“Well, I’m sure you also tell your clients that attractions don’t always last,” he said. “When Zoe and I get her out of this alive, I hope Mandy learns to make better choices. I’m going to go see if Zoe needs help. The snow should erase any trace of our tracks, but still it would be good for her and I to go over escape routes and access points.”
He crossed the floor to the bottom of the stairs. Then he stopped and looked back.
“For the record, you did a great job disarming Gnat,” he added. “Your instincts were great. If you are going to consult on more Ash clients, I know a really good self-defense class I can recommend back in the city. Again, your instincts are great and you’re clearly strong. I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of it.”
“Thank you.” She hadn’t moved from her place on the couch. “I might take you up on that.”
A slow smile crossed his face.
“If someone ever tries choking you again, like Brick did, a good elbow to the face works,” he said. “And next time you leap for a gun, make sure you’ve disabled your opponent with a good blow first, so you won’t have to risk fighting them for the weapon. Also, when Castor first broke into the cottage, I noticed you went for the saber over the fireplace. Don’t discount things like chairs and tables as defensive weapons. Doing something unexpected and being spontaneous helps.”
She nodded slowly, and silence fell for a long moment between them.
“You should hold workshops on stuff like this,” she said. “You’d be really good at it.”
She believed in him. The thought hit him like a sucker punch. Theresa believed in him. She probably had no idea how good that felt to know.
“Thank you.” He turned and started up the stairs to the second floor, feeling his feet dragging heavily with every step.
Help me, God. What am I doing? I thought I’d turned my back on my feelings for her. But now I’m feeling like a foolish kid who can’t control his own heart. I’m still not the kind of financially stable husband material she was looking for. I’ve never been what she needed.
Zoe was standing at the top of the stairs, buried in an overflowing armful of blankets.
“I’m going to do another quick sweep of the top floor, too,” he said. “See if there’s anything we missed.”
“Okay.” Zoe’s eyebrow rose. But she stepped aside. “I’m going to check in on Mandy again and see about setting up some beds downstairs. We should also eat.”
“Theresa packed some emergency rations. I’m sure she has enough to feed an army.”
He started walking along the upstairs landing. But the sound of his sister’s voice made him stop and look back.
“I’m so sorry.” Zoe was still standing at the top of the stairs. “These past few months I pushed you too hard to forgive Theresa and reconcile with her. I didn’t get it. I thought you were holding back because of stubbornness and a bruised ego. I didn’t realize you still had really strong feelings for her.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He raised his chin. “It doesn’t matter what I do or don’t feel, because I’m not going to act on it. All that matters is that it won’t get in the way of all of us getting out of here alive.”
THIRTEEN
They left before the sun was up, walking single file in the knee-deep, pale gray snow. Theresa’s eyes rose to the faint glimmer of dawn beginning to seep into the edges of the horizon and she stifled a yawn. Even knowing that Alex and Zoe had been sleeping in shifts, she’d barely managed to sleep herself. Breakfast had been quick and tense and no more than a few bites of granola washed down with tea made over the fire. Now her whole body ached with fatigue and a pain that made it feel like her body was nothing but a collection of bones that had forgotten how to work together.
Broken branches and ice-cracked trees filled the forest. Alex led the way, trampling down the snow, while Zoe brought up the rear, keeping Mandy close in front of her. Theresa walked four paces behind Alex, staring at the long, strong lines of his form, a deep blue silhouette in the early morning light. He led them slowly, deliberately, through the trees, keeping away from both the road and the exposed beaches, as he followed the shoreline. The forest cracked around them with breaking limbs and falling ice that sounded in the forest like gunfire. As they rounded one bend, the sound of tires spinning in the snow sent them sprawling low to the ground. More than once, as they reached a cottage or a break in the forest, Alex stopped and silently held up a hand, then gestured for them to crouch and wait while he went on ahead, leaving her with her heart thumping in her chest until he came back and declared the coast clear.
She couldn’t help but watch him. It was like she’d spent the past twenty-four hours with an amazing and breathtaking stranger, who now lived inside the body of the man she’d once loved more than anything else in the world. He was so determined, self-assured and confident in the task he was called to do. She’d begged God on bended knee, when they were much younger, for the cute, long-legged, blond jock who’d swept her heart away in a glance to hurry up and grow into a man she could marry. Yet somehow every time she prayed, she’d imagined it would mean him giving up the well-worn blue jeans, quick athletic impulses and great outdoors for some kind of “real job.”
Lord, how was I so wrong? How did I think that loving Alex meant pushing him to be something that he was never meant to be?
They reached the final turn of the bay and she saw Cedar Lake spread out ahead of them, like a glittering sheet of diamonds, with Joshua’s father’s cottage up ahead of them through the trees, and Alex and Zoe’s family cottage beyond it, with its beautiful, two-story boathouse sitting high on the water’s edge. They kept going, until finally, through a break in the trees, they could see the solid, snow-covered shape of Alex’s truck sitting by the cottage’s back door.
