Bear and I II

Chapter 1

This is the story about the Bear and I. It's a complicated story so you need to follow with great care. It's full of both happy times and great sorrow. I need to write all this down since as I understand it, I will not live long enough to tell it to my great grandchildren and they deserve to know all about how they came to be. I don't trust my husband to get it right no matter how much I love him. He's a writer and tends to exaggerate.

I'll do my best to explain it from all sides if I can get my husband and my children to tell it to me accurately. I'll try to include bits and pieces of our lives in this book. Pressed leaves and maybe even a few drawings of what I saw. Promise not to laugh, though!

Hopefully it will be in our family for generations to come. Far into the future. One that I will never get to see but I'll be there nonetheless.

Now, where shall I begin? How about at the beginning? Isn't that where all stories start?

- :: - ::: - :: -

Rick was in the woodshed splitting logs. The log splitter was a relatively new addition and he was seriously enjoying it. It was fast becoming the greatest thing since sliced bread! He was also mostly alone since he didn't count Shadow in this even if he was his best friend. Given that he used up several cords of wood every winter which was how he kept warm, summer was the perfect time to do this.

Then Shadow was up and growling. "What, boy?" Rick looked at him and stepped out to join him. Now he saw what Shadow saw. It was a quad and it looked like it had a rider.

A quad was about the only way to reach his place unless it was winter. Then you needed a snowmobile or a Snowcat.

He had paid to have this place built for him. They had started when there was snow still on the ground and brought everything in to start by snowmobile. Later it had turned into quads. The team had lived there in tents. By the time they were done and he had the place furnished there was snow on the ground again.

Whoever this was must really want to be here. Because at this point in time his trail was now mostly mud and damn near impassable. "Looks like we have company, boy."

- :: - ::: - :: -

"Hey, Castle. She said she just had to come so I brought her. I warned her what to expect," Aaron told him.

"It's okay, Aaron. You want to stick around? I don't think she'll be staying long." Rick had a guess who this might be and he didn't want her there so she would be leaving soon. Or like right now.

"Mr. Castle, I'm Gina Cowell. I represent Black Pawn." Gina wanted to slap all the mud on her legs away but that would just get her hands dirty and caked in mud so she suffered as is.

"My editor. So why are you here?" Rick questioned her since he didn't need her there.

"You don't have a phone so coming in person was necessary," Gina explained none too happily.

"Not true," Rick corrected her. "I have a satellite phone for emergencies and I have a CB radio for everything else."

Gina knew she didn't have his satellite phone number and she didn't have a CB radio so it was a necessity in her eyes.

"Nevertheless I'm here and we need to talk." Gina looked down at the dog that was showing a lot of teeth. "Is he safe?" She pointed at Shadow.

"He doesn't approve of uninvited guests and neither do I. Since you're here state your peace and then leave." Rick left her and headed for his house, not caring if she followed or not.

Rick went to Alexis's bedroom to make sure she was still sleeping for her much needed nap and was satisfied. He returned to the main room.

"So what's so important that you need to come way out here?" Rick asked her.

"This is really nice." Gina was truly impressed. She knew where he lived and she was actually expecting to find a one room cabin made from logs. However, she didn't see anything like that. Outside wasn't even logs.

"Thanks, I had a team build it for me. The outside walls are double 2x6's with 12 inches of insulation. The roof has rigid insulation with spray foam between the rafters and wood pine ceilings. The floor is 2 feet above grade with spray foam for insulation.

"Triple pane windows. Solid wood doors that open out so that bears can't open them. Each door has a storm door. The floors are heated using hot water. The wood stove is a backup heat source. The main source is a wood-fired heater in a shed out back.

"A shed that holds up to 18 cords of wood. Solar panels for power and hot water. Propane tanks for backup since the refrigerator is powered by either. A shop so I can fix things and storage and even an outhouse if necessary since we're on a septic system.

"Extra gasoline for my snowmobile and I don't need to change the batteries for the solar system for another 4 maybe 5 years. Weapons to go hunting with as well as a lot of fishing gear. A large enough greenhouse to grow vegetables and some fruit all year long.

"Now how about you get to the point and then leave." Rick had explained more than enough in his mind.

Gina wasn't expecting quite this much hostility so she was taken aback a bit but she was willing to give as good as she got.

"Your books are selling well but we think that if you lived in New York City we could get you in the news more and thereby—"

Rick interrupted her right there. "Never going to happen. My contract doesn't include any book signings and that's never going to change. If that's why you're here you wasted a trip."

"Do you understand the number of book sales we could get if you would just..." Gina found herself being taken by her arm and escorted to the front door.

"You're leaving. Thank you for coming. Don't bother coming back unless it's really important." Rick opened the door and Gina actually managed to free her arm.

"No, that's not the only reason I'm here." Gina had more to talk about.

"Daddy?" a very sleepy voice called out. Both adults turned to see a very little girl with really long orange hair standing there rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"Pumpkin!" Rick's demeanor changed in the blink of an eye. At first he was angry and now he was happy. He went over to her and picked her up. "We have company, Pumpkin, who was just leaving." Rick glared at Gina.

