Rescuing the Rancher

by Claire McEwen

  Jade ran to the barn with the kitten in her arm and pulled the door open. “Oh my gosh.” There was a blackened straw bale to the left, soaked in water. It was hard to know whether to laugh or cry. They’d almost burnt this place from the inside out. But there was no time to wonder how it had happened. Hurrying to the last stall, Jade found a plastic carrier and put the protesting kitten inside. “Sorry buddy, I know this is no fun.” She picked up the box with its mewing inhabitant, and jogged awkwardly out of the barn, closing the barn door carefully behind them.

  Back at the carport, Jade set the carrier down carefully and climbed back up the ladder. “Are you here, buddy?”

  An answering squeak told her that the kitten was still huddled against the roof. “Can you come here? Come on, kitty. Come on.”

  The kitten didn’t budge.

  The carport roof was made of corrugated metal. Jade put her hands on it and pressed. Would it hold her weight? Carefully, she climbed higher on the ladder, and then lay down on the roof, praying it would hold. Extending her hand, she called the kitten again. This time it crept forward and sniffed her extended fingers. “Okay, that’s good. Now come just a little closer and...gotcha!” Jade caught the loose skin of the kitten’s neck and started backward, pushing herself toward the ladder with one hand, holding the squirming, protesting kitty with the other.

  “Jade, are you okay up there? You need anything?”

  Aidan. For once she didn’t mind that he was asking if she needed help. Truthfully, she did. “Can I hand you this kitten?” She scooted back a little more and got her feet over the edge of the roof, trying to catch sight of the ladder over her shoulder.

  “Hang on.” She heard Aidan’s boots on the ladder, and then his hands were on her ankles, guiding her toward the rungs. “Keep scooting back,” he said “Let your legs dangle.” His big hands on her calves guided her feet until she could feel the rungs. “Okay, now, carefully stand up.”

  “Easier said than done with a kitten in one hand.” But she managed to stand, and with his guidance step down one rung, then another. When she was well-balanced, he climbed all the way down and came around to stand at the side of the ladder. “Hand the kitten to me.”

  “Gladly.” Unlike its fairly mellow sibling, this one was a twisting, turning dervish who didn’t appreciate Jade’s risky rescue. She lowered the kitten into Aidan’s waiting hands and watched as he put it carefully in the crate. Satisfied that the kitties were safe, Jade started down the ladder. Just then, a sharp gust of wind hit suddenly, so strong it pushed her and the ladder back. Jade jumped away from the tilting ladder, sending it crashing to the left of her as she went right, landing hard on her side in the dirt just a couple feet away from the cat carrier.

  “Jade.” Aidan was by her side in an instant. “Can you get up?”

  Her elbow stung and her ribs ached. Jade gingerly sat up, Aidan supporting her back gently. “I think I’m okay.”

  The wind was getting wild. Jade looked up and saw embers spinning overhead. “The fire is changing. We need to see what’s happening.”

  “Can you stand?” He cradled her against him, his warmth and solid bulk offering a comfort she couldn’t take right now. They were in danger. She could feel it in the gathering energy in the sky. Chaos waiting to break loose.

  “Of course.” Jade went to stand and sat back down hard, pain shooting through her left ankle. “In a moment.”

  “You’re hurt.” Aidan said. “Is it a break?”

  Jade carefully wiggled her toes inside her boots. “I think it’s a sprain. Come on. Pull me up. We need to get moving.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “Pull me up!” All this time she’d been trying to cover her fears with humor. But the sky above his head was glowing orange. “We have to get out of here.”

  He glanced up at the sky, gripped her wrist and hauled her to her feet. Jade put her foot down to try to take a step and winced at the pain. Aidan put an arm across her back to support her. “I’m fine,” she protested.

  He made a sound that was almost a groan. “Jade. You’re not fine. Can you please accept some help? Just this once?”

  She slipped out from under his arm and hopped a few steps. “I’ve got this.”

  He shook his head and went to get the kittens. “You don’t. And you’re slowing us down.”

