The moment Denise walked away, Leah said, “You know what? I don’t think I want to participate in this afternoon’s activity. Let’s do something else.”
Caleb knew exactly what she was doing with her swift subject change. Allowing her to get away with it went against his investigative nature, but pressing her to explain what she meant by those three words might send her running.
It scares me.
What about him scared her? It didn’t make any sense.
Caleb decided to let it pass. Despite the fun they’d had these past couple of days, he was still on tenuous grounds when it came to Leah’s heart. He didn’t want to do anything that would encourage her to guard it from him.
He followed her out of the Grub Shack to the walking trail that led to the woods where this morning’s activity had taken place.
“Where are we going?” Caleb asked.
“To look for the falls,” she answered.
The waterfalls. He’d forgotten all about those. Leah had mentioned finding the falls that the camp was named for as one of her must-dos for the weekend.
“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” he asked.
“A vague one,” Leah said. “It isn’t on any official map, but I looked it up online and wrote down the markers that other guests have said to look for.” She pointed straight ahead. “And there’s the huge tree that split up and got back together again.”
Just ahead was a thick hemlock with a trunk that seemed to split into two about ten feet up, then entwined again toward the top. It wasn’t until they got closer to it that Caleb realized it was two trees growing very closely to one another.
“It’s as if the two trees have gone through Katherine and Geoff’s program,” he said.
“It’s the perfect metaphor. Starting out together, growing apart, and then finding their way back to each other.” She looked over at him and smiled. “Come on, the falls shouldn’t be much further.”
As they soldiered on through the forest, Caleb could hear the sound of rushing water getting closer and closer. Leah walked several feet ahead of him. A few minutes later, she stopped and gasped. Caleb rounded the copse of trees and a trio of waterfalls came into view.
Leah clasped her hands to her chest. “I can’t believe we found it.”
The waterfalls were nice, but nothing to write home about. Having visited Niagara Falls several times, this seemed like a trickling faucet in comparison. But it was worth the journey just to see the delight on Leah’s face.
Caleb came to stand alongside her, took her by the hand, and gingerly started down the rocky path toward the water’s edge.
“So what’s so special about these falls?” he asked. “Is there some kind of legend?”
“Based on what I found online, there are several legends. It seems as if no one can decide on which one fits the best.”
He stopped at a large outcropping of rocks and sat on one that looked steady enough to hold them. He captured Leah by the waist and guided her down to sit on his lap.
“Give me some of the legends. We’ll pick the best one.”
“Well, most are tied to the Ojibwe tribe,” she started. “But they vary. One legend says that the Memegwesi—those are ancient water spirits—live in the cave just behind the waterfalls, offering help to humans in need. Other legends claim that the falls have special healing powers.”
“Nah. I’m not feeling either of those,” Caleb said. He lifted a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail holder and tucked it behind her ear. “I think we should come up with our own legend.”
She looked at him over her shoulder. “Oh, yeah? What were you thinking?”
“I think,” he said, his thumb caressing her cheek, “that the special powers are the kind that make two people realize they are perfect for each other.”
“Hmm…is that so? So what you’re saying is that if we swim underneath these falls, we’ll discover that we’re a perfect match?”
He tilted his had toward the water. “Why don’t we find out?”
“Just one problem. We don’t have any suits,” Leah said.
Caleb cocked a brow. “That’s supposed to stop us?”
