“Run, Tricia!” Jake ordered, letting go of her hand. “Run back to Stephen! Everybody stay back!” He headed around the boulders, ignoring the pain in his bad leg as he plowed through the snow, horror filling him at the sound of the deep-throated growling of a cougar and the hideous cries of Tommy Tyler. His gut tightened at the realization that Sadie Mae’s own screams had stopped.
“Sadie Mae!” Jake screamed her name as he made it around the other side of the small hill. He couldn’t see or hear her. All he saw was Tommy, curled up on his knees against one of the boulders, a cougar clawing at his shoulder. Jesus, where is Sadie Mae! He had to kill the cougar, but the bullet could go right through, into Tommy. Was Sadie Mae under him?
Sonofabitch! The memory of the young girl he’d loved at fifteen flashed through his brain in a millionth of a second…his filthy alcoholic father raping her. He’d shot John Harkner to stop him from hurting Santana, but the bullet had gone right through his father’s neck and killed the girl too. That could happen again. He could kill both Tommy and Sadie Mae.
“Grampa! Grampa!” he heard someone screaming behind him. The boys must be watching.
“Don’t shoot!” Jake ordered them.
Screams everywhere—the boys, whinnying and frightened horses, Tricia, Tommy.
Jake knew he had no choice. He cocked and raised his .30–30 Winchester. A six-gun might not do the job…but the risk! The risk! The big cat was moving violently over Tommy. Sadie Mae must be under him! One of the other kids could be next! He aimed…and prayed…and fired…cocked it again…fired again.
Finally, the cougar quieted and stopped moving. It collapsed on top of Tommy. Jake tossed his rifle and ran to the bloody scene. “Sadie Mae!” he screamed. “Boys, help me!” He tugged at the heavy cougar, one of the biggest cats he’d ever seen. Ben and Stephen helped drag the big cat off of Tommy while young Jake dug at the snow and dirt under Tommy, looking for his little sister.
“Sadie Mae!” The boy screamed her name. “She’s underneath Tommy! He was trying to protect her! Sadie Mae!”
“Be careful, Jake,” Big Jake warned. At the moment he felt removed from reality. That couldn’t be his Sadie Mae lying there looking dead when he rolled Tommy’s body off of her. Not Sadie Mae! Not any one of his grandchildren! He couldn’t bear losing them. What if he’d shot her!
Tommy groaned, blood pouring from a huge tear in his right shoulder, so big that the sleeve of his coat was completely ripped away.
“Ben!” Jake shouted as he pulled the sleeve all the way off Tommy’s arm and then used it to press against the gushing wound.
“What should I do, Pa?” Ben asked.
Young Jake knelt beside his little sister. “She’s dead! She’s dead!”
“Don’t be so sure, Jake!” Big Jake told him. She can’t be dead! She can’t!
The boy lifted Sadie Mae a little, and Jake immediately guessed what had happened. The rock under her head was stained with blood. “Tommy must have tackled Sadie Mae to cover her and protect her. It looks like her head hit that rock,” Big Jake told the boy, struggling to stay calm himself. “She’s probably just unconscious.” God, let me be right. The girl’s eyes were closed and she looked so tiny and limp. “Stephen, get a blanket off any horse that didn’t run off, and wrap it around Sadie Mae. And bring me one for Tommy!”
“Yes, sir!” Stephen ran to get the blankets.
“All of you need to do what I tell you, understand?” Big Jake told Ben and young Jake and Tricia, who was sobbing.
“We will,” Ben answered.
Stephen ran back with the blankets and hurried over to where young Jake sat in the snow with Sadie Mae in his lap. He helped young Jake gently wrap his sister into the blanket. Stephen winced at the sight of blood on the sleeve of his cousin’s corduroy jacket where he’d been supporting Sadie Mae’s head. Stephen bunched up the blanket a little under the girl’s head to help support it more comfortably. He brought the other blanket over to Jake then and wrapped it around and under Tommy as best he could.
Jake kept pressing hard on Tommy’s gaping wound while Tommy lay shivering and staring in shock. “How many horses are left?” Jake asked his grandson.
“Just two,” Stephen answered, his dark eyes tearing. “I tied them up good so they can’t run off like the others.”
“Good. I want you to take one of them and try to find the other three. Gather them up and get them back here and tie them, but try to build a good fire here before you leave. We need to keep Tommy and Sadie Mae warm as best we can. I’m going to have Ben ride for Brian and bring him and Lloyd back here along with a wagon. Brian will need the fire in case we have to cauterize Tommy’s wound.”
Stephen immediately began gathering kindling as fast as he could.
Jake looked over at his adopted son. “Ben, I want you to take Tricia and ride back to the homestead as fast as you can! I can’t let go of this compress on Tommy or he’ll bleed to death. And I don’t know how bad Sadie Mae is hurt. It might be bad for her, if we move her around too much or try to carry her home on a horse. I don’t know that much about head wounds. And there is no way to get Tommy back without a wagon. He’s bleeding too much. Ride fast, understand? Bring Lloyd and Brian back here along with a wagon. Tell them Tommy’s wound is bleeding so badly it might need to be cauterized. Brian will know what to do.”
