Evelyn Ford reached out and hugged his waist tightly, burying herself in his embrace.
The cave was very quiet, with only the occasional cough or murmur. Ronan Kendrick still had the faint, pleasant scent of body wash on him.
"I’ll start making your sweater tomorrow."
"And cutting your hair."
With that, Evelyn Ford fell asleep.
Ronan Kendrick gently patted her back. Hearing the sound of her light, even breathing, he smiled and held her a little tighter.
When Evelyn Ford woke up the next day, Lola had already flown out to play with Zoe. Although it was tired, its disposition was like a child’s, so it naturally preferred to play with the other children.
Evelyn Ford took out her pocket watch and glanced at it. It was only eight o’clock—still early.
Ronan Kendrick was already out. He had probably taken the others outside the cave to chop firewood. A new cold front might be coming, so to be safe, they had to stockpile more wood and water.
Collecting water outside wasn’t easy; they had to scrape the ice off tree trunks and leaves. Although Evelyn Ford added water to the wooden buckets every day, she couldn’t be too obvious about it. Once everyone woke up, water consumption shot up. Aside from cooking and drinking, no one was willing to waste a single drop unless it was an emergency.
Evelyn Ford put on her coat and hat before pulling back the covers to get out of bed.
In the vegetable patch, Zoe and Wendy were digging for earthworms and grubs with wooden bowls. Grubs, also known as "earth silkworms," could also be fed to the chickens.
Lola was perched on Zoe’s head, chirping away. Wendy couldn’t stand the noise and silently moved a little farther away from them.
Evelyn Ford stretched, wandered around for a bit, then returned to the log cabin. She took out the balls of yarn and began crocheting the sweater.
After all these years, Ronan Kendrick’s figure hadn’t changed, so she didn’t need to remeasure him for his clothing size.
Although he had only asked for one red sweater, Evelyn Ford had taken out several other colors, planning to make him six or seven.
’Pink would suit him too,’ she thought. ’Ronan Kendrick has fair skin, so this color won’t make him look old.’
When Ronan Kendrick came in, Evelyn Ford had a crochet hook between her teeth and was planning the pattern for the new sweater.
Evelyn Ford grabbed a dry towel and wiped the ice flakes from his coat.
"Peter Owens went into shock for half a minute just now." Ronan Kendrick took off his hat, his expression grim.
"What happened?"
"He fell, and his mask came off. A blast of cold air filled his mouth, he couldn’t catch his breath, and he passed out."
Evelyn Ford’s brow furrowed. "That serious? How is he now?"
"He’s fine now. After he went into shock, his body immediately stiffened and his pupils started to dilate. In this weather, anyone with a weak constitution is just asking for death by going outside." Ronan Kendrick reached out and pinched Evelyn Ford’s nose. "Bundle up."
"I know, I know. How’s everyone else?"
"Everyone else is fine, but anyone who goes outside definitely has frostbite on their hands and feet."
Evelyn Ford nodded. She took out two large jars of frostbite ointment, tore off the labels and stickers, and had Officer Graham distribute it to the others.
Evelyn Ford went to check on Peter Owens. Although his life wasn’t in danger, he wasn’t doing well. He had some facial paralysis. The cold air had entered his trachea and lungs; his face was bluish-purple, his speech was slurred, and he couldn’t even stop drooling.
"What are we going to do?" Officer Graham asked anxiously. After all, Peter Owens had come with them from the safe zone, so their bond was deeper.
"Ronan Kendrick said he should be back to normal after a couple of days’ rest."
"To end up like this just from a gust of cold wind... This isn’t just cold wind, it’s an evil wind."
"This wind really is terrifying. Look at my neck."
Ethan Dawson pulled down his collar. Everyone saw several fine, dense bloody lines on his neck, some of which were still oozing blood.
"My clothes got snagged on a branch, and the wind blew in through my collar. The skin it touched ended up like this. It’s itchy and painful."
After speaking, he pulled his collar back up.
Quincy took a tube of ointment from his bag, squeezed a little out for him, and told him to apply it to his neck.
"This is deadly. How can it be so terrifying? We were traveling in extreme cold before, when it was below minus sixty degrees Celsius, and it didn’t even feel this cold."
"Dry cold is different from a cold air mass like this. This wind is like knives scraping your body. It doesn’t matter how many layers you wear."
"Let’s not go out for a while. The water we’ve stockpiled will last two months if we’re careful, and we have enough firewood for now."
Among them, only Ronan Kendrick, Ethan Dawson, and Miles Vaughn were physically fit enough for the task.
"How about this," Taylor Vance suggested, "we’ll go out once every two weeks. We’ll coordinate our efforts. Those who can handle the cold better will chop the wood, the others will carry it back, and the weaker ones can receive it inside the cave." His arrangement was very reasonable, and no one had any objections.
Fortunately, Peter Owens recovered two days later. The facial paralysis left a minor aftereffect: the muscles near the corner of his eye and on his cheek would twitch occasionally. Evelyn Ford performed acupuncture on him, but it had little effect.
In her free time, Evelyn Ford crocheted sweaters in the log cabin. There wasn’t much work to do outside. The vegetable patch had been expanded, and in the last two days, they had planted some pumpkins.
Ronan Kendrick’s hair had been cut short. After a few days of practice, Evelyn Ford’s skills had improved significantly, rivaling those of a professional barber.
"You really want me to wear this color?" Seeing the perfectly finished pink sweater in Evelyn Ford’s hands, Ronan Kendrick’s expression cracked for a moment.
"It’s pink! It’s so pretty. Quick, put it on and let me see."
Evelyn Ford held it up against him. It looked like a perfect fit, with no need for alterations.
"Will it really look good on me?" Ronan Kendrick couldn’t imagine what he would look like in that color. He felt it was a bit like trying to act young.
"It will, I promise. You’ll look absolutely great in it. And I’ve prepared other colors too: red, green, yellow, purple, blue, and orange. What do you think? Aren’t you surprised?"
"You could summon the divine dragon with these," Ronan Kendrick said with a helpless smile.
"Each one is a different style. You can wear a different one every day."
Ronan Kendrick was speechless. ’Is this what they call a sweet burden?’
When Ronan Kendrick had changed into the new sweater, Evelyn Ford took out her phone to take a picture as a memento.
"It looks great. This one can be my phone’s wallpaper."
"It doesn’t look good." Ronan Kendrick took Evelyn Ford’s phone, suddenly pulled her into his arms, and took a selfie.
"This one will do."
Evelyn Ford smiled, pressing her lips together. Under his expectant gaze, she set the photo as her phone’s wallpaper.
"With the leftover pink yarn, I crocheted a neck warmer for myself—it’s a matching couple’s item with yours—and a pair of gloves for both Wendy and Zoe."
Hearing the words "matching couple’s item," the corners of Ronan Kendrick’s mouth had just started to lift, but her last sentence made his smile freeze on his face.
"Those two little brats get some too?"
Evelyn Ford chuckled. "They only get one thing each. You get seven. You’re the most important."
Ronan Kendrick raised an eyebrow, instantly placated.
"Ahem... Fine, give it to them then."
Evelyn Ford finally understood the joy of "raising" someone. She ruffled Ronan Kendrick’s hair, a hint of a smile flashing in her eyes.