Meadowlark

by Carolyn Lampman

  When the roar of the creek intensified, she wondered if she’d waited too long. The mare and colt were spooked, but Becky didn’t know if it was the sound of the water outside or if she’d communicated her own nervousness to them. Whatever the reason, it took much longer to hitch Sophie to the buckboard than usual. At last it was accomplished, and she led the pair out of the shed.

  “Come on, Sophie. You and your baby are safe now.... Oh no!” Becky stared in horror at the creek which had overflowed its banks and cut a new channel. The cabin was now completely surrounded by water. Immobilized by shock, Becky stared at the raging torrent that ran between the road and the cabin. There was no way she could cross it. She was stuck on one side and Alaina was on the other.

  Chapter 28

  Garrick can get her out! Becky clambered up into the buckboard and slapped the reins across Sophie’s rump. By the time they got to town, the mare was moving so fast more than one pedestrian jumped out of the way when they saw the buckboard careening down the street.

  Sophie had barely stopped in front of Garrick’s shop before Becky was on the ground running. “Garrick, oh Garrick you’ve got to help me.”

  “Becky!” He looked up in surprise. “What’s wrong?”

  “I went to save Sophie only I thought Alaina would be all right where she was, but the water came up and the creek changed course and oh, Garrick, you’ve got to save her.” Becky covered her face and burst into tears.

  “Slow down, Becky,” he said urgently. “Tell me again what happened.”

  It took several precious seconds to make Garrick understand, but he was stripping off his leather apron as he listened. “Was the water inside the cabin?” he asked, pulling a coiled lariat off the wall.

  “N-no. It was still several feet from the door.”

  “Good, then she’s probably still safe. We may need some help,” he said as he strode to the door. “I don’t know if I can—”

  “Becky,” Cameron’s voice cut through the air startling them both. “What’s going on?”

  “Thank God. You’re just the man we need, Price,” Garrick said, as he lifted Becky up into the buckboard. “I’ll tell you about it on the way.”

  By the time they arrived back at the cabin, the water had risen to the door and they could hear the faint sound of Alaina crying over the roar of the creek.

  “At least we know she’s all right,” Garrick said, climbing down from the buckboard. “Now if we can just get to her. You ever dealt with anything like this, Price?”

  Cameron shook his head. “Not really. Have you?”

  “Once, and I almost didn’t get back out.” It brought me the love of my life, he added silently. “That’s why I brought the rope.”

  “What do we tie it to?” Becky said worriedly.

  “I’ll hold it,” Cameron said.

  “Do you know what you’re doing?” Garrick asked.

  “Yes. I’ve never done it with a man, but I’ve helped get wagons across the Platte. It’s the same basic principle. We’ll use the current to get you over and back.” The two men exchanged a long look. “You can trust me,” Cameron said. “Whatever else is between us, I owe you my life.”

  Garrick nodded. “All right then, we’d better find an anchor.”

  Becky watched the two men in confusion as they moved up stream. What in the world? They hardly spoke to one another, but both seemed to know exactly what they were looking for as they studied the rocks and stumps.

  Finally, Cameron stopped by a huge boulder and did his best to dislodge it. After several unsuccessful tries, he nodded in satisfaction. “This ought to hold.”

  “I hope so. I doubt you could hang onto me by yourself. You’re going to have a tough time controlling the swing back across anyway,” Garrick said as he stripped down to his drawers.

  “Will somebody please tell me what you two are doing?” Becky asked. Frantic about her baby, she couldn’t imagine why they were messing around so far above the cabin. “How are you going to get Alaina from clear up here?”

  Garrick tied the rope securely around his waist. “The current will carry me downstream. If we start here, I should wind up fairly close to the cabin.”

  “Can’t you just go straight across? I mean with Cameron holding the rope, wouldn’t you stay in the same place?”

