“Juliana, if I reach him and get the rope tied to the boat, you start the pickup and back up, and we’ll tow him to this side,” Cal said. He waded into the cold creek and in sec- onds was battling to avoid being swept downstream.
Cal’s muscles strained as he fought to get to Quin. The current carried him past the boy, and he felt a sense of des- peration to see the distance widen. Trying with all his strength, he battled the tumbling stream.
His shoulders felt heavy, his muscles aching with strain as he gradually began to move across the turbulent stream. And finally he reached the other side, yards downstream from Quin. Cal scrambled out of the water and raced along, wading into the water above Quin and letting the current carry him down. He plunged toward Quin and his fingers closed on the boat. He heaved himself up into the boat as Quin threw his thin arms around Cal’s neck.
“I love you! Please don’t leave us.” Quin sobbed. “I want you for my daddy.”
Drenched, Cal held the thin, wet body in his arms while he shook from reaction and the exertion. His muscles twitched and ached as he held Quin tightly.
“Please, don’t leave us. Juliana will want you, too. She cries a lot now.”
Startled, Cal held Quin. He turned to look at the others. They were waving and jumping up and down, but he couldn’t hear them for the roar of the water.
“I’m going to tie the rope to the boat, Quin,” Cal said, extricating himself and looking into tearful blue eyes. “Then Juliana will start the pickup and pull us back across to safety.”
“Yes, sir.”
Untying the rope around his waist, he secured it to the boat along with the second rope. Then Cal motioned to Ju- liana. The ropes jerked taut and he pushed against the tree. They broke free from the tangle of limbs and began to head downstream. Ropes tightened and then they changed course as she backed up the pickup. The boat bobbed pre- cariously and Cal held Quin tightly in case they capsized. As Cal rode across the raging water, he decided if Quin could open up his heart, then maybe he needed to do the same with Juliana. He needed this family, and he knew they needed him.
The boat neared the bank, and Stoddard and the boys reached out to grab them and help. Juliana hugged Quin. As soon as she released him, Stoddard hugged the boy.
“We’ll see you at the house.” Chris mounted Midnight and pulled Josh up behind him and turned for home. After Stoddard and Cal pulled the boat high on land, Cal piled everyone else into his pickup and drove back to the house.
When they entered the kitchen, Gladys hugged Quin and motioned toward the stove. “I have hot chocolate ready. You boys sit on the porch where your muddy clothes won’t hurt anything and we’ll all have cups.”
Shouting with glee, as if there hadn’t been a crisis, the boys rushed to the porch. Stoddard washed his hands to help Gladys.
Juliana looked at Cal. “Thank you.” She turned to Gladys. “I’m going up to wash.”
She was covered with splotches of mud, but she looked marvelous to Cal and he longed to wrap her in his arms. In- stead, he just nodded and watched her leave the room.
He gave her time to get upstairs and then he followed, knocking lightly on her door. When she opened it, he gazed down at her. “Juliana, I want to talk to you.”
Cal stepped inside and closed the door. She had shed her shoes. She was mud-spattered, with a dark smear on her cheek. Her cutoffs looked slightly wet. Her hair tumbled in a wild cascade over her shoulders.
Juliana’s heart thudded as she looked into Cal’s dark eyes. He was bare-chested, wet, barefoot. His hair was in disarray, dark locks falling over his forehead. She wanted to fling herself into his arms and tell him he didn’t have to say a word, but the boys’ hearts were at stake as well as her own.
“Stoddard said he will keep the kids busy, so we’ll have the house and time to ourselves,” Cal began. “I realized back there that if Quin could open his heart and pour out what he wanted, I should be able to, as well.”
Her heart pounded, and her mouth became dry, hope beginning to blossom.
Cal swallowed hard and knew what he had to say to her. “I should have told you about Webb. I know with your preschool, you won’t want to have a brother-in-law like Webb, but I’d like to try to work something out because what we had was so fine. I love you. I need you and the boys.”
Her heart drummed, yet she was puzzled. She wasn’t fol- lowing him as he talked about her preschool. “I don’t care about Webb,” she said, frowning. “I mean, I care…I’m sorry your brother is in trouble. But that doesn’t have any- thing to do with why I was upset.”
“It didn’t? You gave every indication it did,” Cal said gruffly.
“I want to be able to trust you and have you trust me. I want you to tell me your secrets and know that I can tell you mine. I was disappointed you didn’t trust me—”
“I didn’t trust you with the truth,” he said, interrupting her forcefully, “because when I was engaged to Andrea and told her about my brother, she had hysterics about how I had ruined her socially and destroyed her father’s chances for a career in Washington politics.”
Startled, Juliana stared at him, realizing that he had been afraid of repeating with her what he had gone through with Andrea. “Cal, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Evidently, I keep far too much to myself. And so do you, Juliana,” he added solemnly.
“It’s an old habit.
