“There he goes!” Unmindful of the wet plants, or their delicacy, Libby charged through the bush tomatoes, and the chase was on. They followed the snake as it raced from one row to the next, until it was through the chain-link fence and out of the garden.
“Oh, no!” Libby yelled. “He’s heading for the creek!”
The girls ran back out through the garden gate and followed the six-inch gray snake. Libby saw it disappear into a clump of grass near the tire swing.
“There he goes,” Janie said.
“I saw, I saw.” Libby slowed and tiptoed toward the clump of grass, two feet from the bank of the creek.
“Don’t get too close to the edge,” Janie warned.
Libby looked over at the rushing water that was nearly to the top of the banks, when usually it was five feet lower. “Golly,” she said. “Look at all that water.”
“Be careful,” Janie warned.
“I am.” She inched another step forward, and the ground, weakened and saturated by the torrential rains, simply gave way beneath her feet. One minute Libby was standing there, the next she was gone.
“Libby!”
Emily was working upstairs, giving Rose’s bedroom a final going-over with the polishing cloth. The house was quiet, quieter than usual with the girls outside.
A shrill scream from outside broke the silence.
Emily’s heart stopped. That was Libby’s voice.
She raced to the window that overlooked the backyard, but before she reached it she heard Janie scream Libby’s name.
She reached the window and threw aside the curtains to see Janie dancing back and forth anxiously at the edge of the creek, only the edge of the creek didn’t seem to be where it should be.
Emily dropped her polishing cloth and tore out of the bedroom and down the stairs. She was outside in five seconds flat and running for all she was worth toward the creek.
Sloan was on the roof of the barn fixing a leak when he heard the screams. His heart jumped to his throat and threatened to cut off his air. He had hoped to never again hear the sound of a little girl screaming in fear for as long as he lived, but there it was. It was Libby, he knew. But this time her scream sounded even more terrified than the day she’d been afraid of the snake.
Then Janie screamed her sister’s name.
He dropped his hammer and slid down the slope of the roof to the edge. No fireman had ever slid down a pole faster than Sloan made it down the ladder. Then he was off and running.
He saw Emily fly out of the house thirty yards ahead of him and run for the creek.
Emily raced up to Janie, who was jumping up and down in anxiety and staring down the creek. “Hold on, Libby!”
“Janie!”
“Mama! Mama, the ground fell into the creek and took Libby with it.”
Terror clutched at Emily’s throat. She could plainly see where the raging water had gouged out a huge chunk of ground. “Where is she?”
“There.” She pointed downstream.
“Where? I don’t see her.”
“There, on that tree.”
Emily followed the direction Janie pointed. There, on a tree branch that hung low over the water, a spot of color. “Libby!”
Her baby was hanging on to the branch with her tiny hands, while the force of the water did its best to tear her loose. The rain-swollen creek, normally barely ankle deep but now at least five feet deep, shot broken branches, large and small, directly at the terrified child.
“Hang on, Libby, Mommy’s coming!”
“What are you going to do?” Janie cried.
Emily spun and grabbed Janie by the shoulders. “I’m going after her. You go find help. Sloan might—” She broke off when she spotted Sloan running full speed toward them. “Never mind. Just stay away from the creek. Stay way back.”
Then Emily did the exact opposite. She raced along the bank and got as close to Libby as possible. Holding on to the same branch that was Libby’s lifeline, Emily stepped into the rushing water.
The force of the water knocked her legs from beneath her, but there was nothing to stand on anyway, as the bottom of the creek was a good five feet down. The frigid water took her breath, the swiftness took her under. She held on to the thick, sturdy branch for all she was worth, tearing the skin on her palms, to keep from being washed away. The force of the water pulled on her so hard she feared her shoulders might be dislocated.
The pain centered her. The pain, and the faint cry from Libby.
“Mommy!”
With a strength she didn’t know she possessed, Emily gripped the branch tighter and pulled until her head was above water. Coughing and choking, she tried to draw in air.
