by Rebecca Rode
Declan leaned back on the blanket, propped up on his elbows. “And you’ve heard that Josh and Lena have a daughter they haven’t seen in twenty years. Then there’s Stephen . . . well, you’ve probably guessed his story.”
Guessed? I had no idea what Declan was talking about. “I know his parents died in a car accident when he was a few years old, but he doesn’t seem conflicted, if that’s what you’re hinting. He told me he doesn’t remember them.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t want to disappoint Josh and Lena. They’ve given him everything, and that’s a pretty heavy obligation. He sees what their daughter put them through, and he feels a lot of pressure to be the son they never had.”
Shock waved through me as I realized what Declan was saying. “He doesn’t want to stay at the sanctuary, does he?” That made so much sense. I’d wondered why Stephen didn’t know as much about the animals as the others and why he didn’t seem to feel the need to work with them so closely. Instead, he buried himself in reports, fundraising, and ordering supplies.
“Right. He likes the animals well enough, but he doesn’t love it like the rest of us—like I could tell you did that very first day.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t see how he feels.” I lay down on my side next to Declan, using the elbow of my good arm to prop up my head.
“I’m hoping Stephen will finally admit to his uncle that all those law classes he’s been studying online for the past two years aren’t just for fun.”
“No wonder he didn’t look all that upset when Ross appeared.”
“You kidding? He eats up that stuff. It’s his way of connecting with his real dream.”
“We need to help him,” I said
“He’s already taking the first steps, even if he doesn’t realize it yet, and when he does wake up, it’s not like we can’t run the place without him. Lena used to manage the office, we can hire a company for fundraising, and I can fill in for the rest. I do it all with the animals anyway. There’s plenty of time for changes down the road.”
“Does Josh know? He has to.” He had to realize he’d been grooming Declan all these years to take over, not Stephen.
“Not in so many words, but his instincts are good. I think that’s why he’s held off on retiring so long, to see how things settle. He’s not going to take Stephen’s inheritance from him if there’s any chance at all that he wants it.”
“Stephen, an attorney.” The thought made me laugh. “I can’t wrap my head around it. He’s a great guy, but my experience with lawyers so far hasn’t been any good.”
“I bet. Couldn’t have been easy to get away from your uncle.”
I shook my head. “I’m not talking about then. When I turned eighteen, I filed against him with the police, and we went to court. I didn’t want to do it, but he’d remarried and had a step-daughter. She was only five. There was no way I was going to let him hurt her. Took two years, but he went to prison.”
I tried to blink back tears, but in the next second it didn’t matter as Declan reached for me, pulling me into his arms. We lay on the blanket, my head on his shoulder, his cheek against my forehead. I felt warm and safe, but my heart thundered at his closeness.
We lay quietly for several minutes, listening to the raging storm and the crackling of the fire. My thoughts returned to Bianca, the worry almost crushing, but there was nothing I could do about finding her until the rain let up. I had to believe she was all right. As if sensing my worry, Declan massaged my back, easing some of the tension away.
“What about you?” The words slipped out before I could stop them. I lifted myself partially up off Declan’s shoulder to see his face.
His shrug somehow tucked me closer to him. “I’m not in any hurry. Even once Stephen’s made his decision, I’ll still be doing the same thing I’m doing now. Maybe just a little more of it.”
“No, I mean . . . you said everyone’s wounded. You’re not wounded.”
He stared at the ceiling for a moment, as if contemplating what to say. So there was something. Or maybe his life was so perfect that he was ashamed to admit it after what I’d told him. Silence stretched out between us until I felt I should be uncomfortable, but I wasn’t. I wouldn’t let myself be. He’d given me time, and I’d do the same for him.
As I watched, his expression changed. “Do you hear that?”
“What?”
“The rain. It’s sounds different.”
He was right. I jumped to my feet, scrambling for my things. “Maybe we can dig out the truck now.”
