Chapter 6
Wyatt recognized the signs quickly enough. Evie was pushing too hard and her energy was running out fast. She hadn’t eaten enough and she couldn’t search much longer on coffee and water alone. He decided they’d use the hour, but not a second more.
The fact that she’d agreed to his time limit at all worried him. At times like this, she rarely gave in without a big argument. As he was wondering if he could negotiate that hour down to thirty minutes, she gave a shout.
“Wyatt! Here.” She waved her arms, though she wasn’t too far ahead of him. “I found him.”
She turned, trudging through deep snow as fast as possible. Trying to run toward a drift that reached up to a rocky outcropping between a cluster of trees.
“Please let the man be alive,” Wyatt muttered under his breath as he followed with the emergency kit. He couldn’t pinpoint what made Evie so certain the search was over.
“Here!” she shouted. “Yes!” She swiped away snow with her gloves, calling Chris’s name as she worked. “Chris? Help is here.”
A feeble sound carried from the snow-covered shelter. “We found him,” Evie said, beaming at Wyatt.
He helped her clear the snow until they saw Chris huddled up under an emergency blanket. He’d burrowed himself in using the shelter of the outcropping and the snow itself as insulation. With the help of his own emergency kit, he had survived the night.
“Hi, Chris. We’re glad to see you,” Evie chattered as if she’d been his friend all her life. “No one told us you had exceptional survival skills. Well done.”
The man was groggy, but he would make it.
With Evie’s coaxing and Wyatt’s muscle, they got him out of his shelter and into the weak sunshine and clear air.
They wrapped him in another emergency blanket and Evie urged him to sip water.
Wyatt inflated the rescue sled and secured it to the snowmobile while he coordinated with the search and rescue team.
They quickly decided the swiftest way out was for them to transport Chris to the nearest point where the helicopter could pick him up. Once the location was set, Wyatt and Evie loaded Chris into the sled, tucked heat packs around him, and made sure he was protected from the elements.
“You drive,” he told his wife. She was exhausted whether she would admit it or not. “I’ll follow on foot and keep an eye on Chris.” The snowmobile would struggle if he rode and he wasn’t about to let Evie walk.
She frowned. “You’re sure?”
“You drive. Just take your time.” He knew she worried about being too cautious with a man who needed urgent care. “We’re all good,” he assured her. “It’s not far to the pickup point.”
“And you’ll drive from there?”
“I promise.”
They handed off Chris to the search and rescue helicopter team within the hour and were on their way back to the main road.
He could feel Evie sagging against his back and he talked to her, asking her questions about Christmas, just to make sure she didn’t doze off on him.
He didn’t want to add another injury or rescue mission to the tally this season.
As they made their way down the mountain slope, Wyatt was thinking through the next steps.
He’d get them to the barn and take Evie with him straight into the house and a hot shower.
Then they could call Dale and see their boys.
Unfortunately, the radio chirped and Lisa informed him that Clark and other deputies were waiting to speak with them. He’d much rather deal with that at the casino than drag all those folks into his house.
He laughed, embracing his unexpected hermit-tendencies.
“What’s so funny?” Evie asked.
He slowed down just enough to twist around. “I was just thinking when we get home, I want to stay there until next year.”
Her lips curved. “That’s only a little more than a week away.”
“Yeah. Probably won’t be enough.”
She chuckled. “We’ll make sure it is.” She gave him a little squeeze, and he picked up the pace.
When they reached the road, their truck was the only vehicle left. Someone had towed Chris’s car and the search party, no longer needed, had dispersed. He started the truck to let it warm up and then loaded the snowmobile and equipment into the bed.
“Feeling better?” he asked, cranking the heat.
“Getting there,” she replied. She leaned over and kissed him. “You’re my hero,” she said.
“Same goes.” He grinned, starting to thaw out.
He drove back toward town, while Evie checked in with Lisa.
They were two blocks from the casino when he realized something big was going on. “Is there some event I forgot about?” he asked.
“Not on my schedule.” Evie checked her phone. “Then again, I’m tired enough I might’ve forgotten to update something.”
He tried to aim for the back parking lot so they could avoid the commotion in the guest area, but a sheriff’s patrol car blocked that driveway and the deputy waved him toward the winter wonderland area.
“Oh, my goodness, they didn’t,” Evie breathed.
A banner had been draped over the normal holiday sign: Thank you Jamesons!
“What the heck?” Wyatt could hardly believe his eyes. “I’m too tired for a party,” he confessed.
“Looks like we’ll have to find the energy. Just for a little while.” She pointed. “There’s Dad and the boys.”
He wouldn’t dare disappoint his sons. “Did he do this?”
“Not a chance. At least not on his own. This has to be the work of Deputy Clark or Lisa. Maybe Jack.”
They climbed out of the truck to a swell of cheers and applause. He saw folks from the sheriff’s department, the casino, and other familiar faces from around town. Each of them calling out thanks or holiday greetings.
Evie stepped up beside him, sliding her arm around his waist. “Focus on the boys,” she murmured. “Dad has them distracted near the hot chocolate stand.”
He did. The sight of his sons settled him and reminded him why they volunteered so often to help the people around the town they loved. The boost got him through the handshakes with Sheriff Russell, Deputy Clark, and so many others who were grateful for their efforts.
At last, the commotion seemed to ease up and he could embrace his boys and give them his full attention.
“You’re a hero,” Caleb said, rushing them.
“Mom too,” Cole chimed in. “Everyone says so.”
“We just helped out the search and rescue team,” Wyatt said. He scooped up Caleb while Evie knelt down to hug Cole. “We missed you guys.”
“You two.” Dale’s face was etched with worry lines. “You pulled off a damned Christmas miracle for that family.” He drew Wyatt and Caleb into a breath-stealing bear hug before Caleb squirmed free on a giggle.
“For us too,” he said for Wyatt’s ears only, clapping him on the shoulder. “I was more than a little concerned when I got Evie’s message.”
Wyatt summoned up the energy to give him a big smile. “Honestly, I was concerned and I was with her.”
That earned him the laugh he was hoping for. “No, my girl doesn’t have a quitting bone in her body.”
Dale hugged Evie close and they talked quietly for a few minutes before they all settled at a table with bottomless hot chocolate and a plate of warm cookies, courtesy of Jack.
Together, they gave the boys a simplified version of how their grown-up date was interrupted to help out a neighbor.
Wyatt couldn’t be sure how much the boys understood, but it was important to instill that sense of community every chance they had.
Beside him, he could feel Evie’s energy waning and he figured all five of them deserved a quiet evening at home where they could all relax and snooze as needed.