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Sonny kept looking over at Maggie as he drove. Every time she took a drink of water, she winced as she swallowed, and she was still shaking. All he wanted to do was hold her, but he needed to get her to the ER.

“Maggie…sweetheart…talk to me.”

“I thought I might die before you found me. I didn’t know how long it would be before Pearl would raise an alarm. I still had my phone in my pocket. I knew you could track the phone, but I was afraid he’d find it and throw it out of the window. How did you find me so fast?”

“I saw it happening,” Sonny said. “I was already on my way to Crossroads when he drove out of the parking lot at the Rose.”

Maggie blinked. “You had a vision about me?”

He nodded. “I’ve never been so scared.”

Tears were rolling down her cheeks. “It was a scary thing that happened, but it was also the first time in my life I knew someone had my back. I don’t know why you ever bothered to love me, but I will be grateful to the day I die that you do.”

He couldn’t look her in the eyes. “That happened to you because of me.”

The despair in his voice broke her heart. “No, Sonny, no! Look at me!”

He shifted his gaze.

“Why would you think it was your place to accept the blame for his actions?” Maggie asked. “It happened because of him. And because of you, I am still alive. Understood?”

“Understood,” he said, and as the word left his mouth, the horrible feeling within him began to fade. “Can you reach your phone?”

She nodded.

“Then call Pearl. Let her know you’re still in the world. She was in a panic when she called me. She’s also the one who called in the cavalry for us by notifying Sheriff Reddick, and she needs to hear your voice.”

***

The Yellow Rose was full of customers, but nobody was eating or ordering. When the news spread through town that Maggie had been abducted, people began gathering, waiting for news. Pearl understood their concern, but it felt like a wake, and she couldn’t let herself go there.

It had been over two hours since she’d talked to Sonny. She’d done everything he asked, but had no way of knowing if the messages were received in time, or if the authorities had even found them yet.

A car pulled off the highway, tried to find a place to park, and then drove off. Pearl didn’t care. Right now, she couldn’t have fried an egg and done it right.

Darla and Cheryl were both on-site, and Davey was hovering over them all like an old rooster minding his hens, when Pearl’s cell phone rang.

She snatched it from her apron pocket, saw Maggie’s name come up on caller ID, and started shaking. “Hello?”

“Pearl, honey, it’s me. Sonny found me, beat Walker Bluejacket to hell and back and saved my life. We’re on the way back to Crossroads. We’ll take a little side trip to the ER, but it’s all minor.”

“Oh, thank God, thank God,” Pearl said, and started crying. “The Rose is full of people all waiting and praying that you were found.”

“Really?” Maggie said.

“Yes, really. Honey. Everybody in Crossroads loves you, didn’t you know that?”

“No,” Maggie whispered, and then she was crying, too.

“Well, you are loved here, and you tell that man of yours that he has forever won a place in our hearts. I’ll talk to you soon. Love you.”

Then Pearl turned to the gathered crowd and shouted. “Sonny found her, rescued her from her abductor, and they’re on the way back to Crossroads now.”

The room erupted in cheers and applause, while Pearl sat down and cried.

***

As soon as the call ended, Maggie put the phone in her lap and pulled the blanket back around her shoulders.

“You okay?” Sonny asked.

“Pearl said the Yellow Rose is packed, but not with customers. Just people waiting to get an update on me. She says to tell you that you have earned a place in their hearts forever.”

He glanced at her again. “I beat him all the way to hell and back?”

“I heard the fight. I saw the end results. I could have been wrong about you beating him all the way back, though. He was missing body parts when you dumped him at the feet of the highway patrol and got me out of the truck.”

Sonny was quiet a few moments, letting the words sink in, and then he nodded. “Missing some parts. That is very intuitive, and an accurate way to describe the totality of that man. It is my personal opinion that somewhere along the road of his life, someone poked a hole in his soul and all the good leaked out.”

He knew she was physically and emotionally exhausted, and had to be hurting. “Recline the seat and close your eyes, Magnolia. You’ve seen enough ugliness today. When you open them again, we’ll be home.”

***

Walker was still bleeding from a cut over his eye. He was pretty sure Sonny broke his nose. He thought he’d heard a rib crack and now it hurt to breathe, and he was missing three teeth. The rage and power of his son’s wrath had shocked him. When Sonny pulled out that knife, Walker thought he was about to die. Instead, his son cut off his braids.

It was the ultimate insult. A visual and public shaming, and it had scared Walker like he’d never been scared before. He had seriously underestimated his youngest son. If Sonny was to be believed, the ancestors had given him magic.

