A Cowboy's Love Part 21

She's alone up there, somewhere all alone. She's lost her shoe and she's scared and she's waiting for me to find her.

Meanwhile, Cal strode quickly to where a growth of aspen trees bordered the entrance to the broad canyon that cut through the sharply rising cliff. At the base of the aspens and up along the canyon sides, the scrub oak grew thickly and a few junipers could be seen, thinning out as the canyon rose more steeply above him. Cal knelt beside a clump of stunted, dry juniper, and dug his hand around its base, were he had spotted the mate to the shoe Jamie held in her hand. It was lying, jammed up against the woody trunk, and a little skid mark above it showed Cal that the child had slipped in the wet soil, losing her second shoe up against the stubby tree. Broken twigs, about a foot above the ground, told him where she had grabbed the branches trying to steady herself.

He picked up the shoe and then took a few steps further, the print of Mandy's tiny toes making a clear trail for him to follow. He looked ahead, far enough to confirm that the truck would not be able to climb much further along this course, when suddenly, he saw something that made his pulse jump. He took another couple of steps forward and dropped to one knee.

Oh, Christ!

One careful look and he knew just how bad it was. Another track had joined the print of the little foot. At least five inches across, it was the unmistakable footprint of a mountain lion. By the size of the print and by the length of the cat's stride, Cal judged it to be a fully-grown male, its body alone easily five feet long. The shallowness of the track told him the print had been made several hours after Mandy had pa.s.sed by, when the soil had had a chance to dry out a bit.

But the cougar's footprint told him something else, something much worse. Cal ran his fingers along the inside of the left front print, and then moved ahead to confirm, in the next stride, what he had seen in the first. He followed the track for a distance of abut twenty feet, making sure.

Now we've got some real trouble.

He stared at the print, trying to decide whether he should tell Jamie.

She's had to be so brave. How much more of this is she going to be able to take?

But it was too late for him to make that decision. Jamie had already come up the slope and was standing beside him. He looked up, shading his eyes against the sunlight that now was strong and flat at the horizon, and he realized she had also seen what he had discovered. Her eyes were riveted on that print and he knew there could be no hiding it from her.

"What does it mean, Cal?"

She knelt beside him, touching her fingers to the little print Mandy had left and then moving her hand over the track of the big cat.

"It's not good, Jamie. That's the track of a mountain lion. And it looks to me like he's following her."

Jamie made no sound, but he saw her fingertips whiten as they dug against the ground.

"That's not all," he said. "This cat's been hurt." He pointed to the inside of the front print. "You can see here where it's favoring that left front leg." He showed her the scuffed edges of the print. "That paw is being dragged. You can see how shallow the print is and the whole stride on the left side is shorter and weaker than normal. And he's compensating on the right side-the opposite print, on that side is much deeper than it would usually be. No telling what got him-could have been a fight with another male, or maybe he tangled with a mother bear. Or some rancher took a shot at him. Whatever it was, he's been hurt badly."

He stood up. He didn't need to spell it out for her. The cat had been injured and that made him dangerous. A cougar wouldn't normally try to attack a human child, but if it couldn't hunt its usual prey, it would settle for whatever it could find. And this cat was following Mandy.

Jamie's eyes now fixed on the canyon winding up ahead of them, her fingers tracing the inside of Mandy' footprint, as though it might speak to her. Cal bent down and put his hands on her arms, lifting her to her feet.

"We don't have time to stand here. Jamie. The truck isn't going to be able to make it into this canyon. I'm going to have to track them on foot, and you're going to have to wait down here for me."

In a few strides, he was back at the Ford and was lifting the Winchester from the rack. He loaded some ammo into the rifle quickly and he dropped a handful of additional cartridges into his pocket.

Jamie was already back at his side.

"No, Cal, I'm not waiting in the truck."

"Jamie, I've got to move fast and I've got to move quiet."

"I'm not staying behind! Mandy's waiting for me to come and get her! I'm going with you and we don't have time to stand here and argue!"

"That cat is dangerous, Jamie. It's been hurt and it's probably in pain, and it's going to be mean. Don't you understand, I don't want you anywhere near it?"

"Don't you understand? That animal is after my baby! I'm not waiting here!"

And she turned from him and was already climbing the slope, following the tiny footprints.

He was momentarily weak with love for her.

Sweet Jesus, please don't let anything hurt either one of them.

"All right," he said, catching her up quickly. "Let's go."

Together, they entered the canyon and picked up the double trail of the child and the cougar.

She had no experience tracking, so she had to let him go ahead, but she stayed close behind. Once they were into the canyon, he moved slowly, staying low and holding his rifle ready, and she matched her pace to his, keeping her steps as silent as she could on the dry earth. He paused every few steps to look ahead, beyond the tracks in the soil, to scan the rocks and ledges that rose above the twisting, narrowing trail, and Jamie paused when he did, searching desperately, on every twig and in every niche of rock, for even the tiniest sign the child might have left behind-any twisted branch, gripped by a little hand, or a few threads of fabric caught against a rough stone.

