“I'm not trying to be your father Hailey; you're a grown woman. And you're right; Sue does need to mind her own business, but she's not going to, so let it roll off of you. I just didn't want to lose you because you'd gone and got your heart broke.”
“What? Why do you say that?”
“Any idiot could see the way you two hit it off. It was just a matter of time before one of you figured it out.”
“So, your warning was more of a litmus test?” I ventured.
“You could say that. Hailey, you're the best thing that's ever happened to this farm. We're in the black for the first time since we opened our doors. If you fall in love with Ethan Johnston, I'm certainly not going to fire you for it.”
“Good to know….hey…. who said anything about love?”
“Didn't you have some numbers to go over?”
“Yeah. Sure. But I am not in love with Ethan Johnston.”
“Sure, Hailey. Whatever you say.” His voice said he wasn't buying it for one second.
“Is it that obvious?” I deflated. “Never mind.”
I dove into my recommendations for going green, but not before I caught a glimpse of Ethan walking away from my door. Well crap. I shoved confusing thoughts aside and focused on getting final approval from Jim. He agreed with my recommendations, as usual, and I quickly moved on to leaving messages with contractors who probably had better things to do on the day after Christmas.
Aaron and I went shopping for tack that week. I was edging closer to committing to buy him that horse. I really wanted her, probably as much as he did, but I was terrified I wouldn't be able to take care of her. Somehow I'd screw it up and it would be one more thing to feel guilty about later.
The place was soon bustling with contractors, and that made it easier to ignore any feelings for Ethan that reared their ugly head. That didn't stop me from worrying about him as he pushed himself too hard. Sometimes I'd catch myself watching him instead of paying attention to what I was doing. After hammering my thumb a couple of times while I was supposed to be mending a fence, I got better at paying attention to the task at hand. Except when he stood too close. Then there wasn't a force on Earth that could keep the breath from catching in my throat or the fire from smoldering in my belly.
With Aaron back at school, my buffer was gone. Sometimes when I just needed to get away I would wander down the road to check on Allie. The hay was still magically appearing. There wasn't much need to break up her water today; it was ridiculously warm for January. No one had seen hide nor hair of Hobbes since the day I shot at him in the woods. Or rather, the day he thought I shot at him in the woods.
The rain started to fall as I reached the edge of Hobbes' property. Trespassing or not, I ducked into the pasture to wait it out in Allie's lean-to. She licked my hand and nickered a hello.
“Hey baby girl,” I rubbed her cheeks affectionately and told her all that was weighing on my mind. She was a patient listener, kinda like Mac. When the rain slowed, I hugged her neck and told her goodbye then headed back to the farm. I heard the tell-tale rumble of a school bus coming down the road, so I waited at the end of our drive. It would be a nicer walk with Aaron.
“Hey kid,” I smiled at him.
“Hey mom. Is everything okay?”
“Perfect. Just good timing is all. I was checking on Allie.” I slung an arm over his shoulder.
“You know Ethan doesn't like it when you go there alone.” His tone of voice suggested that he knew I was going to be in trouble.
“Ethan's not my boss,” I protested belligerently.
“Actually, he kind of is.”
“Who asked you?” I tickled his side.
“What? He is!” Aaron laughed.
“Wait. Be quiet.” I stopped dead in my tracks and looked around me. The woods on either side were suddenly still. Eerily still. I'd seen this kind of still before, as a child. About a minute before the neighbor's shed got tossed into our yard.
“What is it?” Aaron looked around nervously.
“Stay with me, no matter what,” I laced my fingers through his. “Now run.”
I took off in a sprint, pulling Aaron along behind me. It felt a little ridiculous at first, running like a demon was on our heels when the rest of the world stood so motionless all around us. I felt the dull roar before I heard it. Like a train pressing on our heels, it spurred me to go faster.
I could see the cellar now. Ethan was standing at the door, ushering workers in and scanning the area for me. I shoved Aaron down the stairs before turning to take my first look at the sky behind me. A massive black vortex snaked along the path where we had just been. Like a finger extending from heaven, it tossed trees from side to side as it came. My eyes tore away from the destruction to lock with Ethan's for the briefest of moments before we both ducked inside, pulling the door behind us.
