An Angel for Christmas

by Heather Graham

  Bobby was able to grab his brother’s ankle. Shayne looked down at him.

  “If you don’t get this up now,” Bobby said sternly, “you’re going to take Cindy to the tavern, get Dad and Mac and come back for me.”

  “I’m going to get it up. What, are you kidding me? Can you imagine Mom if I come back without you? Don’t worry—I’m going to manage this!”

  Shayne told him. “Cindy—”

  Shayne went dead still, and quiet. Bobby tried to twist around and see what was going on; he couldn’t.

  He could only see his brother’s face, and his features were knotted in a look of wary dread.

  “What?” Bobby whispered.

  But Shayne didn’t look down at him.

  Bobby heard someone else speaking, and he knew the voice.

  Luke DeFeo.

  “That’s right, I have the pretty little ex-missus!” DeFeo said. “And nothing is going to happen to her. As long as you all play it right. I want that snowmobile. You’re going to get it up and running, and then everything will be fine.”

  Bobby strained and twisted, trying to see around the snowmobile. He managed to wriggle enough to look around the front; Luke DeFeo had Cindy in a choke hold against his body.

  “I know what I’m doing,” he said quietly. “One wrong move and her neck snaps. And I still get the snowmobile. Are we clear?”

  “Perfectly,” Shayne said, ice in his words.

  Bobby saw DeFeo smile. “Don’t worry. I let her get a good knot on that rope before I nabbed her. Dr. MacDougal, now it’s all up to you and your brother there. I want the snowmobile up, and I want it running, and when it is, I’ll take your ex with me just down the road a hair, and I’ll leave her for you gentlemen to find again.”

  Cindy was staring at Shayne, tears in her eyes. Bobby knew why she hadn’t screamed; she was flat against DeFeo’s back, and his arm was in a hold that prevented her from uttering so much as a squeak. She looked at Shayne with apology in her eyes, and fear that she couldn’t quite hide.

  Cindy hadn’t even known about DeFeo! She hadn’t known anything about the strange night that had passed, or about the stranger day that had followed…

  The darkness was beginning to settle around them in earnest.

  And with the darkness would come a greater cold.

  “I have to get to the tree with the lever,” Shayne said. “I’m moving, and I’m going to need to be there. I’m going to get the snowmobile off my brother, and we’ll get it up together. Don’t do anything. I’ll get you the damn snowmobile.”

  “Fine. Do it,” DeFeo said.

  Something of a little squeak did escape Cindy as DeFeo jerked her back and away from the tree.

  Bobby cursed himself for getting stuck beneath the snowmobile. If he had just realized what could have happened, if he’d have tried to jump clear…

  Bobby saw as Shayne moved, delving first into the storage compartment for the lever. He then heard his brother’s footsteps crunching through the snow as he headed for the tree.

  He could barely see Shayne anymore, and DeFeo was caught in the crazy light that emanated from the headlight of the snowmobile. There was something not quite right about the man.

  He could hear Shayne, struggling with the pulley system he was trying to assemble and work with the tree and the rope. His brother, he thought, had it rigged, and he was using all his strength to pull. The snowmobile seemed to ease up on Bobby; he tried to slip out.

  His brother let out a grunt, having to stop for a minute.

  “Or,” DeFeo said quietly, “you could leave me to deal with this. Take the little lady up to the tavern—and leave me here with your brother. What a fix! Desert your baby brother. What should you do, Shayne? You’ve got about two more minutes to move that snowmobile, or I’ll take charge in the way that I see fit.”

  “I’m not leaving anyone!” Shayne snapped.

  “Then you’d better get going, right?” DeFeo warned.

  Shayne faced him. “Really? Aren’t you a bit of a fool? The minute you release Cindy, we’ll all be right on top of you, you lying bastard!”

  Bobby winced. He wasn’t sure that threatening the man was the way to go. But Shayne wasn’t going to leave him, and he wasn’t going to let the man hurt Cindy. He was testing Shayne, trying to make him decide between the mother of his children and his brother.

