Christmas At Love House: Bittersweet Interlude (Bull Rider #3)

by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

  He pulled out of his clenches and took off farther down the creek bank, calling for both his loved ones. His voice was strong and demanded immediate action—for them to appear out of nowhere. His own feet were frozen. If his were, what were his sons like? “Kase, little cowboy, where are you? Velia…honey.” His words waned and he dropped to his knees. “Where are you two? God, where are you?” Listening, he didn’t hear nothing other than the snow fall and his heart pounding.

  Chapter Six

  Lights came through the trees as his dad searched for them. “Caulder, where the hell you at?”

  “Over here, Dad.” He glanced to the black sky, snowflakes falling against his skin as he stood. “I can’t find them!”

  Aiden and four other men came to where he waited, but the others spread out. “We have a search party out now. Everyone’s walking the banks. We’ll find them.” Aiden put his arm around his shoulder.

  Caulder hung his head and shook it. “They’re gone.”

  “We just haven’t found them. They’re okay, son. Come and warm up in the truck. You don’t even have a coat on.”

  “No. I can’t. They aren’t warm—”

  “Did they go in right behind your house?”

  They walked on. “Yeah. I was going to check out a safe sledding route. I tried to stop them, but I was too late.” Caulder explained the rest of the story.

  “We have a lot of people out here, son. More are coming if we need them. We’ll find them.”

  He pulled away from his dad. “B-but will we find t-them alive? I won’t stop.” His words came out slow as he stood there shivering.

  Aiden grabbed hold of his shirt sleeve. “Stay right here. You’ll freeze to death.”

  Twisting out of his dad’s grip, he shook his head. “Then give me your coat because I’m going on.”

  Aiden removed his coat and put it over Caulder’s shoulders. Nodding toward the lights behind the trees to where he had parked on a fire road, he turned in that direction. “Let’s get supplies out of the truck. I’m going with you. We need a bigger light, blankets, maybe rope.”

  Caulder ran to his dad’s truck for those items. When Aiden caught up to him, he took an extra coat from the back.

  “I can’t wait. I have to go. Foley was out here, but I don’t know where he went. He can’t walk through this deep snow for long. My phone’s wet, so I can’t call him. Dad, I gotta go now! They need me.”

  Torre’s voice rang out in the distance, calling for Velia and Kase. This was like a bad dream, and hearing those words was like having a medicine ball thrust into his gut. He was too cold to be sleeping and dreaming, though.

  Aiden pushed his phone at Caulder. “Here, take this. Call your mom, call Foley, I don’t care. Call someone when you find them. Call the police. I’ll be as close behind as I can keep up. Let’s go.” Caulder tromped on ahead.

  The next thing Caulder knew, a familiar voice called out to him. Jase? His brain barely focused. He stopped for a minute to be sure of what he’d heard. Jamming his hands into his pockets to warm them, he bellowed, “Over here.” His lips were so cold he could barely form words.

  Jase came out of the clearing. “Caulder, dammit man, we’ll find them.” He clenched Caulder’s shoulders. “I sent your dad back to the truck. Let’s go.” They trudged on, and every now and then, Jase stopped to examine the ground or tree branches. “There’s footprints here. Big ones, not a woman’s…or a kids. Maybe a hunter?” He peered up at Caulder who stood shivering immensely and gave a glassy-eyed stare as if in a daze. “Caulder? You hear me?”

  “There’s a hunting camp right off my property to the west. Maybe they made it there.” His voice lowered to a whisper. He removed his damp gloves, blew on his hands, and then stuck them under his arm pits. “Maybe they didn’t make it this far and they’re—”

  “No, they had to have made it. We would have seen something back there. The water’s rushing fast.”

  Caulder leaned down to examine the tracks. “They’re going west and are fresh.”

  “They disappear up ahead due to drifting,” said Jase as he came back to Caulder. “Think you can find the cabin?”

  “Yeah. Earlier I found tracks back behind my house—”

  Jase frowned. “Tracks behind your house? When?”

