AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was only moments before the door opened and a man in a plaid housecoat pulled him inside, then slammed the door closed behind him. “Great jumpin’ Jehoshaphat, who in their right mind would be out on a night like this? You all right, fella?”
Shivering, Caleb yanked off the mittens, so he could loosen the strings that held the hood—no easy task, since they were caked with snow and ice. But after a few seconds his cold fingers managed to accomplish it, and he pushed the hood down. “I’m Caleb—”
“I know who you are!” the man said. “Honey, it’s that politician fella from the newspapers. The one who’s gonna marry Maya Brand!”
Caleb hadn’t noticed the woman huddled near a pot-bellied wood stove on the other side of the room. He did now. “Well, I’ll be,” she said.
“Listen, I don’t have a lot of time to explain, but I’m looking for Joe Petrolla. Are you him?”
The man frowned and shook his head. “No. Name’s Cooper. Tom Cooper. This is my wife, Sarah.”
“How far am I from this Petrolla’s house?”
The man scratched his head, looked at his wife.
“Only Petrolla I ever knew moved to Texas five years back,” the wife said.
Caleb closed his eyes, lowered his head.
“Must have been some important, to bring you clear out here on a night like this,’’ Tom Cooper said.
“It is important. The roads are blocked, power’s out, as you probably already know, and the phones are dead. Maya is out there at the farmhouse, and I don’t have any way of even knowing if she’s all right.” He bit his lip. “Just yesterday a nurse predicted she’d have the babies within a day or two at most.”
“Someone ought to go on out there and check on her,” Tom Cooper said slowly.
His wife, who’d crossed the room, smacked him on the arm. “Well what did you think this young man was doing, Thomas, taking a moonlight stroll?’’ She rolled her eyes and looked at Caleb. “What did you want from this Petrolla, anyway?”
“Ol Hank, at the boarding house, told me the guy had a snowmobile. I thought I’d stand a better chance of making it out to the farm if I could borrow it.”
She sighed heavily. “Well, we don’t have a snowmobile.”
“You’d never make it on a snowmobile in this storm anyway,” her husband said.
Then the wife’s head came up. “Could you make it with the bulldozer, Tom?”
Tom blinked twice and turned a horrified stare at his wife. “What the—do you think I’d just hand over—that thing cost more than this house, woman!”
“Tom’s in the construction business,” she said, as if that explained his reaction. “His equipment is as precious to him as if it was attached.” She turned a narrow glare on Tom. “But there is a pregnant woman and twin babies at stake here, so of course he’ll realize there’s only one right thing to do.”
Cooper set his jaw and shook his head.
“Mr. Cooper, you said you knew who I was,” Caleb told the man. “So that must mean you know what I’m worth.”
The man’s brows drew together in a brief frown, then rose as his mind processed this new data.
“Tom, please…if you help me tonight, I’ll buy you a brand-new dozer tomorrow. Any kind, any size, any price, you name it.”
Tom Cooper rubbed his chin. “Don’t need a dozer,” he said slowly. “Got one.” Then, tilting his head to one side, he said, “Could use a backhoe, though.”
“Deal. You have my word, and your wife is our witness. The minute the roads are cleared, you go out and you order the biggest, shiniest backhoe in existence, and I’ll foot the bill.” Caleb thrust out a hand. “Deal?”
Tom pursed his lips, then reached out and shook on it.
Turning, he said, “Hon, I’m gonna need my wool union suit and my Carhartt overalls.”
“Hey, wait a minute. I didn’t say anything about you going with me,” Caleb said. “It’s not safe out there.”
Tom lifted his brows. “You ever run a dozer, mister?”
