Lila and Seth’s stolen night of lovemaking transformed their relationship. She knew it. Felt it. Changes were subtle at first, but over the next several weeks they found ways to spend more time together and they talked about their future. Still they’d only managed one additional night in each other’s arms.
Lila hadn’t thought her newfound happiness showed until she and her mom were alone in the café kitchen one morning and Doreen pounced. “That man you continue to make goo-goo eyes at and moon over doesn’t even have a paying job. What kind of man is content to live off a woman even if he hangs around feeding her horses? A sad role model for Rory, that’s who.”
Lila straightened from loading the dishwasher with breakfast dishes. “If you mean Seth, he’s signed up for online college courses to be able to teach at the high school next fall. And for your information, he returned his rental car and bought a king-cab pickup. Plus he continues to pay his rent on time. He’s not living off of me, Mother.”
Doreen slammed pots around. Mother and daughter glared at one another until Rory, who’d been watching TV in his memaw’s apartment, ran down the stairs and exploded into the room. “Mom, Mom, can I ride my bike to Kemper’s? His dad got his batting machine set up. Kemper ’vited me over to try it out.”
“You have a makeup game this afternoon. Seth plans to pick you up here at one. That’s only two hours away, and you boys shouldn’t get tired out.”
“We won’t. I can call and ask Seth to pick me up at Kemper’s.”
“He’s studying and may not have his phone turned on.”
“Then when he comes, send him there. Please, Mom. Kemper’s got his own batting machine. I want one so bad. I bet if Seth marries us he’ll buy me one.”
Doreen choked and Lila’s jaw dropped. “Rory, what...where in heaven’s name did you get that notion?”
“I saw you guys kissing. Kemper said that’s what moms and dads do. And one day me ’n Seth were talking. He asked if I knew what a stepdad was. All the kids on the team think he is my dad.”
“Seth and I haven’t actually discussed marriage per se,” Lila said mostly for her mother’s benefit. “And Lori Barnes told me what that machine cost, young man. As a teacher, even if he coaches, Seth will never earn what Kemper’s dad does as a lawyer. So get that nonsense out of your head. Yes, you may go to Kemper’s. I want a word with Seth, so I’ll direct him your way when he comes to pick you up.”
The boy stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Is he gonna be mad at me like you are?”
“I’m not mad.” Lila adjusted the net holding her hair. She did think if Seth contemplated marriage, she ought to hear of it first.
With Wild Horse Stampede folks starting to arrive in Wolf Point, the café’s lunch and supper crowd had already mushroomed. Doreen’s sling had been removed, but Lila still handled most of the cooking. Her mom and Becky waitressed and cleared tables. Lila soon got so busy she forgot to fuss over Seth.
The place hadn’t slowed down one iota when he arrived at ten to one.
Doreen accosted him as he walked in. “You’re in big trouble. But Lila’s too busy to yell at you now. Rory’s at Kemper’s. You need to pick him up there for the game.”
Seth’s head wasn’t fully out of his studies, but he couldn’t think why Lila would be upset with him. Ignoring Doreen, he poked his head in the kitchen. “Doreen said Rory’s at Kemper’s. She also said you’re PO’d at me.”
“I’m not mad at you. It’s something Rory said. We’ll have to talk later. I’m swamped with orders.”
“Okay. We’ll drop by here after the game. I wish you could go.”
“Me, too.” Lila waved a hand helplessly toward a full order carousel.
Seth walked over and kissed her. “I hope that makes things better.” He didn’t care that Doreen saw and scowled as he brushed past her and went out.
He racked his brain to think what Rory could’ve said. He hoped it wasn’t anything about hunting for sapphires or rubies. He thought he’d put that to rest once and for all.
Driving down the Barneses’ block he saw Lori getting into a BMW that matched Matt’s. Rory stood at the curb with his bike. Was Lori leaving Rory alone? Surely not. Compared to everyone else he’d met in Snowy Owl Crossing, Matt and Lori Barnes were the most preoccupied with themselves. Case in point, she backed out and drove off without waving. Kemper, however, did.
