"Something's happening on the river," Paul said, loping beside him. "The ice must be going out."
"Or jamming," Ethan said, picking up his pace.
Spring thaw, coupled with the rain they'd had over the weekend, would have swelled the river and broken the ice into huge chunks— all of them being pushed downriver with amazing force. If the ice was building up against their timber, was somebody using the excavator to hold it back? Or were they simply moving equipment out of harm's way?
Ethan rounded the end of a row and came to an abrupt halt. His entire crew— standing on wooden pallets, on rotting snowbanks, and on top of the timber— was watching the mill's metal-lagged excavator make its way through the rising river water littered with floating slabs of ice.
"What's going on?" Ethan asked the closest man, as he scanned the crowd for Anna. "Why is the excavator going out there?" he continued, noticing that the pulp hook that was usually on the end of its boom had been replaced with a large bucket. "Where in hell is Anna?"
"In there," the man said, pointing at the excavator. He then pointed upriver. "She's going after that dog."
Ethan's knees nearly gave out the moment he realized what Anna was attempting to do. The dog— which looked confused and terribly frightened— was stranded on a slab of ice in the middle of the Kent River as the powerful current pushed at the building jam with slow, grinding momentum. The Kent had overrun its banks, effectively flooding a good three or four acres of the mill yard, and it was virtually impossible to tell where the yard ended and the river began.
Ethan found Keith standing at the water's edge and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Get on the radio and call her back," he ordered. "She's got no business going out there."
"She's okay, Ethan," Keith said calmly, turning to watch Anna. "She knows where the yard ends, and she's watching her markers." He glanced upriver toward the dog, which was now barking at the men on shore. "She's gonna reach out with the bucket and try to snag the slab of ice he's on, and work it close enough for us to grab him." He looked back at Ethan and smiled. "Anna could thread a needle with that machine, she's that good. She'll be okay."
Ethan snatched the walkie-talkie off Keith's belt and keyed the mike. "Get in here," he snapped. "Now."
Nothing but static answered him.
"She's too busy to use the radio," Keith said, nodding toward the excavator.
Ethan watched in helpless silence as Anna pivoted the boom to her right and dropped the bucket's sharp teeth into a large chunk of ice that had rammed into the excavator. She gave the machine full throttle, sending black smoke into the air with a deafening roar as she tried to push the slab away. Its weighted momentum caused the excavator to shudder and come to a grinding halt, the heavy knuckles of the giant boom rattling loudly as the bucket's teeth chittered across the polished ice. Using her hand levers to nudge the slab with the bucket, and her foot pedals to urge the lags forward, Anna slowly worked her way free as she finally swung the ice out of her way.
Ethan wiped beads of sweat off his forehead with an unsteady hand. If Anna survived this, he was going to throttle her. He swung around and started running back toward the office, ignoring Paul's shout asking where he was going. He reached the saw shed, jumped up on the forklift loader, and started it up. He dumped its load of sawlogs on the ground, then sped down between the rows of timber.
Several men scrambled out of his path as Ethan drove straight into the flooding water, using the forks on the loader to plow his way through the ice slabs as he angled upstream of Anna. He wanted to kill her for risking her life for a stupid dog!
He picked up the radio mike in the loader. "You need to turn back. Half the banking could already be washed away. You're traveling blind, risking your life over a damn dog," he growled, completely failing to contain his anger when a large slab of ice slammed into him, pushing his loader sideways with a shuddering jolt.
"You go back," came her reply, her voice brisk and impatient. "That machine isn't heavy enough, and you're going to roll over. I'm okay, Ethan. I can feel if I'm on solid ground or not," she said with maddening calm. "And I'm almost close enough to reach the chunk of ice he's on. Go back. Please."
Ethan threw down the mike and gave his loader more throttle, spinning the large rubber tires in the gravel beneath the ice-laden water, churning up frothing mud as the machine fought for purchase. He finally got himself positioned just above Anna and used the forks to push away slabs of ice heading for her, all the time watching her inside the cab, looking small and vulnerable as she crept closer to the edge of the main flow of water.
The lags on her rig were completely submerged, the water beginning to lap against the engine housing. Ethan had never been so scared in his life. The dog— a pup, really— stood with its tail tucked between its hind legs and continued to bark frantically as the ice it was on slowly came closer. Ethan watched Anna extend the boom to its full reach, then roll the bucket out until the four-inch teeth were several feet from the edge of the slab.
He saw her look back and forth at the trees lining the river's original bank and slowly ease the excavator forward to intercept the approaching dog. Ethan also inched forward, lifting his forks and rolling them downward, then plunging them into a large chunk of ice. He reversed gears and gave it full throttle, dragging the ice back far enough to open a spot for Anna to bring in the dog.
She finally snagged the slab it was on. The excavator roared, billowing smoke from its stack as Anna fought the current's force. The bucket's teeth slipped free several times but she quickly resnagged the slab, moving it inch by painful inch toward shore. The dog had scurried as far back as he could on the ice and was cowered into a tight shivering ball, too frightened to bark anymore.
