Cowboy Take Me Away (30 page)

When she reached the trees, she forced herself to walk quietly down the overgrown path when she really felt like running, but the last thing she wanted to do was chase Manny away. Slinging branches right and left, she made her way down the craggy path, trying to stay calm. She shook the bucket. She called his name in a singsong voice. She tried everything that had always worked before to lure him in, but it wasn’t working now.

If only Luke were here…

Finally she saw Manny on the path ahead. She kept moving toward him, shaking the bucket softly. He stood there and watched her without moving, and she felt a ray of hope that maybe he wouldn’t run. But the smoke was telling him something was wrong, and in his world, when something was wrong, humans were to blame. As she moved closer, his tail switched nervously, the whites of his eyes reflecting his anxiety. Shannon inched closer to him again. Time was running out. If she couldn’t get him now…

She lunged for his halter. He threw his head back at the last second, whirled around, and disappeared down the overgrown path.

Shannon had the most sickening feeling that she’d reached the moment of decision. Manny was too scared to let her touch him. The fire was creeping closer with every second that passed. Angela was with the other horses, waiting to evacuate, soon to be threatened by that fire if she didn’t get them out of there.

She had no choice. She had to leave him.

Shannon backed away one shaky step, then two. Tears filled her eyes, and soon Manny’s dappled coat in the distance became nothing more than a gray blotch. Unable to take it another second, she wheeled around and raced back toward the barn, inhaling wisps of smoke with every breath, tears streaking across her temples. She whipped low-hanging branches aside as she ran, her lungs stinging with the effort. She burst through the trees and ran across the pasture. When she reached the gate, she propped it open with the bucket. Angela had loaded the other animals into the trailer and stood waiting.

“Get in the truck,” Shannon said.

“Where’s Manny?”

“I couldn’t catch him. He was too scared.”

“But we have to get him.”

“We can’t.”

“I’ll try,” she said. “Maybe I can—”

“No! We have to go.”

“But we can’t leave him!”

“I’m leaving the gate open so at least he won’t be trapped in the pasture. Once I get you and the other horses to safety, I’ll go back and try again.”

“But there’s no time! Did you see how close the fire’s getting?”

“Yes. I saw.”

“If we don’t get him now—”

“If I don’t get you back to the vineyard, I’ll have your father all over me, and for good reason. Now, get in the truck!”

Finally Angela circled around and got into the passenger seat. Shannon leaped into the driver’s seat and swung the truck and trailer onto the highway, clasping the wheel so tightly her hands ached. She knew she was driving too fast, so she forced herself to ease off the gas pedal. If she drove into a ditch, nobody was going to make it out alive.

As they approached the cutoff to Rainbow Valley, they passed a state trooper pulling to the shoulder on the other side of the road.

“What’s he doing?” Shannon asked.

Angela looked into her rearview mirror. “I don’t know.” Seconds passed. “Wait a minute. He’s turning his car sideways in the road.”

For a few moments, Shannon didn’t realize the full impact of what that meant, and when she did, a wave of despair washed over her.

“Oh, God,” she said. “He’s closing the road.”

Angela gasped. “He can’t do that! You won’t be able to get back up there!”

“I’ll talk to him when I go back. I’ll get him to let me up there.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“I’ll find a way,” Shannon said, swallowing tears. “I’ll find a way.”

Angela sat back and closed her eyes, her hand at her throat. Neither one of them spoke, because they both knew the truth. Shannon wasn’t getting back up that road. And there was no other way to get to the shelter except through the burning forest. The helplessness she felt in that moment overwhelmed her, wrapping around her heart and squeezing so hard she could barely breathe.

She thought about Manny, who’d suffered so much already and trusted no one but Luke. She thought about Luke, who had the same walls around his own heart. They’d been kindred spirits who recognized each other, but in the end, they’d shut out everyone else, keeping only to themselves, staying in that prison they’d been forced to live in through no fault of their own.

And now both of them were lost to her forever.

A truck was approaching from the other direction. Clearly the driver didn’t know he wasn’t going to get far. As he drew closer, he suddenly slowed down, hitting his horn as she zoomed past. Shannon hit her brakes, too, and looked in her rearview mirror. And when she realized who the driver was, she couldn’t believe it.

“Oh, my God,” she said. “It’s Luke!”

He made a U-turn and came back. Shannon steered the truck and trailer to the side of the road and he pulled up beside her. She got out of the truck, and the moment she met his eyes, every terrible word they’d spoken to each other disappeared from her mind. They started toward each other, but only a few seconds passed before she was running into his arms.

