When the trail widened, Seth dropped back beside Callie and called to his newly discovered brother, “You come up closer.”
He waited until Heath rode within easy earshot.
“It’s suppertime now, but we’ve got about three more hours to ride. Longer if the going gets rough.” A blizzard definitely qualified as rough going. The snow kept coming. Wind whipped through the trees, whistling and taunting, cutting through their clothes. “It’s getting colder by the minute.”
“It ain’t so bad.” Heath said it like he was calling Seth a weakling.
Since he wasn’t one, it didn’t bother him overly.
“We have to make it to Ethan’s to beat this weather. It’ll be the middle of the night when we get there. We’ve still got a long, cold ride ahead of us. We could look for shelter and sleep on the trail. With a big fire it’d be all right. What should we do?”
Heath and Callie looked between themselves and him.
“Connor’s gone to sleep.” Callie reached over and adjusted the blankets around Connor. “We need to bundle him up tighter, then I say we push on.”
Seth wasn’t surprised that his wife voted for whatever was hardest, especially since she was the one who was closest to collapsing.
She added, “Pass out some more jerky. And I’ve got apples in my saddlebag and some biscuits.” Callie looked at Heath and their gaze held. Seth felt left out by that look.
Heath jerked his chin. “I’m fine.”
Callie said, “Seth, hand out the supper. We can eat while we ride. Let me have a few minutes to change Connor and then he’ll have his supper on horseback, too.”
It was the work of a minute to feed his family and get Connor’s diaper dried. They moved on down the trail, and after a bit Seth judged Callie to be done feeding the baby, so Seth reclaimed the tyke. Before long he had Connor wrapped tight and sleeping on his back again.
A bitter cold hour passed. When a wider spot presented itself, Seth rode alongside Callie. Heath was right behind them.
He hoped to be at Ethan’s by midnight, but as the night got colder and darker, the sky unbroken by stars or moonlight, the wind began to howl. It called out to something wild in Seth, and he wanted to turn into the heavy forest and go toward that sound.
“It’s like wolves. I want to howl back.”
“What?” Callie said, turning in the saddle.
Seth shrugged, unable to explain. “Nothing.”
Shaking her head, she kicked her horse and got ahead of him. He fought against whatever called him into the woods, choosing instead to keep up with his wife. But he was stirred up inside, anxious and excited. He looked into the woods and it took him back to another place, a roaring place. Pain in his back. Pain everywhere. Heat burning his whole body. Falling. Fire.
He saw the dance of flames in the forest and knew he could get warm. He’d lead his family there. Care for them in the wild. His hands tightened on the reins to head for the fire. Then instead of warmth, it was flaring up. Dancing right in his face. Racing for him like a river of fire. His sleeve leaped into flames. Rafe! Where was Rafe? He needed Ethan. He needed help.
A limb slapped him in the face and the fire vanished. Shaken, he looked around. How long had he been gone? He looked right into Heath’s eyes, and the boy was watching him.
“You need something?” Heath asked.
“No.” Seth wondered what had prompted the question. Had he made some sound? Glancing toward Callie, he noticed she hadn’t looked at him, so he probably hadn’t said anything out loud. He stared into the woods again, wondering what was real and what wasn’t.
Then a particularly sharp slash of wind cleared his thoughts. He thought of a fire, but this time at Ethan’s house, in front of the hearth. A warm bed and sleeping next to Callie again. That tamed the wild in him—or maybe it was better to admit that it woke up a whole different kind of wild. And it made him want to stay right near her.
The hour grew late and the cold became crushing. When they had maybe an hour left to go, he was riding alongside Callie and a sudden move drew his attention.
He had just enough time to catch her when she slid off her saddle.
He hauled her into his arms and held her tight. Tying her horse onto his pommel, Seth noticed Callie’s breathing was regular. She was just sleeping—he hoped. But it was a deeper sleep than he liked.
“She all right?” Heath’s voice drew Seth around. For a long moment his eyes met Heath’s. Seth felt a strong connection to this youngster who looked so much like him.
Brothers.
