Chapter Fourteen Ella
Chapter Fourteen
Ella
Rhia’s eyes find mine, a lone tear traveling down her cheek as she sinks to her knees, defeated.
She knows I won’t let her go on her own. And she won’t risk my life or the baby’s.
I feel horrible. Am I really going to make her choose between me and Lex?
I want to be searching for our men as much as she does, but Claudette is right, I have to think of Peanut.
And our chances of surviving a blizzard unprotected in the wilderness are all but zero.
I rush to kneel beside her, throwing my arms around her shoulders. We’re both full on ugly crying now, clinging to each other.
“Girls,” Claudette calls out. “Listen.”
Her eyes are wide with a mixture of hope and fear.
“Do you hear that?” she asks.
Rhia and I pull apart. I wipe at my face, angling it toward the door and straining my ears.
There’s only the sound of the wind howling with unrelenting fury.
I shake my head. “I hear nothing but the storm.”
The air is thick with tension as we exchange anxious glances, our breath visible in the frigid mudroom.
“Just listen,” Claudette whispers this time.
We fall into a strained silence, our ears tuned to the outside world. Then I hear it too, and my eyes lock on Rhia’s.
Amid the wind’s roar, a distant rumble breaks through. It could be the storm. Or… it could be a snowmobile.
We all go still, holding our breath as we listen.
The sound wavers, swallowed by the wind, then returns, louder this time.
My heart stutters.
“It’s them,” I say, though it comes out more like a plea than a certainty. “It has to be.”
Rhia’s eyes snap to mine, fragile hope flickering there. We scramble to our feet and rush for the door.
“Here, put these on,” Claudette calls, throwing us our jackets.
We drag them on, fumbling with scarves and beanies, fingers clumsy with urgency.
The moment we pull the door open, the wind slams into it, wrenching it from our grip. Cold air tears through us, stealing my breath, snow lashing against my face.
For a second, I can’t see anything but white.
Then the sound cuts through again, unmistakable now.
The rumble sharpens into the distinct rhythm of an engine, growing louder, closer.
“It’s them!” I shout over the storm, my voice breaking.
A faint glow flickers in the distance, barely visible through the thick white veil.
It moves.
Closer.
Overwhelming relief crashes through me. Tears sting my eyes as the familiar hum cuts through the blizzard’s roar.
Two figures emerge from the whiteout, barely visible at first, then clearer as they fight their way toward us on the snowmobile.
We grip the rails and rush down the stairs to meet them. The wind shoves against me, snow stinging my face, blinding me, but I keep going.
Tiero and Lex are back. Alive.
The storm still rages around us, but it fades into the background, drowned out by the pounding of my heart.
The moment Tiero swings off the snowmobile, I launch myself at him, wrapping my arms around him as tightly as I can.
“Merda! Get back inside,” he roars, but his arms come around me just as hard.
I don’t care that he’s angry I’m outside. All that matters is that he’s here. Whole. Breathing.
Beside us, Rhia climbs Lex like a tree, clinging to him like a koala, his arms locking around her.
Without another word, Tiero scoops me up and takes the stairs two at a time, pushing us back toward the house.
Over his shoulder, I catch a glimpse of Lex following, Rhia still wrapped around him.
We stumble inside, and Claudette fights the door shut against the wind.
Tiero sets me on my feet and rips off his ski goggles. The balaclava stays, leaving only his eyes visible.
They lock onto me. Hard. And he doesn’t look happy.
“What on earth were you doing outside?” he thunders.
Okay, I won’t mention we considered trying to find them.
“We heard the snowmobile,” I reply as I help him pull down the zipper on his jacket.
Every inch of his clothing is laden with a crust of snow, frozen into a crystalline armor that proves how unforgiving the conditions were outside.
“We were going out of our minds with worry,” I continue, as I gently pull the balaclava from his head and take his face into my hands. His skin is so cold.
I stand on my tiptoes and pepper him with kisses. I just need to touch him, feel him, and make sure he’s okay.
Sobs suddenly bubble up from inside me, all the tension of the last hour needing a release. And then the tears stream down my face, as unstoppable as the gale outside.
Tiero’s face immediately softens. He shrugs out of his heavy wet jacket and takes me into his arms.
“Shh, angel,” he soothes, rocking us from side to side. “Shh, it’s alright. I’m here now.”
“I was so scared! What if something had happened to you?”
