Family Matters (DiCarlo Brides book 4) (The DiCarlo Brides) (18 page)

The next morning Jonquil got Cleo and Rosemary suited up to go skiing. Rosemary was definitely not looking forward to the ordeal, but Cleo was so excited she couldn’t say no. After what happened with the snake, she didn’t want to chance her little girl being out of sight when she wasn’t in school. When Harrison showed up for breakfast, she decided the advantages of sticking out the ski day might outweigh the pitfalls. If she didn’t break anything falling on the slopes.

They started out on the bunny hill while Jonquil and Harrison showed Cleo and Rosemary the basics, but as the day wore on, they grew more adventurous and moved to one of the easy runs that wasn’t built for toddlers.

Despite the fact that Harrison became her personal instructor, Rosemary was still relieved when they all took a break for hot chocolate and lunch about one o’clock.

As they sat around the table in the lodge, Cleo looked at the ski resort tags on Jonquil’s coat. “How come you have two tags?” she asked.

“One is for Deer Valley, and the other is for Breckenridge.”

“But why do you have two. Don’t you ski here?” She played with her own Deer Valley tag.

“Most of the time.” Jonquil smirked over her cup of coffee. “I just keep the other one on to tweak Gage’s ego. He’s such a hothead about locals going elsewhere to ski.”

“You’re so bad.” Rosemary nodded.

“It’s a gift.” Jonquil didn’t look the least repentant.

 Rosemary considered the way Gage acted toward Jonquil. It wasn’t like she had done anything to earn his disdain. That reminded her of the way she had jumped to conclusions about Harrison and she wondered what was behind the attitude in this case.

“Don’t look now, but your gift is about to lose its strength.” Harrison raised a hand in greeting and Rosemary glanced over to see Gage approaching them.

“How are you all doing? I trust you’re enjoying yourselves on the slopes.” He greeted them all, then turned to Cleo. “You must be the newest DiCarlo lady. I’m Gage, one of Vince’s best friends.” He extended his hand for a shake, making her smile. “Have you ever skied before today?”

Cleo brightened. “No, but it’s so much fun! I’m going to get Rosemary to bring me lots!”

“Yeah, don’t get ahead of yourself there, bug.” Rosemary wasn’t feeling nearly so in love with the sport. Maybe because she was incredibly bad at it and fell three times for each one of Cleo’s falls.

The little girl laughed, covering her mouth. “She’s not very good.”

“Dad loved to ski,” Jonquil said. “Maybe the ability skips a generation now and then.”

Gage looked at her, his voice dropping into icy civility. “I trust you’re enjoying the powder?”

“Of course. A fresh snowfall is always nice, no matter where I’m at.”

His lips thinned, and he turned to Harrison. “And you?’

“I’m having a blast. I’ll have to bring Cleo back, since her m . . . I mean, since Rosemary doesn’t seem inclined.” He glanced surreptitiously at Cleo, who didn’t appear to have noticed the blunder—or the one Jonquil made a moment earlier.

Gage could be trusted with the truth, but there were a lot of people around, and Rosemary was
trying
to respect her daughter’s wishes to just be her guardian as far as the public was concerned. But it made her feel just like when her father was alive and she wasn’t good enough for him to acknowledge in public. She was still a second-class citizen when it came to her closest relatives.

“Well, I hope you have fun this afternoon. I’ll see you around.” He shot a quick glare at Jonquil, and took off.

She smiled slightly to herself and returned to her meal.

Rosemary didn’t feel much like eating, but Harrison kept glancing at her plate and frowning, so she dutifully forked up more of it. She was working it off with all that falling on the slopes, after all. She could handle eating a little more of what she ordered.

The afternoon went well and she fell less often. Harrison didn’t seem to mind following behind her to pick up her skis or poles so he could return them to her if she fell, but she felt guilty for forcing him to take it easy.

“You should go on alone. You could do three trips to my two,” she told him after he brought over one of her skis for the dozenth time since lunch. “Really, I’ll be fine.” Jonquil was glued to Cleo’s side, and they always made sure to keep her in sight. One of them might as well have real fun today.

He took off his glove and brushed some snow from her hair. “You’re cute like that, like a snow angel.” Their eyes met and time seemed to slow down. “I think snow angels need to be kissed.”

