Aidan: Loyal Cowboy: Aidan: Loyal CowboyThe Family Plan

by Cathy McDavid

  He dismounted and was met by Mrs. Cutter. She was passing out coffee and donuts. Chase accepted a coffee but declined the donut. He couldn’t bring himself to eat until they found Mandy.

  Tying Matilda to one of the horse trailers, he went to find Chuck, his platoon leader.

  “Thanks for coming,” he repeated over and over, shaking hands and accepting well wishes as he made his way toward the mounted posse members.

  “We’re going to find her.” Uncle Joseph clapped Chase on the back. “Don’t worry.”

  “Oh, sweetie.” Aunt Susan pulled him into a tearful embrace. “How are you holding up?”

  Conversation was difficult for Chase, so he said little.

  SherryAnne arrived then, having walked over from the inn. It was obvious most people weren’t aware she was in town. They greeted her with surprise, but also concern, extending their well wishes to her as they had to Chase.

  Sobbing, she threw herself at him. “Chase! What are we going to do?”

  He initially resisted, then lightly patted her shoulder. SherryAnne’s distress was genuine. And if they were going to find Mandy, they needed to work together, not bicker or blame each other for what had happened.

  “You stay here,” he told her, and explained how the posse would set up a temporary command post in the community center. “We’ll be in constant radio contact. Mrs. Payne is at the house in case Mandy comes home.”

  Rain began falling again, more of a drizzle than a downpour. Plastic ponchos and hats were pulled from packs and quickly donned. A few umbrellas snapped open, and people huddled more closely together.

  Minutes later, Chuck called Chase over. A map lay open on the hood of his truck. The posse members were discussing which surrounding areas to search first, how many teams to split into and which roads or trails to take. Equipment and supplies were distributed, including radios, GPS monitors, ropes, tools, first-aid kits and water bottles.

  Gage and Mike had organized a team of volunteers who were going out on ATVs and in four-wheel-drive trucks.

  About that time, two vehicles from the sheriff’s department arrived. Chase had called the sheriff the previous night to report Mandy missing and they’d promised to send some deputies to help with the search. Chase estimated there were now forty or fifty people assembled.

  “Let’s go, men,” Chuck said after briefing the deputies.

  Everyone went in different directions.

  Chase cut through the crowd to the trailer where he’d tied Matilda. He’d be riding with Chuck in the woods and hills along the main road out of Blue Ridge.

  “Chase?” Jolyn walked toward him, leading Sinbad.

  “Hi.”

  After an awkward moment, they hugged.

  “Did you get any sleep?” she asked.

  “No, not really.” He shifted impatiently, anxious to get started on the search. The rain was falling heavier by the minute. “I have to go.”

  “I don’t mean to keep you, but I just had an idea where Mandy might be.”

  “Where?”

  “The old Ladderback mine. Remember, I took her and Elizabeth there that one day we were riding and you got called away on a search.”

  “Why would she go there?”

  “It’s just a hunch, really. But I showed her the initials you’d carved in the beams. Yours and SherryAnne’s. She seemed fascinated by them.”

  “You may be right. She’s asked me twice since then to take her back to the mine. Will you ride with me?”

  “Sure.”

  “Let me go tell Chuck.”

  * * *

  JOLYN RODE WITH Chase and two other members of the mounted posse only until they reached the part of the trail where it split. The posse members took the trail leading to Neglian Creek crossing. Jolyn and Chase headed up the much steeper slope to the old Ladderback mine.

  Fortunately, the thunder and lightning had stopped during the night. But a strong wind whipped through the trees, causing the rain to strike them in the face and hamper visibility.

  Halfway up the mountainside Sinbad began breathing hard, but the younger, endurance-trained Matilda climbed the slope like an army tank. Both horses frequently slipped and slid, their hooves struggling to find solid purchase on the wet rocks and muddy ground.

