Footprints in the Snow

By C. Lancaster

Footprints in the Snow happens seven years after the events of The Mountain Lights. After a rough year for the Hawkins family, Matthias' son, Luke, shows up on their doorstep and demands answers. Dany doesn't appreciate him. He's a spoiled city kid. When tragedy strikes, the question is, can they put aside their differences?

• Language: English
• Publisher: C. Lancaster
• Release date: May 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223964346

C. Lancaster

Hello! I'm Camilla, a country girl who's always had a passion for writing. I love coffee, cats and chocolate and going on long walks to let my imagination run free. My writing is inspired by my experiences and the world around me, and I'm always looking for new ways to tell stories. Thank you for taking the time to read my work!

Book preview

Chapter 1

Danae let her school backpack drop to the kitchen floor with a thud. The small kitchen was worn and painted a chipped, washed-out green color. The cabinet doors were broken, one hung halfway off its hinges. The four-seater dining table, with its ripped plastic cover, was speckled with crumbles of food and brown stains of who knows what.

She could already hear the racket in the adjoining living room. Today was her last day at school, and she was not looking forward to the holidays with her mother. She was eleven and a half (and the half was very important), with lengthy, straight chocolate hair and eyes of the same dark brown color. Her face was still roundish despite her being on the thin side, her lips were plump, her eyes were very slightly almond-shaped, and her skin had a slight tinge of yellow like lightly browned butter.

She heard her mother’s cackle in the next room while her eyes surveyed the kitchen for scraps of whatever she and the other two men with her had eaten. There were none. She went over to the fridge and looked in there. Nope. Just the sour milk that had gone off three days ago. Better not check the cabinets. Something moved in there the last time she tried it.

She sighed, picked up her backpack before someone tripped over it again, and gathered her courage to pass by the party to her bedroom.

When she went into the living room, which had little more than some worn couches, an old box TV set, a chippy coffee table, and a carpet sprinkled with cigarette buds, she found her mother with her red lips and blonde hair laughing enthusiastically at something the guy with the big belly and the shirt full of holes had said.

The other guy was snorting something, Danae, or Dany, as was her nickname, didn’t know what. Her mother had started seeing other men—many other men—after her dad died in a car accident. She wasn’t sure how that happened. She didn’t really know him very well because he worked a lot. It was only a few months ago, and her mother had moved on surprisingly quickly.

She was looking for another man who could provide for them, she said.

Mom, there’s no food in the house. Dany complained.

She didn’t like being so close to the men her mother brought home. They looked at her funny, and they weren’t always nice to her. She always thought it was because her mother said she looked native, whatever that meant. She didn’t look much like her father or her mother; she looked more like her grandfather, who came to America from Alaska. He died when she was small, but she’d seen photos of him.

Before her father died, she heard him tell her mother late one night that her uncle had moved there. She knew about him but couldn’t remember him. He came to visit once when she had just learned how to walk. She remembered stomping toward him, and he picked her up and lifted her into the air. He had dark hair and eyes. Like hers. Native. But he was raised in America too, with her mom. She didn’t know why he never came to visit again.

Oh, her mother said, but I thought— and that was as far as she got before the man next to her whispered something in her ear and she started crowing with laughter again, waving Dany off.

Scram, kid! The man who snorted something said, then took a bottle of beer amongst the many, many empty bottles on the coffee table and knocked it back.

She dropped her shoulders with a scowl and went into her bedroom. Her room was small, painted an eggshell color, the old white curtains had faded red and blue triangles, her bed was modest, made of wood, and had a squeaky mattress. Her blankets were a mismatch of colors. The dresser was made of pine. She had a mirror that had lots of stuff stuck on the corners at one time, and now all that remained of them was dirty glue that wouldn’t come off. The floors were vinyl and lifted on some of the edges. She had a small bathroom that had a toilet, a sink (and a stool to stand on in front of the sink), and a shower. The walls and floors were blue. And the toilet was olive green. She snickered every time she saw it.

Her mom said they moved into this house so she had a better chance of snagging a new husband because he would feel sorry for them. Dany didn’t understand exactly how that was supposed to work.

