CHAPTER NINE
The return drive to Calgary was uneventful and the hot sun had fully set when they arrived at Trew’s house. They entered the front door to find Larry much the same as he had been the first time they entered the house together: sitting in a recliner in front of the television, wearing nothing but his underwear. The only difference this time was that Brandi was no longer there.
He greeted them in his usual surly way, and this time didn’t even bother to go put some pants on. Martie took that as a sign that he was becoming more comfortable with her. Unfortunately she didn’t think she’d ever be comfortable with him. The way he looked at her made her skin crawl. It was as if he could see right inside her, and what he saw was something she wasn’t even aware of herself.
“Hey Dad,” Trew said. “Just gonna grab a bite and then get some shut eye. We’re hitting the road again first thing in the morning for Vancouver.”
“Okay,” Larry said distractedly, his eyes not leaving the T.V. screen.
They went to the kitchen and Martie waited while Trew dug through the contents of the fridge. He pulled out a bowl of leftover chicken with rice, and put it in the microwave. Martie poured them each a glass of water and set out plates and cutlery. They were dishing out the food when Larry came strolling in. Standing in front of the table between the two of them, he cocked his head to the side to give Trew a confused look.
“Where did you say you were going?”
“Vancouver.” Trew shoved a big forkful of food into his mouth.
“Vancouver…as in British Columbia?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.” He smirked at Martie.
Larry shook his head as if to say ‘crazy teenagers,’ and started heading back toward the living room. Suddenly he stopped and turned slowly back. “Why are you going to Vancouver?”
Trew swallowed the food in his mouth and replied, “We think we might have found Martie’s dad, so we’re going to talk to him. Hopefully he might have some info that could help find her mom.”
Larry’s eyebrows scrunched together and his eyes narrowed. That combined with his flaring nostrils made the fork stop on its way to Martie’s mouth. “You’re not going,” he barked.
Trew put his fork down and stared at his dad in disbelief. “What? Why not?”
Tense silence began, with the exception of the clock, which as usual, threatened to drive Martie mad. But she was curious as to why he changed his mind so suddenly, and waited, not breathing, for his answer.
“It’s too far,” he mumbled. “I forbid you to go.”
Trew laughed. “Since when do you forbid me to do anything?”
“As of right now,” he sneered. “You’re still a minor.”
Instinct told her that Trew was not one to back down when fighting for something he believed in, and he truly believed that finding her father would lead to finding her mother. But Trew also knew his dad, and Martie guessed that arguing with Larry about anything would be a lost cause.
Tension thickened the air as she looked back and forth at Trew and Larry glaring at each other. The clock and its incessant ticking didn’t help her feel any easier.
Finally Trew backed down. “Fine,” he sneered. “We won’t go.” Then he spoke silently to Martie. “He works tomorrow. We’ll leave after he’s gone.”
Relief washed over her and she noticed a bubble of excitement rise inside her. She could be meeting her dad the next day. But the bubble quickly popped when she remembered he might not be as thrilled to meet her.
They hit the road sometime in mid-morning the next day. Once outside of Calgary, Trew took over driving, and sometime after crossing the B.C. border Martie had fallen asleep.
The sensation of the car coming to stop jolted her awake. Lifting her head and rubbing her neck, she looked around. They had pulled into a gas station in what appeared to be a road stop, consisting only of the service station with attached convenience store and restaurant, and a small motel. Deep, dense forest surrounded it all.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"I'm guessing it's called Blink."
Sure enough the sign on the motel read The Blink Inn and the restaurant was called The Blink Diner. “Yeah. Not much here. I guess if you ‘blink’ you’ll miss it.” This gave them both a good chuckle.
Trew started filling up the gas tank while Martie went to use the washroom and stock up on munchies.
As she was walking back to the car, her eyes were drawn to the other side of the highway. There was a small parking lot with a tiny log cabin behind it. The sign on the front of the cabin read, ‘Penn’s Hiking Trail and Overnight Cabins’. She sprinted excitedly toward Trew, pointing and saying, “Look!”
His gaze followed her finger to the other side of the road, and then flickered back to her. “What?”
“Trew,” she breathed. “Blink. Penn’s…”
He paused briefly in thought before his eyes lit up when it finally came to him. “From the back of the picture.”
“Yes!”
“What were the other words?” he asked.
“Something about a river.” She got in the car and pulled the picture from her purse. He followed suit, taking his place behind the wheel. “Big tree across the river, and Garnet.”