“Mommy,” Libby cried again with terror in her tiny voice.
“Hang on, baby. Just hang on,” Emily yelled over the roaring of the raging water.
Hand over hand, Emily inched her way toward her baby, praying as she had never prayed before.
“Mommy, I’m slipping!”
“Hold on, baby! Hold on tight, I’m almost there!” What she would do once she reached Libby, she didn’t know. There was still nothing beneath her feet but rushing water. Nothing to stand on.
Something slammed into her leg hard enough to force a cry from her lips and blacken her vision. She shook her head, trying to clear it.
“Emily!”
Sloan! The sound of his voice gave her strength. Her vision cleared and she made it the final three feet down the branch to Libby.
The branch dipped and swayed. Emily’s added weight was more than it wanted to bear. Libby screamed.
“It’s all right, baby, just hold on, be still. I’ve got you.” With a deep breath and another prayer, she let go of the branch with one hand and wrapped that arm around Libby’s waist. “I’ve got you.”
Libby turned loose of the branch and threw her arms around Emily’s neck, nearly strangling her, nearly causing Emily to lose her tentative, one-handed hold on the branch.
On the bank, Sloan nearly had a heart attack. Emily couldn’t hold on much longer, not with Libby’s weight added to hers, and her grip slipping on the thick branch, and the branch dipping lower and lower toward the water. She would never be able to make her way back to the bank.
In that instant Sloan had a stark glimpse of what his life would be like in the future without Emily. The sky would always be gray, the waters always dark and deadly. There would be no precious blue-eyed girls, no beautiful, yellow-haired woman. There would be only one unending, lonely night after empty day. Life without Emily, Janie and Libby, would be colorless. Hopeless. Empty.
He swore a blue streak at himself for wasting time feeling sorry for himself while Emily was fighting for her life. He searched the bank and the water for a loose branch thick enough and long enough to extend toward them so he could pull them in. There was nothing usable. With another curse, he whipped off his belt, then buckled it to make the largest loop possible. He found a place on the tree where a large branch had broken off, leaving a six-inch stub pointing up and out from the trunk. He stuck the looped belt over the stub and gripped the opposite side of the loop tightly.
“Can you get them?” Janie asked.
“I can get them. Get back, honey. I don’t trust this bank, and we don’t want you ending up in there, too.”
Janie swallowed and moved back, terrified for her mother and little sister, but knowing that Mr. Sloan could save them. Mr. Sloan could do anything. He’d made her mother laugh and smile again, hadn’t he?
Unaware of his hero status in Janie’s eyes, Sloan focused on Emily and Libby. Holding on to the belt, he gave it a sharp tug, then another, testing its strength and the strength of the branch stub that held it. Both seemed sound enough.
“Hold on,” he called. Then he stepped down the bank and into the foaming red water. He dug his heels into the side of the bank, fighting the strength of the current racing downstream. He leaned as far out as he could and stretched out his arm.
Too far. E
mily and Libby were too far to reach.
Emily saw the problem instantly. “Wait there,” she called. “We’ll come to you.”
“Be careful!”
“Libby, baby, you hang on to me. I’m going to take my arm from around you so I can hold on to the branch with both hands.”
“No, Mommy, noo! Don’t let go of me!”
“I have to, baby, but it’ll be okay. See Mr. Sloan? He’s waiting for us. You hold on to me, and I’ll move us down this branch toward Sloan, and he’ll get you out of the water. Okay?”
Too scared to cry, Libby nodded jerkily. “Okay, Mommy.” She tightened her hold on Emily’s neck, nearly strangling her again. But this time Emily let her. She took her arm from around Libby’s back and grabbed the branch over her head.
Slowly and painfully she moved, hand over hand, toward the bank and Sloan.
“A little farther,” Sloan called. “A little farther. What are you doing?”
“I’m turning around,” she yelled, “so you can get Libby.”
