The still form in the frigid water

(This is Part 17 of Fortune Cookie: A Christmas Tale, ending December 25.)

Ponds could be deadly, especially when you were drowning.

Fortune Cookie

Part 1: Will it ruin Christmas and a chance at love?

Part 2: The crunch of metal on stone

Part 3: Blood covered her hand

Part 4: 'Heads up! Loose horse!' 

Part 5: Blood dripped onto the tablecloth

Part 6: The ground loomed up at the woman

Part 7: Something fuzzy and wiggly tickled her neck

Part 8: The duo cast a long shadow on the leaf-strewn ground

Part 9: 'Snag-infested little beast'

Part 10: Not a woman to waste her rage

Part 11: 'Shoot, that ain't nothin' but a little speed bump

Part 12: 'Never get involved with a man to whom you owe money'

Part 13: 'Succulent buns, they're the best'

Part 14: Dam beavers at it again

Part 15: Talk about rider's block

Part 16: Shooting stars danced

Buck barked again and again, and edged as close as he could get without falling in. The cold water sank through Rosalyn’s heavy coat, past her sweatshirt and T-shirt, into her skin. Icy numbness froze her arms. Without the strength to pull out of the frigid water, Rosalyn began to sink.

The pond water rose higher and higher up her neck.

***

As he peered under the hood of his dead truck, Bodie idly wondered what Rosalyn would look like in a dress, something black, something in satin, cut just right around those curves …

Nothing appeared wrong, with her or the truck, for that matter. Then he saw it. One of the clamps on the battery had come off. Crashing into stone signs could have that effect on batteries, he supposed. Bodie slammed the clamp back in place. Loose, but he would have to tighten it later.

***

Rosalyn chanted to herself through chattering teeth. ""Got to get out, got to get out. Got to, got to, got to!" She heard an engine and saw movement on the driveway. Bodie’s truck, thank God.

Bodie opened the door. The flurry of activity at the pond caught his eye. Then he heard Buck’s mad barking.

"Fool woman, now what?"

He watched the horse. Excalibur trotted back and forth. The horse tossed his head, stopped, stamped his front feet, and resumed the frenzied trotting along the bank. Bodie followed the hoofprints in the snow. His breath caught in his throat. The prints stopped at the crazed dog. The dog stared at the still form in the frigid water.

(Next: Darkness closed around her mind)