  “It would cut him in half or at least feel like it was,” Cameron said. “This way the current will be doing all the work. The rope is only there in case anything goes wrong.”

  “Getting back across with Alaina will be the hard part,” Garrick added.

  “You got me out all by yourself last year,” Becky pointed out.

  “Yes, but you very nearly drowned. Besides, you’re an adult and Alaina’s a baby. I’ll have to keep her head above water. That means once I have her I won’t be able to do much but keep her safe. We’ll be so much dead weight on the other end. With Cameron’s help, the current should swing us back over to this side.”

  Cameron nodded. “I just wish we could be sure it will work that way. I don’t know that I can pull you back across if I need to.”

  “I guess that’s a chance we’re going to have to take,” Garrick said.

  Becky was silent as Garrick and Cameron continued their preparations. “What about Sophie?” she said suddenly. The men stopped and looked at her in surprise. “If we hook another rope to the one around your waist and then tie it to the back of the buckboard once you’re over there, Sophie could pull you across if necessary.”

  Cameron and Garrick looked at each other. “You know, she just might have something there,” Garrick said.

  “It’s worth a try, anyway.”

  At last, everything was ready, and Garrick stood poised on the bank. Cameron tied the rope to the boulder, then braced himself against its rough surface. “You ready, Swede?”

  “As ready as I will ever be, I guess.”

  Becky felt as though she were being buffeted by the stream herself as she watched Garrick wade into the raging torrent. When the water was about mid-thigh, he started swimming. He seemed to make little headway as the water swept him downstream at an alarming rate.

  Cameron’s face showed intense concentration as he played the rope out through his hands, making sure there was just the right amount of tension. For the first time, Becky realized Cameron literally held Garrick’s life in his hands. A shiver of apprehension ran down her back.

  A moment later, Cameron relaxed, and Becky jerked her gaze back to Garrick just in time to see him crawl out of the water. He paused a moment in the cabin doorway, trying to catch his breath, then climbed to his feet and went inside. Alaina’s cries stopped almost immediately, and Becky breathed a sigh of relief.

  By the time Garrick emerged with Alaina securely strapped to his chest in her ski harness and a bundle of clothing in his hand, Cameron and Becky had the safety line tied to the buckboard. Garrick had removed the rope from his waist and tied it under his arms across his chest underneath Alaina.

  “What the hell is that?” Cameron asked, his brows coming together in surprise.

  “It looks like he grabbed some of our clothes.”

  “No, I mean that contraption he’s got Elaine in.”

  “Oh, that’s just the harness he uses when we go skiing.” Becky tried to ignore an instantaneous surge of irritation. Honestly, you’d think a man could remember his own daughter’s name.

  “When you what?”

  “Never mind. The important thing is that she’s perfectly safe in it.”

  “If you say so.” Cameron still looked skeptical as he headed back to his place near the rock.

  With a mighty heave, Garrick threw the clothes across the swollen stream, then gave Becky a reassuring smile. The air between them fairly sizzled as their eyes locked. In that moment, they both felt the strength of their love, though neither could express it.

  Garrick broke eye contact first, uncomfortably aware that his emotions were plainly visible on his face. The last thing he neede
d was to send Becky that kind of message. With grim determination, he directed his gaze upstream and waited for Cameron to give him the signal.

  When it came at last, he stepped into the stream and walked as far out as he could. He was thigh deep before he knew he could go no farther without losing his footing. Garrick waited until Cameron had pulled in all the extra rope, then very carefully eased himself into the water and let the tug of the current sweep his feet out from under him.

  He winced in pain when the rope snapped tight. It cut into his skin cruelly as he bobbed along in the water, feeling alarmingly helpless. Alaina let out a howl of protest when the cold water closed over her back, but Garrick’s arms around her and the angle of his body kept her safe.

  About halfway across, they were caught by an eddy that nearly pulled them under. Garrick fought to keep Alaina’s head above water as he was caught in the irresistible force. Fingers of panic were beginning to claw at him when he felt the secondary rope tighten. Slowly, they began to ease out of the whirlpool and back into the regular current.

