by Sharon Sala
* * *
Beth was in a panic. She didn’t know what to do for Mariah, and she had no idea where Quinn was or how long it would take him to get there. She tried twice to get Mariah up and into the cabin, but she seemed unable to stand, wouldn’t talk and hadn’t quit shaking.
Rufus had a deep bleeding cut on his hip and was sticking so close to her side that she couldn’t take a step for fear of stepping on him. She needed help, and her first thought was Ryal.
She punched in his number with shaking fingers and then took a deep breath to calm her shaky voice. The phone rang three times and then he answered.
“Hello?”
“Ryal, it’s me. I’m at Quinn’s. I need you.”
“What’s wrong, honey? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Thanks to Mariah, I’m fine, but she’s not, and I don’t know what to do.”
The panic in his voice was evident. “What the hell happened?”
“You know that bear, the one they’ve all been looking for? It was up in the woods behind the cabin. Just hurry. I’ll tell you about it when you get here.”
“Oh, my God…you said something was wrong with Mariah. Was she hurt?”
“No. She killed it, but after she shot it, she sort of spaced out on me. Something’s wrong, and I can’t get her up.”
Ryal knew exactly what was happening. He’d seen Quinn flip out plenty of times since his return.
“Where’s Quinn?”
“On his way, but I don’t know how long it will take him to get here.”
“I’m at Mom’s. It won’t take me long. Don’t worry about Mariah. Just don’t leave her alone.”
“I won’t.” And then her voice broke. “Hurry, okay?”
“I’m on my way.”
* * *
Memories of Mariah flashed through Quinn’s mind as he ran. How she made love with as much passion as she fought. Seeing her share a candy bar with a couple of Afghani children. Shooting at the enemy without blinking an eye, then crying over a dead puppy they’d found in the ruins of a bombed-out building. The dichotomy of being a woman and a soldier was hard to explain, but she was a perfect example of how it worked. He’d brought her home to help her heal, not traumatize her further, and he was sick at heart about what had happened. But like life, there was no going back. It was all about moving forward, and whatever she was going through, they would go through it together.
He could hear the thrashing of brush and leaves in the distance behind him, and knew the Doolens were still on his trail. There was a stitch in his side and his muscles were beginning to burn, but he pushed through it. Once he got to Mariah, none of it would matter.
* * *
Ryal was flying, driving faster on the rough mountain road than he’d ever driven in his life. His mother was white-lipped and silent in the seat beside him, with Sarah safely in her car seat in the back. When Dolly had heard what happened, she wouldn’t be left behind.
There was a knot in his stomach getting tighter by the minute, and when he finally took the turn off the road onto the driveway that led to Quinn’s cabin, all he could think about was Beth. He’d come so close to losing her before. He couldn’t bear to go through that terror again.
Then the cabin came in sight.
Dolly pointed. “I see both of them. They’re on the deck.”
Ryal pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor, and when he finally reached the cabin, he came to a skidding stop and was out and running before Dolly even opened her door.
It wasn’t until Beth saw his face that she started to cry, which only increased his panic. He leaped the steps in one bound, and moments later she was in his arms.
“Bethie…honey, what happened? Are you hurt?”
Dolly came up the steps with the baby on her hip and quickly realized Mariah was in trouble. She handed Sarah to Beth and then knelt beside Mariah.
“Honey, we’re here. You’re okay now.”
Mariah was rocking back and forth, her face expressionless except for her eyes. She appeared to be staring into hell.
“What should we do?” Dolly asked.
“Wait for Quinn,” Ryal said, and then noticed the bloody pup cowering at Beth’s feet. “What happened to Rufus?”
“The bear did it. You know Rufus, he ran off into the woods right after we got here. Then Quinn called later and said they thought the bear had come in this direction. I went outside to bring him inside, but he was gone. I was out in the meadow, calling for him, when Mariah began screaming at me to come back. I was already running back to the house when Rufus came out of the woods with the bear right behind him.”
