The beam under her bare feet was only about three inches wide. “Now I remember why I didn’t become a gymnast,” she muttered under her breath as she took several steps. Her ankle felt weak and wobbly, but it would hold. It had to. Lord, please help me do this.
She looked at the small faces huddled together across the church, and she began to walk toward them with a smile set firmly on her face.
Gusts of wind pushed at her back like a giant hand and whipped her hair across her eyes to blind her. The old beam beneath her bare feet was rough with splinters. In places, it was wet and slippery from the rain that poured in through the hole in the roof. Each flash of lightning illuminated the danger that lay below her.
The sharp tines of a rusting, rain-slicked harrow gleamed dully in one flash, the grimy panes of a shattered window reflected her above it in the next one. She took each step with careful determination until she reached the jumble of boards where the twins sat.
“Stay still until I tell you to move. I can only take one of you at a time, so who wants to go first?” She turned around and lowered herself to straddle the beam at the edge of the fallen piece of roof.
“Lindy can go,” Kayla offered. She scooted back and made more room for her sister. Bonkers climbed into Kayla’s lap, and she clutched him tightly.
“Okay, good. Lindy, I want you to put your arms and legs around me and hold on tight. I’m going to tie this rope around us to help hold you on.”
“I can’t. I’m scared.”
“I know you are, but I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Your daddy can hold us up if we fall.”
Lindy shook her head and whispered, “I can’t.”
“Okay, this is what I want you to do. I want you to close your eyes and start saying your prayers. Can you do that?”
“Like at nighttime?”
“That’s right. Just like at nighttime. But first, put your arms around my neck.”
“Okay. Now I lay me down to sleep…but Cheryl, I’m not sleeping.”
Cheryl tied the rope around them both. “Don’t those words make you feel safe? They sure make me feel safe.”
“They do?”
“Yes, they do. Now, I’ve got a job for you. I want you to keep your eyes closed tight and keep saying your prayers. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
Lindy did as she was told, and Cheryl stood carefully. She looked back at Kayla’s pale face. “I’ll be right back for you.”
“Promise you won’t leave me?”
Cheryl felt a lump rise in her throat. “I’m not going to leave you, baby. I’ll be right back. I promise.”
It was difficult to keep her balance with Lindy’s added weight, and Cheryl’s foot hurt with every step. She glanced once at Sam’s worried face.
“You’re doing fine,” he coaxed. “Only few more steps.”
Kayla’s steady litany of people and animals she wanted God to bless droned in Cheryl’s ear. It took three more steps before Cheryl grasped Sam’s strong hand, and he pulled her to solid ground. Quickly, he untied the small rope and shifted Lindy to his arms. The rain poured down in torrents, and the old building shuddered in the fierce wind.
“Hurry,” he said as he set Lindy on the ground and pulled the slack out of the rope.
Cheryl stepped back onto the beam and tried to do just that. She lost her balance and wobbled wildly for an instant before she steadied herself.
Behind her, she heard Sam’s reassuring voice. “Easy, girl, easy. Are you okay?”
“Just peachy,” she said through clenched teeth as she waited for her bounding pulse to settle.
“You can do it, I know you can.”
“I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and began to walk toward Kayla and Bonkers. When she reached the edge of the boards again, she smiled at Kayla. “I told you I’d be back. You and I are going to do the same thing, okay?” She sat down. “Climb on.”
A sharp report sounded above their heads, followed by a grating groan that shook the boards they sat on. Cheryl glanced up, then quickly twisted around to cover Kayla’s small body with her own as a shower of wooden shingles rained down from a new hole in the roof. A long piece of a splintered rafter fell, stabbing through the flimsy wood inches away from her head.
“Are you okay?” Sam’s frantic voice filled the sudden silence.
“We’re okay.” Cheryl sat up with Kayla clutched tightly in her arms.
“Well, get out of there! This whole place is about to come down,” he yelled.
“I’m not dawdling in here because I want to!” she shouted back. Another loud crack rent the air. The rafter holding her safety rope snapped in two and fell into the cellar.
Cheryl stared at the useless rope. Kayla tugged at her arms. “I’m cold. Can we go now?”
Cheryl looked down at the face of the child she loved with all her heart. “Yes, honey. Let’s go home, shall we?” She threw off the useless safety line and stood.
“Come on, girls. I know you can do it.”
Cheryl heard the controlled fear in Sam’s voice. She shifted Kayla to her back and tightened the small rope around them. Bonkers dashed out onto the beam in front of them. He trotted a little way out, then turned around to see if they were following. He ran the rest of the way, jumped out, and stood with flattened ears in the rain.
“Show off,” Cheryl muttered as she started walking.
Another sharp crack split the air. The beam under Cheryl’s feet quivered wildly and shifted, and she gave a cry of alarm. A piece of falling shingle hit her head, and she struggled to maintain her balance as the beam under her dropped several inches.
Righting herself, Cheryl looked at Sam, and her heart skipped a beat before it began to thud in fear. He lay face down, holding on to the splintered end of beam she stood on. The veins in his neck stood out as he held their combined weight and the heavy beam. She began to walk quickly, praying he could hold them up. Lord, lend him Your strength.
