Each jolting breath became a petition, matching the rhythm of his gelding’s stride. Keep Mandie. Keep the child. Keep Rose.
As the trail wound upward, snow drifted deep in places, forcing Peanut to pick his way carefully around the worst of it. Each time the horse lunged through a deeper patch, the impact shot through James’s broken leg like lightning.
He couldn’t stop. Mandie needed help. The baby?—
“Enoch!” His voice came out hoarse, barely carrying above the wind that whipped through the pines. The cold sliced through his coat, scraped at his skin, made his grip on the reins almost numb—but he forced out another shout. “Enoch!”
Nothing answered him but the whine of wind through snow-laden branches.
He pushed on, the cold seeping through his coat and numbing his fingers on the reins. How long had he been riding? Fifteen minutes? Thirty? Time had become as unreliable as his ability to think through the pain.
The high pasture opened ahead, a broad expanse of snow-covered meadow ringed by dark pines. His brothers’ horses stood tied near the far tree line, and the men moved among the cattle that dotted the white expanse like dark boulders.
Relief flooded through him so fierce his arms trembled. “Enoch!”
One of the distant figures turned, and even at this distance, he couldn’t miss his elder brother’s broad shoulders. Enoch lifted a hand, then started toward him at a jog.
Enoch’s long strides ate up the distance between them, and James’s chest loosened enough to draw a proper breath. His brother’s face was all concern as he closed the final gap.
“Mandie.” The word scraped out of James’s throat like gravel. “She’s in labor. Mrs. Wang’s with her, but we need the doctor.”
Enoch’s face paled. “I just saw her. She was…” He spun, then sprinted to his horse, as fast as the deep snow would allow.
James stayed in the saddle while his brothers mounted. Enoch, of course, tore off toward the house, with Thomas moving only a little slower. He’d volunteered to head straight to town for the doctor.
Robert seemed to be the one assigned to ride back with James, ready to play nursemaid if needed.
His brother reined alongside James as they started back toward the ranch. The silence stretched between them—not uncomfortable exactly, but weighted with everything left unsaid.
The pain settled into a rhythm that matched James’s heartbeat. He’d pushed too hard, ridden too far on a bone that was supposed to be resting. Doc Morrison would have his hide for this.
But what else could he have done? Left Mandie without help? Failed to fetch Enoch when his brother’s wife was bringing their child into the world? Nor could he have sent Rose out to get lost in the snow.
His gelding stumbled in a drift, and fresh agony shot up James’s thigh. He gritted his teeth against the cry that wanted to tear free, his fingers tightening on the reins until his knuckles ached.
“You all right?” Robert’s voice cut through the wind.
“Fine.” The lie came out rough.
His brother didn’t call him on it. A small mercy. But the look Robert shot him said he wasn’t fooled.
The trail wound downward through the pines, each step carrying them closer to the ranch house. Closer to Mandie and whatever was happening there. Closer to Rose, who he still needed to find, to talk to, to explain?—
His hands were frozen around the reins, even in his gloves, and he couldn’t tell anymore if the shaking came from cold or pain or both. He forced himself to focus on breathing—in, out, in, out—to keep from passing out.
“James.” Robert nudged his horse closer. “You’re white as snow. Maybe we should stop?—”
“No.” The word came out sharp. But he didn’t have the strength for kindness. “Mandie needs us there.”
And Rose. He needed to find Rose. Needed to tell her—what? Even that detail seemed blurry now.
Best he stop thinking and hone his focus to surviving this ride back to the house.
CHAPTER 24
As James opened his eyes, he squinted against the fog clogging his head. His mouth tasted like copper and something bitter, and his leg throbbed with a dull ache that pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
He blinked, trying to force the world back into its proper shape.