She dropped the backpack and took out the three books she had borrowed from the library. She loved to read and was a whole level above her peers. She enjoyed fantasy, mystery, and contemporary books and had picked one of each genre to keep her busy with. She even managed to find The Hobbit while her mother and her many men occupied the television with the movies that made the strange moaning sounds. Dany didn’t think it was a horror movie because she didn’t hear monsters growling or anything like that.

It wasn’t so bad. Until they started making funny moaning sounds. Then she listened to very loud music using her iPad while she read, sometimes in the middle of the night. She threw the books on her bed, then got an idea. She peered around the doorframe into the living room. There was only a small corridor of about six paces that separated her room from the living space. They were still occupied. Her eyes went to the TV, but she shut them tightly when she saw naked people. Eeuw!

She snuck over into her mother’s bedroom, which was strewn with dirty underwear and those things that she wore over her chest. She went to the vanity and silently, slowly pulled open the drawer for her wallet. She wouldn’t notice if a dollar or two was missing. She never did. Dany took five and stuffed them into her pockets.

She didn’t think this through because now she had to go back out through the living room. She slapped the sides of her head in frustration. Ugh! Stupid!

Maybe she could use the phone in the hallway to order pizza. Nope, they’d have it before she could. And five dollars wasn’t even enough for a small one.

She sighed. She was going to zip through it. She stood at the very end of the hallway and bounced to get ready and limber up her feet, blowing out breath through her mouth. Then she ran, blasting past the adults at lightning speed.

What the heck? Gevin asked Helen while his hand fondled her breast.

They heard the backdoor in the kitchen close.

Oh, must be the wind. She waved a hand and popped a red cherry in her mouth.

Outside the house, Dany unchained her third-hand shit-brown bike and rode off to Tony’s Grocer with a huge grin on her face. She saw some of the kids in her class on the way, and they just scowled at her. She didn’t have friends because everyone called her mom a...bad name. Whatever, she didn’t care. She didn’t need them, but sometimes she thought it would’ve been nice to have someone to talk to.

She parked and chained her bike, then went inside the shop and bought Pepsi, peanut butter cups, candy bars, and some toasted cheese sandwiches. She didn’t spend all the money. She couldn’t buy too much stuff that could spoil because she couldn’t use the fridge. They’d grab the food before she could get to it. What she bought stayed in her bedroom.

That evening, when the men had finally left and she was watching cartoons on TV, her mother was busy cleaning up the kitchen. It was past eleven, but Dany didn’t really have a bedtime curfew.

Suddenly, her mother came into the living room and looked at her with a confused face. Dany raised her eyebrows and pouted her lips at her.

Did I feed you today? she asked, scratching her head with a very long pink fingernail.

Dany kicked her legs forward and backward as they dangled from the couch. Sometimes she wanted to cry. Really, she did. But she felt like they just drifted farther and farther apart every time she did. Don’t worry about it, Mom.

She nodded, frowned. Oh, I have to tell you that you should pack some stuff. I’m going to Anchorage tomorrow to meet a nice fellow. Rich guy, she said as her eyes drifted to the ceiling. He has friends too. I met him on an online dating site. He liked my profile! she batted her lashes.

Dany frowned. Half the time, she didn’t even know what her mother was talking about.

Where’s Anchorage?

In Alaska of all places! It’s so cold there. Maybe I can convince the bloke to move here to the living world. You should pack a warm jacket. You have one, right?

She didn't—not one that was warm enough for Alaska. But she’d pack what she had and what she could fit in her carry on. A thought crossed her mind. Where in Alaska does your brother live again? Is it close to An... to An... Anchor?

Helen scowled at the mention of her pathetic brother. Stephanie was right to leave him for Michael Fletcher, that handsome real estate agent. Matthias was always too quiet and dull, even if he had money for days. He used to be a lawyer when he lived with Stephanie in New York. Now she had no idea what the hell he did with his life, but when she asked him to lend her money years ago, he wouldn’t give her a cent. They haven’t spoken to each other since.

He lives in Harlem. End of the earth. It’s where he belongs, if you ask me, she said more to herself than to Dany, waving a hand in the air and retreating back into the kitchen. Harlem, Harlem, Harlem Dany repeated over and over to herself so she wouldn’t forget.

Be ready at seven! Her mother called out of the kitchen. And feed the damn cat!

