Lonestar Homecoming (35 page)

This thing will never catch a truck.

Though the words played over and over in his head with every crash of thunder, he couldn't stop. He had to try, even if he was rolling forward at only twenty-five miles an hour. Gracie's face shone before him, guiding him on. He'd been so focused on saving her, he hadn't realized how she'd saved him. Her gentleness was the light he'd needed to find his way. No wonder Kate had divorced him.

He swiped at his damp eyes and steered the four-wheeler toward the taillights. He seemed to be closing the gap. “God, help me save her,” he whispered. “I have to find her.”

A movement caught his eye, and he squinted when the next flash of lightning came.The light illuminated Hope's panicked face.

“Hope!” He jammed on the brake and jumped from the four-wheeler.

Hope leaped into his arms. “Daddy, you have to save Mommy. She's there!” She turned and pointed to the left of the taillights. “Cid's coming. He'll hurt her.”

Michael crushed her to his chest. “I won't let him, honey.” He set her on the ground. “Mr. Rick is in the barn. Run to him and tell him what you told me. I'm going to go get your mommy.”

She wiped her eyes and took off toward the barn. He leaped back onto the old four-wheeler.The engine sputtered as he pushed it as fast as he dared. Lightning slammed into a saguaro cactus nearby, and the sizzling stench made him grimace. Riding an open metal vehicle in a desert thunderstorm wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done, but it was the most necessary. Sand spit from the four-wheeler's tires, but the old machine handled the uneven ground.

The first raindrop hit his forehead, followed by another. And another. Just when he thought the heavens would let loose, the sprinkles stopped.

“Thank you, God,” he said, straining to see through the flashes of light that lit the darkness for only a few moments. Lightning drew his eye to the blond hair of a woman in the distance.

Gracie. He steered to intercept her.

31

S
OMETHING HAD CHANGED FOR
G
RACIE
. T
HE SCALES HAD FALLEN FROM HER
eyes, and she couldn't keep letting fear and shame rule her life. If she was going to die tonight, at least she'd die with her head held high and her integrity intact. Running had solved nothing for her in the past five years. Evil always gave chase. She would see if confrontation could turn it away.

Thunder crashed overhead as she watched Cid approach. She walked the last few steps to meet him.The scent of rain added to her sense of setting out on a new pathway. Lightning suffused Cid's face with color. His narrowed eyes glittered when Gracie reached him.

He moved to take her arm, but she stepped back and held up her hand. “No more, Cid. I won't be intimidated by you anymore. I chose to come back and face you. I'm not running.You can drag me across the border.You can throw me in a bordello.You can beat me. But you will never break me again. Do you understand?”

His mouth sagged, and he blinked several times. “The mouse is roaring?” His laughter held a note of uncertainty.

Poor, poor man. Only Cid knew the demons that drove him, just as she was the one who had to face her demons. “I haven't always made the best choices in life. Neither have you. But we can change.”

“What is this—a sermon?” He rolled his eyes.

“I can understand you wanting to help your dad.You've done that. He's free.You can start a new life now, Cid. Let me go. I have children to raise.”

Listen, please listen.

His jaw tightened. “You nearly got me killed, Gracie.”

“No,
you
nearly got yourself killed.You're the one who chose to get involved with the cartel.You're the one who laid a plan to use me to free your dad. And you're the only one who can walk away now.”

“It is too late for that. I must take my place at my father's side.”

She heard the regret in his voice. “Do the right thing, Cid. Let me go.”

His gaze held hers, then broke away. He shifted his weight and glanced at her again. She held her breath while she awaited his decision. The moment passed when the glint returned to his eyes, and his lips hardened.

He grabbed her arm. “You will not confuse me, Gracie.The time for talk is past. Come.”

Her failure to turn Cid from his course hit her harder than the realization that her life was in danger. She almost started to walk with him, then she stopped and plopped onto the sand. “I'm not helping you do this.”

He yanked cruelly on her arm. “Get up.”

