Page 38 of Wild Heart

She looked at him, seeing something guarded in his eyes. "You okay?"

He hesitated. "I saw Olivia earlier. Something’s bothering her. She won’t say it, but... I know that look."

Natalie frowned. "You think it’s about Davey?"

"Maybe. He’s been sullen lately."

Natalie considered that. She had noticed it too. A kind of restlessness in Davey. He was doing the work. But his focus had shifted somehow. That evening, as Mason and Natalie sat on the back porch of the lodge, sipping tea under the stars, she brought it up again.

"You ever think that not knowing his dad is the root of Davey’s troubles?"

Mason nodded. "All the time."

Natalie looked down. "Olivia never talks about him. I never pressed her, just respected that it was private, and she’d tell me if she needed to."

Mason didn’t answer right away. "Some stories are hard to tell. And some kids go looking for answers whether they’re ready or not. Davey’s got a lot of baggage he needs to sortthrough, in my opinion. And maybe Olivia needs to help him with that."

Earlier that afternoon, Mason had stopped at the local feed store to pick up supplies. As he loaded bags of seed and straw into the back of the sanctuary truck, he caught the tail end of a conversation between two men standing near the register.

"…ain’t surprised he’s working up there. No real job and got kicked out of college so what can that tell you. That family’s always been strange."

"Thought he’d be locked up by now."

Mason froze. He realized they were talking about Davey and it hurt. He didn’t speak, didn’t flinch, just kept loading the truck until he was sure he wouldn’t crack. When Olivia passed him on the path later that day, he nodded, forced a smile, and kept moving. She didn’t ask if he was okay, and he didn’t offer an explanation why he might have looked cross.

“Maybe I’ll have a word with Davey myself and you could speak to Olivia, see if we can help them in some way.” Mason suggested.

“It can’t do any harm, if we tread carefully.” Natalie rested her head on his shoulder, both losing themselves in thought.

They stayed on the porch long after the stars bloomed overhead, enjoying the evening, now the weather was turning.

"We’ve become something, haven’t we? A kind of family."

Mason nodded. "The kind you choose."

And beneath the silence, beneath the soft hush of leaves and the distant call of an owl, Natalie’s heart swelled.

She had good friends. And love. Two of the most precious things in life.

15

The campfire crackled on the sanctuary’s upper observation deck, its light casting a warm amber glow over the worn deck planks and the faces gathered around it. Mason sat a little apart from the others, his back braced against a cedar beam, hands wrapped around a chipped enamel mug of coffee that had long since gone cold.

Natalie, seated next to him, leaned into the firelight, her fingers loosely tangled with his. Volunteers were filtering away in twos and threes, their conversations drifting off into the darkness along the winding trail toward the lodge. By the time the last voice faded, only Mason and Natalie remained beneath the stars.

Above them, the sky stretched wide and silent, the Milky Way swirling like mist above the tree line. Somewhere in the distance, a bird called, a soft, warbled echo that settled into the stillness. There was something playing on Natalie’s mind, life changing, unavoidable so without delay she turned to face Mason and just blurted it out.

“I had an email. It was waiting for me when I got back to the cabin, from a lawyer. Giles wants a divorce and to sell the house.All I have to do is say the word and my old life will be packed up and sold off. Simple as signing on the dotted line.” Seeing the words in black and white had rocked her almost perfect world and reminding her that she couldn’t hide from making a decision forever.

Mason sucked in air, and she could tell he was trying to think of the right words to say. His thumb brushed the edge of his cup as waited.

“I thought you were quiet tonight,” he said softly.

She nodded, then shrugged, the firelight catching on the edge of her jaw. “I’ve been thinking it all over.”

“That’s dangerous,” he teased gently and offered a small smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Maybe I need to say some stuff, that might help you decide. About things I haven’t said before.”

Natalie’s expression shifted, softening into something serious, open. “Okay.”

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