Wild Bride (15 page)

Opening the door, she saw a smaller woman who looked very frazzled. Instantly she recognized her as Tracy’s mother.

“Hello?” She noticed that the woman’s face was filled with worry.

“Hi, um, I’m Leslie Keys, Tracy’s mother.”

“Yes, I know, please.” She motioned for her to come in.

“Oh, well. I was just wondering…” The woman shook her head and stayed on the front porch. “I was wondering if you’ve seen Tracy. She must have slipped out of her room early last night and hasn’t been back. She’s told us that she’d been hanging out with you sometimes.”

Savannah nodded. “Yes, I take evening walks with my daughter and I’ve run into her a few times.” Worry instantly filled Savannah’s thoughts. “Normally we meet on the old highway bridge. Have you checked there?”

Her mother nodded her head. “It’s just…” It was then that Savannah noticed the note Tracy’s mother had clutched to her chest. “It’s just that she left this.” Tears filled her eyes as she handed over the note.

Savannah took it and read the small handwriting, silently.

If you don’t like something about yourself, change.

“What does it mean?” Leslie asked.

Savannah shook her head. “I don’t really know.” She frowned and looked up when Billy’s car parked in front of the house.

She watched him walk up the drive. The smile fell away from his mouth as soon as he saw her face.

“What’s wrong?” He rushed over to her and took her shoulders.

“Tracy’s missing.” She handed him the note. “I think it’s all my fault.” She hadn’t realized tears were falling down her face.

Billy read the note and turned to Leslie. “Have you called the sheriff?”

She nodded. “Last night.” She looked at the note Billy was still holding. “He has everyone out looking for her, but they haven't found anything yet.”

“We’ll drive around and look for her,” Savannah said, turning into the house to grab Maggie.

“Oh, that’s…” Leslie started to say.

“If you write down your cell number, we’ll text you if we find her,” Billy said.

“Yes, well.”

Savannah picked up Maggie as gently as she could and laid her in her carrier. Thankfully, she didn’t even stir.

When she walked out front, Billy was back behind the wheel. “Where to?” he asked after she’d snapped the carrier into place.

“The old bridge.”

He nodded and pulled out of the driveway.

“What does the note mean?” he asked as they headed out of town. Her eyes were glued to the streets, looking for any sign of Tracy.

She shook her head. “I don’t really know. I mean, she’d told me some of the kids were making fun of her, but we never really talked about any specifics. Not really.”

“She’s that little brown-haired girl with braces, right?”

She nodded and said, “Yes” at the same time.

“Her mother said that her green jacket was missing.”

Savannah nodded again. “She wears it on nights that it gets cool.”

They pulled up to the old bridge and he stopped the car at the barriers. “You don’t walk across this thing do you?” He turned to her with a frown.

“Of course I do. It’s perfectly safe.”

B
illy frowned at the rickety bridge. “They should have torn this down after the tornado.” He got out of the car. “You stay here with Maggie.” He stopped Savannah before she could get out, but she just shook her head no.

“She’ll be okay, she’s asleep. Besides, we’ll just be a minute.” She got out quickly and walked around the barriers.

“Tracy,” she called over and over again.

He followed her, glancing all around. He quickly walked over and took Savannah’s hand, not trusting any of the boards they walked on.

He felt a couple of them shift under his feet and instantly wished she’d go back to the car, but he knew better than ask.

“Billy.” Savannah stopped and her eyes went big. “There’s a board missing.” She pointed a few feet away and the color left her face.

“Go back to the car and call the sheriff. My cell phone is in the console.” He pushed her lightly until she moved. When she finally made it to the safety of the car, he started walking towards the broken planks.

“Tracy?” he called, getting closer to the edge so he could peek over. He couldn’t see anything, so he moved closer. Feeling the rotted wood under him, he grabbed hold of the steel railing and inched his way closer. He was closer to the other side of the bridge now. That side was less steep than their side, which was a wall of stones piled on top of each other. He quickly thought about rushing down the shallow bank to check below.

When he got closer to the broken plank, he noticed a patch of green cotton hanging from a rusted nail.

“I’m going to head down the other side,” he called out to Savannah, who was standing in front of the car holding the phone up to her ear. She nodded and started to walk forward.

“Stay put,” he yelled. “It’s not safe.” She stopped and nodded again, then turned back to the car where he could hear Maggie crying. He sent up a silent prayer that his daughter was going to stop Savannah from following him.

