Hush, Puppy

by Roxanne St Claire

  He’d take it. He’d take all the help and more to find this child and spare her, and Summer, one moment of unhappiness.

  Summer.

  He squeezed his eyes shut, aware that sweat was building up under his headset, wishing like hell he could talk to her. Had they found her? Where had she gone with…

  Nope. Not going there.

  Instead, he flew to the northwest quadrant of Waterford, then started a slow and easy descent, still well above the tree line, but willing to go lower if he had to in order to be able to spot her.

  He pictured her climbing out of his car this morning with Mav. He’d stayed in the drive, talking to Garrett, who had donned his “doggone hat” for the kids because he was taking a rescue to a new owner today.

  What was Destiny wearing this morning? He dug into his memory bank, picturing her walking hand in hand with Summer to the camp check-in, but truth be told, his gaze had been on Summer’s jeans skirt and long legs and not Destiny’s….pink. Yes, pink. She’d worn a bright pink T-shirt, with a picture of a horse that had long curly hair and ridiculous eyelashes, with shorts and those sparkly sneakers she loved so much.

  He leaned over again, taking the aircraft down carefully another thousand feet, flying over the irregularly shaped property. The perimeter road, which he could have sworn didn’t actually have a name, was paved here, but it snaked in and out of the hills and around some thickets of trees.

  He could spot searchers from here, some in plain clothes, some from Bitter Bark FD in yellow and green vests, which gave him a great boost of confidence. But it also meant they hadn’t found her yet.

  He banked again, away from where they were searching, past a thick forested area that could easily hide a lost child.

  He swallowed some bile that rose up at the thought of Destiny lost in the woods, terrified and alone. Maybe with Mav. Or maybe she’d lost him, which would devastate her. He gripped the yoke tighter and got a little closer to the tree line, holding the plane steady and praying no sudden crosswind blew him around.

  He was good enough to get up, around, and land, but his skills were limited, and he sure as hell didn’t want to make things worse for the rescuers by crashing this damn plane.

  “Come on, Des. Where are you, kiddo?”

  He passed the forested area and followed the creek around a hill, then reached the perimeter road again. The pavement was wider here and straighter, with very few trees, just barbed wire fencing along the neighbor’s property to keep the cows and horses enclosed.

  He followed the road for about a little more than a mile away from Waterford, something in his gut telling him to watch that fencing. He saw some cows grazing and a field of wildflowers, then…pink.

  Something pink caught on a barbed wire fence, blowing in the breeze like a flag.

  His heart hammering, he banked hard again, letting his wing dip low enough to give him a clear look at whatever it was. A pink T-shirt? It could be. It could also be some kind of property flag, but it could be a pink T-shirt.

  And if it was…where was the little girl who was supposed to be in it?

  He didn’t know, but he had to find out. He checked his cell phone, not surprised he had no signal. So he had no choice.

  He did one more smooth turn and brought the plane way back to the wide, treeless section of road to give himself enough room to land safely. Descending slowly, he kept his eyes on the center line.

  Don’t think, John. Just feel. Check the air speed indicator. Check the altimeter. Feel the balance, feel the wind. Feel the timing for the flaps.

  Not quite yet… He could hear Aidan’s voice.

  “Seventy knots,” he whispered, watching the gauge drop. He felt the rudder pedal and a bounce in the wind, getting ready, vaguely aware that he was going to pass that pink flag if he didn’t get this puppy on the ground.

  “Here we go.”

  He flipped the flap switch as the road rose up to fill his windshield, not really that much different than a runway, just a hell of a lot more dangerous. The wheels touched, bounced, then cruised forward, right past the pink flag.

  He’d never used the brakes in this plane except for a quick tap to test them. And to park. But there was no easy taxi today, not when Destiny was lost and might just have been found. He heard the brakes scream as he slammed the pedal, cringing and ready to pay Aidan for new pads if he had to.

  But they worked, and when he was completely stopped, he shut down the engine, flipped off his headset and seat belt, and climbed out, his phone in hand.

