He nods, sitting beside me and turning the phone away. "I loved hearing you stand up for yourself, darlin'," he murmurs in my ear. “It was beautiful. I'm so proud of you.” His head shakes. “People can be weird about family. And Blaire has obviously pulled the wool over your mom's eyes for quite some time."
I can hear Mom shrieking at the other end of the phone. "Who is that? Is that the mountain man weirdo Blaire was talking about?"
"I could either scream at her or hang up," I say to Knox. "Neither will do any good."
"Do you want to decide, or do you want me to take over for you?"
I’m looking forward to fighting my own battles for the rest of my life, but in this case…? I hand Knox the phone, knowingthis has the potential to be an eye-opening experience for my sheltered mother.
He gently takes the phone from my hand, holding it at arm’s length. “Good evening, Mrs. Myers. I'm Knox Wolfe. I'm the one that called the fire department on Blaire."
"How could you? She wasn't doing anything wrong!"
"On the contrary. She was burning Hanna's property in an unsafe structure in her back yard, putting the entire neighborhood at risk. She also threatened to start an indoor fire to destroy the rest of her things. The authorities have the right to do whatever they must to keep the community safe."
Mom jerks back as if ice water had just been dumped over her. "Wait… Blaire truly did those things?"
"Yes. And it speaks volumes that you’ll believe me, but not your own daughter." His arm slides around me, squeezing my waist. “Hanna will need some time and space to recover from all this. Don't worry about her. I will provide her with everything she needs. I'll also suggest that she give you a call in a few weeks or a month once everyone has cooled down. Have a lovely evening."
He ends the call as I listen to Mom sputtering in shock. I snuggle into his arms, trembling, trying to hold back tears.
“Don’t cry, darlin’.” His warm hands roam all over my back, my shoulders, my hip. “Actually, go ahead. Cry it all out.”
My head tips up and I grin as I blink away a few tears. “It’s relief,” I sputter. “I didn’t realize how much I’d been tiptoeing about those people for so long.”
“No more tiptoeing, darlin’,” Knox grins. “We’re going to stomp all over this mountain and the world together.”
EPILOGUE
HANNA
* Four Years Later *
Good morning, readers!
Thank you for reading today’s WMBL!
You’ve probably noticed that the frequency of our issues has reduced, from every two weeks to once a month.
Although this newsletter will continue, it may be sporadic for a while. A new member of the team joined us in October and has been very disruptive to our process. This new employee is completely oblivious to deadlines, schedules, and quiet time for reading.
However, she is extremely cute, and worth turning our world topsy-turvy for a while.
“Which photo of her do we want to use?” I look up from my laptop and my heart melts.
Knox is in the process of transferring Evie from his arms to her bassinet. There’s always a touch and go moment where she might wake up, but we’ve learned the trick of setting her feet first, then keeping a hand on her chest for another minute.
We wait in silence until her breathing deepens and becomes more regular again, then Knox steps back, sitting beside me on the daybed.
“How about the one of her with the stuffed tree?” he murmurs softly.
“Perfect.” I scroll through the pics of our precious five-month-old until I find it.
Our joint project has been a huge success. The Wolfe Mountain Book List, known as WMBL, pronounced ‘wimble’, isn’t just an emailed newsletter. It’s a way for people to connect across the mountain, raving about books they love, and sharing what they are reading. It also has features on local authors and artists, books pertaining to the area and the mountain, even a section talking about non-fiction books and linking to websites with advice on cold weather clothing and gear.
Knox also realized we can help businesses who are flailing a bit by featuring them in a monthly highlight. I love that we’re able to use both our love of books and our love of the mountain to help everyone.
I drop the photo into place, then send the copy to our three proofreaders who will skim it so we can send it out in the morning. I dust off my hands and quietly snap the laptop closed.
