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The roomful of women stood up. “What’s wrong?” asked Posy anxiously.
“It’s Starr. She’s hurt. I don’t have the strength to help her hobble here anymore so I ran to get you. Come on! I’ll show you where she is.”
“We don’t all need to go,” said Beatrice as the women all rushed to the door. “It’s dangerous out there. Clearly.”
Piper said, “I’ll go.” She looked at Georgia, who was equally young. “Want to come with me?”
Georgia nodded. They put on their coats, gloves, and hats and headed out with Nicole.
Posy said quietly, “I wonder what happened.”
“She probably fell,” said Beatrice grimly. “I noticed there was more ice coming down out there, which would’ve made the surface of the snow very slick. I wouldn’t be surprised if she broke something.”
A silence fell across the room, although it hadn’t exactly been noisy before.
Posy started pulling on her coat. “I should make something warm for them drink.”
“I’ll help you,” said Beatrice quickly. She couldn’t stand sitting in the lodge doing nothing, especially with her daughter outside. It made her feel very antsy.
Back in the dining hall, Posy filled up a pot with water and Beatrice found some hot chocolate packets. They took them over to where Meadow was battling with the weather and the grill.
Meadow saw the pot and said, “Did something happen?”
“Starr got hurt during her trip home. We thought we’d make her a hot drink,” said Posy.
“And Nicole looks half-frozen, too,” said Beatrice. “Is the grill staying lit?”
“Intermittently,” said Meadow. But her eyes had a determined gleam in them that Beatrice recognized. She’d bet on Meadow’s ability to keep the fire going long enough to heat the water.
Beatrice and Posy stood where Meadow asked them to in order to block the wind a bit. The wind seemed to have a mind of its own, however, as it blew in a multitude of directions. Meadow put the pot of water on the grill and somehow made room for a small iron skillet. She looked so fierce that Beatrice decided the wind wouldn’t dare impede her efforts.
Sure enough, soon after there were scrambled eggs and some very hot cups of hot chocolate.
“I’m on a roll,” said Meadow grimly. “I’ll stay here and keep cooking while the conditions are decent. Maybe we can all have some hot food or at least a hot drink.
Beatrice put the plates and cups on a tray Meadow had found in the pantry and hurried off toward the lodge.
Piper, Georgia, Nicole, and Starr arrived at the same time Beatrice did. Starr’s face was pale as the snow they were treading on, and she was biting her lips so hard it was a wonder she wasn’t making them bleed.
“You’re going to be just fine,” said Georgia in a comforting voice as she and Piper balanced Starr’s weight between them with their arms around her. “One little hop at a time.”
“We’ll get you settled by the fire,” said Piper to Starr. She gave Beatrice a weary smile.
“I’ve got scrambled eggs for Nicole and Starr. And hot chocolate, too. Meadow plans to see if we can all get some,” said Beatrice.
Starr’s eyes filled with tears, which she hastily blinked away. She nodded, and then took the remaining hops into the lodge.
Someone had pushed a recliner that had been along the wall in front of the fire, and Starr sank gratefully into it.
“Does anybody have a medical background?” asked Piper.
They looked around at each other, but no one did.
“Who has the most medical experience?” asked Beatrice.
Unfortunately, it appeared that two women were tied with lifeguard experience decades ago.
“What do you think might be wrong, Starr?” asked Beatrice instead.
“My legs. I slipped on a patch of ice and fell really oddly. It feels as if both legs are broken,” grated Starr. Her face was still pale with pain, despite being in front of the warmth of the fire.
Not knowing what else to do, Beatrice shoved a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of food at her and then served Nicole, too. Nicole also seemed to be trying to defrost.
Piper said, “We should probably try to take a look at your injuries, shouldn’t we? Make sure there isn’t any bleeding we can stop?”
Beatrice nodded. “That’s a good idea. And splints . . . shouldn’t we make splints to try to keep her legs immobilized?”
Savannah said, “What can we use to make splints? Are there any planks or wood buried in snow right now?”
“Maybe a rolled-up blanket?” suggested Posy.
“We need to use all of those blankets for warmth,” said Maggie.
Starr was still shivering. “There might be some extra bed slats in storage.” She put her coffee cup down and pulled up her yoga pants as far as she could so they could take a look at her legs.
Beatrice winced. She was far from an expert, but both legs certainly seemed broken. And hugely swollen.
Beatrice stood up. “I’ll see if I can find the bed slats.”
“I’ll help you,” said Posy and Piper at once.
Posy said to Piper, “You just went out to help—you need to warm back up. I’ll go along with Beatrice.”
Maggie said, “Well, for my part, I’m going to see if I can reach somebody, anybody, who can get on the road and help us. Have we even reported a second death?”
“No one has been able to get through to anyone. Plus, our phones are going to be dead if we keep trying,” said Ivy. “I don’t want to use up any of my battery to try to call out when it’s clearly pointless.”
“My phone was almost fully charged when the power went off, so I’ll try,” said Maggie.
Posy and Beatrice headed back outside. Posy added, “I guess we need to find something to tie the slats to Starr’s legs.” She gave an anxious sigh.
“We’ll find something,” said Beatrice, wanting to reassure her. “This place is big, and I know they have all kinds of equipment to manage it. We’ll be okay.”