"I was unaware that you had a daughter." Gina didn't remember reading anything about that.

"This is Alexis, the love of my life. We're both happy here so your precious city is never going to happen. When she reaches kindergarten I'll revisit what happens then. But for now we're staying here. Aren't we, Pumpkin?" Rick hugged her and kissed her.

Gina saw her big plan vanish the second Alexis showed up. She could deal with his hostility and give it right back but a child changed things. That he was single was perfect. That was the basis for her plan.

"Say goodbye to the nice lady, Pumpkin." Rick was done with her. She had no reason to even be here.

"Mr. Castle, I would really like for you to reconsider. This is no place to raise a child." Gina wasn't willing to give up. The second she said that she saw fire and hatred in his eyes. If he could she would already be dead.

"Okay, that's it!" Rick put Alexis down and walked over to Gina. This time he clamped his hand around her arm and made sure it hurt. "No one tells me how to raise my child let alone you." Rick got her out the door.

"AARON. She's leaving!" Rick took her down the stairs and out to the quad. Finally Rick let go of her and Gina rubbed her arm since he'd had a tight grip.

"Don't ever come back here again or you'll never leave here," Rick warned her.

"Are you threatening me?" Gina would have Black Pawn dump him if that was the case.

"I'm advising you to preserve your future. Don't ever come back here or it'll be another wasted trip and I won't help you or support you. I'll let you freeze to death. Take her back, Aaron, and don't bring her here again." Rick stomped off to his house to find out what his daughter needed now that she was up.

"Shadow, come." Rick held the door open and watched Shadow trot into the house and go right to Alexis since she was up.

"Better get on and grab hold, Miss. I leave you behind and you'll freeze. Summer only lasts just so long out here," Aaron advised her and started his quad.

Aaron felt her grab hold of him. "I tried to talk you out of this. You made a big mistake."

- :: - ::: - :: -

The problem was that Rick still had work to do and that was just today. So with Alexis and Shadow he was back outside. Alexis had her toys and Shadow so he went back to splitting wood. He had about 8 cords of wood presently and when he was done with today he should be up to 10. That would do for now.

Rick kept taking peeks to see what Alexis was doing. On this trip she was draped all over Shadow who was lying there taking it. He was such a good dog. Just a year old. Already over 100 pounds easily and jet black in color. It made him easy to spot in the white snow and he was truly devoted to Alexis.

Rick kept splitting till he thought it was time for dinner.

"Gone?" Alexis questioned him and meant Gina.

Rick tried to make it simple for her. "The lady? Yes, she's gone. She wanted us to move to this big city, very far from here." Rick grinned as he watched her shake her head.

To Alexis this was home. She had Shadow, she had Daddy, and she had fun here. He always bought her things. She loved him. Why go anywhere else? So she shakes her head.

"That's my girl! How's the fish?" He didn't have much left from last year. That was one more thing he needed to do soon enough as well as go hunting. He hated leaving Alexis alone in the house, even if he did lock it up. But she had Shadow and while Shadow had yet to be truly tested Rick was pretty sure he would do all he could to protect her.

Alexis had her mouth full and simply nodded. Rick warned her about tomorrow. "Daddy has to go hunting tomorrow so I'm leaving you home with Shadow. I need you to stay inside. Can you do that for daddy?"

Alexis nodded again. "Hun wha?" Alexis asked.

"You remember the meat that's in your favorite stew and your favorite burger?" Rick questioned her.

"MOO!" Alexis knew the name for that. She got it a little wrong but Rick knew what she meant.

"That's right. A moose, so daddy will be very busy tomorrow." Rick knew he had to hunt it, kill it, and get it back here. Then strip it, gut it, cut it up, and get it into his freezer so they had meat during the winter.

"No fis?" Alexis liked both a whole lot. They were all easy for her to eat. She always made a mess but they were tasty.

"In a bit, yes. You're going to help me fish. You're a really good fisherman." Rick was playing her up, but her line did catch a fish or two when they did this. He did all the work but Rick gave her all the credit. That had her grinning. She got to help her daddy.

- :: - ::: - :: -

"Go find a book for us to read." Rick was sitting on the sectional and watched her race into her room to find a book for her daddy to read to her. She loved reading night. Her daddy was really good at it. He made all these different voices while he read to her.

Naturally she didn't last the entire book and Rick had to put the book down. He very carefully lifted her up, stripped her, and put her under the covers.

"I love you, Pumpkin." Rick kissed her head and left her in her room. "Let's go, Shadow." Rick went outside. He needed to look for something. He had spotted this guy earlier and needed to know where he'd gone.

- :: - ::: - :: -

Shadow was sniffing the ground and Rick was checking the direction of the tracks he'd found. He had lots of neighbors and most of them weren't any danger to either of them. Rick just wanted to know where everyone was now.

"Up river, looks like. We get our usual fishing spot. Alexis is two now so maybe I should teach her how to fish correctly. What do you think, boy? Fish in the water instead of on the bank of the river?" Rick asked Shadow who was ignoring him and was more interested in what he was smelling.

"Fine, let's go home. Come on, Shadow!" He needed to clean up the kitchen anyway and if he was going to go hunting tomorrow he needed to get the crock pot ready.

