Chapter 6

Clara stood in awe of how fast the Hawkes men could make things happen. In less than a week, her extra supplies had been hauled to the barn at Jake's and to Jesse's house for safe storage away from animals. The truck and trailer had been hauled away for scrap and she'd been given cash for what was left after the cost of gas had been taken out of the haul away. Granted, it wasn't much but it put a few extra hundred dollars in her pocket.

Jesse had taken her over to Jake's two days later and they had spent that time cleaning out the cabin of debris and her task was to go through every shingle and inspect it according to his instructions. If it passed muster, it went into a 'keep' pile. If it didn't, it went into a burn pile after the nails were pulled out of them. Jesse took the time to show her how to assess wood for rot and damages to the floor and interior of the cabin, which once the debris had been cleared out, wasn't too bad.

Several days later, Cody and Jaime, a young Native American kid, were up on the roof pulling up shingles from the side of the roof where the hole was and tossing them inside where again, Clara was assessing them. One of the roof beams had to be replaced but Jesse knew right where to go to get a tree to replace it at no cost to her other than a few days worth of hard work to haul it from the site to the cabin and then getting it up into place.

By the end of the second week, a new beam had been secured to the roof, replacing the rotted one and they were installing new decking for the roof. Unfortunately the decking was what had cost her about a third of what she had left of her money. Jesse had avoided getting on the roof, leaving that to Cody and Jaime who in the end got Clara up there, showing her how to hammer in nails along the decking and to hold down the protective tar paper that went under the shingles.

When she wasn't on the roof, she was helping Jesse turn a patch of ground where Jake used to have a garden. Jesse and Cody had already put their own garden in just before she had arrived and had given her their extra seeds. Jaime had brought up a few extra packets of seeds from their garden that they hadn't used and by the time the decking was on the roof and all that was left to replace was the shingles, the garden was planted. Using an old roll of chicken wire that had been found up in the loft of the barn and a number of thick cut branches, it was as protected as they could make it from deer and animals for the time being.

Cody and Jesse watched Clara slowly come out of her shell in the three weeks they helped her assess and begin fixing up the cabin. She started opening up a little more, smiling more often and seeming to relax as more time went by. Cody thought that maybe she felt more relaxed because as time went by and no one found her, the safer she felt. He wasn't sure but it seemed to fit the pattern of little things she'd said here and there in idle conversation.

One thing was for certain, she looked healthier. The wholesome food Jesse was feeding her, the exercise and hard work, the fresh air and sunshine she was getting had given her a healthier look. Granted, she looked like she'd put on some weight but it wasn't in a bad way. Clara had managed to even get her hair evened out one evening from the bad haircut she'd obviously given herself and now that the dye job had a chance to fade some it looked a little more natural, well, at least not so obvious.

Matt had called up to the cabin multiple times over the weeks to see how they were doing but they'd told him very little since they sensed the fewer people that knew how things were with Clara, the better. Besides, it was the busy season and the Rangers were up to their eyeballs in work. Cody made the comment to his dad after the third radio call that if Matt really wanted to know how things were going, he'd make time to come find out for himself. Jesse had only smiled, silently agreeing with his youngest.

By the end of the fourth week, Jesse and Cody had to head to town to take care of a supply run and Clara headed over to the cabin to work on the roof. It was going to be a hot day and she'd taken a t-shirt and cut off jeans with her because she'd discovered that being up on that roof in the direct mountain sun, she got overheated quickly.

The fresh air and good food had done wonders for her and she felt stronger than she had in ages. The tasteless food she was always eating so she could 'watch her weight' for one reason or another always made her feel hungry. The food Jesse had fed her seemed to fill her up and she knew she was burning off the calories due to all of the riding and work on the cabin she'd been doing just in the past month.

Climbing the ladder with a bucket of nails and wooden shingles, she pulled her hair back in a kerchief and began her work on the next row where she'd left off the last time she'd been up there. By mid morning and her second trip up the ladder, she was already too warm and came down for the next load of shingles. After changing her clothes to her cut-offs and tshirt, she went back up and continued working until the mid-afternoon when the sun began to slip past the tree line. As she worked, she realized she felt at peace for the first time in many years. The air was cool but it felt so good on her skin, the breeze making her stop now and then to take a deep breath just to savor the feel of the sense of clean deep in her lungs and the feeling of the warm sun on her face.

