When Love's Gone Country

Chapter Twenty-Six



The path through the forest was easy to traverse. Courtney imagined kids with flashlights following the trail to go skinny dipping in the river late at night. It’d be fun to grow up in the country.

She could see Brad sitting on the porch sipping sweet iced tea at the end of a long, hot summer day. The screen door would bang every time someone came through the door. Their home would be a haven for friends and family, and anyone who needed a safe place to sleep for the night.

“What are you smiling about?” Brad asked, as they walked toward a bend in the path.

“Just thinking what it would be like if you and I lived in the country.”

“I’d love it. So would Diego.”

“He’d definitely love it, except for the heat. He’d probably shed—”

“Sh.” Alex put his hand up.

The snap of a twig nearby made them all look toward the sound. Nobody moved. They didn’t realize they were all holding their breath as they strained to hear the slightest sound.

Courtney pointed to an area off the path to the left. They could barely see a few leaves moving. It could have been the breeze, but none of them believed it was.

“You’re hearin’ things,” Bart said. “There ain’t nobody followin’ us.”

“I was sure I heard voices.”

“It was probably just the river.”

“Maybe.” Red made one more look around the area, then they headed back toward the path.

“Hang back,” Alex said. “Let’s give ‘em some room.”

“Mums the word from here on out,” Brad said.

They all nodded in agreement.

When five minutes had passed, Alex started walking around the bend in the path again. When the turn was complete, he could see several more twists ahead. “We need to keep our eyes open. If they stop and hide out of sight like last time, we might not see them before they see us.”

They slowed their pace and made a habit of scanning the woods. It took longer, but they had to be certain they weren’t walking into a trap.

Fifteen minutes later the woods became sparse. Fewer and few trees gave them cover and they all felt vulnerable.

The waterfall could be heard nearby, but not seen. The rushing whirr of white water was much closer. They crested a small hill on their bellies and found Bart and Red sitting on the other side down by the river bed.

“There’s the double y,” Brad said.

“It’s beautiful. Funny how both of the y’s to the right are so slow and the ones to the left are so wild,” Court said.

“I think there are more rocks to the right, and it’s shallower. When the sun hits the water, I can see right to the bottom,” Alex said.

Bart and Red stood close, pointing to areas at the river’s edge, then huddling close to confer some more.

“What now?” Courtney asked.

“We wait for the calvary,” Alex said.

“When Frank and Emma show up, my guess is they’ll have Bart and Red escorted off the premises for good.”

“Seems a bit anticlimactic,” Court said.

“You want more drama?” Brad asked.

“Well, something could happen to make it a bit more exciting. All we’re doing is lying on a hill. Big whoop!”

“I’ve had enough excitement,” Brad said.

“Here, here,” Alex concurred. “I need a vacation from this vacation.”

“Maybe we should have stayed at Moon Spirit Lodge and forgotten all about coming to the ranch,” Brad said.

“I’ve had fun. Just a different kind of fun. And I really liked working with the horses, they—”

“Sh.” Brad pointed to the right. Jacob walked toward Bart and Red.

“What’s Jacob doing here?” Alex asked.

“Is he alone?” Court asked.

Alex felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. “I don’t think so,”

Two men traced Jacob’s footsteps, guns drawn.

Courtney started to get up, but Brad held her down. “Not yet. We have to see what they’re up to.”

“They’re going to hurt him. We have to do something,” Court said.

“Wait,” Alex said. “I know what you’re thinking, but wait.”

Courtney’s adrenaline was pulsing through her veins. She wanted to kick those men in the teeth and gouge out their eyes. How dare they put Jacob into such a dangerous position.

They watched as Jacob began taking off his clothes.

“What in the hell?” Court asked.

Realization dawned on Brad. “They’re going to make him find it, the healing well. Damn cowards. They won’t go in those rapids, but they’ll risk Jacob’s life.”

“Who can swim?” Alex asked.

“I can dog paddle, a little,” Brad said.

“I sink,” Alex said.

“I can swim,” Court said. “I used to be a life guard during the summer.”

“You’re it, then,” Alex said.

“For what?”

“Follow me.”

They shimmied back down the hill until they were sure no one could see them, then they stood up. Alex led them down river, explaining. “When Jacob goes in the water, you swim upstream, find him and lead him underwater back to where we are.”

“The current is strong here. I don’t know if I can. And, I don’t know if Jacob can hold his breath that long.”

“We have to try. It’s our only chance. No one from the ranch is coming and they’re about to send Jacob to his death.”