He was up as fast as I was, scooping up the blanket and folding it into his pack. Maybe he was relieved that he wouldn’t have to answer. I pushed the thought aside. He’d kissed me, and there was a real connection here. I’d hold onto that for now.
I checked my phone. Still no signal.
“We’ll leave the fire going,” Declan said. “With the stove door shut, it will burn out safely anyway.”
I nodded. “We might need it again. There’s no telling what’s going to happen with this storm.”
We hurried to the front room of the cabin and pulled the couch away from the window, letting it drop and bounce, dislodging a few more critters.
I stuck my head outside. “Still raining, but I can see a lot better.”
“Let’s go then.”
I dropped my backpack and pulled on my poncho.
Chapter 8
THE RAIN MIGHT HAVE EASED, but it was still dark outside and windy. I slipped and skidded down the hill heading back to the road. My mind raced with plans: get back to the truck, dig out, continue driving for as long as we had visibility. If we couldn’t dig out, we’d continue as far as the storm would allow us on foot. I would find my sister. It was already after eight, more than five hours since I’d last heard from her.
“Careful,” Declan called. “You don’t want to break an arm.”
We were only halfway down the hill when Declan stopped walking. I turned around to see him shrugging out of his pack. “What are you doing?” Impatience filled my voice.
“I think I see something down the road. I have binoculars. Don’t know how much good they’ll do in the dark, but it’s worth a shot.”
I looked in the direction he’d indicated. From our vantage point, we could see what had to be Hackberry Road, but visibility wasn’t very far, and I didn’t see anything of interest. Wait. There was a glow some distance away, very faint, but different enough that it stood out in the dark, even in the rain. The wind ripped off my hood, but I ignored it, straining to see.
Declan had found the binoculars and was adjusting his pack to use them, but I hurried back to him and grabbed them from him. As I drew them to my face, my heart thudded slowly with both eagerness and dread. Even if it was a person, it could be anyone who might have been traveling on this road when the storm struck. Cabins dotted the area, however sporadically.
Where did the light go? I steadied my hands and moved slowly along the road. All dark. No, there it was, a glow that might be a car with a light on inside. But the shape was too dark to identify accurately, and I couldn’t see any outline that might be a person.
I handed the binoculars back to Declan. “I think it’s a car. It’s not moving, but I can’t tell if it’s hers, or if there’s someone inside.”
Declan reached over and tugged up both the hood of my jacket and the poncho hood. Then he took a moment to peer through the binoculars. “Yeah, it’s hard to tell, but something’s there. So what do you want to do? Go back for the truck or continue on to the light?”
My truck was half a mile away, and I thought the light was closer than that. “Let’s walk toward the light. We should be able to stay on the road now that the rain’s let up. If we went back for the truck, it could take us an hour to dig out. Even if it’s not Bianca, whoever it is might need help.”
We finished our descent, and the light was obscured from view. As we walked, I tortured myself with images of my sister hurt and helpless. Shivering in the d
ark. What if the light wasn’t actually coming from a car? What if I wanted it so much that I was imagining it?
The road was completely washed out in some places, and we had to deviate long distances to either side to get past the water. I was glad we hadn’t returned for the truck because we probably wouldn’t have made it through the deep grooves slicing over the road, now filled with mud and rainwater.
Mud soaked through my shoes to my feet, and I was cold again, but I couldn’t stop. At last, we spied the glow ahead. “Can I see the binoculars again?” I held them to my eyes, my breath catching in my throat. “It is Bianca’s car! No mistaking that silly daisy she painted on the hood. The light is shining right on it.” I looked heavenward. “Thank you, God.”
We tried to hurry, but the mud sucked at our feet and slowed our progress. “Is it just me?” Declan asked, “or is the light from her car getting dimmer?”
“It’s probably been on for hours. She should know to preserve the battery if she’s planning to wait out the storm and then drive home, but Bianca’s always been afraid of the dark.” Yet even with her fear, she did know better—so maybe she was hurt and hoped someone would see the light. My worry mounted with each step.
