The Gentrys: Cal. Linda Conrad

of a covered truck…or I would be dead, too.”

      Cal reached for her, but she shirked away from his touch. “My God, Bella. This sounds incredible. How did you survive? What did you do?”

      “I kept perfectly still while the coyotes herded the rest of the migrants into the trucks. It was so hot in there and we had so little air, breathing was difficult. The first time they stopped the trucks to provide for some human comfort must’ve been nearly twelve hours later.”

      Bella closed her eyes, apparently remembering the horror. “Some of the migrants feared that if the coyotes spotted me they might try to assault me and perhaps kill us all. One kind man gave me a little water that he’d hidden and then helped me escape into the night.

      “I had no idea how far we had come before I got away…or where I might be headed. But I was panicked that the coyotes would come looking for me. They know the Texas range…and they want me dead.” She took a breath and swallowed. “I waited until daylight and then traveled south, hoping to run into something recognizable sooner or later.”

      Cal stood. He felt like punching something, but there was nothing to hit. So he pitched his apple core into the garbage can and limped to the sink. Her story had disturbed him more than he liked to think.

      “How did you manage to get through the Gentry Ranch fence?” he grumbled over his shoulder.

      “Well, I most certainly did not cut any wires to come here, Señor Gentry,” she retorted smartly. “The trucks stopped on a dirt road in the dark of night and out in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea how we arrived at that spot, considering that I was buried under a dozen men in the dark trying not to breathe too loudly. I saw no signs of civilization when I snuck away.

      “At daybreak, I walked south. I came across cattle and sheep and took water from stock tanks, but I saw no one’s fence. The smoke from the chimney of this cabin was the first thing I saw that looked like civilization.”

      Upon hearing the obvious annoyance in her words, Cal had swung to watch her face. “I didn’t mean to accuse you of trespassing, sugar.” He hoped he could take the darts from her gaze with an explanation. “But my older brother, Cinco, will have a fit when he hears of this. He prides himself on the security surrounding Gentry Ranch.”

      Bella’s hand motioned around the tiny kitchen. “Your brother lives here, too? I’ve only seen one bedroom bedsides Kaydie’s little room. Where is your brother now?”

      Cal chuckled. “Most of the time no one lives in this cabin. Kaydie, her nanny and I just arrived last night. The nanny left this morning.” He sighed, then continued. “Cinco and his wife live in the main ranch house, about a half hour drive from here.”

      At her startled look, he explained. “The Gentry is a good-size Texas ranch, honey. If you walked south all day yesterday, you must’ve escaped the coyotes’ truck about ten or twelve miles inside our eastern fence line. The question is how and where the coyotes broke through.”

      “I didn’t realize your ranch was that big. There are rich patróns in Mexico who also have such massive land holdings.” She shrugged a shoulder. “But I don’t know how we arrived on your land in the trucks. We had no windows or way to see out. I did hear the coyotes bragging to the migrants about how they’d found a new, perfectly safe way to travel north, though.”

      When she finished speaking, she yawned again, and Cal instinctively wanted to cradle her in his arms and rock her until she relaxed enough to fall sleep. He was surprised at the protective feelings she’d suddenly aroused in him. They felt a lot like the fatherly urges toward Kaydie he’d been trying to ignore for the last couple of months.

      He couldn’t afford to suddenly feel anything more than duty when it came to his child. Not now. And with Bella…well, with her he wanted to keep his urges running more toward the lustful side anyway.

      “You need sleep,” he told her.

      He noticed her studying him carefully so he explained. “I want you to stay with us…at least for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll make some calls and we’ll talk more about getting you home. You can’t just wander around on the Gentry Ranch, starving and in danger of sunstroke.”

      She gestured toward his gimpy leg. “Will someone come to care for Kaydie tonight? Forgive me, Cal, but you are not in very good shape to care for such a small and sick child.”

      “You’re telling me,” he said with a nod. “No. No one else will be coming here tonight. It’s just my daughter and me. Kaydie has had one nursemaid or another since she was born, but the one I hired to come out here felt the place was too…rustic…for her tastes.”

      Bella looked around the kitchen. “Running water. Indoor plumbing. Two bedrooms with safe and cozy beds in which to sleep.” She smiled. “This place would be a palace to some. How long has this cabin been here?”

      For the first time since she’d known him, Cal smiled with real pleasure. “My great-great-grandfather built it by hand for one of his children over a hundred years ago. I figure it’s sturdy enough to still be standing here for at least another hundred.

      “My sister and I used to play in these old rooms as kids,” he continued. “Abby…that’s my little sister…and her new husband, Gray, moved in right after they got married and started remodeling the old place. They rewired and put in new plumbing. In fact, they really brought the cabin up to date…except for a few cosmetic problems. They stopped and moved out when Gray’s stepfather died, but I plan on fixing up the rest of it while I’m here.”

      “How long will you and Kaydie live out here?”

      “I’m thinking we’ll probably stay a couple of months…. It all depends.”

      Bella looked around the warm and safe cabin once more. She knew the coyotes might be looking for her, now that it was dark again. And at some point she would have to start worrying about the U.S. Border Patrol catching her and carting her off to a detention cell, then hustling her off across the border.

      It didn’t take her long to figure out her best plan would be to stay here, acting as the sweet baby’s nanny. Maybe she could also help the child’s injured father—even though being near to Cal made her feel lots of things that she shouldn’t.

      “I will stay with you tonight,” she told him. “But only for the baby’s sake. And only…if I sleep alone in the little bed next to her crib.”

      Bella awoke with a start. As she lay perfectly still and held her breath, she listened carefully for the sound or movement that must’ve disturbed her sleep. Had the coyotes found her?

      A small, soft noise in the baby’s crib next to her bed suddenly reminded her of where she was and how she’d gotten here. Before sitting up and trying to clear the rest of the ravages of sleep from her brain, she took a second to think about how fantastic a real mattress and box springs felt after all these months of sleeping on the ground.

      When the last speck of the dark coyote nightmare that had been plaguing her for days finally cleared away, she rose to check on the baby.

      The child was on her back with her eyes closed, but she seemed restless. Bella reached to check her diaper, thinking perhaps the girl was wet and uncomfortable. But the moment her hand touched the baby’s sizzling skin, Bella knew what was really wrong. Kaydie’s fever had come back.

      Bella quickly changed the diaper then cradled the child to her chest. The baby snuggled close, trying to find comfort against a women’s breast. But after a fruitless minute, Kaydie pushed herself back and began to wail.

      “Ah, pobrecita. You do not feel well, I know,” Bella cooed. “Let’s see if we can find a way to help.”

      With Kaydie still crying, Bella headed toward the darkened kitchen and the baby bottles she’d washed out earlier. “We’ll get you some water and check you over again, little one,” she told the screaming child.

      Not sure where the light switch might be, and with the cool