pretty sure there was probably a law against it somewhere. But he had no choice. He’d heard howling the night before and he wasn’t about to let a wolf pack move in on the territory he was raising his daughter in. It would be too dangerous. He didn’t want to turn his back on Destiny for a few seconds and then learn that a wolf had taken her.
The wolves in these mountains were shy and he knew it wouldn’t take much to scare them off.
After breakfast he checked the rifle that had been in the back of his car since his arrival in Montana and made sure it was loaded. He also created a sort of sling which he could put Destiny into and which held her close against his chest while leaving both his arms free.
Ready for action, he marched into the forest with his baby and started using the tracking skills he’d learned years earlier in New Mexico. It didn’t take long to find signs of the wolves’ presence, and once he found their path, he was able to close in on them quickly. A few shots over their heads would be enough to get them out of the territory. Wild wolves were incredibly secretive, and the slightest interference from a hunter would get the pack on the move.
The first wolf he saw was a beautiful, full grown female. She was on a high outcrop that overlooked the valley and Grady stood still and admired her for a full minute before lifting the rifle to his sights. He looked at Destiny and realized the shot would deafen her from that distance.
He smiled at her.
“That wouldn’t be very nice, would it?” he whispered.
She was quiet as a mouse and he undid the sling and put her down on a mossy rock a few feet away. She smiled at him, completely unaware that she was so close to wild wolves.
Grady took off his coat and wrapped it around her ears. From where she was she’d get a fright from the gunshot, but it wouldn’t do her any harm.
He took aim once again at the wolf and let the bullet fly, purposely sending it a foot or two above her head. The wolf darted off into the woods as the gunshot echoed across the mountain valley.
Destiny immediately began crying and he took her back up and tied her safely against his chest, wrapping them both in the coat.
“There, there, baby. That wasn’t so bad. Just a loud bang,” he said soothingly.
He was fairly confident that shot would send the wolves back to wherever they’d come from. This wasn’t their normal territory, the proximity to the town, and the fact he hadn’t heard them until the night before told him that much. If they were just passing through, this warning would be enough to send them on their way all the sooner.
Grady made his way back to the cabin but as he got closer to the road he saw something he didn’t recognize. There seemed to be something on the ground just below the road. Had someone fallen down the ravine at the side of the road? He hurried over to the figure.
Had someone been hit by a vehicle?
He reached the body, partially blanketed in snow, and to his horror, recognized the boots and coat he’d ordered for Autumn.
“Oh no,” he said aloud as he reached down and turned her over.
When he saw her, his vision blurred from shock. It was her!
He held his hand to the artery on her neck and felt for a pulse. There was one there, but it was fainter than he’d have liked.
“We’re taking on another passenger,” he said to Destiny as he picked Autumn up in his arms and held her against his chest, careful not to crush the baby.
The extra person in Grady’s arms just made the baby warmer and she welcomed the addition.
Grady carried her all the way back to the cabin and for the first time since moving up there, checked his phone for signal. Of course he had none. He lay Autumn on his bed and covered her in blankets. Then he lit the fire and filled his biggest pot with water and put it on to boil.
He had to get her warmed up, but he didn’t want to do it too quickly and shock her body.
He lit the fire in the bedroom too, also for the first time, and the entire cabin began to heat up nicely. For the next half hour he brought pot after pot of water to boil and before long, the bathtub was full of steaming hot water.
Autumn was still unconscious in the bed and as he looked at her, he felt an emotion that could only be described as love burn in his chest. She was so beautiful, so peaceful and pure, sleeping in his bed like she didn’t have a care in the world.
He’d wrapped her in the blankets but now he knew he had to take her clothes off. They were wet and cold and she wouldn’t regain her body heat in them.
“Autumn,” he said softly, trying to wake her, but he couldn’t.
He pulled back the blankets and examined her clothing. It wasn’t soaking wet but it was damp. The room was warm and she’d regained some of her heat in the bed, but he had to get her into the bathtub to really bring her back to life.
“Please God forgive me for this,” he said as he began taking off Autumn’s boots and coat.
She lay unconscious on the bed as he undressed her, one item at a time. He tried not to look too much as he pulled off her coat, then her dress, then her undergarments. He grew aroused at the sight of her nakedness, the whiteness of her breasts, the softness of her flesh, the pink lips of her bare pussy.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bathroom.
She began to stir and come to life in his arms.
“What’s going on,” she mumbled.
