Montana Bride (21 page)

“This one, Karl,” Griffin said, picking a pine with a trunk it would take three men to circle with their extended arms.

“I’ll take this one,” Dennis said.

“That’s not the same size. It’s a foot smaller around,” Buck said. He pointed to a different pine. A larger pine. “That one’s the same size.”

Karl stared at Dennis, who looked chagrined. Karl was shocked. Was it possible Dennis had been choosing a smaller tree every time they competed? Surely not. And yet, Dennis didn’t argue with Buck. He simply moved to the second tree.

Karl felt his heart lift. Lord have mercy. Maybe Buck had given him a fighting chance. Now all he had to do was take advantage of it.

Karl leaned his head back to study the ponderosa pine Griffin had chosen for him to chop down.

“Slants pretty far to the left,” Andy said.

“But most of the limbs up high are on the right,” Griffin countered.

Karl weighed the right-hand-heavy crown of the tree against the significant slant of the trunk in the opposite direction and realized Griffin had chosen a pine that had balanced itself out.

Andy took off his glove, stuck a finger in his mouth to wet it, then held it up in the air. “Wind’s from the south.”

“But gusting from the west,” Griffin said, pointing to a rustling spruce.

Karl glanced at the spruce, then at the pine boughs above him, judging the swirling breeze. He saw movement in the distance and watched as Dennis set his stake in the ground. No one would be shouting
Go!
The game began with the first ax cut by either man.

Karl heard a
thwack
and realized Dennis had begun. Karl didn’t even have his stake in the snow yet.

“Run thirty paces in that direction,” he instructed Griffin, pointing with a gloved finger, “and plant my stake right between those two big pines.”

“But Karl—” Griffin protested.

“Do it!” Karl freed his ax, which was embedded in a nearby stump. He ran his gloved hands up and down the smooth handle, then made a slow arc with the ax to make sure he had plenty of clearance to swing freely. “Take out that chokeberry for me, will you, Andy?” Karl said, gesturing with his chin at a small bush behind him.

Andy used a short ax he carried on his belt to chop off the plant at its roots. “Anything else?”

Karl heard the steady sound of Dennis’s ax chopping wood and realized there was no time to waste. What else? What had he forgotten? He glanced around one last time, plotting his path of escape when the tree came down. By that time, Griffin had returned from placing the stake.

“All right, boys,” Karl said. “Step back and join the crowd. I have work to do.”

He waited one more beat, till he was sure both boys were safely out of range, then lifted his ax and made the first cut.
Thunk.

He heard a loud
thwack
in reply.

Karl swung again.
Thunk.

And again heard Dennis’s
thwack.

Karl formed his kerf with strong, steady strokes of his ax, cutting up, then down, chips flying as he created an angled notch across the trunk, aimed at the stake where he wanted the tree to land. Then he crossed to the other side of the tree, picked a spot higher on the trunk, and began cutting another notch that would act as a hinge. When he was almost done chopping down the tree, he would insert a wooden wedge in the notch to both slow down and steer the fall of the pine, so the trunk didn’t bounce back and kill him.

Karl had no sense of time. He relished the endless rise and fall of his ax and the mighty labor required of muscle and bone. Sweat dripped from his brow, slid down his nose, and fell in thick droplets on the snow. Dennis’s
thwack
s echoed back to him in the mountain air. They seemed to come faster and sounded louder than Karl’s solid
thunk
s.

Karl heard guttural shouts from the gathered loggers egging Dennis on, but he refused to look at his rival to see whether Dennis was ahead or behind. Karl maintained a steady rhythm. He was nearly there. He set the wedge and was making his final cuts when he heard Dennis yell, “Timmmmbeerrrr!”

Karl didn’t stop. He took another swing at the trunk. And another. And heard the telltale crack that told him the hinge was breaking. He yelled, “Timmmberrr!” and leapt backward along the escape route he’d chosen.

A moment later he felt his legs being struck out from under him. He was tangled with another body and spinning like crazy down the mountain over rough brush and stones. He came to an abrupt and painful stop wrapped around a pine stump.

