For the Love of Suzanne (29 page)

She quickly retrieved the heavy garment and
stopped him long enough to put it back on him.

He spread his arms as she buttoned it. “I
don’t want this. I’m warm now.”

“You can’t be,” she said as she
struggled with the buttons with her shaking fingers. “Come on.
We need to get back to camp,” she said as she started dragging
him by the arm only to have him fall onto his back.

He laid still and began to laugh as he looked up.
“How many stars are in the sky?”

“I have no idea,” she said shortly and
began to pull on his arm. “Get up, Cody. You have to help me.”

“Help you what?” he asked innocently.
“I’m doing fine riiight here,” he drawled.

“Oh God, help me,” she begged
breathlessly and struggled to get him to his feet and just ended up
falling to her knees next to him.

He looked up at her with no recognition in his
eyes. “Whoa. You’re beautiful,” he said in awe.
“Are you an angel?”

“Get up,” she said between clenched
teeth as she pulled on his arm and then slid her arm around the back
of his neck only to pull his long hair as she finally got him to sit
up.

“Ow. That hurt,” he protested
casually. “I guess that means you want me to get up.”

“Yes. Just move to the fire,” she
directed him.

“Okay,” he said simply and easily rose
to his feet and walked toward camp as if nothing was wrong.

She struggled to her feet and followed him,
catching up with him and guiding him to the fire. She eased him into
a sitting position and handed him the stick with the cooked rabbit on
it. “I think this is done now,” she told him, sitting
beside him.

He took a bite. “It needs salt.”

“Titan has our supplies,” she reminded
him, knowing he wasn’t thinking straight.

“That damn horse,” he hissed and took
a deep breath and cupped his hands over his mouth. “TITAN!”
he yelled at the top of his lungs and looked at her with a smart
little laugh. “I’ll bet you can’t yell that loud.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I
can.”

He ate some more of the rabbit. “This damn
thing will probably be frozen before I get it eaten,” he
grumbled. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this cold,”
he said wondrously.

“It is very cold,” she agreed, fearing
for him and hoping he wasn’t freezing to death. “Please,
Cody, eat. You need to keep up your strength so you can get us back
to Arizona.”

“I’m eating, I’m eating,”
he grumbled and did eat and ate well, much to her relief. But after
he was through, he began to shiver violently again and crossed his
arms over his chest and laid down in the snow. “I’m so
cold,” he barely whispered. “Why won’t that horse
come back?” he moaned in defeat.

She was worried about him as she lay down next to
him, keeping him close to the fire, having no idea as to what to do.
She moved on top of him and buried her face in his neck, hoping she
wasn’t making him colder.

He slid his hands into the fur of her coat.
“You’re cold, too. I know you are,” he said softly.

“I’m not as cold as you are. Is this
helping?”

“Just having you in my arms is helping,”
he said drowsily.

She raised her head and looked into his handsome,
exhausted face. “Don’t go to sleep,” she said
sternly and kissed his cold lips for a moment. “Cody, don’t
you dare go to sleep. You told me I would freeze to death if I did
and now I’m telling you.”

“I just need a minute,” he said
thickly. “Wake me up in a minute.”

“No. Stay awake. Please,” she begged
and kissed him again. “I love you,” she said softly into
his ear. “Don’t leave me.”

He was slowly running his hands up and down her
back through the thick fur coat, murmuring things in his Native
language under his breath. “I love you,” he whispered as
his hands moved slower and slower until he stopped.

She raised her head and gazed into his relaxed,
handsome face, thinking he was either sleeping or dead. She couldn’t
feel him breathing through the bulk of their coats nor could she hear
him or see his breath. God, why didn’t he snore like Beau used
to?

She slid off him and grabbed him by the coat.
“Cody, wake up!” she said loudly and shook him violently.
When he didn’t move or make a sound, she shook him even harder.
“Wake. Up,” she said between clenched teeth and shook him
again with anger and frustration. “Don’t you leave me out
here. You promised to get me back where I came from,” she
growled as she shook him as hard as she could.

He focused on her with bleary eyes. “Were
you talking to me, sweetheart?” he asked with surprising
clarity.

