Page 36 of Charming the Cowboy
Eliana looked up at the lamppost. Edgar was perched there, staring down at the scene below. And if she wasn’t mistaken, the little sounds that he made were essentially seagull laughter.
“It’s not funny, Edgar. The pigs were in peril.”
Cooper looked up at Edgar. “That bird really is an asshole.”
“He is,” she confirmed.
“Well, glad that’s handled.”
He turned to her, and she shrank away. Because if he wanted to talk about what had just happened –
“I still don’t see him!”
Eliana turned at the sound of a distressed voice, to see the mother who had been in her wagon ride, the mother of the rambunctious child, looking worried. Terrified.
“What’s going on?” Cooper asked.
“It’s Aiden. We can’t find him. After all the animals scattered, so did he.”
Eliana felt a tightening in her chest. A strange well of sympathy and worry opening up inside of her. She didn’t think they had watched him closely enough. He had been a menace the whole time, but it was also pretty clear the kid tended toward being a menace, and mitigating it was probably more fantasy than reality.
“We’ll help you look for him,” Cooper said.
He really was a very good man.
Not that she had ever doubted that, it was just especially overwhelming at the moment. When she had been standing on the verge of getting something she really wanted only moments ago, and now… This. He was being all heroic.
It was hot. Which really shouldn’t be what she was thinking about when there was a missing child. It was Wild Rose Point, though, and she didn’t worry terribly much about anyone absconding with him. Although… The back of her neck prickled slightly when she thought about the beach. The Pacific Ocean was dangerous. And the Oregon Coast was known for fierce waves and relentless currents.
“I just hope he didn’t go out to the beach. Alone.”
The idea of an overly curious six-year-old and the rocks he might decide to climb or him wading out into the surf…that was terrifying.
“It’s a long walk,” Cooper said. “I mean, for a little kid.”
“Yeah, but that kid was trouble. He was hell on two legs. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made it that far.”
“Well, considering that you have good intuition, I think I’m going to follow that,” he said.
There was something about him acknowledging that, something about him believing in it, that made her heart feel like it grew three sizes. They walked across the street and down one of the footpaths that led to the beach.
There were bonfires out on the beach tonight, and she breathed a sigh of relief because she had forgotten that it would still be well populated tonight. So at the very least, if he was down here, there were higher chances that someone might’ve seen him.
They walked up to a couple of the bonfires and asked people if they had seen an unattended child, but no one had.
Then she looked down the beach a ways, and saw a fort made from driftwood. She knew exactly where she would be if she were a kid running away from the mayhem that she had caused. “What if he ran away because he was scared he was going to get in trouble?” Eliana gestured down the beach. “If I were afraid of that, I would go hide there. It looks like a little house.”
Cooper nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think you’re right. Let’s go.”
She took off, jogging down the beach, and he followed her, keeping pace. Then, when she went up to the opening of the driftwood shelter, she knelt down and peered inside. “Aiden?”
She heard a little whimper. “Aiden,” she said, keeping her voice soft. “You can come out. It’s all right. All the animals are put away, and they’re safe. There’s nothing to worry about.”
She saw a little figure in the back, nearly too dark for her to make out the shape of him. But he did move when she said his name. She was so relieved, she nearly collapsed into the sand. “It’s all right. Let’s go find your mom and dad.”
“The animals are okay?”
He crawled towards the opening, his eyes wide. He was such a small boy, he would have no concept of the mayhem that he had unleashed. “Yes. They’re fine. They’re all put away, and nothing bad happened. Though I think it’s maybe a good lesson. You know, there are gates for a reason. And walls on wagons. If you push the boundaries too hard, you, an animal, or another person could get hurt. That’s why you have to pay attention notjust to the rules, but to maybe why the animals might be locked up.”
