Chapter 22
Kip’s thoughts and fears battled for top priority in her mind. Lonzo’s father was missing, and now someone even worse was after her? And it could be anyone. The world around her faded as old habits took over.
She needed to run. She wasn’t safe, and she never would be.
Her only goal was to keep the people she loved from getting caught in the crossfire.
Searching through her memories, she tried to think of anyone who had seemed suspicious.
The only person who came to mind was the stranger who’d left the scary doll at her apartment.
But her Daddy said that man was gone. Who else could it be?
Firm, calloused hands grabbed her, one gripping each of her arms. Her Daddy was talking to her, but his voice sounded distant. Had she made him a target? Would Rios, or whoever it was now, try to hurt him? Pain sharp as an ice pick pierced her chest, and suddenly, she couldn’t breathe.
“Foxy?”
A hand released her arm to caress her face.
“Kip?” The voice, her Daddy’s voice, sounded scared. She wanted to answer him, but her thoughts held her captive.
“Kipling Renee Daniels!”
The alarm in his voice, along with the sharp shake he gave her, pulled her back into the present. Then his arms wrapped around her, and though it was selfish, she felt relieved. Her safe space was restored.
“Hey.” He lifted her chin. "Eyes on me.”
She obeyed. Instinctively, she reached into her pocket and grasped her Promise Pebble. Her Daddy was here, and he always would be. The vice around her lungs slowly loosened.
“What’s by our door, little fox?”
Her heart warmed even more. “You are wanted here. Stay.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “And don’t you ever forget it. Leaving is no longer an option. I will never be better off without you, Foxy. I would be destroyed.”
Before she knew what was happening, her arms were around his neck. “I’m not leaving. I was going to tell the bad voices no, because I have my pebble, and I have you.”
“Damn straight. And you always will.” He pulled her away from the wall and smacked her bottom.
“Let me show you what we’re doing.” Leading her to the table, he said, “We’re locking this place down.
That means every gate, every road, every access point of any kind.
We’re also adding more outdoor cameras and lights around the lodge.
Nobody is getting near you or anyone else in our family. Nobody.”
It was the “our” that did it. Something settled inside her bone deep. She was part of this family now. She hadn’t earned that place. Trace had given it to her.
“I know,” she whispered.
“Are you better now?” He kissed her forehead, lingering there for a moment, and she breathed him in. Just his scent settled her.
She nodded. “Yes, Daddy. All better.” Seeing his quirked brow, she added, “Well, almost all better.” Holding up her pebble, she rubbed it vigorously in front of him. “But I’m working on it.”
He grinned as she had hoped he would. Snow tapping on the windows caught her attention. Yet another storm was headed toward the ranch. She shivered at the thought. Stupid snowstorm.
Following her gaze, Trace’s grin became a grimace.
“I have to run into town and pick up a load of feed pellets to replace what we lost to the brucellosis. If that storm hits, especially with it being Christmas Eve, it will be almost impossible to get any more anytime soon. Do you want to come with me, or stay here?”
That was always a much harder question than he realized. She always wanted to be with him, but she’d told Kenzie she would join in some kind of snowball accuracy drill for their next Christmas Daddy surprise. Honestly, after the way she’d “paid for” the glitter bomb surprise, Kip couldn’t wait.
Trying to find something more interesting than her Daddy, her gaze scanned the room. Nothing. “I think I need to stay here and, uh… help Kenzie with something.”
Trace smirked, a wicked gleam in his eye. “I can’t wait to see what you girls have planned. If it’s naughty, I guess I’ll have to come up with another ‘consequence’.”
See, that was why she loved him. Two people with the same, albeit dirty, thought. She’d been practicing her innocent look, but judging by the shake of his head, it still needed work. “Are you going to be long?”
“Nope. I’m just going two places, I want to make it back before the storm hits. If you get a chance, run Goldie through her tracking exercises with the scented ball I showed you. She’s coming along faster than any dog I’ve ever trained.”
Right after lunch, Trace headed into town, while Boone, Chance, and Tanner headed toward the eastern gates, rifles slung, breath fogging in front of them.
Ruby reached the kitchen door before they were out of earshot. “Land sakes! There’s a storm coming soon. Where are you headed?”
Boone’s voice rang out once, low and clipped, shouting about motion sensors and new barbed wire. Then the wind swallowed his words. The house suddenly felt too large and eerily silent.
