Frost (13 page)

I wanted to tell her it wouldn't, that I wasn't Jack Frost, and that as long as I had control of my life that was a choice I never intended to make. I had a family in the making and a future I desperately wanted. A part of me wanted to be here with her when disappointment brought down her hopes and dreams, thinking maybe I could build them back up. Make up for my brother's empty promise.

Not wanting to see her sad face and to assure she'd have a good sleep, I lied.
 

And I hated myself for it.
 

"It might, Amelia. You never know. Life is like a…"
 

To my surprise, she gave me a raised eyebrow and smirk. "If you say box of chocolates, I'll hit you myself."
 

I tucked her in for a nap and joined Crow in the hall. Most all of the kids had been relocated and were happy and playing together. Neither of us said a word as we rode the elevator up and strode through the front doors into the stifling heat. Raising my bandaged hand up to ward away the glare as Crow took my arm and guided me to what little shade there was as cars pulled up and dropped off patients.
 

"I think Rucker's right," Crow straightened his hat as he pursed his lips at me. "You need to take it easy until the heat wave passes and winter finally gets here. I called Sarah for you. She's on her way here to pick you up. You do remember you have a wedding to get ready for tomorrow."
 

I looked up at the tree beside the hospital entrance, at the brown, dead leaves. "What happened, Crow? Does this mean I am Jack Frost or not? I'm still human as far as I can tell."
 

Crow locked his hands behind him and stood in a sort of parade stance. "I don't know how the universe works, only that it does. And I'm not going to spew Cherokee mumo-jumbo at you. I think in a way you're more swallowed by the magic of what is more than we are. I just know your family works as a nexus that other events and people move around. But they do move. Winter will come back. With or without you."
 

"When?"
 

He shrugged. "We can't know that. Trying to guess Nature's mind? I'm afraid that would drive us both crazy."
 

This I could agree with. Dad referred to Nature as if she were a being like him. And given my present situation, I wouldn't be surprised. But if I did ever meet him or her, I planned on hitting them dead in the face.
 

Taking in a deep breath, I prepared myself against the heat that would zap my strength the moment we stepped from under the hospital's awning. That's when I noticed Crow looking past me to something in the parking lot. The expression on his face worried me so I looked in the same direction to see if I could whatever had his attention. "Crow? What is it?"

"I thought I saw someone familiar." He sighed. "You doing all right?"
 

"Yeah. Let's go. I'm hungry. And I want a beer."
 

"Tell it straight. But you're buying."
 

"Yeah…you better enjoy it while you can. Once Sarah starts showing and the real pregnancy woes start you're going to be
reeeeal
busy."
 

I couldn't wait for any of it. To imagine the woman I loved having our child filled me with childlike happiness. Nothing was going knock the smile off my face.
 

We walked to his car with Crow in the lead since he remembered where it was. I glanced to the left and recognized a license plate.
 

My license plate.
 

Fastened to the back of my car.
 

"Jack? What's wrong?" he turned to look at me since I stopped walking and stood in the middle of the road.
 

I pointed to the car. Crow blinked in surprise, then unholstered his gun. He knew my car wasn't supposed to be here because I'd arrived in an ambulance.

I waited for Crow to finish his check of the front seat, floorboards and backseat. The trunk was the obvious place to hide or to hide some
thing
. Crow pointed to it and made a little motion in the air of unlocking a door with a key.
 

Nodding, I retrieved my keys from my pocket and stuck the correct one in the lock. We nodded to each other, I counted down with the fingers of my other hand…one…two…three…twisted the lock and jumped back as the lid popped up.
 

Crow had his gun trained on the now open trunk, but no one came from inside. The only thing back there were my brother's things. When Crow lowered his weapon I stepped forward and rummaged around. The sickle knife caught my eye and I pulled it out. "This is weird shit."

"Was it stolen?"
 

"Not that I'm aware of. It's supposed to be parked at my house." Chewing on my lower lip, I stared down at the sickle knife, but the reflection in the crystal blade shifted, revealing me with ice blue eyes, pale skin with white and silver hair.
 

A loud crack broke the late afternoon. Something slammed into my chest and the force sent me backward into the trunk and then onto the pavement.
 

As the light twinkled between the leaves of the tree above me, someone screamed, Crow called my name, and I heard my mother's voice above it all.
 

"I saved your soul my son! I saved your
soul!
"
 

Epilogue

Christmas Day, noon.
 

Sarah cupped the cup of hot chocolate in her cold fingers and stood watching the trees move and twist against the window with the wind. The excitement from the day before had been too much for her, and she'd cried for Jack all night, telling Sarah he was okay. Insisting he wasn't gone.
 

Yesterday Sarah arrived at the hospital, leaving the safe house only an hour after arriving, filled with dreams of marrying the man of her heart and spending their own Christmas in a cabin deep in the Georgia mountains.
 

Upon arrival Crow gave her the shocking and devastating news. Jovita Frost shot Jack in the parking lot.
 

They pronounced him dead an hour later, the bullet in his heart. Jovita Frost was charged with two counts of murder. The happiest day of Sarah's life would never come.
 

By the evening, the temperature outside had dropped to forty-one degrees and still falling.
 
And by the morning frost covered the ground, which seemed a little strange to Sarah since most of the moisture around had been evaporated by the sun's heat.
 

News reports all up and down the east coast reported record lows even during a time when it was
supposed
to be cold. Florida predicted higher produce prices for the coming year due to the high heat and then abrupt cold.
 

Wood bundles and heaters sold out of every hardware store in the area. Shelters opened up in churches and synagogs all over the city to help the homeless stay warm.
 

"He's coming," Amelia said softly.
 