He inched his way across the bridge and was thankful when his feet hit solid ground again. Then he rushed down the side of the hill towards the water. He went a little too fast and ended up falling backwards, scraping up his elbows and his back. His shirt flew up and gravel and dirt embedded in his exposed skin.

“Damn it.” He stopped himself from falling into the water by grabbing a tree branch. Looking around, he frowned as he looked up at the hole in the bridge. If the girl had fallen through the opening, she would have landed in the water. He scanned both of the shorelines and when he saw something a little too green, he rushed down the river’s edge.

Kneeling, he reached out with shaky fingers and felt the girl’s neck for a pulse. She was pale, too pale. He noticed that her left leg and arm were twisted in an odd position.

She was cold to the touch and he closed his eyes and prayed that there was a pulse. Sighing, he felt a weak pulse and quickly removed his jacket to cover the girl up. He knew he shouldn’t move her, but she needed to stay warm.

“Here,” he called out. “I’ve found her. She’s alive. She needs an ambulance,” he called out. When he didn’t hear Savannah call back, he got worried. Rushing up the riverside, he kept calling out and stopped when he finally heard her call back.

“They’re on their way. Stay with her, keep her warm,” she called out. He could hear the worry in her voice.

He went back to Tracy and knelt beside her. He removed his shirt, rolled it up, and placed it around her head like a cushion.
He rubbed her good arm and tried to get some warmth into her.

He didn’t know how long it took for the sheriff and Wes to show up, but it seemed like forever. Each second, he imagined Tracy’s temperature getting colder.

“How’s she doing?” the sheriff asked as he slid down the hill towards him.

“Not so good. She’s too cold. She has a broken leg and arm.” He lifted his jacket and showed the sheriff.

Wes took over and started first aid. “How long you figure she’s been down here?”

“Savannah said that they usually meet during their walks around six.”

“Six last night?” Wes asked, not taking his eyes from the girl.

“Yeah.” He frowned. “She was too busy getting ready for my return to go on a walk last night.” He stood back and watched other men arrive and felt like he was just in the way.

“I can go…” He started to turn back towards the bridge.

“We can use your help to get her up the hill,” Wes said, handing him his shirt. He’d wrapped the girl in silver blankets and they put blocks around her broken arm and leg to keep them steady as they moved her.

It took them almost fifteen minutes to get the steel cage with the little girl inside up the side of the rocky hill. He had a few new cuts and bruises on his knees and hands when they finally made it to the top.

He was surprised to see a huge crowd standing at the top, cheering them on. Savannah rushed across to him and hugged him tightly.

“You’re bleeding,” she said as he wiped a tear from her eyes. He nodded and looked around, noticing that she’d moved the car to this side of the bridge. He knew it was a five-minute drive up to the new bridge and smiled down at her.

“Where’s my other girl?” He looked towards the car.

“Here,” Holly said, walking through the crowd. “I’ve got her.”

“Dada,” Maggie said loudly as he took her in his arms and wrapped one around Savannah.

They watched the paramedics load Tracy into the back of the ambulance, and then Savannah turned to him.

“I’d like to go down and wait until we hear something.” He nodded.

As they followed the string of cars from the old bridge to the clinic downtown, he rested his head back and tried not to think of what could have happened if Savannah and Maggie had gone on the walk last night. If they had been the ones lying at the bottom of a gulch, broken.

When she stopped the car, he looked up. “Why are we home?”

She looked towards him. “I thought you’d want to clean up first. Besides, it will take a while for them to get her checked out.”

He looked down at his clothes and realized he was covered in dirt and his own blood. He nodded and got out. “I’ll be quick.”

Less than a half hour later, they walked into the clinic. He still had rocks and dirt embedded into his skin, but at least he was wearing clean clothes and no longer had dirt in his hair.

“How is she?” Savannah asked Leslie.

“She’s stable. They’ve set her leg and arm and she’s awake.” She smiled as a tear dripped down her face. “We had thought…” She broke off and shook her head. Her husband stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“We’d thought she was committing suicide,” he said, frowning down at his wife. “She’s been so depressed the last year. We knew about the bullying, but didn’t know what to do.”

“I went to the school a dozen or so times, but Tracy would never tell us who was picking on her. None of the teachers knew either.”