The sun, now fully risen and hot, baked the red earth beneath their feet as they made their silent way. The canyon breeze was stilled and the usually-fluttering leaves of the quaking aspens no longer moved, suspended breathlessly on their thin branches. Overhead, a raven rose from its perch in the boulders and circled away, down to the desert floor, now far below them. Mandy's trail became harder and harder to follow as it continued farther up the canyon where the ground became rockier, and there were fewer low bushes to show the marks of her pa.s.sage through them.

Even as Jamie was instinct-driven to close the distance between herself and her little girl, she simultaneously became, in the primal way of all mothers when their children are in danger, one person with her child, again a child herself, existing in Mandy's place, as though it were she herself who was the lost child. She felt what Mandy must have suffered, alone in the dark and the cold, trying to figure out what to do and not having the grown-up skills she needed.

Please, G.o.d. She breathed the words silently. She's just a little girl.

Her feet slipped a little and she dug her fingers into the earth to catch herself. Cal paused, looking back, and she signaled to him that she was all right.

"Go ahead," she mouthed the words silently, gesturing to show she was steady.

He turned and continued on.

What would she have done without Cal? She let her eyes leave the trail for a moment, just to watch the way he moved through the brush. He was so careful and patient. The rifle weighted him forward, like a casual extension of his arm, as natural to his hand as a length of rope or the horn of his saddle.

What would she have done without him? Without a protector standing by, someone who would take care of her for her sake, she would herself have been helplessly exposed, for in the face of her child's danger, she was entirely without any capacity to protect herself. So she followed behind him and concentrated only on the small signs, as Cal pointed them out to her, the occasional mark of a little foot where it touched a bit of damp ground as the child struggled through the tumbled stones, the mark of baby hands grasping at the small branches, leaving them snapped and bruised. There was encouragement in these tiny signs.

But there was terror in the parallel track of the cat, moving right along with Mandy's trail, and she couldn't bear to look at those marks. She kept her eyes on the brush and stayed close behind Cal as they picked their way silently up the canyon, following a trail that grew fainter as it climbed higher.

The trail was very spa.r.s.e indeed when up ahead the craggy face of the canyon wall bent away from them. As they rounded it, a broad plateau opened up, rimmed in the distance by great flat-topped boulders lying up against the far rise of the mountain. Blue spruce and lodgepole pine were growing up here, and the aspen were bright against them. To the east, the mountain dropped away and the desert shimmered far below.

Jamie knew, the moment she came around the bend and saw the open s.p.a.ce and the great table-like rocks strewn across it, this was the place where Mandy would have stopped to wait for her. Although Cal had advanced a few steps, looking for the next sign on the ground, Jamie paused where she was and scanned the great boulders that lay ahead of them.

"Cal!" she whispered urgently. She came up quickly behind him, her hand reaching out to touch his arm. Her heart raced. "Cal, I see her!"

At the far side of the broad plateau, where the flat rocks lay like huge, ancient lizards baking in the sun, there was one on which a little barefoot girl was sitting, playing with a small branch of aspen she'd gathered on her long trek up to this barren, dry place. The sunlight glinted off her white-blond hair and her bright red T-shirt was like a flag signaling to the searchers that their hunt was over.

Oh, G.o.d! She's alive!

Jamie forgot everything. She was about to stand up, to run to Mandy, to call to her, when Cal's arm thrust back at her, his hand almost striking her as he forced her down. He was silent, but she saw that he was not looking at Mandy. His face was turned up to ledges of rock that rose in great tiers behind the child, and Jamie saw what he saw. She went ice-cold, her heart constricting painfully.

The cougar was immobile. He lay, like a statue, not more than ten feet from Mandy, watching her from the ledge above her.

Jamie froze, not daring to make a move, not daring even to breathe.

Next to her, Cal dropped to his right knee.

The lion's head came up and he looked toward them across the broad sunlit plateau. The black-tufted ears came up, and the long tail switched slightly, a deliberate, slow motion, back and forth, back and forth. As though he had all the time in the world, he raised himself slowly.

Cal raised the Winchester's stock into his shoulder and bent his eye to the scope. In the crosshairs, he saw that the animal, a hundred yards away, was looking right at them. Cal adjusted his aim.

He had a perfect shot. His finger on the trigger began to tighten- "No!" Jamie's hand was on his, stopping him. "No, Cal, don't shoot! Don't shoot him!"

"What are you doing? Get your hand away!"

Even as he tried to reposition to take the shot, the lion began to move.

"Don't you see, Cal? He's not going to hurt her! He's leaving!"

Through the gun's sight, Cal saw the lion turn away, his whole left side, exposed, presenting an easy target. Slowly, almost deliberately, with a single last look at Mandy, the lion moved to the far edge of the rock. His injured left shoulder twitched spasmodically but there was nothing damaged in those powerful hind legs and in one move he leapt to the ledge above him. Cal again adjusted his aim again and again Jamie stopped him.

"Cal! Don't hurt him! Please! Don't hurt him!"

