Fate and Destiny

  Fate and Destiny

  Fate and Destiny

  Midpoint

  Epilogue

  Ebooks Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  www.secondwindpublishing.com

  Also by Claire Collins

  From Beckoning Books

  Images of Betrayal

  Fate

  and

  Destiny

  Copyright 2008 By

  Claire Collins

  At Smashwords

  Beckoning Books

  Published by Second Wind Publishing

  Kernersville

  Beckoning Books

  Second Wind Publishing, LLC

  931-B South Main Street, Box 145

  Kernersville, NC 27284

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations, and events are either a product of the author’s imagination, fictitious or use fictitiously. Any resemblance to any event, locale or person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright 2008 by Claire Collins

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or part in any format.

  First Beckoning Books edition published August, 2008.

  Beckoning Books, Running Angel, and all production design are trademarks of Second Wind Publishing, used under license.

  For information regarding bulk purchases of this book, digital purchase and special discounts, please contact the publisher at www.secondwindpublishing.com

  Front cover design by Claire Collins

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  ISBN 978-1-935171-00-3

  To those who helped me find my own Destiny. Climbing the mountain is easy.

  Finding it is the hard part.

  --Claire Collins

  1.

  I can’t die like this.

  The man reached across her and flung open the truck door. With her last ounce of strength, she opened her eyes and looked at him, trying to reach out and grab him. The giant of a man shoved her through the door as her arms flailed helplessly. Her numb body tumbled down the embankment from the road. She couldn’t have stopped the momentum, no matter how much she wanted to. Her body wouldn’t do as commanded and her mind wanted to follow it into the dark, unfeeling place.

  Pain shot through the fog in her head as her leg cracked against something stuck precariously from the snow.

  I won’t die here. I won’t die alone.

  If determination alone could have saved her, she would have risen from the snow and walked down the mountain. Fate wasn’t on her side.

  Determination gave way to surrender as her head slammed into the landscape. Before her eyes shut to protect any remnants of sanity, she saw the truck turn and disappear down the road as barking from the hounds of hell erupted around her.

  With the temperature dropping by the second, Andrew Greer slid as much as he walked, risking broken bones with every step. The end of his scarf slipped from around his neck, loosening enough to allow the demanding wind access to his nose. He glanced back wistfully at the cabin. A finger of smoke curling from the chimney beckoned to him, calling him in that direction. Warmth. Security. Coffee.

  Wrapping the coat tighter around him, Andrew walked around the corner of the cabin. Across the clearing, Shadow leisurely sniffed a frozen tree stump. It must be nice to have a built-in fur coat. Although a pelt of fur ten inches thick would not ward off the cold today.

  He set his mind back on getting the supplies from the shed as soon as possible before the blizzard resumed its fury. He’d been snowed in for the last two days.

  Andrew cocked his head, standing still, and listening. The vehicle passing on the roadway sounded bigger than a snowmobile but it was hard to tell with the sounds echoing from snow banks and carried on a howling wind.

  Assuming someone dared to clear the road, a fresh batch of slick, wet snow and ice would soon recover it, wasting the effort.

  Piling the last of the provisions in the cabin, he made one last trip around the edges of the building looking for damage. Convinced the structure was sound, he pulled the scarf down from his face, piercing the frigid air with a long whistle. The sharp sound was an alert to Shadow that it was time to go back to the cabin.

  The stark trees mixed with the full varieties of fir and rocks poked from the mounds of white. The wind ruffled the dunes of snow. Dog tracks disappeared into the forest, but nothing emerged from the trees at the familiar call.

  Keeping an eye on the edge of the trees, he returned to the front of the little building, calling the dog’s name. The wind stung more fiercely the farther he went from the cabin.

  Barking erupted from the woods.

  “Here I am working and he’s out chasing rabbits.”

  An uneasy feeling slithered through his stomach at the fierce barking. He reached into his pocket, his hand circling the Smith & Wesson .38 he carried for protection in the wild. His feeling of security renewed, he pulled the scarf tightly around his head and delved into the woods in search of the dog.

  The dense trees along the path blocked some of the wind but not all. Icicles shook loose from the tops of the trees. They rained down on Andrew as he dragged one foot and then the other out of the snow. Bracing against trees helped him wade through the white quicksand. He progressed about twenty feet before Shadow appeared on an elevated patch of ground where the snow was not as deep.

  Instead of lumbering up to Andrew and begging forgiveness for wandering off in the middle of a storm, the dog sat down and whined; much to Andrew’s discontent.

  “It’s about time, you stubborn animal. C’mon Shadow, let’s go back inside.”

  Shadow refused to budge and whined again. He looked at Andrew, let his tongue lag to the side, wagged his tail, but still refused to move.

  Logic failing, Andrew tried again. “I put food in the cabin. How about a nice big bowl of warm water?”

  Shadow whined. Andrew sighed, moving towards the dog.

  “Shadow, I’m too old to be chasing you through the snow.”