  “Good boy,” Jolyn murmured, and patted Sinbad’s neck.

  Had she been alone, she would have stopped for a short rest. Chase, who rode in front of her, didn’t appear to notice Sinbad’s labored breathing or was too focused on finding Mandy for anything else to penetrate.

  Jolyn pulled back on the reins, thinking she’d tell Chase to go on without her and that she’d follow after a short rest. Sinbad would have none of it. He fought the reins, dropping his head and forging onward. He might be getting older but his pride was intact.

  “Okay, buddy. Your call.” She let up on the reins and used the back of her hand to wipe the worst of the rain from her face.

  Trees grew closer together the higher they rode. Cedars gave way to majestic pines and tall oaks. Bushes were thick with summer leaves. Jolyn and Chase stayed to the ever-narrowing, ever-steepening trail.

  “Look!” Chase pointed to a metal post sticking out of the ground. The mine lay about a hundred and fifty feet ahead.

  Jolyn’s anxiety increased. Would they find Mandy or had she led them on a wild-goose chase?

  Beside the trail, the once-trickling stream rushed down the mountain, carrying leaves, small branches and other natural debris. Fed by runoff from the rain, it had grown to four times its normal size. Both horses eyed the stream nervously and stayed to the far side of the trail.

  When they reached the foot of the rise leading to the mine, Chase stopped. “Listen,” he said.

  Jolyn did…and heard it, too! The distant sound of another horse whinnying.

  Chase pushed Matilda hard up the rise. In another minute, horse and rider disappeared from sight.

  Sinbad was slower to respond, but he did as he was asked, proving his worth and devotion once again.

  Blood pounding, heart hammering, Jolyn crested the rise. The first thing she saw was Chase. He’d dismounted and was standing at the side of the raging stream. Across the stream and twenty or so feet above them, Cinnamon stood outside the mine entrance, tied to the branch of a pine tree. She tossed her head and whinnied again to her barn mate.

  “Oh, thank God,” Jolyn said. Weak with relief, she let her head fall momentarily into her hand.

  “Mandy.” Chase cupped his hands to his mouth and hollered louder. “Mandy! Where are you?”

  Jolyn was beginning to fear that something dreadful had occurred when a small head appeared at the entrance to the mine.

  “Daddy?”

  “Mandy!” Chase called in a choked voice, then braced his hands on his knees and closed his eyes.

  Jolyn, too, was overcome with emotion. Her tears of joy mingled with the rain.

  “Are you all right?” Chase hollered a few seconds later.

  “Yes.” She sounded both scared and relieved. “Are you mad at me?”

  “No, honey. I’m not mad. I’m too glad to see you to be mad.” He pulled his radio from the clip on his belt.

  “I wanted to come home this morning but I was afraid to cross the stream.” Stepping out of the mine opening, she walked to where the ledge dropped off, hugging her thin frame. She wore a T-shirt and pants, but no jacket or poncho.

  “You stay there, honey,” Chase said
. “Don’t move. I’m coming across to get you.” He turned to Jolyn and in a softer voice, said, “Thank you.”

  “I’m so glad we found her.”

  “Me, too.”

  Chase nodded, and Jolyn felt a small spark of the connection they’d formed the night they’d made love.

  After radioing in their location, Chase mounted Matilda and swung her around. “You wait here,” he said over his shoulder to Jolyn, then drove his heels into Matilda’s sides.

  The mare took two steps toward the stream, then came to an abrupt stop. Dropping her head almost to the ground, she snorted and pawed the loose, wet dirt.

  “Come on!” Chase jerked her head up and tried again to get her to cross. She refused, this time spinning on her hind hooves and dancing away from the stream, her eyes wide with fright. “Damn horse.” He looked at Jolyn, his features strained with annoyance. “She hates crossing water.”

  “Can I help?”

  “Get behind me. See if you can’t push her into jumping.”

