CHAPTER 5
Jake
Jake opened his eyes and groaned as he tried to move his leg. It throbbed with a fury that he’d never thought possible, but he knew if he tried to examine the gash again, it would be unbearable.
His thoughts returned to the previous day. He’d been so sure that he would quickly finish the repairs to the chain puller that he’d sent Charlie home, fully expecting to be only a few minutes behind him. He’d been worried about Rowena waiting for a ride home and had sent Charlie with the sleigh.
He hadn’t been expecting to slip on ice right next to the log rack. Before he could stop himself, he’d collided with the log he’d last worked on, gashing his leg on a jagged, protruding branch that hadn’t been taken off at the base yet. He’d been trying to maneuver the log into position to finish dressing it when the chain puller had broken.
It was an easy fix, and he’d been sure he could get it done fast so that the log was ready to work on when he returned the following day.
Instead, he’d been instantly plunged into a nightmare of pain, forced to fight for his survival as the daylight faded to blackness and the temperature plummeted.
He knew there was no way to reach Charlie’s horse, who was still in the temporary pen they used during the day to spell the horses or when they only needed one and the others were set free. It was made of poles they’d cut from the forest and attached to several trees to form a rough square. The pen was also on the other side of the clearing; it might as well have been a mile away. And even if Jake could reach the horse, he would be unable to mount or ride.
So, he’d hoped Charlie would notice that he hadn’t come home and would come looking for him, but now it was morning and no one had come.
He was grateful that he’d fallen beside the log rack. He’d been able to crawl to several of the branches he’d stripped off earlier and make himself a rudimentary lean-to on the end that at least kept most of the snow off as it began to fall overnight.
But it had been brutally cold, and unable to move around much, he’d soon feared that he would simply freeze to death or suffer from severe frostbite if he did manage to survive. He’d done his best to wrap the gash in rags he’d had in his pocket for cleaning the chain puller, and although it had continued to seep blood, staining the snow around him, it was the best he could do. He fought to stay awake all night, moving positions as often as he could and hoping that Charlie would arrive to rescue him.
As the cold reached right into the center of his bones and the freezing hours stretched endlessly into the night, Jake felt his hold on life slipping. He thought of all the plans he’d had that had fallen apart and the new life he’d made for himself here in Jackson. Rowena’s face flashed into his thoughts, her gray eyes laughing at him as they shared a companionable sleigh ride to school. Regret seared his heart as he wondered what the future might have held; he wasn’t ready to die but wasn’t sure he could stop death’s icy fingers from claiming him as the wind pulled at his feeble shelter and the wolves howled in the distance. He hoped Rowena was safe at home with the family and not worried about him. It had been a foolish mistake to send Charlie ahead of him.
He’d dozed off sometime during the everlasting blackness, the sweet sleep of death beckoning him to a warm and cozy place, only to awaken with a start as the pain in his leg jerked him awake. He’d been surprised to discover that it was morning, and he’d somehow survived the night.
But despair shook him as he realized that no one had come searching for him, and he knew that he was too cold and weak to even attempt to leave his pathetic little shelter to seek help. He would perish sooner rather than later, and wisdom prevailed upon him to stay put. There was still a chance that Charlie would find him, and he clung to the hope with the last of his strength.
Closing his eyes, he leaned back against the log end that supported his shelter and tried to ignore the pain in his leg, taking deep breaths to ease the throbbing. It seemed to be the only thing that took his mind off it.
“Jake? Jake!”
The voice shook him from his half-conscious state.
“Over here,” he croaked, shocked at how weak his voice sounded.
“Did you hear something?” a male voice asked.
“No. Call again,” said someone else.
“Jake? Are you here?” came the call.
“I’m here,” he tried again, wishing it would come out as more than a whisper.
He heard boots tramping through the snow.
“No one’s been here this morning,” one of the men said. “There aren’t any tracks.”
“I’m here,” Jake yelled with all his strength.
“Over there,” one of the men exclaimed. “I’m sure I heard something!”
The footsteps came closer, and a moment later, Charlie’s head bent through a gap in the shelter.
“Jake! You’re still with us!” he exclaimed, jubilance in his tone even as his face took on a shocked expression. “You’re hurt,” he said unnecessarily. He disappeared and Jake heard him talking to the others. “His leg looks a bit mashed up,” he told them. “But he’s awake.”
The men gently removed the branches of Jake’s shelter. He could see a group of friends and neighbors watching him with shock and concern in their expressions.
“You came,” he croaked out.
Charlie was beside him instantly. “Of course we came. I’m just sorry I didn’t check last night to make sure you got home safely. That was a grave error on my part. I truly believed you’d be right behind me.”
“I was sure of that too,” Jake managed.
Charlie stood. “It’s not going to be easy to move him with that leg of his, but let’s get it strapped so it can’t move and then load him onto the sled.” He turned to Jake again. “This is going to hurt, I’m sorry.”
