by Linda Broday
A strange odor struck her, like the smell of something dead, but not a person or animal. It was the land that had died. Addie turned around slowly. The tornado had wiped the land clean of all vegetation as far as she could see. Her head stung and itched, and when she scratched it, she found dirt caked underneath her fingernails. Surprised, she released a little cry.
“It’ll be all right, Addie.” Ridge’s voice was gentle. “Everything embedded in our skin will come out in time.”
“At least we’re alive. Everything else seems minor,” she agreed.
They set out, and she matched her stride to Ridge’s. An hour must’ve passed before the house came into view. Bodie saw them and came running. “I feared the worst when the horses came back alone.”
“We’re fine.” Ridge turned his attention to the house.
Addie followed his gaze to the missing corner of the roof and wall. The spare room had been clipped and was now open to the sky. “Ridge is hurt, but nothing serious. Where did you hide, Bodie?”
The kid crossed his arms and stuck his hands in his armpits. “I rode it out in your little room under the stairs.”
“Good.” She swiveled to look at the barn and noticed not a board out of place. “The horses?”
“They’re fine. So is the milk cow.” Bodie gave her a quick grin that vanished as soon as it formed. “You might’ve lost a few chickens. The worst part is the Lassiter kids, Ely and Jenny, were up fishing in that creek that runs across your property and theirs. They’ve vanished. Don’t rightly know if the tornado scooped them up or what. Everybody’s out looking for them.”
Concern crossed Ridge’s face. “Get me doctored, Addie. I need to help search.”
“Of course.” Her thoughts in a tangled mess, Addie hurried to the house with him. How could a couple of kids have survived that storm? Ignoring the smashed dishes on the floor, she jerked out the box of medical supplies. Her fingers trembled as she washed Ridge’s latest wound and swabbed it good with antiseptic.
The instant she secured the bandage, Ridge got to his feet and hollered out the back door. “Bodie, saddle my horse!” Then he raced upstairs for a clean shirt.
Addie stood at the kitchen door and handed him an old hat, since the storm had taken his new one. “Find them.”
“I’ll do my best.” Ridge gave her a peck on the cheek and hurried out. A second later, he and Bodie galloped away from the house.
She stood in the eerie stillness, the strange odor of the storm engulfing her. The house carried the same horrible stench of something dead. The bent elm tree in the yard had been stripped of every inch of bark. She’d never seen anything like that, or the long pole speared clear through the tree’s trunk, as though driven in with a giant hammer.
The magnitude of what they’d escaped overwhelmed her, and she sat at the table, her head in her hands. Her brush with death played over in her mind, and tears burned the back of her eyes. Rebel must be frantic to find her children. Those poor little dears.
First order of business was getting cleaned up, then she’d head over to the Lassiter house to see what she could do. She bustled upstairs to the bathing room and drew water. Her upper body was a mass of bruises, stinging cuts and scrapes that the tepid water soothed. After soaking for a few minutes, she tackled her hair, scrubbing her scalp with both hands. Two washings removed a portion of the dirt and something that resembled black tar, but a lot was still embedded. As Ridge had predicted, it would come out in time.
Her hair dried during the muddy ride, and she dismounted at the Lassiter home. It had been hit worse than theirs and was missing its entire roof.
Rebel stood in the yard holding little Rafe, surrounded by a half-dozen women from the town. The former saloon girl’s red-rimmed eyes held worry. “Thank you for coming, Addie.”
“I’m so sorry, Rebel. I came to see if there’s anything I can do.” Addie patted the baby’s leg and got a slobbery smile in return. Now that she was there, she could see that Rebel needed far more than the piddly help she could offer. Everyone seemed in shock.
Tally strode over, red tendrils of hair blowing in the breeze. “You can help sort their belongings, Addie. We’re putting them in two piles—one is immediate things the family will need while they’re living at the hotel, and the other is for things to store until they rebuild their house.”
“I’ll be happy to. How did the town fare, Tally?”
