Page 61 of Gracefully Yours

“Char?” I said again, spinning around to look for her. “Keep talking!”

“D-Daniel?” There was her voice again. “I’m over h-here,” she said, and following her voice, I finally found her.

There. There she was. She’d fallen into a snow ditch and had tried to shelter in between two pine trees. It did little in the way of protecting her from the snow that was falling faster and faster now, though.

Sending up a silent thank you, I popped my boots out of the skis, climbing into the small crevasse where she was sitting. She’d discarded the skis and poles beside her, and I was glad she’d gotten her boots out of them. It would have been worse if her body was stuck in an awkward position because she couldn’t get them to unlatch.

“Are you okay? Is anything hurt?” I tried to inspect her for injuries, but I couldn’t see much between the ski pants and her big puffy coat. Crouching in closer to her, I wiped snow off of her hat and cheeks, inspecting her face. The tip of her nose was bright red, and she was shivering. “Jesus, Charlotte. You’re freezing.”

She tried to give me a smile, but really it was more of a grimace. “I’ll be f-fine once we get inside.” She groaned as she tried to stand up on her feet. “I think I t-twisted my a-ankle when I was looking for you, and it hurt to put weight on, and I t-tried to stay out of the snow.” Her teeth were chattering as she lifted her head to respond.

“Come on, let’s get you out of there,” I murmured, watching her eyes flutter shut as I pulled her into my arms. I’d have to come back for the skis and our poles, but I wasn’t really worried about that right now.

After careful maneuvering, I got us both down the mountain and back to the lodge, aiming for the spot where I’d left the girls sitting. Her lack of tears made me believe her ankle wasn’t terribly hurt, but she winced when I tried to set her down on her feet.

As fast as I could, I got my own skis off my feet and leaned them up against the post outside the lodge.

The rest of the guys weren’t down yet, but I wasn’t about to keep her outside any longer than normal. I’d have to hope that they’d check inside before they went back out again.

“Darling,” I whispered in her ear. “I want Hunter to check your ankle and make sure it’s not broken or sprained, alright?”

She nodded, wrapping her arms around my neck and burying her head in the crook of my neck.

Carefully carrying Charlotte into the lodge, I laid her on the couch near the fireplace. The girls ran over to check on her as I unzipped her coat and removed her outer layers.

“Are you okay?” Noelle asked, and Charlotte brushed her off.

“I’ll be fine.” The tip of her nose was still pink, but thankfully, now that she was in just her thermals and inside, she’d stopped shivering as much. Angelina came back over with a cup of hot chocolate, which was now firmly in Charlotte’s hands, cupping it tightly.

“We were so worried when Daniel came back without you.”

I spotted Hunter’s curly brown hair walking into the lodge, and I breathed a sigh of relief. “Hunter.”

“Hey.” He kneeled down in front of Charlotte. “How ya feeling?”

“Fine,” she said, grimacing only slightly when she tried to move her foot. “I fell, and I think I just twisted it… It hurts, but I don’t think it’s broken.”

Hunter nodded, quickly looking over her and testing Charlotte’s foot, as well as an all-around checkup to make sure nothing else was wrong. “You’re right. It doesn’t look broken to me, either. You probably just rolled it.” He looked at me. “She just needs some rest, ice, compression, and elevation.” Thank god.

“Is there anything else we should do? Do you think she needs x-rays?”

“The pain should go away on its own in a few days, but if it doesn’t… I know some good ortho doctors back home, and we can get you all checked out.”

“Thanks, doc,” Charlotte gave him a fake smile when he finished up.

“And no more skiing this weekend, I’m afraid. Try to put as little weight on that foot as possible.”

“What a bummer,” she murmured, though I could see right through her fake pout. She wasn’t disappointed at all.

“Let’s get you back to the house,” I said, hefting her into my arms. “We’ll go warm you up, okay?”

She mumbled something incoherent into my chest, and I looked at the rest of the group. Hunter tossed me the keys to his jeep.

“We’ll all get back in the truck,” Hunter said. Matthew, now at Noelle’s side, nodded in agreement.

Noelle frowned. “Do you want us to come back with you to keep you company?” She asked Charlotte, who shook her head.

“No, no. You guys have fun. We’ll be okay.” She looked back to me, and I could only nod.

---