She found a spot to climb up the hill. It was cold, and she’d given her jacket to her sister. Dax was down there shirtless. At least she was moving. The effort warmed her a little. She got to the top of the drop off, and then looked back and waved at the three people she loved most in the whole world. Then she moved along the ridge at the top, back to the spot where Dax had fallen over. Sure enough, the radio was there in the dirt near the edge. She picked it up and keyed the mic. “I found her. Everything’s fine. There’s a steep drop. She and Dax are at the bottom.”
“Kendra, be careful!” She didn’t recognize the voice. Was it Chief Jimmy? “Caine got away.”
“What?”
“He said, ‘Caine got away,’” Vester Caine said. He was standing behind her. She turned around slowly. She glanced at the radio.
“Not another word. Put the radio down.”
Her thumb was working the transmit button, depressing it and releasing it, 3 times quickly, 3 times slowly 3 times quickly. She got two S.O.S. sequences out before dropping the radio to ground, and then “accidentally” kicking it over the side.
“Come with me.”
“What the hell do you want, Caine? You got Jack. You had your revenge. Didn’t you see how bad off he was back there?”
“He’s still alive. Or was. They choppered him out of there after you left. I should’ve killed him right away, but I thought I might need a hostage to get out of there. They took Phil by chopper, too. You should’ve shot me instead of him. Why didn’t you?”
“I knew he’d talk if I hurt him. You wouldn’t have.”
He pressed his lips and nodded slowly. “You’re right, I wouldn’t.” He waved the gun barrel. “This way. Move.”
She didn’t look back. Maybe he didn’t realize Jack’s other daughter, and grandchild were so nearby. She moved quickly, to put distance between them before the baby cried or one of them called her name. But the path he made her take led around the top of the ridge, so they were circling, rather than moving away from them. Dax would take care of Kiley and the baby until help arrived. And if help didn’t arrive, he’d carry them both down off this hill on his back, one-legged. She didn’t doubt it a bit. All she had to do was keep this animal from noticing them down there.
“So you’re gonna kill me to get back at Jack for stealing your whiskey and cigars? Is that what this is?”
“I oughtta kill you for what you did to Phil. You know how hard it is to get good help these days?”
“Right. I bet soulless thugs are hard to come by.”
“They are. But no. I’m not gonna kill you. Not yet anyway. I need to get across the border.”
“Mexico?” He didn’t answer, but she was sure he had a billion-dollar spread south of the border. Heroin was big business. All this wasn’t even going to put a wrinkle in his silk sheets.
“Follow that trail there,” he said, wagging the gun.
The trail he indicated circled around drop-off, and the place at the bottom where Kiley had given birth. It kept them too close. She wanted to get him to move further away from them.
“Why this way? I think the road is over here. If we cut through—”
“The road is the way we’re going,” he said. She didn’t know if he was right or wrong, didn’t know how he thought he knew, and didn’t care. “Move it.”
She sighed, and kept walking. Maybe if she just went fast enough, they could get around the other side, and out of earshot before the baby cut loose another wail.
#
Dax heard Kendra’s voice on the radio, and then heard the radio tumbling and banging its way down the face of the drop-off. It followed the path he’d taken down himself.
“What was that?” Kiley asked.
He held up a hand so she’d go quiet, just in case, and scanned the ground until he spotted the walkie-talkie lying at the bottom. Then he looked up in time to see two forms moving off into the trees.
Two forms.
“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
He glanced at Kiley. “Keep the baby as quiet as you can, okay?” Then he crawled on two hands and one knee, dragging the broken leg behind him. Pain screamed all the way to his teeth, but he kept it contained, grabbed the walkie. “Anyone there?” He spoke as softly as he could, and turned the volume down while awaiting a response.
Rob’s voice came back. “We’re on our way. Be careful, Caine got away from Jimmy. Cracked him over the head with a rock and ran off through the woods. I was just telling Kendra that when she started keying in an SOS, then went silent. What happened?”
