Tumbleweed Weddings (41 page)

After the participants took their seats, Jessie picked a number for the winner of the electric mixer. Amid the applause, a stout woman claimed the prize. Marcie chatted with her for a few minutes in front of the audience before the lady took her seat.

Marcie looked out over the crowd. “Now Jessie will pick a number for the new stove.”

“That would be nice to win,” Cheyenne whispered.

But someone else claimed it—a man! Everyone laughed and applauded as he went to the front. Marcie chatted with him for a few moments before he took his seat.

Tonya slipped her number back into her bag.
I knew I wouldn’t win anything
.

“Now for our grand prize—a trip for two to Hawaii!” Marcie waited while Jessie picked a number, and then she stepped to the microphone. “The winning number is 224.”

Tonya’s jaw dropped.

Cheyenne grabbed her arm. “Tonya! You won!”

She met Cheyenne’s eyes. “I can’t believe it!”

Amid thunderous applause, Tonya jumped up and almost ran down the aisle. She couldn’t stop smiling.
Poe will be shocked!

Marcie welcomed her with the microphone.

“Congratulations! What’s your name?”

“Tonya Brandt.” She took a deep breath and glanced out at the audience. A blur of smiling faces greeted her with more clapping.

Marcie waited a moment for the applause to die down. “So, tell me, Tonya—who do you plan to take with you on this trip to Hawaii?”

Poe was the only person who came to mind. “Well, last night I was IMing with my … my boyfriend, and he told me to win the trip to Hawaii, and I told him I would. But I really didn’t think it would happen.”

Marcie laughed. “So now you can show your boyfriend a wonderful time in paradise.”

“Well …” She didn’t want these people to get the wrong idea. “Maybe this will entice him to propose marriage. After all, a trip to Hawaii would make a great honeymoon package.”

“It certainly would!” Marcie turned to the audience. “Give our winner another hand.”

Tonya smiled as she walked back to her seat. Imagine winning the grand prize out of hundreds of names! Deep in her heart she knew it wasn’t a coincidence. Maybe God was providing the motivation for Poe to reveal himself.

At ten o’clock that evening, Tonya passed the W
ELCOME TO
W
YOMING
sign on I-25. Her passengers were quiet—probably as exhausted as she was. After the cooking show, she had filled out a couple of papers for the Hawaii trip, which was good for an entire year. Then the four of them spent the afternoon shopping. On their way north to Wyoming, they stopped for a late supper at an Olive Garden restaurant.

A half hour later, she exited the interstate at Highway 20. The freeway hadn’t had much traffic, but this road looked deserted. After a good twenty miles, she passed the town of Lost Springs, which was more like a building than a town. After all, the sign said it all—L
OST
S
PRINGS
, P
OPULATION
: O
NE
.

She mused on who that one person could be as she drove past a farmhouse off to the left side of the road. A solitary light shone through a window.

Those people are probably getting ready for bed
. Tonya wished she could do the same, but from here it might take her another hour to get home. She had to drop off the three girls in town at their respective houses, then drive the seven miles out to the Brandt family ranch.

The orange lights from the dashboard illuminated the inside of the car, and soft classical music from the radio accompanied the hum of the engine. With a sigh she rubbed her left eye. That heavy Italian meal made her sleepy.

Suddenly two coyotes dashed across the road in front of her car.

With a gasp Tonya swerved to the left. The car plunged into the roadside ditch. Tonya’s left arm smacked against the window, and her face hit the glass.

Then everything went black.

Murray received the dispatch at 10:48—twelve minutes before he was scheduled to go off duty. An accident on Highway 20?
Must be a drunk wrapped around a telephone pole
.

Turning on his siren, Murray left the town of Fort Lob and sped down Highway 270. As his speedometer reached eighty miles per hour, he thought about Tonya speeding. She was never far from his thoughts.

He turned west on Highway 20. Glancing in his rearview mirror, he spotted Fort Lob’s only ambulance far behind him, the lights flashing. Murray turned right and floored the accelerator for fifteen miles until he neared the Whartons’ ranch. Ken Wharton had made the call to 911. As Murray slowed down, he vaguely made out a car in the ditch. Four or five people stood on the road above the vehicle.

Stopping in front of them, he killed the siren and switched on the patrol car’s floodlights. His heart almost stopped when he saw Tonya’s red Hyundai. It tilted into the ditch, the passenger door open.

Breaking away from the others, Cheyenne ran toward him.

He got out of his car. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Cheyenne looked at him with wide eyes. “I was half-asleep, and then all of a sudden we were in this ditch.”

“Is anyone hurt?” Murray surveyed the others as he strode toward them. Ken Wharton, his arms folded, stood beside the car. Gretchen and Laurie stood in the middle of the road together, their arms around each other. Dorothy Wharton, a faded nightgown peeking beneath her coat, stayed beside the girls, her arm around Laurie’s shoulders.

Murray’s scalp prickled. “Where’s Tonya?”

“She’s unconscious, Murray. We tried to wake her… .” Cheyenne’s voice trailed off as she twisted her hands together. “The rest of us are okay.”

Tonya
. … Murray stared at the car. He wanted to run to her side, but his feet wouldn’t move.

The wail of the ambulance grew louder, snapping him out of his mental fog. The siren stopped as the vehicle pulled up beside Murray’s car. Davin Traxler climbed out of the driver’s side. “How can we help?” He walked toward them as Joe Fonsino exited the passenger side of the ambulance.

