Chapter Thirteen
Cash drove around for almost an hour, fighting with himself. He didn’t just
care
about Paige, he loved her. So maybe he hadn’t said it, but she had to know.
And maybe he shouldn’t have walked out, but the fact that the woman he loved had sided with his family to spy on him hurt more than any damage Bad Bob or any bull had inflicted on him. A future with a woman he didn’t trust was out of the question.
Damn it!
He slammed his fist on the truck’s steering wheel.
There was another person to blame besides Paige.
He did a U-turn and headed back toward Singing Springs, except he turned into the Halo M drive instead. He floored it down the drive and jammed on his brakes on at Travis’s front porch. Travis and Jason were sitting in rockers as though expecting him.
Cash climbed out of the truck and slammed the door with a loud thud. Travis set his iced tea on the table and rose.
“Hello, Cash.”
“Don’t you hello me, you sonofabitch.”
Travis walked down the stairs and stood in front of Cash. But before Travis could say a word, Cash let a right fist fly, which caught Travis on the chin. His head rocked back from the blow.
Cash’s knuckles screamed in pain after the hit. Damn man had a jaw of steel.
Travis’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll let you have that one, little brother, because I know you’re upset. But—” His next words were lost in an
oomph
as Cash landed a solid fist in Travis’s gut. Travis doubled over from the strike and then straightened.
Cash danced around on his toes, his fists poised for another blow. But his older brother had always been faster and stronger. Travis’s first hit split Cash’s lower lip. Cash’s response landed on Travis’s shoulder.
The two men exchanged blows but no words, for a couple of minutes. Finally, Travis landed a powerful punch under Cash’s chin that sent him reeling backwards and then to the ground.
Travis stood over him, his fists still bunched.
From the porch, Jason clapped and whistled. “Best fight in ages, boys.”
Cash looked over at Jason and wheezed out, “Fuck you,” which made Jason laugh and clap louder.
Caroline stood alongside Jason, her hands on her hips, displeasure etched on her face.
Travis held out his hand, his breath coming in great heaving gasps. “We done?”
Cash considered grabbing that hand and jerking his brother down for a few more rounds, but in the end, he nodded. “Done fightin’, but not done cussing you out.” Cash took satisfaction that his older brother was panting as hard as he was.
Travis nodded. “I’m okay with that.”
Cash took the offered hand and his brother pulled him to his feet.
“You were expecting me?” Cash said, supporting himself with his hands braced on his thighs.
“Paige called. Your woman has quite the vocabulary when she’s mad.”
Cash straightened and then wiped the blood from his lip. “She’s not
my woman
, thanks to you.”
Travis swiped at the blood oozing from the cut over his left eye. “Not my fault you’re such as ass that you didn’t stay around to listen to what Paige was trying to tell you.”
“You
paid
her to live with me,” Cash shouted. “How can she explain that away?”
Caroline walked up, wet cloth in hand. “Stand still. Let me see if either of you needs stitches.”
Cash gritted his teeth as Caroline wiped the blood from his face. “I don’t need stitches. I want to kill your husband for ruining my life.”
“You did that pretty much on your own,” Jason tossed down from the porch, which got him a one-finger salute from Cash.
Travis climbed the steps to the porch and picked up a stack of envelopes off a table. “If you’d hung around your house instead of racing over here to tear off my head,
your woman
would have told you she returned every check.” He waved the white stack at Cash. “Every single check. Not one cashed, even though she could have used the money for school.”
Cash’s heart skipped a beat. “What?”
Caroline put her arm around Cash. “He meant well, Cash. He really did.” She gave him a one-armed hug. “He was worried about you. Didn’t want you to leave town because you had no place to live. Some of this is my fault. I’m the one who told Paige she could have my uncle’s place.”
Cash looked at his sister-in-law. “You bear no fault at all. He wrote the checks. He’s the one who meddled in my life.”
“Don’t you see, Cash?” Caroline asked. “Paige returned Travis’s money because she cares about you. She wants to be with you. She wasn’t with you because it was expected or paid for. It was because it was her way of loving you.”
“I suspect that check you opened would have been on its way back to me by now.”