I know in my head that a tornado only lasts minutes, but growing up in Missouri taught me that when there is one playing in your backyard, minutes can feel like years.
Ethan grabbed me and pulled me to him, wrapping his arm around me protectively even as he pulled Aaron to his other side. I hugged Aaron to me with one arm and looped the other around Ethan's waist. We stood there entwined until the last sounds of wrenching metal and snapping trees faded away.
“Stay here until we check it out.” I kissed Aaron on top of the head. He nodded solemnly.
Ethan took my hand in his and together we emerged from the cellar. Our eyes scanned in the horizon, at once assessing that it was safe to come out, and that we had been hit hard. Aaron and the workers followed once we motioned that it was okay. Stunned, we drifted a little aimlessly through the rubble. I stepped over a pile of wood; tears welled in my eyes as I stood in the middle of what used to be our round pen. Not one building had been spared. Even the main house had a huge chunk bitten out of the roof. Our beloved little cabin was completely gone. Ethan's cabin had fared little better.
Sue stumbled out of the main house and my relief to see her was immediate. Seeing her made me realize that in the chaos, I didn't really know if everyone had made it to shelter. I quickly whirled about, counting heads.
“Hailey, we're going to take what cars made it and run back into town to check on our families. We'll be back later to check on you guys.” One of the workers placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Okay, Jeremy. Let us know everyone's okay,” I patted his hand and smiled at him. A truck kicked up gravel on the road as it bounced our way. Cheyenne burst out of it and barreled towards her mother. David made a beeline for Ethan and the two ducked their heads together immediately. Each nodded and they parted ways. David pulled Cheyenne away from her mother; they got back in the truck and left, no doubt on a mission from Ethan. He watched them go before joining me in the remains of the round pen.
Now that the fear had passed and the surrealism was dissipating, a heavy weight settled over us all. Aaron looked from me to Ethan and back with wide, uncertain eyes. I blinked back the tears and turned to Ethan.
“What now?”
“I don't know what'll happen now.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“I don't mean in general, I meant right this second,” I sighed. “Where do we start? Making burn piles? Inventory? I've never done this sort of thing.”
“Me either, to be honest. Let me try to get a hold of Jim before we do too much. Can you see if any of our records or computer files made it? Cheyenne and David are going to ride the perimeter to check the fences and round up the horses. Hopefully we haven't lost anyone.”
“Oh my gosh, Tumbleweed!” I grabbed Ethan's arm. “He's okay, isn't he?”
“I don't know. I would imagine they're all okay. Cheyenne and David will find them. The phone lines are down here. I'll run into town to see about getting a hold of Jim.”
“Find out if the insurance agent will want pictures or a live tour,” I reminded him.
“Good thinking.” He gave me a quick hug. “I'll be back as soon as I can. You going
with me, Aaron?”
“Yessir.” Aaron seemed to be Ethan's shadow these days, so his response didn't surprise me any. Still, there was a part of me that wished my little boy still needed me. Heck, I guess I was wishing he was still a little boy. He was quickly becoming a young man. A young man without a home. That much I knew as I surveyed the damage around us. I'd probably need to find us a roof for tonight. Would Ethan be staying here with the horses? Should we? What was the protocol in this sort of situation?
Suddenly I could feel it all crashing down on me. It was gone. Maybe forever. Home. I sat down in the middle of the remnants of the round pen and cried. Once my emotional storm passed I picked myself up, dusted my rear off, and went to see what I could salvage in my office.
It probably wasn't all that safe even being in the stable, but I had to do something to keep my mind off the fact that I hadn't seen or heard Blue or Rover since early that morning. I picked my way around fallen beams and was pleasantly surprised that I could get into the office. Tears sprang to my eyes again as I remembered how many hours I'd spent organizing this room not six months ago. Fat lot of good that had done. Mother Nature had turned my files on their ears. Papers were everywhere and dripping wet. Of course, so was my computer. The safe stood where it always had and was within easy reach, so at least I knew the most important of papers should be okay. I would have checked but I heard a distant but distinctive bawl.
