Chapter Twenty
Jolie knew it was time to tell the boys that she wouldn’t be around next year. They needed time to adjust to the idea. And so did she.
So the last thing she was expecting was to walk into a classroom decorated for a party. There was a large sign that said “We love you, Jolie!” covering the projection screen. Colored ribbons from the storeroom dangled from the ceiling fans, whipping around as the two fans turned.
“Surprise!” the boys yelled when she entered, all smiles as they surrounded her.
“What’s all this?” she asked, her hand on her heart as she looked around at her classroom. It was a sight she’d never forget.
The smaller boys were all talking excitedly. “Hold on, buckaroos,” Joseph said, laughing as he calmed them down. When they quieted, he grinned his lopsided smile. “We wanted to make sure you knew how much we appreciate you being here, coming on at the last minute to take on a bunch of ragtags like us. You didn’t have to do it but you did.”
“Yeah,” Wes said, looking a little worried. “It’s good to be appreciated. We just wanted you to know.”
Jolie bit her lip, tears brimming in her eyes. She sucked in a hard breath. “Thanks,” she croaked like a frog. “You have no idea what this means to me.”
That had all the boys beaming. They looked so proud that her heart clutched in her chest and she had to close her eyes.
“This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. And I mean that. And you are not ragtags. You are the kind of kids a woman could call her own—and I do. I want you to know that.”
Their smiles faded, and she knew they could hear the sadness in her voice.
“I need you to sit down. I have to tell you something.”
“Not that you’re going to leave,” Sammy blurted out, panic in his eyes.
Jolie hated this. He’d recently lost his family and now he’d formed an attachment to her and she was leaving. What would that do to him?
“Yes, I am. I have to. I’m sorry. Listen, Sammy, everyone, there are just some things that can’t be changed. But my leaving has nothing to do with all of you. I have loved every minute of my time here since the first day I hopped out of my Jeep and saw you standing there. I love all of you.”
Wes and Joseph looked down at the floor, not meeting her gaze.
Dear Lord, help me.
“If you loved us, you would stay.” Sammy’s brown eyes held unshed tears, his chin trembled and his voice was a faint whisper.
Jolie went to her knees in front of him. “I can’t stay.”
“Why not?”
How could she tell them Morgan hadn’t renewed her contract? They would resent him, and that would be terrible because they had to have a good relationship with him. She had to preserve that no matter what.
What Morgan was doing, he was doing out of a misplaced concern. At least that was the assumption that was getting her through this.
Morgan was trying to do what was right for her.
The realization slammed into her as she looked into Sammy’s dear face. This wasn’t about not forgiving her...it was about doing what he believed was right. Jolie’s heart raced at the realization.
Trying to grasp this new information she continued, “This was always a temporary position. You knew that, Sammy. All of you did. As much as I love being here, I have commitments that I have to keep.”
And it was true, she did. Morgan had been right about that.
But you can come back...?
The words whispered through her. She heard a horn honk outside and she smiled. “It’s going to be all right, guys. I promise. Sammy, it will be okay. Don’t be afraid. Okay?”
He nodded. “Okay.”
She hugged him tightly, then stood. “I didn’t know y’all were fixin’ things up for a party—it goes to show you great minds think alike because I was planning on having one myself. If I’m right, that horn is Ms. Jo and Mabel out there with a truckload of homemade pies. I ordered them for an end-of-term celebration.”
“Awesome.” Wes jumped up and headed to the door. “I’ll help bring them in.”
Jolie chuckled. “Y’all have worked so hard, you deserve it.”
Ms. Jo’s pies could make anyone smile, and she sure hoped it was true today as she watched the kids race outside to help, including Sammy after she’d urged him.
Glancing around the decorated room filled her with determination. No way could she just walk away. There had to be another alternative. And she planned to find it.
* * *
“What do you mean you can’t do anything about it?” Ms. Jo demanded a few hours later after Jolie let the kids head out early for the day. She’d managed to turn the day around somewhat, though Sammy had remained quiet. He’d participated but kept asking her questions that told her he was still worrying. She just prayed that time would help.
“Yes, who does Morgan think he is making you leave if you don’t want to?” Mabel snorted.
“I tell you what, I was miffed at you for what you did to him, but now I’m equally miffed at Morgan. That man needs a knock upside the head, if you ask me.”
“Whoa, there, aren’t you two the ones who were telling me not to get any ideas? To just be friends?”
“Well,” Ms. Jo snapped, “what else were we supposed to say? We didn’t want him to get hurt any more than he already had been. We were just trying to be cautious.”
“That being said,” Mabel added, swiping another forkful of leftover coconut pie, “I agree with Jo. Who is he to tell you you have to leave?”
“He’s the guy holding the teaching contract.”
Ms. Jo and Mabel gaped at her.
“What?” she asked, bewildered.
Ms. Jo glared at her with impatience. “Who says just because you don’t work at Sunrise that you have to leave Dew Drop?”
The door crashed open before Jolie fully processed Ms. Jo’s declaration, and Caleb rushed into the room. “Jolie, come quick. We can’t find Sammy. He ran away!”
