please.”
“Emma, I don’t want to have to worry about you, too.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I have my phone. Stop the car and I’ll go on foot.”
He slowed, turned and stopped.
“Be positive, Zach. We’ll find her.” She jumped out quickly and he drove away.
At least she had a phone and knew how to use it. He suspected Emma knew little more than Caroline about being out on her own on the ranch, but she was an adult and would be okay. She was insulated in her positive feelings while he had none. As he drove around a bend in the road, Emma disappeared from sight in his rearview mirror.
Emma stood still, her gaze searching the dark woods. It would be five soon and since it was winter, the daylight would fade quickly. Saying another prayer, she began to walk inside Will’s fence, continuing on in the direction they had been headed before Zach turned onto the ranch drive. She had told him she would walk toward the house, but she wanted to look along the highway a bit first. The highway worried Zach and she could see why. She studied the darkness beneath the thick grove of trees as she went. Surely if a child and a dog were nearby, they would make noise.
“Caroline,” Emma called, the cry sounding small, pointless in all the emptiness around her.
Emma walked briskly for ten minutes, following the wide curve of the road, listening for any sounds of a child and then she heard voices. The road still curved and whoever was talking was lost to sight, but it sounded like more than two people.
Emma jogged, following the road, and finally she saw a pickup ahead. It had pulled off the side of the road. Relief and joy swamped her because it was a couple standing and talking to Caroline. The child held a white dog in her arms.
“Caroline!” Emma lengthened her stride and ran, breathing deeply when she reached them.
“Caroline, everyone is looking for you,” she said as she hugged the little girl lightly.
She looked expectantly at the couple standing watching. She offered her hand. “I’m Emma Hillman,” she said.
“We’re Pete and Hazel Tanner,” a deeply tanned, white-haired man said. His wide-brimmed hat was pushed back on his head. “We saw the dog and stopped and in a few minutes the little girl came running into sight. She gave us a number to call and they are coming to get her.”
“Thank you so much,” Emma said. “I’ll call her uncle and tell him in case he hasn’t gone to the house.” She turned slightly, calling Zach to tell him.
“I’m the one coming back to get her,” Zach said. “When I drove up, they told me the Tanners had called. Thank goodness you’re with them. I should be there in minutes.”
“She’s fine, Zach. And she has her dog with her. These nice people stopped to see about Muffy and then Caroline came along.”
“Just wait and I’ll get all of you. I won’t be long.”
“I’m sure you won’t,” she said smiling and thinking how fast he had driven. She called her mother to let her know Caroline was found safe.
Scratching Muffy’s head while Caroline held her, she talked to the couple for a few minutes. She wanted a hand close to the dog in case Muffy decided to run again.
“Caroline told us her name and how her little dog ran away and she couldn’t catch her. She said her nanny was probably looking for her,” Mabel Tanner said.
“A lot of people are searching for Caroline,” Emma stated, smiling at the girl.
Emma heard the car before she saw Zach and then she watched him pull onto the shoulder to park. He had a leash in his hand and hooked it on Muffy’s collar after he had hugged Caroline. Picking up Caroline, he handed the end of the leash to Emma while he talked to the Tanners.
“Thanks beyond words for helping,” he said, shaking hands with the couple and talking briefly to them. In minutes they climbed into their pickup while Zach held the door for Emma and Caroline. As Caroline buckled herself into the back, Zach buckled the leash in beside her. Caroline pulled Muffy onto her lap. Zach leaned in to brush a kiss on the top of Caroline’s head. “You gave us a real scare,” he said softly.
“I’m sorry.” She smiled up at him, and he stepped back to close the door.
He slid behind the wheel and glanced at Emma. “After I talked to you and knew you were with Caroline, I called Will to tell him to go on to the symphony because everything is okay here. He’s already landing. He said he wants to come home to hug Caroline.”
“I can understand that,” Emma answered. She turned in her seat to talk to Caroline.
“Caroline, did you have trouble finding Muffy?”
“No. I could see her, but she wouldn’t come back to me. I had to run fast.”
“I’ll bet you did,” Emma replied. “You ran a long, long way.”
Caroline nodded her head. “She sat to wait for me and then she’d run. I think she wanted to play.”
Emma had to laugh. “I’m sure she had great fun.”
“Everyone was very worried about you and Muffy. I’m glad we found you and Muffy didn’t cross the highway,” Zach said.
“Mr. and Mrs. Tanner told me that they saw Muffy and stopped because they thought she was a lost dog. Then they saw me. When I told them I was alone, they called Daddy Two. I told them his phone number.”
“That was the right thing to do,” Zach said. “He’ll be here soon.”
Caroline’s eyes narrowed. “Am I in trouble?”
“I don’t think so,” Zach said. “We’ll just be glad to have you and Muffy home again. Rosalyn is very worried. We all were worried about where you were and if you were safe. You gave us all a big scare, Caroline,” he said.
“I would have gone home, but I couldn’t catch Muffy.”
“Would you have known how to find home?” Zach asked her.
“I could have followed the fence. Except I got scared when I saw Muffy running toward the highway.”
“I’ll bet you were scared. How did Muffy get loose?”
“The back gate wasn’t closed all the way. Someone had left it open and Muffy squeezed out.”
“Well, we’ll put a little sign on that gate to keep it closed,” Zach said and Caroline smiled.
Caroline hugged Muffy who had stretched out to sleep. “Thank you for coming to get me, Uncle Zach.”
“You’re welcome,” he said.
Soon they were home and as they approached the house, Rosalyn waited on the porch. Pulling her coat close around her, she came down the steps to greet them. With a bandage on her forehead, she looked pale and she walked slowly, carefully hanging to the rail.
“Rosalyn
