The following week Cal called Sierra and asked if she could come to the barn, he had something to talk to her about. When she told him Connie was at the Crossing, Cal said, “Bring him. I want to talk to him, too.”
When they got to Cal and Maggie’s it appeared they were ready to lay carpet and the interior of the barn was looking fantastic. There was a large roll of foam padding and a larger roll of carpet.
“You’re almost finished!” she said excitedly.
“Very close with some detail work left that I’ll probably keep seeing for months, but once the carpet is in the new living room and dining room, furniture and the bar stools can be delivered. I have a couple of walls to paint and paper to hang in the nursery. Maggie!” he called.
She popped out on the landing at the top of the stairs. “Hi,” she said. “Want to see the master and the nursery?”
“Sure,” Sierra said. “You’re sleeping upstairs now?”
“Wait a minute, I wanted to talk to you about something, then you can have the grand tour. Dakota called. He’s deploying again—in two weeks.”
“How long has he known?” Sierra asked. “I mean, it doesn’t surprise me, but he could’ve given us some notice.”
“I take it it’s very short notice. Maggie’s headed to Denver on Wednesday morning, home Friday late afternoon so I’m going to pack a bag and shoot down to Fort Hood to see him before he goes. I’m going to make it a real quick trip—I want to be back here when Maggie gets back. If she weren’t working this week, I wouldn’t be leaving but she’ll be in Denver with her obstetrician. No safer place for Maggie these days.”
“My last week until after the baby,” she said, giving her big belly an affectionate rub. “I’d work up till the end but my OB doesn’t like that idea. I think it’s as much the two-hour drive as the working that’s bugging her. But—Jaycee is a mother herself and she said I’ll thank her someday for insisting I take a month before the baby comes to rest and get ready. So, I’ll have a month before my due date. Any more than that and I might go stir-crazy.”
“Do you want to go with me to Texas?” Cal asked Sierra.
“I’d kind of like to, but it’s too short notice for me. I’m scheduled to work. I know it’s not much of a job but someone has to do it. And Sully has hunters and leaf peepers around—I should spend time there.”
Cal looked at Connie. “I probably don’t have to ask but will you look out for her?”
He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. “You don’t have to ask. I’m working one twenty-four-hour shift this week and Sierra promises to sleep in Sully’s house while I’m not around. They both have baseball bats now, you know.”
“I heard,” Cal said. “I’m leaving tomorrow. Just a couple of days.”
“Be sure to ask him how is best to communicate,” Sierra said. “I’ll write or Skype him every day while he’s deployed. Ask him if he knows how long this deployment is. And tell him I’m sorry—a good sister would go see him.”
“Don’t kick yourself,” Cal said. “Chances are he told me so late so he wouldn’t have to be bothered with coming out here before he leaves. Or, God forbid, Iowa.”
“He won’t see them, then?”
“I don’t think he’s seen Jed and Marissa in a few years. I’ll be back on Friday. I think Tom and Jackson are going to try to get the rest of the carpet in while I’m gone.”
Sierra let Maggie lead her around the upstairs—they’d moved into the master bedroom and the baby’s room was right next door. Maggie had a big box of letters and pictures for the walls, plus a crib yet to be assembled. There was a dresser-changing table and the closet was outfitted with shelves. And there was an adorable wooden pink rocking horse. “I couldn’t resist,” she said.
“It’s really happening,” Sierra said. “We’re having a baby.”
“We sure are,” Maggie said.
Quite beyond her deliberate control, Sierra took such comfort in these small things—a new niece making ready for an appearance, a brother and sister-in-law who were thrilled she was near and always looking out for her, a strong boyfriend and a welcoming and bucolic setting in which to live. The end of summer brought later sunrises so she was having her morning coffee with Sully on the porch, in the dark. The approach of dawn brought out those campers who thrived on the early, early morning—the photographers and the hunters—who brought their coffee to the porch before 6:00 a.m. for a visit. They were friendly, outgoing folks, typical of campers she’d gotten to know over the summer months. Private, standoffish people didn’t seem to frequent campgrounds like the Crossing.
Life really did seem so mild, safe and carefree. Sierra nearly forgot there was anything to worry about, any unknown threat of any kind looming in the back of her mind.
Until she was driving to work early Thursday morning.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.
—Helen Keller
Chapter 18
THERE WAS A car behind her and she felt the hair prickle on the back of her neck. She frowned into the rearview mirror, not understanding where that car could have come from. It hadn’t come from Sully’s and she rarely passed or was followed by another vehicle this early in the morning. She thought about turning around and heading back to the Crossing, but that would be difficult on this road.
But surely that was just an innocent car. Hunters? But hunters almost always had SUVs or trucks and this appeared to be a small sedan. As it gained on her she realized that no, it was not just an innocent car. It was someone who had been waiting for just such an opportunity. And that could only be one person. Instantly, her foot hit the gas and she sped away. The driver was a man. She could not make out his features in the rearview mirror but as he accelerated, there was only one possibility. And his car almost caught up to her so easily because she was in the pumpkin and the poor, dear pumpkin just didn’t have the kind of power most late model cars had.
And she was still so far from town, unsure she’d make it before he could crash into her or run her off the road.