My face lit up and I started the painstaking process of picking my way back to the entrance of the stable just in time to see a very welcome sight running across the fields toward me.
“Blue! Rover! Come here boys!” I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. Blue's cheeks and ears flapped in the wind as he covered the distance between us. Rover moved in leaps through the grass. I fell to the ground to embrace them both as they tackled me. I was stupidly happy to see my goofy dogs. We had just settled into a silent appreciation of the moment when Blue's ears perked up, then Rover's. I could hear the faint rumble of Ethan's truck coming down the driveway and I grabbed the dogs by their collars. Last thing I needed was one of them getting hit today. When Aaron jumped out of the truck, I let the dogs go so they could tackle him, too.
“Hey there handsome, fancy meeting you here.” I smiled saucily at Ethan. Silliness is an excellent defense against mental breakdown, in my experience.
“Hey beautiful.” He covered the distance between us in a few short strides and swept me into his arms for a lingering kiss.
“What was that for?” I rested my head on his shoulder.
“Taking advantage of the emotions of the moment,” he admitted, resting his head on mine. “That, and seeing your ‘Rock Star’ panties got me kind of worked up.”
“What?” I pulled back to look at him like he was nuts, before following his gaze to a nearby tree. “Oh for the love of … I'm switching to granny panties.”
“Oh, come on now. Where's the fun in that?” He laughed so hard tears came to his eyes as I stalked over to the offending tree and yanked my underwear out of its branches. That's when I noticed a black lace bra hanging from another branch. Then another pair of undies, and a sock. Soon I was following a trail of clothes, which is apparently the down side to hanging your clothes on a line. The good news was that I soon found enough clothes to get Aaron and me through a day or so.
“How did I not see these earlier?” I wondered, tossing the clothes behind the seat in Ethan's truck.
“Gee, I don't know, shock maybe?” Ethan cocked his head and smiled at me.
“We're going to be okay, aren't we?” I came to a stop in front of him, taking his hands in mine.
“Of course. It could have been a lot worse.”
“I don't want to think about it.” A shudder ran the length of my spine. If I hadn't been there to meet Aaron's bus today…. Anyway, I really didn't want to think about that. “How's town?”
“There was some damage on the square. That was mostly straight line winds. I heard a farm on the other side of town got hit with a twister, too. I think we got the worst of it.”
“Lucky us. Any word from David or Cheyenne? Should we load up and go look for the horses, too?”
“I did talk to them, but first things first. I called your folks. Thought they might hear about it on the news and didn't want them to worry.”
“Thank you.”
“And Jim is flying into Springfield tonight. He wants us to pick him up at the airport. We'll all spend the night in town and meet the insurance adjuster here in the morning. Once we've met with them we'll know a little more about what to do next.”
“I'm glad they're coming that fast.”
“Me too. Sue is going to spend the night with Cheyenne and David. They said Blue and Rover could hang out there. Jim's dogs'll be okay here tonight. David said they found a couple of mares but that's all so far. We have some time before we need to get into town; I figured we'd look for a while too. David said to leave any horse we find there for the night.”
“Do you need help seeing if you can get to your clothes?”
“Nah, you and Aaron just spend a few minutes with your dogs. I'll be right back and we can get going.”
I nodded. I wanted to grab him by the waist and cling to him, to bury my face in his chest and beg him to wrap his arms around me. Maybe if I clung to him long enough, this nightmare would fade and everything would be okay again. Even as I yearned for it, part of me was bothered by the fact that I seemed to draw strength from this man.
“Hey kid, you hanging in there?” I joined Aaron in petting the dogs.
“Sure,” he tried to smile reassuringly at me, but his eyes faltered. “How did you know?”
“The air got really still. Trust me, if you are ever unfortunate enough to be near a tornado after today, you will remember the feeling in the air just before it drops out of the sky.”
“Yeah, well, I'm really glad you met me at the bus today.”
“Me too, kid.” I opened my arms and he ran to me for a hug.
