by Alana Terry
“A fire would be really good,” Kennedy agreed.
Willow’s voice fell flat. “It’s our only hope.
CHAPTER 24
“TOO BAD WE DON’T HAVE any marshmallows,” Willow chuckled once the fire was blazing.
Kennedy wondered how her roommate could keep up a cheerful attitude in spite of how cold and exhausted they felt.
“What else do you have to eat?” Willow asked.
Kennedy felt in her pockets. “I think there’s still a can or two of spam.”
“I swore I’d never touch this stuff.” Willow grimaced. “If it weren’t the last resort ...”
“Don’t worry. It’s probably all synthetic, right? Not even real meat at all?”
Willow laughed. “That’s what I’ll tell myself. So should we pray?”
“Should we what?”
“Pray. You know. Thank God for the food. If you could even call it that.” She bowed her head and began without waiting for an invitation. “Dear God, thank you for keeping us safe to this point. Thank you that you know exactly where we’re at and what we need. Please bless this food, even though it’s full of nitrates and sodium and a whole lot of other ingredients that I don’t even want to guess at right now. Please use it to strengthen us for the hours ahead. And watch over Rylee. Help her to ...”
Willow’s voice caught. She adjusted the baby in her arms and tried again. “Help her to be ok, Lord. Please. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Kennedy added a quick prayer of her own, and the girls each opened a can of spam.
Willow wrinkled her entire face as she took a sniff. “I really need the calories, don’t I?”
Kennedy nodded. “Just pretend you’re doing it for an acting class.”
“Ha. There’s a thought.” Willow peeled a tiny bit of meat off and examined it between her fingers. The bite was no larger than a pea. “I guess I don’t have any other choice. Well, didn’t Jesus at one point say that all food was clean if you’re thankful for it or something? Isn’t that somewhere in the Bible?”
Kennedy shrugged. She hated to admit it, but her roommate was already more familiar with Scripture than she was.
“Well, thanks, God, for the spam.” Willow brought the crumb slowly to her mouth but stopped. “Dude. Listen.”
Kennedy strained her ears. She heard it too.
“Is that ...”
Both girls jumped to their feet.
“Another car!”
Kennedy stepped into the road and waved her hands frantically. There was no way they were going to let their chance at rescue pass them by again. “Wait!” she called out. “Help!”
Willow ran out behind her, holding Rylee in her arms. The car slowed to a stop. Willow was laughing so hard Kennedy worried she had gone hysterical.
“Look who it is!” Willow exclaimed and nearly tripped on some ice, rushing to the driver’s side.
The door opened. Nick stepped out and threw his arms around his fiancé.
CHAPTER 25
“HOW DID YOU FIND US?”
“Where have you been?”
“Whose baby is that?”
“Are my parents ok?”
“Are you hurt?”
Once they put out the fire and crawled into the heated car, Nick gave a quick run-down of how he’d discovered them. “The earthquake woke us up last night. Woke everybody up. I tried calling your cell but couldn’t get through. I started hearing stories about riots in Anchorage. I guess those folks in the doomsday camp were really going crazy. I was afraid you’d get caught up in the middle of that, so I borrowed your parents’ car and started driving.
“About five miles down the road, I saw the wreck. Talk about freaking out. So I stopped, thinking maybe you were in the woods somewhere and in trouble. I hunted around for a little bit, couldn’t find you, but then I remembered passing a lodge a little bit earlier, so I thought I’d go up there. See if maybe you’d found your way to shelter. You have no idea how worried I’ve been.”
Willow was sitting next to Nick, her legs curled up against her chest and her entire body burrowed into his. “Our story’s a little longer than that.” As they headed toward Eureka, she gave Nick the abbreviated rundown of their night, downplaying how much danger they’d been in before the earthquake hit.
Nick listened with wide eyes. He was so attentive even his dreadlocks held still. “I can’t believe you delivered a baby all by yourself.”
“I didn’t.” Willow turned around to smile at Kennedy, who was holding Rylee close in the backseat. “Kennedy was there to help.”
It wasn’t until they reached the Eureka Lodge that Kennedy’s brain began to realize just how lucky she was to be alive. Moriah, a plump middle-aged woman who owned the establishment, brought in bowls of warm water for their hands and feet, set up three different space heaters, and covered everyone in blankets fresh out of the dryer.
Thankfully, within half an hour of their arrival, Rylee woke up and her fierce screams let everyone know she was ready for something to eat. After a couple phone calls, Moriah tracked down a local family who had baby formula as well as diapers.
“I can’t believe I’m willingly bottle-feeding synthetic milk to a baby,” Willow remarked.
Kennedy figured her roommate didn’t want to be reminded about how close she’d come to eating spam either.
After her bottle and a change of clothes, Rylee was wrapped up again in even heavier blankets and went directly to sleep.
“You doing all right?” Willow asked Kennedy.
She nodded. Moriah had put salve on the cracked skin of her hands. Kennedy’s fingers and toes burned as they thawed, but she was thankful for the chance to warm up.
