With a jerk, Linnie sat up straight in her old bed. The golden sunlight of late afternoon had been replaced by soft moonlight.

"I must have dozed off," Linnie murmured to herself looking around the room, now more full of shadows than the memories she’d been visiting with earlier.

Shivering slightly, she cautiously made her way to the front room. Once there she felt along the mantel of the big fireplace for the lantern and matches she had noticed earlier.

Moments later she was standing in a halo of light. A look at her watch confirmed her suspicions – it was nearly eight thirty. She had been sleeping for nearly three hours. Those late nights of grading papers and finalizing the Halloween plans had finally caught up with her.

Linnie had spent her first half hour in her childhood home checking everything out. The dishes were coated with dust and housed some dried spiders, yet they were still in the cupboard her father had made years ago. A few family pictures and some old books were all the remained on the shelves in the front room. The beds were each covered by an old quilt, to keep dust out.

Upon finding nothing amiss, Linnie had stretched out on her old bed and thought of all the dreams she had dreamt there. Some dreams had come true – her dad had returned, she had gone to the school of her dreams and she was teaching in her old school. She had drifted off thinking about how she had changed since she had moved away from this old cabin.

"Should I spend the night here?" Linnie questioned herself in the cold darkness as she came back to her present circumstances.

Another bout of shivering answered the question almost as soon as she asked it.

There were only two quilts in the old cabin and they wouldn’t be enough to keep her warm through the cold night. The days and afternoons may be warm, but fall nights got downright cold in the mountains. She didn’t dare try the fireplace – who knew what might be in the chimney after all the years of inactivity. And there was no food. The quick sandwich she had eaten as she walked to the cabin hadn’t been very filling.

Her options were: either walk home – quickly- with the light of the lantern to guide her, or knock on the lodge door and ask Mart is she could stay the night there.

"No, that would be too weird," she reprimanded herself.

Another little voice replied, "Not if Andy’s back."

Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to try the lodge first. Then remembering the music that she had heard coming from the lodge earlier, Linnie wasn’t too sure it now was the time to approach Mart Belden. She’d seen his sudden personality changes and mood swings last night and she wasn’t sure how he’d react to an uninvited guest.

Finally, she decided that she would peek in the kitchen window. "If he looks cheerful," she reasoned, "I’ll knock. If he doesn’t I’ll head home."

With that decision made, she quickly left the cabin – stopping only to grab a quilt and wrap it around her shoulders. The light flannel shirt she’d worn to work that morning wasn’t much help against the cool night air moving up from the lake.

After latching the door and pocketing the key for future visits, Linnie extinguished the lantern. She didn’t want to draw undue attention to herself from the inhabitant of the lodge.

Silently she approached the kitchen window. Actually, she didn’t need to be too quiet – music was still emanating from the lodge.

Linnie peered carefully through the window and watched as Mart sifted through a pile of pictures. She couldn’t see what the pictures were of, nor could she see Mart’s expression. She could, however, tell from the slump of his shoulders and the droop of his head that sad did not begin to describe his condition.

She was unable to pull herself away from the scene in front of her. Some part of Linnie’s soul was crying for the man that she was watching. It was all she could do to keep herself from walking into the familiar kitchen and going over to this man, who had taken the place of a boy she had known, and wrapping him in a big hug and telling him that everything would be okay.

"You promised me, Diana, you promised me!"

Linnie jumped and almost lost her balance at the unexpected outburst from within.

The song moved on to the chorus once again.

"How could you leave me, Di?"

The anguish in Mart’s voice brought tears to Linnie’s eyes. ‘I have no right to be here,’ she thought, but couldn’t make herself move from where she stood.

"You took everything when you left me! Everything! You were everything to me and now…" Mart’s tirade was choked back in a sob as he lowered his head to the table.

As the song finished, Linnie realized how uncomfortable she was, not only from standing in the cold, but also from what she had just witnessed.

Realizing that she had to leave now, Linnie hurried away from the lodge.

Unfortunately in her haste, she forgot about the stone edged footpath that led from the kitchen to the shed. As she stumbled and failed to catch her balance, her lantern clattered amid the rocks and she fell heavily to the ground.

