Daunting Days of Winter (2 page)

Kyle nodded. “A couple of times. I don’t agree, but who am I to question your taste.”

Spencer stirred again and moaned, then rubbed his eyes as he shifted positions. Emma sat on the other side of Kyle, leaning against the armrest with one leg draped over Kyle’s leg and an arm behind his back.

“I’m tired,” Emma said, yawning. “But I don’t want to go to bed.”

The fire in the fireplace cracked and popped and lit the room in a dancing, honey-yellow hue. “You can stay up as long as you want, Em. It’s not every day your dad gets home after walking across the country. He’ll be here tomorrow, too. Isn’t that wonderful?” Jennifer paused, then continued in a halting voice. “So don’t think you have to stay up all night.”

“I won’t stay up too late,” Emma answered. “Just a little while longer.”

Kyle turned as David pulled himself out of the recliner he was resting in. “The fire needs more wood,” he said as he stood.

“I’ll get it, Son. You sit down. Don’t strain yourself.” Kyle started to gently move Spencer off of him, but David protested.

“I’m fine, Dad. You’re just like Mom and Mrs. Jeffries. They worry about me all the time. My wound doesn’t really even hurt anymore. I can get the wood. I’m not a cripple.”

“I know. I know. But if you tear it open, it could be dangerous. You know as much as anyone what the situation is.”

David smiled. “Got it, Dad. You can go back to staring at Mom. I’ll put more wood on the fire so there’s enough light for you to see her.”

“Maybe we don’t want the lights on,” Jennifer said playfully, her emotions temporarily back under control.

Emma made a gagging sound. “If you guys start kissing again, I’m going to be sick. I’ve never seen so much kissing in all my life.”

“Emma, you’re nine,” David said as he placed a log on the fire. “I’m guessing you haven’t seen much kissing, besides Mom and Dad.”

“You’re one to talk, David; you don’t even have a girlfriend.”

“How do you know I don’t have a girlfriend? You follow me around all day?”

“Kids. Cut it out,” Jennifer said, giving them a look. “Dad didn’t walk all this way to listen to you fight. I’m sure he could have stayed in Texas and found some other kids to do that.”

Kyle grinned. “This feels normal. Not you guys arguing, well, okay, I guess that is kind of normal, but just being together, talking, listening, touching. This feels normal. It feels right.” Kyle choked up, and Jennifer’s eyes glistened in the firelight.

“Mom cries a lot too. So don’t feel embarrassed,” Emma said matter-of-factly. “We’ve all gotten used to it. Didn’t know it was contagious though.”

“You’re such a ditz, Emma,” David said as he returned to his seat. “Mom, why couldn’t I have had two brothers?”

Kyle reached out and pulled Emma into him, burying her face in his chest. “Don’t say that about my only little girl, David. She might be ditz, but she’s the only ditz I’ve got, so you’d better treat her well.”

Emma let out a muffled yell.

“Am I smothering you?” Kyle asked, relaxing his embrace. “Or is my smell killing you?”

“A little bit of both, actually,” Emma said as she leaned back against the armrest. “But you’re not the only one who stinks.”

Kyle laughed as he tussled her hair. Jennifer leaned forward and glared warmly at her daughter, her lips hinting at a smile.

“What? He does kind of smell.”

“What’s gotten into you, little girl? I can’t remember the last time you had this much spunk. Are you feeling alright?”

Emma shrugged. “I’m just glad Dad’s home.”

“I’m sorry I smell so bad, Em. It’s been a few days since I had a bath. For some reason the motels were all closed. Maybe I can get cleaned up a little better tomorrow. Hopefully Carol won’t mind if I make an even bigger mess of her bathroom.”

“You smell just fine to me,” Jennifer said as she leaned back into the couch. “And Carol has repeatedly told us to make ourselves at home here.”

“I spit bathed with a wet towel a couple of times this week, but the river was awfully cold, so it was short and sweet. Those clothes I was wearing, they should probably be burned just to keep us safe.”

“We’re not burning any clothes. We make everything last. We’ll set you up with a real bath tomorrow. There’s a crew that brings water up from the river every morning. It’s not our day for bath water, but I’m sure they’ll make an exception. Your showing up here has really made a difference in the mood of the community. I actually saw a lot of people smiling for the first time.”

“I think I met most of the community today, but I really don’t know these people. How’s it been?”