Seth pulled to the curb, let the pickup idle and got out to put Rory’s bike under the canopy.
“Are you mad at me?” It was Rory’s first question after Seth slid back behind the steering wheel.
“Should I be? Your grandmother seems to think I’d done something wrong, but your mom was too busy to talk. How about if you clue me in?”
The boy picked at his fingers. “Kemper got a batting machine. I told Mom if you married us I bet you’d buy me one. She and Memaw had a cow, ’specially after I said I saw you guys kissing. Or maybe it was when I said you asked if I knew what a stepdad was.” He shrugged.
“That was some conversation. Don’t fret about it. Your mother and I will iron things out. You do your best today, okay? It’s good we’re getting this makeup game out of the way. According to the TV weatherman, we may be in for a big rainstorm.”
“When? Rodeo’s soon. It’s always hot for that.”
“Is that why the coach said there will be practices at the school but no game until Tuesday after next? I figured the switch took into account Independence Day.”
“Yep.”
“Gosh, I haven’t been to a rodeo in years. Maybe your mom can get away and we’ll all go.”
“Nah, the café is always super busy. Auntie Jewell took me. She does veterinarian stuff there. Rodeo’s okay, but not as fun as baseball. I guess we can go if you want. Mom said Auntie Jewell’s gone somewhere to talk about the snowy owls. I heard Mom on the phone with Auntie Tawana.”
“Is she well? I haven’t heard your mom mention her craft group in a while.”
“She’s better, but behind on her job.”
“Glad she’s improved enough to be back at work. Well, here we are. Grab your equipment bag. I see you have grass stains on your uniform knees. Are you hurt?”
“Naw. I fell down at Kemper’s. His machine spit out a really low ball. I tried to stop it from going past me. His machine does a lot of change-up pitches. It’s fun.”
Their talk fell off. Most of the other players were already warming up. Rory pulled out his mitt as Seth paused to get the batting order from Coach Landis. Since he was the only person there to cheer for Rory, he took a seat in the bleachers directly behind him.
The coin toss gave the Badgers first bat. Seth finished giving Rory the usual pep talk and he’d leaned back to watch when someone sat beside him and tapped his arm.
“Hey, Myra. I didn’t know you were coming. Is Zeke here?” Seth craned his neck, looking around.
“No, but you received a couple of official-looking letters. Zeke thought I should run them over. One is from the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The other’s from the Montana Department of Environmental Reclamation Projects. Zeke said maybe it has to do with one of your classes.”
Seth took the letter from the superintendent and ripped it open. “Ah, this says they received my university transcripts and someone will post them to my file. Once that’s done I’ll be cleared to get a provisional teaching certificate. This is great.” He folded it, stuck it in his back pocket and then tore into the second envelope. “Oh, wow, it’s the permit to hunt for sapphires at the Opportunity Mine. So much has changed I forgot about this. I won’t need it now, of course.” He folded that letter, too.
“So, you’ve totally dropped gem hunting?”
“Yep. I’m thinking of asking a guy I know if he wants my quality equipment. I bought a few items here. Flashlights, ropes, a headlamp. They’re stored in a chest in Lila’s barn. If he doesn’t want the stuff, maybe I can sell it online.”
“Or hang on to them to see if teaching and coaching works out.”
“It’s going to work out, Myra.”
A whistle blew and the game began.
By inning five the wind kicked up. Angry clouds rolled overhead. Myra said to Seth, “I don’t like the look of this weather. I hate to leave early, but I should go home and help Zeke check stock in our summer pastures. Some cattle freak at thunder and trample fences.”
“I appreciate you bringing me the mail. Next time, call. I’ll come pick it up.”
Rory came back to the bench to sit directly in front of Seth again. Myra leaned down and apologized to him for not staying. “If you keep hitting like you’ve done up to now, the Badgers will win.”
