Once a Wife by Patricia Keelyn

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

They seemed in shock.

Lyssa, her bright eyes wide and already filling with tears. And Drew, stepping in front of her as if to shield her, his expression hurt and angry. “Is it true? Is she my mother?” He nodded toward Sarah, though he never took his eyes off his father.

“Yes.” Reece felt his son’s pain more sharply than if it were his own. “Sarah is your mother.”

“And Lyssa?” Drew continued, his voice charged with outrage. “She’s my sister?”

Reece looked from one to the other, his two children, and wondered how he and Sarah could have done this to them. “Yes.”

Lyssa let out a startled cry and bolted for the front door. Drew just stood there, his accusing eyes locked on his father. “You lied to us.” He turned to glower at Sarah. “You both lied to us.” Then he, too, fled out the front door.

Stunned, Reece stood rooted to the floor. What had they done? Instead of protecting their children, he and Sarah had hurt them terribly.

Sarah’s voice snapped him out of it. “Reece, go after him!” she said frantically, abandoning the couch. “He’s going to run away.”

Her words mobilized him, and Reece dashed for the front door. “Drew! Wait!”

The silence outside unnerved him.

“Lyssa!” Sarah called as she came out behind him onto the porch and then scrambled down the steps into the front yard. “Drew! Lyssa! Where are you?”

She ran around the house toward the backyard, and Reece circled the other way. Nothing. No sign of either child. Back in front, he called to Sarah while motioning toward one end of the street. “You go that way. I’ll go the other.”

Nodding, Sarah set off at a near run, calling to Lyssa and Drew as she went. Reece went in the opposite direction, telling himself not to panic. Drew and Lyssa were justifiably upset, but they wouldn’t go far. He or Sarah would find them any minute.

An hour later, he returned to the house, hoping Sarah’d had better luck than he had. He found her on the phone.

“If you see them, Bill, please hold onto them and give me a call.” She paused. “Okay. I’ll try.” Another pause. “Thank you.”

“Who was that?” Reece asked as she hung up.

“Bill Davis. He’s one of the coaches who was chaperoning the camping trip. He hasn’t seen them, but he’s putting together a group to search his end of town.” She hesitated, and he sensed her fear, barely held in check. He had the urge to take her in his arms and tell her it would be okay. They’d find Drew and Lyssa. But he couldn’t. Not after what she’d done.

“I’ve tried every friend of Lyssa’s I can think of,” she said. “No one has seen them. And I called the sheriff’s office.” Her voice caught, but after a moment she regained control. “Half the town is out looking for them.”

“We’ll find them, Sarah.” She looked up at him, and he saw the agony in her eyes. He softened his voice, unable to deny her at least this small measure of comfort. “I promise.”

“This isn’t like Lyssa. She’s never run away before.”

“This is the first time she’s found out that her mother deceived her.” The words slipped out before he could stop them, and Sarah flinched as if struck. He could have kicked himself. She didn’t need him pointing a finger now. The important thing was to find Drew and Lyssa. There would be time later for him and Sarah to settle their differences.

“Look …” he began, running a hand through his hair, but then cut off his apology. His own anger at her hovered too close to the surface. “What happened to the camping trip?” he asked, instead. “What were they doing back here?”

“Bill said there’s an early snowstorm closing in on the mountains. The group got up there and decided they better come back before they got stuck.”

Reece cursed under his breath. Leave it to the Wyoming weather to throw everyone a curve. What were the chances that Drew and Lyssa would walk in just when they did? An hour later, he and Sarah would have already hashed out this mess and could have broken it to the kids gently. An hour earlier … No, he didn’t want to think about what they’d have walked in on if they’d arrived home earlier.

“What do we do now?” Sarah asked, obviously at a loss.

“We get in our cars and start looking.”

She nodded, pressing her lips together, and he wondered how long before she fell apart.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes.” She straightened her shoulders and pulled her hair to one side, then quickly began to braid it. “Let’s go.”

“Just a minute.” He had an idea. “What about Joseph?”

