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She had tied up what food and water she had in her shirt and fastened it around her waist. While the morning air against her skin felt cool in just her bra and shorts, she could tell it would be a scorcher today. She’d warm up soon enough. With a final glance around, she put on her boots, then hauled herself to her good foot until she was standing with her head above the top of the window.
Wincing, she held on to the window with one hand while she supported her bad leg and eased it through the open window. Using both hands, she gripped the top of the window frame and supported herself with her arms while she managed to get her good leg through the window. At one point she nearly lost her grip and fell, but she gritted her teeth and held tight until she was sitting on the windowsill.
Now to ease down onto the porch and hope she could get there without putting any weight on her broken leg. With her head still inside the cabin and her legs dangling over the outside,she gradually began to lower her feet and legs down toward the porch. She’d extended as far as she could, and the next step was to let go and try to protect her broken leg as she plummeted the last six inches or so.
Holding her breath, she reached for the surface below her with her good foot and bent the knee of her injured leg to try to protect it as she fell. Then she let go.
The impact on her good leg traveled to her hip, and she lost her balance with nothing in front of her hands to grab. Her arms pinwheeled, but she couldn’t control her forward momentum.Keep the foot up!But her admonishment didn’t keep her from buckling onto the rotted wooden boards. She fell onto her good side and lay stunned and breathless for a long moment. The pain in her leg was horrendous, and she closed her eyes and breathed deeply until the first wave passed.
Had she done any more damage? Clutching the calf, she supported her bad leg as she struggled into a seated position. A long splinter had pierced the palm of her left hand, and her whole left side ached from the fall. But there were no more broken bones.
She studied the splinter in her palm, then pressed the point of it back toward the entry spot until a small sliver of it stood above the skin. Using her teeth, she pulled it from her hand and spit it out. The thing was like a dagger. Once it was gone, she reassessed her situation. The food and water had survived the spill with her, and the shirt was still attached to her waist.
The forest looked dark and forbidding, and the thought of trying to find her way through there with a broken leg seemed overwhelming. She wanted to sit on the porch and howl, but she blinked back the moisture in her burning eyes and lifted her chin.
She wasn’t a quitter. There had to be a way to get out of here.
She scooted down off the steps and crawled toward the forest. The only possible way through it would be to find a branch she could use as a crutch. There had to be something. The scent of the pine needles as she crawled through wafted to her nose, but instead of calming her, it made her reassess the trees. Spruce trees, pine trees. Finding the right kind of branch wasn’t likely.
And she couldn’t crawl far with her leg banging against the ground with every pull of her arms. It was already screaming in agony. She paused and stared back at the cabin. There had to be another option. She made her way painfully back to the cabin.
The front door was locked, so she couldn’t go back that way. She scooted around to the far side of the porch and peered around the edge. An upended bucket caught her eye. Would it give her enough of a lift to get back through the window?
It was worth a try. She dragged herself off the porch and into the dirt. The bucket was five feet down the side of the cabin, and when she reached it, she realized the back end of the cabin was only another ten feet. Would there be a way in from the rear? She continued the laborious journey to the back, where she found a small stoop that had fallen off the structure. At the other end she spotted a door. But from the inside she didn’t remember seeing another door. Where could it lead?
Her arms trembled with exhaustion, but she forced herself to crawl around the rotted and splintering stoop until she reached the door. It stood partially open, and it swung easily when she pushed it with her hand. The sun illuminated the space past the opening enough for her to see it led to stone steps down into the earth.
A root cellar. And she had no strength or light to allow her to go down there. She couldn’t stop the tears from spilling down her cheeks. Why did this have to be so hard? Couldn’t she catch a single break?
Now she’d have to go back around, dragging the bucket with her, and hope she had the strength to get back inside.
***
Kylie seemed bright and alert this morning when Annie dropped her off to go agate hunting along the shore by Bree’s lighthouse. Jon had expected the near-deadly ordeal to have suppressed her energy, but Kylie ran along the grainy sand with Milo chasing after her heels. Lake Superior reflected the light of the sun peeking over the mountains.
He hadn’t spotted Taylor yet, and he hoped she didn’t try to cozy up to Kylie. The stress of waiting for the DNA to come back was pressing in on Annie even though she hadn’t wanted to talk about it.
Kylie came racing toward him. “Jon, look what I found!” She unfurled her fingers to show him an orange, blue, and yellow stone. “I’ve never seen an agate like this. Is it worth a lot?”
At least she was engaging with him in an excited way. Were things about to get better? “It’s not an agate—it’s jasper. A nice one.”
Her jubilation vanished. “So it’s worthless?”
“It’s all in the eye of the beholder. While it wouldn’t bring in a lot of money, a skilled artisan could make beautiful things from it. When I first dated your mom, I gave her a jasper bead bracelet.”
“Did it have mostly turquoise-colored beads? She still has it in her special box.”
“Your mom has a special box of jewelry?”
Kylie rubbed her thumb over the surface of the stone. “Uh-huh. It’s got that bracelet and a couple of necklaces in it. There’s a watch in there and some scarves too.” She looked up at him and frowned. “Don’t tell her I told you. She doesn’t know I found it.”
He’d given her all those things. It touched him that she’d kept them all this time. “My lips are sealed.”
She ran her fingers over her lips. “You mean like with glue?”
“Exactly.” He touched her blonde head, and she didn’t flinch this time. “But you can tell your mom yourself. She won’t be mad.”
“I saw her searching through the box after Daddy died. She cried. I thought maybe Daddy gave her all those things, but you said you gave her the bracelet, so I guess it’s just things she likes.” Kylie gave him a long stare. “Are you going to marry my mom?”
