by M Elle Kelso
“Okay, David. You may uncover it, but remember what I said.”
He circled to the other side of the bed and as he came up beside the hump, he got the first whiff of new leather. That’s when he knew. He looked up at her and smiled.
“You didn’t.” He bit his bottom lip in amazement. “You did.” He had pulled the blanket back and revealed the rich, dark mahogany tones of the carved leather on the new saddle sitting there. The saddle he had been drooling over whenever he went online looking for training and working aids for the horses. It was a King Series Jacksonville Trail Saddle, one of the best made, and he’d about decided to buy it for himself. But here it sat. On his side of the bed.
“How did you know?” He looked at her, a gentle smile on his face.
“You think I didn’t see you mooning over that thing every time you went online to order supplies? You used my computer once and you bookmarked the page. That’s how I knew.” She was beaming at him, happy in the knowledge she had given him what he wanted.
“Is it the right one?” She was afraid to ask. She had spent a number of nights rubbing her hands gently over the leather of this saddle and had decided he had good taste.
“Oh, yes, sweetheart, it’s the right one.” He walked back around to her side of the bed and took her hands.
“Come with me. Now that I’ve got my present, you have to have yours.” He pulled her to her feet and helped her into the robe she’d flung across the foot of the bed.
Out in the hall he handed her the key then wrapped his hand around hers. At the locked door, he took the key from her, put it in the lock and turned it. Just before opening the door, he turned back to her.
“Close your eyes, darlin’.” Once her eyes were shut, he opened the door and led her through.
“All right. You can open them now.” He stood beside her, afraid to move; afraid he’d made a mistake.
As C.J. gazed around the room, her eyes widened in disbelief. Laid out in front of her was a totally furnished nursery. She walked slowly forward, her hands touching and caressing the furniture she found. The cradle, the rocking chair. The small bed in one corner. The only thing missing in this room was a baby.
“Oh, David, it’s beautiful.” She turned to him, tears in her eyes and a look of wonder spread across her face. “Is this what you’ve been busy doing when you disappeared up here? Did you make all these things?” She turned to look again at the cradle, finished in a soft golden tone that glowed.
“Yes. I made them. I hope you like this, C.J.. I wanted to do something for you that would tell you how I felt about us. And this was the best thing I could think of.” He stood behind her, his arms encircling her, holding her to him. He reached down and gently nibbled her ear.
“Now, Mrs. T., we just have to work at making the baby to live here.”
“Oh, David.” She turned to him and threw her arms around his neck, drawing his face closer and reaching to kiss him.
“God, I love you, C.J. And don’t you ever forget that.” His mouth claimed hers and when he realized that they wouldn’t be stopping with just a kiss he swung her up into his arms and carried her back to their bedroom. He set her gently beside the bed and with one arm removed the saddle she had given him. Together they fell to the bed, lost in their love for one another.
Twice that day and again the next, he found her standing in the doorway to the nursery room looking at the finished room or standing in the middle of the room running her hands over the cradle. Each time he went to her, he caught her with tears in her eyes and a gentle smile on her lips. He learned by the second time that the emotion engulfing her was love and contentment so he had quit worrying about it and just held her to him until she was back to normal.
At night, they kept to themselves and worked at filling the nursery. Time seemed to stand still for both of them. Love so profound made them feel as one. And as one they cut out the outside world. For that short time they did everything together, the only interruption being the Christmas dinner C.J. had prepared. But as soon as their guests left for home, they had again shut out the rest of the world. This time was theirs.
Theirs alone.
The call came two days after Christmas and caught them still in bed. C.J. had been showing David what she liked doing most in bed; he had been humoring her. The shrill of the cell phone made both of them groan. David grabbed it.
“Yeah...”
David’s answer was barely civil. C.J. poked him in the ribs and muttered something that sounded like ‘be nice’.
“David, it’s Patrick. Sorry to bother you so early.”
“It’s okay. What’s up?
Patrick so seldom called his cell phone, David began to pay attention.
“I just heard from John Williams’s neighbor. He says an unmarked cattle hauler pulled out of one of John’s pastures real early this morning. Think he said it was around five a.m. Anyway, he thought it looked a little suspicious, so he phoned John. Mike answered because his dad’s away.”
“I know about his dad being out of town. He’s supposed to be off visiting his sister.”
“You sound like you don’t know whether to believe that or not.” Patrick sounded shocked that anyone would question his friend.
“I know, Patrick. That’s from another scene. What else did you find out this morning.”
“There was no scheduled pickup of cattle at his place this morning. Mike’s out checking now, but I thought you should know. He’s gone in his helicopter to save time. As soon as I hear back from him, I guess we’d better get together and see if we can figure out what to do.”
“Sounds good to me. How long ago did Mike go up, do you know?”
“About an hour, I’d guess. I figured I’d let you sleep as long as I could before I called.”
“Thanks for that, anyway. We appreciate that.”
Patrick’s chuckle told him that he understood.