She sighed with relief and choked back her tears,
so afraid that he was going to die. “Let’s get moving.
Okay?”

“I think I’m dying,” he said
weakly.

“No, you aren’t,” she said
breathlessly. “You are not dying on me, Cody Black Fox. I won’t
let you,” she said with determination. “I’m not
going to sit back and watch the only man I’ve ever loved die in
this hellhole. We’re moving now!”

He’d voiced her worst fears. If he died, not
only would she fail to make it back to her world, but she would be
lost in this one forever without him. She knew she could stay here if
she had to, as long as she was with him, but without him, she didn’t
want to exist. She wasn’t about to let him go.

“Cody,” she said a little more calmly
and pressed a kiss to his cold lips, her heart slowly breaking as she
watched him suffer. She thought she would be the one to go down and
was surprised that it was him. She was going to help him. They were
going to survive this together. “Stay with me,” she
begged in a quiet voice. “We’re going to make it. Come on
now,” she said and stood up and grabbed him by the arm. “Come.
On,” she said fiercely as she pulled him as hard as she could.

Miraculously, he gained his feet on his own
volition then kicked snow over the weak fire. “I don’t
know how far I can make it,” he said breathlessly. “I’m
about frozen.”

She held him around his waist as he held her
around her shoulders, struggling to hold him up. “I know you
are, but we can make it,” she said confidently. “We have
to make it. We can do this.”

He nodded, breathing hard, the cold air frosting
his breath. “If I fall, let me lie. Keep going. Just keep going
in the same direction and you’ll get there,” he said
seriously.

“You’re out of your mind. I’m
not going to leave you here,” she said with disbelief that he’d
even suggested such a thing.

“Suzanne, I love you. God knows I do, but
I’ve done you a grave injustice by bringing you here. Listen to
me now,” he panted. “There’s no point in both of us
dying. You’re obviously better suited to make the trip. If I
fall, leave me,” he said sternly, his teeth chattering and his
breath coming out in short, labored puffs. “I mean it.”

“No. You ask too much of me this time. I
would do anything for you, anything in the world, but I won’t
do that. If you fall, I will pick you up,” she said with near
desperation, breathing hard along with him.

“You can’t. I’m too big for you
to haul. Just keep on the same course we’re on now a-and,”
he coughed for a moment and commenced breathing as if he’d run
a marathon. “And you will find your way home.”

“What if I find the horse?” she asked
anxiously. “Can you make it on the horse?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. The
horse isn’t here, Suzanne,” he said raggedly. “He’s
been gone for hours and I don’t think he’s coming back.”

“Maybe we can find an old abandoned cabin or
something.”

“There’s nothing out here, honey,”
he said with surprising lucidity. “Just wilderness for miles
around. You’ll be all right,” he said with weak
confidence and kissed her with shaking lips. “Just keep
moving.”

“I’m not going anywhere without you,”
she said with fortitude, tightening her hold on him. “Come on
now. We can do this.”

He walked just a few steps and sunk to his hips in
a snowdrift. “Oh my God!” he yelled up at the sky with
frustration, raising his arms weakly as he looked at the stars. “Give
me a hand here. Please.”

Suzanne dropped to her knees and began to
frantically pull the snow away from him. “I’ll get you
out,” she said earnestly as she quickly dug.

“Forget me, Suzanne,” he pleaded. “Go
before you die, too.”

“Forgive me, Cody, but shut the hell up,”
she spat. “I’m not going to do anything of the sort,”
she said as she labored without stopping.

He laughed. “Shut the hell up?”

“That’s what I said,” she
panted without remorse as she worked to free him.

He laughed some more. “I’ve never
heard that before.”

She looked at him with a smile. “I could
teach you all sorts of lingo.”

“Lingo?”

“Language. Slang words and phrases and trust
me, they’re not all good.”

“Oh,” he said feebly.

She looked at him as she continued to dig. “Would
you like that?”

“Yes. I would like that very much.”

“Well, it isn’t going to happen if you
give up and die on me out here,” she said as she exerted
herself, shoving the snow away from his legs.