  A lifetime of cold, wet fear passed before Garrick felt the scrape of mud beneath his feet. Suddenly, Becky was there, wading out to help him, her skirt immodestly tucked into the waistband of her apron. Her hands felt like warm sanity against his frigid skin, a safe haven for both Alaina and him. As he clambered to his feet, he wanted her to put her arms around him more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life.

  Becky exclaimed in horror when she saw the raw strip where the rope had abraded his skin. She touched the area around the injuries with gentle fingers. “Oh, dear. I wish we had some of that salve we used on your back.”

  The image of Becky doctoring his hurts brought a rush of intense longing and the desire to pull her into his embrace, to imprison her next to his heart where she belonged.

  Then Cameron was there, and the opportunity was lost. All three of them were nearly delirious with relief as they freed Alaina and Garrick from the straps and ropes. The mood of self-congratulations lasted clear up until they reached the edge of town. Suddenly, the constraint that had disappeared in the face of danger returned with a vengeance.

  “I’ll get out here,” Garrick said, handing the reins to Cameron.

  Becky looked up at him in consternation. “Are you sure?”

  “I…uh...I have to pick up a few things at the store.” He climbed down from the buckboard, then glanced back up at Becky. “There isn’t much in that bundle of clothes I brought you. Go ahead and charge whatever else you need to my account at the store. Do you want me to find you a place to stay until the water goes down?”

  “I—”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Cameron broke in. “I’ll take care of it from here on out. Thanks for your help with my daughter, Swede.”

  The words hit Garrick like a slap in the face. The risk he’d taken had been for his wife and child, not Cameron’s. He turned away before the impulse to smash his fist into the other man’s face became impossible to resist.

  “Garrick!” Becky called after him, but he kept walking.

  “That was incredibly rude, Cameron,” she said, turning on him angrily.

  “What, saying thank you?”

  You know very well what I mean. Garrick just put his life in jeopardy for us, and you treated him like a hired hand or something.”

  “I did not. I was merely pointing out that you and Amanda are my responsibility now, not his.”

  “Her name is Uh-lay-nuh, Cameron! Not Amanda, or Alona, or Elaine or any of the others. Furthermore, we’re nobody’s responsibility but mine, and I prefer to make my own arrangements, thank you.”

  “I’m just trying to help.”

  “If you really want to make yourself useful, you can take the horses and buckboard to the livery stable over by the jail.” She scrambled down from the seat. “I’ll go over and pay for it later.”

  “Come on, Becky,” he said in a pleading voice. “At least let me give you my room at the boarding house.”

  “I’ll think about it.” With a twitch of her skirt, she turned and marched down the street to The Green Garter. Her face was a mask of perfect calm until she entered the kitchen. Then her bravado crumpled as she sagged against the wall with a sob. Alaina whimpered in her arms.

  “Becky, what’s happened?”

  The sound of Angel’s voice brought Becky’s head up with a jerk.

  “I… I didn’t know you were here.”

  “It is my kitchen,” Angel said dryly. “Now, what’s going on?”

  It didn’t take long for Becky to tell Angel of the morning’s adventure and explain her dilemma. “Now we don’t have any place to stay and no money.”

  “Money’s no problem. You don’t need cooking lessons anymore, so I’ll pay you for the work you do. A place to stay though might be a little tougher to come by. All the boarding houses are full. Cameron just got that room yesterday.”

  “I guess I better tell him I’ll take him up on his offer then. I suppose he’ll be insufferable. He is anyway.”

  “Lover’s quarrel?”

  “Not really. He’s just so darn possessive.”

  “Do you love him?”

  The urge to unburden her soul to Angel was strong, but there was always the chance Garrick would find out if she said no. Becky was determined that he was going to have his freedom, no matter what.

