“Certainly.” Bridget nodded. “Is there someone we could call to help you get there? A friend?”
Beth shook her head and looked down at her locked hands. “I only know friends of Pete and Iris.”
A sharp rap made Bridget jump. Nurse Larkin pushed open the door and took one step in. “Dr. Sampson,” she said with a disapproving look. “The couple in the waiting room has asked how much longer you will be. Please do finish up here and allow them to take this young woman home.”
Dr. Sampson’s usual good humor was nonexistent. His jaw went hard and he responded in a firm voice. “I’ll be finished when I’m finished, Larkin.”
Larkins brows flew up and a muscle in her cheek twitched. “Of course, Doctor.”
The door closed behind Larkin and Dr. Sampson flipped the lock. Bridget glanced apprehensively at the door. Larkin wouldn’t be put off for long, and neither would Beth’s in-laws.
“Beth,” Dr. Sampson said, crouching down in front of her to meet her eyes. “Think hard. Is there anyone—anyone at all—who could help you get to your parents?”
Beth bit at her lip and looked up, her pale face unsure. “There is one person,” she said slowly. “I don’t know her very well, but she said to—to let her know if I needed anything.”
“Who?” Bridget asked hopefully. Beth needed a friend, and someone who was strong enough to stand up to Pete Henshaw.
“Her name is Claire Wilder.”
chapter 26:CLAIRE
The telephone rang as Claire was settling Jenny down for her afternoon nap. It was their party line ring, and Claire rushed to the phone.
She’d sent the letter to Red, and by Saturday she was on pins and needles. She didn’t even go out to hang the clothes on the line in case she missed him, but only Bridget called and Claire wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. Claire went to Mass on Sunday and came straight home, hoping against hope that he would be sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for her. He wasn’t, and the telephone remained silent all day.
How could he read what she wrote and not come straight home?
Claire grabbed the receiver before the second ring.Please, Lord, let it be Red.
But it was Bridget... again.
“Claire,” Bridget said in a whisper. “I need you to come up to the hospital.”
Claire took a sharp breath at her sister’s desperate tone. “Is it Frannie?”
“No,” Bridget said quickly. “I can’t explain but please, Claire, come now.” Claire heard a man’s angry voice in the background. “And park behind the hospital, where the ambulance comes in.” She hung up.
Claire sat down heavily on the kitchen chair. What on earth? It was Jenny’s nap time, not to mention Red could call—or walk in thedoor—any minute. But her sister had sounded so... un-Bridget-like. And she needed Claire’s help.
What else could Claire do but pack up Jenny and head to Mammoth?
It took Claire more than an hour to get there, thanks to a busload of tourists stopped in the middle of the road to take pictures with a bison. Claire parked behind the hospital, and as she juggled Jenny and the diaper bag, Bridget opened the back door and pulled her inside.
“What took you so long?” She hurried Claire down the hallway and pushed her into an examination room, before Claire could even ask for an explanation.
“Beth?” Claire gaped at the young woman sitting on the table with the tanned doctor she’d met at Canyon sitting beside her.
“I’m sorry,” Beth said in a small voice. “I couldn’t think of anyone else, and on the card you gave me...”
Claire remembered.If there’s ever anything I can do, anything at all.The poor girl looked pale and young and scared. Claire shot a questioning glance at Bridget. “Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?”
“They won’t let her leave,” Bridget said bluntly. “Her in-laws want to keep the baby.” Claire didn’t comprehend that outlandish statement before Bridget was talking again. “She’s scared out of her wits. That horrible father-in-law of hers is going to hide her away somewhere in Wyoming until the baby is born, and he’s getting very impatient out in the waiting room.”
“Wait.” Claire tried to catch up. A baby? Beth was pregnant? Claire began to put it together. Beth at the train station saying she was going home. Pete Henshaw claiming she was unwell. Her defeated look as he took her away.
“Did you call the sheriff?” It seemed like the logical solution if Beth was being mistreated.
Dr. Sampson frowned. “We talked about it, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve done anything illegal. At least not yet.”