He paused and turned back. A smile crossed his face and as he raised his eyes to the sky, the bright rays of the rising sun seemed to pool in his eyes. “Okay, team, we’re almost there. Our cottage is still standing, none of the windows are broken and it looks like my truck is still there. Once we dig the truck out, we should hopefully be ready to go.”
He slipped away from the group and went on ahead again. They were just a few minutes away from the whole ordeal at Cedar Lake being over. Then what? She and Alex would part ways again, and he’d go back to being somebody she just used to know? Last night, by the firelight, with the feel of his kiss still lingering on her lips, she’d been swept up in the pain of not getting the life with Alex that she’d wanted.
But what would’ve happened if they hadn’t ended their engagement? Would Alex have stuck with a career path he’d hated and never found his calling? Would she have ever had a reason to fill her loneliness with volunteering, eventually working with Victim Services, spending countless hours helping people in trouble? Would she even have her own psychotherapy practice? Would they have ended up like so many of the couples who came to her for counseling, wondering how the love they’d once felt had grown dull and the life they’d thought they’d wanted turned sour?
If she’d met him now, without their history, she wouldn’t care that he lived with his sister or had recently helped start a new company. That anxious young woman she’d been was long gone. She was stronger now, braver and less fearful of the future. She had her own business, her own home, and had seen how her parents weathered their financial storm together.
She was finally ready to find a partner to weather the storms with, instead of looking for somebody to save her. But would Alex ever want to risk a future with her, considering how very badly they’d hurt each other? They were so different. Too different. But she was thankful that the fear and anxiety she’d felt over her parents’ financial calamity hadn’t driven them into living a life so much smaller than the one they’d both ended up living. They’d both found a life that had given them joy.
Even if that l
ife hadn’t included each other.
Alex darted back and slipped into the trees beside them.
“It looks good,” he said. “Roads are terrible, but despite the weather forecast, it’s nothing a four-wheel drive with good snow tires can’t handle. There’s no disturbed snow around the truck. There’s no evidence the cottage was broken into. My laptop is exactly where I’d left it. The power is out, though, and the phone is down. Thankfully, we’re not planning on staying long.”
Relief spread through Theresa’s limbs. Thank You, God! It was almost over. Just a few moments to clear off the truck, then they’d be able to drive away from Cedar Lake.
Alex blew out a long breath. He glanced toward the boathouse down by the frozen water. “I’ve got to run a quick errand before we go. There’s something I left in the boathouse a long time ago that I should probably go get. You okay getting a start on clearing off the truck?”
Zoe’s eyes searched her big brother’s face with a look Theresa couldn’t decipher. “You sure?”
He nodded. “Yeah. It’s time.”
What was this all about?
Zoe pressed her lips together. Then she nodded quickly. “Okay. I’d come help you, but I should stick with Mandy and Theresa. Just hurry back, okay?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back before you’re even done clearing off the truck.”
Theresa’s eyes rose to the horizon. The sun was rising over the treeline, sending long shadows spreading over the snow. What was Alex chasing after now? What could possibly be so important that he’d risk delaying them?
She took a deep breath.
Lord, please help me trust that Alex knows what he’s doing.
* * *
For a moment, Alex paused. Theresa’s deep green eyes were on his face, with a look that seemed to peer straight through to his core, making him wish for a moment that he could reach up into the sky and rip away the last eight and a half years like pages of a book that should never have been written. Then he pushed that thought away. No, he didn’t regret the man he’d become, the path he’d trod or the vocation he’d found. Not for an instant. He’d just wished it had all included her.
I failed you, Theresa. But I’ve got another chance and I’m going to try to make it right.
“Don’t worry,” he said again. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
He turned and moved as quickly as he could through the deep snow toward the boathouse. Last night, he’d lain awake on the cottage floor by the fire, watching the wood turn to ash, while his mind had burned with regret. How had he failed her so badly? Why hadn’t be fought for her? Why did he just demand the engagement ring back, only to storm into the upper room of the boathouse and throw it so hard it had fallen through the floorboards?
A ring he hadn’t been able to afford. But he’d wanted it, selfishly and arrogantly, because he’d been so fixated on giving her the very best. So, he’d gotten his first credit card and maxed it out just to be able to buy it. Shame burned in Alex’s heart as he remembered how the man he’d thought would be his father-in-law had warned him off the dangers of debt and gave him the cash to pay off the card.
Had Theresa’s father known that day how close to financial ruin he was then? Maybe. But Alex knew well enough what had happened to that ring a year later. As a surprise to his bride-to-be, Alex’s father and Josh had helped him transform the upper floor of the boathouse into a small, one-bedroom apartment so that he and Theresa could have their own special living space on the lake. When the engagement was broken, Alex had felt like trashing the whole place. Instead, he’d just stormed in there and thrown the ring as hard as he could.
What an idiot he’d been.
If he’d let her keep it, she could’ve sold it to help pay her parents’ mounting bills or reimburse the deposits her parents had lost on the canceled wedding. Or, if they’d refused to accept the money from her, the woman he’d loved could’ve still used it to buy a car or help pay for university or put a down payment on a place to live. Anything. Instead, he’d just tossed away the most valuable thing either of them had ever owned.
