Chapter 3

"Morning, Oscar. How's my girl this morning?" Rick winked at his
sister-in-law as Linda went past him, Ricky trailing behind her with
his blanky.

"She's much better this morning, son. As a matter of fact she's polishing off
some toast and bacon, but first she wants to say good morning to you."
Oscar smiled at his niece as she teased "please let me talk to him!"

"I hear my sweetheart, you'd better let her have her way, Oscar!" Rick answered,
relieved. He gulped some coffee, then heard his wife, "Rick, darling, good morning!"

"Good morning, Laurie, I miss my girl, how do you feel?" he said. "Good, Rick,
I don't have any chills or congestion. I'm going to finish breakfast then check in to
see if the eighth graders and high school class are coming today. If not I'll just stay home."

Rick frowned, he still didn't like the idea of her riding over to the Center. "Darlin'
I wish you wouldn't ride over to teach, couldn't you have Rudy or Oscar
drop you, then maybe the Chief could drive you home."

There was silence, then she told him "All right, my love, I'll ask Oscar to drop me,
oh, God I miss you, darling. Maybe you could come home and pick me up, we
could have lunch together!"

He could have kissed her through the phone, "That's a good idea, sweetheart. I
miss you too! Call me when you're done teaching and I'll meet you in the lobby.
Now let me talk to Oscar, angel."

"All right, I love you, Rick, you always make me feel better!" she said, then
handed the phone to her uncle. Watching her as she finished her breakfast,
Oscar turned and asked "Are you going to be able to pick her up if I take her
with me to the Center?"

"Yes, A.J. and I already discussed it, I'll leave at lunch time and he can wrap up any
paperwork we have left. You're right about whatever her Grandmother told her,
now I won't worry about her being out in the cold air!" Rick said, relieved.

Seeing that Laurie had gone into the kitchen, Oscar told her husband, "I was
worried about her last night, son. She was having a bad dream about being
taken away from you. I managed to reassure her and she went back to sleep,
but I'd make sure she takes it easy today, Rick."

"Thank you, Oscar, I don't know what I'd do without you and Rudy watching over
us the way you do. I'm going to run A.J. to work now, so I'll see you guys later."
he replied gratefully.
"Rick, we're family, we'll always be there. Now, I'll make sure Laurie waits
inside for you." Oscar told him, clearing his throat.

A half-hour later, Laurie waved Rudy off to town, as she and Oscar climbed into his jeep and
headed to the Navajo Cultural Center. As Oscar tried to start his jeep, an ominous click-click
signaled that his battery was dead. Frustrated, he got back out and lifting the hood, discovered
a short in a wire had drained his battery.

"Oh, no way! Oscar, let me try to jump you from the jeep battery!" Laurie stepped out of the
vehicle, then brought out her jumper cables and tried unsuccessfully to start his car.

"No use, honey, I guess I'll have to call Robbie and see if he can come and give us a ride.",
he groused. Laurie grinned at her uncle. "It's a good thing your nephew the sheriff learned how
to fix wires and stuff, let me run in and catch him before he leaves the station."

Dashing into the house, she dialed the sheriffs station. After 3 rings, an out of breath Robbie
replied, "Mom, you just caught me, are you all right?"

"Yes, darling, I'm sorry to get you out of breath. Are you on a call?" Laurie asked, concerned.
"Yes, and I need Uncle Oscar. Can I come pick him up?" Robbie said hopefully.

"Just a minute?" "Oscar?" She stuck her head out of the house and got her uncle's attention.
"What is it, honey, is it Robbie?" he dropped the rag he was using and came up the steps.

"Robbie's on a call, and he wants to know if you can go with him, he needs you." she explained,
handing him the phone.

Taking the cordless, she watched her uncle as he asked some questions of her son, then animatedly gave some instructions. "I'll never get used to having him here for us."she realized gratefully.

Watching him end the call, he put the receiver back in its charger, then gently took her arm and
sitting on the sofa, told her, "Robbie's got a lead on a local robbery ring, only Rob is in court
on another case and since he has no back up, I'm going to help him. He'll be okay, honey,
we'll have reinforcements once we get to Window Rock."

"Oh, thank God, Oscar. I don't worry about Robbie when one of you guys are with him. I'll just saddle up Brick and go over to the Center. I can leave him there when Rick picks me up." Laurie assured him.

Glancing up at the clouds, Oscar thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "All right, honey, just stay on the road and call me on your transmitter when you get there, understand?"

"Yes, Uncle!", she smiled, then hurried to the barn.

