White Dove's Promise

Before Jared could explain, Bram, dressed in a tan uniform and sheriff’s badge, joined them. The oldest of the five Colton siblings, Bram was only an inch taller than Jared and shared the same athletic build and black hair. Yet the similarities stopped there. Where Jared’s eyes were gray and usually full of playful mischief, Bram’s were black and serious. At the moment, the two brothers were both tight-lipped with anxiety.

“You’d better show me where she went in, Jared,” Bram said, then to Kerry he added, “You can come with us. But tell your mother and the rest that they must stay back and out of the way.”

Nodding, Kerry left them momentarily and hurried over to briefly explain the situation to her mother. As the two men waited for her, Jared said, “I don’t like the looks of this, Bram. The girl has ventured into a spot where we haven’t started working yet. It’s a safe bet to say that the drainpipes have probably broken and shifted into all sorts of directions and turned the whole thing into a treacherous maze. She’s probably crawled inside one of them and can’t find her way out.”

“Damn it, why wasn’t someone out here? Where’s your work crew anyway?”

Jared didn’t allow Bram’s sharp questions to get under his skin. His older brother took the responsibility of his sheriff’s position very seriously and he was committed to keeping everyone in Comanche County safe.

“It rained yesterday, remember? I let the crew off,” Jared explained. “As for someone guarding the place, that responsibility lies with the gas company and they apparently didn’t want to be out the extra expense. The yellow tape is supposed to keep people away from the danger.”

Bram’s lips twisted with disapproval as he eyed the yellow caution tape that roped the perimeter of the well site. “Yeah,” he said with sarcasm. “That’s sure going to keep the kids out of this accident waiting to happen.”

“Believe me, Bram, I tried to warn the gas company. Right after we started digging up the place I asked them to supply a night watchman at the very least, but they refused. His salary would have been a hell of a lot cheaper than the lawsuit that might come out of this.”

Kerry rejoined them just as Jared finished speaking. Her expression was grave, but hopeful as her gaze encompassed both men.

“Mother will keep the friends and relatives back,” she assured Bram.

The sheriff nodded at her, then motioned for Jared to lead them to the spot where the child had entered the drainage pipe.

Instinctively, Jared took Kerry by the arm. “The ground is rough and slippery,” he gently warned her. “So watch your step.”

Kerry realized she must appear ridiculous in her skirt and high heels, but she couldn’t help it. Ever since she’d raced home from the bank, she’d not had time to draw a deep breath, much less change her clothes. Already her panty hose were lined with runners from searching through a clump of blackberry vines. Coppery-colored stains smeared the front of her shirt and skirt from leaning over the rusty pieces of an old car that had been junked not far from here. But what she looked like to this man or anyone else didn’t matter one iota. Getting her daughter back safely in her arms was all she cared about. And she had to believe that was going to happen. She had to. Otherwise, she would simply break apart.

“How long has it been since you found the dog and the tracks, Jared?” Bram asked.

“Not long. Ten minutes, maybe. Couldn’t be much more than that.”

The three of them had reached the point where the footsteps had finally disappeared. Fred was still there in the bottom of the ditch. Apparently the pup had worn himself out and was now stretched out on his belly, his muzzle resting on his paws as he diligently watched the small crevice for a sign of Peggy.

The moment Kerry spotted the dog, her composure cracked. Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle the sob that was burning her throat.

“Oh God—is she—is she down there? In that?”

The agony in her voice tore a hole right through Jared. The need to comfort her crowded everything else from his mind, making him instinctively reach for her shoulders and pull her lightly against his chest. “She’ll be all right, Kerry. We’ll get her out. I’ll get her out. I promise.”

Above her head, Jared met Bram’s bleak gaze and he knew they were both thinking he’d just made a promise he might not be able to keep.

More than an hour later, the excavation site was littered with fire trucks, emergency vehicles, rescue crews and paramedics. Generators and bright outdoor lights had been set up in preparation for the night to come. The fact that the emergency people anticipated it might take that long to recover Peggy from the pipe tunnel only added to Kerry’s worry.

For the umpteenth time, Enola turned a helpless look of frustration on her daughter. “They’re wasting time! There’s a backhoe sitting right over there. Why don’t they start digging her out?”