  Jolyn did as Chase instructed. Still, the mare refused, bucking and kicking at Sinbad and nearly unseating Chase.

  “Forget it,” he snarled. “I’ll go upstream. See if there’s a narrower place I can cross by foot. You wait here, keep an eye on Mandy.”

  “Okay.” Jolyn nodded.

  “Daddy, where are you going?” Mandy hollered, and started down the steep path leading from the mine.

  “Stay there,” Chase ordered sternly. “I’m coming.”

  Mandy let out a shriek.

  Jolyn’s head snapped around.

  Mandy teetered precariously on the ledge, which appeared to shift and move beneath her feet. With a sickening crunch, a large chunk of earth gave way, broke off and slid down the mountainside, carrying her with it.

  As if in slow motion, her legs went out from under her. She pitched forward, hit the moving mass of earth face-first and rolled. Her screams were drowned out by the rain and the roar of the landslide.

  “Mandy!” Chase hollered, coming up out of the saddle.

  Jolyn tugged Sinbad’s head to the right and urged him into a fast trot. They followed Mandy, momentum sending the little girl head over heels down the slope at a horrifying rate. Jolyn couldn’t remember ever feeling so scared or so helpless.

  Twenty feet down the mountainside, Mandy veered off the path and toppled over another, steeper, ledge. By some small miracle she rolled between several trees…only to come to a sudden and bone-crunching stop when she plowed straight into a large boulder.

  She lay very, very still.

  Jolyn hopped off Sinbad, dropped her reins and put a foot in the stream. The strong current nearly sucked her boot off.

  “Wait,” Chase yelled. He was running Matilda straight at her.

  All at once he steered Matilda away from the stream. Spinning her around, he charged the raging water at breakneck speed. For one split second, it looked as if Matilda would do as her rider commanded and jump.

  Chase wasn’t prepared for her abrupt halt two feet from the bank. He sailed over the mare’s head and landed with a splash in the water.

  Jolyn ran toward him. “Chase!”

  He surfaced seconds later, sodden but apparently all right. He had trouble maintaining his footing as the current dragged at him and threatened to pull him under.

  “I’ll get a rope,” Jolyn called, and raced for Matilda. The horse remained in the same place, her long legs trembling, her nostrils flaring.

  “No. I’m fine. Get Mandy.”

  “Chase.”

  “Get her!”

  Jolyn ran back to Sinbad and swung onto his back…then just stood there.

  How to reach Mandy? The water was too treacherous to risk. Riding either up or down the mountainside looking for a narrower crossing would take too long. Mandy still hadn’t moved and could be seriously injured.

  Jolyn had no choice.

  With sweat-dampened palms, she gripped the reins and backed Sinbad up before she lost her courage. Ten feet. Twenty feet. Thirty feet. Aiming him in the direction of the stream, she patted his neck and whispered into his twitching ears, “Please. For me. One last jump.”

  He gave it to her.

  Hooves thundering, legs extending, Sinbad charged the stream. At the same instant his front feet left the ground, Jolyn hovered low on his neck. They sailed over the water, wind whipping them, rain pelting them, and hung suspended in midair for one agonizing second before he hit the ground on the opposite bank with enough force to jar her brain.

  Jolyn nearly fell, but managed to right herself at the last instant. Sinbad slid, his feet flying out from under him. All at once, he found his footing, and the world stopped spinning out of control. He seemed to know where to take Jolyn without being asked. A minute later they reached Mandy. She lay pressed up against the boulder amid a pile of mud, leaves, small branches and rocks, her limbs twisted at odd angles. Jolyn hurriedly dismounted and knelt by her side.

  Mandy’s pale skin stood out like chalk beneath the brown streaks and smudges covering her face. She didn’t move even when Jolyn spoke to her. No eyelid fluttered, no pinkie twitched.

  Jolyn’s insides clenched and, for a moment, she imagined the unimaginable. She raised her hand only to hesitate, afraid to touch Mandy, afraid of the cold and stillness her fingers might encounter.

