A Wild Rose in the Wilderness

-This story is a continuation of the Wild Rose adventure, and involves infidelity as a theme, if that offends you, please read something else. If you enjoy this piece, please rate it accordingly.

-I would also like to thank the readers who urged me to write more on this story line. I appreciate the encouragement and suggestions. Thank you!

*****

Life was funny, it was never what you expected it to be, living out in the rough mountain terrain had made the truth of that statement so clear to her. She had never expected to live off the land in such a profound way. She had always gathered fruits and berries during their season and had always had a small garden to tend that provided her with food as well as fishing, but now, simple things like these were no longer so simple. Walking or hiking everywhere used a lot of energy and collecting manzanita berries took her far from her camp at times. She knew not to eat all the berries in an area, knowing that some manzanita were endangered.

Rose had lost count of the days she had been out here and was glad that the snow was disappearing quickly. Knowing that spring had finally started, and that she had survived her first winter here made her heart soar, adrenaline and endorphins flooding through her body at the completion of her challenge. Of all times for her to start her journey out in the wild, she chose the beginning of winter, or rather, it had chosen her.

The timing of it didn't surprise her much, her whole life had been that way. She was a fighter, for sure. The bull in her soul kept her stubborn and tough and resilient.

People had always tried to take something from her that they weren't entitled to, she had felt she had been disappearing piece by piece, when she had enough, she left. She had tried to change people's way of looking at the world, but had finally given up, less work to just leave rather than waste her time and breath trying to get people to see her vision. She was never one for confrontation, it made her mentally shut down, immediately going into fight or flight, and as said before, she had tried the fight approach first.

She regretted how she had left things with Steve, but had known somehow that if she had not just left, he would have been able to soften her resolve, because he had been the one person who had wanted to share in her vision, and she needed to do this for herself even though she felt a hollow place inside her without him.

This wasn't a want, she needed to know she was self reliant. She had never been completely on her own before, and she needed to prove to herself she was able to fend for herself. Rose had known it would seem crazy to other people, so she had never voiced her plan, until she was prepared to exit.

She only told two people where she was headed and instructed each on a contingency plan if either needed to reach her. She took her phone with her, but reception was spotty out where she planned on living. She decided that she would stay in touch with the world by as little a thread as she found possible.

She sold her house and had to head back to town to sign the paperwork then went to the bank with the check. Two weeks later she came back to pick up the cash from closing her account that same day. The bank had insisted on two weeks to prepare the money.

Rose had found a comfort in her solitude. Her waist length honey gold hair was now riddled with streaks of white, bright gold and copper, from the sun. Her skin was a deep warm tan of someone who spent most of their time out in the sun, and her silver gray eyes stood in bright contrast against the bronze of her skin.

****

She had only been gone a few weeks when Steve started to search for her. He knew something was wrong when he stopped seeing her at her usual workout time at the gym. He figured she was just working through her grief and figured he should give her space. He felt he had no right to complicate her life any more than he already had, but when the frequent flyer list was published at the start of the next month and she wasn't even on it, when usually her name was at the top, he started to really worry.

He decided to see about tracking her down, if for no other reason than an explanation face to face. He had every intention, now, of leaving his wife. He made plenty of money that he could walk away and give his wife everything as well as enough alimony to pay the generous mortgage and living expenses for his old life, and still afford a decent life with his Rose, that is, if she still wanted him.

Steve's first move was to stop by Rose's house. He was alarmed when a woman he didn't know opened the door and he saw bare rooms with moving boxes just past the woman.

"I am looking for Rose Mathers, is she here?"

"No, I am sorry, we just bought this house and started moving in a few days ago." Then she commented, "when we signed papers, I overheard something about a nice trip. Maybe she went on a vacation," she suggested.

Steve was disheartened because that didn't sound like Rose at all. Not one to give up on a lead, though, he pursued until it came back a bust. In fact, all the usual avenues for finding a missing person had come up null. It was as if she had just disappeared off the planet.

When he dreamed about her that night, he had an inspirational thought. He remembered the birthday gift she had given him the previous autumn and had a hunch about where she had gone. She had given him a topographical map and a guide book for the area of Mammoth. It was a very large area of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but compared to the planet, it narrowed down the search area extensively.

It took him a little more than a month to locate her Jeep after his dream gave him insight. She had parked it about ten miles down a slightly maintained dirt road near a trail head that led into the intricate trail system that was named after explorer and environmentalist John Muir.

He knew it would take him a long time to find her out here by himself, so he decided to enlist some of his cop buddies and also his dog, who knew her.

They would have to take the trail in sections, not having unlimited time to conduct this search. This was excellent training for his squad as well, so when their monthly training came up, he ordered a three day search in said area as part of the certification. It wasn't unethical, exactly, he was just anxious to find some sign that she was okay, and so took a few liberties with his authority as lieutenant to aid with some manpower out in the rough terrain that she had chosen.

