Winnie Griggs - The Christmas Journey

Belle! Hang it all, with everything that had happened he’d forgotten all about her cry for help. If only she hadn’t been so cryptic about what she needed from him.

“Can’t afford to take time off right now.” He shivered again. So cold. So tired. “Belle needs me.”

He closed his eyes to keep the spinning sky from drawing him into the maelstrom.

Belle. Josie. Different as night and day. In fact, the only thing they had in common was that they were facing big troubles.

And he was powerless to lift a finger to help either of them.

Who was Belle?

Jo tried to ignore her curiosity and concentrate instead on keeping Mr. Lassiter from passing out.

His eyes drifted closed again and she chewed on her lip. How serious were his injuries?

“Come on, Mister—Ry—try to stay awake. Just until help comes. It shouldn’t be much longer.”

His eyes fluttered open. “Sorry. Feeling drowsy.”

“Talk to me. Where you traveling from?”

“Philadelphia.”

“Hah! I knew you weren’t a rancher.”

That got a reaction from him. “Not calling me a liar, are you? I said I was raised on a ranch. My family’s still there.”

“But not you.”

“My grandfather lives in Philadelphia. I stayed with him while I went to law school.”

“So which do you call home, the ranch or Philadelphia?”

His face creased in annoyance. “Too many questions.”

She tried another tack. “So why were you in such an all-fired hurry to reach Foxberry?”

“Still am. Supposed to meet someone there, someone who asked for help.”

“You came all the way from Philadelphia to answer a call for help? Must be an awfully good friend.”

“She is.”

She? Was it this Belle woman he’d mentioned?

He lifted a hand, then let it drop. “Sounded urgent. Hadn’t heard from her in years. She must be desperate.”

He shifted again and winced. “What makes you so sure help is coming?”

Jo threw another stick on the fire. “Whenever Licorice gets spooked she heads straight for home. As soon as she shows up without me, Danny’ll put out the alarm.”

“And if she doesn’t get there this time?”

“My sister’s the worrying type. By now she’s started hounding the sheriff and won’t let up until he sends someone out to look.” If only she hadn’t told Danny she might be late. No point worrying him with that little bit of information though. “Don’t you worry, we’ll get you to a doctor soon enough.”

“Not worried. Just thinking we should make use of that horse.”

“We already talked about that. I’m not leaving you here alone.” She tugged on her ear. “I could try making a litter I guess. We have most of the materials—the bedroll, rope, leather from the bridle.” She glanced toward the shrouded body and shivered. “I could even use the horse blankets if we needed ’em. Just have to try to cut a few saplings for the poles—”

“Or we could ride double.”

She studied him. “Do you think you could mount up?”

His mouth tightened. “I might need a hand, but I could do it.”

“I don’t know if we should put you to the test until we have to. There’s still time for help to get here before dark.”

His jaw clinched and she could tell he wasn’t happy with what he was about to say. “Look, I’ll be honest. Right now I believe I have the strength to do this, with your help. But I’m not sure how long that’ll last.” He stared at her with fiercely determined eyes. “So if we’re going to mount up, it had better be soon.”

Jo glanced toward the trail from town. No sign of help. The temperature had already started dropping and it’d be dusk soon.

She also didn’t care much for the flushed look of his face. If he developed a fever things could go from bad to worse in a hurry. He was right. Time to fish or cut bait.

The thing was, she wasn’t just worried about getting him up on the horse, though that was going to take more than a bit of effort. Was he really up to the long ride back to Knotty Pine? He’d admitted his strength was fading. His wound could start bleeding again, or worse, he could fall off. If that happened they’d be worse off than before.

What a pickle!

Jo drew her shoulders back. Better to leave the hand wringing to Cora Beth. It wasn’t a great choice but it was the only one they had. The last thing she needed was to be caught out here after dark, with Otis roaming around somewhere.

“Okay, let’s give it a shot. You conserve what strength you have while I put out the fire and get the horse ready.”

He nodded.

“Just try to stay awake.” Grabbing the fallen branch she’d been using as a makeshift cane, Jo levered herself up. She’d probably be sore for the next few days but she’d put up with worse aches before. And it wasn’t anything like what Mr. Lassiter was dealing with.

She still had trouble thinking of him as just Ry. Funny thing how he’d insisted on addressing her as Josie instead of Jo. No one had called her that before. Ma had always used her given name of Josephine, and her nieces called her Aunt JoJo. But to everyone else she was just plain Jo.

Josie. Kind of had a nice ring to it. Not too frilly or fancy sounding, but definitely recognizable as a girl’s name.

The thought struck her then that she would finally have a story of her own to add to her journal. Not that this was the way she’d wanted it to happen, but it was an adventure just the same.

Heavenly Father, I know I’ve been praying for an adventure and now that I’ve found myself smack-dab in the middle of a humdinger of one it don’t seem quite right for me to be asking You to end it so soon. But I guess that’s what I’m doing.

Mr. Lassiter don’t deserve to suffer just ’cause I want some excitement. Especially since he pushed himself so hard to save me. So please, whatever it takes, keep him safe.

Ry roused to the feel of a damp cloth on his forehead.

He opened his eyes to see Josie staring down at him, her face creased in worry.

“You sure you want to try this? We can always wait a little longer for help to come.”

“I’m all right. Just resting.”

Doubt flashed in her eyes at his obvious fib.

“Let’s see if you can sit up first,” she temporized.

Determined to reassure her, Ry steeled himself and pushed up with his good arm, doing his best to ignore the spinning sensation. He gritted his teeth, chafing at this unaccustomed feebleness. If he hadn’t had her hand at his back he might not have made it.

After a moment he felt steady again and took his bearings. He must have been out for more than the few seconds he’d thought. She’d managed to douse the fire without him even noticing.

“First we’re going to put that arm of yours in a sling and secure it against your chest so we can keep from jarring it as much as possible. Won’t do to have you bleeding to death on me.”

Where had she found those strips of cloth? His eyes flashed to the blanket-covered body in sudden understanding. The woman not only had gumption but she was cannily resourceful.

“That was a mighty vicious kick Otis gave you,” she said, bringing his gaze back around. “You sure you can stand okay?”

That explained why his thigh hurt so bad. “I’ll manage.”

“Have you ever ridden bareback before?” she asked.

“Yes, of course.”

“Good. ’Cause I figure that’s our best chance of getting the two of us on that animal.

Made sense. Riding double with a saddle was not a comfortable proposition.

“Problem is, without stirrups we need a mounting block. There’s a fallen tree over where I’ve tethered the horse. If you use me as a crutch, can you make it?”