Sarah’s fingers stilled with her braid half-finished. “You don’t think they’d go all the way out there, do you?”

“I don’t know what to think. But Drew’s proved how resourceful he can be at running away.” Again, he ran a hand through his hair, guilt settling inside him right alongside the fear. “I never should’ve let him off the hook when he ran off before and came here. Now he thinks he can get away with this sort of thing.”

“It’s not your fault, Reece. He’s had a shock. They both have.”

He almost smiled. In the midst of all this craziness, she was attempting to comfort him. But he didn’t want comfort from her. He didn’t want anything from her ever again. “Call Joseph.”

He saw his rebuke reflected in her eyes. Then, nodding, she quickly finished with her hair and picked up the phone.

While Sarah called Joseph, Reece went back outside. He circled the house again and checked with the neighbors. He didn’t expect to find out anything new, but he had to be sure he hadn’t overlooked something obvious.

A few minutes later, Sarah joined him. “Joseph hasn’t seen them. But he agrees with you that they might head out that way. He said he’ll watch for them. He’s also going to run over to my grandmother’s and see if they’re there.”

“Okay. Let’s start looking.” Reece started for his truck. “I think we should go separately, use both vehicles. We can cover more ground.”

Sarah held back. “Reece, one of us should stay here. In case the kids return or someone spots them.”

“Fine. You stay.”

“But I know the town better.”

She was right, but … “It will be dark in an hour, and I can’t sit around here waiting for someone else to find my kids.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and nodded toward the house. “If you think someone needs to wait here, then do it. I’m going out to look for Lyssa and Drew. Call me on my cell if they show up.”

Sarah watched him climb into his truck and drive away.

She couldn’t fall apart, she told herself. She needed to get through this, find Lyssa and Drew and then face them all. Drew. Lyssa. And Reece. Until then, she had to hold herself together.

Reece had only been gone a few minutes when the sheriff stopped by. Sarah’s heart leapt when she saw him pull into her driveway, and then it instantly plummeted when he climbed out of the car alone.

“I’ve come for a picture,” he said as she opened the door for him. “If you’ve got a recent one.”

“I took one just last week.” Walking into the living room, she grabbed the photograph she’d taken of Lyssa and Drew together. Her hands shook as she handed it to him. “Here.”

“Sarah, don’t worry. Kids do this sort of thing all the time,” he said, trying to reassure her. “They get mad at their folks and to run off. Then they show up tired and hungry a few hours later. That’s why in a bigger town the cops wouldn’t even start looking for them for another twenty-four hours.”

“I hope you’re right,” she said, fervently wishing that, in their case, it had been just a normal parent-child disagreement. She hadn’t gone into particulars when she’d explained to the sheriff over the phone why Drew and Lyssa had run away.

An hour and a half later, it was nearly dark, and there was still no word. Sarah paced the floor, fighting the panic that every few minutes threatened to reduce her to a useless puddle of tears. For the hundredth time, she reminded herself that she couldn’t fall apart. Her children might need her.

Suddenly the phone rang, and Sarah jumped. “Hello.”

“Sarah.” It was Joseph. “They’ve been here.”

“Been there? But they’re not now?”

“No. They must have snuck in while I was over at Tuwa’s. But two horses are missing. You need to get out here right away. The weather’s getting bad. I’ll start looking for tracks, but there’s no one else here. The family’s all still over in Riverton.”

Sarah wrapped the phone cord around her finger. “Are you sure it was Lyssa and Drew who took the horses?”

“As sure as I can be without seeing them myself. I found one of Lyssa’s barrettes in the stall.”

“Okay.” Sarah’s mind raced. She needed to notify the sheriff and find Reece. “I’ll be there within the hour.”

“Okay. I’m going out to see if I can pick up their trail.”

“I’ll look for you out by the stables,” she said, hanging up the phone.

She called Reece’s cell. When he didn’t pick up, she left a message, then called the sheriff’s office. She conveyed Joseph’s information to the dispatcher before hurrying out to her car. She would make one sweep of the surrounding few blocks looking for Reece. If she didn’t find him immediately, she’d head out to Joseph’s and let the sheriff find Reece and send him after her.

