Follow Me Home

by Leona Karr

  The noise of the whirling blades of the helicopter grew louder and the house seemed to vibrate with the approaching aircraft. For a moment Jill was so weak with relief she couldn’t say anything.

  “We’re in business,” Hal said, his expression one of total relief.

  “Where’s the copter going to set down?” Gary asked, moving away from the window.

  “I’m not sure. The west meadow, I think. Once they land, the paramedics will be coming for Sue and the baby as quickly as they can. They’ll take her on a stretcher out to the copter. Then it’s up, up, and away—” Hal broke off as the young mother’s eyes rounded anxiously. “Hey, don’t be frightened, Sue. I used to fly over the ranch once a year, checking things out. It’s great. You’re going to love it! Besides, what other baby can claim he flew like a bird when he was two days old?”

  Sue gave him a weak smile.

  “Come on, Gary.” Hal motioned for the young father to follow him. “We’ve got some digging to do. Have to make sure they can get to the house.”

  “How long will it be?” asked Jill.

  “Fifteen or twenty minutes.” He surprised her by planting a quick kiss on her cheek. “Be back in a jiffy.”

  Jill couldn’t tell whether the sweat beading on the young mother’s forehead was from nervousness or a rising fever. She quickly took Sue’s temperature again. Still the same. Thank goodness the medics would check her vital signs in flight and have a chart ready for the doctor.

  “Why don’t you come with us?” Sue begged, reaching out for Jill’s hand.

  “There won’t be room. And I’d just be in the way. It’s going to be fine. Try to relax.” She squeezed Sue’s hand as the roar of the aircraft over the house grew almost deafening, and for a minute she thought they were going to land on the roof. Then she realized that it had set down somewhere beyond the house, probably in the open pasture on the west side of the house, as Hal had predicted.

  “Won’t be long now,” she reassured Sue, wondering why her own mouth was slightly dry. In a few hours everything would be back to normal, and these last few days would belong to the past.

  HAL THOUGHT the blue helicopter looked like a bird ruffling its feathers as it fluttered down into its white nest on the windswept meadow. He motioned for Gary, Scotty and Larry to follow him to a wide lodgepole-pine gate that was nearly buried in a mound of snow. “We’ll have to free the gate to let them through.”

  Zack had made himself scarce since early-morning chores. I’ll have to deal with him later, Hal thought on some detached level. First things first. The whirling pro-pellers had come to a stop, and Hal could see the helicopter door opening and two attendants bringing out a stretcher.

  Shoveling as fast as they could, two men on each side, they cleared the gate until they could push it open wide enough to allow two attendants and the stretcher to pass through.

  “Thank God, you got here. The baby’s fine, but the young mother’s still running a fever,” Hal told them. “This is her husband. He’ll be going with you.”

  The male paramedic and hefty female nurse were all business as Hal directed them to the front door of the house. “First bedroom upstairs on your left”

  “We’ve got three more pickups waiting,” the nurse told Hal and Gary briskly as they climbed the stairs. “There’s emergencies all over the place. We’ll get this patient to the hospital and then take off again.”

  Jill heard them coming and met them at the bedroom door, open relief on her face. Hal could almost see the heavy responsibility rolling off her shoulders as she stepped back and let the medics do their job. Gary chattered nervously, trying to bolster his wife’s courage and his own.

  With remarkable speed, the nurse made sure that Sue and the baby were enveloped in a cocoon of blankets, and then she and the paramedic deftly lifted them both onto the stretcher. Jill hung back as they carried her out of the room and down the stairs with efficient smoothness.

  The pilot, a youthful, short man was waiting for them at the open door of the helicopter. As they approached the craft, he stepped out and walked toward them. While the others disappeared into the belly of the aircraft, he came over to speak to Hal.

  “You own this spread?” he asked with a wave of his arm.

  Hal nodded. “I’m Hal Haverly.” He shook hands with the pilot. “Sure appreciate your coming. We’ve got a sick gal who needs some attention.”