“The tornado bypassed the town, thank heavens. It only hit out here where there’s no protection. The McClain place is even worse than this. It pretty well reduced their home to matchsticks. Nora and some of the other women are working over there.” Tally shielded her eyes with a hand. “I love the sound of your voice! How does it feel having it back?”
“There were so many things I had wished I could say, and now I can.”
Tally’s worried gaze wandered to Rebel. Clearly, her attention was on their friend even as she made other conversation. “I’m overjoyed for you. Ridge said you and he got caught out in the open during the twister. That must’ve been terrifying.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that. I thought we were going to die. We probably would’ve without a ravine nearby to jump into. Even so, the wind embedded a two-inch piece of metal in Ridge’s back.”
Rebel gasped. “He didn’t mention that.”
“Of course not.” Tally chuckled. “He’s like Clay—thinks it so minor, it’s not worth talking about.”
“Exactly.” Addie didn’t ask about Ely and Jenny. She could tell by the long faces there’d been no word, and the last thing Rebel needed was a reminder that her children had vanished. Addie reached for a different topic. “Ladies, as a new member of your committee, I vote to postpone the Harvest Dance. We really have nothing much to celebrate right now.”
Both women agreed, and Tally added, “Nora said the same thing earlier. Besides, Clay is working on a way to have the affair inside the barn, which will be a lot better.”
“Wonderful!” At first, Addie had thought it odd that they had only one big barn to serve the entire town, but Ridge had told her the lack of space had made sharing necessary. A community barn. A community fire. A community dance.
A community of people helping people. And now they pulled together to find two lost kids.
Twenty-Two
By nightfall, the men had returned from their search empty-handed. Jenny and Ely—assuming they were alive—would spend the night alone with no food. Probably no water either. Deep sadness enveloped Addie, and she went about her chores in a fog. Ridge and Bodie barely said a word during supper or afterward, while they hammered temporary boards over the damaged portion of the roof.
Addie kept to her thoughts, happy to have been able to do something, however small, to ease Rebel’s burden. While they’d been cleaning up and sorting household goods, Tally had told Addie the horrifying story of how she and Clay had rescued Jenny and Ely from the same horrible asylum where Tally had been imprisoned. They’d been left there by their poor excuse for a father following the death of their mother. Rebel had taken them in, then Travis had adopted them. Now this. What more could happen to that family?
Lying in bed later, Addie snuggled next to Ridge, her head on his chest, and listened to his strong heartbeat. Gratitude welled inside her again that they’d been spared.
Ridge idly ran a hand down the arm she’d thrown across his stomach. “I wish I knew where to look next for those kids. Rebel and Travis are about to go out of their minds.”
“We would too if they were ours,” she answered.
“Do you want kids, Addie? We’ve never discussed it.”
“Yes, I would. I’d love to feel a child of yours growing inside me.” She raised her head and met his gaze. “What do you want?”
“The same. I think four is a good number—two boys and two girls. But I can’t let myself consider it while I
have these charges hanging over me. I don’t want to bring a child into this world of danger. Riders could come and haul me out of here any day.”
The possibility squeezed her heart as though an iron fist had reached into her chest. “You’re safe here with Clay, Jack, and the others to help keep watch.”
He ran light fingers across her face, his voice soft. “I’m not safe anywhere. Eventually I’ll face another posse or bounty hunter. Or Tom Calder. He’ll never give up on his desire for vengeance.”
“Maybe he’s dead by now.”
“I doubt that. Hate like that keeps a man living. No, he’ll come one day.”
“Why aren’t you fighting mad? You should be angry.”
“I clung to anger and bitterness for a long time before I realized it accomplished nothing.” He sighed. “I’ve accepted my fate. Now it’s time for you to do it too.”
How? She refused to consider the possibility of his capture. “No, Ridge. I’ll never fold my hands in defeat. As long as I have breath, I have hope.”
“My way eases the knots in my belly.” He pulled her down for a long kiss and ran his palms over her body.
