Beyond Always (Lex and Amanda Series)

by Carrie Carr

  "From the way your Mom talks, I think you could, too. Anything else?"

  Lorrie took a piece of hay and chewed on the end. "I thought about being a vet, like Uncle Ron. But I don't know if I want to go to school for that long."

  She turned and looked at Shelby. "Did you like school?"

  "I'm ashamed to say I didn't get a chance to like it. If it weren't for Rebecca, I wouldn't even have my GED. I didn't like school, so I never bothered to finish."

  "Oh." Lorrie considered that for a moment. "How come? Did your parents not make you?"

  Shelby took off her gloves and placed them on the hay beside her.

  "My parents were rodeo bums. My mom left when I was a kid, and when I was about your age, my dad was killed riding a bull. I got sent to live with my aunt, and gave her a load of hell. I ran off as soon as I could and rejoined the rodeo, "˜cause I didn't have enough sense to do anything else."

  "Wow. That's bad. Are you sorry you did?"

  "Yeah." Shelby removed her hat and twisted the battered felt around in her hands. "Listen, kid. You can do whatever you put your mind to. But do your parents a favor, and talk to them. Don't let all these bad feelings fester up inside until it ruins you."

  She stood and put her hat on. "But if you ever need to try it out on someone first, I'll be glad to listen."

  Lorrie threw the hay stalk down and got up. "Thanks, Miz Shelby."

  "How about you just call me Shelby? I reckon you're old enough."

  "Really?" Lorrie walked to her and held out her hand, like she'd seen Lex do to seal a deal. "Thanks, Shelby."

  For the first time in several months, everything felt right in Lorrie's world.

  THE SLEET STUCK to the windshield of the Jeep and the condensation gathered inside, which made it hard to see the muddy road. Lex used the sleeve of her coat to wipe the glass in front of her. "What's up with this damned weather?"

  Roy wiped the window on his side. "Your guess is as good as mine, Lex. All I know is that the trees are so heavily iced that the branches break off and destroy the fence. I brought in four extra guys to help with repairs."

  "And yet, we're still out here." She put both hands on the wheel as the vehicle started to slide off the road. "Damn it."

  Once it was under control she glanced at Roy. "Are you in as much trouble as I am for going out in this?"

  "More." He pointed to a break in the trees ahead. "There's the marker that Jack Graham left. He's on the west perimeter with Chet, repairing the fence by the highway. I thought it was more important than this location."

  Lex nodded and cut through the trees. "So we get to play around near the creek, instead."

  "Yup."

  As the Jeep cleared the trees, Lex groaned at the sight that greeted them. At least fifteen feet of fence was crushed beneath fallen branches. She parked as close to the fence as possible. "This is gonna take all day."

  Before getting out of the Jeep, she blew her nose. "Damned allergies."

  She stepped out of the jeep and adjusted her hat so that her face was as protected as possible.

  Roy followed suit and was soon standing beside her, surveying the damage. "You know, we'll probably be able to salvage most of the fencing."

  "I was thinking the same thing. All we have to do is set new posts and attach the fence to them. But clearing the damn limbs away will take a while."

  "You want the chainsaw or the ax?" Roy asked, as he opened the back hatch of the jeep.

  Lex joined him. "Your choice. We can switch off later."

  He handed her the chainsaw. "I'll check the other side and make sure we don't have any cattle around the creek."

  "Chicken." Lex followed him to the downed fence. "Watch your step, Roy. I don't want to be fishing you out of the creek. It's too damn cold to be swimming."

  Roy waved at her and carefully navigated over the fallen fence. He headed down the slope toward the creek.

  Lex shook her head and pulled on the chainsaw's cord three times before it started. She meticulously cut the first fallen branch into manageable pieces, using well-placed kicks to move the debris out of her way. Once the first tree was cleared, she exhaled and stopped. She shut off the chainsaw and looked around, not seeing her foreman.

  "Roy? Where are you?" With her ears still ringing from the loud saw, she set it on the tree stump. "Hey, Roy! I'm not going to do this all by myself," she yelled.

  She sniffled and cleared her throat.

  Her only answer was the sound of sleet hitting her hat and the ground around her.

