White Dove's Promise

White Dove's Promise Read Free

Book: White Dove's Promise Read Free
Author: Stella Bagwell
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pup’s.
    Quickly, Jared followed the tracks until they disappeared into a slim cavity created between a slab of earth and another damaged drainpipe.
    Oh no, he thought sickly. Surely the child hadn’t squeezed into such a dark, narrow opening. But fromthe looks of the tracks in the bottom of the ditch that was exactly what he’d done.
    Sensing that Jared was finally on the right track and getting the message, Fred barked excitedly into the small opening while clawing at the damp earth. The dog’s actions said as much or more to Jared than the footprints. His little buddy had disappeared and he’d been waiting around for someone to help him find him.
    Not bothering with the telephone number on Fred’s collar, Jared pulled out the cell phone and dialed the sheriff’s office.
    â€œI need to speak to the sheriff,” he quickly told the female dispatcher, adding, “This is his brother, Jared Colton.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Mr. Colton, but the sheriff is out on an emergency right now. Would you like to leave a message?”
    Jared silently cursed at the rotten timing. “No. I want you to radio him right this minute and tell him I think I have an emergency on my hands. A child has gone into a drainage system west of town.”
    â€œA child? Oh. Okay, give me your location and I’ll radio him at once.”
    Jared told her the location of the work site and also supplied her with the number to his cell phone. In just a matter of moments the telephone rang and his brother was on the end of the line.
    â€œJared, I just got your message. I have half my force out looking for a three-year-old girl right now. She’s been missing for nearly two hours. You think you’ve found her?”
    A three-year-old girl! Somehow Jared had expected Fred’s young buddy to be a boy. The idea of a soft,sweet little girl exploring a muddy ditch with an adventurous bird dog had never entered his mind.
    â€œI’m out here at the work site now, Bram, and I’ve found her dog and where she’s been, but not the child. I think you’d better get over here pronto.”
    â€œI’ll be there in five minutes,” he assured him.
    â€œUh, Bram,” he said, before his brother had a chance to hang up, “does the little girl belong to someone we know?”
    â€œYeah. You probably remember the WindWalkers. It’s Kerry’s daughter.”
    Surprise jolted him. The last thing Jared had heard about Kerry WindWalker was that she’d gone to Charlottesville to attend the University of Virginia. No one had told him she’d married or that she’d returned to Black Arrow. But then he’d not asked anyone about the young Comanche girl who’d once snubbed her nose at him. Proud, prim and very beautiful. That’s the way he remembered Kerry WindWalker. He wondered if marriage and motherhood had changed her.
    The persistent buzz in his ear finally made Jared realize his brother had hung up the phone. Disgusted with himself for letting his thoughts stray, he snapped the instrument shut and slipped it back into his pocket. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about the one woman in Black Arrow who’d resisted his charms. At the moment, he had a smaller female to worry about.
    Three minutes later, Bram’s pickup truck arrived, followed by several deputies in squad cars. Immediately behind the lawmen, local residents began to pour onto the scene in cars and on foot.
    Jared climbed out of the ditch and hurried to meet his brother, but halfway there a petite woman dressedin a slim beige skirt, black blouse and black high heels raced up to him and frantically grabbed his arm.
    â€œWhere is she? Where is my baby?”
    Jared stared down at Kerry WindWalker’s desperate face and wondered how the added years had somehow made her even more beautiful than he remembered. Shiny crow-black hair, high molded cheekbones, honey-brown skin, and eyes the color

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