Chapter 17
The girls let go of my hands almost instantly and I turned toward the door, knowing in my heart that anyone knocking on our door on a day like this was in need of help.
"Andy, check the phone and see if it's working again. Lisa-Marie, throw the kettle on, whoever it is will be cold." I said even while I was heading for the door.
I opened the door and shivered almost instantly, then reached out to take the hand of the old woman standing there covered in snow and shaking like a leaf. She looked like she was dressed for a fall outing, not for being out in a blizzard and I knew we had to get her warm quickly.
"I - I - I'm s-s-ssorry to disturb you." She mumbled. "We need help."
"Yes Ma'am." I said quickly as I helped her inside and quickly helped her out of her wet coat. "I know who you are. You're Mrs Matilda Granger. Where is your sister, Nettie?"
As cold as she was and as old as she was, I wanted to help as much as I could, so I was being a bit pushy. I helped her to a chair near the old heater, just realising it was on and realising that one of the girls must have started a fire in it earlier in the day because the kitchen got chilly.
"We were at church, then when we were driving home, the wind just blew us off the road. I had to walk." She managed to say through chattering teeth. "Nettie was knocked out I think. She's still in the car. I hurried as fast as I could, but you've got to get us some help."
"Phone?" I glanced at Andy who'd checked it and she shook her head.
"Tom, she's freezing cold." Lisa-Marie said shortly as she rested a hand on the old lady's forehead. "We need to warm her up fast, inside and out. Can you carry her upstairs? We'll get her into a tub of warm water and I'll make some weak sweet tea for her to drink. Andy, can you go upstairs and start filling the tub with warm water, not too hot, just warm and then help Tom get her soaking in it?"
"Mrs. Granger, I need to know where Nettie and the car are." I said as I scooped her into my arms and turned toward the stairs.
"The car went off the road near your little river, but the motor isn't running, so it will be awfully cold for poor Nettie. Now let me down. I can walk. You need to go help her. I'm fine."
"We're almost there." I said firmly. "We want to get you warm, so we're going to put you into the tub and . . ."
"I am not undressing with a man in the room." She said stubbornly, then pointed at Andy. "I know this girl. She can help me."
"She's okay now, Tom. Just set her down and I'll help her." Andy nodded at me. "You go find Aunt Nettie, but for gosh sakes, be careful."
I didn't argue, and as I turned, I almost knocked Lisa-Marie down as she came in carrying a tea pot and a cup.
"Andy, you can look after Mrs. Granger, can't you?" Lisa-Marie said quietly. "I don't want Tom out there alone. I want to go with him."
"We'll be just fine, won't we Aunt Mattie?" Andy nodded at Lisa-Marie, already helping the old woman with the buttons on the back of her dress.
"I'm taking the tractor." I glanced at Lisa-Marie. "So you need to dress for intense cold."
She followed me downstairs and frowned as I tossed her a pair of coveralls, then my old parka.
"Are you wearing two pairs of socks? And what are you wearing for boots?" I asked as I dressed myself.
"Yes I have two pairs of socks and don't worry, I'll dress warmly." She snapped. "Why do I need to wear this stinky pair of coveralls?"
"Because they break the wind and the parka will keep you warm, but everything will still let you move." I sighed. "Hey, while I'm getting the tractor, why don't you make a thermos of hot tea. It might come in handy."
"You could have asked for that before I had all these clothes on." She barked, then pointed to the floor beside the door where a big thermos already sat waiting. "On of these days you're going to have to start remembering that I've lived on the farm all my life too. So did Andy. We know what needs to be done."
I didn't say anything, just leaned over and kissed her quickly, then hurried to finish dressing for cold weather. She was dressed as soon as I was and we went outside together. It was cold and that damn wind seemed to cut right through the clothes we had on. At least it wasn't snowing much now, but the snow on the ground was drifting heavily.
"Did you say these coveralls helped to keep you warm?" Lisa-Marie almost shouted to be heard over the wind.
"Yeah, without them, you'd freeze." I shouted back.
"Well, I'm half frozen already." She answered, just as we got into the lee of the equipment shed. "The wind is horrid."
"Yeah, just think of that old woman coming through this blizzard in the clothes she was wearing." I said quietly as we stepped inside the shed through the regular door and I snapped on the lights.
"Oh, thank goodness." Lisa Marie said, looking at the tractor. "I'd forgotten about the cab and I was expecting to freeze for the next hour or so."
"Well, it's small and drafty, but it'll break most of the wind." I nodded. "The key's in it, if you want to start it up. I'll get the main door."
"You start it." She said flatly, pushing me away from the chain that raised the door. "I might do something wrong and wreck it."