  Her ankle was throbbing, the pain jolting up her leg every time she hopped. And the fire was closing in. “Fine,” she relented. “I could use a hand.”

  He was by her side in an instant, his big arm around her back once again. She put her arms around his waist and used him to support her weight as they made their way to the truck.

  “Take me to the driver’s side,” she told him.

  “You should let me drive. You’re hurt.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Jade bit out, wincing as she jostled her injured ankle. “It’s an automatic.”

  He opened the door and helped her get behind the steering wheel. He set the crate with the kittens on the passenger seat next to her. Everything around them was taking on a spooky orange glow. Jade swallowed down her dread. “Aidan, It’s time for plan B.”

  He nodded. “Into the pasture with the truck?”

  “Yes. This fire is about to blow up. We have to get under those sprinklers.”

  “Tell me what to do.”

  “Run to the barn and get Elliott and Chip into crates. Grab those wool blankets we brought from the house. I’ll drive to the door of the barn and meet you.”

  “Got it.” He took off at a run around the corner of the barn.

  Jade started the engine and drove after Aidan, trying to ignore the pain in her ankle. She’d prayed all evening that it wouldn’t come to this. But fires nowadays ran so fierce and hot that anything could happen. This wasn’t a fire anymore. It was a firestorm.

  CHAPTER TEN

  AIDAN JOGGED AROUND the corner of the barn and skidded to a halt. Everything was burning. The hillside between his house and the barn was on fire. The area around the solar panels and battery shed was burning. Hopefully the space they’d cleared around it was helping to keep the electrical system safe. On the right side of the driveway, the ancient live oak tree was on fire, orange flames shooting up to blend with the orange sky.

  The fire was showing its true face now, and it was horrifying and mesmerizing all at once. It filled the foreground and the horizon. It blurred ground and sky. The wind was swirling every which way, and embers were blowing in random directions, igniting spot fires everywhere. It seemed, from where he stood, that they couldn’t possibly hold their own against this monster. Especially when he looked toward the irrigated pasture. Everything between here and there was burning. Plan B was out of the question.

  Time to make another plan. But, no matter what, they’d need the animals.

  Aidan sprinted into the barn and ran to the back stall where he kept Chip’s crate. He grabbed it and ran to get his dog, slowing to enter the stall carefully. If Chip got out now, Aidan knew he’d never see him again. Chip was cowering in the corner. The roar of the approaching fire must have him spooked. It sure had Aidan spooked. It rang in his ears and pulsed in his veins; he wanted to be rid of it, but it was everywhere.

  “Chip, get in your crate.”

  Relief flooded him when his good dog obeyed, limping reluctantly into the crate. Aidan latched the door and picked up the unwieldy plastic box. This wasn’t the easiest way to carry his dog, but now that he’d seen the sky and felt the wind he was pretty sure Jade would say that it was time for plan C. The pond. It was probably their only hope. And Chip would be better protected in his crate than if he was out in the open.

  He left Chip’s carrier near the barn door and slipped carefully through the tack room door in search of Elliott. Luckily for both of them, the poor cat was still huddled in the back of his carrier. It probably felt like the safe
st place to be. Aidan closed the carrier door and lifted the crate. Jade had the truck idling in front of the barn. He put Elliott’s carrier in the back of the truck, heaved Chip’s crate in, too, and grabbed the blankets Jade had requested. He threw one over the animal’s crates, tucking the edges underneath in hopes that it wouldn’t blow away. Then he jumped into the cab next to the box of kittens.

  Jade started driving right away. “We can’t get to the pasture.”

  “I noticed.” Aidan gaped at the alien fiery world that had once been his ranch. His heart was a jackhammer, his blood keeping time in his throat and in his temples. “This doesn’t look good.”

  “Time for plan C. Can we still get to the pond?”

  “I think so. We’d better try.”

  “Don’t I go left to get there?”

