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When Shannon hung up, she sat for a long minute. Maybe she should start concentrating on finding a position in another part of the country. She hated to leave the Los Angeles area, but if nothing developed in the next few weeks, she’d have to relocate and find a position elsewhere, anyway. She’d only rented her apartment on a temporary basis, but the couple who had taken it would probably sign an extended lease, or maybe even buy it. She ran a tired hand through her hair. Just thinking about giving up all that she’d struggled to create for herself brought a bone-deep weariness and anger. It wasn’t fair.
She glanced at her watch, then stood up with a jerk. She couldn’t believe how fast the time was going. Hurriedly, she stripped off her wrinkled clothes and dived into the shower, delighting in the cleansing sprays of warm water. Although they had opened the gym showers at the school to the displaced refugees, Shannon had declined to push her way into the line of people waiting to use them. Personal privacy had always been important to her, and having been raised in an affluent family as the only child, she’d always enjoyed her own things and her own space.
She sighed with utter contentment as she bathed with her favorite scented soap and shampooed her hair. She stepped out of the shower, refreshed, and quickly dressed in tailored slacks and a matching soft blue knit top. She towel-dried her shoulder-length hair and secured it in a clip at the back of her head.
She deliberately ignored the moving hands on her watch as she began packing her suitcases, giving careful attention to a small canvas overnight bag that she would keep with her. She hadn’t unpacked the boxes that had held her books and laptop computer. She took them out to the car and stowed them in the trunk, along with her suitcases. She made one last trip to fill some kitchen sacks with foodstuff she didn’t want to leave behind.
When she was ready to lock the front door of the cottage, she dared a look at her watch. She couldn’t believe it! Already a half hour past the two-hour limit. Lifting her head, she quickly searched the mountain skyline. There seemed to be more dark smoke thickening on the horizon.
She bounded down the front steps, opened the door to her car and was about to climb in when she heard some commotion behind her. She swung around. A small black dog with white feet scurried toward her, his tail wagging furiously as he greeted her enthusiastically with a friendly, puppy-size bark.
There was no doubt in Shannon’s mind that he was Pokey. She laughed as the puppy danced around her feet and put his paws on her legs. As she picked the fellow up, his little legs shot out in all directions, and his pink tongue was like windshield wipers gone berserk as he washed her face with jubilant kisses.
“I know someone who’s going to be glad to see you,” she said, chuckling as she opened the back door of the car and put him inside. “Lie down, Pokey,” she ordered, but the puppy stood on the back seat, his head cocked to one side and his tail wagging as fiercely as ever.
She tossed her shoulder purse on top of her small overnight bag and hurriedly backed out of the gravel driveway.
There was no sign of other cars on the narrow winding road ahead, and she kept glancing in the mirror to see if there were any stragglers behind her. The road was pointedly empty. She couldn’t believe everyone else had observed the time limit. Well, it didn’t matter. Once traffic was allowed on the highway to Elkhorn, she’d be on her way out of here.
She was lost in thought when suddenly, without warning, Pokey suddenly leaped from the back seat into the front, sending her purse and the small canvas overnight bag flying.
“No, Pokey, no!” she protested as the dog tried to scramble into her arms. In her effort to shove him away, she turned the steering wheel too sharply.
The car left the pavement.
Frantically she tried to bring it back on the road, but the wheels failed to gain any traction on the narrow dirt shoulder. The car began to slowly slide downward.
Panic-stricken, she fumbled with her seat belt. Before she could get it unfastened, the car sounded as if its insides were being torn out, and it stopped with a jolt that threw her forward. Only her seat belt kept her from crashing her head against the dashboard.
What was happening? The back end of the car slanted downward, and the road lay about fifty yards above. Any moment she expected the car to start sliding again.
The dog was dancing all over the seat, trying to get into her arms. “No, Pokey, we have to get out.”
The door wouldn’t open. She shoved as hard as she could, but it was wedged shut. She saw then that none of the doors would open wide enough for her to get out. All were jammed against huge boulders that had momentarily snagged the car.
She was trapped, and even the slightest movement seemed to rock the car on its precarious perch.
Ward glanced at his watch for the tenth time in less than five minutes. He was positioned at the bottom of the mountain road, checking off the names of residents who had homes in that area. Every name had been crossed off his list but one, Shannon Hensley.
“Why am I not surprised?” he asked himself. She was already an hour late. As he waited at the checkpoint, his irritation and disappointment over her disregard for instructions turned into just plain anger.
Knowing he was needed in a dozen different places, he answered his cell phone curtly when it rang, “Dawson, here.”
