Divine Mortals (17 page)

“Far out, that’s great, it’s so great.”

“You may not think it’s that great when you think right into it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well you’ll have to come over for the christening,”

“Oh.” this stopped me dead, the thought of being on a plane all the way to England took a substantial shine off of the whole event.

“You aren’t backing out of it Ava, you have to be there as chief aunt.”

“I know,” I stumbled over the words, “I guess I can.”

“You will,” Joel laughed again, “there’s no excuse, you have seven months to get used to the idea.”

“I know,” I mumbled, trying not to sound terrified.

“Don’t worry, I’ll book you business class, that might help.”

“You think?” I sounded sarcastic without meaning to, a high chiming voice rose in the background.

“Ava I gotta go, we’re heading out to dinner, I’ll call you in a few weeks okay?”

“Sure have fun,” I pushed my future travel plans from my mind, “Take care, look after Susan and my niece or nephew.”

“I will,” he promised, sounding rushed, “Oh and Ava,”

“Hmmm,”

“Take care of yourself aye, be careful.”

I laughed this time,

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“Make sure you are.”

“Good bye Joel, Go before your taxi leaves without you.”

“Bye, talk to you soon,”

“Love you.”

“You too.”

I was going to be an Aunt, which was incredible, the travel on the other hand definitely was not.

I looked out from the porch once more, the rain had eased from the pelting force it was earlier to a steady drizzle, creating a veil along the landscape in the late afternoon.

I watched Pop drive between the stable and the big shed and make his way to the fence in front of the house where he parked.

Huge dark circles framed his eyes and I felt a sharp pang of guilt at the thought of him up all night searching for me, he was too old to have that sort of stress. His eyes lit upon seeing me though and I stood and went to meet him at the edge of the porch.

“You’re drenched.” I frowned, watching him take the last stair to stand dripping in front of me.

“I am,” he smiled “But we needed the rain, it’s been a dry summer, I’m ready for a hot shower though I’ll tell you that much, is your Nan inside love?”

“She is, come on let’s find her, I’ve got some news.”

P
op only stayed indoors long enough to warm up, hear my news about Joel and eat, before hurrying back out to finish the jobs the rain had hindered. Nan had gone to her vegetable garden to pull some fresh carrots and corn for our dinner and I wandered from room to room feeling exhausted and energetic at the same time.

My muscles were aching from my rough sleep but my mind was going a million miles an hour. Robert was back from the muster and I couldn’t wait to see him again, whenever that may be. I was also filled with thoughts of Joel and my future role as Aunt. I couldn’t help but wish my parents were here, they would have been so excited to become grandparents.

The back door flew open, hitting the hallway wall with force and making me jump in fright, Nan and Pop came rushing in, both of them looking terrified.

“Ava we have to take Jed to the hospital,” Nan yelled over her shoulder as they headed towards their room, I followed quickly watching from the door as they tossed a few items of clothing into an overnight bag.

“What’s happened? Is he okay?” I was instantly worried for their smiley head rancher, I liked Jed, he was always friendly, if a little too heavy with the sympathy.

“He rolled the tractor,” Nan spoke quickly, looking into her bag, assessing what she had grabbed.

“He’s crushed his legs, Roberts putting him in the car now, and we’re taking him to Denver.”

She seemed satisfied with what she had gathered and quickly zipped the bag closed.

“Shouldn’t you call an Ambulance?” I asked, confused.

“Ha!” Grandpop scoffed, “by the time one got all the way out here honey we could be halfway to Denver.”

I must have looked worried,

“It’s okay Ava, your grandfather has already called the hospital from the Sat phone, an ambulance will meet us on the way.” Nan zipped the last bag shut and picked both up off the bed. “We’ll only be gone overnight, we’ll be back tomorrow.” She stood back, finally looking up at me.

“Shawn is away this week visiting his family in Texas, but Roberts here, you’ll be fine, he can finish the jobs that need done today, and we’ll be home by dinner time tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

Even in the midst of all this panic, and my worry for Jed, I felt a surge of excitement at the prospect of being alone with Robert on the ranch.

