On Ice (Contemporary Romantic Thriller) Page 3

  The pilot’s velvety voice greeted them overhead. “Ladies and gentlemen, we seem to be experiencing a little turbulence. It’s raining from here to the coast but we’ll ride out the storm and land in Seattle.”

  “Don’t worry, Miss.” The man across the aisle put his puzzle away. “This is a very safe plane and the airline has an exemplary safety record.” He smiled encouragingly.

  Rene nodded, praying there would be no delay because so much of her plan depended on timing. The blackening sky hurled pellets of rain.

  Lightning slashed through the menacing atmosphere at irregular intervals, brightening the storm as it buffeted them about. The plane was thrown around like a toy in the gale. The man across the aisle looked as sick as Rene felt, his fingers gripping the armrests.

  Dark clouds and lightning eventually gave way to a steady drizzle. They landed smoothly and deplaned along the jet way. The rain hitting the top of the passageway sounded like a drum roll as they exited.

  “Wow, I thought we would get soaked!” Seth skipped along the corridor causing it to bounce a little.

  “My tummy was tumbly.” Sara nodded her head wisely.

  “Well, we’re almost down to earth now.” Rene directed them onward.

  Seth carried the smallest bag and Rene looped the nylon zipper bag over her shoulder.

  Seth was excited and Sara caught the feeling. They fairly danced off the plane, rushing to the airport windows to look out on Seattle.

  “It’s so green!” Seth cried.

  “Green!” Sara echoed, leaving fingerprints on the glass and a small nose print.

  She smiled, trying to recall the last time she heard their voices raised in joy, not guarded. From this point on, they could just be children, if all went according to plan.

  “Where are we going to live, Mom?” Seth asked. “A house or an apartment?”

  “This is just a stopover, Honey. The rest of our bags are checked through.”

  “Where are we going?” Seth turned to her.

  “Alaska.” Rene shivered. “Surely that will be far enough.”

  ~*~

  CHAPTER THREE

  It was drizzling in Paris.

  Maddy peered out the window of the taxi. Tiny windshield wipers beat a rapid tempo as they swept arcs across the glass. She sincerely hoped their driver could see. Hunched over the steering wheel, he muttered in French as he wiped condensation with the back of his hand.

  Maddy and her daughters, Genna and Miranda, rode in silence to their hotel. She had made it a point to talk to their steward on the plane trying to emulate Rene’s sweet shyness. Being visible was part of the plan.

  The flight was long and the girls slept after a while but Maddy was too wound up to sleep. Her thoughts kept returning to Rene and the terror she had quietly endured for so many years. Had Rene been able to locate the gray rental car? Had her part of the plan gone smoothly?

  Whenever Maddy thought of Mark she was filled with rage. How could anyone harm another human being, especially one as kind and gentle as Rene?

  She smiled, stroking Genna’s cropped hair. Genna begged to have it cut like Seth’s to more easily carry out her part of the masquerade. It would grow back but would Seth’s emotional scars heal as quickly? He was such a solemn, self-controlled little boy. Perhaps he could learn to be happy and spontaneous. Perhaps with a lot of therapy.

  Sara was so young, the same age as her own Miranda, who lay asleep in her lap, innocent and unaware of her cousin’s plight.

  Maddy was proud of her daughters for helping to make Rene’s escape possible. If all went well, their ruse would buy Rene some time. If all went well.

  ~*~

  In fact, Mark Edward Desmond was stunned. When he’d arrived at Byrondale School, Mrs. Sloan appeared to be confused.

  “Why, Mr. Desmond, the children aren’t here. Mrs. Desmond picked them up earlier.”

  He’d felt like a fool. Rene made him a fool.

  “She said there was a death in the family.” Mrs. Sloan stood with her hands clasped together looking at him over her bifocals.

  “Yes. Yes, of course.” Mark felt totally inane saying it but he didn’t know how else to respond. Mark Desmond always knew what to say. He turned to leave.

  “She said she was meeting you at the airport.”

