Sutton's Way

by Diana Palmer

  “We can sure use this first-aid kit, but I’ve already set a broken arm and patched a few cuts. Before I became a pilot, I worked in the medical corps.”

  “I had rescue training when I was in the Ski Patrol,” Quinn replied. He grinned at the pilot. “But if I ever come down in a plane, I hope you’re on it.”

  “Thanks. I hope none of us ever come down again.” He glanced at the two bodies. “God, I’m sorry about them.” He glanced at Amanda. “I hope she makes it.”

  Quinn’s jaw hardened. “She’s a fighter,” he said. “Let’s hope she cares enough to try.” He alone knew how defeated she’d probably felt when she left the lodge. He’d inflicted some terrible damage with his coldness. Pride had forced him to send her away, to deny his own happiness. Once he knew how famous and wealthy she was in her own right, he hadn’t felt that he had the right to ask her to give it all up to live with him and Elliot in the wilds of Wyoming. He’d been doing what he thought was best for her. Now he only wanted her to live.

  He took a deep breath. “Watch for the plane and Hale, will you? I’m going to sit with her.”

  “Sure.” The pilot gave him a long look that he didn’t see before he went back to talk to the other survivors.

  Quinn sat down beside Amanda, reaching for one cold little hand under the coats that covered her. It was going to be a rough ride for her, and she didn’t need any more jarring. But if they waited until morning, without medical help, she could die. It was much riskier to do nothing than it was to risk moving her. And down here in the valley, the snow was deep and fairly level. It would be like Nordic skiing; cross-country skiing. With luck, it would feel like a nice lazy sleigh ride to her.

  “Listen to me, honey,” he said softly. “We’ve got a long way to go before we get you out of here and to a hospital. You’re going to have to hold on for a long time.” His hand tightened around hers, warming it. “I’ll be right with you every step of the way. I won’t leave you for a second. But you have to do your part, Amanda. You have to fight to stay alive. I hope that you still want to live. If you don’t, there’s something I need to tell you. I sent you away not because I hated you, Amanda, but because I loved you so much. I loved you enough to let you go back to the life you needed. You’ve got to stay alive so that I can tell you that,” he added, stopping because his voice broke.

  He looked away, getting control back breath by breath. He thought he felt her fingers move, but he couldn’t be sure. “I’m going to get you out of here, honey, one way or the other, even if I have to walk out with you in my arms. Try to hold on, for me.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the palm hungrily. “Try to hold on, because if you die, so do I. I can’t keep going unless you’re somewhere in the world, even if I never see you again. Even if you hate me forever.”

  He swallowed hard and put down her hand. The sound of an airplane in the distance indicated that supplies were on the way. Quinn put Amanda’s hand back under the cover and bent to brush his mouth against her cold, still one.

  “I love you,” he whispered roughly. “You’ve got to hold on until I can get you out of here.”

  He stood, his face like the stony crags above them, his eyes glittering as he joined the others.

  The plane circled and seconds later, a white parachute appeared. Quinn held his breath as it descended, hoping against hope that the chute wouldn’t hang up in the tall trees and that the toboggan would soft-land so that it was usable. A drop in this kind of wind was risky at best.

  But luck was with them. The supplies and the sled made it in one piece. Quinn and the pilot and a couple of the sturdier survivors unfastened the chute and brought the contents back to the wreckage of the commuter plane. The sled was even equipped with blankets and a pillow and straps to keep Amanda secured.

  Minutes later, the drone of a helicopter whispered on the wind, and not long after that, Hale started down the mountainside.

  It took several minutes. Quinn saw the flash of rust that denoted the distinctive jacket and white waist pack of the Ski Patrol above, and when Hale came closer, he could see the gold cross on the right pocket of the jacket—a duplicate of the big one stenciled on the jacket’s back. He smiled, remembering when he’d worn that same type of jacket during a brief stint as a ski patrolman. It was a special kind of occupation, and countless skiers owed their lives to those brave men and women. The National Ski Patrol had only existed since 1938. It was created by Charles Dole of Connecticut, after a skiing accident that took the life of one of his friends. Today, the Ski Patrol had over 10,000 members nationally, of whom ninety-eight percent were volunteers. They were the first on the slopes and the last off, patroling for dangerous areas and rescuing injured people. Quinn had once been part of that elite group and he still had the greatest respect for them.