“Shh,” he says over and over again. “Nothing could ever keep me from you. If a bullet couldn’t stop me, do you think a blizzard could?”
“That’s what Claudette said, too,” I hiccup.
That makes him chuckle, and the sound soothes my tattered nerves.
“Come on. Let’s get you guys in front of the fireplace. We need to warm you up,” I say, trying to pull myself together.
“Agreed,” Claudette adds, appearing in the doorway. “I’m heating up soup and making hot cocoa.”
“Put some rum into it,” Tiero mutters. “I sure could use some.”
“No alcohol,” Claudette replies sternly. “It dilates blood vessels and causes heat loss. It’s counterproductive when you’re trying to warm up.”
Rhia and I help the guys strip off their remaining outer layers and take off their boots. We leave everything in a big heap as we take their hands and lead them into the warm living room. It’s toasty compared to the cold mudroom.
Lex and Tiero are only in their thermals, and even those are moist and cold. Claudette returns with a pile of dry clothes that she must have collected from our rooms.
“Here, get changed into these,” she orders. “Anything wet will suck the heat right out of you.”
Without hesitation, the guys strip and put on the dry clothes.
I help Tiero; his movements are jerky, his body stiff from the cold.
Claudette watches us, a big smirk on her face.
“What?” I mouth over Tiero’s shoulder. I guess she hasn’t seen him like this before.
She fans herself. “Great view,” she mouths back. “And that tattoo… wow.”
I bite my lip to stifle my smile. This is so Claudette.
But I have to agree. Tiero’s lion tattoo is a work of art. Before him, I wasn’t a fan of tattoos. But this one has converted me.
“Wrap yourselves up in the blankets I put on the sofa. Sit by the fire and let the warmth seep into your bones. Hot cocoa is coming right up,” Claudette directs.
I shoo the dogs into another corner of the room and add a few more logs to the fire, making sure it burns strong.
Tiero hasn’t commented on the dogs in the house yet, even though I know he saw them. Hmm, he must be in shock. I’d be too after facing the blizzard head-on like he and Lex just did.
As the guys settle by the fire, Claudette hands them steaming mugs, the heat from the cocoa a welcome contrast to the icy ordeal they just endured.
“Don’t rush,” she advises. “Sip slowly. We’ll get you thawed out in no time.”
The room fills with the clinking of mugs and the hiss of logs in the fire.
“What happened to the second snowmobile?” Rhia asks, snuggling closer to Lex.
“We left it in a cave we found, along with the decorations we salvaged. We thought we had more time to get back, but that blizzard arrived sooner than we expected,” Lex explains.
“I’m just so glad you’re both back in one piece. Never put me through something like that again,” I say, rubbing up and down Tiero’s back.
It’s as much to reassure myself that he’s really here with me as it is to warm him up.
“Any numbness or tingling in your fingers or toes?” Claudette asks, sounding nurse-like as she comes into the room carrying a tray with bowls of steaming soup.
Thank God she’s here with us and thinking clearly. My mind is foggy, my body tiring now that the adrenaline is wearing off.
Both Lex and Tiero shake their heads.
“Good, keep moving your limbs. Gentle exercise will get that blood flowing,” she responds.
As both Rhia and I refuse to leave our men’s sides, Claudette does the running around. She hands us more blankets, and we wrap them tightly around our men.
The storm rattles the shutters, and I snuggle deeper against my love. In his arms, I feel safe, knowing he’ll protect me and our child, come what may.
“Remember that storm in Scotland?” Rhia asks from her spot, sitting in between Lex’s outstretched legs, his head resting on top of hers.
“That one was memorable,” I mutter, my eyelids growing heavy.
It was one of the three occasions on that trip we bumped into Lex. Sparks flew between those two then. Heck, they still do even more than two years later.
“I was really scared then. This one isn’t so bad,” she says, just as something heavy flies against the shutters.
None of us even flinch. Our cottage gives the illusion of a fortress, or maybe I’m just too exhausted to care.
Tiero draws lazy circles up and down my side as I push closer against him, and he tightens his hold on me with his other arm.
Rhia is still talking, but it sounds far away as sleep is trying to drag me under.
“Rest, angel,” Tiero whispers into my ear and then kisses my neck. “I’ll keep you safe.”
With his familiar scent and warmth enveloping me, I allow myself to drift off, knowing he’ll keep this promise until his last breath.