Already donning her mittens, Kenzie burst in from the mudroom.
“Come on, everybody. We needed to be out back practicing hours ago. Sheesh! I thought the Daddies would never leave. I put together a snowball boot camp, so we’ll be ready for the Who Has the Best Balls Contest tomorrow.
I’ll keep track of everyone’s throws, and the losers have to shovel the entire porch tomorrow, no excuses. ”
Joy whooped and grabbed her mittens and coat. Once she had them on, she ran out onto the back deck and cannonballed into the snow.
With a gasp, Ruby ran to the deck rail, leaning over to check if Joy was all right. “Girl! I’m telling your Daddy as soon as he gets home. You know better than to do that. What if the snow hadn’t been thick enough?”
Kip had been thinking the same thing, but Joy just laughed. “Ruby! It’s been snowing for months. I’m fine! I used to jump off the roof of the north cabin all the time.”
Ruby’s hands gripped her ample hips. “You mean when he brought you here because jumping off the roof triggered a flare-up of your rheumatic fever? That’s exactly why I worry and why I’m telling your Daddy. You know how seriously he takes your health.”
A puff of smoke marked Joy’s sigh. Kip hadn’t known Joy had once suffered from rheumatic fever. She looked at her friend with concern. Did Joy even need to be outside? And was she aware she was covering her bottom with her hands?
A groan from behind Kip caught her attention. Tildi was heading outside, cheeks already pink. “I never win at snowball fights. I think Tennessee snow throws differently. I was great at snowball fights with Tennessee snow.”
Kip tugged her borrowed hat lower, the one Trace had shoved on her head before he left. With a kiss, he’d growled, “Don’t freeze your ass off.”
Kip snorted. “I’m wearing it in the wrong place to stop that.”
“You let yourself get too cold, and I’ll warm that pretty ass up just fine when I get back.”
Recalling the kiss he had given her next, she stepped outside with a smile.
The cold slapped her as she stepped onto the deck. The sky had turned a dull gray, with clouds so low she could almost reach out and touch them. The cold sliced straight through her coat and bit the back of her neck as the wind gradually started to pick up.
“Follow me for the fun!” Kenzie called out.
Joy and Tilde took off after Kenz, marching to the corral fence. Glancing at the ominous clouds, Kip slipped her hand into her pocket and grabbed the tiny box holding her Promise Pebble. With a sigh, she followed her friends to the corral fence.
Kenz had already lined up a dozen empty metal feed buckets on the top rail. “When did you do all this?” Kip asked.
“Before the men left. Three throws each,” Kenzie declared, drawing a line in the snow with her boot heel.
“What about you?” Tildi demanded. “You should practice too.”
With a grin and a wink, she added, “I already did. But tell you what, I’ll give you credit if you come close, Tildi. We’ll call it a Tennessee mulligan.”
Tildi stuck out her tongue. Joy laughed so hard she fell over.
Kenzie pulled out her score pad. “Okay, who’s going first?”
Raising her hand, Joy stepped up to the line. “I guess I will.” She packed a snowball the size of a softball, wound up like a pitcher, and nailed the center bucket dead-on with all three throws. It rang like a bell. She spun in a circle, arms out. “Gold medal, baby!”
Tildi’s first throw went wide, exploding against the barn in a puff of white.
She spun toward Kenzie. “That was the wind’s fault.
” Her second throw clipped the edge and spun the bucket.
“I had something in my eye!” she cried over the wind.
Her third snowball finally hit. She punched the air and danced around in the snow. “See? Natural talent.”
Kip stepped forward. She packed the snow tight, ignoring the burn of the cold on her bare fingers.
Hopefully, Trace would never find out about that part.
When she had the snowball just right, she let it fly.
The snowball smacked the bucket so hard it bounced off the rail and landed upside-down in the snow.
Kenzie whistled. “Woah, city girl’s got an arm like a cannon.”
Grinning, Joy said, “Remind me never to make her mad.”
Tildi crossed over, pretending to inspect the line in the snow. “Oops. That was a good one. Too bad you stepped over the line.”
They kept going, rotating, trash-talking, laughing until their arms ached.
Every few minutes, Kip glanced westward.
Each time, she did, the clouds had darkened another shade.
By the time they finished, the wind had shifted.
Blowing harder from the northwest, it lifted sheets of snow off the drifts and hurled them sideways.
The temperature dropped so fast she fel it in her teeth.