Sunrise Point (Virgin River #19)(84)

“I’ll be careful,” he said.

“What are you going to do?” Darla shrieked.

“I’m going to get the goddamn bear!”

“Can’t you just go close the gate?”

“And close that bear and her triplets in here for the night? Then maybe when my employees come in the morning they can meet four bears face-to-face? I don’t think so. Or I could leave it open all night and have a herd of elk or deer divest me of my apples. Didn’t I tell you to close the goddamn gate after you come through?”

“I don’t know,” she said, immediately crying. “You always did it for me!”

It was pointless. “Yeah,” he said in exasperation. He looked at his grandmother. “Maxie, stay in the house. And I mean it.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me to stay in?” Darla asked.

“I know you’re not going out there.” And he left the house.

* * *

Junior and Tom took out the quads in search of bears. Typically they used the quads to pull a small flatbed with equipment or to drag soil aerating attachments when the tractor was too large to get between the trees. They could cover the orchard once in little time but it was a big job to check all the fencing, up in all the trees with flashlights and then backtrack to make sure no wildlife had slipped by them and doubled back.

They were out till three in the morning. They never saw a bear. They did see plenty of bear scat—there was no question who’d been to call.

It was probable that the bear and her cubs exited the orchard after Duke gave them a talking to, but it was impossible to know for sure. This was disconcerting for several reasons. First of all, they weren’t sure whether these bears were nocturnal feeders—that wasn’t necessarily the rule. Tom had always assumed they avoided the orchard while there were a lot of workers around and broke in at dawn or dusk when the gate was closed and the workers were gone and the orchard quiet, but maybe they’d been breaking down the fence at night. But there was no evidence they came daily—bear were scavengers—they loved feeding in dumps. And they had a particular fondness for fish. The river ran along the other side of the orchard. They could go around the orchard to get to the river.

“Nora’s usually the first one here,” Tom said.

“She doesn’t come before sunup anymore,” Junior said. “Not these days.”

“I’m sure there’s no wildlife trapped in here,” Tom said as he pulled the gate closed. “Just the same…”

“I’ll be here early,” Junior said. “I’ll go get a couple of hours and be right back.”

The men shook hands, Junior got in his truck to depart and Tom went into the house. The rifle didn’t go back in the gun cabinet, but leaned up against the cupboard in the kitchen.

In the living room he found Maxie in her recliner sound asleep, a crocheted throw over her. She was wearing her slippers but otherwise hadn’t dressed for bed—she was still in her clothes, ready if there was any action. Beside her was Duke. He lifted his head when Tom came into the room and gave his tail a couple of thumps.

Tom scratched him under the chin and said, “Yeah, thanks, buddy. Good work.” And then, without even taking off his boots, he dropped onto the couch and closed his eyes.

* * *

Nora was up, dressed for work and sitting at her table with a cup of coffee, staring at the auction notice when Adie tapped softly at her door. Nora let her in and said, “Come in. I fixed you a cup of tea—it’s so cold this morning.”

There was no mistaking the worry in the old woman’s eyes. “Have you decided what to do?”

Nora smiled reassuringly, though she didn’t feel sure of anything. “I’ll think of something. I haven’t even talked to anyone about this yet—maybe Reverend Kincaid has ideas. Or Jed—he might have a suggestion. Try not to worry.” Or Tom, she secretly thought. What would Tom say about her being thrown out of her house?

“Did you even know this house had been foreclosed?”

Nora shook her head. “Maybe that happened a long time ago. There have been so many foreclosures in the country, I’m sure it’s hard to keep up. I’ve heard of people living in foreclosed property for a year or more before they’re actually evicted.” Like me, she thought.

“I’ll help in any way I can,” Adie said. “You’re always welcome in my home.”

“Thank you.” How like Adie, who didn’t have a nickel to spare or much room under her own roof.

It was early November; Thanksgiving was just around the corner. She had been unable to suppress fantasies of how this holiday season might be spent. She would certainly be spending time with Jed, but after this past week of being chased around the apple trees and kissed on any opportunity, she rather hoped Tom might want to make some holiday plans.

But everything in her mind changed when she got to the orchard. After letting herself into the gate and closing it behind her, she pulled up to the barn. And there, parked at the rear of the house, was the red car.

Her heart plummeted. She almost couldn’t breathe.

Nora gathered her mettle and got out of the car. Tom was not in his office, so she made coffee for him; likely he was sleeping a little later than usual this morning since he’d had a house guest last night. Spirit almost broken, she grabbed a bag and a ladder, pulled on her gloves and went into the trees to get to work.