A Lantern in the Window by Bobby Hutchinson Page A

had to figure
out how.
    His mind became very focused, very
clear.
    Setting off on foot in this howling
storm would certainly get him lost. He'd wander in circles and
finally freeze to death.
    He had to stay where he was. His only
chance lay in the hope that the storm would blow itself out before
Buck’s huge carcass began to grow cold. If the wind finally died,
Noah knew that his sense of direction would unerringly tell him
which way to go, but in the meantime, his only chance was to huddle
close to the dead horse, using him as a shield against the
storm.
    With the image of Annie and all the
things he had to say to her firmly lodged in his brain, Noah
hunkered down beside Buck and waited, pressing himself against the
still warm horseflesh.
    At last the wind lessened. It was
still black dark and snowing when he stood up. There was no
guarantee that the storm was really over, but he was cold and
dangerously sleepy.
    Sending a silent thanks and a last
good-bye to the old horse, Noah stamped feet that felt like blocks
of solid ice and staggered off across the snow covered landscape in
the direction he prayed would lead him to the ranch.

Chapter Eleven
     
    Annie and Bets gave the old workhorse
his head, and Bright stoically waded through the drifts with the
two of them perched on him.
    Every few moments, Annie called Noah’s
name, but the sound was muffled by the heavy fall of snow. Her
hands and feet grew numb with cold, and she was grateful for Bets’s
warm body pressing close against her aching back.
    Her throat was hoarse from hollering
when at last she thought she heard an answer, faint and far
away.
    "Whoa.” She tugged on Bright’s reins,
afraid even to hope.
    “ Noah?” Her voice sounded
lost in the icy darkness.
    "Noooaah,” she screamed, every ounce
of her own desperation in the call, and this time she was certain
she heard his voice respond.
    She urged Bright on, and soon a tall,
snow covered figure came staggering out of the darkness toward
them.
    “ Noah.” With a mixture of
laughter and tears, Annie slid down from Bright's back and into his
half frozen arms.
    "Oh, Noah, thank God you’re all right.
What happened? Where’s Buck?”
    In a few stark sentences, he told her,
holding her close, his strong arms locked like a vise around her,
her huge belly cradled against him.
    “ I’ve been such a damned
fool, Annie,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “I love you, and I’ll
love this baby of ours when it comes. Now, let’s hurry and get you
home where it’s warm. It’s Christmas Eve, and we’re going to
celebrate, just the three of us.”
    She turned her face up to him, green
eyes full of joyful wonder, hardly able to believe what she’d
heard. And in that ecstatic moment, the first horrendous pain
ripped through her abdomen.
    “ Owwww!”
    Holding her, Noah felt her brace with
the contraction, then fall against him, stunned at its intensity
and duration.
    A new and awful fear gripped him. He
supported her until it was over, doing his best not to let her
suspect the utter panic that he felt.
    Was she about to have their baby in
the middle of this snowstorm? He kept his voice calm so as not to
alarm her.
    “ How long have you been
having pains, Annie?”
    She leaned on him, panting as the pain
receded, her forehead damp with perspiration and snowflakes. “Only
this one, but my back’s been sore all day.”
    Noah swallowed hard. God willing,
there’d be time to get her home, but the baby was undoubtedly
coming, and the storm would make it impossible to bring the doctor.
Even sending Bets for Gladys Hopkins was out of the question. It
was too far and there was far too much snow.
    He’d birthed animals, plenty of them,
but Noah hadn’t even been allowed in the room when Jeremy was
born.
    "Let's get you home, sweetheart.”
Catching Annie under the arms, he lifted her up on Bright’s back.
"We'll be there in a few minutes." He pulled a frozen mitten off
and with a few rapid signs, told Bets what