Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Sage enjoyed the rocking motion as Topaz walked up the tree-lined path to the pond.
Her arms were wrapped around Jenna’s torso as the horse carried them both.
Behind them, Matthew was Othello’s lone rider.
While Adam and Evan handled a new delivery of hay bales and feed, she’d decided to spend some time with just her children.
They’d start school again next week, so their afternoons and weekends would once again be filled with homework, projects, Brownie troop activities for Jenna, and soccer practice and games for Matthew.
Now that the Little League season was over, a new sport had been added to the schedule, and he enjoyed this one much more than the last.
It had been just a week since she was kidnapped, and she still slept with the light on in her attached bathroom.
Pitch darkness reminded her of being in the trunk of Seth’s car, and she found herself listening for even the slightest sound when the lights went out.
Thankfully, Adam was very understanding and had been there each time she awoke from a nightmare, flashing back to her ordeal.
Having recovered from a poisoned hamburger, Benji had also kept a close eye on her since coming home from the veterinary hospital a few days ago.
He would whine if her bedroom door was completely shut at night.
With everything that had happened and their declarations of love to each other, she and Adam had given up all pretense that they weren’t a couple.
He’d slept in her bed that night, holding her as if he never wanted to let her go, and every night since.
Maddie, Evan, Matthew, and Jenna had given them their blessing.
Even Ashley had been happy for her when she’d stopped by the next afternoon, after learning about the kidnapping and arrest, to make sure her best friend was really okay.
Unfortunately, the accident totaled her truck, adding another problem to the pile.
She was driving a rental until the insurance company sent her a check.
Then she’d have to find a replacement she could afford.
Thankfully, Joann Dillinger had convinced her son, Lyle, to give Sage another extension on the overdue mortgage payment after word spread about the kidnapping and the loss of her vehicle.
At least that gave her a little more breathing room until the first few foals were sold.
Sheriff Cosgrove had also stopped by the ranch a few days ago to update them.
Before getting down to business, he grudgingly apologized to Adam for not taking the shooting incident seriously and admitted he’d let the man’s prison record influence his judgment.
It hadn’t exactly been a heartfelt apology, but Adam had accepted it without rubbing the sheriff’s nose in it—which was probably more gracious than Sage would’ve been.
Seth had given a signed confession about how he’d set fire to the barn, fired the shots at Adam, poisoned Benji, and kidnapped Sage because he claimed to be in love with her.
Obsessed with her, was more like it. While he’d asked her out several times, no one had any idea how far the man would go to make her his.
He’d meant to step in and help her pay for the new barn, but Adam had beaten him to it.
Then, when she’d introduced Adam as her new boyfriend, as well as her new ranch hand, Seth had tried to eliminate the competition.
He figured if he wormed his way into her life, he could convince her they belonged together.
A shiver went down her spine. As much as she hated Seth for what he’d put her through, she felt bad for his children and ex-wife. This would fuel the gossip in Rosewood, and it would be a long time before the whispers and finger-pointing stopped for them.
“Jenna! Are you hurt?”
“N-no, but I can’t s-see! It’s too dark! I fell! Mommy, get me out!”
Her stomach dropped. She fell to her knees and leaned as far into the opening as she could, but all she could see was darkness beyond the first few feet. She reached inside, knowing there was no chance of finding her daughter’s hand but desperate to try, anyway. “How far did you fall, sweetheart?”
“I–I don’t know.”
Fear clawed at Sage. She didn’t know what was beyond that opening or how deep the drop was. Please, God, let her be okay. “Can you stand up? Does anything hurt?”
There was a brief pause that seemed to last forever.
“I can stand. I’m not hurt. But I can’t get out!”
Relief swept through her so fast she almost sagged against the rocks. At least Jenna was on her feet and talking. The fall hadn’t seriously injured her.
“Okay. Stay right where you are. Mommy’s here.” Sage forced the fear from her voice and pushed herself to her feet. Panicking wouldn’t help Jenna. She needed to figure out how to get her daughter out of there. “We’re going to get you out, sweetheart. I promise.”
