“I thought I was gonna die!” She wailed.
I knelt beside her, rubbing my fingernails up and down her back and quietly whispering, “It’s okay, you’re okay.”
She lay her head on my left shoulder and rubbed my cheek. “You’re an angel, Ally.”
We slid to a sitting position, my back against the tree that just tried to break me in half, and shook together.
I don’t know how long we sat on the floor of the woods for, but after a while, we both stopped shaking.
In the distance, the clouds continued to rumble and gather, threatening to storm at any second.
“Oh- Thank the Lord, I found them!” Colton’s prayer rang out across the forest. “Yeah, just follow my location.”
I looked up from Ellie’s hair to see Hunter, Colton, and Cash riding their horse at a fast trot through the trees. Colton was tucking his phone back into his pocket, his face white. He jumped off the horse, carefully lifting both the boys off. He handed the reins and Hunter’s hand to Cash and sprinted to us. “Stay here for a second, boys.”
Ellie finally looked up. “Uncle Colt, took you long enough.”
Colton was looking back and forth between us. “I was tryin’ to hurry, Ellie, I swear.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. He didn’t even stop to think before he touched the back of my head and kissed the top of it for a long beat. He pulled away, hesitant to tear his touch away from my head. “Are you both okay?”
Ellie wiped her nose with her sleeve. “I want my daddy.”
“Your daddy is comin’. I just called him to help me find Marty,” he said, glancing back to check on the boys. “Are you hurt?”
Upon hearing her dad was coming to rescue her, Ellie was filled with a newfound energy. She stood and brushed dirt from her pants. “Well, if this city job doesn’t work out, I think Ally has a future in being a pick-up rodeo man, well, woman.”
“Yeah?” Colton asked as he examined his niece for any injuries. He looked around her at me, an eyebrow raised in question. “What’d she do?”
Ellie told the story as dramatically as possible, throwing her hands up and making sound effects with her mouth. “Then, she got a millimeter away from Marty and yanked me from his saddle! When I got on her saddle, Gracie forgot to look where she was going and stopped two inches away from a tree. She stopped really hard and threw Ally into the tree!”
When he heard this, Colton’s full attention turned to me. “She did what?”
“Daddy!” Ellie ditched Colton and sprinted toward Jimmy, who was running through the woods. “I could’ve died!”
Colton didn’t turn to acknowledge his brother. He inched his way closer to me, his eyes locked on mine. “Ally. Are you hurt?”
My mouth was dry. “I’m okay,” I promised.
He stood and held out his hands. I placed my palms that were coated in dirt in his calloused fingers and let him help me up.
We were standing now, but neither of us let go. The trees turned into a blurry, dreamlike vision. The wind stopped. It was as if the world around us disappeared.
“Ally…” He moved his hand to my cheek and brushed the mud from it.
“Oh my goodness, Allegra,” Jimmy’s voice called out.
Colton’s hand fell from my cheek, and I dropped my arm. I turned to face him.
Jimmy was wearing an old t-shirt and sweats, no doubt having dropped everything when Colton called. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did for my little girl,” he said, throwing his arms around me.
I winced a little from his tight squeeze, but hugged him back. “It was really nothin’. Is she okay? Poor little thing was shakin’ for a while,” I said, my Texas accent slipping out as smooth as butter.
Jimmy released me and shot a glance at his three kids. Ellie was telling the story to Cash and Hunter all over again. “I think she’ll revel in the attention she’ll get for this one. She’s fine, thanks to you.” He sighed. “Are you alright?”
“I am. That could’ve ended a lot worse if she weren’t such a good rider.”
Colton’s palm was suddenly pressed against the small of my back. “It would’ve been a heck of a lot worse if Ally hadn’t been the best rider this side of the Mississippi.”
“Ellie says you’re the best pick-up rider she’s ever seen,” he said, nudging my shoulder. “I gotta get these kids home. But later, you’re tellin’ all of us where you learned to ride. Deal?”
