Page 4 of Snowed in with the Rancher

“Here,” she said, maintaining a cheerful tone. “Give me your gloves, and we'll put warmers in them.”

Both girls handed over their ski gloves, and she massaged the warming packets to life before sliding them into the gloves and then helping the girls get them back on their hands.

“Now, if Lissa will scoot over a touch, I can sit on that rock with her, and then we can each have a bar while we wait.”

Food served to be every bit as much of a distraction as she'd hoped, and before long, they were comparing mouths full of half-chewed energy bars. Olivia subtly pulled her cell phone from her jacket pocket. Still no signal. She glanced at the sky. The rapid onset of dark and cold was making her heart beat a little faster. She held on to the idea that help was on the way. If it wasn't…she didn't know what she'd do.

The last few weeks had already been difficult for her and the girls. Moving was never easy, especially with kids, and the girls missed their former preschool and with their friends. Olivia missed the group of single moms she'd had as a support system since shortly after the twins were born. But turning down the opportunity that had brought her here simply hadn't been an option.

Olivia's new job with Dreams for Disabilities—DFD—was something she'd been working toward since before the girls were born. When she'd seen the posting for the position of executive director of DFD, she'd known that she was finally going to get her chance. The pay raise was substantial, and the small-town location meant a healthy, safe environment to raise the girls in.

The fact that the job had been in Montana, the state the girls' father was from, had seemed like some sort of kismet. While she had no idea whether he still lived in the state or not, she remembered that he'd talked about having close ties to a family ranch. The odds that he was still here somewhere were better than not. Without knowing his last name, she'd never been able to look for him, but she figured being in the same state increased her odds at least somewhat. She'd felt hopeful when she'd accepted the job offer and started planning the move.

But after weeks of every little thing going wrong, optimism had gotten harder and harder to hold on to. This snowshoeing “adventure” had been her latest attempt to cheer the girls up and lift her own spirits as well—and look how that had turned out. Jackie had fallen down an embankment, hurting her ankle and slipping completely out of sight of the rest of the group. Rushing to her baby's side, Olivia hadn't spared a single thought to getting the group leader's attention, and when she'd finally looked up after checking over the injury, she'd realized the group had left them behind, apparently not even realizing the three of them were no longer there. With no signal to call for help, no way to get two four-year-olds back up on the trail by herself, and no other options, Olivia was clinging to her last threads of hope that help was on its way. It just had to be. She didn't know what she'd do if it wasn't.

She looked at the sky again as light snowflakes began to drift down. Surely they were going to send someone back soon, right?

“Mommy,” Jackie said again, tears filling her eyes this time. “I'm really scared. I don't want to live in Montana anymore.”

Melissa nodded her agreement, her brow furrowed in a scowl.

“Hey.” Olivia got up from the rock and went over to the log Jackie was perched on. She eased herself down on the log and pulled the tired child onto her lap. Then she put out her other arm and gestured to Melissa to join them. Melissa jumped down from the rock and trudged over with a resigned expression.

“I know it's cold and a little bit scary right now, but someone is going to come along very soon and take us back to the lodge, and then we can go home to our new beds.”

“I want my old bed,” Melissa grumbled, bending her head to pick at her nails.

“Me, too,” Jackie whined.

“I'll tell you what,” Olivia said brightly—much more brightly than she felt. “Let's talk again about all the fun things we're going to get to do here in Montana.”

“Like snowshoeing and watching Jackie fall down a hill?” Melissa asked with a raised brow.

“And then seeing Mommy and you slide down on your butts to help me?” Jackie asked with a giggle.

“What about the puppy we're going to get?” Olivia said. Okay, yes, she was desperate. She'd been holding out the promise of a puppy for weeks while they were packing up the apartment back in Spokane. And she knew taking on the care and training of a puppy when she was busy with her daughters and her new job wasn't the best plan, but there had been days when that as-yet-to-materialize puppy was the only thing that got them all through.

“I want a Goldendoodle!” Jackie said, bouncing up and down on Olivia's lap.

“No,” Melissa said sternly, “a Saint Bernard, so it can rescue us when we fall down hills in the snow.”

Olivia had to smile at that one. Melissa was always so practical. If she did take after her father, he was obviously a very capable guy.

Jackie was talking about names for the puppy when Olivia suddenly cocked her head, ears trained on the distant buzzing sound she heard.

“Mommy! What's that?” ever-vigilant Melissa whispered.

Olivia held up one finger to indicate the girls needed to be quiet. They both promptly went silent, although Olivia could feel Jackie pressing closer to her, probably ready to burst into tears again.

The buzzing came closer. They heard it slow for a few moments, then pick back up. Slow. Quicken.

“I think it's someone coming to help us!” Olivia exclaimed. Both girls cheered, and Melissa jumped up and down, clapping her hands, uncharacteristically excited.

Olivia stood and set Jackie on the rock before walking over to the bottom of the hill they'd all slid down. As the buzzing engine—probably an ATV of some sort—came closer and closer, she knew she had to find a way to alert whoever was driving it that they were here.

She looked around at the rocks and pine trees, hoping for some sort of inspiration. Despite her intense concentration, nothing presented itself. All they had to work with was noise. That meant they needed to make some, and fast.

“Start screaming, girls,” she instructed. “Use your very biggest, loudest outside voices, and don't stop until I say!”

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