Pulling her cell phone from the pocket of her jeans, she held back a curse when she saw there was no reception in this spot. Struggling not to show her son how scared she was, Sage grabbed his arm. “Matthew, I need you to ride back to the house and get Adam and Evan. Can you do that for me?”
His big hazel eyes, so much like her own, showed his fear, but he nodded.“I–I think so. Is Jenna going to be all right?”
“She’s going to be fine.” Lord, please let that be the truth. “Tell them what happened. They’ll need some tools to make the hole bigger and some rope.”
They hurried back to the horses, and Sage untied Othello as Matthew pulled himself into the saddle. Before letting him go, she dug into the saddlebag and found the flashlight they always kept there.
“Now hurry, but be careful. Okay?”
“Okay, Mom. I’ll bring them back right away. Everything will be all right. We’ll get Jenna out of there.”
Suddenly, her young son appeared ten years older and ready to slay dragons to save his sister. He gathered the reins and urged Othello forward, quickly guiding the horse around the lake toward the trail leading back to the ranch.
“Mommy!”
“I’m coming, Jenna!”
After returning to the opening her daughter had fallen through and kneeling, she shined the flashlight beam into the hole and prayed there weren’t snakes or anything else in there with her little girl.
“Can you see the light, honey?”
“Yes! Come get me!”
“Matthew went to get help. We’ll get you out as soon as we can. Can you come closer to the opening?”
“No! It’s too high.”
She tried pushing and pulling several of the rocks, but none would move. They varied in size, and between the packed dirt holding them in place and the heavier stones resting on top, she needed something for leverage.
Scanning the area, she spotted a fallen tree limb a few feet away.
She set the flashlight on the ground, kept the beam aimed into the cave, then retrieved the thick branch and dragged it back.
After trying several cracks between the rocks, she finally found one wide enough to wedge the end into.
Gripping the branch with both hands, she threw all her weight against it.
Nothing.
“Come on,” she muttered through clenched teeth and tried again.
The branch flexed beneath her hands, but the rocks refused to budge. Afraid it would snap and possibly send part of the formation tumbling inward, she stopped. The last thing she wanted was to make the situation worse.
“Mommy! Are you still there?”
“Yes, baby. I’m right here.” She crouched near the opening again. “I’m trying to make the hole bigger, but I think we have to wait for Adam and Evan.”
The scared little girl began sobbing, and Sage’s heart broke for her. There was nothing she could do except wait, and she hated feeling so helpless.
Sitting beside the entrance, she began to sing Return to Pooh Corner.
It was the same song she’d sung to Jenna as an infant after those two a.m. feedings when her little girl refused to go back to sleep.
Sage had grown up loving all things Winnie the Pooh and had happily passed that love down to her children.
Gradually, Jenna’s crying subsided, and before long, her small voice joined Sage’s. When they finished the song, she started another of her daughter’s favorites.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but by the middle of the fifth or sixth song, the rumble of the ATV Evan used around the ranch broke through the forest.
Relief rushed through her.
A few moments later, the vehicle appeared through the trees with Adam driving and Matthew sitting behind him, holding on tight.
Sage jumped to her feet and waved them toward her.
Adam maneuvered as close as the terrain allowed before a fallen tree blocked his path.
He killed the engine and climbed off as Evan appeared on Othello behind them.
Sage immediately crouched beside the opening. “Honey, Adam and Evan are here. We’re going to get you out.”
“Hurry!”
Adam rushed over and knelt beside Sage, studying the opening.
His racing pulse slowed a little at her relative calm.
She was clearly worried, but the panic he’d expected to find wasn’t there.
They’d all been through hell these past few months, and he wasn’t sure how much more any of them could take.
He peered into the cave. “How the heck did she get in there?” Not waiting for an answer, he raised his voice. “Hey, Little Bird. How’s my girl doing?”
“I-I’m scared, Adam.”
“I know you are, sweetheart, but we’re here now, and we’re going to get you out as soon as we can. I’m going to drop a flashlight down to you. Step back a little so it doesn’t hit you.”
Turning on the larger, heavy-duty flashlight he’d brought, he reached as far into the opening as he could before letting it fall.