The two women were standing about thirty feet away from the ditch where Peggy had disappeared. Around them, firemen and other rescue people were discussing ways to bring her daughter out to safety. But Kerry’s attention was focused on one lone man rather than the group of professionals. And that one man was Jared Colton.

If anyone could find her daughter and bring her safely out of that mess, it was Jared. She wasn’t sure why she’d placed her confidence in him, of all people. She’d never really liked the man. He’d always been a playboy and considered himself God’s gift to women. Especially all the sexy sirens around Black Arrow.

It had surprised her enormously to learn he was the man who’d discovered Peggy’s whereabouts. She hadn’t even known he was still living in Black Arrow. She’d thought he’d moved out years ago and was now making a fortune for some large petroleum company down in Houston.

With unshed tears stinging the back of her eyes, she said quietly, “They have to locate exactly where she is first, Mom. Then maybe they can do something about getting her out.”

“Well, I don’t know why that Colton boy had to be the one who crawled into the pipe to go searching for her,” Enola commented. “He’s not a rescue person. He should have let one of the firemen go. Like Tommy Grimes. You remember, he’s the one that saved the Wilsons from being blown to smithereens.”

Kerry groaned inwardly. Ever since she’d returned to Black Arrow, Tommy had pestered her for a date and she knew her mother had encouraged him simply because he was divorced with a small daughter around Peggy’s age.

“If I remember right, the Wilsons’ neighbor is the one who discovered propane was leaking inside their house. All Tommy did was turn off the valve at the tank. And as for Jared Colton, he’s an engineer, Mom. He’s been working on these pipes and he knows all about which way they run and how deep they’re buried. I trust him. More than anyone down there.”

Surprised by Kerry’s remark, Enola studied her daughter. “I don’t have to tell you he’s a rounder, Kerry. The man is in his thirties and he’s never been married or had a child of his own. He couldn’t know what Peggy means to you or what you’re going through right now.”

Normally Enola was an open-minded woman. Kerry couldn’t see any reason for her mother to be saying such nasty things about a man who was risking his own life to save her granddaughter’s. Unless Enola was simply too upset to know what she was actually saying.

“You’re wrong. He does understand. A person doesn’t have to be a parent to value a child’s life.” Besides, Kerry thought, she’d heard the caring in his voice when he’d promised her to get Peggy out, felt it for those brief moments when he’d held her against his hard chest. It didn’t matter if he was a still a playboy or married with three kids. He was the man she was counting on to save her daughter.

Enola was about to make a reply when a flurry of activity caught Kerry’s eye. A mixture of hope and relief flooded through her as she spotted Jared standing at the mouth of the pipe. Although the late afternoon sun was casting long shadows over the group, she could easily see that he was covered with mud. Streaks of it slashed at an angle across his cheek while parts of his short black hair were splotched with brown. In spite of his bedraggled condition, he was wasting no time in relaying information to Bram, and from the quick hand gestures he made back toward the drainpipe, he was a man just starting a mission rather than ending it.

“There’s Jared,” Kerry said to her mother with a breathless rush. “Maybe he’s found Peggy!”

Not waiting to see if her mom was following, Kerry pushed her way through the crowd until she was standing next to Jared and Bram, who’d now been joined by their younger sister, Willow, who ran the Black Arrow Feed and Grain store. There was also Gray, a tall, dark-haired Colton cousin, who was a local judge. Apparently the Colton family believed in banding together in times of crisis, she thought, and in this case she was deeply grateful that their help was being extended to her and Peggy.

Focusing her attention on Jared, she begged, “Tell me. What did you find?”

Jared’s gray eyes locked with Kerry’s pleading brown gaze. All the while he’d been crawling his way through the maze of drainpipes, his mind had been consumed with thoughts of the agony he knew this woman was going through and of the little girl who must surely be feeling trapped and terrified by now.

Stepping forward, he took her hand and gently folded it between his. “I’ve located her, Kerry. As I worked my way deeper into the pipe, I kept calling her name. She didn’t answer me directly, but I picked up on the sound of her crying.”

The relief of hearing that her daughter was alive flooded through Kerry and in the process nearly buckled her knees. If Jared hadn’t been holding onto her hand, she would have crumpled right there in the mud.