Karl groaned. It felt like his back was broken.

“What the hell?” Karl looked down, still dizzy from the tumbling fall, to see who’d tackled him, and found Griffin’s body wrapped tightly around his legs. The boy’s eyes were closed. Karl reached out a hand—which he was happy to see he could move—and laid it on Griffin’s head. “Griffin?”

The boy remained still.

Karl tried sitting up and was aided by Andy, who’d raced down the mountain after them. The rest of the loggers were soon gathered around.

“Are you all right?” Andy asked breathlessly.

“I think so,” Karl said. “Check on Griffin.”

Dennis was suddenly there to help brace Karl upright. “I can’t believe what happened, Karl. That crazy tree came down all wrong!”

“What?” Karl was still dazed, still worried about Griffin, and unable to comprehend what Dennis was saying.

“The kid saved your life,” Buck said. “Never saw anybody move that fast. Don’t know how he figured out Dennis’s tree was coming down the wrong way. You’d have been mincemeat if Griffin hadn’t tackled you.”

Karl put his hands under Griffin’s arms, but before he moved him, he wanted to make sure the boy wasn’t badly hurt. “How is he?” he asked Andy.

Andy’s face was chalk white. “I can’t find any broken bones, but his breathing is shallow. And he’s not waking up.”

Karl pulled his stepson up into his arms, cradling him like a baby. “Griffin,” he said, gently patting the boy’s cheek. “Open your eyes.”

Griffin’s eyes fluttered open, then closed and remained closed. Karl hoped the kid was only stunned, but he had an ugly-looking lump on his forehead. Karl realized it had gotten so dark he could barely see his hand in front of his face.

“Somebody fire up a lantern before we end up standing here in the dark,” he ordered. “Andy, take your oxen and get down the mountain. Stop by the house and tell Mrs. Norwood that Griffin’s been hurt. Make sure Bao has his medicine box handy when we get there.”

“Got it, Boss.” A moment later he was gone.

“Let me take the boy, Karl, while you get up,” Dennis said.

“No!” Karl held tight to Griffin. “Just give me a hand getting on my feet.”

Dennis shook his head at Karl’s stubbornness but stuck his hands under Karl’s arms and helped him onto his feet with Griffin in his arms. Dennis demanded a lantern from one of the loggers and held it high, so Karl could see his way as he carefully headed down the skid trail carrying the unconscious boy.

They hadn’t gone far before Griffin opened his eyes again. The first thing he asked was, “Who won the bet?”

Karl was startled into relieved laughter. “Who cares? You’re damned lucky to be alive. That was a fool thing to do, but thank you.”

“Who won?” Griffin persisted.

“Dennis’s tree came down first,” Stefan called out from within the crowd of loggers following behind them.

“But it never came close to the stake he set out,” Buck pointed out.

“What about Karl’s tree? Where did it come down?” Griffin asked.

“Karl’s tree hit his stake stone-cold center,” Buck replied. “You won big, Boss. So did you, kid,” he said to Griffin.

Karl heard respect in Buck’s voice, but he wasn’t sure whether it was for him or the nine-year-old who’d rescued him.

Griffin wriggled in Karl’s arms and said, “Put me down, Karl. I can walk.”

“Be still,” Karl ordered. “You’ve got a lump the size of a hen’s egg on your forehead. Your mom’s already going to give me hell for letting you get hurt. All I need is for you to pass out again and hurt yourself worse. I’d never hear the end of it.”

Griffin’s efforts to get free subsided, but Karl could tell from the tension in the kid’s body how uncomfortable he was in Karl’s arms.

Karl knew Hetty must be crazy with worry over her son, but when he stepped inside the cabin carrying Griffin, she looked amazingly composed. Only the white knuckles on her clenched hands, and her short, fearful glance at him, told him how really terrified she was.

Grace hovered at Griffin’s side as Karl carried him to the bedroom, frantically touching any part of her brother she could reach. “What happened? What stupid thing did you do this time?” she asked in a shrill voice.

