Chapter Eighteen
After lunch on Monday, a truck and horse trailer pulled into the ranch yard just before Eve began an online quiz. The name on the side was Bentwood Livestock Auction.
“Were we expecting a livestock delivery, Gran?” Eve asked, setting her nursing notes aside and rising from the couch. “Hayden didn’t mention anything to me.”
They’d barely talked since she’d told him she loved him.
He and Roddy were taking the last of the cattle to the auction yard for tomorrow’s event and hadn’t mentioned anything about a delivery.
Rhett and his twins had gone to a cowgirl museum outside of Marietta.
Katie seemed tired after preschool this morning.
She was sprawled on the couch, petting Poppy.
It was the perfect time to take the quiz Eve had been studying for.
“I don’t know boo about stock deliveries.” Irene was playing with the kittens, dangling a bit of string for them to leap after. She wasn’t having the clearest of memory days.
“Well, we can’t leave the driver out there.” Eve slipped on her shoes and went outside.
Irene and Katie followed.
The driver approached, clipboard in hand. “I’ve got a delivery here for a…Miss Katie Atkinson.”
“For me?” Katie skipped toward the back of the horse trailer. “What is it? A shiny yellow unicorn?”
“I’ll need a signature.” The man handed Eve the clipboard with the delivery paperwork.
Eve signed, noticing a familiar name at the top of the page. “It’s from Hayden.” That was surprising, given his financial worries.
Katie hopped up and down excitedly, waiting for the trailer to be opened. “I bet it’s Sparkles. Sparkles won’t run away with me. Not ever.”
The delivery driver opened the back door. “This is Sunny. He’s four.”
“I’m four!” Katie cried, rushing forward for a look. “But that’s… That’s not a shiny yellow unicorn.” She slumped, looking back at Eve, a worried expression in her eyes. “And it looks too big to be a pony.”
“Sunny is a mustang.” The man backed the compact, rich brown horse out of the trailer.
“He’s got white socks,” Irene said in a disapproving voice. “We don’t cotton to horses with white socks.”
“Why is that?” Eve wondered aloud.
“White socks mean soft hooves.” Irene ran her hand over the small horse’s back. “The rest of him looks fine. Reminds me of a horse Clyde and I used to ride to Homestead Hollow. Those were the days.”
“Hayden got a good deal in trade for some extra cattle.” The delivery driver came to stand next to Eve, lowering his voice. “That white sock bit is a myth. We test all our stock for genetic defects. Sunny is a good horse. Your daughter will have a good mount for at least a decade.”
“Thank you for telling me that.” But it seemed the least of Eve’s worries.
The delivery man drove away.
They put Sunny in an empty paddock. Irene filled the water trough. Katie fed her new best friend a handful of oats she’d put into a bucket. Sunny seemed very sweet.
After thirty minutes and a promise from Irene that they’d stay in the paddock, Eve returned to the house to take her online quiz.
*
After submitting her quiz and receiving a score Eve was proud of, she got up from the dining room chair to stretch.
But as she transitioned from medical terms to thinking about what to make for dinner, something nagged at Eve. It was too quiet, reminding her of the last time she’d lost track of her two charges. She went to the barn to check on them, nerves buzzing.
They weren’t in the paddock, and neither was Sunny.
Nothing to panic about.
They probably took Sunny to meet Nugget. But when Eve reached the barn, they weren’t inside. And neither was Nugget.
The low-key buzzing of nerves became turbocharged, roaring in her ears.
Don’t panic.
Eve ignored her inner voice and ran out the back of the barn shouting, “Katie! Gran! Where are you?”
The back gate was open, the one leading to the large pasture they’d ridden through a few days ago.
Eve raced through the gate, still shouting. But no one answered.
*
When Hayden arrived home with Roddy at suppertime, he sat on the bench at the front door and removed his cowboy boots. Only then did it dawn on him that the house was quiet.
Rhett was having dinner at a friend’s house in town with the twins. But there should still be people in the house. And people made noise.
“Evie? Gran? Katie?” He walked a few steps deeper into the house, looking into the empty living room. Looking at Evie’s laptop sitting open on the dining room table, her textbook and notes sitting as if she’d just left. “Evie? Gran? Katie?”
The kitchen was empty. The oven cold. A peek through the window revealed no one at the henhouse.
Hayden charged up the stairs, heart pounding. “Anyone?”
No one answered. No one was upstairs.
He called Evie’s phone as he hurried back downstairs. It rang in the dining room, hidden beneath some papers. “No-no-no-no-no!”
He called Rhett.
His brother picked up right away and listened to Hayden’s panicked explanation, then said, “I haven’t heard from Evie or Gran.”