“Just as soon as you hear from Mike, tell him to phone me. I’m going to get my helo ready to fly, but I want to talk to him before I go up. No point in covering the same ground twice.”
“Will do. Say hi to C.J. for me and tell her I apologize for calling so early in the day.”
“I will. I’m sure she’ll forgive you, too, when she hears why you called. Talk to you later.”
David disconnected, swearing softly as he put the phone back on the bedside table. Turning to C.J., he found her propped on one elbow, looking at him with an expectant smile.
“So, what happened?”
“A neighbor saw a cattle hauler pull out of John Williams’s place early this morning. He called Mike who called Patrick. You’ll never guess who isn’t in town today. Supposedly left yesterday to visit his sister.”
“John.”
“Yep. Anyway, Mike is up in his helo checking out the area. I don’t want him to be the one checking his dad’s place. He should stay away from there completely, leave it for me to do.”
“Well, if you’re planning to get up and get ready to leave, I guess I’d better do something about breakfast. Got time for one more kiss?”
As she asked, she allowed her body to fall forward so that she was laying on his chest, her mouth just inches from his. His hand went to her back, trailing fingers along her spine making her shiver.
“Don’t you think I should leap out of bed and go and get ready?” His question was asked with a grin.
“I guess you should, so I guess I’d better stop this.”
She made the pretense of pulling away, but before she could do anything, David had her on her back and was lying over her.
“I don’t think so. I think we’ve got time...”
She cut off the words with her mouth, her tongue immediately finding his.
“Come on, love. We’ve got to get up. At the rate we’re going, Patrick will be calling back and we’ll still be in bed.”
As he spoke, the cell phone rang.
“Well, at least his timing is better this time.”
&nbs
p; C.J.’s flip remark made David laugh and he was still chuckling when he answered.
“Yes, Patrick?”
While he was speaking, David flipped his hand out and pulled C.J. against him again, running his hands over parts of her body guaranteed to have her aroused in seconds. Seeing where this whole thing was headed, she rolled away from him and bounded off the bed.
“Sorry, Patrick, what was that?” David smiled at C.J. as she pulled on her sweat suit. “I must be having some poor reception this morning, you were cutting out.” He didn’t mind bending the truth for her, for a good cause.
“I was saying that Mike has apparently had some kind of mechanical failure and hasn’t even made it into the air this morning. He just phoned to let me know that he can’t do the aerial search, so I’m phoning to ask if you’ll do it.”
“No problem. Actually, this is even better. I don’t think Mike should be the one to check out his dad’s place. If there is something fishy going on there, I don’t want him to have to accuse his old man.”
“You’re right. I didn’t think of that when he phoned this morning. I’ll tell him when he calls back that you’ll do the aerial work on his dad’s ranch anytime there is flying to do. Let’s just hope the neighbor was having a pipe dream and you don’t find anything. Let me know.”
“I will, Patrick. I’ll call you as soon as I get back.”
“Right. Have a safe flight.”
Patrick was gone before David could thank him.
“Oh, man, I did so not want to do this today.”
C.J. had just come back into their room after starting the coffee and looked across at him, wondering why he had suddenly said that. It made her uneasy.
“Coffee will be ready in five, breakfast in ten. So get that gorgeous butt of yours into the shower and get moving.”
David was moving across the room toward her.
“Want to share that shower with me, sweetheart?” The look in his eye said move it or you’re going to get wet.
C.J. escaped just as he lunged for her.
“See you downstairs, love.” She grinned at him as she sprinted from the room. He could hear her giggling as she headed back to the kitchen.
Man, he loved that woman. How had he been so lucky to find her?
In the kitchen, that woman was setting places at the table, shooting frequent looks upward to the spot where David would be standing in the shower. She felt uneasy, unsettled, wanting to tell him to stay home. But how would she ever explain it?
She could hear him now.
Woman’s intuition? Hah!
David showed up just as she was serving up his bacon and eggs. If he was flying, he needed a full meal, not just toast.
“Thank you, sweetheart. I know I promised to make your breakfast this morning, so I’ll do it tomorrow. I just wish I didn’t have to go.”
“Would you stay here if I asked you to, David?”
The seriousness of her question startled him.
“You know I have to go, C.J. What’s the matter, love, you’re not usually so solemn.”
“I don’t know. I just have an eerie feeling, a premonition, or something. I don’t want you to go.”
“I’ve got to go, sweetheart.”
He leaned forward to plant a kiss on her forehead.
“There’s nothing to worry about. The weather is good, we know the helicopter is in good shape, and I’ll only be gone for a couple of hours.”
David took her in his arms.
“Come on, love, don’t worry.” He drew her to his body as tightly as he could. “Nothing is going to happen.”
He pulled away and sat down to his breakfast, watching as C.J. wrapped her arms around herself and gave a slight shudder. Something was wrong, but he didn’t have time right now to find out what.
C.J. left the kitchen and came back carrying his cell phone.
“Please, for me, take this with you. If you have to set down for anything, phone me.”
“Okay, honey, I will. It will be on, but don’t phone me, because I won’t hear it. If you really have to get in touch, leave a message. I’ll get it when I land.”
