{"id":6153,"date":"2021-05-24T09:38:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T13:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whitefire-publishing.com\/read\/?p=6153"},"modified":"2023-07-26T15:12:55","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T19:12:55","slug":"the-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitefire-publishing.com\/read\/the-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

By Cara Grandle<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After a whiskey still explosion destroys her home and nearly her life, Rebecca Packwood and her father must leave Missouri and her dear friends behind. After crossing The Oregon Trail, she sets out to discover her family\u2019s secret history and to forge a home and community out of the raw farm land of Eagle Creek, Oregon Country, never suspecting a ruthless enemy is seeking to thwart her plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hard-working banker\u2019s son, Clark Sutherland, thought the toughest test he would face was getting out from underneath his father\u2019s thumb. The last thing he expected was to be penniless, homeless, and smitten with a shy, dark-eyed stranger.  With nothing to offer her, will he find a way to support himself and still pursue his dreams before they\u2019re pulled apart?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a man in shadows sets his eyes on their coveted prize, danger descends. Rebecca and Clark must act to protect the desires of their hearts before harm befalls them all. Will they learn to trust their future to the God who heals and sets the lonely in families?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t

Chapter 1<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Meramec, Missouri
March 1846<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca kicked a cold, burnt timber off a tin plate lying in the remnants of their kitchen. She could almost feel the blast that nearly killed Pa and sent her flying out of her boots. \u201cLet\u2019s be quick. I can see blood seeping through your pants on your bad leg. We need to get you back to Meramec while you can still walk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa ignored her as always and used the stick he\u2019d picked as a cane to turn the ashes. He uncovered a destroyed piece of copper from his whiskey still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always the whiskey. Never her. Never a real home.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Rebecca wanted to do was guide her limping pa the three miles back to town before he broke open more of his burns. He\u2019d only been healing for two months. What was he thinking? Her foot had healed and her ears stopped ringing weeks ago, but this pile of charcoal they called home only brought back lonely, hollow memories. Even more so, after being around her friends\u2014Heather, Rose, and Cora Mae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had real homes, even if things weren\u2019t easy, they were loved and cherished, valued and seen. Rebecca watched her pa search through the soot and wondered what being seen and valued would feel like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll help with that.\u201d She beat Pa to the remnants of an old feather tick mattress, water-logged after being rained and snowed on\u2014no roof to keep it dry. She crossed in front of him and helped lift or turn whatever she thought he wanted\u2014keeping him from opening any more of his injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou look like your mother.\u201d Pa turned his face away from her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca\u2019s shoulders sagged. The breath left her chest like he\u2019d punched her in the stomach. Mother? Now? <\/em>Before she straightened, she picked up the coffee pot and tossed it into the dirty snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all the years she\u2019d asked to know more about her mother, he waited until now to bring her up? She stared at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One time he told Rebecca that Mother preferred cherry pie. That was it. That was all she knew about her mother, besides the soft, happy feeling she got when she tried to remember. Cherry pie\u2026and now this? She let him see her stricken face. What else was she to do? Get back to town, to Mrs. Mabel\u2019s cooking, and to her friends\u2014that\u2019s what she wanted. This wasn\u2019t home. This didn\u2019t feel good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always the but.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa needed her. He always needed her. He stood there and held her stare. \u201cShe was some taller than you. Your eyes are the same.\u201d Pa turned away and flipped the bulbous copper fixings that were the source of the explosion with his stick and said, \u201cUseless.\u201d He tried to pick it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Useless is right.<\/em> Rebecca was forced to join him or have him too sore to walk back on his own. \u201cLet me.\u201d She carried the twisted metal and walked beside him, waiting for more\u2014any morsel at all. His scowl told her the memories hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look like Mother\u2014have her eyes. <\/em>She tried to absorb it. Tears burned her throat and made her nose runny. All of this was sad. Even she could see what she\u2019d missed out on. She didn\u2019t need gumption like Cora Mae\u2019s father asked of his daughter. The life she\u2019d shared with Pa out here in the hills was no life. It was hiding. It was living without being alive. It was shattered and twisted like the copper tubing in her hand\u2014beyond useless. They could have died rather than being blown off the porch. Would it have mattered, if they\u2019d burnt along with the rest of their things?