by Dianne Drake
She glanced across the canyon at all the lights lit up on the opposite ridge. It looked festive, like White Elk had joined together, bringing every light they could find, just to have a party. Not to rescue the Christmas train and all its passengers. “They’re going to run out of oxygen,” she said gravely.
“They should make it until morning.”
“Should?”
“It’s hard to calculate.”
“Well, should isn’t good enough.”
“Maybe not for you, but it’s still not advisable to start some kind of haphazard rescue. It puts the rescuers at as big a risk as the people trapped in the train. And in all probability, like I said, the oxygen should hold out until we can get to them.”
“And like I said, in all probability isn’t good enough, Mr. Lawson.” The tough decision was about to weigh down on her. She could already feel it pressing on her shoulders, feel all the people depending on her now crowding in. “I have to have a guarantee. A one hundred percent promise that if we don’t go in tonight, every single person on board will come out fine and dandy in the morning when we finally do get to them. Can you give me that?”
He shook his head. “You need to know all the variables. That’s all I’m telling you.”
“And I appreciate that, but the only variable you need to know is that those people trapped in the train have to be rescued now. Not tomorrow. And it’s my decision to make.” She understood the risks both ways, but she also understood all those variables he talked about. And the one variable he didn’t know was the volunteers…she knew them, trained them, worked with them, trusted them. Depended on them. More than that, they trusted her. It was a variable Ben Lawson couldn’t even fathom. “My decision is that we’re going to do it now.”
“So, what’s the status?” she asked George Fitzhenry.
“We got fifteen people off the tracks, and they’re on their way back to the station. Walking. Cold. Shaken up. But glad to be alive. And, no injuries.”
“That’s good. What about the bulldozer?”
“We’re in some luck there. We’re about thirty minutes out, having one brought in from White Elk, and Aspen Grove is sending one up from their end of the tracks. It’s got an ETA of about an hour. They’re also sending in volunteers with it.”
She glanced up at the helicopter overhead. Jess was back up again, hovering, keeping watch. His engine was loud. Could James hear it? Would he know that was her trying to rescue him? “Radio Jess for me. Tell him to set down in the meadow, that I need to go up top again and have another look for myself.”
“At what?”
“The safety of going over the edge. We need people on top of the train. It’s all well and good to dig from both ends, but we’ve got to get the top cleared so we can get some windows open. Ben Lawson said it looks stable to his people, but it has to look stable to me before I send anybody over the edge. And, George, I want you up there with me. By rights, you’re the lead on this operation and I need your expertise on this.”
“Maybe by rights, but I think I’d be barking orders at a crowd that’s waiting for your orders, Fallon. They listen to me, but they depend on you, and that’s the difference. But I’ll go up with you. Give me five minutes to secure my team down here. OK?”
Five minutes where she wanted to dig at the snow with her fingers.
“When are they going to turn on the lights?”
James looked at the cellphone display. Four hours now, and nothing. He’d expected…no, he’d hoped for.. something. A tap from outside, an errant cellphone message getting through. Anything. But they’d been sitting in the dark for four long hours, getting colder as well as running out of oxygen. Neil had managed to find a rescue tank in a supply closet and had it on hand for Gabby, who was too close to her due date to suffer any kind of oxygen deprivation. Other than that, all they could do was sit and wait, and not panic. Panic sped up oxygen consumption. Theoretically, they could exist here for days, if they had oxygen to breathe. They were safe, no injuries, no one suffering any real ills. And there was plenty of cold hot chocolate and cookies to dole out in moderation over the course of several days.
“I know she’s working on it,” Eric said from across the aisle, where he was huddled with his wife and daughters.
“She’s got good instincts,” Neil added. “She’ll get this figured out.”
But in time? James wanted to believe that Fallon could pull out a miracle, but even Fallon had her limitations. “You knew I wanted to marry her, didn’t you?” he said into the dark, knowing all his friends were listening. Somehow, talking about Fallon brought her closer. Made him, and probably everybody else, feel more confident. Most especially made him believe with all his heart that Fallon would pull out the miracle. That she was the miracle. “That’s why I originally applied for the job here, to be closer to her. She’s stubborn, you know. I knew it was going to take some work.” It still would take some work. And once they got off this train…
In the dark, as the silent agreement spread over them, everyone chuckled at their own recollections of Fallon’s stubbornness.
“Haven’t given up, though,” James continued. “I thought I was going to, that it was time for me to move on with my life. Fallon has this idea that she’s better off alone, but she’s wrong about that. So once she gets us out of this, I’m going to start all over and this time do what it takes to convince her that she’s wrong about that and I’m right.” And he was right. Fallon needed him, and Tyler. She knew it, and she denied it, and she fought it because she was afraid they’d leave her, like her mother had. Like her baby had. What she’d done during those months when she’d been clinging to a futile pregnancy… He couldn’t fault her for that because he would have been fighting to save her while she’d braved the fight to keep her baby. That’s the Fallon he loved. But that Fallon wouldn’t have given in to him, wouldn’t have ever thought that she came first, not as long as her baby was still alive inside her. Not as long as she was holding onto hope. That, too, was the Fallon he loved. She’d done the only thing she could do, and hated herself for it. But now it was time to find a way to help her, to make her feel safe again, to convince her that the people who loved her wouldn’t leave her. That he wouldn’t leave her. When she understood that, her true healing would begin. And as hard as she would fight to push him away, he was prepared to fight even harder to stay.
