Gabe waited, and listened. No one came to the door. He knocked again, and waited. It would be just his dumb luck if no one was home. Anxious to get back to Morgan, Gabe knocked a third time. Somehow, he’d have to find his way to the Trails End Ranch once he was through with his business here. Cursing under his breath, he tested the door handle, then glanced over his shoulder toward the barns and pastures.
Other than the horses moving lazily in their pens, there was no other sign of anyone around. It had to be noon, or a bit after, so it wasn’t surprising that the place was quiet at this time. Even at the Trails End Ranch, noontime was usually quiet. Gabe inhaled a deep breath. The faint smell of wood smoke reached his nose. Someone had a fire going somewhere.
Opening the door, Gabe took a tentative step into the house. The entry led into the spacious living room. He glanced at the fireplace, with the familiar painting of Rap hanging on the wall. It still looked as it had in 1872. The artist had done a fine job portraying the stallion, which had been the backbone of Tyler’s breeding operation.
“Anyone home?” Gabe called down the hall. He took another hesitant step further into the room.
“How did you get in here?” a vaguely familiar voice said loudly from behind him. Gabe turned slowly.
“I let myself in when no one came to the door. I knocked several times.”
“So, you finally decided to show up, and think you can just waltz in here and take over?”
Gabe faced the man, and grinned. “I ain’t here to take over, Monroe. I’m simply here to claim what’s been handed down to me.”
Bryce Monroe scoffed. “Looks like you do a lot of claiming of what you think is yours.”
Gabe’s smile widened. “If you’re referring to Morgan, I don’t think she was ever yours to begin with.”
The man in front of him, Tyler Monroe’s grandson by several generations, shot him a purely hate-filled look. He took a step toward him, his fists bunched at his sides. Gabe stood his ground.
“How is it that my best private investigators haven’t been able to find you?” Bryce snarled, staring him in the eye. “I’ve had my men out looking for months, when I first wanted to sell this place and came across that clause in the deed. And now you simply show up, sweet-talk Morgan into marriage, and come here claiming to be the long-lost heir to half this ranch?”
Gabe shrugged casually. “Guess you ain’t been looking for me in the right place. As for Morgan, she’s a grown woman who can make her own choice about which man she wants.”
“I’m not simply going to hand over any part of this ranch to you, McFarlain. You’d better have proof of who you are, and I want a DNA test, too.”
Gabe smiled casually. He had no idea what a DNA test was, but he had all those papers in that envelope that supposedly proved he belonged in the future.
“No problem,” he said. “I’m pretty sure there’s no question about my identity. I just ain’t sure that you’re any relation to the Monroes I used to know. They were decent folks who cared about this place.”
Gabe stepped up to the fireplace, and looked at the painting of Rap a little closer. He kicked at something on the ground, and glanced down. His heart jolted in his chest. Logan’s stuffed horse. Gabe bent down to reach for the toy, then straightened and glared at Bryce. If this stuffed horse was here, then so was the boy. Was Morgan here, too? He hadn’t seen her truck outside.
“Where’s Logan?” he demanded.
Bryce smirked. “What makes you think he’s here?”
Gabe held out the toy in order to curb the need to send his fist into Bryce Monroe’s smug face.
“Morgan wouldn’t leave her son’s favorite toy here.”
A thought occurred to him. What day was it? How long had he been gone from this time? He’d been in the past no more than a week, but was it a week later in this time, too? It wouldn’t look good to ask Bryce.
“Maybe Morgan had a change of heart after your little threat last week,” Bryce said slowly. “She was here today, and we’re working on getting back together again.”
Gabe lunged for Bryce, He fisted his hands around the man’s shirt collar and yanked him toward him. Inches from his face, he said in a low tone, “Morgan wouldn’t take you back. If you don’t tell me right now where that little boy is, I will knock your galley west.”
“I’m Logan’s father, McFarlain. I don’t need to tell you anything, and I can make life pretty unpleasant for you. If you want to hit me, I promise you’ll never enjoy any part of this ranch for as long as you live.”
