“What happened?” he shouted. “Is he okay?’
“He’s unconscious. But he spoke!” Michael reassured him quickly. “We’ve got to get him to a hospital, Hudson.”
“Give him to me.” He unzipped his parka and Michael did the same and then hurriedly passed the boy to his uncle. Hudson held him firmly against his body and Michael zipped the parka over them. Her arms were shaking, relieved of Simon’s weight.
“Let’s go,” Hudson ordered and took off at a run.
Chapter XIV: My True Love Gave to Me
RACING BACK to the cabin, Michael was amazed when it came into view in no time. When Simon was missing, it felt like they’d searched for miles.
Hudson opened the door and moved immediately to the couch. “Michael, throw a log on the fire. We need to warm this place up.” He unzipped his parka and laid the boy down. Hudson then pulled his shirt off and removed Simon’s jacket to transpose his body heat through skin-on-skin contact. He dragged the quilt over them both. Simon’s shivering intensified. “That’s good. Shivering is good. Means his body temp is rising.”
Michael squatted in front of the flames. “Shouldn’t we take him to the hospital?”
“It’s too cold to make the trip in that truck of mine. I want to warm him up first, get him talking. When your driver shows up, we’ll take him in his vehicle. At least it’ll be warm. Call the emergency center. See if there’s anything we should be looking out for. He’s not unconscious but he’s sleepy.”
“He said he was a good boy. That’s what he told me when I found him. He was curled in the snow. God, how can anyone survive that?”
“You’d be amazed how tough little kids can be. There’s no sign of frostbite. That’s good news.” But Hudson’s eyes were worried.
Michael didn’t hesitate. The fire was blazing on the hearth. The room was already much warmer. She picked up the phone and called the center. She described the problem to the technician and was patched through to the pediatrician on call. She relayed the problem for a second time and then listened to the doctor’s instructions.
“He says to try and wake him up.”
Hudson shook Simon. “Come on, buddy. Wake up now. You know what day this is? Christmas Eve. Tonight Santa comes down the chimney. You don’t want to miss that!”
Simon’s eyes blinked open. He smiled but he appeared disorientated. Michael relayed what she saw to the physician. Michael listened and then held her hand over the receiver.
“The doctor wants you to get him to say something. Ask him his name.”
Hudson smiled at Simon. “Do you know your name?”
“Simon Grace,” said the boy solemnly.
“And how old are you, Simon?”
“Dis many.” He held up four fingers and then after a moment’s consideration, he put one down. Simon popped his thumb back in his mouth.
Hudson rubbed a hand over his eyes and held it there for several seconds.
Michael blinked back tears of her own and returned her attention to Dr. Marshall. She told him the three-year-old was alert and coherent. His skin had returned to its normal color and there was no indication he’d suffered frostbite. The doctor said it was safe to allow him to recover at home but he had a few instructions that Michael took down before she hung up the phone.
“Guess what? Those night time pants probably saved Simon’s life. The padding protected his internal organs from the cold.”
Hudson was silent.
Michael cleared her throat. “I’ll go make some chicken soup. We have to give him warm fluids and it’s safe to let him sleep after that. Hudson, he’s going to be okay.”
She could see him struggling to find the words and failing. Hudson stared unseeing at the fire. He blamed himself for what happened but she couldn’t help him if he wouldn’t accept her help. Michael sighed and went into the kitchen to leave him alone with his nephew. He’d probably welcome the privacy. She found a can of soup in the cupboard and warmed it up on the stove. Their voices carried to her from the living room.
“Simon, why did you leave the cabin? You know the rules about not leaving the cabin without Uncle Hudson.”
“I lost.”
“I know you were lost, but why did you go outside?”
“Kikel’s house down dere.”
Exasperated, Hudson tried again. “But if you stayed on the road you would have come to the highway. Why didn’t you stay on the road? Uncle Hudson couldn’t find you.”
“I make a snow man for Kikel.”
There was a pause. “She already has one of those, champ. He’s over six feet tall and has a tiny little heart made of coal. He’s also not very smart.”
“Can I see?”
“You’re looking at him, sport.”
Michael returned, carrying a mug of chicken noodle soup and a spoon. “Soup’s on!” she sang. “This is for you, Simon. It’s nice and warm and it’ll make you feel better.”
Simon let Hudson hold him up while Michael guided the spoon to his little mouth.
“I screwed up, Michael.”
She met Hudson’s silver grey eyes half-hidden under a shock of his blonde hair. “If you screwed up, then so did I. I was as responsible for his welfare as you were. I saw him asleep on the couch and I left him alone. It never occurred to me he would go outside.”
“I’m not talking about Simon. I mean, I screwed up with you. It’s almost midnight.”
Michael’s insides fluttered. “Oh yes. I forgot about Leroy and the Cinderella deal. Compared to losing Simon and the miracle of getting him back, it’s kind of trivial isn’t it?” Simon gulped the soup eagerly. He was hungry and probably dehydrated too.