Gritting her teeth so she didn’t groan in pain, she reached for the lantern. With it in her grasp, she quickly got to her feet. Clutching the quilt tightly around her shoulders, she half-ran through the brush to the trail that led back to Turkey Hollow.

Once she reached the fork above the lodge, she paused long enough to light the lantern, no easy task when your hands are trembling with cold, agitation and pain. Luckily, the fall on the rocks had done little damage to the old tin lantern. Too bad, she couldn’t say the same for herself.

With the dim light to guide her, Linnie hobbled down the trail as quickly as she could on her throbbing ankle. She had to concentrate so much on not thinking about the pain that she didn’t even think back to the scene she had observed in the lodge kitchen.

*     *     *

Mart sprang up when he heard the clatter of metal on the rocks outside the back door, followed by the unmistakable thud of someone falling. Then figuring that it was only Andy, he sat back down.

For a moment, he stared at the piles of pictures on the table that not only represented his relationship with Di, but also a good part of his life. How could he just turn his back on it all? How could he pretend that it had never happened?

Wondering what could be taking his uncle so long, Mart went to the back door. Looking out, he saw no sign of his uncle – or anyone for that matter. As he turned to go back inside, he caught a glimpse of something to his right. It looked like something white floating above the ground. A slight chill worked its way down his spine as he suddenly recollected the tales of "haunts" he’d heard the first time he’d visited these mountains.

"I know of many ghosts around here," Mrs. Moore said. "There’s an old cabin not far from here on the trail to White Hole Springs. Linnie will point it out to you. The people who once lived there murdered a stranger who stopped for a night’s lodging. They stole the few dollars he had and buried his body out in the cow lot. He came back every night to haunt them. His ghost drove them out of these parts. No one will go near the cabin. If they do, they’d still hear him moaning."

"Didn’t anyone ever have nerve enough to stay there?" Mart asked.
I would. I’d like to see a ghost."

A faint glow appeared at the fork of the trail and he saw a figure wrapped in white head toward Turkey Hollow. Whoever it was definitely wasn’t gliding now. In fact, it looked as if the person was limping. Who would be all the way out here at night?

Suddenly Mart thought of Linnie. Maybe she had come to visit her old home. A tiny voice whispered to him, ‘Maybe she came to see you.’ Mart ignored it and wondered if he should go offer to let her stay at the lodge. He was sure he’d quickly catch up to her since she appeared to be limping.

He turned back to the house to grab a jacket and saw the pictures on the table once again. Even though Di had tossed him and their relationship away, he still felt committed to her. She still held him under her spell.

Closing the door behind him, he swept the pictures into a pile and headed to his bedroom. For a moment he thought of throwing the pictures into the fire, but that wouldn’t erase Diana Lynch from his heart any more than the knowledge that she was married to Ben Riker could change the fact that he still felt engaged to the woman.

Tomorrow he’d check on Linnie. It was easier to avoid his demons in the daylight. At night, he just let them take over.

"To the pain…"

Linnie jerked back to reality as Westly described the punishment he had planned for Prince Humperdinck. She shook her head to clear her mind with such force that her thick braid thumped her back soundly. She had to quit daydreaming about Mart.

"This is not a way to shrink these stacks," she told herself firmly, glaring at the quick writes in her lap. She had hoped that when she had her own class she would enjoy grading student writing more than she had in student teaching. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. She much preferred grading math or science papers. What some kids tried to pass of as cursive looked more like hieroglyphics.

As the movie came to it’s sweet ending, Linnie found herself staring at the drizzly outdoors. She knew that she would get more work done in her classroom, but between the weather and her swollen ankle, she had opted to stay home. By resting today, she hoped her ankle would be healed enough to make the trip to Laurel the next morning for church.

With another heartfelt sigh, she turned back to her student’s responses to The Hundred Dresses. Many of them had felt a kinship with poor Wanda Petronski when they had discussed the book, now if she could just decipher their writing.

*     *     *

Mart squinted in the bright light of the kitchen as he stumbled to the sink. He’d never had a hangover from alcohol, but if it felt anything like the morning after feelings from crying and nightmares, he’d continue to stay away from alcoholic beverages.

"Did you deliver the pumpkins without any problems?"

Mart jumped backwards at the comment. Colliding with a chair, he fell to the floor.

