When Raoul was ready to drive the boys to his house, Philippe hurried over to Crystal to hug her good-night. This time she’d packed clothes for him to wear to school in the morning. “Guess what? Tomorrow we’re going to get our angel costumes to try on.”
“How exciting!” She helped him on with his parka.
“Do you know how much I’m going to miss you? This will be two nights in a row you’ve slept away from me.”
Suddenly Philippe whispered in her ear. “Can you sleep with us?” That was the third time he’d tried to get her to be with him and Raoul.
“I think I’d better stay here with your grand-père just barely home.”
“Okay.”
Over his shoulder she sensed a pair of dark piercing blue eyes staring at the two of them. Their intensity left her reeling. “Be good for Madame Fillou tomorrow.”
“I’m always good.”
She kissed his cheek and let him run to the man who’d become Philippe’s raison d’être.
Soon the house had emptied. Crystal said good-night to her in-laws and went up to bed, but she was haunted by her son’s eagerness to get her and Raoul together. He was too young to have an agenda, so it meant that in his pure, simple way, he wanted the three of them to be together.
That spelled agony for Crystal, who couldn’t find any peace. Maybe a long soak in the tub would help. Hoping to get her mind on something else if only for a little while, she started reading. But as absorbing as the mystery was, she kept remembering the way Raoul had stared at her earlier. She soon found herself reliving every moment with him and realized she’d get no reading done tonight and shut the book.
After getting out of the water, she got ready for bed and climbed under the covers. She could only hope sleep wouldn’t elude her, as it had last night, but her mind had become a torture chamber of emotions she couldn’t shut off.
When her phone rang, she assumed it was her mom and was glad for the distraction. But her senses whirled when she reached for her cell on the bedside table and saw Raoul’s name. Uh-oh. Maybe he was having a problem with Philippe. She couldn’t comprehend it, but no one knew all the things going on inside her son. She clicked on. “Raoul?”
“Sorry to bother you, Crystal, but I’ve been called out on an emergency and have to go. The boys are asleep. Could you come over now?”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She shot out of bed and started getting dressed. “What’s happened?”
“One of the guides took out a small party this morning for a day climb, but never returned. There’s been no word from him. We know where he was headed. I’m going out with a search party, but it’s anyone’s guess how long I’ll have to be gone.”
Her hand almost crushed the cell phone she was holding. If anything happened to Raoul … “I’m heading out of the house now. See you in a minute.” She hung up and got in the car.
On the short drive over she had to remind herself Raoul had been going out on emergencies for years. He was the most sought-after mountaineer in the Alps. But he wasn’t infallible. Eric’s horrible death during the downhill had taught her that a champion of champions was still susceptible to the dangers other mortals faced.
By the time she’d pulled up in the drive, he appeared at the side of the car and opened the door for her. Dressed in all his gear for a night climb, her heart did its own version of a tremor.
“Thanks for getting here so fast.” His voice sounded an octave lower than usual. “The guest bedroom is waiting for you.”
She nodded. “Please be careful.”
“I’m always careful, ma belle.”
“Don’t joke, Raoul. Not about this.”
“Are you telling me you’d miss me?”
Her heart was in her throat. “You know very well how we’d all feel if you—” She couldn’t say it and said instead, “If you got into trouble. It could happen.”
“I’m not talking about how everyone else would feel,” he growled. “I’m talking about you.”
Heat swept into her cheeks. “Of course I’d miss you.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear. Keep thinking about my offer and we’ll talk about it when I’m back.”
She’d already thought about it. It was more out of the question than ever.
“I don’t want to be in the program if Uncle Raoul isn’t going to be there.”
The school Christmas performance was about to begin. Philippe had no idea the kind of agony Crystal was in right now dealing with two crises, both of them of earthshaking proportions. The thing she’d hoped would never happen, had happened.
No one had seen or heard from Raoul since Thursday night. Though it didn’t alarm the family because dealing with emergencies was a part of his life, her son didn’t understand that. As for Crystal, she was in turmoil fearing that something awful had happened to him.
It was now Saturday afternoon. She’d had a struggle getting Philippe in the car so she could drive him to school to get ready. “You have to carry on, honey. Your teacher has been so nice to let you go to class with Albert. If you were to let her down, that wouldn’t be fair to her.”
There was no response. “Your grandfather is coming just to see you.” Still no reaction. “Do you think it would make your uncle happy to know you quit at the last minute?” Maybe that argument would help since nothing else had worked.
She was looking at him through the rearview mirror. He put his head down. “No.”
“Uncle Bernard’s going to be taking movies. That means your uncle Raoul will be able to watch them after he gets home.”
“What if he died like Daddy?” Out of the mouth of a child. Philippe had just voiced the fear lurking in her heart ever since Raoul had phoned about the emergency. With two deaths already in the family, it wasn’t hard to make the leap to a place too awful to contemplate.
“That’s not going to happen,” she said matter-of-factly. Fate wouldn’t be so cruel. “It’s his job to help people. He’ll be back as soon as he can, so cheer up. Today’s a happy day. I can’t wait to see you in the Christmas program. Just think. Now that you and Albert will be out of school, you can play together all the time.”
She pulled into the parking lot. With all the visitors arriving, it was filling up fast. Crystal turned off the motor. “Look—there’s your grandmother’s car and Uncle Bernard’s! That means everyone is here. Come on. Let’s hurry inside so you can get into your costume.”
“I don’t see Uncle Raoul’s car.”
“Tell you what. When we get inside your room to put on your costume, I’ll phone him and see if he answers.” Finally she’d said something to strike a chord because he undid his seat belt and got out of the car.
Together they walked inside the building and headed for his class. The boys’ teacher had put the costumes out on the tables. Their angel outfits were white with gold trim and a gold halo. He and Albert looked adorable in them, but a certain six-year-old wasn’t acting that way.
“Did you call him again?”
“Yes, but he’s not answering. He will when he can.”
Vivige knew what was happening and flashed her a commiserating glance as she fastened up the backs of their costumes.
“Attention.