Sunrise Canyon

by Janet Dailey

  She stood, fighting tears. “It’s time I checked on my students. And I’ll need to tell Paige that Jake’s gone. She’s bound to be upset.”

  She walked back to the living room. Calvin was reading a book. Brandon was teaching Heather how to play chess. Faith, Lanie and Patrick were playing a video game in the den. Nothing had changed—except that part of her world had just crumbled away like a stream bank in a flood.

  Desperate for distraction, Kira wandered into her office, switched on her computer and spent a few minutes scrolling through a meaningless list of e-mails. Unable to focus, she ended up staring out the rain-spattered window.

  Why hadn’t Jake trusted her to be there for him, no matter what? Why hadn’t he realized that she would understand, and that Paige, in her childish wisdom, would understand, too?

  She loved him unconditionally. Why hadn’t that been enough to keep him here?

  Did the answer to that question lie with Jake, or with something in herself?

  She remembered his protectiveness, his drive to prove himself, his annoyance when she fussed over him. To Jake, pride was all. Maybe what he craved was not so much to be loved as to be needed.

  When was the last time she’d allowed herself to need anyone—to let go of her fears and trust someone else to be there for her?

  Only now that he was gone did she realize how much she needed Jake in her life—and how much she needed to let him know it. She had to take a chance. She had to go after him.

  But first she had to find Paige and tell her what had happened.

  * * *

  In the kitchen, Consuelo was making Rice Krispies Treats for the students. Paige was nowhere in sight.

  “I haven’t seen her since breakfast,” Consuelo said in response to Kira’s question. “I thought she must be with Dusty.”

  Worry gnawed at Kira as she checked the bathroom and Dusty’s room. Dusty was alone there, watching his TV from his rocking chair. Kira decided not to worry him. Surely, Paige would be somewhere in the house. She wouldn’t go out in this weather.

  Suddenly Kira remembered the conversation with Dusty in her bedroom. Had he closed the door all the way when he’d come in? Was there any chance that Paige could have been in the hallway, listening to what was said?

  Or could she have gone looking for Jake herself and found his cabin empty?

  Frantic now, she hurried into Paige’s room. The bed was unmade, as Paige often left it. The closet door was open, her child-sized yellow rain slicker missing from its hanger.

  Kira was about to rush out of the room again, but then she noticed something else.

  A felt-tipped marker from her office lay on Paige’s nightstand next to the wedding photo of her parents. But something was different. Kira’s breath stopped as she realized what it was.

  Paige had taken the marker to the framed glass, carefully inking a short beard and longer hair onto the image of her father.

  The young soldier in the picture had become the man she’d known as Mister Jake.

  * * *

  It was still raining when Jake rounded the last bend in the gravel road. A hundred yards ahead, next to the highway, he could see the construction site, the huge machines idle, like yellow dinosaurs drowsing in lakes of mud. He saw no cars or pickups. No one moving. But at least he should be able to find a place out of the rain until the storm passed.

  He paused, listening. From somewhere behind and above him, a big vehicle was coming down the road, fast enough to spit gravel on the curves. Since there was nothing above here but the ranch, the driver had to be coming from there.

  And unless Dusty was driving the Jeep against doctor’s orders, it had to be Kira.

  Jake willed himself to ignore his quickening pulse. He’d hoped to get away clean. That, evidently, wasn’t to be. But if the driver was Kira, he was surprised that she’d come after him. His letter had made it clear that their relationship was over. And much as he might want her to, she wasn’t the kind of woman to chase him down and beg him to change his mind.

  Anxious, he stepped out of the road and waited. Now he could see Dusty’s big Jeep swinging around the last bend, Kira at the wheel. She pulled up with a squeal of brakes and rolled down the window.

  “Get in,” she said. “Paige is missing. We think she went looking for you. We need you to help find her.”

  His gut clenched as two words registered: “Paige. Missing.”

  Without a beat of hesitation, Jake strode around to the passenger side, tossed his pack into the backseat, sprang in beside her and slammed the door. He could find out what had happened on the way back to the ranch. “Go,” he said.

