Darkness and snow filled her eyes.
She was outside. How had she gotten outside?
She sank to her knees, her frozen limbs giving way.
Tears filled her eyes. She was lost. She was cold. She was alone. Again.
“Samantha. Hey.” Joshua’s strong body dropped down onto his knees in the snow in front of her. His warm hands cupped her face. Tender lips brushed the cold tears from her cheek. Then gently his mouth moved over hers, and the hot breath of his kiss seemed to bring life back into her frozen lungs. A deep voice spoke in her ear, filling her heart with warmth. “It’s okay. I’m here. You’re safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“Joshua.” A sob choked her throat. “Thank you.” She fell forward into the strength and warmth of his chest, letting him curl his arms around her.
He gathered her into his arms and stood, lifting her from the snow and cradling her to his chest. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
The fear and fight left her body. Her head dropped against his shoulder.
“Are you okay?” His hand brushed her face. “What happened?”
The night terrors. The night terrors are back. The screaming in the night. The leaping out of bed and running away in terror until I wake up and don’t even know at first where I am. The nightmares that suddenly feel so terrifying and so strong they take over and I can’t tell nightmare from reality.
“Sweetheart, please.” He ran one hand over the back of her head, protecting her from the falling snow. “What happened?”
“There was a guy who lived on the same floor as I did.” Her voice came out in a whisper. “I didn’t really know him. He burst into my room and he pushed me down.” She swallowed hard. “He attacked me. So I hit him. I hit him and kicked him as hard as I could until he let go. And then I ran and ran and ran.”
His voice sounded pained, like somehow her words were making it hard for him to breathe. “Right now? Tonight?”
She shook her head, feeling tears course down her cheeks. “A very long time ago. But sometimes in the night I’m dreaming it’s happening again.”
He nodded, like he understood without saying a word. Then he unzipped his jacket, and she could feel his heartbeat as strongly as if it were inside her body. Joshua carried her through the snow back to the house, cradling her against his chest, and for once she was too tired to fight his protection. She was tired of running. She was tired of fighting the same fight, over and over and over again in her sleep, and never being able to win. She was tired of fighting against memories that came up in the depths of the night, but which her daylight mind didn’t know how to piece together.
So instead, she laid her head against his chest, listened to the crunch of snow under his boots, and let the words flow from her lips. She told him about the memories that suddenly appeared in the middle of the night without warning—waking her, shaking her, sending her running out into the night, screaming—as the darkness and the snow swirled around her. Memories that were ready to be put into words, in a way she’d never been ready to talk about them before.
“I told you some about what happened back when I was in college.”
“Mmm-hmm,” he murmured. It was the kind of comforting sound that said he was there and that he was listening. How could he sound so calm? She’d just dragged him out screaming into the middle of a snowstorm.
“I lived in this huge dorm building with hundreds of other people. I hated it. Even in my own room I could hear everything else going on. I never had any peace and quiet. There was a lot of late-night partying. One night, one of the guys on my floor mixed some illegal drugs with alcohol and went on a rampage, running around, vandalizing stuff, breaking things...”
Joshua stopped walking. She could feel the muscles in his neck strain, as he turned his head one way and then the other. She raised her head to look for the house, but all she could see was the darkness. “We’re lost, aren’t we?”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Keep talking. Let me worry about finding the house.”
“But, I should be helping. I caused this mess.”
She started to slip from his arms. But he tightened his grip around her and held her close.
“No, let me carry you. You’re not wearing shoes and you’re not dressed for this weather. The last thing either of us needs is for you to get hypothermia.” He adjusted his grip, lifting her higher. “Plus as long as I’m holding you, and we’re sharing my jacket, your body warmth is keeping me warm.” Then he started walking again. “And keep talking. Tell me your story. It helps me focus.”
She wasn’t sure how it could possibly help. But she could feel fear beginning to curl around the edges of her mind. The storm was vicious. If they didn’t find the house they could freeze.