Sloan wanted to argue that he could get them both at once, but he shut his mouth. That was a fool’s idea. She was right and he knew it. He could get Libby first, then Emily. It would be safer that way, as long as Emily could hold on.
“Look!”
Distracted by Janie’s cry, Sloan glanced upstream. A large tree limb that branched off in a half dozen places was racing directly for Emily and Libby.
“Hurry!” he yelled. He stretched his arm out as far as he could. “Hurry, Emily.”
A slap of water hit her in the face. Sputtering, she felt her hands slipping. “Hold on, Libby. Almost there. Can you get her?”
“A little farther. A few more inches. You can do it.”
Her arms and hands screaming in pain, Emily inched her way up the branch. Finally she had Libby within Sloan’s reach.
Sloan tried to grab the back of Libby’s shirt, but it stretched so much that she would slip right out of it if he lifted her that way. Panting with effort, he forced his arm between Libby and Emily.
“Let go of Mommy, Lib,” he said.
“Nooo!”
“Come on, baby, I’ve got you.”
“Let go, Libby,” Emily encouraged. “Sloan’s got you. He won’t let you go.”
Libby’s pupils were tiny pinpricks of terror. “O-okay.”
The instant her arms loosened, Sloan scooped her to his chest. “There, I’ve got you.”
Holding her in one arm, he used the belt to help him climb up the bank. “Janie, get her back from here. I’m going after your mother.”
“Hurry!”
With Libby safely out of harm’s way, Emily used what was left of her strength to pull herself toward the bank.
“Look out!” Janie screamed.
Emily glanced upstream. A giant limb with multiple branches was almost upon her. It would knock her hold loose and take her under. She had seconds, at the most.
“Em!”
She moved her right hand forward, then her left. Then she was out of time. She let go of the branch and threw herself forward with the last of her strength.
It was enough. Sloan caught her and crushed her to his chest. “Thank God,” he managed.
By the time they crawled to shore all Emily could do was sprawl on her face in the mud.
“Mommy!”
“Mother!”
“Em?”
The three voices she loved most in the world gave her the strength to push herself up until she could sit. Before she could draw a full breath Sloan had his arms around her and held her so tightly she feared for her ribs.
“I thought I was going to lose you. God, Em, you can’t leave me. You can’t.”
Janie and Libby flung themselves at their mother. Sloan took them all into his arms.
“Sloan.”
“You saved us, Mr. Sloan,” Libby said. “You saved us from the creek.”
“Are you okay?” he demanded of both of them. “Are you hurt? Libby? Em?”
“I’m fine,” Emily said. “Libby?”
“I’m okay, Mommy. I was just standing there, and the ground fell in. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, baby.” Emily kissed the forehead of her youngest daughter. “Are you okay?” she asked Janie.
“I’m okay, Mother. Did you hear Mr. Sloan? He said we couldn’t leave.”
“He’s just relieved that we’re all okay,” Emily assured her, while her heart beat in double time.
“Yes,” he said, “I’m relieved you’re all okay. But I meant it, Em. When I saw you in the water, I had a terrible flash of what my life will be like if you leave me, and it’s too empty to think about. You have to stay.”
“Stay? What do you mean?”
“I’m saying this all wrong. You deserve candlelight and soft music, but at least I’m on my knees. That’s gotta count for something.”
Emily’s heart hit triple time. “What are you saying?”
“I’m asking you to marry me. I want you to marry me and live here on this ranch with me and let me be a father to your daughters.”
The roar of the raging creek was drowned out by the roar of her blood in her ears. “Marry you?”
“You have to, you know,” he said. “I scored the highest on the survey. That means you have to marry me.”
“I do?”
“Those are the right words, the minute we’re in front of a preacher.”
“Sloan, why should I marry you?”
Sloan gulped. He looked her in the eye and felt new strength surge through him. “Because I love you. I love all of you so much.”
