“Dear God, Emmy.” His chest burned. “Please don’t be out here.”
His thighs clenched, then surged forward, propelling him up the slippery clay driveway. The flashlight’s glow barely cut through the thick downpour, and the shaky illumination didn’t help much.
“Emmy!” Fat drops of rain spat against his face, stinging his eyes and drowning his voice.
Mitch pressed on. Dense red mud sucked at his heels, and the wind picked up, the powerful bursts knocking into his chest and shoving him backward. He reached the first curve of the driveway with no sign of Emmy and shouted once more, hoping for a faint call in response.
Instead, there was nothing but the steady pound of rain, the deep boom of thunder, and fierce flashes of lightning.
Gritting his teeth, he glared up at the storm clouds looming above. “Don’t take her from me.” He licked the tangy raindrops from his lips. “Not now, and not like this.”
A small orb of light bounced sporadically in the distance, fading behind the thick curtain of rain, then reappearing. Moments later, Kristen emerged from the darkness, her flashlight jerking as she jogged toward him.
He strained for a glimpse of Emmy behind her, though he knew there was no one there. “Did you find her?”
Breathing heavily, Kristen stopped by his side and shook her head. “I went all the way to the end of the driveway and back. I didn’t see her in the front fields, either.”
He reached out and pushed her wet hair out of her eyes, leaned close and spoke loud enough to be heard over the rain. “She must’ve wandered farther off. We’ll take the truck.” After grabbing her hand, he pulled her with him as he jogged toward the front lawn. “Ruth Ann should be here soon. We can’t wait for her. If Emmy’s out here, we need to find her now. And I’ll need your eyes on the other side of the cab, looking for her, too.”
Minutes later, they were in the truck, heading down the dirt track behind the house, the bright headlights cutting through the downpour and illuminating the edges of the fields. Kristen drove at a slow pace, and Mitch shined his flashlight outside.
There was still no sign of Emmy.
“Half a mile,” Kristen said, eyeing the odometer on the dashboard.
Mitch leaned closer to the window and peered harder into the dimly lit darkness beyond. Could Emmy have made it this far? On foot in the rain?
“Maybe we missed her.” Kristen’s voice shook. “Should we turn around and go back? Or should I keep going?”
Gut churning, he blinked hard and continued sweeping the flashlight across the landscape as it slowly passed.
“Mitch? What should I do?”
“Keep driving.” Keep looking. Keep trying. God help him, what else could they do? Any other alternative was unthinkable. “She’s out here somewhere. I know it.” He pressed the flashlight closer to the passenger-side window. “Emmy, where the hell are you?”
His throat thickened and his lungs stalled, a pain he’d never felt before ripping through his chest. What if this was the hand fate had decided to deal? What if Emmy stood by the road fifty yards back, waiting for them in plain sight, and they’d failed to see her? Failed to save her?
He’d
never forgive himself.
“Just keep looking,” he rasped. “We’re not giving up.”
Kristen kept driving. He kept moving his flashlight through the darkness.
“One mile.” She glanced at him, her green eyes dark with fear.
“She’s strong,” he forced out. “She may have made it this fa—”
“There!” Kristen slammed on the brakes, jerking them forward in the cab. “In the field.”
And there Emmy was, huddled low into a ball between two rows of tall cornstalks that rippled and waved in the wind like wide green hands, sheltering her gray head and embracing her shivering form.
He thrust the door open, jumped out, and ran over. After squatting beside her, he ran his hands over her soaked shoulders. “Emmy.”
She looked up, rain pouring in streams down her face, collecting on her chin and dripping down her chest. Her eyes gazed around blankly for a moment, then narrowed on his face. A wave of relief passed over her expression. “Mitch? I can’t find Joe.”
Chest clenching, he leaned closer and sheltered her the best he could from the rain. “Come with me, Emmy. Let’s get out of this.”