“People called campus security. I called campus security. But they told me he’d just run around drunk, tire himself out and pass out. Maybe I didn’t explain the situation right. Maybe they didn’t understand what I was trying to tell them. But eventually they told me to grow up and hung up. I remember lying in my tiny bed, in my little dorm room, hearing this guy stomping around the hallway, trying to ignore it and pretend it wasn’t happening.”
Again, Joshua paused. Fear was rising higher in her throat. Blocking out her memories. Blocking out her words. Blocking out everything except fear. And guilt. She was the reason they were in this danger. She was the reason they were in the cold. She was the reason all of this was happening. It was all her fault.
“Keep talking.” His voice was gentle but firm. His lips brushed her freezing cheek. “Please.”
“This wasn’t the first time something like this happened. It was a party college. People got drunk and ran around at night like idiots all the time. I hated it.”
A light flickered in the distance. Once again, Joshua stopped. Her breath caught in her chest. The light disappeared again. Swallowed up in the snow. She could feel his chest tighten beneath hers.
He started jogging.
Lord, help us! Direct him! Guide his steps.
“Keep talking.” There was an edge to his voice now. An urgency. As if the story, her terrible story, was all that was keeping them alive.
“I took half a sleeping pill. Nothing major. Just something my doctor had prescribed because sometimes I was so stressed about studying that my brain kept me up and I couldn’t relax.” Her teeth were chattering so badly she could barely speak. “Here’s where the memory gets blurry. I remember lying down on my bed. I remember banging. Then I remember him standing in the open doorway of my dorm. I don’t know how he got the door open. I don’t know if I left it open, or he knocked and I let him in, or if he broke in somehow. All I know is somehow then he was on top of me. Choking me. Pushing me down. One hand on my throat so I couldn’t breathe. And I hit him. I hit him and hit him and hit him, and kicked and thrashed and fought until he let go and I ran.”
And that’s all I know. And I’ve never stopped running since.
“I’m so sorry.” He hugged her tightly.
Then he stopped walking again. The wind howled.
“Alex! Zoe! If you can hear me get in the car and honk the horn!” he shouted. But his voice was swallowed up in the whistle of cold wind surrounding them, whipping around them. She wasn’t sure how far they’d strayed from the porch. The wind whistled. It hissed. It roared. The whiteout blurred the world around them.
* * *
God, please help me. Pleas for help welled up inside Joshua’s heart as he stared out at the darkness blurring around him. If only the light would stay steady. But he’d see it for a second and run with all his might toward it. Only to then have it swallowed up in the snow again.
Samantha’s words had fallen silent. Because she’d reached the end of the story? Or because she was too cold and exhausted to keep talking?
He had to stay strong for her. He should’ve thought before he ran out after her into the storm. She’d gotten farther than he’d imagined. He should’ve planned. He
should’ve remembered just how easy it would be to get lost outside in a storm on a night like this, like settlers who were found dead just steps from their barn. Instead he’d just grabbed his coat and gone running out after her into the night.
He could feel Samantha shifting. He was aching to rest. His arms shook from her weight, the cold and from fatigue.
Help me, God. Help me see what I need to see. Give me the strength to carry on.
A disjointed sound floated on the air. Music? Then a piercing, shrill howling overtook the air. Oz! That blasted dog had a piercing voice that was sharp enough to cut through anything, even a storm.
“Hang on,” he said. “And don’t let go.”
He felt her arms slip around his neck and hold him so tightly it almost hurt. A smile crossed his lips. “We’re almost home.”
He pelted through the snow toward the barking, forcing his legs past the point of exhaustion, past the point of pain, past the point of his even being able to feel them. He ran toward the barking, and the light that appeared and disappeared in the darkness, until he could hear the sound of music playing and Zoe shouting his name. He felt the rough gravel of the driveway under his feet and saw Zoe’s pale face through the open back door.