It was Willow who had everybody the most concerned. “My feet are just mad at me for making them so cold,” she remarked with a confident chuckle, but half an hour later after soaking in increasingly hot water, two of her toes remained black.
Moriah called the Glennallen clinic to ask what they should do.
“She’s just being over-protective.” Willow waved her hand dismissively. “It’s what happens in Alaska when things like earthquakes hit. Everyone comes together, helps everyone else out whether they need it or not.” Another chuckle, this one not so bold or self-assured.
While they warmed up with bowls of Moriah’s hearty soup, Nick filled them in on what had happened in Copper Lake.
“Your mom ran out to check on the animals when the earthquake hit. I guess she was a little worried about the whole barn collapsing, but it was ok. You should have heard the chickens though. Even above the noise from the quake, I could hear your rooster crowing his head off.”
Willow smiled. “That’s Bach for you. He’s such a drama queen. How did the goats do?”
It was good to hear Willow chatting about the farm animals she loved. Good to be wrapped up in blankets, surrounded by friends and strangers who were concerned for her well-being. Maybe too concerned, but Kennedy wouldn’t worry about that right now.
When they were ready, Nick would drive them to the Glennallen clinic so the nurse could check out Willow’s foot. There was a trooper station there too where they’d tell the officers what they knew about Brandy’s kidnapping and figure out what they should do about her baby.
After Moriah filled their tank with gas and packed thermoses of soup for the road, they wrapped themselves up in extra winter gear donated by the generous folks of Eureka, piled into Nick’s car once more, and made their way up the Glenn.
CHAPTER 26
“YES, MOM. I’M SURE I’m fine.”
“Well, I’ve just been scared sick about you as soon as I heard about that earthquake. I told you that your dad and I had a bad feeling about this trip. All those weirdos claiming it’s the end of the world. You’ve seen the news? They’re rioting all over Anchorage.”
Kennedy didn’t bother to tell her mom that she’d been too busy running from attackers, dodging falling trees, and trying not to die of hypothermia to worry about what
was going on in other parts of the state.
“I’m just glad you finally got hold of us. I called Willow’s home yesterday. They said they hadn’t heard from you either. Your dad and I have been so worried. You really need to call us or at least send your dad a text when things like this happen so we know if you’re ok.”
Kennedy guessed that if her mom had any idea how much of Alaska went without any cell coverage at all, she’d never consent to Kennedy visiting here again. “I’m sorry you were scared.”
“But everybody’s well now? You didn’t catch a cold or anything?”
“Nothing like that.” Kennedy was warm for perhaps the first time since she landed in Alaska, and her appetite had returned with a vengeance even after two bowls of Moriah’s chicken noodle soup.
“And Willow? Is she with you right now? I hate the thought of you being out there all alone.”
“She’s in the exam room next door. She got some pretty bad frostbite on her toes. They may have to take her to Valdez.”
“Why? What’s in Valdez?”
Kennedy sighed. “The hospital.”
“Oh, dear. And what about the wedding? What’s going to happen?”
“I have no idea. Right now with her toes ...” Kennedy didn’t finish her thought.
“Well,” her mom said, “I’m glad you’re all right. You should call Carl and Sandy too and let them know you’re safe. You know they worry about you almost as much as your father and I do.”
“I will. What’s Dad doing, by the way?” Kennedy couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten herself out of an emergency situation and didn’t have him there on the other line asking questions and giving directions about what to do next.
“Didn’t I tell you? We have company.” There was something teasing in her mom’s tone.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yes. A nice young man. He’d stand out in a crowd of a thousand because of his bright red hair, but I suppose you already know that about him.”
Kennedy ignored the way her gut flapped and flopped like a landed fish. “Ian’s there? At our house? What’s he doing?”
“He’s interviewing your father for a documentary he’s making about North Korean refugees.”
“Dad can’t go on record with stuff like that.”
“Don’t worry, your friend’s got a super high-tech camera, you know. He can blur the face, distort the voice. It will be perfectly safe.”
Kennedy hoped so. She didn’t like the thought of worrying over her parents’ safety. Talk about role reversals.
“Anyway, your dad’s just come out now and says that somebody wants to talk to you.”
Kennedy took a deep breath to try to steady her nerves. She told herself that the only reason she was feeling anxious was because of all the danger and suspense she’d experienced since last night. “Hello?”
“Kennedy. It’s me, Ian. Nice house you’ve got here.”
She still couldn’t picture Ian in her parents’ home. “Thanks. Haven’t heard from you in a while.” Why was that the first thing she said? Would he think she was accusing him?
“Yeah. This trip’s been quite a bit busier than I planned, but I’ve had a great time enjoying your mom’s baking and sitting and visiting with your dad.”
“Hi there, Kensie girl,” her dad called out. Was she on speaker phone? “What’s shaking over there in Alaska? Besides the tectonic plates, I mean.”
Hearing her dad’s voice made Kennedy realize how much she wished she were at home right now.
“Anyway,” Ian said, “I was talking to your dad about a program I’m going to be part of this year. There’s a group in South Korea involved in rescuing and resettling North Korean nationals, and they’re holding their first-ever summer camp for some of the resettled refugees in June. I’m going to go work on my documentary there, but like I mentioned to your dad, it would be really nice if I had someone who spoke Korean to serve as an interpreter.”
