by Tina Leonard
“Blast. It’s Galen’s night for dinner. That means sloppy joes. I think that’s all he knows how to make.”
Tighe heard Ash’s feet on the stairs. “It’s up there, you dork,” she said, coming into the kitchen.
He was stunned. “In the bag?”
“Yes. The garment bag is there.”
“But did you look in it? Actually unzip it?”
Ash pulled some of Fiona’s cookies from the freezer. “I did not.”
Tighe looked at his sister. “Then how do you know it’s there?”
“Because the bag is there. Where else would the dress be?” She put some cookies on a tray. “I can’t unzip the thing, Tighe. It would be bad luck for me to see the dress before my time comes. But I felt the bag. It’s in there.” She looked pleased by her cleverness.
“Something is inside?”
“Yes. It’s definitely a wedding dress. It’s kind of long and heavy, and a little poufy.”
Tighe shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. I tell you the bag was empty. I unzipped it and looked inside, and I don’t believe in magic, so it didn’t bother me at all to take a peek. And what was in there was nada.”
She studied him curiously. “I realize this is a dumb question, but what exactly were you doing rummaging through the magic wedding dress bag?”
“What do you care?”
She hopped onto the counter and munched her cookie. “Well, it’s not the typical thing a man does. Not even you. That type of behavior strikes me as a bit desperate.”
He sighed. “Ash, I just wanted to make certain it was there, okay? So that when River comes home, she can wear it and see me in a vision and sit around the fire with the other Callahan brides and tell magic wedding dress campfire stories, all right?”
“You’re truly weird. Anyway,” Ash said, jumping down off the counter, “if you don’t believe me, go back up there and see for yourself, if you have your panties all in a bunch about it being here for River. I haven’t heard that she accepted your proposal, but if you’re looking for a good luck charm, go ahead and get it off your chest. It’s there.”
He trudged up the stairs, feeling a bit of an ass.
The bag wasn’t in the closet. Wasn’t anywhere to be found in the attic. Nor was there a shimmery dress suited for a bride. “Nuts,” he muttered. Ash was playing a heckuva trick on him. She’d hidden it, and was downstairs sniggering, just waiting for him to come jogging down the stairs with “his panties in a bunch.”
He was a little tired of being the source of family fun. So he went down the stairs, decidedly calm, and not looking like a man who was having a Callahan prank played on him.
“Find it?” Ash asked.
“Yes, I did,” he said, and kept walking through the den.
“I told you. I don’t know why men have to make everything so hard.” She disappeared into the kitchen, and Tighe took his bad mood upstairs into the library, to wait on his brothers to show up.
Magic wedding gown or not, they were going to help him enact the perfect, foolproof rescue for River and Fiona.
He’d worry about what had happened to the erstwhile dress later. There would be some explaining to do once his chosen lady and Fiona returned, but for now, he couldn’t worry about dresses.
He had to get his bride home first.
* * *
“THIS RESCUE PARTY is going to have to start earlier than expected.” Tighe looked around at his brothers and sister, who were sitting on various chairs and couches studying him with grim faces. “River is huge. There’s no way she can be moved if we wait until Christmas to raid Wolf’s hangout.”
Galen spoke first. “Overlooking the fact that you went off post without notifying any of us, and also overlooking the fact that Running Bear specifically told us to stay away, and that you could have gotten caught—” his eldest brother glared at him “—you’re not a doctor. How can you tell River’s going to need to be on bed rest soon?”
Tighe gulped, remembering River’s stomach as she lay on top of him. “I think my babies are going to be linebackers. Her stomach pokes out a good, well, like this.” He gestured with his hands to show the size to which River’s tummy had grown.
His family appeared to be suitably impressed.
“She hasn’t had proper medical care,” Ash pointed out. “There’s every chance River could soon require high-risk assessment.”
Tighe looked at Sloan. “You had the first set of twins. How long was it before Kendall needed to be in bed?”
