by Julie Rowe
She deliberately took a bite of the banana. He watched her with a smile that slowly transformed his face into a study in desire.
“I’m pregnant.” That should put a stop to his ridiculous behavior.
One shoulder rose and fell. “One less thing to worry about.”
“I…you…” she sputtered. “What?”
His laughter filled the cockpit, and the fist around her throat let go. “It’s not like I can get you more pregnant.”
“You actually still…want me?”
The smile disappeared and he looked away before meeting her gaze again. “Yeah.”
“You are the most confusing man I’ve ever met.”
“Kind of surprised me too.”
Now it was her turn to growl, but it didn’t sound sexy like his. “You’re not supposed to treat me as if you still care.”
“I do still care.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” he said, throwing one hand up in the air. “Maybe because nothing’s changed. You’re still you and I’m still me.”
“I’m pregnant,” she yelled. “You’re supposed to be angry and hurt and bitter.”
“I am,” he hollered back. “Believe me, I am. But I’m as much to blame for this—” he pointed at her belly, “—as you.”
His words circled her head for long seconds. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.” He sighed and rubbed his temple. “I really don’t know what to think or how to feel or what to do. I was angry when I left your place last night, but after delivering that baby with you…” His voice trailed off for a moment. “I realized there was more to this than just you and me. There’s an us now. To ignore the facts would be stupid and I’d like to think I’m not that big of a moron.” He paused. “Or jerk.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“What do you want to do?”
Tears waterlogged her words. “I don’t know.”
“Neither do I.”
Willa turned her head away and let her tears trickle down her face. Alone. That’s what she was, what she was meant to be.
Something warm stroked her hand then fingers wrapped around her palm. She closed her hand around Liam’s, leaned her head against the back of her seat and closed her eyes.
A bump woke her and she discovered they were on the Stony Creek runway.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Liam said as he taxied the plane toward the clinic. “I’m going to unload the medical supplies while you do your paperwork. When you’re done, you’re going back to your place to sleep.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he spoke first. “Don’t argue. You need the rest.” He glanced at her and added, “Please.”
“And after that?”
“I don’t have that figured out yet.”
“Okay.” That was the last thing she said to him before she escaped to her apartment.
The next morning arrived too early, but Willa felt better for the sleep she’d gotten. She was even able to keep down some toast with peanut butter without wishing she hadn’t eaten anything.
The patient load was light. She figured most folks who were going to get the flu had already had it. No matter how hard she tried to keep herself busy, all she could think about was the baby she carried.
The last time she’d gotten pregnant, she’d mourned, terrified to bring a child into the world of abuse and pain she couldn’t find a way out of. Until she’d miscarried and nearly bled to death. If she hadn’t made it out to the driveway before collapsing, she’d have died, as well.
Now, she didn’t know what to think or how to feel. Liam wasn’t her ex-husband. But he’d been scarred by a woman in ways few people could understand.
She did.
The baby was her miracle, but his nightmare.
Just after lunch the radio screamed to life.
“Tundra Air to Med-One, over.”
“Willa here, Tundra Air, over.”
“We’ve got a couple of missing kids. Uncle returned home from a hunting trip to coordinate the search, over.”
“Understood. How can I help, over?”
“At least one of the kids is injured. Request you join the search, over.”
“Roger, Tundra Air. ETA of pick-up, over?”
“Ten minutes, over.”
“Roger, Med-One out.”
“Elizabeth,” Willa called.
“I heard,” she replied.
They met outside the storage area for all Willa’s portable equipment and supplies, and pulled out a half-dozen boxes.
“You sure you want to take all this?” Elizabeth asked.
“Jason just said injured. He didn’t say how. I’d best be prepared.”
“Damn kids, should know better than to run off.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t intentional.”
“Somehow I don’t think that excuse is going to go over real well when they get found.”
“Oh?”
“Those kids are going to get grounded for a year.”
Willa stopped and looked at Elizabeth. “I hope that’s all they get.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Me too.”
The sound of the plane’s engines had the two women moving to the back door. Liam was running toward them.
“There’s two more kits just inside the door,” Willa told him, raising her voice above the noise of the twin props. She and Elizabeth put their med kits in the plane. Liam was there with the last two before they were done.
Willa buckled herself in as he did the same then immediately taxied the plane toward the runway.
“Jason didn’t give many details,” she said after putting on the copilot headset. “Can you fill me in?”
Liam talked as he revved up the engines. “Two boys, both fourteen years old, have been missing for sixteen hours. Their uncle came back to town to get more people to help with the search and to report that they’re sure at least one of them is injured.”
“How did the kids get lost and how do they know one of them is injured?”
