Ride With Me (A Quaking Heart Novel - Book One)

  Chapter 4

  The rumble became a jolt. The jolt became a heaving, bucking, wild traverse through shattered cups and upended furniture. The roof ripped off. Wind howled outside. Johnnie hauled Jess's unconscious body into the relative safety of the bedroom doorframe. He wedged her between his thighs, wrapped his arms around her, and leaned in.

  "Please God, let us live through this thing!" He hollered.

  The earth shook with such force—unlike any earthquake Johnnie had experienced in San Francisco—he was sure Mary's little cabin would capitulate in a final shudder, and give way to complete annihilation on top of them.

  After less than a minute the quake ceased, though it had seemed longer—a lot longer—and far more destructive than he could have imagined.

  Disoriented and quivering, Mary and Rose Marie made their way out from under the table, pushing rubble aside. Rose Marie seemed surprisingly together, but Mary was ghostly pale. She glanced around her cabin, shock evident, until her gaze landed on him with Jess draped over one of his raised knees.

  "Oh my goodness, Johnnie, Jessica, are you two all right?"

  Johnnie started to speak but choked on the dust particles still circling him. He was thankful for the hardy little light still burning brightly over the sink. The rest of the house was in darkness. "I'm fine," his voice rasped. "Don't think Jess is, though."

  "No!" Mary shrank down and half-crawled toward them.

  Jess hung limp, but he could feel her breathing. "Jess . . . Jessica. Speak to me," Johnnie said, coughed, and repeated again. "Mary, she's still unconscious. Help me lay her flat, so we can see where she's hurt."

  Rose Marie joined in, and the two women worked together to move the wreckage and make a space. Mary held Jess's chin and head straight while Johnnie's palms supported her back as he eased her to the floor. Mary went to work checking for injuries, running her hands up and down Jess's arms and legs. She found nothing. Then she turned Jess's head delicately to one side. "Here, on the side of her head—a gash. It doesn't appear to be too deep, but it's oozing, and there's a lump forming."

  Mary struggled to stand. Rose Marie grabbed her elbow to help her up. Pushing her way back through the kitchen, Mary went to a lower cupboard. She wrenched the cabinet door open against the debris and sorted through what looked like medical supplies. She found a flashlight and clicked it on, generating a powerful light alive with swirling particles.

  Looking worriedly back at Johnnie, she said, "Most of this is smashed." She expelled a troubled sigh. "One bottle of peroxide and a few packages of gauze might be usable." Johnnie nodded before bringing his attention back to Jess's pale face.

  Carrying the items and scissors to Jess's side, Mary glanced up at Johnnie. "Hold her head to the side."

  Johnnie shook his head. "With the magnitude of that quake, we're going to have strong aftershocks. They should diminish in size and length, but they'll still be hazardous. We need to get out of here." He moved to the side of Jessica and placed her arms across her chest. "When we get out, the rocks and trees will be a problem too, so find a lodgepole pine that looks untouched."

  Rose Marie gaped at Johnnie, not even trying to hide her astonishment. "Why do you sound so different all of the sudden—Where's your drawl? Who are you, Johnnie? And, how do you know so much about earthquakes?"

  "I just do," he said, ignoring her other questions. "Let's do our best to survive this thing and bring Jessica around." Johnnie rose awkwardly to his feet then stretched. "I'll grab one of the cots to make a stretcher. Rose Marie, you gather blankets, food, anything useful that hasn't been damaged to bring with us. Mary, get what you can of the medical supplies."

  Surprisingly, Rose Marie jumped to her feet to do what he asked of her. The three worked with resolute speed to do their parts and meet back at Jess's unconscious body.

  Johnnie laid the stretcher next to Jess. "Rose Marie, take hold of her ankles."

  She slid through the rubble to Jess's feet.

  "On the count of three we'll lift and place her on the cot. Ready?"

  Rose Marie nodded.

  "One, two, three." Both lifted with ease and settled Jess on the handmade stretcher. Johnnie raised an eyebrow at Rose Marie. "Not bad . . . not bad at all."

  "Pfff. I'm stronger than I look."

  Johnnie held her gaze for a moment, then shuffled his feet along the floorboards, quickly clearing a path for them to exit the cabin. He lifted bulkier debris as he went, throwing it aside. He had to get them out of here. Tension pulled at his muscles, blood pounded at his temples.