* * *
Some of the boys had stopped by the office and told Morgan Sammy was missing, so he was already on the phone with Tucker when Jolie and Caleb came racing out of the schoolhouse, Ms. Jo and Mabel hotfooting it behind them. They all hurried toward him across the pasture.
Tucker had told him that he’d be there in a few minutes. Morgan had never been happier that his big brother was the sheriff of Dew Drop County. And Rowdy and Chet were on their way with their group, too.
“Caleb said there was a note,” Jolie gasped, grabbing his arm as she arrived.
He handed her the note, and his gut clenched watching Jolie, her eyes glistening while she read the words Sammy had painstakingly printed out on a piece of white notebook paper.
Jolie, I’m going to make you proud enough of me that you won’t leave.
“What does this mean?” She blinked hard, fighting off tears.
“I’m not sure. He’s got a plan, it sounds like. We’ll find him,” Morgan assured her. “Tucker and Rowdy and the men are on the way. Dad, Pepper, Wes and Joseph are already out there on the roads leading out from the ranch.”
She bit her lip. “Okay. We’ll find him,” she said as if to herself.
Clare and John, Sammy’s house parents, hurried from the chow hall with Nana, clearly worried.
“He’s crazy about you,” Clare said, squeezing Jolie’s arm. “He’s just come alive since you showed up. Well, all the boys have, actually. They were devastated that you’re leaving. But this...” Her words trailed off and she dabbed at tears.
“Leaving, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Ms. Jo snapped, shooting Morgan a stern look as she and Mabel joined Nana in giving Clare some comfort.
Morgan tried not to think ab
out his part in this—not right now. Now he had to hold everyone together and find Sammy. His gaze locked on Jolie. “We’ll get a search up once Tucker gets here. We’ll find him,” Morgan told her again, wanting to give her a hug and ease the alarm in her eyes. But Jolie crossed her arms and nodded once, as if to block him out.
He couldn’t say he blamed her.
* * *
Jolie fought to stay in control as the sound of Tucker’s siren in the far-off distance signaled they would soon be taking action. But it wasn’t happening fast enough for her. She needed to do something soon or she’d go crazy.
“Caleb,” she said. “Who was the last to see Sammy?”
“Me. We were going to play in the hay barn, but he said he had to do something, so I went with Tony instead. We decided to go see what he was doing and found the note on his bed.”
Tony piped in. “We took it down to Ms. Clare right when we found it.”
“Do you guys have any idea where he might have gone?”
They all shook their heads. Jolie felt helpless as Tucker’s SUV pulled into the yard and came to a quick halt. Turning off the lights and siren, he stepped from the vehicle and strode their way. Even though his aviation shades hid his eyes, the hard set of his jaw said he was taking this seriously.
“Tucker, glad you’re here,” Morgan said, looking just as grim as his brother.
“Any word?” Tucker asked, pulling his shades off, looking from Morgan to Jolie.
“None so far,” Morgan answered.
Jolie wrapped her arms around herself. “Tucker, if he’s walking off the property, the guys would have found him by now. A little kid like him couldn’t have gotten far on foot in less than an hour.”
“True. We’ll start searching the ranch. But we need some facts first.”
“These three were the last to see him.” Morgan placed an arm around Caleb’s shoulders. Jolie found herself wishing his arm were around her instead. “They came straight to us when they found the note.”
“Do you have it?”
“I do.” Jolie thrust it at him, anxious for his trained eye to see it. She watched as he read it, meeting Morgan’s gaze for a brief moment. “Any hints in there that we’re missing?”
“Sounds like he has something to prove. Any thoughts about that?”
“He’s been better about being scared,” Caleb said.
Just then, Randolph drove up with Joseph and Wes from scouting the roads. Randolph shook his head as he strode toward the crowd. He, Morgan and Tucker went off and had a discussion, and Nana came and put her arm around Jolie.
Within minutes cars began to arrive full of folks from town, like Chili and Drewbaker. Walter Pepper and the other ranch hands came soon after, having had no luck searching the immediate area. More law enforcement with a team of search dogs was on the way. Within the hour they had a full-blown search going.
Jolie had been going over her conversation with Sammy from that morning, and the note he’d left. Her gut was trying to tell her something...he’d asked her where she was trying to kayak and she’d told him about the trail behind her house that led down to the river where she had been going to picture herself getting in the water. She’d confessed that she hadn’t been able to get in so far though. Surely he wasn’t trying to prove—Jolie halted in her tracks.
Proud enough of me that you won’t leave.
Spinning around Jolie searched for Morgan. He was getting on his horse on the other side of the pasture, about to start a mounted search. Racing toward him, Jolie had never been so happy to be in shape in all of her life. He spotted her and rode out to meet her.
“What’s up, Jolie?” he asked as he brought his horse to a halt.
“I think he might be at the river behind my house. I think he’s going to kayak.”
“Seriously?”
Jolie nodded. “He wants to make me proud. Maybe he thinks if he can do what I can’t, I won’t leave.”
Morgan’s brows knitted beneath his straw Stetson. He held a hand out to her and pulled his boot from the stirrup. “Come on, let’s go check it out.”
