She did notice the loud voices from the front of the barn near the door.
A woman’s voice called, “Francis? Anyone seen Francis?”
There was a loud shuffling as the boots of the ranch hands who were sitting by the heater hit the floor with a united thud.
A man’s rough voice demanded, “Garth? Where’s Garth?”
Finally one of the teenage girls opened the barn door from the outside and shrieked, “Kidnapping! They were right! There’s a kidnapping! We saw the truck—we saw them!” The girl’s face was white, but Jenny couldn’t tell if it was from the outside cold or from shock.
“Come in, dear. Tell us what you saw.” Mrs. Hargrove was drawing the girl inside as Jenny and Robert arrived at her side.
“Bryan and I were outside looking at the stars when we heard a gunshot.”
“I told you that was a gunshot,” one of the ranch hands muttered to another.
“Are you sure it was a gunshot?” Mrs. Hargrove put a jacket around the shivering girl. “It might have been a car misfiring.”
“But there weren’t any cars running. Not even that big truck was going when we heard the shot,” the girl insisted. “Besides, I know the difference between a gunshot and a car backfiring.”
Mrs. Hargrove took a quick, assessing look at the girl. The girl was tall and skinny with a light brown skin that could signal almost any race. Finally, the older woman nodded. “We’d best call out the sheriff.”
“The sheriff? Where’s he off to anyway?” one ranch hand said.
“Some guy called in an emergency from the Billings airport,” another answered. “Something to do with some VIP.”
“I think the guys with the guns are in that big truck that just left,” the girl continued. “Bryan saw something shiny that looked like a gun.”
“Where’s Bryan now?” Robert asked the girl quietly. Something about the whole story didn’t seem right to him. Any teenage boy he knew would be in here claiming the glory of the moment. But there was no Bryan.
The girl bit her lip.
Robert looked around. There were a lot more dresses than tuxedoes in the crowd.
“Where’s Bryan?” he asked again.
“He wanted to be sure. I told him it was a gunshot, but he wanted to be sure before he told everyone.” The girl’s brown complexion went a little yellow and she swallowed hard.
“Where is he?”
“He took the bus to follow them.”
“Mercy!” Mrs. Hargrove put her hands to her mouth. “When they have guns! And the boy all alone.”
“I don’t think he’s quite all alone,” Robert said grimly as he looked over the teenagers again. Then he looked at the girl. “How many other guys are with him?”
The girl looked miserable. “Ten.”
“Lord have mercy,” Mrs. Hargrove said again.
“We’ll have to catch them,” Robert said, looking over at the ranch hands. He recognized the men’s faces from the ride into Dry Creek on the bus that was now in hot pursuit of the cattle truck. None of them would have a vehicle here. “Who’s got a pickup we can borrow?”
“You can take ours,” one of the farm wives offered as she bent to fumble in her purse for the keys.
“Anyone call the sheriff yet?” Robert asked as he eyed half a dozen of the ranch hands. “I don’t suppose anyone here has a hunting gun in their truck?”
“We called the sheriff,” Jenny said with a nod to another one of the ranch women. She held up the cell phone that had been resting in her apron pocket. “But he’s tied up at the Billings airport with some woman who came in, named Laurel Carlton or something like that.”
“Laurel?” Robert paled. “Here?”
Well, this is it, Jenny thought. Robert certainly looked uncomfortable with the thought of this woman, whoever she was. Maybe her sister was right and he was married after all.
“Fred has a gun,” one of the ranch hands yelled from the other side of the barn. “Uses it to scare off coyotes on his place.”
“It’s an old rifle—draws a little to the left,” the man explained as he walked fast toward the door. “But I’ll get it. It’s better than nothing.”
“I think everyone should just wait for the authorities,” Mrs. Buckwalter said. “Let them handle it. A gun can be a dangerous thing.”
One of the ranch hands snorted. “Tell that to whoever’s in the truck. We can’t wait for the sheriff. They’ll be long gone by the time he gets here.”
“He’s right,” Robert said.
The farm woman with the pickup pressed a set of keys into the palm of Robert’s hand. “The tank’s half-full.”
The other men looked at Robert. He nodded his head at five or six of the sturdiest-looking ones and they, almost in unison, dipped their heads to drop a kiss on their wives’ cheeks before starting toward the door.
Now that’s what marriage is about, Robert thought to himself. The automatic, comfortable affection of settled love. Having someone to kiss goodbye when you’re going off to war or even just heading to the store.
Seeing all those kisses made him feel lonely enough to be brave. What could it hurt?
Jenny was talking to Robert’s mother, her head bent slightly to hear his shorter mother. The dark wave of Jenny’s hair lay on her neck. Wisps of hair moved with his hand as Robert brushed the hair aside. He hoped to get Jenny’s full attention. He’d kissed Mrs. Hargrove on her hair part earlier and had no more appetite for hair kisses.
Jenny looked up. His mother looked up. Satisfied, Robert bent his head to kiss Jenny on her cheek. Her skin was soft as a petal. He could hear her surprised gasp even though it was little more than an indrawn breath.
“I’ll be fine,” Robert assured Jenny quickly, overlooking the fact that she hadn’t asked.
“You’re not going with them,” Robert’s mother said. Jenny still seemed a little dazed. The older woman repeated, “You can’t possibly be thinking of going with them.”
“I’ll be fine.” Robert moved to kiss his mother, as well. “Don’t worry.”
“But they have guns!” Mrs. Buckwalter said, as though that settled everything.
“I’ll be back,” Robert said as he started to walk toward the door. “Just tell that sheriff to get back here.”
“But he can’t go.” Mrs. Buckwalter repeated the words to Jenny as they watched Robert go through
