Reaching for the Moon by ThePekingNoodle
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Chapter 9: Shadows of the Past
The plot thickens…
Logan spent a restless night, tossing and turning in his bed as he berated himself for what he had allowed to happen in the poolroom that night. He couldn't even use the excuse of alcohol; two beers were much less than he normally handled with ease. He decided that he would avoid Max the next day. With his departure scheduled for early the following morning, that left him with only a little over 24 hours to get through.
Max for her part, spent her night dreamily reliving those moments in the poolroom with Logan. When her maid had informed her about her parents' departure, she had decided on the evening on impulse. She had seen it as her chance to play at being a normal teenager for once, rather than her parent's cotton wrapped treasure.
The look in Logan's eyes when he had first seen her in her black outfit had sent shivers dancing down her spine, and had encouraged her to try her wings more than she had originally intended. The feel of his strong arms around her as he showed her how to shoot pool, and the way she had caught him looking at her through the course of the evening had gone to her head, and she knew she had gone way beyond the line. Still, the feather light touch of his lips on hers had been worth it. Her first kiss. She wished it had lasted longer but it was more than she had really expected to get from Logan and she would treasure it for always…
* * * *
Logan rolled over and looked at his clock. It was past the time he normally joined Max for her exercises, but today he was going to pass on that pleasure. He couldn't take a chance after what he had done the night before. He rolled over and tried to sleep some more, before he realized that something had awoken him. He sat up and looked around and was startled to see Max perched on a chaise lounge across from his bed, knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped around them as she quietly watched him.
"You didn't come down," she accused him.
Logan was suddenly conscious of his bare chest, and he pulled she sheets up from where they had slipped down when he sat up so suddenly. "I didn't think it was wise, Max."
She just looked at him and waited.
Logan sighed. "Max, about last night. I owe you an apology. I was way out of line.I had no right to do what I did. You're young and you don't understand, but your father would kill me if he knew what had happened. I betrayed his trust."
"Are you mad at me?" she asked in a small voice.
"Max, no. I'm angry at myself. You're wonderful and beautiful but you're fifteen years old and I'm…"
"Don't you dare say you could be my father, Logan." Max was suddenly angry. "I know you're twenty seven but I don't care. Boys my age are dumb and silly. You're perfect."
"Max, I'm flattered. But in a year or two, the boys your age will grow up and you'll wonder what in the world you ever saw in me. You owe it to yourself to wait it out and then you'll laugh over this. I promise you, you will."
Max stood, "If that's what you think, you're not nearly as smart as I thought you were, Logan Cale. And you don't know anything at all about me." With that she turned and left the room by the open French doors closing them with a sharp snap behind her.
Logan sighed, even as it briefly crossed his mind that he had locked those doors the night before. Before he could wonder further, there was knock on his door. He put it out of his mind as he called out, "Come in," and the servant assigned to him entered with some freshly laundered clothing.
* * * *
After dinner that evening, Nathan invited Logan to join him in his study for brandy and cigars. Max had been distant during dinner and had excused herself as soon as they finished. Annette was still concerned about her friend and had excused herself as well, leaving the men on their own.
"So tomorrow you leave us, my friend." Nathan observed as they sat in silence sipping their brandy.
"This has been a wonderful week, Nathan and I can't thank you enough for inviting me to your home."
"Nonsense. We've enjoyed having you here. I hope you will come again soon."
Logan hedged, "You know what life is Nathan. It's difficult for me to take a few days away, much less a week."
Nathan looked at him shrewdly, as if aware that Logan wasn't being completely forthright with him. "I'd like to tell you a story my friend. It's a story that up until tonight only Annette and I and Linetta know. But I think perhaps, it would be good for someone else to know it. Just in case…"
Logan looked at him, curious as to what he might have to say, and Nathan began to speak.
"My wife cannot have children, Logan. Not now, not ever."
Logan started to interrupt, but Nathan motioned him to silence as he told the story…
"It was January of 2009, and I was bringing my wife back from Denver. She had just had a third miscarriage, and I had taken her to a specialist there who was supposed to be the best with those kinds of problems. Unfortunately the prognosis was not good. There was nothing to be done, no cure, no treatments. Our only recourse was adoption.
"We were driving together in our SUV and it began to snow. Our hotel reservations for the night were far ahead and the snow grew thicker and harder, slowing us down. Soon it was full dark and we were still driving. There was nowhere around to stop, so I knew we had to keep going. We were not far past Gillette, Wyoming when I saw headlights ahead, facing us on the right.
"I drove up and pulled over to see that a car had evidently skidded on the snow and had smashed head on into a tree. It was an old car and the man and woman inside of it were clearly very poor. They were also dead. The back door of the car was torn off. I don't know why I looked further, but something made me walk up the road a bit and that's where I found her.
"A little girl was lying in the ditch, almost completely covered in snow and wrapped in a threadbare woman's sweater. She was shivering with cold and barely conscious. I picked her up and carried her back to my car. Annette tried to warm her up as I looked around some more, but there was nothing else to find. When I came back to the car and pulled out my cell phone to call the police, Annette stopped me.
