to start the hoist,” Trevor said. “Coming with me, Molly?”
“I’ll stay with Daddy till he starts going up,” she said.
They watched Trevor climb the steps to the platform. Then Graham looked at Molly.
“Hey, Moll,” he said with a smile he was certain did not quite mask his nerves. “You got your palm stone with you?”
She reached into her pocket with her good hand and produced the purple stone.
“Any chance I can borrow it for a few minutes?” he asked.
She took a step closer and held out the stone. “You’ve got courage now, Daddy,” she said, pressing it into his hand as the hoist groaned to life above them. Graham felt the harness tighten around his thighs and chest as he left the ground. He looked down at Molly. “See you at the top,” he said.
The hoist was slow, but after a moment he began to enjoy the ride. He was facing the platform and could see Molly making her way up the steps. He suddenly remembered his dancing dream with her, and by the time he reached the platform, he’d made a decision.
When he landed on the platform, Trevor unfastened him from the cable. “How was it?” he asked.
“Pretty amazing,” Graham said. Without his cane, he felt vulnerable and off balance, and he leaned into the corner of the platform, supported by the railings. Molly was next to him and he rested a hand on her shoulder. “I want to take Molly with me on the zip line,” he told Trevor.
Molly squealed. “Yes!” She said, jumping up and down, but Trevor looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “Are you crazy?” he asked.
“She’s never been able to ride it,” Graham said. “Can you rig up a way I can take her with me? Safely?”
“She’s got a broken arm,” Trevor said as though Graham might have forgotten.
“It’s nice and safe in a cast and a sling,” Graham said, and Molly pointed helpfully at the cast as though Trevor might not have noticed it. Graham moved his hand to the top of her head. Her hair felt warm from the sun.
Trevor looked out at the trees for a moment. “Sure,” he said finally, returning his gaze to Graham. “We can work something out. Let me get the other harness from the truck.” He headed for the stairs and Graham looked at Molly.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asked. He wondered if the palm stone, now in his pocket, was making him reckless.
She looked up at him with those blue eyes and freckled nose. “A thousand, million times, yes!” she said.
It was no time at all before Trevor brought the second harness up to the platform, and Graham noticed, with some envy, that his brother didn’t seem to be the least bit winded from the climb.
“We just need to resize this thing for you, Molly,” Trevor said, tugging at straps and fastening buckles while Graham and Molly watched. Then he held the harness close to the floor of the platform. “Step in here,” he said, and Molly inserted one pink-sneakered foot and then the other into the network of straps. Trevor raised the harness up her slender body, working around her broken arm. “Perfect,” he said, stepping back to look at his handiwork. “As soon as you two take off, I’ll call Jim and Claudia on the walkie-talkie.” He touched the small brown box attached to his belt. “They’ll be watching for you.”
He hooked both of them up to the line and Graham wrapped his arms around Molly, her back against his chest. “Your arm okay, Moll?” he asked.
She didn’t answer, but he felt her nod, the top of her head brushing against his chin.
“One more thing,” Trevor said. He took off his belt and worked it through some of the straps, securing Graham and Molly even more tightly together. “Damn,” he said, shaking his head as he stepped back from the two of them. “I hope nobody calls the zip-line police on me for this.”
“Are there really zip-line police?” Molly tipped her head back to try to look at Graham.
“No, darling,” Graham said. “He’s