Honeymoon Read online

  They both crouched by the front door and listened. Through the door came soft woofing and snorting sounds then the garbage can bouncing around followed by a heavy thump. Something large was moving around on the porch.

  Jake motioned to Melanie to walk with him to the back of the room.

  “Babe, what did you do with the packages of the meat, shrimp peels, and the beef bones?” he whispered his warm breath caressing her cheek.

  Melanie suddenly realized what he was getting to. “I just threw the garbage from dinner into the garbage cans. Oh, dear, it’s a bear isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it sounds too big to be a raccoon.”

  “We’ve got to get wood for the fire or we’ll freeze to death.” Melanie voice started getting higher and louder. Her whole body was shaking and she couldn’t stop trembling.

  He chuckled softly. “No. That’s not going to happen. We’ll put on the lamp and wait until he leaves. We can play cards while we wait. I’m sure once the bear realizes there is nothing else in there, he’ll leave.”

  “It would really help if we could get that generator going, then at least we’d have heat and light. Jake, I’m really afraid.” Her voice shook, she hated the fear in her voice, but she hated how scared she was even more.

  They played cards for an hour. Everything had been quiet for a long time.

  “What do you think?” she asked after recording the last rounds scores. Since the first game they played Jake had only won two other times and it seemed that he was getting moody.

  Melanie arched her back. Her back was really starting to hurt after sitting on the hard chairs for the last hour. “I need to change positions. I’m going to read for a while, okay? I think if we give it another hour the bear’ll be gone.”

  “I’d really rather play cards," Jake said in a winey tone, "I feel like my luck is going to change, I’m in for a lucky streak very soon. Come on give me a chance to win and catch up.”

  Melanie gaped at her husband, she didn’t like the look in his eyes. It had a gleam and the way he was dealing seemed urgent as if he were under some strange power. He was slamming down the cards and his mouth was a thin line. She could see beads of sweat forming on his brow. Odd. It wasn’t like it was hot in the cabin.

  “Okay, babe, just calm down. It’s only a kids game.” Melanie said as she rolled her shoulders and arched her back.

  “Quit telling me what to do” he growled, “Sure, it’s easy to be condescending when you’re ahead. What are you doing, gloating now? Let’s play a few more games.” He grabbed the cards and began shuffling. “Okay, this time I’ll keep score. We’ll see how the game goes when I keep score. Do we have anymore paper? This little bit is almost full.” He seemed frantic. Obsessed.

  Melanie was growing angry, and a little scared, her heart pounded hard in her chest and her palms were damp with perspiration. She didn’t like having a bear hanging around outside, that was one thing. But her husband going crazy on her in the inside a cabin in the middle of nowhere was something even scarier. There was no one to call for help if Jake went crazy she’d have to deal with him herself.

  She watched him deal the cards. His left eye started twitched as he stared wild eyed at his cards, then he smirked. She didn’t know what to do. Her hands were wet and she dried them on her sweats, she noticed that her hands were shaking too.

  This was supposed to be their honeymoon. This was supposed to be a romantic, magical time. In her dreams of their first days of married life she had envisioned, wining, dining, going for long walks on the beach, talking and laughing as they learned more about each other. I should never have suggested this stupid game.

  She sat in silence. Maybe she should throw a game or two to see if Jake calmed down. She looked at her cards. It was no trump and she had two aces, three kings, and a queen, with seven cards in her strongest suit. She felt her heart sink in her chest. There was no way she could do much with this hand except win.

  She pulled back her hair and tied it. She felt herself start to gnaw on her bottom lip, a childhood habit that she worked hard on breaking. She saw Jake watching her, smiling.

  “So you do have tells, do you? Good to know, good to know,” he said to himself and nodded.

  Melanie took a deep breath. What is he talking about? Did he think by playing a kids game he was now some hot shot gambler?

  That game she won ten tricks. She was lucky to slough off the three she had given him.

  “Okay, babe, it’s your turn to deal.” Jake said. “Remember I’ll be watching you. If you let me win I’ll be checking your cards. We’ll have no cheating. I’ll win, but I’ll win fair and square.”

  The wind outside the walls howled and the roof shook and the windows rattled around them. Melanie shivered as she looked at the deck of cards. Her hands were turning blue, she rubbed and blew on them hoping to warm them before she started dealing the next hand.

  “Be careful there, girl," Jake warned, his voice an unpleasant growl, "don’t try dealing from the bottom of the deck. I’m watching you.”

  She gave him a weak smile and swallowed hard. Thank goodness they didn’t have any booze with them, she couldn’t image what he would be like if he were drunk. Then she remembered she had brought a bottle of very nice wine, but he didn’t know about it. It would keep for another day.

  An angry terrible roar came from the outside and the walls shook. This was followed by a growl and a deep huffing noise. They both looked at each other, the game forgotten.

