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Leaves rustled. Cash barked. Branches snapped and he heard the distinctive sound of huffing as Charlie crested the hill and catapulted into his arms. “Hey, it’s okay.” He hauled her up and felt his heart tip as the little girl wrapped her arms tight around his neck, her legs looping around his waist as she trembled. Thank goodness she was safe. “Charlie, you’re okay. I’ve got you.” He pressed a hand against the back of her head. “Where’s Simon? Is he with you?”
She shook her head and looked at him, big brown eyes wide amid dirt-stained cheeks. “Kyle,” she panted, pointing behind them from the direction she’d come. “We followed Kyle and...”
“Simon’s with Kyle?”
“I don’t know. Simon went around the back of the cabin to see what Kyle was doing inside, but then he came running out and yelled at me to find you. He looked scared, Sheriff Luke. I’m sorry I ran away, but Simon told me to.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You did the right thing.” To calm himself as much as Charlie, he gave her a big bear hug before lowering her to the ground. “I need you to keep going right on this path, okay? It’ll take you back to camp—”
“I’m going with you.” She captured his hand and dragged him back over the hill. “Faster, please. Kyle scares me. He scares Simon, too, even though he won’t admit it.”
They’d no sooner reached the clearing than he saw Kyle near the trees, dragging Simon along the ground. “He fell,” Kyle called as Luke ran forward. “I swear he fell, Sheriff. I didn’t mean to scare him so bad.” Charlie stayed glued to Luke’s side, one hand deep in Cash’s neck as she eyed Kyle.
Luke stopped breathing. Blood coursed down the front of Simon’s face from the gash across his forehead. His glasses were gone and there was a large welt across his nose. He was sickly pale. He reached out his hand to check Simon’s pulse. Only when he felt a steady beat under his fingers could he breathe again. “Okay. Kyle, you head back to camp, tell Jake what’s going on. Charlie, you stay with me.”
The fact Kyle didn’t hesitate to go racing back to camp told Luke there was a lot more to the story than the kid was willing to admit, but Luke’s first concern had to be Simon.
“Is he going to be okay?” Charlie asked as Luke bent down and hefted Simon into his arms. He cradled the boy’s head against his shoulder, trying not to jostle him too much as he double-timed it to camp. “There’s blood.”
“Head wounds bleed a lot.” Luke tried not to focus on the blood or the deadweight in his arms. Tried not to remember the last time... “We’ll get him to the emergency room...”
“Shouldn’t we call 911?” Charlie asked as she ran to keep up with him. It was then Luke noticed she had a hand locked around Simon’s ankle. “Mom always says to call 911 when there’s blood.”
“It’ll be faster if I drive him,” Luke said. He should have chosen somewhere closer to the road. EMTs wouldn’t be able to maneuver around those roads very easily, and the time they wasted waiting for the ambulance would be just that: wasted. “You’re being very brave, Charlie.”
“Sidekicks are always brave.” Luke glanced down as Charlie lifted her chin. “We’re the backup.”
“Well, Simon’s lucky to have you.” If only Simon had been as lucky to have Luke. His previous conversation with Holly took on a new light. He’d sworn never to break another promise, never to let anyone else down. But history had a vicious sense of irony where Luke was concerned. He’d been too late to save Carter.
Not this time. “Stay with me, kid,” he whispered as he caught sight of their camp and his truck. This was going to be the longest ride of his life.
* * *
“WHERE IS HE?” Holly slammed through the emergency room doors. “Simon? Luke?” The dam burst. “Simon?”
It was prom night all over again: her father’s accident, her mother leaving, the fear, the not knowing... How was it possible she’d have this nightmare a second time? It was incomprehensible her son might be... Holly struggled to stave off a panic attack, but her entire body was trembling hard enough to register on the Richter scale. Alive. Her father had said Simon was alive and that he was with Luke and Charlie. But that was all he’d said before his phone had died.
“Holly, wait.” Abby clutched her arm and pulled her over to the woman on duty at the registration counter. “We’re looking for Simon Campbell. Eight-year-old boy? We were told he’d been brought in.”
