During dinner, Frannie gave a dramatic account of the earthquake, the wind, and the flood, and by the end of her spiel Dad was looking queasy. Paul took over when Frannie ran out of steam. “I talked to my friend in the lookout tower, he was right at the epicenter.”
“What’s an epicenter?” Bridget asked.
Paul was more than happy to answer. “It’s where the earthquakewas strongest. He pinpointed it at the spot where highway 287 and 191 meet.”
“You mean we kicked Sam and Ernie out at the epicenter?” Frannie slapped her knee. “Serves them right.”
“All kinds of neat stuff is happening in the park,” Paul went on. “Over two hundred springs are erupting all over the place and even Old Faithful has changed its schedule.”
“Did anyone inside the park get hurt?” Dad asked with a frown.
Paul shook his head. “I heard one lady broke her wrist when she slipped on the stairs trying to get out of the Yellowstone Inn. The injuries and fatalities were almost all in the Madison Canyon.”
Silence descended around the table. The search for survivors in Madison Canyon had gone on all week, and the fatality count was revised every day. So far there were sixteen known dead, fourteen of them at Rock Creek.
“I saw Jerrylynn’s parents yesterday,” Frannie said softly.
“I’m so sorry about your friend, Frannie,” Claire said with a rush of sorrow for the sweet girl with the ponytail and the generous spirit.
Frannie’s eyes got teary. Paul put his arm around her.
Dad’s brows came down at that and he glared at Paul.
Bridget was just as somber. “Mildred Wilson’s funeral is tomorrow.” She looked to Frannie. “I’m driving up to Livingston for it. Do you want to come?”
“Yes,” Frannie said. “And I have something for Connie and her dad.” The way she said it sounded suspicious.
“What is it?” Bridget asked with a frown.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Frannie said. Frannie had grown up a lot in the past week, but she was still Frannie.
Dad leaned back from the table. He pulled his pipe from the inside pocket of his suit coat. “Red,” he suddenly said, as if he hadn’t pretended Red didn’t exist for the past hour. He had the serious look on his face Claire knew well. “I’d like a word with you.” He glanced around the table. “In private.”
Bridget’s gaze met Claire’s.
Frannie’s eyes went from Dad to Red. “Uh oh.”
Red’s expression was unreadable as he pushed his chair away from the table and stood. “Let’s talk outside.”
chapter 66:RED
“Let’s go to the river,” Red said as he and Daniel Reilly went out the back door.
His father-in-law hadn’t even looked at him—much less shaken his hand—since he stepped foot off the bus. Red had hoped that after the quake, with all that had happened to change him and Claire, Daniel Reilly might have changed, too.
No such luck.
Red led the older man past the horse shed and pasture where Rosie, Marigold, and Bess grazed, flicking their tails. Marigold shambled over to the fence. Red stopped to scratch her ears. Whatever Daniel Reilly had to say could wait while he said hello to his second-favorite horse.
Daniel Reilly eyed the horse as if it were another competition for his daughter’s affections. “Is this the horse you gave my daughter for a wedding present?”
Red rubbed Marigold’s soft nose. Bucky had shown up with her a couple days after the quake. “Wormsbecker’s giving her back to me?” Red had asked with disbelief. His former boss didn’t have a generousbone in his body, even for someone who saved his life. “Nope.” Bucky slid down from the saddle. “To Claire. Said he owed her for Beth.”
Red nodded now in answer to Daniel Reilly. He wasn’t going to explain what Marigold meant to him—to both of them. If he hadn’t had such a reliable horse, and if he and Bridget hadn’t gotten to Refuge Point, and then to Rock Creek Campground with the sorry offering of one life vest... well, he’d thank God for this horse the rest of his days.
He led the way down the path to the river. They stopped at the bank and Red looked out over the water, the evening sun reflecting on the rippling current. He wasn’t going to run from whatever Daniel Reilly had to say to him. In fact, he’d start the man out and get it over with. “Mr. Reilly,” he began, “I know this isn’t what you wanted for Claire.”
“Red,” his father-in-law growled, “let me say my piece. It’s going to be hard enough.”