"'Nathan, they're dead aren't they?' she asked. I nodded to her. 'If you call the police they'll come and take her away with them, won't they?' She meant the girl.
"'What are you saying, nina?' I asked her, although I already knew.
"'Nathan, it's like she was sent to us. Look at the poor thing.' The girl was indeed a poor thing. Her hair was shaven, I guessed to cure an infestation of head lice, and she wore a ragged smock under the sweater. Her legs and feet were bare. There were also bruises on her body. I think those were what made up my mind for me. The thought of someone abusing a helpless young girl angered me.
"'We could raise her as our own, Nathan. We could make sure no one ever hurts her again.' Annette was pleading with me and I had no heart to say no to her. We would be rescuing the girl from a bad situation, and we had the money to take care of her as she deserved.
"'Are you sure? This isn't just emotion from…'
"'Nathan, she is my daughter. She was sent to me. I know she was.' Annette was determined and I gave in. We left the scene without calling the police and brought the young girl home with us. We were going to adopt her, but in June of 2009 the Pulse hit and all of the records were wiped out. It seemed to me like it was a sign. I arranged to have new records created, showing that Annette had given birth to a daughter in 2000 and from that day on she was our natural born daughter…"
Nathan fell silent. Logan thought for a moment and then ventured a question. "Why not just adopt? Why go to the trouble of forging the records?"
"Before I adopted, I ran a search of my own just to be sure that there was no family looking for the girl. I found out that the people in the car had no children. At the same time, I ran across rumors of a search for some children who had run away from a foster home outside of Gillette. It seemed to me that Linetta had to have been one of those children. Maybe she had hitched a ride with those people in the car, or maybe she had simply come across it and stolen the sweater to keep warm. She doesn't remember exactly what happened. I believe she was abused and simply refuses to remember.
"Anyway, I knew the foster care system. Annette was deeply attached to Linetta and I did not want to take a chance of some parent showing up and trying to take her away from us. The Pulse was the perfect opportunity to make sure that would never happen, so I took it."
Logan sensed there was something more. "Why are you speaking of this, Nathan after all this time? Why to me?"
"Because I think there may be more to Linetta than I ever guessed. I have kept in touch with some contacts in the Wyoming area ever since we found her, although they have not known the reason for my interest. Recently more information about those runaways was passed on to me. The rumor is that they were orphans that the government was doing some kind of medical experiments on. To identify them, they each had a mark put on them, almost as the Nazis did to their concentration camp prisoners."
Logan guessed what he was going to say before he did. "Her tattoo. The barcode?"
"You saw it? You are observant my friend. Linetta knows she must keep that hidden. She was careless." Nathan frowned.
"She doesn't know I saw it. It was the smallest chance that I did. Don't reprimand her."
"There is no harm this time, but she must be more careful. The recent stories I have heard worry me. You see the government was not only using those poor children; after they ran away they continued to look for them to bring them back. And I fear they are still looking for them today, six long years later."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Logan, you promised me the other day that you would never harm my daughter. I need to ask you for a further promise."
"Nathan, I will do whatever I can."
"I am worried about Linetta and these new stories. I fear that if something were to happen to me she would be alone in the world, without any protection. I trust you as a son, Logan and I am asking you to promise that if it becomes necessary, you will protect my Linetta from those who may wish to do her harm."
"Nathan is there something specific you know?"
"Not at all. But I am a man who prefers not to leave things to chance. I invited you here to see if you were what I thought you were, and I am satisfied that you are a man of principle and honor. If you say you will look after my daughter, then I know you will do it."
Logan's guilt over what he had allowed to happen the previous night weighed on him even more heavily as he listened to Nathan's words. "I may not be the right person for this, Nathan."
Nathan looked at him intently and Logan had the feeling that he knew exactly what had happened the night before. "I know that you will never allow yourself to harm my daughter, no matter the provocation. You must not expect perfection of yourself, my son. We all may make small mistakes but if we learn from them no harm is done in the end."
Nathan turned to pour more brandy and Logan thought he heard him whisper "…and my daughter could tempt a saint, heaven help us all." Nathan waited to let Logan digest his words and then asked once again, "Will you do this thing for me?"
Logan couldn't refuse in the face of Nathan's insistence. "I could do no less. You helped me when no one else would, when I was a young boy with the weight of his entire family on his shoulders. I promise, Nathan, I will do whatever becomes necessary to make sure no harm comes to your daughter. Word of a Cale."
Nathan smiled with satisfaction and the two shook hands. "I will sleep easier knowing that in need Linetta can call on you. Thank you my son."
Logan nodded and sipped his brandy. "Will you tell her about this?"
"Linetta does not know about the possible threat. I prefer that she not know at this time. So I will not tell her now. But I will arrange that if she needs help, she will know to come to you."
The two men finished their drinks and their talk turned to other less serious matters as they whiled away the hours before they each went up to their respective beds.
End of Chapter Nine…TBC…