The middle-aged nurse turned kind, understanding eyes on Holly. “Yes, Sheriff Saxon brought him in a little while ago. They’re right through there. Wait, are you all family?” Paige and Abby were right on Holly’s heels.
“Yes!” Holly plowed through the double metal doors. “Luke? Where’s Simon?” She pressed a hand against her heart as she spotted Luke sitting in one of the metal-backed chairs. The color was gone from his face, his eyes empty, as if...
Holly sobbed, tears flooding her eyes. “Simon?” she squeaked. Luke sat forward and Charlie hopped down from her chair to run to her mother.
“You okay?” Paige whispered, skimming her hands down Charlie’s sides as if searching for injuries.
“Five by five,” Charlie said with a nod. “Sheriff Luke took good care of us. I’ve never been in a car that fast before!”
“Where is he?” Holly asked Luke as he got to his feet. She refused to register the grief on his face, the sadness and fright she saw in his eyes. “What happened? Is he okay?”
“He’s going to be fine, Holly. He took a fall, that’s all.” Luke shoved his hands into his pockets, and only then did she see the dark patch of blood on the front of his shirt.
Her mouth went dry. “Is that—?” Was that her son’s blood?
Luke’s face went white as he glanced down, and for a moment, Holly worried he might pass out. “I got him here as fast as I could. Holly, I’m so sor—”
“Sheriff?”
A doctor approached, his white coat stark against the blue-green scrubs of Holly’s worst memories. She squeezed her eyes shut, grabbed hold of Luke’s arm. She couldn’t do this again. Not after her father. Not after Gray.
“Doctor Peterson, this is Holly Campbell,” Luke said. “Simon’s mother.”
“Is he really okay?” Part of her died as she waited to hear. What would she do if...?
“Simon’s going to be fine,” Dr. Peterson said. “Mild concussion, a few scrapes and bruises. A couple days’ rest and he’ll be back to normal. There will be a scar,” he added. “Simon’s pretty excited about it, if that helps.”
Holly’s laugh sounded like a sob of hysteria breaking free. “It does. Please.” She gripped Luke’s arm harder. “I want to see him.”
“Of course. This way.”
“I’ll wait here,” Luke said.
“We all will,” Abby chimed in. “We aren’t going anywhere.”
Even knowing her son would be all right, the walk down the hall to Simon’s room felt like a death march. She flashed between the past and now, the same terror crowding her chest as she struggled to take slow, controlled breaths. He was okay, she kept chanting to herself. Simon was okay. She dropped her purse inside his room as the energy and emotion flooded out of her. “Simon.”
“Hi, Mom.” The sheepish look on his pale face let Holly know he definitely had some explaining to do, but right now all she could do was stare at him and be grateful he was fine. He pointed at his forehead as the nurse finished taping a bandage to his face. “The doctor said I’m going to have a scar.”
“So I hear.” Why, oh, why were little boys such a trial? “You don’t look so bad.” Who was she kidding? He looked as if he’d gone ten rounds with Bigfoot. There was a bruise on his left cheek and smears of blood down the sides of his face, but his smile eased the heaviness in her heart. He was alive, awake. Talking. There wouldn’t be any surgeries or life-altering injuries.
“I need to talk to Sheriff Luke,” Simon announced as Holly wrapped him in her arms and squeezed. “Mom, you’re squishing me.” He squirmed, but she only held on tighter, rocking him until he gave up and sagged against her. “Mom, please don’t cry. I’m okay, I promise.”
“I’m entitled.” She pressed her lips to the top of his head, waiting for the relief to surge. “You’re all I’ve got, bud. I love you so much, but you’ve got to stop scaring me like this.”
“I scared Charlie and Sheriff Luke, too.” Did he have to sound so proud of himself? “But I’m okay.”
“I know.” Holly swiped at her tears and leaned against the elevated bed. She stroked a hand down the side of his face and for an instant saw the same carefree, reckless light his father had possessed his entire life. So much like Gray. Until now she hadn’t realized how much that terrified her. “What happened?”
