The Stolen Suitor (25 page)

It took forever to get to the river. The lightning grew less frequent, which helped, but that left the trail in pitch darkness. They were lucky all the horses at Big Basin had been on this trail a hundred times. They saw no signs that Janie had passed this way. But the rain and the darkness conspired to blanket everything in wet shades of gray.

When they broke out of the trees at the riverbank, Trix glanced back to make sure they were still with her, and then she rode Triumph up and down the bank, calling Janie’s name, her body language tense as a pulled-back slingshot.

Eric knew what Trix feared they’d find: Janie drowned, or Janie hurt bad, or, somehow worse, no Janie at all. Eric put his hand to the coiled rope he’d brought along, stiff and wet on the back of the saddle.

Janie was so independent sometimes, but other times she was just a baby, as affectionate as a puppy, as vulnerable as a flower. She’d made Eric feel a tenderness he hadn’t felt since Jeremy was just a little guy. He couldn’t even imagine something happening to her. And if Janie had been hurt or killed trying to visit him…? God, Trix would never forgive him. Never. Not ’til the end of time. Hell, he’d never forgive himself.

Find her, then
. The voice in his head was firm, and Eric listened. He had to be able to find her. Right? Little girls didn’t disappear into thin air.

He squeezed his legs and sat forward in the saddle. Scarlet trotted obediently forward but hesitated at the water’s edge. The river was running high—higher than usual by a good five feet. And it was fast too, tiny whitecaps rushing by, battered down by yet more rain.

Jeremy rode up on one side of Eric. Apple was tossing his head, and he trod back and forth on the riverbank, eyeing the water nervously.

“You okay?” Eric shouted over the wind.

Jeremy shook his head, his face pale. “Just worried about Janie,” he shouted back.

Trix rode Triumph up on Eric’s other side.

“I don’t see her!” Trix shouted over the wind.

“Me neither!” Eric called back.

Lightning forked, lighting up the river as bright as day. Eric scanned as much as he could, but the light faded fast.

“Take this!” Trix held out a large flashlight, and Eric grabbed it. Trix had one too. He tried to keep Scarlet steady with one hand while he turned on the flashlight and shone the beam along the water.

Trix was checking her phone. “No word from anyone!”

Janie hadn’t returned to the ranch, then, and Billy hadn’t found her either.

Trix sounded wrecked. “You and Jeremy go right, I’ll go left.”

“Be careful,” Eric said. But Trix was moving away so fast, she probably didn’t hear him.

ERIC
swung the beam upstream, but saw nothing. He turned Scarlet right, downstream, and rode along the riverbank with Jeremy coming along behind him. The rain was coming down so hard, a sort of haze hung where rain met river, and it felt like his vision was misted too. He kept wiping his eyes. And then, at the farthest reaches of his light, he thought he saw something moving in the water. He kicked Scarlet to go faster. The undefined shape in the water resolved itself from the gray turmoil.

It was a horse. Annabelle. She was in the middle of the river, struggling in the water. Janie was in the saddle but not seated right. She’d slipped to the side, as if she was only still on the pony because her foot was caught in the stirrup. She was slumped over the pony’s neck, her face hidden, her body in a yellow slicker and jeans. Her small, too-white hand clutched at Annabelle’s mane.

Dear Lord, how long had they been in the water? She’d been missing for as long as three hours. Annabelle was trying to swim, trying to fight against the current, but her eyes were rolled back in panic, showing the whites, and her nose was raised, foam around her mouth. She was exhausted. At least the grasp of Janie’s hand showed she was still alive, conscious.

Eric hesitated, filled with fear. Then he turned to Jeremy. Apple rode up close on Scarlet’s flank, as if not wanting to be alone. Eric pointed at the water. “There she is! Go get Trix!” he shouted.

Jeremy nodded once and used the reins to try to turn Apple. He was struggling, but Eric couldn’t worry about that now.

He turned his attention back to Annabelle and Janie. Should he wait? But who know how long it would take Jeremy to find Trix and return with her. There wasn’t time.

Use the rope
.

The words were clear as anything in his head, as if someone else had said them.

The rope. Eric felt for it on the back of the saddle where he’d put it. Scarlet stepped back, then forward, betraying her nervousness at the sight of the raging river and maybe Annabelle’s distress too. Eric pushed down in his stirrups, hoping to ground her. He unwrapped the end of the coil and looked at the water.