Three months after he had noticed she had dropped off the grid, he got his first lead. It was the end of April and he got a hit on her cell phone number. It had been dead for as long as he had been looking for her, but this was an unmistakable ping and triangulation gave him a fairly small radius of search area. He didn't hesitate to jump into his truck and head for the spot. He took his portable GPS unit and his faithful dog. They were on the trail in record time, he had pulled a few strings with some local law enforcement to overlook his speed as long as he did the limit through the towns he passed through.

He was glad he had taken to keeping a stocked pack in the back of his truck just in case he would need to drop everything and leave on a moment's notice. He had also grabbed his side arm, a 9 mil glock.

He checked the GPS location and figured he had at least five hours of hiking to get to the spot, and there was no guarantee that he would find her when he got there. He was glad that he worked in high altitude, so the lack of oxygen here had little effect on him and he kept a steady pace.

He stopped briefly every half hour or so to water his dog and himself. Every now and then grabbing some jerky for them as well; hydration and salt intake were imperative up in the alpine. About four in the afternoon he reached an opening in the trees, a lush green meadow opened before him. He checked the GPS unit again and realized he was at the spot, or very close to it. He scanned the landscape looking for a camp first, when that turned up nothing, he started looking for tracks and other signs that a person had been here. His dog perked up his ears and tore off toward the west without a bark, his tail wagging.

Steve followed, still scanning for signs of activity. He was almost to the far side of the meadow when he saw the first sign that anything was out of place.

There was a large granite boulder with footprints in the soft spongy soil around it. He examined it more closely and noticed that there was a natural hollow providing shelter on one side that had been expanded by well placed upright posts and branches for cover and concealment, but it wasn't a camp. He saw on closer inspection that it looked to be where someone had been storing supplies. There was some food, surprisingly sugar and flour and yeast, stored in air tight containers, also medicine and other medical supplies, and various cooking items and utensils. In the back he saw her phone, connected to a charging cable. He followed the cord with his eyes to find her solar charging station atop the granite rock that he had missed before.

Steve decided to make his camp near here, wanting to stakeout the spot to see if she would be back. He kept his camp a respectable distance from her stockpile so she wouldn't be scared off.

*****

Rose had seen evidence of Steve's visit to her storage. She had been in the habit of casing out the area from a higher vantage point before heading down into a clearing. She had seen footprints and dog prints in the snow through the meadow. Rose purposefully tried to avoid going through snow especially around her storage. She had picked the spot because it's location near a cropping of trees. She couldn't conceal all her prints, but she didn't need to advertise her presence out here either.

Rose had come back that night. She had gotten close enough to observe Steve and his dog Hunter, without drawing attention to herself. She wanted to go to them, wanted to explain herself, but knew she had no right to burden Steve with her baggage. A tear slid down her cheek and she knew she needed to go. Her resolve began to crumble more and more each tear that dripped off her chin to leach into the soil beneath her as she turned and started to run recklessly away from them, her grief and guilt raw and larger than ever.

*****

Steve waited for three days for her to return to the clearing and he had seen no sign that she had. He had stayed fairly close to his camp so he wouldn't miss her if she showed up, but it had turned out to be for nothing. He did sleep and he dreamed of her. He dreamt of her smile as it lit her up, her body, the taste of her tongue, the taste of her lips and her feminine curves, the way she cried out when she came for him. He felt her body and soul weaving together with his own body and soul when they abandoned themselves within the other's passion, colliding— until the euphoria exploded around and within them. Where they ceased being two and became one. One soul, one mind, one body. One.

He awoke, his orgasm diffusing, as the image of Rose disappeared into the ethereal realm of dreams.

****

Steve was encouraged, rather than discouraged. He had found some evidence that Rose was out here somewhere and was alive. The relief of that knowledge lightened his mood incredibly. He was now more determined to find her. His whole world had fallen apart when she had disappeared. He had been fearful that something had happened to her and that he had lost her forever.

****

Rose began looking for another place to store her extra gear and supplies. She knew that if Steve was looking for her and found this storage, he would be back. Knowing that she was in the right here, maybe a little late, but she did love him and knew that eventually what they shared would have to end. She also knew that she only had a couple of days to move her gear before he would be back.

****

Steve had not been able to keep peace at home with his spouse during these past few months as he had searched for his Rose. He finally told his spouse that he wasn't happy with her anymore and that he needed more in his life than a bunch of stuff. He needed a partner and a companion and she was neither of those things for him.

His wife had cried and pleaded with him not to leave her, promising to change. Steve had just looked at her, realizing he had no loving emotion left for her, and thought with pity how far she had fallen from where she had been when they had first dated.

Steve didn't wish his spouse any ill, he still thought she was a good person, but he knew he was holding her back, she needed goals and dreams of her own to pursue, although he couldn't think of what they might be. He thought about Rose then, and the choice she had made to live out in the wilderness and had that much more respect for her.

His wife deserved to be with someone who thought she was amazing, and she needed to find out who she truly was. Steve told his spouse as much, and had hated being so cruel, but he himself was feeling a disorientation from his separation of Rose, and was surly.

*****

Thank you for reading this excerpt of the Wild Rose adventure. If you enjoyed this, please rate it. If you have suggestions for further excerpts, please leave a comment. Thanks again, ddMcAnn