by Gail Sattler
She was stranded, with a stranger.
At the end of the song, the announcer advised of the road and highway closures, repeated the weather warning, and instructed people in the area to stay indoors. Adelle stiffened when he announced that the Weather Advisory Branch said the storm was expected to last for at least another forty-eight hours, probably into nightfall of Christmas Eve.
“I really should phone my aunt and uncle and let them know I’m here.”
He nodded and turned his attention to loading the last of the groceries from the counter to the cupboard.
Adelle wondered who she should call first, her aunt and uncle, or the police.
❧
Dennis watched Adelle as she dialed. He concentrated not on what she was doing, but on the woman herself.
Without the bulk of winter clothing, Adelle Wilson was tiny. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach the higher cupboard, and her lack of height was equally matched by her small stature. While she wasn’t thin, he acknowledged the woman recently had a baby, so he really didn’t know what she was like before. He guessed her to be about twenty-eight years old, which was only a year younger than himself.
Her curly brown hair framed a face with kind, brown eyes and soft, full lips. She wasn’t all that pretty, yet she wasn’t ugly, either. But when she smiled, she had the face of an angel.
Dennis praised God for Adelle as his angel. The situation he found himself in could have been very different. Not only were he and Raymond safe and warm while the blizzard raged outside, but Adelle had enough food to last a week, even if he wasn’t going to be here that long. The minute the snow stopped, he would call for a helicopter to come and get him. As soon as he found out exactly where they were, he and Raymond would be airlifted home. Of course he would offer the same to Adelle, but since this was her family’s cabin, he had a feeling she would stay. When the roads were cleared, her family would be able to come. They’d just be a little later than planned.
He was curious about her phone call. She said she was phoning her aunt and uncle who owned the cabin, but didn’t mention calling her husband. Dennis wondered why.
She turned her back to him as she dialed. He wished he could have given her some privacy to make her call, but the cabin was small, and not being able to go outside forced them into close company. He expected things to be awkward since they were strangers, but so far, she was being gracious. Dennis planned to do all he could for her while he was here.
Again, he praised God that he was safe and wondered what he could do when he got home to thank Adelle and her family for what she had done for him and the shelter they provided.
Not wanting to overhear her conversation, he walked back to the ugly ’70s style orange couch and sat down. He tried to focus his attention on the babies, but they had both fallen asleep, and weren’t very interesting to watch.
Within the confines of the small, quiet cabin, he could still hear every word Adelle spoke, despite her lowered tones.
“Hi Aunt Min. I’m at the cabin. I didn’t hear the weather advisory until I was already here.” Adelle nodded her head a few times as she listened to her aunt. “Don’t worry, I certainly have enough food, and everything is okay here. I’ll be fine.” She paused. “Yes, I heard. We’ll just have to see what happens and hope it ends Christmas Eve like they predict.” Another pause followed. “Uh. . .I’m, ah, not exactly alone.” Adelle laughed nervously. “I sort of picked up a stranded motorist and his baby on the way, expecting you and Uncle Bob would be here. Except you weren’t.”
This time the pause was longer, and Dennis could see that she nodded a few times, which he thought kind of funny, since her aunt couldn’t see her.
“I know, but what could I do? He’d had an accident and his car was wrecked. I was the last one your friend Officer Paul let pass. If I didn’t pick him up, he would have frozen to death in the blizzard.” Her voice dropped to a bare whisper, but with so little distance between them and the perfect quiet, he could still hear what she said. “He said that his name is Dennis Bancroft. He says he’s from Vancouver, and he has a baby with him.”
As she listened to her aunt again, she hunched her shoulders, and her voice dropped to a forced loud whisper. “I know. I’d appreciate it.”
He had a feeling that Adelle’s aunt was going to check him out to make sure he wasn’t an escaped felon or something, except she wouldn’t find anything, because his phone number was unlisted. He stood, ready to take the phone and give Adelle’s aunt his phone number, as well as the numbers of some of his friends and his pastor, so both Adelle and her family could be assured that he wasn’t a serial killer.
Before he’d taken a step, she said a quick, “I’ll phone often. Bye,” and hung up.
She turned to face him, and then froze when she saw him standing. She cringed almost imperceptibly.
Dennis shuffled back as far as he could, without having to sit down again. “I couldn’t help but overhear your end of the conversation, and I really can’t blame you for being nervous. After all, you don’t know me or anything about me. I wish there was a way I could assure you that you’re perfectly safe, and that I’m an honest and trustworthy man. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize you or your baby’s safety. Quite the opposite, in fact, since you saved our lives and took the chance on having us here. I’m deeply moved by your generosity and trust. I’ll be forever in your debt. Please relax, I’m quite harmless.”
“It’s okay,” she mumbled.
Dennis resisted the urge to run his hand down his face. Instead, he checked the time. It surprised him that it was already dark out, yet it wasn’t really that late, although it was suppertime. “Actually, there is a phone call I have to make. No one is expecting me until tomorrow so no one will be worried, but I guess I’ve kind of been putting it off.”
He paused, and sucked in a deep breath. “If you don’t mind, I have to call my fiancée.”