Suddenly, a series of powerful reports rent the air. An ominous moaning started low, then grew louder and louder.
“Jump!” Sam yelled.
Cheryl leaped toward the opening as the beam gave way behind her. She knew she wasn’t going to make it. She landed half in and half out of the opening. She felt Kayla’s weight pulling her backward as she clawed for a handhold in the wet grass.
In an instant, Sam’s strong hands clamped on to her arms, and he pulled her up beside him. They scrambled to their feet and ran as the roof caved in and the ends of church toppled inward with a deafening crash.
As suddenly as it started, the sounds died away. Cheryl clung to Sam as they stood looking at a pile of wreckage where the old church had stood. With trembling hands, she began to untie the rope at her waist. Sam lifted Kayla from her back and gave the child a quick hug. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes, Daddy.”
He kissed her cheek, then set her on the ground.
“I want to go home,” Lindy said.
“That’s a very good idea,” Cheryl agreed.
Sam grasped her arm. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“I’m cold,” Kayla said with a shiver.
“Can we go?” Lindy asked.
“Bonkers doesn’t—”
“—like the rain.”
“He wants—”
“—to go home, too.”
“Of course.” Cheryl turned away and herded the girls toward the truck.
The twins told them what had happened as they drove back to the ranch.
“The man said he was going to Wichita,” Kayla began after she exchanged looks with her sister.
“We decided to go and wait there for you,” Lindy admitted.
“Then you’d have to bring us home, and you could stay some more.”
“We were in the dark a long time.” Lindy’s voice grew dramatic.
“And we didn’t like it,” Kayla added.
“The truck stopped, and we
thought maybe it was Wichita, so I opened the door to see and—”
“—Bonkers jumped out.”
“We got out to catch him but—”
“—the truck drove away and left us.”
“It started to rain, and Bonkers ran into the church. The door wouldn’t open very far, but we got in.”
“Bonkers ran over some boards to a dry place, and we followed him. Then the boards fell down, and we couldn’t get out,” Kayla finished in a rush.
Sam shook his head. “This was the most harebrained idea you’ve ever cooked up. You’re grounded till you’re twenty-one.”
“But, Dad!”
“Two weeks, and I don’t want to hear another word.”
Sam radioed the ranch to let his mother and grandfather know that the twins were safe. Eleanor and Walter were waiting when he drove into the ranch yard. Cheryl recognized her sister’s green Mazda parked in front of the house. Eleanor knelt down, and the girls ran to throw their arms around her in a big hug.
“Hi—”
“—Grandma.”
“You girls scared me to death,” she scolded.
“We’re—”
“—sorry.”
Walter watched them with an indulgent smile. He looked at Cheryl and said, “Your brother told the sheriff about the Double R cowboy who was looking for help to heist some cattle. His tip paid off.”
“You found Harvey?” Cheryl’s sadness lifted a little as he nodded. At least Sam had a chance now to get the ranch back on its feet.
“Apparently, he tried to sell them in his hometown just outside of Emporia. He had a forged bill of sale, but it seems he didn’t have an explanation for why his bull had rose-pink toenails. The sale barn operator got suspicious and notified the law.”
Eleanor gave the twins a small push in Walter’s direction. “Take them in the house and get them cleaned up, will you?”
He nodded and took each girl by the hand. “Come and tell Grandpa all about it. How long are you grounded for?”
“Two whole weeks,” Lindy admitted with a long face.
“That’s not bad. Did I ever tell you about the time I got grounded for a whole year?” his voice trailed off as he led the girls into the house.
Eleanor faced Cheryl. “Your sister is here,” she said just as Angie stepped out onto the porch.
Sam came up beside Cheryl. “You’re leaving now?”
“Yes.”
She waited for him to speak, to ask her to stay, but he didn’t. She forced a smile to her face. “I’m glad you’ll get your cattle back, and I’m glad the girls are safe and I’m sorry—about everything.” She turned and hurried to her sister’s car, determined that no one would see how much her heart was breaking.
Sam watched her go. He’d been so wrong about her. He’d let his festering pain and anguish over his wife’s deceptions keep him from seeing the truth about her. He loved Cheryl, but at the first test of that love, he’d failed her miserably.
Her sister stopped in front of Sam and held out her hand. “Thanks for taking care of Cheryl.”
Sam took her hand and nodded mutely.
Angie glanced toward the car where Cheryl sat with her head bowed, then back at him. “Oh, come on. You’re not really going to let her go, are you?”
“She doesn’t want to stay.”
“You can’t be that stupid.” She eyed him for a long moment, then shook her head. “I guess you can.” She started to walk away, but stopped and turned back to him. “She loves you, you know.”
Sam’s gaze moved to where Cheryl sat quietly in the car with her head up staring straight ahead. “She never told me that.”
“Men. Do women have to tell you everything? Cheryl is the bravest and most loyal person I know, and you’re a fool if you let her go.”
She walked down the steps and joined her sister.
His mother laid a hand on his arm. “Are you okay, son?”