When he leaned forward, she shied away, breaking their eye contact. “Not with my daughter watching.” Her lips tingled though, already anticipating the touch of his.

He glanced down the slope. “She’s not watching. They’re out of sight. Probably waiting for us at the lift.” Then he cupped her cheek with his cold fingers, leaned forward and kissed her. She melted into it, indulging them both for a moment, reveling in the gentleness of his touch, the fresh mountain air and the wisp of his cologne that stole into her senses. Something moved inside her, shifting in her heart.

“Mmmm, we should do that again. Soon,” she said with a grin when he pulled away. She made herself focus back on the discussion they’d been having before the kiss. “Go ahead and finish up the run. I’ll be right behind you. I promise.”

“You’re sure?” He brushed snow from her hair.

“You deserve to do at least one run at a speed that doesn’t compete with a snail’s,” she said.

His lips twitched. “Okay. See you at the bottom.” He kissed her nose, made sure she had all of her equipment, then took off for the bottom of the run.

Rosemary smiled, still amazed that she was getting along so well with the guy she had been fighting with—fighting her own attraction to, really—for months. How had that happened? She didn’t know, and she didn’t know how long it would last, but she decided to ride the tide for now and put all of the questions out of her mind.

She pointed herself down the slope again and got moving to a nice, smooth pace. Enough speed to enjoy the thrill, not so much that she thought she would fall over at any second.

She was starting to get back up to speed—with people zooming past her, when she approached the section of the run that had one side blocked off with red police-style tape. A posted sign said there was a drop-off, and though there had been a fence in place, it looked like one of the snow grooming machines had gotten too close and taken out a section.

She edged a bit closer to that side as people flashed past her. She was enjoying the thrill of speed and the air rushing across her cool skin when she heard someone behind her yell something. A moment later two hands planted in her back, pushing her over, right into the area where the fence was missing.

Rosemary tried to remember how to stop, all of her training going out of her head as she saw the edge of the slope rushing at her. Having a glimmer of sense, she forced herself to fall over, trying to land away from the edge, but the momentum carried her too far and she put her arms out as she started to tumble over the edge. She felt the tug and pull of her limbs, the groan of tendons, heard the snap of her skis releasing and more shouting in the moment before she rolled into a tree with a loud
ooph
. She could swear she was going to end up with bruises on top of her old bruises—the last of which still hadn’t entirely faded from her accident in the garage.

She lay perfectly still for a long moment, trying to decide if all of her limbs were still connected to her body, and that she hadn’t broken anything.

“Are you all right?” a male voice asked. She didn’t open her eyes to see him, but she could tell he wasn’t too near her yet, probably up on the run where she belonged. Strike that, she didn’t belong anywhere near this place.

“I think I’m still alive,” she called back up to him. “I can still wiggle my toes and fingers, so I guess I didn’t lose my leg out there in the trees.”

She shifted her head and arms a little, testing the muscles.

“Don’t move. I’m a doctor.” The man’s voice was closer now and she heard him moving through the snow. “I can’t believe he did that. I saw him moving toward you, too close, too fast. I called out, but he just looked like he’d lost control.” Calls for others to get help from ski patrol ricocheted down the mountainside. “Just lay there and tell me where it hurts.”

“Um, everywhere.” She looked up at him. He was near fifty and only his face peered out between the layers of his clothing. The snow was deep and he had to wade through to her.

“Where the most?” he asked, pulling off his gloves.

She thought for a moment. “Where I hit the tree. I hit it pretty good with my hip. And my shoulder is sore,” Actually, it hurt really bad, but she didn’t think it was serious. She’d worry about that more later.

“Good. Just stay there, hold on. Are you too cold? Any trouble breathing or chest pressure?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll be fine.” She thought of her daughter and worry assailed her. “Cleo. My daughter Cleo should be waiting for me at the bottom of the run with my sister and friend. They’re going to worry about me. She’s been through too much already. I don’t want her to worry.”

“You must be a good mom, worried more about her than yourself when you’re hurt.” He pulled off her goggles and looked into her eyes. “Ski patrol will have a radio and can let them know what’s going on. Tell me about Cleo.” He checked her over for wounds, touching her feet and making her squeeze his hands while he kept her talking about her family.