“You were out in the snow,” he said to her softly.
“Where am I?”
“I’m going to put you in the bath. You need to warm up.”
“Grady?” she said, confused.
“Yes,” he whispered.
He lowered her slowly into the hot water, his strong arms easily able to bear her weight. She gasped as her body dipped into it.
“Is it too hot?” he said.
She shook her head and he lowered her all the way in. Then he stood up and looked at her.
“How do you feel? You’re not going to faint are you?”
“I think I’m going to be okay.”
“I’ll go get more hot water,” he said. “It’s on the fire. I’ll be right back.”
He took a deep breath as he left the bathroom. He’d never been so aroused in his life. He felt guilty for feeling that way while she was going through something so traumatic, she’d almost died out there, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t lie to himself, and more importantly, his body wouldn’t lie.
His cock was hard in his pants, firm and throbbing, and as he got the hot water he felt silly for having a boner while Autumn struggled for her life.
“Here,” he said, pouring the hot water into the bath by her feet.
She made no move to hide herself, to protect her modesty, and he knew it was only because she was so confused and traumatized by what she’d been through. He’d explain it all to her in time. For now, he was just glad that she was in the bath and the color was returning to her cheeks.
“How is it?” he said.
“I feel numb,” she said weakly.
“The feeling will come back quickly now. It might hurt. You were out in the freezing wind overnight. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“Thanks to you,” she said.
“Well, you’re obviously a strong person. Not everyone would have pulled through like this.”
“I’m lucky you found me.”
He nodded and went to get her some towels. He still had some he’d bought in town and hadn’t used yet. They weren’t stained with mud and dirt like the one’s he’d been taking out to the stream.
He brought them back to her and forced himself to look only at her face. It wasn’t hard because her face was so pretty, but it took all his will not to steal a glance at her perfect little breasts, white and soft, or her long legs that led to the v of her pussy. Even through the bathwater he could see everything.
“Take your time,” he said. “Stay in the water until your body feels normal. Then we’ll wrap you in towels and sit you by the fire. I’ll start making some hot coffee, and something to eat. I’ll bet you’re famished.”
She smiled up at him and nodded.
“Grady,” she said.
He stopped and looked down at her, hoping the bulge in his pants wasn’t too obvious.
“Thank you for finding me.”
CHAPTER 21
AUTUMN
Autumn felt dizzy as she lay in the bathtub.
What happened?
What was she doing there?
How had Grady found her?
On the one hand, she was mortified. Not only had she nearly killed herself running through the wintery forest in the middle of the night, but even more importantly, Grady had stripped her and carried her, naked, to the bath. She’d been naked in his arms! He’d seen every inch of her!
No man had ever seen her before.
She was almost more overwhelmed by the thought of being in Grady’s strong, muscular arms, naked as the day she was born, than the fact that she’d almost been killed by wolves in the middle of a dark forest.
And mixed in with all that overwhelming emotion was an undercurrent of excitement. She’d been rescued, and not just by anyone, by the one person she hadn’t been able to get out of her mind since leaving home. The one man she’d ever felt sexual attraction to. She’d been rescued by Grady.
She shuddered as the memories of the night before flooded back to her. The darkness, the cold, the pain in her ankle.
And worst of all, the howling of the wolves.
She’d been lying there in the hot water for almost an hour. Every few minutes, there would be a light knock on the door and Grady would come in with another pot of hot water. As she gradually came more and more to her senses, she grew shyer and shyer. At first, she’d been so out of it that she’d just been grateful Grady was there, taking care of her, and that the water was heating her body.
Now that she felt more herself, she was embarrassed by her nakedness.
“No more water,” she called out to him when he knocked again.
“You sure? You feeling yourself again?”
“Yes,” she called out, embarrassed to be even talking to him through the door.
“Okay, well there are towels in there. Take your time. I’ll try to find something for you to wear.”
“Thank you,” she said.
She felt surprisingly relaxed as she lay there. The room was made of beautiful, rich wood and as far as she could see, the only thing separating it from a luxury cabin or resort in the mountains was the fact that it didn’t have hot water. There was electricity, she was pretty sure, because there was an electric bulb in a fine brass fixture above her. It wasn’t turned on, the sun was pouring in through the window, but she felt confident it would work if she flicked the switch.