He glanced upward again, then a twig snapped further away, drawing his gaze. He turned the radio off, scanning the trees to the right of them. And he saw them, shadows in the trees, Kendra in front, and a man behind her.
Caine.
He slid a look Kiley’s way. The look on her face told him she’d seen it, too. He nodded at her, gave a stay calm gesture with his palm. Then he got his leg out in front of him, gripped his shin with both hands, and yanked the broken bone back into place. The sound was sickening, the pain more so. Kiley clapped a hand over her mouth. He sat there, hands on the break. He didn’t have time to wait long, though. He looked around, located a long, sturdy looking limb, and slid closer. Then he got up on one leg and, using the limb as a crutch, hobbled across the little clearing.
Kendra and Caine seemed to be circling it, making their way to the lower side by going around rather than over the drop. The road must be in that direction.
He kept the gun in his jeans, its metal cold against his bare back, and moved as quickly and quietly as he could to the bottom edge of their clearing. Then he pulled the gun out, looked at it, and shaking his head, put it back. He couldn’t shoot a man.
They were coming closer. He positioned himself near the edge of the animal trail they seemed to be following, behind a crooked pine tree, stood on one leg, and picked up his crutch.
They came into sight. He waited. They moved closer. They stepped right in front of his spot. The baby started to cry. Cain and his gun swung in that direction. Kendra turned and grabbed his gun hand, getting right between it and the baby, so its barrel was aimed at her chest as she yanked on his arm. Dax hopped out and brought the crutch down like a sledge hammer on Caine’s head.
The limb broke right in half. Dax pulled out the damn gun as Cain spun around, yanking Kendra right off her feet, but she did not let go of that arm.
“Drop it or I’ll yank your arm out of its socket you dirty rotten—” She sank her teeth into his forearm. He punched her in the face with his free hand and she dropped to the ground like a sack of feed.
Dax shot him. The bullet hit him in the right shoulder, spinning him right around, and Kendra jumped up onto her feet, snatched Caine’s gun from him easily, and backed up until she was standing beside Dax. Cain dropped to his knees, clutching his bleeding shoulder. “I hate you fucking Kelloggs.”
“Should’a aimed for his head,” Kendra said. She glanced sideways at him, saw the pain on his face. He wobbled, and she wrapped her arm around his waist. “Lean on me, big guy.”
He put an arm around her. There were people running, crashing through the woods by then. Chief Jimmy Corona, a nasty wound on his head all swollen and cut. It had bled all over his face. He walked up behind Caine and handcuffed him, in spite of the shoulder wound. Caine yelped in pain but no one cared.
Rob shouted for Kiley, and she called back. He ran to her, wrapped her and the baby in his arms and held them. Dax couldn’t see his face, but he’d bet there were tears on it.
Four wheelers growled from a distance, the BFFD had come to the rescue.
Dax squeezed Kendra’s shoulders. “Long day, huh?”
She let her head fall onto his shoulder, watching her sister’s little family embracing a few yards away. “Long day,” she agreed. “You did so good, Dax.”
“So did you, Kendra. You are good. You just don’t know it, is all.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
&nb
sp; Thanksgiving Day
Kendra stood in the Long Branch, feeling out of place, and knowing more than before that the decision she’d made was the right one.
The place was hopping with Brands and McIntyres, all of them happy and smiling and beautiful and good. People were carrying piping hot dishes from the kitchen to the long tables set up in the dining room. There were immaculate linen tablecloths all patterned in russet leaves and cornucopias. There were centerpieces of sunflowers, yellow mums and burgundy carnations. The place settings were perfect, with colorful cloth napkins in mustard yellow. The area near the front windows had been cleared of tables. Tomorrow, Kiley told her, they’d put up a Christmas tree there.
