Peace River (Rockland Ranch Series) (29 page)

             
She finally got the intimate lunch date and the matching dress and shoes that she’d planned for weeks ago when they had come into Evanston the first time.  He’d been right about finding the matching shoes, so she went with a slim fitting, little black dress and as she came out of the dressing room and twirled for him, he found it hard to breathe for a moment.  Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined finding a girl like this.  She was beautiful and sweet, smart and funny, and he loved her incredible talent for smoothing the wrinkles out of his life.  Nothing was a hassle with her.  She took things in stride with a calm confidence that made everyone and everything around her more comfortable.  To him it was a priceless gift.

             
They hadn’t told anyone at home what they were doing and when they showed up at the Rockland’s home that afternoon, they made quite a stir. 

             
Naomi was the first to notice Isabel’s ring and she swept Isabel into her arms in an emotional embrace.  Pulling back, as they looked into each others’ glistening eyes, each woman seemed to know the other would be an integral part of her life forever now.  They embraced again and Naomi said, “Isabel, I’ve prayed so long that he would find you.”  She could hardly speak. 

             
Isabel drew back and wiped at the older woman’s tears.  “At least you knew I was out there.  I had no idea I would come across a sweet angel mother somewhere.  I’ve never known anyone like you, Naomi.  I couldn’t have dreamed up a more wonderful unexpected blessing.”  They hugged and wept as Slade looked on, emotional himself.

             
When Rossen came in and realized that they were really engaged, the handshake that became a huge bear hug made the women tear up again.  There was never a more faithful friend.

             
Isabel truly was one of the family at dinner that evening.  Everyone had welcomed her always, but tonight, realizing she would be with Slade forever, she had fully become their sister and daughter. 

             
Bo offered some comic relief. “Dang it all, Isabel!  I was hoping you would finally come to your senses and throw him over for me!  Now you’ve gone and busted my heart all to pieces!” His hang-dog face over his taco salad was hilarious.

             
As Isabel, Slade, and Rossen left the Rockland’s to return to Slade’s home in her Peace River Valley, the scent of the sage was poignant.  Rossen had been right on that first night when he’d said, “Welcome home.”

                                                        ****

              Rossen and Sean left to rodeo again with the promise to return in ten days for Slade and Isabel. 

             
Dante flew in the next week and brought Anna with him.  When Slade saw Anna in the airport, he tried to tell her how grateful he was for her introducing him to Isabel.  He supposed when Isabel broke the news that they were getting married Anna would understand the depth of his gratitude. 

             
Dante had never seen anything like the Rockland’s ranch, and most of Wyoming had never seen anything like him.  He had been mistaken in the airport for a pro basketball player again.  It happened almost every time he flew.  Some little old lady would ask for his autograph.  For awhile he had tried to explain that he didn’t play basketball, but now he just signed whatever it was they handed him, smiled and excused himself.  When he did this outside the Delta terminal in Salt Lake, Slade doubled over, and laughed until he hurt. 

Slade
, Anna, and Dante talked and laughed in the truck on the way home like old friends.  Isabel had stayed home in case there was a chance that any of Judd’s group had found out Dante or Anna were traveling, so they had open season to tell funny stories on Isabel in her childhood. 

             
When they finally made it to Slade’s house, Dante literally picked Isabel up and swung her around in a circle.  Their joy at being back together was obvious.  She and Anna hugged and laughed as they greeted each other, and Anna actually squealed out loud when Isabel told her of her wedding plans.  Dante beamed his big white smile at the news.  They didn’t have to ask if Isabel was happy.  She had always been beautiful, but getting away from the immediate threat of Judd, joining the Church, and falling in love had made her lovelier than ever. 

             
They stayed and played for four days and Isabel enjoyed every minute of it.  She tried to share all of the wonderful aspects of her life in Wyoming, and the gospel in that short time.  When they left to go back to California she was tired but happy. 

             
Anna walked back onto the plane finally completely satisfied that she had done the right thing that day to encourage Isabel to go.

             
Dante left with mixed feelings.  He knew Isabel was happy and in good hands, but he could also see in her eyes that she would never be coming home to California to live.  He was happy for her, but he would miss her.

                                                        ****

              They had come and gone without any of them realizing that Judd had, in fact, found out Dante was traveling to Utah and had had him followed.  The black sedan lost Slade’s truck in traffic in the city but got his license number.  Before Dante boarded the plane back, they finally knew who she was with and approximately where she was.  However, the only address they had for Slade was a post office box, and because the ranch was owned by the ranch company, they hadn’t yet found its exact location.  The post office was in town and no one in rural Wyoming was answering questions from the slick strangers in the rental car.

             
Judd was furious that they had hit another roadblock. They’d come so close to finding her after the talk of the bull riding incident, but somehow they had never figured out the right cowboy. It had been more than four months and Tony had already roughed him up a couple of times.  If it hadn’t been for a really lucky gambling win at the track one day, he knew he’d probably be dead by now. 

Judd
was scared.  More scared than he’d ever been in his life.  He finally realized just how tenuous his position was.  At first it hadn’t occurred to him that they could put him out of the way far easier even than Carrie.  Then he realized how simple it would be for him to disappear.  Nobody would come looking for him if he failed to show up someday.  And he knew now how hard these people would be to hide from.