She stood up and was immediately reminded of the pain in her ankle. She put a little weight on it but it was still tender. She grabbed a rich, soft, white towel and wrapped it around her waist. The cabin might be rustic but Grady’s taste wasn’t. She climbed out of the bathtub and saw for the first time how ornate it was. She’d seen tubs like that in catalogues and knew they weren’t cheap. It had an authentic, antique feel to it, and went well with the rest of the fixtures in the room. She hopped over to the sink and looked in the little cupboard behind the mirror. Grady’s toiletries, his razors, shaving cream, soap and scented lotions, were all from the same expensive department store her gifts had been ordered from.
She smiled to herself. She could have guessed he’d enjoy the little luxuries like that, even if he’d decided to renounce civilization and make his home in a remote cabin.
“You okay in there?”
“I’m good, Grady. I’m coming out now.”
She opened the door and stepped out to the main room of the cabin. She took it all in with a single glance. The huge fire roaring in the hearth, the fine quality wood, the rich rug and comfortable furniture, the iron cooking things above the fire.
“Here,” Grady said, handing her his man-sized housecoat. It was as rich and expensive as the towel and she pulled it around herself tightly.
“This is beautiful,” she said, motioning to the cabin.
“Sit,” Grady said, pulling a leather chair closer to the fire. “I’ve got some coffee ready and there’ll be venison stew in a little while.”
Autumn smiled and sat on the comfortable chair. She was snug and cozy and would have happily sat there for hours.
“You feeling okay?” he said.
“Yeah, much better, thanks to you.”
“I noticed you limp.”
“I twisted my ankle when I was escaping the hotel.”
“They tried to keep you there.”
“They locked me in a room when they realized I wanted to leave.”
“What pushed you over the edge?” Grady said.
“Well, I called home and found out they hadn’t been sending my paychecks to my mother like they promised. I confronted them about it and they got mad. Locked me up.”
“God,” Grady said, furious. “I should go over there and give them a piece of my mind. If the man wasn’t so old I’d kick his ass.”
Autumn laughed. “That’s okay, Grady. Just as long as you don’t send me back there, I’ll be satisfied.”
“I’d never send you back,” he said.
He got up from his seat next to hers and bent down in front of her. Shyly, she shut her legs and tried to hide more of herself under the housecoat.
“Don’t be afraid. I just want to look at your ankle.”
Timidly, she let her leg peek out and he took it gently in his and examined it.
“It’s not broken,” he said. “Just a sprain. It will get better in a few days if you stay off it.”
He caressed the ankle in his hand and she felt a thrill rush through her. Then he let go and went to the fire. He poured them each a cup of strong, black coffee and handed her one. Then he went to the bedroom and returned with a thick, patchwork blanket that seemed to compliment perfectly the forest and cabin.
“Thank you,” she said, sipping the coffee.
It was stronger than she was used to but she liked it. It reminded her of dark chocolate.
“You just rest up, Autumn. We’ll get you back on your feet in no time and then I’ll help you get wherever you want to go. No one’s going to take you back to the Hildegards.”
She smiled and nodded. She wouldn’t have minded staying right there with him and Destiny. She looked behind her at the baby. She was lying asleep in a handmade crib close to the window, basking in sunlight like a cat.
“That’s beautiful,” she said, motioning to the crib. “Did you make it?”
Grady nodded.
“I’ve been fixing up this place, trying to make it more comfortable. I mean, I’m a guy, but ladies like a few more comforts than a cabin usually offers.”
“Ladies?” Autumn said, before realizing how nosy that sounded.
“You know. Destiny. I don’t want her bugging me to move into town as soon as she’s old enough to realize the difference.”
Autumn nodded, relieved that the baby still seemed to be the only lady in Grady’s life.
“She’ll love it here, Grady. It’s really beautiful.”
“It still needs a bit of work, but we’ll get there.”
Autumn sipped her coffee and suddenly all the emotion of what had happened in the past twelve hours started to catch up to her. Being safe and warm, having a chance to breathe and collect her thoughts, was too much. She took a deep breath and felt like she was going to burst into tears. She tried to hold them back but couldn’t.
“Autumn,” Grady said, “everything’s going to be okay.”
She laughed at herself, feeling silly, and wiped her face.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. You’re allowed to cry.”
“Really?”
He laughed, and she burst into a mixture of laughter and sobs.
“This is all so nice,” she said. “You’ve done so much for me.”
“I’d do a lot more,” he said, and then stopped himself from saying more.
She felt a rush of emotion, wondering what he meant by that, but she had too much on her mind to let thoughts of romance or adventure get very far.
