Chapter Eight

By: TheEquestrianWriter

"How could this happen?" Sam asked herself as she sat in Tempest's stall that night. She could see the flash of the police lights from where she sat, the police were still here. The black filly came over and put her face in Sam's direct line of sight. "Who would take a little boy from his bed?" Tempest's brown eyes bored into Sam's green ones until a name came to her lips.

"Caleb," Sam barely spoke his name, but in that instant everything clicked. Caleb had told her mother that someone would die if she escaped. But Cody? A baby who wasn't even a year old yet? Tempest snorted, breaking Sam out of her thoughts. Sam took the filly's muzzle in her hands and gave it a kiss. With that, Sam left the stall and hurried across the dark ranch yard to the house.

Sheriff Heck Ballard and two other officers were coming out of the house when she got there. "Did you find anything?" she asked the sheriff. Heck murmured something to the other two officers and they walked to the squad cars.

"We found this in Cody's crib," Sheriff Ballard held up a plastic bag with a pacifier inside. Cody's pacifier. It was splattered with blood. Sam gasped, tears filling her eyes. "If you remember anything, Sam,..."

"It was Caleb Sawyer," Sam blurted out. Heck stared at her. "He had my mother and he said that if she left, he would kill someone. And now he has Cody...I'm sure he does,"

Heck nodded, "I'll send someone out there to take a look," he put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Take care, Sam," With that, the sheriff stepped off the porch and walked toward his police car. Sam didn't go inside until the police cars had drove over the bridge and were out of sight.

Finally, Sam pushed open the front door of the house. Her father and Brynna were nowhere to be seen, but Gram and her mother were sitting at the kitchen table. When she saw her daughter, Louise got up and hugged Sam. Sam clung to her mother and let the tears fall.

Sam woke up the next morning, groggy and not sure where she was. She quickly realized she was in her own bed, but it was who that was lying next to her that brought yesterday's events flooding back to her. Her mother. It was all true. She had gotten her mother back, but at the expense of her baby brother.

Being careful not to wake her mother, Sam got out of bed and padded downstairs. Dad sat at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee sitting in front of him. Silently, Sam sat across from him, unsure of what to say.

"Dad, I..." Sam started.

"Dr. Scott called last night," Wyatt cut her off. "Ace made it through the surgery and you can go see him if you want."

Sam was happy that Ace was going to be okay, but she just said. "Okay, maybe I'll Jake to take me?" She couldn't ask her father or Brynna to take her to see her horse after what happened. Wyatt nodded. "I'm going to go help Dallas with the morning chores," Sam stood up and pulled on her boots.

When Sam got outside, the horses were already fed and Pepper and Ross were both saddling their horses, Nike and Tank, to go check on the cattle. So, Sam collected the eggs and mucked out the stalls. Sam was dumping the wheelbarrow after finishing the last stall, when Jake came riding up on Witch. She went over to meet him. Witch pinned her ears when she approached, but didn't lash out, the mare must be starting to tolerate her.

"Any news?" Jake asked when he had dismounted from Witch and tethered her to the hitching post.

Sam shook her head. "But Dr. Scott called last night and said Ace made it through the surgery. I was hoping you would give me a ride up there?"

Jake nodded, "Sure," He looked like he wanted to say more, comfort her in some way. But he stayed silent. Sam turned and hurried to the house to let her dad know she was leaving and to get the keys for the truck.

As they made their way over the River Bend bridge, Sam looked out the passenger side window at the horses milling around the ten-acre pasture. Nobody said anything to fill the silence, but Sam didn't mind. Then, Sam felt Jake take her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. Sam turned to look at him, startled. Jake didn't look at her, instead kept his eyes on the road, but he did give her hand a squeeze. In that instant, Sam felt better. Jake's presence always had a way of soothing her, and no matter where their relationship went, she hoped that this would never change.

When Sam and Jake walked into the veterinary clinic, Dr. Scott was in the reception area, almost as if he knew they were coming.

"I expected you this morning," Dr. Scott greeted them. He didn't know about Cody, Sam was glad. She didn't want to have to explain anything, she just wanted to see her horse. "Ace came through the surgery as expected. He was calm coming out of anesthesia and there's been no complications." Dr. Scott had led them toward the back of the clinic, where the stable area was, he stopped in front of a stall.

