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Rena couldn’t imagine the terror of being Gabi—so little and alone—in the dark woods at night. She tried to recall if it was trolls or sprites Josh had convinced Gabi lived in the woods, just waiting to eat lost children.
“Stupid man,” she muttered to herself, then sighed. Josh had only been trying to protect his daughter. He wasn’t stupid, just cautious. Caring. Wonderful.
Rena had arrived at several conclusions in the past few hours. One was that she would finish out the week at the mine, but she was through working there. Her nerves couldn’t take it any longer. She didn’t care if she had to wash dishes at the hotel restaurant, anything would be better than going deep into the mine with the ever-present fear some nincompoop might blast her to smithereens, whether intentionally or on accident.
The second thing she’d concluded was that she loved Josh. In the moment when the blast had detonated and she’d feared she might die, she realized she’d regret never telling him how she felt about him. She loved him with her whole heart, and whether that love was returned or not, she needed to share her heart with him. Josh was not just her friend, but also the man with whom she wanted to spend the rest of her life.
It had been so easy for her to pretend she and Josh and Gabi were a family on any number of occasions but especially when they’d been at Josh’s home. Rena loved the sun-drenched house and the beautiful views and the fact that two of the four people she loved most in the world lived there.
She’d also concluded she loved Gabi like the child were her own. If anything happened to her, Rena didn’t know how she’d go on. Gabi was bright and sweet and full of life. It amazed Rena to watch her learn and grow. The thought of never again seeing the little girl who brought so much joy and light into Rena’s life made her want to sob, but instead, she renewed her prayers for Gabi’s safekeeping.
“Where are you, Gabi Jo?” Rena asked aloud as she and Scout rode around a bend. Another scrap of pink fabric caught on a small pine tree caught her gaze. Rena looked around. “Gabi! Gabi Jo? Where are you? Gabi!” she screamed as loud as she could.
Scout’s ears twitched and he turned his head to the south. Rena clucked her tongue and urged him forward. “Gabi?” she yelled again and again.
“Rena!” a little voice finally called from a distance.
“Keep yelling, Gabi. I’m coming!” Rena wanted to force Scout into a gallop, but the mule tripping over a tree root and breaking a leg or her neck certainly wouldn’t help Gabi. “Where are you, Gabi?”
“I’m here! I’m here!” Gabi screamed. Rena rode around a boulder and saw Gabi running toward her from the woods to the east.
“Oh, my darling girl,” Rena stepped out of the saddle, dropped to her knees, and pulled Gabi to her, showering the child’s face with kisses as she held her tight. “Oh, Gabi. We were so, so worried about you. Are you hurt?”
“I fell down twice and tore my dress,” Gabi sobbed. “Will Papa be mad I tore it, Rena?”
“This one time, I don’t think he’ll care, sweetheart. Let’s get you back to town. Your papa is frantic to find you.” Rena kissed Gabi’s cheek one more time, then stood and mounted Scout, swallowing down the groan of pain when she leaned over and lifted Gabi to sit in front of her in the saddle. “Why did you run away?”
“I didn’t run away. I was bored at the shop and went outside to play, then I thought how nice it would be to see you, Rena. I like to be with you. I wish you could be my mommy and we’d always be together. I left Papa a note in the dirt. I wrote your name all by myself. Papa told me not to play in the street, so I walked in the trees, and then I got lost, and I was scared, Rena. I fell in the creek and got wet. I’m cold and hungry. I just want to go home to my house and my pretty room, and go to sleep, and never, ever leave my papa again.”
“Oh, sweetheart. It’s okay. I’ll get you home, and you can have a warm bath and a hot meal, and everything will be just fine. I promise.”
Gabi sniffled, wiped her nose on her dirty skirt, then leaned back against Rena with a sigh. “I knew you’d find me, Rena. I just knew it. I prayed and prayed for you to come, and then I heard you call for me. I’m glad you found me.”
“I’m glad I found you too, Gabi, but you have to promise you’ll never go off on your own like that again. Your poor papa is worried sick about you. We all were. He thought something terrible had happened to you.”
“I was afraid a troll would come eat me. Do you think we’ll get back to town before one finds us?” Gabi turned her little face upward and gave Rena a wary look.
“We’ll make it before the trolls come out.” Rena bent down and kissed Gabi’s dirty nose, then urged Scout onward.
Dusk had settled when they rode out of the woods and reached the road. They’d just made it to the outskirts of town when a group of riders headed toward them.
“I found her!” Rena yelled and heard a whoop go up from several of the men.
One rider raced ahead of the others. Rena pulled back on the reins as Josh jumped off Hawkins before the horse came to a full stop. He reached up for Gabi and hauled her into his arms, holding her close as Gabi burst into tears and wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing about trolls and sprites and her ruined dress and how much she hated the woods.
Rena was shocked when Josh shifted Gabi to one arm and used the other to encircle her waist and lift her off Scout. He kissed her cheeks before he hugged her. “Both of my girls are safe,” he whispered in her ear, then leaned back. “Thank you for bringing Gabi home to me.”
“You’re welcome. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her.”
“I would die if anything happened to either of you,” Josh said, then offered the group of riders a look of relief as they reached them.
“Gabi is safe,” he announced, smiling at their friends.
“Then let’s get you home, little miss,” Theo said, taking Gabi from Josh and settling her in front of him on the saddle before he turned Thomas around and headed into town.
Josh waited until the other riders joined Theo before hugging Rena again. “Thank you, Rena.”
She nodded, overcome with weariness beyond anything she’d ever experienced. Although she tried to keep them open, her eyes slid shut, and she felt herself falling.