He began to move the snow, too, even though he was
exhausted and weak. He was trying to help her when he heard twigs and
branches break behind her. He grabbed her arm and got her attention.
“Go get my gun,” he whispered to her. “Move easy.
There’s something moving behind you.”

She looked over her shoulder then jumped to her
feet with excitement. “Titan,” she said happily and ran
to get the horse.

Cody lowered his head humbly. “Thank you,”
he whispered and made the sign of the cross over his chest.

She took the huge horse’s reins and led him
to Cody. “You don’t need your gun for him, do you?”

“Not if he’s okay.”

“I don’t know if he is or not. I can’t
tell.”

“We’ll find out. Find the rope on the
saddle and tie it to the horn then give me the end. He’s going
to drag me out of here.”

The light was good enough for her to easily find
it then clumsily did as he’d instructed. Her fingers were so
stiff from the cold and they hurt when she tied the knot, but she
forged ahead, wanting to save him.

She handed the other end to him. “Can you
hold it?”

“Not really, but I’m going to have to
if I want to get out of here.”

“Maybe I can tie it around your chest.”

“You can try. I can’t believe how weak
I am,” he said with wonder. “Be careful not to sink in
here with me.”

“I’m trying,” she said as she
inched her way to him. “You’re cold, but now everything
is going to be okay,” she assured him as she clumsily tied the
rope around his chest as he feebly raised his arms. She tied it as
tight as she could then planted a kiss to his icy cheek. “Are
you ready?” she asked breathlessly.

He nodded. “Yeah. Just walk him slowly.”

“Okay,” she said barely above a
whisper as she got to her feet and trudged through the snow to the
front of the animal and took him by the halter. “We have to
save your master so be good,” she murmured to him. She gave a
couple of light ticks and began to lead him slowly, watching Cody as
he emerged from the snow almost like a phoenix rising.

It wasn’t a long operation and when he was
dragged on his belly a few yards away from the drift he’d
fallen into, she stopped the horse and let Cody rest on top of the
snow while she untied the rope from the saddle.

He rolled onto his back, panting, his breath
crystallizing in the air. “Give me the reins so we don’t
have to walk anymore.”

She did so quickly and knelt beside him to untie
the rope around him, impervious to the sharp, needle-like pricking
pain shooting through her fingers. She clumsily wound up the rope
again as best as she could and put it back on the saddle.

He wrapped the reins around his hand and closed
his eyes in agony. “God is good,” he whispered unevenly.
“God is good.”

She knelt beside him. “Yes, Cody. God is
good.”

He closed his eyes wearily and breathed heavily,
still holding the reins as he tried to rest.

She had never been a religious person, but had
always believed in God and knew Cody did, too, and looked up into the
starry sky. “Will you help me get him someplace warm?”
she asked softly. “I don’t know where to go and I don’t
think he can navigate. Please help us.”

His awkward movements got her attention and she
jumped to her feet to help him to his, grateful that Titan was so
close. Cody was so weak and tired, she didn’t know how long she
could hold him up. But she tried and guided him to the big horse and
stood beside him and looked, wondering how she was going to get him
up on his back.

Cody turned to her and with a burst of strength,
lifted her into his arms and set her in the saddle. With amazing
agility and strength, he vaulted up behind her on his first attempt.

She took the reins from him. “Hold onto me.
I don’t want you to fall,” she ordered.

He moved both of his arms around her thick waist,
resting his hands on her baby and leaned his forehead against the
back of her head. He was so cold and so tired and had lost the
feeling in his fingers and toes hours ago. He was exhausted and
wanted to sleep.

Suzanne shared his exhaustion, but she knew it was
up to her to get them out of here and ticked the horse into a slow
walk. She had chased Cody in so many directions, she couldn’t
tell where they’d come from or where she needed to go and
looked up at the star-filled dark sky again. “Please,”
she whispered.

She felt as if she were guiding Titan in circles
through the thick trees and snow when a bright light appeared from
nowhere in front of her. Her heart gave a rush of hope and she hoped
she wasn’t hallucinating as she steered the stallion toward it
and changed directions with it. She was following without hesitation.