Walker wanted to deny the possibility, but there was no way in hell he could have described the abduction that way, unless he had seen it. If he’d known all that, he would never have messed with him, but it was too late for caution. He was, quite likely, going to spend the rest of his life in a Texas state prison. Kidnapping might not have been his best move.

***

Sonny was finally approaching Crossroads when Maggie sensed the truck slowing down and woke.

“Hey darlin’, we’re home,” he said.

She reached down to put the seat up, then groaned. “I fell off a horse once when I was thirteen. He was running at a full gallop, and I swear I bounced when I hit the ground. I was sore for a week, and that’s kind of how I feel right now.”

He frowned. The fact that she was in any kind of pain hurt his heart. “We’ll get you fixed up soon. I’m not sure where the ER clinic is located, though.”

“It’s on the same street as the post office, at the end of the block, but can we stop at the Yellow Rose, first? My purse is still in my locker, and I’ll need insurance cards and stuff when I check in.”

“Absolutely,” Sonny said, and drove into the parking lot and parked. “Sit tight, honey. Pearl can get it for me, right?”

“Yes.”

He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

Maggie watched him go inside, then leaned back and closed her eyes. It hurt to swallow. Her wrists and ankles were bruised and bloody from the bungee cords, and she had the headache from hell.

***

Sonny came into the dining area in long, hurried strides. The moment the customers saw him, the room erupted in congratulations and questions.

Pearl heard the raised voices and came out of the kitchen, then saw Sonny and froze.

“Sonny! Oh my God, are you hurt?”

He frowned. “What?”

She pointed to his clothes. They were covered in blood.

“That’s his blood, not mine,” he said. “We’re on the way to ER and Maggie needs her purse.”

“I’ll get it,” Darla said, and hurried into the little storage room where they kept their personal property.

Pearl’s eyes widened. “Maggie said you beat him to hell and back. I thought that was just a figure of speech, but now I’m thinking she meant it.”

“It would have been worse for him if the Texas Highway Patrol hadn’t found us when they did. I would hug you for getting all that information to the sheriff’s office, but I’d contaminate your whole kitchen,” he said.

“All I did was to make a phone call,” Pearl said.

“Yes, but it resulted in the arrival of a Texas Highway Patrol chopper and four patrol cars just in time to keep me from killing him,” he muttered.

Darla came back with the purse. “Here you go,” she said. “Tell Maggie we were praying.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sonny said.

“I hate to ask, but how bad is she hurt?” Pearl asked.

“Everything is superficial, but he had her arms and feet bound with bungee cords so tight that she lost feeling in them. She has bruises on her neck where he choked her, so she’s hurting in a half-dozen places. You can call her later, and if you start looking for her, she’ll be at the ranch with me.”

He walked out with the purse and then they were gone.

Customers began plying Pearl with questions, until she held up her hands.

“Maggie’s injuries are superficial. None of the blood on Sonny’s clothes belongs to him or her. That’s what he did to the man who took her. The highway patrol has her abductor in custody.”

***

Sonny pulled up in front of the small clinic and parked.

“Sit tight, Magnolia. I’m coming around to help you out.”

The adrenaline crash was happening. All she wanted to do was lie in Sonny’s arms and cry. She went limp when he picked her up and carried her inside.

Joan and Peggy, the two nurses on duty, had been alerted that they were en route, met them at the door, and led the way into the first exam room.

Sonny eased her down on the exam table. “Maggie, honey, I’ll step out, but I’ll be in the waiting room when you’re ready to go,” then he leaned over and kissed her forehead.

Maggie saw the shimmer of tears in his eyes. “You saved me. Remember that and let everything else go.”

He brushed away a strand of hair caught in her lashes, then caught the nurses eyeing his bloody clothes.

“I’m fine. That’s not my blood,” he said, ran the back of his finger down the side of Maggie’s cheek and left them to it.

He could hear them asking Maggie questions as they began to remove her clothing. She was crying. It was a knife to the heart.

The moment he got back to the waiting room, he sat down and called Charlie. There was too much to tell to send a text.

***

Charlie had just made a delivery for his boss and was on his way back when his phone rang. He saw Sonny’s name on caller ID and pulled over to take the call.

“Hey, Sonny, how’s it going?” he asked.

“Walks-Off kidnapped Maggie this morning. I followed them using that Life360 app like the one you and Frannie have. Ran him down about thirty miles away from Crossroads. She’s okay. I’ve got her in ER. Texas Highway Patrol have him in custody.”

Charlie gasped. “Sonny. Oh my God, man. Why?”

“To hurt me? Who the hell knows?”