  All at once she saw it. The shallow rise and fall of Mandy’s chest. Jolyn touched Mandy’s face and was rewarded with the tiniest of moans.

  Thank you, thank you!

  She looked for Chase. He’d crawled out of the water and onto her side of the stream. Drenched from head to toe, he struggled to a standing position.

  “She’s alive,” Jolyn yelled to him, because it was what he’d want to know first. What he needed to know.

  “How badly is she hurt?” he hollered back.

  “It looks bad. She’s not moving.”

  Chase ran down the slope toward them, careless of his own safety. Jolyn worried he, too, might fall. As soon as he reached them, he dropped to the ground beside Mandy. Laying a hand on her face, he tenderly brushed the hair from her eyes.

  Some basic first-aid training learned over the years popped into Jolyn’s head. “I don’t think we should move her.”

  “I lost my radio in the stream,” he said. “Will you ride for help?”

  Jolyn rose and immediately caught sight of two riders at the base of the mountain, their yellow rain ponchos visible through the trees. She thought they might be the same two men she and Chase had ridden with earlier.

  “Someone’s coming,” she told Chase, and waved wildly. “Hey! Up here.”

  They waved back.

  “Tell them we need a medical helicopter,” Chase said, his complexion as pale as his daughter’s.

  “Mandy’s injured,” she called to the men. “We need a helicopter.”

  “We’re on it,” one of the men called back.

  Jolyn knelt beside Chase and placed a hand on his arm. His poncho had come off, and his shirt was soaked. “Are you cold?”

  He shook his head. His eyes, so full of worry and desperation, never left Mandy. “She can’t die.”

  “She won’t.”

  “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose her.” Emotion made his voice husky and uneven.

  Jolyn swallowed before speaking, afraid her own voice might crack. She must be strong at all costs. For Chase. Just in case…

  “Mandy’s going to
make it,” she said determinedly.

  “I love her so much.” He stroked Mandy’s cheek with his fingertips. Gently. Heart-wrenchingly. “She’s my daughter. She’s always been my daughter.”

  Jolyn quit fighting her tears. She’d been wrong to suggest he have the DNA testing. No one had the right to do that, no matter how noble the reason.

  And if she hadn’t been so stupid, if she hadn’t put her own wants and wishes ahead of Chase’s and Mandy’s, she might have one day become a member of Chase’s beautiful and loving family.

  She prayed with all her heart that it wasn’t too late.

  “How is she?” one of the riders called. They’d scaled the slope and were approaching the trees. In another second, they broke through and waited on the opposite side of the stream.

  “She’s still unconscious,” Jolyn answered.

  Chase didn’t look up. He’d taken one of Mandy’s hands in his and was squeezing her fingers.

  “Helicopter should be here shortly,” the man said.

  It was the longest, most grueling twenty minutes Jolyn had ever spent and must have felt like a lifetime to Chase. The whir of distant propellers was a welcome relief.

  Mandy had stirred once or twice during their wait but that was all. Jolyn thought the injured girl might have grown paler and colder to the touch. It might also have been her own nerves getting the best of her.

  One of the men had radioed in and they were able to speak to Chase’s cousin-in-law, Aubrey. She’d advised them that Mandy had probably gone into shock and to take precautions. Disturbing her as little as possible, they’d covered her with Jolyn’s poncho to keep her warm.

  The helicopter flew over the stream and landed in a clearing at the base of the mountain. Two uniformed figures jumped to the ground. One of them carried a medical case, the other a portable stretcher. They came at a dead run.

  Time seemed to speed up after that.

  Jolyn stood back, watching as the EMTs took Mandy’s vitals, conducted a quick examination, hooked her up to an IV, stabilized her neck and loaded her onto the stretcher. All within a few minutes. They were in constant radio contact with a doctor, who advised them what to do.