Fiction — Part 1
Lost
Part 1— Getting lost can sometimes lead to the right destination
Breeann approached the deserted, ice-covered intersection with extra caution and brought the car to a full stop. Uninvited tears trickled from eyes weary from anxiety and hopelessness.
She’d done the right thing to run from the man who’d continued to abuse her despite his protestations of love. If she’d done the right thing, why was life kicking her in the teeth? How could she be completely lost in the middle of nowhere on the blackest night she’d ever experienced?
Maybe Olivia’s meltdown an hour earlier had distracted her focus. Her two-year-old daughter could put new meaning into the word tantrum, especially after too many hours buckled into a worn-out car seat with little padding.
A wheezing cough from the other passenger in the back seat deepened her worry. She looked over her shoulder at her six-year-old brother, Josh. He slept deeply, still covered with the blanket she’d wrapped around him a couple of hours earlier. The chest cold plaguing him for the last week was getting worse.
She needed to get them all to a warm, dry place before the car ran out of gas. Trouble was, she didn’t know which direction offered the fastest help. The reasonable thing would be to retrace her route back to the last town she’d driven through.
She didn’t need much. A convenience store with gas pumps and maybe a parking garage to shelter them from the worst part of the winter storm which was dumping ever-increasing amounts of snow on the winter landscape. With the sleeping bags and pillows stashed in the trunk, it would be possible to keep the children warm until morning.
Her pride, of which only a frayed thread remained, disintegrated as she remembered the twenty-seven dollars left in her wallet. The car’s empty gas tank would eat that up without regard for the cooler devoid of food in the trunk.
A gusty wind coated her windshield with sleet and snow. She couldn’t afford to wallow in self-pity any longer. The children in the back seat deserved better from her.
The first attempt to move the car proved useless as the back tires spun on the ice. She shifted into reverse and managed to move a couple of feet backward. Switching gears again, the car moved smoothly forward, and she successfully negotiated a turn, managing to stay in the middle of the intersection.
The snow stacking up on the road would soon make it impossible to determine the center of anything, much less, the road ahead. Her fingers gripped the steering wheel as if that pressure alone would force the ten-year-old car to stay between the ditches.
A sliver of light appeared in the direction she’d chosen. So she wasn’t the only crazy person trying to negotiate the hazardous conditions. She hoped the driver of the other vehicle saw her car’s headlamps and stayed on his side of the road.
“Woofy — Woofy.” The frantic cry from the back seat shredded what was left of her last nerve. She dare not stop the vehicle. She might not get it to move forward again on the icy pavement. She slowed to a slug’s pace and turned her head to see what was wrong with her daughter. Olivia strained against her harness straps, struggling to retrieve her beloved stuffed dog that lay on the backseat just outside her reach.
The car horn blare fragmentized what was left of her good judgment. She spun her head back toward the front windshield and stomped on the brake, inadvertently causing the car to slide into the path of the oncoming vehicle. Thankfully, due to her slow pace, the car came to a safe stop, facing what direction she no longer knew.
She watched in horror as the oncoming lights swerved to the right in an attempt to miss running into her vehicle. Judging by the crunching sound and the angle of the headlamps, Breeann knew the vehicle had slipped into the side ditch.
“Good Grief!” She’d run some poor driver off the road and…
She unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over the front seat. Retrieving Woofy, she gave him to her daughter, who immediately popped her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes. Thankfully, Josh still slept. The children were fine, but what about the people in the car? They might be hurt…
Not stopping to think past that thought, she grabbed her coat and gloves from the front passenger seat and shoved them on as fast as her shaking fingers would allow.
The scarf loosely tied around her head immediately succumbed to a blast of frigid wind as she stepped from the warmth of her car. Easing the door closed, she tested the ground beneath her feet for stability. Leather-soled shoes were not the best for traversing icy surfaces or snowdrifts — but she couldn’t think about that. The people in the car could be in much worse peril.
