by Caroline Lee
“What can we do?” Sebastian’s question was muted, but Molly didn’t know if he was whispering, or if she couldn’t hear him over the pounding of her pulse in her ears.
“I’ll start in that direction, asking people.” Nate’s response was quick. “You can head around that way, and we’ll meet on the other side of the clearing.” The two young men rushed off in opposite directions.
“We’ll check with our friends, maybe someone has seen him.” Agnes and Agatha scampered off directly towards the fire, and Molly was grateful to know someone was looking in the most dangerous area, just in case her baby had gone that way.
Ash squeezed her once more. “I’ll take Pete, he can show me where Noah was. You and Annie stay here, in case Noah is looking for you. If we don’t find him now, we’ll form a bigger search party.” Molly mutely nodded, and gratefully clutched her little sister’s hand when Annie offered it to her.
They stood there alone, Molly trying desperately not to cry, and watched her loved ones disappear into the crowd. Dear God, let them find him safe!
Cam ate standing up, near the long tables that had been arranged for the picnickers. He was trying to avoid interaction with them, still not sure how he felt about the outcome of the auction. Yeah, he’d wanted Serena, wanted to be eating with her right now. But fifty dollars? What had he been thinking? He couldn’t afford to spend fifty dollars on something that… frivolous. He’d busted his tail for every dime he could count to his name, and needed it all to build his ranch into what he hoped it could one day be. It had been a lapse, a momentary foolishness, which had made him bid so high. Just like how he’d let his anger get the better of him yesterday outside of church, he’d been wrapped up in the competition, the desire to ‘win’ Serena.
And now he felt like a fool, and a mighty lucky one at that. A hundred dollars. He’d really dodged a bullet there. It was lucky that Carderock’d had enough money to cover that stupid fifty-dollar bid, or he’d be stuck paying it. He tried to tell himself that Serena was worth fifty dollars—a hundred dollars!—but that sure was a lot of money.
It was about that time that he’d figured out that maybe he didn’t love Serena as much as he’d thought, if he was fixing to begrudge her fifty bucks.
So he was downright confused about his feelings at the moment, and that’s why he spent his meal standing away from everyone. He didn’t want to sit with any of the few people he knew in town, or to meet anyone else. He didn’t want to have to listen to the whispers and see the pitying looks. He just wanted to be alone for a while to enjoy the food.
And enjoy it, he did. By his second helping of barbeque, lamb shank, potato salad, green beans, lima beans and honey corn bread, he was fixing to burst. He wished there was a way to bring some home to Da, but the old man’d made his choice when he’d decided not to come. Cam cleaned off his plate, gladly took an offered beer, and ambled over to the dessert tables. The cakes and cookies and pies were mighty tempting, but he figured he’d have to wait an hour or so to be able to fit any more food in.
He spent awhile just strolling through the crowds, occasionally nodding hello or exchanging a greeting with someone he recognized from church. The Barkers, the Selkirks, and a few families from church were pretty much the only people around Cheyenne he knew well enough to name. He just didn’t get into town enough to call anyone a friend. In fact, besides his father, Ash and Nate, there wasn’t really anyone he could count as a friend. There were always a few hired hands at the Open Skye, but Cam wasn’t able to pay them enough to stay for longer than a season or two. They were mostly young, and he’d spend a year training them up, and then they’d move on to make more money someplace else… sometimes even at the Double-S. In fact, he saw his two current hands—they’d ridden into town together yesterday—lounging in front of a makeshift bar, trying to gain the attention of an overworked whore. Cam changed direction then, not wanting to draw their attention
When the bonfires started, Cam moseyed in that direction, still not sure how he felt about the outcome of the basket auction. He saw the Barkers, but they were socializing with the Selkirks and Carderock, and Cam just couldn’t bring himself to join them. Instead, he found an enterprising old man with a beer barrel, and laid down a coin for a glass. He stood back from the crowd and the fire, watching the shadows play across the faces of people he didn’t know, and wondering if the beer was making him maudlin. He had another glass nonetheless, and thought about his life.