“Everybody off the mountain, Ward?” asked one of the fire chiefs watching Prospect Ridge.
“Not quite. We’ve got one left. A woman.”
The chief muttered something under his breath. “We’ve got trouble up here. The wind’s shifting, and our fire line on the ridge may not hold. If the sparks jump across the ridge, the whole mountain could be threatened. Get her out of there if you have to drag her.”
“Right. I’ll get on it.”
“I’ll bring her down kicking and screaming if I have to,” Ward said under his breath as he climbed into his pickup truck and headed up the mountain, driving at a speed only someone who knew the road would dare.
As Ward silently rehearsed all the sharp things he was going to say to her, he was suddenly filled with a strange impulse to slow down. He’d learned to trust an inner voice that often guided him when he needed it most, and paying heed to it at that moment proved to be a blessing once again. If he’d been driving at his former speed, he would have whipped right by the white car that was off the road without even seeing it. As it was, he glanced down the slope of the rocky hillside and did a double take.
“What in the—” He slammed on his brakes. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The fancy white sports car was precariously hung up on a shelf of large boulders a good distance below the road. Only rocks and low shrubs dotted the hillside.
Bounding from the truck, he started down the steep slope, slipping and sliding all the way. He fought to keep his balance as he scrambled over loose rocks and thickets of scrub oak.
The closer he came to the car, the tighter his chest got. He saw that by some miracle, it was caught precariously in the midst of some large boulders. If the boulders hadn’t been there, there would have been nothing to stop the car’s plunge into the deep ravine below.
“Thank you, Lord,” he breathed.
Even before he reached the car, he began to weigh the situation. How deeply were the rocks rooted in the ground? How long would they hold against the heavy downward pull of the car? Could he get Shannon out without disturbing the precarious balance that held the automobile? As these questions flashed through his mind, he saw another complication. Huge rocks hugged the sides of the car.
Shannon’s stricken pale face was clearly visible through the windshield. As he neared the car, she waved frantically to him as if he might suddenly decide to go away.
He was sure his eyes were deceiving him when he saw what looked like a dog in the seat with her. She hadn’t said anything about having a pet.
As he peered through the driver’s window, he gave her as much of a reassuring smile as he could manage and said loudly, “It’s going to be okay. I’ll get you out as fast as I can.”
He didn’t have an answer for the question he saw in her eyes. He surveyed the car. He knew at any moment the whole shelf of rocks could pull out from the ground, and everything would start sliding. One thing was certain. There wasn’t any time to waste.
He was concerned that shifting even one of the boulders could affect the balance of the others. Very gingerly, he began putting his weight against one of the rocks pinning the front door shut.
Lord, lend me Your strength and wisdom. And I could even use an angel or two, right now.
After painstaking effort, only one large boulder remained against the front door on the driver’s side. Ward breathed another prayer as he put his full weight against it. Slowly the rock began to move, and then, with one momentous shove, he sent it rolling with a crash down the slope. Afraid that the movement could have loosened the other rocks, he jerked open the door.
“Get out quickly,” he ordered. He knew that they had to get away from the car as soon as possible, in case the shelf of rocks broke away under their feet.
The dog scrambled out first, leaping over Shannon. When Ward saw that she was getting out, hanging onto her purse and a small suitcase, he barked, “Drop everything and climb as fast as you can.”
In Shannon’s shaken state, leaving all her belongings in the car and trunk was devastating. She ignored his order to drop her purse and overnight bag.
When Ward saw the stubborn set of her mouth, he grabbed the suitcase from her. “Move.” He gave her a not-too-gentle shove forward. With the dog bounding ahead of them, they scrambled up the steep slope.
Shannon was breathing heavily when they reached the shoulder of the road. Her whole body shook when she looked at the car, which so easily could have been a heap of crushed metal at the bottom of the ravine—with her in it! Tears flooded her eyes, and her lips trembled. She’d never had a brush with death before, and when she felt Ward’s arm go around her shoulder, she leaned into him, grateful for the warmth of his strong body that lessened a threatening hysteria within her.
“It’s all right,” he soothed. “You’re okay.” Thank you, Lord, Ward prayed. He gently stroked her back, and a swelling of tenderness took him totally by surprise. He didn’t understand why this woman he scarcely knew could create such a deep stirring in him. They had no common ground to build even a slight friendship, and he was certain that in any other situation, she would only be slightly amused by his presence. And yet, as she trembled in his arms, he wanted more than anything to kiss away the tears on her cheeks and bring a smile to her.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, drawing away and swiping at her tears. Shannon kept her head lowered and didn’t look at him. Anybody with eyes in their head ought to be able to drive down an empty road without running off it. She’d always prided herself on her perfect driving record, and now this!