“She lasted a good while,” Sloan said, “but River’s carrying one extra. I say we raid.”
“I do, too,” Falcon said. “We have nothing to lose by bringing her home early.”
“Besides,” Jace said, throwing his two cents in, “it’s not like we all haven’t had missions moved up or back on us. We’ve gone into rough places at the drop of a hat, based on new intel that’s been provided to our commanders.” He shrugged. “I vote we raid.”
“I’m in the mood for a hunting party,” Ash said. “I miss Fiona. And River. Fiona’s too old to be hanging around without sufficient heat.” She frowned. “And frankly, it gets right up my nose that Wolf has any of our family!”
Galen nodded. “Agreed. The time has come.”
Tighe felt a sudden chill at his brother’s words. Am I the hunted one, leading my family into the foretold danger and destruction?
He was caught in a horrible snare. Either path he chose, there was danger.
And he had not forgotten that his chosen bride had a goody bag filled with incendiary party favors with Wolf’s and his merry band’s names on them. Tighe knew River well enough to suspect she’d throw quite the party on the way out. He closed his eyes. I’m marrying a warrior. She scares the hell out of me—but I kind of like it, too.
“Have any of you ever wondered why Callahan men choose to fall for such headstrong women?” he asked.
“I know exactly why,” Dante said. “First of all, that’s the way we like them. But I’ll remind you that I spoke into the wind a blessing on all my brothers, that you would each have a long and arduous chase to get your woman tamed.” He looked very satisfied with himself, and they all booed him. “As it’s spoken, it shall be done,” he reminded them. “All blessings can come to pass.”
“Thank you, Oracle. Can you please go back to minding the well or the River Styx or whatever you do in your spare time? We have a rescue to plan.” Tighe looked around at his family. “When do we leave?”
“Zero three hundred hours,” Ash said. “Set your watches against the clock on the wall. And may I remind everyone that this is a secret mission? I think we can all agree that Grandfather would not be pleased. It’s best if we keep this journey to ourselves.”
At the word journey, Tighe felt that strange breeze of fate blow across his soul once more. He shivered, and set his watch.
* * *
AT THE EXACT appointed time, they piled into two vehicles, one a truck comfortable enough for all of them to ride in, and the jeep for backup. One of the vehicles would be used to block the road leading from the hideout, and the other would be used to carry Fiona and River away from danger.
Tighe was more nervous than he’d ever been. He wished he could get a message to River, but she might be right: they might have some kind of device that picked up cell signals. It wasn’t worth risking it. Wolf was very experienced at this type of warfare. He was financed by people with deep pockets, and the equipment necessary to achieve their goals.
But Wolf would never achieve his goal as long as there were Callahans at Rancho Diablo. Tighe’s temper boiled a bit, the same temper he’d been holding back ever since Fiona had been kidnapped, and which had overheated when River was taken. He couldn’t wait to exact revenge on Wolf and his gang.
Tighe and his siblings had left foremen at the ranch on lookout, telling them that not one soul, not even a family friend, was to step foot on the property while they were gone.
Tighe hoped
it was enough. The foremen were to keep plenty of activity happening on the grounds so that it looked as if the family was at home, the ranch fully staffed, the place bustling.
“What are we going to do about Storm’s offer?” Ash asked. She rode beside him in the jeep, following the truck.
“I don’t care. That’s Running Bear’s and Fiona’s issue.”
“They think we don’t know that Storm bought the land. Remember? We’re all supposed to be eager for it.” Ash stared down into a bag she’d packed for the trip, pulled out a water bottle for each of them. “I think if we buy it, they’ll be disappointed. It’ll be like opening presents before Christmas Day.”
“I can’t think about land right now.” Tighe was going over every single detail of the plan they’d elaborately and meticulously laid out last night. They’d gone through every scenario that could possibly occur, and then some that couldn’t occur unless a meteor struck the earth. But he wanted nothing left to chance.