“But why did you keep sending money when she kept sending them back?”
Travis’s face flushed. “Okay, maybe I was meddling a little. As long as she sent them back, I knew things were good over there. The minute she cashed one, I would know there were problems.” He shrugged. “I was wrong. I admit it. But damn, little brother, I didn’t want to lose you again into a bottle or have you leave town.”
Travis dropped the returned checks on the table and jumped over the railing into the yard. “You were gone too long, Cash. You’re home and we all want you to stay.”
Jason followed Travis over the railing. “Yeah, bro. I didn’t know about the checks, but if I had, I would have told you.” He glared at Travis. “Damn, stupid thing to do.” He looked at Cash. “But his heart was in the right place.”
Cash looked at Travis. “His heart might have been in the right place but his head was up his ass.”
Before Travis could respond, large balls of hail began pounding down on top of them.
“What the…?” Cash said, looking up.
“Oh hell,” Travis said. “Look at the sky.”
What had been a late afternoon orange sky was now a dark green. Around them, the wind was picking up. From nowhere, pieces of paper began flying around the yard.
Travis grabbed Caroline’s arm. “Looks bad. We need to get to safety.” They bounded up the stairs, Jason and Cash close on their heels. They paused on the porch to study the weather.
“Where are the kids?” Jason asked.
“At Mom’s. I’ll call her and—”
“Oh crap. Look,” Jason said, pointing to a dark swirling cloud.
“What?” Cash said. “I can’t hear you.”
The sound bearing down on them was almost deafening. The swirling cloud took shape. Large, cylindrical and dark, a funnel touched in a field about a mile away. Dirt lifted into the vortex. Trees and shrubs were ripped from the ground like weeds and tossed aside.
“Tornado,” Travis yelled. “Inside.”
But nobody moved. The black whirlpool turned away from Halo M and Travis’s house and took direct aim for Singing Springs Ranch.
“Paige!” Cash shouted. “She’s there.”
Jason grabbed his arm. “Maybe it’ll pass the house. You can’t go right now. You’ll be killed.”
Even though the house was just shy of a mile away, their field of vision was unimpeded. First, shingles lifted, and then they were ripped from the roof and added to the trash circling in the air. Then boards and windows followed. Jerked off and thrown into the surrounding fields.
Cash vibrated with fear and the need to do something, but from this distance, there was nothing he could do but stand by helplessly and watch as the house he’d rebuilt was destroyed board by board, with the woman he loved trapped in the destruction.
Gleaming-white exterior boards, glass and roof shingles flew in the air and littered the fields around the now demolished house. Torrential rain poured from the black storm clouds. As quickly as it came, the tornado lifted off the ground and disappeared back into the dark sky.
Cash jerked his arm out of Jason’s grasp and raced to his truck.
“Cash,” Travis called. “Wait.”
He waved off his brother’s order, threw himself into his truck and whipped the vehicle around in a U-turn, leaving deep ruts in the front yard. The distance between the two ranches was less than a mile, but it felt like it took an hour to cover the short distance. After turning into what was left of Singing Springs’s entry gate, Cash had to maneuver his truck over downed trees, electric wires and all manner of trash and debris to get to the site of the devastated house.
His breath left his lungs in a whoosh. There wasn’t a wall left standing. Furniture, clothes and books were scattered in the mud. That was all unimportant. The only thing that he cared about was where was Paige?
The wind had picked up again, howling through what trees still had limbs and leaves. The rain beat down, driving into his flesh like sharp needles. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered if Paige was dead.
Looking over the destruction, his heart sank. Nothing could be alive under all those heavy boards.
“Paige! Can you hear me?” He couldn’t hear anything but the slamming of his own heart. “Paige!” Lifting a board off the pile, he chucked it off into the yard.
He startled when a hand grabbed his shoulder. He whirled. Travis and Jason were standing there. Behind them, Caroline was climbing out of the Halo M work truck.
“Where do you want us to go?” Travis asked, pulling on his work gloves.