“Pick that up and look around. You’re going to hear some loud noises in a minute, but that’ll just be us making the hole bigger. Can you move away from the opening so nothing falls on you?”
“Uh-huh! It’s big down here. There’s water too.”
“Must be part of the underground spring that feeds the pond,” he said to Sage before turning his attention back to Jenna. “Are you standing in the water, or is it dry where you are?”
“It’s dry… sort of. It’s muddy.”
“Okay. Move away from the opening, but stay out of the water.”
“Okay, Adam. I’m doing it.”
He chuckled at the matter-of-fact tone she now used. The fear was still there, but at least she sounded more like herself. That was more like his Little Bird.
Behind him, Evan and Matthew carried over the tools they’d brought. A sledgehammer, two pickaxes, a crowbar, and a long length of rope would hopefully be enough to get her out of there.
“Jenna, don’t look up. There might be dirt and small pieces of rock coming down, and I don’t want them getting in your eyes.”
“Okay.”
Taking the pickaxe Evan handed him, Adam made sure Sage and Matthew were well out of the way before hoisting the tool and swinging it at the rocks surrounding the opening.
Evan worked from the opposite side, the two men taking turns so they didn’t get in each other’s way.
Bit by bit, they broke away the smaller stones and loosened the larger ones enough to pry them free.
Nearly twenty minutes later, after putting every tool they’d brought to use, the opening was finally wide enough for Adam to fit through.
Sweat soaked his shirt, and his arms burned from the effort.
He guzzled the bottle of water Sage handed him while Evan repositioned the ATV and unspooled the cable from the winch mounted on the front.
They’d brought a length of rope to use as a makeshift harness. Adam wrapped it around his chest and under his arms, securing it before Evan attached the winch cable. He gave the connection several hard tugs, making certain everything would hold his weight.
“I’ll lower you nice and slow,” Evan said.
He nodded and sat on the edge of the opening before swinging his legs inside. “How’re you doing, Jenna? I’m coming down now, but stay right where you are until I get to you, okay?”
“Okay.”
Bracing his hands against the rocks, he called over his shoulder, “All right—let me down.”
The winch started to whir, giving him enough slack to ease the rest of his body into the hole. As the winch slowly lowered him to the cave's floor, he held tightly to the rope. When his feet touched the ground, he glanced up. Sage peered down at him from an estimated height of nine or ten feet.
Jenna stood a few feet away from him against a rock wall, holding the flashlight. “Come here, Little Bird.”
She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck when he bent down to pick her up.
“Are you okay? Nothing hurts?”
“Uh-huh.”
He set her on her feet and ran his hands over her arms and legs, checking for any obvious injuries. Other than some dirt and mud on her clothes and a few minor scrapes, she appeared to be fine.
Taking the flashlight from her, he swept the beam around the cave.
It was much bigger than he’d expected and extended far back into the hill above the pond.
As the light moved across the bedrock on the other side of a large pool of water, something that appeared hand-crafted caught his eye.
He couldn’t tell what it was since the wall curved around into what looked like a small alcove.
With the cable now slack, he disconnected it from the rope around his chest, leaving the makeshift harness in place for the trip back up. “Stay here a second, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.”
From above, Sage asked, “What is it, Adam?”
“I don’t know. There’s something down here. Hang on.”
He walked along the soft, muddy bank, staying close to the wall so he didn’t step into the water. He couldn’t tell how deep it was and didn’t want to find out the hard way. Every scuff of his boots echoed through the cave.
When he reached the alcove, he aimed the flashlight inside. “What the…?”
Five boxes—three wooden and two steel—filled much of the roughly five-by-five-foot space. From the amount of dirt and mold covering them, they’d been there for a very long time. The wood had rotted, and when he tugged on one lid, part of it crumbled beneath his fingers.
The flashlight beam glinted off the contents.
He stared, then blinked several times, unable to believe his own eyes.
It was mind-boggling.
Jenna repeated her mother’s earlier question. “What is it, Adam?”
A grin spread across his face as he glanced over his shoulder at her. “I think you found buried treasure.”