She was being overly cautious because it wasn't that different from Joe's tractor and I knew she could drive that, but I didn't want to take the time to argue.
"Well, wait a minute or two with the door. It's a diesel and it needs to warm up a bit before I rev it up much." I said, then went to start the tractor.
Once the tractor was slightly warmed up, I opened a side window in the cab and waved to her. She ran the big door to the top so I could drive out, then I stopped and waited while she closed it and joined me in the little cab. I turned on the headlights just in case there was anyone out there to see them so we didn't have a collision. Then we drove down the drive and turned onto the road, heading toward the bridge across the creek.
"I wonder which side of the road she went off on?" Lisa-Marie asked.
"Well, Matilda said the wind blew them off the road, so that would be on our left."
"Yeah, she did, didn't she."
"Yes, but who knows for sure which side they went off. Look at that snow. Man, is it ever drifting."
"Yeah. Hey, do we have a shovel?"
"Fine time to ask, woman." I snorted. "There's two of them, as well as a chain, laying in the front bucket. I just left them there after I'd pulled Willy out of the ditch."
"Oh, I forgot about that." She leaned against me for a second, then pulled back so I wasn't cramped in case I had to swing the wheel hard.
Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, and I simply drove over the drifts we saw on the road, not bothering to try to clear them out of the way. Then I saw a strange light ahead.
"What's that?" Lisa-Marie said almost at the same time I saw the light.
"Cops I think." I said realising at that second that I was seeing a flashing blue light. "If it is, I hope they've got the old lady in the car so she can warm up."
"Yeah, me too." Lisa answered, but her voice sounded uncertain.
As we approached, a cop got out of the car and waved his hands for me to stop. I stopped and slid open the side window.
"Evening, Officer. Did you stop here for an accident?"
"Yes, how did you know about it?" He snapped.
"A little old lady walked to our house in this damn blizzard. We came looking for her sister to see if we could help."
"I see." He sighed and his faced showed some relief, but still looked sad. "At least I can stop looking for Matilda."
"Is Nettie okay?" I asked.
As he slowly shook his head, I sighed and Lisa-Marie actually moaned slightly.
"Actually there wasn't anything anyone could do. I think she died instantly." He said quietly. "How is Matilda?"
"Suffering from the cold. We have a neighbour staying with us and she's looking after Matilda right now. We came as fast as we could, just in case we could help."
"You're the young folks who took over Silas Williams' place aren't you?" He asked.
"Yeah, that's right. I'm Tom Williams and this is my fiancé Lisa-Marie."
"Glad to meet you. I'm Constable Ted Orr."
I nodded. " I'm surprised to see you on this road on a night like this."
He sighed deeply. "It's a long story, too long to go into at this time. Now, I don't suppose you could think of a way to break frozen brake shoes free, could you? I should go back to your place and see if Matilda needs medical attention. There isn't anything I can do here for Nettie by myself."
"We could try giving your car a tow." I suggested. "I suppose you got snow packed into your brakes and when you stopped they froze huh?"
"That's what I think happened." He nodded. "The front wheels are locked solid and no matter if I back up or go forward, the car slides toward the ditch. I can't just leave it here and I can't seem to call for help. Down in this hollow, I'm getting crappy radio reception so my calls probably aren't getting out either."
"Great, and our phone is down."
"That's understandable. Nettie took out a phone pole when she crashed."
"Cripes, it was that long ago?"
"Yeah, It's been a while. I wasn't far behind them when it happened. I stopped because I saw the skid marks on the road. I've been hunting for Matilda and trying to get this car moving since then. On top of everything else, I'm short of gas, so I haven't been running the car much."
"Jeez, you must be freezing?"
He just nodded.
"Would you like some hot tea?" Lisa-Marie asked quickly. "We have a thermos with us."
"Ma'am, right now I'd like to try to get my brakes freed up and then come to your house, if you don't mind? Not that I'd turn down a cup of tea though."
"You take the thermos and get in your car." I smiled. "We'll hook a chain onto that nice big tow hook I see sticking out of your bumper and I'll pull you back to our place if you want. The drifts are a bit deep in places."
"I'd rather you just tried to break the wheels free." He smiled at my idea. "If we get the tires free, then I could follow you and drive in your tire tracks."
"Sure, I'll turn around and hook up the chain. You get in the car and warm up a bit. I'll flick a light on and off when I'm ready to tow and you can flash your lights to let me know it's okay. When you want me to quit towing, just flash your headlights off and on again and I'll stop to unhook the chain."
"And if I get stuck, you'll come back and tow me out?"
