A lot of women may dream of being stranded with a gorgeous stranger like Nash Webber. If she weren’t so worried about her grandmother, maybe Harper would be one of them.
The wind howled wickedly through the rafters. Harper hadn’t heard that sound for many years and it instantly transformed her to a time when she was a child when she and Gail used to lay in the bed under the covers, afraid that the windows would burst open suddenly.
She chuckled at the memory.
“What?” Nash asked.
She shook her head. “Just remembering.”
He nodded. “I’m sure there are lots of good memories if your family has owned the cabin for a long time.”
“Most good. Some not so good.”
“Really? Well, I guess you can’t be happy all the time.”
She shrugged. They were going to be stuck here together until the storm passed. She hadn’t quite reconciled herself to that fact, but as the ache and bruises from the accident began to surface, along with memories, it was clear she was.
She didn’t want to talk about it now so she turned the conversation to him.
“What kind of work are you doing up here? I mean, I know that you're some sort of a scientist, but I can’t imagine what you’ll be doing here.”
“My work is usually in the mountains. I’m a geologist.”
She nodded and felt a little embarrassed that she wasn't exactly sure what a geologist did. But at the risk of sounding like an imbecile, she stayed silent and gave him an opportunity to talk about his work. Most people like to talk about the jobs. But when he said nothing more, she fought for something else to talk about.
“My grandmother also told me you were some sort of a survivalist, too? What's that all about?”
“Surviving.” He’d been stacking and restacking logs next to the wood stove, which was finally pushing out some serious heat now that he’d stoked it and added more logs.
“What are you doing?” she asked when he rearranged the logs again.
“I can’t decide which one goes better with my eyes,” he said.
“Your what?”
His smile was slow but when it came, she realized that was his way of teasing her.
“I’m seeing which are the driest and spreading them out so they’ll dry faster. I’ll put the driest in the stove tonight while we sleep so they’ll burn and create more heat. Wet wood doesn’t create as much heat.”
“I see.” She shrugged. “I'm not the greatest with small talk.”
“I think you doing okay.”
“I'm used to people calling me in crisis situations. I'm used to asking detailed questions about bleeding and wounds and passing out and oh, you know what I mean. But I don’t know anything about being a survivalist or scientists. Do you travel a lot for your work?”
“For the most part. I don’t stay in one place very long. But I'll be here in the Rocky Mountains for at least a couple years with the work I'm doing now.”
“Dare I ask what you're doing up here? Or is that going to go too far over my head?”
He chuckled. “It’s not that technical at all. But unless you’re an insomniac and need to fall asleep, you probably don’t want to hear about. I find that once I get started talking about my job people tend to nod off. I've been told I should bottle a few speeches and give them away as sleep aids.”
She chuckled.
“I'm surprised you're up here alone. Don't geologists normally work in teams? I mean, I don’t know that much about that sort of thing. Or anything at all. But I’ve seen some people from the Environmental Agency come through town.”
“Some do.” He shrugged. “Most do. But I'm more of a scout these days.”
She frowned. “Scout for what?”
“Changes in environmental activity. Shifting of the earth’s plate. Signs that there may be volcanic activity that is unusual.”
“There are lots of people who work in Yellowstone and all the Rocky Mountains that do that kind of work. Isn't it kind dangerous for you to be working out here alone?”
His voice lowered just a bit as he sat down on the sofa, abandoning his log sorting. “No more dangerous than if I was with the team. If something is going to happen, it'll happen whether I'm with the whole group of geologists or if I am by myself.”
She thought about it for a minute. “Sure, but something happens to you out in the wilderness there won't be anybody there to help you.”
He grinned if you could really call it that. It was more of a half grin that was somewhat cute and super sexy at the same time. “That's where the survivalist part comes in. I'm used to working alone. I know how to take care of myself. I can even sew up a wound and perform some minor surgery if I have to.”
He laughed at the face she made.
“My knees are getting weak just thinking about the possibilities. I'm totally grossed out with the image of doing self-surgery.”
“Luckily it’s not something I’ve had to do.”
He looked around the cabin and seemed completely at home. Maybe even more so than she was, which was odd.
“Your grandmother said you mostly rent out the cabin these days. Your family doesn't really come up here anymore?”
“We don’t. We used to when I was a kid.”
“What made you stop? This place is great.”
“Memories can be painful,” she said quietly.
His expression changed to one of concern.
She hesitated a minute remembering her thoughts earlier. She was never good at talking about her parents deaths. And knowing how close she came to going over the side of the cliff on the mountain road only brought her memories back to the forefront of her mind. “I haven’t been up here since my parents died.”
“I'm sorry that I made you visit a painful memory.”
“It was a long time ago. Sometimes it feels like yesterday. I don't think death is something people ever get over no matter how much time passes.”
His eyes grew dark. “I think you’re right,” he said as if he had some experience with it himself.
Everyone did. It was hard to escape the pain of losing someone you loved.
“We don’t have to talk about it.”
She smiled weakly. They couldn’t ignore the obvious. “I know this stove pumps out some good heat, but it’s going to get cold during the night. One sleeping bag?”
