Captive Heart (Cartwright Gals: A Romancing the Ponderosa Spinoff Book 2)

Chapter 2

Stepping out of the barn, my chores done, a flash of brown zips past as Little Joe runs in the direction of the water trough. I glance over to see what his hurry is all about and see Lilia Marie splashing happily in the murky water as he quickly scoops her up before she topples in head first. Apparently she got away from him again. Ever since she started walking six months ago right after her first birthday, she's turned into a little tornado. Joe and Hannah are constantly chasing her around trying to keep her from getting hurt or into trouble. But Joe's on his own today since he brought Lilia Marie over by himself because he wanted to give Hannah, who wasn't feeling well, a break.

I walk over to him and his wild child of a daughter and reach down to grab a handful of water from the trough, splashing it on my sweaty face. Lilia Marie watches me and lets out a screech of laughter. A laugh happily escapes me as I flick the little bit of water left on my fingers in her direction and she giggles even harder.

Joe and I turn in the direction of the house as Jewels walks out onto the porch, calling for us to come in with the promise of fresh, cold lemonade. She hands us both a glass as soon as we're through the door and in the living room. I look around the room and find the furniture pushed all over the place. I can see Hop Sing scrubbing the floor over by the fireplace and Rose is standing on a chair dusting the top of the gun rack. Jewels goes up the stairs with a can of polish and a rag. She starts at the top and makes her way slowly back down, rubbing the polish onto the banisters. I guess they were serious this morning when they said that they were going to clean the house from top to bottom so it would be spotless for the wedding.

Feeling lazy just standing here with a cold drink in my hand while everyone else is scrubbing away, I glance over at Joe but he apparently doesn't feel the same way. He's plopped himself into a chair and is helping Lilia Marie drink some of his lemonade, obviously in his own little world. I sit my now empty glass back on the tray it came off of and make my way over to Rose.

"Rose, why don't you take a break for a little bit." I gently touch her arm to get her attention. "I'll finish this for you, go get yourself a glass of lemonade and sit down."

"I think I will sit down," she puts her hand on my shoulder so she can get off the chair without falling and I quickly grab her other one as she steps down. She smiles up at me with thanks, dusting rag still in her hand as she continues, "but I'm all finished dusting, so there wouldn't be anything for you to do."

Brushing little flyaway hairs off her sweaty forehead, she steps over to the tray of lemonade and pours herself a glass. I glance passed her at the clock on the wall and notice it's already getting late in the afternoon, "Brie should be getting home from town soon."

"Yes, she left right after breakfast and she only planned to go to Ellie's shop." Rose looks up from her glass.

"But, Mama, you're forgetting something. They might have started talking," Jewels laughs from over where she's still polishing the banisters, "and we all know that once those two start, it takes them a while to get it all out."

"That is true." Rose nods, laughing. Suddenly we all hear a horse ride fast into the yard outside. "That must be her now."

I move to get to the door but because of all the furniture everywhere, Joe beats me to it. With Lilia Marie still on his arm, he swings it open and looks out. He quickly turns to me where I'm a few steps behind him and the open door, "Candy!"

I can tell something's wrong by his voice and the look on his face, but I don't stop to ask what it is and just gently push past him out the door. There prancing around the yard is Brie's horse, Brie's riderless horse. I run towards the mare, careful not to spook her, and quickly grab one of the dragging reins as Joe, Rose, and Jewels rush up behind me. Joe and I both quickly inspect the horse and saddle for any signs but there's no blood, only a thin layer of dust on the seat of the saddle and a thick, sweaty lather on Callie where she must have ran the whole way home.

"Rose, did Brie take the normal way to town this morning?" I quickly ask, my thoughts spinning.

"Yes."

"Then there's a large chance that she took that way home, too." All three of them look at me with slightly confused faces, so I explain myself, "She might have gotten bucked off somewhere on the trail and is just waiting for someone to come get her."

"And if she's not?" Jewels' eyes begin to fill with tears.

"Callie might have gotten spooked or something in town and ran home before Brie had a chance to snag her." Joe offers up another possibility.

"I'll ride down the road she took this morning and see if I can find her." I turn and sprint in the direction of the barn. Quickly grabbing my saddle, I begin to cinch it on my horse as Joe walks into the barn. He snags another saddle and picks one of the other horses. "What are you doing, Joe?"

"I'm going to ride into town the other way and see if she's there somewhere." He calls back across the barn.

"Good idea." With the saddle all the way on, I walk my horse out into the yard. Jewels and Rose tied Callie to the hitching post where Jewels is now unpacking the saddle bag. I swing into my saddle as Rose steps up to me, "You better tell Ben what's going."

"Don't worry I will," she nods, "I'm going to send Jewels to get him as soon as she's finished putting Callie up."

"It might be a good idea to get Adam and Hoss, too." Joe walks the brown horse he chose out of the barn up beside us. "Hopefully either Candy or I will find Brie but there's always the chance we won't. If we don't, we'll need to have more people searching. Also someone needs to stay here just in case she somehow makes it home."

"I'll stay here and keep a look out for her," she answers, "I'll send Hop Sing and a ranch hand to go get Adam and Hoss as soon as you two leave."

"I can't take her with me and I don't have time to take her home..."

"I'll watch Lilia Marie for you, Joe." Rose says before he even has a chance to finish asking, "Now get a move on it, you two!"

We both turn and ride out of the yard, splitting up once we get to the right place. I kick my horse into a gallop and fly down the road, looking back and forth for Brie's familiar form. I know based off of the amount of lather that was on Callie that she ran for quite a while, so Brie has to be closer to town than the ranch.

Before I know it, I'm nearly to town and I haven't spotted her or even a sign of her. I would look for tracks but this is a main road and I've already passed three other people. It's almost like Brie just vanished but then she could've taken the other road home. If she did Joe'll find her.

I ride into town and make my way towards Ellie's dress shop since that's where she went today. Pulling up to the shop, I feel my heart sink when I see Joe's horse already tied to the hitching post but I quickly remind myself that it could be a good thing. I hop down and walk into the shop to see Joe and Ellie talking over by her large table, Brie nowhere in sight.

"You didn't find her?" Joe asks.

"No," I answer, "I'm guessing you didn't either."

"There wasn't a single sign or anything on that road," he runs his hand through his hair, "it looked like no one had even ridden on it in over a week."

"What are you going to do now?" Ellie asks.

"Keep searching." I slap my hat back on my head. "What time did she leave here?"

"A few minutes after one o'clock."

"And now it's almost five." I shake my head. "I'm going to ask around town for a few minutes, Joe would you go tell Roy what's happened."

"I'm on my way right now." He steps towards the door. "I'll meet you on the outside of town in thirty minutes."

Thirty minutes later, I pull up beside Joe and I can tell by the look on his face he hasn't found anything new either. Everyone I talked to who saw her said she rode out of town around one. That means the only place she can be is somewhere between town and the Ponderosa on the road I took on the way here. It really is beginning to seem like she just vanished into thin air.