Chapter 24: First Snow

I woke with the bed empty beside me and the window white.

The snow had stopped sometime in the night.

The whole north ridge lay under it, bright and blue in the early light.

On the nightstand sat a mug of coffee, still steaming.

Under it was a folded paper in Alexander's blocky hand.

Gone to do something. Don't come out until you've eaten.

I laughed out loud, alone in the room.

My arm ached, and the mark on my shoulder ached, and I was warm all the way down.

I took the coffee to the window.

Down in the yard, a figure in a dark coat was working a snow shovel along the drive.

He had cleared a long straight path all the way to the road.

I stayed there at the glass for a while and watched him work.

Downstairs, the kitchen was loud.

Both my daughters had slept at the house on the ridge.

I could hear a pan clatter and Eliza yelling, "It's not burned, it's crisp!"

My younger daughter was at the table with her laptop, ignoring the smoke.

She looked up when I came in.

"Dad wrote," she said.

I stopped in the doorway.

"He sent a letter to the lodge. The warden brought it up." Her voice was as flat as ever. "It's two pages."

"What does it say?"

"I haven't read it."

"Do you want to?"

She thought about it, with her chin on her fist.

"Not today," she said. "I'm going to put it in the drawer with the sign and read it when I'm ready. If I'm ever ready."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Too Old for My Alpha, Worth the Wait for His Rival from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.