Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, 2019
The first sparks of daybreak were just starting to glint through the forest's tall pine trees by the time the road narrowed; beginning a lazy back and forth climb up the peak.
Noah felt a small amount of comfort sink in; hidden as they now were by the thick canopy of trees. He glanced over at the sleeping Luke; hair all mussed up; still gorgeous regardless.
The blonde's head lolled sideways against the window pane as he softly snored. Noah noted how Luke seemed to have settled in his sleep. For a while during the drive, he dreamt restlessly, babbling and waving his arms about. At one point, Noah had even reached over to hold Luke's hands still, smoothing the side with his thumb.
He pivoted in his seat to check on Leo, surprised to find the boy awake. Leo sat with legs to chest, right up against the back of the van. His arms were crossed and he wore a scowl that glared into Noah when their eyes met.
Turning his attention back to the road, Noah swallowed and asked, "How long you been awake?"
"Where are we going?"
Answering a question with a question. This can't be good.
"A place we own," Noah explained. "Up in the woods."
They drove in strained silence for a while. Noah had no idea what the boy was thinking. During the two hours it took them to tell their story, Leo hadn't commented much. He'd simply crawled into a ball at the back of the van, burrowing deeper and deeper under an old blanket, until eventually drifting off to sleep.
"You must be hungry," Noah said; his own stomach growling in agreement. "There's food in a box somewhere. I think there're a couple of bags of beef jerky?"
His suggestion was greeted with more silence; and Noah decided not to press it. He waited patiently and eventually Leo spoke again.
"You knew this would happen one day… didn't you?"
Noah briefly closed his eyes with a growing sense of dread.
"I mean…" Leo continued, indicating at the supplies around him. "…all this stuff? The van? Some place in the woods?"
He couldn't see Leo's face, but Noah could hear the hurt and anxiety in his small voice. It caused the back of Noah's throat to burn.
"You guys were ready for this…"
Noah slowly nodded. "I hoped… no… I prayed it wouldn't happen… At least not until you were old enough to fend for yourself. But… yes… there was always a strong possibility they'd find us."
Luke shifted in the seat beside Noah and squinted, as he opened his eyes to the morning beam of light. The first thing he did after a quick yawn was to check on Leo. He turned back to Noah with a small smile, rubbing his eyes.
"Morning, Baby," Noah greeted.
Luke sat upright, surveying the forest scenery as it whooshed past. "Almost there?"
"Not long now."
He gave Noah a surreptitious sideways glance, eyes flicking toward the back of the van.
Noah shook his head grimly and Luke sighed, trying to tame his fly-away locks by dragging his fingers through them.
"Do you think we'll be able to drive up there?" Luke asked. "Remember what the road was like?"
"Hope so." Just as he spoke Noah's head whipped backward.
He slammed on the brakes so hard, Leo flew forward.
"Hey!" the boy groaned, scrambling back on his behind. "Watch it!"
"Sorry, Son," Noah replied. But he was distracted with turning the van around.
"What's up?" Luke asked.
"I think that was the turn back there."
Sure enough, once the van faced back the way they'd come, the old and overgrown dirt road could just be made out.
"Geez, Bubby!" Luke gasped. "It looks worse than the last time."
Noah frowned, considering the risk before deciding to give it a try.
Luke nodded his agreement. "Just take it slow, okay?"
There was only the option to take it slow. The van's engine screamed in protest up the steep banks; tires struggling to take hold on the mushy forest floor. A few times they had to stop and clear fallen branches out of the way. Leo helped reluctantly; if only because he was sick of being holed up in the van; and just wanted to arrive wherever it was they were going.
Just as when they'd first made the journey more than nine years earlier, the road had been flattened by animals using it as a quick path through the dense thickets. To their relief, the van was eventually able to pass.
That wasn't the only parallel to their first stay at the cabin. It was amazing what a toll nine years of neglect could have on a place.
Their heads shook at the sight of the derelict shack.
"Seems smaller than I remember…" Noah muttered to himself.
Without waiting Leo pulled the sliding door open and hopped out of the van.
"You've gotta be kidding me?" he yelled, running both hands through his dark hair as he surveyed their new home. "No way! No fucking way!"
Luke stepped down from the van's passenger side, holding out two hands in an effort to placate him. "Leo…?"
"This is your plan?" Leo screamed in disbelief. "Live out here like some fucking hillbillies? Like fucking animals?"
Neither man knew what to say to help ease the pain they'd unwittingly inflicted on their child.
"I wish I hadn't gotten into the van now!" Their son's face was red with his heated rage. "I wish you weredead! I fucking hate you!"
As Leo stormed tearfully off toward the nearest line of trees, Luke made a move to go after him. However Noah stepped out to block his path.
"Noah…?"
"Leave him…"
"But…?"
"There's nowhere for him to go." Noah looked back over his shoulder, watching his son reach the trees only to stop dead.
Realizing just how trapped he was, Leo released a scream of frustration, kicking the end of a tree stump before finally sitting on a log with his head in his hands.
With tears in his eyes Noah turned back to Luke, rubbing his husband's chest before hugging him close. "Let him blow off some steam first."
…
They left Leo alone, spending time checking the cabin over and cataloguing those jobs most essential.
Noah smoothed his hand over Leo's old wooden crib, now dusty and crisscrossed in spider webs. Lying abandoned inside was the old poetry book he used to read to Leo at night. Luke smoothed a hand in the small of Noah's back as Noah picked up the book, blowing at it to clear the dust, and opening it up.
"Run, run, little rabbit, run…" he said softly.
Luke stretched up to kiss Noah's cheek before getting back to work.
Eventually, after a few more minutes of clearing up, he could no longer stomach seeing the forlorn figure through the window. He left Noah and headed off down the steep bank of high grass.
