Page 65 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

This one single gift that I’d been given amid the torment.

“Go on and do some of that living.” Nelly shooed me out of the kitchen. “I’ll finish up in here.”

I wavered before I threw my arms around my grandmother, hugging her tight and mumbling, “I love you so much, Nelly. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” under my breath before I turned and moved for my son.

“Die of loneliness,” she hollered from over her shoulder, chuckling as she grabbed a dishrag and started to wipe down the counters. “And I’m not about to let that happen on my watch.”

ELEVEN

PIPER

Fifteen minutes later,Finn and I stepped out the front door of the cabin.

He was dressed in his heavy coat and mittens and a cap, plus snow boots and a tiny ski bib that had miraculously shown up yesterday afternoon after I’d found out we were going to have to stay here for three weeks.

A note had been tacked to them, the handwriting decidedly masculine.

Thought you might need these.

The man took thoughtful to a new level.

As if he anticipated what we would need before we even knew it ourselves. I still had no idea what to make of him.

I nearly rolled my eyes at myself.

I’d do best not to try to decipher it.

“Burr, Mommy! Isco-wed.” Finn hunkered down, snuggling up close to my leg as we crossed the porch.

“Is it too cold to play outside?” I asked, praying my voice didn’t slant into hope considering I was going to freeze my ass off if I spent any amount of time out here.

“Not tooco-wed!” He giggled it, shaking his head emphatically as he jumped down the single step of the porch and out onto the pathway.

Of course not. Not that I minded. I wanted to relish this. This time, for however long it lasted.

He ran a couple steps ahead of me, tottering down the walkway and veering to the right where the stone sidewalk led around to the play area that he’d seen out the front window.

I followed a few feet behind him, my smile soft as I watched him.

Then I stumbled a step when I saw who was coming in the opposite direction, chest squeezing in anxious anticipation.

Crap.

Theo.

Dressed in his normal black jeans, though instead of a leather coat, he wore a puffy black one, plus a black beanie on his head. A dark wraith striding up through the endless expanse of white.

“Hi,Feo!” Finn shouted it as he lifted a mittened hand and waved it over his head.

Without reserve, Finn began to trot faster that way.

While I felt like I’d stepped in glue.

The sight of Theo nothing but quicksand. A rushing of my spirit that gushed out in front of me. The part that wanted to crawl to him when the rest of me knew I needed to turn the other direction and run.

“Hey, there, Finn-Finn.” That deep, tolling voice rumbled through the peace.

A thunder that resonated through my being.