  “I spotted them earlier.” Caulder peered at Jase. “I found a bullet hole in the house.” He shook his shoulders to prevent the images that wanted to come with the thought of someone firing at his home. “I ran these woods as kid, but we’ll follow the creek bank until we cut over to the cabin.” He lowered his eyes. “I don’t know. We should follow the creek.”

  “If there’s a camp over there, we need to check it out—”

  Caulder rubbed his hands together to get some friction going. His fingers were numb, but he gripped Jase’s coat, and with gritted teeth, he blasted out the words, “But what if they’re in the water, man! I can’t leave them.”

  “You go toward the camp. I’ll stay by the creek bank. Call me when you get there.”

  He clenched Jase’s jacket tighter. “We don’t fucking have a cell signal out here!”

  “Just do it, okay? I’ll stay by the water. How far in is the cabin?”

  Caulder peered at the sky then around the surroundings to get his bearings. “We’ll walk along the creek for about an eighth mile, then I’ll veer off when I see a familiar landmark. It’s hard to tell at night, but I’ll know it. The moon helps. It’s just a weird looking tree.”

  “All righty. Let’s go.” Jase put his arm around Caulder’s shoulder. “We won’t give up until we find them.”

  His teeth were chattering, but he still spoke. “Man, I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Hey, no problem.”

  They plodded onward. Caulder moved on pure adrenalin, putting everything else out of his mind—the cold, freezing toes and hands, ears…the fact that his wife and son could be under the water, already dead. No. He’d know. Wouldn’t he? “I can’t go through this again, Jase. I can’t lose them.”

  “I know.”

  At the landmark, Caulder came to a halt. “This is where it leads off. I can’t leave the creek.”

  Jase shook his head. “You know where the cabin is, and I haven’t been in these woods for more than a decade. You have to do this. You can do this.”

  “No, don’t you get it? My family is missing and may be drowned!”

  “They aren’t drowned—”

  Caulder squeezed his cousin’s shoulders. “They’re wearing heavy clothes. How can they not be?” He broke down right there to the point that Jase had to hold him up, but he said a prayer and faith gave him a new strength.

  He patted Caulder on the back. “It’s time to do this.”

  “No, I’m staying by the creek. Keep walking west and you’ll run into the hunting camp. There’s a fence at the end of my property. You’ll see the place by then with the trees bare.” Caulder bit his lip, still shivering. “I have to do this, or I won’t be able to live with myself. Or live. If they’re…I have to be the one to find them.”

  “I don’t like this idea, but we’re wasting time standing here doing nothing.”

  Caulder pointed toward the west. He gasped and expelled a big breath. “Go straight. You’ll find it. Call...my dad’s phone, if you need to…if you have a signal over that way.” He talked out of his head. There was no signal. He turned and walked on, easing closer to the creek bank. It looked like the creek was jammed up ahead a ways. Something slowed down the flow and rush of water. Beaver dam? Bodies? “Good God, no.” He kept going, not even knowing how now since his feet hurt so badly and he couldn’t feel his fingers. Voices rang out on the other side of the creek, calling for Velia. A quick tug to his cap brought it over his ears as he continually scanned the bank. It widened out not far up ahead and that terrified him.

  He called her name again. Again.

  Again.

  Near the jam, he knelt to examine the jam itself and the ground arou
nd him. Tracks. Right at the edge there were drag marks as if someone had been dragged out and his spirit soared. He turned toward the west. Could Jase had been right? Were they there? Velia learned the area in the four years since they’ve been here on and off, but at night and freezing, would she know? He called out again and this time he went to his knees and prayed out loud. “Please God. Don’t take them from me.” He had a profound vision of another woman and child whom he wasn’t there to help and he visualized his daughter’s casket. Don’t let this happen again. My boy. Please.

  He wiped tears from his face and punched a tree. Frozen knuckles burst open. Where are they? Upon a closer look at the broken layer of thin ice, there sat Kase’s cap tangled in the jam. “No!” he screamed to the heavens. He clenched it into his hand. “Kase.” He glanced around and moved away to investigate and found tracks, but only from one person—large tracks.