“Let’s check it out.”
They parked in the lot across the highway and entered the little cabin where a lone desk had a balding man sitting behind it. The rest of the room was empty, with the exception of big glossy nature photos covering the walls.
“Welcome to Penn’s.” The man greeted them with a smile.
After a short discussion they learned that the hiking trail followed the Bisquette River and ended almost nine kilometers one way. There were twelve private cabins located at the end for overnight stays. They would have to pay up front for accommodation. Coffee and muffins were offered in the morning, but they would be required to pack in any other meals or snacks.
Overcome with curiosity over the fact that two of the four things listed on the back of the picture were here, they felt a one day delay would not be a big deal. Trew filled out the required form while Martie paid the man in cash. Thankfully he didn’t question their age, and Trew’s driver’s license wasn’t examined closely.
They told the man they needed to pick up some food for later and wanted a quick lunch in the restaurant before hitting the trail.
The meal was good and left them both feeling energized, and ready to tackle nature. They were eager to solve the mystery of the picture, and both felt this could not be purely coincidence. Neither of them believed that the end of the trail would actually lead to the city, but they hoped it would give them an answer of some kind.
Trew had packed his things in a backpack, so they filled it with only what they thought would be needed for the night. Not wanting to leave the money unattended in the car overnight, they stuffed it in as well.
They hiked along at a good pace, stopping every now and then to admire the scenery and take pictures on their phones. It was a beautiful walk, with the river flowing leisurely on their right. The smell of tall pine trees was strong, with the sun poking through here and there to light up the scattering of needles that crunched beneath their feet. Birds chirped high above and the noises of little creatures could be heard now and then as they scurried along a branch or behind a bush.
Martie had been worried that the hike would take a long time and leave them rushing through the dense forest after dark. But her worry had been for nothing and they found the end of the trail about an hour before the sun started to set.
They located the host cabin to let them know they had arrived and to pick up the key to their own cabin. After dumping their things, they headed out to explore, wanting to make the most of what was left of the daylight.
They went straight to the rickety old bridge that crossed the river and once on the other side, stopped to look around. Trew spotted it first, not far off into the woods. While all the other trees had long thin trunks, this one bo
asted a broad thick one. It was obviously a very old tree and it looked strangely out of place in this forest. He grabbed Martie’s hand and they sprinted toward it.
At the tree, they were far enough into the forest that they could no longer see the cabins on the other side of the bridge. The deep brown old trunk had a circumference that Trew couldn’t come close to wrapping his arms around. Little bits of green growth clung to it here and there. The two of them stood for a long time, touching and examining.
“Now what?” asked Martie.
Trew shrugged and looked around in all directions. “Well this has to be the tree. There are no other big trees here. Just tall skinny ones.”
Martie agreed with a nod.
“What was the last word - Garnet?”
“Uh-huh.”
He tilted his head to look toward the top. “What exactly is garnet?”
“It’s a stone of some kind. I think it’s a reddish color, but I’m not sure. Maybe we should be looking for a garnet stone,” she suggested.
They spent the remainder of the light offered by the sun scanning the ground around the tree for garnet stones, patting the trunk from top to bottom all the way around as far up as they could reach, and looking up into the branches for something that looked reddish. But they were stumped. They felt sure they had located the right tree in the right place. There was no possible way the words on the back of the photo could come together in any other way. The problem was that they didn’t know exactly what they were looking for.
Disappointed, they crossed back over the river with hanging heads.
Before settling into their cabin, they made a brief stop at the host cabin. They felt there was nothing left to lose, and had decided to ask the host for help. Unfortunately the host had nothing to offer. No, there were no major garnet deposits in the area that he was aware of. And, no, he had never seen the city in the picture before.
They thanked him and went to their own cabin feeling spent.
The cabin was very small, but it had a rustic, cozy feel to it. The sparse furniture was also made from various types of wood with logs used where ever possible.
Trew sprawled on the bed while Martie sat down on one of the log chairs at the table. She was surprised to find she could get cell service here and sent Fran a quick text to let her know they were okay. Then she messaged Becky to let her know what was going on - at least as much as she could tell her. Becky had some good gossip to share and they spent a good twenty-five minutes going back and forth.
Leaving her phone on the table, she flopped down on the bed beside Trew, causing his body to bounce a bit on the bed. She giggled and snuggled on top of his back to hug him.
“Thanks,” she said.