Three
A million thoughts roared through Adelle’s head, none of which explained the baby.
He walked to the telephone, but didn’t begin to dial. “I have no idea where we are. Does this place have an address or something?”
“Address? I have no idea what the address would be. I don’t even know if the road has a name. It’s just an old logging road. I’ve come here all my life, so I know how to find it without asking directions.”
He silently studied the phone. “I wonder. Someone should be able to trace the address with the phone number.” He turned back to her. “I know the roads are impassable, but is there anywhere nearby with enough clearing to land a helicopter once the snow subsides? I need to be airlifted as soon as I can get out.”
Adelle could only stare. For someone who was in no rush to make a phone call, suddenly he was in an awful hurry to leave. She couldn’t even guess the cost of chartering a helicopter, nor could she guess his reasons for wanting one, but she pictured a ransom figure far above her total income for the next decade.
Adelle cleared her throat, and forced herself to speak normally. “I don’t know if there’s a clearing nearby. I’ve never thought about it.”
“I guess that will be up to the company who owns the helicopter to find out, then. I’ll reimburse you for the call.”
He dialed and waited.
“Hi, Joanna. It’s me.”
He winced at the other person’s response, which Adelle thought quite odd considering he said it was his fiancée he was calling.
“Yes, I’ve got him, and I know what you said, but this is the way it’s going to be. However, I’m not going to discuss that right now. I’m having a bit of a problem, and I need you to do something for me.”
This time, he held the phone away from his ear while the other person shouted.
His voice became low and stern, and although Adelle didn’t know him, she could tell he was angry. “Knock it off, Joanna. I’ve run into some trouble here and I need your help. I got caught in a blizzard and had an accident in the mounta
ins. A very kind lady rescued me and I’m at her cabin right now. I have no idea where we are and there apparently isn’t an address, but I’ll give you the phone number. Someone should be able to have the location traced so you can send a chopper to pick Raymond and me up.”
Again he listened in obvious frustration. Briefly, he raised his eyes and made eye contact with her.
Adelle felt her cheeks flush, embarrassed at having been caught eavesdropping on his conversation. She turned and crossed the room to sit on the couch, but she could still hear every word he said.
“I told you before, I’m not abandoning Harv’s baby. He’s the only family I’ve got left.”
At his words, Adelle didn’t care whether she was caught watching him. She noticed he held the phone so tight his knuckles turned white.
“I can’t believe you’re being so self-centered. Can’t you put that aside and do this for me as a favor? We can deal with everything else later. The most important thing now is. . . Hello? Hello?”
He flicked the button on the phone a couple of times. “There’s no dial tone. The phone’s dead.”
“I guess it’s the storm. That’s really odd. The power goes out frequently here, but usually the phone line is okay.” In unison, they both looked up at the light fixture on the ceiling, which was shining brightly.
Dennis sighed. “Praise God for small miracles. Still, I need the phone more than I need the light. It’s really important that I get home because—”
The lights flickered once, and everything went black.
“Uh oh,” Adelle muttered. “I think I spoke too soon.”
The only light now came from the glow inside the woodstove. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could make out Dennis’s shape. He hadn’t moved.
“What now?” he asked.
“First I have to switch the fridge over to propane.”
“Is that difficult?”
Adelle shook her head. “No, it’s much the same as a camper, the kind that you can set to run on either electricity or propane. The only problem is, I have to go outside to do it.”
They both looked out the window at the same time.
“Is there anything I can do?”
Adelle shook her head. “Usually my Uncle Bob does it, but it’s not difficult. I can do it myself.”
If a blizzard weren’t raging outside, she would have asked him to hold the flashlight, but she didn’t want him going back out, as now it would be even colder than it had been during the daytime. “It’s just like lighting the fridge in a camper.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never lit a fridge in a camper.”
Adelle grinned. “I haven’t either. When my uncle showed me how to do it, that’s what he said.”
Again, Adelle donned her coat and boots. She found the flashlight and lighter, and braved the weather to light the pilot light from outside. The wind was blowing so hard it took her a number of tries, but once it was lit and the cover was back in place, it would stay lit until the electricity was restored and she turned off the propane supply.
Since she was already outside braving the elements she brought in a few more armloads of wood.
The small cabin warmed quickly, but due to the nature of the only source of heat being in the living room, Adelle bundled herself in a sweater and her big fuzzy slippers. Then, with Dennis holding the flashlight over her shoulder, she searched the cupboards and drawers for candles.
Considering the storm and their remote location, Adelle feared the power could possibly be out for days. Therefore, she lit only one candle and set it on the coffee table to ration the supply. Since she didn’t know how much propane they had, she didn’t change the hot water tank over to propane, meaning they didn’t have an endless supply of warm water.
Adelle turned her attention to the kitchen. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and I’m really hungry. I’m going to start making supper.”
“Want some help?”
She shook her head and was about to begin when Raymond awoke. His crying also woke Rachel.
Ignoring the grumbling of her empty stomach, she laid a thick quilt on the floor near the fire and picked up her diaper bag.
Dennis stood next to the woodstove. “You’re going to change her diaper, aren’t you?”
