Stranded but not Alone (Midnight Moanings Collection) (2 page)

Bile crept up from the acid bath her stomach morphed into. She bit down on her inner lip. He didn’t get to see how much it hurt for him to deny a child with her. Make her question his sincerity all those nights when he lay between her legs, calling her name. Telling her she was his world. Had she made him her Mr. Right knowing he didn’t want children because they were so good together in everything else? She policed her emotions, she would not be his victim. After a couple of deep breaths. She found her control.

He stepped toward her and stopped. She stood tall, knowing he would never hit her, but sympathy would hurt the same right then. He backed away out into the living room, opening the storm door with one hand and jangling the keys in his pocket with the other.

“I’ll call you in a couple days when you’ve cooled down and realize what I’ve said is for the best. I love you, Simone. You may not believe it, but I do. I made it clear, no kids.” He paused by the door, glanced down her body, and held a cold stare to her midsection for much too long.

“Get out, Ronald.” She glanced at the door behind him.

He opened the screen door and stepped outside. “When I said I didn’t want any kids, I meant it. Always believe a man when he says that.”

“Always believe… wait a minute, you coward.” She planted her hands on her hips and anger burned through her as the real picture became clear. “You know I never cheated on you and it’s not that you don’t want kids. You’re punking out because that’s what Jackson did to you. You’re afraid to be a father, just like your father.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

She watched him get in his car and drive out of her life just as his father had done to his mother. It didn’t matter. She had family, friends and now her baby. If he didn’t want their child then that’s his choice, but she was going to be somebody’s mother and that’s what mattered now.

First, she needed a good cry… time for some emotional back up. She picked up the house phone and dialed.

“Kim…”

One

Simone took a deep breath and blew it out. She wouldn’t spend these two weeks in Austria berating herself for going down those stairs that day. Or tripping over Bandit on the stairs. There was no way of knowing that was the day she would lose her baby. She shut down those dark memories as Kim began shaking her shoulders.

“Simone, don’t do that. The doctor said by reliving that day you kill the good feelings from the other days. Now nobody wants you to forget Butterfly, but you can’t stay in that place. We took this trip so you could rejuvenate and recharge.”

Simone pulled her camera from her duffle. “Four months isn’t long enough to dull the pain, Kim. However, I know I have to come out of this funk. So for sanity sake and the love of my Butterfly’s memory, I promise to enjoy myself and relax here in beautiful Austria. It cost too much to have a crappy time.”

“I think this first tour will help you. The fresh air and pine trees and all that other nature stuff you like.” Kim tapped Simone’s bag. “I doubt you’ll need this much stuff for two days in the mountains, girl.”

“I need to be prepared for whatever the weather does up there. And I can’t believe you’re not going on this tour with me.” Simone stuffed a couple brochures in her bag next to her trail mix.

Kim held both hands out like scales one higher than the other. “Hike the mountains or tour a beer plant—sorry the mountains lose.” Kim nodded out across the hotel lobby. “Besides, get a look at the men in your group.”

The lobby was full of guys. How could she not? “Yeah, they’re at the most, what, twenty-five? Straight tenderonies, just what I don’t need.” Holding her camera up, she snapped pictures of the mountains beyond the big picture window. The Danube River sparkled under the lights bouncing off the other buildings surrounding its edge outside.

“That might be just what you need, some hot, young, strong toy to get you back on track.”

“No thank you. I’ll just look and stay mature, if you don’t mind.”

“Suit yourself, but when’ll we get to Austria again? If Stella can get her groove back in Jamaica, how come Simone can’t find some thunder down under?”

“Kim, those are male dancers from Australia, not Austria. I’ve had enough thunder in my life. I don’t mind a little rain, but please no more thunder. I don’t care if it’s down under, to the left, or overhead… I don’t want it.” She capped her camera’s lens, then checked her battery pack for her laptop. Vacation or not, she wanted to download any good pictures she took.

“Alright I won’t push, but you need someone to get you back in the saddle. I think that hunk of Austrian certified beef will do just fine.” She pointed toward a tall, dark-haired Adonis.

“I’m not even interested, Kim. Go, I’ll see you in two days.”

“Hopefully the next morning, if I meet Mr. Right.” They hugged and went their separate ways. Looking at the people lining up for her tour van, Simone prayed whoever her partner was spoke English.

Two

The lens cap dangled from the camera as Simone, now up a snow-dusted tree, wedged her shoulders between two branches. How often would she get the opportunity to photograph a wild horse in a full winter coat drinking from a thawing stream in Austria at the break of winter? Never. Wiggling her hips, she stretched out over the thick branch to lie flat over the snow-covered bark, and prayed it held her.

Frame after frame she captured nature in the raw. Smoky puffs of cold air blew from the horse’s nostrils as he drank from the melting stream. The seasons were fighting to transition with winter, leaving and spring struggling to arrive.

A groan echoed from below caught her attention. She jerked her head around and lost grip on the camera, letting it fall to the ground as she clung to the branch. Crawling totally out on the branch, she watched as a tall figure emerged from the wooded area. The morning’s soft glow peeking through the trees appeared to part around his large form moving in closer to her. His gait smooth through the downed branches and rocks. She stilled herself, hoping he hadn’t seen her. As he approached and came to a stop beneath the branch, she slowly exhaled the breath she hadn’t realized she held. The man was from the tour group, her Austrian Adonis.

