She had often found her daughter handled her fears and insecurities much better when she felt useful. Much like Andie did herself.
“I’ve got a flashlight. The Frozen one. Should I use that?”
“That would be great, if you know where it is.”
“Under my pillow.” Her mouth twisted with guilt. “I might have been reading my book a little past my bedtime.”
It was difficult to get too mad at her for that when Andie frequently did the same. Judging that her daughter had her emotions under better control now, she set her down, then used her phone for light while Chloe found her own flashlight.
When they opened the door to Will’s room, Sadie immediately trotted to his bed and jumped up, where the dog proceeded to lick his salty little-boy cheek.
Will opened his eyes blearily. “Sadie,” he mumbled, still mostly asleep. “Get down. You’re not supposed to be on the bed.”
The light caught his attention and he squinted at it and his eyes opened more. “Chloe! Why did you put Sadie on my bed?”
He always had such a croaky little voice when he first woke up. Normally it made her smile, but not in the middle of a crisis.
“I didn’t. She put herself there.”
“Why is it so dark? Where’s my night-light?”
“The power is out. A tree fell on the garage,” Chloe announced. Now that the initial crisis had passed and her worst fears allayed, she seemed to be relishing the dramatic events.
“Did it smash my bike?” Will asked.
Oh. She had been so worried about the children she hadn’t given a thought to possible consequences. Her new SUV was in that garage. Had it been damaged? Wouldn’t that be just her luck?
Cars could be replaced, she reminded herself. That was the entire reason for insurance. Her children were safe and that was the only thing that mattered.
“I’m sorry I had to wake you. We only needed to make sure you’re all right. You can stay here under your blankets where it’s warm for now, since the furnace can’t come on without electricity.”
“Are we going to freeze to death?” Chloe asked, some of her anxiety returning.
“No, honey. You know I wouldn’t let that happen. For now, we’ll bundle up to keep warm. If we have to, we’ll go stay at a hotel.”
“Maybe the tree smashed our car,” Will said. “If it did, how will we even get to a hotel?”
“I promise we’ll figure something out. Chloe, you can climb back into your bed if you want and read your book. Or both of you can climb into my big one, and just this once, you can take Sadie with you.”
They chose that option and she settled them into her bed with Chloe’s flashlight, an extra blanket and a wriggly, warm little Havachon and then headed back to the living room.
The temperature of the house had dropped another few degrees while she was in with the children. She couldn’t see Cade at first and thought perhaps he had gone outside to check the situation. She was changing her slippers for boots to join him when she thought she heard two distinct male voices, raised and angry.
A moment later, the door opened and to her complete shock, Marshall hobbled in on his crutches with a plastic bag tied around his orthopedic boot and Cade right behind him, his handsome features furious.
“I told you the situation was under control. You didn’t need to come down here.”
“I wanted to make sure everybody was okay,” Marshall said stubbornly.
“So you walked through nine inches of fresh snow on crutches.”
“All of three hundred feet. It’s not like I trekked to the top of Mount Solace.”
Despite his nonchalance, she could see he was in pain and she quickly pulled a chair around so the stubborn man could sit down.
Looking a little embarrassed, he sank down. He had walked through deep powder on crutches to make sure she and her children were all right.
How on earth was she supposed to resist that?
“You are certifiable,” Cade declared.
“Yeah. Probably. So what’s the story?”
“I was in the middle of assessing the situation when I got a little distracted by the sight of some idiot hobbling down the snowy street. From what I could see, the roof of the garage is damaged but not completely destroyed. Looks like it barely missed your car, which is good, but I hope you’re done with your Christmas shopping because it likely will be a day or two before you’ll be able to go anywhere.”
She released a breath. “What about the power?”
“The tree took out the line from the street. I’ve already called the power company, but they’re backed up and probably won’t be out until late tomorrow or the next day. You’re going to have to find somewhere else to sleep for tonight and possibly tomorrow, but all in all, you’re lucky. If that tree had fallen the other way, it would have come down right where you were sleeping.”