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TWENTY-TWO
Laura trudged up the stairs of the cabin. They were definitely missing Eli, Cap, and Rafe. Ford worked hard and helped out wherever he was asked, but he didn’t know anything about taking care of animals. Three to one on a loss were not good odds anytime, but especially not when she was struggling.
The idea of leaving here in another ten days completely alone was daunting. She didn’t see any other option, though. Harper still hadn’t spoken to her and that was draining too. In over ten years the only time they’d spent apart was the weekend in Vegas.
Inside the cabin she dropped her clothes on the floor of the bathroom and stepped into the shower. She tried to let the hot water wash away her worries and fears with the dirt, but they didn’t budge, and she let the tears she’d fought against all day everyday fall in the shower where they washed away leaving no evidence. Nails, Cash, and Tech did their best to make sure she wasn’t doing any really heavy lifting, but the exhaustion was emotional as well as physical.
When the water began to cool she shut off the water and toweled herself dry. Laura made her way to her room and pulled on old sweats and a t-shirt. She was in the kitchen staring at the array of frozen meals when she heard tires crunching on the dirt outside.
She didn’t look up because Harper had the car, but a knock on the door had her looking around.
“Be right there,” she shouted. No answer.
When she opened the door her heart stopped.
“Daughter Laura,” her stepfather, Wendell, crooned.
She could only stare at him. He looked much the same, just with more silver in his hair.
“What are you doing here?” she said, but her voice was barely a whisper. Laura cleared her throat. “What do you want?”
“To bring you home, of course.”
Laura’s eyebrows flew up. “Home? You aren’t even supposed to say my name by your own rules.”
His mouth tightened, but he kept his voice measured. “Your mother misses you my daughter,” he said.
“Then why isn’t she here?” Laura asked, her spine stiffening.
Wendell scoffed. “As if I would subject your delicate mother to such a trip.”
Laura couldn’t help the snort that escaped her. “You came by car, Wendell. It wasn’t a six month wagon trip.”
“Your mother is ill, Laura. She asked me to come find you.”
Laura’s resolve weakened. Her mother was sick? How bad? Was she going to die? It was one thing not to speak to her, another to know she was no longer in this world.
“Come home, my daughter. Rejoin the fold and comfort her in her final days. There’s no need for you to debase yourself in men’s clothing doing men’s work.”
That was the wrong thing to say. “Go home, Wendell,” she said her voice filled with exhaustion. “If you’re willing to speak my name to my mother, tell her I love her, but I’m not going back there.”
Wendell’s face twisted into something ugly. “You ungrateful little bitch. You will do as you’re told. Obviously living among secular society has given you a high opinion of yourself—”
“Shut it,” she demanded, cutting him off. “I am a self-made woman. I left home with five hundred dollars and the clothes on my back. Now I manage this ranch. Me. A woman. I’ve got more brains in my little finger than your whole elder council has in its entirety. Now get off my porch and don’t come back. I’ll be filing a restraining order first thing tomorrow.”
Wendell’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm. He tried to pull her forward, but she pulled back and her work hardened body was too much for him. When he stumbled forward into her, she shoved him backward and he tumbled down the stairs landing in a heap in the dirt just in time for one of the farm trucks to pull up.
She sagged against the doorframe grateful for the help when two more men climbed out of the car Wendell had come in. She froze when one of them met her eyes. Her brother Scott. He was older than her and had always idolized Wendell, to the point that he’d actually been the one to beat her during several Friday night services.
To her complete shock, Rafe was the one who stepped out of the truck. What was he doing here? Her brain couldn’t take anymore. It was done.
Scott stepped around Wendell and the other man helping him and onto the first step of the porch. “Laura, he’s telling the truth. Mom’s sick. She wants to see you.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Scott. I can’t go back there.”
Scott just studied her. “When did you become so cold?”
Laura could only stare at him. “Maybe it was when you decided I was worthless except for the hole between my legs.”
