Love on the Horizon (A Northern Woods Novel) (14 page)

“I’ll be there. By the way, I had
to give Anya her car. It doesn't matter to me, since she put so many scratches
and dents in it; I don’t want it. I guess she got a job at some Bed &
Breakfast in Duluth. She has to pay me back for all of the credit card debt and
the medical and dental bills for her and Zak, which amounted to thirty thousand
dollars. I can garnish her wages. I must pay one year of spousal support, five
hundred dollars per month," he said, with a not-so-humorous laugh. “Her
lawyer tried for five thousand dollars per month. Can you believe that?” He
shook his head. “Instead, she has to pay me the money for maxing out my credit
cards. My lawyer said he thinks she’ll be out of here before winter arrives. I
guess the judge let her know that she’d be better off going back to where she
came from. What a relief, Nick. I wish I’d listened to you in the first place.

“Also… when I walked out to my
truck this morning, there were big dents pounded into the hood and she keyed
the rear fenders on both the driver’s and the passenger’s side.”

“Are you sure it was her?”

“I’m positive. I put up security
lights and motion cameras. It showed her and a girlfriend doing it with their
car keys. She pounded the dents in the hood with a baseball bat. I called the
police, and they wrote up the report and took the photos of her in the act.”

“You’ll be better off without
her, Jake.”

He nodded his head, and turned
away for a moment. When he looked back he added, “I know, Nick. You were right
all along. Thanks for your help.”

“No problem; just make sure
you’re here for those interviews next week.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be here.” He
put his hands in his pockets and walked out to his truck.

Nick was looking up at the sky
when Art came out of the stable and stood next to him.

“Looks and smells like rain
coming. I closed and locked everything up for the night. Have you heard of any
recent weather reports?”

“No, but I think we'd better keep
a close watch on things tonight and tomorrow. This morning’s report predicted
heavy storms on the way. Get some sleep Art. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Art nodded, and walked toward his
cottage, while Nick turned in the direction of his house. When he reached the
deck, he looked out across the meadow, then up at the clouds. With a worried
expression on his face, he stepped inside and shut the door.

Chapter
Twenty-two

“Drive carefully, Bess,” Nick
said. “The roads are still wet from last night’s rain.”

“Are you sure you don’t want him
to stay home today? You know how Nicky’s afraid of thunderstorms,” she
whispered out the car window.

“He’ll be okay. So long cowboy;
have fun at school. We’ll see you at lunchtime.” This was Nicky’s second week
of kindergarten.

“Bye Daddy.”

When her car was out of sight
Nick looked up at the gathering dark clouds and shook his head. He removed his
hat, scratched the back of his head, then turned and looked to the west. He
hoped the rain clouds would dissipate before they reach Pinewood Hills; he
placed his Stetson back on and headed for the stable.

Bess returned within the hour.
The rain and thunder had just begun when she climbed out of her car and hurried
into the house.

The twins were crying from a
sudden crack of lightning followed by a deep rumble. Mariah held one in each
arm and tried to soothe them with the slow motion of the rocking chair.  

“I wish I hadn’t taken him to
school, Mariah. I asked Nick before driving away, but he thought Nicky would be
fine.”

“I’m sure he will be, Bess. The
teachers have had plenty of experience with bad weather conditions. Right now
the twins are upset, this being their first thunderstorm.”

Bess reached down to take Angie
from her and held her in her arms. At another strike of lightning, both babies
let out a loud, horrified scream. Bess rocked Angie back and forth while she
reached for the television remote control and turned it on. Just as a weather
alert appeared across the screen, the back door flew open. Nick, Art and Lucky
rushed in.

“Get to the basement, hurry!”
Nick yelled. Art was the last to enter and struggled to shut the door tightly,
then latched the bolt lock.

“A tornado touched down three
miles north of here, and it’s heading toward Pinewood Hills.”

Bess took Angie and hurried to
the basement stairway, while Nick helped Mariah out of the rocker, holding
Allie tightly in her arms. Mariah grabbed a handful of diapers on her way through
the laundry room, which stood at the top of the stairs. The twins were crying
out in ear-piercing screams.

“Nick, can you grab a couple of
juice bottles for the babies? They’re in the pantry, third shelf on the left!”

“I’ll get them Nick, just go down
and help the women,” Art yelled. The blustery winds howled and the rain beat
fiercely, rattling the kitchen windows. He grabbed the cartons of juice and
hurried down the basement stairs, with Lucky following behind him.

“We didn’t have the television on,
Nick,” Mariah cried. She kept rocking Allie, trying to quiet her down.

“That’s okay, honey. We heard on
the radio that a tornado had touched down. We’d been watching the sky, while
the men rounded up the horses. The ranch hands went to the cellar beneath the
stable. Art and I came to the house to help the four of you get to the
basement.”

“But Nicky, oh my God, Nicky is
out there!”

“I’m sure he’s okay, honey. Don’t
you remember? The lower level was one of the things we liked about the school.
Built with a basement for the storage of janitorial supplies, they’re also able
to use it for emergencies like this. He’ll be fine.” He kissed the top of her
head, and then he gently took Allie into his arms and paced back and forth.

He looked around the room,
impressed with the final changes that he and Mariah’s father had put into it.
He walked over to the television, turned it on and then wished he hadn’t. There
on the KTSP News were cameras showing damage to the Lindstrom Ranch. The
property to the south of Lindstrom’s, McCaffrey’s Dairy, was demolished. There
was nothing left. The land was bare, everything gone.

“Oh Lord,” Bess whispered.

“They’re only located two miles
to the north of here,” Art said with concern. “I’m going upstairs to see if
it’s calmed down yet.”