When we reached the car, we found it completely mired in one of the washed-out sections of the road. The tires were submerged and muddy water reached above the bottom of the doors. I angled my flashlight into the windows, fearing what I’d find, but there was nothing inside except boxes and piles of her belongings.
I scanned the area around us, first without and then with the binoculars. Nothing. No sign of my sister. “She could be anywhere.”
“Where do you think she’d go?”
That’s right—I knew Bianca better than anyone. I slowed my breathing and looked over the area again. To one side of the car the land was flat for a good two hundred feet before dropping steeply off. That way wasn’t likely. The other side, where we were standing, slanted upward toward a small thicket of trees and brush. That was a possibility. But maybe she would have stayed on the road. She wouldn’t have gone back the way she’d come because she was closer to the road’s end on my side. “It’s those trees or the road,” I said, pointing the way we’d come.
“I’m not betting on the road, not with how bad the rain was. Would she have been able to see it? We couldn’t, and there aren’t any posts here.”
He had a point. If Bianca had been worried about getting lost, she would have found someplace to hole up instead of taking the risk of wandering off the road.
“We have no idea when she left the car,” I said. “Maybe it was when the rain eased.” If so, she could be close to finding my truck by now.
Without warning, Declan stepped into the water around the car, sinking to his knees. Before I could ask what he was doing, he put his hand on the hood of the car. “Not even the slightest bit warm.” Sliding his hand downward, he reached in past the tire. “Not warm here either. Even with the rain, the engine wouldn’t have cooled too fast. I’d say it’s been off at least an hour. Maybe two.”
“Maybe she drove into this hole when it got too bad to see.” Just like I had. I glanced at the thicket of trees. “Let’s look there and then head to the truck.”
“The trees? Not the safest place when there’s lightning.”
“Maybe she hoped to find a cabin. She should have stayed with the car.”
He shook his head. “Not with all this water. You get enough, it could be swept over that drop-off—and after that rain, I’m betting it’s full of water down there.”
I offered a hand as he climbed out of the dirty water. “She had an emergency pack in the car—not that the flares would do any good right now.”
“The other stuff would make a difference.”
We trudged toward the trees, the going easier with small rocks and vegetation under our feet instead of inches of mud. In the distance, thunder cracked. I hoped that wasn’t a sign of more rain heading our way.
When we reached the trees, I started calling, “Bianca! Are you here? Bianca!”
Declan took up my cry. “Bianca! Bianca!”
It was darker in the trees, and colder. Despite the poncho, my jeans that had dried somewhat were completely soaked again as we waded through the bushes. I stopped and moved my flashlight over the area. Declan took out his larger one and used that too.
“Bianca!” I shouted again. Nothing.
We walked first to the right for fifteen minutes, calling and calling. Then we retraced our steps and went the other way, keeping in sight of one another but far enough apart to cover more ground. My voice felt hoarse from so much calling. What if I was too late?
I was beginning to feel despair when my light caught a movement near some fallen trees. At the same time, a thin voice reached my ears. “Zoey?”
“Bianca!” I ran toward the sound of her voice, crashing through brush and jumping over rocks. As I neared, I saw her sitting up between two fallen trees, her figure drowning in the yellow rain poncho from the emergency kit. Spread over the two trees was the emergency blanket she’d apparently been using as a makeshift tent. A glow stick in her hand lit up her face.
She was okay! Tears leaked down my face, and for the first time that day I was glad for the rain that masked my emotion. All the scolding words I’d thought of saying to her vanished. Nothing mattered except that she was okay.
“You came!” Bianca’s laugh sounded a little hysterical. “I knew you would.”
“Of course I came.”
She tried to climb to her feet but sank down almost immediately with a groan.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
She nodded. “My ankle and my arm. I fell when I got out of the car. Rain was coming down so fast, I couldn’t see. I was afraid the car would get carried away with me in it. My arm hurts the worse, but nothing’s breaking through the skin or anything.”
