I was working in my studio, in front of the picture window that looked out over my world, a world of pines and firs set in a steep valley. It was dusk and the mountain tops were still in the bright sun, but the valley was already plunging into the dark. Across the valley, the road snaked across the mountain, winding up and around until it finally stopped at my place. I saw headlights slowly crawling up the road. From there, it would be at least twenty minutes until they got here. Maybe more if they didn't know how to drive on the rough twisty dirt road in the twilight.

I shut down my computer and turned off the lights. I locked the doors, unusual since I didn't have any neighbors that I had to keep out. This was the only private plot of land for miles and miles. My grandfather had refused to sell to the Forest Service when they decided to nationalize this land. So I was smack in the middle of a great national forest and hardly anyone, other than the Forest Service people, even knew I was here. I grabbed my camouflage jacket, my trusty 457, an M-16, and went out to hide just off the road.

You might just be wondering what sort of paranoid hides with an armory just because a car is coming. A paranoid who knows that there is no reason for anyone to be coming up that road and, in fact, a paranoid who had never seen anyone other than a Forest Service truck come up that road. A paranoid who happens to know the last person on this road other than himself dropped off several dead bodies. Even though that was five years in the past and probably the unknown perpetrator would never return, a paranoid who wasn't going to take any chances.

It was closer to a half hour when I heard the engine noise. A car rolled slowly up the road. As it made the final turn and the house was lighted in the headlights, the car shuddered to a stop. My eyes had adjusted to the dark twilight. I had shielded them from the bright headlights. I could make out the occupants of the car, a woman and a girl, both blonde. Letting out my breath, I was pretty sure they weren't much of a danger. I moved closer until I could hear them talking.

"Mom, what are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure, honey. I don't think this is the cabin. I must have taken a wrong turn."

'Lady, you are right, ' I thought. 'No one would be looking for me.'

"It's getting dark."

"I know," the voice said and I could feel the tension in it.

"Mom, are you sure we had to run?"

"Yes." More tension. Then calmer, "I don't see any lights. Maybe no one is home. We have some groceries in the trunk..."

I heard the woman sniff and begin crying. Damn, but a woman's tears always brings out the gallant, but usually stupid, in me. I came out of the brush and walked up to the car. Since I was behind them, they didn't see me until I was at her window. "Can I help?"

They both turned then screamed in unison.

I jumped back. "Damn lady. I mean I know I'm not handsome but I don't usually make women scream," I said. It must have been the exact right thing because the scream turned to giggles then laughter as I stood there feeling stupid.

Finally, the woman said, "I'm so sorry but we thought it was Jim and when you popped up with that gun..."

I looked at the rifle. "Oh sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I'm Mike, not Jim."

"I can see that," she said, blushing a little.

"I couldn't help overhearing that you took a wrong turn," I said.

"We're looking for a friend's cabin, but I don't know where it is now."

"Well, it isn't close to here." I looked at the sky which was quickly getting pitch dark except for the stars. "And I suspect you aren't going to find it tonight. You, and I presume this is your daughter, can stay the night."

"Sorry, this is Caitlyn and I'm Jill." She looked over her shoulder at the dark and considered trying to drive that road. I could see the decision. "If it isn't too much trouble..."

"No trouble. Grab your bags and come on in," I said and went off to unlock the door. They both had travel bags and followed me. I turned on lights and led them down the hall. "Sorry, but I don't have a lot of room. Do you mind bunking together?"

"That will be fine," Jill said.

There was one room on the ground floor with two double beds. I threw on the light. It was neat and clean, though a bit Spartan. "Home," I said smiling. That got a smile from Jill. I left them to get settled.

In a few minutes, Jill showed up in the kitchen. "Hungry?" I asked.

"Yes. We have some groceries in the car," she said.

"Well, you know what my drive to the market is like. I won't turn down some fresh produce," I said.

Jill smiled. She called out, "Caitlyn, come help me with the groceries." I started to get up but she waved me back. "We can get them." I have made it a policy never to argue with someone telling me to relax while they work. I sat back at the table. Caitlyn came up and the two went out and dragged in several bags of groceries.

Jill quickly made herself at home in the kitchen, opening cabinets and drawers and starting dinner, not that I minded. I even pointed to a couple of drawers when I could see she was looking for something. Jill kept up a steady conversation, not really saying anything, but talking. Caitlyn was quiet.

