Wearing the blue penguin pajamas and blue fluffy slippers Frank had gotten her, she was staring out the front window.
He ran his hand over her back.“What’s wrong?”
“The howling wind woke me.I…I thought I heard something else, but it was probably just the wind.”
They moved into the kitchen and looked out the kitchen window.They didn’t see anything but snow and more snow.
Then they moved to the den and peered out the windows, looking for any sign of trouble, trees or branches down, but they really couldn’t see anything.
He wrapped his arm around her waist.“We could go out there and look, but I don’t think we would see much.”
“I agree.We wouldn’t see anything out there, and if we could even navigate the piles of snow, we could actually get lost in this mess.”
“Do you want to go back to bed?”
Florence sighed.“Yeah, sure.”
But he knew she was feeling unsettled about whatever she had heard.“You didn’t hear reindeer on the roof, did you?”
She smiled at him.“No.As high as the wind has been, a branch could have torn loose and hit the house, then blown off, or been buried in the snow.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
Then they went back to bed and snuggled in their PJs.“Love your PJs,” she said.
“Love yours too.”
“They’re perfect for wandering around the house when I think I’m hearing things.”
“I must have just been sleeping really heavily,” Frank said.
“Like I was when you heard the reindeer on the roof.”
Florence wishedshe’d been more awake when she’d heard whatever she’d heard.Then she was wide awake, like Frank had been when he’d heard the cougars on the roof.Could the brothers navigate this blizzard and break into the home?
She couldn’t fall asleep.She just kept listening to the wind blowing against the windows.
Frank was caressing her back, and she figured he was trying to help her fall asleep, or maybe he couldn’t sleep now either.But she loved how compassionate he was, and his touch was heaven.
Then she must have fallen asleep when she smelled coffee brewing in the kitchen.“I think the kids are up.”
Frank kissed her cheek.“Yeah, smells like the coffee is ready.”
They dressed and then headed downstairs.
Only Lacy was in the kitchen.
“Is Rory sleeping in?”Florence was incredulous.
“He’s coming.He swore he heard something around four this morning outside the house.”
“Oh, I did too.”Florence couldn’t believe it.
“Oh, no.I didn’t hear a thing.I was sleeping too heavily.”
“Me either,” Frank said.“We looked out all the windows but couldn’t see anything at all.”
“The snow is still falling, and the wind is still blowing like crazy.”Lacy poured them all mugs of coffee while Rory came down the stairs and joined them.