“What did you say to him?” Charlie asked.

“We didn’t talk much. He’s got a broken nose, three teeth less than what he woke up with this morning. I think I heard a rib snap. I wanted to cut his throat. I cut off his braids instead. His eyes were swelling shut when I dumped him at the feet of the arriving highway patrol. I guess it’s good they came when they did. I would have killed him.”

Charlie was still processing the information about the braids, but he wanted to know more. “How did you get him stopped?”

“The highway patrol dispatched four chase cars and one of their choppers. Chopper came from the west. The rest of us came from the east. He stopped because the chopper was on the highway in front of him.”

“Is Maggie okay? What did he do to her? Please tell me she’s going to be okay.”

“He choked her unconscious, threw her in the back of his truck and bound her feet and hands with bungee cords so tight it cut off circulation. She has a busted lip, bruises all over, but physically, she’ll be okay. I, however, am never going to get over being the reason this happened to her.”

“Damn it all to hell,” Charlie muttered. “When did you know she’d gone missing?”

“You know how I saw Julia at the creek? So, I saw Maggie’s abduction happening the same way. I was already in my truck and heading to Crossroads when he pulled out of the parking lot with her. Everyone else thinks I found them so fast because of the tracking app, but Maggie knows the truth…and so does Walker. I don’t know why he hates me so much, but he does, and today, I told him what happened to me after I survived, that the ancestors who saved me gave me visions. That he can never run far enough, or lie enough, to hide what he does from me, because I will know. Scared the crap out of him. He wanted me dead. Now the feeling is mutual.”

“What about Nubby Zane? Where was he?” Charlie asked.

“I don’t know. He was with Walker near Boise City, but he wasn’t with him today,” Sonny said.

“What can I do?” Charlie asked. “If you need me, I will come.”

The well of tears broke and rolled down Sonny’s face. “Thank you, but we’re good and we’re safe now…Maggie and me. I called because you needed to know what he’d done, and you will need to tell Auntie. She will be ashamed of him, but he is still her brother.”

“Yes, but I’m telling this at council. Our people deserve to know when there’s a monster among us.”

Sonny sighed. “There’s no way to keep his dirt from rubbing off on us. People will think to themselves…are we like him?”

“No, Sonny. Good dogs can go mad, but he was never a good dog. He was the cur in the streets. The one in the alley going through garbage. The one who ran with a killing pack. He was just the bad one in a good family. We’ll be fine, and he’s finally where he needs to be…penned up away from society. You give your girl our love and prayers. We love you, little brother. You are the gift in our family that makes up for him. Remember that and call to talk any time.”

“Thank you, Charlie. Love to all,” Sonny said, and disconnected.

He sat within the silence, his elbows on his knees, just staring at the floor. Maggie wasn’t crying now, but he was. This was a lot for both of them to deal with, but she was his to love, and he’d nearly lost her.

***

Both nurses brought Maggie out in a wheelchair. Her wrists and ankles were wrapped in gauze, and she was holding her sneakers in her lap. The bruises on her face and neck were getting darker by the hour, but she was smiling.

“I’m good to go,” she said.

“With some caution,” Peggy said. “She’s going to be uncomfortable with swallowing for a while, but there are no internal injuries to her throat. She has no signs of concussion and the abrasions on her wrists and ankles should heal without issue.”

Joan added to that. “We contacted the doctor in charge of this clinic. He comes from Amarillo one day a week, and will be here tomorrow if you have further questions. He’s also called in some anti-inflammatory meds, and an antiseptic cream for her wrists and ankles, but they do not need to stay wrapped. They’re putting a rush on the stuff at the pharmacy, so by the time you get there, they should be ready.”

“You will mail the bill for this visit to me,” Sonny said, and gave them his mailing address.

Maggie started to get up when Peggy stopped her.

“Sit tight, Maggie. You were carried in, so we’re giving you a ride out,” and took her to Sonny’s truck.

He had the door open, waiting. As she stood, the nurses moved the wheelchair back to give her room, and before she could take a step, Sonny picked her up and eased her into the passenger seat. But instead of reaching for the seat belt to buckle her in, he wrapped his arms around her and held her where she sat.

He didn’t talk, but she could feel the warmth of his breath against her cheek, and then moments later, his tears on her face.

“Sonny…darling…I’m really going to be okay. No drastic injuries. Just discomfort.”

He finally let her go. “During that long frantic race to catch up with Walker I didn’t know if you were alive or dead. The last sight I had of you in the vision, Walker threw your limp and lifeless body in the back seat. I did not know until I yanked him out of the truck and saw your big blue eyes looking back at me, that you still drew breath. It’s gonna take a bit for me to let go of that gut-wrenching fear.” Then he wrapped her up in the blanket again and buckled her in.