  How was she still so calm? Aidan tried to force his own tone to match hers. “Yes. The lane is just past the barn.” It would be easy to get lost on his own ranch. The smoke had turned everything that wasn’t on fire an impenetrable black. Wild flocks of embers whirled past, and flames flared up everywhere. There went his wooden fences that lined the driveway. There went the tree that the cattle liked to shelter under on hot days. Aidan peered over the dashboard trying to help Jade navigate, but the landscape was foreign now. A burning shed loomed in front of them. “Back up,” Aidan said. “You went too far to the left.”

  Jade’s jaw was carved into a tense line as she looked behind her to reverse the car. “There’s an awful lot of fire back there,” she said. It was the first time he’d heard her sound frightened. The wind hit the truck and shook it.

  Aidan could see fire in the side mirror. Poor Chip. Poor Elliott. “Just go back a few more feet. Okay, now veer right.” The wind swirled the smoke, giving them a quick glimpse of the lane in the headlights. “You’ve got it. Go straight, twenty, maybe thirty yards and we’ll be there.”

  “I need to leave my truck somewhere far away from us. In case the tank explodes.”

  Aidan thought for a moment. “The field below the pond is actually kind of a swamp. The water seeps through the ground down there. I leave it as a wetland for wildlife, but if we drive the truck right into the mud, it might actually save it.”

  “Okay, guide me.”

  They were a little farther from the fire now, and the smoke and embers weren’t quite so thick. Aidan had Jade drive around the edge of the pond. There was no road here, so they bumped along through grass and brush until their wheels sank into mud. “This is it,” Aidan said.

  “I’ll need a winch to get back out of here.”

  “I’ve got a winch,” he told her. The wind pushed at the truck again. “Come on, let’s get ourselves organized. The fire is right behind us.”

  She nodded and cut the engine.

  He opened the door and stepped out into the windy night. Small fires were starting along the track they’d just followed. He ran around the front of the truck, his boots squishing into the soft ground, and opened Jade’s door. When she hopped out, he scooped her up in his arms.

  “What are you doing?” Her voice came out in a surprised shriek. “Put me down. I can hop.”

  “I know you can hop,” he told her, trudging through the swampy field. She was so light in his arms. Easier to carry than Chip in his crate. If they weren’t about to ride out an inferno in an icy pond, he might enjoy holding her like this. “We don’t have time for you to illustrate your independence yet again. Okay?”

  She glanced up at him, her arms around his neck. “What do you mean yet again?”

  “I mean that you have a chip on your shoulder. You need everyone to know that you’re a tough firefighter. That you’ve got everything handled. And mostly, you do. But, right now, you have to accept some help.” When they reached the pond, he clambered up the raised bank and set her down on the ground. “I’ll go get the animals. And then you can tell me what the heck we’re going to do with them.”

  “There’s rope in the truck. In the toolbox in the back. Will you grab it?” Jade’s voice sounded more subdued than usual. She was probably in more pain then she was letting on. Whether she liked it or not, he had to be strong for them both right now.

  He stumbled back over the swampy ground to the truck. He took Chip’s crate first. No offense to the cats, but if that boiling sky rolled overhead sooner rather than later, he’d rather have his dog. Chip was restless in his crate, making it hard to carry, but somehow Aidan got him up the bank and set him alongside Jade. “I’ll be right back.” It only took a few minutes to get the two crates of cats, and the blankets and rope. And there they were, all lined up on the bank next to Jade. They could have been one big happy family, watching fireworks swirl in the sky above, if those fireworks didn’t come from a wildfire hell-bent on destruction.

  Jade had pulled out her flashlight and was shining it around the edge of the pond. She stopped as the light caught on something on the opposite shore. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Aidan had forgotten all about it. Let the weeds grow over it. Sheila had wanted it along the edge of the pond for nautical decor. “It’s a boat. I don’t know if it still floats.” He started around the edge of the pond. He and Sheila had sat in the boat once or twice, way back when. They’d floated around the small pond, laughing. Then they’d had Colby and been too busy parenting to have time for such silliness. And then everything had been over.

  He jogged along the muddy shore until he got to where it lay. Blackberry brambles crawled over it like a thorny net, and he had to pull and tear at them to free the small, fiberglass dinghy.