Somebody banged on the door of his idling loader, and Ethan looked over to see Paul standing on the ladder, looking through the window.
"I'll ride the forks while you take me out to him," Paul shouted. "Then I'll grab him and you can bring us back in."
Ethan opened the window. "No, you could fall off and go under. You're not risking your life." He checked how Anna was doing, just as the pup slid off the back edge of the ice and disappeared beneath the water.
He shot back up like a bobber, splashing frantically, and Anna lifted her bucket off the slab, curled it inward, and swung the boom toward the struggling dog. The bucket dipped below the surface behind him, then suddenly reappeared with the frightened pup inside, water and slush pouring out. Ethan heard a loud roar of cheering erupt behind him.
Keeping the bucket just inches above the water, Anna swung it toward Paul, who was wading through the thigh-deep water toward the terrified dog, and she began creeping the excavator toward shore.
As soon as Paul got near, the pup leapt out of the bucket and splashed into his arms, licking his face as it squirmed and whined and most likely peed on him. The crew's cheering grew louder as Anna sped toward shore, now that she didn't have her frightened cargo. Ethan shut off his loader, jumped to the ground, and strode through six inches of freezing water to the stopped excavator. He jumped up on the lag, tore open the door, grabbed the front of Anna's jacket in his fist, and hauled her out.
She yelped in surprise, then started struggling as he dragged her onto dry land. "Ethan!" she hissed, her fingers digging into the arm holding her. "What in hell's your problem!"
He let her go and swung around to face her. "You're my problem! You had no business going after that dog!"
She blinked up at him, then took a deep breath and tugged down the front of her jacket. "You're angry."
Keith approached them, but one look from Ethan and the man beat a hasty retreat. Ethan turned his glare on his suddenly red-faced foreman. "You do not drive into a flooded river to rescue a damn dog," he said, enunciating each word in an attempt to hold his temper in check.
"The excavator's heavy enough that I knew the current wouldn't affect it," she said, her eyes wide with disbelief. "And I could feel the ground was solid beneath me. I could
What was it with her! Didn't she realize that the bank could have given way at any moment, and the excavator could have fallen into the river with her trapped inside? His hands itched to grab her and shake her, so Ethan balled them at his sides. "You put our equipment and people at risk. You're fired," he ground out. "Clear out your desk and be off this property in ten minutes."
"What?" Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "You can't fire me for this."
"I just did," he shot back. "A mill is no place for anyone with a death wish, Segee. Ten minutes."
He strode through the dumbstruck crew, his demeanor daring them to say anything.
"You can't really mean to fire her," Paul said as he walked beside Ethan, the large, shivering pup still in his arms. "We're talking about Anna here."
"She could have been killed."
"But she wasn't," Paul countered, shifting his passenger. "Everything worked out."
Ethan stopped and glared at his brother. "And just that quickly," he said, snapping his fingers, "it could have turned nasty. Some of those slabs were large enough to tip over that excavator, or the vibration of its engine could have caved in the riverbank. She'd have been trapped inside in twenty feet of freezing water."
"Then dock her two weeks' pay or something, but don't fire her. Christ, you're sleeping with the woman."
And that was exactly the problem. Ethan couldn't get the opposing images out of his head of Anna naked and sweaty and sated, clinging to him and laughing, and then of her lifeless body floating face up in the windshield of the sunken excavator, her beautiful eyes blank with death.
"I doubt that I am anymore," he growled, walking away.
Chapter Fourteen
We'll go on strike," Keith said, carrying a box for Anna as they walked to her truck. "Ethan shouldn't have fired you. We'll get him to change his mind."
Anna opened the back door of her SUV and set her box inside, then turned to take Keith's box. "No, I don't want you doing anything to retaliate. I would have fired anyone who did what I did, now that I think about it. Ethan's well within his rights."
"But Tom Bishop hired you because he knew the mill was heading for disaster, and that if you couldn't get us back on track, nobody could."
"You and the crew have had four months to catch on, Keith, and you'll make Loon Cove a good foreman. And Ethan knows more about millwork than he's been letting on. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and he's fair with the workers."
"That's it? You're just gonna walk away without a fight?"
"I have to." She touched her friend's sleeve. "I'd like to think I'm big enough to admit when I'm wrong. Maybe I'll go hit up Clay Porter for a job before he finds out why I was fired."
Keith immediately shook his head. "Porter's okay to work for, I guess, but you're going to piss off the Knights and ruin any chance of your getting hired back here."
"I've heard they don't particularly care for Porter, but I need to eat," she said, opening her driver's door to get in.
"Give Ethan a couple of days before you talk to anyone," Keith entreated. "I bet he'll ask you to come back to work within the week."
She pointed her key at him. "No funny stuff," she warned. "I mean it. You keep everything running perfectly. I can fight my own battles." She gave him a Cheshire smile. "I control the generator at Fox Run, and if Ethan suddenly loses his electricity, well…"She lifted her shoulders. "It's not my fault if the wire to his cabin shorts out."