Savannah stepped forward. “Christy and Stephany.” She shook her head. “I don’t know their last names.”

Leslie nodded. “Thank you.”

“I…” Savannah started then shook her head. “I should have told you. Or gone to the school.”

“It’s okay,” Leslie said, reaching out and taking Savannah’s hand. “We’d seen a huge change in her since she started talking to you. I guess that’s why we continued to let her meet you.” She smiled. “She even started taking better care of herself. You know, she got that new haircut.”

Savannah smiled. “She brought a magazine and asked me to help her pick it out.”

“We thought…when she didn’t come home, that she’d gone off…” Leslie closed her eyes and leaned against her husband.

“When I first met her, I thought she was on the bridge to do the same thing.” Savannah closed her eyes. “But now.” She shook her head. “I don’t worry about that any more.”

“It’s because of you,” Leslie said. “We can’t thank you enough.” She stepped closer and engulfed Savannah in a hug right there in the small waiting room of the clinic for everyone to see.

They sat and chatted with everyone who came into the clinic to check up on Tracy. The story was all over town and by the time the clinic doors shut for the night, everyone in Fairplay was talking about how Savannah had helped Tracy. Not to mention the story about Billy rescuing the poor girl from the side of the river.

Savannah had seen all the rocks and scratches on Billy’s back and knew that he would be hurting. When they got home, she watched as he put Maggie to bed. As he shut the baby’s door, she tugged on his hand and he followed her into the bathroom.

When she shut the door, he smiled and started removing his shirt, only to wince.

She ran a warm bath.

“In.” She motioned to the bath.

He smiled again. “Yes, ma’am.”

She laughed. “Don’t think I’m going to crawl in there with you.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I need to clean all that dirt out of your back side.”

He frowned and winced as she took out the antiseptic from the cabinet.

Before she knew it, he’d walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her.

“It could have been you,” he said into her hair. “You and Maggie.”

She shook her head, not really understanding him. He pulled back and looked down into her eyes.

“If you had gone on your walk last night. You or Maggie could have fallen through the bridge. It could have been you two down there. It would have killed me knowing that I never got to show you how much I love you.”

She closed her eyes and swayed a little. Just hearing the words caused her heart to skip.

He took her shoulders in his hands. “You said something about scrubbing my back?” She knew he was trying to lighten the mood.

She chuckled and watched him undress and step into the warm tub. He hissed a little when the water hit his back.

His skin was puckered and red and several spots were dark with fresh blood.

“This may hurt.” She grabbed a hand towel and the tweezers and got to work gently removing every pebble from his skin. When his skin was clear, she used a soft washcloth and cleaned his back one more time. He leaned back and closed his eyes, resting his head on the back of the tub.

“Why me?” She looked down at him until he opened his eyes.

He looked up at her in question. Then he leaned up and ran a damp hand over her face. “I guess I saw me in you.” He stood up and wrapped a towel around his waist. She tried very hard not to appreciate his toned body as he pulled on a shirt and shorts. Then he walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms. “We’re the same, you and I. I guess we were both running from our demons. You from your uncle, me from my father.” He shook his head and then smiled a little. “Your strength, your caring. I couldn’t stop myself from falling for you.” He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

“I love you, too,” she said, looking into his dark eyes. “I was going to tell you over dessert.” She laughed and shook her head. “I guess sometimes you just have to take it as you can get it.” She reached up and took his face in her hands. “I didn’t think I would ever feel this way about someone. I didn’t think I could.” She shook her head. “But, when I saw you carting Tracy up the hill…” She shook her head and closed her eyes quickly, then looked back up at him. “I knew. I knew I had changed enough to deserve love.”

He shook his head. “You’ve always deserved love, and you’ve had mine for a while now.”

She smiled. “Show me.” She started to pull him closer, but he backed up a step and shook his head.

“No, there’s one more thing standing in our way.” He shocked her by getting down on one knee right there in the bathroom of their small green house. “Savannah Douglas, I love you. I want to raise our daughter and maybe a few more kids as a family. Will you marry me?”

She looked down at him in his cut-off shorts, white cotton t-shirt, and wet hair. He didn’t have a fancy suit, or a fancy box with an expensive ring, but for the first time in her life, she realized this is what she’d dreamed of her entire life.

Smiling, she nodded her head. “Yes, Billy, I’ll marry you.”