He was a few years shy of thirty. He busted his tail every day, almost dawn ‘til dusk, and had a fine spread to show for it. But it wasn’t enough, and wouldn’t be enough, not ‘til he had someone to share it with. He thought that someone had been Serena, but Da was right; she would never fit into his rough life on the Open Skye.
Yeah, it must be the beer making him mawkish. He finished off the glass, shoved his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans, and started walking. He ambled around the outside of the circle of partyers, far enough away that the fiddle music and light were both faint. He stepped around celebrating couples, fighting dogs, and drunken men, and began to think about finding someplace to spend the night. It had been a disappointing day; the food had been worth the ride, but he suspected that he would have been happier without the day’s epiphanies. He silently scoffed at himself. It’d be stupid to continue to mope after Serena. It was better to have realized what he did about his feelings for her now, rather than later. Still, it hadn’t been his favorite day in recent memory, and he was looking forward to putting it behind him.
When he heard the crying, he thought it was a lost dog or hurt animal. After all, the kids were all running around in clusters much closer to the excitement; he hadn’t seen any up close since he reached the bonfire. So he was cautious when he moved towards the small, huddled shadow, which was whimpering softly. He got close enough to see that it was a child.
“Hey, kid. What’s wrong?” He kept his voice low and friendly.
“Mr. MacLeod?” It was barely a sniffle, but Cam recognized him, and dropped to his haunches.
“Noah? Are you okay? Why aren’t you with your family? Where’s Pete?”
“’Dunno.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Where?”
The kid stuck out his leg, and Cam could see that he had fallen or something, and ripped up his pants. He didn’t know how bad it was, but Noah seemed pretty distraught. He carefully manipulated the leg, and breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s alright, buddy. Looks like a scratch. I’ll bet it hurt a lot, though, huh?” He saw Noah nod somberly. “Well, how about we get you back to your mother, and have her look at it?”
The kid put his arms up, and Cam swung him up onto his shoulders. He heard Noah’s little giggle, and felt a pair of small hands digging into his scalp for balance, and was glad to know the kid wasn’t too badly hurt. He’d probably been terrified, though, so far out into the darkness, with strangers and animals and funny noises.
Cam pursed his lips and whistled jauntily as he slowly made his way back towards the fires. Soon he felt Noah bouncing along happily to the tune. They reached the crowd, and Cam started weaving in between the revelers, making his way towards the last place he’d seen the Barkers.
It was almost a half-hour after he’d scooped the boy up that he reached the place, but there was no one there. With Noah still firmly perched on his shoulders—and apparently feeling much better—he slowly turned in a full circle, peering into the shadows. His back was to the fire when he heard a woman’s voice cry out “Ash? Noah?” and then Molly was running towards them.
She didn’t stop when she realized he wasn’t her husband—although they had a similar size and build, and he understood the confusion in the low light—but just uttered his name in a short, sharp cry. She almost barreled into him, and he braced himself, since she wasn’t a tiny woman. But at the last minute she reached up and tore her son off of his shoulders, crushing the boy to her. Annie was breathless when
she arrived, but soon she was stroking the boy’s hair and making crooning noises.
There were tear streaks on Molly’s face when she finally turned it to Cam, but her joy and relief were palpable. “We’ve been so worried about him, Cam. Thank you.”
He thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans, a little embarrassed by her sincerity. “I found him on the far side of the clearing. Looks like he scratched up his leg, but he seems fine now.” Molly couldn’t seem to loosen her hold on Noah to examine his injury. In fact, she just seemed to hug him harder.
Cam heard the horses before Nate spoke, and he whirled to see the young man leading two animals at a trot. Nate was breathless when he skidded to a halt, seeing Noah in Molly’s arms. “You found him! That’s great! I borrowed these guys in case we needed to expand our search, but—”
Ash almost knocked his brother aside in his hurry to get to his wife and son. Peter was with him, and threw his arms around his mother’s waist and brother’s legs, as if he just needed the reminder that they were both okay. Cam couldn’t help but smile at the reunion, pleased he was able to set their minds at ease a little.