Her first two steps were solid enough, but something went wrong on the third. Arms flailing, she tried grabbing for the fender of the car, to no avail. She pitched face forward into something strangely softer than asphalt. Grabbing hold for dear life, she slid down its surface and landed with a thud on the unforgiving ground. Temporarily breathless, she lay there for a second before looking up to see what had softened her fall.
Her gloved fingers clutched a pair of boot-covered feet that, from her current perspective, were attached to a giant. Groaning, she lifted her right hand for the customary assistance given to a fall victim. None came.
“Would you mind giving me a hand? I don’t know if I can stand on my own.” Her voice shook but it was civil enough.
From somewhere in the ionosphere above, a deep masculine voice growled a response. “I’d rather leave you where you are, or better yet, dump you in the ditch next to my truck.”
“Well, of all the arrogant…” Breeann mumbled as she grabbed the edge of his jacket and managed to stand again without his help. Her good fortune didn’t last long, but this time a pair of strong hands held her upright and moved her around the front of her car.
“What are you doing?” She struggled to loosen his grip on her arms.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you, just put you in the car before you do us both bodily injury.
“For your information, the steering wheel is still on the left side of the car! I can’t very well drive from the passenger side!”
“Lady, driving is the last thing I’m going to let you do. Since you’ve rendered my truck immovable, I’ll have to use your car to get us out of this Northerner before the roads get impassible. Now, shut up and get in the car!”
Impassible roads… She hadn’t thought of that. Better to let him get them all to a safe place and then hash this mess out later. She slid into the passenger seat and eased the door closed. As he retraced his steps and passed in front of her headlights, the sheer size of him pumped more adrenaline into her overcharged system.
The driver’s door opened with enough force to unhinge it. His huge bulk slid into the seat or attempted to do so. With a few muttered curses about shrimp-sized women, he managed to find the seat adjustment lever and allow himself enough room to get under the wheel.
“Don’t slam the door. Shut it quietly so you won’t wake the children.”
A comical look of horror crossed his face as he swiveled to stare at the two children sleeping in the backseat.
“I knew you’d be more trouble… If you’ve got any more nasty little surprises for me, now would be a good time to let me know.”
She tightened her jaw. “The people hot on my trail will probably kill anyone who tries to help me. So I suggest you vacate my vehicle and find your way home.”
“Lady, if it wasn’t for those two kids in the backseat, I’d gladly take the risk just to hand you over to them.”
She believed him. The car’s overhead light revealed dark chocolate eyes warmed by a wave of anger he didn’t bother to conceal. He eased her car forward past his truck and negotiated a tight turn in the middle of the road, heading away from her planned destination.
She grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute. Aren’t you going to take us back to that small town?”
He pushed her hand from his arm and hissed with enough venom to make a rattler proud. “Do that again and I’ll tie you to that seat. What kind of crazy woman grabs a driver’s arm in these conditions?”
“I need to get to that town.” She buckled her seatbelt and tried to keep her temper under control.
“Why would I do that? My place is just two miles away. I’m certainly not going to make a twelve to fifteen-mile round trip in this kind of weather just to accommodate an irresponsible driver. My place is big enough to accommodate you and your kids for one night.”
“But…”
“No buts.”
He safely negotiated the next two miles and turned onto a private drive. To her eyes, it was hard to discern the road from the rest of the flat white landscape, but he seemed to be unworried.
She studied him as he drove. A basketball player would envy the palm-width and long tapered fingers that gripped her car’s steering wheel. A recent cut slashed across the knuckle of his middle finger, almost to his wrist. In the light emanating from the dashboard, she could see that it still appeared slightly inflamed.
She guessed his height to be at least two or three inches over six feet. Since he filled the width of the driver’s seat from side to side, and it couldn’t all be the heavy coat he wore, his upper torso probably matched the size of his hands. A few black strands of hair curled a little behind his ear under the cowboy hat slanted low on his forehead.
“You think you’ve memorized enough details to offer a criminal profile?”
He hadn’t taken his attention off the road, so how did he know she’d been studying him? Something told her this man saw things with more than his eyes, although, how that was possible, she didn’t have a clue. Obviously, she couldn’t see trouble when she fell on it. Why else would she be letting this stranger drive her and her family deeper and deeper toward an out-of-the-way destination?