  Mark turned back and caught the expression on her face, as though she’d smelled something distasteful. He left without another word.

  Death in the family, indeed!

  Mark strode out of Byrondale, shoving the double doors so hard they hit the brick walls outside. His rage spilled over as he hurried down the walk to his vehicle. Gritting his teeth together, he let out a howl like a wounded animal.

  Inside the car he’d hit the steering wheel so hard his hand throbbed.

  “Wait till I get my hands on you!”

  ~*~

  By the time the plane touched down at the airport in Anchorage, Rene was having second thoughts. Unwilling to voice her doubts, she wondered if there was another way for her to have left Mark and still survived. During the flight, she was especially somber. As the plane taxied down the runway both children reflected her dark mood.

  Rene flashed them a too-bright smile. "This is going to be so exciting! I can't wait to see our new house."

  The children met these comments with silence.

  “Seth, I'll bet you'll have a lot of new friends.”

  “Yeah.” He was not enthusiastic.

  Sara clutched Pooh by the neck, rhythmically beating him against her chest.

  “Listen to this.” Rene began reading from the airline magazine. “Alaska was the 49th state to achieve statehood. It's been a territory since the 1860s. Did you know that parts of Alaska are very close to Russia?” She stopped prattling, abruptly dropping her voice. “Look, I know how you feel. I'm scared too.”

  “You're scared, Mommy?” Sara stopped beating Pooh.

  “Sure I am. We all get scared of things we don't know. It's just that I’m certain we’re doing the right thing and I know it will all work out well for us. I just don't know how yet.”

  “When will you know?” Sara was earnestly looking at her mother, the provider of all information.

  “In a few weeks,” she said positively. “We'll be settled in by then and know how our day-to-day lives will be going.”

  Her son had been absolutely silent.

  “Seth, are you all right?” When he nodded his head, she reached out and patted his hands, clenched together in his lap.

  Tears welled in his eyes and spilled, unchecked, down his cheeks.

  “Oh, honey, everything is going to be all right. Please believe me, Seth. I need you to believe me.”

  Several people turned toward them as Seth nodded and wiped at his tears. She located a tissue in her purse and he sniffled into it.

  “It'll be okay, Seffy.” Sara leaned over and tried to hug him though they were both belted in. “Mommy says so.”

  “When we’re in a private place, we'll talk about everything.” Rene spoke more confidently than she felt. “When we have a chance to talk about things I'll bet our worries won't look so big. Okay?”

  Seth nodded his head.

  Rene mentally kicked herself for letting her mood depress them. The kids were relying on her for protection and leadership. She couldn't let them down again.

  Entering the airport terminal, she spotted a big, bearded man with long hair holding a hand-lettered sign that read “Nichols”.

  Rene's heart took a lurch. He resembled Paul Bunyan as depicted in one of Sara’s storybooks. He was broad shouldered and looked strong as an ox, though she thought perhaps the term here might be strong as a grizzly.

  “I'm Rene Nichols,” she said, approaching the man.

  “Brett LeCroix,” he answered gruffly. Deep blue eyes seemed to be glaring down at her. “Give me your baggage claim tickets and I'll get your gear. You did bring jackets, didn't you?” He glowered at Rene questioningly. When she nodded, he picked
up her nylon shoulder bag and started walking briskly toward the exit. Rene and the children struggled to keep up.

  “Wait, Mommy!” Sara wailed. As they all turned to gaze at her, she explained sorrowfully, “My legs are too little.”

  “I'll fix that.” The big man picked up the small child in his other arm. “Now you have long legs.” She smiled delightedly and while he didn't quite smile, he looked a bit less fierce. He took them to his bright red Hummer, making sure they were properly attired in their required jackets and settled within the vehicle before leaving to get their baggage.

  “Who is he, Mom?” Seth spoke for the first time.

  “He's my new boss.”

  Brett returned with their gear and stowed in the back. With Rene perched high in the passenger seat, he made sure the children were belted in behind her. Brett started up the Hummer. As it lurched into gear, the tires made a loud crunching noise as they grappled with the road. Rene had noticed the huge tires, ringed with deeply grooved tread. They probably served a purpose, but she was too intimidated to ask.