“You’re here,” she said. “You came back…oh, Luke…”

He pulled away and took her by the shoulders. “Shannon? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Manny,” she said. “He’s the only animal left at the shelter. He didn’t come to the barn with the other horses, so I went after him. But when I found him, he was scared, and he wouldn’t let me grab him. He went deeper into the trees, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I had Angela. I had the other horses. I had to get them out of there. I had to leave Manny behind.” Tears filled her eyes. “Luke, oh God…he’s going to die up there!”

“Did you leave the gate open?”

“Yes, but he was nowhere near it. If the smoke gets too thick, he won’t be able to see which way to go. And if he breathes too much of it—”

“Don’t worry. I’ll go back and get him.”

“You can’t,” Angela said.

Luke whipped around. “What?”

“As we were coming back, a state trooper was setting up a roadblock. They’ve closed Highway twenty-eight northbound.”

Luke muttered a curse. Then a look of determination came over his face. “I’m going, anyway. I’ll find a way around the roadblock.”

“No,” Shannon said. “It’s too dangerous. I don’t want you going up there.”

“But Manny—”

“No!”

“You love those animals, Shannon. None of them are going to die if I have anything to say about it.”

“But I love you more!”

He brushed her hair away and took her face in his hands. “I love you, too, sweetheart. That’s why I won’t take any chances.”

I love you, too.

Those words rang inside Shannon’s head, the words she’d wanted so desperately to hear from him, but now it meant she was even more afraid because he
would
take chances. He would be even more likely to risk his own life to save Manny because he knew how devastated she’d be if anything happened to him.

“Where have you been taking the animals?” Luke asked.

“To the vineyard,” Shannon said. She turned to Angela. “Can you drive these horses back there? It’s a big trailer.”

“Sure. I’ve been driving trucks and trailers around the vineyard since I was fourteen.”

“Good girl.” Shannon tossed her the keys. “I’m going with Luke.”

“No!” Luke said. “I want both of you out of here!”

“You’re going to need my help,” Shannon said.
And I can make sure you don’t risk your life.

“No. You go with Angela.” Luke turned and went back to his truck. Shannon took off after him. He climbed inside, but before he could click the locks shut, she scrambled into the passenger seat.

“Shannon! No!”

“Yes. I’m going with you. It’ll be easier to catch him if there are two of us.”

“Get out of the truck.”

“No! There’s no time to waste!”

“Shannon—”

“Let’s
go
!”

Luke started the engine, hating like hell for Shannon to be anywhere near that fire. But if he tried to physically remove her from his truck, he’d be in for a battle there was no time to fight.

They drove in silence. In the distance, smoke billowed over trees. Luke only prayed the fire wasn’t as close as it looked. But he didn’t care how dangerous it was. He’d be damned if he was going to sit there and do nothing while Shannon’s worst nightmare came to life.

He steered his truck around a bend, and up ahead he saw the state trooper’s car turned sideways in the road. His hope had been that the shoulder of the road in that spot would be wide enough that he could just drive around it. But closer now, he saw deep drainage ditches on either side of the highway. If he managed to skate around that police car without landing in the ditch, it would be a miracle.

He brought his truck to a halt about ten yards away, the engine still running. As soon as the state trooper saw them, he pointed madly toward the fire and then waved them away.

“He’s telling us to turn around,” Shannon said. “What now?”

“I’ll use my secret weapon,” Luke said.

“Secret weapon?”

He faced her, his voice intense. “Listen to me. I know I’ve told you to play nice with big, authoritative men who aren’t doing what you want them to. But this guy’s a cop. He can’t hurt you like that other guy could. So now’s the time to march right over there, get in his face, and tell him we’re going up that highway no matter what he says and to move his damned car out of the way!”

True to form, Shannon turned to look at the trooper’s car, her eyes narrowing with the determination of a prizefighter heading into the ring.

“You’re just the woman who can do it,” Luke said. “Now, get out there and make him sorry he ever messed with you!”

Shannon yanked open the door of the truck, climbed out, and slammed it behind her. The state trooper started toward her, and she met him halfway. Luke took that opportunity to flick the door locks, fling his truck into drive, and hit the gas.

As he approached the gap between the state trooper’s car and the drainage ditch, it seemed even smaller than it had at a distance. His heart pounding, he squeezed his truck between the two. For a split second, he felt his truck tip precariously, and he was sure he’d swung too wide. The instant he passed the car, he wheeled his truck back to the left, praying his tires were still stuck to the road. When he felt the truck right itself again, he let out a breath of relief.

Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw one very astonished state trooper, but he couldn’t think about that now. Shannon was going to be furious, but he didn’t care about that, either. All he cared about was that she was safe.

