Chapter 18.3

“Is Sara okay?” Steve asked Kevin.

“I can honestly say, I don’t know. I’m worried about her. I can tell you that,” Kevin replied.

“Do we need to go find her?” Steve asked, clearly concerned.

“No, she said she is off-trail and only about ten to fifteen minutes away from the parking lot,” Kevin said.

“Good, good,” Steve said with relief in his voice. “Well, in that case, I am going to sit down and wait for her. Why don’t you sit down too?”

“No, I’m good,” Kevin said as he continued the pacing he had started as soon as he had called Sara.

“Kevin,” Steve said gently but assertively. “If you keep pacing, you are going to wear a groove in the forest floor. Sit down.”

Kevin stopped in his tracks and looked at Steve.  It was the first time he looked closely at the man who was old enough to be a father to him or Sara. Steve sat calmly on a large rock near the trail, with an expression that was a strange mixture of serenity and concern. 

“How can you be so calm about this?” Kevin demanded.

Steve softly replied, “Kevin, I used to help with search and rescue around this area when I was younger. You spoke to Sara. Even if she sounded upset, you know that she is alive and well. The two of us being calm will help your wife the most when she gets here if she is upset or unsettled for some reason. Now, please sit down.”

Kevin sighed as he dropped to the ground at the base of a tree and leaned against it. He thought about what Steve had just said to him and knew that he was right about needing to stay calm for Sara’s sake. Kevin lost track of time as he sat thinking about Sara and what she had been through in the past week. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he was startled when Steve spoke.

“There she is,” Steve said as he pointed into the forest.

Kevin jumped to his feet and looked toward where Steve had pointed. His heart skipped when he saw his wife emerging from the trees. “Sara!” he yelled as he raced to her.

Sara started laughing as Kevin hugged her, lifting her off the ground. Her laughter was short-lived as pain in her ribs ran through her from the embrace. Kevin released her when he felt her flinch.

“Did I hurt you?” Kevin asked her, letting go of her. He looked more closely at Sara and began to see the many bruises and scrapes. “Let me have your pack. It has to be hurting you.”

Sara smiled as Kevin began to unbuckle her backpack. She told him, “It is hurting. This pack found bruises that I didn’t know I had until I put it on and started hiking out. Be careful with it. I have some things in it that I want both of you to see.”

“Are you sure Steve and I will want to see what you have?” Kevin asked as he helped Sara slip off her backpack.

“I’m sure you will,” Sara answered as she waved to Steve, who was still sitting on his rock. “Come on; let me unpack it by Steve. These things are amazing.”

When they reached where Steve was sitting, Kevin carefully placed her backpack on the ground as Sara took Steve’s hands in hers.

Sara said to Steve, “Thank you for driving Kevin here. I’m sure you had your hands full keeping him calm, didn’t you?”

“He did get a little anxious on the way here and after he talked to you on the phone,” Steve told her with a chuckle. “He wasn’t too bad, though. I have had to deal with much worse.”

“Well, thank you anyway,” Sara said.

Sara knelt and unzipped her pack. “Before either of you lecture me about taking things from the cabin, I know it’s against the rules. But after reading that journal, I think their families have the right to know what happened to them and have these things.”

Sara gently removed the items she had swaddled in her clothing when she packed them and delicately began to unwrap each one, including the journal. She started with the metal box that contained the memories of Herschel’s Sarah and opened the box. She took out the picture and handed it to her husband.

“That is Sarah Allen, the wife of the trapper who wrote the journal. She died giving birth to their baby boy, and that is why Herschel came here from Missouri and became a trapper,” Sara explained.

Kevin glanced at the picture, then handed it to Steve, who began to study the photograph and furrowed his brow. He looked from Sara to the image several times with a perplexed look on his face.

“Is something wrong?” Kevin asked Steve.

Steve replied, “Not really. I just can’t help but notice the similarity between the Sarah in the picture and the Sara sitting here.”

“Now that you mention it, I can see the resemblance,” Kevin agreed. “But my Sara is prettier, without question.” Kevin leaned over and kissed his wife sweetly.

A snort from behind Sara made the two men jump and caused Sara to laugh. She turned to see the enormous white-tail buck slowly gliding toward them. He had stopped in a grove of trees several yards away, as Sara had reached where Kevin and Steve were waiting for her. 

“What took you so long?” Sara asked the deer.

The buck let out a soft huff and walked to where Sara was sitting. It began to nuzzle at her shoulder as she turned back to look at Kevin and Steve. Both men were looking at the deer wide-eyed, mouths agape. 

“Kevin, Steve, this is the deer that I was calling Ted, but after what happened today, his name is Jim,” Sara calmly told them. “And before either of you say anything, no, I did not hit my head that hard, and I am not crazy. Trust me, I considered both of those. I had just had that realization minutes before you called me. That is why I sounded so upset on the phone.”

Kevin finally stammered, “He’s not afraid of us.”

“That is what I kept telling you. This buck is not like other deer. He is the one responsible for me finding the cabin and learning about Jim and Herschel. Granted, he is also the one who pushed me down the embankment, resulting in me feeling and looking like I was used as a punching bag, but I think he had good intentions.”

Steve kept his eyes on the buck as he asked Sara, “Did you take pictures of this cabin that I can look at?”

“I sure did,” Sara answered as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, opened the folder containing the photos, and handed it to Steve.

As Steve began to look through the photographs, he looked perplexed and even confused at what he was seeing. Each one made Steve’s brow furrow more. He was occasionally opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something before closing it again.

“Is something wrong?” Sara asked Steve as she heard the buck lie down behind her.

Steve replied, “I'm not sure. I have been all over this forest, and I have never seen anything like this here.”

“What about that rock mound that is surrounded by trees?” Sara asked Steve.

“Nope, nothing like that either,” Steve told her.

“That is why I am going to come back here as often as I can. There was a reason I found that cabin and that mound where Jim was laid to rest. I think they were tired of being forgotten,” Sara said with a hint of sadness in her tone. 

Kevin told her, “I will come here with you anytime you want to. It will be a while before I am comfortable with you being out here by yourself again.”

“Good, because I’m not sure I’ll feel comfortable being alone out here for quite a while. After this week, I just want to go home, crawl into our bed and sleep for the next three days,” Sara said with a laugh.

“Then let’s get things back in your pack and head out. I know Steve wants to go see his family, and I want to get you home,” Kevin told her and kissed her again. “We will stop and get food on the way home. What do you want?”

Sara replied, “It doesn’t matter as long as it does not contain any meat. I don’t think I will be able to eat meat for a very long time.”