  One corner of the cabin was hit by a heavy weight again. Something was pounding on the walls. Then they heard something the size of a truck land on their front deck shaking the windows as it passed.

  They heard a high keening followed by a ripping sound tearing into the cabins wooden walls. Then came such an awful stench their eyes watered and breathing became hard. It was as if when they opened their mouth a foul smelling vinegary substance was being poured down their throats. Melanie wanted to throw open the door and run, but she knew they were trapped.

  She wanted to roll into a ball in the corner of the room and scream. Her stomach heaved and she tasted bile at the back of her throat. She was going to throw up. She knew that neither action would help. After taking a deep breath then slowly exhaling slowly her mind hit a wall and she started calming down. She closed her eyes. Oh, thank you. She hadn’t gone into a blind rage like before.

  It took a long time before the smell started to go away and they could talk.

  Jake looked at Melanie through watering eyes. “That’s a bear?”

  Melanie smiled at him. “Yeah, and it sounds like it just tangled with a skunk. I’m not sure who won, but it wasn’t us.” She looked at him, dropping her cards onto the table she rubbed her hands together.

  “Babe, can I talk to you about something?” she asked gently once she got her breath back. Jake nodded but before she could say anymore they heard the bear suddenly began to bat the garbage cans around huffing all the while. Melanie's words stuck in the back of her throat.

  After a while they heard the bear leave the porch, its heavy, ambling footsteps moving away into the brush surrounding the cabin. The bear was finally leaving.

  “I just realized there’s no way we can even wash anything or have a shower.” Jake said as he leaned back and put his cards on the table.

  They waited. Silence.

  “You were saying?” he asked reaching for her hand.

  She looked down at their joined hands, her cold one in his warm one. She knew she would have to choose her words carefully. She let out a slow breath then looked at him.

  “Um, I have an idea,” he said his gaze dropping to look down at their joined hands.

  “I think that we should use this score sheet and the cards as kindling to light the fire. Do you think that would work?” he asked.

  She leaned over, picked up the paper and cards, folded the score sheet in half and twisted it and handed it to him.

  “Mr. Jake Brock, that sounds like a fine i
dea indeed. Let me give it a go. I’ll see how much of the dried wood I can break and shave off. I think if I’m careful we should have a good base to start a fire.”

  “I’ll try and break the wood into smaller chunks too.” Jake paused then continued. “Babe, I’m not going to play cards anymore. I don’t like the way it makes me feel, and act.” He let out a deep sigh.

  Melanie took the paper and cards and added them to their pile of kindling; Jake added his shaved wood. She carefully put their collection into the stove and lit it.

  “That sounds like a plan to me," Melanie said her heart beating rapidly with excitement.

  This was the man she loved and the man she married. "Besides we don’t need to play Honeymoon Bridge, there are lots of other things to do.”

  She looked at him and smiled. She felt the knot in her stomach eased as the fire caught and started warming the cabin.

  She realized she was happy. Tonight she hadn’t gotten angry or had to kill another husband and that was a very good thing.

  About the Author

  Rita lives in Vancouver, B.C. with Russ, her husband who is also a fiction writer.

  She loves to read and paint in her spare time. She is learning to enjoy golf, and he is learning to enjoy gardening. They are kept company, and on track, by their two dogs and Glenn, their younger son.

  She has written for years and is an alumni of the Oregon Writers Network and the Greater Vancouver Chapter, Romance Writers of America. To find out more about her and her work visit her website at http://www.ritacrossley.com

  Also by Rita Schulz

  Short Fiction

  Blarney

  Flower & Bird

  Party Central

  Once Upon a Time

  The Scarlet Curse

  Spoken Words

  The Brownie's Holiday

  A Little Old Fashioned

  In The Land of Dragons

  A Little Kitchen Magic

  Silver Light

  For Pete’s Sake

  Cleaning Up is Hard to Do

  Confessions of a Bold Maiden

  All for One

  Lucky List

  A Spark of Courage

  Party Line

  Spoken Words

  One Day At A Time

  Three Sisters

  Honeymoon

  Collections

  Ladies of the Jolly Roger with Russ Crossley

  Ten Tempting Tales with R.S. Meger

  The Fantastic Five with R.S. Meger

  Unique Tales of the Fantastic

  Tales of the Fantastic

  Nightmares

  The Reckoning

  Novels

  Fire In Their Hearts ( with R.G. Hart from Champagne Books)

  A new title from 53rd Street Publishing.

  Nightmares come in many forms and from many places.

  Blood thirsty vampires.

  Flesh ripping werewolves.

  Brain eating zombies.

  Spirits of the dead who walk among us.

  Monsters of unspeakable horror appearing from the darkness.

  They attack us from the past.

  They attack us from alternate realities,

  They appear from the depths of unspeakable darkness thirsting on our fear.

  These tales of terror are guaranteed to keep you awake at night with the lights on. So sit back keep the lights burning brightly and hope there