He started the engine, felt her watching him, and winked. “You’re still the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

She sighed. “Dude, I saw myself already.”

“And I saw what you did to Walker’s face. That will scar, and for the rest of his miserable life, every time he looks in a mirror, he’s going to remember how you fought back. Using you to get to me was the biggest mistake he ever made, and that’s saying a lot, because he was always five minutes away from a new disaster. Now, let’s go get your meds. You’re coming home with me until you’re back on your feet, and tomorrow I’ll either bring you back to your house to pack up some stuff, or I’ll do it for you if you’re too sore to move. If I had my way, you’d already be living under my roof, but that’s your call.”

Maggie hugged herself, savoring the love in his eyes and the promises in his words as he backed up and drove away. He had to circle the block to get back to Belker’s Grocery, then find a place to park.

“I won’t be long, darlin’. I’m going to grab a few things that are easy to swallow. Want anything special?”

“No. I trust your choices.”

He got out on the run, and then he was gone.

Maggie settled back in the seat, pulled the blanket up beneath her chin, and closed her eyes.

***

The moment Sonny entered Belker’s, the conversation among the shoppers ended. They saw the blood on his clothes, the bruised knuckles on his hands, and the look in his eyes. Then someone clapped, and someone else joined in, and they swarmed him, asking about Maggie, and praising him for saving her.

Sonny could tell by the way some of them were talking that they didn’t yet know her abductor’s identity, and taking their praise seemed false without telling his side of the truth.

“Thank you, but just so you know, it was my own father who took her to get to me. He has not been in my life since I was five. But he’s always been the dark blot on our family. He hates me and I don’t know why, and Maggie suffered because she loves me, and he knew it. He’ll die in prison for what he did. And I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to her.” He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. “Just so you know. Thank you again for all the prayers for my girl, but I’ve got to get her meds, and get her home. She’s had the day from hell.”

Mr. Belker had been listening without comments, but felt compelled to speak up.

“Sonny, we all have someone in our families that we’re ashamed of, or we regret the paths that they have chosen. But none of their actions came from anything we did, and none of that is your fault. You saved her life. That is what we see. That is what we think. The fact that you found her so fast is a miracle.”

“Oh…you can all thank a tracking app I loaded on to our phones. As long as we had our phones on us, we knew where each other was. If we were at work, or if we were driving somewhere, or if we were home. My brother had it for him and his wife. Maggie worried about me being alone on the ranch, so I did that for us…for her. It was in her pocket when he knocked her out and tied her up. It wound up saving her life.”

“I’ll be danged,” Belker said. “I didn’t know there was such a thing. I’m going to check into that.”

Sonny moved through the crowd and hurried to the pharmacy, picked up her meds, and then made a quick sweep through the store, getting things easy for her to swallow, then left the store and found her asleep again.

He slipped the bags in the back seat, but when he started the engine, she woke up. He handed her a to-go cup of Pepsi he’d gotten from the soda fountain at the deli.

“Cold drink for my baby. We’re going home.”

“Yumm,” she said as she took a small sip. “Just what I needed.”

***

Sonny had Maggie settled on the sofa watching TV. She kept dropping off to sleep and then waking abruptly. He guessed she was dreaming, and there was nothing he could do to make the bad dreams go away. After she’d taken herself to the bathroom and back, he got her settled again.

“Sweetheart, you’re locked in the house right now, and I need to make a quick head count on the herd before it gets dark. I’ll whistle them up to the barn, so I won’t be far. Are you okay with that?”

“It will cost you one kiss, then you go do what you have to do.”

He leaned down, and very gently kissed her lips, then laid her phone in her lap.

“I have my phone. Call if you need me. I won’t be long.”

She snuggled back under the blanket that today, smelled like sage and sunshine, and watched him walk out the back door.

***

Sonny was in a place in his head he’d never been before. In the last few hours, he’d experienced the deepest of fears and the hottest of rages. There was no name for the level of devastation he’d felt, fearing Maggie was no longer alive. But the rage he’d felt against his father was beyond explanation. He would have killed him without an ounce of regret.

He kept remembering picking up the gun from the floorboard of Walker’s truck and the urge he’d had to turn it on Walker, and Maggie screaming at him, “don’t let him get away.” At that moment, pulling the ammo clip and tossing the gun had been the better choice, but the blood rush of hate he’d felt at that moment was not something he ever wanted to feel again.