“What are you right about?” Tyler asked.
“That the three of us should be a family.” He’d sworn not to tell Tyler until the custody arrangement was in place, but he couldn’t wait any longer. Fallon had waited too long to tell him what he should have known and they were both reeling from the devastation that had caused. He wasn’t going to wait any longer to tell Tyler because Tyler did have the right to know he was wanted, that he was being fought for. The way Fallon would know as soon as he could tell her. “I’m working very hard right now to have you come live with me for ever. All the time, in that new house I’m buying for us.”
“The great big one on the hill?” he asked.
“The great big house on the hill. Would you like to live there?”
Tyler didn’t answer, but James felt his usual shrug. And smiled. That was as good as a yes.
From across the aisle, Dinah strangled back a sob. “That’s so…nice,” she said.
“We’ll help you,” Gabby said from behind him. “Whatever it takes, let us know.”
It would take a change of heart from Fallon. And that was solely up to him to achieve. But it was nice knowing his friends were on his side.
Ben Lawson was right about the condition of the snow above the train, and it was such a relief. “It looks like most of the snow rolled off,” Fallon said, aiming her light down the cliff. “And I think we can get down on top of that train.”
“I’ve got eight strong climbers, all of them ready to go,” George Fitzhenry said, clicking on his walkie-talkie. “Give us an hour, and we’ll be down there.”
“I
want to go, too,” Fallon told him.
“That’s a long way down, Fallon. I know you’re a strong climber, but are you up to it? I mean, it couldn’t have been easy going up in the helicopter the way you did. I’m concerned that once you get to the edge of the cliff…”
“I can do this, George,” she said. “Everything important in my life is in that train, and I have to go down there. And I’m going to be first, because I don’t want a lot of weight on top of the cars until I’ve evaluated them. So, what, maybe send two people per car at first?”
“We can do that,” George said. “But we’re going to have to get some lights up here before anybody goes over the edge.”
“That’s the easy part,” Fallon said, waving for Jess Weldon. “Jess,” she said. “One hour. Get as many working lights up on Daphne’s Pointe as you can.
“That other doc at the hospital…his name’s Anderson. Mark Anderson…”
“What about him?”
“He just radioed me. Said he’s a licensed helicopter pilot. Wants to know if we can use him.”
“Eric has a helicopter…”
“It’ll speed things up, having us both bringing up lights.”
And speed was what she needed. “Tell him to do it. Also, I don’t want any of the lights on the opposite ridge moved. We need them there as much as we need them up here.”
“White Elk’s bulldozer is five minutes out,” George informed her.
“Then I guess I need to figure out what they’ll do.” She trotted after Jess Weldon, leaving George on the peak as she went back to the plateau below that was the marshaling area for everything taking place. After a fast consult with the engineers, it was agreed that the first task would be to get the caboose off the track. Dig it out, pull it away. While that was being done, engineers and experienced mountain rescuers were evaluating the stability of the train itself on the tracks. Best scenario was that is was fully upright, not tilting or skew in any way.
With things squared away there, Fallon was back to the helicopter. It was hard to believe that only a few hours ago an entire army couldn’t have dragged her into one, and now there was no fear. It was what she had to do. No thoughts to do otherwise. And this time, when Jess dropped her off up top, her next task was to get the climbers ready to go down. She being one of the climbers. No fear, again because when she allowed herself a moment to fix on the faces of James and Tyler there wasn’t a question in her mind. Or her heart.
“What kind of casualties are you expecting?” one of the climbers asked her.
She wasn’t thinking in terms of casualties. Sure, she’d alerted several hospitals in Salt Lake City to be on standby. And she’d arranged for a dozen ambulances to come in from all the surrounding villages and towns. But she wasn’t expecting casualties. Didn’t have room for that scenario in her mind.
“None,” she said. Either everyone would survive with little to no injury. Or everyone would… But she couldn’t say that out loud. If she lost James and Tyler…that was a tragedy from which she’d never recover. It put everything into place in her life. In that instant she’d heard about the train, she’d known…everything. “I’m not expecting any casualties,” she said, praying it was true.
Tyler stirred against James’s side. “I hear Santa,” Tyler said.
It was the first thing anybody had said for nearly half an hour. People were uncomfortable and cold. Children were restless, adults were finally giving in to fear. People in the train car had talked at first and the mood had become quite jovial. Eventually, the talk died down to whispers, reverted to couples and families saying the things that needed to be said in their last hours. People were trying to make their peace.
Which was what he had to do with Tyler, James decided, now that Tyler was awake again. No more secrets. Not ever. “When your mother brought you to me, I didn’t know you were my son, Tyler. She’d never told me.”