Jennifer shook her head from side to side in a slow and deliberate motion as she searched for the right words. “It’s been difficult, but you seem to have given a lot of people hope who had lost it. You-- making it back from so far away--it’s amazing. I still almost don’t believe it. I’ve prayed for it and dreamt about it, thought about it every hour of every day, but I was losing hope, just like everyone else.”

“I prayed for it more than Mom did,” Emma interjected in a sleepy voice. “Every night before bed I said my prayers and asked for God to bring you home. Mom said I needed to do that every day.”

Kyle rubbed Emma’s leg. “I prayed to make it home, too, sweetie, and it had been a long time since I’d said any prayers. I guess God got tired of hearing from us, huh?”

Emma nodded, her eyes barely open. “But He listened, didn’t He?”

Jennifer smiled at Kyle as he turned back to her. “Your daughter really missed you. I can see a change in her already.” Emma’s eyes closed. “This whole thing has been really difficult, Kyle. I know you’ve been through a lot, walking so far and somehow making it home. But being here every day, seeing our neighbors slowly die, being hungry most of the time, the weather getting colder, and the nights longer…” She shook her head. “It’s hard. Sometimes you just want to give up. I think a lot of people had gotten to that point. We had gotten too used to easy; hard is taking some adjusting.”

“Do you think we’re safe here?”

Jennifer nodded. She glanced at the fire, watching the flames swirl and dance. “We’re safer here than any place else I can think of. I think you’re the miracle we needed, both for our family and the community. You’ve reminded us of what a person can do if something is important to them, if they don’t let the impossible stand in the way.”

“I didn’t know what I’d find when I got here, Jenn. You can’t imagine how I felt when I found blood in the house.” Kyle wiped at his eyes. “But we survived. We’re together, and we’ll make it. I don’t know what it’s going to take, but we’ve got to promise that we’ll never give up. Okay?”

“I promise,” Jennifer said, her eyes still focused on the flames. “I don’t know what it’s going to take, but I promise.”

“David, do you promise?” Kyle asked his son.

“I promise, Dad. If you can make it home, we can do this.”

“How ‘bout you, Emma.”

Emma nodded, her eyes still closed. She mumbled faintly. “If David can do it, I can. I promise.”

Kyle glanced down at Spencer, who was sound asleep and breathing deeply. “How about you, Spence? Are you ready to face whatever comes?”

CHAPTER 2

Saturday, November 19
^th

Deer Creek, MT

Unable to sleep, Kyle lay on his back staring at the ceiling as he listened to the steady breathing of his family. Jennifer slept beside him on a hide-a-bed mattress laid out on the basement floor in front of the fireplace. Emma and Spencer slept on cushions from the couch that were placed on the floor beside the mattress, and David slept in the recliner, the same one he’d spent so many hours in recuperating from his stab wound.

Kyle’s mind drifted back over the previous eleven weeks. The fact that he was lying beside his wife, in Montana, with all three of his children alive and mostly well and in the same room was almost more than he could believe.

He was thrilled to be home, so thrilled he couldn’t sleep. It struck him that for the first time in almost three months he faced a day with no predefined purpose—no town or mile marker to get to before the sun set, no far off family that he was pushing himself to return to. The family was here. The walk was over. And now he wondered if the hard part was the journey he’d just survived or the unknown future ahead of him.

He watched the burned logs in the fireplace, the embers still glowing faintly orange. The room was beginning to chill, but firewood was limited, so Kyle resisted the urge to put another log on the fire. David had explained that while there was plenty of wood in the area, there were limited numbers of saws and axes available to cut and split it. Most of what they were burning at this point was deadfall that was thin and dry enough to break by hand, but once winter intensified, the denser, better wood would be essential.

Kyle rolled onto his side. The foam mattress, while adequate, reminded him of the countless semi-truck bunks he’d slept on over the past weeks, and he made a mental note to retrieve a better mattress from their house in the morning, once he was cleaned up. At least with that he’d have a purpose for the day.

Jennifer was silhouetted in the faint light from the fireplace, and Kyle reached out, putting his hand on her shoulder and giving it a light squeeze. Jennifer jerked and let out a shrill noise, breaking the heavy silence of the night. Before he could react, Kyle felt Jennifer striking him. “Get away from me!” she shrieked. “Get away!”