  Hale was the only color against the whiteness of the snow. The sun was out, and thank God it hadn’t snowed all day. It had done enough of that last night.

  Quinn’s nerves were stretched. He hadn’t had a cigarette since he’d arrived at the lodge, and he didn’t dare have one now. Nicotine and caffeine tended to constrict blood vessels, and the cold was dangerous enough without giving it any help. Experienced skiers knew better than to stack the odds against themselves.

  “Well, I made it.” Hale grinned, getting his breath. “How are you, Quinn?” He extended a hand and Quinn shook it.

  The man in the Ski Patrol jacket nodded to the others, accepted their thanks for the supplies he’d brought with him, which included a makeshift shelter and plenty of food and water and even a bottle of cognac. But he didn’t waste time. “We’d better get moving if we hope to get Miss Callaway out of here by dark.”

  “She’s over here,” Quinn said. “God, I hate doing this,” he added heavily when he and Hale were standing over the unconscious woman. “If there was any hope, any at all, that the chopper could get in here…”

  “You can feel the wind for yourself,” Hale replied, his eyes solemn. “We’re the only chance she has. We’ll get her to the chopper. Piece of cake,” he added with a reassuring smile.

  “I hope so,” Quinn said somberly. He bent and nodded to Hale. They lifted her very gently onto the long sled containing the litter. It had handles on both ends, because it was designed to be towed. They attached the towlines, covered Amanda carefully and set out, with reassurances from the stranded survivors.

  There was no time to talk. The track was fairly straightforward, but it worried Quinn, all the same, because there were crusts that jarred the woman on the litter. He towed, Hale guided, their rhythms matching perfectly as they made their way down the snow-covered valley. Around them, the wind sang through the tall firs and lodgepole pines, and Quinn thought about the old trappers and mountain men who must have come through this valley a hundred, two hundred years before. In those days of poor sanitation and even poorer medicine, Amanda wouldn’t have stood a chance.

  He forced himself not to look back. He had to concentrate on getting her to the Ridge. All that was important now, was that she get medical help while it could still do her some good. He hadn’t come all this way to find her alive, only to lose her.

  It seemed to take forever. Once Quinn was certain that they’d lost their way as they navigated through the narrow pass that led to the fifty-mile valley between the Grand Tetons and the Wind River Range, an area known as Jackson Hole. But he recognized landmarks as they went along, and eventually they wound their way around the trees and along the sparkling river until they reached the flats below Caraway Ridge.

  Quinn and Hale were both breathing hard by now. They’d changed places several times, so that neither got too tired of towing the toboggan, and they were both in peak condition. But it was still a difficult thing to do.

  They rested, and Quinn reached down to check Amanda’s pulse. It was still there, and even seemed to be, incredibly, a little stronger than it had been. But she was pale and still and Quinn felt his spirits sink as he looked down at her.
/>   “There it is,” Hale called, sweeping his arm over the ridge. “The chopper.”

  “Now if only it can land,” Quinn said quietly, and he began to pray.

  The chopper came lower and lower, then it seemed to shoot up again and Quinn bit off a hard word. But the pilot corrected for the wind, which was dying down, and eased the helicopter toward the ground. It seemed to settle inch by inch until it landed safe. The pilot was out of it before the blades stopped.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he called to the men. “If that wind catches up again, I wouldn’t give us a chance in hell of getting out. It was a miracle that I even got in!”

  Quinn released his bindings in a flash, leaving his skis and poles for Hale to carry, along with his own. He got one side of the stretcher while the pilot, fortunately no lightweight himself, got the other. They put the stretcher in the back of the broad helicopter, on the floor, and Quinn and Hale piled in—Hale in the passenger seat up front, Quinn behind with Amanda, carefully laying ski equipment beside her.

  “Let’s go!” the pilot called as he revved up the engine.