  At thirty-three, Andrew was far from old, but the dog didn’t need to know that. Andrew could not believe he reduced himself to using a guilt trip on the dog. He also couldn’t believe it didn’t work.

  For every step he took closer, the dog grew more excited. When Andrew was within a few feet of the dog, Shadow began to bark again and turn in circles.

  Frowning, Andrew looked at the dog.

  “Why are you being so weird? You’ve seen animals in the woods before.”

  Andrew followed the dog through the snow, retracing the path the dog took to find his master. Soon, they would reach the road.

  Suddenly, the dog ran to a large rock, urgently spinning in circles, sniffing and barking. Curious, Andrew followed the crazy dog around the side of an enormous rock jutting from the landscape.

  Expecting to see an animal carcass left by a larger predator, he began to pick apart the scene in front of him, sorting out the vision in his mind between his expectation and reality. His feet stopped moving.

  A body lay crumpled against the boulder. Tennis shoes, a pair of jeans, a leather jacket, and a pale face. None of which belonged a few hundred yards from his cabin. Andrew did not know this woman. He stood frozen in place, disbelieving what he was seeing as the memory of another body in a car flashed through his mind.

  Morbid curiosity pulled
his attention to the body in the present, pushing away thoughts of the body in the past. Feminine features and deathly white skin framed by hair pulled into a ponytail. Long lashes graced high cheekbones over the closed eyelids. A bright red slash trickled down from a gash just below the hairline and flowed into a darker, drying patch that was pooling near her ear.

  He gripped a glove with his teeth and yanked the leather from his fingers. He felt along her frosty skin for a pulse, but the freezing temperatures quickly absorbed the feeling from his hands.

  He couldn’t find a pulse.

  With his heart thudding and nausea rolling over him, he turned his face from the body. A furrow marked the snow where the body had rolled down the embankment. The hill sloped sharply up from the boulder to the road that led from the lake, past his driveway, and down into the small town. The cold and snow nipped at his nostrils and stung his eyes, reminding him of the temperature.

  There didn’t seem to be much hope for the poor woman tossed carelessly against the rock; however, there may be others still alive in a wrecked car.

  Regaining his ability to move, Andrew climbed up the side of the hill to the road, slipping on ice patches and steadying himself with his gloved hands. Reaching the road, he glanced left and right. Nothing was there, the vehicle he heard earlier long gone. Like the groove down the hill, snow started to erase the tracks left in the deep, quickly refreezing slush.

  From the traces remaining, a truck with snow chains covering the tires turned around on the narrow road right at the juncture of the driveway to Andrew’s property. His cabin sat far enough from the road and down the hill that even in perfectly clear weather, passersby could not see it from the top of the driveway. Deep snowdrifts still blocked the road going up the mountain while the road heading downhill was clear.

  He stepped into the tread pattern and his boot slipped. The road was turning into ice under the snow from the exhaust of the truck that came up to his driveway before turning around.

  Insistent barking pulled Andrew back to reality. The barks became loud whines as the dog sniffed around the body and began licking the face.

  “No! Shadow!”

  Andrew scrambled down the slope.

  “What are you doing? Leave her alone!”

  Shadow ignored him and continued licking and whining. The dog seemed to be running out of patience with Andrew and his lack of interest in the body.

  Halfway down, Andrew’s foot caught on a hidden tree root. He stumbled and slid the rest of the way down on his backside. Reaching the bottom, he scrambled to his feet, swallowing hard.

  His boots found no traction. One foot slipped just as Shadow moved, splaying Andrew down flat on the ground. He found himself face to face with the unknown woman.

  Before he could jump up, back away, or even breathe, there was a slight movement over the woman’s face.

  Andrew stopped moving. He held his breath and waited.

  There it was again. He focused his eyes just above the slightly open lips.

  “Oh my God.” Andrew let out his own breath. “She’s alive.”

  2.

  Cursing quietly under his breath, Andrew ran his hands through his hair. Rising to his feet, he searched the frozen landscape, hoping a squad of paramedics and policemen would materialize from the silent forest. No one appeared. The snow even muffled the soft woofs and whines of the dog. For the first time, Andrew hated the isolation of the cabin. What he wouldn’t give to be in the middle of a city right then.

  “Okay Shadow, this is what we’re gonna do.”

  He bent to one knee, staring into oversize chocolate brown eyes.

  “We are going to take her back to the cabin. After that…”

  He couldn’t lie to the dog.

  “Well, I’ll think of something.”

  He slipped the loose scarf from around his shoulders, wrapping it snugly around the neck and head of the woman. Placing his cheek near her mouth, slight yet warm mists slowly breathed against his skin. She held onto life, but how much longer could she maintain that fragile thread?

  Carefully slipping one arm under her head, the other under her knees, he lifted. With Shadow trotting alongside, Andrew waded back through the snow, choosing a route higher up than the one Shadow used to discover the body. The snowdrifts along the ridge weren’t as deep as he maneuvered to the front door of the cabin, making certain he didn’t slip or drop her along the way.