  She turned the Jeep around and roared back up the road.

  “How long’s she been gone?” He fired the question at her.

  “We just missed her a few minutes ago, but the last time I saw her was after breakfast. Dusty has the students searching around the ranch. But we need you.” She paused. “Jake, she knows you’re her father.”

  “You told her?”

  “I didn’t have to. She figured it out.”

  Jake stared through the windshield wipers at the road. He’d assumed he could just walk away from here, like he always had. How wrong he’d been.

  “Any idea where she might go?” he asked.

  “If she’d gone by way of the road, I’d have seen her on my way down here. She may have taken one of the trails below the gate. But she doesn’t know her way out of the canyon. We’ve never let her go down there alone.”

  Jake pictured his little girl wandering through the rain, lost and scared, looking for her father—for him.

  “Could the dog track her?” he asked, grasping at any faint hope.

  “Tucker’s missing, too. We think he must’ve followed her.” She glanced at him as the Jeep pulled through the side gate of the ranch. “Here’s what I’m thinking. You and I can follow the trail down to where it forks, then take separate directions. If that’s where she’s gone, it’s our best chance of finding her.”

  “Makes sense.” Jake thought about taking horses, but swiftly realized that saddling them would take time, and horses could spook or slip in the storm. He and Kira would be better off on foot.

  They pulled up to the house and climbed out of the Jeep. Dusty was waiting for them on the porch. He shook his head. No sign of Paige.

  “Let’s go,” Kira said. Leaving his pack in the vehicle, Jake followed her toward the high gate at the top of the trail. Dressed in sneakers and a light nylon jacket, she’d be soaked within minutes. Pulling off his waterproof poncho, Jake stopped her and slipped it over her head. She started to protest, but he touched a finger to her lips.

  “Just go,” he said.

  With Kira leading, they passed under the ranch gate and took the winding trail down the canyon. Thunder cracked overhead. Rain drummed around them, turning the trail dust to slippery mud. With every step, Jake thought about his little girl, out here somewhere in the storm, cold and frightened, maybe even in danger. He’d never been much of a praying man, but he prayed silently that Paige would be safe and that they would soon find her.

  Minutes later they reached the lookout rock where the trail forked—one branch winding along the foothills, the other going down toward the small side canyon with the waterfall. They paused, as if both of them had suddenly realized that once they separated, they’d have no way to communicate. No phone, no gun or flare to shoot. Kira glanced at her wristwatch. “Forty minutes and we meet back here,” she said. “If one of us doesn’t make it, the other one goes for help. All right?”

  “Fine.” Jake checked his own watch, then moved toward the steeper, more dangerous trail leading downhill to the waterfall.

  At the sound of his name, he looked back. She was watching him, fear and love mingled in her gaze. “Be careful,” she said.

  “You too.” He started down the trail. At the first bend, he paused and glanced back. I love you, he wanted to say. We’ll find her and everything will be all right.
But it was too late for that. Kira had already gone.

  * * *

  Heedless of the pelting rain and the slippery trail, Jake lengthened his stride. He remembered that little canyon all too well—first its beauty, then the total devastation after the last rainstorm, when the runoff from the mountains had scoured it bare and left everything coated with mud. Anyone in the path of that flash flood would have died. Now it could easily be happening again. If Paige had gone this way, she could be in terrible danger.

  Flash floods tended to happen later in a storm, after the mountain runoff had found a path and built up enough current to race downhill with devastating force. Could he reach the waterfall before the flood came surging over the top of it with the momentum of a freight train, sweeping up rocks, trees and everything in its path?

  Driven by fear, Jake began to run, leaping roots and boulders, skidding through mud. Once, he fell, tumbling down the brushy slope. Scraped and bruised, he scrambled back to the trail and plunged on.

  He was getting closer, when he heard a sound that sickened him with dread—the hiss and roar of water rushing down the canyon bottom. The flood had beaten him in his desperate race. But he couldn’t stop. If Paige was down there, he had to find her.

