Beyond Always (Lex and Amanda Series)

by Carrie Carr

  "I reckon she's right about that. Although I'm glad I have a decent road around my fence line, "˜cause my horses sure were skitterish today."

  She took off her hat and wiped her sweaty forehead against her shoulder. The heavy humidity made for hot and sticky work.

  "If they couldn't keep them, why didn't they just sell them?"

  "That's the hundred-dollar question, ain't it? Either they didn't have bills of sale for them or maybe they were afraid they'd get in trouble for letting the horses get in such bad shape. Hell, for all we know, they stole "˜em and then couldn't do nothin' with "˜em. Maybe the sheriff will find out more and let us know."

  "Sheriff Jeremy's nice, but I bet my pawpaw was a better sheriff. I've seen pictures of him, even before he was old." Lorrie grinned when Shelby laughed. "Mada says he cut a dashing figure, whatever that means."

  "It means she thought he looked good in his uniform."

  Lorrie wrinkled her nose. "Eww. I didn't need to hear that."

  "Aw, come on. I think it's nice that they love one another like that. Don't you?" Shelby unfastened the power pull. "I'll take this to the truck, if you don't mind picking up the bits of wire on the ground."

  "Sure." Lorrie thought about how her grandparents acted. It wasn't much different from her parents. "Yeah, it's pretty cool," she said softly.

  She bent to gather the pieces of wire that lay scattered along the ground, when a gust of wind nearly blew her off her feet. "Whoa." She heard the far off rumble of thunder and looked into the darkening sky. "I'm glad we got done before it rained."

  Shelby placed the power pull in the steel toolbox that butted up against the cab of the truck. Before she could close the lid, the wind blew it out of her hand. "Damn!"

  She turned and yelled, "Let's get a move on, Lorrie. I want to be back at the house before we get caught in this storm."

  AMANDA ADDED ANOTHER diaper to Eddie's bag. She always packed too much, but she didn't want to be caught without one. That had happened to Lex once, and Amanda still laughed about the makeshift diaper her wife had made from her undershirt. Who knew that duct tape was so versatile?

  "Mommy." Eddie stood beside her. He held up a bright blue toy truck.

  "Thank you, sweetie. I'll add it to your bag." She heard the back door slam.

  Footsteps pounded up the stairs. "Mommy," Melanie yelled.

  Amanda closed her eyes for a moment. "Will your sister ever learn not to yell in the house?" she asked her son.

  "Meemee no."

  Amanda turned as Melanie stopped in the doorway. "Mel, you know better than to--"

  "Mommy, Mada wants you to call her on the speaker. She says the phones don't work." Melanie went to Eddie and lightly patted the top of his head. "Hi, Eddie."

  "Meemee, mine." He latched onto her shirt. "Meemee."

  Amanda was about to ask Melanie to explain when she heard the wail of the weather radio in the kitchen. "Great. Mel, would you please keep an eye on your brother while I see what Mada needs?"

  "Okey dokey. Come on, Eddie. Let's go to my room and color." She led him by the hand and kept her pace slow enough so that he could walk beside her.

  Amanda followed them as far as the stairs, which she jogged down in a hurry after closing the gate. The back door opened and Martha stepped inside, followed by Jeannie and her children, with Charlie bringing up the rear.

  "What's going on? I was just on my way to the kitchen to buzz you."

  "Where's Eddie and Melanie?" Martha asked as her husband ushered the others toward the kitchen.

  "Upstairs in her room. Why?" Amanda kept her hand on the banister, with her right foot still on the bottom step. "What on earth is going on?"

  "There's a nasty storm heading this way and it's already knocked out the phone lines. We need to get into the storm cellar, just to be safe."

  "I'll get the kids. Could you see if you could raise Lex on the radio? Hopefully they're already under cover." Amanda raced up the stairs. "Melanie! Bring your brother here, please!"

  SHELBY FOUGHT THE wind as she tried to get them back to her house. "How you doing, kid?" she yelled. Big, fat drops of rain began to splat against the windshield. "Dammit!" She couldn't see the dirt road, which was bracketed by five-foot deep culverts on either side.