She cried again and Grady went to the bedroom and came back with a box of tissues.
“You’re so kind,” she said, before blowing her nose in the napkin, mortified that her nose was running and that she was sobbing in front of him.
“We’ll sort everything out, Autumn. It’s all going to be okay.”
She nodded, but she couldn’t fool herself so easily. Her mother was in a desperate situation and she knew it. She wanted to stop crying and enjoy her coffee with Grady, but she couldn’t ignore reality.
“How can we sort it out?” she said to him.
He smiled, as if he’d been hoping she’d ask him that.
“Just tell me what’s the matter,” he said.
“What’s the matter? The real question is what isn’t the matter.”
“Start at the beginning, Autumn. Trust me. It’s amazing how much better you feel when you talk through your worries with someone else.”
She felt silly, immature, turning to him for help, but she also felt such a strong need, a need for help, and she couldn’t resist it. She knew enough about the world to know everyone felt overwhelmed at times. Everyone needed a friend to lean on. Everyone needed help. She helped people whenever she could, and she owed it to herself to allow Grady to help her through her issues now.
“I’m worried about my mother,” she said hesitantly. “The Hildegards never sent her my pay, and now she probably thinks I forgot all about her. She’s been kicked out of the good hospital she was in and now she’s in a free clinic. They can’t give her the help she needs at the clinic though.”
“The Hildegards never sent the checks? Even though they knew it was for your mother’s medical bills?”
Autumn nodded and began crying again. “And the worst part is, my aunt thought I was holding back the money on purpose.”
“Your mother won’t think that, Autumn.”
She shook her head. “What if she does?”
“Do you love your mother?”
“Yes,” she conceded.
“And does your mother know that?”
“I think she does.”
“Believe me, Autumn, she knows it. How could she not? You’re such a good, warm, intelligent, kindhearted girl.”
Autumn laughed in embarrassment.
“Come on, we’ll take care of this right away.”
“Take care of it? How?”
Grady took his phone from his pocket and checked for signal. “I rigged up an antenna,” he said. “My cell works. Do you want to talk to your mother?”
“More than anything,” Autumn gasped.
“Here,” Grady said, handing her the phone. “Call her and tell her you sorted everything out. You thought she was getting the money and now you’ve fixed it.”
“Fixed it? I haven’t fixed a thing.”
“Yes you have, Autumn. Tell her she has to get right back to the hospital. Tell her the hospital is waiting for her.”
“The hospital kicked her out.”
“They’ll take her back,” Grady said.
Autumn didn’t know how that was possible, but Grady spoke with such confidence that she was already starting to believe what he said.
She called her mother and between the tears, had the most passionate, heartfelt talk with her she’d ever had.
“I’m so sorry, mom. I thought they were sending the money.”
“I know, sweetheart. I didn’t doubt you for one second, despite what your aunt said. I knew you’d never forget about me.”
“I wouldn’t, mom.”
“I love you every second of every day, Autumn. Never forget that.”
“Mom, listen to me. You have to go back to the hospital.”
“They won’t take me, sweetie.”
“They will now, mom. Just tell your doctors you’re going back. They’ll be waiting at the hospital for you by the time you get there.”
She said goodbye to her mother and Grady took the phone.
“What’s the name of the hospital?” he said to Autumn.
“Western General,” she said, then she listened in amazement as Grady called the hospital, got transferred to the billing department, cleared all her mother’s bills and got his credit card placed on her file.
He hung up and smiled at Autumn. He was so handsome, and the combination of his looks and the confidence with which he’d just taken care of the medical bills made Autumn feel weak with longing. She’d never known what it was like to have a man around. She’d never known her own father. The way Grady took care of things was exactly how she’d always thought a man should be. Strong and capable and competent.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
Grady nodded. “Now, from what they told me, it sounds like your mother’s condition is pretty serious.”
“It is,” Autumn said. “My aunt said she probably didn’t have much longer to live.”
“I know what it’s like to watch someone you love get sick,” he said.
Autumn nodded, unsure what to say to that.
“So, you don’t have to say yes, I don’t know what caused you to leave home in the first place, but if you want to see your mother, I’ll drive you.”
“What?”
“Right now, you, me and Destiny. We won’t get there today, but if we make good time we could sleep in a motel somewhere around halfway and we’ll be there tomorrow.”
Autumn burst into tears.
“Are you kidding me?” she said, unable to believe her ears.