But then another voice jarred him out of their relief. “Where’s Serena?” Carderock had joined them, coming from the other direction. He didn’t look at Cam, but peered behind the reunited family.
Molly looked up, and then around. Cam thought she seemed dazed. “She was here when Pete told us Noah was missing. Didn’t she go with you?”
Nate, Ash and Carderock exchanged glances and shook their heads. Nate spoke up, “Sebastian and I made loops around the fires. Ash took Pete. We thought she was with you.”
Annie made a series of gestures, but Cam had never bothered to learn her language of signs. Molly translated. “She was gone by when?” Annie signed again. “By the time Nate left?”
Carderock stepped forward and took Annie by the shoulders. His gaze was serious, direct, when he asked the girl “Where did she go, then?” Annie shrugged helplessly. He swore and released her. Spinning around, he grabbed the reins of one of the horses Nate led, and pulled himself into the saddle. Without another word to any of them, he clucked at the animal and cantered into the darkness. Cam heard him occasionally calling Serena’s name.
Ash looked like he had to force himself to let go of his family, and made to take the other horse. Cam stopped him. “I’ll go.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
He shrugged. “I’m not. You and Nate get your family comfortable. I’ll go get Carderock.”
“What about Serena?”
Cam turned towards the darkness, south of the clearing, south of the city. “What’s out that way?”
“Crow Creek.”
He sighed. “That’s what I was afraid of. Does Serena know the area?”
Molly spoke up, “I don’t think so. She rarely comes down here. She must have been frantic to head out there, if that’s where she is.”
“Hopefully she’s not. Maybe she went to find her aunts without us noticing?”
Cam secretly agreed with Ash; Serena had no call to be plunging wildly into the darkness. He figured she’d slipped unheeded among the crowds to search, and he was heading on a goose chase after a man he didn’t much care for.
Taking the reins from Nate, he swung up onto the animal, and noted with some disgust that Carderock had taken the horse with the Winchester in the saddle boot. He was left defenseless, relying on catching up to the dandy to get the rifle back.
He sighed, “If there’s any chance she’s out there, we have to look. You all keep looking around here for her. I’ll bet she’ll turn up, and if she’s out there, I’ll find her.”
Ash nodded to his wife. “We need to tell Agnes and Agatha, and get these kids into bed. Nate and I will keep looking.”
Cam nodded to let them know that he understood, and urged the horse out into the darkness. He was pretty sure he’d find Carderock pinned beneath his lamed animal, the way the fool had ridden carelessly into a landscape full of holes and rocks. And so, shaking his head, he urged his horse into a careful trot, and occasionally called Carderock’s name. No man deserved to die out here, alone, no matter if he had just won the woman Cam had always thought he’d loved.
CHAPTER TEN
Sebastian had always thought of himself as a rational person. He was a math teacher, for crying out loud! That was practically the definition of ‘rational’. But plunging headlong into an unfamiliar landscape on a strange horse, in the pitch black…? That seemed pretty crazy, now that he took the time to actually think about it. But he didn’t stop, didn’t turn back towards safety, for the same reason he hadn’t in the first place.
Serena was out there, in trouble, and he had to find her. Not just for her sake, either; he had a visceral, gut-wrenching need to know that she was safe, and the only way to be sure of that was to have her with him. He had no proof that she was even out here; that she hadn’t gone looking for Noah amid the crowd, as he had. But if she was out here, then he needed to be the one to make sure that she was safe.
Somewhere during that long, featureless ride away from civilization, he came to an important realization. He loved Serena. He loved her gentleness, her generosity, her delicateness. He loved the way she cared so strongly that she’d ignore her own safety in a frantic search for a child. He loved the way he felt when he was with her, and the way she made him feel. He loved everything about her.
Yeah, he loved her alright, and he was terrified by it. Terrified at the thought of losing her before he could tell her how he felt, and how she made him feel. He had to find her.