Ryal’s stomach roiled. He glanced out into the meadow, gauging the distance between the trees and the cabin—more than the length of a football field—and shuddered. She would never have been able to outrun a bear.
He pulled her into his arms. “You could have died.”
Sensing the turmoil of the moment, the baby began to cry.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Beth said, as she cradled Sarah close against her. “Mama’s right here.” Then she looked down at Mariah. “If it hadn’t been for her, Rufus and I… Oh, Ryal, she was amazing. She never even flinched when she fired, but once it was over, she sort of came undone. I don’t think she even hears us.”
Dolly came out of the cabin with a quilt and wrapped it around Mariah’s shoulders, then sat down beside her.
“This is like watching Quinn all over again,” she said, and started to cry.
“It’ll be all right, Mama. It has to be,” Ryal said.
All of a sudden Rufus jumped to his feet and barked.
They all looked toward the meadow just as Quinn came out of the trees, running in an all-out sprint.
“It’s Quinn. Thank God,” Beth said, and then knelt at Mariah’s feet. “Quinn’s coming, honey. Quinn’s coming.”
Nine
Quinn’s heart was pounding in frantic rhythm with his footsteps as he burst out of the trees into the high meadow above the cabin. The first thing he saw was the people gathered at one end of the back deck. When he realized no one was standing, it increased his panic and he ran faster.
A few yards farther on he caught sight of the dark mound lying motionless in the grass. It was about halfway to the house. He couldn’t believe they’d chased the damn bear all over the mountain without finding it, only to have it show up at his back door. He kept telling himself that he was almost there. He just had to keep moving, had to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Even though his muscles were burning.
Even though it hurt to breathe.
With nothing between him and Mariah now but a little distance, he could do this.
As the dog began to bark, someone stood. When he recognized Ryal, his relief at knowing his brother was already on the scene was huge. Whatever had happened, if it was bad, Ryal would have initiated a medical rescue already. The realization gave new life to his step.
He ran past the bear without stopping—only a few more yards to go. Then he saw his mother. She was crying.
No, dear God, no. Where was Beth? Where was Mariah? Why weren’t they visible? There was a knot in his belly, and he wanted to cry. He’d brought her here to get better, not to get her killed.
When he finally reached the deck he cleared the steps, dropped his rifle on the deck and began shedding his jacket and his backpack as he followed the trail of blood toward the people at the end of the deck.
At that point everything seemed to shift into slow motion.
He could feel the sweat running down the middle of his back, but Rufus’s constant barking sounded like it was coming from down a well. The puppy was covered in blood and Ryal’s lips were moving, but he couldn’t hear a word. His mother was still crying, and Sarah had begun to cry, too, which scared him all over again.
Everything before him was a blur, and then he saw Mariah. She was sitting on the deck with her injured leg stretched out in front of her and the ot
her bent in an awkward position. Someone had tried to put a quilt around her shoulders, but it had fallen down around her waist as she rocked back and forth in a steady, repetitive motion. The blank look on her face was deceptive, not an indication of what he knew was going on in her head.
Beth jumped up and ran toward him. “The bear didn’t touch her, Quinn. It was after me. She saved my life. She was amazing. I think it was the sound of gunshots that caused this.”
Quinn went weak with relief. At least the blood wasn’t Mariah’s or Beth’s. He didn’t need to know anything more.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, and then knelt at Mariah’s side, trying to decide what to do. “Damn it. I brought her here to get better, not traumatize her all over again.”
Beth knelt beside him. “Now you know how I felt about you after Ryal brought me here to hide. We put you in the middle of a similar situation, and you survived. She will, too.”
Quinn was heartsick, but he knew it would serve no purpose. There was nothing about her demeanor to indicate she even knew they were there. He wanted to touch her, but it might trigger an even bigger episode.
“Mariah?”
