Page 55 of Sheltering Instinct

Her heart was broken. Shattered. The sensations overwhelmed her.

But she’d been through this so many times over the years that she knew if she sat very still and held her breath, it would pass. Mojo crawled under the table until he was over to her, digging his nose under her clasped hands and shoving his head forward until it rested on her lap. “Hey there, Mojo. Thank you for coming to say hi.” She bent to kiss his brow.

Tess was grateful that with that move she could both hide the trauma that surely painted her face and break the strawberry-connection spell.

“The vineyard was open?” Iris asked.

Craig leaned forward. “Well, it would have to be, Iris. They brought us a bottle of wine from there.”

“We could have broken in and stolen it, Dad.”

For her part, Tess felt lucky to have Mojo, and she was lucky that this was not her story alone.

Gwen was taking up the slack.

“A car came up, and Tess stood in the middle of the road. They had to stop. She asked them if they’d mind driving up to the vineyard and telling them our predicament. We also asked that if they saw a group of people walking up the road in sandals—”

“Sandals? It was a fourteen-kilometer round trip.” Enrico’s brows pinched together.

“Yeah. We thought the same thing,” Gwen said. “So we asked that if the driver saw the group would he let them know that the distress message was being delivered.”

“When the couple drove off, Gwen and I felt sure the vineyard would do something. I’ve found the Namibian people to be generous.”

“Did your group turn around?” Enrico asked.

“They did,” Tess said, stroking Mojo’s ears. “The fortunate thing is that even though Otto has an ego that could have led to poor choices, in the end, he didn’t take us up that mountain. It wasn’t a road that people regularly traveled. No food, little water, no communication, wild cats, and a walk back to the highway that might have taken days, depending on where we rolled to a stop.”

Gwen raised her juice glass. “So kudos to Otto for not being a dumb ass.”

“Gwen!” her mother’s brows flew to her hairline.

“To be honest,” Tess said, “This was one of the most amazing side quests that I've ever been on in my life. What happened next went like this: after about another half hour or so, the vineyard sent a tram vehicle that picked up all of us and took us to the vineyard. They said we could camp there. This was not a tragedy because we had camping equipment. The otherpeople on the tour, though, were adamant that we not stay the night. They were all these digital nomads. They all had work meetings in the morning, and the Wi-Fi reception was too weak for them to do their jobs.

Dad nodded. “They’d have to send a new vehicle from Windhoek to pick you all up, turn around, and drive it back. You couldn’t depend on a patch repair on your vehicle.”

“Exactly,” Gwen said. “And that was the plan.”

“How far were you from Windhoek at this point?” Levi asked.

“We were still about Three hours away, then we'd have another three-hour drive back.” Tess looked under the table as Mojo turned and curled onto her feet. “So our magical side venture—the vineyard picked us up, and we arrived to have a lovely bottle of wine. The same as we brought to you.” Tess let her mind take her back to that time, seeping back into the carefree moment when everything seemed to go right. “It was very relaxing on the veranda. The temperature was comfortable. The sun painted beautiful colors across the sky as it was setting. Gwen and I were perfectly content.”

“And, as it turns out, about a decade ago, someone brought the owners some cheetah kittens without a mother to teach them survival skills, making it impossible to return them to the wild. Much like our Betty, the cheetahs came to call that vineyard home.”

“Not walking around like Betty, though, surely,” Iris said.

“They were penned. Not a sturdy pen, mind you, but I guess it was enough of a pen if the cheetahs never learned to climb. As we finished our first glass of wine and were feeling very mellow and happy, they said it was time to feed the cheetahs. To go out and watch cost sixty dollars.”

“To offset the cost of feeding, I’d imagine,” Goose said.

“Yes, that’s what we thought,” Tess agreed. “They did have a big bucket filled with meat. They took us out in an open-sided safari vehicle. The views were spectacular. The angle of the sun made the hillside look like something that would inspire an artist’s brush. We got to the enclosure, and the cheetahs were waiting for the guy. It was a little bizarre to see un-mothered adult cheetahs. They seemed to have been stuck in kitten mode, mewling and tumbling with each other. And so our adventure went. We had our little cheetah experience, then went back to the vineyard, where we enjoyed a lovely meal. And eventually, two vehicles showed up. They drove us back to Windhoek and let us out at the hotel. The end.” Tess smiled.

“We got in at four in the morning, Mom. That’s why we told you we were sleeping in vehicles. We had a bit more sleep in our rooms, then rented a car and came here, a bottle of wine in hand.”

“Well, girls, I'm glad you have those memories. What a great story,” Craig said, shoveling up a forkful of eggs.

Iris turned to Tess. “It seems that there’s some magic in the air. In the last few days, you’ve been in situations that very easily could have turned dire.” Iris squeezed Tess’s hand. “We feel so fortunate that things have turned out the way they did.”

“You gals need to stay safe,” Craig added. “We need you around telling the world what catastrophes are heading our way.”

---