Gabe reluctantly eased away from the man. He’d always settled disputes with fists, but Morgan had warned him not to lose his temper. As difficult as it was not to hit the man, Gabe backed away.
“I’ll even make a deal with you, McFarlain. If you want Morgan so badly, sign over your half of this place to me, and I won’t bother you again. Otherwise, count on me to be as big a thorn in your side as Morgan’s mother is already. I can make life with Morgan so unpleasant for you, you’ll wish you’d never come forward to get your hands on this place.”
Gabe didn’t think. He merely reacted. He’d had enough of Bryce’s smug attitude. His arm snapped back, then swung forward. His fisted hand connected with Bryce’s jaw, and the man stumbled backward. Before he fell completely to the ground, Gabe lunged for him and grabbed him by the shirt collar, yanking him to within a few inches of his face. Blood dripped freely from Bryce’s nose.
“Don’t threaten or try to hornswoggle me, Monroe. I ain’t got use for your high falutin’ lawyers. Where I come from, a man’s actions speak louder than his words, and you’re about the sorriest excuse for a man I’ve ever come across.”
He shoved Bryce against the sofa. Bryce steadied himself, and wiped at his bloody nose. Gabe advanced on him again.
“You’re going to be sorry you ever stepped foot in this house,” Bryce said, the loathing clearly visible in his eyes.
“I doubt it,” Gabe said. “Now tell me where Logan is, before I turn this place upside down.”
His eyes fell on the diaper bag on the couch. There was no doubt in his mind that Logan was here. Morgan would not have left all these items behind. He might have just caused more trouble for himself by hitting Bryce, but the man deserved it, and more. If he had to sign over his rights to the ranch, he’d do it in a heartbeat to keep Bryce Monroe away from Morgan once and for all.
A cell phone rang in Bryce’s back pocket. Darting a look at Gabe, he reached for it.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice strained. Then his eyes went wide, and he moved quickly toward the window of the living room. “Did you call the fire department?”
Gabe’s gaze followed Bryce’s. Dark smoke coming from the direction of the barns was clearly visible, and by the looks of it, something big was burning. That must have been what he’d smelled when he first arrived, but the fire hadn’t been large enough to be seen.
“Just keep everyone away. That old barn isn’t worth saving anyway.”
Bryce held the cell phone in his closed hand, and stared at Gabe.
“My next call is to the police. You’re going to regret this day,” he said.
“I ain’t leavin’ until I see Logan,” Gabe said, still staring out the window. One of the two older-looking barns had caught fire. Memories of another barn fire rushed back, and Gabe frowned. He looked again. The same barn was going up in flames as the one he’d set fire to in 1872. He hadn’t known at the time that Tyler’s wife had been in that barn, and by some miracle Tyler had managed to get her out in time.
A loud bang came from the front door.
“Bryce?” A woman’s voice called frantically, and she rushed into the living room, her chest heaving wildly. Bryce and Gabe both turned toward her at the same time.
“I can’t find the little kid,” she shrieked between heaves for air.
“What do you mean, you can’t find him? You’re supposed to be watching him.” Bryce rushed up to the woman, and grabbed her by the arm.<
br />
“I took him down to the barns,” she gasped.
“And?” Bryce demanded.
The woman lowered her head. “I set him by the old storage barn for a minute, so that . . . so that Joel and I could smoke a quick cigarette, and when I turned around, he was gone. We were looking for him, when someone shouted that the barn was on fire, and to get back, that the fire department was on its way.”
“What?” Bryce roared. “What the hell are you doing, smoking down by the barns? You’re fired. You and Joel are both fired.”
Gabe’s heart sunk to his stomach. His eyes connected with Bryce, then he pushed his way past the stunned-looking man and the woman, and rushed out the door.
“God, no,” he whispered between clenched teeth as he ran faster than he’d ever run before toward the old barn in the distance. The little kid the woman had mentioned could only mean Logan. Smoke rose ominously up into the sky.
What if Logan had wandered into that barn? It didn’t take much for the little boy to take off. He could crawl faster than a man could blink, and he’d learned to walk in the last week. Even Gabe had seen that if Morgan turned her back on the boy for a few seconds, he could get into a heap of trouble.
