Devoted to the Blizzard: A romantic winter thriller (Tellure Hollow Book 3) (27 page)

“We weren’t doing anything wrong. Bryan is going to propose to me at sunset!” Her voice cracked, a mixture of excitement and bubbly, loving emotion. When she looked at me, her eyes were filled with tears.

As my brain was trying to wrap itself around that little tidbit of psychosis, Henry continued trying to talk her down.

“Angie, do you have the proper permit for that? It’s important you file that in town before coming out here.”

She frowned and shook her head. “No, but it’s okay. That’s silly! Love doesn’t need a permit. Could we just please have some privacy? This is kind of an important moment for me, and this wasn’t in the plan.” Her tone shifted again, the petulance returning. “God, what is with these guys?” she whispered in my ear.

Henry pressed on but changed tactics. “Well of course it’s important, Angie.”

“Stop saying my name like that,” she snarled.

“Okay, okay,” he replied, holding his hands up to steady her. Switching up his approach again, he continued. “You want someone to take photos, right? I’d be happy to capture the special moment. That’s something you’ll want for the rest of your life. Show your grandkids years from now.”

Her face lit up. “Oh my goodness, yes! This is amazing!” She nudged me with her toe. “So great, right? How lucky are we that these guys showed up? Do you have any money to tip him with?”

Opting to placate, I nodded. “Of course, babe. It’s just… you’re going to have to help me up. The photos are going to look strange if I’m on the floor like this.”

She rolled her eyes like I was acting like a playful child. “Of course you can’t be on the floor,” she laughed. Angie helped me to my feet as Henry carefully crept down the bridge. She smiled and waved him on. “Well, come on then. We’re going to miss the light if you don’t hurry up.”

The tension on his face was evident, his brow creased. But he strode more confidently, meeting my eye a few times as he approached. Thankfully, Angie was oblivious.

“So, obviously we can’t do a real bungee jump because we just missed them as we drove up,” she explained to Henry, “but I was thinking we could make it look like we were about to, ya’ know? Maybe Photoshop it in later!”

With as much strength as I could muster at such an odd angle, I yanked my wrists apart. The pain nearly loosed a cry, but I bit my lip hard to stop any sound from escaping. One of the small strands snapped, loosening the others. The relief had less to do with removing the pain than gaining hope. In a fraction of a second, I went from helpless to hopeful.

“Sounds good, Angie,” Henry said, only fifteen feet away or so.

She took a step back, her blissful expression faltering. “Where’s your camera?”

“Got it clipped back here,” he replied as he patted his belt. His rough expression stayed artificially sweet, almost patronizing. “Safest place for it.”

She grabbed my arm and took another step away. I clasped my fingers together to continue the illusion of restraint. “I think I’ve changed my mind,” she yelled out shakily. Henry hadn’t spent as much time with her as I unfortunately had. Sane Angie had the same tone. She was on the brink of a major meltdown.

He was less than ten feet away, an insincere smile pinned to his face. “You’ll want to remember this day,” he encouraged. It was the tiniest flick of his eye that gave it all away, that brought the whole tower of cards fluttering to the ground.

Henry happened to look up over Angie’s shoulder, an insignificant movement that attracted her attention. She followed his gaze to see two uniformed policeman creeping up behind us from the other side of the bridge. At some point, they must’ve circled around, closing in on the bridge unnoticed.

“What is this?” she sputtered, shrinking away.

The unintended consequence of their flanking pushed us out onto the narrow ledge. A swift breeze ruffled through my hair. A statistic popped into my head as I looked down into the impossibly turquoise water, something I’d read in a brochure.
It’s over a hundred feet down to that river
, I thought numbly. I knew I had to act fast.

“Wait!” I shouted.

Angie blinked at me. I tried to ignore the glint of the knife in her hand as I smiled. For this to work, I needed to appear genuine. “We’re losing the light. What proposal worth its salt happens at any other time than the golden hour?” She didn’t know how to respond. I could almost see the voices in her head fighting. I turned to the officers. “Please, gentleman. My girlfriend and I would like a few moments to ourselves. I can assure you, if we need any assistance, I’ll call.”

Henry froze and held a hand up to the others. He looked at me questioningly, and I gave him a brief nod.
I’ve got this under control… I hope.

“Bryan?” she asked softly. The smile I returned dissolved her doubt. Blissful happiness spread across her face. For a moment, I caught a glimpse of the woman I’d once loved. “I’m your fiancée, not girlfriend! You can never remember that.”

The ledge was only large enough for two people to stand on. I maneuvered myself around so I was at the very end. While precarious, I hoped it would give Henry and the others an opportunity to tackle her back inside. I banked on the hope she truly believed this was a marriage proposal and wouldn’t try to push me over the edge.

“You’ll have to help me to one knee if I’m going to do this right,” I grinned. “And maybe tuck the knife away? Not very romantic.”

“Oh! Duh, of course,” she exclaimed as she helped me to my knee. The fact any of that made sense to her is evidence to how far gone her mental state was. “Careful. I wouldn’t want you to fall,” she giggled as she slipped the knife into a coat pocket, the black handle protruding.

Once I settled into position, I smiled warmly. “Angie. We’ve known each other for so long, been through so much. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without you.”

Her eyes welled with tears. She brought one hand to her mouth and gasped. “Oh, Bryan. I can’t believe this is happening.”

Does she really not remember the first time I did this? I could probably say the same exact thing I did then and she wouldn’t know the difference.