Leo stood facing the forest pushing a makeshift swing. If he heard his father's approaching footsteps, he didn't look up to acknowledge his presence.
"Your dad made that for you out of an old car tire."
The boy turned at Luke's voice, folding his arms protectively around himself and staring at the ground.
"I'm surprised it's still here," Luke continued, giving the swing a small shove and smiling at the memories. "He would push you for ages! He loved to make you laugh. He still does."
"Yeah, well, I don't exactly feel like laughing right now, Pop."
"No. I know."
Luke took a seat on a fallen log, resting his elbow on his knees and rubbing his hands together. He watched Noah lift a ladder against the side of the cabin, getting ready to waterproof the roof. Periodically, the man would look in their direction, checking up on them.
"Sit with me?" Luke asked, patting the space beside him.
Leo didn't move, but he lifted his eyes to Luke's. Anger and hatred warred with a hurt love and burned hot from within the deep blue.
"Everything…" Leo began, struggling to speak past the tightness in his chest. Voice breaking as only a 12-year old boy's could. "Everything in my life… a lie! Was that story you told me a lie, too? Did you kill those people?"
"No."
Leo stepped forward, looking for a fight. "I don't believe you! You're a liar and a murderer and I hope you rot in hell!"
Luke flinched and he caught the look of triumph from his son. He knew Leo was deliberately trying to wound him.
Mission accomplished.
Usually he would never put up with the language and tone his son was currently spitting out in droves. Not that Leo was usually prone to cussing. But if there was ever a time to let that slide, it was now.
Luke stood and grabbed his son's shoulders. Leo shook himself free and backed away.
Luke sagged. "Everything your Dad and I told you yesterday was the truth."
"Why should I believe you?" Leo asked, his voice unsteady and cracking. "If you lied about this... then you could lie about anything and... then…" his face fell; he winced suddenly at the realization.
Luke's heart withered at the look on his son's face; the air leaving his lungs as he stepped forward to somehow brace for impact.
Their son's horrified gaze traveled up the weedy bank; locking with those of Noah's, where the man now stood watching them, frozen by the side of the van.
Without breaking that gaze, Leo's mouth gaped open; tears spilled. "Oh my God! Who the hell am I? Jesus!"
Luke felt himself losing control. He shook off the sobs aching through him, rushing forward. "Leo…"
"Am I even his son?"
"Of course you are!" Luke assured him, reaching out for him. "Of course!"
Leo turned on Luke. "You're lying!"
"No…"
Suddenly Noah was there; his wide stride getting him quickly down the hill where instinct told him he was needed.
"Both of you!" Leo continued to back away. "Who the fuck are you people?"
The strain of his sadness became too much. The child collapsed to the ground, clutching the back of his head as he wept in despair.
Luke knelt beside him, making sure to give him the space he seemed to need right then. "Leo… how many times have people… complete strangers… commented on how much you look like your dad?"
Instead of looking at Luke who was speaking, Leo raised bloodshot eyes that bore into Noah's.
"Deep down," Luke carefully continued. "You know the truth… don't you?"
The tiny nod flooded Luke with hope and he sighed in relief.
"Is my mother really dead?"
Luke remained silent. He knew these were questions Leo wanted Noah to answer.
"Yes," Noah replied. "I didn't know you existed. We found you by chance… living in squalor… She was a drug addict and a prostitute."
"She gave me away?" Leo thinly asked.
Noah shook his head. "No… no Baby… she didn't."
"What do you mean?"
Noah took a deep shuddery breath, glancing once at Luke for strength. When he felt he'd composed himself, he stepped closer. "When we first saw you, you were playing in a yard of broken glass and rusty nails. You were three years old and nobody was watching you."
Leo shifted until his back leant up against the fallen log. Luke sat back down beside him.
"You have to understand, Son…" Noah continued. "Your mother knew who I was. The only reason we were never reported was because she was too drunk to remember us ever having been there. We had to split… but… we love you Leo… we've loved you from the start…"
Leo sniffed, wiping his nose on the back of his arm. "You took me."
Noah nodded, tilting his head slightly as he waited for Leo's reaction.
"We had to," Luke confirmed.
"And she never looked for me?"
"She reported you missing," Noah replied. "That's one of the reasons we first came up here… I think she really loved you, Leo. She... she just didn't know how to look after you..."
"How long were we here for?"
"Over the winter. By the time we resurfaced, the search for you had died down some. Then a month later we saw a news report that she and her husband were gunned down in a gangland shooting. I'm sorry, Baby."
They waited in silence for that to sink in.
"Look at me, Leo," Luke softly requested, reaching out to gently turned Leo's head by his chin. Once Luke had the eye contact, he said, "You're right. We have lied to you. We've… um… we've lied to a lot of people. If we could do it all over again, I can't even promise we would change that… We didn't have a choice. But, Baby… we aren't lying now."
"Why don't you just tell the police what you told me?"
"It's not that simple, Leo," Noah replied. "It's been too long… and whoever set us up knew what they were doing. We thwarted their plans by running. There is no way they can let us live."
"What about the farm?" Leo asked, turning back to Luke. "Grandma Emma? The pond? Did you make up all those stories you used to tell me, Pop?"
Luke smiled at him and shook his head, reaching out to push a black curl behind Leo's ear. "No. That was 100 percent true."
"Are they still there?"
"I hope so," Luke softly replied.
Leo pressed his palm into the bark and used it to push himself up, wiping the back of his pants.
He stepped closer to Noah, watching the man with deep consideration before saying, "I'm sorry about what they did… to your dad…"
A tear tracked down Noah's face. He nodded his thanks, reaching out to take the boy into his arms.
Noah hugged Leo tightly, looking down at Luke who smiled at him with a nod of his head.