“Look!” Ash exclaimed.
He glanced over at her window. A shadow raced alongside them, a man on a mustang, his hair blowing wild and free behind him. “Holy crap,” Tighe said.
“It’s Grandfather,” Ash said. “We should have known we couldn’t get away with sneaking off on him.”
The shadow disappeared. She glanced at Tighe.
Their gazes met, and neither one of them spoke about what they’d just seen. They looked back at the road in front of them, and tried to remain calm.
Running Bear was with them—in spirit.
Chapter Fifteen
River knew the moment Tighe returned to the hideout. It wasn’t obvious to anyone else, likely not even Fiona. But River heard a wolf howl long and loud, and she knew Tighe had come back for her.
Which was a good thing. She’d begun to feel some stray aches and pains that seemed unlike the previous ones, which came and went without a pattern. These seemed more rhythmic, and not as random.
“Hang on,” she told her babies. “Daddy’s here.”
The babies settled at the sound of her voice, maybe her words. She didn’t know. They seemed to shift a lot more now, probably searching for space. She’d be glad to get to a real doctor and learn what was happening with her beautiful children.
She looked in her backpack, made sure everything was ready. The cabin was cold enough that she worried the guns might need cleaning or oiling, but there was no way to address that without putting herself in a position to be caught.
She’d opened her backpack only twice since she’d been here, each time when she was tempted to plug in her cell phone and send Tighe a text. The nights had been long; sometimes fear had descended upon her.
She hadn’t given in to it. But it pressed on her, as she was sure it had on Fiona. River tried to learn from the older woman’s brave face, and wore her own consistently—but the nights grew long without Tighe’s arms to hold her.
Once she returned, she was going to marry him, magic wedding dress or not.
Almost as if she conjured it, it appeared on her bed, beautiful and shimmering with love and magic. “Oh, my goodness,” she murmured. “Oh, you are so beautiful!”
She couldn’t fit into it now, of course. Even magic wedding dresses couldn’t accommodate a belly the size of hers. The only clothes she wore these days were two pairs of sweatpants—men’s—that Wolf’s women had bought at a Walmart for her. In fact, the sweatpants and tennis shoes she had were hardly appropriate for making an escape through mounds of snow, but she’d manage somehow.
The dress twinkled encouragement at her. “May I touch you?” she said out loud, and the wedding gown threw off a few sparks of iridescence in response.
River ran her fingers over a cap sleeve, touching the delicate lace and diamante sparkles. Tears jumped into her eyes as she gazed at the beautiful dress she would one day wear. “Thank you,” she murmured. “Thank you so much for letting me know that I will be a true Callahan bride one day.”
The dress glowed with an evanescent quality, and River grabbed her cell phone. “May I take a picture? I want to remember everything about you until the day I finally get to put you on.”
She didn’t know if photos were allowed before the wedding day. But the garment didn’t disappear, so River plugged in her phone and took two quick snaps, making sure she’d captured the image.
She smiled when she saw her dream dress photos. “Thank you,” she said again. “I’m so happy to know that I’ll have such a lovely dress to wear when the time comes.”
The dress sparkled, emitting a few beams of light, then suddenly disappeared.
In its place was the black ensemble she’d seen in the magic wedding dress bag: a long-sleeved thermal shirt, plus black pants made of some kind of thick fabric suitable for braving the cold. The boots were black and lug-soled, reaching to the knee. A waterproof black coat completed what looked very much like weather-appropriate military gear.
River wiped her tears and tried the clothes on. They fit perfectly, the shirt not too small for her newly large breasts, the pants comfortable enough for her bigger belly.
Now she understood what she’d seen in the magic wedding dress bag.
“If this is the work of my fairy godmother,” River said, “I want to thank you for being so flexible and considerate. This is perfect!”
She wished Fiona had warmer clothes. Montana was much colder than they could have imagined, and the cabin was icy much of the time. She’d worried so much for Fiona.