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She looked around at the mess, dropped the ruined whiskey still into the frozen mud, and tried to rub the scent of soaked ash from her nose. This place held no tender stories. She\u2019d carried mash and hidden from Pa\u2019s customers, and nothing more, for as long as she could remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She scrubbed at the dirty sleeve of her calico work dress that Mrs. Mabel and the sewing bee ladies made for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wanted to sit and cry, but what would that change? She needed to get out of here. She needed something different\u2014something more. \u201cI can carry anything you\u2019re determined to have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back at his side, she shoved her foot into the debris where their beds used to be. She plucked away burned roofing until she found the remnants of her cot. Her hands were black as night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She dug until she found her tin can full of special rocks. The sight of her beautiful collection made her eyes pool with tears. Maybe she had one sweet memory. She blinked to try to see through the moisture. These treasures had been her only friends during the long months between town visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca fished out the small handful of stones and dropped them into her pocket. She wanted nothing else from the ruins. Desperate to be free of the ashes, she stepped out of the burned shack. \u201cI have all I want, Pa. I\u2019ll wait for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFine. Take this with you.\u201d He shoved a dented pot into her arms as she passed him. \u201cGo ahead and start back. I\u2019ll catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca stopped and watched Pa limp-hop away from her over to the large rock next to the well. She didn\u2019t start down the trail like he\u2019d asked but followed him. Is he trying to kneel?<\/em> She offered her arm for balance and strength. \u201cYour burns?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He started talking but not to her. \u201cWe got a mess here, Ophelia. Not sure what to do. I kept my promise\u2026but not very well.\u201d He patted the big stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was he talking to Ma? Was this her grave? What promise\u2026and why did it feel like it was about her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa stood, sniffed deep, and spit off to the side. \u201cLet\u2019s go back. I need a bed and a hot meal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of offering her arm for him to lean on, she gripped the back of his elbow. \u201cPa?\u201d He wasn\u2019t going to brush past this again like all the other times she\u2019d asked him questions. Was this really Ma\u2019s grave?<\/em> All these years with it only steps from the door and he never said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wouldn\u2019t look at her. He looked around with Ma\u2019s rock right there beside them. Rebecca had assumed Pa came out here to hide from his grief\u2014to drown it in drink. Not to visit a grave. \u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She kept ahold of his arm as he limped back the way they\u2019d come. He cleared his throat. \u201cBeen nearly fourteen years since we lost her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFourteen?\u201d She would have been nearly four. Her eighteenth birthday was only two weeks away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHer heart was broken. She never recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before she could ask or say anything, he added, \u201cApril third. I couldn\u2019t fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca swallowed wrong and choked. Her eyes watered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOphelia was all that mattered.\u201d Pa tried to escape her grip. He stepped over a charred mash barrel, lost his balance, and tripped over his stick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAhh!\u201d His pain-filled cry was followed by his more familiar string of curses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She helped him up, dodging his flailing stick, and went around the back of him to check the place where she saw a little blood earlier. Fresh red bloomed bigger and made his pants stick to his wounds. \u201cThat\u2019s it. We\u2019re going back, and you\u2019re not going to complain when I get Doc out to the pastor\u2019s to check you over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She drew his arm around her waist, leaving the pot. He didn\u2019t need it. There was nothing salvageable here\u2014besides, he would be laid up again for a week or two after this misadventure. Rebecca wasn\u2019t sure she was upset by that. She didn\u2019t think she was a coldhearted person, but Pa\u2019s pain almost seemed fair this time. What would things have been like growing up, if he\u2019d opened up and talked to her earlier? If he\u2019d answered her questions and explained his decisions? Could they have built a true home? He was obviously still grieving. And felt responsible somehow. Was that part of his secret promise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca walked with one of Pa\u2019s arms pulled over her shoulder for support, keeping a tight grip on his waistband. She looked back for one last view of all that was lost\u2014all that was never found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca and Pa came into town when church was dismissing. The noise of the townsfolk pouring out of the building broke the frozen silence between them. Cora Mae, Rose, and Heather spotted her and came running over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRebecca!