by Luna Starr
“Are they settling in okay?” Rue asked as she handed me the dinner plates.
“Seems like it.”
“You did a good job with them.”
I preened beneath her praise. This place was so strange, the things that I accomplished here—that I wanted to accomplish were so different than anything I’d ever wanted to accomplish before. Here, there was no pretense, no awards, no newspaper write-ups. No one would ever know what I “accomplished” here... Yet, I wanted to succeed so much more now than I ever had back... then.
When Marlene and the kids came downstairs, Rue plied them with appetizers. I checked the clock and wondered where Brady and Tom were. I knew they had gone back out to check the cattle, but they should have been back by now.
Rue glanced at me and waved me into the pantry. She pulled the door halfway closed to shield us from Marlene and the kids, then gripped my hands.
“Do you want to run out to the barn and see if they’re back yet?”
I glanced out the pantry door to the dark sky and the rain that hadn’t let up since lunch and an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. “Does the rain make it harder to bring the cattle in?”
“Yes, but even so, they should have been back hours ago. They didn’t have to go far, only to the north pasture.” She glanced out the window and pointed in what I assumed was a northward direction. “I’m worried.”
A cold sweat broke out on my palms. If Rue was worried, that didn’t bode well. “I’ll hurry. Do you want to start dinner and I’ll go see if I can find them?”
Rue nodded. “I’d better.”
“Oh, no!” My hands flew up to cover my mouth, and I scared the crap out of Rue. “I just remembered I was supposed to work at the café tonight.” My heart sank as I thought about heading into town while Tom and Brady were out there in the cold and dark somewhere.
Rue squeezed my shoulder. “Sharon’s a rancher and she knows how things happen. Besides, tonight will be slow with this storm. I’ll call her.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
She turned me and patted my butt. “Now you head out and find our boys.”
Marlene looked up as I walked past but once she was out of sight, I took off running toward the barn, ducking my head to keep the rain out of my face. It was a freaking downpour and I was soaked before I’d even gone ten feet. The barn was a blurry image behind the sheets of water, but it was also instantly obvious that neither Brady nor Tom were here. I stood in the aisle and Aria stuck her nose out. I didn’t know what to do, so I walked to the end of the barn where the rain was blowing inside and soaking the alley nearest Aria’s stall.
I pulled the doors mostly closed and stared across the pastures. Rivers of water ran down the road and off the roof. “Where are you guys?” I asked myself.
The horses fidgeted and whinnied and I was sure they were getting hungry too. Tom usually fed them before we ate, which was a sure sign that something was wrong. Tom was never late when it came to feeding the animals.
I took another glance outside and then hurried to the feed barn and loaded a bale into the back of the Gator along with Aria’s feed. I gunned the engine and peeled out, throwing rocks and mud on the wall.
I shoved my wet hair back from my forehead and eased the pedal, feathering it so I didn’t tear up any more of the road. I drove it straight into the barn, not really caring what a mess I made because I could sweep it up later and it wasn’t worth trying to wrestle the hay from outside. All the horse faces peered over the stall doors and whinnied their gratitude. I wasn’t sure how much everyone got, so I tossed them each a flake and hoped I wasn’t hopping them all up because now was not the time to have a barnful of crazy horses.
I finished feeding them quickly and then checked the perimeter outside again, but there wasn’t a single cow or rider headed this way. I chewed my lip and pulled the doors closed. I didn’t know what to do. Slipping inside Aria’s stall, I watched her eat, but I was too nervous and fidgety. In turn, it made her all twitchy and she tossed her head at me.
“Sorry.” I patted her neck and wandered the alley again.
Jenny was munching away contentedly in her stall, but Tom must have been on Breezy because she was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t sure who Brady was riding. Thunder crashed overhead and I swore the lightning hit right outside the barn because my hair suddenly started standing on end. It was so freaking loud! The horses moved around nervously, their food forgotten for a moment, and I tried to get my own heartbeat under control.
