She was better off without a man who broke her heart to go wandering the country.
Nicki turned her flashlight back on and stared at the picture in her hand. Enough wallowing in the past. It was time to look to the future. There was a whole lot of rebuilding to be done.
Tossing the framed photo and postcard into the trash on top of the shattered window glass, Nicki lay down on her bed to grab a few hours of sleep.
She dreamed about the howling wind and Clay Logan’s bright blue eyes.
For the next two days, Nicki was simply too busy helping with the cleanup of her town to think about the photo she’d thrown away. Her few broken treasures seemed trivial compared to the losses she saw around her. Dozens of her neighbors had lost everything. Sadly, Maya Logan’s sister-in-law, Marie, had lost her life. Working side by side with volunteers who’d come from all over to help, Nicki gained a new appreciation for the kindness that strangers could bestow on those in need and for the resilient spirit of the people of High Plains.
The ring of her cell phone offered her a break from the hot, exhausting job of carrying tree limbs and broken boards to a waiting dump truck. Pulling off her gloves, she extracted the phone from her pocket. The phone company had gotten one of their towers back online the day after the storm, allowing for cellular service, but the city was still without land lines or electricity. She flipped open her cell and said, “Hello?”
“Nicki, I’m glad to hear your voice. Are you all right? This is just so terrible.” It was Emma Barnet, a social worker Nicki knew well and had worked with on several occasions.
“I’m fine. I had one broken window. How about you?”
“It missed our house by a mile. I’m happy you’re okay, because this is an official call. A toddler was brought into the hospital the night of the tornado. A little girl about fifteen months old. We haven’t been able to locate her parents or any family. No one knows who she is. She was found by the old cottages near the river.”
“No one has claimed a child? That’s unbelievable!”
“The authorities are working on identifying her, but it may take a while since she isn’t old enough to give us a name. I know this is an imposition at a time like this, but the hospital is over capacity. I’m swamped with people who need placement and every kind of help.”
“Tell me what I can do.”
Sighing, Emma said, “Bless you, Nicki. I don’t want to send this little girl out of the area if I don’t have to. Is there any way you can foster her until we find her family?”
Nicki didn’t hesitate. “Of course.”
“Great. Since you’ve fostered babies before, the paperwork will be minimal. We’re calling her Kasey for now because she had the initials K.C. inside her shirt. She’s got a nasty bump on her head plus scrapes and bruises, but nothing serious. We should be able to release her from the hospital in a day or two.”
“Then I should start coming by to visit so she can get used to me before I take her home. I’ll be there in a few hours.”
“That sounds perfect. If anything changes, I’ll call.”
Snapping the phone shut, Nicki looked at the unbelievable devastation around her. Out of all this sorrow there had to come something good. Perhaps this unknown little girl would be it.
Chapter One
October 27
Clay Logan had barely stepped down from his horse before Mrs. Dewey threw her arms around him again.
“Thank you, Clay. Thank you so very, very much.”
His neck was going to have a permanent crick in it if she didn’t let up soon.
Her husband, standing beside the second trail horse, lifted his seven-year-old daughter, Karen, out of the saddle. Walking over, he grabbed Clay’s hand in a vicelike grip and began pumping it up and down. “We owe you a debt of gratitude that we’ll never be able to repay.”
Clay’s boss, Hollister Dodd, owner of the Canadian Wilderness Guide Service, had come out onto the wide porch of the lodge at the Chilihota Ranch. He watched the return of his clients from their packhorse excursion with a puzzled expression on his face.
“It was nothing, ma’am. Honest,” Clay managed to mutter past Mrs. Dewey’s stranglehold.
She took a step back. “I don’t know how you can say that. You saved our daughter’s life!”
“What’s this?” Hollister came forward to take the reins of Mrs. Dewey’s horse.
“Tanner pushed me in the lake.” Safe in her father’s arms, Karen, a blond-haired, blue-eyed pixie and the bane of Clay’s existence for the last two weeks, scowled at her older brother still sitting on his horse.
“It was an accident,” fourteen-year-old Tanner mumbled.
Something in his tone caught Clay’s attention and brought back memories of his own childhood. His brother, Jesse, used to sound just like that when he was explaining why Clay had landed in trouble while Jesse was supposed to be watching him.
Hollister’s gaze focused on Clay. “When did this happen?”
Mr. Dewey spoke up quickly. “Please don’t think Clay was negligent in any way. We made camp last evening at White Lake. The kids were horsing around on that big boulder that juts out like a ship’s prow. Clay cautioned them several times to get off the rock.”
He had, but little miss daredevil just had to see how close to the edge she could get. In a way, she reminded Clay of himself at that age. No wonder Jesse had been glad to see the last of him.
Hollister relaxed once he realized the family didn’t intend to sue him for all he was worth. Stepping up to Mr. Dewey, he ruffled Karen’s hair. “I’ll bet it was a cold dip.”
She nodded, and Clay had to agree. His dive from the rock ledge fifteen feet up had plunged him deep into the frigid waters of the snow-fed lake. The shock all but paralyzed his muscles. Even now, he marveled that he’d managed to reach the girl in the icy depths and find the strength to get them both to shore.
Mrs. Dewey pressed her hand to her heart as tears welled up in her eyes. “When Karen fell, Clay didn’t hesitate. He jumped in to save her. I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t acted so quickly.” Her voice cracked, and she couldn’t go on.
Her husband reached out to draw her close. She buried her face in his shoulder, her arms encircling both her husband and her child. Mr. Dewey said, “Karen can’t swim. Clay saved her life.”
In spite of their praise, Clay knew he hadn’t done it alone.
Even now, he wasn’t sure he trusted what he’d felt, but it had been as real as the icy water around him. Deep beneath the surface, at the moment all his energy had been sapped and he was sure Karen was lost forever, a healing presence had come over him. It gave him the strength he needed to reach the child and get her to shore.
God had been with him in that lake. He had no other explanation.
After