  Sides throbbing with effort, he ran on. Suddenly he heard another sound. He paused, breath rasping, ears straining. Had he imagined it? No, there it was again, faint but distinct. It was the bark of a dog.

  Paige was down there. She had to be.

  He reached the place where he and Kira had left the horses and climbed up the rocky path. After he reached the top, the first thing he saw was Tucker, wet and muddy, barking frantically on the bank of the creek. Silt-laden water poured over the falls to churn and swirl in the overflowing pond before roaring on down the canyon.

  Jake moved closer, heart pounding, eyes searching. It took him barely seconds to spot Paige.

  Somehow she’d made it to the top of a high boulder in midstream. She was clinging to the top, her clothes wet, her brown eyes huge and frightened. She must have climbed the big rock when the flood started rising. Now she was stranded, her childish strength barely enough to keep her from tumbling into the water.

  She saw him. Her chilled lips moved. “Daddy, I’m scared,” she said.

  Jake felt his heart shatter. “Hang on,” he said, making a quick survey of the situation. “I’m going to wade out to you. But I might not be able to reach all the way up to where you are. You’ll have to let go and jump down to me. Can you do that?”

  “I . . . think so.” Her small voice shook. She would have to trust him—trust the father who’d been lying to her for weeks.

  With no time to lose, Jake waded into the roiling flood. The water was deeper than he’d expected, the current powerful. He fought to stay upright on the treacherous bottom. If he lost his balance and went under, both he and Paige would die.

  The boulder where Paige clung was out of the main current, but the eddying water was deep. By the time he reached the base of the steep rock, it was halfway up his chest. It was cold, too. So cold he could barely feel his legs now, which made balancing even more difficult.

  Bracing as best he could, he held up his arms. Paige would have to jump out and down to reach him.

  “Ready?” he asked her.

  “I’m scared.” She clung to the rock.

  “Don’t worry, I’m here, sweetheart. I’m going to count to three. On three you let go and jump. Trust me, I’ll catch you.”

  Inwardly he made a promise. If he could save this precious little girl, he would be her father forever—the best father he knew how to be. This was his chance, his only chance.

  “One . . . ,” he counted. “Two . . . three!”

  Paige let go of the rock, pushing away with her feet. For a breathless instant, she seemed to hang in space. Then Jake’s hands touched her, seized her and pulled her into his arms. She clung to him, crying softly.

  Getting out of the water was another struggle. When Jake was close enough, he hefted Paige onto the bank and used his arms to pull himself the rest of the way. For a moment, he lay on the muddy grass, gasping and exhausted. Then he forced himself to stand and lifted Paige in his arms. She was shivering and, wet as he was, he had nothing to warm her with. He held her against him as they started up the trail, with the dog tagging behind.

  As they climbed, she recovered enough to talk. “Daddy, why didn’t you tell me who you were?” she asked him, tears in her voice.

  Jake weighed her question, knowing his answer would mean the world to her and that it would have to be honest. “I was scared,” he said. “I was scared that I couldn’t be a good father, and that I’d have to leave and hurt you. I almost did leave. But I’m back now, and I’m yours for keeps.”

  She shifted against him, turning her face upward. “Look, Daddy, the rain’s stopped. The sun’s coming out.”

  “So it is.” Jake felt the warmth on his face.

  Just then, the dog, with an excited bark, raced past them and bounded up the trail to greet Kira, who was hurrying around the bend toward them. At the sight of Jake and Paige, she broke into a headlong run, stumbling and sliding down the muddy trail. Reaching them, she flung her arms around them both, kissing them, shedding happy tears.

  “Something told me I should turn around and come this way,” she said. “I almost didn’t listen. But I knew better.”

  She took off Jake’s poncho and her jacket and wrapped Paige in them to keep her warm. Then, together they climbed the trail to the Flying Cloud Ranch—the place that, for Jake, had finally become home.