  As they drove through the city of Anchorage, Brett kept up a running commentary, pointing out sights as they passed.

  “Almost half the population of Alaska lives right around Anchorage. We'll be heading out on the Glenn Highway. It's a very scenic route.”

  “Were you born here, Mr. LeCroix?” Rene asked.

  “Yes, I'm a native. My family has been here since the early gold rush days. In fact, my great-grandfather founded the town we're headed for.”

  “And you've always lived there?”

  “No, I grew up in Seward. The mine was thought to be played out and my grandfather moved his family, including my father, to Seward. But he still owned the property and he used to take me there when I was a boy. Probably because I was the only one really interested in it, he left it all to me when he died. I was filled with his stories and the stories his father told him. I majored in geology and engineering at Washington State and learned enough to take another look when I graduated.”

  “It sounds almost romantic,” Rene said, blushing when he gave her a sharp look.

  “Nothing romantic about it. Just hard work. Only recently has technology found a way to recover ore from the smaller veins, but they have to be worked consistently eight months of the year to make the whole thing worthwhile. And there are other minerals present. At first, the men I hired were drifters and drunks. They’d work for a while and drift on. Now I've attracted family men anxious to make a home but they won't stay unless I provide them with a sane and sober teacher for their children. That's why I'm willing to pay you more than twice what you make in Houston.”

  Rene swallowed hard. She had no idea about the financial arrangements because Maddy had done all the negotiating.

  “By the way, you'll receive the sign-on bonus when we ink the contract tomorrow. I'll take you to your cabin and let you get settled in. My housekeeper, Mrs. Jolly, did some shopping for food and laid in other essentials for you. I think you’ll be comfortable there.”

  “How kind. Please convey my appreciation.” Rene's head was whirling from all the details she didn't know. “Since it's early May will school be over for the year soon?”

  Jerking his head to face her, he frowned. “Miz Nichols, we discussed all of this on the phone and I sent you a letter confirming your duties. Didn't you receive it?”

  “Oh, yes. I just couldn't remember the details with all the excitement today.”

  Fear tingled in the pit of her stomach. She pointed out the window to change the subject. “What's that?” She gestured toward a group of brightly decorated houses. They were painted in Easter egg colors and designs. Adorning each of the roofs was a frill of lacy cutout designs.

  “There's a large community of Russian descendants living in Alaska. They keep to themselves mostly and stick to the old ways.”

  Leaving the city behind, the houses and businesses grew infrequent. The highway made a slow ascent.

  Rene leaned back and yawned, wondering how long it would take for them to arrive at their destination. She couldn't wait to get a good look at Maddy's packet of papers that she’d barely inspected. Sara fell asleep in the back and Seth remained silent.

  As they drove, majestic snow-capped mountain peaks arose in the distance. The sky was a crystal blue contrasting sharply with the stark white peaks. On their level, many verdant green shades played against each other. Tall pines nudged close to clear streams and lakes.

  “That water looks so clean and inviting,” Rene said.

  “It's clean all right,” Brett nodded toward the water, “but I wouldn't go skinny-dipping. The temperature is only in the 40's now and the water is a whole lot colder.”

  “It looks like a bright spring day from here.”

  “It is a spring day,” he said, “in Alaska. Even in summer it never gets much over 70 degrees.”

  “I'll have to buy more clothing,” Rene said. “At this time of year, the stores in Houston didn't carry anything even remotely appropriate.”

  “You don't need anything fancy. Just get some comfortable, sturdy shoes, lots of warm socks. Got to keep your feet warm.” He glanced down at Rene's sneakers. “You'll need something better than those for outdoors.”

  Rene looked at her expensive brand of walking shoes. “These are pretty sturdy.” She heard the defensive tone in her own voice.

