Page 35 of Tucker

Thankfully, she now had a key to his house. Her hands shook as she got the door unlocked. The second she stepped inside, the dog came running at her in a frenzy of barking, her brown eyes frantic.

“Good girl,” Kady said, trying not to sound panicked. The windows of the house shuddered, threatening to break. “Come on.”

She ran down the hall, dropping to her knees and grabbing an edge of the blanket that the mama dog used as a bed for her babies. Kady tugged it out, and one puppy rolled off.

“Oh no. No, no, no.” She went flat to her stomach and reached as far as she could. The whimpering puppy stayed just out of reach.

And then the mama dog army-crawled under the bed, caught the scruff of the pup in her mouth and backed out again.

“Oh,” Kady said in wonder, breathing fast to hold back her emotions. “You are such a good, brave mother.” She put the puppy in the blanket with the others and bundled it together like a sack to hold them all. “Let’s go, Mama. Hurry.”

Something thumped against an outside wall, sounding as if a tree had landed against it.

Kady hurried down the hall, holding the puppies as gently as she could. The dog trotted beside her, tongue out, panting in fear.

Just as she reached the basement door, the kitchen window blew out, sending glass everywhere, toppling the table and chairs. Horrified, she turned to the dog, but Mama was right there, still with her.

Kady had to lean into the wind howling through the window until she finally got hold of the door handle. Getting it open wasn’t easy, not while keeping hold of the blanket, but it finally gave way and she stumbled to the first step, holding the door open and urging the dog to follow.

The roar outside grew louder, and Kady lost the battle against tears. They burned down her cheeks as she gulped for air and struggled to get the door closed again.

Mama rushed around her and down the stairs, ears back, tail tucked. Kady slipped down a step, caught herself before she let the blanket drop and hurried the rest of the way to the basement. Through the narrow window behind the washer and dryer, she saw crackling lightning. It illuminated the basement, sending shadows to every corner. She tried the overhead light, but the electricity had already gone out. Kady quickly looked around for the best place to hunker down, and decided on the space between an outer, solid block wall with heavy stacked boxes in front of it. There wasn’t a lot of room there, but she squeezed in, thankful that Mama stuck close—likely because Kady still held the blanket full of puppies.

Shivering more with nerves than cold, she burrowed in as far as she could, then carefully lowered the blanket to the floor next to her, spreading it open. The puppies squirmed, whimpering, and Mama immediately curled around them, licking and nuzzling, so protective that Kady couldn’t help but praise her.

“Oh, baby,” she whispered, hugging the dog. “It’ll be okay. I promise.” It had to be.

Staying as close to the animals as she could get, Kady listened to the storm. Even in the basement, the sound was deafening, though being below ground level muted the shrill wail of the sirens. Hail cracked repeatedly against the small window, threatening to shatter it, and bright lightning created a strobe effect.

It was eerie and alarming, but they were as safe as she could make them. Wishing she could talk to Tucker, if for no other reason than to tell him how much she loved him, Kady pulled out her cell. Of course she didn’t have service in the basement, and she sighed in despair.

Was Tucker safe? Her family?

She could only imagine how Cleets would worry. And her family... Others had been leaving at the same time she had. What if they’d been caught on the road?

Putting her head back, she said a quick prayer that Tucker and her family had gotten to shelter in time, that everyone in the path of the storm was safe, that no farm animals would be hurt. On and on it went. She cared about so many people in Buckhorn. Very few were strangers. Many of them she’d known her whole life.

The floor was cold and clammy beneath her, and she couldn’t calm her worry. Tornadoes could do so much damage.

They could kill.

* * *

THEFAMILYGATHERINGended when Kady left. Apparently if the weather alarmed her, it alarmed everyone else. After a call from a technician, Jordan left for his animal clinic to soothe the frightened animals. He explained that he currently had a full house of pets, so Morgan went along to help. Gabe left for town, Garrett and Noel headed for the fire station.

Everyone seemed to be on alert, him included.

God, he worried for Kady. The weather grew worse by the minute, and it scared him.

I should have told her I love her.

Her family was right. Waiting was a mistake.

That thought tormented him as he drove toward his home, especially after the sirens started, warning one and all to seek shelter. He called Kady but didn’t get an answer.

He needed to check on the dog, but he got sidetracked several times, first in assisting a woman who’d been walking home from the park with her kids when the storm started. They were all sodden, the kids scared, the poor mother shaking. He got them safely home with a warning to go to the basement until the worst of it blew over.

Then he tried Kady again, still without any luck.

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