  "Damn it. I'd like to get this finished before nightfall," she grumbled, as she followed his footprints toward the creek. "Roy?"

  "Over here!"

  Lex stopped just short of the swiftly running creek. "Where?" She squinted against the sleet and rain as she scanned along the creek bank. "Roy?"

  "Down here," he yelled.

  She looked toward the sound of his voice, finally spotting him about twenty yards downstream from her position.

  Waist-deep in the cold creek, Roy had his arms around the neck of a calf, trying to keep its head up. Roy's back was against a pile of debris that consisted of trash and brush. He looked as if he was losing the battle with the water.

  Lex cursed under her breath and ran toward him, sliding as her boots hit patches of slick mud. "Get out of there, you idiot!"

  "I'm already drenched," he argued. "Are you gonna stand up there and yell at me, or help?"

  "Can you hang on long enough for me to get a rope?" Lex wasted no time racing up the rise. She stumbled several times, but kept her feet under her and continued as quickly as possible.

  At the Jeep, she removed her hat and duster and left them on the seat, then gathered both of their ropes. She steeled herself against the cold rain and hurried back to the creek.

  Roy slipped beneath the water as the calf struggled to break free. The calf kicked its legs as it thrashed around. Roy felt a sharp pain in his right leg as he broke the surface of the freezing water. "Stay still, you stupid thing. I'm trying to help you!"

  The calf reared and squalled, taking Roy under the water again. He felt a strong grip beneath his arms and his head was pulled above the swirling water. Gasping for breath, he coughed. "Thanks."

  Lex held him against her chest. When she saw Roy go beneath the water, she had tossed the ropes on the creek bank and jumped in, heedless of the cold. "Have you lost your damned mind? No calf is worth you drowning," she yelled above the sound of the sleet and water.

  "I know that. But I don't have a lot of choice at the moment. My damned leg is hung on something. Probably the same thing the calf is caught on."

  "Crap. All right, let me see if I can pull you loose." Lex took a deep breath and dropped to her knees. Her head dipped beneath the water.

  She kept her eyes closed and ran her gloved hands down Roy's legs. Near the bottom of the creek, she felt his boot wedged in a tangle of tree branches. She tugged on the branches as hard as she could, but couldn't pull them away. As her lungs began to burn, she popped her head above the water. "Damn it!"

  "Boss?"

  Lex coughed and shook her head. "Hang in there. I'll get it next time."

  She inhaled and exhaled several times then ducked beneath the water again. She followed the same path and began to tug on his boot. The calf continued to struggle and suddenly Lex felt Roy's hand grab her shirt and pull her up. She broke the surface and gagged on the muddy water. "What the hell did you do that for? I almost had it."

  Roy had his face buried against the neck of the calf. He raised his head. "S...s...sorry," he gasped. "I felt it," he swallowed hard, "grind together."

  "What?"

  "I think my leg's broken," he finally choked out. "Hurts something fierce."

  "Where?"

  "Right below my knee."

  "Fuck!" Lex wiped the hair out of her eyes. "Let go of the calf, Roy. It's not worth it." She clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering.

  He shook his head. "I c.
..c...can't. The blasted thing's the only r...r...reason I'm still upright."

  "All right. I'm going to try and get it loose first. Maybe it'll help pull you free." She put her hand on his shoulder. "It's gonna hurt like hell."

  "I know." He tightened his grip on the calf and lowered his head. "Go ahead."

  Lex patted his back and ducked beneath the water again. With renewed energy, she found where the calf's front leg was caught in a small length of barbed wire. Even with the protection of her work gloves, her hands were numb from the cold water as she worked to pull the animal free.

  With a final, painful tug, the calf's leg slipped from the wire. In its haste to get away, it kicked out and knocked Lex away.

  In shock, Lex inhaled a mouthful of muddy water. She stood on shaky legs to surface and held her right arm as she tried to catch her breath.

  Roy released his hold on the calf and watched as it swam toward the shore. "Crazy thing."

  He grimaced as he saw Lex's arm hanging limply. "What happened?"

  "I think..." Lex coughed and spit into the water. "The damned thing kicked a nerve, or something. I can't feel much or move it." With her good hand shaking from the cold, she removed her knife from the leather holster on her belt. "I'll try not to get you, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut your boot off."