“You heard her. I’m a fool.” Sam watched them drive away and swallowed the lump in his throat. “She’s the wrong kind of woman for me. Her career will take her all over the world. She said herself that she doesn’t have time for a family, or children. Yet, today, she risked everything for Lindy and Kayla. She’s the wrong kind of woman in every way, except she’s the only woman who can fill my heart and my life. And I just let her go.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, Mom. I just don’t know.”
She reached up and cupped his face between her hands. “You’ll figure it out, Sam. I know you will.”
“I don’t see how you can be so sure.”
“I have faith. Besides, your mother didn’t raise no fool.”
Chapter Seventeen
Cheryl completed a single pirouette on her left foot and frowned. Dressed in a leotard and toe shoes, she worked out in her sister’s spare bedroom.
“Does it hurt?”
Cheryl looked up and smiled at Angie in the doorway. “Not much, but it’s weak.”
“You should give it a rest.”
“I can’t.” She rose on her toes again. “I have an audition in two weeks, and I need to be ready.”
“Jeff and I are going out to dinner tonight. Why don’t you join us?”
“No thanks.” Cheryl began another spin.
Angie walked up and stopped her by putting both hands on her shoulders. “If he hasn’t called by now, he isn’t going to.”
Cheryl bowed her head. “I know,” she admitted.
“You can call him. The phone works in both directions.”
The doorbell rang, and Angie frowned at the interruption. She gave her sister a firm shake. “Go back to him or go on with your life, but don’t stay in limbo.”
Cheryl stared at the phone on the bedside table. It had been two weeks, and every day she had hoped and prayed for some word from Sam, but she’d heard nothing. Did she dare call him? Her sister was right—she had to go back to him and try again, or get on with her life.
She sought strength in her new faith and found it. She could not see God’s plan for her, but she couldn’t imagine her life without Sam and the girls in it. She had to give it one more chance. She took a deep breath and reached for the phone, but stopped at the sound of her sister’s laughter.
“Well it’s about time,” Angie said. “What took you so long?”
“We’ve been grounded.”
“For two whole weeks.”
“It was really bad!”
“No TV—”
“—or nothin’”
Cheryl dashed into the room and froze as a wave of happiness spread over her. Sam stood in her sister’s living room, looking nervous and uncertain. When he saw her, that endearing, crooked grin appeared on his handsome face.
The twins stood on either side of him. Kayla held a bouquet of roses she could barely see over, and Lindy held a giant, red, heart-shaped box of chocolates. Bonkers sat in front of them. He wore a bright-red ribbon tied around his neck with the other end firmly knotted to Sam’s wrist.
Sam smiled at her. “You said the next time I wanted to get you to come home with me, I would have to promise you chocolate and roses.”
Tears of happiness stung her eyes as she walked up to him and laid her hands on his chest. “My price has gone up since then, cowboy.”
“Oh? What’ll it take now?”
“I won’t settle for anything less than a cowboy, two kids and a cat.”
“That can be arranged.” He gathered her into his arms and kissed her with such fierce longing, it stole her breath away.
He drew back and studied her face. “When Natalie left me, she left a hole big enough for Harvey to walk though. I didn’t know if I could ever trust my heart to another woman again. Then God brought you into my life, and before I knew it, you had mended my heart.
“I’ve prayed and done a lot of soul searching in the past two weeks. It wasn’t that I couldn’t trust anyone else, it was that I didn’t trust myself. If I had been
more open, less worried about getting hurt, you might have been able to confide in me.”
“I’m so sorry, Sam. It was a mistake I’ll never make again. I don’t deserve your love, but I love you with all my heart.”
“You deserve a better man than me. God willing, I’m going to spend a lifetime trying to become that man. And I don’t want you to give up ballet,” he said sternly. “You can go anywhere in the world to work as long as you come home to us.”
“Ask her, Daddy,” Lindy urged.
“Yeah, ask her,” Kayla added.
Motioning to them with one hand, he said, “Just wait a minute.”
He looked back at Cheryl. “The girls and I understand we’re going to have to share you. We’re prepared for that. I only hope ballerinas make good money because the airfare back and forth to New York is going to cost us a bundle.”
“Do you think I’m worth it?” she asked with a shy grin.
He pulled her close. “Oh, yes.”
“Ask her, Daddy,” Kayla insisted.
Cheryl forced her face into a serious pose. “Ballerinas don’t make that much money. I think all I’ll be able to afford is the gas to Kansas City and back.”
“What do you mean?”
She smiled broadly. “I have an audition with a ballet company in Kansas City next month.”
She grew serious as she studied his face. “It will mean I’ll be away working—sometimes for weeks at time. It won’t be easy, Sam.”
“I know.” He smoothed her hair with his fingertips. “But it can’t be as hard as life without you. I tried that for the past two weeks. It didn’t work. I’ll support you in anything you want to do.”
“I want to perform for at least another two years, then I want to do something else.”
“Anything. I’ll never stand in your way.”
“I want to teach. I want to start a dance school in Council Grove.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Ask her, Dad.”
“Yeah, ask her.”
Cheryl grinned down at the girls. “Okay, ask me what?”
“To marry him,” Lindy blurted out.
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