Keith didn't return her smile. "It's going to be awkward, don't you think, with him living out there with you?"
"Naw," she said as she put her key in the ignition. "His cabin's far enough from mine that he can come and go without my even seeing him." She looked back at Keith. "If you know anybody looking for a good-running pickup, I've got Gaylen Dempsey's old one for sale." She shook her head. "I bought it one day too soon. The first two thousand bucks takes it."
"My son's getting his license next month," Keith said, rubbing his jaw, "and he's got fifteen hundred dollars saved up."
"You're all a bunch of damn Yankee traders down here." She sighed and shook her head. "You're going to make me take a five-hundred-dollar loss, aren't you?"
"Gaylen had already bought a fancy new truck when he sold you his old one," Keith told her with a crooked smile, not the least bit offended to be called a damn Yankee. "And he would have taken a thousand for his old one."
"That old poop. He started at three thousand bucks."
Keith laughed. "I'll bring my son out Saturday to see the truck. I know it runs okay, but I want him to figure that out for himself." He sobered again. "I'm sorry you got fired, Anna. I liked working with you. Hopefully you'll be back next Monday."
"Good-bye, Keith. And I mean it, you keep everything tip-top for Ethan. A profitable mill means jobs." She closed her door and started the engine. She waved to Keith as she pulled out of the yard— and noticed Ethan standing outside the office watching her leave, his face and stance rigid.
Anna pulled onto the main road and turned toward home with a tired sigh of defeat. She knew it had been a stupid stunt, but she couldn't have left that pup to face certain death. And she'd known what she was doing; she'd been able to judge the ground beneath her, the strength of the current, and the weight of her machine. She hadn't once felt as if she were endangering herself. But to be honest, she would have fired any of her crew if she'd caught one of them going after that dog.
Dammit, she just hated that Ethan was right!
* * *
"I can't believe he fired you like that," Jane said as she stood amid the ancient clutter in Anna's attic, her arms crossed and her toe tapping the floor. "Paul told me Ethan didn't even let you explain yourself. He just up and fired you, even though you've been sleeping together. I warned you he was a hard man."
Anna straightened from looking in a box and smiled at her outraged friend. "What has our sleeping together got to do with anything? Ethan did exactly what I would have done."
"He's just getting back at you for firing him two months ago," Jane said, opening an old trunk beside her and kneeling to look inside. "At least you found out what a jerk he is before you went and fell in love with him. And your dumping him is exactly what he deserves," she added as she pawed through the trunk's contents. "Maybe you'll find someone nice at the benefit dance Saturday."
"So you don't think I should sleep with Ethan anymore?"
Jane popped her head out and blinked at Anna. "Are you nuts? Not after he fired you like that."
"What's one thing got to do with the other?"
Jane sat back on her heels and gaped, apparently unable to believe that Anna would even consider sleeping with Ethan again.
"He's really not a hard man," Anna told her. "Ethan's quite nice, actually. He even has a sense of humor." She picked up the stack of notebooks she'd found earlier and sat down in their place with a sigh. "I've been thinking about it all day, and I bet I gave him a terrible scare, and that's why he got so angry. It probably brought back memories for him of when Pamela Sant drowned in Oak Creek. And truth be told, if I had seen him out in the middle of that ice jam trying to save that dog, I probably would have gone ballistic."
"But he didn't have to fire you. And right in front of your crew." Jane shook her head. "You can't keep sleeping with him. He'll get the idea he can treat you any way he wants. And besides, it will make you look desperate."
Anna choked on a laugh. "Desperate?" she repeated. "Maybe this is a good thing. It's impossible to work with someone you're sleeping with, which today certainly proved. So I've decided to start restoring Fox Run. I'll just find a part-time job in town. I can waitress at the Drooling Moose or something."
Jane looked utterly horrified. "You can't go from bossing men around to serving them dinner. It would be humiliating."
"Humiliation is in the eye of the beholder. And I'm not so proud that I can't take a bit of ribbing, especially if it pays my bills."
Jane's huge brown eyes softened. "Call your father. He can't stay mad at you forever. I know the minute he hears your voice, he'll break down and help you."
Anna shook her head. "Two of my brothers were here this weekend, and they said Daddy still feels that if he holds out long enough, I'll get tired of being poor and come running home. What he doesn't realize is that I get my stubbornness from him." She turned and headed down the narrow attic stairs. "No, I'm going to begin restoring Fox Run."
"All by yourself? But how?"
"One board at a time," Anna told her, heading down the living room stairs next, then dropping the notebooks on the couch. "Have you and Paul decided where you're going to live?"
Jane flopped down on the couch and picked up one of the notebooks. "His family offered us a place at the sporting camps with them, and I really like Sarah." She shot Anna a quick smile. "Our due dates are only two weeks apart." She opened one of the books and gave it a cursory glance before looking back up. "But Paul thinks we should get our own home. For the entire drive out to his place this afternoon, he kept rattling on about my needing to nest." She shrugged. "I have no idea what he was talking about. I just know he doesn't want me going back to work."
-->