“You’re asking me to recommend somebody?”
“No. I’m asking you to come spend next summer with me in South Korea. What do you think?”
“It’d be a great opportunity, Kensie girl,” added her dad.
Kennedy was glad there was no one around to see her blush. “Let me think about it, ok?”
“Sure. Take your time. And I know you’ve had your share of excitement, so I promised your dad that if you do agree to go, I’ll make sure you have a perfectly safe, uneventful trip. Deal?”
She chuckled. “Sounds good to me.”
“All right, princess,” her dad cut in, “you’ve had a long day and need some rest now, but call us if anything else happens and keep us posted about everything over there. Tell Willow we’re all praying for her. You know about aftershocks, right? And stay out of coastal areas. I don’t know if they’re expecting any tidal waves, but you don’t go near the water.”
“I’ll be careful, Dad.” For this time at least, Kennedy didn’t mind all his unsolicited advice.
“I’m glad you called,” he said. “You stay careful, all right? And tell Willow’s parents hi. They sound like real nice folks each time we talk.”
“They are. I’ll be sure to pass the message on to them.”
“Talk to you later.”
“Ok. Bye.”
Kennedy unwrapped her blankets and slipped on the pair of fur-lined boots one of Moriah’s friends from Eureka had donated. She walked cautiously to the examining room next door and was surprised at how many people were inside.
Willow’s parents, two nurses, a trooper, and a social worker in a professional business suit who was holding baby Rylee. Willow sat with her feet in a hot bath while Nick tightened the blankets around her shoulders.
“Thank you so much for answering all our questions,” the trooper was saying. The conversation stopped when Kennedy entered.
“I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I’ll come back later.”
“No, come on in.” Mrs. Winters held out her arm and gave Kennedy a hug. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” she whispered, giving her cheek an air kiss.
The trooper put his notebook in his back pocket. “We’ll probably have more questions for you before long. Just make sure to keep your cell with you so we can be in touch.”
Willow nodded. “What’s going to happen to Rylee now?”
“The baby?” the trooper asked and turned to the woman in the suit.
“We’ll do our best to find some relatives. I don’t believe there were any immediate members in the mother’s family, but we’ll do some research. Try to find someone.”
“What about until then?” Willow asked.
“She’ll be put in a temporary foster home that’s equipped to handle infants this young. She’ll be perfectly ...”
“What about us?” Mr. Winters interrupted.
“I beg your pardon?”
“My wife and I have taken in emergency foster placements in the past. You still have our records on file. Go ahead and look us up. Judson and Star Winters.”
The social worker looked at Willow’s mom. “And you’d be interested in the placement, then?”
Mrs. Winters nodded. “Absolutely. Unless my daughter’s worried about how it will affect her wedding plans.”
Willow smiled. “You know, I was always a little disappointed I never found a flower girl. You think Rylee’s up for the job?”
CHAPTER 27
“THOSE BREAD ROLLS TURNED out delicious,” Star told her husband.
It was Kennedy’s second Christmas Eve dinner at the Winters’ home in their Copper Lake homestead. She couldn’t believe how fast time had flown since the earthquake.
Judson, who was holding baby Rylee on his lap, put his face close to hers and cooed, “It’s too bad our sweet little baby girl can’t eat the big yummy bread yet, but she can’t because it would hurt her tummy wummy, wouldn’t it?”
His wife let out a sigh. “I still think it’s ridiculous that we have to give her bottled formula when we’ve
got two perfectly healthy milk goats. Makes me remember why we don’t foster full time.”
He smiled and continued to talk in his baby voice. “No, but soon she’ll grow big and strong and when she’s a year, she’ll be able to drink all the goat’s milk she wants, won’t she? Won’t she?”
Star laid a hand on her husband’s arm. “Just remember, there’s a decent chance she won’t be with us in a year. They haven’t found any family members to take her in yet, but how hard do you really think they’re looking with the earthquake causing as much damage as it did and it being the week before Christmas?”
He ignored her remark. “She’ll stay with us because she wants to grow up on good, healthy goat’s milk. Not the nasty stuff that comes in plastic containers from the store.”
Nick cleared his throat. “This is a delicious dinner. Thank you so much.”
Star turned to him and offered a smile just as dazzling as her daughter’s. “Of course. You’re our son now.”
“Or will be,” Judson added while glancing at his watch, “in about half an hour.”
“What time’s the pastor coming over?” Star asked.
“Right about six.”
Willow smiled from her seat beside Nick. “I’m just glad everything worked out so well in the end. We had to wait a couple extra days, but I don’t mind. I think the idea of a church ceremony was stressing me out anyway.”
Kennedy doubted Willow had ever felt true stress for an hour out of her entire life, but she didn’t say anything.
Nick stood up. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to carry my wife-to-be upstairs to her room so she can get ready.”
“I can get upstairs by myself,” Willow insisted. “They just cut off two toes, not my whole leg.”
Nick grinned. “I’m especially glad about that tonight of all nights.”