“Josh!” Relief filled Zoe’s voice. “Samantha! Oh, thank You, God!”
He tumbled into the kitchen and onto the hardwood floor, barely managing to set Samantha down safely before collapsing. Zoe flung the door closed behind them and bolted it. The music stopped.
Alex ran in from the living room. “We’ve got to warm them up. Can you heat up a drink? Warm, not hot. Then we’ve got to get them something dry to change into.”
“On it.”
Alex knelt and draped a blanket over Samantha. He reached to drop a second one around Joshua, but Joshua shrugged it off and pushed the second one onto Samantha, as well.
“Come on, man, work with me here.” Alex knelt beside him. Carefully, his hands checked Samantha’s hands and feet for exposure. But his worried eyes kept glancing to his friend’s face. “There’s no use you saving her, if you’re then too sick to be any good to us, now, is there?”
Another blanket landed heavy on his shoulders and this time he didn’t fight. He could feel the world spinning. He was going to pass out, here on the floor with Samantha’s body leaning up against him, her head on his shoulder, his arm around her waist. Oz crawled into their laps, trying to stretch his tiny body between them. Zoe pushed a mug into Joshua’s hands. He chugged. His throat burned.
“Steady there,” Alex said. “You should sip, not gulp.”
For a moment the kitchen was a flurry of soft voices and gentle movements, as his friends hovered around him and Samantha like protective warriors around fallen comrades. Then Zoe ran off to draw hot water upstairs, while Alex disappeared to find clothes, and Joshua found himself alone with Samantha in the kitchen.
Samantha’s head nestled into the crook of his neck. Her hand clenched the front of his shirt, her fingers curling around the fabric as if she was afraid of ever letting him go. And it was as if something inside his chest burst like a dam of emotions he’d been holding back for too long. How was it possible to feel so much for someone he’d just met? He didn’t know. But it was like she’d crawled inside his chest and made his heart her home.
His lips brushed slowly over the top of her head. She turned toward him and looked up into his eyes with a look filled with a trust so deep he ached to be worthy of it.
“You found me,” she whispered. “I was so lost...”
Her words trailed off, and he kissed her before she could find them again. His hands tightened around her. Her hands slid up around his neck. And for a half a second they clung to each other like two shipwrecked survivors.
Then, before the kiss could deepen, he heard the gentle creek of his friends’ approaching footsteps on the floorboards. He pulled back and let go.
Zoe cleared her throat. “Hot water’s ready if you are.”
Samantha nodded. “Thank you.”
She stood slowly and let Zoe lead her upstairs.
Alex was leaning on the door frame, his face grave. Had Alex seen the kiss? Had Zoe? Joshua unwound his limbs from the tangle of blankets on the floor.
“We checked inside the house and out,” Alex said as he reached for Joshua’s hand and helped him to his feet. “We didn’t find evidence of any intruders.”
Joshua watched as Samantha disappeared up the stairs. “I don’t think you will.”
They walked through to the living room. His khaki sweatshirt and a fresh pair of jeans lay on a chair near the door. Alex tossed them to him without really making eye contact. “Here, pulled this from the dryer.”
“Thank you.” He stepped around the open door into the study and changed quickly. The room where Samantha had been sleeping looked like it had been the scene of some kind of battle. The blankets she’d been sleeping under were tossed on the floor. Her suitcase lay on its side, its contents strewn from where she’d hit him with it.
“Samantha’s in better shape than you are.” Alex’s voice wafted through a crack in the door. “I figure she was only out there a couple of minutes before you got to her. Could’ve been a lot worse.”
“She had a night terror.” Joshua walked back into the living room, thankful for the warmth of dry clothes against his skin. “I’m not going to pretend to be a psychologist. But I’ve served with guys who’d start screaming, or running, or even going for their weapons in the night. They said it feels more like a flashback in your sleep than a normal nightmare.”