She ignored the pain and sat down in the rough sand. Her broken wrist throbbed. Lightning lashed the sky again, and a few drops of rain struck her face. “No.You'll have to carry me.”

He waved the gun in her face. “I could shoot you where you sit.”

“You won't.Then you couldn't continue to punish me.”

Cursing, he grabbed her under the arms and began to drag her toward the truck. “This is going to take all night,” he said, panting.

She dug her heels into the sand as hard as she could and slumped with her full weight to slow down their progress.

“I'm more trouble than I'm worth, Cid,” she said. “This won't be the end. I'll fight you at every turn.”

His breath labored in his chest from her weight. He dropped her on the sand and glared down at her. “If you do not get up and walk, I will find Hope.”

Glaring back, she said, “I won't let you use fear to control me anymore.” The clouds let go overhead, and rain began to pummel the desert.The wind blew the drops in a stinging curtain against her face. “You'd better hurry or you won't get across the wash before it floods.”

His eyes widened, and he glanced back toward the truck. Gracie prayed for a flash flood to thunder down the canyon. Or a bolt of lightning to distract him. Something to change his mind. Surprisingly, she found she wanted him to change his mind for
his
well-being, not just her own. Revenge and bitterness would consume him if he let it.

When she first heard the rumble, she thought it was thunder. Then Cid's head jerked to the right, and his face twisted into a snarl. She peered through the sheets of rain and made out something moving. A four-wheeler in this storm? Swiping the deluge from her face, she squinted at the form on the seat.

Michael clutched the steering wheel with both hands and rode the machine to intercept them. She wanted to leap to her feet and dance. He was alive.The fire hadn't taken him and Rick. Her joy was short-lived, though, when she saw Cid pull his gun from his belt.

She stumbled up from the sand and leaped onto Cid's back. “No!”

“Get off me!” He whirled in a circle, trying to dislodge her.

Gracie grabbed for the gun, but it was out of her reach. Cid fell on top of her onto the sand, and the impact drove the air from her lungs. She struggled to pull in oxygen. Her hands fell from his neck, and she lay gasping, with the rain running into her mouth and nose. Rolling to her stomach, she coughed up the river of water. She got to her hands and knees and flung her dripping hair out of her eyes.Where was Michael?

After she staggered to her feet, she found both men rolling in the sand. The gun lay nearly submerged in a gully made by the driving rain. She grabbed it and pointed it at Cid, but there was no opportunity to use it.The men were too close.The rain stopped as quickly as it had started, but lightning continued to rip the sky.The men rolled and grunted.

Michael was on the bottom, with Cid's hands on his throat. His knee came up and dislodged Cid, who rolled into a ditch.

“Black widows!” Striking at his shirt, Cid staggered across the sand.

Gracie winced. He would be in intense pain very shortly. She thought the spider bites would slow him down, but he leaped at Michael again, and the two rolled into a struggling heap. Stuffing the gun in the waistband of her jeans, she tried to find a large rock she could use to hit Cid with, but there was nothing but wet sand.

The truck.The pipe wrench. She ran toward the vehicle, pulling out the gun again for protection against Cid's father. On approaching the truck, she saw no sign of him. The vehicle had been abandoned in the middle of the wash, bogged down by wet sand. She splashed through the water, then climbed into the back and found the wrench. It would be heavy enough to knock out Cid.

Before she could exit, the truck started and rolled forward with a jerk. Gracie lurched and fell when the truck veered and accelerated. She crawled to the tarp and saw Michael running toward her. Cid must be driving. She gained her feet and grabbed the side of the tarp to steady herself.

She heard Cid moan, and the truck stopped. She stuck her head out and peered toward the cab. She could see his ashen face in the mirror. His eyes were closed and he moaned again. Even after all he'd done to her, she pitied him. Though she'd never had a black widow bite, she'd heard stories about the pain. He'd fallen into a nest and likely had multiple bites. Even with medical attention, he would probably die.

“Gracie!” Michael screamed.

She turned her head toward him and gazed into eyes filled with terror.

“Jump!” Michael pointed and waved to her left.