Kyle shielded his head with his arms and rolled off of the mattress. He heard David’s groggy voice and the recliner swing back into the sitting position. “Mom! What’s wrong?”

Kyle leapt to his feet, avoiding Emma and Spencer while trying to figure out what was wrong with his wife. “Jenn?” She had stopped yelling but was now gasping loudly. Forgetting about a short coffee table next to him, Kyle took a step backwards to give Jennifer more space and hit his leg on it, sending him tumbling over the table in the darkness. He fell with a dull thud, groaning as he hit the floor.

“Dad, was that you?” David asked. “Mom, are you alright? What’s going on?”

“Yeah, that was me, David,” Kyle said rubbing his elbow. “I don’t know what’s going on. Jennifer?”

Jennifer’s breathing had slowed. “What happened?” she asked.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out. You started yelling and hitting me. All I did was put my hand on your shoulder.”

“Kyle? I’m sorry.”

Kyle heard Jennifer start to cry. “Is there a light or something we can turn on?”

“Just an old flashlight, but it’s pretty much dead,” David answered. “I can put more wood on the fire if you want, but it will take a few minutes to catch.”

Carol called out from up the stairs. “Everything okay down there?”

“I think we’re okay. Not sure what happened, but I think we’re fine,” Kyle answered. He crawled around the table to where Jennifer sat on the floor. “Can I touch you?”

“Yes,” Jennifer said in a voice that was barely audible.

“Do you want me to put more wood on the fire?” David asked.

“I think we’ll be okay without it. Spencer, Emma, you guys awake?”

There was a sleepy “uh huh.” Kyle couldn’t tell who it was.

“Sorry we woke you up. Mom just had a bad dream, I think. Go back to sleep.” Jennifer was shaking, and Kyle wrapped his arms around her. “Jenn, what’s wrong? I’ve never seen you like this. Are you okay?”

Jennifer rubbed Kyle’s arm and laid her head on his shoulder. “You scared me; that’s all. Not used to having a man in my bed I guess. Can we just forget about it?”

“You just want me to forget this?” Kyle released his wife and leaned back, trying to read her expression in the inky blackness. His right arm still tingled from the fall, and he flexed his fingers to work out the pain. “I suppose we can for now, as long as you promise not to beat on me again.” Jennifer let out a weak laugh, but Kyle noticed a glint of light reflect off her cheek.

Jennifer dabbed at the tear. “I’ll try, but I don’t know if I can promise you that, at least not yet. Give me time.” She spoke in short, halting sentences, fighting to control her emotions.

Kyle took her hand in his and caressed it. “This has something to do with what happened in our house, doesn’t it? This is why you won’t go back home.”

“Kyle, I’m so sorry. It’s just…” her emotions overwhelmed her, and she began to sob uncontrollably.

“Jennifer,” Kyle said, leaning in close. He wrapped his arms around his wife and held her tight. “Jennifer, please. It’s okay. Don’t apologize.”

“But… it shouldn’t…be like… this, Kyle,” she sobbed. “It’s your first night home, and I’m a basket case. I’m sure this isn’t what you expected, or what you deserve after all you’ve been through.”

“Jennifer. Stop. It’s okay.” He pulled her gently down on the mattress and drew the blanket over her shoulders. “It’s getting cold. Let’s just try and go back to sleep. I’m already forgetting what happened, just like you asked.”

“You thought you were coming home to a normal, stable wife, didn’t you?”

Kyle brushed away the strands of Jennifer’s hair that rubbed against his face and kissed her on the forehead.

Jennifer drew back a bit. “You thought you were coming home to a normal wife, didn’t you?” Her tone was more urgent.

“I didn’t know what I would be coming home to.” He paused to reflect. “I went eleven weeks with no contact, in a world screwed up beyond recognition. I didn’t know what to expect. It was total hell.”

“Are you disappointed with us? With me?”

“No! Never! Don’t ever think that. Today was the best day of my life. I can’t describe how happy I am to be home with you and the kids. I’ve walked fifteen hours a day for two and a half months, with next to no one to talk to except myself. That gives a person too much time to think. I hoped everything would be perfect and imagined things would be normal, with no problems, but then I would catch myself thinking about far worse outcomes, too. It was a long walk.”

“Did you forget mom had me here to take care of her?” David asked, his voice bright and alert.