Nick could almost see the calendar pages flipping in Samantha’s head as she considered all that would need to be done before a wedding took place. Was there a chance he could talk her into an elopement? Nah. He wouldn’t want to do that either. He wanted to see her walk down the aisle in a white wedding gown, smiling at him, making him feel as if he ruled the world or hung the moon.
“Help!”
The faint voice almost failed to penetrate his happy imaginings.
“Help us!”
He twisted on the blanket. “Somebody’s in trouble.” He stood, his gaze searching the terrain.
“Help!”
He caught sight of movement in the distance near the canyon rim. A woman waving both arms in the air. He took several steps away from the blanket.
“Nick, wait!”
He broke into a run.
“Nick!”
He raced along the rough path toward the frantic young woman. A black lab hopped and bounced around her, obviously as distressed as its mistress. As Nick got closer, he called, “What happened?”
“It’s my husband. He’s fallen over the side.”
Dread caused Nick’s gut to clench. He slowed to a walk and approached the open rim of the canyon. Looking over the side, he saw the fellow on a narrow ledge about fifty feet below. He lay on his back, eyes closed. He appeared to be unconscious. Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, his knees and arms were scraped and bleeding, but nothing lay at odd angles. Hopefully it meant no bones were broken. What wasn’t good was how narrow the ledge was where he’d landed. If he rolled over . . .
Nick stepped back and turned. “What’s his name?”
“Brandon.”
“And yours?”
“Kayla.”
“Okay, Kayla. I need you to be calm.”
She nodded, her eyes wide.
“I’ve got rope in my truck. I’m going to see if I can get down to him and make sure he’s secure.”
Samantha arrived in time to hear what he said. “Nick, shouldn’t we go for help instead?”
He looked at her. “I don’t think there’s time for that.” His gaze dropped to his cell phone, now in his right hand. No bars. No service. “But we should get help as soon as possible.” He looked from one woman to the other. “Do either of you have cell phone service?”
Samantha looked at her phone and shook her head.
Kayla said, “I didn’t bring mine. I didn’t think I’d need one.” Her voice rose in panic.
“It’s all right.” He held his phone toward her. “Is that your SUV in the parking area?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have keys or does Brandon have them?”
“I have keys.”
He felt momentary relief. “Great. I want you to take my phone and drive toward Bruneau. Keep going until you have service. When you get it, call for help.”
Kayla hesitated only a moment, then grabbed the phone from him and took off, her dog at her heels.
“Wait, Kayla!”
She stopped and turned.
“You’ll need my code to unlock the phone.” He gave it to her.
She repeated the six numbers, then took off again.
“Nick, you can’t mean to try to go down that cliff.” Samantha’s voice held almost as much panic as Kayla’s had.
“I have to.”
“You could fall.”
“I know what I’m doing, Sam.”
“This is even worse than when you pulled that woman out of the river. At least there you weren’t hundreds of feet above it.” She stiffened and her lips thinned. “You promised you wouldn’t be foolish. You promised me.”
“This isn’t being foolish, Sam. It’s being expedient.” Frustration deepened his voice.
“You can’t risk it, Nick. What if you fall? Or what if you bump your head on the way down to that boy?”
“Sam.” He took a step toward her. “I won’t fall. I won’t hit my head. I promise.”
She took a matching step backward. “You can’t promise that. You don’t know what will happen.”
He sighed. “I know this much. I can’t let that guy just lie there and risk rolling off that ledge. Not when I have the training and ability to help him.” He stared at her for a few torturous moments, hoping for a sign that she agreed. It never came, so he turned and ran toward his truck.
It wasn’t long before he’d driven over the rough terrain and parked his rig within a reasonable distance from the rim, his front wheels tight against a large boulder. From the storage box behind his cab, he withdrew a couple of ropes, each of suitable length for the task before him. What he wouldn’t give for more rock climbing equipment and another experienced climber or two to help him. But the ropes would have to do. When they were secured to the winch on the front of his truck, he carried the opposite ends with him toward the rim.
“Nick, please,” Samantha whispered.
He stopped and looked at her. “I’m sorry, Sam. I’ll always want to do what you ask of me. Always, with one exception: I’ve got to do what God asks of me first. If you can’t trust me, Sam, then at least trust Him.”
She sucked in a breath, as if his words had hit a vulnerable spot.
Nick took another step closer to the rim. “Pray that Kayla is able to call for help soon. Until rescuers get here, Brandon and I are going to wait it out on that ledge.”
Terror gripped Samantha as she watched Nick go over the edge, one rope tied around his waist. God had told her not to be afraid, and look where it had brought her. She moved backward until she leaned against the truck.
How could Nick do this to her? How could he leave her standing there, all alone, the desert wind whistling around her? Her and the rattlesnakes. She knew the poisonous reptiles were there, waiting to strike. He’d warned her that they would be.
She was scared. Not only that, she was stuck. She couldn’t leave. She couldn’t run away.
Run away.