Janie and Annabelle were too far away.

“Come on,” He urged Scarlett, using his heels to get her moving right up to the bank.

Annabelle was slowly losing ground. She stopped fighting for a moment and was swept a good ten feet before she began to struggle again.

Cold terror rushed through Eric, and he urged Scarlet to follow again.

I’m not going to make it. She’s going to drown.

Use the rope. Do it
.

He got Scarlet as opposite Annabelle as he could on the bank. He dropped the reins and held the coil loose in one hand as Ben had taught him to do. He raised the lasso above his head, circled it.

The rain and wind made the lasso feel off, respond sluggishly. Still, he threw it. It landed in the water, not even close to Annabelle.

Do it again. Use the rope
.

He cast again. And again. And again. Scarlet seemed to have some idea what he was trying to do, because as Annabelle slowly slipped downstream, Scarlet followed along the bank, freeing Eric to focus on the rope. The rope caught Annabelle’s peripheral vision, and she turned her body toward them, now trying to swim to Eric. But she was too tired, and going sideways to the current only made her slip farther downstream. Eric was horrified, but Annabelle righted herself, facing the current head-on again.

Good girl. Keep swimming, baby. Come on.

He cast again. And again. Missed. Missed.

This was so much different than throwing the rope in good weather in his backyard. Everything was off. He tried to correct for the wind, but just couldn’t throw the rope hard enough to get it to Annabelle, much less around her neck. Maybe it wasn’t even long enough; it kept falling short. He couldn’t do it.

Who am I kiddin’? I’m not John, and I’m not Ben. Ben could do it. Ben would have it already done. I’m not good enough. I’m not even close. She’s going to die, and it’ll be because I’m useless.

Walk Scarlet closer, into the water, but not too deep. Stay calm. Throw the rope
.

What angel was sitting on his shoulder, Eric didn’t know. But a sense of peace came over him. He could do this. It was only water and it was only rain. And lassoing something wasn’t all that damn hard.

He sat up straight in the saddle, the rope in both hands, and squeezed with his legs, leaned forward. “Go, Scarlet. Walk. Hah!”

Scarlet trembled beneath him, but she took one tentative step into the water. He kept encouraging her with his voice and his body commands. And, step by step, she walked into the river, reluctant, probably ready to bolt, but she did it.

“Good girl,” Eric encouraged. “You’re doin’ great. Keep on. Good girl.”

Up to her knees. She was steady. Another step, over her knees.

Don’t let her get too deep or she’ll lose her footing too.

Annabelle’s eyes rolled toward Scarlet.

Don’t turn, Annabelle. Just keep swimming right there
.

Eric stopped Scarlet and swung the lasso over his head. He was closer to Annabelle now. The rope could reach if he just threw it well.

Don’t give up.
This time it was Jeremy’s voice in his head.
Don’t. Give. Up.

Eric cast the rope again. By some miracle, it landed well on Annabelle’s head, behind one ear and in front of the other, the bottom of the lasso under her chin. She flicked her ear, shook her head, and it slipped down and around her neck.

You did it. You’ve got her. Now back Scarlet out. Go slow
.

“Eric! Oh my God, Eric!” It was Trix. The beam from her flashlight flickered around him from the bank.

“Stay there!” He shouted, not daring to take his eyes off Annabelle. “Back,” he told Scarlet. He wrapped the end of the rope tight around one hand and picked up the reins with the other, pulled back.

Scarlet took a step backward, again. The lasso turned Annabelle in the water, and Eric’s arm strained cruelly as the tension in the rope fought the pull of the current against her mass.

“Back!” he said again.

Scarlet stepped back. The pull of the rope was a drag on Scarlet, but she didn’t panic. She stepped back again, pulling Annabelle with them.

That was when it happened. Trix’s flashlight was on Annabelle and Janie, and its dim white light showed Janie’s hand release Annabelle’s mane. She slipped farther off the horse’s right side until only her one leg was visible. Eric couldn’t see the far side of the horse, but if Janie was unconscious, she could well be in the water now, facedown. She was drowning. Right now.

There was no time for voices, no time to consider options, no anything. Eric just moved.