  “What do you care about the woman?” DeFeo asked him. “Didn’t she leave you? Didn’t she walk out on you, screw around with some other man using the money you worked for? The bitch is only here now because she couldn’t stand you having her children.”

  “If you hurt her,” Shayne said, “you will be a dead man.”

  DeFeo started to laugh. Bobby blinked. He looked so strange in the glow that was cast by the headlight. He seemed bigger than he had been. He seemed to radiate a strange smell so powerful that it even reached Bobby where he lay, caught beneath the heavy snowmobile.

  It was something like the scent of…brimstone!

  “Boy, where’s the Hippocratic oath now?” DeFeo said. “Well, Mr. Moralist, you’ll have to figure out something here, won’t you? Your brother or your ex-wife, the precious mother of your precocious little brats!”

  “I’ll get you the snowmobile!” Shayne said.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” DeFeo said. “Maybe I’ll just take her with me all the way…”

  His hold on Cindy must have eased a fraction.

  She cried out, “Shayne, don’t let him hurt Bobby, don’t—”

  The sound strangled as he clenched his arm more tightly around her.

  Dear God, Bobby prayed. What do we do, what can I say, how—

  He was suddenly aware of a rush of sound. And suddenly, Cindy was almost flying toward him in the snow.

  DeFeo cried out in surprise.

  And Bobby realized that someone had come up behind DeFeo; they had all been so intent on the interaction between them that none of them had heard a thing.

  They hadn’t seen a thing…

  But someone had come.

  Gabe Lange.

  Morwenna ran as fast behind Gabe as she could. Following him, she had first gone dead still in horror. The snowmobile was on its side…on top of someone!

  And then, of course, she had seen DeFeo’s back. And she had realized that he was holding someone in a death grip. And she hadn’t even had time to think.

  Gabe had taken off.

  And then he was on DeFeo’s back.

  She heard a scream, and it came from Cindy, who had been thrust forward, falling into a massive drift. While Gabe attacked DeFeo from behind, DeFeo reached around, shouting out in rage, grabbing at Gabe.

  Morwenna raced toward the trees, finding a stick. She ran around in front of the grappling men and began thrashing hard at DeFeo with her haphazard weapon. He lashed out with a fist, and he struck her in the chest. She was stunned at the blow; it sent her flying back hard into the trees. She was aware of Shayne rushing by her, ready to join the attack, and then she was aware of Shayne again, flying by her as if he weighed no more than an Easter bunny.

  She heard Bobby, roaring in frustration, unable to help. She saw that Cindy was up, crawling over toward Bobby, and that Shayne was trying to rise, shaking his head, as if he could clear it.

  She scrambled to her feet and looked around for a weapon. There was a huge tree branch by her feet and she went for it, and then charged in again, whacking at DeFeo—trying to make sure that she missed Gabe.

  Except that she didn’t miss him; she caught him in the arm. He bellowed, but he didn’t even seem to notice her, so intent was he on DeFeo.

  “Give it up! Give it up!” Gabe raged to DeFeo. “I’ve won. You’re done here, you’re done here! Give it up!”

  Shayne charged in again, going for DeFeo’s legs. He toppled the man, but Gabe went down, too. Morwenna grabbed her branch, trying again to get a good crack in on DeFeo’s head.

  She aimed well, and this time, she hit him.

&
nbsp; She knew that she hit him.

  But he didn’t even notice. Even though the sound seemed like a shot in the cold air, it didn’t even faze him.

  She went to strike again, but to her amazement, both men were up.

  “You’ve lost!” Gabe shouted again. “You’ve lost!”

  But DeFeo didn’t want to give up the fight. His face was contorted in a hideous mask of rage, and he stared at Gabe, as if he knew somewhere he had been defeated, but he just couldn’t accept that it might be so. He was going to lunge at Gabe again, but then another sound seemed to rip apart the crisp air and the icy mountaintop.

  A roll of thunder. There was no lightning, there was no sign of a coming storm…

  But the sky suddenly lit up as if the earth had spun crazily toward the sun for one bizarre moment; then the sound of thunder roared again.

  The night returned to darkness.

