placed a reassuring hand over Christa’s. “I’m fine. Or at least I will be once they get Peggy out of there.” Closing her eyes, she swallowed at the knot of fear that had lodged in her throat and refused to go away.
“I noticed the sheriff was talking to you a few minutes ago,” Christa remarked. “What was he saying? Does he know anything yet?”
“He said that the phone Jared had taken with him had apparently quit working. They haven’t been able to make any contact with him in the past twenty minutes.”
Christa shook her head. “Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean that something has gone wrong. The battery could have gone dead on the phone or the signal may not be getting out.”
Opening her eyes, Kerry focused a desperate look on her friend. “I hope you’re right, Christa. I can’t—I have to think that things are going to be okay. Otherwise—” She couldn’t go on as tears trickled onto her cheeks. Moments later, she felt Christa’s hand gently patting her back. Sniffing, she wiped at her tears and tried again, “Oh Christa—I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my daughter.”
“You’re not going to lose her,” Christa said with firm resolution. “The Coltons will see to that. They’re a smart, diligent family. And they care about people. If Jared can’t get her out, he and his brother will call in some expert who can.”
Kerry glanced around her to make sure her mother wasn’t within earshot. “I’m glad to hear you say that,” she said in a voice only Christa could hear. “Mom keeps preaching that they’re making a mess out of things and just wanting to big-shot around and take over the situation.”
A puzzled expression came over Christa’s face. “I can’t understand that. Let’s face it, the fire and rescue people in this town mean well and they do a good job most of the time, but they’re not that highly trained. They have no idea what’s under this ground or how to get into it without tearing everything apart and endangering Peggy even more. Jared’s an engineer. He knows what he’s dealing with.”
Kerry let out a long, shaky breath. “That’s what I was thinking, but Mom seems to have something against Jared in particular.”
Christa shrugged. “Well, from what I’ve heard, he used to have quite a reputation with the ladies. Your mom probably holds that against him.”
Shaking her head with weary disbelief, Kerry said, “That has nothing to do with him getting my daughter out of the ground! I don’t understand her—”
“Kerry! Look!”
Christa’s abrupt cry was coupled with a ripple of excitement passing through the people gathered around the site. And then Kerry saw the reason for all the commotion. It was Jared! He was climbing out of the deep ditch and Peggy was nestled safely in his arms!
Choking back a sob of sheer relief, Kerry jumped to her feet and stumbled across the rough ground to meet them.
“Peggy! Oh baby!” she cried, not bothering to hide the tears of joy that were beginning to stream down her face.
Jared grinned down at her. “Your daughter is a little muddy and dirty, but other than that she seems to be okay,” he said.
From the moment he’d reached Peggy back in the narrow cavern of pipe, she’d had a death grip on his neck. Even now, with her mother near, she was reluctant to loosen her hold and allow him to place her in Kerry’s arms.
Gently, Jared patted the child’s back, then carefully pushed the long tangle of black hair from the side of her face. “It’s all right, Chenoa,” he murmured to the frightened little girl. “Your mommy is right here. She’s been waiting for you. Just like I promised.”
Kerry swallowed down her tears in an effort to make her voice sound as calm and normal as possible to her daughter. “Peggy, it’s all right, honey. You can come to mama now and we’ll go get Fred.”
Lifting her face from Jared’s wide shoulder, Peggy looked warily around her, then down at Kerry’s outstretched arms.
“Mama,” she said through sniffles and hiccups, then reached for her mother.
Jared had accomplished a few difficult jobs down through the years, jobs that had left him feeling proud, maybe even a little smug. But he could truthfully say nothing he’d ever done felt as wonderful or satisfying as being able to place Peggy into her mother’s arms. And the elated smile that was now spreading across Kerry’s face was worth every minute he’d spent crawling through that muddy underground maze.
Hugging her daughter fiercely to her breast, Kerry looked up at Jared. She was unaware of the crowd surging around them, nor did she hear their cheers of joy. There was only him and her and the precious feeling of her daughter’s arms clinging tightly to her neck.
“Thank you, Jared. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
The raw emotion in her trembling words humbled him, touched him in a spot he hadn’t known he possessed.
“There’s no need for you to thank me, Kerry. I wanted to get Peggy out of there as much as you wanted to have her back.”
Shifting Peggy’s weight to one arm, Kerry extended her hand to Jared. He folded his fingers around hers with a firm reassuring grip. As their hands warmed together, he realized the past horrific hours had connected him to this woman in an oddly intimate way. Even now he could feel her relief and joy in the same way he’d felt her earlier desperation and fear.
“I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me,” she said to him. “And when Peggy gets old enough to understand, I’ll explain to her that a very brave man saved her life.”
Jared was like most any red-blooded male from eighteen months old to eighty. He liked to show off for any appreciative female, maybe even preen a little bit if the occasion warranted. But tonight was a different situation. And he didn’t want this woman to get the impression that he was hero material. He wasn’t. He was just a man who wouldn’t give up until the job was done.
“Not brave, Kerry. Just stubborn,” he corrected.
Her eyes still wet with grateful tears, she raised up on tiptoe and kissed his dirty cheek. “Then thank you for being a stubborn man, Jared Colton.”
“Kerry! Is Peggy all right? Is there anything broken?”
Stunned by the brief, intimate contact, Jared watched Kerry turn away to answer Enola’s frantic question. Moments later, he felt a nudge in his rib cage and looked around to see that he was now bracketed by a grinning brother and cousin.
Gray, who was only a year younger than Jared, said, “Well old cousin, looks like you’re certainly the hero at this little gathering.”
His description of the crowd around them as “a little gathering” was quite an understatement. It seemed like half the townsfolk were swarming around them like bees.
Jared slipped off his hard hat. The night breeze felt cool against his sweating head. Pushing his fingers through his wet hair, he said to Gray, “Hell, I didn’t do anything but crawl into a hole.”
Bram punched him affectionately in the shoulder and chuckled. “Looks to me like Kerry WindWalker thought you did