She nodded as she laid Rachel down.
“I guess I’d better change Raymond, too.”
“Yes. You haven’t changed him since we arrived, have you?”
“No. And I didn’t change him in the car, either, because it was too cold.”
She didn’t want to think about how wet the baby was. Adelle almost suggested that Dennis bathe him in case his skin was irritated, but then remembered that they didn’t have hot water. It would take too long to heat enough water for a bath on the stove, and he needed to change Raymond now.
Dennis laid Raymond down on the quilt beside Rachel. “I’m not very good at this.”
Adelle wasn’t as frightened as before, now that she knew he had a fiancée and that somehow, the baby was family. Still, she distanced herself as much as she could without arousing suspicion.
While she changed Rachel, out of the corner of her eye she watched Dennis fumble with the tiny snaps on the sleeper. The diaper was so soaked it had leaked, so he removed the sleeper entirely, as well as the diaper-shirt. She’d never seen anyone so carefully pick the tape off the disposable diaper. Once the tape was loosened, he opened it very, very slowly, as if he was afraid of what he would find.
His relief that the diaper was only wet seemed almost tangible.
By this time, Adelle had Rachel completely changed. She picked her up, and continued to watch Dennis.
He tucked the diaper with the wrong end up under Raymond’s bottom, and then poufed out triple the amount of baby powder Adelle would have used. When he discovered the tape was at the bottom instead of the top, he delicately grasped both of Raymond’s ankles, and lifted him so his little bottom cleared the diaper enough to switch it around.
Because he’d used too much powder and got it everywhere, the tape wouldn’t stick. Rather than throwing the diaper away, he pulled a roll of duct tape out of the diaper bag, and taped the diaper shut by going all around Raymond, once again lifting the baby by the ankles so he could get some tape underneath.
Adelle struggled to keep quiet, first wondering how he was going to get the diaper off with all that tape sealing it together, and then wanting to tell him that if he was equipped with tape because of difficulty closing the diaper, he should simply use less powder. Instead, she continued to watch.
It took him four tries to align the snaps on the clean diaper-shirt. After the third try to align the snaps on the new sleeper, Adelle couldn’t stand it any more.
“It works better if you start from the feet and work your way up, instead of trying to go down.”
“Oh. Thanks,” he mumbled, unsnapped it again, and followed her instructions.
When Raymond was finally redressed, Dennis cradled his tiny head with one hand, wiggled his other hand under the baby’s back, and awkwardly picked up Raymond.
He smiled at Adelle once he had the infant resting against his chest. “That’s a new record for me, the fastest I’ve ever done it. I don’t know who invented those things, but there has to be a better way to dress a baby.”
“Not really.” If Dennis was this bad at changing Raymond, she was now glad she hadn’t suggested that he should have bathed Raymond before putting him in clean sleepers. They would have been there till midnight.
Adelle’s stomach growled, reminding her that they still hadn’t had supper.
She couldn’t decide if she should give Rachel to Dennis to hold while she started cooking, or if she should offer to take Raymond and let Dennis cook. Since they were stranded together for at least twenty-four hours, she hoped he was better in the kitchen than he was at caring for a baby.
Rather than make the choice, she propped Rachel up in the car seat. Since Rachel didn’t cry immediately Adelle
quickly set to work to prepare supper. She was so hungry, she began to prepare the first thing she saw, which was a package of macaroni and cheese. She hoped Dennis wouldn’t be too picky, either.
He stood to the side and watched. “I wish I could help, but I don’t think I should put him down.”
“It’s okay,” she mumbled as she flicked the ignition over the propane element, then turned it to full when it flamed. “I understand.”
“I haven’t had macaroni and cheese in years. Probably not since I was a kid.”
“It’s become a staple for me in the last month. It’s amazing how having a baby changes your life, even down to eating habits.”
He looked down to the top of Raymond’s head, then back to Adelle. “Yeah. I guess.”
They stood in silence. When the water boiled, she dumped in the raw macaroni, waited for it to boil again, then checked her wristwatch so she could time it.
“I think I have a lot to learn about babies. I’ve only had him for a couple of days. It’s nothing like I thought it would be.”
Adelle wanted to ask a million questions, but didn’t know where to start. Before she could formulate her first question, he continued.
“Raymond is my brother’s baby.” He squeezed his eyes shut, swallowed hard, then opened them again. “Was my brother’s baby. A week ago I got a call that Harv and Katie were badly injured in an automobile accident. They both lived for twenty-four hours, never regained consciousness, and died.” He paused to swallow hard again before he continued. “And now I’m Raymond’s legal guardian. I started the wheels in motion to care for their estate, and I was taking him home when the storm hit.”
Adelle didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing.
“And if you’re wondering why I was doing something so stupid like driving in conditions like that, well, I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to get home for Christmas, to something familiar.”
“Maybe you can still be home in time for Christmas. And even if you’re not, I’m sure your fiancée will at least be happy that you and the baby are safe.” She knew it wasn’t likely anyone would be able to move his car for a while, nor was it likely a helicopter would come unless it was for an emergency, which didn’t include getting someone home for Christmas.