Seth wasn’t a very good brother; he knew that. He’d scared Ethan and Rafe half to death. He’d as good as killed his ma. Maybe he’d even been the reason his father had lived two lives.
“Were you a better son to him than I was?” he asked Heath.
With a shrug, Heath said, “Not good enough to keep him from always going back to you.”
A humorless laugh escaped Seth’s lips. “And I wasn’t good enough to keep him from going back to you, neither.
“I keep checking Connor. I don’t want him wrapped so tight he smothers, but I have to keep his whole body covered too, even his face. Now that I’m holding Callie, I’ll have trouble doing that. If he’d get a hand out of the blankets, I wouldn’t be able to see he’d done it until he was frostbit. Would you be able to carry him?”
“Sure, I can carry him.” Heath did a fair job of lifting the boy out of the pack. His hands trembled from the cold.
“I’ll take him back if you need me to.”
“I can do it.” Now Heath wanted to fight him for the job.
“Thanks. Stay close. We don’t want to get separated in this storm.” Seth turned forward and rode on into the howling night, his wife sleeping in his arms. His son asleep, cuddled by his uncle. His whole surprise family riding along together.
He couldn’t wait to tell Ethan all about it.
Chapter
10
The wind drove pellets of slashing ice at Seth. He pulled up his kerchief to protect his face and checked Callie every few minutes to make sure she was covered.
The horses trudged through snow a foot deep in places, two feet in others. When they reached a stretch blown clean, the going became faster but the wind meaner. Seth kept his eyes on the trail ahead, afraid he’d miss the turnoff to the ranch. He ignored the howling wolves calling to him, the occasional flickers of fire deep in the woods telling him the wild was dangerous and reckless and he should come and join the fun.
Shaking off the notion, he kept his focus on the task at hand. Yet nothing looked right; the snow and wind blinded him and obscured everything.
He twisted in the saddle and saw Heath barely visible in the growing blizzard.
“Stay close!”
Callie didn’t stir when he shouted. Not good.
The trail widened. He slowed until Heath, cradling Connor in his arms, drew up and rode alongside Seth. Heath looked mighty steady for one so young.
Seth looked at Heath. “We need to pick up speed. I’m worried about Callie. She’s been deep asleep for too long.”
Heath’s blue eyes flashed with determination.
“I know the horses are tired, but we have to push on.” A sudden swirl of wind opened up his visibility and he saw a fork in the trail. Seth pointed. “We go that way. It’s not far now, mostly downhill.”
He kicked his tired horse, and the dapple gray mare perked up her head as if she recognized that they were nearing home. The slope was treacherous with drifted snow, though it helped to be headed downward. He trusted his horse now more than his own eyes. Let the wind talk to him. It didn’t matter so long as he let his horse take him home.
Seth wasn’t sure how much later it was when the little mountain mustang began trotting. Finally, through the blowing snow, Seth could make out Ethan’s ranch house ahead.
The horse began heading toward the barn, but Seth tightened his hold on the reins and guided the animal straight to the front-porch
steps. Everything was dark—house, barn, bunkhouse. But Ethan would be there and he’d help. He’d get everyone settled and the howling would go away.
“Let’s get inside.” Seth swung down off his horse. “Get the baby up here.”
Heath dismounted with uneven movements, and Seth saw how stiff and cold the boy was. He hated demanding so much but didn’t have the strength to do more than goad them on.
The horses stood motionless, their heads hanging. Seth had to see to them as soon as he got everyone else inside. He reached the steps and tripped, nearly dropping Callie. The bottom step was buried in snow and he’d misjudged it.
Heath’s hand shot out and steadied him.
“Thanks,” Seth said. Now that he was home, he realized just how exhausted he was. He climbed three steps that felt like ten and pounded on the door with the side of his fist.
“Ethan!” Seth shouted, and Callie didn’t even stir. No one stayed asleep when someone was shouting in her ear. The ride had been too much for her.
Seth tried the door, knowing Ethan would throw the heavy bar at night. He pounded harder, hoping the noise carried over the shrieking wind.