  It was touch and go. The wind decided to play tag with them, and they almost went into a lodgepole pine on the way up. But the pilot was a tenacious man with good nerves. He eased down and then up, down and up until he caught the wind off guard and shot up out of the valley and over the mountain.

  Quinn reached down and clasped Amanda’s cold hand in his. Only a little longer, honey, he thought, watching her with his heart in his eyes. Only a little longer, for God’s sake, hold on!

  It was the longest ride of his entire life. He spared one thought for the people who’d stayed behind to give Amanda her chance and he prayed that they’d be rescued without any further injuries. Then his eyes settled on her pale face and stayed there until the helicopter landed on the hospital lawn.

  The reporters, local, state and national, had gotten word of the rescue mission. They were waiting. Police kept them back just long enough for Amanda to be carried into the hospital, but Quinn and Hale were caught. Quinn volunteered Hale to give an account of the rescue and then he ducked out, leaving the other man to field the enthusiastic audience while he trailed quickly behind the men who’d taken Amanda into the emergency room.

  He drank coffee and smoked cigarettes and glared at walls for over an hour until someone came out to talk to him. Hale had to go back to the lodge, to help plan the rescue of the rest of the survivors, but he promised to keep in touch. After he’d gone, Quinn felt even more alone. But at last a doctor came into the waiting room, and approached him.

  “Are you related to Miss Callaway?” the doctor asked with narrowed eyes.

  Quinn knew that if he said no, he’d have to wait for news of her condition until he could find somebody who was related to her, and he had no idea how to find her aunt.

  “I’m her fiancé,” he said without moving a muscle in his face. “How is she?”

  “Not good,” the doctor, a small wiry man, said bluntly. “But I believe in miracles. We have her in intensive care, where she’ll stay until she regains consciousness. She’s badly concussed. I gather she hasn’t regained consciousness since the crash?” Quinn shook his head. “That sleigh ride and helicopter lift didn’t do any good, either,” he added firmly, adding when he saw the expression on Quinn’s tormented face, “but I can understand the necessity for it. Go get some sleep. Come back in the morning. We won’t know anything until then. Maybe not until much later. Concussion is tricky. We can’t predict the outcome, as much as we’d like to.”

  “I can’t rest,” Quinn said quietly. “I’ll sit out here and drink coffee, if you don’t mind. If this is as close to her as I can get, it’ll have to do.”

  The doctor took a slow breath. “We keep spare beds in cases like this,” he said. “I’ll have one made up for you when you can’t stay awake any longer.” He smiled faintly. “Try to think positively. It isn’t medical, exactly, but sometimes it works wonders. Prayer doesn’t hurt, either.”

  “Thank you,” Quinn said.

  The doctor shrugged. “Wait until she wakes up. Good night.”

  Quinn watched him go and sighed. He didn’t know what to do next. He phoned Terry at the lodge to see if Amanda’s band had called. Someone named Jerry and a man called Hank had been phoning every few minutes, he was told. Quinn asked for a phone number and Terry gave it to him.

  He dialed the area code. California, he figured as he waited for it to ring.

  “Hello?”

  “This is Quinn Sutton,” he began.

  “Yes, I recognize your voice. It’s Hank here. How is she?”

  “Concussion. Coma, I guess. She’s in intensive care and she’s still alive. That’s about all I know.”

  There was a long pause. “I’d hoped for a little more than that.”

  “So had I,” Quinn replied. He hesitated. “I’ll phone you in the morning. The minute I know anything. Is there anybody we should notify…her aunt?”

  “Her aunt is a scatterbrain and no help at all. Anyway, she’s off with Blalock Durning in the Bahamas on one of those incommunicado islands. We couldn’t reach her if we tried.”

  “Is there anybody else?” Quinn asked.

  “Not that I know of.” There was a brief pause. “I feel bad about the way things happened. I hate planes, you know. That’s why the rest of us went by bus. We stopped here in some hick town to make sure Amanda got her plane, and Terry told us what happened. We got a motel room and we’re waiting for a bus back to Jackson. It will probably be late tomorrow before we get there. We’ve already canceled the gig. We can’t do it without Amanda.