\u201d Cora Mae waved. \u201cWe were looking for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca\u2019s mind was so full of the few things Pa revealed\u2014and she was convinced he withheld more things she needed to know. New, unasked questions zipped and buzzed inside her head and nearly made her sick right there in the street in front of her friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trio was around her and out of breath. Heather, the most nurturing person Rebecca had ever met, went to Pa\u2019s other side and glanced at his blood-soaked pant leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll run for Doc. He\u2019s going to need to help you. You might have to return to the Doc\u2019s office. Rose, will you watch Mother until I get back?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa seemed to be in too much pain to throw a stink about being moved back to the doctor\u2019s office after being settled at the pastor\u2019s. While he was tight with pain, Heather was putting Pa\u2019s needs above her own mother\u2019s. That\u2019s how family<\/a> was supposed to be. Pa should have done that for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her spinning thoughts changed directions again. If she wanted real family connection with Pa, then she had to do as Heather did. She would put his needs above her own and begin to make a change. She must settle Pa so his leg could heal again, and then she would find a way to wheedle out the things he needed to tell her and hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heather ran off to get the doctor before they reached the steps of the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRebecca! I ain\u2019t going in there.\u201d Pa\u2019s strident voice embarrassed Rebecca in front of her friends. Nurse Roe came out of the building and straight to their side. Pa saw her and made his way in the opposite direction with his stiff-legged gait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurse Roe called after him. \u201cDoc will be none too happy when he sees the mess you made of your leg.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t going back to that blamed doctor\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Clyde must\u2019ve heard her father yelling. He came out of the church. \u201cYou feeling well enough, Otis?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa made the face. The same one he made after he ruined a batch of prize drink. He was mad and about to let the whole town know. All the lovely ladies from sewing bee would be shocked when they heard Pa\u2019s tirade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca moved ahead of Pa to the bottom of the stair between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t going back to sleeping at that cursed doctor\u2019s office. It smells like death. I want my real bed at the pastor\u2019s\u2014at least until I get out of this town for good.\u201d The string of curses he let fly burned Rebecca\u2019s ears. She watched most of the ladies turn their heads or busy themselves gathering their children to protect them from whatever Pa would do or say next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, he\u2019d had enough and went around the side of the church, heading toward the pastor\u2019s home. He made it ten steps when a tall, thin man intercepted him. \u201cExcuse me. Did the pastor call you Otis? By chance, would you be Otis Packwood?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am. What\u2019s it to you?\u201d Pa tried to march past, but the man stepped into his path a second time. Pa tipped his head to look him in the face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why was Pa so angry? He was the one who kept her life\u2019s history hidden. He\u2019s the one who waited until she was nearly eighteen to tell her that her mother\u2019s grave was right there next to their cabin. How did she die? Why did he feel so guilty? Rebecca was the one who should be railing at the top of her lungs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlease, sir. You said you\u2019re leaving town. How long until you leave?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot sure.\u201d He reached back and almost touched the bloody spot on his leg. Pain evident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irritation left Rebecca in a whoosh. Pa was in pain. He\u2019d lost wife, home, livelihood, and his health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot sure why that\u2019s any of yer business. Let me pass, you big\u2014\u201d Pa tried using his elbow to shove around the man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSorry, Mr. Packwood. I don\u2019t mean to be intrusive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca gave a self-conscious look around, relieved the man interrupted Pa\u2019s next words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI work for the post office. I\u2019ve had a letter for you on my shelf for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA letter?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The postman nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho in tarnation would write me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Clyde came around the corner during the exchange and caught up to Pa and the postman. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go get it and bring it to the house, John.\u201d Clyde took Pa by the arm and led him forward even though Pa was craning his head around to watch the postman leave. \u201cA letter?