  “That’s my job.” Then he frowned. “As we were coming in, I could see about a dozen cattle stranded down in the riverbed. They were pinned in by drifts and broken tree branches.” He pointed to a jutting rock formation that bordered the river about a quarter of a mile upstream. “Looked like they’d been trampling each other trying to get out. Wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve lost a few head.”

  Hal silently groaned. That’s all he needed, spending the rest of the day digging out a bunch of steers. If the animals were trapped in pockets of snowdrifts and debris, they’d never get free by themselves. “Thanks for the tip. I’ll get my ranch hand and see if we can herd them to safer ground.”

  “Good luck.” The pilot turned quickly back to the copter and disappeared inside. Almost immediately the blue craft was in the air again. As it disappeared over the ridge of the cupping mountains, Hal experienced both relief and a strange feeling he couldn’t quite identify. He wouldn’t have chosen to help deliver the newborn, but he was damn glad he had not been cheated of such a wondrous experience. Holding the baby in his arms had ignited a yearning that he’d buried deep, along with his other dreams.

  As he walked back to the house, his thoughts swung to this new crisis. The trapped cattle. He’d have to see if he could get the trapped steers out of the riverbed and back up on solid ground as quickly as possible.

  They’d have to saddle up a couple of horses and make their way through the snow-laden fields to the curve in the river where the cattle were stranded. Kirby wasn’t as good a cowhand as Zack. He’d have to take Zack with him to free the cattle and drive them back to the corral.

  Hal went directly to the bunkhouse and discovered that Zack had pretty much emptied out his stuff. Cursing under his breath, he went quickly to the garage and found him loading a couple of duffel bags on the back of his old motorcycle.

  “What in the blazes do you think you’re doing?” Hal demanded.

  “I’m leaving, that’s what. You pay me what you owe me and I’m out of here.”

  “Not today, you’re not. You’re not leaving here without some notice!”

  “And who’s going to stop me?”

  “I don’t think you mean that, Zack,” Hal answered in a tone as hard as steel. “As you well know, I don’t take challenges lightly.”

  They locked eyes. Zack lowered his first as he intoned, “I don’t get pushed around by nobody.”

  “We both need a little cooling-off time and something’s come up to give it to us.”

  “What’s the matter now?” Zack’s tone indicated he didn’t give a damn. He plainly had other things on his mind.

  “We’ve got to saddle up and rescue some cattle trapped in the riverbed. The copter pilot saw them as he came in and said the steers were trampling all over each other. I can’t get them out of there by myself.”

  “What about Kirby and them other two?”

  “You know Kirby doesn’t sit a horse like you do. As for Scotty and the skier, don’t be ridiculous. They’d be as much help as my 4-H kids, probably less. We’re wasting time. Saddle up a couple of horses and bring them to the house.”

  Zack continued to glare at him without moving.

  “Give me the keys to your bike,” Hal ordered.

  “No.” Zack rammed his hand into his pocket.

  In one quick movement, Hal grabbed Zack’s wrist and jerked his hand out of his pocket. The cowboy’s fingers were fastened around the keys. Hal held out his other hand. “Give ‘em to me.”

  Zack hesitated as if measuring his lesser height and muscle strength against his boss�
�s. He swore under his breath as he handed them over.

  “Get the horses. I’ll tell the others where we’re going.”

  “You can’t keep me here,” Zack lashed out “I’ve got plans.”

  “I’ve always been fair with you, Zack. I’ve ignored the stuff you’ve done behind my back and the hell you raised in town that almost got you locked up. I’ve shut my eyes to a lot of things. You owe me this much. Now, let’s don’t argue. Get saddled up!”

  Without waiting for an agreeing nod, Hal headed back to the house. He tried not to think about what he’d do if Zack set his jaw like a stubborn mule and refused to do as he was told.

  Both Larry and Scotty were sitting at the kitchen table enjoying the last lunch Kirby had set out for the stranded travelers.

  “Why you looking so glum, boss?” Kirby asked. “The copter got off all right, didn’t it?”