  DeFeo turned, and started to run. Gabe tore after him.

  “No, Gabe!” Morwenna shouted. “Let him go!”

  Gabe looked at her briefly. “I can’t,” he said quietly.

  He turned and ran after DeFeo. She saw Gabe catch hold of DeFeo again.

  “Stay still—give in and stay still, please!” Gabe begged the other man.

  It wasn’t to be. DeFeo let out with a punch that landed hard on Gabe’s jaw.

  “No,” DeFeo cried. “You have to win, and you know it. And I just have to escape you.”

  The man sounded almost gleeful.

  Gabe twisted to secure the other man’s arms, but DeFeo wasn’t willing to give in. In the struggle, they began to roll. They rolled hard and fast, and she shrieked again in horror; they were rolling toward the ledge. She could barely see in the darkness of the night, but she could still hear the two and they kept rolling…

  “Gabe!” she cried.

  But she couldn’t see the two men any longer; she couldn’t hear them. There was no crunch of snow. There was no grunting, no sound of blows falling…nothing.

  She felt Shayne behind her, setting his hands on her shoulders.

  “Oh, my God!” she breathed. “We’ve got to find him.”

  “We’ll go after him,” Shayne promised. “We’ll go after him. But we’ve got to work here first. And fast.”

  “Shayne—”

  “Bobby is caught,” Shayne said, and he looked into her eyes. “And…I’m sorry, Morwenna, so sorry, but if Gabe does lose…DeFeo could come back.”

  “Just get me out!” Bobby cried.

  “Come on. Cindy—” Shayne began, spinning around.

  Cindy was already waiting at the tree. “I don’t even know what just happened. But we’ve got to get Bobby out from under there. And we’re going to be all right. Come on!”

  Morwenna looked at Shayne, and together they hurried to the tree. Shayne took the front position. Morwenna strained. Her muscles ached to the core. They strained and pulled, and slowly, with Shayne shouting instructions, they brought the snowmobile back to rest on its tracks.

  She fell back in the snow, exhausted and amazed that Shayne’s system had worked. Her brother walked to the snowmobile, hunkering down to help Bobby up. Bobby winced, trying to stand.

  “Nothing broken,” he said.

  “The tavern is just up ahead. Take Cindy. Get her back to the tavern,” Shayne said.

  Bobby nodded, realizing that he couldn’t help.

  “Can you make it without the snowmobile?” he asked Bobby and Cindy.

  “We will make it without the snowmobile,” Bobby assured them. “You two need it.”

  Cindy nodded, hurrying to Bobby to lend support to help him limp along.

  But, as Morwenna watched, Cindy paused, staring at Shayne with anguish in her eyes. She rushed to him, caught hold of his jacket, rose to her toes and kissed his lips.

  And, if only quickly, Shayne kissed her back.

  “We’ve all got to move!” he commanded.

  Cindy nodded and ran back to Bobby.

  Shayne mounted the snowmobile. The headlight was still on; he turned the key in the ignition and nothing happened. He turned it again.

  And the motor sprang back to life. Shayne carefully eased it into Reverse, and the mangled machinery moved.

  “Go!” he said to Bobby and Cindy. He looked at Morwenna. “Climb on!” he told her.

  She did so quickly, and they moved on into the darkness of the night.

  Chapter 11

  Bobby’s leg was killing him. He was sure that he hadn’t broken any bones, but he had done some mean damage to himself.

  He leaned hard on Cindy for support, and they moved through the night. He could hear the strain of his breathing; even in the dim light of the moon that shone down upon them, he could see the massive mist of each breath he took.

  Cindy labored at his side.

  “I’m sorry!” he said.

  “Oh, Bobby,” she returned. “I’m all right, really. I’m tougher than I look, and I was never really hurt badly. I was frozen…blacked out a bit, but I’m all right. You can lean on me.”

  “Maybe you should run ahead,” he suggested.

  “Never,” she told him. “Bobby, I don’t understand anything about tonight.”

  “I’m not sure we even know what happened,” he said.

  “That light…” she murmured.

  “Strange, huh?”

