Page 99 of Bailey

Reeves grinned at him, and how he had the capability to do that, Luke wasn’t sure. “You’re right, bud, we don’t know that we need help. This might blow over us in a few minutes, because it’s moving pretty fast, but the smart thing to do is to let others know that we might be in trouble, and that we’ll contact them really, really soon.”

He looked down at his phone, his thumbs flying. Only a few seconds later, he looked up. “There. I’ve just texted Bailey that there’s an unexpected storm coming in, and that we were out fishing. We’re going to try to get back to our campsite, but that I’ll let her know within the hour.”

He handed his phone to Luke. “Your uncle Luke’s going to do the same thing. Maybe he’ll text some of your daddies too, just so that more than one person knows.” He looked around at the kids, and then stood up. He faced into the storm and pressed his cowboy hat to his head so the wind wouldn’t whip it away.

“Yep, the temperature’s dropped, and the water’s rising. We’re going to go to higher ground and we’re going to find some trees to shelter under.”

Luke had just finished texting Sterling, Mav, Otis, Morris, Trace, Tex, and Adam when the first raindrops fell on the screen of Reeves’ phone. He’d included Adam just for good measure, as the man could organize a search party out of a particle of dust.

Then he stood and handed the phone back to the mountain man and said, “Corrine, I want you right here.” He held out his right hand. “Eric, this hand. We’re going to follow Reeves and do everything he says.”

Reeves took OJ’s hand in his left and Lars’s in his right. “Higher ground, guys. Let’s head up.” He started under the canopy of trees, and he stuck to the trail for a little bit as the rain pounded down around them.

Finally, he let go of OJ’s hand and pointed to the left. “Right there,” he yelled. “See that cluster of trees with that low bush around it? That’s where we’re going.”

He stepped off the trail then, and Luke paused to give him and the two teens a moment to move out of the way. He took that time to look around and get his bearings, glance back down the trail where he couldn’t see the river anymore, and commit this spot to memory.

He used the heel of his boot to carve a notch in the side of the trail, and then he looked at his daughter and Eric. “Let’s go.” He followed Reeves off the trail and up toward the cluster of trees and brush he’d found only fifty feet from it.

Things progressed nicely until Corrine slipped and went down. Luke’s shoulder got pulled, and he released her as she cried out. He too dropped to his knees, turned toward Eric, and pulled the boy in front of him. He met his eyes, pure earnestness filling him. “Follow Reeves. I’ll bring Corrine.”

Rain pounded against the hood of Eric’s bright yellow poncho, but Luke saw enough to see the boy nod, and then he turned and headed away from Luke.

“Dear God,” Luke said right out loud. “Bless this storm to pass over us quickly and help us all to stay safe.”

He had no idea if his brothers or wife had texted back, and he told himself that all he needed to do was get Corrine to their temporary shelter. Then everything would be okay. His daughter brushed her hands free of the pebbles that had embedded themselves into her palms, and then she held her right hand out for Luke to look at.

“I landed in thorns,” she called above the sound of the pounding rain.

Luke’s knees ached against the hard ground as well, but he carefully pulled the couple of stickers out of Corrine’s palm, then got to his feet. He helped her stand, too, and her leggings were ripped on the right side, and her knee bled. He met her eyes and ducked low to be closer to her. “Can you get to the shelter?”

She looked up the hill, and Luke followed her gaze. OJ had a clear plastic poncho, as did Lars, but Eric’s was bright yellow and Reeves’s dark blue, so Luke could easily see them up the hillside. He watched as Reeves reached for Eric and pulled him into the safety of the canopy of trees. He then turned back and watched Luke.

“I can make it, Daddy,” Corrine said, and Luke raised his hand to hold Reeves off.

“One step at a time.” Luke did his best to smile, and then he took his daughter’s hand and squeezed it. “We’re going to make it one step at a time.”

CHAPTER

THIRTY-EIGHT

Reeves silently praised the Lord above that he’d only sent rain in this thunderstorm. Hail would have scared the kids further and driven their already tense panic even higher. As it was, he’d gotten OJ, Lars, and Eric under the branches of a thick grouping of pine trees where some bushes had also started to grow.

He’d pushed them back as far as he could, noting that the ground back there was still dry. He watched Luke and Corrine take painstaking step after step until they too arrived on the fringe of the shelter.

“Good job, Corrine,” he said, beaming at the girl. “I can get your knee fixed up once we make sure everyone’s safe and dry.”

“I’ve got a first-aid kit too, jelly bean,” Luke said, and Reeves exchanged a glance with the man. Luke definitely had a dark horse, don’t-mess-with-me online persona that had come out the moment Reeves had said there was a storm coming. Before that, Luke had been all smiles, handshakes, and hugs.

He’d brought personalized snack bags for each child, and he’d set up all their tents, helped them with their gear, put their chairs around the fire, and grinned as Reeves did his video segments. He’d warmed to Reeves immediately, and Reeves had watched him through a new lens—not just that of a country music singer and a man, but as a father and an uncle. Reeves didn’t have any role models for a father or an uncle, and he found he was starved for men in his life that he could pattern himself after.

Bailey’s daddy was warm and kind, strong and protective, as well. While he and Bailey had done a couple of things with her family this summer, Reeves suddenly wanted a lot more time with Graham, and maybe some of it without Bailey. She deserved a man who knew how to be a husband and a father before he became those things, and while Reeves was always over-prepared in every aspect of his life, in this one thing, he had woefully little experience.

He turned and followed Luke, who’d ducked under the lower branches of the bushes and helped his daughter scoot back to the trunk. Reeves lifted the longer branches and pulled the rope out of his front pocket that he’d placed there upon assessing their shelter. He tied the branches together and lifted them up, tossing the rope to loop it over a higher pine tree branch and pulling it down to knot it together. This would allow them a higher entrance and more headroom underneath the branches.

He then scooted in as far as he dared, bumping up against Luke’s side and the shins of OJ. “All right, who’s cold and wet?” he asked.

No one said anything. Then Eric finally said, “Some water went down the back of my neck, so I’m wet underneath my backpack.”