***
Many hours passed as Richard and Tawnie worked their way around and down the mountain’s eastern ridge. They only captured relief from the hot sun once they reached the heavily treed forest halfway down the far side of the mountain. The going was slow, and Richard felt an increasing discomfort in his knees with every step down. This part of the trail was nearly as steep coming down in places as the hike was going up. His knees took the brunt of the torture down the steep incline.
“I need a break,” Richard said. “Ten minutes.” He reached his hand out to Tawnie gesturing with his fingers for his half-empty bottle of water. She handed him the bottle from the side pouch of her pack.
“We’re almost down,” she replied. “Another fifteen and we’ll be on the bottom of the mountain. Twenty more after that and we’ll be back at the truck.”
“Good,” he replied. “I’m feeling it in my knees right now.”
“Coming down is always harder on the body. Especially the knees. We can slow down if you need.”
Richard gulped back two large swallows and handed the bottle back to Tawnie. She tucked it back in the pouch.
He nodded. “Maybe so. I don’t think I can keep up this pace.” He took a couple of deep breaths and released them slowly. “I’m not sure if Michelle would have been up to this hike. This is really hard.”
It wasn’t his plan to bring up Michelle’s name, but he knew he’d have to before they got back to the truck.
Tawnie grabbed her own water and downed a few swallows. She looked away, across the trees into the valley below without responding to his comment.
“I can barely walk right now. My legs feel like jelly,” he added.
Tawnie turned to him with a disconcerted look.
He grinned sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m not upset.”
“I just thought—you know—mentioning Michelle. I thought I upset you just now.”
“Jesus, Dad. I told you I’m not upset.”
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. She and I just don’t get along. We haven’t from the start.”
Richard smiled.
“She digs at me just to get a rise out of me. It’s what she does. I’ll never do right by her.”
“She can be complicated.”
“Complicated? Wow, Dad. You really won’t take sides will you?”
Richard started walking again. Tawnie followed behind him.
“It’s not about sides. There are no sides.”
She laughed. “There are from where I am sitting.”
“So, what exactly do you want me to do? The last thing I want is to see you two going at it every time you get together in the same room.”
“I would like you to defend me once in a while. That’s all.”
“I thought I was.”
“When have you ever defended me in front of her? I can’t think of any time you ever told her to back off in front of me.”
It hurt to hear that his daughter expected such a reaction from him against the woman he loved. He thought he was being fair.
“What about this hike?” he asked.
“What?” She laughed with disbelief.
“This hike we’re on. Michelle didn’t want to come, but I still came. I wanted to be with you today. To me, that’s standing up for our relationship. I chose to be with you over her today, and believe it or not, no matter what words Michelle may have used back at the campsite this morning, she understands that this hike is important to both of us.”
“Oh yeah. Some stupid hike of hers up some stupid mountain. Isn’t that what she said?”
Richard was at a loss.
Neither spoke again about Michelle as they continued on down the mountain. As they came upon the Heart Creek intersection, close to where they started the hike, several people were gathered on the trail. Two police officers were part of the group. One moved towards them, his head bobbed up and down as he approached.
“You two.…” One arm was stretched out and pointed up to the top of the mountain to the south. “Were you up hiking this way today?”
“Yes, we were,” Richard replied.
Tawnie craned her neck and shielded her eyes as she watched what looked like the same helicopter zoom across the sky from the north to the south up Heart Creek.
“That helicopter spotted two people on top of the mountain earlier.”
Richard and Tawnie both nodded. “That was probably us. It came right up close to us and the man inside pointed down at us.” Tawnie pointed down mimicking the action she had given to the helicopter.
“Then I’ll need you both to come with me.” He motioned with his arm over to where the small group was gathered.
The crowd watched with interest as the officer led them back into the small gathering. The group was composed of a number of emergency personnel, wildlife officers, and a few others.
“My God,” Tawnie said and tugged her father on the arm. “Someone really did fall off the mountain.”
The officer heard her comment. “What did you just say?”
“I said someone probably fell off the mountain.”
He gazed at her with a curious look. “Why would you say that?”
Unsure if she should say anything more, she turned to Richard who nodded at her. “We heard a scream when we were on top of the mountain.”
“Come, please,” he said. “Someone did fall.” He turned and started walking towards the small group.
“Are they okay?” Tawnie asked.
The officer kept walking. “We’ve got a team trying to get up there right now. It’s not an easy place to mount a rescue.”
An hour and a half later, Richard and Tawnie were finally back in the truck at the parking lot after having given a complete and detailed account to the police of what transpired on their hike up the mountain, starting with the two vehicles they spotted parked off in the corner of the parking lot when they arrived. One of the vehicles was still there and an officer was posted next to it.