Angrily he untangled his legs from the chair legs and pulled himself upright. "Where did you come from?" he growled at his uncle.

Andy Belden chose to ignore the ire in his nephew’s voice, "If you had checked the answering machine yesterday, you would’ve had some warning."

Mart opened his mouth to tell his uncle that there had been no such message, then closed it and swallowed hard to hold back his sarcastic retort. He’d wandered around in the hills most of yesterday and never bothered to check the answering machine upon his return. In the months that he’d been at the lodge, there had never once been a message on the machine.

"Coffee?" Andy asked as Mart finally sat down in the chair that had given him problems a few moments before.

Grimacing, Mart declined. He couldn’t fathom why people drank that stuff. He watched as his uncle refilled his own mug and sat back down at the table.

Looking directly at his nephew, Andy sighed. Mart looked awful – Andy was sure he didn’t look much better himself. He wondered, and not for the first time, why he had asked Mart to come live with him at the lodge. He wasn’t helping his nephew get over his broken relationship at all. Not knowing what else to say, he reiterated his first question, "Did you deliver the pumpkins?’

"Yeah," Mart grunted, "You didn’t mention that judging the finished product was part of the deal."

Andy slapped his hand to his forehead, "I’m sorry Mart, I’d forgotten that Lucinda had me judge – it’s been several years since I’ve been here in the fall. Bill usually delivered the pumpkins. Lucinda didn’t give you a hard time, did she? She can be a little blunt."

Mart looked at the older man blankly, "Lucinda?"

"Lucinda McCrae, the head teacher and principal at Turnkey Hollow School."

Mart shook his head negatively; "Some guy’s the principal. And the person that was in charge was Linnie Moore. She mentioned a ‘Miss McCrae’, but I never saw her."

"Linnie Moore? Are the Moores back?" Andy arose suddenly from the table and crossed the kitchen to the window Linnie had observed from the night before. "It doesn’t look like anyone is in the cabin."

"She doesn’t live there – she lives at some house closer to the school. Her parents aren’t back."

"Oh," Andy replied and returned to his seat and his coffee mug. "What’s Linnie doing back here?"

"Teaching," Mart said with a touch of sarcasm.

"That’s what she always wanted to do," Andy said absently as he sipped his coffee. "I knew she’d accomplish anything she started – she’s just like her mother and her father. Too bad they didn’t come back with her."

Not knowing what else to say to his uncle, Mart got up and rummaged in the cupboards for something to eat. His stomach said it was breakfast time even though the clock said it was lunch time. Shortly he returned to the table with a mixing bowl full of cold cereal.

Andy raised an eyebrow over his nephew’s bowl, but made no comment.

Mart munched on the corn flakes for awhile, growing more and more uncomfortable with the silence that hung in the room. It seemed to be quieter with Andy home than it did when he was there alone. Finally he asked, "Andy where did you go this time?"

"Business trip," Andy muttered, setting his mug firmly down on the table, as if to punctuate his comment.

Mart wondered what kind of business his uncle did and where these trips took him, but before he could ask another question, Andy stood up from the table. "I’m going into town for awhile. I’m taking the mules."

"Fine," Mart mumbled to his uncle’s back as he left the room.

A few moments later, Andy returned carrying his briefcase and wearing a raincoat. Half way out the door he turned back and said, "I should be back by tomorrow. See you then."

Now finished with his cereal, Mart watched his uncle leave from the window. He checked a smile as he saw his uncle having difficulties with the mules. Tweedledee and Tweedledum did not like the rain.

*     *     *

Linnie jumped. Who could be knocking on her door on a rainy Saturday afternoon? She arose from the couch, carefully putting wait on her ankle to see how quickly she could move. The pain wasn’t too bad as she shuffled to the door to admit her visitor. It was probably Ian checking on her grades. He’d called her earlier that morning to see why she wasn’t at her classroom. She’d informed him that she was working at home and that the grades were coming along just fine. Whatever remorse he had felt yesterday after getting angry with her had apparently vanished.

So, it was a pleasant surprise when she opened the door and saw rain dripping from Mart Belden’s baseball cap instead of Ian under an umbrella.