Her hands were fisted, ready to fight. Her expression was blank, except for her eyes. She was looking at something besides the view before her. He knew where she was. He just didn’t know how to get her back.
And she kept rocking.
“Mariah, it’s me, honey. It’s Quinn. I need you to hear my voice. Wherever you are, I’m right beside you. Remember? We were always side by side.” He raised his voice. “Mariah! Look at me.”
Still rocking, she had no reaction.
He said it louder. “Move it, Conrad! It’s over now! The enemy is dead.”
She blinked.
Quinn reached for her hands. “I’ve got your back, soldier. Look at me. Hear me. It’s over.”
She tried to pull away, but when he wouldn’t let her, she moaned.
Dolly walked away sobbing, unable to watch. Rufus was at her heels.
Beth buried her face against Ryal’s chest, feeling guilt for coming and causing this to happen.
Quinn moved a little closer to Mariah, raising his voice even further. “It’s time to get up. It’s over, and we’re going back to base. Stand up, Corporal. Stand up!”
She blinked several times in rapid succession, suddenly gasping as if she’d been holding her breath. By the time she realized Quinn was on his knees beside her, the rocking had stopped.
Quinn sat back on his heels. She was coming out of it.
“Mariah?”
She focused on his voice and then his face. There was something she needed to tell him. Something about the gun. Then she remembered.
“Your rifle pulls to the right.”
Oh, my God. He sighed. “Yeah, I know. You did good, honey. You did real good.”
She was sick to her stomach and kept trying to wipe the sand out of her eyes, push her windblown hair away from her face, but there was no sand, no wind. It was so odd to feel one thing and yet be completely aware it was absent. As she became more aware of her surroundings, she was shocked to see Beth with the baby. Sarah had been with Ryal, only now Ryal and Dolly were here, too. When had they come? What in hell had she been doing while the world went on around her? This was maddening and shocking and more than a little scary. She wrapped her arms around her waist, anchoring herself to the present.
“Quinn, I don’t know what happened.”
“I know, honey. It’s going to be okay.”
When the pup started barking again she jerked and then looked through the railing. Strangers were coming across the meadow.
Ryal grabbed Rufus to keep him from running off the deck.
“That’s Jake Doolen and his boys,” Quinn said.
Mariah began trying to unwind herself from the quilt so she could get up.
Quinn pulled her to her feet.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
She leaned against the railing, embarrassed and frustrated, wiping shaky hands across her face.
“Don’t feel sorry for me. It’s the bear who’s dead.”
Quinn wanted to hold her, but she’d taken a step back instead of toward him. He got the message.
“Okay, tough stuff. I hear you.”
Beth ignored Mariah’s body language and hugged her fiercely. “You are one amazing woman, Mariah Conrad. You saved my life. You know what that means, right? I am forever in your debt, so any time you want me to give Quinn a good ass-whipping, just say the word.”
Humor was just what the situation needed.
* * *
Jake and his sons stopped where the bear had fallen and struggled to keep the hounds off it.
“What’s that smell?” Avery asked.
Jake pointed to the bear’s side. “Gangrene. Quinn was right all along. Looks like the shaft of an arrow broke off in its hip. No wonder it went rogue. Poor critter. Must have been in terrible pain.”
“Look, Daddy,” Cyrus said. “She got it with a head shot.”
Jake turned toward the cabin, gauging the distance from the deck to where the bear had fallen. At least seventy-five yards, with the animal on the run. Damn good shooting.
All of a sudden his eyes narrowed. Dolly Walker was there. He felt a momentary twinge of regret, then let out a breath. Old loves belonged in the past, even though this was a full-circle moment. They’d first met as kids when they were both unattached, and in the twilight of their years they were unattached again. It was the neighborly thing to say hello.
“Come on, boys. It’s time we paid our respects,” he said, and they started toward the cabin, dragging the dogs away from the carcass as they went.