“Then she must be okay! But—” she stopped abruptly as another thought struck her. “If you could hear her, why didn’t you go after her and bring her out?”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s not going to be that simple, Kerry. Your daughter, Peggy—or Bram told me you sometimes call her Chenoa. Which name does she usually go by?”

“Chenoa is her Comanche name which means—”

“Little dove,” Jared finished for her. One corner of his mouth lifted wryly. “You must have forgotten that us Coltons are Comanche, too.”

She hadn’t forgotten the Coltons, Kerry thought, especially this one. By the time she’d been a senior in high school, he’d had women running out his ears, but for some reason he’d wanted to date her. Back then the idea of going out with a rogue like him was indecent, not to mention unsettling. Even though he’d been incredibly handsome and too sexy for his own good. A fact that hadn’t changed as far as she could see.

Flustered that she’d allowed her thoughts to wander, she said, “My daughter normally goes by Peggy.”

Jared nodded at Kerry while from the corner of his eye he could see that Bram was already talking over a course of action with the rescue people. “Peggy has wormed her way back into a shaft of pipe that I can’t reach,” he explained to her.

Sick with fear, she gripped his fingers. “Someone else—someone smaller—” she began, only to have him dash away her hopeful suggestions with a shake of his head.

“It would take someone smaller than Peggy even. I’ve found where she’d crawled through to another section of pipe, but her movements disturbed the surrounding ground, causing some of it to cave in behind her. Even if she was smart enough to turn around and find her way back, she couldn’t get past the dirt and rocks that are blocking the end of the pipe.”

“Oh God! Oh please tell me you can get her out! Please!”

One of Jared’s hands lifted to her shoulder. He gripped it firmly as he looked directly into her eyes. “Kerry, I promise you I’ll get her out. I’m not sure exactly how to do it yet, but I’ll get her.”

Kerry desperately wanted to believe him, but the whole situation sounded so awful. Her baby was in a deep dark hole with no way out. “But she might not have enough air! If it takes a long time to get her out—”

“Now, Kerry, don’t panic. If you collapse you won’t be much good to Peggy once we do bring her up.”

Tears were blurring her eyes and she blinked furiously to prevent them from spilling onto her cheeks. God knew she had a good reason to fall apart, but over the past few years, she’d had to battle her way through tough times. The experiences had taught her to steel herself against personal pain and anguish, to show a brave face even though her heart was breaking. That was the strong, Comanche way, and she wanted Jared Colton to see that she was no weaker than he.

“You’re right, Jared,” She drew in a bracing breath and squared her shoulders. “What can I do to help?”

Jared glanced up the sloping ground to where Kerry’s mother was waiting with a group of people that had grown to large proportions in the past hour. “Just go back to your family and wait. We’ll take care of everything.” He looked down at her as another notion suddenly struck him. “Wait—there is something. If your husband is here, he could be a help. If he’d be willing to crawl down into the pipe and call to Peggy, she might respond to him. That would help us pinpoint her exact location.”

Bitter regret twisted deep in Kerry’s stomach. Damon wouldn’t be willing to send Peggy a birthday card, much less risk his life to save hers. She tried to swallow away the guilt and sorrow that she felt, not for herself, but for her innocent daughter.

“Uh, he’s…not around. But I could crawl into the pipe and call to Peggy,” she quickly suggested.

Jared shook his head. “It’s too deep and dangerous, Kerry. I don’t want to put you at risk.”

Her heart sank. “Oh well,” she said huskily. “Then I’m—uh, sorry, Jared. Because Peggy doesn’t have a father.”

Chapter Two

The next few hours were some of the hardest Jared had ever endured. For the sake of the little dove trapped beneath the ground, he was trying to focus all his mental ability on the rescue operation. Yet there was a small part of his thoughts that continually strayed to Kerry.

To learn that she was a single mother had knocked him for a loop. The Kerry WindWalker he remembered was the quiet, reserved waitress who’d worked seven or eight years ago at Woody’s Café. At that time he’d tried to get to know her personally, but she’d stubbornly kept the conversation between them to the same light exchange she used for all the customers in the homey little eating place. She’d had a reputation for being prim and proper and, in spite of Jared’s best efforts, she’d left Black Arrow with that same squeaky-clean standing.