“Unfortunately, just the one. You are welcome to it,” he said with a shrug.
“A gentleman. That’s nice. But I can’t take it from you. I’m the one who forgot the blankets. I can sleep here on the sofa and just cover myself with my jacket.”
He frowned. “You were in an accident. You have a head wound and most likely a few more bruises. You’re body temperature is already lowered from being in shock and being out in the cold. I insist you take the sleeping bag. It’s warm.”
He stood up and put his hands in front of the wood stove.
“It’s getting hotter,” he said. “I’ll get a few buckets of snow and put them on the stove to heat up. Then we can clean up that wound on your head.”
He was scrutinizing the spot on her head that she’d felt was sticky and bloody earlier.
“Does it look that bad?” she asked.
He shook his head. “You have a good lump and it will hurt for a bit, but it doesn’t need stitches.”
Her eyes widened as she peered up at him.
He grinned back at her. “Don’t worry. I wasn’t going to get out a needle and thread. Unless I really had to.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Do you know where there might be a few buckets or pans?”
Harper turned as Nash walked to the kitchen area and started opening cabinets. “No buckets. But there are two big pots in the last cabinet by the stove.”
He found them quick enough and held them in his hand. “I’ll just be a minute.”
He opened the door and a flurry of snow whooshed inside the room.
“This storm is starting to be a doozy,” he said. “How good is this roof? I didn't have a chance to check it out when I first got here.”
She thought about Caleb Samuel, an officer at the police station who was injured over the winter when a section of the roof of the chapel he was renovating with his fiancée collapsed on him. She was glad they didn’t have to worry about that here.
“It was replaced four years ago. I don't think we’ll have a problem with it. Besides, the snow usually slides off it because it’s so steep, especially this time of year.”
He nodded. “In that case, it’s probably best you steer clear of the sides of the cabin until it does. Heavy snow in motion is not something you want to be near.”
Nash disappeared outside for a few minutes. Harper took those minutes to ease herself up from the sofa and test how steady she was on her feet. She stood and felt stable, but her whole body felt stiff. A hot bath might be just what she needed to get out the kinks. Until the solar system was running, the only hot water they’d have would be from whatever they boiled.
She thought about her grandmother and knew she was probably frantic by now. Harper hated the idea of her being alone in this storm.
The door swung open again and Nash carried in the two pots now filled with snow. He shut the door with his foot.
“This will get you started. It may take a while to get enough for a bath though. But you may get enough for a sponge bath. I can get more when I get back.”
She’d been rubbing her hands in front of the wood stove, but she stopped and turned to him. “When you get back? Where are you going?”
“To your car. I’m going to see if I can retrieve those blankets. The temperature is dropping and I don’t have enough wood to keep the cabin warm even if I keep adding wood all night. The wet wood will dry out eventually, but it won’t burn hot. By morning this cabin will be like a freezer.”
“But it’s bad outside. My car is so far down the hill that you might…”
He glanced at her and waited for her to finish her thought. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. It meant explaining to him her fears.
“I’m only going to be gone for about an hour or so,” Nash said. “It will go much faster for me because I’m alone.”
“Do you really need to go? I mean, you said you had a few things here. We can make do. I’ll sleep right here by the fire.”
He shook his head. “Both of us will sleep out here. Unless you want to share the sleeping bag with me, it makes sense for me to make the trek out to your car and get those blankets so we both have a good night’s sleep. It’s going to take some work to dig us out if you want to get home when this storm ends tomorrow. If it ends tomorrow.”
“You don’t think it will? My grandmother has never been alone like this.”
“That depends on whether or not the storm stalled over the mountain. Let’s not worry about that or your grandmother just yet. I’m sure a neighbor will come by and check on her. She knows where you are, so someone will come looking for you up here when the storm passes.”
“I didn’t tell her.”
His expression fell. “You must have told someone you were coming up here.”
She sighed. “I told my grandmother I was going to run some errands after work. That was it. I figured it would take me no time at all to drop off the linens and then head home. She doesn’t know I came here. No one at work knows either.”
“If people don't know you’re here, then it might be a while before you get home. Even after the storm ends.”
Her stomach sank. “My grandmother must be a wreck by now. She must think the worst.”
“Your grandmother has difficulty walking?”
“She can get around some. But she's at that age where she's not very steady on her feet. And she doesn't walk well so she spends time with a walker or in a wheelchair which she absolutely hates. Around the house, she likes to use the walker or just hold onto the wall or the counters. I've seen how unsteady she is, but she insists that she doesn't do that while I'm at work.”
“That must be a worry.”
“It is. But we do have neighbors that aren’t too far away who check in from time to time. I’m sure she probably called her friend Lucy when I didn’t come home as planned. Oh, and she probably called the police station ten times by now.”
“Given the situation, do you think anyone would check in on her?”
“I hope so. I’m sure one of the officers will swing by. They know she has difficulties. And if she called asking about me, maybe one of them will worry enough to go over. People are good that way. Neighborly. But that doesn't keep her from worrying about what happened to me. She already lost her daughter.”
“Your mother?”
