Shelter from the Storm Chapter Six

Previously:

"It will be a pleasure helping the two of you, not a burden." Nick assured her as she took Tabitha's hand. Soon the three were inside-Elizabeth and Tabitha packing while Nick kept an eye out the window. That is, after making sure the back door was secured shut.

The sunlight hit the snow, making it glisten and shine. It almost blinded Nick. At least, he felt like it was. Tabitha, who sat behind him with her arms around his waist, was feeling the same way. The young child had surprised both her stepmother and Nick when she practically begged to ride with him. Though, after thinking on the matter, both had to admit it probably had a lot to do with the fact that Tabitha was trusting him to protect her from George Kline-as Nick did before.

When it came to Elizabeth, she and her horse were riding on Nick's and Coco's left side. While both had held onto the hope that; perhaps, it wouldn't take all day to get to Phillip's and Marie's-that hope had been dashed that morning. They'd awakened to find two and a half feet of snow on the ground. It made Nick glad he'd brought his good winter coat with him instead of the lighter one he'd almost taken.

"You don't have to come with us." Elizabeth, who feared their unexpected guest might find himself stuck spending the winter with her friends as well, pointed out the fact that the road back to his home was the same amount of miles from her house-just in the opposite direction. "I do know the way."

"I don't doubt you know the way." Nick said as he threw his saddle onto Coco and watched her do the same with her horse. "But are you really prepared to face Mr. Kline on your own?"

"I have a rifle." Elizabeth straightened up. "I know how to use it."

While he could see a great amount of confidence in her eyes, Nick could also see an equal amount of worry-as she'd glanced at Tabitha who was standing near one of the stalls. While the young girl wasn't signing, Nick-who had looked at her as well- could see the plea in her eyes as she looked back at him. They were imploring him to stay close. He knew it was because Mr. Kline's attack upon her still had her more than unsettled. "No," Nick shook his head and turned his attention back to Elizabeth. "I'm going with you as far as your friends' home. I'll worry about myself afterwards." He led Coco out of the barn.

It was then that Tabitha had grabbed onto him with one arm and signed to her stepmother. 'He's coming with us, isn't he?" When Elizabeth had answered in the affirmative, her stepdaughter had practically begged to ride with Nick.

Elizabeth hadn't liked the idea only Nick persuaded her to let the child do as she asked. "We don't have the time to reason with her on the matter. Besides, my horse can handle me and a young child-even in deep snow. He's in excellent health." Those had been his exact words, and Elizabeth had relented.

Nick, who could see Elizabeth glancing up at the sky every once in awhile, didn't have to ask what had her worried. When they'd left her home, the light blue sky had been devoid of any clouds, and there had been absolutely no wind blowing. It had been two hours since they left her home only, thanks to the deep snow they were traveling through, and the wind which had eventually started blowing- they'd only been able to travel two and a half miles. "Is there someplace we can take shelter if we need to?" Nick asked as the wind started blowing harder. It made him think there was no way they'd make it to her friends before the wind was at least blowing what snow was on the ground into their faces. As it was, it was getting pretty close to doing that anyway.

Elizabeth silently groaned, wishing none of this was necessary. Why did Mr. Kline have to show up? "There's a few caves scattered around. One of them will be coming up here soon. Jason made it-along with a few of the other ones, livable and kept various items in them, just in case. Because of the distance between my friends' place and mine, Phillip has insisted keeping the same caves stocked with various items as well. If we need to, we can take refuge in one of them."

Nick wasn't blind. He could see how uncomfortable Elizabeth was with the idea of taking shelter in any cave. Though, like the young widow, he didn't know what else they could do. Then, wishing to divert their focus away from where they might or might not have to take refuge, he asked when she'd started taking care of Adam. "Bears are not the type of animal I would envision anyone taking care of on their own."

"I was around twelve, and a friend of mine-who worked at a circus-was supposed to be taking care of some of the animals." Disgust filled her eyes as she told of the neglect and bad treatment the poor creatures got. "Never did tell the man I was going behind his back and caring for Adam and the rest. One day-after I'd been there a few years, the man left Adam's cage unlocked. Don't ask me if it was on purpose or not, I don't know. Folks around town were going to shoot him only I found him first and hid him. My oldest brother went and talked to them. I figured they'd just take him back only the jerk that 'took care' of him had lied, and they too would have killed him. I continued to hide him, refused to tell them where he was. Long story short is…one of the temporary workers got the owner of the circus to offer to sell the animal to one of my brothers. My oldest brother refused, but the second brother consented." She shook her head. "I can't believe they agreed to it. I mean, you don't just go around selling bears as pets. Then, again, there's many things people do that boggle my mind." She paused and then shrugged, "They wanted too much for him only," she paused again, almost as if she should continue. Finally, before Nick could push her to finish, she sighed, "My brother shocked them by coming up with the money. I didn't tell them that a portion of the cost included every penny I'd saved. Didn't ask my brother how he'd come up with the rest,"

"Mighty good brother to do that," Nick stopped his horse long enough to unfold the collar of his coat and lift it up; the wind was beginning to pick up and snow was starting to hit his neck. He was surprised to see an extremely uncomfortable look flash through her eyes when he made the comment. It made him wonder what she wasn't saying. Though, as he'd spied what appeared to be two caves side by side not a hundred feet from them, he changed the subject as he nodded in the direction of the shelter. "Are those two caves among the ones you were talking about?"

"The one on the right isn't a cave; it just looks like it could be from here." Elizabeth pointed to the true cave. "That one on the left, we can use it." She pushed her horse forward, as did Nick.