They got to the storage building and were momentarily overwhelmed. It was a big metal facility and was packed full of things. Perhaps the stuff in there was organized in a particular way to make it easier to find, but for the life of her, Beatrice couldn’t figure out what that method was.
It was also very dark. There was a light switch on the wall which Beatrice had automatically reached for. Naturally, nothing happened.
Posy said, “I wish it at least had windows. Natural light would help a lot.”
“Right now, I just feel lucky that we could open the door at all. The snow really isn’t helping.”
“Look—there’s a shovel. Maybe we can clear around the door a little and let more light in,” said Posy.
They took turns because the shoveling, even the little they needed to do, was exhausting. The icy snow was heavy, and both women were puffing with exertion as they went. But finally, they were able to clear enough of an opening for the door to open to its fullest extent.
“Need any help?” asked a voice behind them.
Beatrice gave Piper a rueful look. “You were supposed to be warming up inside.”
Piper grinned at her mother. “I’m all warmed up. I got so warm that I decided I’d cool down again.” She looked inside the storage building and made a face. “Kind of dark in there.” She held out a couple of flashlights.
It was almost as if Piper were handing out diamonds and rubies. Beatrice and Posy couldn’t have been more pleased. “Where did you find these?” asked Beatrice.
“Starr directed me to the dining hall. There were flashlights in the pantry there. Let’s find ourselves some bed slats.”
So they split up and peered through the dimness of the storage building. Posy called out, “Found them!” a few minutes later.
Beatrice looked at them. “Those are going to have to be trimmed down. They’re far too long.”
Piper said, “I spotted an axe somewhere in here.”
She found it again, and they cut the slats to a more manageable length.
“Now let’s get out of here,” said Piper as another icy gale blew through the building. “We need to get warmed up.”
“First, we should find some ties to lace the slats onto Starr,” said Beatrice.
They poked around in the darkness a while longer until they found some rope of various lengths.
“Well, it won’t be the most comfortable thing in the world, but hopefully it will work,” said Beatrice.
They returned to the lodge where Starr was looking slightly better. At least, her color was better than it had been before. She brightened a little when she saw the slats and rope.
“Success, then,” said Starr, breathing a sigh of relief.
“With the help of the flashlights,” said Posy with a smile.
“Any luck calling out?” asked Beatrice.
Maggie shook her head. “Nope. It acted as if it wanted to connect once, but it didn’t go through. I’ll try again later.”
They attached the slats to Starr’s legs to form splints, then made her as comfortable as possible. Meadow, who’d finished up at the grill, had saved plates and hot drinks for Beatrice, Posy, and Piper. They ate and drank them contentedly. Or, as contentedly as it was possible to be.
“The cooking didn’t take you as long as I thought it would,” said Beatrice to Meadow.
“Oh, I had a sous-chef.”
Meadow smiled at Savannah who looked pleased at the recognition. Beatrice was glad it was Savannah. She’d been worried for a second it might have been Miss Sissy, who would surely have eaten most of the foods she’d have been preparing.
“How are we doing with firewood?” asked Beatrice.
Cora said, “We’ve pulled some out from the woodpile and put it under a covering to dry a little. We do have some dry wood still available for later.”
“Okay, good. I’ll grab some when the fire in here starts getting low,” said Beatrice.
“Or I will,” interjected Piper. “Why don’t you go put your feet up for a while? You’ve been doing a lot.”
Beatrice’s first instinct was to turn her down. Then, suddenly, she felt very, very tired. It must suddenly be hitting her—all the stress and the worry. Trying to figure out how to make the best of a bad situation. “Actually, I think I’ll take you up on that.”
“The bedding is all piled up on the side,” said Maggie, nodding to the stacks of rolled up blankets and pillows.
Although she knew they were making a point of staying together, the thought of lying down in the middle of all the activity in the lodge was not very appealing. To fully recharge, as she felt she needed to recharge, it meant withdrawing for a little while.
“I think I’ll head to the cabin. I could really do with stretching out and having some space.”
Meadow said, “But it’s freezing there!”
“I can bring blankets with me. And I’ll stay in my coat and hat.” Everyone still looked worried, so Beatrice added, “I won’t be there for long. Just long enough to take a little nap.”
“How about if I come, too?” asked Piper.
Beatrice quickly shook her head. “No point in you getting cold. It’ll be fine. And I’ll pick up some wood on my way back in. By then the fire will probably need some more.”
With that, Beatrice pulled her coat, gloves, and hat back on and headed for the cabin.
The cabin definitely didn’t feel as cozy as it had when it had heat. At least it kept out the wind—mostly. Beatrice realized that there were a lot more drafts inside than she’d realized when the heat was running. The drafts weren’t as bad as the wind that was howling against the windows, but they weren’t fun. She rolled some towels and put them on the window sill nearest the bed. Then she locked the door to the cabin. If Piper needed her, she was sure she’d knock, and would continue knocking if for some reason Beatrice was in a deep sleep. She pulled her bed further away from the window and then climbed under the covers, throwing the blankets she’d taken from the lodge on top of herself.
Beatrice fell almost immediately into a hard, deep sleep. When she woke up, she was a bit disoriented, not sure exactly where she was. Had there been a noise outside? She listened hard, wondering if the noise she’d thought she’d heard was what had finally roused her from sleeping. She didn’t hear it again, although she strained to listen.
But she swore it had sounded like someone trying the doorknob.