Country Lovin

Nine

Keira had stayed on the trail to Broken Hearts Road for twenty minutes, finding no hoofprints what so ever. She had heard that Sabella was closing in on Crossed Arrows, and decided to just let Brayden be the one to bring her home. She let out a heavy sigh. She hadn't wanted to tell Sabella about the Air Force for this exact reason, but she knew it was something she had to do. She'd talked about it to Papa once before, told him how she felt like she needed to serve. At least one kid in every generation on Papa's side served in the military, and Keira knew none of the boys would, they're too scared. None of them would last either, and they were all well aware of that fact. After Papa passed, she knew what she wanted to do with her life. She didn't want Papa's legacy to die with him, so she took it upon herself to be the one kid that generation to go. She had talked to Momma about it first, and in the beginning, she rejected the idea, but eventually, she gave in, seeing how much it meant to her daughter.

Keira got dragged out of her thoughts by Diamond, who snorted due to the pouring rain. "Shit," she mumbled, squeezing the old mare into a gallop. Diamond didn't object and galloped happily back to the ranch, eager to get out of the rain. Keira met her other siblings back in the barn when she returned. "Any word from Brayden?" She asked, ringing out her hair. She had just finished putting Diamond into one of the bigger stalls the barn had to offer as a compromise to the old mare.

Karly shook her head, "Not yet, I'm sure we'll hear something soon." They were all worried about Sabella, even more so now that the storm had taken full hold. They were quiet for a while before suddenly they heard yelling coming from Karly's walkie-talkie.

"Karly?!" He was practically yelling to be heard over the sounds of the storm raging on around him.

"Yeah?!"

"I found her, but she's unconscious and has a huge gash on her forehead. She needs medical help like now."

Karly turned to her siblings,"Shit. Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!" He heard the younger girl curse. "I'm gonna call Momma, we're all back at the ranch now, try to get her home the way I told you, we'll try to meet you along the road with a truck. Be careful." She put the radio back, looking straight at Jasper. "Jasper call Momma, tell her to meet us at the hospital."

Jasper nodded and turned to go back to the office. The boys had come in when they heard the code red, abandoning the fences they were laboring over. Jensen sat on a tack box that was up against a stall, "What if there's more wrong than just the gash on her forehead?" He asked, his voice laced with worry.

"There probably is. We don't know what happened, and we don't know how long she's been laying out in the storm." Juliet spoke up, her arms tight over her chest. Buddy had come barreling through the pastures coming to a complete stop at the barn doors. Rosaleigh and Juliet had chased him, his reins were dragging the ground, and they were afraid he'd hurt himself. He reared slightly when they approached him, his eyes rolling back in fear. They had eventually gotten him calmed down enough to put in his stall.

"I don't know, all I know is that we need to pile into the vehicles, and someone call Cassia and let her know what's up," Keira demanded, stalking back into the storm to go to her pickup. The rest of her siblings followed after her, none of them saying a word. They knew she blamed herself for what's happened, but really, anything could've triggered this kind of reaction from Sabella. They piled into three vehicles, wanting to have room for Brayden and Sabella, who they figured would most likely need to lay down, and tore out in the direction of Crossed Arrows. Keira was silent as she drove, her grip tight on the wheel. Every vehicle had their brights turned on, none of them want to miss, or hit for that matter, Brayden. Todd was in the truck with Keira and Karly, so he could take Blaze back to the ranch and get him taken care of.