(I am soooo thankful for your many great reviews! thank you so much. They really help me to keep the story alive.
So here is a shorter but not less important chapter for you. Get ready, set, go!
Working on the next.)

Chapter 30

The truck rumbled down the driveway. Illuminated snowflakes were hitting against the windscreen as Jack drove towards the dude ranch cabins. The weather had worsened quickly and within half an hour the wind had sped up dangerously and thus blew strongly across the country. The headlights drew cones of light across the path that the truck was following and Jack's eyes scanned the surroundings thoroughly.
It had been two hours already since Lisa left the house and while he was unsuccessfully checking every little corner around the main side of his property, the temperatures had dropped rapidly. It was too cold for someone to stay outside for long, especially since it was already pitch dark. He hoped that Lisa stayed on the paths while taking a walk but quickly came to realization that those paths were already covered in deep snow and didn't differ from the rest of the ground. Lisa knew her way around here. At least she did before the accident. They hadn't done much walking since then and with the snow and the darkness everything looked different which would cause her easily to get lost. He was afraid that Lisa was no longer walking on any of those main paths but was somewhere among those tall trees that stood tightly together here and there or on one of the big wide fields which spread across more than 600 acres. There was no chance to search the whole area for her during the night. He had to find her now. It's been too long already.
Worry and guilt spread like a dark cloud in his heart that was pondering hard against his chest and mingled with the unpleasant feeling in his gut. The course of the evening had gone badly and he was sure now that taking Lisa back to Heartland hadn't been a good idea. There were just too many people, too many distractions which he thought would help to blew all the problems away until they would get some time to talk to each other. That it would help to lighten up her mind and make it easier for her to talk to him. Those problems however were strong and prevalent. Nothing would be able to distract Lisa from them. She was drowning in a pond of problems and he was standing at the edge, helplessly watching her going down. He couldn't save her. Not alone. He needed her help. He needed her to open up to him. They would save each other when they pulled together. Like they always did.
A strong gust of wind hit against the side of the truck and Jack's hands held on to the steering wheel firmly. He was passing the fence now that surrounded the dude ranch. The cabins lay dark in front of him, to his right stood the shelter for the horses that was now empty since to animals had been moved up closer to the barn for the winter. The dude ranch side looked abandoned like a old western town. Mitch and Lou had winterized the buildings to secure them from the weather extremes. Everything lay hidden under the blanket of darkness. Only the lights of the truck hit the objects in front of it and thus gained the cowboys only attention. There was no one to be seen. Not in the limited area that was illuminated.
Jack stopped the truck, grabbed the flashlight from the passenger seat and got off the vehicle. Like needles the snowflakes hit hard against his face and he pulled his hat deeper to prevent it from being blown off.
"LISA!", he shouted into the storm but instead of flying out into the distance the words seemed to come back right away and swirled around his head before vanishing into the air. The wind was too strong than to carry his voice across the dude ranch. With one hand on his hat and one hand moving the flashlight from left to right, Jack scanned the area and walked towards the cabins.
He was so desperate to find her here. The thought of her being somewhere out in the fields terrified him. He should have let the family know, that he was going to look for Lisa. They could have helped. They would have been much faster. There would have been a much bigger chance of finding her. But he didn't. He didn't tell anyone and no one knew where he was, what he was doing. He was alone and the time would be running out soon. If Lisa was still somewhere outside, she must be freezing now. Jack couldn't even remember if she took a coat. She had been so upset when she left the house. Her mind totally lost in her anger and disappointment instead of thinking of dressing warm enough for the walk.
"LISA!" , he tried again.
The cone of light flew across the frozen lake to his right and a shiver immediately ran down his spine.
The lake.

-
The thought that was now running through his head, establishing itself more and more into a horror scenario, took his breath away. He gasped for air. He couldn't breath. No. The lake. The frozen lake. What if-
Jack stumbled forward through the deep snow, still trying to find his breath. The storm blew violently against him, keeping him away from the lake, not allowing to get closer faster.
"Damn it! LISA!", he cried now. Like a hallucination the picture of her broken through the ice of the lake was spinning wildly in front of his eyes. It was paralyzing him and with his foot stuck into a deep snow drift, Jack fell forward and hit the ground. There he lay for second, trying to catch his breath.
A moan escaped Jack's mouth before he found his words again and cursed into the night.
The flashlight had fallen out his hand when he fell and now lay a few meters next to him. Jack crawled over, took it and tried to get up, when suddenly something in the near distance caught his eyes. The beam of the light had only accidentally brushed what was laying there on the small spot close to the little wooden patio with the fireplace. Under the only tree that was standing on the edge to the lake and about twenty meters away from him, the light embraced a huddled figure.
It was hard to make out the details but Jack noticed the familiar clothes and without thinking about it another time, forcefully pushed himself up.
"Lisa-", he breathed and hurried over only to fall onto his knees right beside her. She was laying on her side, knees pulled up and her arms wrapped around it. Jack took a hold of her shoulder to turn her around and check if she was still conscious. Luckily but with shock in her eyes, she stared up at him.
"J-ja-ck.", it came faintly across her shivering lips.
"Lisa, what... what happened? What-", his fingers trembled as they moved some hair from her face and feeling the cold on her skin. She had been out here for too long and the red-bluish shade on her lips and skin were enough proof that she seriously started to become hypothermic. Without another questions Jack took off his own winter coat and threw it around her body, lifting her up into a seated position.
"I'm cold.", she whispered and fell exhausted against his chest. Her body shook violently against his body while he was softly stroking her hair.
A thousand possibilities of shelter were running through his head but he wasn't able to catch one of them; to decide which was best and would get her out of the snow storm the fastest.
Jack closed his eyes for a short moment and tried to calm down. His hand was now holding the side of her head against him and shielded her from the strong wind. Finally he was able to catch the breath he had been missing all along. Jack inhaled deeply and the clouds in his mind gave way to one clear thought.
The cabins.