  "I'm okay," Lorrie answered, just as loudly. She hand her left hand braced against the dash and her right hand on the door. When a strong blast of wind shoved the truck off the road, she screamed.

  The gale-force wind caused the left tires to catch the shoulder of the road, where it flipped onto the driver's side in the ditch. Shelby was knocked unconscious as her head slammed against her window. Lorrie's frightened scream turned to a pained cry as she was thrown toward Shelby.

  "I THINK WE'VE got enough tables and chairs," Lex told Weldon Page as they stood inside the high school gym. He was ten years her senior, and had been the assistant principal at the high school for twenty years.

  "Maybe, but you can never be too sure. This past year, Mr. Miller was in charge, and he had to hear complaints from the Ladies' Auxiliary for months afterwards. I don't want all those old women calling me like that."

  She laughed at him. "Chicken."

  "Yeah, make fun of me all you want, but--"

  Both of them were startled as a loud rumble of thunder caught them off guard. Lex looked up through the expansive windows that circled the top of the gymnasium. Heavy, dark clouds hid the sun.

  "So much for hauling more chairs, Weldon. We'd better get back and see if they need any help securing stuff before the rain hits."

  He followed her to the outside door. "You just don't want to load anything else into your truck."

  "That's true." Lex opened the door, only to have the wind yank it out of her hand. "Damn. I think we need to hurry."

  She tugged her cap down tightly on her head and headed for her truck at a run.

  "Hey, wait for me," Weldon hollered. He tried to run behind her, but the strong wind made his progress difficult. They were halfway to Lex's truck when the sky opened and heavy rain pounded them.

  Lex jumped in behind the wheel and slammed her door closed. Water dripped from her baseball cap and her clothes were soaked. When Weldon climbed inside, she turned and grinned. "Almost made it, didn't we?"

  "You're crazy." Weldon wiped the water off his face with one hand. "Well? Are we gonna sit here and steam up the windows, or go back to the fair?"

  Lex laughed and put the truck in gear. "I like you, Weldon. You're as much of an ass as I am."

  As she drove away from the high school, the truck was rocked by the strong wind. "Damn. I hope the canopies hold up."

  "Guess it depends on if you put the stakes in deep enough."

  "Smartass." Lex used her hand to wipe the condensation off the windshield as she tried to see through the heavy rain. "I hope this blows over soon."

  Weldon leaned closer to the windshield. "It's really coming down. Yow!" The truck lurched sideways due to the wind. A large tree branch fell in front of them. "Look out!"

  Lex cursed and jerked the steering hard to the left. The truck skidded across the pavement and only the curb kept them from going across the sidewalk and into a private yard. "Holy shit, that was close."

  "I knew you could handle it."

  "Right. That's why you screamed like a little girl. I thought one of my daughters was in the truck with me." Lex tried to laugh it off, but her insides were still shaking from the close call.

  As lightning hit a few miles ahead of them, the thunder rattled the windows on the truck.

  "This is insane," Weldon remarked. "I'm glad we're safe in--"

  When Lex turned the corner, the wind blew a small car against the truck. "Shit!"

  She was so busy trying to move away from the car, that she didn't see the huge elm tree uprooted by the storm. It crumpled the hood of the truck and slammed into the windshield.

  "THE WIND HAS really picked up," Kathleen remarked to Anna Leigh. They were side-by-side in the kitc
hen, preparing sandwiches from barbecue that someone had brought inside. "My grandmother told me she thought we were going to get a storm, but I hadn't heard anything on the radio about it."

  Anna Leigh tore off a square of cellophane and wrapped the sandwich she had cut in half. "I'd listen to Bernice, dear. She's been right more often than not. What exactly did she say?"

  "Well, before I took her back to her room at the home, she was talking about barometric pressure and such. Honestly, I thought she was just having one of her spells."

  "Don't discount her words, Kathleen. She's rarely wrong, especially about--"

  Something heavy hit the roof, causing the women in the kitchen to gasp. Evaline Cassidy, who was drying dishes, dropped a plate. The hard plastic rattled and caused her to blush. Her gray hair stood out like a beacon against her red face. "I'm sorry. What was that?"

