Down and Dirty(51)

Maggie dropped her head onto Gracie’s chest. “Thank you, thank you,” she murmured over and over, wrapping her arms around her granddaughter and the man who had brought her home.

“Did someone notify the parents yet?” Rafe asked.

Shane nodded, pulling away from Maggie. “Yes. We called them, and they’re en route now. They were about a mile out, so they’ll be here any minute. Maggie,” he said gently, “let’s get her inside near the fire until the ambulance comes, all right?”

Maggie straightened and took a shuddering breath. “Of course, of course, come on.”

She gripped Shane’s elbow like she couldn’t bear to lose contact and led them up the stairs to where Cat stood looking on. He searched her face. “You okay?”

She pasted on a reassuring smile. “I’m great.” But that was a lie. She peered down at Grace’s face, pink and so very alive, and her relief was so all-encompassing that her legs could barely hold her. She was a nanosecond away from breaking into gut-wrenching sobs, but managed to hold it together through sheer force of will. She followed them into the house, joined by the rescue crews and police officers who had begun trickling in from the woods.

The chatter was jubilant and incessant coming from all directions, but Cat was able to piece together that Gracie had heard a noise outside in the wee hours of the morning and hoped it was Santa coming again. She’d donned her boots and went outside to follow the sounds but, with the snow falling, had quickly gotten lost. At some point, she came across a ground-level wooden hunting blind about a mile from the cottage. She went inside, burrowed beneath an old wool blanket she found on the floor, and fell asleep. One of the volunteers had passed the blind and even approached to look inside, but didn’t see the tiny girl under the dirty old blanket. Luckily, when Shane heard about the boot being found, he went back to the area and saw the blind as well.

“Thank you for coming with me.” Shane had come up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “You did a really great job holding Maggie together.”

“Thanks.” She turned to face him, barely resisting the urge to trace the lines of tension bracketing his mouth. “It’s okay now. You did it. She’s home.”

“Yeah. And I’m very relieved. It just…brings back memories of the times that didn’t turn out as well.” His intense eyes grew dark, and she wanted to comfort him, but felt so fragile herself that if she did they might both fall apart. She needed to get out of this place, and fast. Go home, cry it out. Burrow under a blanket herself until she could face the world again.

The sound of a siren wailed in the distance. “We should go, let the family take care of her now,” Shane said, jutting his chin toward the door.

“Sounds like a good idea.”

She followed him to the closet for her coat, where they were met by Rafe. He put a hand on Shane’s shoulder. “You were a lifesaver today, man. Literally. I appreciate you coming out.”

“Your team is great. You guys would have found her without me, but I’m glad I was here to help.”

Rafe shook his head. “I don’t know if that’s true, but thanks for saying so. I’d like to talk to you about some training in the future, when you’re back for good and settled in.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

By tacit agreement, she and Shane slipped out without saying good-bye to the Abbotts. Their full attention needed to be on Gracie right now.

By the time they got to the truck, the adrenaline that had been sustaining her drained from her body, leaving her exhausted.

“I didn’t even do anything, and I feel like I need to sleep for a week.” She wrapped her arms around her shoulders and shivered, the cold seeming to penetrate into her very bones.

“You did plenty,” he assured her, tugging his gloves off and setting them on the console between them. They were wet, and his hands were bone white. She took one in hers and gasped.

”Jesus, your hands are like ice and your gloves are wet. Can you even feel your fingers? And your feet must be soaked through.”

He pulled away from her and got his keys from his pocket to start the engine. “I’m fine,” he insisted. “I’ve been way colder than this before.”

Anger sent a welcome blast of heat and energy through her. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? You could have gotten frostbite. Why didn’t you come in for a break to warm up and get some dry gloves and socks, at least?”

He sighed and pulled the truck from the driveway. “Time wasn’t on our side. We needed one crew to continue the sweep so we could make sure to get the whole area again before the next storm, and we needed another to focus on the area around the boot. It was more important for the people less accustomed to the prolonged cold to take breaks, and I didn’t want to leave either crew shorthanded.”