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And then a giant band seemed to close tight around her middle, squeezing her front and back, inside and out, and she gripped her belly and yelled louder, pain and fear driving the single word out of her with far more force than before. ‘‘Mamma!”
* * *
An insistent, howling sort of cry shook Caleb out of sleep. At first, in his drowsy state, he thought it was Maya’s voice, crying out to him for help. He came awake with a start, surprised that when he opened his eyes, the only light to be seen was the orange red glow of the coals in the fireplace, a few feet from him. And the cry he’d heard was only the wind, shrieking abnormally outside. Blinking away the sleep haze, Caleb realized he’d fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room of Ida-May’s boarding house. Still, there was usually a light left on down there at night.
Sitting up, he rubbed his shoulders, suddenly chilled. Then he reached for the big lamp on the end table.
Click.
Nothing. He tried again, but it was no use. Either the bulb was blown or…
“…or the power’s out,” he said aloud. And that was when that wailing wind outside drew his attention again. And there was rattling, too. He half expected to see a death wagon come thundering into the room with a banshee at the reins, singing her funeral dirge.
He shook that image away with another shiver, a full body one this time. “It’s the wind,” he muttered. And he went to the fireplace, added three chunks of wood, then rose again and tried the wall switch. Still no lights. But as the flames grew, they illuminated the room for the most part. He could see around him. Orange and yellow, leaping shadows.
Then another light appeared. A small flame, floating closer out of the shadows, until it morphed into Ida-May herself, carrying an old-fashioned kerosene lamp. “Caleb?” she asked, squinting at him, then nodding in answer to her own question. “Power’s out,” she told him. “And it’s storming to beat all. Why I’ve never seen anything like it. Not here, and I’ve lived here my whole life!” She set the lamp on a high shelf and quickly went to the hearth to light another lamp—one Caleb hadn’t even noticed sitting there. Come to think of it, there was a candelabra on that marble stand in the corner.
Caleb went for that, brought it to the fireplace and reached for the matches there on the mantel. He didn’t need to listen to hear the fury of the storm. The wind whistled and moaned, and branches skittered against the windows and walls. He went to the nearest window, parted the curtain and tried to look outside. Dark as pitch. The entire town was black, and even the whiteness of the snow—snow that hadn’t been there last night—didn’t break it. “Looks like the whole town’s blacked out.” Then he turned. “I need to check on Maya.”
“Oh, my, yes!”
Footsteps thundered, and in moments Bobby reached the bottom of the stairs with Cain at his side. In the fire-glow, the old man’s face looked downright mean. “Dad, here, take the sofa.” Caleb helped his father to a seat, then yanked a blanket off the back and draped it over his shoulders.
“It’s colder than the hubs of hell in this place.” Cain growled, pulling the blanket closer and hunching into it.
“The power’s out, Mr. Montgomery,” Ida-May explained. “But we have the fireplace. You’ll be warm as toast in no time.” Then she looked at Bobby. “Someone should wake the others, those two lawyer fellows and Ol’ Hank. Have them come down here where it’s warm.”
“I’ll get them,” Bobby said. “Along with some more blankets.”
“Why’s the power out?” Cain demanded. “And what’s that infernal racket?” Then, blinking, he looked toward the windows. There was snow piling in their corners. He sent a startled look at Caleb. “Snowstorm? Here?”
“Yeah, the whole town is without power, by the looks of things.” Caleb tried the telephone, but there was only dead air. He clicked the cutoff several times, to no avail. Then he went to the foot of the stairs and called up them, “Bobby, bring your cell phone down.”
Cain was shaking his head. “How bad is it out there, son?”
“I don’t know, Dad.”
The old man pursed his lips. “That Brand girl…she shouldn’t be out there without heat, or even a telephone.”
“I know.”
“I have a radio, some batteries. I’ll get them,” Ida-May said, and taking one of the lamps, she hurried away. Caleb went to the door, yanked his coat off the rack and pulled it on. “I’m gonna take a look outside. Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds.”
He stepped out onto the porch, pulling the door closed behind him. The howling there was louder, almost deafening, and a rhythmic thumping worried him. He pulled up his collar and went to the door, opened it. The wind hit it, yanked it from his hand and slammed it against the wall. Caleb ducked his head, brought his hands up in front of his face and, squinting, stepped out onto the stoop. Icy barbs of snow slashed at his face like razors. The snow on the ground was level with the top step and still coming. He tried to see up and down the road, but only shadowy drifts looking like miniature mountains and wind-driven snow were visible. Everything was covered, every rooftop and porch, every vehicle and tree. Telephone poles, those he could make out in the darkness, were tilted and leaning. Wires, laden with snow, drooped low.
He hurried back onto the porch and forced the door closed against that insistent wind. It was an effort, but he managed it. He took off his coat, shook the snow off it, stomped off his shoes and went back inside. “It’s a freaking nightmare out there. A full blown blizzard.”
His father and Bobby were pushing all the chairs nearer the fireplace. Martin and Jacob Levitz, Caleb’s lawyers, stood huddled over the radio as Ida-May turned the dial from static to static. The boarding house’s permanent resident, a grizzled fellow Caleb only knew as “Ol’ Hank,” sat in a rocker looking confused.
Finally Ida’s radio dial hit paydirt. “…the unexpected, blizzard is raging through Big Falls and surrounding areas with winds up to sixty-five miles per hour and temperatures well below freezing. Twenty-four inches of snow have already been dumped in the area, with another eighteen inches possible before morning. Residents are advised to remain in their homes if at all possible. Use fireplaces, woodstoves, kerosene heaters if you have them. If not, light all the burners on your propane or natural gas ranges. If you have none of those, then you need to dress warmly, stay dry and keep moving until daylight. All roads are closed. Emergency personnel cannot get through. Phone service is out in most of the county, and widespread power outages have been reported, though the full extent of them is not known at this time. Rescue personnel will be out in force at dawn, when this freak storm is expected to abate. If you need emergency assistance, hang a red flag from a front window or door of your home.”
Caleb swallowed hard and looked at his father. “I have to get to Maya.”
“Son, they said to wait until dawn.” He glanced at the old-fashioned pendulum clock on Ida-May’s mantel. “It’s only five or six hours away, at the most. Surely she’ll be all right until then.”
He met his father’s eyes. “What if she isn’t?”
“You could get killed out there in this mess. It’s a good five miles out to the Brand farm.”