As she led Brick out of the yard a few minutes later, he was glad he had refrained from reminding her to dress warmer. Clad in a heavy coat and hat, she came over to him and he gave her a boost up into the saddle. "Be careful, Oscar." she cautioned, then grinned as he pretended to swat at her. "I'll call you." she promised, then galloped out the gate and down the road, turning and waving as she went to turn onto the main reservation highway.

After arriving at the Cultural Center, Laurie called in to Oscar's transmitter, and found that
he and Robbie were waiting for their reinforcements. Finding that her students were still
arriving, she decided to let Rick know she had arrived and called him at the office.

Rick was sourly closing out a file when the phone rang. He was angry at a client skipping out
on a retainer, so he picked up the phone on the first ring and barked "Simon and Simon Investigations".

"Rick, darling, what's wrong, are you all right?" He could hear worry in her voice, and his anger deflated for a moment. "Yes, Laurie, just having a bad morning.", he sighed.

"My poor Rick, I wish I was there, I'd make you feel better." she soothed, then noticed the door to her room was open. "I just wanted to let you know I had to ride to class, Oscar's car wouldn't start and Robbie needed him for back up."

Rick saw red, didn't she promise she would get a ride to her students!
"Laurie, what were you thinking, you were sick last night, you rode in the cold weather and now go into a hot room, you're going to get pneumonia!"

"Rick, please don't worry, I feel fine! I didn't want to miss my class and I had no other way of coming. Please don't be upset, I'll leave Brick here for the night and ride him home tomorrow." she said.

Her husband only got madder as he realized he was supposed to meet her for lunch, A.J. had gotten stuck at the car repair place and he had been so upset at the unpaid retainer he'd forgotten their date.

"Well, you're going to have to stay there until later this afternoon. I won't be meeting you for lunch after all, A.J.'s not here yet and we'll be too busy to break for lunch." he replied coldly.

Laurie paled as she heard how angry he was; she knew he took her word seriously and she remembered how upset he'd been when she was forced to go back on her promise once before. "Darling, I'm sorry. I didn't intend to break my word before and I'm not happy about it now. Can we talk about this when we get home, please?"

"Yeah, yeah. We'll discuss this later. You go to your students so I can go back to work." he said.

Eyeing the open door, she took a deep breath, trying not to cry. "I love you, Rick. Maybe it's not enough to make you understand I didn't do this on purpose, but I'll never do anything to go against your wishes. I'm going to class now, please be careful and I'll see you at home."

Hearing nothing, a sob came out of her mouth as she thought he had hung up on her. She started to replace the receiver when she heard his voice. "Laurie?" "Rick, I thought you hung up on me." she whispered. "Laurie, come on, don't cry." he said fumbling for words."

Upset, she hung up the phone and wiped her eyes, then went to her classroom, not seeing the startled face of the Chief in the entrance.

After an hour, Rick sat moping, staring at a file while his brother spoke to a client on the phone. He was an idiot, he'd decided.

He'd taken out his anger on the love of his life, he'd covered his worry for her with lecturing her and then when he heard a sob from her, he'd fumbled his words and she'd hung up.

Worse yet, five minutes after he'd spoken with her, A.J. walked in, saying, "I'm sorry, Rick, I forgot to give you this money order, Berg did pay our retainer after all."

Maybe he should call her, on one hand she had risked her health and gone against her word to ride to class, but she had said she was sorry. Deciding to make things right, he hit the return dial button, then when the receptionist answered, asked to speak to Mrs. Simon.

"One moment sir, I'll see if she's still in class." a student replied.

Rick waited impatiently, then heard his wife's voice, out of breath. "Hello, Rick!"

"Laurie, it's ok, I know you didn't mean to break your word. I just want you to be safe." he said, not realizing how upset she had been with him. "Rick, I know you didn't mean it, but you hurt me, and you completely ignored how I felt, even telling me not to cry!" she replied, irritated at his lack of apology.

"Darlin' I didn't mean it the way it sounded, oh, forget it, we'll talk about it at home, when we both cool down." he answered huffily.

Suddenly Laurie realized how petty she sounded. "Rick, please, I'm..." Too late, she heard a dial tone. When was she going to learn?, she thought despairingly.

After the last 2 classes, Laurie decided not to work on her new book, but go home while it was still early. As she walked out to the stable, she shivered in the biting cold, then heard the Chief
call, "Light!"

Turning she saw him walking stiffly toward her. "Chief, I'm glad to see you, it looks like it's
going to snow." "It is going to snow, I thought Rick was going to meet you here?" he lifted
an eyebrow and she laughed in spite of herself.

"We were, but he's stuck at work, and besides, he's mad at me right now. He thinks I broke
my word to not ride today because I was sick last night." she explained in a rush.