“You guys ready?” Ethan asked quietly as he opened the door to his truck.
“Sure.” Aaron pulled away from me and quickly piled in. I followed, trying not to think about a lot of things, like what would have happened if I hadn't met Aaron at the bus, where Tumbleweed was, and what we were going to do now.
Once we got to David and Cheyenne's, we lost no time in saddling three horses. Sue met us at the barn to let us know where they'd searched already. We marked out on the map where we would cover, and then headed out. Aaron rode the little quarter horse that I was supposed to have already bought him. I rode Lady and Ethan rode Jezebel. They were two of the last mares on the property. I think Ethan had held them until last, knowing that I had a bit of a soft spot for them. That, or they were the least trained since they'd been stuck with me. I preferred to think it was the former.
We rode in silence, our eyes always scanning for any sign. The horses spotted the stallion before we did. All three mares starting acting jittery so we knew to be on full alert. Ethan was the first of the three of us to see Zane's Diamond – the pride of Mountain View – lying in the pasture. He slid off his horse and approached the animal with me right behind him. My head knew what we would find. My heart hoped for a miracle.
What had once been a golden coat was matted and dingy. Eyes that had been bright and kind now stared vacantly without seeing. A thick knot formed in my throat and I glanced at Ethan, then Aaron. Ethan ducked his head for a moment then swung back on his horse. Aaron wiped his eyes fiercely with the back of his hand and wheeled his little mare to the side, anxious to move away from there.
“Let's keep going. We'll come back for him tomorrow. I want to find the others first.”
No one else spoke. I knew there was a chance some of the horses had not made it. Knowing in the back of your mind and seeing in front of your face were two completely different things. It was getting harder to tell myself that Tumbleweed was fine.
I knew Mac was okay. That horse wa
s smarter than most people. I'm surprised he hadn't beat us to the cellar. As if on cue, the mares' ears pricked forward at a distant whinny from a member of their herd. Ethan glanced at me, a grin daring to tug the corners of his mouth, before kicking Jezebel into a lope. Aaron and I didn't even need to nudge our mounts, they instinctively followed suit.
Mac burst through the trees that lined the field, heading straight for us. Aaron and I reigned in a little, hanging back to give Ethan a chance to greet his old friend alone. The mustang tossed his head and whinnied loudly as Ethan swung off the mare's back. Ethan laughed and strode over to Mac. The two friends greeted each other fondly. Mac's head bobbed and he pawed the ground as Ethan stroked his neck and beamed at him. When we could stand it no longer, Aaron and I joined Ethan in welcoming Mac.
Once Ethan had assured himself that his horse was indeed fine, he took the tack off of Jezebel and saddled Mac. Aaron and I started without him, confident he'd catch up and eager to find Tumbleweed. We didn't have long until it would be time to call it quits until morning. There was little chance of doing any good at night and daylight was quickly fading.
Ethan reclaimed his spot in front, Jezebel's lead tied to his saddle. We looped around in one last sweep of the field before heading in. When we were just about to clear the woods that stood in between the two farms, Mac pulled sharply to the right.
“Hey buddy, what's wrong?” Ethan patted the horse's neck.
“Maybe he sees something,” Aaron ventured hopefully.
“We could follow him for a few minutes, right?” I looked at Ethan expectantly.
“Sure, why not?” Ethan loosened his reigns, giving Mac the freedom to lead the way. We came to a ravine and just as we were preparing to jump across it, Mac sidled up to it and Ethan held his hand up for us to stop. My gaze followed his and my soul leapt with joy. Our not-so-little orphaned colt was lying in the ravine. Terrified, but okay.
Ethan and I both dismounted and handed our reigns to Aaron. I slid on my behind down to Tumbleweed, rather than risk tumbling head-over-heel. I'm sure Ethan made it down more gracefully, but I didn't care. I held my hand out for Tumbleweed to smell me, crooning to him all the while. My voice and touch calmed him, and I quickly checked him over for injuries. Ethan was more qualified for that job, but I didn't care. The mama in me had to see for myself.
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