“Over the years, we’ve had ups and downs…”

Angie sniffed and nodded in agreement. “Totally. What couple doesn’t?” she interrupted.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Henry and the other men move closer. I had to keep her focused on me long enough they could grab her. “We can never predict where life will take us, but with you by my side…”

“Bryan!” a voice rang out. I turned towards the sound, my heart leaping as I found her in the distance. Liz stood on the edge of the observation deck, held back by a couple of officers. It might be hard to believe, but for a moment I forgot where I was. Seeing her filled me with such joy, all my fear disappeared. Not only was she okay, she was giving them hell. “If you fucking touch him…” she shouted.

Angie’s face contorted again. Pure rage turned her once beautiful face into something grotesque. “That little slut,” she growled. “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance!” she yelled back.

It was now or never. I lunged forward and kicked my bent leg hard against the wooden floor. The split second distraction was enough time for me to whip my hands around and grab her by the waist. Unfortunately, I must’ve telegraphed the move. She moved too quickly. Maybe I still had more of that drug in my system than I thought. I’d intended on throwing her into the main space of the bridge, but she twisted at the last second.

We both landed awkwardly on our sides, still balanced on the ledge. Time froze. Angie looked at me with shock and disappointment. “How could you ruin this for me?” she asked as her hand slid to the pocket where she’d stashed the knife.

We moved at the same time, but both miscalculated how narrow the ledge was. Angie tried to roll away enough to get a full swing at me with the knife. Her lower half slipped from the side, the knife skittering away and over the edge as she reached for a handhold. She managed to snatch a fistful of my coat sleeve, pulling me along as she slid out of sight.

I reacted instinctively. There was no brave moment where she dangled from my hand while I desperately tried to lift her to safety. Those things happen in movies, not real life. In reality, it was her or me. I chose me.

My free hand shot out and grabbed the base of the railing. Gravity wrenched her weak grip from my arm, but not before pulling me half off the ledge along with her. Her scream echoed through the canyon, dimmed only by Liz shouting my name.

A couple pairs of hands were on me in an instant, pulling me up and away from the abyss. Even with their fast reactions, I was surprised my shoulder had been strong enough to hold me there in the first place. I landed in a heap, panting like I’d just run a marathon. The horrific scream she’d loosed as she fell echoed in my memory. I briefly thought that anyone living nearby would be freaked out, but swiftly corrected myself.
Hundreds of people scream in this valley every day. Nothing new.
And probably because of the shock of the situation, I started to laugh.

“You all right, son?” Henry said with concern.

I nodded as I tried to pull myself together.

“Jackson, we need a boat on the Kawarau. Probably call search and rescue,” Henry said into his walkie talkie while giving me an odd look.

I stared at the sky above as my breathing returned to normal, a pale blue growing darker with every passing second. He helped me to a seated position against the side just as Liz broke through the gate at the end of the bridge. With an obvious limp, she desperately pulled herself along the railing.

She fell to her knees at my side with a grimace, but immediately started examining me. “Oh my God, are you okay? Your wrists! She cut you? Oh Christ, I thought you were going to…” she sobbed as she flung her arms around my neck.

“It’s all right, everything’s okay now,” I soothed, a chuckle rumbling in my chest.

“I remembered that ridiculous
Playboy
thing I found before we left. It was fate or something. God, Bryan. What a shitstorm.” I couldn’t contain the laugh at her creative curse. Liz pulled back and gave me an incredulous look. “What’s so funny?”

I licked my lips and slipped my hand behind her head. I pulled her mouth to me for a hard kiss, pausing just before our lips met. “I’ve saved you and now you’ve saved me. Looks like we’re even.”

All things considered, Liz and I were incredibly lucky. As we sat out in the hallway, patiently waiting for the doctor to come give us the final release, we hadn’t stopped touching one another. The clinic was at full capacity with the gondola crash, so we’d been pushed to a stretcher in the hall. Rumor was, three people had been killed and over two dozen seriously injured. I still couldn’t believe Angie would go to such lengths. And for what? The whole event was beyond comprehension. All we could do was comfort each other and count our blessings.

Liz rested on the stretcher while I sat at her feet. Once the shock wore off, she’d been in tremendous pain. Between her leg, the concussion, and the reopened wound in her side, I was surprised she could even talk.

“There’s one thing,” she said as she slid an arm under her head. “If I ever see that girl Paige again, I probably owe her an apology. I was about to slap that bitch down and turns out, wrong bitch!”

I shook my head at her twisted humor and laughed. “You were right to worry. She tried to come onto me at one point, so it’s not like you were going completely crazy.”

“I know,” Liz replied flatly. “It was pretty damn obvious.” She sat up quickly on her elbow and gave a shout and wave. “Hey you!”

I turned in time to see Janet race past in a blur and into Lauren’s outstretched arms. The two women held each other for a long moment before pulling away in tears.

“They didn’t let me see you after the accident, and then you were gone. I had no idea what was happening.” She reached out and gripped my shoulder. “Oh, thank God you two are okay. I can’t believe any of this happened.” She wiped her bloodshot eyes and tried to steady herself. Seeing the normally stoic Janet so broken up made it all worse.

“I’m failing to process it all, too. But I think that’s mostly the painkillers,” Liz chuckled.

“Did you get in touch with our parents?” I asked. I knew the story must’ve been all over the news. The last thing I wanted was for them to wake up and see it without knowing we were all right.