Turning his head to the side, he asked, “For what?”
“You know…for coming with me. For helping me. There’s no way I could do this alone.”
He flipped his body over in a quick maneuver to face her. “Martie, don’t you know that you’re my whole world now? I’d do anything for you.” His expression was solid, his eyes intense. Yes, she did know this, because she felt the same about him. But it was good to hear it.
The rest of the evening was spent lying on the bed talking, getting to know one another better. They talked of their childhood, their opinions on controversial topics, and many other things.
Martie was curious about his mother and asked if he was willing to talk about her. He was very nonchalant about the subject. The gist of the story was that his dad had hooked up with her and she became pregnant. They lived together for a while, but after Trew was born she decided she had no desire to be a mother. She was a party girl with dreams of stardom and a baby was cramping her style. So she left and never looked back. Larry raised him alone from the time he was an infant.
It was heartbreaking for her to hear. How horrible it would be to know that your mother never wanted you, although it did mirror her own story, with her not knowing for sure if her father wanted her. She felt sad for Trew even though it didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest.
“My dad tells me that I look a little like her, which makes sense, because I’m not the massive guy he is. And apparently I have her personality too - Dad says she was a people person and a little rebellious.”
Trew laughed heartily when Martie blurted out, “Thank goodness for that.” She instantly felt bad, not meaning to have insulted his dad. “I’m sorry, it’s just that your dad is kind of…you know…scary.”
“No need to explain or apologize. I know what my dad is like. But, I have to say, when it comes right down to it…when you really need him for something, he comes through. And he’s a good person to have on your side.”
They discussed their dreams again, trying to analyze why they had been dreaming about each other all their lives. She confessed that she never even considered that her dream boy was a real living person. He on the other hand, claimed that he always believed she was real. For a time he would go and sit at the mall, scanning every girl that walked by, thinking he might find her there. This idea had sprung from a dream that took place at a mall. He did this for almost a year before giving up. They also found it curious that they were unable to control what they said or did in their dreams. Even so, they both thought it was an incredible thing, even if they never figured it all out.
“Do you think you’ll ever tell anyone?” he asked.
She was unsure what he meant.
“You know…about the dreams, and about how we can talk to each other in our heads.”
She thought about it for a moment. “I’d tell my mom,” she said sadly, omitting ‘if she were here.’
Trew’s soft eyes watched her with concern. He knew that she was both excited and nervous about possibly meeting her father. But he also knew that she had doubts that talking to him would actually lead to finding her mother. It had been over seventeen years since they last saw each other. How could he possibly know where Maggie was or who took her?
The other thing that had been on her mind lately was if her mom had loved her father so much, how could she just let him go? Martie thought back to the times she had seen her mother crying on her bed with the locket of his picture in her hand. If she was in that much pain without him, why did she never try to contact him? Even if he had changed his name, if he actually was Martin Vinterstein, it wouldn’t have been that hard to find him. Trew had found him in a matter of minutes.
Then again, there was the chance that he wasn’t her father, in which case the whole trip would be for nothing.
Trew was playing with her hair and rubbing her back. His touch was incredibly soothing. She thought how funny it was that they found each other in a time of such tragedy. She hoped it didn’t mean the universe was giving her a trade-off. Her mother leaves and her soul mate arrives. No, she told herself, and began a silent chant in her head, ‘I will find my mom, I will find my mom…’
Eventually Trew’s magic touch soothed her right to sleep.
It was slow going through the mountains the next day, but the scenery was breathtaking. Dense forests, winding roads, tunnels in the sides of mountains, and the odd glimpse of wildlife left Martie feeling like she was in another world. She was amazed that it was all so close to home, and yet with all the traveling she and her mom had done, they’d never been through this area of their very own country.
Approximately three hours from their destination, she was at the wheel and Trew was nodding off beside her in the passenger seat. The exhilaration of closing in on where her father lived had her adrenaline pumping and her foot pressing heavy on the gas, as she zoomed along the double lane highway. She was enjoying passing cars, and each time she did, she followed the rules of the road perfectly, sliding back into the right lane after passing.
She couldn’t count how many times she had maneuvered in and out to pass, but she took note at one point that another vehicle was doing the exact same thing a couple of cars behind her. It was a large black SUV with very darkly tinted windows.
