Chapter 15
Jake
The cabin was a wreck when we returned. The furniture was overturned, windows shattered, and blood stained the wooden floors. But the fireplace still burned, throwing heat into the room.
“Rory, pull the sofa in front of the fireplace,” Declan ordered. “We need to get her clothes off. All of them. We need to warm her core temperature gradually.”
He lay her gently on the couch, then he and Rory scrambled off into the kitchen as I started to undress her.
My fingers were nearly useless, numb from cold, but I forced them to work, peeling away her sodden clothes.
Mikhail appeared with an armful of dry garments—flannel shirts, wool socks, a thick sweater.
“Found these in a closet,” he said, averting his eyes as I stripped Ella down to her skin. “How can I help?”
“Blankets,” I managed through chattering teeth. “As many as you can find. And heat some water—not hot, just warm.”
He nodded and disappeared. With averted eyes, I dressed Ella in the dry clothes, my own wet garments dripping onto the floor. Her skin was deathly pale, her breathing shallow. I rubbed her arms and legs, trying to stimulate circulation without warming her too quickly.
“Don’t you dare die,” I whispered. “Nora needs you. I need you.”
“Here,” Declan said as he stepped close, handing me some dry clothes. “Get changed. Truck’s ready. We need to get her to a hospital now.”
I nodded, wrapping Ella in the blankets Mikhail had brought. “What about the others?”
I asked, stripping off my wet clothes and quickly dressing in the dry ones.
“Rory is taking Caleb to the hospital to get his leg checked out, and Mikhail and Nora are going with them. We’ve got a half-hour drive to the nearest hospital—if we push it.”
I lifted Ella, cradling her against my chest. She felt impossibly light. As I carried her through the living room, Nora broke away from Rory and ran to us.
“Is Mommy going to be okay?” Her small face was streaked with tears, Rory’s massive coat still engulfing her tiny frame.
“The doctors will help her, and she’ll be fighting to get back to you,” I told her, my voice steadier than I felt.
Mikhail approached, kneeling beside her. “Nora, you’re going to ride with me, Caleb, and Uncle Rory, okay? We’ll follow right behind your Uncle Declan, Jake, and your mother.”
She looked between us, then nodded solemnly. “Promise you won’t leave her?” she asked me.
“I promise,” I said, meaning it more than any vow I’d ever made.
I carried Ella to the truck; thankfully, Declan had already started the engine and cranked the heat to full blast.
“Back seat,” he ordered, opening the door for me. “Keep her wrapped tight.”
I slid in, cradling Ella against my chest, her wet hair soaking into my borrowed shirt. Declan spun out of the driveway, tires throwing up clumps of snow. The headlights from behind told me the others were right behind us as we descended the mountain.
“How’s she doing?” Declan asked, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror.
I pressed my fingers to Ella’s throat, feeling the weak flutter of her pulse. “Still with us. Barely.”
The truck’s heater blasted warm air, but Ella remained deathly cold in my arms. I tucked the blankets more securely around her, willing my own body heat to transfer to hers.
“Stay with me,” I whispered against her hair. “Just stay with me.”
Declan’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror again, then back to the treacherous road. I barely noticed; all my attention was focused on the woman in my arms.
“You know,” I said softly, “I’ve been watching you for years. Since that first day I came to town.” I smoothed a strand of hair from her forehead. “You were unloading boxes at the bakery, laughing with Helen about something, with flour on your forehead.”
The memory was so clear—the way the sunlight had caught in her hair, how she’d stooped to help Nora tie her shoelace before continuing with the boxes. I’d stood across the street, transfixed.
“I wanted to talk to you then. Every day after that, too.” My voice dropped lower, meant only for her, though I knew Declan could hear. “But I was afraid. Afraid you’d see right through me, see all the broken pieces I’ve been trying to hide.”
Declan’s eyes met mine briefly in the mirror, but he remained silent, focused on navigating the icy roads at dangerous speeds.