“Ferocity of love,” Courtney said as chill bumps ran down her arms. “I’ll find him, and I won’t let go.”

About thirty yards upstream they heard a splash as Jacob dove into the river.

Courtney stripped down to her undergarments and slid into the water. Her vision was blurry, but she squinted and headed against the current. It would be easier on the way back. She began to count, one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand.

She knew the men’s attention would be focused on Jacob. She stayed close to the river’s edge, came up for air once, then took one huge breath and slid to the bottom of the river, moving upstream at the same time.

She searched for signs of an arm or leg, but saw nothing. She had begun counting again, but was having a hard time keeping track. The rapids made ripples along the edge of the riverbed, allowing for little light to seep through.

When her lungs began to ache for oxygen, she pushed herself further upstream. Ferocity of love, dammit! She wasn’t leaving without some part of Jacob in her hands.

The current would carry them downstream. She just needed something to grab onto.

Her lungs were going to burst. She fought the urge to inhale. Jacob! She screamed the word in her head. She began to feel dizzy and lightheaded, like she was making her way through a dense fog. Tiredness was settling into her limbs. Jacob, please, you have to see me.

She made one last, frantic attempt, reaching out to find some part of Jacob to latch on to. Her fingers met cloth and she fisted the fabric into her hand. She allowed her body to go limp as the current pushed her swiftly down river.

She inhaled. Her lungs burned with a fire that both woke her senses and made her heart beat wildly. When her body pushed through the wall of water and air swirled around her head, she gulped air into her lungs, even as she coughed and spit water out.

Brad and Alex spotted her and jumped into the river themselves, pulling both her body and Jacob’s to shallow water.

Courtney rolled to her side and coughed while Alex performed CPR on Jacob.

“You okay?” Brad asked.

His words sounded hollow and distant to Courtney’s ears. She coughed, then threw up. The action seemed to clear her head and she was able to focus. “Is Jacob okay?”

Brad smiled with relief. “Alex is trying to get him to breathe. You look better.”

“Damn stupid thing to dive into freezing river water and then try to swim upstream,” Court said.

“Yes, it is a damn stupid thing. I love you.”

Brad pulled her close and held her in his arms.

“I love you, too.”

As Courtney took deep breaths, the sound of Jacob coughing brought tears to her eyes. She looked over Brad’s shoulder to see Alex rolling Jacob onto his side so he wouldn’t choke.

“Did they see me,” Court asked.

“I don’t think so. They were concentrating on Jacob.”

“We got to get out of here.”

Brad stood up, lifting Courtney into his arms.

Alex did the same with Jacob.

“Is he breathing?” Brad asked.

“Yeah, but it’s shallow. We need to get him to the hospital.”

“Let’s go.”

As they retraced their steps back to the trail, Bart, Red and the other two men stared into the river.

“How long can someone hold their breath?” Bart asked.

“I heard tell of a guy who did it for ten minutes,” one of the men said.

Not to be one-upped, his partner said, “I heard it was fifteen minutes.”

“No one can hold their breath for fifteen minutes. They’d be brain dead,” Red said. He looked up river and then down river. “He ain’t comin’ back up. One of you two’ll have to go down and look.”

“Us? We ain’t goin’ in that water,” one of the men said.

Red pulled a gun from his holster. “I say one of ya are.”

“We got guns, too.” Both men aimed their guns at Red.

Bart pulled his gun out, as well. “Looks like we got ourselves a stalemate.”

“Why do you care so much about this healin’ well anyways?” one man asked.

“That’s none of your business. Are you gettin’ in the water or not?”

“Not.”

Red pulled the trigger and a shot sailed right through the man’s forehead.

The other man turned to run. Red shot him in the back.

“You got a problem with what I just done?”

Bart shook his head. “I’d a done the same thing.”

Red aimed his gun at Bart. “Take off your shoes.”

“You want me to go in there? Red, we’re partners. I got your back and you got mine, remember?”

“Take of your shoes, Bart.”

“You know I can’t swim. I’ll drown if I go in that river.”

“Pick your poison, then. Drownin’ or bleedin’.”

Bart swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared down the gun barrel and then at the river. He removed his boots, then his shirt and pants. At least with the river he stood half a chance.

He walked into the cool water and was soon enveloped by liquid. He sunk to the bottom like a stone.

Red picked up Bart’s clothes and tossed them in the river, then put his boots under his arm and headed back toward the ranch.