Sam looked in the stall. Ace was standing at the back of the stall munching on some hay. The little mustang looked up when he heard people walk up. As soon as he saw Sam, Ace nickered and walked over to the stall door. When he turned, Sam could see the bandage on his upper right hind leg. Ace butted his head against Sam's chest and Sam rubbed the white star under his black forelock.

"You look so much better," Sam told Ace. "I've missed you so much."

A police cruiser was coming out of River Bend Ranch when Sam and Jake were coming back. Sam looked at Jake questioningly and urged him to go faster. Sam was out of the truck before it even came to a complete stop. She ran up the steps and yanked open the front door. Her entire family were sitting at the kitchen table and looked up at her when she came barging inside.

"Did the police find out anything?" Sam asked. Wyatt pushed back his chair with a loud squeak, stood up and strode over to his daughter. He held a sheet of paper in his hand.

"The police went over to Sawyer's place," Wyatt started. Sam's heart pounded in her chest, almost afraid of what her dad was about to say. "The house was empty, but they found this." He held out the piece of paper. Sam took it with shaking hands and began to read.

Two 'wives'.

Two children.

You can't have them both.

You must choose.

That was it. It wasn't signed, but Sam knew it was from Caleb. Her dad took the paper from Sam's hands before it could fall to the floor.

"What does it mean?" Sam asked in a barely audible voice.

Dad shrugged, "The police are doing everything they can,"

Sam nodded, "I'm going to go see the horses," She turned and almost ran into Jake, who was standing behind her. She didn't even hear him come in. Sam went outside to the ranch yard and leaned on the rails of the round pen, where Sterling attempted to grab some grass from under the rail. The mare instantly became alert when Sam approached, but relaxed after a minute and went back to snuffling the ground for bits of hay or grass.

Quiet footsteps told her Jake was coming up behind her. Without looking at him, Sam said, "Thanks for the ride, but I really just want to be alone right now."

Sam watched Sterling, trying to focus on how much more comfortable the mare seemed in her new surroundings, more trusting to humans. It was actually working on helping Sam keep her mind off the present, so much she forgot that she never heard Jake walk away. So, she jumped a little when she felt Jake's hand on her arm.

"Sam?"

Sam turned around and fell into Jake's arms as they encircled her body protectively. She didn't question why Jake was doing this, he usually wasn't one to go around giving out free hugs. Instead, Sam opened herself up to Jake and let herself relax against him. She reveled in the way she seemed to fit perfectly in Jake's arms and how his cheek rested against her hair.

It felt like hours had passed while they stood there wrapped in each other's arms. Until Sam pulled back and looked up into Jake's brown mustang eyes. They were as familiar as always, but there was something reflecting in them. Sam didn't know what it was, but something was keeping her locked on those eyes.

Finally, Sam cleared her throat and stepped out of Jake's arms. "I'm sorry, I know how that uncomfortable that makes you," Sam said.

Jake shrugged and his lazy, tomcat smile appeared on his face. "It wasn't that bad," he replied.

Sam smiled back, "You should get going,"

Jake nodded and looked over to where Witch was tethered. He looked back at Sam, holding out his hand to her, asking her to walk with him. Sam hesitated and then placed her small hand in his. Neither said anything as they walked over to Witch and as Jake prepared the mount the big, black mare. Jake looked as if he was about to say something, but decided against it at the last moment and mounted Witch. He tipped his hat in a goodbye and reined Witch toward the bridge.

Sam watched him leave, feeling suddenly cold without his warm body against hers. Deciding to spend some time with Tempest before going inside, Sam walked toward the barn. The black filly trotted inside from the barn corral when Sam entered, greeting her with a whinny. Sam rubbed the filly's forehead and looked over the filly's growing body.

She couldn't help but laugh at Tempest's condition. "Someone had a good roll today," Tempest snorted. "Let me got get a halter and I'll clean you up and make you beautiful." Tempest tossed her mane as if to say, What am I not beautiful already? Sam gave the filly a pat and headed toward the tack room for a halter.

That was when she noticed everything had gone unusually quiet, no birds chirping, no horses plodding around in the ten acre pasture. Sam tried to shaking off the rising paranoia and pulled open the tack room door. After that, everything happened too fast.

Something covered her face and she immediately became lightheaded. Her legs started to buckle underneath her, but someone caught her and picked her up. The last thing she remembered was being thrown over the back of horse before she blacked out completely.

A/N: I am sorry for another long wait. But I am getting back to writing all my stories and this one was at the top of the list. I hoped you liked it. Please review.