“The morning Scout chased that rabbit into my pasture—I’d seen you walking him every day for weeks.
I’d check the fenceline every damn day in hopes of getting a glimpse of you.
” I laughed softly, the sound catching in my throat.
“Pathetic, right? A grown man arranging his day around the chance the woman next door would wave at me just so that I could ignore her.”
I held her closer, feeling the shallow rise and fall of her chest against mine.
“And then there was the summer festival last year. You wore that blue dress with the little flowers. Nora was running around with sparklers, and you were watching her with this look on your face—like she was the entire world wrapped up in one small person.”
The truck hit a pothole, and I tightened my grip, shielding Ella from the jolt.
“Sorry,” Declan muttered, the first word he’d spoken since we’d started driving.
I barely heard him. “I should have told you sooner how I felt before all this happened. Before Mikhail came back.” My voice broke on his name. “But I kept thinking I wasn’t ready, wasn’t whole enough for someone like you.”
Her eyelids fluttered, and for a moment I thought she might wake. But they remained closed, her breathing still shallow and uneven.
“The truth is, I’ve been falling for you since that first day. Not just because you’re beautiful—though God knows you are—but because of how fiercely you love Nora. How you face each day with a smile and this quiet strength that amazes me.”
I pressed my lips to her forehead, feeling the coldness of her skin. “I need you to fight, Ella. Not just for Nora, not just for yourself. For us. For what we could have been together.”
Despite knowing that she and Mikhail would likely get back together even for just the sake of Nora, I needed her here.
Declan cleared his throat. “Ten minutes out,” he said, eyes meeting mine in the mirror again. There was no judgment there, just quiet understanding.
I nodded, grateful for his discretion. “Hear that, Ella? Almost there. Just stay with me a little longer.”
The lights of the small hospital came into view, a beacon in the darkness. Declan pulled up directly to the emergency entrance, left the engine running, and jumped out to alert the staff. Within moments, the doors burst open, and medical personnel rushed toward us with a gurney.
“Hypothermia, possible drowning,” Declan was explaining as I slid out of the truck with Ella still in my arms. “She was underwater for at least a minute before we got her out. We performed CPR on scene.”
A doctor—young, with tired eyes but a focused expression—directed me to place her on the gurney. “How long has she been unconscious?”
“Since shortly after we revived her,” I said, reluctantly letting go as they began to wheel her inside. “Maybe twenty minutes.”
“And you?” He glanced at my still-damp hair, the way I was shivering despite the dry clothes.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, following the gurney. “Just help her.”
Inside, the bright fluorescent lights revealed how truly awful Ella looked—her skin gray-blue, lips still tinged with purple despite our warming efforts. The medical team moved with practiced efficiency, cutting away the clothes we’d dressed her in, attaching monitors, and inserting an IV.
“Core temperature 92.3,” a nurse called out. “Moderate hypothermia.”
“Start warm saline,” the doctor ordered. “Warming blankets, and I want heated oxygen.”
I stood frozen at the edge of the treatment area, watching as they worked to save her. Someone draped a blanket over my shoulders, but I barely felt it.
“Sir, we need to check you too,” a voice said at my elbow.
I shook my head. “I’m staying with her.”
“Jake.” Declan’s hand landed on my shoulder, firm but gentle. “Let them do their job. You need to get checked out.”
“I can’t leave her,” I said, my voice cracking. “I promised Nora.”
“You’re not leaving her,” he assured me. “You’re just giving the doctors room to work. Come on.”
As he guided me away from the treatment area, something inside me broke. The fear, the adrenaline, the confession—it all crashed over me at once. My knees buckled, and Declan caught me before I hit the floor.
“I can’t lose her,” I choked out, my vision blurring with tears I hadn’t allowed myself to shed. “Not like this. Not like Avril and Melanie.”