  Curtly, Hal told them about the stranded cattle. “Zack’s saddling up some horses—I hope—and we’ll have to take a ride out and see what the situation is. The steers must have tried to get out of the wind against that wall of rocks along the river and got trapped when heavy snow broke some of the trees and pinned them in.”

  “You think you can get them out?” Scotty asked. “Sounds to me like you’re going to have to shovel a heck of a lot of snow.”

  Kirby eyed Larry. “Why don’t you get on them skis of yours and head out that way? You could give us a hand getting rid of some of the fallen branches and stuff.”

  “Sorry. I’ve got other pressing plans,” Larry said flatly. “Seems to me, you ought to let the stupid animals look after themselves.”

  Hal didn’t bother to answer. He’d put up with the skier’s self-centered presence long enough. His departure would be good riddance.

  “I was thinking I might hang around until tomorrow morning, though,” Larry conceded.

  “Think again,” Hal said firmly.

  Larry’s tanned face reddened. “If that’s the way you feel, I’ll be on my way.”

  “That’s goes for me, too,” Scotty said. “It’s time we all got back to our own places.”

  Hal went upstairs to find Jill. She was in the Millers’ bedroom, stripping the bed and trying to put things to right. “Back already? When can we leave for Rampart?”

  “I’ve got some stranded cattle that I’ve got to rescue.” He told her what the pilot had seen. “I’ve got to ride out with Zack and get them back in the pasture.”

  “But how long will that take?”

  “I don’t know, depends how quickly we can get rid of the drifts and fallen trees. I’ll hurry,” he promised. “Why don’t you try to get some rest. You still look a little peaked to me.” Sharp concern shot through him.

  “I’m fine.” She met his eyes, and with a firm lift to her chin said, “Finish your business so you can take me home. I’ve been gone long enough.”

  Her curt words cut into him, but he knew she was better off away from him and this place. He paused at the bedroom doorway and for some unbidden reason looked back. “You’ll be all right until I get back, won’t you?”

  She gave him a wave of her hand, and he dismissed an uneasy feeling creeping through him.

  Chapter Ten

  When Jill came down to the kitchen for lunch, Kirby and Scotty were still sitting at the table drinking coffee. Both men were solicitous, and helped her to a chair.

  “Well, I guess this is it,” Scotty said. “Last day with a pretty lass sitting across the table from me.”

  “Lucky for her, she won’t be seeing your ugly mug to start the day,” the cook quipped.

  “Or yours,” Scotty countered.

  “Oh, I don’t know. From the looks of things around here, she might just be around longer than you think. Isn’t that right, Jill?”

  Kirby’s smile didn’t reach his eyes and both he and Scotty waited pointedly for her to answer. She knew what they were asking and she wasn’t about to satisfy their curiosity. “It’s tempting to stick around. I’ve never had anyone cook for me before,” she said lightly. “Your biscuits are the best, Kirby.”

  “Don’t make his head any bigger than it is,” chided Scotty. “It grows two sizes anytime a pretty gal is willing to eat his food.”

  “I don’t see you in any hurry to get back to your own miserable cooking. I bet you’ve put on five pounds since you’ve been here,” Kirby said with a sneer.

  Scotty patted his stomach. “Nothing like shoveling and eating to put a man right with the world. I’m sure glad I wasn’t stuck at my place by myself. Things were pretty lively around here with that skier fellow throwing his weight around.”

  “I wasn’t sorry to see him go,” Kirby admitted. “The world would be a better place if some idiot hadn’t invented skis, if you ask me. Don’t think much of the sport, myself.”

  “Can’t compare with throwing your line into some deep pool and pulling out a fighting rainbow trout,” Scotty agreed. “Well, I best go upstairs, collect my things and get going. No telling when Hal and Zack will get back.” He stood up. “I guess you two can get along all right by yourselves. I could stick around if you want me to, Jill.”

  “Thanks, but I think Kirby and I can manage to hold things together.” She offered him her hand. “It’s been nice meeting you.”

  “You’ll have to come and see my place sometime. I’ll show you how to cast halfway across a roaring stream.”

  She laughed. “You’d have to be a miracle worker. I’ve never held a fishing pole in my life.”