“Thank you. Where are you going to be flying this morning?”
“Over the Williams’s place, I guess. That’s where the neighbor saw the truck. I’ll be checking that holding pen and chute we saw. It snowed yesterday, so there shouldn’t be anything to see. If there’s tracks there now, we’ll know these guys were there.”
“Well, get up there and get back here, and don’t be gone too long.”
C.J. went to find his jacket and gloves. She had everything ready for him when he got to the back door. As he came around the corner, he caught her with her nose buried in his jacket, her eyes filled with tears.
“C.J., what is it?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t want you to leave. I know I’m being silly. Don’t worry about me.”
She sniffed, then tried to smile at him.
“Here, turn around, I’ll hold this for you.”
She held his jacket, brushing her hands across his shoulders after he shrugged it on. He turned and took her hands in his, taking them to his lips, to lay kisses across her knuckles, then turning her hand to nestle a kiss in each palm.
“Gotta go, love.”
He hugged her hard to his body and kissed her mouth, a kiss that seemed somehow more urgent than usual.
Turning abruptly, he pulled the door open, and left.
Still feeling his kiss, she watched through the window as he strode across the pasture, headed to the temporary helipad he had cleared.
Even after he disappeared into the trees, she stood, not sure why, or what she was waiting for. She heard the first few chuffs of the rotor as the motor caught and started the big blade turning. She listened to the pitch of the motor as the rotor picked up speed, knowing that any second, it would lift off and he would leave.
Tears filled her eyes as she stood there, waiting. As the helicopter cleared the trees, she dashed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. She watched as it turned toward the house and hovered there, as though he knew she was watching, giving her one last glance.
Then the helicopter peeled away to the west, the whumping sounds growing fainter, the helicopter getting smaller. She watched until she could no longer hear it, then watched some more, until he disappeared from sight.
Now that he was gone, she wished she’d had another minute with him, time to apologize for acting like such a crybaby. That wasn’t her normal behavior and David certainly hadn’t needed that before he left.
Back in the kitchen, she poured herself a hot cup of coffee, then sat back at the table to finish her cold toast. Just as she was getting ready to clear the table, the phone rang.
“Hi there, C.J. How’s things this morning at your house?”
The cheerful sound of Blake’s voice made her smile.
“I guess they’re fine.”
“What? What do you mean, ‘you guess they’re fine’? Has something happened?”
Blake’s concern overrode his cheerfulness.
“Nothing’s happened. I guess I’m feeling a little strange because David just left. He’s gone to do aerial surveillance at the Williams’s ranch. A neighbor reported a cattle hauler leaving one of John’s pastures this morning and, according to Mike, there were no cattle scheduled to go anywhere from their place. In fact, his dad isn’t even in town.”
“Why was it David that had to fly? Doesn’t Mike have his helicopter at the ranch?”
“Yes, he does, but he had some kind of mechanical problem and couldn’t take off. And David and Patrick both think he shouldn’t be the one to check out his own father.”
“They’ve got a point there. Well, tell him to keep me posted.”
“I will. Is that what you were phoning about?”
“No. Kaycee asked me to call. She’s getting a guest list finalized for a get-together at our place this Saturday and we just want to make sure that you and Dav
id will be here.”
“I don’t see any problem with that. We hadn’t made any plans. What time?”
“It’s for supper and the evening, so sometime around six, I guess, is when we’ll eat. With these kids you don’t dare eat fashionably late.”
“Can I bring anything?”
You’ll have to talk to Kaycee about that.”
“That’s fine.”
She paused, hearing helicopter whumps approaching from the west.
“Blake...hang on.”
C.J. rushed to the window. Was David really back this soon? She watched, but never saw him. She heard the sound fade.
“Sorry, Blake, I heard a helicopter. I thought maybe David was back already and I wasn’t sure why. He just left.”
Blake could hear the worry in her voice.
“It must have passed on the south side of the house, heading east. I never saw it.”
“Seems strange. What would he be doing going that way?”
“I don’t know. I could tell by the volume of the rotor noise that it was flying real low.”
“Well, I’m sure he knows what he’s doing up there. We’ll let him do his thing. I’ll tell Kaycee you’ll be calling to find out about the party.”
“Thanks, Blake. I will call, but not until David is home. I don’t want to tie up the phone in case he tries to phone here.”
“That’s fine.” He tried to reassure her. “And C.J., take it easy. He knows what he’s doing. He’ll be okay.”
The crack in the Plexiglas in front of him spidered across David’s line of sight as searing pain hit his shoulder.
What the…?
He hadn’t heard the shot but he knew that’s what it was. Banking the helicopter around so that he could look back the way he’d just come, he saw a lone man standing against the rocky outcropping, using the rock to steady what appeared to be a high-powered assault rifle. He saw the man’s body take the recoil and felt another burning invasion. The shot and flying Plexiglas hit him in the side while flying shards of Plexi became mini-missiles hitting his face and arms. Mercifully, all of it missed the flight control panel.
