Page 32 of Mountain Refuge

“No.”

He looked like he was about to press and then changed his mind. “Fine.” He went to the front door and brought back the duffel bag he’d brought down the mountain with him. “I wasn’tsure how soon we’d be able to get the kids out of here, so I overpacked just in case. You can thank my mom for all of this too. I had no idea what to get when it comes to babies.”

He put the bag on the table opposite of where Lydia sat finishing her snack. I came forward to see what he had.

“Jack, thankfully, had a lot of this in stock. We knew once the snow fell, getting down for more would be virtually impossible. My spare room is overflowing with baby supplies.” He reached in and pulled out a Disney princess coloring book and a box of crayons. “And this is for the princess.”

Lydia grabbed the book, thanking him profusely.

“I know you said she loves puzzles. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that while I was getting all this, and I don’t have any kids’ ones at the cabin. My mom has puzzles, though. Maybe Lydia can help her with those.”

My gratitude towards my best friend grew. “Thank you. I’m sure she’ll love it.”

“Beyond the baby food, diapers, rash cream, formula, and pacifiers, I also brought these.” He pulled infant and child snowsuits out of the duffel. Henry’s suit was dark blue with red stripes. Lydia’s was bright pink. Lydia reached for hers with glee. Corbin handed it over with some advice, “First lesson about living in the mountains in the snow, kid:neverwear clothing that can blend in with the snow. Wear bright, reflective clothing that make it easier to spot you at a distance.”

She nodded. “Gotcha.”

“Second lesson: learn how to make a snowball.”

Lydia giggled. “I already know how to do that.”

“Good. I’ll be testing out your skills later.”

“You’re on, Uncle Corbin.”

Corbin’s cheeks reddened at the title, but I also saw pride on his face. He turned to me. “I wasn’t sure what you had either, soI brought gear for you too. We had given you winter clothing in theJeep, but I wasn’t sure what you were able to bring here and what you had to leave in the car.”

“Unfortunately, we left too much in the car. I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what survived in this cold.”

“In a few days, I’ll be going out to where you left it. I’ll see what’s salvageable and what needs to be tossed. Then I’ll get with Jack about dumping it.”

I didn’t have the guts to ask for confirmation if it was stolen or not. I couldn’t add more crimes to my conscience.

“My mom is really excited about seeing you,” Corbin went on.

“I’m excited to see her too.” I hadn’t seen Mrs. Mullaney since that final day in the courtroom when the verdict had been read and Corbin had been led away in chains.

As if Corbin knew where my mind had gone, he reached for my arm. “I’ve moved on. You should too.”

“You should have never been convicted. It was wrong.”

He shrugged, a little too nonchalantly. “I survived. My dad put me through—” He paused, his eyes landing on Lydia who was now coloring in her new book. “Um, H-E-double hockey sticks. J-A-I-L was a cakewalk after eighteen years with that man.”

I couldn’t help but grin at his attempt to keep his tale kid friendly. “I’m still sorry it happened to you.”

He nodded once. “I know, and I appreciate it.”

“How did you end up out here?”

“Jack, actually. He was my…” Once again, his eyes flicked to Lydia. “My first roommate,” he evasively said. “This is his hometown. He’d moved to New Jersey after college. I won’t share his story, but, after he got out, he decided to come back here. He gave me an invitation to join him when, uh, it was my turn to leave.”

I had yet to meet Jack. The respectful way Brooke and Corbin talked about him, as well as my own phone conversations with him, I was very curious about the man. He’d gone through great efforts to protect my kids and me. His criminal record did not concern me; if Corbin trusted him, so did I.

“Mom had moved to Florida after my conviction. She didn’t want to go, but I told her to. She needed a life outside of that house with those memories. She would travel up each year for my birthday, even though I kept telling her it wasn’t necessary. After I got out, I went south, got her, and we came here.

“Jack had already had my cabin set up for me. It was like he knew I was coming, even though we hadn’t talked in years.”

“Jack seems to know a lot of things.”

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