“Nothing to be sorry about,” he reassured her. “You’re safe—that’s all that matters. I think we ought to get going. I don’t like the looks of that sky.”
Pokey had been bouncing around at their feet, woofing excitedly as if the world was a wonderful place when people were around to keep him company.
“Come on, pup,” Ward said as he and Shannon moved toward the pickup. Without waiting for an invitation, Pokey jumped in and settled happily on Shannon’s lap.
Ward held his curiosity about the dog in check until he saw Shannon lightly petting him with soft, tender strokes. Then he asked with his usual smile, “Where did the pup come from?”
She told him about Kenny looking for Pokey last evening. “Somehow Pokey made his way to my cottage, and I put him in the back seat. I’d only driven a short distance when all of a sudden he jumped into the front seat and startled me.” Her voice faltered.
He could guess the rest of the story. She’d inadvertently turned the steering wheel, and the car dropped off the road.
“It was stupid,” she said in a tone that was edged with disgust for herself.
He was surprised she’d bothered with the dog in the first place. He suspected that underneath that polished exterior of hers, there might be a deep, caring nature.
“Things like that happen to everyone,” he assured her.
“Not to me,” she said firmly. “I should have made sure that the dog stayed in the back.”
“Well, no harm done,” he said.
Her eyes rounded as she stared at him. “How can you say that? No harm done? My car will probably end up smashed to smithereens and my belongings burned to a crisp.”
“True. I guess it’s just the way you look at it. Since you escaped without being smashed to smithereens and burned with the rest of it, I’d say no real harm was done.” He shot her a quick glance. Didn’t she realize how blessed she was that she’d run off the road in that exact spot? There were a hundred other places where there were no rock ledges to halt a sheer drop into the canyon below. “It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it?”
Shannon tightened her jaw and didn’t answer. What she didn’t need was someone reminding her that she should be grateful instead of resentful about the whole thing. If he started lecturing her about families who had lost everything, she silently vowed she’d get out and walk.
Ward knew she was shaken up and still scared by what had happened. He could appreciate the toll the experience had taken on her nerves, because his own were still on edge from the ordeal. Even now he could feel sweat beading on the back of his neck if he thought about what could have happened.
They drove in silence until they reached the school parking lot. As soon as Ward turned off the engine, a man with a clipboard came over to the pickup’s window.
“Is she the one not accounted for?” he asked Ward as he shot a quick look at Shannon.
“Yes. She had a little accident that delayed her.”
The man grunted as if he thought one feeble excuse was as good as another. “The wind is kicking up. They’ve called in some more tankers. Hot flames could crest the ridge by nightfall.”
“Or the fire could burn back on itself,” Ward countered, believing that positive and negative thoughts created their own energy.
“Well, you’re about the only one who thinks so,” the man said flatly and walked away.
Shannon swallowed hard. How much time left before the whole mountain went up in flames? “What are the chances of getting a wrecker to pull my car back on the road?”
“Under normal conditions, Ed’s Towing Service could give it a try. If the car stays hung up on those rocks, a pulley and cable could probably bring it up without too much trouble.”
She felt a spurt of hope. “So if they put out the fire before it reaches the ridge, and it’s safe to go back up the mountain, they could do it pretty fast?”
“Yes, they could—under normal conditions.” He hated to douse the sudden spark in her lovely wide eyes as he added, “But I’m afraid as long as the whole area is in a fire zone and restricted to official personnel, the car will have to stay where it is.”
“I see.” She turned away so he couldn’t see her face. Above everything else, she wasn’t going to give into any feminine weakness that would add to her humiliation.
Shannon clutched the small dog in her arms as they made their way into the gym, and she searched the crowd for a glimpse of Kenny. Putting Pokey into the child’s arms was suddenly more important than anything else.
Kenny saw her before she saw him. His childish cry of joy was unmistakable as he bounded across the floor. “You found Pokey.”
“Here he is. Safe and sound.” She smiled as she set the dog down, and Kenny fell on his knees, giggling as the pup washed his face with kisses.
“I love you, Pokey,” he blubbered. “Where were you? I couldn’t find you anywhere.”
Shannon’s eyes were suddenly misty as she saw the joyful reunion. She wasn’t aware that Ward’s hand had slipped into hers until she realized she was squeezing it. When she looked at him, she saw a warmth in his eyes that took her completely by surprise. Her defenses against allowing anyone to come too close emotionally shot into play, and she quickly withdrew her hand.