Once dinner was on the table, pork chops, potatoes, and a green salad, and I was eyeing that green salad, being produce deprived most of the time, we all sat and started eating. I broke out a bottle of wine from the cellar, which was actually a cellar Grandpa had blasted into the virgin granite before he built the house on top, and poured glasses for the three of us. Caitlyn looked at me funny, then at her mom. "The Inn is a follower of the European plan," I said.

Jill nodded. "If you'd like to try wine, Caitlyn, go ahead."

The girl looked back and forth between her mom and me, then picked up the glass.

"Sip it, don't slurp it," I said.

She carefully took a small sip.

It was a Beaujolais... pretty fruity and not very austere. I figured the girl would like it.

"That's not bad," she said.

"To not bad," I said holding up my glass. "My goal in life, not bad."

Jill suppressed a smile as she clinked glasses with me.

We dug into dinner.

Halfway through dinner, I asked the question I had on my mind since I first saw them in their car. "Who are you running from?"

They both tensed up.

I shrugged, "I just wanted to know if I should keep that rifle handy."

They exchanged a look, then Jill said, "Jim."

"I heard you say the name. Who is Jim?" I asked.

"Caitlyn's father and my ex. He swore if I tried to divorce him he'd get even. We were over at a neighbor's when we saw him drive up and bust down the door. He had a gun. I know he intended to kill us. Sally, my friend, called the police, but by the time they showed up, Jim was gone," she said.

Caitlyn was looking scared, and rightly so I supposed.

"They can arrest him for breaking and entering," I said continuing to eat to maintain a sense of normalcy in a very non-normal conversation.

"And how soon will he be out?" she asked. I knew she was right. He'd be out the next morning. "I could get a restraining order, but if he's willing to kill us I don't think a restraining order will do much good."

"I hate to agree, but I think you're right," I said.

Tears filled her eyes.

"Dinner's good," I said. "Best I've had in ages."

She laughed, wiping back the tears, "Thank you, for everything."

"Does Jim know your neighbors have a cabin?" I asked.

"Yeah," she answered. That thought grew and I saw the fear.

"Well, Mizz and Miss, I can guarantee he doesn't know about this place since only me, you two now, and about ten Forest Service people even know it's here. I need the lonely life being an author, but it does get, well, lonely." It's funny, but being an author, you'd think I could be a little more profound with my words. But being an author, I'm always the most spontaneous the third or fourth time I'm editing what I've written. "If you'd like to bunk here for a while..." I left that open.

Jill and Caitlyn exchanged a glance. Caitlyn nodded. "I don't know how we could repay you," she said.

I laughed. "You cook, she cleans, I'm happy," I said causing both of them to laugh. I reached across the table, "Deal?"

"Deal," Jill said as we shook hands.

I shook hands with Caitlyn causing her to giggle and blush just a bit. "What grade are you in?" I asked Caitlyn.

"Eighth, I'm twelve," she said.

She could have passed for sixteen. I glanced at Jill who shrugged, "Early bloomer."

"I'll say," I said.

"Aren't you going to ask mom how old she is?" Caitlyn asked.

"I don't see any reason to start our relationship off by forcing your mom to lie. You see, Caitlyn, girls are funny. Up until about their early twenty's but especially in their teens, girls all want to be older than they are. After that, they all want to be younger than they are. In fact, most women never make it past twenty-nine years old. I knew a woman who celebrated her twenty-ninth birthday thirty-two times," I said.

Jill laughed pointing her fork at me, "Thirty-four, just to prove you wrong."

"I concede," I said laughing. "Caitlyn, your mom proved me wrong. There is one woman who'll admit her age, if that really is her age."

We finished dinner in a much lighter mood. I put Caitlyn to work per the agreement that night. I showed her where everything went as she cleaned and wiped the dishes.

The main room downstairs was a large open space, with windows on three sides of the house. It was also where the entertainment center was, all hooked up by satellite to the world. I could have been in the middle of a large city and had no more entertainment options. I turned on the TV, preset to ESPN of course. Caitlyn curled her lip. I eyed Jill who shrugged. "Truth is we are tired. It was a long drive. Come on Caitlyn, let's go to bed."

"Bath is on the right. I have my own bath upstairs so you guys can take that one over, put your frilly stuff everywhere," I said.

Jill shot me a look, but she was smiling, "Good night."

"Good night," Caitlyn said. "And thank you."

"My pleasure ladies. Good night." I turned the volume down and watched the Astros and Rockies play until I, too, was tired. I headed upstairs. As I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I couldn't help but think about two ladies downstairs, all cozy in bed. I rose to the occasion and had to beat myself back into submission before I could fall asleep.

