Chapter 1

The snow began falling just as they were leaving her parents’ home in Findlay, Ohio. It was the day after Christmas and while Julie was saddened to leave three days earlier than originally planned, the weather forecasts for tonight and the next several days were ominous at best, and terrifying if one considered them realistically. Six to twelve inches of snow by dark today and heavy snow continuing for the next several days! Admittedly, they live in an area of the country where heavy snows are routine, but no one can say that what is forecasted can possibly be considered routine.

Julie Summers is thirty-five years old and has a daughter who had just turned fourteen three days before. She may deny her youth, depending on the time of the day and what she is wanting to do – of late she might answer seventeen or eighteen, but that’s how teenage girls are today. They live in a small town in western New York state, about six miles inland from the coast of Lake Erie. On a good day, with normal traffic it is a drive of about five hours. If they left at noon, they were home by supper for certain, even if they stopped for a break along the way. Given the weather forecast, Julie decided to leave mid-morning, just to be safe. She anticipated some resistance from her daughter because she does enjoy spending time with her grandparents, but at breakfast this morning, Mindy told her that she thought it best to leave early to avoid getting snow bound here with no friends.

They left just a little after ten. As they drove northeast, the snow began to fall, beautiful at first, but within a half hour the daylight began to diminish and headlights were full on. Traffic moved steadily, but slowly. On a normal day, they would be nearing their house, but as five o’clock approached, they had just crossed into Pennsylvania, with a hundred miles yet to go.

Two hours later, they crossed the state line into New York. Yes, she was tired of driving, heck, they were both tired of just being in the car, but now they were in the homestretch and continued on – until the road ahead was filled with red and blue revolving lights. Traffic was funneled off the interstate onto a county highway. They played follow the leader but after several miles, the cars ahead all headed south, to where Julie have no idea, but home was north and east, and continuing south did not help.

Did she know where they were? No, but she knew that the interstate was to the north, and that’s where they needed to be. From time to time, she could feel the car handling differently, almost as if it was plowing its way through the snow. No plow had traversed this road yet and, it seemed that the snow was falling heavier by the minute. That was just about when she felt the impact and saw the mail box post fly up and over the hood of the car as it careened down and then up a shallow ditch before coming to a dead stop.

Julie grabbed her cell phone, but after one look she saw that it showed no bars. So much for calling AAA.

“What do we do now, Mom?” Mindy asked.

“I don’t know, honey. They always say that if you get stuck on the highway that you should stay in your car, but with as hard as it’s snowing tonight, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. I can see a house set back there somewhere. Maybe someone is home and can call a tow truck for us.”

“There aren’t any lights on in the house, Mom. I doubt if there is anyone home.”

“Let’s just sit here for a minute and let me think about it, can we?”

A minute became ten and then twenty. They sat in the car because it was warmer inside than they knew it would be outside, but sitting and being warm does not necessarily generate new ideas. Julie was just about to suggest that they climb out and walk to the darkened building when Mindy screamed out excitedly. “Look, Mom, somebody is coming with a flashlight.”

It probably took him twenty minutes to get to the car, but to Julie, it seemed more like an hour.

“Can you open the doors and climb out?” he called out.

Because of the way the car was sitting in the ditch, the snow was already above the top of the door part itself, possibly three inches higher than the window ledge.

He moved to the passenger side door and combined with Mindy pushing, he pulled it open.

“Are there just the two of you inside?” he asked, and she nodded affirmatively. “Miss, you need to shut off the lights, kill the engine and, if you have one, grab whatever night bag you may have and then climb out.” He was standing in waist deep snow and appeared very cold as he waited for them to react.

“We only have one small carry-on bag. It’s a back pack, really, so it’s no problem. My name is Mindy, by the way, and that’s mom.”

“Nice to meet you, Mindy. My name is Taylor. When you step out, you are going to be stepping into deep snow. I don’t want you to panic, because I’ll be right here beside you. So, zip up that jacket and let’s get you out of there.”