There was no point in going back up to the main house; Rue had dinner under control and, what was more, I didn’t want to further worry her once she realized I hadn’t found the boys. I paused outside Jenny’s stall as I tried to figure out what I should do next. She slipped her nose through the bars on her door and blew warm air at me. I stepped closer and held my hand up. “What do you think? If I take you out there to look for him, will you be a good girl?”
My hand shook as she nudged it. I rubbed her nose and she went back to eating.
I bit my lip and looked at Aria’s stall as I considered taking her out instead of Jenny. But Aria would be a basket case in this weather. We’d both been far too pampered to take on a rainstorm of this magnitude. Loud noises sent her into orbit and even standing here in her stall, she was trembling.
Another clap of thunder rattled the barn and I pulled Jenny out of her stall and stuck her in the crossties. Whatever I was going to do, I needed to start doing it.
Chapter Seventeen
Tom
The storm picked up, blowing a massive gust of rain and wind straight into my face. I hunched my shoulders and tipped my hat further down. Brady was about a dozen feet in front of me and to my left, but I could barely make out Mack’s hindquarters, the rain was coming down so bad. Those cows were not making things easy. I knew they wanted to stay sheltered and we’d managed things poorly, but damn, this part of the storm had come up fast.
Mack’s ass dropped quick and I nearly ran into them, but Breezy took a small step to the right to avoid the collision. “What’s going on?” I yelled, but the wind whipped my words away.
Brady pointed across a small draw nestled beneath a line of trees. I could barely see anything through the driving rain, but then a bald face poked further out of the treeline.
Shit. It was a good thing we saw the calf, or he would have been left behind. Together, we swung toward the trees. I glanced at the herd, realizing that without pushing them, they’d stop and probably end up in the draw with us while we were trying to get the calf. And there’d go all the progress we’d made for the last hour. If I hadn’t known better, I would have left them all there and gone back for them in the morning, but we’d already pushed them this far, and I’d rather have them close to the house if the storm got worse. I knew Brady was thinking the same thing.
He tossed me Mack’s reins and dismounted. Both horses immediately swung their butts to the wind and dropped their noses. “Need help?” I called out.
Brady shook his head and marched toward the calf. I could barely make him out and I tugged my collar higher but it didn’t help much against the onslaught of rain and wind. Mack and Breezy both tensed and Mack’s head jerked upright. I stiffened and searched for Brady as a huge bolt of lightning struck one of the trees and Brady fell off Mack.
“Fuck! Brady!” I scrambled off Breezy, dropped her reins and raced toward the stand. “Brady!” My boots slipped on the slick ground but I managed to stay upright.
Brady was flat on his back, holding the calf. But it didn’t look like he was breathing. His eyes were closed and in the moonlight, I could make out the whiteness of his skin. He looked deader than shit. A huge limb was lying across his legs. I raced to his side, my heart pounding against my ribs. “Brady?” I yelled as I leaned down and brought my ear up to his nose, immediately feeling the air as he breathed out. “Christ! Thank God you’re alive!”
He groaned. “Get this fucking thing off me.”
I picked up the calf. It was scared and trembling, but I set it on its feet and it took off toward the herd which was crowding in on us. “You think you can walk if I get that branch off you?” I studied the tree limb and even though it wasn’t small by any stretch, I was fairly sure I could lift it off him.
“I’ll manage,” he grunted. “If my leg’s not broke.”
I stood and grabbed hold of the limb. “This might hurt.” The branch was a tangled-up mess of smaller branches and leaves. It wasn’t going to come off him easily, if I managed to get it off him at all. “Cover your face,” I insisted as I took a deep breath and heaved the thing upward.
Brady yelled out in pain, as I pushed against the limb harder until it shifted off him. When he was clear of it, I took a deep breath as I glanced down at him, wondering if maybe a piece of the wood had run him clear through. But I couldn’t see a goddamned thing. Which meant there was nothing I could do for him out here. I needed to get him back to the house so we could figure out if he needed to go to the hospital.
“Help me up,” he ordered, his voice gruff but edged with pain.