The words reverberated through her, followed by a deep sense of regret. Running away was her first instinct, wasn’t it? It had been for years. Gran had urged her to stop living in fear. Nick had asked her to trust him, and if she couldn’t trust him, to trust God. Why couldn’t she seem to do that? She wanted to. She wanted to more than anything.
Help me, God, to trust You more. Change me, please.
Samantha and her dad glided off the ski lift and out of the way of other skiers doing the same behind them.
“What a great day,” he said, excitement in his voice.
As far as Samantha was concerned, any day she got to spend with her dad was a great day. She wasn’t a fan of snow and cold— she much preferred the beach and warmth—but she was her daddy’s girl. If he wanted to ski, she would go.
“Last run.” He moved his goggles down from his helmet to cover his eyes. “I’ll race you to the bottom.”
“You always beat me, Dad.”
His laugh trailed after him as he pushed off with his poles.
She set off right behind, not concerned with winning. It didn’t matter to her. But she at least wanted to stay close.
Her dad led the way out of the wide clearing at the top of the mountain, sailing along as the trail narrowed and the pines thickened. Cold beat Samantha’s cheeks as she bent her knees and leaned forward, gaining on him. She smiled to herself. Maybe she could beat him after all.
The trail turned to the right. Her dad rounded it with ease. She slowed a little, not quite as confident, but completed the turn. Several images immediately flashed in her eyes . . .
A skier on the ground in the middle of the trail.
Another kneeling beside him.
And her dad, veering off to avoid them, crashing through the trees before coming to a hard, fatal stop.
And in that instant, Samantha’s life was forever changed.
Samantha closed her eyes against the memory, but still she came face-to-face with a hard truth. The fear that had taken root in her heart the day her dad died had tainted her relationship with Nick from the beginning. Yes, he had been selfish and reckless at times. But she had been intent on trying to change him, trying to mold him into someone else.
“I can’t ask him to be less than he is just because I’m afraid.”
Fear didn’t evaporate with those words the way she wanted it to. It remained, crushing her chest, squeezing her heart. But even so, her mind cleared. And in that moment of clarity, she discovered another truth she couldn’t deny: she couldn’t love a man who would leave someone in danger the way she’d asked Nick to leave Brandon.
Samantha pushed off the truck and inched her way toward the canyon rim. When she was a yard or so away, she lowered herself to her hands and knees, ignoring the grains of sand, dirt, and pebbles that pressed into her flesh. Then she moved forward again. As her head neared the rim, she lowered herself onto her belly, heart hammering.
The canyon seemed to swim beneath her. The sight stole her breath, and it took all the strength within her not to shimmy backward. Instead, she closed her eyes and said another prayer for help. When she opened them again, she forced her gaze to focus on Nick.
He had arrived at the ledge and was kneeling beside the young man. He’d already begun to work the second rope beneath Brandon’s torso. She felt a tug of relief when she noticed the young man’s eyes open. Her relief surged once the rope was secured around him. As if he felt her watching, Nick looked up. Their gazes met and held before he gave her a thumbs-up to let her know they were fine.
“I can’t ask him to be less than he is,” she repeated. And this time she felt herself let go of fear and take hold of trust.
Dusk had begun to fall over the earth by the time the last vehicle left the canyon overlook. There had been a great deal of activity from the moment the first rescuers arrived. Nick hadn’t had time to give Samantha more than a few quick glances after he was pulled to the rim of the canyon again. He’d been too busy answering questions and doing whatever he could to see Brandon and Kayla on their way, calamity diverted.
But finally, only the two of them remained. Samantha waited for Nick by his pickup, the setting sun casting a soft glow on her face, the shadows deep behind her.
“You okay?” he asked as he approached.
“I’m okay.”
“Your grandmother’s probably getting worried.”
“She knows I’m with you.”
Her words gave him a flicker of hope. “Sam—”
“Nick . . . I’m sorry.”
He gave his head a slow shake.
“You were right.”
“Was I?”
“Yes. I realized something while you were down there. I shouldn’t have asked you to be less than you are. I was wrong to ask it. Even worse, I shouldn’t have asked you to be less than God calls you to be.” She lowered her gaze to a spot on the ground between them. “There was a young man on that ledge who could have died, and all I wanted was to stop you from doing anything I thought was reckless. And it wasn’t because I love you, even though I do. It was because I was afraid. I’ve been afraid for far too long.” She looked up again. “I don’t want to be that way anymore.”
He waited, heart hammering, sensing that she had more yet to say.
“I’m done running away. From now on I’m going to run toward what I want, not away from what scares me.”
He saw it then, the change in her, the absence of the fear he’d seen in her eyes so often in the past, the fear he’d seen again a few hours ago before he’d descended the canyon wall. He stepped closer and drew her into his embrace. He didn’t know for certain what the future held, but he did know God held that future.
“Run to me, Sam,” he whispered, his cheek laying against her hair.
“I already have, Nick. I’m already here.”