He stopped under the tree and peered up at her, studying her body laying the length of the branch.

“Are you comfortable up there, miss?”

“I dropped my camera.” She extended her hand out. “Can you hand it to me please? It’s over there.”

His bright white jacket made crinkling noses as he crouched down, plucking the camera from the ground. He brushed the dead leaves and snow off before handing it to her. Accepting it, she hung it around her neck. “Thank you.” Had he been watching her? How did he know she dropped her camera?

 “You’re welcome,” he said, his voice a warm caress. Swallowing the delicious scent coming off this man, she followed his attention captured through the trees in the clearing.

“Beautiful animal.”

“Excuse me?”

“The horse. He’s beautiful.”

“The horse…” Craning her neck around the trees before catching the chestnut colored horse off in the distance nosing the ground, she said, “Uhm…Yes, he is beautiful and hungry from the looks of it.” She stuck out a gloved hand. “Simone Daniels and you are?”

“Seth—Seth Dragoslava.” Taking her hand, he nodded toward the ground. “Fall into me, I’ll help you.”

“Thanks but I can manage. Thank you for the camera though. I appreciate it,” she said, placing the lanyard around her neck. “I’ll get a few more shots before the hiking van is ready to leave. Thank you again,” she repeated and watched him slip back into the woods. She refused to notice, what a sexy voice he had. No man-candy this trip.

~~~

“Wait! Wait!” Simone screamed, racing out of the wooded area into the clearing where the van had been parked. Catching her ski jacket on the low branches and tugging free, she grabbled for traction with mud caking the bottoms of her hiking boots. Melting snow left the dirt path a mud slick. She slid to a stop in time to see the tour van go over the rail-less worn edge of the mountain cliff.

She gasped. Her heart leapt in her throat. Were all four of the other passengers in that van now careening down the mountainside? She scanned the area and saw no signs of any other guest. Her heart broke with that reality. Horror gripped her as she watched the van hit the bottom of the ravine after tearing over the bramble and snow covered grass.

Frantic, she searched for a foot trail leading down the steep sloop. Her gaze settled on one several feet away, down the slick mountainside. She needed to help them now. Her hiking companions might only have minutes left to live.

She tested the crumbling edge with her booted foot. Even if she made it over, there was nothing else for her to hold on to. Fear rushed with adrenaline through her bloodstream. Large hands closed around her body hauling her away from the edge.

“Simone, what are you doing?” a man yelled behind her.

“Let go of me,” she said, trying to jerk his hands away from her body. His grip tightened as he spun her away from the edge and pushed her toward the woods.

“You’ll get yourself killed, Ms. Daniels.”

“Are you crazy? The rest of the group was in that van. Help me get down there.”

He continued blocking her from the edge.

“If you won’t help me—”

“—you’ll go over the edge like they did and you’ll need rescuing too,” he stressed, eyeing the tracks leading off the edge. “Did you see what happened?”

Simone peered around his large frame, praying a ball of flames didn’t rise from the valley, and clutched her jacket against her heart. “No. The van just went over the cliff as I came through the trees.”

“Stay here,” he said, moving closer to the edge. He crouched over the muddy ground, shaking his head. Mud coated her gloves as she crawled through the muck beside him.

He held a hand out in front of her to stop her from going closer to the edge. “Miss, I said stay back. It’s slippery close to the edge.”

Simone closed a hand over her mouth as bile rose up into her throat. The dark green van rocked on its side. Hiking gear stuck out of the busted windows. She caught a flash of bright yellow hanging out the side window. Closing her eyes, she could picture the woman from the lobby that morning getting in the van. Her face open and excited, her bright smile glowing.

Blood pounded in her ears so fiercely she couldn’t hear their screams–if there were any. The dented van stopped rocking. Was anyone conscious? Guilt and relief raced hand-in-hand through her heart in a manic throb. “I could’ve been in that van.” Her voice quivered. Glancing up at her company, she said, “We need to get down there to help anybody who might’ve survived.”

He turned glacier blue eyes on her, held her in his stare before he shook his head.

“The snow’s melting—the mountain is too slippery. You won’t make it down without some sort of harness,” he said, peering around indicating the woods behind them. “It’s too far out of the way to go over the other side, it’ll take all day to climb down the mountain and make it back around to the van.”

“So how do we get down there?” Her voice warbled as she thought of those people dying down there once she pulled herself from the blue trance.

“I doubt you’re trained to scale a mountain, miss. It’ll be a challenge even with the skill level I have,” he said. Simone caught the quizzical stare as he took in her bright green ski jacket while shaking his head. The square set of his shoulders, proud rise to his chest, and the raw strength in his hands closed round her ankle—military. The look her father gave when one of her non-camping friends tagged along as kids. She knew what he thought, another woman with no outdoor experience in the woods. Well that’s where he was wrong. Heck, she was born outside—in a car—but still it was outside.

“If you know you can make it, then get down there,” she barked. She grabbed his sleeve on reflex when his body angled further out over the edge, him shaking his head, absently. “I’m not jumping. It’s too dangerous to try and get down there.”