Chapter 23
Pulling up the drive, the ranch house stood out like a beacon against the white, with windows glowing gold as the storm grew stronger.
Trace killed the engine and reached into his pocket, running his thumb over the velvet box nestled there one more time.
He jogged through snow that was already knee-high in front of the porch.
Girls’ voices spilled from the kitchen. All the sounds he’d grown used to. Joy’s bright laugh and Kenzie’s smart mouth. Tildi’s musical giggle. Ruby threatening someone with a wooden spoon.
Wait, make that all except one. The voice he most looked forward to was missing. Where was Kip’s voice?
He stomped the snow off his boots in the mudroom, expecting Kip to come flying around the corner like she always did, socked feet slapping the tile.
He looked forward to her wild mane of red hair.
It gave him something to grab onto, to hold her still and give her a kiss.
Then he’d see that smile of hers, bright enough to burn the cold right off his skin.
But Kip didn’t appear.
The other girls were finishing stringing popcorn and cranberries, the annual beacon to help Santa find the lodge later that night, even in a snowstorm like this. He couldn't imagine Kip not wanting to take part. “Hey Ruby, where's Foxy?”
Ruby looked up and smiled. “Did you get it?”
Not wanting anyone to know before Kip, Trace shrugged. “I picked up a lot of things in town. Where did you say Kip was?”
Ruby sighed with disappointment. “Fine. She had a little bit of a headache. She went upstairs to take a nap, not too long ago.”
“Really?” That didn’t sound right. In all the time he’d known Kip, she’d never taken a nap. “She didn’t say anything about a headache before I left. Did you take her temperature?”
“No. She isn’t sick. You left hours ago.
She was just a bit tired. That’s why I sent her upstairs for a nap.
Which, evidently, she needed, since she still hasn’t come down.
” When Trace turned toward the stairs, Ruby stopped him.
“Trace Daniels, don’t you dare disturb that child. She needs her rest.”
Maybe he should go up and check on her anyway, just to be safe.
He took another step but stopped himself.
He was being an overprotective ass. Ruby was right.
If Kip had a headache, he didn't want to wake her.
Besides, he had things to do. “All right then, I'll go unload the feed and be back in just a few minutes.
If she's not down by then, I'll go check on her.”
It took a good thirty minutes to unload all of the feed pellets because he had to completely restock their supply. He had ordered that all the feed pellets be burned after the brucellosis outbreak, just to be on the safe side.
Once he made it back to the house, he peeked into the kitchen.
Kip still wasn't there. Hopefully, she wasn’t coming down with something.
Was there a thermometer for Littles in the house?
He had plenty of unused ones in the vet barn, but they were for bison, cattle, and horses.
She wouldn’t want to use one so large. It was something to keep in mind for future punishments, though.
How long had she been asleep? He must have asked that aloud, because Tildi said, “Not long, Uncle Trace.”
“Yeah,” Joy said. “She didn't look like she felt good, but she didn't look super sick. We played hard outside today practicing – oof!” Joy broke off when Kenzie elbowed her in the ribs. Scowling, she rubbed her ribs. “Ow!”
Kenzie widened her eyes, then cut them toward Trace. “Ixnay on the Actice-pray.”
Tildi nodded. “That's right, it's supposed to be an Urprise-say.”
God, he loved having Littles around. They were a constant source of joy. “Okay, I'll run upstairs and check on her. Anksthay!”
Tildi gasped. “Do you think he knows pig latin?” She whispered so loudly he heard it as he climbed the stairs.
“Yep, I believe he does. Sorry about that, Kenz,” Joy said.
“No worries,” Kenzie said. “And yes, he knows pig latin. Who do you think taught me?”
With a laugh, Trace made his way up the rest of the stairs to the end of the hall.
Not wanting to wake her just in case she was asleep, Trace gently lifted the door as he pushed it open.
Sticking his head through the crack, he looked at the bed expecting to see Foxy snuggled under the blankets, but the bed was empty.
He stepped inside and looked around the room. Kip wasn't in the bedroom at all. He listened and didn't hear the shower running, but checked anyway. As he expected, the bathroom was empty. Nor was she in the closet.
Maybe she woke up and decided she wanted to draw landscapes through the windows in the upstairs game room. He’d caught her doing that once or twice, but when he reached the game room, he found it empty too.
Ignoring the tendrils of concern trying to wrap around his heart, Trace checked every room on the second floor.
Kip was not there. Finally, he jogged back downstairs and entered the kitchen again.
“Kip isn’t in our room. I didn’t see anything to make me think she’d been there since this morning.
I’ve checked the second floor. Does anyone know where she might be? ”
As the girls exchanged glances, Ruby stepped away from the sink, drying her hands on her apron. “She didn't come back in here. Girls, did you see her?”
One by one, the girls shook their heads.
Trace’s heart slammed once, hard, against his ribs like a warning shot. “None of you saw her?”
“I didn't see her come down the stairs. But then again, I didn't see her go up them either,” Kenzie said.
Tildi nodded, concern evident in her eyes. “We were too busy stringing the popcorn and cranberries. We should have paid more attention.”