"I plan on dropping the bucket to about six inches off the road and plowing a path. If you follow in my wheel tracks, you won't get stuck."
He took the thermos and headed for his car. It only took a few minutes to swing the tractor around and hook up the chain. While I was at it, I moved the shovels out of the front bucket so they wouldn't be buried when I plowed into the snow drifts. His car only moved about ten feet before he was flashing his lights to let me know that we'd succeeded in breaking the wheels free. After that we simply drove home and he followed us.
While we put the tractor in the machine shed, he swung his car around to face the road near my truck. When we walked back from the machine shed, he looked a lot more relaxed as he got out of the car and joined us to go into the house.
"The radio worked well here." He said quietly. "I've got a snow plow, a tow truck and an ambulance on the way. I'll get them to tow the car back to town as it is and we'll get the body out of the car there, but we'll have the ambulance take Matilda in to have her checked over at the hospital."
"I think that's a really good idea." I nodded. "I don't suppose you contacted the phone company?"
"They wouldn't come out now anyway, not in this storm. You might think about getting a CB radio for situations like this."
"Yeah, sure." I sighed as I held the door for him to go inside the house. "We're finding we need a few things. That wasn't on our list, but it might be an idea."
He stopped inside the door and we were taking off our outer gear when I glanced up to see Andy standing there looking puzzled.
"Hello Andrea." The cop said quietly.
"I'm sorry, you look familiar but I can't place you?" She answered.
"There's no real reason you should. I was in civies when I met you before. I asked you to dance about four months ago." He smiled at her "I'm Constable Ted Orr."
"Oh, I remember, at the barn dance. Excuse me for a minute." She turned her head toward me. "Aunt Mattie would only stay in the tub for about fifteen minutes, then she complained that she was too hot. At least I got her to lie down on my bed. She fell asleep right away and her colour is much better now. What worries me is that she kept saying her feet felt funny and both of them look kind of white to me."
"You left her up there alone?" Lisa-Marie frowned.
"I only came down a minute or so ago. I heard the tractor pull into the yard and I thought I should come tell you what had happened." She frowned again. "Where is Aunt Nettie?"
"I'm sorry." The constable said softly. "There was nothing any of us could do."
"Oh no! Poor Aunt Mattie, that will hit her hard. But, she might know already I guess, just from the strange way she's been acting." Andy had tears running down her cheeks.
"Oh God, what next?" She whimpered, then she turned and ran upstairs.
"I don't really think she should be the one to tell Mrs. Granger." The cop said quietly.
"I'll stop her if I can." Lisa-Marie threw down the coveralls that she'd just pulled off and ran after Andy.
"I hate this part of my job." The cop said quietly.
"I can understand that, Ted." I nodded. "Oops, do you mind if I call you Ted?"
"No, not since I plan on calling you Tom. Well, unless it's on official business, then I'll call you 'Mr. Williams' and act a lot more officious."
"I hope that doesn't happen soon." I smiled. "Now, would you like a coffee and a sandwich while we're waiting for your helpers to come?"
"I should go up and see Mrs. Granger first and if she's awake, I should tell her the bad news."
"I think that should wait if possible." I offered my opinion. "She looked like hell when she walked in that door and I think she should recover a bit of her faculties first. Nettie was pretty special to her."
"Both of them have been special to a lot of people and I'm one of them." He nodded, looking very tired. "The pair of them used to come into the office at least once a month to drop off a cake or a pie. You asked before why I was on this road? Well, they were the reason. I'd seen them eating lunch in the restaurant, then followed them just in case they got into trouble heading home. I got slowed up by a couple of drifts so I got quite a way behind and didn't see the accident itself, but when I saw those skid marks, I knew there was a problem."
He moved over and pulled a chair out to sit down at the kitchen table as I put the coffee on.
"I found Nettie slumped over the wheel with no pulse. There wasn't anything I could do." He sighed heavily. "Then I must have spent twenty minutes or half an hour wandering around looking for Matilda. Of course I tried the loud hailer first, but after getting no result with that, I had to start looking on foot. So I trudged up and down the road, calling her name. The car was useless to me, the brakes were frozen and the radio wouldn't work worth a hoot."
He paused, then lifted his eyes to mine and gave me a strange look. "I knew I was in deep trouble. Then I heard the roar of that tractor engine and I saw your lights coming. When I looked in the cab of that tractor, I was checking for wings."
"Wings?" I turned to stare at him.
"Well, don't angels of mercy usually have wings?" He managed a weak smile. "The car has less than a quarter of a tank of gas because I couldn't fill it earlier. The service station I'm supposed to use had a pump problem, frozen I guess. As it was I'd have either run out of gas and have had to walk for help or someone would have had to come along to help me out."