Addie forgot everything except this man with a slow touch of fire and a need rising for what he could give.
* * *
The morning dawned gray and dreary to match their moods, big puddles still standing from the storm the previous day. Ridge hurried to eat, then rode over to the Diamond Bessie Hotel to join the search party again. He’d left Bodie at home to do chores and repair the roof. Addie had wanted to come, but he’d talked her out of it this time.
A group of men stood silently in the light rain, their somber faces saying all he needed to know. His spurs jangled as he dismounted and strode to Travis, who was hunched over a map with Clay and Jack under the awning. “Morning all,” Ridge said quietly. “I was going to make some suggestions, but I take it you’ve beat me to a plan.”
Travis glanced up, his eyes hollow, his face gaunt. “Yeah. We have to find Jenny and Ely today. I promised Rebel I wouldn’t come back without them. It’s a promise I have to keep.”
“We’ll find them. Just keep believing.” Ridge glanced at the map and stabbed a finger at a section of inhospitable terrain that was littered with caves—Devil Back Range. “I’ll take this. That’s about the general location where the tornado lifted back into the clouds. If the storm picked them up, it may have dropped them there.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” Clay adjusted his hat on his head. “I’ll take the area just in front of that and then help Ridge. It’ll take a while to look in all the caves.”
“Ely’s a smart kid. If they were dropped there, he’d look for shelter.” A measure of hope flitted across Travis’s eyes before it faded. “That is, if he and Jenny are still together—and alive.”
Jack laid a hand on Travis’s back. “Don’t go there. You have to hold fast to hope. It’s the only way you and Rebel are going to get through this.”
Travis lifted his chin. “You’re right. We’re going to find my kids.” He called the men over and gave them their search assignments. Brother Paul was ready to ride with them, as was Todd Denver, the schoolmaster, and some of the older kids.
Tiny and Pickens showed a keen interest in their doings from the strap iron jail sitting in the square. They’d gotten a good drenching from the rain and hail yesterday, but they’d needed a bath anyway.
Brother Paul stood on the hotel steps and delivered a prayer, after which the men scattered to search.
Ridge galloped toward the unforgiving hardness of Devil Back Range, a bleak landscape that stretched for miles. If the kids had dropped anywhere in there, finding them would be like looking for a single kernel of corn in a hundred bushels of grain. Still, he’d do his best. But chances were high that if they did find the kids, they’d find them dead. The same thoughts had been in Travis’s eyes that morning.
Ridge methodically scoured the caves and ravines, yelling their names every few yards. The sun bore down with a vengeance, and he had to stop and drink often from his canteen.
He thought of his Bible teachings and the comfort he’d often given parishioners when they were going through difficult times but found no comfort for himself now. Ridge dismounted and gazed at the sky that went on forever. Rage burned inside him.
“Why in the hell did you send that tornado? Why hurt two innocent little kids? You’re supposed to be a loving God!” Shaking, Ridge kicked a clump of sage. “I see nothing but vengeance. You took Jenny and Ely. You took everything from me. You brought Addie so much misery. Bodie too. What more do you want? When will you be satisfied? Figured there would be no answer.” Ridge snorted, calling himself a lunatic for arguing with someone who’d marked him off the list.
He finally got back in the saddle and had neared the middle of Devil Back when Clay joined him, having finished his designated section.
“I take it you found nothing.” Ridge rested his arm on the pommel and took in his friend’s worried eyes.
“Not exactly.” Clay pulled a shoe from inside his shirt. It was the right size and style for a little girl.
Ridge swallowed hard. He wasn’t surprised. “We don’t know if it’s Jenny’s, but who else’s could it be?”
“I agree. This will kill Travis and Rebel.”
“Hey, I’m not ready to give up. They could still be alive.” Maybe it was his former profession as a man of faith, or maybe it was plain old stubbornness, but something urged Ridge to keep looking. “Now that you’re here, we can cover twice as much ground. I figure we have six more hours of daylight.” He glanced up at the sun midway of the sky, and the spit dried in his mouth. A large flock of vultures were circling. “See that?”
