Rocky Mountain Romp (Rocky Mountain Bride Series Book 4) by Lee Savino Page B

Jonathan directed, already kneeling in the melting slush. His hands dove through the woman’s layers to find her precious bundle. “Esther.” His wife stepped forward to take the baby, wrapped tightly in fur, and Johnathan instructed her to wrap the baby in another warm layer before glancing up at the rugged trapper. “What happened?”
    “I found her in the woods near town, lying under a tree,” the big man said, whipping off his cap in a flurry of snow. “Looked like she saw the lights, come some way, but the blizzard blinded her before she could reach the shelter. She was cold, but the babe at her breast was bundled up tight.” The big man watched, face grim, as Johnathan checked the woman’s neck for a pulse. “I lashed the branches with leather, tied them to me and set off.”
    “Cool to the touch, and no heartbeat. She’s gone.” Johnathan rose and hurried to his wife. “Let me see the babe.” She laid the infant on the table and he started to pry apart the thick swaddle.
    The rest of the men stared down at the dead woman’s lovely face. Snow was melting on her dark lashes and shining, black hair. Her round features were serene in death.
    “Poor lassie,” the trapper said. “Came so far to save herself and her babe.”
    “She did all she could.” Lyle clapped the man’s arm. “So did you.”
    Jesse stepped forward with a blanket, and draped it over the body. Together he, his brother and Miles lifted the makeshift sled and carried it outside to the stables, where the cold would keep the body until burial.
    The trapper watched them go, his shoulders sagging. “I knew she wouldnae last long. I had the blanket, but it wasn’t enough.”
    Mrs. Lovett bustled forward and handed the man a mug of steaming cider. “You have a hero’s place by the fire. Come get dry.”
    “Thank ye.”
    “I know you,” Mr. Martin said as the giant sat on the raised stone hearth. “You’re the trapper who just made a claim near town.”
    “Calum Macdonnell.” The cup he held disappeared in his meaty hands, but the steam rose up and thawed his coarse sandy beard. “Not much fur to be found anymore, so I’m trying to turn farmer. I live at the foot of the mountain.”
    “Long way to come to town on foot,” Miles observed. Both he and Lyle stood close to the giant stranger, studying him, a slight wariness to their posture.
    “Was out for a walk anyway. Always restless this time of year. Nothing but snow.”
    Miles and Lyle shared a glance, and Jesse felt a pang of sympathy for the lone man. After years of being on his own, Jesse was used to being the odd man out.
    Taking his own mug of cider, the younger Wilder settled next to Calum. “I know what you mean, friend,” he said. “I was born to live in the wild, but sometimes in winter it seems too big an empty space to be filled with cold and darkness. Leaves a man lonely.”
    “Aye,” Calum said.
    “You have any kin close by?” Lyle sat on the other side of the trapper, giving enough berth to the man’s buckskin jacket, which was beginning to drip water down the leather fringes as it thawed.
    “No, not anymore.” Calum’s voice was mild, but his eyes were haunted.
    Rose approached the big man on Lyle’s side. After a nod from her husband, she set a large bowl of stew and a half a loaf of bread nearby, and Calum thanked her.
    “How’s the babe?” Calum took the bread and tore into it with his teeth.
    At the table, Johnathan bent over the infant.
    “So quiet,” Esther said, hovering at her husband’s shoulder.
    “But alive,” Johnathan said. “Limbs all normal. She bundled him with everything she had, and kept him warm.” He took a step back. “If he doesn’t eat soon, though, he’ll die.”
    An awful silence fell over the room.
    Carrie stepped forward. “Give him to me.” Her fingers were already loosening the shawl she wore over her dress. “I have milk enough for him.”
    “Carrie…” Miles started forward.
    “I do, husband.”