A minute later the shelter came into sight. He drove through the front gate and down to the barn. When he didn’t see Manny right away, he leaped out of his truck and grabbed a bandanna. He wet it using the faucet by the stock tank and wrapped it around his nose and mouth. Then he jumped back into his truck. He drove through the gate into the pasture and headed for the heavy stand of trees on the eastern perimeter of the property where Shannon had last seen Manny. When Luke could go no farther, he slammed on his brakes and leaped out.

He considered grabbing a lariat and trying to rope Manny, but his skills were a little rusty, and if he missed once, Manny would never let him near enough to try again. He’d just have to trust that the little horse would let him close enough to get hold of his halter.

But first he had to find him.

Lead rope in hand, he started down the path through the trees, the smell of the fire overwhelming, the smoke growing thicker with every second that passed. He moved quickly, dodging rocks, slinging tree branches out of his way. The longer he walked, the more dense the brush became.

Finally, through the trees, he caught sight of Manny’s dappled gray coat and felt a surge of hope. As Luke came closer, he took it as a good sign that Manny wasn’t running away.

Luke slowed down so he wouldn’t startle him. He clucked his tongue a few times to get his attention. “Manny! Hey, Manny!”

The horse didn’t turn around, but he didn’t run, either. That was odd. A feeling of apprehension skated across the back of Luke’s neck. He came closer, shoving more branches out of the way, and when he found out why Manny wasn’t moving, his stomach turned over with dread.

Two strands of rusty barbed wire had popped loose from their posts, and they were curled high around Manny’s hind legs. In the position he was in, the more he tried to free himself, the deeper the barbs dug in.

And blood was everywhere.

S
wallowing his apprehension, Luke moved closer to Manny. When he touched him, he thrashed crazily, trying to free himself. Luke knelt down and quickly wrapped his arms around him. “Take it easy,” he said as calmly as he could. “Be still, now. Be still.”

He reached a hand up and scratched the little horse behind his ears. Only seconds passed until he settled down, but it felt like hours to Luke. Holding his halter with one hand, Luke used his other hand to carefully and methodically loosen the stiff barbed wire. But just as he’d start to free one of Manny’s legs, a barb would dig into the other and he would struggle again, causing even more damage.

Damn it!
This wasn’t working. If only he had wire cutters. But if he let go of Manny so he could run back to his truck, would he only cut himself worse? The fire was so close now that the wind felt like a blowtorch. Even beneath the canopy of trees, ash swirled in the air, and breathing was a chore. No. He couldn’t go back now. No time.

He kept working with the wire. When he finally freed Manny from one strand, he held it down with his foot while he worked with the other one. The heat was unbearable. Luke swiped sweat out of his eyes with his shoulder and kept working. Every time he felt like giving up, he thought about the tears in Shannon’s eyes as she told him about the animals in her nightmares that she couldn’t save.

Finally Luke managed to tuck the remaining wire beneath his boot along with the other one. Then he lifted Manny away from both of them. He felt a rush of elation, only to realize that Manny was hanging his head, making no move to run away. There was no doubt now the blood loss had taken its toll. He would never be able to walk back up the rocky trail.

Luke scooped the little horse up in his arms. He could lift well over Manny’s weight, but the heat and the effort of getting him loose had drained Luke’s strength. He moved as fast as he could over the rocky path, feeling the strain in his back and legs. Once he tripped and almost fell, then righted himself again and kept pushing forward.

He didn’t care what it took. He was bringing Manny back to Shannon. No matter what he had to do, he was going to make sure all the animals she loved so much were finally safe.

Shannon checked her watch. Only fifteen minutes had passed, but it felt like hours. The fire had raised the air temperature, and sweat poured down her temples and soaked her shirt.

“The fire’s getting too close,” the trooper told Shannon. “I’m going to have to back this roadblock up soon.”

“What do you think it’s like another mile up the road?”

“Hell on earth.”

Just those words made shivers run up her spine. She paced away from the car and back again. “Something’s gone wrong. We need to go up there.”

“Can’t,” the trooper said. “I’ve got my orders. If I don’t hold this position, people could drive right into this.”

“But it’s been too long!”

“That guy clearly knew what he was getting into. Anybody who ignores the evacuation order and the roadblock is on his own.”

Shannon was furious at Luke for leaving her there and crazy in love with him all at the same time. She only hoped he wouldn’t stay up there too long, so long that he succumbed to the smoke-filled air and couldn’t get out.

Then she saw it. Luke’s truck, coming up over the rise.

Thank God! He made it. He’s coming back!