“Serena!” He was bellowing, actually bellowing. That rational part of him that had remained detached, that was watching his actions, vaguely wondered if he’d ever bellowed before. But he was too consumed with panic, with passion, to care. He’d been calling her name for what seemed like hours—but he knew it’d only been minutes since he’d taken the reins from Nate and ridden blindly out—and his only response had been the sighing of a dry wind.
Until now. “Carderock! Dammit, man, slow down!” MacLeod’s voice was still faint, but Sebastian reined in his horse. His tension must have been obvious, though, because the animal paced nervously while they waited for the other rider.
MacLeod trotted out of the darkness with a scowl on his face, but that was nothing new. Sebastian had seen the way the other man had looked at Serena, but he wasn’t about to allow anyone to come between him and the woman he loved. “What is it?” He knew he was barking, but didn’t bother with niceties, not when Serena needed him.
“You’ve been riding hell-for-leather, couldn’t hear me calling.”
“Well, now I do. What do you want?”
There was enough of a moon for Sebastian to see MacLeod’s scowl deepen. “It was stupid of you to go off like that. You’re lucky your horse isn’t lamed, and you thrown.”
Sebastian just shrugged. He hadn’t thought of the dangers to himself and the animal, but didn’t think they would have mattered to him in his hurry to find her. “Did you follow me to insult me, or to help me find Serena?”
“What makes you think she was dumb enough to come out here?”
Sebastian bristled. “She loves Noah, and you saw how panicked Molly was. She was probably just as frantic, and not thinking clearly. Maybe she is back in the crowd, but if she’s not, I need to find her before something bad happens to her.”
MacLeod’s horse reared slightly in response. “Happens to her? She was raised here, you Eastern dandy! You’re the one that’s likely to die out here!” He was yelling, and Sebastian wasn’t sure why the other man was so angry, but he yelled right back.
“What do you care?”
“I don’t! You can break your neck for all it matters to me! But I don’t want to have to be the one to drag your body back to Serena and let her see you dead. It would break her heart!”
Sebastian opened his mouth to retort, but closed it again thoughtfully. MacLeod must know—maybe even understan
d—how he felt about Serena. But it seemed like the other man was acknowledging Serena had feelings for him. And equally revealing was the fact that MacLeod didn’t want her to be hurt. Cam wasn’t going to win her—that punch had guaranteed that—and Sebastian couldn’t afford to hold a grudge, not if he wanted Cam’s help.
So he just said “Fine. You can make sure I don’t die stupidly. You are going to help me look for her, aren’t you?”
The blonde man nudged his horse beside Sebastian’s, until they sat knee-to-knee. Sebastian had never thought of himself as a small man, but MacLeod was a full head taller than him. He scowled, to let the rancher know he wasn’t going to be intimidated by something as superficial as height.
“Yeah, I’ll help. But first, give me the rifle.”
“No.” Sebastian’s response was instinctual, born of a desire to remain armed in this unfamiliar and dangerous territory.
MacLeod gestured impatiently. “I’m not about to trot after you on a wild goose chase, unarmed.”
Dropping his hand to the Winchester in the boot on the saddle, Sebastian scowled. “But you expect me to?”
“Yeah, because you don’t have a clue what you’re doing. I do, so I want the rifle.”
Both men were facing the same way, their backs to the faint glow of Cheyenne in the far distance. The meager moonlight illuminated a stand of trees maybe four hundred feet away, the gnarled and bent form of a dead cottonwood on the far right. Sebastian nodded towards it, “See that tree? See that branch about ten feet up?”
MacLeod turned, and Sebastian smoothly slipped the rifle out of the leather, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The pistol cartridges meant that the Winchester had less recoil than the rifles he’d grown up using at his family’s hunting lodge, and with a crack the limb was sheared off neatly. He didn’t look towards the other man, but instead just re-holstered the rifle, clucked to his horse, and moved forward again, into the vague Wyoming landscape.