I woke to the smell of bacon and coffee. Man, in the mountains, there is no better way to wake. I was downstairs in no time, still drying my face from the fastest shower in history. My stomach was growling. A steaming cup of coffee was on the table. Jill and Caitlyn were fixing breakfast. "I heard you coming and had Caitlyn pour you a cup."

"I think I have died and gone to Heaven," I said. "Are you really angels?"

Jill laughed, "I can guarantee Caitlyn isn't."

"Mom..." Caitlyn whined.

"Just teasing sweetheart," she said. "Are the eggs ready?"

Caitlyn nodded and poured some scrambled eggs into the pan. Jill added some green onions and shredded cheese. Hot Damn! That looked good. Mom always called that a Joe's Scramble, everything all mixed together in scrambled eggs. My normal breakfast was a cup of cold cereal, since I hated to cook for myself.

I had trouble pushing away from that table. As I was getting up, Jill asked, "Do you have a phone?"

"Yes, why?"

"I think I should call Sally. She has to be worried," she said.

"Jill, right now Sally knows you are running but has no idea where you are. That means Jim has no way to trace you. Don't give him anything that will help him. Better for Sally to be a little worried, than for Jim to find you," I said.

I could see her thinking. "Okay," she said.

"The telephone is up in my office, but I counsel that you not use it, for anything," I said.

Jill nodded.

We settled into a routine. Jill and Caitlyn ran the house and I worked in the mornings and afternoons, sometimes. I did the outside work, chopping wood for winter and things like that. I always went through a lot of wood in a winter. I had a covered shed connected to the house so even in the worst storms I could keep the house warm with the woodstove. If the electricity was cut off, which happened occasionally, I could still keep from freezing.

The main electrical line to the Forest Service headquarters ran just a hundred yards from my place. It had been cheap to get the utility to cut me into the line since they liked another paying customer on the line they had to maintain anyway.

It was about a week later, when I had come up to my office after a break for coffee and a talk with Jill. I saw Caitlyn on the computer. I was a bit miffed as I hadn't exactly told her she could use it. On the other hand, I had told her to make herself at home. I should have been more specific.

As I came up behind her, I saw what she was reading, my website. I had a link right on the desktop that took me straight in as the author. She was engrossed in one of my stories. My paying work was novels but my relaxation was my erotic stories site. "Caitlyn."

She nearly jumped out of the chair. Feverishly, she tried to shut down the site, fumbling with the mouse.

"Don't bother, I've already seen it," I said.

She looked at me, about to cry. "I wasn't..."

I butt in, "Yes, you was." That stopped her. "It's okay I guess. If you are old enough to be that interested, you're probably old enough to be reading. So, what stories have you read?"

She started listing them off. She had been through about a third of my stories already.

"Wow, you've been busy," I said.

She blushed. "Are you going to tell mom?"

"Of course. Caitlyn, guess what. I bet your mom was doing the same thing when she was your age. Don't look so surprised." I called downstairs. "Jill!" She came up the stairs.

"It's not a big deal but I just wanted to let you know that Caitlyn found my erotic stories on my computer and has read some of them," I said.

Jill looked surprised. "Your erotic stories?"

"Yeah, I write them to try things out, or just for fun. I have a website and Caitlyn found it," I said.

"You write dirty stories and you let Caitlyn read them?" she said her voice getting shrill. "Caitlyn, go downstairs." Caitlyn hurried from the room.

"First, they aren't 'dirty' stories..." I started in.

Jill jumped up. "We're leaving," she said in a haughty tone.

"What? You'd kill your daughter over a fucking story?" I fumed.

That stopped her. "I've got to protect my daughter."

"Protect her by getting her shot? Jill, you can't be that stupid." I said. She looked daggers back at me. "I'm sorry to call you stupid, but what you just said was. You are going to protect Caitlyn by exposing her to someone who wants to kill her? I just can't believe Americans," I went off into one of my rants. "They protect their kids from a perfectly normal human activity, sex, but expose them to violence. Tell me how that makes sense? Violence is okay but sex is dangerous? I'm sorry Jill but you have it ass backwards. You are supposed to protect Caitlyn from violence, from people who will hurt her, not from normal human activities like eating, breathing, and sex." I ran down.

She was looking up at me stunned.

"And I don't write 'dirty' stories. They have sex in them. Hell, I write historical books and the publishers won't touch them if they don't have sex in them. Everyone wants to read sex. Sex sells. I'm surprised Algebra books don't have examples with sex in them," I said.

That made Jill giggle. I took it as a good sign.