  “I’ll book a room for you,” Quinn said.

  “Make it a suite,” Hank replied, “and if you need anything, you know, anything, you just tell us.”

  “I’ve got plenty of cigarettes and the coffee machine’s working. I’m fine.”

  “We’ll see you when we get there. And Sutton—thanks. She really cares about you, you know?”

  “I care about her,” he said stiffly. “That’s why I sent her away. My God, how could she give all that up to live on a mountain in Wyoming?”

  “Amanda’s not a city girl, though,” Hank said slowly. “And she changed after those days she spent with you. Her heart wasn’t with us anymore. She cried all last night…”

  “Oh, God, don’t,” Quinn said.

  “Sorry, man,” Hank said quietly. “I’m really sorry, that’s the last thing I should have said. Look, go smoke a cigarette. I think I’ll tie one on royally and have the boys put me to bed. Tomorrow we’ll talk. Take care.”

  “You, too.”

  Quinn hung up. He couldn’t bear to think of Amanda crying because of what he’d done to her. He might lose her even yet, and he didn’t know how he was going to go on living. He felt so alone.

  He was out of change after he called the lodge and booked the suite for Hank and the others, but he still had to talk to Elliot and Harry. He dialed the operator and called collect. Elliot answered the phone immediately.

  “How is she?” he asked quickly.

  Quinn went over it again, feeling numb. “I wish I knew more,” he concluded. “But that’s all there is.”

  “She can’t die,” Elliot said miserably. “Dad, she just can’t!”

  “Say a prayer, son,” he replied. “And don’t let Harry teach you any bad habits while I’m gone.”

  “No, sir, I won’t,” Elliot said with a feeble attempt at humor. “You’re going to stay, I guess?”

  “I have to,” Quinn said huskily. He hesitated. “I love her.”

  “So do I,” Elliot said softly. “Bring her back when you come.”

  “If I can. If she’ll even speak to me when she wakes up,” Quinn said with a total lack of confidence.

  “She will,” Elliot told him. “You should have listened to some of those songs you thought were so horrible. One of hers won a Grammy. It was all about having to give up things we love to keep from hur
ting them. She always seemed to feel it when somebody was sad or hurt, you know. And she risked her own life trying to save that girl at the concert. She’s not someone who thinks about getting even with people. She’s got too much heart.”

  Quinn drew deeply from his cigarette. “I hope so, son,” he said. “You get to bed. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Okay. Take care of yourself. Love you, Dad.”

  “Me, too, son,” Quinn replied. He hung up. The waiting area was deserted now, and the hospital seemed to have gone to sleep. He sat down with his Styrofoam cup of black coffee and finished his cigarette. The room looked like he felt—empty.

  Chapter Ten

  It was late morning when the nurse came to shake Quinn gently awake. Apparently around dawn he’d gone to sleep sitting up, with an empty coffee cup in his hand. He thought he’d never sleep at all.

  He sat up, drowsy and disheveled. “How is Amanda?” he asked immediately.

  The nurse, a young blonde, smiled at him. “She’s awake and asking for you.”

  “Oh, thank God,” he said heavily. He got quickly to his feet, still a little groggy, and followed her down to the intensive-care unit, where patients in tiny rooms were monitored from a central nurses’ station and the hum and click and whir of life-supporting machinery filled the air. If she was asking for him, she must not hate him too much. That thought sustained him as he followed the nurse into one of the small cubicles where Amanda lay.

  Amanda looked thinner than ever in the light, her face pinched, her eyes hollow, her lips chapped. They’d taken her hair down somewhere along the way and tied it back with a pink ribbon. She was propped up in bed, still with the IV in position, but she’d been taken off all the other machines.

  She looked up and saw Quinn and all the weariness and pain went out of her face. She brightened, became beautiful despite her injuries, her eyes sparkling. Her last thought when she’d realized in the plane what was going to happen had been of Quinn. Her first thought when she’d regained consciousness had been of him. The pain, the grief of having him turn away from her was forgotten. He was here, now, and that meant he had to care about her.