  I have to follow. Obviously, they couldn’t get past the log jam. He almost ran the whole way until he came upon his fence line and there sat the cabin—smoke billowing out of the chimney. He burst through the door, immediately dropping to his knees in front of them, his chest heaving. “Thank God. Velia. Kase.” He peered at Jase, breathless now. “You didn’t call.”

  “No signal, man.”

  Caulder stood as they sat near the fire wrapped in blankets.

  “Caulder, honey. I knew you’d be so worried.” Velia reached from under the blanket for him, still shivering herself. “I’m sorry I didn’t wait. We’re okay, but I want Kase checked out. His hands and feet are hurting. Mine, too.” She picked up his bleeding hand. “Oh, honey.”

  “Velia.” Caulder held them tight. “Kase, Daddy’s here.”

  “Daddy, my feet hurt.”

  “We’ll get you to the hospital.” He cupped his son’s head and kissed him atop it. Glancing around, he laid his eyes on a burly-looking, tall, middle-aged man sitting at the table with a cup of something steamy. “You found them?”

  “I fished them out a ways back. I knew that log jam wouldn’t be good. Bringing them back here was the only thing I could do. I was going to drive them to the hospital once they warmed—”

  “No, I wanted you to take us home immediately,” Velia blurted out while narrowing her eyes at the man.

  Caulder stood. “Thank you. Anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.” He glanced at the rifle on the table. “Frank let you stay here to hunt?” Hunt? Bullets.

  Ignoring the question, the stranger muttered, “Well, a guy has to eat.”

  “You were hunting on my property? Man, I got signs posted out there. You can’t be shooting so close to my home. I found a bullet hole in my house. Now it makes sense.” Caulder gave Jase a glimpse.

  The guy sat straighter, his hands curled into fists as his arm slowly slid toward the rifle. “I suppose I was but didn’t see any signs. Didn’t get anything, though.”

  Caulder shivered so badly now, he didn’t care what the hell the guy had done. This could be dealt with later. “You got my wife and my kid. I don’t care if you were trespassing, this time. You saved my family.” He got a bump from his cousin as Jase took the guy’s rifle from the table.

  “I did what a man does.” The guy eyed Jase with a furrowed brow, and he stood. “What are you doing with my rifle? I’ll be needing that back now.”

  “I want to take my family home.” Caulder’s gaze flicked back and forth at his cousin and the hunter. He wasn’t thinking rationally enough to make a determination.

  “Yes, sir. I’ll warm up my 4x4. You all will fit. I’ll be needing my rifle.”

  “In time.” Jase gave him an intimidating glare. “I’m keeping it safe.”

  “Where’s your wet clothes?” Caulder asked Velia.

  Velia pointed to a back room, all of a sudden getting panicky. “I lost my ring, honey. My wedding ring!” Tears squeezed through her narrowed eyes.

  Crouching in front of her, he placed one hand on his son’s leg and the other on her cheek. “It’s only material. I’ll get you another one, darlin’. I’ll round up your clothes.” Checking out the guy, he didn’t wait for permission. When he went back to the only other room, filled with nothing more than a bed and an old dresser, he had to search for their clothes, finding them still wet and stuffed into the closet corner, so he balled them into a bunch. What the hell is this about? Velia wouldn’t set them aside like this. Then he remembered seeing tracks at the shoreline when he had arrived home. This guys? He fired at his house from there? On purpose?

  In the front room, he set the clothes down to remove his dad’s coat and put it around Kase when they were ready to walk out, having no idea what went on with the rifle incidence, but he’d never argue someone’s instincts. In fact, he was glad Jase took it. He grabbed up Velia and Kase’s wet clothes about to question her why they were jammed into a closet, but this wasn’t the time.

  Before following the scruffy guy out, Jase set the rifle back on the table then put his arm around Caulder. “Told you we’d find them. We don’t give up in this family.”

  “Yep.” Caulder carried Kase outside and Velia held a blanket over an old flannel shirt and sweat pants she wore, while Kase had on an adult t-shirt and flannel shirt buttoned around him.

  The guy opened the passenger side doors. “You’re the one who built that log mansion down the road.”