* * *
Mariah felt like she was in pieces. A part of her was still standing on the deck with the rifle in her hands. Another part of her had crawled up into Quinn Walker’s lap and didn’t want to let go. The bit of her she showed to the world had a calmness belying what roiled beneath the skin. But it was the piece still lost on the other side of the world that she wanted back most. As long as it was there, she would never be all here.
“You ready to go inside?” Quinn asked.
She nodded.
“Good girl,” he said, and this time she let him steady her as he walked her toward the door.
Jake’s hounds were baying, which set Rufus off again. He was becoming too difficult to hold, and his cut needed attention. Ryal could envision problems arising from the four dogs meeting and decided to carry his pup inside. His mother was already in there putting the baby down to finish her interrupted nap.
Mariah paused as Quinn led her slowly toward the door. “They’re coming to the cabin.”
“They want to meet you. Are you okay with that?” he asked.
“I guess, but why would they want to meet me?”
“They’ve been tracking that bear all over Rebel Ridge for the better part of a week without finding it, then you take it down. They’re curious and, I’d say, a little jealous.”
“Do you know them?”
“Yes. I grew up with them. The Doolens are trackers, and their bloodhounds are the best mountain foot soldiers you could ever want to meet. You get lost…if there’s a piece of you still on this earth, they’ll find you.”
Mariah paused to watch as they strode across the high meadow with their shoulders back, their heads up and their long strides in near-perfect unison.
Quinn was still nervous as he glanced at Mariah, trying to gauge her emotional status. He knew from experience how easy it was to hide what you were thinking, only to have it erupt later, and then, moments later, the Doolens were at the cabin.
Jake lifted a hand as he and his sons paused to tie up the dogs, acknowledging Quinn and curiously eyeing the woman beside him. They took off their hats as they came up the steps.
“Quinn. Ma’am.”
“Mariah, these are the Doolens. That’s Jake, and these are his sons, Cyrus and Avery. Boys, this is my f
riend Mariah Conrad.”
“Nice to meet you,” Mariah said, and shook their hands in turn, feeling the calluses on their palms and, at the same time, the deference in their touch.
“Truly our pleasure, Miss Conrad,” Jake said. “You are one damn fine shot.”
“I’m not really all that great. It took me two shots to bring it down.”
“The rifle pulls to the right,” Quinn said. “My fault because I didn’t warn her ahead of time.”
Beth walked up on the conversation. “Hey, I heard that, Mariah. You were all that great and then some. The bear had already gotten a piece of Rufus when it took off after me. If it hadn’t been for Mariah, I’d be the one lying out there in the meadow.”
At that point the back door opened and Dolly Walker came out.
“Beth, I put the baby down on a quilt on the living room floor. She’s already falling back asleep.”
“Thank you, Dolly,” Beth said
Jake couldn’t stop the smile spreading across his face.
“Dolly, it’s been a while. I have to say, you’re looking fine.”
Dolly was still dabbing her eyes and blowing her nose from her bout of weeping. She would rather have been in a better state, but such was life.
“Jake…boys…it’s good to see you again.”
Ryal came out next, Rufus limping at his side.
The puppy saw Beth and went to her, whining with every step.
“Poor baby,” she said. “The bear got a piece of his hip.”
An injured dog instantly claimed Jake’s attention. “Mind if I take a look?”
“Of course not,” Beth said. She sat down in a chair and pulled the gangly pup up into her lap, where he whined, then licked her hand.
Jake ran a hand along the hip, checking for broken bones and then gauging the depth of the claw marks. The bear had cut through skin but not into the muscle, which was good.
“Cyrus! Hand me your pack.”
Cyrus dropped the pack at Jake’s feet. “What do you need, Daddy?”
“Hand me some of that ointment Aunt Tildy made up for the dogs. The stuff that’s in that blue tin box.”
Cyrus rolled his eyes. “That stuff stinks.”
