Lost & Wild: A Joshua Brown Story

Chapter 14 - The Divide

Harper had been back in Missouri for a couple of weeks. After some heated negotiations with Discovery, Harper made sure that she her cousins, and even the Brown's were still compensated for their time even though they only made it halfway through the agreed upon time frame. She could be vicious in the boardroom as much as she could anywhere else. Billy has called in to the conference. She had a sneaking suspicion that there were more Brown's present, but they didn't speak. She barely spoke to Billy, leaving the room then minute business was over, avoiding any social discussions.

Filming was starting this week for their show. She felt better now, she'd kept herself preoccupied with taking care of her land. Braden and Koby coming by frequently to help out with projects. A few times they tried to bring up the Browns or Alaska, but Harper would quickly squash that chatter. They'd started a project of building a tree house that had bridges to other trees that they would later add more rooms or decks to, - like a tiny tree house commune. She'd gotten the idea originally after spending the afternoon with Bear helping with improvements on his tree house.

The were working first on building the spiral staircase that would wrap around the entire trunk of the big oak tree. She looked up through the giant branches of the tree as the warm summer wind rustled the leaves. It was humid, it was well into the 90's. She had to acclimate herself to the weather, but was finding herself enjoying again. She missed this big massive trees with their broad leaves. She'd gone through her land and chopped down a good portion of cedars out of spite, tired of seeing anything resembling an evergreen.

As the day to begin filming loomed closer, the rest of the cousins started showing up. So many that all the bedrooms in the house were taken, the converted barn loft studio was full and even the campers she'd brought it were full. All 14 cousins were there, along with their families, even the a couple of the aunts and uncles showed up.

She felt more full of life and spirit with them all around. Each night she surrounded herself with them, they'd all have a giant family dinner. They'd laugh for hours. It was almost as if they were kids again at a big family reunion. They rode their ATV's in big groups cheering on those brave enough to try the tight corners. They would spend afternoons jumping off cliff-faces into pools of spring water, hiking through Harper's woods to the waterfall.

At night, there were just people, everywhere, and Harper loved it. They even would pull out their instruments; even Koby pulled out his drum set. They would jam for what seemed like hours. Harper sang mostly, having to hook up the microphone as they would put on almost mini-concerts for the family. The boys knew enough to know what songs to avoid when they played. But when Harper took a break to rest her vocal chords, Braden stealthily mouthed the words "not over" to Jack. Jack nodded, smiling a little as he tuned his guitar for the song. He called the rhythm, key and tempo to the band as they started to play. Harper, who'd been getting a drink, heard the song from the kitchen. She walked out of the back door toward the makeshift stage, her arms crossed. She made eye contact with Braden and Alex, who still continued to play.

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It's Not Over - Daughtry:

She knew that the boys loved her. She knew they only wanted the best for her. She knew that a lot of times she came across too stubborn and prideful that they wouldn't push her to do something that she was adamantly against. But this song...it almost felt like they were telling her she was wrong. They boys had been prepared for her to be mad, maybe even cut the power to the stage. They didn't really expect her to just stand there, looking at them as if she was really, really listening to them. They changed the last line, as Braden sang the line..