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLooks that way. Come eat. You said you wanted a decent meal. Mabel set a roast on this morning, remember? I can smell it from here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa moved along. His limp even more pronounced. Rebecca followed behind the two men and Mrs. Mabel, the pastor\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctor Kane came into view just as they were entering the two-story white house behind the church. He came trotting into the pastor\u2019s house right behind Rebecca saying, \u201cHeather said to tell you she\u2019d see you later. She had to tend her mother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Rebecca could respond, Pa turned to him and stood with his fists clenched at his sides, interrupting the doctor. \u201cDon\u2019t you go and give me a lecture. These burns are scolding loud enough. But I had to go back. I left things undone.\u201d He looked down at the floor and then at Rebecca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pain she saw had nothing to do with his burns. She had no right to judge. She could barely even remember Ma. What was she like, that Pa grieved her so? She wished she could know. She wished she could be so loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor said nothing more but followed the pastor and his wife as they ushered her pa to the room he\u2019d occupied for the last two months. Most of the winter was spent in this house. Most of the summer and fall he\u2019d spent laid up in the doctor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs. Mabel said, \u201cLet\u2019s allow the doctor to use some of his potions and weeds on your wounds before you eat, Otis. We don\u2019t want this to set you back. Once you\u2019re settled, I\u2019ll bring you a bowl full of roast and potatoes and a thick slice of buttered bread.\u201d Pa followed Mrs. Mabel\u2019s leadings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSmells good.\u201d Pa gave Rebecca a sheepish look over his shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca waited in the hall while the doctor helped Pa into the night dress he\u2019d lived in for months. She entered his room after he\u2019d flopped onto the bed, stifling a moan of relief and pain. Rebecca watched as the doctor smeared ointment on the red, bunched and puckered, and sometimes cracked and bleeding skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone knocked on the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Clyde moved to answer it. \u201cThat is probably John back with the letter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy letter?\u201d Everyone heard Pa ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor wiped his hands on a cotton handkerchief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat nasty smelling stuff stinks like the dickens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have to use it if you listened to me.\u201d The doctor met Pa gruff-to-gruff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLeave me be. I\u2019ve had my fill of your doctorin\u2019 today.\u201d He muttered on. \u201cEnough for my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHold still. And don\u2019t give him his letter until he lets me finish.\u201d The doctor didn\u2019t let Pa get away with it. Rebecca should imitate the doctor\u2019s way. Maybe she would learn even more about her past. Did she really want to learn more? She swallowed the lump in her throat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor didn\u2019t let up. \u201cI\u2019d hate to see you deal with a limp forever because you couldn\u2019t wait for your skin to heal for a few weeks. Might I suggest you stay here for four to six more<\/em> weeks before you try visiting your home again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAin\u2019t nothing left to visit.\u201d Pa went silent. His expression was as if he\u2019d swallowed a mouthful of sour whiskey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca felt his loss settle like a horse kick to her chest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor didn\u2019t wait for Pa to say anything more. \u201cI\u2019ll have Nurse Roe bring more of this to you. Spread it on all your burns, often. You can\u2019t afford for infection to set in. I must get back.\u201d The doctor pressed past the pastor and didn\u2019t even glance at Rebecca as he left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the letter.\u201d The pastor handed it to Pa and left the room, his wife following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa was lying facedown. He tore the seal open and started to read to himself and then announced. \u201cIt\u2019s from your uncle Leander.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncle Leander? She had an uncle? Rebecca gripped her hands and felt her face match her father\u2019s mulish look. What else could she find out in one day? Did she have aunts and cousins, was there grandparents she could meet? Where were these people? And why did Pa keep this all from her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She knew why. She saw it in the way his shoulders slumped when he talked to the rock that marked Ma\u2019s grave. She sagged inside. This was all so much. She craved more. What else was in the letter that Pa was silently reading?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She would read the letter. She would take whatever morsels of information she could glean from it, and she would find a way to discover her past and possibly find a way to a new future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With their shack burnt and gone, they would have to start over somewhere. Maybe starting over with family made sense. Her stomach tightened. Maybe the letter would tell her if that was even possible.<\/p>\n\n\n