"Jill, we need to expose students to sex, not protect them. Don't look shocked. What other subject do we say, the way to teach this subject is to keep kids in ignorance. Math, history, science? No, just sex. Weird. Kids need to be exposed to sex so they understand all of its dangers and joys, the good and bad before they learn the wrong stuff from classmates, because they sure as hell talk about it. You know, there are girls running around able to get pregnant who think they can't get pregnant their first time. Yes. That's what happens when we protect kids from sex. Ignorance," I said finally running down.

I flopped back in my chair. "Okay, I've said my piece. You know what I think. Now you have to do what is best for the two of you."

"But they are dirty stories," she said.

I buried my head in my hands.

"Dirty stories are the fun ones to read, right?" she asked.

"If you meant it that way, yes. But that's not the way you meant it the first time you said it," I said.

She shrugged, "I guess not. So, do I get to read them?"

I pointed to the desktop, "Right there, the red triangle called website."

There was a pause, then Jill said, "I'm sorry I jumped to a conclusion about you, I mean... never mind."

"If you're thinking I'm a pervert, okay, I am, but just a normal everyday male pervert."

"It's just Caitlyn is only twelve," she said.

"If you haven't scared her into never talking to you again about sex, ask her what her friends talk about," I said. "Wait, let me show you a couple articles."

I pulled up several about the age at which girls have first intercourse in America. Jill was shocked that study after study showed that 50% of girls had sex before or about their fourteenth birthday.

"Yep," I said. "Put that on a bell curve and it's a certainty some of Caitlyn's friends have already started having sex. I think you'd be better off letting her learn what she can from truthful sources rather than rely on what her friends are telling her."

I could see Jill was really grinding on all of this. It shook her preconceived notions, always tough on a person. "I need to go see Caitlyn," she said.

I nodded. "I hope you'll stay. For both of your sakes."

She nodded and went downstairs.

I learned later that they had a tearful scene when Jill went down. Caitlyn was apologizing and Jill was holding her. Then Jill was apologizing and Caitlyn was comforting her mom. That was followed by a discussion of sex and what Caitlyn's friends talked about and did. Caitlyn did know two girls in her circle who admitted to having sex already. I gather that discussion swayed Jill. Later, I smelled dinner being fixed and I knew it would be okay.

With Jill's permission, I told Caitlyn she could read my stories but to ask questions about things she didn't understand. I explained that I wasn't advocating all these things. Sometimes I was showing how sex can get out of hand. Ask if you don't understand. She did.

I know Jill also read some because a few days later she said over dinner, "They aren't what I expected at all."

"How's that?"

"Some are romantic, like the one about the Genie, and some are just sexy, and some are weird," she said.

"Kind of like life," I said laughing. "They're just stories. If you like them, fine, if not, well, that's fine too."

Something did begin to change. There started to be a sexual tension in the air. I noticed it first with Jill. I don't think it was the stories with her. I think it was the natural response of two people in tight quarters, both not getting any.

I also began to feel the tension with Caitlyn. Hers seemed more a woman bursting out of a girl's body with all the rampant hormones of that transformation running wild. She would give me these looks at times. She would also take opportunities to find me alone and ask questions about the stories, pointed ones about whether or not I had done this or that, especially the older man younger woman stories. It wasn't obvious what she was hinting at, like the sky being blue or anything.

I knew this was headed for a climax and I had no idea how it was going to work out. But I was pretty sure there would be fireworks.

Part II

I was typing away in my office when I saw a flash on the opposite side of the valley. I picked up my binoculars and scanned the road. I saw the dust first, then the car. It wasn't a Forest Service truck.

I ran downstairs. "Jill, what does what's his name drive?"

"Who?" she asked.

"Your ex?"

"A silver Pathfinder," she said.

Shit. The car I had seen was sliver or gray. "Get Caitlyn now and meet me here," Jill started to protest. "NOW!" She went.

I grabbed my camouflage gear, rifle, pistol, and extra ammo. I also grabbed extra green jackets for the women. They came hustling back in. "Here, put these on."

"Why?" Jill asked.

"Because I said so and because there's a silver car coming up the road," I said.

Jill stood for a second, then cursed under her breath and started putting on her jacket. Caitlyn got into hers. I led them out, locking all the doors behind us, and led them up the hill. They struggled, even though they had been at the altitude for a while, they weren't used to climbing steep rugged hills like this. But I knew we had time. About half way up the hill was a pile of downed trees that had a panoramic view of the house and surrounding area. There was also no way to approach from behind, without climbing the mountain from the other side.