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Behind him, Prescott followed safely. Joe was almost at the river’s edge when suddenly his horse lost his footing. The lead hand attempted to steady the animal, but to no avail. They both tumbled and fell into the river. Anna watched horrified as the river swallowed them up and carried them away as if they were a meager piece of debris.
She heard shouting and realized Wade was hollering at her to get out of the river. However, Anna was gripped by a numbing fear that left her immobile. Neil and Frank came up behind her and grabbed her horse’s reins and dragged her out of the river.
A movement along the riverbank caught her attention and with a start she realized that Wade had reentered the river. Reaching far out he grabbed her reins and pulled her the remaining distance to safety before turning back and plunging both he and Sty into the river after Joe.
Anna’s heart shot up her throat as she screamed out his name. But he did not even so much as look back. A crippling sensation seized her chest, causing her breathing to suddenly become torture. Then with a jolt, she kicked her horse and ran along the riverbank.
“Anna,” Prescott attempted to call her back.
Ignoring him, she searched the water until she saw Wade and Sty moving slowly through the wild current. “Wade!”
He did not hear her and the next thing Anna knew the river unexpectedly lunged at Wade knocking both he and Sty over. Anna cried out in horror as their two heads went bobbing down the canal at a remarkable speed, but it was evident they had lost complete control. They were moving faster than her, but Anna only rode her horse harder, heedless of the now wet and slippery riverbank. Rain soaked her head and cascaded down her face, but she refused to take her eyes off Wade.
“Wade!” she hollered his name again, utterly terrified by this point. Not more than a few yards around the approaching bend, was the river’s three hundred foot drop.
The riverbank she was following suddenly came to a steep incline and Anna was left with no choice but to leap from her horse and clamber up the muddy slope. As she neared the top, the sound of the thunderous waterfall reached her ears. Her vision blurred and then a ghastly image seared her thoughts. She gasped, clutching her chest.
However, without any time to resurrect the memory, she frantically searched out Wade since losing sight of him when she had to crawl up the steep embankment. Then, suddenly in the turbulent water, she saw Sty. Right before her horrified eyes, she watched as he was carried violently down the river’s wild rapids toward the edge of the drop. Then in one fatal moment, plunged to his death. There was no sign of Wade.
“No!” she screamed and fell to the ground.
It was that exact instance when her heinous past came flooding back. She stared frozen at the river, and felt her heart literally die. Her eyes burned from dryness as she stared transfixed at the wild current. Rain pounded the earth around her while the river took the full onslaught of the torrential downpour. However, its real deadly power lay in its wild currents and served as a cold reminder to Anna of its cruelty. In one sweeping moment it had taken her only reason to live.
“Anna?”
She froze, then slowly pivoted on her mud encased boots, hardly believing she heard his voice and for a split second she thought his spirit had risen from the falls. Then she saw Wade standing at the top of the bank from which she had just climbed, soaking wet.
Anna gasped and felt the sharpest pain in her chest before the tears broke free and poured from her eyes. Getting to her feet, she slipped on the mud and fell down on one knee but didn’t care. Crying hard, she said his name and this ti
me he came to her. When he was within reach, she threw her arms round him and clung. Tears cascaded down her cheeks and she openly cried against his chest.
“Shh, it’s all right,” he said into her ear and stroked her wet hair.
“I thought you went over,” she said into his slicker, clinging desperately to him. “I thought you were dead.”
He continued to hold her and stroke her hair while Anna cried in his arms. The memories that she had worked so hard and long to forget, came rushing back and the tears came harder. She began to shake, not from the wet and cold, but from the memories that had tortured her for so long.
When her crying only got worse, Wade pulled her gently from his body and looked down into her face. “Anna? What is it? What’s wrong?”
She looked up into his eyes and saw such compassion and tenderness. In that moment, she needed him more than she ever did before. Sobbing horribly, she cried, “I killed him.”
He went deathly still, his face completely blank. “What are you talking about?”
“That day in the village,” she said between hysterical sobs. “I wasn’t alone.”
Prescott came over the riverbank. “Everything okay?”
Wade was frowning and didn’t respond immediately. Then he replied, turning from her slightly, “Yes. How’s Joe?”
“Grumpier than usual, but he’ll live.” His eyes darted to Anna who was visibly crying and he frowned. “What’s going on?”
Wade looked down at her and a look of puzzlement crossed his face. “I’m not sure, but we best head back.”
“We lost Joe’s horse,” Prescott stated. “He’ll ride back with Neil.”
Wade nodded. “Sty’s gone too. I’ll ride with Anna.”
Prescott nodded as well, then hesitated before leaving, obviously concerned for Anna. When he was gone, Wade pulled Anna out of his arms. “I’m soaking wet. You’re going to catch a death of a cold.”