  “I’ve got it,” he called to Jade, and carried it to the water. There was a short rope tied to the front, so he held onto it and pushed the boat farther out in the pond. “I think it’s floating.” He jogged back along the bank, pulling the dinghy awkwardly behind him until he reached Jade.

  “We can put the crates in here,” he panted. It was hard to take a full breath with the smoke so heavy around them. “We’ll cover them with wet blankets.”

  Jade tried to stand up, but sat back down hard. “You’ll need to use the extra rope to tie the blankets down somehow, because the wind is going to get fierce if this fire goes right over us.”

  “Okay.” Aidan picked up Chip’s crate and sloshed into the chilly water, setting it on the flat bottom of the boat. He made his way back to Jade and handed her the rope attached to the bow. “Hold this. Don’t let him float away.” Chip whined plaintively as Aidan went to get the cats. He put Elliott’s crate next to Chip’s. He had to angle the kittens’ crate a bit to fit them in, too. They were young. They’d been living on the sloping carport roof. Hopefully they could handle a sloping crate, too.

  When Aidan turned around, Jade was standing on one foot at the edge of the pond, still clutching the rope. “You just don’t give up, do you?”

  “Nope.” She hopped to where he’d left the blankets and scooped them up. “We only have a minute or two. Let’s get these blankets wet.”

  “Sit down. Rest your ankle.” He took them from her, and knelt at the edge of the pond, soaking the wool. Then he stood and tried to wring it out, twisting it to no avail.

  “Let me help.” Jade stood again, using only one leg, something Aidan filed away to be impressed by later. She hopped over to him and took one end of the soggy blanket. “Twist left.”

  They both started twisting, stepping closer as the blanket coiled, until water poured from the center. Then they laid the damp blanket carefully over the crates. They gave the second blanket the same treatment and put it on top of the first. From underneath the wool came the mewing of kittens, the yowling of Elliott and the whimpering of Chip. “I feel awful,” Jade said. “But I don’t know how else to keep them safe.”

  The wind was getting stronger, threatening to blow the blankets off. Fire was snaking through the fields toward them, and overhead the sky was glowing orang
e. Aidan grabbed the rope and dunked it in the pond to make sure it wouldn’t burn. Then he lay it across the crates. He used his headlamp to examine the boat. “There are oarlocks we can use to tie the blankets down.” He quickly attached the rope and sloshed around the boat to the other side to pull the rope tight through the other oarlock. Then he wrapped the rope around the crates until the animals were trussed under the blankets like a row of poorly wrapped Christmas presents.

  “Hurry,” Jade yelled, as he tied the final knot. The wind was high and wild now, blowing flames across the grass so they devoured the wooden lean-to near the pond. The smoke was hot in Aidan’s lungs, making him cough. “That takes care of them,” he gasped. “What about us?”

  The wind pushed harder, engulfing the pasture around them in crackling fire as the dry grass burned like kindling. Jade hopped in to join him by the boat. “How deep is the water?”

  “It’ll get up to my chest pretty fast.” Aidan held out his hand. “Get ready, it’s freezing.”

  “It’s better than roasting.” Jade took his hand and clutched it tight, using him to keep her upright as she hopped and stumbled into the pond. “That’s cold,” she gasped as the water reached her hips.

  “Hold on to my belt,” Aidan told her. “We’re going to head to the middle of the pond, okay?” He tugged the boat full of animals around. “Here we go.” The air was stifling and the sky was glowing brighter, lighting his way into deeper water but raising the hairs on the back of his neck. This was it. Plan C. His sodden jeans and boots weighed him down, making each step even harder. Jade stumbled, and he felt her hands grip tighter on his belt as she righted herself.

  “Are you okay back there?” He had to shout the words. They could be inside a jet engine, the fire was that loud.

  “I’m okay,” Jade yelled back. “This water is making my ankle feel better.”

  He almost yelled back that’s good news, as if they were having a regular conversation, but he stopped himself. They were in the middle of the pond in the middle of a firestorm. There wasn’t really much good news to be had. The water was only past his abdomen, but when he turned to face Jade it was up around her chest. She was holding a small, rectangular bundle over her head to keep it out of the water.