“I’m not kidding,” Grady said. “If anything happens to her, you’ll remember this for the rest of your life.”
Autumn looked at him. There was something about the way he was talking to her that told her he was talking from experience. He’d lost someone, and she was fairly certain that if he could have one last chance to speak to that person, he’d take it. That’s how he knew how important this was to her.
“It’s such a long way, Grady.”
“I like driving,” he said. “I’ll take it that means you want to go.”
Autumn couldn’t believe what was happening. Ever since stepping on the train a few weeks earlier, she’d had some notion in her mind that it was forever. She’d thought she’d never be going home. She’d thought she was leaving for good. The distance of the train ride and the remoteness of the new town all served to strengthen that feeling. And then when she’d arrived at the Raven’s Nest, when she’d seen the way the Hildegards put her in a room in the attic and forced her to call them Master and Mistress, when she couldn’t get cellphone reception and had no money, something about it told her she’d never be going home. And in a way she’d had good reason to think that. The Hildegards had tried to lock her up. They’d had a strange notion they could turn her into a mixture of a slave and their dead daughter.
And now, out of nowhere, Grady was offering her a ride home. Just like that. She would be seeing her mother tomorrow!
It was too much.
If her tears had embarrassed her before, it was nothing compared to the loud sobs and bawling tears she shed now.
CHAPTER 22
AUTUMN
It was still before noon when they were packing the car, not that there was much to pack. Grady put some baby things for Destiny in a bag with a few of his own clothes. It took about five minutes.
Autumn had nothing but the clothes she was wearing.
“Don’t worry. We’ll stop on the way and pick up whatever you need.”
“Really?” she said, unable to believe that anyone was being so generous to her.
She’d never been treated like that in her life. Her mother loved her, she came from a good family, but they’d never been the kind of people who had extra money lying around. The thought of running into a store on the way home and grabbing whatever she needed was completely foreign to her.
When she got into the car next to Grady, she felt a sense of ease and safety. This was what it was like to be with a man who knew what he was doing, who knew how to look after his family.
Family, she thought.
She knew that wasn’t quite what she, Grady, and Destiny were, but they sure felt like one.
Grady put snow chains on the car and they got on the road. A few minutes later they were passing the entrance to the Raven’s Nest.
“I bet that’s a place you never want to go back to,” Grady said.
Autumn smiled. “You have no idea.”
“They were strange people, and I don’t even have a problem with that. People have a right to be as strange as they want, in my opinion.”
“As long as they’re not harming anyone,” Autumn said.
“Right. And the thing about the Hildegards, is that you got the distinct impression that maybe they would harm someone.”
“I got that feeling sometimes too,” Autumn said.
Grady looked at her.
“The truth is, I felt guilty leaving you there with them. I had a feeling something bad might happen.”
“It wasn’t your responsibility to protect me,” she said.
“I know, but I would have liked if it was.”
Autumn felt her cheeks flush. “Really?” she said.
Grady nodded.
“I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me,” she said. “At least, anyone but my mother.”
“What about your father?”
“I never knew him,” she said. “He died when I was very young.”
Grady nodded.
They drove on, through the town of Destiny and onto the winding road that led out of the mountains and back to civilization. Autumn watched the scenery pass. It was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but there was something scary about it too. It was so grand. The mountains rose so far into the sky you could no longer see the peaks. The forest was so dense you could imagine any type of wild animal living in there. The rivers gushed rapidly, icy water racing with currents that could kill.
She loved it. She loved the grandeur and the power of the Rockies, but she knew she’d never be quite at home there, she’d never feel truly safe there, unless she had someone by her side. Someone strong. Someone who knew how to handle himself and protect her from the wilderness.
She was feeling sentimental, she knew that, but what she was imagining was a life with Grady in the cabin. The cabin was quaint, comfortable, cozy and safe. It was a place she could live happily, so long as Grady was there.
She shook her head, feeling foolish for allowing her thoughts to get so far ahead of her. He was driving her home, not setting up with her in his cabin.
After they got out of the mountains they reached a real highway, an interstate, and Grady pulled over and took off the snow chains. When he got back in the car, Autumn spoke, breaking the silence the three of them had been enjoying.
“Thank you,” she said out of the blue.
Grady looked at her, and there was such affection, such kindness in his eyes. She had no idea where it came from. How could he be so nice to her? Why was he so fond of her?
“I’m just glad I found you, Autumn. I’d die thinking of you out in the cold, all alone.”
