Always eager to stretch his legs, the gelding whickered and stood still as Leah quickly fastened the bridle around his head. As she’d done in her younger days, she hiked up her dress and leapt onto the horse’s back stomach-first before swinging her leg over him. Leah was vaguely aware that Jude was calling to her as she raced out of the barn, but the pounding of Mose’s hoofbeats drove her on. Gripping the horse with her legs and leaning low over his neck, she gave the gelding his head and ran full-tilt toward the road.
Chapter 16
“Leah! Leah, what happened?” Jude shouted as he ran from the barn. When she didn’t turn to look at him—urged Mose into a full gallop as though demons from hell were chasing her—apprehension overwhelmed him. His wife was no sissy. What could possibly have upset her so badly that she would race away from her guests?
“Dat, where’s Leah goin’ in such a hurry?” Stevie asked as he joined Jude outside to follow Mose’s progress to the road. “She was cryin’ so hard she didn’t even see us.”
Jude’s gut clenched. His son had just confirmed a detail he’d missed because he’d been driving a nail when Leah had entered the barn. “I’m going after her—but you stay here, Stevie,” he added quickly. “Don’t worry, son, I’ll bring her home and we’ll get this situation figured out.”
A few minutes later, Jude was urging Rusty down the lane, aware that his bay gelding was much more accustomed to pulling a rig than galloping with a rider on his back—and also aware that it had been years since he’d ridden a horse bareback. To keep from losing his hat, he tucked it under his thigh. When they reached the road, Jude steered the horse to the right, as Leah had done—but after that, all he had to go on was instinct. She was nowhere in sight, and the dust Mose had kicked up had already settled.
Where would Leah go? Surely she wouldn’t head for her mamm’s place clear over in Cedar Creek . . .
If she’s going there, she’ll at least slow her horse to a walk; he can’t run for the entire hour it takes to reach the Otto farm.
As the brisk wind caught at Jude’s open barn jacket, it occurred to him that Leah hadn’t been wearing a coat—her dress had been a deep red blur against the gray sky as she’d galloped away. Although he urged Rusty along the shoulder of the road, the poor horse was already huffing clouds of steam and slowing down as the wind whipped at his black mane—which made Jude think his chances of catching up to Leah were slim to none.
Be smart about this. No matter how upset she is, Leah will come to her senses before she’ll risk injuring Mose—and she has to be getting terribly cold by now.
Jude allowed Rusty to find his own pace as they passed the Flaud place and the Hartzler farm. He gazed across the pasture where Saul Hartzler’s Black Angus cattle huddled together for warmth, watching him curiously. The fences around these properties would prevent Leah from cutting across them—and as he studied the wooded area along the border of Jeremiah’s land, he didn’t think she would’ve ridden into the trees, either.
As Jude approached the main road of Morning Star’s business district, his thoughts went into a tailspin. The sky was hung with heavy gray clouds and the first snowflakes stung his face. When snow came this late in the winter, it rarely stayed on the ground long—but today it was surely a nuisance. He halted his horse until a few cars went by, gazing to the right and to the left and ahead of him.
“Rusty, you have a better idea where Mose went than I do,” he said as he stroked the gelding’s warm cinnamon-colored neck. “From here Leah could’ve gone around to the south, or across town, or—well, I have no idea, fella,” he added with a sigh.
When the way was clear, Jude followed his instinct and steered Rusty along the shoulder of the main road rather than crossing it into town. Considering Leah’s emotional state, he didn’t think she would’ve ridden in traffic or in front of Plain businesses where local folks might’ve recognized her—or called out to her about why she wasn’t wearing a coat.
Maybe by now she’s so cold she’s turned back toward home.
Jude sighed and kept scanning the farmland he was passing. Leah hadn’t been all that excited about the quilting frolic—had gone along with the idea because she knew her mother would enjoy the company of other women after living alone these past few months. It seemed unlikely that his wife would return to the house until she thought the neighbor ladies were gone.
She might’ve slipped into somebody’s barn. Or maybe she went into a store in town to get warm. Now that Lenore’s at our place, I can’t think of a single woman Leah would run to while she’s in such a state of turmoil....
Leah’s lack of female friends saddened Jude—but it occurred to him that sooner or later, his wife would return home because she was totally devoted to little Betsy. She was more able than most women to look after herself, even if she had taken off like a shot without a coat, so Jude relaxed a little. . . let his mind travel down its own paths rather than trying to force ideas to come.
Rusty had slowed to a walk. The snow contained tiny pellets of sleet and pinged against Jude’s face as it sparkled like diamonds in the gelding’s black mane, and it showed no sign of letting up. He hated to head for home without Leah, yet in his mind he could hear her scolding him for needlessly keeping his horse out in the cold while he was searching for her. With a sigh, Jude guided his gelding east at the next intersection to go home by