"Well, someone did." I shrugged. "I've got a couple of hundred gallons of farm gas up at the implement shed, but you can't legally use that, can you? It's dyed purple."
"In an emergency, I can use anything." He had an actual smile on his face this time. "Besides, I know the cop that tests cars for illegal gasoline."
"Well, I'll look the other way this time if you want to fill the car up." I grinned as I set cream, sugar and a cup of fresh coffee in front of him. "Now would you like a sandwich or something?"
"I've got some home made soup perking in the slow cooker that should be ready by now." Andy said quietly as she came in. "Got some home made bread too. Want some?"
"Please. That would be very nice." He smiled at her. "How is the old lady doing?"
"Sleeping and I didn't wake her." Andy sighed. "Lisa-Marie sent me downstairs to take a break."
Her face looked drawn and haggard, as if she'd lost a best friend, but she frowned at me as I moved toward her.
"Go sit." She ordered, then shoved me toward the table. "I'll get everything ready and we can eat early. That way we can help the officer and his friends do the things that have to be done before we do the chores."
"There's not much to do. I can't do anything but wait until the snow plow and the ambulance gets here. The ambulance attendants will be the ones handling Mrs. Granger. Then all I'll do is follow them on the trip to the hospital. Tom has convinced me that I shouldn't tell her about Nettie until she's stable, but I should go up and see her, just to check." Ted said quietly, then got to his feet. "While I'm up, I'd like to use the bathroom if I could?"
"Bathroom is at the top of the stairs and across the hall on your left. Matilda is in my room, on the other side and just past the stairs from there." Andy said in the flattest voice I'd ever heard her use.
As Ted stood and went upstairs, I moved over near her.
"What's up? Don't you like him?" I asked quietly.
She stepped back to look up the stairs to see that he was out of sound of her voice, then came back close to me. "I finally remembered him from that dance. When he's in civies, he doesn't understand the word 'no' and that kind of thing bothers me."
"Well, please be decent to him today, would you? He's working now and actually seems quite upset by this himself."
"I know, Tom." She leaned against me and I hugged her gently. "It's not as if I'm upset with him, I'm just being cautious. Since he's a cop, he'll know about Fred and me, so now he may think I'd be more open to his advances."
"Well, I think you can handle that, and if you need help, Lisa-Marie and I will back you up." I hugged even tighter for a second. "Besides, he's just proving my point, you know."
"What point?" She snapped as she pulled back.
"That you're a fine-looking woman." I grinned.
"Oh you idiot." She said as if she was in a huff, but her expression didn't match her words or her tone. "Now, I need to get something on the table for everyone to eat."
It was only a moment or two before the cop came back downstairs, followed by Lisa-Marie. She was only downstairs for a moment or two, just long enough to make a cup of tea. Then she went back up to sit with Matilda again. Andy served Ted and I, then ate hurriedly herself and went upstairs to join Lisa-Marie.
I was sitting quietly with Ted when I heard the bell on the phone jingle and I jumped in surprise. Picking up the receiver, I had a dial tone and I looked at Ted and smiled.
"It works now."
"Maybe the tow truck moved Matilda's car and the pole swung a bit so the wires aren't shorted any more." He offered. "Perhaps we should see if we can get through to the Granger's to let them know what's happened?"
"Good point. Matilda's granddaughter is visiting our next door neighbours. I wonder if I should call the rest of her family or if I should call her first since she's closest?"
"The family I think, and I should do it." He said getting to his feet and reaching for the phone.
I wasn't about to argue, I handed him the receiver and the phone book. Then I moved to the window to keep an eye out for the snowplow and the ambulance. Nothing had gone by when he finished his call and hung up, then turned to me.
"The Grangers don't think they can get out because of the snow, but they would like me to take their daughter in to stay with Matilda at the hospital. However, it seems that they're a bit reluctant to talk to your neighbours right now, so they were wondering if you could run down to the neighbours on your tractor and bring her back here with you." He said quietly. "I really don't mind if she rides to town with me and I really should stay here until the ambulance arrives."
"Well, Jean said she was dressed for church and the drifts don't get bad between here and the Martin's farm. I'll try it with the truck, it's a 4X4 and it's got good tires." I said shortly. "First though, I'll let the women know that I'm going."
"Perhaps you should try to phone first?" He suggested. "Wouldn't the Martin's pickup make it here, if yours would make it there?"
"Willy doesn't have a 4X4." I said flatly.
"His father does."
"He does?"
"Yes, in fact that's what he was driving after church today." He smiled. "You haven't been around long enough to recognise everyone's vehicle yet, have you?"