“Donnie used to be my dad.”
“But not your real dad. He was your dad because he was married to your mom. But I was always your real dad, from the minute you were born. And I would have been there, Tyler. If I’d known you were my son, I would have always been there.”
“Why didn’t you know?”
Such a hard question. One he had to get right, so he thought for a moment. “I think your mother just forgot to tell me,” he finally said. Someday, when Tyler was older, he’d understand. For now, this was enough. “Like the way you sometimes forget things.”
“Oh,” he said, totally accepting, then snuggled a little closer. “Well, I don’t think Santa forgot, because I think he’s coming to get us now.”
The optimism of a child. It made him proud, and broke his heart for the things he’d missed, and the things he might never have now. He cleared his throat, swallowed back the emotion boiling up inside him. Now it was time to ask because he had to know, had to hear it from Tyler. “Do you want me for your dad?” he asked, a huge lump in his throat almost choking the words. “Do you want to stay here and live with me all the time now?”
“Sure.”
It was a matter-of-fact sure, not an excited one, not an emotional one. But for James it was the single best word he’d ever heard in his lifetime, because Tyler had just accepted him. Now, if only Fallon would.
“And can I have Fallon for my new mom?” Tyler asked.
Across the aisle and behind him, the strangled sobs from Gabby and Dinah rang out in the dark. “I’m working on it, Tyler. I’m really working on it.”
“Good, and maybe I can help you, Dad.” The word dad came so easily from him. Like maybe he’d practiced it, or been prepared for it? “Can you hear Santa now?” Tyler continued.
As James swiped at the tears streaming down his face, glad he was sitting in total darkness, he almost believed he, too, heard Santa. Then suddenly the train rocked… People inside gasped, several of the women sobbed. Fear of the unknown, that’s what it was. They were frightened by the unknown. But he knew what the unknown was and, for sure, it wasn’t Santa. It was the woman he loved.
Nothing could have stopped her from going over the edge when the time came. No person on earth, not even her own fear. In fact, she didn’t even think about the height, or how she would be practically dangling in mid-air from the top of a mountain cliff when the OK was given to proceed. She simply lowered herself down, keeping her mind focused on the task ahead. The old Fallon was back, and Fallon was glad to embrace her. The fit was perfect, it felt good. Felt great.
Fallon was holding onto the ropes for dear life. It had been so many hours now, she’d lost track. But they were so close she could almost feel James’s presence. “How should we proceed?” she asked George Fitzhenry.
“I think what we need to do is clear a section all the way across the train top and move it down the side. Get a window exposed, break it open. Each of the cars, and the engine. Once we do that, the rest won’t matter. It’ll probably take a while to get everybody out. And if we do have any serious injuries inside, or if Gabby chooses now to have that baby, we can deal with the rescue.”
Progress in getting the area cleared took longer than Fallon expected because they had to take care not to cause too much rocking to the train. Digging out the snow, little by little, took an interminably long time. But finally a window was exposed.
“I can’t see anything,” she told George. She was trying to see inside. Suspended in the air, swaying with the mountain winds that were picking up as the night grew later and longer. But all she could see was blackness.
“Take the hatchet, and knock it out,” George called to her. “Knock on the window a few times so people will move away, then break it.”
Which was exactly what she did. One hatchet, one hard whack, and the window shattered into shards. Fallon didn’t even wait for all the pieces to land before she screamed, “James! Tyler! I love you! Can you hear me? I love you! Nothing else matters. I want to marry you. Both of you. I want to marry you!”
“See,” Tyler told
his dad. “I told you I heard Santa.”
“The best Santa I’ve ever heard,” James whispered.
All around him, the people in the train car broke into spontaneous applause, not for the rescue but for James and Fallon.
It took nearly twelve more hours to get everyone safely home and pull the train off the tracks. The total casualty count—zero. People were cold, hungry, achy, but that was all. Days later, on Christmas Eve, most of White Elk gathered in the town square to sing carols and celebrate a miracle.
As for Fallon, she’d spent the past few days huddled under a blanket on the couch in front of the fireplace, barely taking her eyes off the people she loved most in the world. Clinging to them, and happy to do so.
People stopped by the house at all hours of the day and night. They brought food and gifts, or simply came for a short visit, and they were invited in. Welcomed. And when she thought about how things could have turned out so badly, and how many of her dearest friends would have been affected…well, she’d never take her friendships for granted again. She was a lucky woman because the people of White Elk were true friends. One of the best gifts of her Christmas was coming to understand the meaning of true friendship. The best gift of all, though, had arrived in the form of a letter from the court stating that Tyler’s mother was relinquishing all custody, unconditionally. Maybe that was the only way Shelly knew how to show that she loved her son. Or maybe it was simply about convenience.
“We could always adopt,” she whispered to James, as they were making plans for their future. Part of those plans being Emoline Putters’s house. A place to start over, a place to heal together. And that would take time, and more pain. They understood that. But together it was something they could face. Together it was something they would work through and find a deeper meaning in their love. Fallon accepted that with all her heart. Because she trusted James. Because she depended on James.