Nan and Pop hurried from their room and through the kitchen, oblivious to my thoughtful look. I immediately felt guilty, I should be worrying about Jed.

Moving quickly, I grabbed three bottles of water from the fridge and followed them outside tucking the water into Nans handbag.

“Here,”

“Thanks Darling,” Nan smiled before turning her worried look towards Jed who was now propped up in the back seat of their pickup. I ventured a look over her shoulder, he was very cut and bruised, his face screwed up in pain. One eye was already swollen shut, he sat across the back seat, both legs stretched in front of him, an old blanket covered them and I was thankful that I couldn’t see the full extent of the damage.

“Norma let’s go!” Grandpop yelled from the front seat, already revving the engine, Nan turned to me, giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

“Take care love,” she jumped in and pulled the seat belt across.

“We’ll see you tomorrow night.” she called through the window and with that the truck flew off faster than I had ever seen my Grandfather drive. I watched until the car was out of sight, leaving only a dust cloud hovering above the road that would take them to the main highway.

Robert was standing opposite me, had he been on the other side of the car all along?

“You heard him, didn’t you,” I asked, trying my best to sound like this was totally normal, “Jed I mean.”

He nodded a little embarrassed.

“He’s lucky we have you around.”

Robert smiled softly, the worry for his friend painted vividly on his face.

“I’m really sorry Ava,” he sighed, “I have so much to do now with everyone gone, I really need to start or I’ll be working all night.”

I frowned a little at this, was he not going to even say hello?

“Sorry,” He chuckled, taking in my expression and covering the distance between us quicker than I could blink.

“Hi,” his smile made my heart stop, “I really want to see you, can I come by later?”

Could he really not hear my thoughts? I was starting to wonder.

“Sure.” I sounded a little breathless,
calm down.

“Can I help with anything?” I asked, trying again to sound calm,

“Ahhh,” I could see he was trying to think of something suitable girly and inconsequential for me to do. His golden face lit up as it came to him.

“You could put the hay in the stalls for the horses and measure out their feed. I’ll put them away when I get back,” he added quickly seeing my expression, “I’m guessing you don’t really want to lead them into the stables do you?” His usual cheeky grin, the one I loved, played across his face.

“Sure, yeah I can do that. The feed, not the leading.” If I didn’t have to touch the horses I was happy,

“Is there anything
else
I could help you with?” I tried my most flirtatious smile on him, feeling instantly stupid, who was I kidding, I had no idea how to flirt.

One corner of his mouth twitched,

“I have to go and roll the tractor upright again.”

I could imagine he didn’t need anything more than his own hands to do this.

“I’ll come see you tonight once I’m done.” he promised, flashing me his gorgeous grin, and then before I could say anything more he was gone. I watched the blur of his outline heading out across the paddocks with unworldly speed and grace, I couldn’t help but smile, he must love being able to do that without the fear of being caught.

I turned towards the hills where the sun was starting to disappear, casting long shadows across the paddocks, it would be twilight in an hour. The mountains at the back of the ranch looked stunning where the sun reflected from their peaks, the trees lining their slopes gently moving in the afternoon breeze. It really was so beautiful here.

My stomach grumbled loudly and I decided to have an early dinner before feeding the horses, after all I still had an hour or so before dark. Climbing the porch stairs two at a time my thoughts went back to Jed, I really hoped he would be okay, tractors were huge, I couldn’t imagine one of those things landing on his legs. I swung the refrigerator open and peered inside spying potato bake, probably left over from last nights dinner, when I had been eating soggy sandwiches.

“That’ll do.” I muttered to myself, dishing some onto a plate and pushing it into the microwave. While that whirred I poured myself a glass of lemonade and went to flick on the TV, an anorexic looking reporter was speaking about some miracle rescue that had happened in Denver earlier in the day.

The microwave beeped and I went back into the kitchen grabbing my dinner and a fork and heading towards the comfort of the recliner to eat.

