Chapter 34
NOELLE
Cade didn’t respond.
No text.
No call.
Nor did Wyatt.
Cody returned with his friends after Cora texted him, letting him know that Noah may have found a general location up the two-track. He and his friends found nothing, anyway. Noah’s potential timestamp wasn’t certain, but it was something.
I warmed up dinner, set it out. Everyone ate half-heartedly, twitching at each noise. Hawk sent updates to Channing, and Noah stayed on the video call, a quiet presence in the background, occasionally asking Cora questions.
“No more timestamps,” he said once. “They’re probably out of reception.”
The whole ranch waited, breath held, storm wilding.
Cody cleared the table while I sank a stack of dirty plates into soapy, warm water, grounded by the heat surrounding my fingers, my hands, lapping at my wrists.
I closed my eyes, focusing on it. For a moment, Grandma arose in my mind.
Her weathered, veiny hands sinking into the water, laughing as I stood at her side in a matching apron.
She washed, I dried. My own giggle faded into the back of my mind.
Naomi surfaced next. Young Naomi, when she still liked me. When we played together in the sandbox, when her eyes were bright and lustrous, when we weren’t both trying to escape the weight of the family who raised us.
Please, I thought to Grandma, to Naomi, wherever they were now. Please protect Lily.
Cody brought another stack of dirty cups. As he set them next to the sink, he sucked in a sharp breath. His head snapped up. At the same time, Cora whirled toward the kitchen doorway that opened to the front room.
“I hear ‘em!” Cody cried.
As one, we rushed out of the kitchen to find two headlights hurrying up the driveway. The bright light made it impossible to see beyond the thick snowflakes, falling like sheets. Wind continued to batter the snow, whisking it like rag dolls.
One snowmobile pulled up and parked. I rushed outside, down the stairs.
The cold attacked my wet hands, permeated my flannel shirt as I hurried off the porch, Cody hot on my heels.
A lumpy form stepped away from the first snowmobile.
I recognized Cade’s broad shoulders as he reached back, put out a hand, and helped someone else off.
Was it Wyatt?
Had he crashed?
But, wait. That definitely wasn’t Wyatt. I didn’t wonder for long. My eyes adjusted to the deep darkness surrounding the headlights. Mom’s hair whipped out of an insufficient coat. She tottered, righted herself, and let go of Cade’s arm.
He found them.
But where was Lily? Wyatt? Dad?
“Lily?” I shouted. Cade clomped over, grabbed my elbow.
“Inside!” he called, pointing to his coat. He put his body between me and the storm, guiding me by the elbow. Only then did I notice an extra lump on his chest. Cody rushed around us to help my mom, and I hurried up the stairs, protected by Cade’s body.
The moment he stepped in the house, he shucked off his gloves. I whipped around in time to see him fumble for his zipper and pull it down. A sob broke from my throat.
Lily!
She snoozed quietly and safely, against his chest. The wrap was awkward and stretched out against his broad shoulders, but when I reached for her, she was warm, and sleepy, without an ounce of chill on her little body. Cora grabbed a blanket off the couch and said, “Here!”
Relief flowed through me as Cade worked Lily free and handed her over. I flopped the blanket around her and pulled her close. She instantly snuggled into my chest, sighing with a deep shudder, and returned to fastidious sleep.
Her bundled warmth.
Her breaths.
Tears flowed from my eyes in rivers. I held her close, bouncing, whispering, kissing the top of her head. All the fear and terror of the past hours melted into a viscous, surreal disbelief.
He did it.
He found her.
Cade shut the door behind Cody and Mom as they shuffled inside. Mom stood against the wall, eyes downcast, shivering.
“Where’s Wyatt?” Cody asked. “Did something happen?”
“Oh, he’s coming,” Cade drawled. He knocked snow off of his boots, sat on the recliner, and bent over to take them off.
“But—”
“Let’s just say he’s enjoying himself.”
The cryptic comment made no sense, but I didn’t care. I gently swung Lily, soaking up her warmth. Cora watched me, eyes brimming with tears. Hawk stood behind her, an arm around her waist as she leaned into him. Cody slid around my mom and into the kitchen, seeming relieved to escape.
Unable to avoid it, I turned to my mom. My voice barely made a noise when I asked, “Why?”
Mom broke into a whimper, a half sob. “He told me . . . I had to. He spoke with Thomas and Sarah . . .”
“The Millers?”
“We were going to take her to them until you agreed to return to your job. They want her, and they thought . . .”
She broke down.
Cade lifted an eyebrow in Mom’s direction. Red splotched his face. His hair was askew and wild from when he’d taken the helmet off. Snow melted along his temple as he pulled a boot free.
Mom didn’t say another word, just cried to herself.
“I told her we’d take them to a hotel as soon as Wyatt returns with Richard,” Cade said with a sniffle. He was calm, almost bored with Mom. “After they speak to Hernandez, they will leave and never come back.”
Hawk piped up with a dark tone. “Channing has been in contact with me every half hour. Your attorney will be very interested in these developments.”
I shuddered.
Mom curled farther into herself.
Cade set his boots aside. Cora picked them up, tugged Hawk into the kitchen with her, probably to set them by the fire.
Lily gave a tired shudder. She would sleep better in her own crib, but I couldn’t fathom letting her go.
She’d sleep with me until I recovered from the trauma of finding her crib empty, the window unlocked.
It riled me up again, the rage.