“Thanks, Auntie Myra. I hope it doesn’t rain. Kemper said playing is awful when the diamond gets muddy.”
“Maybe the rain will pass us by,” Seth said. “Or hold off until tomorrow.”
“Do we still gotta practice?”
The boy seated beside Rory spoke up. “If it only rains a little, yeah. Coach will cancel practice if there’s lightning.”
Seth stored that tidbit. The storm might double down or it could blow over.
The Badgers did win, and Rory drove in the winning run, although he got put out at third. It was the team’s first victory and all the kids whooped and hollered.
Rory remained pumped on the drive to the café. He jumped out and ran inside ahead of Seth, telling everyone in earshot about the win. “Mom,” he shouted at the kitchen door, “you shoulda been there. I batted real good. Coach said every player needs to spend time in a batting cage. We have enough room in the backyard for one.” He sent a guilty look at Seth, who’d sauntered in behind him.
“I’ll leave you to calm him down,” Seth told Lila. “I think I’ll go home and read up more on what courses I need next semester. I’ll take his bike.”
“Fine. Can you set it in the barn? A customer said it’s slated to pour. To give you more study time Rory can come here tomorrow whether or not there’s practice.”
“Mom, I wanna go to Kemper’s again. If we can’t bat, we can play his new computer LEGO game.”
“I suppose. Unless it rains too hard for you to ride your bike there. You know how busy we are with rodeo people.”
“You’re always busy.” Rory kicked at a cabinet. “When can you ever do stuff like Kemper’s mom?”
Seth set his hand on Rory’s shoulder. “Apologize, slugger. Your mom works hard to keep you fed and clothed.”
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
Seth brushed a light kiss across Lila’s furrowed brow. “Things will get better.” Again he passed Doreen. This time he noticed she didn’t look so sour.
* * *
IN THE MORNING the sky remained dark and overcast, but no rain had fallen so Seth turned the horses into the corral. The last of the fishermen had been replaced by two rodeo couples.
“This is my first summer in Montana,” one of the rodeo goers said. “The weather channel’s calling for rain.”
The couples left and Seth returned to the barn. He saw Rory hooking his ball bag over his bike handle. “Hey, need some help? Maybe you should leave your bike here. It’s probably going to rain hardest this morning. If it clears up for practice, I’ll pick you up at the café.”
“I asked Mom and I’m gonna go to Kemper’s, anyway. I don’t need any help. I’ll put this in the Jeep by myself.”
Maybe his mom had lectured him about taking more responsibility. Or perhaps the two had had a tiff at breakfast. Rory was acting a bit odd. Seth headed inside, intending to ask Lila, but she wasn’t anywhere around. Ghost had already been fed. Seth felt bad he had missed a chance to smooch with Lila. Passing through to the dining room, he helped himself to a plate of breakfast burritos and went upstairs to cram before an online quiz.
He heard Lila start the Jeep, got up and went to the window. She was fast disappearing down the lane, and he realized she’d gotten a late start.
* * *
“RORY, DID YOU see Seth this morning?”
The boy jerked upright. “Yeah. He turned the horses out into the corral and talked to the rodeo guests. Why?”
“No reason. I missed seeing him this morning. I think he’s anxious about his quiz.”
“I don’t like them or tests. Why does he hafta go to school? I didn’t think adults had to study.”
“He’s changing jobs. He went to college, but not to teach.”
“Did he have to go to school to hunt for gems?”
Lila shot Rory a sidelong glance. “He said his degrees are in geology. That’s the science of the earth, rocks and minerals, I think.”
“My teacher said our whole planet is layers of sand and rocks.”
Lila smiled. “I’m happy you remember things your teacher tells you.”
“Well, yeah. But every year they make us learn more. What did you take in college?”
“I didn’t. I got married right out of high school. We bought the Owl’s Nest and then I had you. I learned about cooking and homemaking from Memaw.”