Fortunately, she spotted Reece’s truck three blocks from her house near one of the town parks. She pulled her car up next to it and climbed out.

“Reece!” she called, walking toward the woods. “Reece!”

A moment later, he appeared from under the trees, jogging toward her. “Did you find them?”

“No. But you were right. They went out to Joseph’s. They took two of his horses.”

“Let’s go.” He darted for his truck, and Sarah climbed in on the passenger side. “How far?” he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“Thirty minutes under the best conditions.”

Reece made it in twenty.

Yet the silent drive seemed longer than any time she’d driven this road in the past. Fear and guilt battled for dominance within her. This whole mess was her fault. If she’d told Reece from the beginning about Lyssa … If she’d told Drew the truth about who she was … If she and Reece hadn’t made love earlier … if … An endless list of things she could have, should have, done differently. And overshadowing it all was fear. A heart-pounding brain-numbing certainty that her children were up in the mountains alone with a snowstorm closing in.

They found Joseph checking the ground by a creek west of his barn. “They left pretty clear tracks,” he said, pointing to the two sets of hoofprints in the mud. “They’re headed toward the mountains.”

Sarah’s heart sank. “What are they thinking? They know it’s starting to snow up there.”

“They’re not thinking,” Reece stated. “They’re reacting.”

“I agree,” Joseph said. “Drew’s angry and he wants to be as far from both of you as possible right now. Lyssa is just going along.”

“But how … ?” Sarah stared at him. She hadn’t told anyone why Drew and Lyssa had left.

Joseph shrugged. “It’s obvious he just found out that Lyssa is his sister.”

“You knew?” Reece demanded, bringing his angry eyes to rest on Sarah. “Am I the only one who didn’t know?”

“She did not tell me,” Joseph said. “You have only to look at the two of them to see it.”

Reece turned back to glare at Joseph and then visibly took a deep breath. “Okay. So where would they go?”

Sarah searched her mind for a place Drew might have run to. The problem was, he didn’t know this area very well. This was Lyssa’s domain.

“Joseph,” she said, “did Drew and Lyssa go riding in the hills alone at any time?”

He shook his head. “No. I wouldn’t allow it.”

“Then it’s Lyssa who’s decided where they’re going,” she said. “Drew doesn’t know these mountains.”

“What about the old hunting cabin up on the ridge overlooking the lake?” Joseph suggested.

“That’s it,” Sarah said. “It’s one of Lyssa’s favorite spots. We usually ride up there once or twice a summer and spend the weekend. It’s isolated. And you can only get up there on foot or horseback.”

“Could she find it on her own?” Reece asked.

Sarah considered. “In daylight and good weather, she could.”

“But it’s neither now,” Reece said. “Could she find her way there tonight?”

“I don’t know, Reece. I just don’t know.”

“I’ll take you up there,” Joseph said.

“No, Joseph.” Sarah wasn’t about to drag the old man out in the kind of conditions they might find in the mountains. “Reece and I will go. I could find the cabin with my eyes closed. Stay here and send help when it arrives.”

“Come on then,” Reece said. “Joseph, we’ll call if we find them.”

“I doubt we’ll get cell reception up there,” Sarah said.

Reece frowned but nodded his understanding. “Okay, let’s get moving.”

Fifteen minutes later, they had two horses saddled and ready to go. Joseph had outfitted them with big heavy jackets, gloves and thick wool ponchos for the rain and snow. He’d also packed extra blankets, a thermos of hot coffee, and food.

“I’ll call the sheriff and get some more men up there,” Joseph said once Sarah and Reece mounted their horses.

“Okay,” Reece said. “If the weather’s too bad, we’ll bed down in the cabin for the night.”

“Good luck,” Joseph said, and Sarah and Reece set off.

At first, the going was easy. But as they neared the mountains and began the steady climb upward, the temperature dropped rapidly. They both pulled on the heavy jackets and ponchos. Sarah led, following a path she’d taken every summer since Joseph had first brought her here on her tenth birthday. Neither of them spoke.