Sarah turned to look at her little charge and gave her a scolding look. "You didn't take your pills."
 

"Because I want to see the snow."
 

"Baby—none of the weather reports are predicting snow. The ground's still pretty warm and the clouds—"
 

"You're wrong. He's been a little busy making it cold. But he's going to make it snow." She sat up and pushed her blankets off. "I need my gloves, hat, boots and that blanket in the closet."
 

"Amelia I can't—" She hated having to put down a hard hand with the girl. But when Amelia's eyes widened and her grin replaced the serious look on her face, Sarah stopped and narrowed her eyes. "What is it?"
 

"He's here!" She shouted at the top of her lungs and pointed at the window.
 

Here? Sarah turned to look at the window—and dropped her hot chocolate. The styrofoam cup bounced on the tile as the warm brown liquid splattered out around it.
 

Across the window, written in sparkling, crystalline frost, was the question:
 

Are you ready, Amelia?
 

There wasn't time to think as more shrieks and laughter joined in with Amelia's. Kids all over the ward shouted and nurses yelled at them to be quiet. And one by one Sarah heard the nurses quiet and she was pretty sure they were seeing what she was seeing.
 

"Dr. Heine!"
 

She turned as Miss Farrows, the night nurse and one of the ward's most punctual people, slammed open Amelia's door. "Yes?"

"Someone wrote on the kids' windows with ice and—" she saw the note to Amelia and her jaw dropped. "It's in here too!"
 

"Are they all personalized?" Sarah asked as she avoided the mess on the floor and helped Amelia into her wheelchair.
 

"Well yes—but how is this happening?"
 

"Get the kids to the rec room.
Now
." It wasn't a command, said so gentle as she arranged the blanket around Amelia's feet and shoulders. "And make sure the balcony door is open."
 

"That's highly irregular—"
 

"Just do it!"

Miss Farrows disappeared.
 

"We have to hurry," Amelia said as she started pushing the giant wheels of her chair. "Let's go."
 

Sarah took over pushing and maneuvering the chair as she merged into a hall full of kids, all in their pajamas and coats, mittens and hats, all of them herded on by nurses and staff toward the rec room.
 

"Amelia!" said a little boy as he ran up to her chair and held on. "You were right! He wrote my name in ice!"
 

"Me too!" said another little boy as he pulled his little sister along the hall. "Can we see him?"

"I don't know," Amelia answered, her little face all smiles.
 

"You were right Amelia!" came the cheer of more kids as they wove around them and into the room. The glitter snowflakes moved around the ceiling as Miss Farrow opened the double doors leading out to the balcony.
 

Cold air whipped inside as everyone gathered around the baloney opening. Children shivered. Adults looked at one another wondering if they'd all gone mad. But Sarah was pretty sure they'd all seen the frosty writing on the windows. Otherwise this wouldn't have happened.
 

As the cold wind whipped harder into the room, a small white speck of white twirled and floated inside. It moved with a determined grace toward Amelia—and to Sarah's amazement—rested on her tiny little nose.
 

She blinked and took off her glove to touch where it had landed. "It's…it's wet. And
cold
!"
 

More of those tiny specks floated and danced around in the wind, each of them dancing to a child and resting on their nose until every child in the room was touched.
 

"Look!" someone shouted.
 

Sarah looked out the window and put her hands to her face.
 

Snow fell silently and steadily as it drifted into the room and then out. As they watched, the flakes grew thicker and larger. Within minutes the tiny flecks grew to the size of cotton balls.

The kids cheered as they waited for Amelia to be wheeled out first. Sarah's tears froze on her cheeks as she pushed the little girl into the falling snow. She had her hands out, her tongue, all to catch even a single flake.
 

The kids that could started dancing and jumping, squealing and screaming even as Miss Farrows came to Sarah and told her she was heading back in to get some hot chocolate and snacks ready.
 

Sarah hugged the woman before she left and looked up at the sky. It was white against the green of the trees. But it was here.
 

It was snowing. On Christmas Day.
 

When it became clear the snow was accumulating and weather reports forecasted four inches—the staff hustled the kids back inside for warm snacks and naps. The Christmas tree sparkled in the corner of the room.
 

Amelia gave Sarah a kiss before Miss Farrows took her back to her room. Her heart rate was good, her cheeks were pink. Tonight Sarah chose not to worry about the little girl who still believed in miracles.
 

Soon she was alone in the room. The darkened sky threatened more snow. It was close to three in the afternoon as Sarah refilled her mug with chocolate. It wasn't as hot as before, but it still tasted as good.
 

Sarah opened one of the doors and stepped outside. The snow was over her shoes and piling high in the corners. After dinner and before it got too dark, she wanted the kids to come back out and build a snowman.
 

She felt a warm presence nearby as she stood still and let the flakes fall around her. "I know you're there. Amelia told me you became Jack Frost as you fell…you saved her." She wasn't sure why she was talking to the air and the snow. Flakes piled into her coffee mug and she looked down to see them spell out
Yes
before they melted. She shivered. "It's like talking to a ghost now. I want to see you." She looked around at the snow, at the white world of the patio. "Can I still see you?"
 

And there, off to her right, something moved. She had to blink a few times before she realized it wasn't a reflection, though at first it had the consistency of one. She set the mug on a nearby table, pushed to the side, and took a hesitant step toward him. "It's you, isn't it?"
 

He was beautiful in her opinion. Still the detective Jackson Frost she fell for but very different. He wore jeans, a soft blue hoodie tucked inside a black navy blazer. She recognized the clothing as something he was more comfortable wearing during the winter months. At his hip hung a sickle knife of crystal—though for all she knew it could have been carved out of ice. He perched on the edge of the balcony's iron railing, his expression unreadable.