  While running toward the pink fabric, he tapped the number of the last call he’d gotten, and Shane answered on the first ring.

  “We still don’t have her,” Shane said, the noise of an ATV motor nearly blocking out his voice.

  “I’m up on the perimeter road, due north of the house, at the next property.”

  “You flew up to the Wallaces’ ranch?”

  “And landed.”

  “He landed,” Shane said.

  “He what?” That was Aidan, who must have driven straight to Waterford when he heard about Destiny. “Why the hell would he do that? How?”

  Oh boy. He’d never heard Aidan raise his voice. But now? He was screaming louder than that ATV engine. Yeah, John’s ass was cooked, but the closer he ran to that pink material, the more he didn’t care.

  “The question is why,” he said as he reached the pink material embedded in the barbed wire. The fabric was torn, ripped almost in half, and most of it was missing. But what was left was the remnants of a child’s T-shirt with a girly horse on the front, the long-lashed eyes staring out like they were mocking him.

  What tore Destiny’s shirt? He almost cried out in anguish, but then looked down to notice a break in the fence…big enough for a puppy to fit through.

  Had she tried to climb over it to go after Mav? And ripped her shirt when it got caught?

  “Why?” Aidan repeated.

  “Because I just found her T-shirt.”

  “Give us a location!”

  He did his best to tell them where he was, but as he did, he braced his booted foot in a square of the fence and managed to reach a wooden post for leverage. The fence was meant to keep animals in, but could it keep humans out?

  Not one this determined.

  He stood, got one leg over the barbed top, then the other, jumping down to land on his feet.

  “I’m on the Wallaces’ property,” he announced. “Get people up here! We need to find her. Look for the pink T-shirt caught on the fence. And the plane parked on the road. Can’t miss that.”

  He looked around, getting stared at by a few cows, trying to guess which way Mav would run. But it was a fairly open field, and he could have gone anywhere.

  “Destiny!” He screamed at the top of his lungs and started forward, running and scanning the grass and trees for anyone, anything. “Maverick!”

  A cow mooed, and in the distance, he heard a siren. But no little girl calling for help. No dog barking.

  He cried out her name again, going toward a grouping of trees that provided shade to the cows, about a hundred yards in the distance.

  “Destiny!” He stretched out the last syllable, as loud as he could make it, and when he stopped, he heard the faintest sound of…singing.

  That was her! He could hear the song that had become embedded in his brain, “You Are My Mavvie.”

  “Destiny! Where are you?” He stayed still for a moment, forcing himself to figure out which direction the sound was coming from. Way beyond the trees, on the other side of a hill. He ran toward the crest, stopping once to make sure he could still hear her, then she stopped.

  “Destiny?” he called again.

  “I’m here!” The voice rose up from the other side of the hill, filling him with the most inexplicable joy. “With Mavvie! Help us, John!”

  He shot over the top of the hill, almost stumbling when he spotted her way down the other side, by a pond, rocking Mav in her arms like a baby, two curious c
ows watching the whole scene.

  “Destiny!” He practically flew down to her.

  Tears rolled down her face as she squeezed Mav, who seemed to be wrapped…in pink.

  “He’s h-h-h-hurt, John,” she cried. “He got cut and ran so f-f-far, and I g-g-got him and—”

  He reached her and scooped them both into his arms, unashamed of his own tears of raw relief.

  “Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you hurt, Des? Are you okay?”

  He felt her nod and try to say yes, which just broke his heart even more as he eased her back to assess her injuries.

  She was fine, a few scrapes on her arms, still dressed in a thin white undershirt and her shorts. Mav was indeed cut and bleeding, but she’d washed the wound and wrapped him in what was left of her T-shirt.

  “I’m s-s-sorry I ran away,” she said softly.

  “I’m just so happy you’re all right,” he said, giving her another hug. “You shouldn’t have left the camp.”