Great, now Tildi felt guilty. Boone was going to kill him, but Trace wasn’t sure what else to do. He needed to find Kip. Now. “I just wondered if you’d seen anything. It isn’t your fault, little one.”
“That's true,” Joy agreed. “But we can help you look now. It is a really big house.”
Twenty minutes later, Trace knew two things without a shadow of a doubt.
Kip was not in the lodge. Visibility was almost zero with all the snow coming down.
Even though he knew he wouldn't see her, he looked out the back windows again.
He was wasting time. His little fox would never go out in a snowstorm. Not willingly anyway.
Ruby wrung her hands, eyes shining with unshed tears. “She said she had a headache. I’m so sorry, Trace. I thought she went up to lie down.”
“It’s not your fault, Ruby. I know how much you love Kip and all of us. Can you tell me how long ago she went upstairs?”
Ruby’s hands twisted in her apron until her knuckles turned white. “I-I don’t know. She said she was going upstairs after she walked Silas to the door. I was taking cookies out of the oven.”
Trace’s spine snapped straight, and that uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach intensified. “Silas? Silas Holt?”
Ruby nodded. “That’s right. He stopped by with a wedding present from Jack. It was cold out, so he came in and had a cup of coffee. He left, I don’t know, maybe twenty minutes later. Kip walked him to the door since she was going upstairs to rest—”
Trace’s blood turned to ice in his veins. Sev’s earlier words echoed in his mind: Your spy will be someone ordinary. Someone who wouldn’t stand out. Trace clenched his fists. Someone like Silas Holt. “Silas was the only person who stopped by?”
Ruby’s face paled. “You don’t think— Silas? We’ve known him since he moved here. He’s a neighbor. A… a friend—”
Trace was already moving. He hit the mudroom at a run.
Shoving the door open, he stepped into the storm's fury.
The wind slammed him sideways, and the snow stung his face like buckshot.
The snow had already covered any tracks from the porch to the driveway, but just past the overhang, a small, dark object lay buried in the snow.
He dropped to his knees, his breath fogging hard and fast. Kip’s cedar box. The carved fox on the lid gazed up at him. He flipped it open with fingers that no longer felt the cold. He felt empty, just like she must feel, because her smooth river-stone promise pebble sat in its spot.
Standing, he trudged back toward the lodge.
He closed his fist around the box so hard the sharp edges cut into his palm.
She was out there alone. She didn’t even have her promise pebble to hold on to, to help her remember he’d always come for her.
“I’m coming, little fox,” he cried out to the storm, as if the wind might carry his words to her. “I’ll find you. Just hold on.”
He ran back inside to grab his rifle, extra ammunition, and one of the ranch’s sat-phones. Reception would be patchy at best in a storm like this, but it was better than nothing.
Then something caught the corner of his eye. Kip’s coat, hat, and gloves lay in a pile with all the other girls’ things. “You are fucking kiddin’ me!”
She was out there with someone who wanted her dead, and she had no protection from the freezing cold. When he got her back home, he was going to hold her for a month, which was good, because once he finished blistering her backside, it would be at least that long before she could sit down.
Snatching up her things, he headed toward the mudroom door. Boone, Chance, and Tanner burst inside at the exact same moment. Snow crusted their coats, and their faces were granite hard.
Trace didn’t waste any time with drawn-out explanations. “Silas took Kip.”
“We know,” Boone said. “Ruby called just as we got to the barn. We just came in to grab our guns. Griff’s meeting us when we get back out there with four pairs of night vision goggles so we can spot her through the snowfall.”
Panic was slowing his thinking, but if his brothers were here to help, they had a fighting chance. “I’m glad you’re here because I got no idea where to start looking. Holt’s tracks are long gone. I know we’re gonna find her. There is no other option. The question is how.”
Tanner’s jaw clenched. “I saw taillights heading across the far side of the north pasture about twenty minutes ago. Tried to raise the lodge on the radio to find out who’d be out in this shitshow, but the storm’s messin’ with the sat phones. I thought it was one of the hands running late.”
Boone’s eyes turned deadly. “North pasture makes sense. My guess is Silas thinks he can do whatever he has planned for Kip, and then keep right on going.” Turning to the kitchen, he called out, “Ruby, keep trying the phones until you get Jack Clark. Bring him up to speed. And make sure the doors of the lodge stay locked and the curtains stay closed. I don’t see Silas coming back this way, but we aren’t taking any chances. ”
Chance was already moving, grabbing boxes of .223 and checking the AR slung across his chest. “All right. Let’s head out and get Trace’s girl. Joy, behave while I’m gone. There’s still time for Santa to find switches for all of you. Hear me?”
Kenzie appeared in the doorway, clutching several packets of hand warmers and Kip’s scarf. Tears carved clean tracks down her cheeks. “She’ll need these when you bring her home.”
Trace pulled her into a hard, fast hug, took the warmers, and pressed his face to the wool scarf. He breathed in Kip’s scent, still clinging to it. “I’ve got her, Kenz. Do as Boone says and lock every door. Ruby, keep a loaded rifle close and don’t be afraid to use it if you need to.”
He tucked the cedar box with Kip’s promise pebble into his coat pocket, right next to the velvet ring box. Two promises pressed against his heart—promises he meant to keep. Now and forever.