They stared at each other for a moment, Mart trying to think of something to say as an excuse for coming by and Linnie in shock at him actually being at her door. Finally, Mart spoke, "Well, it’s raining and I thought that well, maybe I could take the raincheck on the hot chocolate today?"

Linnie smiled and then began to laugh, "Of course! What could be a better day to redeem a raincheck than a rainy day? Come on in." She stepped back to let him into the entry way and motioned to the coat rack. "Go ahead and leave your hat and jacket there. You can leave your boots by the door too." Hobbling into the living room, she added, "If it were my house I wouldn’t care if you tracked mud in, but Miss McCrae is quite picky about things."

Obediently Mart removed what he was told to remove and then followed her into the living room. Linnie was clearing piles of papers from the couch and the surrounding floor.

"Have a seat," she said solicitously as she placed the last pile on the end table. "Please excuse the mess. Like I told you the other night, I’ve only been here a short time and grades are due soon. The teacher who left didn’t have time to grade all of the kids’ work so I’m trying to catch up on it."

"No problem, I remember what it’s like," Mart said, sitting down on the comfortable couch.

"You remember what it’s like?" Linnie looked at him in surprise; "You’re a teacher?"

"Kind of," Mart looked at her surprised face and laughed, "Don’t I look like a teacher?" Before Linnie could answer he explained, "I finished my student teaching last spring, right before graduation. I’m, uh, taking some time off before I actually start teaching."

"Wow, I thought you were going to study agriculture or something like that and work on Jim’s school?"

Mart laughed again, "Well, I was, but my science grades weren’t good enough to get me into an Ag department that I liked…so I switched my major to English and got a teaching credential. As for Jim’s school, well he’s not sure what he’s going to do with that now. He’s in grad school currently working on a master’s in educational administration and educational psychology."

Linnie had gone into the small kitchen while Mart was talking. A breakfast bar was all that separated the two rooms, so she could still hear him easily. She called back to him as she put milk on to boil, "That’s a huge load to carry! But I’m sure he can handle it. Is Brian in medical school now?"

"Um, no, he’s actually studying to become a counselor for rehabilitation." Mart wasn’t sure how much to dump on Linnie right now, and the story of his older brother’s drug addiction probably was too much.

"And Trixie and Honey," she asked from the doorway, "Are they still planning on opening a detective agency?"

"No again. Trixie is double majoring in investigative journalism and Spanish. Honey is taking pre-vet courses."

That was a surprise, "Honey, a veterinarian?"

"Yeah, she sure has come a long way in the ten years since Trixie met her…she doesn’t get faint at the sight of blood any longer. She ended up helping Regan, her father’s groom, a lot in the stables after Jim left for college. Suddenly it became what she wanted to do with her life." Mart’s happy feelings were quickly leaving him, he was getting to close to thoughts of Diana as he talked about his friends, and that couldn’t happen. Standing up quickly he asked, "So, what can I do to help you with that hot chocolate?"

Somehow sensing that Mart didn’t want to answer anymore questions, Linnie led the way to the stove, "Well, we’ll just add the chocolate as soon as the milk is ready. You can grab a couple of mugs from the cupboard above the sink if you like."

A few moments later the mugs were filled to the brim with delicious smelling chocolate. "Oh man, I haven’t had real hot chocolate in ages," Mart sighed as he inhaled the aroma emanating from their cups.

"Real hot chocolate?" Linnie asked curiously.

"As compared to instant stuff that comes in little packages and you make with water heated in a microwave."

"Oh, I have that in my classroom for drinking at recess. The school only has coffee – which I don’t drink," Linnie answered, "If you prefer it, I’ll make sure to have some here next time." She gulped, ‘Next time? He’s going to think I’m after him, just assuming he’ll be coming over again.’

Mart appeared to not notice her comment, shook his head, "No way, this is great. You can just make this again." Then trying to cover his own confusion at implying that he’d be coming over again asked, "Do you happen to have any marshmallows?"

"Of course! What is hot chocolate without marshmallows – they’re in the cupboard by the refrigerator." While Mart added generous handfuls of marshmallows to their mugs, Linnie rummaged around in her freezer.

"We can eat these too, they thaw quickly," she held out a ziplock bag of cookies.