I didn’t really hear the TV, I guess this was what Robert called “Tuning Out”, I was too filled with other thoughts. Mainly worry for Jed, they would still be at least an hour from Denver and he hadn’t looked so good when he was in the car, I realized with a flash of guilt that I hadn’t even asked Robert how bad he was, I would remember to ask when he came around later.

The thought of Robert coming to see me tonight made my pulse speed. I couldn’t wait to see him, the memory of him sitting in this very room seemed like a dream now, strangely unreal, I couldn’t imagine his godly presence in my grandparents dull lounge room. I tried to picture him out there now, tipping the tractor up right with his bare hands, the thought made me smile, I just couldn’t picture it, it was still so unreal.

I finished my potato in a rush, burning my tongue and putting out the fire by sculling the rest of my lemonade. Stretching swiftly I flicked off the TV and returned my plate to the kitchen sink, to wash in the morning.

I headed back out at a jog, my excitement making me bounce as I kicked a stone ahead of me through the dirt.

He would be here soon.

The horses were in their yards and all looked up expectantly as I skipped past, they knew it was dinner time.

The stables had huge double doors at either end of a large internal aisle, the doors at the far end were generally always closed.

Grabbing an arm load of hay I made my way to the two stalls at the very end of the building. Pressing my back against the far doors as I went to double check they were shut, they didn’t budge, locked and bolted from the outside. Throwing some hay into the first stall I turned to throw some into the second. A breeze tickled the back of my neck, moving my hair and then I tripped, sprawling headlong into the hay I had just dropped into the empty stall.

I grunted as I hit the dirt floor, putting out my arms to try and break my fall, my head flew forward and smacked against the ground painfully but I managed to protect my ribs.

“Ouch, dammit.” I muttered, rolling onto my back. Bringing my hands up to my head where it had hit the ground, I looked at my palm, no blood at least. I seemed to do nothing but hurt myself since I arrived. What the hell did I trip on?

A loud click followed quickly by a sliding sound broke my thoughts, I spun around just in time to see both top and bottom half doors shutting, quickly followed again by a click and the slide of a bolt as the door locked into place.

I leapt to my feet disregarding the pain in my head and ribs.

“Hey!” I yelled, giving the door a few good bangs.

Silence.

“Hey…” I tried again, louder this time, banging my fist against the door,

“What’s going on?”

A splashing sound came to me from just outside the stall and then again further down the building, the smell of oil rose up instantly, stinging my nostrils. I froze, what the hell was going on?

There was a creak from the far end of the building as one of the large front doors swung shut, blocking most the light.

“Hey, who’s out there?” I screamed, pounding the walls of my prison incessantly.

“Let me out, this isn’t funny dammit!”

The main stable door at the front of the building swung shut with a bang and I was plunged into darkness. The smell of oil was thick all around me, I felt my way along the stall wall until I found the door once more. Pushing on it with my shoulder, it didn’t move, my fingers traced the gap between the two half doors and then around the outside to the hinges, there was nothing inside the stall that would open it. I was trapped, surrounded by four high timber walls, I couldn’t even climb out into the aisle.

I strained my ears to see if I could hear anything in the darkness. What I heard made my heart stop. I held my breath and listened again, hoping that I was wrong, but it was there, the slight crackle and snap of a flame. My breathing sped up, making it hard for me to listen, although I didn’t need to hear the flames to know they were there.

The stables began to lighten again, this time from within as the fire grew in size, from the direction of the light I knew it had started at the other end of the building, probably in the stall immediately inside the main doors, the stall that was empty, the stall that housed the bales of hay I had been using just minutes ago for the horses dinner.

Panic surged through me like a bolt of lightning, every hair on my body sprung up as realization set in.

There was no way for me to get out.

The light was enough now for me to see the interior of my stall again, my prison. I ran at the door, shouldering it with all my strength, I felt nothing as I hit it full on, the doors didn’t budge.

The crackling grew louder and the light inside was brighter, the fire seemed to be growing quickly, fueled by the oil and the bales of dry hay.