  “I know, but Mavvie got away, and I ran to get him, and he k-k-kept going, and I was s-s-s-scared to stop because I thought I’d l-l-lose him, and…” The rest was just a sob and tears and her own overwhelming relief.

  “Come on,” he said, scooping her into his arms. “You hold Mav. And I’ll get you out of here.”

  She sobbed again, but he cradled her in his arms, marching back up the hill, hearing the sirens and rumble of ATV engines before he reached the top. When he did, he could see rescuers cutting through the barbed wire and rolling it back.

  Behind them, a half dozen of the Waterford ATVs rumbled up, all full of family members ready to help.

  He scanned every face, looking for one. Please God. Please let her be…

  Summer.

  “Your mommy’s here,” he whispered to the weeping child.

  “Mommy,” she moaned the name with a mix of longing and joy. “I l-l-l-love her.”

  John gave her a squeeze. “That makes two of us, kiddo.”

  Holding Destiny tight, he strode across the field as a dozen or more people spilled through the now split barbed wire fence and rushed toward him. But his gaze stayed on only one. The one with tears streaming and hair blowing as she ran full force to them.

  “Des! John!” Summer reached them before anyone else, throwing her arms around Destiny and John. “Oh, thank God. Thank God.” She drew back and looked from Destiny to him and back to Destiny. “Are you okay?”

  “She’s fine.” He set her gently on the ground, easing Mav from her grip. “Mav needs to see a vet, but Destiny is fine.”

  As Summer and Destiny hugged, John backed up and turned to the onslaught of Kilcannons and Mahoneys, three of them in full fire rescue gear, his gaze finally landing on Aidan, who wore a very distinct look of disbelief.

  The questions poured out from everyone, and he did his best to answer, his attention split between the family and Summer, who was on the ground holding Destiny with the same love her little girl had been holding Mav.

  Daniel had already swooped in to look at Mav, along with Molly, also a vet, both of them gingerly removing the tourniquet Destiny had fashioned from her shirt.

  As the whole group surrounded Destiny, she tried to tell her story, stopping to catch her breath and occasionally whispering the tale.

  John picked up most of it, surmising the rest before stepping to the side to take a bottle of water offered by Connor Mahoney.

  “Good job, man,” he said. “If you ever get sick of running restaurants, we could use you at the department.”

  Sick of it? He might not have a restaurant to franchise after walking out on Tom Barnard and losing the business game to…

  Hey, where was that guy, anyway? Travis Shipley? Hadn’t she been with him?

  “You are one ballsy pilot.” Aidan’s voice from behind him was low…and not happy.

  John turned and met the blue eyes of his friend and step-cousin, but he looked more like a very pissed-off instructor. “I know, sorry. I had to do what I could to find Destiny. No doubt when this gets out, I’ll get removed from FAA consideration.”

  His eyes narrowed. “They think I was with you.”

  “I logged you in before I knew you weren’t coming,” he said. “Then I got the call. I’m sorry, Aidan. I had to make a choice and…” He shrugged. “There was no choice.”

  Aidan swallowed. “I guess someday I’ll understand that.”

  “Someday soon.” He lifted a meaningful eyebrow to remind Aidan of the secret he’d let slip out earlier.

  “Then let’s get back in that plane right this minute before someone from the local paper shows up. I can take off from here and get us back to Foothills Regional with no one the wiser.”

  “You can?” That was not exactly a sizable runway for takeoff.

  Aidan’s eyes shuttered closed. “Of course I can. But we have to get out of here, fast. And thank God half the fire department is family.”

  Aidan gestured for him to move, but John turned to see Summer in a deep conversation with Declan Kilcannon, the fire department captain, as one of the EMTs carefully walked Destiny away from the group toward the ambulance.

  She was too busy now to talk to him. So he hustled off with Aidan, slipping through the open barbed wire and jogging back to the plane.

  As they climbed in, Aidan fired off a few questions, with no small amount of admiration for John’s piloting skills buried in the subtext.