  His eyes widened before he nodded. "Better than staying here all day." He watched as she tried to open the knife with one hand. "Let me help."

  Lex handed him the knife. "Th...than...thanks." She took it back after it was opened. "Good thing I'm left-handed, huh?"

  "Yeah." Roy clenched his jaw against the cold. "At this point, I wouldn't care if you cut my foot off."

  "I'll try not to do that." Lex took a deep breath and disappeared underwater.

  As he felt his leg being pulled, Roy bit his lip to keep from screaming. The grinding of the bones made him nauseous and he saw dark spots swim across his vision. Another powerful tug on his lower leg and he felt it come free.

  Lex popped up out of the water, her open knife in her teeth. She put her good arm around Roy to keep him from falling.

  "Thanks." With a shaky hand, he took the knife out of her mouth. "Thank God the water's not that deep."

  "Yeah." She spit off to the side. "Think you'll be okay if I drag you to shore?"

  "Don't have much choice."

  Lex put her good arm under his and across his chest. "Try to let your leg just float, if you can." She slowly walked backward toward the creek bank. Roy's pained groans got louder the closer they got to shore. "Sorry."

  "S'all right," he gasped.

  The rushing water against his leg and the continued pain was too much for Roy to bear. He was unconscious before they arrived on the bank of the creek.

  Once they were clear of the water, Lex fell back against the muddy bank. She panted and raised her face to the sky. With her mouth open, she caught as much of the icy rain as she could and spit several times. "God, that creek water's nasty. How're you doing, Roy?"

  When he didn't answer, she turned his head so that she could see his face. Blood ran down his chin from where he had bitten his lip to keep from crying out. "Damn."

  Now shivering violently from the cold, Lex wriggled until she was out from underneath Roy. She tried to use her right arm to pull herself away, but the sharp pain was too much. The only warmth came from her right hand. She looked down and saw blood seeping from the palm of her shredded glove, where she had fought with the barbed wire. "We're a mess."

  It took her more than a minute to take the folded bandana from her back left pocket, since her soaked jeans were skintight. Lex grabbed her right wrist and brought her hand closer. The pain in her arm made her sick, but she quickly wrapped the bandana around her bloody palm. "Fuck! Damned barbed wire. I can't believe anyone uses it these days."

  She knelt beside Roy and shook him by the shoulder. "Come on, Roy. I can't carry you up to the Jeep."

  Roy groaned and blinked his eyes open. "What--"

  "We've got a problem." Lex tried to lean over him and block the worst of the sleet.

  "Yeah?"

  "You can't walk like that, and there's no way I can get you up to the Jeep."

  He closed his eyes. "Leave me here and go get some help, then."

  "That's another part of the problem. I can't drive the Jeep with this arm." The stick-shift was hard enough to handle on a good day. Without her right arm, there was no way Lex could drive.

  "Damn."

  Lex struggled to her feet. "Let me run get my phone out of my coat." Her face paled as her injured arm swung away from her body. "Maybe I'll walk."

  Roy carefully rose to a sitting position. "You're not looking too good there."

  "No, I'm okay." Lex swallowed the bile that rose in her throat and tried to keep from passing out. "Hang in there, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

  She slowly headed for the Jeep, silently praying that she wouldn't collapse before she called for help.

  It seemed like forever, but Lex reached the Jeep within ten minutes. She opened the door and tried to pick up her duster with her right hand. "Fuck!" Her head spun and she thought she was going to pass out. Instead, she turned away from the Jeep and threw up, which brought more pain to her injured arm. She rested her forehead against the top of the vehicle and struggled to take deep, calming breaths.

  When she was certain that she would remain standing, Lex put on her hat, grabbed her coat and the blanket they kept in the back for emergencies. On her way to where she left Roy, she took her phone from the coat pocket and flipped it open. Her hand shook so badly from the cold she hoped she wouldn't drop it.

  The familiar voice was like a balm to her nerves. "Rocking W Ranch, Martha speaking."

  "M...Martha? W...where's Am...manda?" Lex asked, as she tried very hard not to slip down the bank of the creek.

