Nick studied her profile as she stared at the woods across the field. Was he one of those people? The thought didn’t sit well with him. “So why do you think Ned drinks himself into a stupor and ignores his son?”
“I imagine the second part comes because of the first—Ned’s drinking problem. Most people drink to excess because they aren’t happy and don’t know how to make it better. What happened to Corey’s mother?”
Nick walked to the back of the truck and let the tailgate down. “I don’t know. Corey was a toddler when she died. He said his dad wouldn’t talk about her.” And that topic never came up with his army buddy, Corey’s older brother. Her question brought thoughts up about Nick’s own mother, who died when he was seven. Was that what led to his father’s drinking problem? Even so, that didn’t give him the right to hit Nick whenever he felt like it. He was thankful that by the time he was fifteen his dad had backed off. Probably because Nick was stronger and bigger than his father.
He gestured to her multiple bags. “Which one do you need?”
Darcy pointed to two of them, and Nick slid them to her. “Maybe Corey running away will shake up his dad,” she said as she changed her shoes and found her hat and gloves.
Nick shut the tailgate, handed her a flashlight and then started across the school playground toward the woods. “Probably not. This isn’t the first time he’s gone missing, but usually the sheriff isn’t involved. No doubt he is this time because Mrs. Scott knew something was wrong and called them. Ned never would have. I don’t know what would have happened if Mrs. Scott didn’t help me out by keeping an eye on the boy. If she hadn’t come back with cookies, Ned would have resumed drinking and still might have been oblivious to the fact that Corey could be freezing to death.”
“Did you know Doug before y’all were in the army?”
He switched on his flashlight, the crunch of fallen leaves sounding in the quiet. “Yes, the family lived in Haven for a while when I was a freshman in high school. That’s when Doug and I became friends. Then his family left and went to Dry Gulch. When I enlisted, I met up with Doug again at boot camp. He was escaping his father like I was.” The last sentence came out before he could censor himself. Darcy was too easy to talk to.
“You were?”
He didn’t share his past with anyone. Even he and Uncle Howard didn’t talk much about what had happened as Nick grew up. It just brought up hard feelings toward his dad, and Nick had enough to deal with keeping the ranch afloat due to his father’s mismanagement. Nick had used all his savings to bail the Flying Eagle out of debt, but he didn’t have enough left to do much else. “I was a teenage boy who thought he knew what was best for him.”
“Where is Doug now?”
“He was killed on a mission.”
Darcy slowed her step. “I’m sorry to hear that. I see why you’re trying to help Corey.”
Frustration at his inability to help Corey as much as the kid needed plagued Nick. It brought back all the helplessness he’d felt as a child.
* * *
As they moved deeper into the stand of trees, Darcy followed a step or two behind, sweeping her flashlight over the left area while Nick searched the right side.
She’d never imagined she would be spending her first night in Haven looking for a lost child. But there was no way she would have stayed away. Corey and she were kin.
Family had always been important to her—something she didn’t take for granted. What if her mom and dad hadn’t adopted her? Then where would she be? Until she’d begun the search for her biological parents, she hadn’t really thought much about where she’d come from. When her birth mother rejected the offer to meet with her, it had devastated her more than she thought possible. And after hearing about Fletcher, she didn’t think meeting her birth father would be any different. The thought saddened her.
She shouldn’t unpack. Instead, she should just leave when her car was fixed. She should forget the father who had never cared for her—and, from what she was discovering about the man, would never care in the future. He’d turned his back on a ten-year-old cousin. She always tried to look for the good in others, but with each bit of information she found out about her father, it was becoming more difficult. Lord, how could Fletcher Phillips do that to a child—in fact, to a whole ranch full of boys in need?
She didn’t realize she had slowed her step until suddenly Nick was several yards in front of her. She hurried her pace and the toe of her boot caught on a root, throwing her off balance. She floundered and nearly fell.
But Nick grabbed her, halting her ungraceful descent. “You okay?” He steadied her, close enough that she got a good whiff of his citrus-scented aftershave.
Her heartbeat picked up speed. “I tripped. That’s all.” She needed to keep her thoughts centered on finding Corey, not why she came to Haven—or the man she was with. There was something about Nick—the way he talked about Corey—that attracted her.
Her breathing shortened. He was too close for her peace of mind. “Thanks.” She stepped back and inhaled deeply. “Are we near the place Corey was talking about?” she asked, wanting to focus on the child, not the racing of her heartbeat. “I noticed a few snowflakes falling.”
“I know. His fort should be up ahead. I just hope he’s there. If not, I’ll call Mrs. Scott and see if Corey has been found.”
“What if he hasn’t been?”
“Then I think we really need to comb these woods. He uses it as a shortcut from school as well as to his friend’s house. It’ll be harder in the dark. We’ll need a lot more people. I’m glad they’re using some tracking dogs. In the meantime, we can at least rule out his fort and this part of the forest.”
Darcy scanned the towering trees, some leafless, others evergreens or ones that retain their dead leaves until spring. A black veil dominated the area beyond the glow of their flashlights. She quaked. “I guess for a boy this would be a great place to play in during the daytime.” But not at night.
“But not for a girl?” Nick continued forward, glancing back to make sure she was behind him. Even from a distance she sensed the concern that gripped him.
“No, for some it would be. Not for me though. I wasn’t much of a tomboy, except when it came to fishing. I love to go fishing. My dad owned a boat, and we often went out in the Gulf of Mexico. So much fun. What did you do for fun growing up?” Maybe concentrating on something other than Corey’s predicament would reduce Nick’s stress. She’d learned in her work that tension only made a situation worse, sometimes leading to bad decisions.
“I played football and baseball. I was also part of the junior rodeo.”
“I took ballet and played the violin. I did learn to ride a horse English-style.” As a teen she gave up the other two interests to focus on her mare and going to horse shows.
“We come from different worlds.”
The more she was around him, the more she realized that, and yet there was something about Nick that intrigued her. He’d made a promise to a comrade to take care of his little brother, and he was determined to keep it. Like her, he fought for the underdog. She admired him for that. For that matter, he’d stopped to help her when her car died even though he was going the other way.
Finally Nick halted and pointed to a large thicket of bushes up ahead. “That’s the fort,” he said and then he called out loudly, “Corey, it’s Nick.”
Darcy held her breath. Please, Lord, let him be here and okay.
Nothing but the sound of the wind blowing through the woods.
Nick closed the distance between them and the dense undergrowth. “Corey, I want to help.”
“I’m glad it’s cold