I eased around beside him and crouched down so he could throw an arm around me. “Go slow.”
“I’m fine.”
The smallest movement made him grip me so hard, I nearly winced. Brady was an old bastard, but he was big and he was muscular, both characteristics contributing to the fact that he wasn’t easy to move. Once I got him up, he attempted to stand and seemed to handle that okay enough. As he tried to take a step, though, his leg wouldn’t hold any weight and he started to crumple until I caught him.
“Can you ride?” I asked.
“I can try.”
We hobbled to Mack’s side and Brady was already breathing heavily. He grabbed the horn and his knuckles were instantly white from the strain. “If I could get this foot in the stirrup, I might be able to toss the other one over.”
“I’ll help you.”
I helped him get his foot into the stirrup and with a deep breath and a grunt, he threw his other leg over the saddle and then slouched forward, apparently to catch his breath. He was on Mack, but pale and looked like he was about to puke.
“Mount up and let’s go,” he ordered.
I didn’t respond but did as he requested. We loped out, leaving the cows to crowd together in the worst possible shelter we could leave them in, but at least it was something. If I’d thought there was any chance of me getting them home by myself, I’d get Brady home and then push them out myself, but they were impossible to move in these conditions, even with two of us.
Not that I was that concerned with the cows at the moment. I was mostly worried that Brady was going to pass the fuck out and drop clear off Mack, in which case I’d definitely be up shit creek because there was no way I could carry him back to the house.
***
I wasn’t sure how we even made it back to the barn but somehow, we managed. I opened the door as a gust of wind caught it and whipped it clean away from me. But I couldn’t say I was even aware of it. Instead, my eyes settled on the form of Summer, where she was mounted up on Jenny and looking like she was about to ride out and brave the storm.
“Summer?” I started, suddenly beyond grateful that I’d reached her when I had. Who knew what the hell would have happened to the headstrong woman if she’d attempted to brave this storm on her own.
She paused a few feet from me and dismounted as she quickly led Jenny back to her stall. Then she faced me with concern. I dropped my arms from the doors and took a step inside. “Take Breezy.”
Without hesitation, Summer grabbed the mare’s reins and pulled her into the barn while I leaned heavily on the doors. I needed to get them closed so the barn didn’t flood. Breezy’s footsteps were followed by Mack’s and Brady’s moaning from atop his big gelding.
Before I knew it, Summer was immediately beside me, helping me to pull the doors closed. Then she put her arm around my waist. “Come on, come sit on the bench.” I leaned heavily on her, feeling awful that I couldn’t support my own weight. I was so exhausted that I could have fallen asleep right there on the floor. The adrenaline rush from Brady’s accident had dissipated and now I was running on empty.
But I wasn’t the one who needed Summer’s assistance. I pushed her away and turned around to face Brady, who was still leaning against Mack’s head, looking like he’d passed out.
“Oh my God,” Summer whispered as soon as she saw him.
“Help me get down,” Brady moaned as I breathed a sigh of relief that he was still conscious.
Summer helped me grab hold of Brady’s waist as he swung his leg off and he practically squished her. I pulled against him to keep him from falling into her and knocking her over. He bit back a scream of pain as his foot hit the concrete, but I managed to take a few steps to the side to keep him upright.
I eased him to the bench as Summer hurried over to him.
“What the hell happened?” she demanded.
Brady closed his eyes and he rested against the wall. I leaned over and braced my hands on my thighs as I tried to catch my breath. “Lightning. A tree fell on him and I think his leg was broken.”
“We need to get him to the hospital,” Summer said as she looked over at me.
“Need to get the horses put away first so they don’t get out,” I answered with a brief nod as I started to do just that. But Summer put a hand on my arm. I paused and looked down at her and the concern on her face caught me off guard. It wasn’t a look I got from a lot of people. I swallowed hard.
“Let me put the horses away. I already fed the others. You just get Brady to the hospital.”
I nodded because I could use her help. Brady could use her help.