- :: - ::: - :: -

Kate almost never took a vacation but she got talked into this trip and she was actually having a lot of fun. Her cruise ship had Go Karts, Mini Golf, two bowling lanes, a chocolate shop, a Starbucks, and this slide that went out over the side of the ship before dumping you into the pool.

Now some of this cost extra money. The Go Kart was $15, Mini Golf was $10, and Bowling was another $15. Starbucks actually cost more than the normal one she was used to but the ice cream was free like the food in the buffet and even some of the restaurants.

Alcohol was naturally an extra cost but she was avoiding that pretty well so far.

Now these shore excursions were an additional cost that varied from cheap to ungodly expensive much like the spa treatments. She had never tried one in New York City so seeing the costs here had her slumping her shoulders in defeat.

Tomorrow's shore excursion didn't come cheap. Supposedly she and others were going to get to take a helicopter ride and see a glacier. They were even going to land on it somewhere, get out, and look around. Just seeing a glacier was going to be something but actually walk on one? Yeah, she was looking forward to that.

Its downside was that it was one of those really expensive shore excursions. Still it was a once in a lifetime chance so she was taking it.

Today had been great! She had a shore excursion that was a beer tasting trip. All Alaskan micro brews and every one of them had been great. She even had a mini totem pole to remember the place.

Right now she was getting ready to go watch a show in the theater. She didn't need a ticket for this, it was free. Well, it was part of the cost of the cruise so not that free, but she didn't have to pay extra for it.

- :: - ::: - :: -

Kate had enjoyed the show. It had been done really well. Now she was walking to a section of the ship she had learned about and was looking forward to. First came a quick stop at Starbucks to get a hot cup of coffee. Then she was outside and walked to this little kiosk, picked up a bag of popcorn, and found a seat.

It was an outdoor movie on a huge screen. The popcorn was white and tasted terrible but she ate it till her bag was empty and washed it down with coffee.

The movie turned out to be a strange science fiction-like movie. Something about the planet had changed and people were divided up into factions inside the city. Anyone outside the city was supposedly infected or radioactive or mutants. She was still trying to understand that.

In the end the city found out that there were millions of people living outside the city. They grew crops, gave birth to babies and raised them, and fought off police units that came out of the city to hunt them down and kill them.

The city finally stopped when police squads started not coming back and tried to lock up and keep everyone inside.

"Police, huh?" Kate didn't think so.

- :: - ::: - :: -

She was far forward and the movie was the very aft of the ship directly above the Go Kart track which was closed so after the movie she had a long walk ahead of her and then down to Deck 12.

Using her key card to get inside she saw that her room cleaned and tomorrow's schedule was on her bed along with coupons for things she didn't care anything about. It began early in the morning and lasted till it was very late. There was always something even if she wasn't interested in all of them.

"Art auction?" It was set for 4:30 on Deck 10 far aft. She liked art so she looked when her shore excursion was. "I might make it." It might depend on how fast her ride could get her back to the ship.

The ship also had a small casino but she had only ever set foot in it so she could get from one end of the ship to the other. She knew Vegas had the odds set but this ship wasn't Vegas so she had no intention of throwing her money away.

- :: - ::: - :: -

Kate was up and carrying the thickest coat she had. This was Alaska after all and she was on her way to a glacier. It had to be cold just standing on that thing.

She was on the correct deck and far forward and entered the theater and found a place to sit where a sign told her to. It looked like a number of shore excursions would be leaving the ship again today and most all of them had people coming here first.

Eventually she was told to follow someone who took her and her group down to Deck 4, off the ship, and out to buses. Nice big Greyhound-sized buses no less. Just like last time. They didn't begin to fill the bus but they didn't seem to care.

The helicopter turned out to be at the airport where they got broken up into smaller groups. Since Kate was alone she got teamed up with a family that had a little girl who she quickly found out was named Madison.

"What a coincidence! My best friend in high school was named Madison. I called her Maddy all the time. She called me Becks. Short for Beckett. We were in French class together," Kate told her since she felt like a different person on this cruise. She was actually having fun and happy.

Okay, she thought she had been happy before, but she was more happy now.

"Do you speak French?" Madison asked her.

"Nope, I never used it again. I do speak Russian, though," Kate told her. "My sobirayemsya poveselit'sya," Kate told her in Russian. "That's Russian for 'We are going to have so much fun.'" Kate got a smile out of her.

The four of them followed this lady who took them out to their helicopter. She told them all to duck and assigned them seats. Kate got Madison next to her while her parents were behind them. Then they put on their headsets.

"You can't talk to each other but I can talk to you. We're going to give you a tour all the way out there followed by a tour of the glacier before we set down for a quick walk on a glacier. It's perfectly safe. It's frozen. Only the snow that was on top is melting.

"Now keep something in mind. Flying might be heavenly but hovering is divine. Seat belts." He turned his head to look and make sure. The lady that brought them out there should have done that but it was his job to check.

"Here we go." He lifted off easily and none of them really noticed till suddenly they were in the air.

"This is going to be so cool!" Kate was sure of it.