“Easy girl,” Amanda soothed, grasping Pal’s reins and pulling the animal close.
“You have to help Pal,” she said as the wind tugged at her skirts, blowing dust into her tear-filled eyes. Quickly she gathered Pepper’s reins and tied them then moved closer to Theo.
The wind swirled dust into a pillar of cloud as Amanda took Pal’s left rein in her right hand, then bent, lifting Pal’s near front leg and tugging on the bridle, making the horse touch nose to shoulder until she overbalanced and sagged to the ground. Slipping the rein into her mouth to hold it taut, Amanda grabbed Teddy under the arms and dragged his limp form over the saddle. Heaving and breathless, she slipped a leg over the horse’s haunches, grasped the front of the saddle and let the horse lurch to her feet.
“Home,” she called to Pal, aiming the pretty pony toward the ranch.
Pal’s ears twitched as Amanda’s hands clutched the saddle bows holding Theo in place and urged the horse forward as the leading edge of the storm began to splatter the ground with huge icy drops of rain.
“Please, God, let him be alright,” Amanda pleaded as tears mingled with the first spattering of icy raindrops and urging her horse for more speed.
Glancing behind her, Amanda sighed as Pepper galloped along in her wake, apparently uninjured by his fall.
“Help!” Amanda shouted as the ranch came into view. “Help!” She cried again as a flash of lightning crackled, raising the hair on her neck. Thunder boomed overhead and the heavens opened.
***
“Daniel, you hear that?”
“What’s that, Rosa?” Dan looked from the table where he had been going over a ledger.
“I hear something,” Rosa turned from the stove where she had settled the coffee pot, “someone shouting.”
Dan jumped to his feet as a crack of thunder shook the sturdy house and raced to the front door, even as Pal and Pepper stumbled into the yard.
“Amanda!” Dan shouted over the deluge, blinking to see what she was doing on her own. “What’s wrong?” Dan raised a hand, trying to ward off the driving rain.
“Help,” the word came out a strangled cry, swept away by the wind and rain.
“What’s going on?” Dozer staggered from the barn, pushing toward the two horses as the rain soaked him in an instant.
“Teddy,” Amanda sobbed, still holding her husband on the saddle before her. “Pepper fell.”
Strong hands reached up, pulling Teddy from the horse’s back as Dan reached for Amanda, who collapsed into his arms, fear and exhaustion turning her muscles to liquid.
Dozer carried Teddy into the house, placing him on the settee in the lounge as Dan placed a soaked Amanda in a chair,a looking to Rosa for help.
“What happened?” he asked, walking to Teddy when Rosa hurried to his side.
“We were trying to outrun the storm,” Amanda said, her voice shaking as she began to shiver. “Theo looked back, and Pepper stumbled, taking them both down. Please tell me he isn’t dead,” she added with a sniff.
“He is not dead,” Rosa declared, walking to Amanda and grasping her hand. “Daniel, get him out of those wet clothes. Amanda, come with me, you must change.”
“But, Theo.”
“He lives, we can do nothing but wait.”
Amanda stood, legs shaking and followed Rosa to another room where she quickly stripped out of her soaked dress and into one of Rosa’s simple but comfortable ones. “Do you think he will be all right?” she asked.
“We will pray,” Rosa said, her dark eyes filled with conviction. “Teddy will be fine.”
“He’s still out,” Dan said, looking up as the women returned. “Dozer took the horses,” he added, looking at Amanda. “You did good getting here.”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Amanda admitted. “I don’t know where I found the strength.”
Rosa squeezed her hand. “From your heart,” she said softly, releasing Amanda’s hand and lifting a blanket from a chair to lay it over Teddy. “I make tea.”
Rosa was gone, turning on her heel and heading for the kitchen as Amanda sat on the chair, watching Teddy, a wave of nervous exhaustion making her sag.
“He’ll be all right,” Dan said, walking to Amanda and offering her another blanket. “Teddy’s been through far worse.”
Amanda looked up, her blue eyes sad. “When?”
“In the war,” Dan said, turning to study his friend. “He got pinned down in enemy territory, doing reconnaissance. Haven’t you ever wondered about the scar on his leg?”
Amanda blushed. She had never questioned Theo about his previous injuries, assuming they were from run-ins with cantankerous cows. “No.”
“Teddy was never afraid to do what needed doing. He was young and small and could slip in and out of camp unseen. This time, someone saw him, and he took a bullet to his calf. He made it back, but he’d lost a lot of blood. It was weeks before he could walk properly again.”
Amanda turned her eyes full of affection and pride for the man she had married. “He was brave.”
“Always. Even going against orders when it was the right thing to do.”
“He disobeyed you?”
“No, not me. I wouldn’t have put him in that position, but some officers weren’t near as good as they thought they were. One man captured a group of Rebs and chained them all, even the black serving men with them. Teddy talked until he was blue in the face about releasing them, but the officer wouldn’t listen. That night, Theodore Lewis walked out to the captives and released the slaves. He was whipped for it, but he never said a word in his defense.”
Amanda stood, walking to the settee and slipping to the floor next to Theo, taking his hand in hers. “He was worried that he wasn’t good enough for me,” she said, studying