He slowed the car again and made another left turn through a huge stone gateway with loads of ornamental iron forming a sign that read, Double Trouble Cut Off.
“Lady, you’re going to break a finger if you keep squeezing your hands that tight. Stop worrying. You and your kids will be safe until we can get you back on your way again.”
“My name isn’t, lady.”
“What is it?”
Breeann was slow to answer. The huge two-storied white house looming at the end of the driveway captured her whole attention. Its dark, unlit presence signaled a cold welcome.
“I’m…I’m Breeann Dalton. Is this your home?”
“Yes.”
“Should I expect Double Trouble?”
He stopped the car under a covered portico on the side of the house, cut the engine and lights, and then turned in her direction.
“Well, Breeann Dalton, with me, a person tends to get what they give. And with a little lady like you, I’d most surely double the return.”
Was that a threat or a sexual implication? Either way, the comment made her palms sweat. She thoroughly disliked people who could bewilder her with a few words.
“By the way, I’m Drake Tabor. Now, let’s get these kids into the house before the chill gets to them.”
He dug into his pocket and handed her a set of keys. “The silver one with D.T. on it unlocks the door. I’ll bring the kids in one at a time.”
Breeann balked. “I’ll get my kids, you get the door.”
“Lady, You’re about to drop in your shoes from anxiety and exhaustion, just do as I ask and this will go a lot smoother.”
“Okay, but be careful.” Breeann hurried to get the door unlocked. Stepping inside, she felt alongside the door for the light switch and flicked it on. Warm air immediately wafted down from vents over her head. She tried the second switch and the outside portico lights came on, the third switch lit the interior of an enclosed all-weather porch.
“You’ll need to unlock the inner door as well.” Drake gave her his latest instructions as he gently set the car seat holding her sleeping daughter just inside the porch’s outer door. “I’ll get the other child and meet you inside.”
Breeann hurried to do as he asked, wanting to get her kids to the warmest part of the house as quickly as possible. When she pushed open the second door, low candescent lighting filled the area automatically, revealing a very large, immaculate kitchen, not overly modern, but homey and well equipped. An oversized, round table with seating for eight filled one corner of the opposite end of the room, and a fireplace with a seating area filled the other corner. It looked like something out of Country magazine. Hot coals still glowed in the fireplace.
She hurried back to the porch and lifted Olivia’s carrier just as Drake Tabor came in with Josh.
“Follow me and we’ll get the little ones a bed.”
He led her through the kitchen to a butler’s pantry. This had two doors leading off it; he went through one and she followed.
He nudged the light switch with his elbow to reveal a cozy room with two daybeds, two well-stuffed rockers, a wall-mounted television, and several side tables with lamps.
“I thought this would suit your needs better than the guest bedrooms on the second floor. The little ones can each have a daybed, and there is a separate bedroom and bath through that archway for you. The apartment is small, but it will keep the children close to you, which I imagine will remove some of the anxiety causing you to tremble.”
She hadn’t noticed before, but she was trembling. Her exhaustion level, which she’d been ignoring until now, reached beyond the physical. A heart-squeezing weariness made her whole body throb.
“What do you want me to retrieve from your trunk?”
“There are two suitcases and a black bag. That’s all I’ll need for tonight.”
“I’ll get them.”
Five minutes later, he returned with the items she’d specified. “Is there anything else you need?”
“No. I don’t think so.” For some reason, she couldn’t raise her eyes to his, a strange time to have a bout of embarrassment, or whatever was causing this sudden shyness.
“I’ll leave you to get some rest. However, if you or the children should be hungry during the night, feel free to make use of anything you find in the kitchen.
“Uh… Is there anyone else in the house, a wife, kids?”
“No wife. No kids. I live here alone. And just so you’ll be sure to sleep soundly, there is a lock on your side of the door.”
Without further conversation, he exited the apartment, shutting the door behind him. A door she quickly secured.
To be continued…