Harper nodded. “It was a long time ago, but it's not something a parent gets over. And I know she probably won't call my sister until she knows what happened to me so that Gail doesn't worry like we did before. The worry can sometimes be the worst.”
He frowned. “Like before?”
Harper hesitated. There were memories enough being here in the cabin without her bringing in the sad memories that seemed to erase away the joy they’d shared as a family.
“My parents were on weekend getaway up here when they passed away.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. It was a stupid accident, one they both knew to watch out for. I know that because they used to get after Gail and I all the time about this very same thing. And yet my mother had fallen right into that trap. Literally.”
“An animal trap?”
She shook her head. “There's a pond not far from here. It's beautiful in the spring and summer. We used to take kayaks out there and go swimming. But in the winter, it's deceiving. Most of the ice around here is thick because it's so cold, especially in the higher elevations. The weekend my parents were here, it was a beautiful weekend. Unseasonably warm for March. Gail and I were in high school so they figured they would get away, just the two of them with the dog. We stayed with my grandmother like we always did when my parents went away on a weekend together. They'd been hiking. Apparently, the snow was melting and it made it easier. But then the dog ran off and chased an animal that must have come out of its hole because of the nice weather. Anyway, that's what they think based on the tracks.”
She hesitated and gulped back a sob. It felt like yesterday. But it had been nearly fifteen years.
“They didn't come home when they were supposed to. That's how it started. They were supposed to come home Monday night but they never showed up at my grandmother's house. At first, my grandmother thought they went back to our house so that they could spend a little more time together. So I got in the car and drove home. It was my last year of high school and I already had my license. When I got there, the house was dark. No lights were on at all. My grandmother kept calling the house. I could hear the phone ringing while I stood outside. I was afraid to go in the house because it was so dark. I think I was more afraid to find out they really weren’t there and didn’t go to bed like I suspected they might have. Hoped they had. But that was just my mind playing games. They would have called to let us know they were home.”
He stared at her as if he was really listening.
She lifted her hands as if deep in the memory of what had happened that night. “I knock on the door. Can you believe it? I knocked on the door of my own house. But the phone kept ringing, then stopping, and then ringing and I knew it was my grandmother. So I finally went in and answered the phone. The house was empty.
“I should have known right away they weren’t home. The car wasn’t there. But it was if I was in some sort of a trance.”
“What did you do?”
“I went back to my grandmother’s house and then the worrying started. My grandmother weighed whether or not to jump the gun and call the police station or wait until morning. They were only a few hours later then we'd expected them. So we stayed over my grandmother’s house and went to school the next day.”
“After school, I came home like any normal day. Gail had something to do after school so she didn’t come home with me. My dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway, but I just figured he’d gone out for an errand or went to work. Since I’d been driving my mother’s car, I assumed she was home. So I walked into the house like I always did. But it was still empty. There was no message on the answering machine and no note on the kitchen table telling me they’d gone out together. And then I knew.”
“You knew what happened?”
“I didn’t know the details, but I knew it was bad. The fact that they hadn’t even tried to get into contact us was alarming. So my grandmother called the police and we waited. And waited.”
She said the last part with a heavy sigh that made her shoulders sag and fall as if she were falling into the sofa and the sofa was falling through the floor. Her whole body felt heavy and the fear that had coursed through her that day was just as strong as it was remembering it. “I wanted to hang on to the tiniest thread of hope as we waited. But it was awful.”
She looked at the pan on the wood stove and saw that the snow had melted. The water had reduced considerably inside the pot and it was starting to warm.
“What happened to them?”
“Hank Lucas was an officer back then. He’s the chief of police, the man you spoke to earlier, now. Anyway, he and a few other officers headed up to the cabin and searched for them. The car was still parked outside, so they knew my parents had to be around somewhere. I wanted to go, but Hank insisted we stay back at the house and wait. It was the worst feeling. Waiting. I wanted to hang onto hope but I couldn't. I knew that if anybody came, it was going to be with bad news. I can't tell you how I knew, but I did.
“Gail was sitting on the sofa looking out the window when Hank’s cruiser pulled into the driveway. I saw Grover in the backseat of the cruiser, and I knew my parents were gone. My grandmother fell to the floor sobbing uncontrollably. I don't really remember a whole lot of what I did or even what Gail did. I was numb at that point. But apparently Grover had gone off running after something and they think that one of my parents went off after him and ended up on a soft spot on the pond. Either one fell in and the other tried to save them, or they both fell in together. It was hard for them to be sure because the snow had melted quite a bit by the time they'd gotten up there. But they were gone.
“It took a little while, but they eventually found their bodies and pulled them out of the pond. This is the first time I've been up to the cabin for any length of time since then. I usually just drop off whatever is needed and leave. I thought it would feel strange, but it doesn’t.”
“That must’ve been horrible for you.”
“It was. I sometimes think that it may have been better to get the news all at once. No waiting. But that's ridiculous. Bad news is bad news whether you have to wait for it or whether it comes all at once.”
He nodded and seemed to drift away somewhere.
She leaned forward and peeked inside the pots on the wood stove. The water was beginning to boil. “We need more snow.”
He chuckled and then grabbed his hat that had been drying by the fire. “Be careful what you wish for.”