Emilie's Christmas Love (29 page)
She didn't look up from the places her feet had tramped down through the years. All of the times she'd walked that path came back to her. The forest had been her solace through the terrible things that had happened in her life. The trees had been her friends when she was alone.
The forest opened directly on the rocky banks of the river. Her family called it the river of gold because Jacque had made his first gold discovery there. Everyone still believed that the mountain was full of the precious yellow mineral, but there wouldn't be any mining there as long as Emilie was alive to stop it. The land was more precious to her than the gold beneath it.
Her eyes scoured the river. Even with the heavy snow and the cold, there were still places where the deep current refused to allow it to freeze. Water ran sluggishly past the rocks and the snow. In some spots, it was only a trickle. In other spots, it was ten feet to the bottom.
There was no sign of Adam's red and blue jacket. Even though the trees couldn't protect her from the snow in the river's clearing, she knew she would have seen those colors. She pushed through the heavy snow that had accumulated on the riverbank. Her body strained to get through waist high drifts to the spot that Adam had described in his dream.
She stood at the place that his memory of the dream had evoked in her. There were two large boulders, one small. She called them the river family when she was a child. There was no sign of his jacket. She cupped her hands to her mouth and called to Adam. There was no answer.
She was exhausted. She felt every strain and pull that the weather had placed on her. She winced when she put her weight on her leg. All for nothing. Adam wasn't there.
All she could do was go back to the house and hope that someone else had found him. Maybe if she was lucky, no one would notice that she had gone chasing after her intuition.
She had to sit down for a few minutes. Even with the wind pelting her with snow, she had to rest, or she wouldn't make it back. She chose a rock that was sheltered by the forest and sat down clumsily on the hard surface.
Trying to catch her breath, she still scanned the river.
She thought about her mother. Beautiful, graceful, charming and witty. Her mother had told her that her handicap was in her mind. She’d said Emilie could do anything that she wanted to do.
Emilie never believed her. She didn't understand how she could say that when there were so many things that were impossible for her.
Yet, she’d danced with Nick in the big ballroom. She’d helped children like Adam to go on with their lives, despite their handicaps. She’d lived a good life. She had loved, and she had known passion. She knew she could have been a good mother.
Sometimes, she was tired. Sometimes, her leg hurt her until she wanted to cry. Sometimes, she was worried about the future. Still, her mother had been right. She could do anything she wanted to do.
"I love you, Mom," she said aloud, the wind whipping the words from her mouth and carrying them to the mountain. "I miss you."
She heard a sound that made her nerves tingle. She thought for a minute that her mother was answering. Then she saw the tiniest bit of red in the heavy snow.
"Adam!" she yelled. "Adam! It's Emilie!"
"Emilie," he replied in a hoarse croak. "I was looking for you."
She dug him out of the snow. He was all but covered in it. He was wedged between the two rocks where he’d gone for shelter. The rocks had probably saved his life.
"We're going to have to walk back, at least into the forest," she told him practically. "You have to walk, Adam. I can't carry you."
He nodded. "I can walk."
He was freezing. His lips had a bluish tinge to them. His little face was pinched and white. There was nothing Emilie could do for him but get him moving and get him home where they could care for him.
"We're going to talk too, since we're out here." She hugged him to her side. "What made you leave the daycare?"
He walked stiffly alongside her. "I wanted to talk to you. I want you and Uncle Nick to be together."
He stumbled and almost pulled them both to the ground. Emilie righted them and kept talking.
"Sometimes, things don't work out, Jake."
"Why?"
Emilie pulled him along with her, one foot after another. "Because that's the way life is."
"I want to sit down now, Emilie," he complained. "I'm tired."
"Later." She pulled him up by the jacket. "We have to move, Adam. We can't sit down yet."
He walked another few steps then stumbled to the ground. "I can't.”
"You have to," she insisted. "You have to walk, Adam. We have to get home."
Pulling and pushing him, Emilie got them through the fir trees. They reached the spot where she’d left her skis, already almost covered in snow. She looked out from the comparative shelter of the tree line. The snow was coming down in sheets, blowing back and forth across the open space between the trees and the house. It was impossible to see where they needed to walk.
Even worse, she didn't see how she could manage to keep him going when she was on the skis. She didn't see how she would make it back to the house if she had to wade through the snow. She couldn't carry him. He couldn't walk. The cord leading them back to the house wouldn't do them any good if they couldn't move.
She looked at him. He was lying on the ground, half-conscious. She knew she was going to have to leave him there and go for help. He would be out of the worst of the snow, unless he got up and started walking again. She could only pray that her leg didn't give out before she could reach the house.
She could do it. She thought about her mother's words. She’d found Adam. She wouldn't lose him again.
Emilie started to put on her skis when she heard a low drone coming towards them. She strained to see. The air was a white wall of snow. Hope leaped in her. It sounded like a snowmobile.
The bright red snowmobile crested the ridge. She screamed for the driver. She knew he couldn't see her. She ran out into the snow and waved her arms, yelling like a banshee. She prayed that he wouldn't turn around before he saw her.
He turned off the engine and she knew that he’d heard her.