  “I couldn’t have done it in a field,” John said. “But when I—”

  A bang on the side of the door made him whip around to see Summer standing outside the plane.

  “Make it fast, Mav, then let’s do some of that pilot shit.”

  John laughed at the Top Gun reference as he unlatched the door and opened it, looking down at Summer’s tear-streaked face. “Is she okay?”

  “She’s shaken up, a little scratched, but perfect.”

  “Good. I—”

  “John.” She got up on her tiptoes and wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling his face close to hers. “I love you.”

  “Oh.” He barely breathed the word, stopped short from responding when her lips crushed his for two perfect seconds.

  Then she pulled back, stepped away, and put both hands on her lips, blowing him another kiss. “Fly safe.”

  He just looked at her, knowing there wasn’t enough time to say everything he wanted to. So he just nodded, closed the door, and watched her back far away from the road without taking her eyes from his.

  As Aidan started the prop and fired up the engines, he slid a look to John. “Sunshine loves you.”

  “Yeah,” he said with what had to be a stupid grin. “Looks like she does.”

  “So it was worth risking your pilot’s license?”

  “What do you think?”

  Aidan just laughed as he rolled down the perimeter road and took the Cessna up into the clouds like the pro he was.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “Happy birthday to me! I am happy to be…six years old todaaaay…happy birthday hooray!” Destiny’s voice floated through the baby monitor on the dresser, filling Summer’s bedroom. From his crate next to Destiny’s bed, where he had to sleep due to his bandages, Mav barked his approval.

  Laughing softly, John folded his arms tighter around Summer, curling her body closer into his as they spooned deeper under the covers. “She can’t even do the lyrics of ‘Happy Birthday’ as they’re written?”

  “Nothing is sacred,” Summer mused.

  His lips pressed against her bare shoulder. “This is sacred.” He punctuated that by sliding his hand up her belly and over her breasts, his fingers searing her skin and making her wish Destiny hadn’t woken up early on her birthday.

  She moaned softly and turned in his arms, lining up their bodies the way it always felt like they were meant to be. She held his gaze, lost in the depths of his dark eyes, which looked sleepy and gorgeous without his glasses.

  “Big day today,” he said.

  �
�Her birthday party at Waterford Farm?”

  “George Shipley is calling me in less than half an hour with his final decision.”

  She let out a low, long breath. “I haven’t talked to Travis since I left him to go find Destiny,” she said. “He’s a wild card, John. I don’t know what he’ll do or ask his father to do.”

  John rubbed a comforting hand on her back. “If it doesn’t go our way, you have to know that I don’t blame you. No guilt, promise?”

  “I promise.” She kissed him lightly on the lips. “That conversation with Travis was cathartic for me, too. Helping him see how crippling guilt is allowed me to see the same thing. So, if George backs out, I won’t take the blame. And if he sells you the property?”

  “You get all the credit.”

  “I don’t want credit,” she whispered, sliding a leg over his and taking a shuddering breath when she felt his whole body react. “I want…you.”

  He let out a soft groan of satisfaction and moved against her, sending chills over her whole body despite the fact that they’d already made love before dawn. “I want you,” he murmured into a kiss, “not to leave.”

  “I already told you I’m going to let Destiny go to Dogmother camp for another three weeks.”

  He eased back. “Yeah, I know.” He cupped her breast, thumbing the nipple lightly, adding more kisses to the crook of her neck. “But what about after that?”

  She arched into him, her body automatically responding, as it did with him night after night and most mornings. “Well, I have this thing called a job and a life in Florida.” Neither of which held much of an appeal anymore.

  Every day in Bitter Bark with John only made her want…more days in Bitter Bark with John.

  “You could have a job and a life here,” he said as if he could read her mind. “And a house with a view and a man who…” He grew very still.

  “A man who makes me…” She rocked against him. “Crazy.”

  He chuckled. “That beats guilty.”

  “It beats everything,” she admitted, coasting her hands over the muscles in his back, loving the hard strength of him as he kissed her for a few minutes.