“Why doesn’t Kemper’s mom work?”
“Mr. Barnes has a high-paying job. A safe job,” she added, making her son frown at her. “That’s what I want for you, Rory, so study hard.”
“Maybe I’ll play pro baseball.”
“Maybe,” Lila agreed, parking outside the café. In moments her work swung into high gear and Rory trudged upstairs to watch TV until almost noon, when he came down again, begging to go to Kemper’s.
“What’s the weather like?” Lila asked as she flipped four burgers.
“I’ll go look,” he said as Becky walked into the kitchen.
She said, “The clouds are gray. But unless it’s raining in the hills, the weather guys guessed wrong again. I’m sure that’ll make the stampede promoters ecstatic. So, Rory, is Jewell taking you to see the bull riding again this year?”
Rory hiked his shoulders up to his ears.
Lila assembled burgers and dumped sizzling fries on four plates. She set them on the pass-through counter and hit the bell. “Jewell hasn’t said if she’s the backup vet for the rodeo this year. She’s due home from DC soon. She called Tawana. I understand her meeting with the Natural Resource Committee didn’t go as well as she’d hoped. We probably all need to give her space when she gets home.”
“Mom, is it okay if I go to Kemper’s?”
“I guess. Let me know if there’s going to be ball practice so I can tell Seth.”
He dashed off.
“I didn’t hear him say yay or nay,” Becky said, taking off her jacket to trade it for an apron.
“He’s consumed with that stupid batting machine Matt Barnes bought Kemper. Seth said they cost more than a horse,” Lila grumbled, whirling the order carousel to read the new slips her mother had clipped on.
“I’ll go relieve Doreen. Maybe things will slow down by one so you can take a break, Lila.”
“Dream on. More people come to the rodeo every year. But I can’t complain. They bring tourism dollars to us.”
The crowd thinned shortly before one. Doreen bustled into the kitchen. “Lila, I just took a phone call from Mrs. Landis. She said it’s starting to thunder, so her husband canceled ball practice.”
Lila looked up from scraping the grill. “The kids will be disappointed. Rory’s been at Kemper’s for over two hours. If you and Becky can handle things for a while, I’ll go get him. I don’t want him riding his bike in this weather.”
“That’s wise,” Doreen said, watching Lila strip off her apron.
Stuffing her hairnet in her jeans’ pocket, she paused at the door. “If Seth phones or comes in, give him Mrs. Landis’s message.”
“Don’t you suppose someone notified him?”
“He had an online quiz at ten thirty, and after that a Skype appointment with his college advisor. I’m not sure how long that’d take. I figure his phone’s on vibrate, but he might not hear it if he got too involved.”
“Okay. But you aren’t going to be gone very long.”
Lila left the café, seeing it had begun to spit rain. She saw lightning in the distance. As she drove the familiar route to the Barneses’ house, she mulled over what she had to do to get her mother to accept that Seth meant a lot to her.
Rain pelted harder. Lila hadn’t worn a jacket and her uniform got splotched with raindrops on her way to the Barneses’ front door.
Kemper opened it when she rang the bell. He gaped at her for a long moment. “Mrs. Jenkins. What are you doing here?”
“I came to get Rory. I guess you know they’ve canceled practice.”
“Yeah. But he left before Coach called.”
“Left?” Lila rubbed her upper arms. Hadn’t she driven the route he would’ve taken on his bike?
“Uh-huh. He went to go get the sapphires. From the mine,” Kemper said, acting as if Lila ought to know.
Her heart began to pound. “Mi-mine?” she stuttered. “Kemper, I don’t understand. He wouldn’t ride his bike all the way out to the mine, alone, and when it was about to storm.”
“I dunno. That’s what he said. He said he got a flashlight and ropes from Seth.”
Lila flew off the porch. She plunged down the slick sidewalk to her Jeep. Hands shaking, she took out her phone and called Seth.