“No Art, wait.” Nick pointed to
the television. “The maps are indicating the storm to be close to us. We’d
better stay right here for the time being.” He barely got the words out of his
mouth when a rip of lightning seemed as though it traveled from one end of the
house to the other, followed by a deafening blast of thunder. It was loud
enough to make the bare skin on his arm tingle and raise the hair on the back
of his neck.

“Holy crap!” Art jumped away from
the stairway. “Guess you’re right. I'll just sit down for a spell,” Art
muttered. “I hope Lillie went to our basement."

Above them, they heard a loud
bang, followed by a crunch, as if something had fallen inside, or against the
outside of the house; it was such a horrific blast it was hard to determine
exactly where it was located.

When the storm appeared to have
let up, the twins finally quieted down. Nick informed Mariah and Bess to stay
where they were, for the time being.

Nick and Art slowly ascended the
stairs. Nick attempted to open the basement door. It came to a halt about one
foot from the frame. “Something must have fallen. The door’s blocked.” He
squeezed his head through the small space and could see a wooden cabinet lying
on its side. “The shelves that stored cleaning supplies fell over, leaving soap
streaming across the stone tile flooring. At least it’s flowing toward the
laundry room drain.”

Mariah stood at the bottom of the
stairs. “Let me come up, Nick. I’d be able to fit through the space easier than
you.”

“No, just stay where you are
until I check the entire house, honey. This may not be the only damage.”

He and Art leaned against the
door and together were able to push it open, far enough for Nick to squeeze
through. Art followed close behind.

Looking out the kitchen window,
they noticed that a tree along the west side of the deck had fallen, and hit
the laundry room wall.

“There’s the culprit,” Art said,
and they continued to walk through the kitchen and into the living room.

They inspected each room. “It
looks like the fallen tree was the only disturbance,” Nick said. “Let’s pick up
the pieces of shelving. I’ll mop up the soapy floor, and then the women will be
able to come back up.”

When Nick and Art safely assisted
Mariah, Bess and the twins up the stairway, they went out to the barn to make
sure the men were safe. Everything looked just as they’d left it. The ranch
hands were already tending to the horses, and nothing had been disturbed.

“I guess we were the lucky ones,
Art. We’d better get over to see if we can be of any help at the neighboring
ranches, but first I’m going over to pick Nicky up from school. I don’t want
Bess driving, in case any trees have fallen in the roadway, or power lines
down.”

Nick pulled up in front of the
Pinewood Elementary School and looked around. Everything seemed to be in place
and there appeared to be no damage. Relieved, he opened the door of his truck
and jumped out. He found no sign of a storm coming through here whatsoever.
This area only received a light amount of rainfall. He smiled in relief, and
walked into the school. When he entered the office, the receptionist glanced up
from her paperwork.

“Mr. Colburn, what are you doing
here?”

“I came to pick up my son.”

“But he left an hour ago.”

“What do you mean he left? You
must be mistaken. My son is Nicky Colburn.”

She shifted uneasily and
straightened some papers on her desk. “A woman was here around fifty to sixty
minutes ago. She said the storm had damaged your ranch, that she was related to
your wife – her cousin I believe, and you asked her to pick Nicky up from
school.”

He glared at her. “What did she
look like?” he asked, as he tried to discipline the tone of his voice, now
fully alarmed.

“She appeared to be one of Mrs.
Colburn’s kinfolk. Isn’t Mrs. Colburn Russian?”

“What did the woman look like?”
he repeated.

“She had green eyes, auburn hair,
and seemed to be around five feet tall, maybe a bit taller. She said her name
was Karina.”

Chapter
Twenty-three

The muscles of his forearm
hardened beneath his sleeve, his anguish almost overcoming his control. He took
a deep breath and released it slowly, turned and stormed out of the school.
When he climbed into his truck, he dialed the number of Jake’s cell phone. He
answered immediately.

“Jake, this is Nick. What kind of
car does Anya drive?”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Just give me the information on
her car, Jake. I’ll explain when I get there.”

“She drives a 2002 Lincoln
Continental.”

“What color?”

“Deep green. What’s going on,
Nick?”

“Anya picked Nicky up from school
about an hour ago. I needed that information to give to the police department.
I’m on my way home.” Nick closed the phone. A huge cloud of dust erupted from
the spin of his tires as he backed out of his parking space, left the school,
and tore down the highway at an unthinkable speed.

When he barreled down the gravel
drive and pulled up along the north side of the stable Jake was there to meet
him. Nick jumped from his truck and slammed the door.

“The police will be here any
minute. Damn it, Jake! Anya kidnapped Nicky. We’ve got to find her.”

“What makes you think it was her?
She’d rage like a wildfire at me, but she wouldn’t do anything to a child.”

“She told the receptionist in the
school office that her name was Karina and that our ranch was one of those hit
by the tornado. She said she was a cousin of Mariah’s. Jake, Mariah doesn’t
have any cousins.”

“Karina… shit. The evening I
kicked her out of the house I checked the computer, because she was on it
constantly. I wanted to find out whom she’d been in contact with. I found her
name listed as Karina.”

“You have to report this to the
police when they get here. Do you have any idea where she may have gone with my
son?”

“This is absurd. She sent Zak
back to his father in Russia. She couldn’t afford to support him. She was
unable to collect child support from me, although she tried. I’m not Zak’s
father, and I didn’t adopt him. I don’t know why she’d pull a stunt like this.”

“I’ll need your help Jake. The
police will want your full cooperation.”

He looked up and noticed rising
dust off in the distance; four police vehicles were approaching. Art had been
exiting the stable when he saw the officers arriving, and immediately knew
something was wrong. He rushed over, and Nick explained the situation as
quickly as possible.