  He placed her on the bed in the warmth of the cabin. Her skin was cold to the touch. Worried, he bent down to stare at her lips, verifying the shallow wisps of breath, proving she still lived. His warmed fingertips at her wrist detected a faint pulse.

  He paced, forgetting about the cold and snow hiding the cabin in a deeper sea of white. At the rate he kept running his hands through his hair in irritation, he would soon be bald.

  A rarely used ham radio hid on a back corner of the kitchen counter. Andrew bought it at the insistence of his family. He never used it before, but since his cell phone couldn’t find a signal, he had no choice but to attempt to use the contraption. He tried to get a clear line out, wondering if the batteries were still good.

  “Hello? Can anyone hear me?”

  Only static responded.

  “Hey, if anyone’s out there, I’m stuck up here on Miller’s Mountain and I’ve got a seriously injured woman that needs help. If you can hear me, call paramedics and the police. I’m located at the third driveway to the east on Millers Mountain Road.”

  A little hope was better than none. He glanced out the window as the skies grew increasingly dark, the snow coming down so thick he couldn’t see past the panes of glass.

  Dragging his eyes from the window, his attention traveled to the motionless form on the bed. Her clothes thoroughly soaked, snow melting into the bed around her.

  “One crisis at a time.”

  Speaking aloud dispelled the silence. He felt less alone. Gently, he picked her up again, lying her on the thick rug in front of the fireplace. He hoped he was not imagining that her body felt warmer. Closer to the fire, she would warm faster. The flames had died down since he left, surprising him that the fire had not gone out while he traipsed through the woods. The battery-operated alarm clock on the nightstand indicated that he had only been away for a little less than 45 minutes. It seemed like hours.

  The heat on his hands as he removed his woolen scarf confirmed she was close enough to the fireplace. He hated moving her so much; concerned he was doing more harm than good. Shadow lay against her back, sharing body heat with her.

  “Well Shadow, unless someone heard me on the radio, it’s up to us to take care of her.”

  The dog eyed him from his post, his head resting on enormous paws.

  “Okay, so I see you are doing all you can within your doggy powers. I guess that means I should do something.”

  Clean sheets and a cup of coffee later, he decided the next task would be to find suitable, dry clothes for her. The last thing she needed was pneumonia on top of whatever other injuries she had.

  A flannel shirt and a pair of sweats from the closet would suffice at least until her clothes dried. Retrieving the first aid kit from under the kitchen sink, he returned to kneel next to the woman on the floor. Mottled purple and blue marred the creamy skin of her face, merging under the red streaks of blood. Other unseen injuries may be hidden under the gash, blood, and dirt across the side of her forehead above her right eye. Dirty snow and blood caked her skin, clothing, and ponytail.

  “Okay Shadow. We are going to clean her up and make her comfortable. Can’t save her life just so we can lose her to infection.”

  Shadow softly woofed.

  Andrew rose from her side, returning with a bowl of warm water, a clean washcloth, and a towel which he hung over the fireplace. Doing his best to clean her face, he judged the damage as he went.

  “She’s kind of pretty without that muck all over her isn’t she?”

  Shadow snored softly.

  “Long d
ay for you already? That’s okay; you just lie there and sleep. I’ll take care of her.”

  With great care, Andrew tested for soft spots around the cut and lump on her head. His fingers tangled in the matted mess of hair released from the elastic band.

  Supporting her head with one hand, he washed and rinsed with the other. The smell of shampoo mingling with the scents of the fire. Finally clean and tangle free, his fingers scanned the shape of her skull as he rinsed out the blood. Relief and confidence rolling through him to find her skull hard and intact under his probing fingertips. Satisfied, he released her limp arms from the leather jacket, hanging it on the hook near the front door to dry. Tending to the woman, he disturbed Shadow from his slumber.

  “Shadow, don’t look. I have to take off her wet clothes. Cover your eyes or turn your back.”

  The dog merely watched with interest.

  “Better yet, maybe you should undress her and I’ll cover my eyes.”

  Andrew recognized city clothes when he saw them. Her dark green sweater, now soaked, clung to her skin, revealing soft curves. Mud caked jeans belted at her waist and casual walking shoes completed the ensemble. She was dressed for a chilly evening out, not a wintry mountain hike.

  “Lady, I hope you’ll forgive me for what I have to do.”

  He paused. Subconsciously she might hear him even if she could not respond.

  “Actually, I hope you get the chance to forgive me, hate me, be mad at me. Whatever you want. But right now, I’d be happy if you would just open your eyes.”

  No flutter of the eyelids, no change in the slight breathing.

  “Okay honey, have it your way. We’ll get through this together.”

  Pulling the sweater off, he tried not to think about what he was doing. His brain sending signals through the rest of his body even as he tried to shut it up, convincing his body this was just a normal everyday kind of thing that Fate dropped near dead, half naked damsels in distress into his lap every day. Shadow watched from where he sat in the kitchen. His ears up, tongue lolling from a toothy grin.