Jared could only suppose that the years away from Black Arrow had changed her. Although there was one thing that remained the same, he thought ruefully. She had no man in her life. The fact that she’d been raising her daughter alone saddened him. Yet he had to confess there was a selfish part of him that was glad she wasn’t attached to some other man.

“Okay, Jared, that’s ten feet. Want me to go any deeper?”

Shaking away his thoughts, Jared looked up at Newt, a burly oilfield worker who was operating a large auger. This was the second hole that had been drilled into the ground near to the spot where Peggy was trapped. The first had failed to give Jared an entrance to reach her. After a long, careful study from inside the ground, coupled with the engineering blueprints he had of the original layout of the drainage pipes, he’d finally decided to try another, at a closer angle.

“No. That’s good. Hop out, Newt, and I’ll go down. Maybe this one will get me all the way back to her.”

Someone caught him by the arm and Jared glanced around to find Bram at his side. Having his brother here for support, even in the capacity of sheriff, helped him forget that he’d been at this for hours and that his body was now running on sheer adrenaline.

“Newt has reached the right depth,” he quickly explained to Bram. “I’m going down again.”

“What if you can’t get through this time, Jared?”

“I’ve got to,” Jared said grimly. “I’m afraid to drill any closer. From what I know about this network of pipes, Peggy probably has some space to crawl back and forth. I can’t risk drilling into an area where she might be.”

Bram let out a weary breath. “I know you’re right. But she’s been down there for hours now. The tunnel you’ve just now bored may not be any better than the last one.”

The desperation in Bram’s voice matched the feelings that Jared had been dealing with from the moment he’d spotted Peggy’s little footprints. He wouldn’t rest until that child was placed safely in her mother’s arms.

Jared lifted the hard hat from his sweaty head and shoved a weary hand through his damp hair. “Believe me, brother, I want to get her out just as badly as you do. So have a little confidence in me, will you? This time I’ll get in. I have to,” he said with steely determination. Glancing back over his shoulder, he scanned the crowd that had continued to grow throughout the evening. “Have you seen Kerry?”

“I talked to her about ten minutes ago. I explained that you were drilling again at another angle.”

“How was she doing?”

Bram’s tight grimace spoke volumes. “She’s holding herself together, but it’s pretty obvious she’s not far from collapsing. Her mother tells me that no one has been able to make her eat or drink anything since we’ve been out here.”

Just the thought of what she must be going through was enough to make Jared sick. “See what you and Gray can do with her,” Jared told him. “I’m going down. And I’m not coming up until I have Peggy with me. Even if it means I have to dig her out by hand!”

By now Newt had removed the steel auger from the newly drilled hole. Jared hurried toward the open cavity. Bram followed to snatch a hold on Jared’s shoulder before he could lower himself into the newly bored hole.

“Jared, you’re exhausted,” he pointed out. “You’ve already worked for hours. Let someone else go down. Let me. Or Gray.”

Shaking his head at his older brother’s plea, Jared said, “You’re the sheriff. You need to be out here where you can make sure everyone is safe and doing what they’re supposed to be doing. This town would be in chaos if it lost you.”

Jared’s offhand compliment put a twisted smile on Bram’s face. “This town survived a long time before I became sheriff and it’ll go on surviving once I’m no longer in office. But that’s not the issue. You’re about to fall over and Gray—”

“Doesn’t like to get his hands dirty,” Jared joked and winked. Then before Bram could try to dissuade him any further, he lowered himself into the ground.

Kerry was trying her best not to keep glancing at the small watch on her wrist, but each minute seemed to be crawling by as she and the rest of the hundred or more people around the excavation site waited for Jared to reappear and prayed that Peggy would be in his arms.

“Kerry, is there anything I can get for you? A sandwich? Or cold drink?”

Kerry looked around to see Christa, a co-worker at Liberty Bank, who’d also become a good friend. The tall, curvaceous blonde was two years younger than Kerry and had already gone through a traumatic divorce. Over the past months Kerry had been trying to help her young friend get through the trying ordeal. Now the tables were turned and Christa was here to lend Kerry what support she could.

