Turning to her son, she asked, “What happened to your pa?”
“He fell off the horse,” Isaac repeated.
“Your pa knows how to take a fall,” she assured him. “He grew up riding horses. He said he’s fallen off of them a couple of times. It’s why I worry about you and Adam. You’re not as experienced as he is.”
“He’s not getting up. He said to get you.”
Dave had never done that before. Alright, now she was worried. She closed the oven door and removed her apron. “Where is he?”
“By the river.”
Considering how much of their property ran along the river, it could take her quite a while to find him. “Do you remember exactly where he is by the river?”
Isaac put his finger up to his lips and looked upward. Then he looked back at her and nodded. “He’s close to the tree where he put the swing.”
Good. She knew where that was. “You need to watch Rachel while I’m gone.”
“I will.”
He followed her out of the room, and when she realized he was going to follow her up to the bedroom, she turned to face him. “I need to check on your brother. Go on and watch Rachel. She’s in the parlor.”
Isaac hurried to the other room, and she rushed up the stairs to check on Adam. Fortunately, he was still asleep. While Isaac was responsible for an eight-year-old, she didn’t want to worry about him having to watch Rachel and Adam all by himself.
When she returned downstairs, she told Isaac and Rachel to stay inside while she got their pa. Then she looked for Dave. The river wasn’t too far from their home, but at times like this, it felt like it took forever to finally get to the tree with the swing.
She scanned the area and frowned. She didn’t see Dave anywhere. She called out to him and waited for a response.
She thought she heard him over the tree branches that rustled in the wind, so she went in that direction. Still, she didn’t see him.
She cupped her hands around her mouth and called out, “Dave?”
“Over here!”
This time he sounded closer, and, if she was right, he was in the river. She moved along the slope that led to the river and peered down to the east. It took her a moment, but then she found Dave holding onto a large trunk sticking up out of the river as the water swirled around him.
Something was definitely wrong. It wasn’t like Dave to be in that section of the river. That section was deeper than the others. Even if he liked to swim in here from time to time, she couldn’t recall him going this far east.
She made her way down the bank of the river and stepped into it.
“Be careful,” he told her. “The current is strong where I am.”
“Did you hurt yourself when you fell off the horse?” She couldn’t think of any other reason why he’d stay in this area if he didn’t have to.
He nodded. “I tried to stand up, but I injured my right leg. I fell down the slope and into the river.”
She took a good look at the current. Dave was stronger than she was, and if he was having trouble with the current, how was she supposed to bring him in?
As if he could read her mind, he called out, “Go to the barn and get some rope. You can tie it around that tree.” He pointed to the tree closest to him. “I’ll pull myself out.”
Deciding that was a good plan, she nodded and hurried back to the barn. By the time she returned, she noticed that Dave’s teeth were chattering.
“How long have you been cold in there?” she asked as she wrapped the rope around the trunk of the tree.
“Not long,” he replied.
She glanced over at him and noticed that his skin color was normal. That was a promising sign. Turning back to the rope, she looped it into a tight knot. Then she threw the other end to Dave. He caught it and started to pull himself out of the river.
As she watched him, an idea came to her. “I’ll be back with a horse.”
She began to turn when he called out to her.
“If you can’t walk out of the river, I don’t think you can walk to the house,” she explained before he could ask why she was getting a horse. “And I’m not strong enough to help you.”
He hesitated as he considered her answer. “You’re right. Bring a horse. Make it Susannah. She’ll make things easier than the others will.”
“That’s because she’s an old mare.”
“Just because she’s old, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her uses. She’s a gentle mare.”
“Yes, I know.”
That was why he taught her how to ride on Susannah. Even when Susannah was young, she’d been tame. Sometimes it didn’t feel like she’d learned to ride Susannah ten years ago. When she thought of it, it’d seemed like she’d only married Dave and came out here to live with him yesterday. If she didn’t have the children to remind her of the passage of time, she would have sworn that time had stood still.
She returned to the barn and led Susannah out of the stall. She quickly saddled the mare and then took her out of the barn. On her way back to the river, she noticed that Jack was by the fence that surrounded the pasture. He was eating grass as if nothing of importance had occurred. She hurried to put Jack in the pasture and then continued on her