The door jerked open so suddenly he stumbled forward. Ethan, in pants and an unbuttoned shirt, a rifle in hand, took one look and said, “Get in here!” He caught Seth’s arm and dragged him inside.
“No, take her. I’ve got to see to the horses.”
“Shut up,” Ethan snapped, then looked past him to Heath. “You, too. Get inside.”
Ethan’s ranch hand, Steele, came out of the pelting snow, armed, his eyes sharp. He saw Seth. “I’ve got the horses.” Quickly he gathered them and left for the barn.
“There’s a baby.” Seth jerked his head at Heath.
Ethan shook his head, swung the door shut against the brutal weather, then turned to take care of Heath and his burden. Seth headed straight for the fireplace with Callie.
Dropping to his knees, Seth lowered Callie to the floor near the glowing embers of the fire. He almost dived for the woodbox beside the hearth.
Ethan blocked him. “I’ll build up the fire. Get her unwrapped.”
“I’ll get something hot for them to drink.” Audra’s voice gave Seth a desperate kind of comfort.
Seth looked up at his sister-in-law. “Food too, if you’ve got it.”
She nodded and hurried to the kitchen.
Ethan took the bundle from Heath’s arms and unwrapped Connor, who yelped. “You took a baby out in this storm?”
“Wasn’t storming when we set out,” Seth said. Thankfully Connor sounded strong and healthy. With a huge sigh of relief, Seth turned to Callie. He removed her coat. She had her hat tugged low and he had a time pulling it loose. Her dark hair spilled, the ends of it frozen, clicking on the floor.
“She’s been too cold for too long. She shouldn’t be asleep.”
Audra dropped to her knees beside Seth. “Get her closer to the fire. Is the baby all right? Ethan, do you need help with him?”
Seth looked at Connor. The boy waved his arms and slapped at Ethan, wide awake and cheerful. Ethan tested the little boy’s fingers and toes for a chill while the tyke was whacking him and grinning.
There was talking, rapid and loud as Ethan and Audra asked questions. Heath must have answered them and it was all about getting warm, none of the more interesting information Seth had to share. For now he could only concentrate on tending to his wife.
“Get her boots off, Seth. We need to get her feet warm.” Audra jumped up and vanished. Seth saw Ethan, with Connor on his hip, helping get Heath’s coat off. “Callie thought of coats, food too. She saved us.” Seth got one of her boots off and nearly fell over backward. His fingers were numb and his thinking might’ve been a little numb, as well.
“This is Callie?” Ethan asked. “Your wife?”
Seth nodded as he dragged her other boot free and tossed it aside. He noticed Steele shoulder his way past everybody with an armload of wood. He stoked the fire, then went to the kitchen.
Callie had good color in her toenails. “Her feet aren’t frozen. She’s just exhausted from all the blood she lost yesterday.” Seth hoped it was just exhaustion.
“Blood she lost? What in the world happened?” Audra was back with her arms full of blankets. Ethan grabbed a few of them, while Audra knelt and spread one over Callie.
“She saved a stage from being robbed. Fought off four gunmen, mostly by herself.”
“She was shot?” Audra caught Seth’s arm, and he shook her off to tuck the blanket snuggly around Callie. It was then he noticed her face, which was ashen.
“No, but she got cut up. Splinters from the stage almost sliced her to ribbons.”
Kneeling closer to Callie, Audra reached a hand out and touched a deep scratch that seemed to glow red on Callie’s forehead. With a gasp Audra found one of the sets of stitches. She looked up at Heath. She must’ve checked him for injuries and been satisfied because she said, “I’ve got soup heating up. Are you hungry?”
The young’un nodded.
“I’ll bring it in by the fire.” Audra jumped up and left the room.
Ethan came around by Callie’s head and crouched down, Connor in his arms. Seth was at her feet. The brothers’ eyes met across the length of her still body. “Sounds like she just needs rest and coddling and plenty of good food,” Ethan said. “Maybe we should let her sleep until she wakes up instead of trying to feed her.”
Seth felt some of the terror subside as his big brother made decisions. Ethan was no hand at giving orders like Rafe, but he ran this ranch well. He was a steady man.
