Part 20 (2/2)
”Be sure you don't stay long. We can use some help here.”
Summer glanced at the helicopter, once again flying dangerously low. The first thing she intended to do was talk her mother out of the air. She had no business- Summer gasped. The helicopter was headed for that lone live oak again. And it didn't seem to have enough alt.i.tude to get over it. ”Pull it up, Mom. Up. Up. Up!”
Summer was running toward the tree, shouting as she went, but the helicopter had a mind and will of its own. ”Mom!” she shouted. ”Mom!”
She was a hundred yards away when the helicopter seemed to bounce off the tree, then tipped sideways, so the blades chopped into the ground, breaking off and flying in all directions. Summer ducked as a piece of metal tore past her head like shrapnel. Then she was moving again, running, breathless, desperate to reach her mother.
Chapter 12.
SUMMER HEARD SOMEONE SCREAMING AND REALIZED the horrible sounds were coming from her. She fought against the iron grasp that kept her from reaching the crumpled wreckage, clawing at the sinewy arm wrapped around her waist from behind. ”Let go of me, d.a.m.n you. I said let go!”
”Settle down,” an angry voice said and the arm clamped around her chest so tightly she struggled to breathe.
Summer saw the cowboy who'd reached the wreckage stick a hand inside the c.o.c.kpit, then look a little past her and shake his head. She turned to see who he'd been signaling and realized her father was holding her captive. ”I have to get to Momma. She's hurt, Daddy. Please let me go,” she begged. ”Momma's hurt.”
”She's dead Summer,” her father said.
”No,” she said. ”No.” She didn't want to believe him, but the distress in his eyes, the tremor in his voice, were too real. ”She can't be dead. She can't!”
”I'm sorry, baby. She's gone.”
Summer sagged against her father as a low moan tore from her throat. She felt him pick her up in his arms and pull her close as he turned and strode away from the crash.
She shoved her face hard against his chest and grabbed him around the neck, holding on tight. She and her mother had never been close. They hadn't even been friends. So why was her throat so tight it hurt to swallow? Why couldn't she stop sobbing?
”I want to go home,” she said.
”We're heading for the Castle now,” her father said as he set her in the pa.s.senger seat of his pickup.
”I want to go home,” she said through the open window as he closed her inside the pickup. ”I want Billy.”
”You can call him from the Castle,” he said. ”I need to be there to meet with the authorities and make arrangements for your mother's body to be brought home.”
Summer stared at the wreckage, then at her father, who was sliding behind the steering wheel of his pickup. ”How can you walk away from her?” she said. ”How can you just leave her there?”
”We left each other a long time ago,” her father said.
”You're glad she's dead!” Summer accused. ”Now you can marry that Creed woman and still keep everything!”
”I'm not sorry she's dead,” Blackjack corrected as he met her gaze. ”That's a whole other thing. And I would've married Lauren Creed even if we had to live on bread and water the rest of our lives.”
That was a hard truth for her to hear. Especially right now.
She couldn't believe her father could be so callous about her mother's death. Then she saw his hands were trembling. And that his jaw was clamped so tight the muscles jerked. ”Daddy...”
She reached out to touch his arm and he turned his head away and she heard the gurgle as he swallowed several times.
”Daddy...”
He started the engine, his movements jerky. ”You coming or staying?” he said, his voice like a rusty gate, his gaze focused straight ahead, his eyes narrowed.
Summer was torn in two. She wanted to stay and offer comfort. But she couldn't leave her mother alone. She shoved open the door and got out, slamming it behind her. She faced her father and said, ”I'm staying here with Momma. She shouldn't be alone.”
He hesitated, then said, ”Do what you need to do. I'll be back when the authorities show up.”
”You never should have let her fly.”
”You're right,” he admitted. ”I should have stopped her. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”
”Why didn't you stop her?” she asked, tears clogging her throat. ”Why didn't you make her go home?”
He rubbed a hand over his eyes. ”G.o.dd.a.m.n that woman. I don't know. Maybe I was hoping that exactly what happened would happen.”
Summer gasped, and Blackjack made a pained, grunting sound.
”h.e.l.l, I didn't mean that. Summer, I didn't mean it! Don't go off half-c.o.c.ked and-”
She didn't hear the rest of what he said. She'd already turned her back on him and walked away. Her knees kept threatening to buckle as she headed toward the downed helicopter.
A cowboy stepped in front of her and said, ”Don't think you want to get any closer, Missy. There's a bit of gas on the ground. Could be everything'll go up in flames.”
Summer shuddered. ”I have to see her. I have to be with her.”
”Your father'd have my hide if I let anything happen to you,” the cowboy said.
”Then get a fire extinguisher from one of the trucks and keep an eye out for smoke!” Summer retorted.
”Yes, ma'am.”
The cowboy stepped aside and Summer walked the rest of the way to the crushed helicopter on unsteady legs. She expected a lot of blood. She braced herself for some sort of mutilation. But her mother sat upright, belted into the seat without a visible wound. She might have been sleeping, except her mouth was contorted in a grimace of pain, and her eyes were wide open.
Summer reached out a trembling hand and closed her mother's eyes. Then her knees buckled, and she sank onto the gra.s.s near the crumpled ma.s.s of metal. She heard her cell phone ring and dug it out of her breast pocket.
”Summer? Are you all right?”
She sobbed at the sound of the one voice she'd wanted to hear. ”Billy? How did you know to call me?”
”One of your dad's men called and told me what happened. I'm on my way. I'll be there as quick as I can.”
”Hurry, Billy. I need you. Please hurry.”
”I'm coming, Summer.” He hesitated, then said, ”I'm sorry about your mother.”
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