The trooper got into his car and moved it out of the way so Luke could get by. Luke drew closer, then came to a halt. Leaving the engine running, he jumped out. Shannon ran toward him.

“Luke! Did you get Manny?”

“Yes.”

Then he came around the truck, and she saw something dark staining the front of his shirt. For a moment she didn’t realize what it was, and when she did, her stomach turned over with apprehension.

Blood.

She raced up to meet him. “Luke! Are you all right?”

“It’s not me.” He looked toward the back of his truck. “It’s Manny.”

“Manny? What happened?”

“He tried crawling through the barbed wire fence that runs through the trees on the east side of the pasture and got caught. I got him loose and carried him out, but he’s cut pretty badly.”

She put her hand to her throat. “How badly?”

“He’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Is he going to be okay?”

Luke’s expression turned dark, and dread washed over her. “I don’t know.”

“Oh, God…” Her knees went weak, and tears came to her eyes.

“Shannon? You need to hold it together, okay?” He handed her the keys. “I’ll ride in the back with him so I can keep him as calm as possible and try to stop the blood flow. You get us to the nearest vet you know outside of Rainbow Valley.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice shaking. “Okay. I will.”

Luke raced to the back of the truck and jumped inside. Shannon got behind the wheel and hit the gas.

What happened in the next half hour was a blur. Shannon drove straight to Dr. Adler’s clinic in Rosemont, about twenty miles away. Manny seemed barely conscious as Luke lifted him from the truck. The sight of Manny’s wounds made her stomach turn over with anger and self-recrimination.
Damn it.
Why hadn’t she found a way to replace that fence a long time ago?

Luke carried Manny to the barn, where Dr. Adler and her assistant took over with IVs and blood and wound care. Shannon just stood there, feeling helpless, afraid Luke had been too late. Afraid whatever the vet did, it wouldn’t be enough. Afraid it was her fault because of that
damned barbed wire!

Luke took Shannon’s arm and led her out of the barn. “We need to go.”

“No,” Shannon said. “I want to stay with him.”

“You can’t. That fire is coming fast. If they don’t get it under control, it could eventually take out Rainbow Valley. We need to get you evacuated from your apartment.”

“But I can’t leave him like this.”

“There’s nothing more we can do now. Dr. Adler said she’d call when she had news.”

“She won’t be able to get through. All the lines are blocked because of the fire.”

“She’ll let us know as soon as she’s able,” Luke said.

“At least I need to go to the vineyard. Other shelters may have to come up to get the animals. I need to help out there.”

“Freddie Jo and Angela are taking care of that.”

“But—”

“Sweetheart, you have to trust that other people will do their jobs. It’s time to take care of you. What about Eve and your parents?”

“Eve has a big truck for her business. She’s taking them to my parents’ vacation house on Lake Travis. I suppose we’ll go there, too, once we’ve evacuated.”

They got in Luke’s truck. As they drove, she saw heavy gray clouds filling the late afternoon sky. Or was that smoke from the fire? It was getting harder to tell one from the other. She wondered how soon the buildings at the shelter would be overrun by flames. If that happened, what was she going to do if the other shelters couldn’t absorb all the animals they’d evacuated to the vineyard, and then the vineyard itself became threatened?

She didn’t want to think about it.
Couldn’t
think about it, or she’d go crazy.

As they drove into town, they saw cars and trucks backed up to houses and garages. People ran from houses to vehicles with as many possessions as they could reasonably take with them. It wasn’t until that moment that Shannon was hit with the full impact of what was happening.

This fire could take out the entire town.

Luke swung his truck into a parking space in front of Shannon’s apartment. As they rushed up the sidewalk, they met Tasha coming the other way. She had her handbag over her shoulder and Ginger was inside it. She looked at the blood on Luke’s shirt.

“Oh, my God! What happened?”

“It’s okay,” Luke said. “I’m fine. What about Rita? Is she out?”

“Everybody’s out. Shannon’s the last. I just heard the fire’s only six or seven miles away now.”

“Where are you going?” Shannon asked.

“There are several churches south of here that are setting up emergency shelters.”

“Can you take Ginger with you?”

“They said it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Let us know where you are as soon as you’re able,” Shannon said.

Tasha nodded and hurried off, and Luke and Shannon headed for the door to the apartment building. The wind gusted, the sky had darkened, and the air felt charged with electricity. All at once a streak of lightning sizzled to earth with a horrendous crash, following by a loud rumble of thunder. She and Luke stared at the sky. Up and down the street, everybody had stopped their evacuation efforts and were doing the same. Another lightning bolt zigzagged to earth, illuminating the murky sky, followed by a deafening crash.