Soon the rain started, a light irritating drizzle. But it wasn’t long before it began to fall in earnest and turned icy, stinging their faces as the wind picked up. Sarah silently thanked Joseph for the protective clothing while making a mental checklist of the clothes Lyssa and Drew had with them when they headed out for their camping trip. They’d both packed for the mountains, with warm woolen jackets and bright yellow rain slickers, but they hadn’t counted on a snowstorm. Still, as long as they stayed dry and didn’t get lost on their way to the cabin, they’d be okay.

She was hardly aware that the rain turned to snow until her horse slowed his pace. She reined the animal to a halt, letting Reece ride up beside her. They scanned the horizon. Nothing. And Sarah wondered if they’d even be able to tell if Lyssa and Drew had passed this way recently. The falling snow would have covered their tracks within twenty minutes. And the children were at least an hour ahead of her and Reece.

“Do you know where you are?” Reece asked.

“Yes. The cabin is still several miles to the west. Over those hills.” She motioned in the direction they’d been traveling. “Do you think they could have made it this far?”

“I don’t know. It’d be easy to get lost in this weather.”

They rode on for another fifteen minutes, while fear grew inside her. What if they got to the cabin and Lyssa and Drew weren’t there? No! She couldn’t think like that. She and Reece would find their son and daughter alive and unharmed. Then Sarah would face the consequences of her lie. Gladly. No matter what happened. No matter what retribution Reece exacted. Even if Lyssa went to live with him, Sarah would let her go. Just, please, Lord, let them be alive.

“Sarah.” Reece’s voice cut into her thoughts.

Pulling up short, she shifted in her saddle to look at him. “What is it?”

He came up alongside her. “Down there.” He pointed to the ravine on their left. “I thought I saw movement. In that group of trees.” Turning his horse, he retraced his steps several yards, scanning the small narrow canyon.

Sarah followed him.

“There,” Reece said, pointing again. “Horses. Come on, boy.” He headed down the steep slope, with Sarah right behind him, her heart beating wildly.

Please, Lord. Let them be all right.

They came upon the two animals, huddled together near a copse of trees along a small creek bed. But there was no sign of the children. Then Sarah spotted a splash of yellow, and her heart skipped a beat.

“Reece, over there.” She slid off her horse and pointing toward the side of the hill. “It looks like one of the kids’ slickers.”

His heart pounding, Reece leapt to the ground and raced toward the snow-covered plastic. He was almost on top of it before he realized that the coat blanketed a small mound. The sight sent a fresh shock of fear straight to his gut.

“Oh, my God,” Sarah whispered behind him. “No.”

“Drew! Lyssa!” Reece dropped to his knees and brushed the snow away from the coat and then pulled it aside, uncovering a sleeping bag underneath.

Sarah joined him, digging at the snow around the bag. An eternity passed or possibly a few seconds—he couldn’t say which—before a faint voice came from inside the bag. “Dad? Is that you?”

“Yes! Drew!” Relief washed over him as Reece unzipped the bag a few inches, and Drew’s head appeared over the top.

“You found us.” Drew scooted upright, revealing Lyssa’s blond head beside him. “You really found us.”

Drew threw his arms around his father’s neck, and Reece grabbed him. He started to haul him out of the sleeping bag and then realized his son didn’t have on a shirt. “Drew, are you okay? Where are your clothes? Your jacket?”

“Mom.” Lyssa’s voice sounded small. “I’m so cold.”

Sarah quickly shifted to her daughter’s side. “Oh, my God, Reece. She’s hypothermic.”

“She fell in the creek,” Drew said, words laced with fear tumbling out of him. “I tried to keep her warm. I dug a hole in the snow for the sleeping bags. I made her get out of her wet clothes and put on dry ones. I got in the bag with her. I did everything you taught me. But it didn’t do any good.”

“Lyssa.” Sarah bent urgently over Lyssa. “Sweetie, can you hear me?”

Lyssa nodded, shivering uncontrollably.