  "One of the trees must have lost a branch." Anna Leigh removed her disposable gloves and tossed them in the trash. "Perhaps we should go into the main hall away from the windows, just until this blows over."

  Phyllis Chambers stood nearby, but she hadn't lifted a finger to help. She was the same age as Kathleen, but thought that such work was beneath her. "Honestly, Anna. Do you really think that's necessary?"

  Another crash answered her, and she hurried out of the kitchen as fast as her legs could carry her.

  "I think she has the right idea," Evaline added as she followed Phyllis.

  "Come on, Mrs. Cauble. We'll go sit near the restrooms. That's where the strongest walls are." Kathleen linked her arm with Anna Leigh. "I believe Mary was out there, organizing the tables. Do you mind if I stay close to you?"

  "Not at all, dear. Let's see if we can keep Evaline and Phyllis from killing one another."

  LESS THAN A mile from the VFW hall, business was slow at McAlister's feed store. The manager, Tom Bennett, had sent everyone else home except for Rebecca. He sat at the desk in his office, in hopes of getting the deposit figured before she was scheduled to leave.

  In the main part of the store, Rebecca used a feather duster to clean the shelves. She picked up a bottle of horse liniment and read the label.

  "Good for horses and their humans? Oh, my God. That's scary."

  She dusted the shelf and returned the bottles to their proper places.

  The sound of the wind and rain hitting the building made her think about her partner. "Wonderful. Just what we didn't need today."

  She took her cell phone from her back pocket and hit the speed dial for Shelby. It rang several times before a recording came on that advised Rebecca the party she tried to reach wasn't available. "Weird. It should have least gone to voice mail."

  Lightning struck nearby, and the loud boom that followed caused her to jump. "Geez!"

  Rebecca put her cell phone in the back pocket of her jeans. "I hope Shelby had enough sense to get under cover before the bad weather hit."

  She cringed as the building creaked from the high winds. Her eyes tracked to the front picture window, where she could see various things blowing across the road. Trash, leaves and small tree branches flew by.

  As she thought about Shelby, Rebecca crossed her arms to ward off a frightened chill. "I wish she was here."

  She looked up as a loud noise came from above, just in time to see part of the ceiling come down. Rebecca's scream was cut off as she was buried in drywall, wood beams and the top of a monstrous tree.

  "AMANDA, YOU NEED to get in here," Martha called from the door of the storm cellar. The wind had picked up and was throwing debris against the house. "Bring the damned hand-held with you!" She rarely cursed, but her worry now overrode her upbringing.

  "I'm coming." Amanda hurried toward the kitchen. She carried her cell phone, the wireless handset to the house phone and two radios. "Were you able to reach Helen and Roy?"

  Martha helped her down the steps so that Charlie could close the cellar door. "Right before we came over. They're safer where they are, since their house is in a lower-lying area. Helen latched the shutters in Roy's office, so they're well-protected."

  Amanda sat across from Jeannie, who rocked Hunter to keep him from crying. Teddy, whose eyes were wide with fear, huddled on the other side of his mother.

  "Mommy!" Eddie patted Amanda's leg and demanded to be picked up. Freckles stood behind him and whined.

  She lifted him onto her lap and kissed his cheek. "Hey, handsome. Isn't this fun?"

  "I'm scared, Mommy." Melanie had her right pinkie finger in her mouth, a gesture that only showed up when she was nervous.

  Martha sat on the other side of Amanda and patted her lap. "Come sit with me, sweetie. We're perfectly safe in here. Right, Pawpaw?"

  "Right." Charlie sat beside Jeannie and put his arm around her. "Everything will be just fine."

  The house groaned as it was attacked by the hard wind.

  "Are we gonna die?" Teddy asked.

  Jeannie playfully bumped him with a shoulder. "Of course not, honey. This is the safest place in the world."

  "What about Daddy?"

  Melanie started to cry. "I want Momma."

  Amanda agreed with the sentiment but she put on a brave face. "I'm sure everyone else is just as safe as we are." A loud thump above them caused her to look at the ceiling of the shelter. "We'll probably hear from them as soon as the storm passes."

  THE DUPLEX SHOOK from the force of the wind. One of the bedroom windows shattered and blew glass and rain across the bed and its occupants.