“That lightning is dangerous,” Luke said, “it could start more fires. Make what’s happening now seem tame.”

Then all at once, Shannon felt a drop of moisture. Two drops. A dozen. She and Luke looked at each other, the moment suspended in time. It was almost too much to hope for given how many times in the past few months it had looked like rain and rain had never come.

Then all at once the heavens opened up, and it began to pour. Within seconds, they were drenched.

“It’s rain,” Shannon said, holding out her palms. “Rain!”

Luke and Shannon ran inside to her apartment, where he stripped off his stained shirt and threw it in the trash. Shannon grabbed towels, and they dried off as they watched the local news, which was covering nothing but the fire and the rainstorm. Shannon prayed this wasn’t the kind of flash storm they’d had so many times where it rained for five minutes, then passed through, leaving the landscape as dry and brittle as before.

The weatherman said they’d expected the storm to swing west of the fire, but it hit an updraft from the gulf. The wind picked up and the storm took an unexpected turn, hitting Rainbow Valley dead center. Behind that was a massive cell that was even stronger. From the radar, it was clear that the rain they were going to get might be the rain they desperately needed.

On the strength of that weather report, Luke and Shannon made the decision to stay put. For another hour, they watched the television radar as it swept over Rainbow Valley time and time again, revealing little movement of the storm. It actually seemed to grow more intense, giving Shannon hope that it might put the fire out completely. Lightning crashed all around them, rain battering the windows so hard she thought they might actually crack.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Shannon said. “I still can’t believe you heard about the fire and came back.”

“That wasn’t why I came back.”

“What do you mean?”

“Before I even knew about the fire, I’d turned around. I hated what happened between us. I couldn’t leave things like that.”

“I hated what happened, too,” Shannon said. “But at least I know now. I know what happened when you were a kid, how you felt—”

He looked away. “I’ve never told anyone about that.”

“You needed to. You needed to say it. To shout it. I’m glad you did.”

For a long time, Luke just sat there, his face drawn and tired. She could see the toll this day had taken on him.

“You were the only good memory I had of this town,” he told her. “The only one.”

Shannon was silent, unable to imagine that his entire childhood and adolescence had given him nothing else worth holding on to.

“That night in the hayloft,” Luke said. “The night we were together. You have no idea how I felt at that moment. You were the kind of girl who could have any guy she wanted. I just couldn’t believe you wanted me.”

“I did, Luke. You have no idea how much. But then afterward, when you acted as if you didn’t care—”

“When you said it was a mistake, when you said you didn’t want anyone else to know…I had to pretend it didn’t matter to me. But it mattered.
You
mattered. I thought if the most perfect girl in the world wanted to make love with me, then maybe I wasn’t so terrible after all. But afterward, when you seemed to regret everything we’d done…”

“I didn’t regret anything,” she told him. “I didn’t regret one moment of what we did. But I was a kid, just like you. I was scared. Scared of what my mother would do if she caught us together. That was all.”

“I realize that now. But I didn’t back then.”

“God, Luke,” Shannon said. “If only we’d known. If only each of us had known what the other was thinking, things might have been different.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Luke said.

“But—”

“No. We were kids. There were things going on we couldn’t control. It wouldn’t have made you willing to go against your parents, and it wouldn’t have knocked the chip off my shoulder. Nothing would have back then. You had to go your way, I had to go mine.”

“But you found your way back here,” she said, slipping her hand inside his. “Thank God you found your way back.”

Lightning flashed outside. Thunder exploded. But inside the apartment, huddled together on the sofa, Shannon felt as if nothing could touch them.

“After Denver, I won’t be riding bulls anymore,” Luke said.

Shannon came to attention. “What do you mean?”

He sighed. “I’m tired. Tired of starting over every year. I’m going to win that championship. But after that, I’m done.”

“But what will you do then? You told me bull riding is all you know.”

“I don’t know. All I know is that all these years, I’ve made it my reason to get up in the morning. That championship was the only thing that mattered to me. I thought people would respect me. People I didn’t even know, as if that mattered. Then I found out there was something even more important to me than winning that title.” He tightened his hand against hers. “You told me you love me. Did you mean it?”

“Yes!” she said, grasping his hand with both of hers. “Of course I meant it! I love you! Why in the world won’t you believe me?”

The most profound look of sadness crossed his face, and his voice was a near whisper. “Because no one’s ever said that to me before.”

Shannon couldn’t believe it. It broke her heart to think of a man getting to age thirty without ever once hearing those words. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in the hollow of his neck, vowing to tell him she loved him a hundred times a day from now on.