“She found Pokey. She found Pokey,” Kenny shouted to everyone.
All Shannon’s efforts to stay removed from everyone’s notice were wiped out in that happy moment. She felt horribly on display as Alice Gordon loudly thanked her over and over again, and other people, young and old, gathered around her, smiling broadly.
Laura Cozzins’s round face beamed at Shannon. “Bless you. That little tyke has been pining away for his dog. It’s a good deed you’ve done this day.”
“You don’t know what that good deed cost her. Maybe Shannon will tell you about it sometime,” Ward said. His smile wavered. “Then again, maybe she won’t. She’s a very private person,” he added, smarting a little at the way she had quickly dropped his hand.
Laura nodded in a knowing way. As a minister’s wife, she was obviously adept at reading emotions that lay beneath the surface. “How about a glass of lemonade and maybe a doughnut to refresh the two of you?” she suggested as if she were dedicated to feeding the body, as well as the soul at every opportunity.
“Thanks, but I’ve promised to deliver some supplies to the base camp,” Ward said, “I’m already late by a couple of hours.”
Shannon silently winced. They both knew it was her fault he’d been delayed. She quickly took her overnight bag from him and apologized, “I’m sorry I held you up. Thank you for…for everything.”
“Rescuing damsels in distress is one of my special talents,” he assured her solemnly as his eyes twinkled at her, and his mouth eased into a soft smile. “Call on me anytime.”
She wanted to say something lightly back, but she couldn’t. Her heart was too heavy.
“It’s going to be okay.” He gave her shoulder a light squeeze. Ward wanted to suggest that she join the others in prayer and meditation. Maybe, instead of shutting out God, she would gain assurance that she wasn’t ever alone, no matter what the circumstances. He’d come to his faith the hard way, and he knew Shannon was on the same kind of path. “I’ll try to come back this evening before I head to the ranch.”
She watched as his broad back and muscular body disappeared out the door. Laura had been watching the exchange between them. With a knowing smile, she slipped her arm through Shannon’s. “Come on, you can help me make some sandwiches for lunch.”
The day was long and trying, and only the hope that Ward would come back kept Shannon’s spirits from scraping bottom. The danger of firefighting became personal when Laura told her a story about a teenage Ward trying to handle a meadow fire all by himself and nearly getting trapped by the blaze before help got there.
Her heart contracted with a sudden jolt. Surely, Ward had enough sense to leave the fighting to the professionals. He was just delivering supplies, she reassured herself, but how well she knew that he wouldn’t think of his safety in a time of danger.
All afternoon and evening, she kept an eye out for him, but he didn’t show. It was Ted who came in late that evening and told her Ward had already gone to the ranch.
She wasn’t surprised. No doubt he’d had enough of her trauma and drama. Remembering the way she had gone into his arms and accepted his tender caresses, she chided herself for letting her emotions play her for a fool. As she lay stiffly on her sagging cot, she firmly resolved she wouldn’t make that mistake again. She knew better than to give her emotions free rein. There was always a price to pay for letting anyone too close. She had plenty of scars to prove it.
Chapter Three
Shannon slept very little that night. About two o’clock in the morning, fifty firefighters from a unit in Idaho arrived at the school. Since it was too late to make it to the base camp, they crowded into the gym with the rest of the refugees.
Shannon was up early and helped serve breakfast. Being in the midst of these brave young people who were willing to put their lives in danger was a startling revelation to her. Many times she had watched television coverage of California wildfires or heard about some fighter losing his or her life, but she had only been touched on a superficial level. Now that detachment disappeared, and her heart was filled with personal concern as she moved among these dedicated men who were going to battle a fierce, monstrous wildfire that was out of control.
When Reverend Cozzins said a prayer for their safety, Shannon bowed her head with everyone else and murmured a fervent amen. Even though she wanted to believe in some kind of heavenly protection, she knew it would take a faith stronger than hers to rely on any divine miracles.
The crew of firefighters left the school right after breakfast, leaving behind a mounting tension and anxiety in the crowded school. A briefing bulletin posted on the bulletin board later that morning was not encouraging. The prediction was for strong winds and high temperatures. Numerous infrared photos taken of the fire’s boundary showed an ever widening area of destruction.
“We have to do something to keep the children occupied,” declared Laura. In her usual energetic manner, she immediately started enlisting help to get some activities going. She organized several groups to play some outdoor games on the school grounds and sent some of the youngest children into the library to listen to stories.
Shannon had no intention of volunteering for anything or calling attention to herself in any way, but Kenny had different ideas. With childish pride, he pointed her out to all the kids.