Half a dozen men and women stood in a group some forty or fifty yards away from the barn. By the looks of it, horses weren’t kept in it anymore, and the few animals that were pastured close to the old building were being rounded up by a few wranglers and led away to another pen.
“I need a wet blanket,” Gabe shouted at the group of people. They simply gaped at him.
“A wet blanket. Now,” he ordered, his chest heaving.
“What for?” someone asked.
“There might be a baby trapped in that barn.”
A collective gasp and murmurs erupted from the small crowd.
“You can’t go in there. The fire department will be here any minute.”
Gabe grabbed the first man he could reach, and yanked him up close. “If you don’t get me a blanket soaked in water this second, I will personally throw you into that barn.”
Everyone scrambled at once. A woman wrangler was first to run back to him, a dripping horse blanket in her hands. Gabe grabbed it from her, and tossed it over his shoulders.
“Search everywhere out here for him,” he called to the onlookers, then rushed for the barn door, which was wide-open. He was met by flames and smoke when he entered the burning structure. The rafters creaked and splintered above him.
“Logan?” Gabe called, and ducked when large embers fell on his shoulders. He pulled the blanket up over his head, and coughed. One by one, he checked the stalls that were piled high with equipment and machinery, most of which Gabe had no name for. Repeatedly, he called the little boy’s name.
“Any luck finding him?”
Gabe turned to see Bryce right behind him. The fool hadn’t bothered to cover himself. For a fleeting second, it was Tyler standing in front of him, looking worried and frantic.
“No, but we’ll find him.” Gabe choked from the hot air.
“Maybe he’s not even in here,” Bryce rasped, coughing violently. “I’ve got everyone looking for him outside.”
Gabe prayed that Bryce was right, but some feeling he couldn’t overcome told him otherwise.
“Where did that woman say she left him?”
Bryce’s watery eyes clouded with worry. “Close to the barn door.”
“We’ll find him,” Gabe said with renewed conviction. Pointing to the right, he said, “You search along that side of the barn. I’ll comb the other.”
Gabe resumed his methodical search of every stall. There wasn’t much time left. The barn looked to be the original structure that Tyler must have rebuilt after it had burned to the ground the first time. The little boy could be tucked in anywhere among all those gadgets piled everywhere.
Behind him, one of the rafter beams broke with a loud crack, and fell to the ground, sending up a wall of embers and flames. Gabe continued on. Over the crackling and splintering of wood, and the deafening roar of the flames, a faint cry reached his ears.
“Logan?” Gabe called again, cocking his head to listen. A child cried again, and Gabe rushed to the far corner of the barn. In the last stall, behind an old plow-like contraption, something small moved. Gabe rushed in, ducking as embers continued to rain down on him. His stomach churned with relief when he caught a glimpse of the little boy sitting in the corner of the stall.
Gabe dropped to his knees, and gathered the screaming baby into his arms. The toddler wrapped his arms and legs around him like a tick attaching itself to a hound.
“It’s all right. It’s gonna be all right,” Gabe whispered, pulling the blanket over Logan, and hugging the baby tightly to him. He stood, and wheeled around. Another beam came crashing down inches in front of him, and Gabe dodged it at the last second.
“I’ve got him, Bryce,” he roared.
Glancing around, blinking the smoke from his eyes, there was no sign of Bryce. Gabe didn’t stop to look further. He rushed from the barn, darting around burning heaps of wood and beams. Loud whining sounds came from outside, and men shouted.
He blinked against the brightness of the sun when he rushed from the burning building. Loud cheers and clapping erupted around him. Several men dressed in heavy suits and wearing the strangest hats Gabe had ever seen rushed up to him. One of them pulled the blanket off of him.
“Let’s get them to the truck. We need oxygen masks,” someone shouted, and Gabe was ushered to a large red vehicle.
“Where’s Bryce?” Gabe coughed.
“There’s still another man in the barn,” someone shouted from behind him. Another person took Logan from Gabe’s arms, and covered his mouth and nose with a clear, cup-like mask. The baby continued to cry.
Someone else tried to strap something to Gabe’s face, but he waved it off.