“Theresa will be able to help her with that.” Alex walked over to the fireplace. He knelt and began to slowly coax the dead fire back to life.
“I hope so.”
“And how are you?”
Joshua dropped into a chair. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” Alex looked up at him. Already Joshua could hear the quiet crackle of growing flames. “I saw the look on your face when you ran out into the snow after Samantha. I’ve never seen you so panicked. And then the look on your face when you carried her in, and the way you kissed her...” Alex waved his hands and shook his head, as if even putting what he’d seen into words failed him. “You’ve got some pretty heavy-duty emotional thing going on for Samantha, and that’s not like you. How are you even feeling right now?”
Falling for a woman is like getting sick, Gramps used to say. It’s like a disease that just hits you all of a sudden, and she’s the only medicine. But the more medicine you take, the sicker you get.
Well, Gramps might’ve been wrong on that one. Because whatever this feeling was, it felt nothing like being sick. In fact, it was like the opposite of that. It was like being healthier and stronger than he’d ever been before, because there was someone else who needed him.
“To be honest, I have no idea what I’m feeling,” Joshua said. How had he just lost his head and kissed her like that? “But what I’m thinking is that Samantha is catching a train home in a few hours tomorrow, and we still have no idea why anyone is out to hurt her. I’ve only got three more days before I have to report back to base, and I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do about reenlisting. I don’t want to reenlist. But I feel like I’d be letting my grandfather’s memory down if I don’t.”
Alex nodded. It was the kind of nod that said something was bothering him and he wasn’t sure whether or not he should say it. He stood slowly.
“You know Samantha has another man in her life?” Alex asked. “Eric Gibson, the Silver Media radio host?”
“I did. How did you?”
“I saw him hugging her at the hospital and recognized him from his billboard.”
“She says he’s just a friend, but I get the impression it’s a pretty lopsided friendship. He seems really persistent and determined to be in her life, even though she finds him a bit much. But she told me not to worry about it.”
Alex’s eyes glanced to the empty doorway, and suddenly Joshua fo
und himself wondering if Zoe had taken Samantha upstairs for a reason. Then he reached into his sweatshirt pocket. “I found something after you guys ran out in the snow. It must’ve fallen out of her suitcase.”
“Just please tell me it’s not another explosive device or warning from Magpie—”
Alex reached into his pocket. “Not quite.”
A flash of light filled Joshua’s eyes. He blinked. The most dazzling piece of jewelry he’d ever seen sparkled in Alex’s hand.
“What am I looking at?”
Alex held up the string of diamonds and rubies like he was holding a tiny garter snake by the tail. “If it’s real, I’m guessing about ten thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry.”
TWELVE
Samantha pushed the bathroom door open, sending a gust of steam billowing out into the upstairs hallway. When she’d come upstairs, she’d discovered Zoe had already gone ahead and pulled a warm gray sweatshirt and yoga pants from her suitcase for her to change into before running the water. Now Zoe was perched on a chair in the hallway, her slender, muscular legs folded under her like a teenager. Joshua had told her that Zoe had been hired as a bodyguard for Daniel’s new private security business, and certainly, she’d seemed unflappable in a crisis.
Zoe looked up with a smile that was both trustworthy and disarming without being either cutesy or soft. Yes, Samantha had no doubt that in the right moment, Zoe was exactly the kind of person someone could trust their life to.
“Feeling better?” Zoe asked.
“Yes, much. Thank you.” Hot water and a change of warm clean clothes had made all the difference to her body. But had done little to calm the turmoil in her heart from the unexpected kiss in the kitchen. “What time is it anyway?”
“Just past five in the morning,” Zoe said. She yawned. “I don’t know about you, but I’m probably going to head back to sleep for another hour or two.”
“I’m sorry, I woke you.”
“It’s okay.” Zoe unfolded and stood. “These things happen. We all have our issues and can’t always control when or how they pop up.”
Kidnapped at Christmas Page 12