Dax hadn’t arrived yet. Kendra was nervous about seeing him again. She had barely exchanged three sentences with him in the days since Diana’s birth in the woods. She’d been busy with her father in the hospital, with her sister and new niece. He’d been busy, too, making a deal with the New York State attorney general. His mother wasn’t going to be prosecuted. In exchange, she and Dax were cooperating fully with the state in its prosecution of Vester Caine. They’d turned over the books, and the track’s bookkeeper had been arrested. Vester was in custody, and Phil was in a hospital, but handcuffed to the bed. Chief Jimmy swore Kendra had fired her weapon in self-defense. No one questioned it.
Ace was still at large.
Kiley said Dax was coming to dinner, but Kendra was a little afraid that he wouldn’t. His mother was there, though, with Luis Mendosa. They seemed completely in love. Miss Dolly and Ned could barely keep their hands off each other. Everyone was mingling, nibbling appetizers and the piano was playing them a selection of old timey holiday music.
When Vidalia came out of the kitchen with a picture perfect roasted turkey on a platter, and her husband Bobby Joe came out behind her with another, the oohs, ahhs and praise were universal. And then they were all gathering around the giant tables.
“Oh, we can’t begin yet,” Miss Dolly said. “Not everyone is here.”
“They are now.”
It was Dax!
Kendra couldn’t help the relief that rushed through her at the sound of his voice, or the shiver of awareness up her spine. She turned toward the batwing doors way past the open red velvet curtains, and then blinked in surprise. Dax was pushing a wheelchair, and her father was its passenger. They were both dressed in suits and ties and they were both smiling.
“Jack?” Kendra asked.
“Dad!” Kiley shouted, and they both went to the doorway to greet him.
“Hello girls.” Jack flashed his dimples around the room. “Thank you for the invitation Miz Vidalia.”
Dax had hold of Kendra’s eyes and wouldn’t let go. The conversation, the greetings, were happening all around them. But they were apart from all of it.
“You’re family, Jack,” Vidalia said. “You don’t need an invitation, but I wasn’t sure you knew that yet.”
Jack spotted Rob holding the baby while Kiley was hugging his neck and asking how he got out a day sooner than planned. He didn’t really answer. Instead he said, “If it’s okay with everyone, I’d really like to have a word with my granddaughter.”
“And I’d like to have word with you, Kendra,” Dax said. His voice was all hoarse. “Outside, if that’s okay?”
She looked at him frowned. “Actually, I need to talk to you too.”
She grabbed her jacket from a hook, and he opened the door for her. They stepped out into the parking lot, him hobbling on one crutch. He said, “Your sister tells me you’re leaving tomorrow.”
“I wasn’t going without saying goodbye to you first,” she said. “I just…it’s been….”
“I know.”
“I was gonna pick Jack up on the way, take him with me. Didn’t expect this.”
“He’s not going,” Dax said.
Kendra blinked, stunned. “What, now? What do you mean, he’s not going?”
“We had a long talk, your dad and me. He said he saw your mother, during that time when his heart wasn’t beating. Said she told him to get his ass back here and be a good grandfather to her namesake.”
She frowned. “He didn’t…tell me any of that.”
“He will. When he’s ready. He’s still…processing it, I think. Point is, he says he’s going straight. Moving back here to Big Falls to be with his family.”
She turned in a slow circle, tipped her head back, closed her eyes. “He can’t do that.”
“He can if he wants. It’s a free country. And I don’t know how you’re can leave Kiley to ride herd on him all by herself. Do you?” He touched her shoulders, turned her to face him again. He was looking at her like he was trying to memorize her face.
“I’ll make him see sense,” she said. “We can come and visit.”
“Well, you know, that’s between you and your father, I guess.”
She nodded, and decided the moment had come. She pulled her keys out of her jacket pocket and held them out.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“I’m paying you back,” she said. “The ‘Vette’s worth way more than half of what I took you for. Maybe three quarters. But I’m gonna pay back the rest, too.”
He nodded, took the keys from her. “That’s way more than enough.”