  “Why, Angel, how can you ask? No woman alive could resist Cameron Price for long.”

  Later that afternoon, Becky discovered that the ‘good women’ of the town who had ignored her until now were suddenly vitally interested in her life. Deciding to take Garrick up on his generous offer, she went to the mercantile to buy a few things. She planned to keep a strict accounting of all she spent and repay him before he left town.

  “Swede was sayin’ you might be in,” the balding storekeeper said pleasantly. “You want all this on his bill?”

  Becky smiled. “Yes, thank you.”

  “Did you hear that?” said an unfamiliar female voice. “And after the way she’s been chasing after that nice Mr. Price.”

  “It’s scandalous is what it is. Married to one man, carrying on with another, and that baby. Well, any fool can see who its father is.”

  “I think it’s criminal the way she foisted that child on Swede, then turned her back on him as soon as Cameron Price came back to town. And Swede’s still paying her bills.”

  “Swede’s a fool if he can’t see what a little hussy she is.”

  With tears of humiliation blurring her eyes, Becky turned and walked from the store, leaving her purchases still sitting on the counter. She didn’t stop until she and Alaina were inside their tiny airless room at the boarding house. It was bad enough the old cats thought ill of her, but Garrick and Alaina were blameless.

  When Becky and Alaina went down to supper, the landlady, Mrs. O’Reily, gave her the cold shoulder, and several of the men leered at her. One even went so far as to drop his hand on her knee and give it a suggestive squeeze. Becky jumped up and ran upstairs to her room. She put a chair in front of the door for good measure then threw herself on the bed. Her life with Garrick was over, a future with Cameron was uncertain at best, and the whole town was questioning her morals. Things couldn’t get much worse.

  Several hours later, Garrick stalked into The Green Garter, his face suffused with anger and his fists clenched at his side. He found Cameron sitting at a corner table entwined with Collette. “I’ve been looking for you, Price.”

  Cameron looked up in surprise. “What for?”

  “We need to talk.” He gave Collette a cold stare. “Alone.”

  “All right.” Cameron kissed Collette and pushed her off his lap. “I’ll see you later, honey,” he said, giving her a pat on the behind as she walked away. “What do you want, Swede?”

  “You seem pretty cozy with Collette for a man who’s contemplating marriage.”

  Cameron shrugged. “As I told you before, she has her uses. Buy you a drink?�
�

  “No thanks.”

  “At least have a seat.” Cameron gestured to a chair and watched Garrick sit down. “What’s the problem?”

  “I want to know why you haven’t married Becky yet.”

  “I thought she’d like to be courted a little first. Women like all the preliminaries.”

  Garrick gave a snort of disgust. “Seems to me you got those all out of the way last year. Are you aware that the good women of this town are crucifying her?”

  “What?” The relaxed smile was wiped instantly from Cameron’s face.

  “My friend Tom Herman over at Herman’s retail said two old bats tied into her this afternoon. They didn’t attack her directly, mind you, just talked behind her back. Seems they don’t think it’s fitting for her to be married to one man and carrying on with another, especially when her baby looks a whole lot like the other man.”

  “Damn.”

  “I warned you once, Price. If you don’t want to pick your teeth up off the floor, you’ll get your priorities straight, now.”

  Cameron pulled a ring out of his pocket. “I was going to ask her today, but things didn’t exactly go the way I planned.” “By this time tomorrow we should be officially engaged.”

  “Good.” Garrick stood up. “And I’d advise you not to mess with me.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m not that stupid.”

  Garrick made his way to the bar. “Bring me a bottle of whiskey, Sam.”

  “Sure thing, Swede.”

  Becky would be safely married soon. Married, and forever beyond his reach. Garrick wondered if Cameron knew how erotically sensitive her back was, or if he ever took time to coax her into her own release. With an angry growl, Garrick pulled the cork out of the bottle with his teeth and spit it out on the bar.