either.”
David was chuckling when they entered the cabin.
Marnie put the casserole in the oven for supper, and she, David, and Jonathan played several wild hands of Go Fish with a deck of cards David took from an oversized antique armoire in the living room. When the timer went off, David and Jonathan washed up and then set the table while Marnie put the bread in the oven. A few minutes later they sat down to supper.
It was a quiet meal, and when it was over, Marnie said, “Jonathan, I think you’d better go take your bath before you fall asleep. It’s been a busy day, and I can tell you’re tired.”
“Aww,” he began, but David cut him off.
“I’ll come draw a tub of water for you and help you get started.”
“Be sure he washes all over instead of just playing in the tub,” Marnie advised.
By the time she had cleared the table and washed the dishes, David had Jonathan bathed and in his pajamas. Together they tucked the yawning boy into one of the twin beds.
“Leave the lamp on, please Daddy, until you come to bed,” he requested.
“Sure thing, Sport. I’ll turn it off later.”
Marnie pulled the covers up around Jonathan’s shoulders and kissed him on the forehead.
“Good night, sweet one,” she whispered.
Chapter 33
When they returned to the living room, David went to the fireplace. Chad had prepared everything for lighting a fire. Kindling and starter twigs and cones filled the opening, and logs sat on the massive stone hearth. David took a butane starter from the mantle and lit the dry sticks. When they were enveloped in flames, he added small pieces of wood, and as the fire grew, he added larger logs. When it was burning to his satisfaction, he joined Marnie on the sofa.
They sat in silence and watched the flames.
Marnie broke the silence. “I imagine if it weren’t for having to earn a living a person could live up here. It’s so peaceful.”
David turned his body squarely toward her.
“What’s the matter?” she asked. “Did I say something wrong?”
He shook his head. “Marnie, like many of the places I’ve taken you since you returned home, this trip had a purpose, too. At first, I’ll admit, when I took you someplace, like the Roadhouse, I thought I’d catch you in a lie—catch you pretending to have amnesia.” He rose and used the poker to push the burning log to the back of the pile and added a new piece of wood to the front.
“After I became convinced you weren’t making the whole thing up, I did it to try to spark a memory. Sort of like when you drove to the mall and parked in the same spot you did when you ran off with Ray. Your subconscious did that, but it didn’t take you any further.
“Nothing seemed to work. No more memories came through. Then I thought about bringing you up here. You and I came up here not long after Jonathan was born. You were so stressed out over having a baby, so sure you couldn’t take care of an infant, you didn’t even want to try. My mother found Mrs. Tucker to take care of Jonathan. She had been working for another family in Mother’s circle until the children got too old to need her. I brought you up here to calm you down, to try to talk to you and get our marriage to work.”
“I don’t remember anything about being up here before. Did I like it?”
“No. You disliked it intensely. Being out here ‘in the wilds,’ as you called it, made you even more upset. You hated it, and after a couple of days, you threw a fit, and I took you back to town.”
Marnie could only stare in dismay. She turned back and fixed her gaze on the flames.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what might have happened to me.”
“So have I.”
“I think it might have been a car wreck.”
“Why do you say that?” he asked.
“Driving up here today, I got very nervous several times. Meeting big trucks, especially, made me panicky. Was there anything before, any reason you know of, that a situation like that might scare me?”
“No. To my knowledge you’ve never been in a wreck of any kind.”
“Driving around town hasn’t bothered me at all, but it was all I could do to keep from screaming when we met a big truck on the road up here.”
David seemed perplexed. “But you didn’t have any bruises or scrapes on your