“I told you, you’re not taking me to the goddamn hospital!” Brady nearly fell over as he tried to stand. All the color drained out of his face and I rushed to catch him before he planted his face on the ground. “I’m fucking fine. Just help me inside.”
“You’re not fine, you stubborn bastard!” I yelled at him. “I’m pretty sure your damn leg is broken.”
Brady groaned as I jammed an arm under his shoulder and held him up. “But you ain’t sure, that’s the point.”
“Brady,” I started.
“Get me to the house!”
I ground my teeth together and we headed out into the storm so I could get him into Rue’s care. If he wouldn’t listen to me, maybe Rue could talk some damn sense into him.
As I dragged him up the slight hill toward the house, Rue rushed down the back steps and pulled Brady’s other arm across her shoulder. I told her what had happened and how Brady refused to go to the hospital. Of course, Rue berated him as soon as we got him inside and into a chair in the living room. I fell into the other one as I tried to catch my breath.
Rue palpated Brady’s leg and cataloged his moaning and bitching, probably to figure out if she was going to let him off the hook about going to the hospital. She pressed hard on his thigh and shook her head. “Was this where the tree hit you?”
“Woman!” Brady yelled and pressed deeper into the couch. I was worried, but trusted Rue’s judgment. She might as well have been a doctor, with all the injuries she’d treated over the years. The closest hospital wasn’t far, but Brady was a stubborn jackass and even if we’d had a hospital next door, the bastard wouldn’t have let me take him there.
He brushed Rue’s hands away. “I’m fine.”
“I wouldn’t say that, but I don’t think it’s broken,” she announced with a sigh of relief. “I do think you’ve bruised the hell out of that muscle and might have even torn something in your knee. Either way, you’re going to be laid up for a couple days—”
“Bullshit.”
Rue shrugged. “Fine. You can get back to me on that in the morning, but right now you need to take some pain medicine and get into bed so I can start icing it.”
Summer rushed in and hurried over to me. I could have reached out and touched her fingers, she was
standing so close. “Is he okay?”
“He will be,” Rue said. “He’s too stubborn to die.”
Brady glared at her. “Lucky for you.”
She huffed and crossed her arms, but I could tell she was really worried about him. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she spent the night on the couch so she could keep an eye on him. In fact, that was probably exactly what she’d do.
“I got the horses all settled,” Summer told me under her breath.
I smiled down at her but the truth was that I was still worried about the cows. They were too far to make it back to the shelter and too far from the barn to make it home, but other than going back out, I didn’t have many options left.
“They’ll be fine,” Brady said, glaring at me like he’d heard my thoughts.
I shook my head and leaned forward, bracing my elbows on my knees. “I’m not so sure. I feel like I should at least ride out and make sure they got tucked up somewhere. This rain doesn’t look like it’s going to give up anytime soon.”
“I know,” Brady answered with a deep sigh, followed by a wince. “I’ve been thinking about what to do, but there’s no way I can help you and you can’t go by yourself.”
“I could go.” Summer sat on the arm of the couch and faced us both eagerly.
Brady shook his head. “No way. I don’t even want him going back out in this rainstorm, so you’re sure as hell not going.”
I glanced at her over my shoulder. She crossed her arms and I couldn’t tell if she was insulted or relieved. I was relieved that Brady was the one to tell her no because I knew she wouldn’t take it well coming from me. I thought she was a good enough rider though...
“Will the cows be okay in the storm?” she asked.
Brady grunted. “More than fine. They were already sheltered when we found them, ready for the storm we hadn’t even known was coming. That was part of what screwed this whole thing up; they hadn’t wanted to leave, and dammit—” He slapped his good thigh and looked away. “I should have taken half a second to figure out why they kept circling back to the grove of trees. They knew this storm was coming and they knew it was going to be bad.” He pierced me with a stare that was almost apologetic since that was exactly what I’d suggested after we’d unsuccessfully spent an hour trying to push them while they scattered like water droplets around us anytime we got more than a hundred yards.