Declan’s arms tightened around me. “You won’t,” he said firmly. “She’s fighting. You got her out in time.”
I wanted to believe him, needed to believe him, but all I could see was Ella’s lifeless body on the ice, Nora’s terrified face as she watched us perform CPR.
“Sir?” A nurse appeared beside us, her expression kind but insistent. “We really need to check you for hypothermia as well. Your friend can come too.”
Declan helped me to my feet, supporting me when my legs threatened to give way again. “I’ll stay with you,” he promised. “And I’ll make sure someone updates us on Ella every few minutes.”
I nodded, too exhausted to argue further. As the nurse led us to an examination room, I glanced back at the trauma bay where Ella was fighting for her life.
“Please,” I whispered, unsure whether I was praying to God, the universe, or just the stubborn will I knew lived inside her. “Please don’t take her too.”
The nurse helped me onto an exam table, then immediately started taking my vital signs while Declan stood watch at the door. My temperature was low but not dangerously so—apparently, adrenaline and fear had kept my blood pumping enough to ward off any serious hypothermia.
“You’re very lucky,” the nurse said, wrapping a heated blanket around my shoulders. “Another few minutes in that water, and you might be in the same condition as your wife.”
I didn’t correct her assumption. Somehow, in this moment, it felt right to let her think Ella was my wife.
“When can I see her?” I asked instead.
“The doctor will come speak with you as soon as they’ve stabilized her.” She handed me a hospital gown. “Now, I need you to change into this so we can get you completely dry and warm.”
As she left to give me privacy, Declan stepped further into the room. “Mikhail just arrived with Nora,” he said quietly. “They’re in the waiting room.”
I nodded, struggling to remove my borrowed clothes with fingers that still felt clumsy and numb. “How is she?”
“Scared. Confused. But holding it together.” He helped me with the ties on the hospital gown.
“What did Mikhail tell her?”
Declan shrugged. “Just that her mom got very cold and the doctors are warming her up. Kid’s smart, though. She knows it’s more serious than that.”
I sat heavily on the exam table, the events of the past hours crashing over me in waves. “This is all my fault. I should never have tried to cross that ice.”
“And what was the alternative? Let Kozlov’s men catch you?” Declan shook his head. “You made the best decision with the information you had. That’s all any of us can do.”
Before I could respond, there was a knock at the door, and the doctor who had been treating Ella entered. My heart lurched at the sight of him.
“Mr. Brennen?” he asked, glancing at the chart in his hands.
“How is she?” I demanded, already halfway off the exam table.
“Stabilizing,” he said, and I felt my legs go weak with relief.
“Her core temperature is rising slowly, which is what we want. We’ve got her on warm fluids and oxygen.
The fact that CPR was so quickly administered after the submersion was critical—there doesn’t appear to be significant brain hypoxia. ”
“So she’ll be okay?” I hardly dared to hope.
“It’s still too early to make promises,” he cautioned. “But she’s fighting hard. We’re moving her to the ICU for overnight observation, but I’m cautiously optimistic.”
I closed my eyes briefly, a prayer of thanks rising unbidden. “When can I see her?”
“Once she’s settled in the ICU, perhaps an hour. And there’s a little girl in the waiting room asking for you. Says you promised to tell her when her mom wakes up.”
Nora. I’d almost forgotten my promise to her in the chaos.
“I’ll go to her now,” I said, standing despite the nurse’s protests that I needed more rest. “Thank you, doctor.”
As we walked toward the waiting room, Declan kept a steadying hand on my elbow. “You really love her, don’t you?” he asked quietly.
I didn’t hesitate. “Yes. I do.”
“Does she know?”
I thought about all the things I’d whispered to her in the truck. “Not yet. But she will—as soon as she’s well enough to hear it.”
The waiting room doors slid open, and Nora looked up from where she sat beside Mikhail. Her face brightened when she saw me, and she ran forward, throwing herself into my arms with complete trust.