             
He and Deek had fallen in with their schemes from time to time without really thinking that knowing too much could be dangerous.  They had started to think about it a lot the other day when they had been present as some “loose ends” had been summarily shot and dumped in the river. He had to find Carrie and fast!  It wasn’t even just about the money now.  It had become a vendetta.  She would pay for all the trouble she had caused him.  He wouldn’t even pay someone.  He would see to her himself!  

Chapter 12

             
Rossen and Sean came back and as the first snow storm of the year threatened, they packed up, and with Slade and Isabel along, hit the road for Waco, Texas.  They left Slade’s ranch in Hank and Ruby care, and then stopped at the Rockland’s on the way out to say goodbye.

             
There were four of them now in the trailer and organization had become even more paramount.  The rodeos were much fewer at this time of year and they had time to pull in, settle the horses and spend time site-seeing for usually at least a couple of days between.

             
Slade completely missed the first steer out, but got back in his game almost immediately after that.  They competed in three rodeos in Texas and then went to two in Oklahoma. 

They ha
d been back on the road for more than two weeks when Rob called Slade to report suspicious activity at the ranches.  There had been a small plane hanging around for most of a day, flying low over the whole region, then two days later the security guards at the oil wells had seen someone on the security cameras sneaking around.  They hadn’t seen anything else yet, but everyone was alert and the brothers were actually carrying guns on their saddles as they moved the cows out of the summer pastures.

             
As much as Slade hated to do it, he knew he needed to pass this news on to Isabel.  It may have just been coincidence, but there was a chance Judd had found out where she had been staying in Wyoming.

             
They were engaged but not a lot had been said about when they would marry.  He knew marrying before the NFR posed a number of problems.  Their schedules and their trailer were jam packed until then, and although they hadn’t talked much about it, he assumed she would need some time to plan a nice wedding. 

             
He had been hoping the Judd issues would work themselves out with the new trust in place and with the passage of time, and hated to bring back the fear he’d seen in Isabel’s eyes when they first met.  He decided to tell Rossen and Sean first and see if they could just be vigilant about security on the road, and not have to tell her right off, but she busted them in earnest conversation from the first time they talked. 

From their sudden silence and serious face
s she instantly realized something was up and asked, “What’s going on?”  She looked questioningly from one to the next to the next.  She looked at Slade last and he couldn’t face the complete trust in her eyes with less than the truth. 

             
She handled it well and he resolved to be completely forthright with her always in the future.  They started to be more careful as they traveled, and made it a point to ask the rodeo secretaries not to post their names anywhere on the schedules or online where the public could find them.  Someone tried to be with Isabel at all times and they kept an eye out for anything that seemed the slightest bit out of place or unusual. 

                                                        ****

              They were almost militant with their care for her as they competed in rodeos in Louisiana and Texas again before heading back out west to Hobbs, New Mexico.  It was by the merest fluke that Isabel ended up alone in the horse stalls one evening at dusk.  The three men had been tied up trying to iron out a mix up with the rodeo secretary before the rodeo was to start that evening.  Isabel went back to water the one horse that wasn’t being used that night and found herself alone in the alleyway when a half drunk Leland Wilde showed up.  At first she’d been relieved that it wasn’t Judd or one of his cronies, but as Wilde approached her, and she realized how inebriated he was, she became afraid fast. 

             
He walked right up to her and put his arm around her shoulders without even hesitating.  She could smell the alcohol on his breath and the look in his eye was predatory.  Slipping out from under his arm, she retreated quickly to the hose spigot to turn off the water and leave when he grasped her arm from behind and asked, “Where are you headed, doll?  Not so fast.  Come and talk to old Leland for awhile.  You remember me.  We’re friends from way back.”  

He was slurring his words and she realized he was much more than half drunk
.  Knowing she was definitely not in a good situation, she shrugged out of his grip and tried to run away from him in hopes he was too far gone to be able to catch her.  All she succeeded in doing was making him instantly violently angry and as he caught her again, he literally threw her into an empty stall nearby. 

She started to scream, but
he put his hand over her mouth and slammed her back against the side of the stall repeatedly with enough force to knock every drop of wind out of her body.  As she doubled over to gasp for air he knocked her to the ground and drove the air out of her lungs even further when he landed hard on top of her body on the stall floor.

             
“You little . . .”  He grunted and began to curse as she tried to wrestle away from him.  She still had no air and her chest hurt desperately as she continued to gasp.  She almost got away from him, only to feel him grasp the back of her shirt and rip it half off as he hauled her back.  She focused every bit of energy on trying to inhale and got enough air in to let out a split second scream before he slugged her in the stomach, knocking her back against the stall wall yet again. 

She
started to feel faint and lightheaded and wondered if this is what blacking out felt like, when she heard the sound of someone running down the alleyway of the barn.  She saw Slade look into the stall and realize what was going on a split second before she heard him roar like a mad bull.  He shoved into the stall to literally pick Leland up by the shirt.  Throwing Leland back against the partition, Slade went berserk.  Rossen and Sean were just a second behind him.  Sean tried to pull Slade off as Rossen dropped to the stall floor to help Isabel. 

She was unable to breathe and something was wrong with her vision.  She could see, but there was a jagged line like someone had ripped a photo in ha
lf in the middle of her horizon and there were sparkling lights in her periphery.  Rossen was holding her and talking to her gently, but she was still panicking because she could not get a breath.  Finally, with a great, painful gasp she was able to take in oxygen and the relief she felt was overpowering.  She began to cry against Rossen’s shoulder.  On some level she realized her sobbing made breathing harder, but she couldn’t seem to stop.