looked down at the floor, where puddles of water had pooled around her ski boots. She shook her head from side to side, then looked Stephanie squarely in the face. “I was hoping they would be here with you. I’ve spent the past two hours looking for them.”
Stephanie felt her heart plummet to her feet and back, then lodge in the back of her throat. She tried to speak but was unable to utter a single word. She shook her head, hoping she’d just imagined what Melanie had said, but the look on her babysitter’s face told her she’d heard correctly.
Glenn? It couldn’t be!
Melanie must have read her mind. “They’re on this mountain somewhere skiing, I’m sure of it; no way did their dad bust out of jail. They were so excited about going on the blue run, I think they simply forgot to wait for me at the appointed area. I saw them ski all the way down, then I lost sight of them for what couldn’t have been more than two or three minutes. By the time I got to the meeting point, they were nowhere to be found.”
Stephanie felt as though she would simply die. Just die and be done with it. But she wasn’t a quitter, especially where her children were concerned. She’d been this route before and would do whatever she had to do to protect her daughters. She wanted to strangle Melanie, but her anger would have to wait. She had to find her children before it was too late. Just minutes ago, she’d heard a snow report, and it didn’t sound good. She’d heard a few customers saying they’d heard the lifts were going to close early if the snow report held true.
Springing into action, Stephanie raced to the office, where she grabbed her old skis, poles, and boots. She knew this mountain like the back of her hand. If her girls were lost, she wasn’t going to wait around. She was going to find them no matter how long it took. She raced out of the office, shouting to Candy Lee over her shoulder. “There’s an emergency. Call Patrick and tell him to send someone over to help you. The girls are lost on the mountain!”
Melanie raced after her. “Stephanie, you can’t go out in this weather. The storm is moving in faster than the forecasters anticipated. I’ve contacted the ski patrol, and they’re all out searching for them. They’ll need their mother once they’re found.”
As Stephanie raced out the back door to the snowy parking area, she stopped to lay her skis down on the crusted snow on the path that would lead her to the lifts. She shot a quick glance at Melanie and saw thick tears streaming down her face and knew she was as concerned for the girls’ safety as she was. She leaned in to give her a quick hug. “I can’t not search for them, Melanie. They’re all I have,” Stephanie said as she buckled her ski boots and slid her boots into the skis’ binding. After she heard the required click letting her know her boots were fitted securely into her skis, she pushed away from Melanie, heading to the lift. She poled as fast as she could through the clumps of ice and brown slush. An injury was the last thing she needed.
Arriving at lift number one, Stephanie practically soared to the chair, where she was met by a young boy of no more than eighteen. She’d seen him around but couldn’t recall his name.
“We’re closing the lifts. Sorry,” he said as he stood in front of the chair Stephanie was preparing to get on.
She shook her head. “No, I have to get up there. My girls are lost. The ski patrol is looking for them now.” Stephanie saw the look of indecision on the boy’s face. “Look, I won’t tell anyone you let me ride up to the mountain in these conditions. I have to get up there, please!” Stephanie shouted. Giant flakes of snow scattered across her cheeks as she stared at the boy. Apparently he decided her request was worth the risk because he went inside his minibooth, and the chair began to move slowly.
A million thoughts went through her mind as the lift made its climb to the top of the mountain. What if they couldn’t find the girls in time? With the weather conditions worsening by the minute, they wouldn’t last long in this cold. Stephanie knew Ashley understood basic survival skills, as she’d insisted that Ashley take a junior mountain-survival class last year when the child had pleaded with her, telling Stephanie she was old enough to ski the green runs alone. They’d compromised. Ashley took the class and was allowed to ski certain green runs, but she had to take Stephanie’s cell phone with her. Why hadn’t she thought to get the girls phones of their own? They could have called for help. The reception on the mountain was excellent, so there wasn’t an issue about lack of coverage. Why in the world hadn’t she provided both girls with such a necessity? She remembered when she first arrived at Hope House. Grace had insisted she take a cell phone, saying she gave them to all the women at Hope House just in case they needed to dial 911. Why, why, why had she been so irresponsible? Money, she thought as she shivered in the bone-chilling air. She’d been so intent on giving the girls a home of their own, she’d lost sight of their other wants and needs. Ashley had asked for a cell phone months ago, and Stephanie had dismissed it, telling her she was too young for a phone of her own, saying it was an added expense that she didn’t need. How she wished she’d given in! As they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty. Little good it did her to dwell on what she should’ve done. Now all she wanted was to find both of her daughters safe and sound. She gave a silent prayer. Please let them be safe. I’ll equip them both with GPS if I find them safe and unharmed.
The lift came to a slow stop at the top of the mountain. Stephanie practically jumped out of the chair. She whipped down the trail, making the twists and turns from memory, as the snow was coming down heavier by the minute. She wiped her hand across her goggles just in time to get a decent look at the bowl where Melanie had last seen the girls. She knew the girls would never attempt to ski a black diamond trail, so she followed Melanie’s route, hoping and praying that she would magically find her girls hiding behind a snowdrift, visible only to her. She’d bring them back to the Snow Zone, where they’d sip hot chocolate, warm their hands with the chemical hand warmers they sold at the shop, all the while relaying to Candy Lee how brave they had been. If only, Stephanie thought as she traversed down the last quarter mile of the run, with still no sign of her children. She stopped every few minutes to call out their names, only to have her voice drowned out by the turbulent sound of the wind as it whipped through the towering evergreens.
Tears stung her eyes, freezing against her wind-burned cheeks as she continued to ski in areas that she knew were off-limits for the girls, but at this point she’d have skied down Mount Everest blindfolded if she thought it would bring her girls back. The late-afternoon sky was overcast, the light flat and indistinct, the snowfall heavy and thick, making visibility almost nil. These were blizzard conditions, Stephanie thought. Why hadn’t she paid closer attention to the weather forecast? Why had she even allowed the girls on the slopes, knowing how packed they would be? She was stupid, her skill as a parent equivalent to that of a teenage babysitter. Her throat was dry, and her heart pounded in her chest as she used every ounce of energy she had left to pole her way back to the lift. She’d seen the chairs as they hung suspended from the heavy-duty cables, empty of passengers. Knowing the lifts were closed wasn’t going to stop her. She’d borrow a snowmobile from the ski patrol. She was not leaving this mountain until she found Amanda and Ashley.
Alive. The word skittered through her brain. Alive. Alive. Alive. From out of nowhere, Stephanie was filled with a complete and utter sense of peace and well-being. Without knowing why, she suddenly knew her girls were alive. And not only were they alive, but they were fine.
Somewhat shocked by the epiphany she’d just experienced, she debated her next move. With the temperature dropping into negative numbers, Stephanie stopped in the middle of the storm, took a deep breath, and prayed for a higher power to guide her in the right direction. As though controlled by an outside force, she pointed her ski tips in the direction of Snow Zone, where she saw a crowd gathered outside its doors. Briefly, she wondered how anyone could possibly shop when her girls were missing, but then common sense took over. These people had no idea where her children were. For that matter, Stephanie was sure they