Shaking off his surprise, Cash pointed toward the kitchen, or rather where the kitchen had been. Travis and Jason began working through the rubble while Cash made his way around to where Paige’s bedroom had been. The complete and total devastation of the building was like nothing he’d ever seen. There was no way Paige was in this area of the house. Simply put, there was nothing left.
“Paige,” he called. “Buster. Here, boy.” He thought maybe the dog might be capable of hearing better than a human.
He had to keep thinking she was alive and just couldn’t hear him. While he’d once believed he’d understood what Travis had felt when his wife died, now he realized he hadn’t had a clue. If Paige was dead…he wouldn’t let himself think that way.
“Buster. Come here, boy. Buster.” He continued calling as he made his way around the side of the house.
“Cash. Come here.” Jason’s voice was barely audible from the backyard.
Cash hurried back around, slipping and sliding in the mud. “What? Did you find her?”
“Hush. Listen.”
The four adults stood straining to hear any sound of life.
“I don’t hear anything,” Cash said.
“Call Buster again,” Jason said. “I could have sworn I heard a dog.”
Cash began calling and walking toward the side of the house opposite Paige’s bedroom, and then he began running. “Back here, guys. I hear Buster’s bark.”
His brothers hurried to catch up with him.
“The storm cellar,” Travis said. “I forgot all about it.”
“What storm cellar?” Jason asked.
“Later.” Cash reached the underground door. “Paige. Are you in there?”
The reply was muffled but it came.
Cash dropped to his knees, wet mud saturating through his jeans. “Thank you, God. Thank you.”
This was not the time to tell her that he loved her. He couldn’t just yell it through a storm door. Still, the relief at hearing her voice made him more sure than ever that this was
his
woman, the one he would spend the rest of his life with, and he’d do whatever it took to convince her of that.
“We’re coming, honey. Can you hear me? Hold on. I’m coming for you.”
There was a muffled response, but the words were lost through the metal and rain.
“Are you hurt?” Cash shouted. “Can you bang on the door? Once if you’re okay.”
The response was the dampened sound of something hitting the door once. She was okay. She would be okay.
Adrenaline raced through his veins. He was sure he could rip away all the piles of limbs and house wreckage covering the metal door barehanded. However, that wasn’t the problem. The hurdle was the hundred-year-old oak lying across the door. Cash began pushing on the trunk of a tree his arms couldn’t have circled.
“Hold on, babe.” He grunted as he shoved at the tree. “I love you. Hold on.” The words were out of his mouth before he knew it, but they were honest and exactly what he was feeling. He’d almost lost the opportunity to tell her. To hell with it. He’d be telling her that every day for years to come.
“Cash,” Travis called. “You’ll never move that alone. Move over.”
Cash was joined by both his brothers, and all three of them pulled together to move the impossible.
“Caroline. Back my truck up as close as you can get,” Cash said. “Travis. You got any rope in your truck? We can try to pull the tree off the door or at least dislodge it enough to get her out.”
Travis nodded and headed off with his wife to position Cash’s truck and get the strong rope he always had in the truck bed. More than once he’d needed rope to get a horse or a cow out of trouble.
“Thanks, man,” Cash said to Jason.
“For what?”
“For coming over to help.”
“God, Cash. You are a damn fool. You’re my brother. Of course I’d come help. We’re family. We’ve always been here for you. You just never asked.”
Cash realized how right Jason was. He hadn’t asked his family for help. He’d spent his life trying to prove himself to them, except they’d never asked him to do that. Of course his siblings had pushed and teased and dared him when he was growing up, but he finally understood that he was the only one who thought they didn’t believe him good enough. He was the one with the problem, not them.
“Yeah, well, I should have.”
The roar of Cash’s diesel engine cut through the sound of rain as Caroline backed it in close to the tree. Travis returned with a chainsaw, took off a few of the larger limbs that might impede movement and then made a notch in the tree trunk for the rope. After they got the rope in place around the tree and secured it to the truck, Caroline eased forward while the three men pushed at the tree to roll it off the door enough to get it open.
As soon as the last inch of tree trunk slid off, Cash went to work on the doors.
“Paige. Honey. Can you hear me? Have you unbolted the door?”
An unintelligible response came back.
Cash tugged on the door handle but nothing budged.