  “All the more reason to pay me a visit. I promis? you a good time.”

  “My son would love to come.”

  “Better take along a dozen chaperons,” Kirby warned. “More than fishing goes on at Scotty’s lodge, I’m guessing.”

  The Scotsman just laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know.” He waved his hand and disappeared down the hall.

  Kirby finished cleaning the kitchen while Jill had a second cup of coffee. She kept glancing at the wall clock as the minutes ticked slowly by.

  “They’ll get back when the job’s done,” Kirby told her as she glanced at the clock for the fifteenth time. “Better take a nap or find something to do.” Kirby walked over to the coatrack and started putting on his hat and jacket.

  “Where you going?”

  “Out to the bunkhouse. Hal told me that Zack’s moving out. I’ve got to check, make sure he’s not taking any of my stuff. That yahoo has treated everything of mine as communal property since he got here. If he’d ever been in the navy and tried that kind of stuff, he’d have had his rear end kicked.”

  “I guess he was raised in a large family that didn’t have much.”

  “That’s a pretty tired excuse.” He paused at the kitchen door. “You’ll be all right alone in the house for a spell, won’t you?”

  “Of course. I think I’ll take your suggestion about a nap.”

  He gave her an approving nod and left. After a moment, she stood up, walked over to the telephone and, with prayerful breath, lifted the receiver. Dead silence. The phone was still out. The longing to hear Randy’s voice was so strong that a growing ache brought sudden tears to her eyes. Sometimes her son was too impulsive, doing things without thinking them through, and she worried that he might have taken too much on himself. There were times in the past when he’d been right in the middle of things better left to an adult. Had Zeb been able to keep a tight rein on him? Was he all right? He was an unpredictable teenager, after all.

  “Would you like to call your son on my car phone?” Scotty stood in the doorway, wearing a ranch coat and hat, his arms through the straps of his backpack. “I could walk you to the truck and back.”

  “Would you? That would be wonderful.” She didn’t hesitate even a moment to accept the offer. “Wait a minute and I’ll get my things.”

  They left by the front door, and Jill blinked against a sudden brightness as Scotty guided her along a shoveled path to the snowplowed driveway. Sunlight shining through
rents in thinning gray clouds laid blue shadows on glistening white snow. Now that the danger was past, she could enjoy the dramatic panorama of snow-covered hills and jagged peaks. She knew the view from her little house would be equally fantastic. An eagerness to get home and see her son quickened her steps. Why hadn’t she thought of the mobile phone before? Thank goodness Scotty had offered to let her make a call to Randy before he left.

  When they reached the truck, Jill was surprised to see a small camper shell on the pickup bed. He pointed it out with satisfaction. “Nice little setup. Ever seen one of these?”

  She shook her head. “Is it like a regular camper? It looks so small.”

  “Has everything you need. All the comforts of home. Want to take a peek?”

  She hesitated, anxious to make her call, but Scotty was obviously proud of his camper and wanted to show it off. “The telephone?”

  “I’ll show you that in a minute.” He guided her around to the narrow back door. Icicles were hanging down from the roof from snow that had thawed and then frozen. “I left the oil heater on low when Hal and I were here yesterday. You won’t believe how cozy it is.”

  Scotty broke off the icicles, swung the camper door open and waved her inside. “Go on in.” His tone was perceptibly less an invitation than an order.

  At that moment a warning bell vibrated.

  Jill instinctively pulled back, but too late.

  His strong hands fastened on her and before she even realized what was happening, he’d thrown her into the camper. “I’ve been waiting a long time to show it to you.”

  She fell forward on her hands and knees. Packed snow from her boots and pant legs dropped off on the linoleum floor and made it slippery. Before she could right herself, he picked her up and threw her down on a long bench.

  “At last, we meet,” he said as he stood over her. “No more telephone calls. No more games. How’d you like the book and the pretty scarf?”

  Her voice cracked with disbelief. “You!”

  “Yes, me.” Scotty gave her a slow, chilling smile. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you to notice. And now the time has come. Everything worked out nicely, didn’t it?”