With a glad cry, Emily threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He kissed her back. It was something the girls were going to have to get used to, seeing him kiss their mother. He planned to do a lot of it during the next fifty or sixty years.
Libby and Janie looked at each other and grinned.
“Does this mean we’re staying?” Janie asked.
Emily pulled back from kissing Sloan and looked at the eager expressions on her daughters’ faces. “Yes. We’re staying.”
“And Mr. Sloan’s going to be our new daddy?” They looked at him.
“If you’ll have me,” he said.
Janie and Libby cheered and threw their arms around his neck.
Emily watched the three people she loved most in the world with a wide smile and blurred vision.
Then Sloan set the girls aside. “Can you go to the house and get cleaned up while I talk to your mother?”
“Okay.” The girls held hands and raced toward the house, giggling and cheering all the way.
“Oh, God, Sloan.” She leaned her shoulder against his chest. “I’ve never seen them so happy.”
“You’ve never seen me so happy, either, because I’ve never been this happy. I love you, Em.”
She turned her face toward his. “I love you, too.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. I’m going to want to hear it a lot.”
“I’m going to want to say it a lot. I love you. I love you.”
He took her words, and then her breath, when he covered her mouth with his. They knelt in the mud along the bank of the creek that had nearly separated them forever and made promises with that kiss, promises of love and laughter and companionship until the day they died.
Chapter Twelve
Excitement fairly bubbled around the dinner table that night. Nobody had time to dwell on Libby’s near drowning, least of all, Libby. Her and Emily’s scrapes and bruises had been seen to, Janie praised for getting help, Sloan for his dramatic rescue.
But all of that was nothing. Libby and Janie were getting a new daddy! Sloan and Emily were getting married!
At the head of the table, Rose looked happy enough to burst. Her eldest grandson—the firstborn of her firstborn—was going to marry a lovely woman. Rose was about to gain not only a granddaughter-in-law, but two beautiful great-granddaughters, as well. She couldn’t have been more pleased.
At
her left, Caleb looked as satisfied as if he had already polished off the entire peach cobbler that his soon-to-be sister-in-law had made for dessert. Of course, he wouldn’t get to eat the whole thing, but that was okay. Sloan was marrying the cook, so there would be more where that cobbler came from. And, aside from the fact that he loved her cooking, Caleb couldn’t have picked a more perfect woman for his big brother to marry. He was about to become a brother-in-law, and an uncle, to boot. Oh, yes, life was indeed satisfying.
To Caleb’s left, Justin looked—and felt, he admitted—smug. After all, he’d had the biggest hand in getting Sloan and Emily together. If he didn’t count the flood. Or the girls. Or the missing car part. He, after all, had baby-sat, hadn’t he?
Emily sat across from Justin, with Sloan between them at the foot of the table. Sloan and Emily looked…at each other. They couldn’t seem to stop, couldn’t get enough of each other. But when the girls, seated between Emily and Rose, started to giggle, Emily finally managed to tear her gaze from Sloan’s, and he from hers.
When she glanced at her daughters, she frowned. They might be giggling, but something else was going on. There were nerves behind those giggles and in those eyes.
“Is something wrong?” she asked them quietly.
Janie and Libby shared a look. They both swallowed, eyes big, and looked back at their mother.
“What is it?” Emily asked with a puzzled smile.
“You’re not…” Janie began, then paused.
“Go on.” Libby elbowed her sister. “Ask her.”
“Ask me what?” Emily wanted to know. “Come on, out with it.”
Janie cast a final glance at Libby, then licked her lips. “You’re not going to marry Sloan just because our car can’t get fixed, are you?”
“What?”
“I mean, you’d marry him even if our car was fixed, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course I would, honey. This has nothing to do with our car. Sloan and I are getting married, and that’s that. I thought you were happy about it.”
“We are!” Libby cried. “We’re real happy, aren’t we, Janie?”
The Daddy Survey Page 19
