Love on the Horizon (A Northern Woods Novel) (4 page)

Nicky gave Lucky a hug, whispered
in his ear, and the dog looked at them with the wag of his tail. Patti then
brought water and crackers over to Nicky and his eyes lit up, along with a
smile.

“I’m hungry,” he told Patti. “I
think Lucky is too.”

“Well, you can eat some crackers,
but you better give only a few to Lucky. I don’t have a dog, so I don’t know if
cheese crackers will make him sick. Give him lots of water though. I’m sure
he’s thirsty,” Patti said, and hopped onto the wagon. She sat on one side of
Nicky, and Angie on the other.

“Thank you,” he mumbled, through
a mouthful of crackers.

“You’re welcome, sweetie,” Patti
said and tousled his hair lightly.

Sherri walked back to them with a
look of relief when she closed her phone. “I told them we’re not sure exactly
where we are. I was able to let them know how long we’d been hiking, and what
time we left the Pinewood Hills Country Market. I also informed them that we
must be close to the creek. He said they’d find us with their Search and Rescue
dog.”

“A policeman is coming?” Nicky
asked, and his gaze clouded with tears. “Will he spank me?”

“Oh no, honey,” Angie placed her
arm around his shoulders. “He’s going to come and find us and take you back to
your mommy and daddy. They’ve been very worried about you.”

“I think they’ll be mad at me.”

“Oh, no, I doubt that very much;
and you know what? Patti saw you on the news last night, didn’t you Patti?”

“I sure did, your picture was on
television.”

“I was on TV?” he asked
excitedly.

“Yes, you were, and everyone
looked for you, all night long.”

“I hope my daddy isn’t mad at
me.”

“Oh I’m sure he’ll be very happy
to see you,” Angie said. “We’ll sit right here and wait, and your daddy will be
coming with the policemen. They’ll have a dog with them too. He’ll sniff the
ground until he finds you.”

“Really?” He stared with a look
of complete surprise on his little face.

“It won’t be long now,” Sherri
said, and she reached over to scratch Lucky behind the ears.

* * *

“Listen,” Patti said, and jumped
to the ground. “I heard the crack of twigs. That must be them.”

Nicky became excited at the sound
of a dog barking. They knew it was the Search and Rescue canine. Even Lucky
stood up on the wagon, and his tail moved back and forth, while he stood by
Nicky’s side.

All of a sudden, a bloodhound
appeared on the trail and came running up to him. Right behind him were the
police officers. With a look of relief, Nick emerged through the trees and saw
his son. Nicky hopped down and ran to his daddy. Nick caught him in his arms,
and twirled him around in a circle.

“Hey, cowboy,” he said, and he
kept kissing him until Nicky started to laugh. With a big grin, he pushed his
daddy’s face away.

“Stop, Daddy,” he giggled.

“I missed you, sport. I’m so glad
to see you. Did Lucky take care of you?”

“Yes, he even snuggled up to me
and keeped me warm when I was crying.”

“Good dog,” Nick said to Lucky,
and bent down to pet him. “You deserve a steak when we get home.

“Hey, cowboy, where were you and
Lucky off to?”

“Mommy was sleeping, so we went
to look for you. I wanted to be just like you, Daddy. I wanted to be a cowboy,
just like you.”

“Well buddy, next time you’d
better limit your search to the yard, close to home. It’s a big world. We were
all very worried about you.”

“I know, Daddy. Lucky kept me
safe and when the girls found us, they gave us crackers and called the police man.”

Nick turned and faced them. “I
want to thank you. Come back to the ranch with us for dinner. My wife would be
so happy to meet you. I’ll drive the three of you home afterward, but right now
I’m sure everyone would like you to come and celebrate with us.”

Angie, Sherri, and Patti looked
at each other, then with a nod, they agreed to go with them to meet Nicky’s
mom.

“We’ll reassure her that when we
found them, Lucky had kept Nicky safe and well protected,” Angie told him.

The officers led them out of the
woods where their police cars were waiting to drive them home.

“I get to ride in a police car,
Daddy?”

“You sure do, cowboy.”

They headed toward the Colburn
Stables Ranch, and Nicky giggled with excitement when the police officer turned
on the siren, to announce to everyone that Nicky and Lucky were on their way
home.

Chapter
Seven

“How’s Mariah been feeling these
days?” Art asked Nick. They stood by the fence and watched as Garrett worked
with Precious Angel, Mariah’s beautiful three-year-old Palomino. Precious Angel
took a bad fall last month and sprained her left hind leg. Thankfully, it
wasn’t a break. Garrett had taken wonderful care of her and helped her to heal
quickly. Mariah would have been devastated if anything serious had happened to
her.

“Pretty well for a woman carrying
twins,” Nick said with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Has the shock worn off yet? That
was one heck of a surprise for all of us.”

“You think it was a surprise for
you? I was flabbergasted. We were overwhelmed to be expecting one, and then all
of a sudden there’s another little one playing hide and seek in there. At least
we now know why she’s been so sick this time around. She’s such a petite woman
and almost four months along. I’m worried that she’ll be very uncomfortable by
her six or seventh month, let alone the ninth.”

“I’m sure everything will be
fine.”

“Bess is planning to remain here
24/7 by the beginning of her eighth month. We’re going to put Bess in the guest
room, and she’ll stick around for a while after the twins are born. Mariah will
definitely need help with Nicky and his two siblings.

“Actually, we’ve been thinking
about building a new home a half mile to the west of where we live now. We
asked Bess if she’d consider selling her house and moving into a larger residence
with us. She’d have her own wing.”

“That sounds like it’d be a good
plan. What’d she say?”

“She rather liked the idea, and
said she’d think about it.”        

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,
how does Nicky react to having two sisters?”

