Leanne Banks: Trouble in High Heels

Pushing her own anxiety aside for a moment, Lori covered the counselor’s hand with hers. “I know he likes to run. He ran circles around me this afternoon,” she said and mustered a smile. “I think he’s tough enough that he’ll still be running circles tomorrow.”

“I hope so.”

“Lady and I will do our best,” Lori said, feeling her nerves rise inside her again. Hauling the saddle from the tack room, she strapped it on, followed by the bridle, murmuring to the horse all along. All too aware of the horse’s size and strength, she led Lady out of the barn and prepared to mount.

Swallowing over the ball of nerves in her throat that refused to go away, she fought the urge to run. Her body still wrapped in cold sweat, she fought the urge to panic, to splinter into a million tiny, useless pieces.

“Are you okay?” Virginia asked from behind her.

“I’m good,” she lied, determined to make it the truth. Placing her left foot in the stirrup, she swung herself into the saddle and slid her other foot into a stirrup. For a second, the ground began to waver and swim. Light-headed, she gulped in deep breaths of air. She couldn’t pass out. She couldn’t. She had to do this.

No time to waste, she told herself and nudged the horse into a walk. Clinging for her life, she took it slow and moved north or, for her, right. The rain continued without abating, with the wind slapping moisture on her face every few moments. It was messy and miserable, and Lori could only imagine how frightened Reese must be.

The unpleasantness distracted her from her fear, and she urged Lady into a trot. “Not too fast,” she said in a soothing tone. “I don’t want you to slip, but let’s not poke.” Then she began to yell. “Reese! Reese!”

Two hours later, riding Lady was the least of her discomfort. Her throat hurt from yelling, and she was certain not one inch of her was dry. Worse yet, she didn’t know where she was, and there was no sign of Reese.

“Okay, let’s turn around and try a different direction,” she said to the well-mannered mare. “If you were an eight-year-old boy, where would you go in the middle of a torrential downpour?”

Lady gave a nod and snort as if she knew better than to wander out in this kind of weather.

“You are definitely due some serious apples after this,” Lori said and began to call for Reese.

An hour and a half later, she didn’t know whether to keep looking or head back to the barn. Out of sheer frustration, she called out, “Hide and seek, Reese. You’re it. Can you find me?” She repeated it for over twenty minutes. Her voice grew husky, breaking on every other word, and she paused and swallowed a sip from her water bottle.

She began to yell again but heard a faint sound. Rain splattered loudly on her drooping hat and vinyl raincoat. “Reese?” she croaked. “Reese?”

She heard another sound, high-pitched but indecipherable. Her pulse picked up. “Reese?”

“One, two, three on you,” a voice called. “You are it!”

Lori’s heart nearly exploded in her chest as she turned Lady toward the sound of his voice. “Reese, where are you? Come here.”

“You are it,” he called, his voice closer.

Swinging the lantern around, she spotted a tiny figure huddled under a large tree. “Come here, sweetie,” she called. “Come here and let me take you home.”

Reese began to cry, and the sound wrenched at her. Lori slid off the horse and raced toward the child, pulling Lady behind her. Reese cowered under the tree, sobbing. “One, two, three. You are it.”

“Come here, sweetie. Let me take you home.”

Reese continued to wail.

At a loss, Lori put her arms around him and held him. “You’re okay. Wet, but okay. Don’t you want a ride with Lady? She’s very nice. She likes little boys. She wants to take us home.”

“Ride?” he echoed, sniffing as he stared at the horse.

Lori nodded. “You bet. Let’s go home.”

After she got both of them on the horse, Lori tucked Reese’s squirmy, wet little body under her raincoat and let Lady lead the way.

Jackson had been awakened by the phone call two hours ago. He’d been dead asleep, but it had taken only a moment for his heart to stop in his chest when Maria explained why she was calling so early.

Jackson had been in his car within two minutes. Driving through the constant downpour, he took his SUV off-road when the lanes were flooded. Rain shimmered down his windshield faster than the wipers could push it aside. Despite the vehicles he saw abandoned and the signs warning of flash floods, he drove on. He almost stalled out once but maneuvered out of the deepest waters. Sheer luck.

All he could think about was Lori. Although Maria and Geoffrey had been barricaded from returning to the ranch by flooded roads, Maria had learned that Lori had been looking for one of the campers for hours. Now Virginia feared that Lori was lost, too.

Jackson ’s stomach churned with remorse. He should have been there with her instead of focusing on this real-estate development deal. His pride had been mortally wounded when she’d insisted she didn’t want her family to know she’d married him. Determined to make her proud of him, he’d worked night and day to pull this deal together.

She’d been the biggest headache of his life, and now she was the biggest heartache. His hands clammy as he clenched the steering wheel, he held on to a scrap of hope that her training had come back to her.

Lord help him, though, the woman was vulnerable. Her father had kept her wrapped in a cocoon, unprepared for life, let alone riding around on a horse in the middle of the night looking for a lost child.

Turning on the road to the ranch, he stepped on the gas. He would be there soon. The ranch was just three miles away. Just three miles. He saw the shiny puddle, or was it a lake stretching across the road? Swearing, he slowed. He didn’t have time for this. Damn this rain. Damn the flooded roads. Damn it all.

Jackson swerved, but the engine gulped too much water and stalled. He tried to restart the SUV. It coughed and sputtered and died. Thumping his fist against the steering wheel, he swore again. Getting out of the car, he pushed it to the side of the road and started running. Two and a half miles to go. He had to get to Lori.

Twenty-five minutes later, he jogged toward the barn. He’d spent the last mile alternately praying and swearing. The chorus of voices and whistles he heard gave him hope. Brushing the rain from his face, he sped up his pace and ran to the far side of the barn that led into the paddock.

He stopped dead in his tracks. A small figure, covered in a hooded raincoat, rode Lady, the large, gentle mare, and held a small child peeking out from the raincoat. “One, two, three, I see you,” the child called. “You are it.”

The small group of people let out yells of praise. A volunteer stepped forward, reached up to the child, a boy, and carried him down off the horse.

“Lori, you’re drenched,” Virginia said.

The small woman on the horse was Lori. His heart racing, he ran to the horse’s side and held out his arms.

“I tried to call you,” she said in a croaky voice.

Lifting her foot from one stirrup, she slid down into his arms. “Sorry I’m so wet,” she whispered, shivering.

Jackson held her close, so relieved that she was safe.

“She’s been out in that rain for hours,” Virginia said. “We should get her inside.”

Jackson picked Lori up and headed for the house. “I’m so wet,” Lori said.

“We’ll get you dry,” he said.

She lifted her hands to his face. “You’re wet, too. What happened?”

“Another story,” he said, still worried about her.

She coughed. “My throat hurts. I yelled and yelled and yelled,” she whispered.