As Jake screamed in pain, the men strapped his injured leg to the other one and slid him onto a makeshift stretcher. Then they carried him to a waiting sled. Charlie retrieved his horse while the other men secured Jake’s stretcher to the sled and piled blankets and heated rocks around him. Finally, they bound a cloth around Jake’s chest and down to his waist to secure him to the sled so he wouldn’t slide off as they descended the hill.
Each bump brought a fresh wave of agony as the sled set off, and Jake screamed several times before they’d even taken fifty steps.
Then brown specks started to dance in front of his eyes, and a moment later, everything went mercifully black.
Rowena
“May I have a word with you, Miss Williams?”
Rowena looked up to see Charlie standing in the doorway of her classroom, still wearing his overcoat. She rose to her feet, trying to maintain the expected dignity of a teacher as she made her way toward him. She turned to the class.
“Carry on with your work, boys and girls. I will be back in a moment.”
She donned her coat and followed Charlie to the porch, her emotions churning in her stomach. She almost couldn’t wait to ask about Jake.
Charlie seemed to sense her urgency. “We found him,” he said. “He’s injured and very cold, but there’s a good chance he will survive.” He paused. “It was a close call.”
“What happened?” Rowena begged.
“He slipped and gashed his leg. And because I was so certain he would be right behind me, I just followed through on our plan to meet again in the morning. I took his team home and he was going to bring my horse home. I will never forgive myself for not checking on him.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself,” Rowena consoled. “It’s a mistake anyone could make.”
Charlie shook his head. “You should never become complacent out here,” he said. “That was the mistake I made. I know how easy it is for things to go wrong, especially in winter. But we’ve gone through the exact same routine so many times, and it’s easy to get complacent because of all the times that everything has been fine. I should’ve known this. I’ve lived a long time on this earth.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Rowena pleaded. “Even Jake thought he’d be right behind you, or he wouldn’t have sent you ahead of him.”
Charlie looked at her with haggard eyes. “My carelessness and arrogance almost cost a friend his life,” he said. He shuddered. “What if I hadn’t turned up when I did? Jake was almost at the end of his strength.” He paused. “I couldn’t bear to lose him, Miss Williams. He’s been more like a son to me than my own sons ever were. They disowned me and I’ve never seen or heard anything of them since then. Jake is all the family I have in this world.” His voice shook and he swiped a gloved hand over his eyes.
Rowena hadn’t realized that the relationship between the two men went so deep. “You’re fortunate to have found one another,” she said quietly. “Many people never find a family of the heart.”
“I’m going to do a better job of watching out for him now,” Charlie vowed.
“Where is he?” Rowena asked.
“He’s with Mrs. Hill,” Charlie replied. “He’s still in a bad way, but that’s the best place for him to be. She thinks he will recover in time, although things can still go wrong. She’ll keep him with her until he’s well enough to go home. Even then, he might need extra help for a while.”
Rowena felt weak with relief. “I’m glad she’s caring for him,” she said. “I know she’ll do everything she can to help him recover. Does he have frostbite?”
“A little on the foot of the injured leg, but Mrs. Hill thinks he’ll recover from that, too. She says it was only because of his size and stubborn refusal to go to sleep that he survived at all. Because he was injured, he wasn’t able to move much, but he still kept his hands and his other foot moving as much as he could. He says he did doze off, but he was in a lot of pain, so that helped him to stay awake.”
Rowena shuddered again, horrified at how close they had come to losing Jake. “I had a bad feeling about it all night,” she admitted. “I heard the wolves howling, and I just kept praying that Jake had made it home safely and was in his warm home with all his animals secure in the barn.”
“I just assumed that’s how it was,” Charlie replied. “And that was a huge mistake. I don’t know if I can ever forgive myself.”
“Maybe not yet, but you need to in the future,” Rowena said. “Otherwise, you’ll feel miserable and guilty for the rest of your life. I’m sure Jake will forgive you if he hasn’t already.”
“I’ll call in to see how he’s doing this afternoon.” Charlie glanced at the sky. “I still have chores to finish at home. I’ll return later and see Charlie, and then I can pick you up in the sleigh and take you home. Would that be acceptable for you?”
“Yes, please,” Rowena said. She’d been so worried about Jake that she hadn’t considered getting home. She couldn’t expect Rebecca to drop everything and come to get her, and Zach would pick the children up before she was ready to go home. She always marked their work and set the lessons for the next day before she left. There was no quiet space at Zach and Rebecca’s home for that.
Charlie’s blue eyes smiled for the first time since he’d arrived. “I’ll see you later, then.” He paused. “Your students are probably wonderin’ what happened to you.”
“Hopefully, they haven’t started a war or set the classroom on fire,” Rowena said with a smile. “Thank you for dropping by with the news, Charlie. I was worried.”
“I know you were.” Charlie’s eyes held a hint of mischief. “Jake’s a good man, Miss Williams. And he thinks highly of you. Just remember that.”
Rowena gaped at him in surprise. But before she could respond, Charlie stepped lightly off the porch and strode to the hitching rail to mount his horse. Rowena watched him trot down the road, still surprised by his words. He was the second person to say the same thing in a matter of days. Was a matchmaking conspiracy afoot? And more importantly, was she ready to open her heart again to the possibility of love?