“I don’t know,” Hudson said. “I don’t know what’s important anymore. I’ve been a bachelor for too long. I don’t know if what I’m feeling right now is real or just a reaction to almost losing everyone I love in one night. God, I feel like I can’t breathe.” Hudson clutched his chest. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”
“You’re not having a heart attack,” Michael said briskly, spooning a final mouthful of soup into Simon. “You’re just panicking. Let’s go at this scientifically. Now, what are you feeling?”
“Crappy, horrible, unhappy, miserable, heartbroken, and shitty.”
“Wow. Okay. Very good. Now what is the central image that comes to your mind that produces these feelings?”
“Leroy pulling in the driveway and you leaving and I never see you again.” Hudson grimaced. “Oh hell yeah, that’s it. That feels terrible. What’s wrong with me?”
“I’m no expert,” Michael said as she wiped Simon’s chin on one of the festive napkins she had bought, “but I think you’re in love. Not falling in love, as in there is still time, but fell, as in it is too late to get out of it.”
“No, no, no, I can’t be in love with you,” he moaned. “I heard you on the phone with your agent earlier—you’re leaving. You are not an option, Miss Shannon. And you burned my little black book so I don’t even have a backup.”
Michael settled Simon against Hudson’s bare chest and tucked the quilt over his shoulders. Her heart was too full to speak seriously. She and Hudson were a lot alike in that way—they joked their way through emotional situations. Just another thing they understood about each other. They had played the game of resisting love for so long that when love arrived, it was almost too much for either of them to handle. Joking eased the way for both of them.
The way home.
“Do you want to put him to bed?”
“Nope,” said Hudson. “Holding him is going to keep me sane when your driver knocks on that door.”
A voice on the radio was singing one of Michael’s favorite carols: Let nothing you dismay.
“It is December twenty-fourth, 12:01 on the dot. I made it. My community service sentence is officially over, Mr. Grace.”
Hudson nodded stiffly. “I’ll sign off on your Mandrake Falls hours. Your agent said you still have to put in some time in Manhat
tan.”
“If I was going back to Manhattan, I would—but I’m not going back to Manhattan. Not tonight anyway. I’m moving into the apartment over the theater. Jeremy said there’s something living in the chimney but that means it has a fireplace. Do you have any idea how much an apartment with a working fireplace costs in New York?”
“No clue,” said Hudson wonderingly. “What about Leroy?”
“Leroy is booked into Mandrake Falls Inn for the night. I had to throw a diva fit to get it but it worked. Leroy has to check out by eight a.m. but he said he’s cool with that; he wants to get back to his family for Christmas Eve. I’ll have to make arrangements to put my brownstone on the market. It’s going to be impossible getting movers over the holidays. Murdoch said the apartment is semi-furnished so that’s good news although I dread to see what’s in there. Oh! I was thinking of taking Simon to the tree-lighting ceremony tonight in the town park thingy.”
Hudson’s heart was hammering so hard in his chest he hoped Michael knew CPR. “You’re staying? What about the offer from your agent?”
“I turned it down. It wasn’t that great, as Barbara very well knows. I’ve agreed to do the occasional guest role but Murdoch’s deal was better in the long run. She’s having the contract drawn up as we speak. My brain is teeming with ideas for our first season.”
“You’re going to work for Mandrake Falls Theatrical Society.” Hudson blinked and shook his head, disbelieving. “You’re giving up Vickie Webber to direct an amateur theater company. It’s either a Christmas miracle or hell just froze over.”
“You remembered my character’s name; hell did just freeze over.” Michael slanted a grin at him. “It’s not that earth shattering, Hudson. In another ten years, Vickie Webber would be toting Band-aids and Kleenex instead of condoms and guns. I’m getting out before it comes to that. I’m terrified. I’m excited. But mostly, I’m happy. Really ... happy. For the first time in my life, I’m exactly where I want to be.”
“And where is that?”
Michael met his eyes gravely. Say the words. “I’m in love with you, Hudson and I know you’re in love with me. I propose we face the awful truth about each other and see this thing through to the end.”
“I have a feeling I’m going to marry you one day, Miss Shannon.”
“I have a feeling you’re right, Mr. Grace.”
She bent over him, her hair falling loose in a silky screen around his face. Hudson Grace breathed in her scent and then he found Michael Shannon’s soft, full lips on his.
And what happened after that, no one in Mandrake Falls would ever know for sure.
Only that on Christmas Eve, as the snow fell outside his cabin window, Hudson Grace ceased to be Mandrake Falls’ most eligible bachelor.
About the Author
Catherine Lloyd loves reading, watching, and writing screwball romantic comedies. Her favorite films are When Harry Met Sally, The Green Card and While You Were Sleeping. Love stories that are funny, warm and soul-satisfying are her drug of choice. Whips and ropes need not apply.