It was high time to get the Callahan aunt home.
River checked her backpack one last time, ready for whatever was about to unfold.
* * *
THE CLOSER THEY got to Montana, the more Tighe worried. River, the babies and Fiona were the first worry, but the fact that he’d dragged his siblings into this mission, compromising their safety and their families—those brothers who had young children and wives—cramped his gut. Though they’d gone over and over the plan, anything and everything could go wrong with even the best attack and rescue operation.
He breathed deep, focused the way Grandfather had taught him. Tried to think about the power of the forces that had brought them to this moment. Some things were out of their control—and others were in their control. It was up to them to walk the proper path.
His hatred for Wolf kept him in a dangerous place. Sometimes he dreamed of killing his uncle—dark dreams of violence that shattered his sleep. Tighe always felt the evil knocking, just beyond the door of his subconscious.
“This is the town,” Ash said. He felt his sister’s gaze on him. “Our brothers are slowing down, so they must mean to turn off before entering, likely so no one will see us and warn Wolf.” She studied Tighe. “Are you all right? You haven’t said a word for the past hundred fifty miles.”
He was fine—and not fine. “I’m just ready.”
“Good.” Ash rolled down the window, and frosty air hit him in the face. It felt good circulating in the jeep, waking him to the bitter cold. “We made it here in record time, considering the weather.”
Night was falling on the small town, the tree-lined mountains in the distance already shrouded in darkness. They’d driven straight through, with very few stops. Gas, occasional bathroom breaks, that was it. They were trained to focus on the mission and ignore weakness in their bodies. Well-schooled first by life in the tribe and their grandfather, and then excellently trained in the military, they would work as a team until the mission was accomplished.
Ash put the window up. “I’m going to pour some coffee from the thermos. Want some?”
“Sure.” The coffee would be lukewarm or cold now, but that wouldn’t matter.
Suddenly his mobile phone binged, alerting him that he had a message. He glanced at his cell, stunned to see that the message was from River.
Are you coming?
“It’s River. She wants to know if I’m on the way.” He looked at his sister. “What do you think?”
“It’s a trap.�
� Ash shook her head. “I wouldn’t reply. What if Wolf found the phone on her and forced her to send the message?”
Exactly what he’d wondered.
“It won’t do her any good to know, anyway,” Ash said. “If she knows we’re close to starting the operation, she’ll be nervous. At least if she doesn’t know, she might rest until we make our appearance.”
He nodded. But it was hard. He wanted so badly to tell her that he was on the way. To ask how she was doing, ask about the babies.
After tonight, it would be all over. The hell they’d endured for the past several months would be a nightmare past. They would be together for the holidays, as a family.
He closed his eyes and listened for any words he might hear in his mind, any directions for the journey he was about to undertake.
Silence.
* * *
RHEIN CAME TO get her, the scar on his face standing out against his dark skin. “Wolf wants you.”
She looked at him, unafraid. She wore the jogging outfit and tennis shoes she’d always worn. When the time came, she would dress in her new clothes—her version of a fairy godmother’s gift—and she would be ready to get Fiona and go home. “Fine.”
She followed Rhein to the sparsely furnished den. A tiny fire burned in the fireplace, not enough to warm the room. Otherwise the space was totally dark. Even the shades were drawn. River stood in front of Wolf, not speaking.
“I’ve just talked to Fiona.” Wolf’s eyes glittered in the small, dark room. “Despite the fact that I question her every day, she refuses to give any information about Jeremiah’s and Carlos’s whereabouts.”
A snake of fear jumped into River’s veins. Fiona had never told her that she was being questioned often by Wolf. River glanced nervously at Rhein, and the big man stared her down.
“Well, we must work with what we’ve got.” Wolf stood up, placed a hand on her stomach. Purely by reflex, River kicked him hard in the shin, stunning everyone, including herself.
He sank into the armchair by the fireplace, his eyes closed. Rhein snatched her arm in a viselike grip.