  “Not by a long shot,” he said. “You'll want to get something insulated with a hard rubber sole. It won't do to get your feet chilled. Other than that, you'll probably want to stock up on long-sleeved shirts and denim jeans. When it gets colder there will be a big selection of long johns in the stores. Just remember to dress in layers. You can take some off when you’re inside and put them on when you go out.”

  “Is there a place to make these purchases where we're going?”

  “Sad Horse has a few stores, a cafe, a bar, gas station, bank, beauty shop, the post office and the church. Father Paul and Reverend Goodnight share the same building.”

  “Where did the name ‘Sad Horse’ come from?” Rene hoped this information wasn't also in the unread letter.

  “There's the river running along the edge of town. Way back when, somebody climbed up on the mountain and thought the river down below looked like the neck of a dejected horse. Named it the Sad Horse River and put it on the map that way. Town built up after the gold strike.”

  Rene became accustomed to his clipped speech and fragmented sentences. When he wasn't frowning he could almost pass for attractive. His hair was way too long and the dark brown beard was unkempt. A crumpled black felt hat was crammed down on his head and piercing blue eyes glowered out from under the long hair. His flannel-clad arms poked out of a down-filled vest. The cuffs were turned back to expose powerful-looking forearms. Even the hands gripping the wheel were muscular.

  Rene shivered thinking how much pain Mark's smaller, well-manicured hands could inflict. What damage could these big paws do?

  “Are you cold?” Brett pushed the heater up a notch.

  “A little.” She noticed that Seth had also fallen asleep, leaning against Sara for support. “Wow! The kids are exhausted.”

  “You probably are, too. You should get to bed as soon as you can.”

  He turned off the main highway and onto another well-traveled road. They had been climbing all the time and now turned onto an unpaved road, barely wide enough for two cars to pass. Soon the town came into view. The buildings were mostly one-story and looked as though they had been there a long time. A few empty structures were intermingled, but most businesses appeared to be thriving. Brett drove through town and pulled off of the rocky, rutted road onto a path that looked relatively unused. Pine trees formed a canopy overhead and the dense shade was restful rather than threatening. The needles they dropped formed a blanket for the noisy tires, crunching softly underneath. The road curved around to the right and in the middle of a clearing, Rene got her first look at their new home. A log cabin with
a steeply pitched roof nestled among the pines. It had a covered porch along the front and some sort of outbuildings in the back.

  “How quaint!” Rene clasped her hands in delight. “It looks like a doll house.”

  “I'm delighted you think it's quaint,” Brett said in a flat voice. She looked to see if he was rolling his eyes up in his head.

  “I. . . I just mean that it's really—” She faltered.

  “I know,” Brett said. “Quaint.”

  Rene wondered if she would ever be able to say something to this man that didn't make her feel like a brainless female totally out of her element.

  ~*~

  Maddy and the girls deplaned in Edinburgh, Scotland amidst a steady drizzle.

  “Look, there’s Daddy!” Genna said.

  “Daddy!” Miranda shrieked, running to his outstretched arms.

  Ted scooped her up, enveloping Maddy and Genna in his other arm. “What a long couple of days this has been! I hope you’ve all missed me as much as I’ve missed you.”

  “Oh, Ted!” Maddy kissed and hugged him fiercely. “I tossed and turned all night. Your arms are the best pillow in the world.”

  “I didn’t sleep either,” he confessed. He peered at her through his glasses that had slipped to the end of his nose. “You are indeed habit-forming, my dearest bride.”

  Maddy blinked back tears as she smoothed his thinning, wind-ruffled hair. “I’m such a lucky woman!” She thought of Rene and gave him another kiss.

  “Please, Mom,” Genna protested. “People are looking.”

  “True,” she said, glancing at the onlookers. “We don’t want to shock these proper folks. Let’s get the luggage and begin our vacation.”

  ~*~

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Stepping out of the vehicle, Rene heard the sound of rushing water. The air smelled clean and crisp, scented with pine and wood smoke. A thin curl of white wisped from the cabin’s chimney to etch a line of contrast against the blue of the sky. Inhaling deeply, Rene looked around the clearing. She hadn’t realized there were so many shades of green, some almost blue.