Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,14

snapped the door shut behind them and hunched forward to click on a lamp. The yellow glow spilled across the floor.

“Electricity?”

“Electricity and water. I can’t vouch for what’s in the fridge, but there should be some imperishable snacks in the kitchen and there’s a stack of wood on the hearth.”

Jenna gave an involuntary shiver. The cold had seeped so far into her bones that she’d forgotten it had taken up residence until Cade had mentioned the hearth. The thought of a warm fire, a friendly fire, caused her skin to tingle.

“So, first things first.” Cade crouched by the fireplace and began crumpling newspapers from the stack in the corner. He glanced at one of the headlines. “Four months ago. I wonder who used it last?”

“I’m just glad whoever it was didn’t gobble up all the wood.” She settled Gavin in a chair facing the fireplace. “You stay here while your...Cade and I get this thing started.”

She’d have to break it to Gavin at some point that the man whizzing them around in fast cars and helicopters was his father. Then what? Introduce him to a father just in time for that father to disappear?

She scrunched a newspaper in her fists and shoved it beneath the grate. “Is this enough?”

“I think that’ll do.” Cade dragged a split of wood from a brass holder on the hearth and tossed it onto the grate. He stacked three more on top of that one, and touched the flame from his lighter to the paper beneath them.

The ends of the newspaper curled and large, pillowing ashes drifted up the chimney.

“Mommy.”

Jenna turned to find Gavin positioned at the edge of the chair, his eyes wide, reflecting the burgeoning fire.

She walked on her knees toward him, arms held out. When she reached her son, she engulfed him in a hug. “This fire’s okay. It’s in a fireplace and it’s going to stay right there.”

He squiggled out of her grasp and peered around her shoulder at the blaze crackling to life.

Reaching around her, Cade grabbed the legs of Gavin’s chair and scooted it forward. “Take your boots off and warm your toes.”

Cade collapsed on the floor, dug his elbow into the area rug and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. “Feels good, huh?”

Gavin kicked his legs. “Shoes, Mommy.”

“You got it.” She untied Gavin’s boots and pulled them off his feet. She stripped off his slightly damp socks and chafed his toes between her palms. “Better?”

He nodded and snuggled against the back of the chair.

Jenna wrapped the blanket around him, but he shoved his legs forward, his toes curling in the warmth of the fire.

She pressed her back against the bottom of the chair, crossed one leg over the other and untied her own boots.

Cade hopped up from the floor. “I think there are some blankets in the closet.”

Did he expect her to cuddle up with him in front of a roaring fire? She tossed aside her second boot. She wanted nothing more at this moment.

Gavin’s outstretched legs drooped, his feet skimming Jenna’s shoulder. Turning, she pulled the blanket over his legs. He shifted to the side and curled his legs beneath him, resting his head on the arm of the overstuffed chair.

Cade returned and shook out another blanket, which he laid over Gavin. “Electricity’s on, water’s on, but not the gas, so the only heat we have in here is this fire. He’ll be warmer sleeping in the chair than in one of the cold bedrooms back there.”

Her cheeks warm, Jenna busied herself with tucking the loose ends of the blanket around Gavin’s body. And where would she and Cade be warmer sleeping?

He pulled another chair close to the fireplace and dropped to the floor in front of it, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders. He shoved another blanket toward her with his foot. “There are a couple more blankets on the beds, if you’re still cold.”

Folding her legs on the thin area rug, she dragged the blanket toward her. “Maybe another one on top of this rug.”

“Yeah, too bad it’s not one of those bearskin rugs.”

He pushed to his feet again, the blanket hanging from his frame like a serape. He returned a minute later with a patchwork bedspread. “I’ll cover the rug with this.”

Jenna scrambled to her feet and took the other end of the bedspread from Cade. They spread it out on the floor, and Jenna sank down on the fluffy softness, parking her back against Gavin’s chair again.

Cade propped himself against