Trying to smile, Kerry passed trembling fingers across her forehead. “No thanks, Christa. I tried to eat earlier, but everything just stuck in my throat.”

With a worried frown, Christa grabbed a folding portable stool that one of the local churches had distributed for the crowd. Once she was sitting next to her friend, she said, “Clarence told me that you worked through lunch. It’s nearly eight o’clock now. You have to be starving.”

Kerry placed a reassuring hand over Christa’s. “I’m fine. Or at least I will be once they get Peggy out of there.” Closing her eyes, she swallowed at the knot of fear that had lodged in her throat and refused to go away.

“I noticed the sheriff was talking to you a few minutes ago,” Christa remarked. “What was he saying? Does he know anything yet?”

“He said that the phone Jared had taken with him had apparently quit working. They haven’t been able to make any contact with him in the past twenty minutes.”

Christa shook her head. “Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean that something has gone wrong. The battery could have gone dead on the phone or the signal may not be getting out.”

Opening her eyes, Kerry focused a desperate look on her friend. “I hope you’re right, Christa. I can’t—I have to think that things are going to be okay. Otherwise—” She couldn’t go on as tears trickled onto her cheeks. Moments later, she felt Christa’s hand gently patting her back. Sniffing, she wiped at her tears and tried again, “Oh Christa—I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my daughter.”

“You’re not going to lose her,” Christa said with firm resolution. “The Coltons will see to that. They’re a smart, diligent family. And they care about people. If Jared can’t get her out, he and his brother will call in some expert who can.”

Kerry glanced around her to make sure her mother wasn’t within earshot. “I’m glad to hear you say that,” she said in a voice only Christa could hear. “Mom keeps preaching that they’re making a mess out of things and just wanting to big-shot around and take over the situation.”

A puzzled expression came over Christa’s face. “I can’t understand that. Let’s face it, the fire and rescue people in this town mean well and they do a good job most of the time, but they’re not that highly trained. They have no idea what’s under this ground or how to get into it without tearing everything apart and endangering Peggy even more. Jared’s an engineer. He knows what he’s dealing with.”

Kerry let out a long, shaky breath. “That’s what I was thinking, but Mom seems to have something against Jared in particular.”

Christa shrugged. “Well, from what I’ve heard, he used to have quite a reputation with the ladies. Your mom probably holds that against him.”

Shaking her head with weary disbelief, Kerry said, “That has nothing to do with him getting my daughter out of the ground! I don’t understand her—”

“Kerry! Look!”

Christa’s abrupt cry was coupled with a ripple of excitement passing through the people gathered around the site. And then Kerry saw the reason for all the commotion. It was Jared! He was climbing out of the deep ditch and Peggy was nestled safely in his arms!

Choking back a sob of sheer relief, Kerry jumped to her feet and stumbled across the rough ground to meet them.

“Peggy! Oh baby!” she cried, not bothering to hide the tears of joy that were beginning to stream down her face.

Jared grinned down at her. “Your daughter is a little muddy and dirty, but other than that she seems to be okay,” he said.

From the moment he’d reached Peggy back in the narrow cavern of pipe, she’d had a death grip on his neck. Even now, with her mother near, she was reluctant to loosen her hold and allow him to place her in Kerry’s arms.

Gently, Jared patted the child’s back, then carefully pushed the long tangle of black hair from the side of her face. “It’s all right, Chenoa,” he murmured to the frightened little girl. “Your mommy is right here. She’s been waiting for you. Just like I promised.”

Kerry swallowed down her tears in an effort to make her voice sound as calm and normal as possible to her daughter. “Peggy, it’s all right, honey. You can come to mama now and we’ll go get Fred.”

Lifting her face from Jared’s wide shoulder, Peggy looked warily around her, then down at Kerry’s outstretched arms.

“Mama,” she said through sniffles and hiccups, then reached for her mother.

Jared had accomplished a few difficult jobs down through the years, jobs that had left him feeling proud, maybe even a little smug. But he could truthfully say nothing he’d ever done felt as wonderful or satisfying as being able to place Peggy into her mother’s arms. And the elated smile that was now spreading across Kerry’s face was worth every minute he’d spent crawling through that muddy underground maze.