He wasn’t that man anymore. He might not be able to make up for the mistakes he’d made. But he could take a five-minute detour to fish the ring out of the floorboards, to help put things right now and make sure one good thing came from his trip to Cedar Lake.
His long strides took him down to the lake, breaking the fresh, unmarked snow. Something like hope lifted his heart. He reached the boathouse. The large sliding front door was still open from when he’d flown out on the snowmobile to save Theresa. But blowing snow had wiped the snowmobile tracks clean. He slipped into the boathouse and up the narrow wooden stairs to the second-floor apartment.
The door was ajar. He slipped inside. Boxes of neglected possessions that he hadn’t been around to use packed the room. He wove his way through the equipment over to the window, passing water skis, rappel gear, sports equipment, and household items he’d gathered to set up their apartment with. There were even boxes of his old clothes that he’d left unopened and neglected for years. He’d forgotten all this was here. It was as if his memories of Cedar Lake had been buried under a thin sheet of ice that he’d been skimming over for years, never stopping to look at what lay below in case the ice broke and he went tumbling through. How patient his parents and sister must’ve been with him. He owed them an apology, too.
Lord, I’m sorry I didn’t deal with all this sooner. Thank You for helping me realize I had to step up and face my past with Theresa. Thank You for helping me see that I needed to truly forgive her. Thank You for helping me see it was time to stop hiding and running from the mistakes I’d made, too, instead of putting all the blame on her.
He reached the corner of the room and dropped to his knees. His eyes scanned the dark and dusty floorboards. For a long, agonizing moment he didn’t see anything. Then he saw it. A glint of light was shining in the darkness. Carefully, he pried the glittering gold-and-diamond band from between the floorboards. His fingers closed over it. He started to stand slowly, carefully sliding the found treasure into his pocket.
He heard the creak of the floorboards behind him too late.
“Stay there,” a wavering voice said behind him. “Hands up. Or everybody dies.”
It was Gnat.
FOURTEEN
Alex rose to his full height and turned. Gnat’s sweatshirt was bloodstained, and even with a hat and scarf obscuring his face Alex could tell Gnat’s skin was gray and clammy. A gun was clenched in Gnat’s hand. Alex felt his limbs tense to strike. The space was tight and cluttered. Would Gnat even get a shot off? But even as the thought crossed his mind, he remembered how Theresa had talked Mandy down, and what she’d said about Gnat. “Find out what he knows. He’s frightened, panicked and desperate. But I think he’d only kill if he was cornered and had no choice.”
“Okay, I hear you.” Alex’s hands rose. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to hurt me. You need help. Why don’t you put down that gun and come with my friends and me in my truck? And I’ll make sure you get to a hospital.”
“I’m not going anywhere without the trunk.” Gnat’s eyes darted to the window. The light fell on his face. And for the first time, Alex got a good look at the frightened eyes behind the scarf.
“It’s you, Tanner, isn’t it?” Alex stepped closer, as a huge part of the puzzle he’d been chasing through the snow suddenly began to make sense. “You came up here to find the trunk for Mandy, because Castor’s blackmailing you. That’s what you meant when you told Theresa that Castor had run you off the road. You were referring to the accident in the city that put you in the hospital. That’s why you’re bleeding. You burst your stitches coming up here.”
Tanner looked down at the floor and Alex knew that he had him dead to rights. “How do you know all that?”
“Because a really good friend of mine is really good at listening to people,” Alex said. And she can make me better at being the man I’m supposed to be. He risked taking a step closer. “What’s in the trunk, Tanner?”
“Proof that Castor is a criminal. So I can’t leave until I’ve got it. Otherwise he’ll find it and destroy it, and then he’ll keep making me do things I don’t want to do, just so I can protect Mandy. You get that, right?”
I get that you believe it’s true, and Theresa said that’s what matters.
“Where’s Zoe’s car?” he asked. “How did you get here without leaving footprints?”
“I tried to drive it across the lake but it crashed through the ice.” He shifted his feet. “I barely made it out before it sank. I came over the ice so I wouldn’t leave footprints. I knew you had a truck, but I was going to sleep a bit and wait until the snow stopped before I took it. I didn’t want to drive when it was coming down that bad.”
Alex nodded. “So, what’s your move here, Tanner? How are you going to find the trunk and get it out of Cedar Lake with nobody stopping you? Do you even know where it is?”
Tanner shook his head. “No, but I’ve got someone who does. He has to. And I’m going to make him tell me.”
The young man with the gun moved backward and gestured Alex toward the doorway of what would’ve been the bedroom.
Oh, no.
Emmett Rhodes, the car salesman, Mandy’s big brother and Josh’s second cousin, now sat tied on the floor in the dingy, dark room. The large man’s hands were bound behind his back. A crude piece of duct tape covered his mouth. Anger burned in Emmett’s eyes. A sleeping bag and junk food wrappers lay on the old camp bed in the corner. Emmett must’ve come up, as threatened, to collect Mandy himself and somehow decided to come into the boathouse where Tanner had gotten the better of him.
Lord, please help me know what to do.
Rescue at Cedar Lake Page 14