“He would have been about thirteen.”
“Hell of an age to watch your whole family die.”
“Bear slowly got better, but when he was upright again, he wasn’t the same boy he’d been. His mother said the fever had damaged his mind somehow. She also wrote that fever had left her all but blind. She lingered on, doing her best to teach him how to care for himself, knowing she was dying. She wrote that he remembered every Bible verse she read to him but that he seemed to have the mind of a small child.”
What disease could cause brain damage and make a person go blind? Scarlet fever maybe? Meningitis? Viral meningoencephalitis?
Hell, entire families had been wiped out by fevers in Scarlet Springs back in the day.
“In her last entry, Rebecca wrote that she warned Bear against going to town or trusting people from Scarlet Springs because they would lead him astray.”
“I guess Bear got lonely enough or hungry enough to ignore that—or at least part of it. He’s never been open to talking about where he lives or where he’s from.”
“It breaks my heart to think of him up there alone.” Lexi held something up. “I found this old document tucked in the back of the journal. I’m not sure what it is. It’s pretty faded.”
Traffic had brought the canyon to a standstill, so Austin reached over, took the document, unfolded it. At first, he couldn’t make sense of it. Then he saw a familiar stamp at the bottom.
Forest County Clerk & Recorder
He stared. “This is the deed to the land.”
“It’s … what?”
“It’s the deed to the property where the cabin stood. The land belongs to Bear.”
Since the day Austin had discovered the cabin, he had worried the county administration would find out Bear was there and force him off the land. Now, they would have to concede that the land belonged to Bear outright.
“Does that mean he’ll be able to stay up there?”
“The county might choose to contest it or try to condemn the land, but they’ll have everyone from Scarlet on their back if they do. Of course, we need to talk to Bear first, see how much he understands and what he wants us to do. These things belong to him, not to us. We’re just keeping them safe.”
Traffic nudged forward again, winding toward home.
“It’s going to be burned to the ground,” Lexi said.
“Yeah.”
They had both resigned themselves to finding an ash heap. They’d heard on the news that most of the homes beyond Quarry Street had burned. Their home sat high above Quarry Street, midway up Dead Man’s Hill overlooking town.
They rounded the last corner, and Scarlet Springs came into view.
Austin stared. “Holy shit.”
“God, look at that.”
From the top of the mountain stretching westward to the high peaks, south to Ski Scarlet, and northward toward Estes Park, the conifer and aspens were gone, replaced by a landscape of gray. No trees. No houses. Nothing but ash.
Austin refused to let his spirits sink. He’d gotten a second chance at life. Nothing was more important than that. “We have a lot to be grateful for.”
Lexi reached over, rested a hand on his thigh.
They found Julia Marcs directing traffic where the highway entered town, a big smile on her face. “Welcome home!”
Bear stood in his roundabout, preaching encouragement to those who drove by. “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed!”
“Seeing him, knowing what he’s been through—it breaks my heart,” Lexi said.
Austin waved. “Hey, Bear!”