I thought about it. “Kitchen, the pasture, and the house,” I said. “Most everyone will be working unless they're ill. We can triage from there and report back to Wyatt and Haven.”
He nodded and fell into step beside me without another word.
Stetson stayed by the truck, leaning against it with his arms crossed, watching the perimeter…ready to get us out of here if we needed it.
I hoped we wouldn’t need it.
The kitchen came first, where most of the family would be preparing for dinner. I knew this building like the back of my own hand—the warped screen door, the smell of woodsmoke and lard and something always simmering, the long table where we’d prepared every meal in silence. Two women were inside, one rolling dough and one washing dishes, and they both went still when we walked through the door.
I recognized them both: Sarah, who’d been here longer than anyone, Shepherd’s first wife…and Leah, who was twenty-eight. We’d both failed to give Shepherd babies; we’d bonded over it once upon a time, in the quiet after the day ended, the only times we ever had privacy.
“Willa,” she breathed.
“Hi,” I said, not sure how else to start.
Sarah kept her hands moving, rolling the dough. Every hard thing that had ever happened on this property, Sarah had kept her hands moving.
“You look well,” Sarah said.
“I am,” I nodded. “I’m actually really good.”
She nodded once and kept rolling.
I looked at Leah. She had that expression I recognized—want and terror in equal measure, her hands twisted in her apron.
"Can I talk to you outside?" I asked her quietly.
She looked at Mary.
Mary said nothing. But her rolling slowed, just slightly, just enough that I noticed.
Leah followed me out.
We stood in the narrow strip of shade along the side of the building and I looked at this woman who had arrived here already broken and had been here long enough to go further under.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
Her chin wobbled. She got it under control fast—we'd all learned that fast.
"I didn't know you were going to run," she said. "I would've—" She stopped.
"I know," I said. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
She nodded, swallowing hard, her eyes darting to Forrest. He’d taken a few steps away, giving us space, and was looking over at the pasture where a few kids were tending to the cows.
“Is it…is it actually better out there?” she asked. “Is he safe? Good to you?”
“He’s good to me,” I nodded. “And…Leah. It wasn’t us. Not being able to get pregnant…it was alwayshim.”
Leah blinked like she didn’t understand…then her eyes darted down to my stomach and she gasped. “Willa! You’re pregnant?”
I nodded. “So if you want that, it’s still available. The world is out there, just…waiting.” I looked back at Forrest. “We brought a couple cheap cell phones from the corner store if you want to make a call. Or…you can always come over to Holt Creek and we could get you out, help you start a life.”
Her face crumpled.
Just for a second—long enough for me to see everything underneath it, all the years of hoping and blaming herself and being blamed—but then she got it back under control. We wereall good at that, because our weakness had been used as a weapon for so long.
“I have a sister in Austin,” she said, voice soft. “I haven’t talked to her in ten years.”