"He only gets mad at you, my child, because he worries. Of course he doesn't know what I
know; that you only go against his wishes when it can't be helped." the Chief said dryly.
"Yes, I was going to have Oscar drop me, but he couldn't start his car, then Robbie needed him
for back up and I'd already cancelled yesterday, I couldn't leave everyone in the lurch!"
she told him emotionally.

Shaking his head, the elder smiled at Laurie. "And Rick was not moved by this, he was
still angry?" "He was having a bad day, Chief, I told him why Oscar couldn't take me, he was
mad and then when I thought he'd hung up he said my name, he heard me crying and then
he told me not to cry. I hung up on him, then when he called to kind of apologize, I got mad at him, I shouldn't have." she hung her head.

"I'm sorry, Light, it sounds like more then one of you are having a bad day. It'll be all right once you sit down together and talk, face to face." Chief Joseph gave her a hug, and it was all she could do not to break down.

"Thank you, Chief, I'm fine. I'll go home and wait for him, he was having a tough time!"
she replied, determinedly. "I'll be back to work on my book tomorrow. Will you be here?"
"Yes, Light, now go home, it'll be better when he comes home." he assured her.

Feeling calmer, she hugged him back, then went to the stable and led Brick out to the driveway.
As she mounted her horse, she saw that snow had begun to fall, and she nudged her
horse on to the road.

As she went past the hospital, a car pulled out of the lobby driveway, then swerved in front
of her. Startled, she reined in Brick, then grew angry as the passenger window slid down
and she saw the face of Marcus Thomas, the Linden House representative.

"Mr. Thomas, I thought I made myself clear, I am not interested in your offer, I refuse to
let Linden House handle anymore of my books. Now I think you'd better go." she
insisted.

As Laurie made to ride past the car, the dark-haired man got out of the car and laid a hand
on her saddle.

"No, I think you'd better listen, I don't take no for an answer, Mrs.
Simon. If I have to, I'll hold you incommunicado until you change your mind!"

"No!" she screamed, pulling away from him and urging Brick forward. As she started to ride
away, the car sounded behind them, and the horse panicked. Stumbling and picking up speed, Brick slipped and slid over the rocky shoulder of the drive leading away from the small open area that was all that was left of Lost Valley. Unable to regain control of her horse, Laurie saw a gap in the shoulder too late, and jumped from the saddle before Brick could ride into it.

"Go for home!" she told Brick, then let out a scream as she felt herself slipping over the edge and
sliding down the steep slope. Above, Laurie saw nothing but white as the snow came down harder and harder, and the dirt turned icy, giving her nothing to grab onto. As she slid helplessly down, she tried to stop the momentum by digging in her heels, only to catch the heel of her boot, causing her to roll over and over until she hit the bottom of the slope. Breathless, she lay on the snow, unable to move. It was so quiet, she thought any minute now she'd wake up and be in her own bed, but the icy wet snow started to soak through her jacket, and summoning her strength, she managed to struggle to her knees, then look upwards. Only being able to see a few feet above her, she looked around her, then saw she was near the secret passage back up to the highway. Pulling herself to her feet, she tried standing, then gasped with pain, realizing she'd hurt her right ankle.

Laurie slid back down to a sitting position, "I have to get out of here, no one except for Thomas and his men know I fell, and they won't get me help!" she thought. Deciding she'd have to crawl to the surface, she brushed aside the foliage, and entered the passageway, only to see it was blocked with boulders. At least she was out of the storm, and examining the small cave with the light from her watch, she thought it looked safe.

In her dazed condition she tried to make herself comfortable, then lay down. "I'll try to crawl
up the slope later, after I rest.", she thought. Closing her eyes, she started to drift off, then remembered with a start, "my watch, I can call Rick and Oscar on my watch!" She turned it on, then set the dial to transmit. "Rick, Oscar, can you hear me?"

Nothing; no response, just static. " Must be too much metal in the area, I'll have to get into the open once the storm lets up." she decided. She called out mentally to her husband. "Rick!"

Nothing. Laying down, she closed her eyes, praying "Please let Rick find me. I should have waited for him. I love him, I don't want to go like this." Suddenly she realized the cold was making her sleepy, that if she fell asleep she might succumb to exposure. Laurie tried sitting up, only to find the same lethargic feeling stealing over her. She slid down against the cold ground, and started to nod off.

"No, child, wake up, try Richard again.!" A voice sounded close to her, so familiar.

Startled, she opened her eyes, but no one was there. Deciding to call again, she hit the send button but heard a noise, so she turned the transmitter to receive.