She nodded. She’d expected him to argue harder. But it didn’t matter. She’d intended make him take it, even if he did.
“I’m staying in Big Falls too.” He put her keys in his pocket, fiddled around in there for a second. “There’s a place for sale five miles west of town that’s exactly what I want. I’m buying it. Gonna put in a track, train horses there.”
She nodded slowly. “That’s great, Dax. I can really see that for you.”
“Can you see it for you?”
She lowered her head, unable to hold his eyes. “I can’t. Dax, I’m not good enough for this town, or that baby in there, or even my own sister anymore. And I’m nowhere near good enough for you.”
“I’ve said that about myself a million times. That I’m not good enough for you.” He took a deep breath. “But here’s the thing. I know you, Kendra Kellogg. I know you better than you know yourself. I saw your face out there, delivering little Diana. It was the face of an angel.”
“An angel who almost got my whole family killed.”
“You didn’t do that. Jack did that, and let me tell you, he regrets it to his bones. Something profound happened to your father in that cabin, Kendra. It changed him. I think all of this has changed you, too. And I think you know it, deep down, and you’re just too scared to trust that it’s for real. That it will last.”
She nodded, recognizing truth when she heard it. “You’re right. You’re right, I am afraid of that. And afraid of what it would do to you, and to my poor sister, if I tried and failed. And what about Diana? What if I make her love me, make her trust me, and then I fail miserably? What if—”
“And what if you don’t? What if you succeed? What if you would’ve succeeded, but you’re too scared to even try? Wouldn’t that be the real tragedy?”
She lowered her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know how to be sure of anything.”
“No one is ever sure what’s going to happen in the future, Kendra. You can only be sure of the present. This one moment. All you can be is here, now. Any one of us could be gone tomorrow. If this whole experience taught us anything, it should be that. We have to make the most of every single day of our lives. Don’t you believe that?”
She frowned. “I…I do. I do believe that.”
“That’s a start. Now let’s try one more. Which is more important? Love or fear?”
“L-love?”
“Yeah, love. You love your sister. You love Diana. You even love that rascal, Jack. How can you just walk away from all that love by choosing fear instead?”
Kendra lowered her head. She paced a few steps away from him, and then a few steps back.
“You love me, Kendra. I know you do. I can see
it in your eyes, and I can feel it every time you touch me. You love me. You love me as much as I love you, and that’s a helluva lot.”
He hobbled closer, touched her chin, tipped it up. “Deny it. I dare you.”
And then before she could say anything, he kissed her. He kissed her long and slow and so tenderly that tears leaked from her eyes, slid down her cheeks and salted their lips. He lifted his head and said, “I love you, Kendra Kellogg.”
“I…love you too,” she admitted.
“I’m not gonna let you fail.”
She smiled through tears. “What, you have super powers or something?”
“I have magic,” he said. “Wanna see?”
Sniffling, she nodded. “Sure.”
He looked up at the sky. “Which one’s your favorite star?” She just frowned at him and he said, “Just pick one. You want to see magic or not?”
She knuckled her wet cheek, and pointed at the brightest star in sight.
“Good choice.” Dax reached up, stretching his long arm out. He mimicked plucking the star from the sky, lowered his fisted hand, and then opened it, palm up. A diamond ring rested there.
Awkwardly, and painfully, he dropped to one knee while she was still blinking in shock.
“There’s no other woman for me, Kendra. You’re all I want, all I’ve ever wanted. I love you. I want us to build a life together right here in Big Falls. I want spend the rest of my life showing you how good you really are. And I’d kind of like to be Diana’s official uncle.”
She looked down at him for a long moment.
“Get out of your head, woman. Just be in the moment. What do you want to do, right now?”
“I want to say yes,” she said.
“Then say it.”
Her lips pulled into a smile. “Yes. I’ll marry you.” She helped him upright and he slid that ring onto her finger, swept her into his arms and kissed her, bending her backward over his arm.
Shine On Oklahoma Page 17
