Alpine Zen : An Emma Lord Mystery (9780804177481) (28 page)

After opening up the house, I headed for the patio. I got as far as the back door when I saw a book lying on the cement near the door.

I didn't recognize the cover. Picking it up, I noted the title:
Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Church Beliefs
. Puzzled, I realized a piece of paper was barely peeking out at the top of the cover. I carefully removed it and read the semilegible handwriting:

I borrowed this from your priest. I'm not conversant with Catholic doctrine. This book told me what I needed to know, so I'm telling you what you need to know. Yes, I once called myself J. C. Peace. I conducted the marriage ceremony between your husband and his first wife. I was not and never have been ordained nor have I had any other official capacity as a minister. If you need legal documentation, I can provide that. You don't have to contact me. I will know. Peace, Craig.

I gazed out into the forest that surrounded my tiny patch of the wider world. How often did Craig slip among the evergreens and vine maples and wild berry vines to glimpse the rest of us in what he considered our mundane, even crass routine? Maybe I should have resented that. Most people would consider it spying, voyeurism, even akin to Des Ellerbee's lurking. But I disagreed. It was more like having a guardian angel. Craig would laugh at that idea. I sensed he didn't consider himself religious, at least not by conventional standards. I recalled something about life not being about the destination, but the journey. A Zen belief, remembered from my brother talking about Thomas Merton's
The Seven Storey Mountain
. I'd tried to read it to please Ben, but it was too deep for me. Yet there are some things that are instinctive.

A sound made me turn around. I saw Milo coming toward me. I knew where I was going. Our journey had started sixteen years ago. The path we'd traveled, alone and together, had been marked with laughter and tears, anger and intimacy, business and pleasure, loss and love. The next step in my journey was to walk into my husband's arms. He met me halfway.

That's what makes a marriage.

To the memory of Martha Longbrake, who tirelessly gave of herself. We are forever indebted to her generous spirit.

B
Y
M
ARY
D
AHEIM

The Alpine Advocate

The Alpine Betrayal

The Alpine Christmas

The Alpine Decoy

The Alpine Escape

The Alpine Fury

The Alpine Gamble

The Alpine Hero

The Alpine Icon

The Alpine Journey

The Alpine Kindred

The Alpine Legacy

The Alpine Menace

The Alpine Nemesis

The Alpine Obituary

The Alpine Pursuit

The Alpine Quilt

The Alpine Recluse

The Alpine Scandal

The Alpine Traitor

The Alpine Uproar

The Alpine Vengeance

The Alpine Winter

The Alpine Xanadu

The Alpine Yeoman

The Alpine Zen

M
ARY
R
ICHARDSON
D
AHEIM
started spinning stories before she could spell. Daheim has been a journalist, an editor, a public relations consultant, and a freelance writer, but fiction was always her medium of choice. In 1982, she launched a career that is now distinguished by more than sixty novels. In 2000, she won the Literary Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. In October 2008, she was inducted into the University of Washington's Communications Hall of Fame. Daheim lives in her hometown of Seattle and is a direct descendant of former residents of the real Alpine when it existed in the early part of the twentieth century, until it was abandoned in 1929. The Alpine/Emma Lord series has created interest in the site, which was named a Washington State ghost town in July 2011.

www.marydaheimauthor.com