Mindy slid off the front seat, and from Julie’s perspective continued to slide right past the rescuer, disappearing from view. Julie screamed and lunged across the seat but stopped as Mindy emerged from the ditch.

“It’s slippery, Mom. Be careful,” she said. “The snow is chest deep.”

She handed the backpack to Mindy, grabbed her purse, shut off the headlights and the engine and followed her daughter down the slippery slope, disappearing completely beneath the snow. Once she regained her footing, she tried next for her composure.

“Hello. I’m Julie Summers. You’ve already met my daughter. Thank you so very much for coming to our aid. Where do we go from here?”

“Julie, I am Taylor Winston. I’d stand and make small talk with you, but it’s not really very nice out here and I’d just as soon start the trek back to some warmth. There are some places that I encountered where the snow was four feet deep, and I doubt very much if Mindy will be able to push through it. I may have to carry her piggyback, if she doesn’t mind and if it’s acceptable to you.”

Thirty minutes later the procession walked past the main house and continued around to a smaller building some distance beyond. They had followed his original path from the house and as Taylor had warned, minutes into the trek, the slope of the ground was such that the snow depth came to Mindy’s shoulders. With some effort, she jumped onto his waist and wrapped her arms around his chest. Julie followed close behind, trying to walk in his actual footsteps. By the time he told Mindy to slide down again, everyone was exhausted.

Taylor opened the door and they stepped into an entryway and beyond that, a well decorated living room. “Please come in, hang your coats on the wall hooks right here and then come in and just sit down and get warm. You are safe here. It’s warm inside, we have power and lights and probably whatever else you may need. There is a bathroom at the end of this room. It’s the door on the left side.

“I can see that your clothes are pretty wet. I don’t happen to have a spare wardrobe for women, but I can round up some warm and fuzzy robes and we could toss your wet clothes into the dryer for a bit.”

Minutes later Mindy and Julie were each wrapped in heavy, warm and ultra-soft robes, each emblazoned with the crest of a certain four-star hotel chain.

“Are you hungry? I was about to fix myself a frozen pizza just before you arrived. I have enough for all of us, if you are interested. Or, I could probably whip up something else, but that might take a bit longer.”

Twenty minutes later, they sat at the table stuffing their mouths with what the ladies considered the world’s best tasting frozen pizza. While not what others might consider an avid consumer of fine wines, whatever Taylor poured into Julie’s glass was delicious, and by the third glass, she felt comfortable enough to talk about things other than the weather and their travels.

“So, Taylor, what’s the story here? What is this place? Why are we here and not in the larger house?”

“This is not a conversation that I typically have but since you asked, and have no apparent ulterior motives for asking, I will explain. You are here because this is my home. The larger home is where my mother lives with her friend, at least when they are not travelling. I am twenty-two years old. My father passed away just before my twentieth birthday. He had been extremely successful in his business and had taken some sound advice from his legal staff regarding his estate. At his passing, he awarded his entire estate to me, save for a modest monthly cash allowance to my mother, with the provision that I allow her to reside in the main house for as long as she desires to do so.

“I pay for the household help needed for the estate, naturally, and for her housekeeper when my mother is in residence. This building once housed the other staff members, but about ten years ago, it was remodeled to become the pool and spa center.” He paused and then continued, “Now, it’s my turn. Is there a Mister Summers? Do you work? Where do you live?”

“There is no Mister Summers. It is just Mindy and I. We live in a small town about ten miles from Buffalo, and I am a school teacher.”

Not being one to hold back, Mindy fired off the next questions. “Are you in school, or do you work, or what?”

“That’s a little complicated, Mindy. I am not technically in school. I already have my bachelor’s degree, and I recently completed my last semester in pursuit of a master’s degree. I know, from looking at the surprise on your faces, you think that I am too young for all that, but truthfully, I skipped a few grades years ago and managed to finish high school ahead of my peers. No, I don’t work right now; I am not certain what career I want to begin or if I even want to work. I don’t need to work because the inheritance of my father’s estate makes that unnecessary.”