"Chocolate chip cookies?" Mart smiled the smile she remembered from years ago. "I haven’t had chocolate chip cookies since I moved down here. You’re great, Linnie!"

To hide her embarrassment at his praise, Linnie headed into the living room, "Just bring the mugs in here. As long as we don’t spill, it’ll be okay."

"Are you limping?" Mart asked as he watched Linnie cross the room.

"Um, yeah, a little bit," she frowned, she didn’t want to tell him what she had been doing when she fell, but she knew that would be his next question. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him a lie, and yet she didn’t want to tell him the truth either. So, she settled with, "I twisted it while out walking last night."

"Didn’t you have a flashlight?" Mart asked as he set the steaming mugs on the TV tray Linnie had placed in front of the couch.

"No, I hadn’t planned on being out in the dark." Before she could stop herself, Linnie told him about checking her old home and falling asleep and waking when it was quite dark. Lamely she finished, "I, uh, forgot about some rocks and slipped on them. It’s been so long since I’ve walked around there in the dark."

"You must have been the haunt?" Mart mused.

"Excuse me?"

"I heard noises outside last night and thought it was Andy. When I looked outside, I saw something white drifting toward the trail. When it reached the path it began to glow and I realized it was a person with some kind of light. If I’d known it was you I’d have helped you." He felt ashamed. Last night he had thought that it was Linnie, and he had wanted to help her, but the thoughts of Diana had held him back. He really needed to exorcise her from his mind and heart.

"That was probably me. I had a lantern that I lit when I was out on the trail. I didn’t want to disturb…" her voice tapered off, she didn’t want him to think that she had been eavesdropping on him.

"You should’ve come to the lodge. I could’ve taken you back or you could’ve stayed at the lodge…" now it was his voice that dwindled off. Maybe she had come to the lodge and had heard or seen him last night. His face began to grow dark and return to the harsh expression that Linnie had, up until now, been able to help keep away.

Linnie saw the change coming over him. She thought hard and fast on what she should say to bring back the cheerful person that had just been with her. A quick prayer left her mind, ‘Please, help me know what to say to him. Help me tell him something that will make him feel safe with me and know that I care. Please, just help me help him.’

Taking a deep breath, she began to speak quietly, "I did go over to the lodge to see if you or Andy were home and if I could borrow a flashlight or a coat or something. I knew someone had been home earlier, because when I had arrived in the afternoon I had heard music coming from the lodge. I didn’t want to disturb you." She glanced at Mart and saw that his eyes were closed, he was clenching and unclenching his hands, and gritting his teeth. "I was just going to peek in the kitchen window and make my decision. But when I looked in and saw you sitting at the table, I couldn’t pull myself away." She hurried to continue so he wouldn’t get the wrong idea, "I felt so horrible for you. I wanted to be able to help you somehow and I didn’t want to leave you alone. But I knew you would be angry if you saw me there and I didn’t want that either. Finally, I forced myself to leave and, well, that’s when I tripped over those stupid rocks along the path. Anyway, that’s how I twisted my ankle."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Then Mart began to speak. "I should probably explain to you what you were seeing…but I…"

Linnie broke in quickly, "Don’t. You don’t have to tell me right now. Someday, when you want to and you are ready to talk to someone, remember that I’m here and will gladly listen to you – if you want me to."

A small smile came to Mart’s face, slowly beginning to erase the harsh lines of anger and sadness that appeared to be permanently etched there. Bit by bit his hands began to relax also, "Thank you Linnie. I’ll remember that." He paused for a few seconds. "When I’m ready, I’ll tell you all about it. But it still hurt too much now to talk. But it helps just knowing that I’m not alone. That’s what I hate the most."

"You’re never alone, Mart," Linnie sighed, "I know the feeling – in a different way. But I’ve learned that I’m never truly alone and that has made the difference to me time and time again."

For a few moments, the two sat quietly on the couch; each lost in their own thoughts. After a time, Mart said abruptly, "This is silly!"

"What?’

"Just sitting here. The chocolate is getting cold."

Linnie wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything, but she nodded in agreement, as Mart continued,

"I guess I still will need a rain check on the hot chocolate."

Continue

AUTHOR’S NOTES:

All characters used without permission…