I almost laughed, thinking back to how I’d checked Stephen’s leg for the same thing. Maybe Lily had taught us that—with dozens of girls at Lily’s House, collectively we’d had numerous broken bones.
Avoiding her wounded right arm, I moved around to Bianca’s other side to help her stand. She was covered in mud, as if she’d fallen numerous times, and my hand slipped on her back. Before I had her all the way to her feet, she collapsed on one of the fallen trees, panting with agony at the movement.
“I can’t,” she gasped. “My ankle. Left one.”
“I can carry you.” Declan angled around behind her.
Bianca looked over, noticing him for the first time. “So I did hear a man’s voice. I thought I was hallucinating.”
“That’s Declan.” I began gathering Bianca’s belongings. “He works at the sanctuary with me.”
“Nice to meet you,” Bianca said.
“You too.” Declan shrugged off his pack and handed it to me. “It’s kind of heavy. Think you can carry it?”
“Absolutely.”
He took something out first—a bottle of painkillers. He shook out two and handed them to Bianca while I gave her one of my water bottles. “Thanks,” I told him.
“Yeah, I imagine Stephen’s swearing at me about now for taking them.”
I snorted. “Maybe that useless attorney can get some from the gift shop.”
“I doubt it. But the others will make it back to him soon.”
I shoved Bianca’s blanket and glow stick back inside her emergency bag, next to her purse that was already inside. When I was ready, Declan picked Bianca up, one arm under her back and the other under her knees, carefully balancing her hurt arm on the outside as it draped over her stomach.
“I’d bring the truck closer, but the road’s impassable right now,” I said for Bianca’s benefit.
“She hardly weighs anything,” Declan answered.
Unlike me, Bianca had never gone through a fat stage, and I’d often worried about how thin she was. She’d work for hours on her pottery without remembering to eat. But she always protested if
anyone called her too thin, and the fact that she didn’t contradict Declan worried me.
Bianca gave a little sob as Declan stepped over a large rock. “Sorry,” he muttered.
We trudged on, reaching the road and starting up it. Declan’s pack and Bianca’s emergency bag felt heavier with every step. I had no idea how long it would take us to get back to my truck, and the rain felt heavier now. Our progress was slow—too slow. Bianca wasn’t sobbing anymore, but whenever I caught a glimpse of her in my light, her teeth were clenched and pain etched lines over her face.
The rain picked up. “I don’t think we’re going to make it to the truck.” Declan leaned over slightly to speak close to my ear.
“The cabin then.”
He nodded. By the time we reach the hill to the cabin, the rain was heavy, though not nearly as bad as it had been when we’d stopped the truck. “It’ll pass again,” Declan said. “We’ll make it to the truck soon enough. Meanwhile, we’ll take a break and get warm.”
Passing Bianca through the window was a bit of a challenge, but soon we had her lying on Declan’s thick blanket, spread once again on the kitchen floor. Declan put the rest of the wood inside the stove, leaving the door open to emit more warmth, and we began discussing using the broken chair for fuel. “We can also use the mattress in the bedroom,” I said, “if you’ve got a knife, Boy Scout. Or parts of the couch.”
Declan pulled out a knife much larger than any approved for Boy Scout use. “Sounds like fun.” He went to work, while I tucked the blanket I’d taken from the gift shop around my sister, topping it with the sweatshirt. I’d managed to remove her wet jacket, but we wouldn’t worry about putting on the sweatshirt until it was time to leave. I was sure her arm was broken. Maybe her ankle as well.
I took off my wet jacket, snuggling up to her back and lending her my body heat, my hand splayed over her side just below her arm. She reached for my hand with her good one. “I love you, Zoey.”
“I love you too.”
“I was coming to surprise you. I know it’s been hard on you being so far away, and I thought you’d want . . .” She trailed off.
