Page 55 of Glimmer in the Darkness

“I should have been here for you.” He sat beside her and slid his arm over her shoulder. “Things are hard right now. It’s taking a lot of time to get everything in place for our new home, but once we’re on the beach, I’ll never leave you again. That’s what brothers do. They protect their little sisters. That’s my job.”

She wouldn’t admit that she’d cried all night for Daddy. That she’d wanted somebody to promise that her tummy would stop hurting and she’d be better soon. That, during those last couple of hours when she’d hovered over the bucket, she’d wished the man were there to help her, to keep her butt from falling into the stinky poop-filled tub.

“Mommy wasn’t a very good nurse, but I am,” he said. “I should have taken care of you, like I did that time you got the flu. Your temperature was really high, but Mommy wanted you to go to school anyway. I snuck you back home after she left for work and took care of you all day long. Mommy was so mad when she got home, she smashed my head against the wall. But I didn’t care. And I didn’t let her hurt you. You never even knew, did you?”

He looked at her as if waiting for her to say something.

She shook her head.

“I kept her from hurting you then. She won’t hurt you now, either. I promise, nobody will hurt you now.”

Chapter Nineteen

Try as he might, James couldn’t ignore the gnawing in his stomach. They’d been hiking for three hours, and for every minute, his hunger had grown. He hated that he needed food so badly. Hated the weakness that seemed more obvious as Cassidy followed him, seemingly unaffected. If he needed to, he could search for edible plants and berries, but he didn’t want to take the time to do that. He wanted to find that cave, find Ella, and get off the mountain. Nothing else, not even the gnawing in his stomach, mattered as much as that.

He glanced behind him, and Cassidy tried to smile. “Everything okay?”

“Sure.” She hadn’t mentioned food, so he wouldn’t either. “Anything look familiar?”

She looked around. “Not yet.”

“Think we’re headed in the right direction?”

She shaded her eyes and looked up. “Sun seems to be in the right place. Or close to it. I don’t think we’re high enough yet.”

He continued the trek, and she followed. She’d been following all morning. Not leading. Not offering helpful suggestions or trying to guide him in a particular direction. She truly didn’t know where they were going, only what they were looking for. Which tracked with what she’d told him. He was starting to believe she was innocent and back in Coventry only to try to save Ella. What other reason would there be for this climb?

Unless Ella were already dead, and Cassidy was trying to establish an alibi for herself and using James to do it.

Did that make sense?

It was all too convoluted, and he couldn’t think straight.

Stupid hunger wasn’t helping.

“Can we stop for a second?” she asked.

A rock was jutting from the slope just above, and he climbed it and held out his hand to help her up.

She let go as soon as she was steady on her feet and plopped down.

“My legs are shaking,” she said.

He took out their bottles of water, which he’d refilled at the stream an hour past, and sat beside her. “Your shoulder still hurt?”

“Hardly. Hip hurt when we first started, but it’s loosened up now.”

She took a long sip of her water, then replaced the cap. “Doesn’t exactly take the place of a stack of pancakes.”

“With real maple syrup.” He could practically taste the food.

“I prefer the fake stuff. Mrs. Butterworth.”

He glanced her way to find her smiling. “Just sugar and artificial flavoring.”

“We never had the real stuff, not at my mom’s house, not at any foster home. I think it’s too sweet.”

“Too sweet? This from the queen of chocolate.”