Sven patted me on the arm. “Thank you for keeping my girls safe.”
“It’s my duty to protect them,” I said. “I’d never put them in harm’s way if I could possibly help it.”
When Harley pulled up in front of the store, Alexander was with him. I waved goodbye to the Johnsons and ran out the door. Alexander met me halfway and scooped me into his arms and carried me to the sleigh. “I was worried sick. What made you do such a foolish thing?”
“I couldn’t risk the parents coming for them,” I said.
“You foolish, courageous woman.” He tucked me into the seat and slid in next to me.
As we set out, I looked back at the children. With the snow and the dim light, it was hard to make out their faces. Theo had stayed home, so Li sat next to Flynn in the back seat. He stared at me with his dark eyes and smiled. “Is school always like this?” he asked.
“No, this was unusual,” I said.
Cymbeline sniffed.
“Cym and Jo were crying,” Alexander said in my ear. “Worried for you.”
“No more tears,” I said. “I’m perfectly fine, and now we’ll go home and have tea with Lizzie and tell her all about our adventure.”
“We were scared you were dead,” Cymbeline said. “In the snow like our mama.”
My poor babies, I thought. Of course that’s what they feared. “I had the rope and no intention of dying,” I said. “Do you know why? Because I can’t stand the thought of not coming home to you.”
Flynn shouted from the back. “I told them all you’d make it just fine. No one’s as tough or clever as you, Miss Quinn.”
Touched by his belief in me, I had to swallow a lump in my throat before I thanked him.
“Next time I want to come with you,” Flynn shouted.
We turned left out of town and had just rounded a thicket of trees when I saw a small figure slumped over a snowdrift. A cold shot of fear coursed through me. The motionless body was a little girl in a patchwork coat. Louisa. She’d been there a while, given the inches of snow that covered her. I yelled for Harley to stop.
“Look there. In the snow.” I pointed toward the unmoving body. “It’s Louisa.” Without thinking, I jumped from the sleigh and ran to her with Alexander on my heels.
I fell to my knees beside her. Curled in a ball with her hands under her cheeks, she looked peaceful and dreadfully still. Please God, let her still be alive. I lifted her arm and felt for a pulse at her wrist. Faint but there. “She has a pulse.” Her arms were as skinny as young birch tree limbs. Even in the dim light I could see the blue veins under her white skin.
“We’ll take her to our house,” Alexander said as he lifted her from the icy snowdrift. By this time, Harley had joined us, having asked Flynn to take his place in the driver’s seat. There was no need, however. Louisa couldn’t have weighed more than fifty pounds. She hung as limply as a rag doll in Alexander’s arms.
He positioned her inside, brushing snow from her coat and ratty knit cap. I tucked blankets around her. What had she been doing out in the snowstorm?
We sat on either side of her. Our warmth would help, I thought, as Harley took the reins from Flynn. “What was she doing out here?” I asked as Flynn settled back next to Li.
“She might’ve been going to town for food,” Alexander said.
The children were deathly quiet. Even Flynn looked scared. I wanted to reassure them that everything would be all right, but I wasn’t at all certain that was true.
We took Louisa upstairs to the spare bedroom across from mine. I asked Alexander to send Merry up to help. “I want to get her into some warm clothes and into this bed.”
“I’ll ask Josephine for a dressing gown for her,” Alexander said.
Merry came, and between the two of us we were able to get her out of her cold, wet clothes. Louisa’s eyes opened the moment we had her out of her dress and stockings. “Miss Cooper? Where am I?” She had only a thin slip on, and her skin was blue from cold.
“Hi, Louisa, you’re at the Barneses’ home. We found you in the snow.”
“I needed to find food.” She wrapped her skinny arms around her waist.
“Let’s run her a hot bath,” I said.
Merry sprang up and was out of the room before I even finished the sentence.