“I can’t,” she said, her head barely above the freezing surface.
“You can!” he said. “I know you can!” He felt more cracking near the edge. He tried to scoot his body sideways, hoping for a firmer area, but he couldn’t find traction.
“Just l-let m-me g-go.”
“I’m not leaving you! Either way, we’ll die together.” He tried to pull her shoulders up onto the ice, but only succeeded in pulling himself further toward the hole. Now his arms were fully in the water, wrapped under her arms. He pulled her face toward him.
“Can you put your hands around my neck?” he asked.
She attempted to comply, but her hands, numb with the cold, couldn’t grasp anything.
“Alora,” he said, as he felt the ice giving way beneath his body, “I love you.”
Pulling hard with his hands, he brought her face to his and kissed her frozen lips as the ice cracked and his body tumbled downward with hers into the dark frigid waters.
*****
Charles looked up expectantly at the sound of the door opening. “Oh. Hi, Beth. Wesley. Are you guys out of school early today?”
“Yep,” said Beth. “Bad storm coming this afternoon. The wind’s already picked up a lot. Where are Alora and Kaevin?”
“They went out to tend the horses two hours ago. Should be back any time.”
“We’ll go find them,” said Beth. “And Wesley’s got some clothes that might fit Kaevin. His brother, Steven, left some clothes behind when he moved away. Can we pile them here on the table?”
“Sure. That’s real thoughtful, Wesley.”
“Uhmm, yes sir. I mean, thank you, sir. I mean, you’re welcome, sir.”
“Wesley, I can’t accuse you of not being polite.”
Beth and Wesley followed the tracks in the snow from the house to the stable to the barn and into the woods. As they walked, the snowfall thickened, the heavy flakes affecting visibility.
“Where on earth did they go?” asked Beth.
“Hunting, maybe?” Wesley suggested, as they traipsed through the woods, grateful to be out of the blowing wind.
“Isn’t it too cold to go hunting?”
“There’s no such thing as too cold to go hunting.”
Emerging from the woods, it seemed the new snow had obliterated Kaevin and Alora’s tracks.
“Does it look like they went out on the ice?” asked Wesley, straining his eyes to see through the blowing snow.
“Surely not,” said Beth. “Alora knows better than that.”
“The way the wind has blown the snow, it’s really hard to tell. And with this storm coming in, we should get home. Hopefully, they’re back at the house, and we just missed them somehow.”
A pitiful mewling caught Beth’s ears. “Awww, look at these little kittens. I think these are the same ones that were in Alora’s barn.” She bent down to pick them up, handing one to Wesley. “Hey, sweetheart. How did you get all the way out here? Huh?”
“Let?
??s drop them off at the barn on the way.” Wesley tucked the squirming kitten inside the warmth of his coat.
With one last glance behind her at the snow-covered lake, Beth turned to trek back toward the house. And warmth. And safety.
*****