“Bryce Monroe is still in there,” he said. “You have the boy?”
His eyes met those of a woman wearing the same heavy clothing as half-a-dozen other men. She nodded, and said, “You need an oxygen mask, too.”
Gabe pulled away from her, and rushed back toward the barn. Several men stood near the entrance, shooting large streams of water at the structure through thick hoses.
“You can’t go back in there,” one man shouted at him.
“Bryce Monroe is still inside,” Gabe called, when a couple of men grabbed him.
“That roof’s about to collapse,” the same man said.
Gabe yanked his shoulder to the side with all his might to get out of the man’s grip, then rushed back toward the barn, unmindful of the warning calls behind him.
Holding his arm over his nose and mouth, he squinted into the smoke-filled barn. The hot air burned his lungs, but he pushed forward to where he’d last seen Bryce. A man was sprawled on the ground, trapped beneath a wooden beam partially engulfed in flames. Gabe rushed forward.
“Bryce,” he shouted.
Lifting the beam off his legs, Gabe dragged Bryce away from the flames. He darted a quick glance behind him, then up at the ceiling. He had only seconds left. Bending forward, he lifted Bryce onto his knees. The man groaned, barely conscious. His clothing was charred, and his pants ripped where the beam had landed across his legs. Blood oozed from the wound.
Gritting his teeth, Gabe hauled Bryce over his shoulder, and stumbled back toward the barn door. Behind him, the roar of the fire nearly drowned out the deafening noise of cracking and splintering as the roof collapsed.
The firemen rushed up and lightened his burden, and Gabe sank to his knees. Men surrounded him, half dragging, half carrying him away from the burning building. Completely exhausted, Gabe inhaled a deep breath to pull fresh air into his burning lungs.
“Bryce,” he coughed. He blinked the sting from his eyes and looked up. Next to him, Bryce had been lifted onto some sort of bed on wheels.
“Gabe. Oh my God, Gabe.”
Gabe’s head snapped up. The woman’s voice
ringing in his ear was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard. He looked toward the distant sound of her voice. Morgan stood by the big red truck, Logan in her arms. She tried to hand the baby to the woman standing next to her, but she shook her head and put a hand on Morgan’s shoulder.
Gabe stumbled to his feet, a wide smile on his face. He’d never seen a more welcome sight. He stumbled, but moved forward, ignoring the black spots in front of his eyes.
A fireman steadied him. “We’ll get a gurney for you in a second. Just hang tight,” the man said.
Gabe tried to pull away, when another hand grabbed his arm. Annoyed, Gabe shot a look at the man, ready to pull away, then stopped. He stared down at the person lying on a narrow cot with wheels. Bryce’s bloody, burned hand wrapped around his wrist. Gabe met the glassy eyes of the man who’d been a thorn in his side less than an hour ago. His face was covered by one of those clear masks, and his breathing was shallow and labored.
“We need to get him moved now,” someone shouted.
Bryce’s feeble grasp on Gabe’s arm tightened slightly. He pulled the mask away from his bloody, soot-streaked face. Most of his hair had been burned off, leaving his head and half of his face raw and oozing.
“Take . . . care of her. Take . . . care of . . . my son.” Gabe barely understood the raspy words.
Bryce’s chest heaved, and then stilled. His hand fell away from Gabe’s arm. Men shouted and rolled the bed away, one man standing over Bryce, pounding on his chest. Gabe stared after them in stunned silence. Someone tried to slip a mask over his nose again, but he pulled it away.
“I’m all right,” he said, his throat raw from inhaling smoke and hot air. He pulled away from the man who was still holding his arm to steady him. Everything had happened in the blink of an eye, yet it all seemed to be moving in slow motion.
Morgan’s frantic calls spurred him forward. The woman she stood with motioned for her to go to him. She met him half-way, sobbing his name. Gabe clasped her face between his hands and brought his mouth down on hers. New life flowed into him the moment their lips touched. She wrapped her arms around his middle and hooked her hands onto his shoulders, her entire body trembling.
Diamond in the Dust (Second Chances Time Travel Romance Book 3) Page 26