  Hurrying back to the front of the stretcher, he faced the door then twisted his head to give Rose Marie a nod. They both squatted, lifted, and trudged out the shattered doorway.

  "Go easy. There's a board with nails sticking up," Johnnie said as he stepped over it, slowing so Rose Marie could do the same.

  Flashlight in hand, Mary led them toward a large pine tree at the front of the cabin. Rose Marie and Johnnie set Jess down at its base. The minute they released their hold, there was a jolt, and the earth emitted a low groaning rumble. The first aftershock.

  Johnnie snatched a blanket to throw over all four of them. It created a tent-like-effect to keep dust and falling twigs off Jess. The grinding grew until it was a deafening roar, and the earth shook enough to topple them into each other as they huddled.

  Johnnie heard the unmistakable crunch of splitting limestone. A mountainside to the north had just given way. He stuck his head out from under the canopy and squinted through the congested moonlight to see how close the danger was. Through the circling winds, he glimpsed a large boulder that had broken loose and was skipping down the mountainside. "Tighten up! Move closer to the tree."

  The huge chunk of limestone bounced off rocks with little explosions of shards and dust, slamming into trees with bark peppering in all directions. It deflected off the outer wall of the cabin, then skidded on past the four of them with body-jarring force. Their tree stood firm and shielded them from the onslaught.

  Another loud crack tore through the air. Johnnie caught up the flashlight Mary had dropped and flashed a beam toward the sound in time to see the beaten cabin split in two. He watched as it imploded, walls crashing into one another until it collapsed in a flat heap.

  The earthquake's roar intensified, till it about ruptured Johnnie's eardrums. And then with a sudden jerk, the quake stopped.

  Quiet came then. Strange quiet. No forest sounds, no wind, no more rumbling, just absolute silence.

  Mary spoke a prayer. "Thank you, Lord, for once again saving us."

  "Amen," Johnnie agreed.

  "Well, at least that last earthquake was shorter," Mary said.

  "It was an aftershock. They should be shorter and milder from now on, though that one was surprisingly potent," Johnnie replied.

  Mary sighed, and held out her hand. Johnnie handed over the flashlight. She tucked it between her chin and chest, then went about cleaning Jess's head injury with peroxide and water. "We're going to need to cut a little portion of her hair so I can get a better view of this wound." She handed the flashlight to Rose Marie. "Here, shine the light on her head for me."

  Rose Marie held the light. It shook from her trembling hand. Mary looked from Rose Marie's hand to her eyes. "You all right, sweetheart?"

  "Swell."

  Mary focused again on her patient. She cut out a little section of Jess's hair and found the gash. It didn't look bad. At least the external part would be fine.

  Mary pressed gauze against it. "I'm worried why she's still unconscious. Let me pray for her."

  Johnnie bowed his head along with Mary.

  "Lord, please watch over our girl, here. Heal her head, wake her soon. Please give us wisdom concerning her. Thank you, Jesus."

  Before Johnnie raised his head from Mary's prayer, he gave a sidelong glance at Rose Marie. She looked downright panicked. He shined the flashlight in her face to get a clearer picture.

  "Get that light out of my fac
e," she said with a warble in her voice. She sucked in on a sob and pushed his arm away.

  Johnnie didn't let her move him. "What's wrong? You hurt?" He shined the flashlight down at her feet, then raised it in increments until he was back at her face, satisfied she seemed fine.

  "I'm not hurt, other than bruises like we all have," she snapped.

  "What is it, Rosie, if you're not hurt?" Mary asked. Then Mary softened her voice, and asked, "Was it our prayer?"

  Rose Marie took a huge breath, blew it out through taught lips, then took another, then another. Stunned, Johnnie watched her. This was a technique he'd learned in Pinkerton training. Used to control emotions under duress in order to think more clearly. Some used it to relieve panic attacks, as well. Maybe she was prone to them. The earthquake had been unnerving.

  Her exercise in control obviously didn't work, since another sob slipped out on her last embellished breath.

  Johnnie couldn't stand it anymore. Broken women shedding true tears knifed through him. And she was trying so hard not to give in to them. With one arm he stretched over to grasp her around the shoulders, and with one powerful tug had her against his side. He slid his other hand into her hair and pressed her head to his shoulder.

