Winter's Torment Read Online Free PDF Page A

covering the trail and the south side of it back to your ranch.”
    Henry nodded, and then the two bid farewell with lifted hands and headed out of town.
    Henry shoved his hat firmly onto his head, and then decided to tie it down with the red neckerchief that Winter had wrapped his luncheon in. It would not only serve to keep his hat on his head, but might keep his ears from freezing off.
    The wind felt bitterly cold and the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees or more during the past hour. It was typical for the area this time of year, and nothing that he wasn’t particularly used to. Still, he worried about Winter. Despite her name, she wasn’t prepared for this. How could she be?
    Would he lose his new bride before he even got a chance to get to know her? He already admired her pluck. She might be grief-stricken and cowed, but she had shown a definite spirit and bravery in heading out west into the unknown, away from everything and anyone she had ever known. That took guts, and he admired her for it.
    He should’ve told her that last night at supper.

Scene 7
    Winter couldn’t move. She was so cold she thought that if she made an attempt, one of her joints would shatter into tiny shards of ice. First, she had lost all feeling in her feet, and then her hands. She tried to bury her face in her lap, but nothing seemed to help against the biting, dropping temperatures. All around her the wind whistled. When it paused, even for a moment, she was surrounded by nothing but a pressing silence. The snow fell quietly, accumulating inch by inch.
    She wished she could do something to strengthen her shelter, but now she was so frozen that she couldn’t even move. She was beginning to feel lethargic, sleepy. She fought against the desire to just relinquish herself to an overriding urge to fall asleep. She had never been so cold in her life, and was amazed at what she had withstood so far. This had nothing to do with emotion; this was purely physical. While she was rather impressed with her physical strength, she could only pray for God’s help when it came to her mental and emotional strength.
    After her little boy had died, she had literally given up, but she didn’t want to give up any more. She didn’t want to surrender! Despite her nearly overwhelming desire to be with her little boy again, she realized that it was not her time. She had spent the last hour having a one-sided conversation with God in her head, asking for guidance, direction, and most of all, she wanted to know what she was supposed to do. The only thought that came back to her was one word.
    Survive .
    The wind picked up and then died, then picked up again, then ebbed. She had no idea how long she had been out here, but it felt like forever. She began to lose hope that she would ever be found. As the minutes passed, she decided that it she would abide by God’s will, and if it was His will for her to freeze to death out here and be buried under snow for the remainder of winter, maybe, just maybe to be unearthed in the spring, well then so be it. But until that moment when darkness overtook her, she would do what she could to survive.
    She tried to stamp her feet and wiggle her fingers, but they wouldn’t move. She pressed her legs together, trying to bring some heat into them. Working very hard, she managed to clench her fingers into fists. Then, above the sound of the wind, she heard a faint sound.
    It seemed out of place, and she had no idea where it was coming from, but it was different than the sound of the wind, and even when the wind ebbed and she heard it again.
    The sound disappeared, and she supposed it had been an animal, perhaps an elk or a buffalo or even a coyote or wolf howling for its mate. Then, when the wind once again ebbed, she heard it again.
    That wasn’t any animal. That was a human voice!
    “… Winter …!”
    She tried to answer, knowing without a doubt that it was Henry coming to look for her. She tried again, but the only