It was almost dark outside when Joe Hardy awoke from his slumber. Feeling groggy, he tried to cut through the clouds in his head. It was then that his eyes focused and he realized that he was in a bed…a warm bed.  He glanced over at the glow from the fire in the fireplace. It was starting to die out.   

“Oh yeah! The house!” Joe finally recalled.  Then he felt Iola’s head on his chest. He always loved to feel her next to him, nestled in his arms. He reached up with his arm and gently stroked her face. It was always so soft and smooth. Iola stirred and then snuggled up closer to Joe.   

Joe smiled; feeling like the hole in his heart was finally gone.  Everything was right in the world again… at least for the moment.   

“We are going to need to get help so we can get back home,” Joe said, sitting up slowly.  

“It is going to have to wait until after this ice storm blows over. We will freeze to death out there,” Iola replied, rolling over as far as she could on the small twin sized bed.  

Joe sighed. Iola knew what he was thinking. The same thing she had been thinking about for two years…home.  

“We will make it home Joe. Another day or two is not going to matter. What matters is that we make it home safely. We have come too far to lose it all now,” Iola assured him as she placed her hand on his cheek and turned his face towards her.  “We will wait here, get some food and get our strength back up and go as soon as we can.”  

Joe looked at her pixie face in the firelight. She was dirty, but he had never seen a prettier sight.  The younger Hardy leaned down towards her and held her tightly in his arms. Finally he felt that they were truly alone and he had waited for this moment for two years.  Iola must have sensed what he was thinking and she smiled like she used to smile before the explosion. Joe leaned down further and whispered,” I love you Iola Morton.”  

“I love you too Joseph Hardy,” Iola replied back softly. At that, the young couple shared a kiss unlike any other. They simply enjoyed being together, as a young couple in love, for the first time in two painful years. A love that had once been separated by death and time was now united once again.  

 

At the same time, Frank and Fenton were making their way to the fork in the road.  The cold was eating at them, but they refused to be taken prisoner in its grip.  They trudged on, occasionally slipping on the very slick ice that now coated just about everything including their coats.  They had been walking for three hours now according to Frank’s watch. It had been a long walk down the ten mile gravel road. The slopes of the mountain road didn’t help since the two men were tired and cold. Neither one had spoken a word.  Frank had to often slow down so his father could keep up with him. While Fenton was full of energy, he was not in the best of shape for trudging up and down a mountain road covered with ice in the frigid cold. However, Fenton kept on moving.  

“We should be coming to that road anytime soon,” Frank finally stated as he broke the silence.  

“I hope so,” Fenton answered.  “I need to get warmed up in the van. It was a good thing that we left it back there. That thing would have never had made it over that icy road and up the mountains.”  

“Vans like that one are not known for their traction in this kind of weather,” Frank agreed. Then he stopped suddenly. Fenton stopped right beside him.  “Speaking of the van, I think I see it now. Up ahead.” Frank said as he pointed to a black shadow through the trees.  

Fenton squinted and then smiled. “Thank goodness! I am sorry Frank, but after that long walk, I just need to sit down for a few and get warm.”  

“Same here. We are not going to do anyone any good if we get ourselves into trouble out here,” the older brother commented.   

Soon the two Hardys had reached the safety of the van. They climbed into the back and sat on the bench seat while Frank turned the emergency heater on that ran off of a battery that they stored in the van for their overnight stakeouts.  Then he got out the candy bar stash and shared a quick bite to eat with his father as they rested their feet from the long treacherous walk.  

 

Back at the cabin, the fire in the fireplace was wilting even more.  Joe did not want to leave Iola’s side, but he knew that they needed to keep the fire going, especially if they were going to heat up food over it.  Pulling back the covers, it was then that he noticed that he was not in his own set of clothes.  

“I don’t remember changing into these,” Joe said as he sat up and looked down at the huge flannel shirt and jeans.  

“You mean you are just now noticing that?” Iola laughed, looking up at him.  

“I just never paid attention I guess since we pretty much stayed under the covers,” Joe answered her sheepishly.  

“You were so out of it when I had to drag you out of the creek that you couldn’t do anything. I got you up here and found the clothes in the closet over there. I changed you out of your wet clothes, got you into bed and started the fire,” Iola explained in a matter of fact tone.  “You were shivering so bad that I was afraid you were going to end up with hypothermia!”  

Joe’s face turned beat red when he spotted his wet clothes on the floor. Then he turned to Iola.  

“Oh Joe! For Heaven’s sake, I was a nurse’s aide! Besides it is not like I have not seen your butt before now,” Iola said with a coyly smile. Joe stared at her, trying to figure it all out.  

“I have never…” Joe started to say, but Iola cut him off.  

“How many times have I seen you and Chet moon each other at sleepovers when we were kids when playing “Truth or Dare”?”

 

Joe thought for a moment. Frank and Joe used to sleepover at Chet’s house once a month while their parents had a night out.  The Hardys would then have Chet over for a night once a month to return the favor. On that night, Iola would go to a friend’s house. But she was always there when the boys stayed over. It was not a secret that she had a crush on Joe since the day she met him when they were six. Joe was not interested in her then, but Iola was not a girl who was easily shooed away. It was not until their freshman year in high school before Joe finally asked Iola to be his girlfriend at the Homecoming dance.

While it was true that after Frank would go to sleep Chet and Joe would often play that game, he never realized that Iola was watching.  

“You spied on us?” Joe asked, his mouth wide open.  

“What else would you expect me to do when you kept me up all night listening to you guys laugh and carry on? I still don’t know how Frank slept through all that!” Iola laughed. Then she smiled, her eyes twinkling. “I had to do something Joe or you were going to freeze in those wet clothes. I had to change too. It is not like there is a bathroom here. It is all one room and a very small closet filled with shelves.”  

Joe made a face. “And I missed it.”   

“JOSEPH HARDY! TAKE THAT BACK!” Iola shouted.  Joe leaned over and kissed her.  

As he leaned back up, he smiled and replied, “Never.” Iola just smacked him on the shoulder and lay back down in the bed. 

“I am going to get the fire going again. Are you hungry?” Joe asked.  

“I am starved! I will help you get something heated up,” Iola answered as she started to get up. But Joe pushed her back down.   

“No, you have done enough. Let me do something for you now.”  Joe put his feet down on the floor and started to get up.  As he got up though, he felt a shearing pain shoot up from his left ankle and he immediately sat back down.  

Alarmed, Iola jumped back up.  “What is wrong Joe?”  

Joe winced in pain as he lifted his feet back up on the bed. He looked down at his ankle and felt it. It was swollen.  “It’s my ankle.”  

Iola got up and examined the ankle as best as she could in the firelight. Every time she would touch around the bone, Joe would jump in pain.  “It didn’t hurt until I got up!” Joe cringed in pain.   

“You either have a bad sprain or a broken ankle. Either way, you need to stay put and prop it up,” Iola replied as she put some extra clothes under his left foot.  

“But you are going to need help with things. We need to get home,” Joe said mournfully.  

But Iola just patted him on the chest.  “We will get home Joe. But first we have to get your ankle at least well enough to make the walk. If you keep it propped up tonight, it might be a little better before morning. I am perfectly able to take care of everything. You just concentrate on getting that ankle better.”  

Even though he was disgusted, Joe knew that Iola was right. So she easily got the fire going and they enjoyed a can of baked beans heated over the fire. Then, after stoking the fire, the teenagers settled in for a peaceful night’s rest.

 

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.