"Down here! We're down here!"
"Emilie?" Nick had heard her. He saw the bright pink of her snowsuit that Joda had described to him. "Emilie!"
He started the engine and took the machine down the hill. He stopped and jumped off to haul her out of the snowdrift. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she told him with a frozen smile. "I thought you'd never get here."
He didn't say another word. He kissed her hard then gently shook her. "Don't ever do that to me again! I thought you were lost out here! I thought I might never see you again."
There was no time for her to remark on his change of heart. "Adam," she tried to speak and lost her breath.
"We couldn't find him. They called off the search until the storm passes. I'm going out again as soon as I get you back to the house."
"No." She shook her head and cleared her throat. "I found him. He's in the forest."
"What?"
"We walked back from the river. He couldn't go on any further. He's in the trees."
They climbed on the snowmobile and Nick gunned it toward the tree line that he could barely make out at the bottom of the hill. Adam was curled up next to a tree. He was shivering and barely coherent, but he was alive.
"You'll have to drive," Nick told Emilie as he picked Adam up in his arms. "I can hold him. Just take it slow."
Emilie took her time getting back up the hill. Nick held Adam, talking to him, telling him that they were taking him home. He told him that the bike he wanted was waiting for him and that they could be at Emilie's house for Christmas.
They got to the top of the hill and Emilie faced the raging, white wind. She was blinded by the total lack of definition. Everything was white. There was nothing to tell her where to find the house.
She took the twine from her pocket and carefully rolled it until it was taut. A thin green line pulled out of the glazed white around them.
"What is that?" Nick asked, looking over her shoulder.
"The way we're going to escape the Minotaur.” She pulled the cord and put the snowmobile in gear.
It took almost an hour to reach the house. They rushed Adam inside and heaped blankets on him, Joda fed him warm soup, sang songs to him in French, and chaffed his hands.
A paramedic made it through the storm, examined Adam, and told them that he was fine. "He's fine. Keep him in bed for the night. Tomorrow he should be right as rain."
Emilie took a deep breath and thanked him profusely. She was still wearing some of the clothes she had layered on when she’d gone out into the storm to find Adam.
Nick came out of the bedroom after the paramedic. "What about her?"
They both looked at Emilie.
"I'm fine," she assured them. "Just tired."
Nick saw him out the door. Emilie hobbled down the stairs after them. There wasn't a part of her body that didn't hurt. Her leg was a constant, throbbing pain. She went into the library and poured herself a large glass of brandy. Then she sank slowly into a chair and closed her eyes.
"I love you." A voice whispered close to her ear.
She didn't open her eyes. She was afraid she was dreaming, and that she’d wake up.
"I'm sorry."
She didn't move, didn't speak.
"I was a fool not to believe you. I was convinced that you couldn't be the person I wanted you to be. I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t really in love with you."
Emilie could hardly breathe. "And now?"
He touched her cool cheek with his hand and gently kissed her lips. "I love you. I want to marry you. I don't care if your family is rich and crazy. I just want to be with you."
Emilie opened her eyes. He was kneeling on the rug at her feet. His eyes were intent on her face.
"I was wrong not to tell you the truth," she said carefully. "I wanted you to see what a good mother I could be. I wanted to impress you with my capability."
He kissed her fingers, one by one. "I think you'll be a wonderful mother. And I am impressed."
"By my capability?" she encouraged, feeling the tug of his kisses inside of her.
"By your capability," he agreed, smiling at her. He lowered his head and kissed her again. His mouth lingered on her lips. "You have wonderful capability."
Emilie laughed and put her arms around his neck. "I love you. I have abominable taste in men."
"Thank you. I'll try to remember that for the future."
His lips were on her throat, sliding down to her shoulder, finding her ear. He buried his face in her fragrant hair.
Emilie was sliding slowly down on the big velvet sofa. Nick was creeping up beside her, wrapping her in his arms.
"I can't have children," she blurted out, wanting him to know the worst.
He looked at her as he took the brandy from her hand and set it on the table. "We have children, Emilie. And we can adopt more. We can fill this big, old house with their laughter."
She pulled his face to hers and kissed him lovingly. "I love you, Nick."
"We can clean away the cobwebs in that ballroom and dance every night after dinner," he promised, pulling her against him as he snuggled them into the sofa.
"
Ma petite
," she crooned into his ear as she kissed him.
"My sweet love," he answered, closing his eyes and letting desire bathe him in a warm, golden glow.
Aunt Joda closed the library door on the couple entwined on the sofa.
"
Bien
!” She whispered to the dark, empty room around her. “Now we have it all, eh
petites
?"
The Ferrier ghosts danced in the dusty ballroom and they smiled through the long winter night as Christmas Day began.
About the Authors
Joyce and Jim Lavene write bestselling mystery together. They have written and published more than 60 novels for Harlequin, Berkley and Charter Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications.
Pseudonyms include J.J. Cook, Ellie Grant, Joye Ames and Elyssa Henry
They live in rural North Carolina with their family, their cat, Quincy, and their rescue dog, Rudi. They enjoy photography, watercolor, gardening and long drives
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www.romanceofmystery.blogspot.com
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