In addition to contemporary romance, she also writes stand-alone historical adventure-romance set in the time of King John’s reign in 13th Century England.
The author has two grown children, two stepdaughters, a cat, and three grandsons. She lives with her long-suffering spouse in the country where she enjoys having no hobbies and writes full time. She is currently working on a new series called Victorian Villains. Hot heroes on horses!
Contact Catherine Lloyd at [email protected]
Or visit: Writewood Creations
Or follow her: Author Page on Amazon
Mandrake Falls Four Seasons Romance
THE JILTING ~ Summer
Ryder Dean has been Scout Rutherford’s best friend since they were eight-years-old and there was a pretty good chance she was in love with him. So why was she marrying Noel Trace? Because he was rich, older and he said YES. The last person Scout wants to see at her wedding is Ryder. But there he is: gray-green eyes, messy hair, wearing his one good suit, watching her walk down the aisle like he knows something is going to go wrong. Nothing ever happens in Mandrake Falls except the day Scout got jilted.
LIE FOR ME ~ Autumn
Shelby Porter doesn’t like Sheriff Sawyer McIntyre and everyone in town knows it except Dolly Porter, Shelby and Sawyer’s much-loved aunt. Dolly worries too much over Shelby’s single status. To ease her mind, Shelby tells a little white lie that morphs into a whopper, until she is standing in Sheriff McIntyre’s bedroom at three o’clock in the morning with a teeny request: “Lie for me.”
THE WAY HOME ~ Winter
A bureaucratic mix-up forces Hudson Grace to spend his Christmas holidays in close quarters with daytime diva, Michael Shannon. Michael is in Mandrake Falls by order of the court to learn the value of anonymity. Hudson thinks the star has as much chance of learning the value of anonymity as she has of coaxing his three-year-old nephew to eat with a fork. But the one thing they can agree on is to never fall in love. Seventy-two hours to Christmas. Who will crack first?
LOVE RISING ~ Spring
Jeremy Marks has a crush on the stunning Jocelyn Tate. Jocelyn’s disdain for the stage manager is well known in Mandrake Falls, as is her determination to marry a rich man. Then a prank notice runs in the Gazette announcing their engagement. As their fathers work to end the relationship, the young people grow closer together until Jocelyn discovers that Jeremy is heir to a fortune.
MANDRAKE FALLS titles are available in print and to borrow with Kindle Unlimited
Dark Redeemer Historical Romance
WANTON
The year is 1228. King John is dead and an uneasy peace has settled over England. Callie of Wideopens is the beautiful 18-year-old ward of Jane and Ethan. Jane is dying and the crone who supplies her herbs has had a vision of a terrible act. In a misguided attempt to alter the fate of her husband, Jane makes a desperate request of Callie. In doing so, she unwittingly sets in motion the crone’s prophecy. Arrested on charges of witchcraft and sentenced to hang, Callie recounts her story from a tower cell just as the crone predicted, and Ethan is haunted by a girl he believes dead and a love that sprang out of sin.
WASTREL
King John is on the throne and Lord Sebastian Redford’s drinking, card-playing and womanizing is legendary at court. However, it is his brazen affair with the wife of the most powerful man in England that has put his life in danger. In an attempt to ward off disaster, Lord Redford’s man hastily arranges a marriage of convenience to a mouse of a girl named Beatrice Fall. Sebastian’s bride proves to be anything but convenient when forgetting himself, he consummates their marriage. Beatrice Fall is not who Sebastian believes her to be and quite suddenly, their marriage of convenience becomes a dangerous wedding of illicit love.
TRAITOR
King John’s crown has been usurped by Louis the Dauphin during the Baron’s War. The Earl of Dorset has betrothed his only child, pampered 18-year-old Lady Elspeth to the French lord, Tyndale to secure his favour with the new French king. The trip to Canterbury is a great adventure accompanied by her father’s Captain of the Guard, Griffith of Nottingham. The captain is a skilled bowman, loyal to the Earl and admired by Lady Elspeth—he is also a double agent working to restore King John to the throne. Forced to choose between Ellie and the men of his company who want to do her harm, Griffith crosses the line and becomes a traitor to all.
SOLDIER
Soldier tells the story of two amoral men transformed by the women who love them. Set in 13th Century England at Christmas, the theme of the two linked stories is love, danger, and redemption. In Mercenary, Broderick has been made a new father but his wife dies in childbirth. His infant son is failing to thrive, rejecting the wet nurses. Then Tess is brought before him, the daughter of the lord whose lands Broderick has usurped. In Jester, Dumas is a hideously deformed clown who travels the countryside in a caravan with his young assistant, Fallon. Fallon is a young woman disguis
ed as a boy who made a terrible bargain with Dumas to save her life.
DARK REDEEMER titles are available in print and to borrow with Kindle Unlimited
The Way Home: Winter (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 3) Page 17