“Cass, sip some water.” I gripped the glass, but I noticed he didn't let it go, instead aiding me to bring the glass to my lips. I sipped the cool water and felt the cool cloth on my head and back of my neck. It took a bit, but after a while, the room stopped spinning, and I started to feel a little better.
“You okay?”
“Hmmm, yes. I feel better now, thank you,” I smiled at the officers.
“Now, I think you may want to ride with us down to the hospital. Don't think you should get in the car and drive, miss.”
In agreement, I excused myself from the room and ran down the hallway to get changed. I opened the drawer of my dresser to grab a sweatshirt, and that was when I noticed that little wooden box was gone. I glanced around the room to see if maybe I had moved it, but it was nowhere to be found. I thought back, the last time I remembered seeing it was the night I had brought it in here, but I didn't have time to worry about it, I had to get ready and get to Brody.
Locking the front door, I followed the officers to their cruiser. One held the door open for me, and as I was getting in the back seat, a vehicle I didn't recognize pulled into the driveway and stopped just in front of the garage. The front passenger door opened, and someone got out.
It only took the sound of his deep voice calling my name for me to know who it was before I took off across the driveway and crashed into his body. He wrapped his strong arms around me and held me tight. It had never felt so good to be held by someone as it did at that moment.
“You came back,” I cried.
“I promised you I would.” He kissed me deeply, holding me as if he would never let me go.
* * *
Brody
The room dimly lit,welaid in bed, her body pressed to mine, my arms wrapped around her. We hadn't said much to one another. We had shared a tea by the fire in front of the tree, cuddled together on the couch, finally moving to the comfort of her warm soft bed. Something I hadn't had the luxury of sleeping in for a couple of nights.
“I'm so glad you came back to me,” I heard her whisper, her fingers tracing small circles in the palm of my hand.
I pressed my lips behind her ear. “I told you I'd be back. That I wasn't going anywhere,” I said in a sleepy voice.
I was so comforted by the fact she was lying in my arms, the sound of her slow steady breathing was almost lulling, but I still fought to keep my eyes open in case she needed me. I clasped her hand in mine, kissing her cheek. The tension radiating from her was unsettling. I knew this had been hard on her.
“You can sleep now, baby, I’m here. I’m safe, we’re together.” I tightened my grip on her, pulling her against me. She rolled her body into me, burying her face into my neck.
“How did you know I haven’t slept?” she whispered.
I let out a light chuckle. “Because I didn’t sleep, I couldn’t. If I gave up for one second thinking about being back here with you, right now, just like this, I don’t think I would be here tonight.”
“Really?”
“That’s how much you mean to me, Cass.”
She grew quiet, and I watched as she closed her eyes, comforted by the fact I was there. When her breathing steadied and she relaxed fully in my arms, I too relaxed, comforted by the fact I was in the only place I wanted to be forever, and I fell into a deep restful sleep.
Chapter Thirty-One
Cass
We sat together on thefloor in front of the fire, the cozy lights from the Christmas tree shining down on us, Christmas music lightly playing in the background. Christmas Eve was here. A half-eaten pizza sat on the floor while we shared the remainder of the bottle of wine we had opened. I sat back against the chair and listened to Brody as he told me the story about what had happened.
“We had been following Tim, he was head of our search team. The wind was blowing the snow so hard, we had almost zero visibility. We took a few more steps forward, and Tim was suddenly gone, he fell down an embankment. We could hear him calling for help, so we slid down to where he was. We figured he had broken his ankle and twisted his knee from the fall. At this point, we were all well passed our rest period, cold, tired, and hungry, but we had no idea where we were, so we had to keep going, we needed to find shelter somewhere. We continued walking from where we had found Tim, he was using us for support, but he was starting to get to the point where he was in so much pain, he wouldn’t be able to take much more. We finally came upon an old metal shed-like building. When we got inside, we found five bails of hay which we broke apart and put on the ground, hoping it would insulate us from the cold. I tried to call back to the base to let them know we were alive, but we must have been out of range. I decided to try to call, but my cell phone battery had died from the cold.
“Anyway, we stayed put for the night. Tim was in bad shape, and as soon as he was off his leg, it started to swell. We couldn’t leave him there alone, and it was too dangerous for only one of us to try to go back. The wind and snow eventually piled up against the door, basically to the point we couldn't get out the next morning which was good because it served as insulation. I never slept, I couldn't. I couldn't get my mind off you and what you must be going through. I had no idea how long we had been in the shed when I finally heard a voice on the walkie. It was broken up, but it was definitely a voice. We had somehow ended up on an old ski run that had been out of use for a while.”
He stopped speaking and took a sip of his wine.
“I was so worried about you. I'm so glad you’re okay.” I leaned in, kissing him.
“I noticed you did as I asked and didn't snoop,” he said, nodding toward the tree, and that was when it dawned on me I hadn't gotten him anything. With all that had gone on over the last week, I had forgotten.
“Brody, I feel horrid, I don't have anything for you.”