Page 40 of Bluebell Tides

“I was majoring in environmental science,” she stammered. “But after what happened, I couldn’t bring myself to…” She trailed off, unable to articulate what she meant.

The judge tilted his head in thought.

“The thing is,” Sophie continued, “I’ve trained my entire life, learning about the natural world and falling in love with it. I wanted to go into the mountains to indulge in all that beauty. I wanted to appreciate it. The fact that things got so out of hand is something I will never forgive myself for.” Sophie’s voice broke, and tears began to fall down her cheeks. Still, she went on. “I know that the majority of wildfires break out because of human error. I know that. And now, I find myself embroiled in a case much like all the cases I’ve spent years learning about. I hate it. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it.”

Sophie dared to raise her eyes to the four people she’d been camping with, all of whom looked at her, their expressions marred with disgust. Dina, too, looked confused. Why was Sophie letting herself take the fall for this? Why wasn’t she telling the judge that it wasn’t her fault? She was throwing herself at the mercy of the court.

“You were the only one in your party to spend any time in the hospital, correct?” the judge asked.

Sophie nodded, her eyes on the ground.

“You need to give us a verbal response,” the judge reminded her.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“The hospital says that nobody stayed with you. That your party dropped you off and sped away,” the judge said. “Will you tell us who drove you to the hospital?”

Sophie bit her lower lip. “Ethan did.”

“You’re referring to Ethan Campbell? Will you describe your relationship with Ethan at the time of the fire?” the judge asked.

“He was my boyfriend,” Sophie said. “But we’re not together anymore.”

At this, Sophie dared to look Ethan in the eye. This time, she overpowered him, and he dropped his gaze. He looked like a frightened teenage boy.

The judge asked another series of questions, mostly about the nature of Sophie’s environmental studies. Sophie kept reminding him that her days at the university were through.

Eventually, the judge dismissed her and called Jen to the stand. Jen swaggered up and sat down, glowering at her ex, her ex-friends, and the people who’d gotten her into this mess. It wasn’t long into the questioning that she announced that she hadn’t touched the fire, that it hadn’t been her idea, that she hadn’t wanted to go camping in the first place.

“And, yeah,” she said, waving her hand, “Sophie was going on and on about how we shouldn’t make a fire, how it was wrong or illegal or whatever. So really, if you ask me, she and I shouldn’t even be here.” She crossed her arms angrily.

Things calmed down after that. Ethan, Lizzie, Freddy, and Cedric all came to the stand and told versions of the same story, a story they’d clearly cultivated together and agreed upon. But they told their stories with such arrogance, proof of how well off they were in the world, that the judge’s lips seemed to curl in disgust.

Sophie could feel the tides turning. She could feel that the judge’s mind was at work.

When it was over, the judge announced that, due to insufficient evidence, he couldn’t do much to punish the young people in court today. Ultimately, he sentenced Ethan, Cedric, Lizzie, and Freddy to hefty fines and community service. He sentenced Jen and Sophie to hours of community service, minus the fines. And then, he set his gaze on Sophie and said, “And Miss Harper. It’s up to you to return to your studies. I spoke to each of your professors, and they all are awaiting your call. What you said about your studies truly moved me. All we can do, when things like this happen, is move forward with what we’ve learned. I hope one day you can see that for yourself.” He tapped once with his gavel and excused the court. Just like that, it was over.

In the hallway, Sophie turned to Dina. "Why community service? Jen said I tried to stop it." Dina squeezed her shoulder. "You were present at the scene. In Oregon, that's enough to share liability, even if you opposed it. Honestly, community service with no fine is a win. Take it."

As Sophie walked out of the court, her arms and legs felt like jelly. She soon fell into her mother's open arms, and her mother smoothed her hair and told her how proud she was. When Sophie raised her head, she found that Ethan was watching her again, a look of yearning on his face. She wondered if, when the new semester began, she and Ethan would ever run into one another. She wondered if they’d ever speak again. But just as soon as she thought it, Ethan’s new girlfriend, the same one that Sophie had seen outside the bar months ago, walked up and took Ethan’s hand. Sophie heard the girl say, “That was crazy.”

With Ethan’s attention diverted, Sophie led Dina, her mother, and Ruth out of the courthouse and into the main square. Soon, they’d fly back to Bluebell Cove. Soon, they’d fight for Ruth and all she had left to live for.

22

Autumn 2023

One week to the day after Sloane celebrated her twentieth birthday, Sloane went into labor. Ruth called a cab and rushed them to the hospital, holding Sloane’s hand the entire way. Not far from Ruth’s mind were memories of her own labor and delivery, twenty years ago, when she and Dina had gone to the hospital not far from Yale’s campus and returned to their college home with an infant girl.

Now, in the wake of Ruth going to Bluebell Cove to take her daughter away from those heinous Caldwecks, Ruth and Sloane were living in Manhattan again, at the very apartment where Ruth had raised Sloane. The idea was that Sloane would take the semester off from school, then transfer from Yale to Columbia. Sloane had decided this herself, telling Ruth that she didn’t want to be far from her for long, that she wanted her baby to know and love his grandmother.

Sloane’s labor was more difficult than Ruth’s had been. At least, this was how Ruth experienced it. Dina pointed out later that, probably, as Ruth was Sloane’s mother and therefore the most empathetic person in Sloane’s life, Ruth felt Sloane’s pain more than she’d felt her own.

At two in the morning, Sloane delivered a baby boy. She named him Kellen.

Together, Ruth and Sloane gazed adoringly at this brand-new, sleeping baby. Ruth was overwhelmed with the desire to keep him safe, to watch him grow and not miss a single moment. Sloane looked mystified, as though she’d always known that a baby was possible, that she could deliver one if it came to that, but hadn’t known she would experience so much love.

A few days later, as Kellen slept in his crib in the living room and Sloane and Ruth relaxed with mugs of tea and a bit of television, Sloane turned to Ruth and said, “I don’t know how you did it. I don’t know how you kept going to Yale and raised me, too.”