The phone rang and rang on his end, but he didn’t pick up. Twice she almost dropped her cell because she was trembling so hard. Finally she threw it on the passenger seat. She could drive to the mine, but it was closer to go to the ranch. Was this some scheme Rory and Seth had cooked up? After all of his pretty promises and all she thought they’d come to mean to each other, why would Seth go back on his word?
After two attempts she started the Jeep. What had Seth promised? Digging back through muddled memories, she recalled him saying it took a permit to hunt sapphires. Conceivably he could be turned down to teach even after obtaining provisional certification. Even if he had elected to go after sapphires to sell, why, why, why would he involve Rory?
Lila knew she shouldn’t drive and use her phone, but she spared a moment to call the café. “Becky? It’s Lila. No, don’t get Mom. Give her a message. Tell her I hope you two can handle customers for a while. Rory left Kemper’s. He’s not at the café by chance, is he?” She prayed the answer was yes and her churning stomach was all for naught.
“No, he isn’t here. You sound upset, Lila. Is everything all right?”
“I’ll let you know. I’m going home to see if Seth picked him up at Kemper’s and he’s wrong about saying Rory rode off on his own. Listen, Becky. I can’t talk and drive. I’ll check back later.”
She took the corner off the highway to her lane on two wheels. The jolt reminded her of the time she’d put the Jeep in the ditch. The first time Seth had come to her rescue. The first time she’d started falling for his helpful ways.
Slowing, she strained to see through rain that suddenly hammered her windshield, hoping against hope to see Rory’s bike. She did see Seth’s new pickup. What did that mean? And there he was leading a horse into the barn.
Braking hard, she unbuckled and threw herself out. “Seth, Seth,” she yelled.
He turned, left Merlin in the door to the barn and met Lila at the fence. “What is it, babe? Why are you home at this hour? Did something happen to your mom?” He dug out his phone. “Dang, I missed several calls. I had it on mute instead of vibrate.”
“Seth, stop talking and listen to me.” Her voice rose and fell frantically. “Did you give Rory a flashlight and ropes so he could go to the mine to look for sapphires? Of course you didn’t,” she muttered, registering his shocked expression. “I’m a nervous wreck. Kemper said Rory left his house early to ride his bike to the mine. He said Rory got a flashlight and ropes from you.”
“He didn’t. This makes no sense. But if he went to the mine, we need to go there fast. Wait, I stored some equipment in the barn. Come to think of it, Rory was there this morning with his ball bag.”
“Get what you need. I know a shortcut. I’ll drive.”
* * *
SETH DIDN’T ADMIT to having ridden out there once himself. If it upset Lila more, she might not be able to drive.
He dashed into the barn, put Merlin in his stall and threw the tool chest open. He removed a headlamp, oxygen tank and face mask. A big flashlight and ropes were gone. Wishing he was wearing sneakers instead of his new, slick-soled cowboy boots, he grabbed a horse lunge line from a wall peg and went out to toss everything in the backseat of the Cherokee. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive, babe? Your hands aren’t real steady.”
“I have to be fine. What is all that gear you put in the back? Was that an oxygen tank?”
“Sometimes air in abandoned mines gets stale.” He didn’t say sometimes a mine produced toxic fumes.
“What possessed him?”
Seth huffed out a breath. “Yesterday Myra came to the game and brought my mail. I set them up as a forwarding address before I got here. One letter was a permit to explore the mine. She asked questions. I told her I had no intention of using it. Maybe Rory overheard us. I can’t remember if he sat in front of us. Honestly his getting it into his head to go there is nothing I’d have imagined.”
“I’m furious at you. Oh, I may throw up. My dad died in a mine. Kevin died in this mine. Seth...” Her fingers tightened and turned white around the steering wheel.
“Pull over. I’ll drive.”
She shook her head. “It’s better that I have a task.” She turned off the highway onto muddy tracks. “This is a fire road. It cuts driving time in half.”