Jolie didn’t waste time. She reached for his hand, rammed her boot in the stirrup and let him hoist her up behind him. They were heading toward her house almost before she got her arms around his waist. Jolie clung to Morgan, her heart racing with hope as they galloped across the pasture.
“You sure you can face this? Do I need to get someone else to help me?” he asked over his shoulder.
“I’ll handle it,” she said with no hesitation. If they found Sammy in that river current—she prayed he hadn’t done such a foolish thing, but if he had—he would need her. “I’m the best person for this.”
“That’s my girl,” Morgan said. His words dug deep—it had been a long time since she’d been his girl. A long, long time.
Too long.
This wasn’t the time to think about the past between them, but as they rode, memories crowded in alongside the worry for Sammy. Like a kaleidoscope of past, present and a future yet untold, everything shifted in and out of focus, bringing new images to her mind’s eye.
When they made it to the cabin, Jolie’s heart stopped as she looked at the spot where her kayaks sat. “My yellow kayak is missing,” she said grimly. “He’s out there, Morgan.”
“Looks that way,” Morgan said.
“I need to grab my gear.” She jumped from the horse, raced inside the house and grabbed her backpack from where it rested in the corner, forgotten. Inside it was her kayaking gear, and her rescue ropes. Outside again, she went straight for one of her other kayaks, hoisted it to her shoulder and without waiting for Morgan she hurried to her Jeep and stowed it across the backseat, not bothering to attach it to the roof rack.
Morgan helped straighten it and then hopped in as she cranked the key and rammed the gearshift. “Hang on,” she warned, and punched the gas. Wheeling through the backyard and onto the faint trail, she cut through to the clearing.
When they hit the steep hill, the Jeep’s wheels left land for a moment as they surged forward, soared through the air and hit hard before racing downhill.
They didn’t say much as they scanned the land while they drove, hoping to find Sammy before he made it to the water.
How long had he been gone?
When they made it to the trail that led to the water, Jolie jerked the Jeep to a halt and grabbed her kayak.
“I can carry that for you,” Morgan offered.
She shook her head. “I always carry my own load.”
It was part of the sport—her kayak was as much a part of her as her arms. “It’s okay,” she assured Morgan over her shoulder. “Thanks for the offer.”
She jogged down the path where she’d had her meltdown that day that had ended in the kiss she couldn’t forget. Morgan didn’t ask her if she was all right again—he just jogged beside her and kept up. They topped the hill, bending down to miss a couple of low-slung tree limbs. She could hear the river now, the rush of rapids downstream from where they would put in. It was an ominous sound to Jolie. Her heartbeat became erratic and her skin clammy.
Thinking of Sammy, she never slowed down, refusing to give in. She was going in if Sammy needed her. No question about it.
Bursting through the last of the trees she headed straight down the embankment, scanning the water anxiously. And praying hard.
Her heart stopped. “There!” she shouted, spotting him on the far side of the river clinging to a tree branch, just past the first set of rapids.
Instead of holding him under, the vortex had spat him out when he’d slipped out of his kayak. She thanked God for that.
And for giving her a window of opportunity to get to him.
But there was no way to get down the rocks to Sammy. Going through the rapids was the only way.
She’d have to hold the kayak in control while maneuvering to him. And once she had him, they’d have to make it through the worst rapids together in a one-man kayak.
“You can do this, Jolie.” Morgan’s penetrating eyes told her he had faith in her. Even having seen what a basket case she’d been, he had faith.
Her head was swimming. “You better get downstream and be ready in case you have to grab him,” she advised as she started moving again. Morgan would know the spot she meant—it would be his only shot to grab Sammy if she missed, or if Sammy lost his grip on the tree before she got to him. If they both missed, the river would sweep him into the worst section of the rapids. His only chance then would be in God’s hands.
Jolie prayed.
Glancing over her shoulder she saw Morgan racing down the path. He’d be standing between two large rocks in a shallow section that had a slippery fast current, just bypassing a pool of calm water to the right, perfect for a takeout.
At the water’s edge, Jolie fought her demons, thinking only of Sammy. She was in the kayak within seconds—no hesitation, paddle in hand and moving. She found her line in the water quickly and set herself up to hit the rapid perfectly. She took the first set with no problem, a warm-up for what was to come.
Keeping her line, she set herself up for the second set of rapids, this one was the money spot, as they called it in competition, the one that counted...
This one’s for Sammy.
The water was cold as it washed over her, the current swift, strong from the rain they’d had up north two days earlier. She prayed God would keep Sammy’s strength up, and thanked Him for giving her the ability to do what needed to be done to save him.
She took the rapid, a mad vortex of powerful, churning water with the means to pull a person down and not spit her out until it felt like it. She wished for her yellow banana—her old friend—but this kayak would have to do.
She cut through the rocks with skill honed from hard work and God’s gift...and then she maneuvered a perfect roll, dipping head-first beneath the surface then rolling out and flipping the kayak into the air. The move required strength as she twisted her body, forcing the kayak to alter its course. She landed it perfectly and with a swift push of her paddle was right next to Sammy beneath the tree.
Her Unforgettable Cowboy Page 17