“The hunting party had split up to track and stalk a caribou herd on foot. The boys were with their uncle when something set the herd off and they stampeded. Some of the hunters made kills, so it was a couple of hours before anyone realized they’d lost track of the boys. One of their rifles was found broken into bits along with a ripped coat. There was blood on it.”
“Why didn’t they radio for help?”
“The stampede went through their camp. Most of their equipment and tents were destroyed.”
“Good grief.”
“They’ve been tracking the boys, but the herd is still milling around and messing up the trail.”
“Sixteen hours is a long time.”
“Too long, especially if one of them is injured.”
“Until they’re found there’s little I can do.”
“We’re part of an aerial search team. Three planes are coming from Fairbanks, but we’re the closest. I think they’re hoping the boys will create some kind of signal that can be seen from the air.”
“Like a fire or smoke?”
“That or even shape rocks into an SOS.”
“So, essentially, I’m your spotter?”
“Yeah.” He smiled at her. “Hopefully we’ll find them quickly so you can work your medical magic and we have a happy ending to this story.”
“Happy endings are devoutly to be hoped for,” she said, staring out the windshield. As a child she’d believed everyone could have a happy ending. Find love with a handsome prince, have children and live the dream, but the handsome hero of her story had turned out to be a villain. “But we don’t always get them, do we?”
Liam didn’t respon
d.
She finally glanced at him and discovered a look of extreme concentration on his face.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Why not…what?”
“Why can’t we have our own happy ending?”
“Because it’s not realistic to expect one.”
“I know that, but if we decide to have one, if we choose to do everything needed to have one, why couldn’t we?”
“I didn’t understand a word of what you just said.”
“We just have to reverse everything that’s in the way of the happy ending.”
He had totally lost her. “Huh?”
“What’s the barrier, Willa, to you being happy?”
Her jaw fell open. “I, uh…it isn’t just one thing.”
He sat up straighter in his seat and resettled his shoulders. “So list them.”
“This is crazy,” she muttered. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“If you’re not happy, what are you?” He glanced at her. “Come on, just say it.”
“Fine. I’m alone. I’m pregnant. I’m scared.” About so many things. “Happy now?” she shot back at him.
“No.” He snorted. “You’re pregnant and I’m…terrified.”
“You’re terrified of a baby?”
“No, yes…I—” He broke off, his focus on something on the ground. “What’s that?”
She whipped her head around to look. A thin wisp of smoke snaked its way toward the sky off to the north. “It’s something or somebody.”
Liam turned the plane toward it.
“Could this be one of the search teams?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Like I said only one guy came in to report, and the rest split up to look for the kids.”
They were nearly on the smoke. Liam guided the plane lower and began a wide turn around the area.
Willa scanned the ground looking for the source of the smoke and anything out of place that might indicate a human presence. “Look, there’s an Inukshuk.”
“A what?”
“There aren’t a lot of trees this far north, so the Inuit use stones to create a manlike figure. The longer arm points in the direction the person is traveling. See it?”
“Yeah, the smoke seems to be coming from right next to it.”
“Could they have started a fire to keep warm during the night?”
“And left it smoking?” He answered his own question almost immediately. “They might have.” He picked up the radio. “I’m calling it in. Keep looking for the boys. We’ll follow the Inukshuk.”
Willa sat forward, straining to see as much of the land as she could as they passed over it.
“Could someone else have built this Inukshuk?” Liam asked.
“Yes. Some of them have been standing for hundreds of years. Think of a road sign on a highway. The Inuit used them to show a good trail or route to travel. Some of them have food caches nearby.”
“So even if the boys didn’t build it, they’d go in the direction that arm is pointing? Seek out another one?”
“I think that’s very possible.”
Something moving caught her attention. “What’s that to the east?”
Liam turned the plane. “It’s a pack of wolves.”
“Are they running because of the plane or because they’re chasing something?”
“I don’t know. Wow, there’s more than a dozen of them.”
“Oh my God, two boys wouldn’t be able to hold off that many wolves.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions. There’s caribou in the area. Those wolves would hunt them first.”
“But one of the boys is injured.”
Liam looked at her with his mouth pressed tightly together. “Okay, you got me there, but let’s not borrow trouble. We need to think positive.”
“Ha.” Willa shook her head. “I’ve been borrowing trouble for a very long time. I really wish I could give some of it away.”
The radio crackled to life. “Found…tracks heading north.”
Liam responded. “This is Med-One. We’re searching north of Inukshuk. No sighting yet.”
“I see more smoke,” Willa said. “At two o’clock.”
As the plane got closer, movement became visible. “Look, someone is waving. It’s got to be them!”
“Boys sighted two miles north of Inukshuk,” Liam relayed over the radio. “Will attempt landing and rescue.”
“Roger, Med-One. Please advise.”
“Roger. Med-One out.”
“Where are we going to land? It’s so rough.”