“He’s too excited to care. He
gets such a look of wonder on his face when he’s been able to feel them kicking
away in mommy’s tummy.

“I'd better get in the house for
supper, Art. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“The cold air is moving in. I
wouldn’t be surprised if we see a bit of snow tonight.” They both looked at the
dark clouds accumulating to the northeast. The brisk wind swirled the dust
around their feet. “The nor’easter is building. I’ll help the men close
everything up for the night. Go ahead and get in to your family.”

“Thanks. Have a good night.” He
pulled the hood of his jacket up to cover his head, leaned into the frigid
squall and began the trek toward his house.

* * *

“Morning Art,” Nick said. He
glanced over the top of his coffee cup. “I made a fresh pot, if you’d like some.”

“Great, I need it.” He yanked off
his warm gloves, poured himself a large mug, and sat down in the chair in front
of Nick’s desk. “I have a bit of news that I’m sure you’d rather not hear.”

“Oh? What’s happening? I hope
you’re not going to tell me a storm is brewing.” He reached over to turn up the
setting on the electric heater that he’d placed in the corner of the room.
“It’s beginning to get mighty cold. I think you were correct last evening when
you predicted that winter’s about to arrive.”

“It feels that way.” He looked
Nick in the eye while he took a swig of coffee. “Jake’s little lady better like
the Minnesota weather, although they do have snow where she comes from.”

Nick gaped at him. “What are you
talking about?”

“He called when I was walking out
the door. He found his mail-order bride in Russia. He said they’d be on their
way around Christmas time, as soon as her papers have cleared and she receives
her passport. They’ll be married as quickly as possible, when they arrive in
the U.S.”

“Unbelievable,” Nick said, and
ran a hand across his face. He shook his head and stared at Art. “I didn’t
think he’d actually go through with this. I was hoping he’d come to his
senses.”

“Well there’s nothing we can do
about it, except to hope for the best.”

“Hell, Art. I’m going online and
try to pull up some info. I want to find out what he’s getting himself
into."

“Christmas is less than two
months away. Winter could hit us any day now. We’ll be very busy when the first
snowstorm arrives. Good thing we have everything wrapped up in time for the
cold to set in, but we’re still going to need Jake, come winter, especially if
we’re hit with a blizzard or an ice storm.”

“I know… I’ll talk to you later.
I’m going to head in to look up a few things on the Internet.”

* * *

The sun was about to go down and
Art was ready to head for home, but first he wanted to check in with Nick. He
poked his head into the office. Nick lifted his eyes toward the doorway and
motioned for him to come in.

“Did you find anything?”

“Sit down,” Nick said, and sighed
heavily. He shuffled a bunch of papers and tossed them across his desk in
frustration. “Fifteen pages of horror stories, which pertain to foreign women
who each had a scheme to blackmail men from our country. These men traveled to Russia,
the Philippines, China, everywhere in hopes of finding a wife. There are a lot
more. I only printed a few.”

After he read them, page after
page, he rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, and with a look of
disgust, he shook his head.

Nick stood, paced back and forth,
and flexed his fists. “Oh, there are good ones who really do wish to come and
build themselves a fine life in the U.S. Some women truly want to learn the
English language, be a loving wife and mother, but not all of them. The one he
brings home may take him for every penny he has and then some. Nothing we can
do about it. The way many of them are, they only long for one thing – money.”

“Maybe we can talk a bit of sense
into him when he gets back.”

“I doubt it. He’ll bring her here
to meet us, and just you watch. She’ll have him kissing her feet, and he won’t
listen to a thing we say. I can hear him now. He’ll tell us that these articles
are a bunch of lies.”

“Well, nothing we can do I guess,
other than to stand by him when the ball drops. Let’s hope he’ll end up with a
good woman. Who knows, there’s a chance it’ll all work out. Time will tell.”

Art stood, grabbed his jacket and
patted Nick on the shoulder when he walked by him. “Hang in there; we’ll have
to make sure we’re around if he needs us.”

Nick turned out the lights,
closed up the office and headed for the house. He hadn’t been able to enjoy
dinner with his family in quite some time.

When he entered the kitchen,
Mariah stood on tiptoe in front of the cupboard, as she tried to reach the
plates. He rushed over to help and, instead, wrapped his arms around her waist
and placed a kiss on the back of her neck. She turned slowly to face him,
looked him in the eye and returned the kiss with a smile.

“You’re home early today. Is everything
ready for winter?”

“Pretty much so, and it sure
feels good to be here in time for dinner with my two favorite people.”

The sound of Nicky’s cowboy boots
coming down the hallway grabbed their attention.

“Daddy, are you gonna eat supper
with us?”

“I sure am, cowboy, and I got
here in time to help this beautiful mom of yours set the table.” He reached
into the cupboard for the plates.

“Go wash your hands, Nicky.”

When they finished eating, Nick washed
the dishes, then helped his son get ready for bed. He read him a story while
Mariah relaxed in front of the television. She’s been very tired by dinnertime,
and he was worried about her. She didn’t have the energy to give Nicky his bath
and get him ready for bed.

He entered the living room and
found her on the couch with her feet up, and Lucky curled up on the rug in
front of the fireplace.

He sat down next to her and told
her the news about Jake. “I just don’t understand why he went to a foreign
country to search for a wife.”

“Had he ever thought about going
into Minneapolis? Even St. Cloud is a large city and only about a two-hour
drive from here. You’d think he’d have had a chance to meet someone in
Minnesota. He also has a few friends in St. Paul. He’s a nice-looking guy. I
don’t know why he hasn’t found a decent woman.”

“I know, honey. We’ve all tried
to figure him out. He thought he’d find a wife as special as you are, because
you’re half Russian.”