“We have one unconscious.” Murray strode to the car and thrust his head inside the open door. Tonya lay slumped against the driver’s door, her seat belt lying useless in her lap. “Tonya? Can you hear me?” He reached across the seat and grabbed her wrist. Feeling a steady pulse, he breathed a sigh of relief as he backed out of the car.

Davin glanced inside. “Looks like her seat belt broke.”

Murray looked from Davin to Joe. “Are we going to have to drag her out from the passenger side?”

“Let me look.” Joe walked down the ditch and surveyed the car. He tried the driver’s door.

“There’s no way to get her door open on this side.”

“I’ll get the gurney.” Davin walked backed to the ambulance.

“Please hurry.” Murray muttered the words, almost to himself. His heart twisted as he glanced at her still form. What if he lost her?

His determination kicked in. If Tonya lived through this, he was going to tell her he was Poe. He would declare his love for her—whether she accepted him or not. And it didn’t matter if the whole town knew.

He would keep pursuing her until she married him.

O
n Saturday morning, Tonya opened her eyes to stare up at a white ceiling. She blinked.
Where am I?
A headache pounded in her temples.

A middle-aged woman in a white uniform came into view above her. “Hi, Tonya. My name is Carrie. You were in an accident last night, and now you’re at the county hospital in Lusk. You have a concussion, so the doctor wants you to stay here a few days where he can keep an eye on you.”

“An accident?” Tonya licked her lips. “What about Cheyenne? And Gretchen and Laurie?”

The nurse smiled. “Your friends are fine. You were the only one who was hurt. Evidently your seat belt broke with the impact, and you hit your head against the window.”

“Oh.” Tonya suddenly noticed her left arm in a blue sling. “Did I break my arm?”

“You have a hairline fracture just above the wrist. When the swelling subsides, your arm will be put in a cast. It will take at least six weeks to heal.”

Six weeks?
A numbness filled Tonya as Carrie pushed a button to raise the head of the bed. She helped Tonya reposition herself into a sitting position and get comfortable.

Carrie lifted a plastic cup from the small table beside the bed. “Here, drink some water.” She waited as Tonya sipped through the straw. Then she left, promising to send in the doctor.

But that was an hour ago, and no one had come. Tonya had plenty of time to think, especially about the fact that she wouldn’t be playing the piano for six weeks. She wouldn’t be able to work at the Beauty Spot either. It was a good thing Aggie had hired Connie.

The events of last night were hazy. Her mind reached back, trying to remember. Something had cut in the path of her headlights, but what was it? Then—nothing. What happened after that?

The door opened, and her parents walked in.

“Mom! Dad!”

“Oh, Tonya!” Her mom leaned over and hugged her tight. “We were so concerned.” She stood back and gazed at Tonya, her eyes bright with tears.

Tonya looked up at them as tears filled her own eyes. “I’m so glad you came.”

“Wild horses couldn’t keep us away.” Dad hugged her, then plopped a little brown teddy bear on her lap. “Here’s someone to keep you company.”

“Oh, it’s cute. Thanks, Dad.” Tonya picked it up, admiring the bear holding a red heart with the words G
ET
W
ELL
S
OON
embroidered on it.

“So tell us, honey… .” Mom gazed at her with concerned eyes. “How did your car end up in a ditch by the side of the road?”

Tonya blinked. “Is that what happened?”

“You don’t remember?” Dad raised his eyebrows. “The other three girls were asleep, and Murray thought perhaps you had fallen asleep at the wheel also.”

Tonya’s lips parted. “Murray was there?”

Mom nodded. “Cheyenne said he was very concerned about you. I guess it took a while to get you out of the car.”

“Then Davin and Joe took you to the hospital.” Dad folded his arms. “Murray called a tow truck, waited for it, then drove the other three girls up to the hospital.”

“Dorothy Wharton insisted on it.” Mom sat down on the chair beside the bed. “She thought the girls were in shock, but by the time they arrived at the hospital, it was one o’clock in the morning.” She shrugged. “They were okay by then.”

“So Murray took them home?”

“No.” Mom scooted the chair closer. “Murray called us and the other parents around midnight. We all drove to Lusk as fast as we could. The others left with their daughters, but Dad and I stayed here until three in the morning, hoping you’d wake up.”

“I woke up about an hour ago—with a splitting headache.”

Dad leaned against the wall. “When we left, Murray was still here. He said he was off duty at eleven last night, and he didn’t have to work today, so he didn’t mind staying.”

Eleven
. Tonya frowned. Was there something significant about
eleven?
She lifted her right hand and touched her forehead.
Why is it so hard to think?
“I must look awful.”

“The left side of your face is bruised.” Mom took a closer look. “It’s swollen, too.”

“Really?” Tonya wished her head would stop pounding. “Do you have a mirror, Mom?”

Opening her purse, Mom pulled out a compact and handed it to Tonya.

She gasped at her reflection. Her face was puffy, all her makeup had been washed off, and deep purple bruises reposed under both eyes. Her left cheekbone was highlighted with purple, too. She groaned. “I look horrible.”

“You’re beautiful to us, Tonya.” Dad smiled at her. “Things could have been worse.”

Mom took back the compact. “Get some rest, honey.” She leaned over and kissed her. “We’ll be back later.”

“Okay.” Tonya did feel sleepy.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her parents were gone.