“There’s a rocky area not far to the east. I’ll try there.”
“I wish this were a helicopter.”
“I’ll buy you one for Christmas.”
“You can’t just buy me a helicopter.”
“Sure I can. If that’s what you really want.”
“No that’s not what I want.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I…” She closed her mouth. He wasn’t talking about Christmas anymore. “I don’t know. What do you want?”
“I thought I wanted the freedom to fly, and that’s still a need I’ll always have, but I’ve discovered there are more important things.”
“Like what?”
“Hang on, we’re about to land and it’s going to be bumpy.”
Willa glanced out the windshield and grabbed the sides of the seat. Loose rocks and shale filled her field of vision. “Bumpy?” she yelled. “We’re going to crash.”
Chapter Fifteen
The wheels touched down, but rather than rolling, the plane slid to the left, turning a full 360 degrees before slowing to a stop.
“And you thought we’d crash,” Liam said with a chuckle.
“Yeah, well, I had no idea we’d spin around enough to make me nauseous.”
He gave her an assessing glance. “Do you need a barf bag? Maybe you should sit there for a couple of minutes.”
“No, I’m okay. I’m just not going to do anything too energetic for a while.” She glanced out the side window. “Here comes one of the kids.”
She opened the door and stepped out of the plane. “Are you injured?” she asked the teen when he got close enough to hear her.
“A few cuts, but Danny’s hurt bad.”
Liam came around the plane. “I’ll bring the equipment. You go ahead.”
Willa followed the boy as he led the way back to his friend. She didn’t see him right away, then spotted some movement on the ground near the Inukshuk. The clothing he was wearing blended right in with the landscape. “What’s your name?” she asked the first boy.
“Clark. Danny is my cousin.”
“I’m Willa and the pilot is Liam. Just a couple of cuts?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Danny isn’t.”
A few more feet and she was at the second boy’s side. “Hi, I’m Willa. Can you tell me about your injuries?”
“I got trampled by a caribou,” Danny said. His face was pale and a sheen of sweat glistened on his skin. “A bull. He stomped me good. Broke my right arm pretty bad.”
“Can I see?” she asked, reaching for the zipper on his jacket. She pulled it down and opened the coat. Blood, tacky and cold to the touch, coated most of the right side of his shirt. Someone had used some kind of fabric to lash Danny’s arm across his chest. “Is there a bandage on this?” she asked, pointing at his arm.
“I made one out of my shirt,” Clark said.
“Are there any pieces of bone sticking out?”
“No, but you can see some bumps under the skin that I think are bones.” Clark screwed up his nose. “Looks really creepy.”
She nodded. “Any other injuries,
Danny?”
“I think maybe something on my right side is busted, but I don’t know what. Sometimes it’s hard to breathe.”
“But not always?”
“Yeah. It’s getting worse though.”
Willa turned to look for her first-responder kit and found Liam there with it, waiting. She nodded at him, took the stethoscope and listened to Danny’s heart and lungs. Then she palpated the boy’s abdomen, stopping when he sucked in a pain-filled breath. “We’ll need the stretcher.”
“What’s wrong?” Danny asked, his face even more pale than before.
“Looks like you’ve lost some blood. That bull broke your arm badly and didn’t do your insides any good either.”
“It really hurts.”
“I’ll give you something for pain as soon as I get an IV in.”
Liam arrived with the stretcher. He laid it down next to them.
“Don’t try to get up,” she told Danny. “Liam and I will lift you.” She nodded at Liam to take the boy’s shoulders while she grabbed his feet. Clark grabbed a leg and helped too. They got Danny onto the stretcher and strapped in then carried the stretcher to the plane. Once the stretcher was in the plane Willa directed Clark to sit up front with Liam while she went to work on Danny in the back.
“We need to get to Fairbanks as soon as humanly possible,” she told Liam when she got her headset on.
“Are we looking at another Joe situation?”
“Yes. I believe Danny is bleeding internally.”
“Got it. Wreck the engines.”
“Yeah.” Willa smiled for a second. What a difference from their first flight together when he’d questioned nearly every request she made. Now, he seemed to know what she needed as soon as she did.
She put an IV in Danny’s left, uninjured hand, giving him a dose of painkiller. She talked to the hospital and they asked her to start a second IV in one of Danny’s feet so they could give meds in one and plasma or blood in the other.
He stayed conscious and his color improved a little as he warmed up. She could hear Liam telling the search teams over the radio that the boys were found, in the air and on their way to Fairbanks.
Danny arrived at the Fairbanks hospital in stable condition and was taken immediately into surgery. Willa and Liam waited around until they received an update from the surgical team. Danny’s right arm had been broken in seven places. He’d need a steel rod and pins to hold his arm together while it healed, but the doctors didn’t anticipate any long-term reduction in mobility.