Another headlight appeared from the driveway, racing fast. It skidded to a stop, nearly flipping over, before Wyatt countered with his weight. His signature whoop and laughter cut through the blizzard and into the house.
I couldn’t be sure, but it appeared that Dad almost went flying off the back.
Mom continued to cry quietly against the wall, unable to look at me. I didn’t want to see my father, so I stole quietly into my bedroom while Dad tromped up the stairs with Wyatt, who was crowing about something, and gesturing at the snow bank that stopped them from tipping over.
Wyatt burst into the room, declared, “Eight times, Cade! I knocked him off the back eight times. Wooeee! Can you believe it? Like riding a bull. I’m ready for nationals now. Whaddaya think, Richard?”
My bedroom door closed, ensconcing me in the safety of warmth and darkness.
The feeling here was welcoming, friendly, and safe.
Almost like Grandma and Naomi reached down, swirled up a little love, and made it so.
I felt the heat of Grandma’s hand on my shoulder as I put Lily to my chest, heart to heart, and rocked back and forth.
“Safe,” I whispered against her downy hair. “You are safe, my baby girl.”
Thirty minutes passed while I rocked Lily, unwinding my muscles one at a time. A deep breath, and a relaxation. Another deep breath, and another one. My fingertips swirled along her back, her steady breaths reassuring me that she was safe. Forever, if Cade had anything to say.
The murmur of Hawk speaking on the phone to Channing, Cora updating Noah, unfolded in the house while I remained tucked out of sight.
Cody left with my parents. He was taking them into town, and they were on their own to get the Jeep, explain what happened to it to the rental company, and, hopefully, speak to Hernandez.
I thought I heard Cade murmuring to him on the phone.
When I was certain my parents were long gone, the windows locked, and everything safe, I put sleepy Lily in the middle of my bed, propped pillows around her, and emerged. She’d sleep with me tonight.
Bright lights hit me all at once. I squinted, eyes burning from all the tears, my cheeks swollen and ruddy. Exhaustion hit me hard, but I didn’t care. The relief was so powerful, it was potent.
A quiet living room met me, then a half-empty kitchen.
Wyatt and Cade sat at the table, talking in low tones.
They’d put away the maps, and their coats still dried before the fire.
Plates, utensils, and bowls of food lay between them.
Heat piped out of one dish, and Wyatt stabbed another bite of ham.
At the head of the table sat Cade. He had his head in one hand, stared in the distance.
When I stepped into the room, his eyes snapped to mine.
Cade stood. Wyatt motioned to follow, but Cade waved him down. He opened his arms, and I hurried into them.
“Thank you, Cade. Thank you. I . . . I can’t imagine if you hadn’t . . . she’d still be in the Jeep and . . .”
He pushed the hair out of my face, kissed my forehead. “If we had to be, we’d still be out there, Noelle.”
Wyatt scoffed. “We wouldn’t have left her to stay in the forest during a blizzard. What do you take us for? Cowards?”
I held Cade tighter.
Cade held me until I let go, and then he sank to the chair again. I pulled up another one to sit next to him. He kept a hold of my hand, and ate with the other. Wyatt tore into a bite of ham.
“Your dad is alive, for what it’s worth, but I didn’t make the ride back easy for him.”
“Oh?”
He cocked a bright smile. “Open fields, Noelle! Fresh powder! Mountains to myself. It was a snowmobiler’s dream.
” He winked, chewed his bite, took a giant swig of milk, and kicked his legs in front of him, crossing them at the ankles.
“Well.” He sucked on his front teeth. “Maybe I went a little harder than I should have, but you won’t find me repentant anytime soon. ”
Cade snorted, but looked at me.
“Lily is okay?”
“Fine. Practically unbothered. You kept her so warm.”
“She stopped crying the moment I took her from your mom.”
I smiled, brushed away a wild kink of hair that fell onto his forehead. “She knows her people.” Frowning, I asked, “Where’s Cora? Hawk?”
“Went home before the weather worsened, but they’ll be in touch.
I want to thank Noah. Without the image he sent me, we may not have found them for a long time.
Richard took a weird turn I never would have expected, but I think it was the only path the Jeep could handle while maintaining momentum.
Eventually, he hit a tree he couldn’t avoid, and high centered on a snow bank. ”
Cade shrugged, as if the rest were obvious.
“Damn confusing up there,” Wyatt muttered.
Cade sent him a half-hearted glare. Wyatt sent me a not-too-apologetic look, to which I smiled. “I’ll put five dollars in the jar later,” he muttered. Then added with a cocky smile, “Worth it.”
He could say whatever he wanted in front of me. Wyatt and Cody would always be family in my house.
Cowboy Code, and all that.
Cade stood up again, drew me with him. He commanded Wyatt, “Go to bed, and sleep in if you want. With the blizzard setting in, the animals will be sleeping longer than usual anyway. Tell Cody to do the same when he returns.”
“I’ll have breakfast on the table at nine,” I quickly said.
Wyatt sent me another wink, a nod to Cade, and he made himself scarce. Before he closed the back door, Cade had me in his arms. I sank into them, relieved. Exhausted. But unwilling to go anywhere except right there.
Where I belonged.
“Let’s get some sleep,” he suggested with a low whisper. “We have a mess to deal with in the morning. We’ll clean this up then, too. Tonight, I just want to hold you in my arms and know that Lily is safe.”