He wrapped the end of the rope he was carrying around the saddle horn and tied it twice, as hard as he could. “Back,” he ordered Scarlet again as he slipped off the saddle. The water was freezing cold and it pulled at him, but he clung to the stirrups “Back, Scarlet!” He followed the tense rope through the water, heading for Annabelle.

He felt Scarlet step back, pulling Annabelle a little closer.

From far away, it seemed, he heard Trix screaming from the bank. “Back, Scarlet! Good girl! Come, Scarlet! Back!”

Eric pulled himself forward. He kicked with his feet, trying to swim. But the clothes he wore, the heavy jeans, the cowboy boots, dragged against him.

Get to Janie
.

Scarlet pulled them all back a little more and a little more. Eric reached Annabelle. Poor little thing. She had fought so hard. He patted her neck and tried to soothe her as he ducked around to her other side, one hand curling through the lasso around Annabelle’s neck to keep himself from floating away.

Janie was in the water. She was on her back, but her eyes were closed and water sloshed over her face in waves.

The strong pain-love-terror that Eric felt at the sight of her was the deepest sensation he’d ever had in his life. Keeping one hand tight around the rope that held Annabelle’s neck, he slipped other his arm around Janie’s back and pulled her up out of the water and onto his shoulder.

“Breathe, Janie, breathe. I’ve got you.”

She showed no sign of hearing him, her body limp and cold against him.

Please don’t be dead.

The rope jerked Eric’s hand as Annabelle was pulled forward. He let that part of it go—he had to. Scarlet would get them out. Trix was on the bank; she’d get them out. He had to focus on Janie.

It was difficult with one hand on the rope, but he rolled Janie with his bicep, pumping her against his chest, hoping to wake her, again and again.

She coughed, and one cold hand reached up and laid itself flat on his neck, and his heart soared.

Thank you, God. Oh, thank you.

A FEW
minutes later, Annabelle found her footing on the river bed and heaved herself forward. Eric’s feet hit solid ground. He felt exhausted, though, and Janie weighed a ton, so he waited until Annabelle was almost out of the water before he let go of the rope around her neck. He put both arms around Janie and stumbled onto the bank.

Trix was there, and she put her arms around both of them. “Oh my God, Eric! Is she…?”

“She’s alive.”

He rubbed Janie’s back with a firm hand and felt her hand tighten on his neck.

“She’s breathing!” Trix said anxiously. The three of them had their heads bent together, and Trix was chafing Janie’s arm. “Janie! Can you hear me?”

“Mommy.”

The small voice might have been the best thing Eric had ever heard. He and Trix exchanged a look as Janie started to cry, as if her ordeal had just caught up with her. She clung to Eric, and Trix clung to both of them. Eric managed to get one arm around Trix too, the three of them pressing tight.

And he couldn’t stop the words from coming out. “Trix, I care so much for you and Janie. And if you want me not to take part of the ranch, I won’t. I only thought… I thought if I had somethin’ of my own, you might respect me. I’ll tell Billy to forget it. Just tell me how to make it right.”

“Oh, Eric,” Trix half-sighed, half-cried, and in those two words were everything Eric could have hoped to hear. “I’ve been an idiot. I’m so sorry.”

She kissed him, palm around his neck and everything. The rain had died down to a drizzle, but the wind whipped around them still. Eric couldn’t feel the cold, not when he was kissing Trix passionately, her mouth open and warm.

Janie shivered in his arms and Trix pulled back. “We need to get this baby to the ranch. And Annabelle too.”

We
. He liked hearing
we
. He liked that it would be he and Trix who’d take care of what needed to be done, that she trusted him like that.

All the sudden it struck him—they weren’t the only
we
out there.

“Where’s Jeremy?” He looked around but didn’t see him anywhere. “Trix?”

“He was right behind me!”

He wasn’t there now. Eric felt a niggle of worry, but surely Jeremy was fine. Maybe Apple had decided to go back to the nice, dry barn and Jeremy hadn’t been able to stop him. Or maybe—

As Eric shone the flashlight up the riverbank, he saw the shape of a horse coming toward them and breathed a sigh of relief. But it was short-lived. As the horse—Apple—trotted toward them, tossing his head, it became clear he was sopping wet. And not just from the rain. Water streamed in rivulets from under his belly, like he’d gone in the river.