Blessings of the Heart and Samantha's Gift by Valerie Hansen Page A

of a clay-walled crater.
    Mitch’s heart sank. The dam hadn’t held. And his cabin was at the bottom of that hill. At least it had been. No wonder the water had come at them so fast and hard!
     
    Brianne was still cleaning up the aftermath of the disaster in her kitchen when Mitch burst through the door. Startled by the wild look on his face, she froze in mid-motion. “What’s wrong?”
    “Remember that new pond? The one I was complaining about when we first met?”
    “Yes.” Keeping her wet hands suspended over the sink, Brianne scowled. “What about it?”
    “It’s gone. Empty. Your dam’s got a hole in it big enough to drive a bus through.”
    “That’s impossible. I hired a professional to do the grading. He came highly recommended.”
    “Oh, yeah? Well, it looks like the wind knocked a big tree onto the spillway. The water backed up till it was forced out the wrong side of the dam. Without any natural vegetation to strengthen that clay bank once it started to wash, nothing could have stopped it.”
    “Oh, no.” Brianne’s heart felt like it was lodged in her throat. Hands trembling, she looked out the door past the angry man. “Where are the kids?”
    “Outside. I’ll need you to watch them while I hike down to the cabin—or what’s left of it. Looks like that water cleared everything out of the canyon. You can still see where some of the tree roots pulled right up out of the ground.”
    Brianne closed her eyes for a moment and tried to imagine the probable results of an onslaught like that. “What about your cabin? Do you think it’s okay?”
    Shaking his head, Mitch answered without hedging. “Not a chance. That’s why I want to go check it out by myself. No sense scaring the kids if I don’t have to.”
    “Of course not.”
    His shoulders sagged momentarily. “We must have a real busy guardian angel. If we’d stayed home last night we’d have gotten a lot muddier than we were when we showed up here.”
    Reading the veiled anxiety in his gaze before he turned away, Bree knew exactly what he meant. Mitch’s whole family could have been wiped out while they slept. And because it was her dam that had failed, their loss would have been her fault!
    She dried her hands and followed him outside. “If it turns out as bad as you think, I’ll make full restitution, I promise.”
    The look he gave her was unreadable. He said, “Lady, possessions don’t matter to me. All I care about is my boys. Just look after them for a little while and try not to set your house on fire while I’m gone. Okay?”
     
    What do you do with two restless little boys and a hyperactive dog? Bree found the answer to that question by letting them continue to play outside. Unfortunately, it began to drizzle before a half hour had passed.
    She called, “Over here!” motioned for them to follow, and ran for cover beneath the patio overhang.
    “We can’t play in the rain,” she said, gathering her ragtag little group together. “We’ll wait here for a few minutes and see if it stops, okay?”
    To her relief, no one argued. Bud hunkered close beside her to shelter himself and his bear. Ryan shrugged and plopped down in a nearby garden chair.
    Barney, however, was not happy to be still for more than a few seconds. Springing off the ground, he grabbed Bud’s teddy bear in his sharp little teeth and took off running.
    Suddenly bearless, Bud let out a squeal that sounded like a baby piglet abruptly separated from its mama. Before Bree could do more than bend down to comfort the hysterical child, his older brother had darted into the rain, wrestled the stuffed toy away from the dog and returned it.
    Brianne smiled at the eight-year-old. “Thanks.”
    “No problem. The kid’s nuts about that bear, so I help him keep an eye on it.”
    “I can see he is.” She laid her hand on Bud’s damp curls and absently stroked the hair off his forehead. “I suppose it’s natural for you boys to want to hang on to things that