Where the Wild Rose Blooms (23 page)

"Oh." Jackie turned serious, and looked in all directions behind her. She still didn't see anything, but the

little girls' conversation from the store now made more sense.

"How'd you get in there?" Clayton suddenly asked, shifting in his saddle to scan the fence line. He spotted the gate across the way.

"Now that would be telling," Jackie said, but she was looking away. She could feel her cheeks heating. Indeed, she had climbed over at a low spot in the fence but didn't care to admit this.

"Do you want some help getting out?"

"No, thank you." Jackie tried to sound nonchalant, but when she finally looked at him, she found he was eyeing her strangely. She watched as he pushed his hat back on his head.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Jackie's eyes were huge, and she could feel her face going red all over again.

Clayton felt hesitant to leave her but told himself he'd have to take her at her word. She was acting very embarrassed about something, but he couldn't imagine what. He wondered at that moment if she might indeed be meeting a young man. It would certainly account for her behavior, but within Henderson's fence? The guy must not be very romantic.

"You're sure you're okay?" I m sure.

"I best be off then." Clayton adjusted his hat low over his forehead again. "I'll see you later, Jackie."

"Bye, Clay," Jackie said with a smile and then stood very still as he moved away. She sighed softly as the horse took his broad back out of view. She turned back to the tree, but suddenly the thought of seeing the birds wasn't all that enticing. If Clayton had stayed to see them with her, she would have enjoyed it, but telling him the reason she'd come this far out had seemed so childish.

Jackie stood below the tree and listened to the sound of chirping again. She reminded herself again that the tree would tear her dress if she tried to climb it, so with a rather slow, disappointed step, she started back the way she had come.

The tree was a little farther than the fence when she heard the hoofbeats, but she panicked at the sight of a bull charging her and turned to run like the wind back to the haven of its branches. She swung herself up into the limbs with an agility she didn't know she possessed and watched with horrified
eyes
as the bull ran a ways past the tree, snorting and stomping and looking for her.

Jackie was afraid to breathe. She moved only her head to see his every move, but the bull soon lost interest and wandered a short way off to graze. Jackie would have groaned if she hadn't been so afraid. How would she ever get home? Not even the sight of the birds, which she finally remembered to look at, could cheer her.

She tried to gauge just how fast she could run compared to the distance to the fence, but knew it was foolhardy in long skirts. She shifted around a bit in an effort to see the bull again, but a small branch gave way beneath her foot and for a second she was hurtling toward the ground. She stopped with a loud scream as she was driven pencil—like into a small square of branches. Her legs felt scraped, and she could feel that her skirts were twisted tightly around her knees, baring her stocking—clad legs from the calves down.

As soon as she landed she pressed her hand tightly over her mouth to keep from howling again. Her scream had alerted the bull, and he was back under the tree, looking in all directions. Jackie was sure if he looked up and spotted her he could stab her foot with his horn, so she didn't move a muscle—not even when a tear trickled down her face. She kept herself frozen until he once again moved on his way.

With that her mind began to move as well, and the thoughts were not happy. The image of being stranded here after dark, left alone in the blackness, was enough to make her tremble all over with fear. If she thought it would have helped she would have shouted with all of her voice for her father. Indeed, she was on the verge of doing this when a tiny peep from the nest diverted her.

Jackie looked at them and knew they were getting hungry. The mother was naturally frightened away by her presence.
They can't even get their dinner until I'm out of here,
she thought miserably.
What in the world am I going to do?
A
tear came, and then another, but no answers.

The wind blew through the tree just then, a cool wind, and Jackie shivered from more than just the cold.

When the temperature dropped in Georgetown, nighttime was on its way. Jackie tried to move her legs, but she was jammed tight, and it hurt to shift even a little. Not bothering to subdue the noise this time, her tears came in a torrent of weeping. She was going to be stuck in the tree all night.

"She wasn't at the store, Mother. Father said she left right at 2:30."

"Thank you, Lexa," Addy spoke from her place near the oven. Danny came into the room just then.

"Danny, have you seen Jackie?"

"No, not all afternoon."

Addy bit her lip for just an instant.

"Danny," she said, "run over to the Taggarts' and ask there, will you? Come right back and tell me whether she's been there or not. "

"All right, Mother."

She left and Addy gave way to her concern, her face mirroring the anxiety within until she realized both Sammy and Lexa were watching her.