Rosemary tried to keep most of it vague—if her rescuer didn’t know who she was, she didn’t want to draw attention to it. They’d had more than enough problems with the press the previous summer and she didn’t need any more.

Ten minutes passed before the first ski patrol member showed up, and it was another fifteen minutes before search and rescue arrived with more equipment.

“Load her in the stokes. Careful,” a tall dark-haired man said. She vaguely remembered that his name was Hank, and he’d gone out with Jonquil a few times in the fall. “Take it easy. Sorry, Miss DiCarlo. We’ll get you to the hospital just fine.”

She didn’t bother to correct him regarding her name. “Did you hear back from the guys at the bottom of the hill? I need to know my daughter is okay. She’s with Jonquil.” She had made the request when the ski patrol guy stopped, but he hadn’t had any luck finding out where everyone was.

“Let me try.” Hank pulled out his radio and she described what Jonquil and Cleo were wearing. A few minutes later as they loaded her onto the back of some kind of ATV with tracks instead of tires, he came back over. “They’re waiting for you at the lodge. Someone mentioned it to the resort manager and he found them.”

“Gage. We know him.” She sighed with relief. “So they’re okay? My daughter?”

“Is fine,” he reassured. “They said she’s with Jonquil and the guy. They’re worried about you and will be waiting when we get you down there.”

She let herself feel relief and refocused her attention on holding her arms tight across her stomach to keep her shoulder from jostling too much.

The trip to the lodge took much longer than she would have taken on the skis. She had a moment where she wondered what happened to the ski equipment she’d rented, then decided to forget it. If someone else didn’t collect and return the equipment, she would pay for it and be happy she never had to use it again.

Still, through the whole ordeal, she couldn’t forget the feeling of those hands on her back, the hard push that didn’t seem accidental at all.

When she reached the ambulance in the parking lot, Harrison, Cleo and Jonquil waited for her.

“Are you okay?” Cleo asked, reaching for her, wet trails on her cheeks. “Don’t die, Mom.”

“I’m not going to die,” Rosemary said, grabbing her daughter’s hand and squeezing it. She wondered if Cleo even realized she’d called her Mom. “I’m fine, really. Only a few bumps and bruises. They just wrapped me up to be extra careful. Watch, I’ll be up and chasing you around in a couple of hours.”

Harrison touched her cheek—almost the only part of her face that wasn’t covered with some kind of gear. “We’ll meet you at the hospital. See you in a few minutes.”

“Thanks.” She wanted to tell him how much she appreciated that he was holding her girl, supporting her. But she couldn’t do it here. They removed her from the back of the four-wheel drive machine and into the ambulance.

The EMTs took her blood pressure again, asked her all of the same questions that they’d already asked once and started an IV in the arm that didn’t hurt as much. Harrison, Jonquil and Cleo arrived at the ER and checked in on Rosemary almost before she was fully settled in the new bed.

Harrison carried Cleo, who was still crying. Cleo grabbed Rosemary’s hand as soon as she was close enough. “Why didn’t they take that stuff off of you yet?” she asked, sniffling. Her eyes and nose were red and her face crumpled as tears slid down her cheeks.

Rosemary felt terrible for scaring Cleo. “The doctor hasn’t even had time to see me yet, bug. Wait a few minutes, okay? I’m fine, really.”

Harrison and Jonquil held a spirited discussion about the joys of their active childhoods, resulting in a multitude of bumps, bruises and sprains. They didn’t mention any broken bones, which was fine by Rosemary. The last thing she wanted was to tempt fate into giving her a broken bone right now when she had so much on her plate. Jonquil was barely out of a cast as it was.

It was pushing two hours when the doctor finally released her from the backboard, gave her directions to settle the swelling in her sprained shoulder and a prescription for pain medication.

Back at home Harrison helped Rosemary inside. She was able to walk, but she was sore all over, especially around her hip, which left her with a bit of a limp. The stairs up to her bedroom looked about a mile long.

“I need to call to get someone to cover for me tomorrow,” she said as he helped her sit on the sofa in the great room.

“I think you’re going to want more than one day off,” Harrison said. “How about if I call in help for three days. We can re-evaluate Tuesday morning.” He squeezed her hand.