Gracie saw what caused the fear on his face.A wall of water bore down on the truck as it splashed through the wash. She had only moments to escape its massive power.Without stopping to think, she leaped from the back of the truck and hit the sand. Even as she ran for the bank, she knew she wasn't going to make it.

The roar of the approaching water barreled down the wash like water in a pipe. Desert mountains rose on either side. She'd be unable to climb out with the water tumbling her along. Flotsam rode the crest of the waves and the floodwaters would hold even deadlier missiles under the surface.

She caught a glimpse of Michael's panicked face and charged toward him with all her might. The wet sand sucked at her feet, and she seemed to be running in slow motion.Almost there. Stretching her hand forward as far as she could without tipping over, she snatched at his open palm. He reached down toward her. Her fingers grazed his, then his hand closed on hers. He yanked her up as the water encased her feet. They fell back on the bank. Struggling to catch her breath, Gracie lay on top of him.

The ground rumbled under them from the newly swollen river rushing by. She buried her face in his wet shirt.Tears choked her. Such a close call.

She bolted upright. “Hope!”

Michael sat up with her still in his arms. “I found her and sent her on to Rick. She's fine.”

Gracie turned to stare down into the roiling waters.There was no trace of the truck or Cid. “He's gone.”

“Yeah. Are you hurt anywhere?”

She shook her head, then laid her cheek on his chest. “I'm so tired. And so glad it's over.”

He pressed his lips against her forehead. “I thought I'd lost you.”

“I thought you died in the fire. No, scratch that. I was sure if you'd died, I would have felt it.” She lifted her head. “I confronted him, Michael. I decided I wasn't going to run anymore. I appealed to his better side and told him he didn't have to keep making wrong choices.”

“He didn't listen, did he?”

“No. But I knew I had to do it. I had to quit running. I had to take control of my life and face my own decisions. I did a sit-down strike.”

His lips curved. “A strike?”

She laughed, remembering Cid's face when she refused to walk. “He was dragging me to the truck when he saw you.When you came to save me.”

He cupped her face in his hands. “You saved me, Gracie. Your sweetness, your love. I let the truck with all the weapons get away. You're all that matters to me. The battle will go on this year and next year and the year after that.We can live to fight another day as long as we're together. Let's go home.”

His lips brushed hers, then his arms swept her into a fierce embrace. “Anywhere you are is home to me,” she whispered.

EPILOGUE

R
ESIDENTS OF
B
LUEBIRD
C
ROSSING MILLED ABOUT THE PATCHY LAWN OUTSIDE
the church. Gracie stood with Michael at the cake table under the tent. Her wedding dress billowed around her in the hot breeze. She couldn't believe how many people from town had shown up.The church had been packed for the wedding, and best of all, her father was on hand to give her away when she and Michael repeated their vows in a real church.

The three weeks since their ordeal ended had flown by. Estevez had become suspicious when no one went with Fishman, so he'd called Fishman's superior. Fishman was apprehended just inside the Texas border. Sam had made two trips to see Hope, and he was in the crowd of well-wishers here today. Gracie had come to realize there was no such thing as too much love.

The only ache left in her heart was that they'd been unable to trace King. She feared the old horse had indeed ended his days in the rendering plant.

“No cake in the face,” she warned.

His blue eyes crinkled. “I wouldn't think of it,” Michael said.

He slipped a morsel of cake into her mouth, and she smiled as the sweetness melted on her tongue. Michael's gaze traveled down her dress, then rested on her face. The spark in his eyes warmed her. He wore his dress uniform, and she couldn't take her eyes off him.

“I decided to do it, Gracie,” Michael said, sipping his punch.

“Do what?” she asked.

“I'm going to see if I can raise some money to start a helicopter paramedic unit here. It's going to be tight financially for a while.Are you okay with that?”

“Oh, Michael, I'm so glad.” She leaned over and brushed a kiss across his lips. “We'll be just fine.”

His gaze searched hers. “You were right, you know. I was doing it for all the wrong reasons.Trying to save the world to make my dad proud, and he's not even still alive.”