Page 6 of Caleb's Salvation
Her two weeks were up. I had Eli check the date on the round-trip ticket and tomorrow she needed to be on a plane to Nome where she would then get on a plane to Anchorage and from there to wherever the hell she was going.
I pulled my truck up to the cabin. I had been coming nearly every day for the past two weeks to drop off food and make sure she knew how to keep that fire running.
There had been no date. No night out at Bud’s no matter how many times she hinted at it. I had no idea what she did to keep herself busy. I suppose the baby took up most of her time. None of it was my concern. Just because she thought I was going to turn out to be some prize she’d won, didn’t mean I had to oblige.
I didn’t wonder why a twenty-six-year-old with a baby didn’t have a home or a place to go to. I didn’t think about what she meant about her mother being nearly prophetic with her name.
Vivian, in the movie, had been a prostitute. A down-on-her-luck, couldn’t-pay-the-rent hooker who found her version of prince charming.
Is that what had happened to this Vivienne? Is that how she found herself pregnant?
Not my problem, I told myself. For two weeks I’d honored the deal of the contract. Now it was over, and she would be gone. I’d been giving the guys hell about this for two weeks. Eli couldn’t look at me without wincing and apologizing. But once this was over, that would be the end of it. The end of women coming to Hope’s Point. Things would finally get back to normal.
Well, as normal as things could be now that Shelby was living here. It would be interesting to see how she made it through the winter. That was the test of a true Alaskan.
I know because I had passed that test for seven years.
I walked up to the cabin, pleased to see the plume of smoke coming from the chimney. I’d taught her how to make a fire, how to keep it going and, at least in that, she was an adept student.
I rapped on the door with my usual knock and a second later, she opened it. Today, the baby was on her hip, wrapped up in footie pajamas and holding what looked to be a teething ring. A memory of Emily at that age hit me square in the chest. So hard I almost lost my breath.
“Morning, Caleb, come on in.”
She smiled and stepped back but as I looked around the place, there was no sign she’d packed any of her stuff. There was a blanket filled with toys and books on top of her bed. No doubt the floor was too cold—
Not my problem. Not my concern.
“Your time’s up,” I announced, shutting the door behind me.
“What time?” she asked, putting the baby on the bed. I waited to see if he would roll because that could be dangerous, but he seemed content to lay on his belly and work at keeping his head lifted while he still held the teething ring with a death grip.
“Your two weeks. You need to be packed up tonight. I’ll have Doogie ready to take you to Nome first thing tomorrow morning. From there you’ll get a plane to Anchorage and then wherever your final destination is.”
Texas? Was she going back to Texas?
I had to force myself to not ask these questions.
“But…I’m not leaving.”
“You can’t stay. The rent was only for two weeks.”
“I know. I met Eve and Zeke and their little boy. I told Eve my situation and she said the cabin is mine for as long as I need it. Plus, she had a ton of hand-me-down clothes and toys Zeke Jr. is too big for now so that worked out really well.”
“Situation?”
“The whole without-a-home thing. Homeless, to be more blunt. God, that’s such an awful word.”
It was a horrible word. She’d been homeless? With a baby? Where the hell was the father of the child? Her family?
I shook my head, telling myself I didn’t care. “So what if you have this cabin? You have no means of making money up here. Did you just expect I would feed you indefinitely? That’s pretty ballsy on your part.”
Of course I would feed her indefinitely, which was why she had to go.
“No, sir. That would be make me a beggar. I was homeless, but I am not a beggar. I’m a fighter and there’s a difference. I’ve got a couple weeks of food to hold me over and between now and then I plan to find a way to make money.”
I blinked. “How is that possible? Where did the extra food come from?”
“I rationed it,” she said, walking over to the area that held the sink and basically served as the kitchen. She pulled out the crate and cooler I’d brought her that first day and showed me all the food she’d managed to save over the past two weeks. Almost like she was proud.