“I’d probably be back at the Raven’s Nest by now if it wasn’t for you.”
“Well, sometimes God just puts you in the right place at the right time.”
“You really believe that?”
He nodded and she knew he was telling her the truth.
“I wouldn’t have called my baby Destiny if I didn’t,” he said.
Autumn looked back at the baby. She was sleeping so peacefully.
“Destiny’s mother,” Autumn said, unsure what she wanted to ask.
Grady nodded. “I thought my relationship with her was a mistake. I didn’t love her. I didn’t want to be with her. We had a one night stand and it was awful. She was a drug addict. I even went so far as to buy her morning after pills to make sure nothing happened.”
“Guess that didn’t work out,” Autumn said.
“It sure didn’t. She got pregnant and I couldn’t let her destroy the baby so I looked after her.”
“And you think that was destiny?”
“I thought it was a pain in the ass,” Grady said, laughing. “But I did the best I knew how to do. I looked after her, I kept her clean, I tried to get her healthy and back on her feet.”
“But it didn’t go according to plan?”
“No it didn’t, and for a long time I blamed God for that. I thought it was a curse. Destiny’s mother ran off with her old drug dealer, a despicable guy, and their car crashed. They told me at the hospital there were no survivors.”
“So you thought you lost the baby too?”
“I did until the authorities called me out of the blue six months later and told me they’d been looking for me the entire time.”
“And what did that make you think?”
“First, I was in shock.”
“Of course,” Autumn said. “Anyone would be.”
“Right. But now I think, you know, destiny. Fate. I feel like it was all in God’s hands the entire time. I don’t want to sound wishy washy. I’m not the kind of guy who shows up at church every Sunday.”
“No, I didn’t think you were,” Autumn said.
“I’ve lived a hard life. I’ve done things no man should ever do. To be honest, I don’t even know how I sit with God. I mean, I’ve killed people, Autumn.”
“I see,” she said.
“But I know one thing. I used to say, fear nothing. That was my motto.”
“And what’s your motto now?”
“Now it’s, fear nothing, except for God.”
“I think that’s a pretty good way to live.”
“Well, it’s better than the way I used to live, I’ll tell you that much.”
They drove on and Autumn thought about what Grady had said. She couldn’t say she fully understood everything. She wasn’t even sure he understood all his feelings about what had happened in his past. But there was one thing she knew for certain. She knew he was a good man, he was a man of honor and duty, he gave family the loyalty the respect it deserved, and he was a man she could see herself falling in love with.
It wasn’t just his looks. It wasn’t the muscles and tattoos. It wasn’t the attitude, the confidence, the way he always seemed to know what to do. It certainly wasn’t the fact he seemed to be rich, beyond any financial worries.
It was just … him. Who he was. What he believed. Where he stood on matters of the heart.
He was a man. A real man.
And Autumn had a sneaking suspicion that he was fond of her in a way that didn’t come along every day. She’d never been treated the way he treated her. She’d never been spoken to the way he spoke to her. She wasn’t sure if he was this nice to all the girls, but she was sure he made her feel a way no other man ever had.
They drove on and every once in a while, Grady would turn to look at her. She’d look back and they’d lock eyes for a few seconds before he looked back at the road. Sometimes he’d smile. Sometimes he’d blush or look embarrassed.
Autumn herself would have been embarrassed except for the kindness, the fondness, she saw in his face every time she looked back at him.
When Destiny woke up, Autumn reached back and took her from her car seat and held her. She played with her a while, bounced her on her knee, fed her from her bottle, and when she fell back asleep, she put her back in her carseat and tucked a little blanket over her.
“You’re good with her,” Grady said.
“I like babies.”
“You’ll be a good mother one day,” he said.
She didn’t know what to make of that.
A few hours into the journey she started to feel hungry, and as if reading her mind, Grady pulled into the exit lane.
“You ready for a bite to eat?” he said.
“I’m starving.”
Grady laughed.
“I’m not surprised. After the night you had, your body is going to need a lot of strength.”
They got off the interstate and pulled into a roadside diner. It was the type of diner that could have been in any town in the country, welcoming, comfortable, unassuming. Local faces looked happy and satisfied. The line cook called out the orders as they were ready and the waitress ran to get them. It seemed Grady liked that type of place, and Autumn was glad because she did too.
She carried the baby from the car and Grady thanked her.
“Of course,” she said. “It’s the least I could do.”