He walked all the way out toward the feeding troughs just outside the corral carrying a sack of sweet feed under each arm. Dumped them, and went back for two more, then emptied them out into the feeders and tossed the empty sacks into the corral to pick up later.

“Equine smorgasbord,” he said, then turned to the north and whistled, waited a few seconds, then whistled again.

He heard a horse whinny, like an answer to his call. To his surprise, they came from the south, and as usual, they were running. The sight of them lifted his spirits as he knew they would, and they smelled the sweet feed.

They quickly found a place in the lineup to get a couple of mouthfuls, but not too much, just enough for them to get a good taste. And as they ate, he moved in and out among them, always checking for a wound needing to be doctored, or one with a loose shoe, then special attention to the mares close to foaling.

When he was satisfied all was well and they were already moving toward the round bale and water tank, he stepped away.

When he did, Dancer followed. But instead of nosing for a treat, he laid his head across Sonny’s shoulder.

“You feel it in me, don’t you, big boy? Don’t worry. None of it is directed at you,” Sonny said, and wrapped his arms around Dancer’s neck and held on until the world stopped spinning, and the ground beneath his feet was firm once more before turning him loose. He climbed into the corral to get the empty feed sacks, took them to the feed room, and was on his way out of the barn when his cell phone rang. It was Sheriff Reddick.

“Hello.”

“Sonny, I’m calling to check on your girl. I know what went down, but I didn’t have any confirmation on her condition other than you were taking her to the Crossroads ER.”

“Her injuries are superficial. Emotions, not so much. He choked her unconscious. Her neck looks a little like someone tried to hang her. Thank you a thousand times for getting the highway patrol on my trail. Their chopper landing on the highway in front of him was what stopped him, and the patrolmen coming up behind me is what stopped me from killing him.”

“Timing was everything,” Matt said. “If you hadn’t been on to the abduction so quickly, it could have easily gone wrong. And, another reason I’m calling, considering the distance and law enforcement divisions involved, is to give you a heads up. Someone will be in contact with the both of you to take your statements.”

“You have my contact information and Maggie is staying with me for the present time, so we’re in the same place,” Sonny said.

“I’ll let them know,” Matt said. “Listen… I’m sorry about what happened. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling. But that old son of a bitch has never been a father to you, so don’t take on any guilt for what he did. He was always a stranger to your family. He’s still just a stranger who tried to hurt someone you love, and you dealt with it, like any man would.”

“There’s still one unknown about this whole thing,” Sonny said.

“What’s that?” Matt asked.

“I know that Walker was traveling with a friend when they started this way. A man named Nubby Zane from back home. He is as mean and worthless as Walker. I would have pointed him out as the trigger man. They were together as far as Boise City, Oklahoma. I don’t know what happened after that, but Walker showed up alone and did the deed on his own. I would hate to think Zane is still out there somewhere, waiting to finish the job.”

“Damn,” Matt muttered. “Let me make a few calls. If anything happened in Boise City, I might be able to find out. If I learn anything, I’ll let you know.”

“I really appreciate that. I don’t want to think I’m still a target and involve Maggie again.”

“Understood,” Matt said, and hung up.

Sonny slipped his phone back into his hip pocket, and when he looked up, Maggie was still wrapped up in her blanket, and sitting on the back porch.

He hastened his steps to get to her. “Did you get tired waiting for me?” he asked.

She stood as came up the steps. “No, I just like watching you with the horses.”

He wrapped his arms around her, blanket and all. “Come inside with me, Maggie Rae. We can talk.”

“About what?”

“For starters, the future of Sunset, the choice of a long engagement, or a shotgun wedding, and now inside, please. The nurses said for you to take it easy and rest, and I’ve got to get rid of these bloody clothes. I need to wash today out of them, and shower the rest of it off of me.”

Sonny made Maggie a cold drink and warmed up a bowl of soup, settled her at the kitchen table, then kissed the top of her head.

“Just eat what you want of this. I’ll make us some supper later, okay?”

She picked up the soup spoon as he turned to leave. “Sonny?”

He paused. “Yeah?”

“Today taught me one thing. That tomorrows aren’t promised. I’d marry you in a heartbeat. I don’t need to wait for anything. I just want to belong to you.”

The look on his face said it all.

“As soon as you get well, we can make that happen, but just so you know, in my heart you’re already mine. Eat your soup and stop worrying. We’re good, okay?”

She picked up her spoon, then saw he was stripping as he went. By the time he walked out of sight, he was barefoot, shirtless, and all that long black hair hanging down his back. It was enough to make her forget about every pain in her body until she took a breath.

All that and him is for another day, she thought, and went back to her soup.