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“Sit!” Natalie barked at Sylvia.
She did.
A few seconds later Eddy was escorted outside to the Greer carriage a step ahead of Natalie and her gun. Inside, sat the family’s terrified looking Chinese driver.
“Get in the front with him. If you call out while we’re moving or try and alert anyone, I’ll shoot you in the back right through the seat,” she promised.
“Where are we going?”
“To the place where Rhine found you, and this time you’re going to die. Drive!” she snapped at the driver.
The sun was high and the day so reminiscent of the last time she’d been in the desert, Eddy’s fear rose. She knew Sylvie would immediately go for help, and prayed that help would find her before Natalie killed her.
Eddy saw the driver’s hands shaking as he held the reins. He said nothing, however, and following Natalie’s orders drove out past the city limits. They drove for what seemed like miles, and the farther they went the more Eddy tried to manage her fear.
“Okay. Stop.”
They were out in the middle of nowhere.
Hands still shaking, the driver pulled back on the reins.
“This is all your fault,” Natalie said.
Eddy didn’t dare look around. “What is?”
“Rhine lying about who he is. I hear you’re going to be married.”
“Yes, we are.”
“You’re the only reason he denounced his race, but he can’t marry you if you’re dead.”
Eddy tensed. She and the driver shared another look.
Natalie continued. “And once you are dead, he’ll tell the truth about being White, and he and I can marry the way we were supposed to. Now get out and walk. This far away from town with no water in this heat, you’ll last maybe an hour. Out!”
Eddy knew arguing with her that Rhine was indeed telling the truth would only push the woman further into whatever madness she was in the grips of, so she slowly climbed down. On the horizon she thought she saw movement, but decided it must be a mirage. Before she had time to study it again, she heard Natalie scream, “Where are you going?”
To Eddy’s surprise, the driver had left the carriage, too.
He said to Natalie, “I’m not being a part of this.”
When he reached Eddy, he said, “Come, we will walk together.”
“Get back here!”
Eddy saw movement up ahead again. Men on horseback were riding their way! “Look!” she urged her companion. Not giving Natalie a second thought, they took off at a run.
Natalie raged, “Stop!”
Eddy prayed the woman didn’t know the workings of the Colt from a colander and kept going. She waved her arms to get the attention of the riders. The gun was fired and two bullets tore through her back like bolts of lightning. Crying out in pain, she dropped to her knees.
Natalie fired again and again, this time at her driver, but Eddy couldn’t tell if he was hit because she was already facedown in the rocky sand and her world went black.
By the time Rhine, Sheriff Howard, and the rest of the posse reached the scene, Eddy was lying so still, Rhine’s heart stopped. Her back was covered with blood. He yelled, “What have you done, Natalie!” He didn’t bother to listen to her explanation. He jumped from his horse and ran to Eddy’s side. “Eddy!” Natalie’s driver lay a few feet away.
Jim and Doc Randolph were soon beside him. “Eddy!”
Doc placed his ear against her chest. “She’s breathing. Can’t tell how bad she’s hurt. Jim, there’s some clean towels in my saddlebag. Get them. Let’s see if we can at least put some pressure on the wounds so she doesn’t bleed to death.” He then glanced over at the equally still driver. “Let me see to him right quick.”