Seth cracked his window open. The rain—or Lila’s anger—had steamed up the interior. He recognized the mine entrance the minute she slammed on the brakes. “Look,” she said, her voice cracking. “There’s his bike. I prayed we’d beat him here.”
She started to open her door, but Seth caught her arm. “I want you to stay in the Jeep.” Reaching back, he nabbed the equipment and quickly donned the hard hat with the headlamp. In seconds he’d strapped on the oxygen tank, but left the face mask hanging free.
“Waiting will drive me crazy,” she said. “You need oxygen? Is the mine air bad? I should go with you.”
“No. The air may be fine, Lila.” Seth bracketed her chin in one hand. “Stay. Don’t make me worry about you and Rory.” He ran a finger over her lips. The bulky headlamp kept him from kissing her.
Coiling the long rope, he slung it over a shoulder and lurched out into the rain.
Inside the dark opening Seth took a minute to slow his heart rate and get his bearings. Speed mattered, but so did taking care. His headlamp illuminated the cavern. If he called Rory now he’d only get echoes. That day at the library he had studied a drawing the last gem hunter in here had sketched. But that library trip was weeks ago and fear rendered his memory fuzzy.
Venturing farther in, he recalled how the mine split. Snapping the headlamp on high beam, he saw both tunnels had rusty trolley tracks. Ore cars would have brought metal to this junction, where the tracks converged and ore went out to be dumped into trucks.
The right-hand tunnel had been the site of the cave-in. It had partially closed the left one, too, but much deeper down.
Reaching the juncture, Seth hollered for Rory. The boy’s name rebounded, mocking him until the sound petered out. For the first time in all of his underground excursions, his belly cramped as he pictured Lila’s anguish if he failed to find her son. Or worse, if he found him broken at the bottom of a shaft. Or...no, Seth erased the worst thought.
He chose the center shaft. A kid who was right-handed might automatically turn right. But if he held a flashlight in front of him, its arc wouldn’t penetrate that far. Choice made, Seth descended rapidly, sticking to the rails, watching for rickety supports or broken beams. Every few feet he called out to Rory.
Although he worried the kid may have succumbed to the kind of bad air typically found deeper in a mine, Seth held off donning his oxygen mask so he could yell. His headlamp didn’t reach far into the pitch blackness. Thinking he should see Rory’s light, he considered turning back to check the other tunnel. As he hesitated, he imagined he heard a faint call. He rushed forward, but all at once the rails bent sharply around a corner. Seth slipped on a round rock and almost fell into a side shaft of the type often used to follow a productive vein. He caught himself and even as he teetered on the edge of a hole, he heard soft cries from below.
He tore off the cumbersome oxygen tank and lay flat, calling again.
“Daddy? Daddy!” The plaintive response drifted aloft, sending chills up Seth’s spine. And making him fervently wish he was Rory’s dad.
“It’s Seth, Rory. Are you hurt?”
“Yes.” Sniffles and then a thin “My left arm hurts bad. Help me. I can’t get out.”
Further frustrated because his headlamp outlined two adjacent shafts that hadn’t been identified in the mine schematics, Seth cupped hands around his mouth and yelled down one. A distinct “Seth, help me!” rose from the other. That crudely dug shaft was likely the work of gem hunters. Maybe it wouldn’t go down as far.
“Hold on, slugger. I’m coming to get you. It may take me a minute.”
“Seth? Seth, where are you? Have you found Rory?” Lila’s voice sounded high-pitched and distraught, drifting toward him from the main cavern.
Seth spun. His stomach balled tighter as his light bounced off rock walls shored up with wood. “Lila? I found him,” he yelled. “Please, sweetheart, don’t come any farther. I’ll get him and come back out to you. Stay in the main grotto.”
“I ca-can’t leave. My cell phone light gave out. Seth, I’m afraid. It’s dark. Is Rory okay?”
Her voice sounded hollow as it echoed inside the chamber.
“He’s talking,” Seth shouted. “I’m going silent while I climb down to him. Stay where you are.”