“Come home. We need to search.”
“Take a breath, bro. Is Eve’s car there? Have you searched the barn?”
“Her car is here.” Hayden tugged on his boots. “I’m headed to the barn now. Stay on the line a second.”
“You know how much Gran loves to play with Nugget.” Rhett was trying to reassure Hayden.
But something bad has happened. I can feel it.
Hayden ran into the barn and opened Nugget’s stall door. It was empty. “Evie? Gran? Katie?” His throat was thick with worry, rasping his voice. “They’re not here. But the back barn door is open.” He moved quickly in that direction.
“Maybe they went for a ride. Didn’t you tell me the horse you bought Katie was to be delivered today.”
Hayden couldn’t imagine Evie approving a ride. Besides, Happy was in a back paddock. “The pasture gate is open.” Hayden jogged toward the old log cabin in back. “I’m going to ride out. I’ll get Roddy to search as well.”
“Okay. We’re coming home,” Rhett said, his tone reassuring.
“Call the hospital first.” Even though Hayden’s gut clenched at the thought.
“Hayden, Eve would have called you.”
“Her phone is here. She can’t have called.” Hayden tried to tamp down his panic. “Please, Rhett. Call the hospital. Something bad has happened.” He just knew it.
A few minutes later, Hayden let Red set the pace in the pasture. First a fast walk, then a brisk trot. And then when Hayden couldn’t wait any longer, he let the chestnut run.
I could be going in the wrong direction.
There was no way of knowing. It wasn’t as if there were tracks to follow.
His phone rang.
“We stopped at the hospital,” Rhett said, worry wrapping his words in tight syllables. “They aren’t there.”
“Thanks for checking.” Hayden hung up after Rhett promised to be home soon. He kept riding, heading toward Clover Creek.
A figure came into view. Blond braid. Hunched shoulders. Tear-stained cheeks.
“Evie!” Hayden leaped off Red when he was just a few feet away. He collided with her, wrapping her in his arms for a hug. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she sobbed. “But I can’t find Irene and Katie. They rode off somewhere.”
Hayden took that news like a punch to the gut.
“It’s my fault.” Evie buried her head in Hayden’s chest. “I was taking a quiz. They promised to stay in the paddock. It was so quiet. I was feeling really good and—”
“You lost track of what they were doing.”
“Yes.” Her voice wavered. “We have to find them. It’s going to be dark soon. It gets cold at night.”
“I know. I’ll find them.” He hoped. “Can you get back to the ranch on your own? I’ll keep going. I can cover more ground on Red.”
“I’m not going back without Katie.” Evie lifted her tear-strewn face. “I need to find her. And Irene. But what if Irene’s mind has drifted? Katie will be so scared. And if anything happens to—”
“Honey, I need you back at the ranch, manning the phone. Rhett can ride out, too, if you watch the twins.”
“I have to find Katie,” she said in a shaky voice. “Or Steven will—”
“One step at a time, Evie. First, we find them.” Hayden hugged her again, wanting to hold on to her forever, finally realizing with gut-shaking intensity what that meant—I love Evie. But he couldn’t tell her now. “I’ll find Katie. I promise.”
Evie nodded, turning toward home.
But he couldn’t find them. Not by nightfall.
They had no choice but to call the sheriff, who organized a search and rescue, and Steven, who threatened to take Katie away from Evie.
*
Eve awoke in the darkness before dawn on Tuesday morning, drooling on Hayden’s chest. They were sprawled on the couch together. She eased out of his embrace, aching because her baby girl wasn’t here to hold.
Was Katie scared? Cold? Hungry? Had Irene wandered off, leaving Katie alone?
Eve moaned, doubling over.
The sheriff had mobilized a search party. But there’d been no phone call to wake them with news. That had to mean they hadn’t found Katie or Irene.
I want my baby back safe and sound. And Irene too.
Eve stared upward, praying.
Please. I’ll do anything.
Fear made each breath a struggle. But Eve had to be practical. Coffee. Eggs. Fuel for Hayden. She had to keep moving or she’d just be a crying mess. And yet, she couldn’t even bring herself to stand.
Tears gathered in Eve’s eyes when she saw Poppy curled up on a nearby chair.
“I just want her back.” Her words woke Hayden.
She laid a palm on his cheek. He may not love her, but he’d done his best to find Katie.
“I want more family days, Hayden. I want Katie to learn how to ride Sunny. I just…” A tear rolled down her cheek. A solitary tear. “I want her home.”
“Home,” Hayden said slowly, sitting up. “That’s it. I know where they are.”
*
“What makes you think Gran tried to find Homestead Hollow?” Rhett asked as they galloped along the fence bordering the national forest.