  Another choppy breath slipped out.

  "It's okay, Rosie. It'll be all right," he crooned near her ear.

  Her head jerked up to look him in the eye. Flecks of silver-blue glittered in the moonlight from her tear-filled gaze. They were mesmerizing, those eyes, and so easy to read at this moment. He'd never seen her look vulnerable before now.

  "No one has called me Rosie since I was ten. How did you know it?"

  "Your Grandma just called you that a minute ago. It suits this side of you."

  Sniffing, she asked, "What side of me?"

  "The side that isn't full of herself. The broken person I'm seeing now," Johnnie said frankly.

  She stiffened at his words. Moving out of his embrace, she glared at him. "How dare you say those things to me? I'm not self-centered. I do care about others. And I will never be broken!"

  He rolled his eyes. "And there's the belle."

  "The wha—?" Clamping her mouth shut, she lifted her chin and scooted farther away from him. Even though he'd riled her plenty, her expression smoothed to unreadable.

  Johnnie grunted. What a completely unpredictable woman. Aggravating as all get out, but impressive how she could rein in her emotions like that. He'd never known a woman to master such a thing.

  Rose Marie sat silently, that same impassive expression holding fast to her face. She kept the flashlight on Jess while Mary finished dressing her wound, then once finished, she wedged the flashlight into a small pile of rocks facing upwards into the trees. The light bounced off swaying branches. Johnnie's gut twisted with a bout of melancholy as the memory of camping with Gramps on the family ranch in northern California drifted into his mind. He hadn't thought of those good times in years. Not since the day the incredible man who'd raised him had died of a sudden heart attack and left Johnnie all alone in the world.

  Rose Marie lay Jess back on the cot, then gently covered her with a thin gray blanket. Her quiet compassion snapped Johnnie back to the present.

  He snatched up the flashlight and shined it toward the horses, happy to see the lean-to had held. He rolled to his feet and picked his way over to them. They seemed skittish, but were otherwise fine, still tied securely to a structure that was surprisingly strong. Once he'd given each a few strokes down their long necks, checked the bucket—still half-filled with water—and fed them, he made his way back to the women.

  Mary pushed a lock out of Jess's face. "What's our next step, Johnnie?"

  "To stay put until daylight. Hopefully, the majority of aftershocks will be done by then. That will make it safer to travel back down to the main camp. I haven't thought through how we'll do that yet, considering Jess is on a stretcher, and neither one of you can help me carry her that far." Maybe he could devise a travois for behind one of the horses. No. Too much rubble. He could carry her in front of him on one of the horses. But that could be dangerous if the horses spooked over the road's condition or more earthquakes.

  Rose Marie's head whipped up. Hearing the movement Johnnie shined the light in her face. She was not happy with him, he could see that, but she clearly had something she wanted to say. "Okay, let's hear it. What's on your mind?"

  "I am perfectly capable of helping you carry her. It's not like she weighs a ton, you know."

  "I'm sure you're plenty capable. Trouble is, with the rubble and whatever else we find, it will be hard enough to manage on our own, let alone carrying someone else. Have to think this through, is all."

  "Fine. You do that, and when you're done wasting time thinking, just let me know." She turned her head away from the light. From the side angle, Johnnie saw her jaw clench.

  "Fine," he replied, snapping the light off.

  "Okay, enough arguing you two," Mary said. "We'll just stay right here until you say, Johnnie. For now we ought to try and rest. We don't know what we'll be facing next."

  Rose Marie stirred. "Johnnie?"

  He forced his voice to sound calm. "Yeah?"

  "Tell me how you know so much about earthquakes."

  He hesitated. Would she accept the simple answer? "I'm from San Francisco."

  "Really? When were you there, and why did you leave?"

  He knew it. That blasted curiosity of hers . . . "You wanted to know how I knew about earthquakes and I told you." He handed her a blanket. "Now get some rest."

  "So, you aren't going to tell me?"

  "Rest, Princess," he said, mostly to remind himself who she really was. He lay down next to Jess's cot, threw an arm over his face, and tried to tune out the vixen next to him.

  Rose Marie harrumphed. "Fine!"