“Come on, Drew.” Reece pulled off his poncho and draped it over his son. “Grab your clothes and put them on. We need to take care of Lyssa.”

Drew pulled his shirt and coat from inside the bag and scrambled out of the way.

“Here,” Recce said, handing Drew his cell phone. “Once you’re dressed, see if you can get through to the sheriff.”

“We need to do something,” Sarah said. “Fast.”

“Let me look at her.” Reece scooted over to where Sarah pressed the sleeping bag around Lyssa. What he saw scared him to death. “Sarah, grab that coffee,” he said, unfastening his heavy coat. “We need to get her warm.”

Sarah hurried toward the horses, and Reece unbuttoned his shirt. “Does she still have on her jeans and shoes?” he asked Drew.

Drew nodded.

“I’m going to need that poncho as soon as you get your own shirt and jacket back on.”

Drew pulled off the poncho, and Reece asked, “Are you okay? Not too cold?”

“I’m fine, but is Lyssa going to be all right?”

“I hope so, son. I sure hope so.” With that, he pulled Lyssa out of the sleeping bag and into his arms, her bare back against his chest. Closing his shirt around her as far as it would go, he buttoned the huge jacket around them both. “Okay, Drew, put that poncho over us.”

Sarah returned with the thermos of coffee and, squatting next to Reece and Lyssa, poured the warm liquid into the plastic lid. “Come on, sweetheart,” she said to Lyssa, holding it up to the child’s mouth. “Drink some of this. It’ll warm you up.”

As Lyssa sipped at the coffee, Reece asked Sarah, “How far is the cabin?”

“Maybe thirty, forty minutes in this weather.”

He cursed silently. Lyssa was in bad shape. Even wrapped tightly against his warm body and drinking the coffee, she still shivered. “Any cell reception, Drew?”

“No, sir.”

It had been too much to hope for. “Well, keep trying. We’re going to have to try for the cabin.” He saw the fear in Sarah’s eyes and understood. All too well. But fear wouldn’t get Lyssa out of this alive. “I’m going to carry Lyssa like this. Son—” he looked over at Drew “—are you okay to ride?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. First, I want you to drink some of this coffee, too.”

Lyssa had drained the cup, but Sarah refilled it and handed it to Drew. “When did you give yourself your last insulin shot?” she asked.

“Before dinner, like I was supposed to.”

Reece’s mind raced, sorting through all the possibilities, trying to plan for further complications. “You probably need something to eat,” he said to Drew. “But you should check your blood sugar first to make sure. Do you have your kit with you? And a candy bar or something?”

“I’m okay, Dad.”

“We need your help, Drew,” Reece said. “We can’t afford for you to get sick.”

Drew straightened his shoulders and nodded. “Okay. My kit’s still in my saddlebag.”

“Go take care of it then.”

While Drew was gone, Reece turned to Sarah, who was giving Lyssa more of the coffee. “You sure you can find this place?” he asked.

“I’m sure.” She nodded toward Lyssa. “Can you get up on your horse holding her like that?”

It was going to be tough. “I’m going to hand you the poncho, but I’m not taking her out of this jacket.” Reece could see the fear in Sarah’s eyes, but she held it in check. He had to admire her courage. And it suddenly struck him that there was no one else he’d rather have by his side in this situation. Sarah would do anything for her children. Including keeping a clear head and steady hand despite the sheer terror she must be feeling.

A moment later, Drew returned with a candy bar.

“Are you all right?” Sarah asked, taking the once again empty lid and returning it to the thermos.

Drew nodded. “Are we going to the cabin?”

“If you’re ready, we’re going to leave in a couple of minutes,” Reece answered. “Now help Sarah roll up those sleeping bags and tie them onto Lyssa’s horse. We’re going to need them when we get there.”

A few minutes later, everything was loaded onto the horses, and Sarah returned to where Reece still held Lyssa, trying to warm her with his body. Grabbing her under her legs and across her waist, he stood and carried her toward his horse.

“Okay, sweetheart,” he whispered to Lyssa. “I’m going to need your help. We’re going to have to do this together.”