"Hell no. They've got ewes lambing in this blizzard though, so it might be better for me to just go down there." I said, reaching for the phone and already dialling.
The phone rang twice and then I heard Willy on the other end.
"Hello?"
"Hi Willy. This phone was down until a minute or so ago and I don't know how long it's going to be okay, so I'm not going to sugar coat this. I know Jean is there and I've got some bad news for her. Her Granny and her aunt were in an accident down by the bridge. They went off the road. Matilda is resting upstairs and we're waiting here for the ambulance with an RCMP officer that found the accident. He called Jean's folks and they'd like her to get a ride to the hospital with the Mountie so she can sit with Matilda. Do you want me to come get her or can you get her here safely in a short time? The Mountie will have to follow the ambulance, and we're expecting it soon."
"I can borrow Dad's truck and be there in about five minutes. How is Aunt Nettie?"
"Bad news I'm afraid, Willy. She didn't make it through the car crash. On top of that, Matilda was walking in this damn cold for long enough that she's not in the best of shape either. When she got here, we managed to get her straight into a tub of warm water to warm her up. When she insisted on getting out of that, Andy talked her into laying down so she's sleeping now."
"We'll see you in a few minutes." He said shortly and hung up.
"He'll be here in a few minutes." I said quietly, surprised to see the Mountie now at the door, putting on his parka.
"That's good, I just saw the flashing lights of the snowplow through the window, so I'll go out and turn on my warning flashers. That should make sure the ambulance knows this is where to come." He said shortly, then stepped out the door.
"Tom, the snow plow is just going by." Lisa-Marie told me as she came down the stairs. "I saw the flashing lights through our bedroom window."
"Yeah, the Mountie just went out to turn on his lights so the ambulance driver will know this is where to come. Oh, and Willy is bringing Jean over so she can go to town with the cop and stay with Matilda." I was looking out the window and watching the action as the plow whipped by at about thirty miles an hour.
"I wonder if I shouldn't go too." Andy said, surprising me because I hadn't known she'd come downstairs. "I've always thought of the two of them as my Aunts in a way because they were so nice to everyone. Maybe I can take some of the pressure off Jean as well."
"I really don't think it's a good idea." I said quietly. "I mean, you're still recovering yourself and . . ."
"That's what I said." Lisa-Marie agreed, looking at Andy. "But, I do think it's your choice."
"I know that. I'm asking for advice." Andy sighed.
"Why don't you ask Jean? Willy is bringing her in just a few minutes and you can decide then." I suggested.
Then there was a knock on the door and the cop opened it for the two ambulance attendants carrying a stretcher with folding wheels. Lisa-Marie led them upstairs. I was going to ask Ted if he wanted to put some gas in his car, but Jean came bursting in the door. She and Andy fell into a hug as Andy tried to explain what she knew. Then both of them went flying up the stairs even though I protested that they'd get in the way.
Suddenly Willy was standing in front of me, Lisa-Marie came back down to talk to me and the cop asked me something. The next few minutes were simply pure confusion for me. Then the ambulance attendants were carrying the old lady down the stairs. As they folded out the stretcher wheels, she said something to the man holding up the end near her head and he looked up.
"She insists she has to say thanks to Silas for letting her stay here." He said quietly. "Which one of you is Silas."
"She means you, Tom." Andy whispered. "I think her memory has gone funny."
I stepped forward hesitantly and as soon as she saw me, she lifted a shaky hand and smiled.
"Thanks so much for letting me rest for a while, Silas. I'm sorry I was so much trouble."
"No trouble at all, Matilda, none what so ever." I held her dry wrinkled hand and felt the coolness of her skin while I returned her weak smile. "Now these fellows are in a rush to get you out of here. I'll come to see you in the hospital."
"Oh nonsense. I'll be home before you know it and we'll make you a cup of tea when you come over to visit." Then her hand opened, letting go of mine, and her gaze shifted back to the attendant. "Now, young man, since you seem to be in such a hurry, perhaps we should go?"
I followed along as they went out the door and I stood on the porch in shirtsleeves and slippers, watching them put the old lady in the ambulance.
Suddenly Lisa-Marie was calling me from the door. "Tom! Get back in here. You're going to freeze."
"I'll be right there." I called, but I stayed and watched as the attendants got into the ambulance and drove down our drive.
Then as the flashing lights disappeared into the wind whipped snow, I sighed and turned back from the biting cold. There was nothing more I could do now, yet I wasn't satisfied with how this day had gone. Something felt like it was pressing on me, as if I hadn't done something important, yet I couldn't think what it could be.