  "What the fuck?" Kyle yelled, awakened from a dead sleep. She had protectively rolled onto Ellie, who immediately wrapped her arms around her. Both of them were under the covers, until Kyle cautiously poked her head out.

  "Kyle?"

  "Hold on, baby. I'm not sure what happened." The rain continued to blow in. Kyle exhaled in relief when she realized the weather was to blame. "It's all right, just a storm."

  She raised herself off Ellie. "A pretty nasty one, it seems."

  Ellie wiped her hair away from her face. The electricity was off, and the heavy clouds made the mid-afternoon seem like evening. "My God, what's going on?"

  Kyle tossed the glass-covered comforter onto the floor and wrapped the sheet around her lover. "Stay here while I grab us some clothes."

  "You can't walk across the floor in your bare feet," Ellie argued.

  "Well, I'm not sitting here naked in bed, waiting until someone comes to help." Kyle stepped on the blanket and carefully tiptoed to the closet. After she was dressed, she brought Ellie her clothes. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear it was a hurricane, or something. That wind sounds fierce."

  Ellie quickly dressed and followed Kyle to look out the broken window. "I can't even see the house across the street. This is crazy." Another heavy thud shook the duplex. "Are we safe in here?"

  A loud crash from the living room was all the answer they needed. "I never thought I'd say this to you, but let's get into the closet," Kyle said.

  She tugged Ellie with her as she headed for the walk-in closet on the other side of the room.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  THE RAIN CONTINUED to pound the outside of the truck, which creaked with the force of the wind. Lorrie tried to keep from crying, but every movement of the truck caused her left arm, which hung lifelessly below her, to sway. Her seatbelt kept her in place but she was too far away to reach the still woman beneath her.

  "S...Sh...Shelby?" She wiped the tears from her face with her good hand. "Shelby? Wake up. Please?"

  She twisted in the seat, which moved her arm. She screamed as tears dripped off her nose.

  The sound of Lorrie's distress brought Shelby around. She attempted to open her eyes, but only her right one would obey. "Ugh."

  "Shelby?" Lorrie rubbed her fist under her nose to wipe away the tears. "Shelby, are you all right?"

  "Uh," Shelby groaned as she tried to get her bearings. "Lorrie?"

  Lorrie sobbed in relief. "I thought you were dead."

  Shelby was able to
move her head, but almost threw up at the motion. "Fuck."

  "What's wrong?"

  "Gimme a sec," Shelby ground out between gritted teeth. She concentrated on her churning stomach. She closed her eye and silently pleaded with herself to not get sick.

  As she waited, she took stock of her condition. She was crushed against the driver's door and the pain coming from her left shoulder was almost as bad as the sharp throbbing from her head. Although it was dark beneath her, she could see muddy water that ran a few inches below them. She cleared her throat. "Lorrie? Are you okay?"

  "My arm hurts really bad." As she spoke, the truck quit rocking. The rain continued, however. "I think the wind stopped."

  "Good." Shelby slowly moved her right hand until she reached her belt. She took her cell phone out of the leather holster and used her thumb to push the keys. The off-key tones she heard made her want to cry. "Fuck. No phone service."

  Lorrie crossed her right hand over her body. "Should I unbuckle my seat belt? Maybe I can help you."

  "No!" Yelling made Shelby's head hurt worse and she was afraid she was about to embarrass herself by throwing up. "Let's just sit still for a minute and try to figure something out, okay? I don't want you to fall and hurt yourself more."

  "I think I can turn and stand on the dash," Lorrie said, as she carefully raised her legs and braced them. "Then I won't fall, right?"

  Shelby swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. She could feel a wet stickiness along the left side of her head, and fuzzily wondered what it could be. She was so focused on the pain that she didn't hear Lorrie's comments.

  The click that announced the release of Lorrie's seatbelt was loud in the cab of the truck. An instant later, Shelby heard the girl scream in pain as she dropped from her seat.

  THE ELECTRICITY FLICKERED off in the store as the storm raged around them. Tom felt as well as heard the crash in the front of the feed store and jumped out of his chair. He rushed blindly out of his office toward the main showroom.

  "Oh, my God," he whispered.