She knew she had a long, hard road to go yet to make things work up here but if this was just part of the reward for doing so, then she felt it was worth it. Her muscles felt relaxed, sore yes, but relaxed and the headaches that used to plague her constantly had gone away after the first week of being up here. Her thoughts strayed and she began to wonder what things were like back where she'd come from but she quickly shook them away. No, she'd left that behind. She wouldn't think about it. This was her life now and she refused to let her past continue to rule her.

She heard horses approaching and looked down to see Jesse coming through the trees. She smiled down at him but froze for a moment at the sound of the click of a camera. A moment later, Cody rode his horse into view, a hobbyist camera around his neck and she realized he had taken her picture. The look on her face must have alerted Jesse because he looked over at Cody, "Son, I don't think the lady is in her element to be having her picture taken. And I don't think you can term her as 'wildlife' either."

Clara blinked and then blushed a little with a smile. "Sorry. I didn't know you were a photographer Cody," she said as she gathered up her tools and lowered the buckets off the roof. By the time she came down the ladder the two men had moved around to the front of the cabin and dismounted.

The young man was standing there by his horse, having put his camera away as she came around the edge of the cabin. "Sorry about that. I should have asked first. I usually carry it with me. I like to take pictures of wildlife and scenery. I'm interested in doing a photo journalism degree when I graduate from High School."

"Really?" she asked, looking surprised. "I'd love to see your work if you've got a portfolio."

Cody nodded but said nothing else for the moment. He'd gotten a couple of really good shots of her up on the roof working and one good shot of her when she'd turned around and smiled at his dad. He couldn't wait to get back to develop them. They were the kind he thought he might tease Matt with. They'd seen Matt today and he'd kept asking about Clara, trying to get details about what was going on up at her cabin. The more closed lipped they'd been about her the more aggravated Matt seemed to become until it was almost comical.

Jesse smiled at Clara, "It's coming along. Another day or so and you'll have the roof finished. I think I've got you a line on some drywall and insulation for the interior once we're sure all the leaks are sealed. Shouldn't cost much at all. It's recycled but hey, it still works," he said with a nod.

She smiled at them, "Hey, I'm all about recycling so long as it saves me some green. Let me get changed now that the sun's sinking. Don't want to get too chilled but man it got hot up on that roof." With that comment, she went into one of the back rooms and in a few minutes came out dressed in her blue jeans and flannel shirt.

Cody did his best to keep his smile hidden as he thought of other things that were 'hot' up on that roof.

What surprised Cody was how knowledgeable Clara seemed to be about his photography work. She had shown a genuine interest in his portfolio that night as they sat by lamp light going through it. After a few direct questions on objects in some of the photos and the themes of several others, she made several suggestions of things he might look to add and why.

"Can I ask how you know all of this?" he asked casually.

She shrugged, "I've seen enough professional portfolios and talked with photographers and artists over the years that I've got a grasp of what they look for in the professional world. It's a dog eat dog world out there and even if you want to do work for a nature magazine, you have to prove you know your stuff and can do it better than the next guy…not to mention being versatile in your subject matter."

Cody stared at her for a few moments and then nodded, "Thanks. I'll work to change it up some. I've got a few years yet before I'm to that point of looking for a scholarship or anything."

Clara shrugged, "I'd start looking now. You'd be surprised what's out there if you know where to look. Even getting your work and name out there now doesn't hurt. When you get ready to go to look for scholarships or get into certain schools, they'll usually have seen your work by then and it will be less difficult to get your foot in the door."

They talked a little longer but finally after the long day on the roof, Clara finally bowed out and went to bed. Cody sat for awhile on the couch thinking about what she'd said but was still trying to puzzle out how she'd known so much about photography. Finally he gave a shrug to himself, put it in the back of his mind and headed to bed.