  Caulder lifted an eyebrow. “Well, I wouldn’t call it a mansion, but yeah, it’s my home.”

  Scratching at the stubble of beard on his chin, the guy stared at Caulder. “Who the hell are you?”

  Velia smiled at Caulder as she clutched his cold hand. “He’s a three-time bull riding World Champion.”

  Interrupting his wife before she gave away their whole life story, he peered at the guy, and shot back the same question. “Who the hell are you?”

  “My name’s Abe Smith.”

  Hmm, Smith, huh?

  Abe went around to his side while everyone else got inside the truck. When they got in and they were on their way, he said, “Well, Lordy Almighty. We should get a phone signal up here a ways. You can let your family know.”

  “I got it, Caulder,” said Jase. “I’ll call Uncle Aiden right now.”

  “Thanks, man, but I have his phone. Call my mom.” Caulder wrapped his arm around Velia and pressed his head against his sons, who sat on his lap. He brought Velia closer. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

  “I can agree with you. That was horrendous, and the only thing I could think about was not letting go of my son… no matter what…no matter what.” Velia’s sobs came in loud cries now as she shivered.

  Kase reached out to Velia. “Mommy, don’t cry.”

  He teared up. Caulder squeezed Kase tighter. “And you did hold him, Mamma. You did.”

  Nodding, she peered up at him, her chin quivering while tears dripped down her cheeks.

  ***

  Velia and Kase had stayed the night in the hospital under warm blankets. Caulder stayed with them after he had been checked out, too—a blanket wrapped around his shoulders all night. He had been afraid to close his eyes for fear of what he’d see. They all had frostnip—a mild form of frostbite but with the proper care, it’d heal. Kase had a spot on his cheek and right ear, they’d watch.

  The next night at home, Caulder carried Kase to their bed. He gave Velia a sheepish grin. “I want to see you both when I wake, so our boy is sleeping with us tonight.”

  Velia cuddled beneath the covers but held them up when Kase crawled in beside her. “Let’s watch cartoons, okay bambino? You can fall asleep in Mom and Dad’s bed tonight. It’s nice and warm from our cuddly electric blanket.” The fireplace gave off a golden glow giving the room an even warmer appearance and heated them all on the inside as well.

  Kase clasped his hands together and turned to his dad. “That water was cold, Daddy. I don’t want to go sledding again.”

  “You don’t have to, son. You’re safe now. It was an accident that’ll never happen a
gain. I love you.” Caulder covered Kase’s hands with his and placed a kiss against his forehead. He glanced at Velia and nearly lost it right there. His finger caressed the side of her face. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “Other than losing my ring, I think so. It must’ve come off with my glove. Did anyone call my parents?”

  “I don’t know who had time, babe. Someone might have called them while we were in the hospital. They would’ve been calling if they had been told, though. They’ll be here tomorrow. We’ll tell them then. Ah, my parents will probably tell yours when they pick them up. Expect a call anytime.” Caulder got out of bed when Kase fell asleep and got in on the other side of her, snuggling close against her back.

  Turning toward him, she held up his bandaged hand. “Are you all right? That had to be hell for you. What happened to your knuckles?”

  “I don’t know…a tree might’ve gotten in my way. I hope I never have to think about that night again, but I know I will. It was more than hell, Velia. I wouldn’t have been able to go on without you two.” His throat tightened and he closed his eyes, unable to go on.

  “Shh, don’t say that. I’m here and we’re together. That’s all we need to think about. It’s comforting to be in your arms. Hold me.”

  Caulder flicked the TV off and embraced her body with his arms and legs.

  She snuggled closer and slipped her arm around his waist. “I’m glad your cousin made it.”

  “Yeah, a godsend. I couldn’t even think anymore. Jase set me straight—got me to thinking things I couldn’t on my own.” Hypothermia must’ve set in out there, for his brain had functioned in a fog. As strong a man as he was, he had been reminded the other night what it took to weaken him.

  Velia gave a long, drawn out sigh. “If only you didn’t have to keep saving me.”

  I hope it’s the last damn time. “But, I always will. In reality, the hunter saved you and took you guys back to warmth. He’s the hero here.”