Lyssa nodded against his chest.

“I’m going to hand the poncho to your mom for a moment. Then when I put my foot in the stirrup, you’re going to rest your left leg on mine. Then I’m going to grab your right leg under the knee, and you need to help me swing it over the saddle when we mount. Can you do that?”

Again, she nodded.

To Drew he said, “I’m going to do this quickly, son, so hold the horse steady.”

Reece pulled the poncho off and handed it to Sarah. “Everyone ready?” he said. He gripped the saddle horn with his left hand and stuck his foot in the stirrup. “Hold steady, fella.”

“Let’s do it.” In one fluid motion, Reece swung up, the muscles in his left arm and leg straining as he used all his strength and skill to pull his and Lyssa’s weight into the saddle.

“There,” he said to Lyssa. “Now that wasn’t too bad, was it?” Sarah handed him the poncho, and he draped it once again over Lyssa and himself. “Okay. Let’s find that cabin.”

Sarah and Drew mounted their own horses and followed Reece back up the hill to the trail with Sarah leading the fourth horse and Drew once again checking the phone. Then Sarah took the lead, with Drew in the middle, and Reece and Lyssa bringing up the rear. All the way he talked to her, telling her silly stories about his days in the rodeo, trying to make her laugh, trying to keep her awake as they trudged through the still-falling snow.

For Sarah, it was the longest ride of her life. And she had her moments of doubt. It was one thing to find the cabin on a bright summer day. Quite another to find it under the current conditions: during a snowstorm in the dead of night. What if she couldn’t find it? What if she got lost? The four of them would be no better off caught in this freak storm than Drew and Lyssa alone. No! She couldn’t let herself think like that.

She knew the way to the cabin. Hadn’t she told Joseph she could find it with her eyes closed? And it wasn’t as if they were caught in a blizzard. Even though it was dark and snowing, she could still see, and she knew this mountain well.

Just then, the cabin rose out of the snow like a beacon of hope, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’re here,” she called behind her, and quickly dismounted. Wrapping the reins around the wooden railing in front of the cabin, she hurried over to Reece and Lyssa.

“Okay,” he was saying to Lyssa. “This is going to be just like falling off a horse.”

Lyssa giggled softly, and Sarah’s heart contracted. He was so good with the kids. Reece threw his and Lyssa’s legs over the saddle horn and slid to the ground.

“Get the sleeping bags,” he said to Sarah. “You need to climb in one with her while Drew and I get a fire going and take care of the horses.”

Grabbing everything from Lyssa’s horse, Sarah followed them inside. Within minutes, she and Lyssa were zipped up tightly in one of the bags. She wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her close.

Reece got a fire going and then warmed some soup he’d found in one of the cabinets. Slowly, Lyssa’s shivering stopped, warmed by her mother’s body, the warm liquid, and the fire.

Then Sarah let Lyssa sleep.

She must have dozed off as well, because the next thing she knew, Reece was squatting next to her, gently shaking her awake. She opened her eyes but remained still, not wanting to wake Lyssa.

“The mountain-rescue team is here,” he said. “They’ve radioed down for a helicopter to take Lyssa out.”

“What about the snow?”

“It stopped.” He shook his head. “It’ll probably be all gone by noon.” Nodding toward Lyssa, he asked, “How is she?”

“She’s going to be fine.”

“No point in taking any chances. The helicopter will be here in about thirty minutes, and they’ll take you and Drew out, as well. I’ll ride back with the rangers.”

“Is Drew okay?”

Reece nodded, and Sarah could see his pride in his son. “Yeah. He did real good. Probably saved his sister’s life.”

Sarah closed her eyes and said a prayer of thanks. For both of her children. When she opened them again, she met Reece’s gaze and knew, if nothing else, they shared this. Their children were alive.

“I need to get dressed before that helicopter gets here,” she said.

“Yeah.” He reached over to where she’d left her clothes and laid them on top of the sleeping bag. “Here. I’ll give you a little privacy.” Then he turned and went back outside, leaving her to get dressed in the empty cabin.