It finally settled in his mind that they’d made it. He’d escaped the howling of the blizzard wolves that called to him. And the flickering of the taunting fire he knew was nothing but a mirage. He’d fought it and made it to the warmth of the ranch. To controlled fire. He was lured by fire and he hated it. But this was Colorado in October.
A man had to make his peace with fire.
Callie’s feet were well wrapped. Her breathing was steady. Her hair was melting.
Seth sagged sideways and rested his back against the warm stone hearth.
“So tell me who you brought with you, Seth.” Ethan looked down at Connor first, then over to Heath. It struck Seth that if Heath qualified as a wise man and Audra and Ethan as shepherds, they were about one burro and a couple of sheep away from being a Nativity scene.
Connor chuckled. But Seth knew for a fact the kid could cry up a storm; no silent night for this little one.
Heath sat down close to the fire on the far side of the hearth opposite Seth. He stretched out his hands toward the warmth.
“Meet your brother, Ethan,” Seth said.
“What?” Ethan looked at the baby.
“Not him.” Seth realized he had a lot of explaining to do. “Heath. Turns out our pa had another family tucked away.”
“What?” Ethan said again, his tone switching to anger.
Heath looked up, anger in his eyes. “You’re the family he had tucked away, not us.”
“Tucked away?” Ethan’s eyes cut to Seth.
Heath shook his head and then turned back to face the fire.
“I’ll explain later,” Seth said, feeling the weight of his exhaustion.
Ethan lifted Connor to eye level. “And who is this little guy?”
Seth chuckled then. “Well, truth is, I kinda had a family tucked away, too.”
The heat of the fire, the hard ride home in the bitter cold, the effort it took to resist the temptation of the wild wind, the stress of having a family he couldn’t remember—all of it caught up with Seth, and he sagged back and let the long, long day end.
Chapter
11
Callie shoved her eyes open by pure force. She stared right into the wild blue eyes of the man she’d been hunting for a year. Of course it hadn’t all been spent hunting. She’d taken some time off to give birth and raise her son to a few months of age and bury her pa.
&nb
sp; “Where’d I put my gun?” It sounded like growling, and that probably described her attitude pretty well.
Seth reached down and rested his hand on her forehead. “Mornin’, honey.”
Callie felt around and found no fire iron, so she decided to leave payback for later. “Where are we?”
“We’re at my brother Ethan’s house.”
The last couple of days came rushing back to her.
The shootout. Bleeding—she’d done a lot of bleeding. A whole lot. Raising a hand, she thought to check the stitches in her scalp. The tiny movement made her left arm hurt so bad she had to bite back a howl of pain. She quit any unnecessary moving.
Her runaway husband was still there, and still just as annoying. And blast the man, he was as good-looking as ever. Better in fact. Clean-shaven now, unlike after the war. And he’d been skin and bones then. He was still too thin, yet it wasn’t as scary. His hair was cut short instead of being long and shaggy as a buffalo. She’d never really seen how sharp his cheekbones were, or how full his lips, or how square his jaw. That had all been masked by his beard and his raving.
“And there was a surprise brother?” Callie was finding it hard to concentrate over the pain.
“I’d never seen him before yesterday.”
“So they weren’t just a surprise to me, then?”
“A mighty big surprise to us both.”
Which reminded Callie that her husband had forgotten her. So the man had a mighty surprising day all around.
“Are you sure? You forgot me. Maybe you forgot your little brother, too.”
“Nope.” Then Seth hesitated and looked over her shoulder. “We’d never seen hide nor hair of him before yesterday, had we?”
“No, that boy was a surprise to all of us.” Another, less annoying face appeared over her husband-the-abandoner’s shoulder. A pretty blond woman who looked like a stiff wind would blow her away.
Turning back to Callie, Seth said, “I was sure of that before I asked. It’s just that these days I’ve sort of started doubting all the things I’m sure about.”
“Howdy, Callie.” Audra peeked around Seth’s shoulder. “I’m Audra. Ethan’s wife. Which means we’re sisters. You’ve been asleep since Seth brought you here late last night.”
Mary Connealy - [Kincaid Brides 03] Page 8