  "Hello, Lexie. Nice to talk to you, too," Martha quipped.

  Lex stumbled but kept on her feet. "S...s...sorry. Do you know if any of the g...guys have m...made it back, yet?"

  "Not that I'm aware of, honey. Do you really need to speak to Amanda? She's giving Eddie a bath."

  "Uh, I g...g...guess n...not. D...damn it!" Lex stumbled over an ice-covered clump of weeds and fell to one knee. She dropped her coat, the blanket and her phone, and grasped her injured arm. "Fuck!"

  "Lexington Marie!" Martha scolded. She paused, but didn't get the expected apology. "What's going on? Where are you?"

  Lex picked up the phone and stretched out on her back in the mud. She closed her eyes against the sleet that continued to fall. "C...could you p...please send someone to the n...n...orth trail that heads to the c...c...creek? Roy and I need s...s...ome help getting back to the h...h...house."

  "Lordy, girl. What have you done now?"

  "Can I explain l...later? It's f...f...freezing out here and I'd really like to get R...R...Roy back where it's warm."

  Lex climbed to her knees, then to her feet. She adjusted her hat and put the blanket and coat over her shoulder. "Jack knows our ex...act l...l...location. He's the one that f...found the ruined fence."

  She trekked slowly to where she had left her foreman.

  Martha could be heard on the radio. "Base to Jack, do you read?"

  As she listened to Martha handle things, Lex knelt beside Roy, who had his eyes closed. "Hey, take off your coat and put mine on."

  Roy opened his eyes. "I can't take your coat." But even as he argued, he struggled to unbutton his soaked barn jacket.

  "I sure as hell can't put it on. Not with this damned arm."

  "Yeah, I didn't think of that." He gratefully accepted her heavy coat. "Thanks."

  Lex sat next to him and held her phone closer to her ear. "I'm sorry, Martha. W...w...hat?"

  "I couldn't reach Jack or Chet, but Charlie said he'd be glad to come."

  "R...Roy's got a broken leg, and we're down by the creek." Lex braced herself for the explosion, and Martha didn't disappoint.

  "A bro
ken leg? I swear, you can find trouble in a church, Lexie."

  Lex bit off a vulgar reply. Martha had no way of knowing how cold and miserable she and Roy were. "Yeah, I know. But Charlie w...won't be enough. And my d...d...danged arm is numb."

  "All right. I'll see who else I can scrounge up. You hang in there, honey."

  After she closed her phone, Lex shoved it into the breast pocket of her denim shirt. "M...Martha's gathering the c...cavalry, R...roy."

  With his help, she was able to get the wet blanket around her shoulders. The sleet continued to fall and drench everything in sight so the blanket wasn't doing much good. "T...thanks."

  He patted the ground beside him. His chattering teeth were almost as bad as hers. "D...don't be shy, Boss. Maybe we can share your m...m...onster of a coat."

  Lex edged closer. "B...best offer I've h...had all afternoon."

  She put her good arm around his shoulder and leaned into him.

  LESS THAN HALF an hour had passed since Martha had informed her of Lex's call. Amanda couldn't keep still in the front passenger seat of the Expedition. She jiggled her foot, tapped her fingers on the center console and sighed for the fourth time since they'd left the house.

  From behind the steering wheel, Charlie used his right hand to cover her fingers. Amanda had given him the keys, stating she was too nervous to drive. "We're almost there. Settle down."

  "Easier said than done." Amanda pulled her hand away and crossed her arms. "Are you sure the three of us will be enough?"

  Helen, sitting behind Amanda, leaned over the seat. "Both Martha and I tried to reach the hired hands via radio right up until Charlie got all the supplies together. We're all there is. And I don't know how he managed to break his leg, but I'm going to kill Roy when I get my hands on him."

  Charlie squeezed Amanda's hand and released it. "You can't go blaming Roy. I'm sure he just got in the way."

  "Don't listen to him, Helen." Amanda lightly swatted him on the arm. "Charlie's just picking on you."

  "Now, Amanda, you know darned good and well that if there was trouble to get into, Lex is usually the first one to find it," Charlie said. "I reckon poor Roy just got in front of her."