Paw went to heaven six weeks ago, Mom. I buried him in the backyard. Dany rolled her eyes and took a half-melted chocolate bar out of her pocket to chew on while she watched Tom chase Jerry.

Chapter 2

The flight to Anchorage was long only because her mother kept yapping over the phone with the guy she was supposed to meet. And her mother had a very loud voice. Especially if you sat next to her for hours on a plane. Dany frowned as she tried to concentrate on A Wrinkle in Time. It was one of two books she actually owned. She didn’t want to bring the library copies.

Oh, what a lovely man! He has some kind of accent, but I can’t make out which one. Says he’s got a big, fancy house on the lake. He’s got four kids, but you won’t mind brothers and sisters, right? Oh, what am I saying. Course’ you won’t. Her mother said after finally finishing the call.

She took out her compact mirror and started powdering her cheeks. The powder wafted into Dany’s nose and made her sneeze. Her mother jumped next to her and gave her a look of horror. Dany frowned at her and wiped her nose. She checked her sleeve. Nope. Nothing green there. She sniffled and resumed reading. Her mother babbled on about men, money, and other things, mostly to herself. Suddenly, Dany missed old Greta, her nanny. But she went to heaven two years ago.

What’s my uncle’s name? Dany asked.

What uncle? Helen asked her, confused.

Dany sighed. Your brother.

Oh! She’d momentarily forgotten the kid had an uncle. Matthias. Matt. Then she proceeded to talk about what a loser he was.

Dany didn’t really hear what she was saying. She just said uh-huh now and again. It didn’t even have to be appropriate. It was just in case her mother was listening to her.

When the air hostess came, Helen ordered a double rib burger with fries and salad for herself and a strawberry milk for Dany, who snatched a fry every time her mother leaned over to admire the man on the opposite seat. Once, it looked like the man’s wife was silently talking to her mother. She looked angry. That time, Dany stole six fries without her noticing.

After the plane landed, Dany ran to keep up with her mother through all the people in the airport or get lost. And it wasn’t easy because she could hardly move. She’d worn every long-sleeved thing she owned. And still, her hands and feet were frozen. Outside, the snow was only an inch deep. They got into the taxi and were wheeled off to a huge A-frame house made of logs.

Dany met Clive and his four teenage children. The two sisters were twins, and the scowls were double. The one boy was on his cellphone. All. The. Time. And the other boy was locked in his room for most of the time, though she saw him briefly when he came out to fetch a spoon of peanut butter right out of the jar.

She sat on the chair, legs dangling, hands wringing, not really knowing what to do with herself in the conversation. Clive was thinking of selling his house and moving back to Texas, maybe with Helen. They chatted and crooned. And then his manly friends came, and things started getting rowdy. All the children fled. And Dany was no exception. But she couldn’t stay with the teenagers.

She tapped her mother on the shoulder as she licked Clive’s cheek. Mom, can I have some money?

She wanted to get away. Really get away. She wanted to find her uncle. Maybe she could stay with him for however long her mother is here.

Helen waved a hand. Dany assumed it meant yes. She rummaged through her purse and took out fifty.

Then she went right out through the door. She didn’t think of bringing her luggage. She wore most of what was in the carry-on anyway. She only took her book, the money, and a few other things she stuffed in her backpack. Clive’s house wasn’t too far from the town. She walked and kicked up snow. No one bothered her. The air was cold and turned her cheeks tomato red.

Eventually, she came to the bus stop. Then she sat and waited, her feet and hands freezing. She stuffed them in her jacket’s pockets. She didn’t have gloves. She kicked her legs as they dangled off the bench. Later, Dany took out a peanut butter cup and ate it. It was almost frozen.

The bus came, paused, and people started climbing off. She raced up the steps, crisscrossing through lots of long legs.

Hi! She cheerily greeted the driver, who turned to look over his shoulder. He had a squint and wore a fluffy hat with long ears. Can you take me to Harlem?

Sorry kid, bus don’t go that way. You’d be better off tryin’ the cargo train. Here she comes, he pointed a pruny finger, and she saw the train slow to a stop just opposite the road.

Thanks! She beamed.

Dany got off, paused to look for cars, then ran across the