“It’s a real relief for me to have a woman along for the ride,” he said. “I’m always afraid I’m forgetting to do something for Destiny that a woman would instinctively know about.”
“You’re doing great,” Autumn said.
They went inside and grabbed a booth by the window. The winter wasn’t nearly as set in as it was up in the mountains and there was only a little snow outside.
A waitress came and they both ordered coffee and the special. They sat across from each other, Autumn holding the sleeping baby, and didn’t say a word until the waitress arrived with their coffee and broke the spell.
“So,” Grady said, “you know all about me but I know next to nothing about you.”
Autumn smiled. She wouldn’t say she knew all about Grady but it was true that she hadn’t told him much of her own story. The question was, where to start?
“Well, I graduated high school earlier this year and was all set to go to college.”
“To study what?” Grady said.
“Literature, poetry, english.”
“You want to be a writer?”
Autumn nodded shyly. “I mean, I would have liked to, but you know how life is.”
Grady nodded. “Your mom got sick?”
“Yeah. She was sick before, but it got really bad during the summer. We did everything we could for her, but eventually we ran out of ideas. The clinic she was getting help at could only do so much and they kept recommending we take her to the hospital across town that was part of the medical school. They had the best treatments in the world there. I mean, they had the professors and experts who are inventing the new treatments. It was her best chance.”
“But it wasn’t cheap?”
Autumn nodded. “No, it wasn’t cheap. She had some income from her pension and my dad’s insurance, but it was hard to make ends meet. We had to refinance her house, sell most of our things, and of course, cancel my plans to go to college.”
“And that’s when you decided to go to Destiny?”
“Well, I needed to work, and my aunt told us about the job at Raven’s Nest. She knew Mrs. Hildegard from way back when.”
“She knew her and still sent you to work for her?”
Autumn nodded. “Well, I don’t know how well they know each other. A lot of years have passed. Anyway, Mr. Hildegard got one look at me online and offered to pay my mother’s medical bills if they sent me.”
“Sounds strange.”
“Yeah, it does,” Autumn said, thinking of her moments alone with Mr. Hildegard. The memory still gave her the chills.
“Were you sorry to have to give up your school plans?”
“Of course I was, but the way I see things, family comes first. My mother needs that hospital. I would do anything if it meant she could stay there. That’s why it came as such a shock when I learned the Hildegards hadn’t been sending her the checks they’d promised. The whole reason I was there was to keep my mom in good care, and they never sent a penny. I could have been at home the whole time, working at the bakery I worked at during high school, and it would have made a bigger contribution.”
Grady nodded. “I can see why you were so upset, Autumn. I would be too.”
Autumn looked at him. “I still haven’t really thanked you for everything you’ve done. I heard what you said to them, giving them your credit card number. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Grady said.
“I do. I mean, those bills will add up to thousands of dollars. How can you afford that?”
“I can spare the money, Autumn.”
“But why use it to help me?”
Grady looked at her and seemed to be thinking about his answer. He gave a little shrug and when he spoke, his voice sounded even and calm.
“I don’t know. It’s like what we were talking about earlier. Fate. Destiny. I just feel like I want to do this thing for you more than I’ve ever wanted to do anything in my life. And if you needed something a million times harder, I’d want to do that for you too.”
“You keep saying you want to do things for me.”
Grady nodded. “It’s true.”
Autumn wasn’t sure how to ask what she wanted to know. She made to speak and stopped herself, going back over the words she would use.
“I guess, what I’m asking, Grady, is why me? You could help anyone. That waitress over there, the line cook, those customers at the counter, I’m sure all of them could use your help as much as I could.”
Grady looked around the diner at everyone Autumn had pointed out.
He took a deep breath before speaking.
“Well, the truth is, it looks like I’m doing this for you, but I’m really doing it for myself. It’s not selfless, Autumn. This is something I’m taking for myself, because it feels right, and I feel like I’ve earned it. I’ve spent a lot of time in my life helping people, and often they were people I didn’t necessarily want to help. This time, I’m picking the one person I know I want to help more than I’ve ever wanted anything. I want to do this. I want to do this for you. And this time, I’m taking what I want.”
“What you want?” Autumn said uncertainly.
“I’m not asking you for anything in return. Don’t worry. I don’t expect you to repay the favor or anything. I just mean, out of all the things I could be doing right now, this is the thing I want most. And I’m not going to let anything stop me from being here, with you, doing this.”