  EPILOGUE

  Six weeks later

  By early June, the desert days were ripening into summer. The rains were gone, leaving the searing sun to hang like a jewel in the vast turquoise sky. The landscape glimmered gold in the afternoon heat, saguaros casting long shadows over the burnished earth. The spring blossoms had ripened into fruits and seeds that fed foraging birds and bats, rodents, ringtails and roving bands of javelina.

  It was a quiet time at the Flying Cloud Ranch, but all that would change next week when a new group of students would be starting the summer session. Before they arrived, Kira wanted to make the most of her time with Jake and Paige.

  This afternoon they were riding down the canyon to the waterfall for a picnic lunch. Jake rode in front on Dynamite, with Paige on the saddle in front of him. Kira brought up the rear on Sadie, with the picnic things in panniers. Tucker trotted alongside.

  Jake and his daughter were chatting, with Paige teaching him the names of plants and birds she’d learned from Dusty. The old man would have been invited along, but he’d pretty much given up riding, because it bothered his arthritic hips. They had left him on the porch, sharing sweet tea with Consuelo’s mother, Pilar, a handsome widow who’d moved in with her daughter and enjoyed visiting. Was a romance budding between the two seniors? Kira wasn’t sure, and Dusty wasn’t talking. But she’d noticed a new twinkle in his eye.

  This afternoon, with Jake in charge, Kira let her mind wander. Although she’d needed this monthlong break from work, she couldn’t help missing the last group of students who’d been through so much with her. She’d heard from some of them. Calvin had transferred to a school for gifted youngsters, where he was fitting in well. Lanie and her parents were in counseling. Brandon had found a gay friend, and Heather had a date for spring prom. From Faith, Patrick and Mack, she’d heard nothing.

  “I hear the waterfall!” Paige shouted. “We’re almost there!”

  A smile teased Kira’s lips as she pulled her thoughts back to the present. She and Jake had brought Paige on this picnic, in what was still her favorite place, for a reason. They had some special news to give her.

  They tied the horses in the willows and spread a blanket next to the pond. As always, the little side canyon had recovered from the spring floods. The waterfall was little more than a trickle now, but the water was clear, the pond a mirror that reflected the sky and the overhanging willow
s. Grass had sprouted along the bank. Moss and wild violets ringed the water.

  They spread their picnic on the blanket and sat down to eat. Jake’s eyes met Kira’s. His mouth formed a silent question: Now?

  Kira gave him a smile and a nod. “Paige,” she said, “Jake and I have something to tell you. We’ve decided to get married.”

  “Yay!” Paige jumped up, spilling her can of root beer as she hugged them both. “When?”

  “We were thinking later this summer,” Jake said, “after the students are gone. Is that all right with you?”

  “All right!” She clapped her hands, bouncing up and down. “I’ll have a real mom and dad, just like other kids. I wish you could just get married tomorrow.”

  “So do I,” Kira said. “But we need time to plan some things. Now sit down and have a sandwich.”

  Her eyes met Jake’s through a ray of sunlight. Leaning close, she brushed his lips with hers in a tender, lingering kiss. She loved him so much. Some people might tell her this was a mistake, that Jake would always have issues with PTSD. But he would be there for her and for Paige when they needed him. And when bad memories stirred the demons in his head, she would be there for him, to hold him and understand.

  Their marriage wouldn’t be perfect, Kira knew. But she would settle for wonderful.

  Read on for an excerpt from Janet Dailey’s

  delightful holiday romance,

  JUST A LITTLE CHRISTMAS!

  Believe in second chances this Christmas . . .

  Ellie Marsden couldn’t wait to shake the dust of Branding Iron, Texas, off her heels and chase after bright lights, big city, and a wealthy husband. Now she’s come home, divorced, a little disillusioned, and a whole lot pregnant. Leave it to her one-time high school sweetheart, cattle rancher Jubal McFarland, to point out that citified Ellie is as out of place in small-town Texas as her teacup poodle. So why is there something about being back—and being with Jubal—that feels surprisingly right?