“Okay, Pa,” Ben answered.
“And hang on good and tight to Tricia!” Jake shouted. “We don’t want any more accidents!”
“Sure, Pa.”
Tricia kept bawling Sadie Mae’s name as Ben picked her up and carried her off to one of the two remaining horses. He plopped her on it, mounting up behind her. He turned the girl to face him so she could wrap her arms and legs around him and hang on better. He moved his left arm around her then for even more support and kicked the horse into motion. “Hang on, Tricia!”
Ben rode off, and Stephen fought tears as he hurriedly gathered more kindling. “The wood is wet, Grandpa,” he told Jake.
“Just put plenty of kindling under those bigger logs, and some branches with dried pine needles on them. Dead pine is best. It burns hot.”
Stephen did the best he could, then took matches from Jake’s coat pocket and lit the kindling. Once he got the fire going, he hurried off to see if he could find the other three horses.
Suddenly all was quiet, other than young Jake’s quiet sniffling. He rocked his sister in his arms, and Jake kept up the pressure on Tommy’s ugly wound. There was so much blood on the rocks and in the snow and soaking Tommy’s jacket that Jake couldn’t tell how many other places the cougar had managed to sink claws and teeth into the young man, let alone the fact that Tommy could have a bullet in him…from Jake’s rifle. The thought that he might have shot Tommy or Sadie Mae…
He glanced at Sadie Mae, wanting to hold her. “Jake, take the blanket away a minute. Look your sister over and make sure my bullet didn’t go through that cat and Tommy and into her. She has a good chance of being all right if she isn’t shot.”
Young Jake wiped at his eyes and pulled the blanket away a little, noticing Sadie Mae’s coat was intact. He felt down her legs and over her tummy and chest. “I don’t think she’s shot, Grandpa, but she’s all bundled up in wool leggings and coat. It’s hard to tell for sure, but I don’t think so.”
“Just keep her warm then, and don’t let her move around if she wakes up.” Please do wake up, Sadie Mae!
Tommy groaned and opened his eyes, staring blankly at Jake. “What…happened?” he asked in a near whisper.
“Cougar,” Jake told him. “I can’t let go of this wound, Tommy, or you’ll bleed to death. Just lie still. Ben went to get Brian. He’ll know what to do.”
Tommy closed his eyes again. “Hurts…everywhere.”
“I damn well know all about pain, Tommy.”
Tommy opened his eyes again, this time wide with fear. “Sadie Mae! I…remember…big cat…didn’t have a…rifle. I tried to protect…Sadie Mae.”
“I know. She hit her head, Tommy. She’s unconscious but has no other wounds. You probably saved her life. I owe you for it.”
Tommy looked over to where young Jake sat, holding his sister. He looked up at Big Jake then. “You should…be with your…granddaughter. Just let go of me and…go to her.”
“I can’t let go of this wound. You’ll bleed to death.”
Tommy grimaced as he rubbed at his eyes with his left hand. “Why…do you care?”
Jake shook his head. “Damned if I know. I guess it’s my turn to care about somebody besides those in my own family and maybe a couple of the men I’m closest to on the J&L.”
“Like Cole Decker…”
“Like Cole Decker,” Jake repeated. “We’re damn good friends. He knows things about me most men don’t.” Keep talking! Don’t think about the fact that Sadie Mae could die!
Young Jake pulled Sadie Mae a little closer. “Wake up, Sadie Mae,” he said, weeping.
Tommy looked over at them. “I’m sorry,” he told the boy, turning to look up at Jake again. “I didn’t mean for her…to hit her head. It all happened…so fast.”
“I know,” Jake told him. “It’s okay.”
“I…should have seen…that cougar.”
“Tommy, we’ve had plenty of run-ins with cougars here on the J&L. A cougar is a cougar. They’re good hunters for the very reason they can sneak up on you without a sound, so don’t be blaming yourself. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me, for not keeping everyone together. The list of things I blame myself for is pretty damn long. This whole thing was supposed to be a fun adventure for the kids, especially the girls.”
Jake suddenly choked up, wanting to scream. Sadie Mae, don’t die! Don’t die! I couldn’t live with that!
“You said…I wasn’t to blame,” Tommy said, his voice growing weaker. “So you aren’t…either.”
Jake couldn’t stop the tear that slid down his face. “You have no idea how many things I’m to blame for, Tommy.” Jake sniffed and quickly wiped at the tear by arching his shoulder to rub his cheek on the corner of his wool jacket.
Tommy closed his eyes and grew quiet again. His face looked hideously white, but his lips looked blue. Jake pressed harder on the wound. He was not a praying man, but he prayed now, closing his eyes and hanging his head.
Jesus, please don’t take my Sadie Mae. No sweeter innocence ever lived. Of all the times you’ve let my useless hide live, don’t choose now to take someone so sweet and with her whole life ahead of her. Take me instead, Lord. Take me.
He was still afraid Sadie Mae was shot. If they found out his baby girl was dying from his own bullet, he’d have to turn his gun on himself and pull the trigger. He couldn’t survive that. Not another Santana, Lord. Not another Santana.