Cal turned momentarily toward her, saw something in her eyes that spoke to him. He took a deep breath and put a brake on his frustration. "I don't understand." His expression was a mix of confusion and irritation. "I don't understand. But all right, Jamie. I won't hurt him. But you'd better have a good reason. And at least I hope you won't mind if I do just scare him on his way. I don't like him being that close to Mandy."

Once more, he aimed, and this time she didn't interfere. His shot pinged off the rock just beneath the lion.

Cal stood up, ready to fire again if necessary, but the lion had disappeared among the boulders. Jamie now was running across the plateau, whispering under her breath as she ran.

"Thank you, G.o.d! Thank you, thank you."

In a moment, she had reached Mandy who, at the sound of the gunshot, had looked up and seen her Mommy. She was already climbing down from the rock, her little bare feet reaching with difficulty to the dry earth below. As Jamie gathered her up close, Mandy's vivid blue eyes were wide, looking excitedly into Jamie's.

"I was scared, Mommy. Daddy and Tina left me alone in the car and they were fighting and I was scared. The door was open and I got out and they didn't see me. And I climbed all the way back here to this place, so you could find me. Just like you said, like the mommy cow and her baby, how they go back to where they were together. And it was so cold and it was dark but I found the place, didn't I, Mommy? Isn't this the place?"

It was good enough. What difference would it make if for all her life Mandy would not know? One canyon is as good as another, as long as she'd been found!

"Yes, sweetie. Oh, yes! This is the perfect place."

"I walked right here, and I didn't move at all, the whole night, so you could find me."

"Yes, sweetie, yes. You were such a good girl. You did just what Mommy told you."

Jamie knelt beside her and kissed Mandy's hair and pressed her cheek against her little girl's hair. It was all over and Mandy was safely in her arms, not only for now, but for always.

Mandy wrapped her arms around Jamie's neck, and laid her head down on her Mommy's shoulder. Then she raised it again, for she had seen a tall man, wearing a cowboy hat and holding a great big gun. The man was coming toward them and his face looked very serious.

Cal was mystified by Jamie's behavior and he wanted an explanation. He'd had a sure shot at that animal, and a wounded lion was dangerous. He couldn't see any reason why he shouldn't have finished him off. But it was true, the animal hadn't seemed to be interested in attacking Mandy and when he moved off, it was almost thoughtfully, as though he knew something Cal didn't understand. What could Jamie have been thinking? And what could that cougar have been thinking?

But there were Jamie and Mandy waiting there, kneeling together in the sunlight, their bright heads touching. And he felt his heart turn over and he knew, no matter what, he would love these two forever.

When he reached them, he knelt down beside them. He loved how the little girl's hair was a mirror image of her mother's and how her eyes held the same vivid blue brightness.

"Well, you sure came a long way," he said to her.

And then, to Jamie, he said quietly, "What were you thinking?" And just as quietly, she answered him.

"I just understood, Cal. I saw it all so clearly. That cougar was not preying on Mandy. He wasn't hunting her. He wasn't going to hurt her. I just knew it. I knew he was following her because"-she hesitated because she knew it would sound crazy-"he was following her because . . ."

"Because what?"

"Because he was protecting her!"

"Jamie! That's crazy."

"I know. But I just know it. He's the same one, all these years. And you saw. He never did hurt her. He was there, watching her, watching over her, staying with her, the whole time. Just the way he's always stayed with me. You don't have to believe me. I just know it."

Cal studied her face, her beautiful, open, sincere face. A long, long, thoughtful look. And then he grinned at her.

"Sweetheart, I can see you and I are going to argue about this for all the years to come."

Jamie smiled back at him-a wicked, intimate little smile.

"I know," she said.

"I'm just glad it all worked out and no one got hurt."

"I know," she said.

They kissed briefly, and exchanged a long, long look.

Then Cal turned to Mandy, who'd been watching them intently.

"You left your tennis shoes down below," he said to her, "and I've got them in my truck. It's kind of a long walk. How about if I carry you?"

Mandy looked him over thoughtfully, for a long time. Then she held out her arms to him.

"Okay," she said, and Cal shifted his rifle to his left hand and hoisted Mandy onto his right shoulder where she laid her head down. And she slept all the way to the bottom of the canyon. She didn't even wake up when they arrived at the truck and Jamie climbed in and Cal put the exhausted child into her mother's arms.

"Okay, darlin'," he said as he got in behind the wheel and started the engine. "Let's take our little girl home."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Joan Myra Bronston grew up in New York City, married her college sweetheart, and went with him to Germany for a year while he was in the Army, where she worked as a telex operator and mail clerk. They then moved to Austria where Joan spent five years teaching at an international school. She is the mother of three wonderful girls and the grandmother of a super-wonderful grandson. Joan was also a secretary, social investigator, and psychiatric researcher, before entering law school and eventually becoming a corporate attorney. In addition to her years in Europe, Joan has lived in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and, for eighteen years, Salt Lake City. At last, she has closed the circle and returned to her first and most beloved-New York City. Visit her website at jmbronston.com..

Books by J. M. Bronston.

A PURRFECT ROMANCE.