Page 75 of Surprised By Love

“I told you.” Josh grins. “Come on,” He grabs my hand. “Let’s go out there and get everyone organized. We’ll find Amelia.”

I open the front door and I’m so overwhelmed by what I see. Cars line the street and the front yard is full of people. There must be twenty people here already, and Josh only made the call less than five minutes ago. I walk down the steps of the porch as Vicki’s minivan screeches to a halt in the driveway. The door swings open and Vicki jumps out.

“Sam!” Vicki yells as she runs to me, leaving the van running and the door wide open. She embraces me tightly. “What happened? Did you find her?”

I shake my head and fight back my tears.

Josh and Max join us at the bottom of the stairs. “What was Amelia wearing? We need to search while we still have light.”

Oh, no! It’s going to be dark soon. What if we don’t find her before that? She is going to be so scared. I wring my hands.The temperature is going to drop soon too.“What are we going to do?” I spit out the words quickly, my voice cracking.

“We’ll find her. What was she wearing?” Josh asks again, grabbing my hands.

“The pink snowsuit I got her last year with white fur trim. Pink snow boots with the unicorns on the side, a pink and white knit hat with matching scarf I knit for her, and white nylon snow mittens I bought her last week.”

“Okay, great,” Josh says, taking my hand and leading me back up the porch stairs. Vicki and Max follow. I still don’t believe my eyes. There are so many people here and I can see more coming down the street. I’m so touched and I try my hardest to hold in any more tears. It looks like the whole town is here.

Vicki puts her arm around my shoulder, pulling me close.

Miles lowers the tailgate of his truck. He pulls out flashlights and rope and distributes them to waiting hands.

Sloan’s jeep pulls up behind Vicki’s car. Mary, Joan and Margaret jump out. Sloan sets up a table in front of the jeep and the ladies carry bags over to the table. They get busy setting up a thermos and cups for coffee.

Tears well in my eyes again as Becca and Jenna run up the street.

“Have you found her yet?” Becca asks as she joins us on the porch. She puts her arm around Jenna’s shoulders, holding her close.

I shake my head, knowing if I try to talk, I will break down again.

“We’ll find her,” Jenna says. “We have too.”

Doc Fletcher arrives and walks towards us.

He takes my hand in his. “Sorry about Amelia. I’m here to help. I’ve put together some little emergency kits. A few of the essentials, in case she needs some fixing up before they can get her back here to me.”

“Thanks, Doc,” I choke out the words.

“If it’s okay with you, I’ll stay here unless we get the call that they find her and need me to go to her instead.”

“That’s fine, thank you,” Vicki says, putting her arm back around my shoulder.

“Alright, Let’s get this started, we don’t want to waste any more daylight,” Josh says, turning to face all the people gathered in front of the house.

“Everyone, your attention please,” Josh yells over the mumbles of the crowd. “Thank you all for coming out. As we know, little Amelia has gone missing.” He continues to tell them the situation and her description. “It’s been less than thirty minutes, so there’s a good chance we’ll find her in no time. This town is not that big.”

He looks around the crowd of people that are growing every minute we stand here. “If I could get a few people to volunteer to stay around the neighbourhood, look in backyards, knock on doors. It would be an enormous help. The rest of you, I’d like to break into groups of three. Mac will pass each group a handheld radio. Keep it on station seventy-three so we can keep in contact.”

I look as everyone separates into groups, and my eyes fill with tears. So grateful the town has come together to help search for Amelia. I place my hand over my heart and look at Vicki. She grabs my other hand and squeezes, a soft reassuring smile on her lips. As if telling me she knows what I’m thinking.

Josh points to groups and assigns them areas of the town to search. “Mac, Sloan and Dave, you guys are team one. I’d like for you to search down by the creek. Brandon, Clark and Gabe, you are team two. You guys can head to the far side of the creek and work your way towards team one.” Josh continues to name the teams and assign them sections of the town.

“Make sure you grab some flashlights and rope from Miles and an emergency kit from Doc. I’ll have my cell on me and my handheld if you find anything. Call me right away. Are there any questions before we start looking?”

“What size boots does she wear? Maybe we can try to follow boot prints,” someone yells from the crowd.

Josh turns to me. “She’s a size 13,” I say, a tear sliding down my cheek.

“She’s a size 13. You can try, but I don’t think it’ll help around here much. There are too many tracks, and they are all messed up with so many people here. But, by all means, if you are out farther and see small boot tracks, go for it. Any other questions?” Josh pauses for a moment. With no response, he says, “Alright then, let’s bring Amelia home!”

---