"Are you worried, Mother?"

"A little," she admitted, trying to smile. "Its nearly dark, and Jackie always does her chores."

The younger girls nodded and exchanged a glance. Danny had exited a few minutes before, but every heart was with her as she walked down the road to the Taggart property.

"What's up?"

Clayton had just come in from outside to find Milly and his mother standing close by the front door. Elaine turned to him.

"Danny was just here looking for Jackie." She sounded preoccupied with her thoughts and didn't really notice the way Clayton tensed.

"She was finished at the store at 2:30," Milly added, "but no ones seen her since."

Even as she spoke, Clayton was reaching for the hat he'd just set down. "Go to the Fontaine's, Milly. Tell them I saw her in Henderson's field this afternoon. If I'm not back here within a half hour, send help."

"Clayton," Elaine called before he could leave.

"Yes," he answered, stopping with his hand on the knob.

She looked frightened but managed, "Are you thinking she's been hurt? I mean, Henderson's bull is—"

"I don't know, Mom," he cut her off gently. "I'll be back just as soon as I find out."

Elaine had little choice but to let him go, but the direction of her thoughts caused her to tremble. Milly went out the front door at the same time to take word to the Fontaines. Elaine, a dishtowel still in her hand, sank down at the kitchen table to pray.

Jackie had been trying to pray for hours, but her mind was going numb. The light was already so dim that the mountains that rimmed the valley were beginning to lose shape. Evening was falling and her panic caused her to lose all reason. It even took a moment for her to hear the
hoof beats over the pounding of the blood in her ears. She twisted around frantically to see who was coming and nearly went to pieces when the rider came close but began to move away.

"Father?" she cried in a pitiful squeak. "Is that you, Father?"

"Jackie?"

It was Claytons voice.

"Clay. Oh, Clay." Her voice was only a little louder.

"Where are you?"

"In the tree," she said before the tears came and took her voice away. She cried with relief but also pain. Her legs were in agony.
Her legs/The
words shouted in her head. This was not her father coming, but Clayton, and her white-stockinged legs were exposed like a picture she'd seen one time of a dance-hall girl.

In the midst of all these tumultuous thoughts, she heard the horse draw near. Clayton must have come inside the fence. A moment later she looked down and saw him below her.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"No, I'm not," she told him, sniffing. "Its getting dark, and I cant get free."

"Here." Clayton had moved until he was directly below her feet. "If I push your feet up, maybe you can grab the branch above you. Can you try?"

"Yes."

Clayton caught the sole of a shoe in each palm and pushed. The position was nearly impossible for leverage, but it gave Jackie just enough room to work. One foot lifted away from him to step on a strong branch and then the other followed. Clayton backed Miner off so he wasn't directly below her and then looked up to see her progress. She was standing easily now, but she was so far off the ground that he knew she shouldn't jump.

Clayton moved in yet again. "Here, Jackie, come down to this branch and then step down to me."

"Where's the bull?" Her voice wobbled.

"I can't see him right now." Clayton ducked his head to look around the field. "He must have wandered off. Go ahead and jump to me. "

Jackie finally heard what he had said to her.

"You mean onto the horse?"

"Yes. I'll catch you."

"Oh, Clay..." Jackie's voice was trembling again.

"It's all right," he coaxed, and after several minutes' worth of soothing words she jumped. Clayton caught her just as he'd promised and settled her across the front of the saddle. She was trembling
violently, and for a moment he kept his arms around her.

"Are you okay?"

"I just wanted to see the birds," she stuttered. "And then the bull came and my dress caught and they couldn't eat!" She was gripping his hand hard now. "They couldn't even eat while I was there, and they sounded so hungry."

It was too much for Jackie. She buried her face in her grubby hands and sobbed. Clayton knew it was time to get home. He heeled Miner forward to the gate and left the pasture. Jackie's shoulder was against his chest, and she was still crying into her hands. He didn't know what to say. Horrible images had flashed through his mind as he'd ridden to find her. He had been tortured with thoughts that she might have met some young man who tried to hurt her, and here she had only innocently come to see a bird's nest and ended up being chased by a bull.

"Its all right, Jackie," Clayton said when she began to calm. He looked up to see a rider coming toward them. "I think your father is coming."

Jackie's head snapped up. It was indeed Morgan.

"Please let me down, Clayton."