Clay’s face froze. “Yeah. We’d best go find out what died.”
They worked their way toward the site, but navigating over the rocks took some time. Dread lodged in Ridge’s chest. They needed to find the kids, but he prayed that this wasn’t them. Not like this. Not dead.
At last they rounded some mesquite and juniper, and Ridge took his first full breath since seeing the vultures. One of the huge black birds perched on a dead antelope.
“Thank God.” Clay reached for the tobacco and papers in his pocket.
The big man did have a sense of humor, Ridge would give him that.
“I sure didn’t want to have to go back and tell Travis and Rebel.” Ridge turned his horse around.
Jack and the oldest Truman boy joined them about an hour later, and Clay showed them the shoe. “This seems the most promising spot,” Jack said.
For the next several hours, the men searched every cave and rocky ravine. The sun would go down soon and stop their search for the night. Dammit! How long could the kids survive out here alone? How much longer could Travis and Rebel cling to hope?
Ridge removed his hat and wiped his forehead. A sound alerted him. He stilled. “Everyone stay where they are and listen.”
Nothing. Only the sound of the wind.
“What do you think you heard, Ridge?” Jack asked.
“A weak voice. I think I must’ve imagined it.”
“Let’s yell their names, then be quiet and see if we get a reply,” Clay suggested.
They did, and a moment later, they heard it—a weak cry for help. Someone was there! Ridge raced over the boulders and sharp rocks, following the voice. They paused several times to call out, and the voice grew louder. The sound led to an open pit, a rock wall rising all around. He judged the hole to be a good fifteen feet deep.
A small child stood at the bottom, waving her arms. “Down here!” Someone else laid curled up at her feet.
Ridge breathed a sigh of relief. “Jenny? That you?”
“Yes. Ely’s hurt. Hurry.”
“Okay, honey. We’re coming,” Clay answered.
“We’ll have to drop down an
d hoist them up.” Ridge removed his coil of rope and tied one end to Cob’s pommel.
“I’m coming too.” Jack got his rope and did likewise to his mount. “That way we can bring them both up at once. Clay and Henry can work with the horses to keep the lines taut.”
Fifteen-year-old Henry, oldest of ten brothers, grinned, anxious to prove himself to his heroes. “Sure, Mr. Bowdre. I’ll keep inching your horse back a little at a time. I won’t let you slip or nothing.”
Jack winked. “You’re a good man, Henry.”
Ridge watched the exchange, seeing in them the boy he used to be with his father. His eyes burned. Kids needed to feel important.
At last, the rope secure about his waist, Ridge eased over the side and down the slick wall. Jenny threw her arms around him, sobbing. “It’s all right now, honey. We found you.”
“I was so scared, and Ely wouldn’t stay awake.”
Her feet were bare. Deep bruises discolored her dirty face, and a tattered dress hung from her small form. But all that and Ely’s injuries aside, however serious those might be, they were alive. The kids were lucky.
“Okay. I’m going to get you out of here, then see about your brother.” Ridge tied the rope around Jenny’s small waist and hollered to Clay to back the horse and pull her up.
Once she’d begun the ascent, he hurried to Ely and squatted next to Jack. Blood still oozed from a deep gash on Ely’s forehead where something must’ve struck him, and one leg was bent wrong and looked broken. Jack removed a canteen he’d slung around his neck and placed it to the boy’s mouth. Ely groaned and opened his eyes.
He took a small sip and yelled. “It hurts! I want my papa.”
“I’m sorry. Try to hold on. We’re going to get back to town to the doctor.” Ridge laid a gentle hand on Ely’s shoulder. “Your mama and papa will be mighty glad to see you both.”
“I thought we were dead.”
“That was a bad storm.” Ridge looked at Jack. “How are we going to do this? I don’t know if he’s in any shape to go up alone.”