As quickly as unsteady hands allowed, he fashioned knots in the lunge line, thanking his lucky stars that it was long and tightly woven. He chose the most solid-looking beam and double looped the line around it, letting it dangle into the shaft. All the while Rory’s cries unnerved him.
He tested the line and it held his weight. Hoping his nightly runs had kept him from going soft, Seth began a hand-over-hand descent. The slick leather of his boots hampered him. He should have removed them.
His headlamp revealed the shaft widening, not growing smaller. The hole went deeper than his light would penetrate. When with a bump he reached Rory he began to sweat. The boy perched on a broken four-by-four scaffold. His eyes were big, his face dirty. The large flashlight hanging from a cord around his neck put out feeble light. He clutched something in his right hand. Seth couldn’t see what. His left arm looked swollen and oddly angled. Seth judged it broken, but he had nothing with which to bind it, supposing he managed to balance on the narrower crossbeam to effect this rescue at all.
His first try, his foot slipped, knocking a rock off. It fell a long time before he heard it hit bottom. The boots had to go. It took contortions, but he scraped them off and sent them into the abyss all while talking a stream of nonsense to the scared kid.
“Did you climb down here?”
“I fell. I saw this sparkly white rock. Maybe it’s diamonds.” Rory sniffled loudly.
“Maybe. Listen, Rory, it won’t be easy for me to get us to the top. We each have on a belt. I’m going to get rid of your flashlight and buckle us together. Can you do exactly as I say even if it hurts?”
“Y-ye-yes,” he stuttered. “I cried when I fell. My da-daddy said to not move until someone came, no matter if I got cold.” He snuffled louder.
“That’s good,” Seth said, dropping the heavy flashlight. “Wait...your daddy?”
“Uh-huh, I remember...he was the only one who called me his little buddy. I heard him say, ‘Little buddy, don’t move. Someone will come.’ And you did.”
That sent shivers up Seth’s spine. He was barely able to buckle them together and hug Rory awkwardly to his chest, knowing the sharp sob meant he’d caused him pain. Exerting every ounce of strength, relying on faith and all he’d learned roping up and down Afghanistan’s cliffs in search of lapis, Seth began inching upward knot by knot.
Time seemed endless. Once both his stockinged feet slipped off a knot. Rory screamed and Seth’s heart slammed erratically. He dared not pause long. Hauling in a deep breath, he kept climbing and at long last he felt the cooler air in the upper mine sweep sweat off his brow. But he couldn’t let down his hand-over-hand ascent until he felt Rory’s backside and his own knees crest the rim of the hole.
He let go of the line and, although his hands burned, he unbuckled their belts. Even if he’d like nothing more than to curl into a fetal position the way Rory had, Seth remained aware of Lila somewhere out there in a black cave. Lila, who had reason to fear and hate mines in the worst way.
“Rory, I’m going to strip off my T-shirt and hope it’s long enough to bind your arm so it won’t hurt as much while I carry you out. Your mom’s waiting in the main grotto. She’s worried sick.”
“Seth, I’m sorry I came. I didn’t see any sapphires. I wanted a batting machine like Kemper’s.” His sobs increased as Seth molded the soft shirt material around the injured arm and across the kid’s narrow chest.
“Shh. There’ll be time to talk after we get out of here.” He left the oxygen mask and tank he’d dropped earlier behind and hoisted Rory. Loose ore cut his feet through the thin material of his socks as he picked his way along the old rails. He hobbled the last twenty feet to where his headlamp illuminated a sight he’d prayed every step of the way to see.
Though Lila stood looking disheveled, wringing her hands, with tears streaming down her pretty face, to Seth she was beautiful. A goddess. His goddess.
She raised her arms, no doubt to take her son, but Seth stumbled into them and with breath coming in spurts, he kissed her, pouring out every shred of his soul.
“Rory needs the ER,” he rasped. “Let’s get out of here.”