“Griffin saved my life,” Karl said simply as he eased Griffin onto his bed. Hetty and Grace took up places on one side of the bed, as Dennis joined Karl on the other.

Grace’s mouth hung slack in shock. “Griffin saved you?”

Karl nodded.

Grace turned to her brother and said, “Oh, Griffin, I’m sorry for thinking the worst of you. How did you get hurt? What happened to your head?”

“I bumped it,” Griffin retorted. “Don’t make such a fuss, Grace. I’m fine.”

Bao entered the bedroom at that moment accompanied by Andy, who said, “I told Bao what happened.”

Andy joined the crowd around the bed as Bao began his examination of Griffin.

“Bump is good thing,” Bao announced when he was done. “Mean bleeding not inside head. You have headache?” he asked Griffin.

“Yeah,” Griffin admitted.

Bao turned to Hetty. “Cold cloth on head. Keep swelling down.” Then he turned to Karl. “Important you watch boy all night. Need rest, but no sleep. Must keep boy awake.”

“I can do that,” Grace said.

“We both can,” Hetty said, settling a comforting arm around her daughter’s shoulder.

“You can sleep in your mom’s bed tonight, Grace,” Karl said. “Hetty and I will sit up with Griffin.”

Karl saw Hetty was surprised by his offer to keep vigil with her. She glanced immediately at Grace, who said, “I want to stay. He’s
my
brother.”

Karl wondered about the emphasis on the
my,
but before he could reflect on it, Hetty said, “Karl, you can’t afford to lose a whole night’s sleep. You still have work tomorrow. Why don’t we take turns?”

Hetty smoothed Grace’s flyaway curls from her brow and said, “You and I can take the first shift, Grace. Karl and I will watch the rest of the night till morning.”

“When are you planning to sleep?” Karl asked Hetty.

“I can lie down on Grace’s bed and nap if I get tired.”

“Why can’t I go to sleep?” Griffin asked Bao.

“Go to sleep, maybe not wake up,” Bao replied.

“Oh.” Griffin frowned and then groaned when his forehead protested the movement. A collective gasp arose as Griffin probed the enormous lump on his forehead.

“Don’t touch it!” Grace cried.

“My head isn’t even bleeding,” Griffin said, as his hand came away from the bump. “What’s the big deal?”

“If you could see yourself, you wouldn’t ask that question,” Karl replied. “Do me a favor and leave that lump alone.”

“Must go serve dinner to lumbermen,” Bao said as he packed up his box of medicines. “Boy too drowsy to stay awake, you call me. Otherwise, see you in morning.” He bowed and left the room.

“I’ve got supper ready to serve, too,” Hetty said. “Why don’t we eat? Grace, wet a dishcloth with some cold water from the kitchen pump and lay it across Griffin’s brow. By then, I’ll have a bowl of stew ready that the two of you can share here in the bedroom.”

Hetty turned to Andy and Dennis and said, “You’re both welcome to join us for supper.”

“Another time,” Dennis said.

“I wouldn’t mind keeping Grace and Griffin company,” Andy replied. “If you don’t mind, ma’am.”

Karl frowned at the way the boy had finagled time with Grace, but Andy kept his gaze focused on Hetty, who hesitated only a second before saying, “I have no objection to that.”

Karl shot a look at Grace, who blushed and hurried from the room.

“Let’s get out of here and let Griffin get settled,” Hetty said, waving her hands as though she were shooing flies, until everyone except Griffin and Andy were gone from the bedroom.

Karl stepped back to the doorway after Hetty passed him by and saw Griffin gesturing Andy over to him. Karl figured Griffin was going to warn the Texan to keep his distance from Grace. Instead, when Andy sat down next to Griffin, the two boys put their heads together and began whispering.

Karl heard Griffin exclaim, “He did it on purpose!”

Who did what on purpose?
Karl wondered.

Hetty grabbed his arm and drew him away from the door, shutting the two boys in and shutting him out. “Griffin will be fine, Karl. You’ve done everything you can. Now leave the poor boy alone and come have supper.”