She told herself it must simply be someone driving at an identical pace to hers. However, with everything that had been happening, she couldn’t help but feel a little paranoid. Wanting to test what would happen, she passed a few more cars, observing the SUV carefully in her rear view mirror. It followed her lead precisely, but always staying a couple of cars back.
Just a coincidence, she told herself. But it nagged at her. She wanted to know for sure.
A couple of kilometers up the road she found a rest stop and turned into it, keeping her eyes on the mirror. Sure enough, the SUV slowed and pulled onto the shoulder of the road, staying a little back. Martie waited and watched, unsure what to do.
"Why'd we stop?" asked Trew, now awake. The sudden sound of his voice startled her, but she didn’t take her eyes off the mirror. Trew followed her stare, cranking his head to look back at what had her gawking.
"I think we're being followed," she told him.
He turned back to her. "Yeah, we are," he said. "I noticed quite a while ago."
"What! Why didn't you tell me?" She was shocked and angry.
He shrugged. "I'm sorry. I wasn't a hundred percent positive. And I didn't want to freak you out."
"Okay,” she easily forgave him. “Well I'm positive. The question is what to do about it."
He considered for a minute or two. "Well for starters we should only get out of the car in places where there are lots of people around."
She nodded in agreement.
"I doubt we can lose him on the highway," he said. "But once we get to the city we might be able shake him."
Having kept a nervous eye on the SUV, Martie noted that no one had moved from it.
"Do you think it's the people who took my mom?" she asked.
His expression was one of pity. "I think it has to be. Who else would be following us?"
When she didn’t reply he grabbed her hand and squeezed. "C'mon, we're almost to Vancouver. Want me to drive?"
She squeezed back appreciatively. "After our next stop. I have to pee and we should top up the tank.”
About half an hour down the highway she turned into a very busy truck stop. With people everywhere she was hoping their pursuer would leave them alone. She parked beside one of the gas pumps, turned off the engine, and waited.
The black SUV pulled into the area, but hung back, parking near the shoulder of the road. There was no movement, so whoever it was, was staying put - for now. She noticed for the first time that the vehicle had a rental sticker on the front bumper. She decided whoever it was must not be from around there.
Trew offered to stay with the car to fill up the gas tank, and keep an eye on the SUV, while she went in to use the washroom and buy them each a drink.
Her heart beat out of control the whole time she was in the store. She used the washroom as fast as humanly possible and quickly selected two drinks from the cooler. The line up to pay had three people in front of her. It moved painfully slow. So slow that she found herself squirming nervously on the spot and sweating profusely, even though the place was heavily air conditioned. She kept bobbing her head around trying to peek out the window, but from where the cash register was situated she could see neither Trew nor the mystery car. She was worried about Trew and knew she wouldn’t be satisfied until she was by his side again.
Finally it was her turn. The kid behind the counter rang up her purchases to a total of three dollars and some change. She passed him a twenty and told him to keep the change. He watched her wide-eyed as she rushed out the door.
Panic set in when she saw her car was no longer at the pump. Frantically she scanned the giant lot, craning her neck to see between semi-trucks, cars and people. The sun was too bright, it was too hot and she was drenched. Her chest was being squeezed by some invisible force. There were too many colors, too much movement, she couldn’t concentrate. The blood drained from her head. She thought she was going to pass out…
“Martie, over here!” Trews voice brought her back from her near black out. She whipped her head around to find the person attached to the voice. She sighed when she located him standing at the far end of the building waving at her.
She started to run to him, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate. It was as though every muscle had turned to pudding. He sprinted forward and grabbed her just as she was going down.
“Jesus, Martie, what happened?” His voice was shrill with worry.” He helped her to the car, reached into the shopping bag she still clutched, and pulled out a cold drink. He opened it and handed it to her.
“Are you okay?”
She took a long drink, put the cap back on and pressed the wonderful chill of the bottle to her forehead, cheeks and back of her neck.
“I’m okay,” she breathed. “I’m not sure, but I think I had some sort of panic attack.”
He kissed the top of her head. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. Can we just get outa here?”
On their way to the exit back to the highway they drove slowly past the front of the SUV. They tried desperately to see the identity of their pursuer. But not only were the windows darkly tinted, the sun was hitting the windshield dead on, creating nothing but a blinding glare. Still overheated and sweaty, a chill ran through Martie’s entire body as she realized that she couldn’t see whoever was in there, but they could see her perfectly.
The second they pulled back onto the highway, the SUV started up and exited the truck stop, heading in the same direction, making a point to stay two cars behind them.