  “Very!” she said. Then she stopped in her tracks. “Bobby!”

  “What?”

  “I can see it!”

  “See what?”

  “A star!”

  “What?”

  She laughed. “I see a star, and it’s actually the tavern! The electricity must have just gone back on. Look! It’s all lit up, and it seems like a zillion colors are shining out—oh, it’s the lights on the tree, Bobby. I can see the tree with the star on top! Look through the pines, and you can see the tree right through the window!”

  He paused, and he peered through the trees.

  And he smiled, unaware of the pain in his leg.

  The star at the top of Mac’s tavern tree seemed brilliant. It was a guide, and it was a sign.

  They were almost there.

  “Cindy, come on. Hot chocolate is so close I can almost taste it!”

  They took the beat-up snowmobile around bend after bend.

  And there was no sign of either Gabe Lange or Luke DeFeo.

  Shayne drew to a stop, revving the motor as he tried to look around.

  “Morwenna,” he murmured. “We’re not going to find them.”

  “No, no, no!” she said. “They’ve gone over the ledge. Oh, Shayne…”

  “Maybe not, Morwenna. Gabe is a resourceful fellow.”

  “We can’t give up! We can’t give up.”

  “Morwenna, you can’t go over the ledge. It’s a far drop down.”

  “We can’t give up.”

  “We have to. It’s dark—the light isn’t showing us much. They might be down over the ledge, but safe on some kind of outcrop. They might have wound up taking the fight up one of the slopes. They could have wound up in the trees anywhere.”

  He was right; she felt ill.

  “Oh, Shayne!”

  He turned and touched her cheek. “We could be heading for frostbite now, Morwenna. We have to go back. We need a helicopter, and we need light. We’ll get Dad and Mac, we’ll see if anyone has been able to get hold of someone who can really help,” he said gently.

  She nodded and leaned her head against his back. “Shayne, we tied him up!”

  He nodded. “Yep.”

  “Genevieve never stopped believing in him.”

  “No,” Shayne agreed. He cleared his throat. “DeFeo arrived in a cop’s uniform, Morwenna. We had no choice.”

  “But he saved Genevieve’s life. And then…he might have saved all of us.”

  “He did save all of us,” Shayne said.

  She nodded against his back. Her heart ached. This hurt. This hurt in a way that was far worse than anything she had
ever felt. It seemed silly and irrelevant that she had cared at all that Alex had been on a beach—chasing Double-D Debbie.

  Shayne revved the motor and carefully turned the snowmobile.

  When they finally reached the place where the fight had begun, Morwenna begged him to stop for a minute.

  She crawled off the snowmobile and carefully moved toward the ledge.

  “Wait! Be careful. I’ll get a light.”

  She heard her brother swearing softly as he struggled to open the bent-up storage compartment on the side of the snowmobile that had hit the ground. She heard a wrenching sound as it gave, and then she was aware that Shayne followed her to where she stood with a high-powered flashlight.

  Silently, they searched the terrain below them. The moon was casting a decent glow, and they looked and looked.

  “Anything?” she whispered.

  “No,” he said.

  “Try farther down, Shayne. Cast the light down.”

  He did.

  But no one was there.

  Shayne set his arm around her shoulders and led her back to the snowmobile. “It’s good that we didn’t find them, you know that, right?” Shayne asked her.

  She imagined Gabe at the bottom of the mountain, crushed, mangled and bleeding.

  “Yes,” she said huskily. Silently, she crawled on the snowmobile behind him.

  “Hey!” he said.

  “Yeah?”

  “The lights are back on at the tavern,” he said.

  “So they are.”

  Bobby wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anything as beautiful as his mother’s look of joy when he and Cindy stumbled into the tavern.

  Ah, but maybe there was. It was Genevieve’s face as she saw her mother.

  “Mommy!” she cried. Delight in her voice. “Oh, Mommy!”

  Genevieve threw herself against Cindy, who nearly fell over.

  “Careful!” Connor cried. And then he was sobbing, too.

  “I knew that Daddy would find you,” Genevieve said. “I knew that he would!”