Russell spit another round of blood as the Sheriff wrenched his hands behind him. “What about him?” He kicked one leg toward Isaac.
The cuffs clicked into place. “Leave the police work to the police.”
The lanky deputy hesitantly approached Noah with another set of cuffs, his eyes pleading for Noah to take it easy on him. Noah bit back his protest as he reluctantly moved his arms behind his back. They weren’t going to clear up this miscommunication here, not with the sheriff refusing to listen to reason.
“I know your type. Both of you.” Sheriff grabbed Russell’s bound arm and turned him around toward the gate. “Your son was in the back of my patrol car a few days ago. Nothing ever changes with you Hebert men.”
The words pierced Noah’s heart with all the finality of a death knell. Arms behind his back, he allowed the deputy to propel him across the field behind his dad. He cast Elisa a desperate look over his shoulder. Surely she’d say something. She’d witnessed the entire thing. She knew the truth over who had attacked who.
But she stood quietly with her lips pressed together, visibly shaking as Isaac draped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close.
And just like last time, she didn’t say a single word as Noah walked away.
* * *
“You have to do something.” Elisa followed her dad inside her childhood home, catching the door he swung shut behind him. The house smelled like nostalgia and leftover spaghetti.
Her dad dropped his keys on the entry table, his tone low. “You’re upset. Go home, Elisa.”
“This isn’t fair.” She fought to keep her voice in check. It wouldn’t do any good to get emotional with him, but it felt impossible when every fiber of her being screamed from the inside out. She crossed her arms over her chest as she attempted to hold herself together. To stay calm. “You can fix it.”
“How?” Dad turned in the hallway to face her, his face distorted with leftover anger. “By turning myself in? Taking Russell’s place in the cell?” He shook his head hard. “No, this is the least that horrible man can do after everything else. He deserves it and more.”
Elisa pressed her lips together, holding back the truth she was dying to release as she followed her father into the kitchen. The same space where she’d cooked with her mother over the years, tasting various sauces they’d created and adding cayenne pepper like confetti while dreaming of the restaurant they’d open together.
The same kitchen where she’d fixed her mom endless cups of hot tea with honey and experimented with different flavor combinations after the chemo made everything taste metallic.
How had their family come to this?
Tears, born of memory and regret, pressed against Elisa’s throat until she couldn’t breathe. The look on Noah’s face as he was being shoved across the field burned in her brain, an image she might never forget. She’d started to open her mouth a dozen times on that field, but her father’s firm grip on her shoulder kept her silenced.
But not any longer.
She steeled herself. “Maybe Russell deserves it, but Noah didn’t do anything. What about him?”
“A night in a cell might teach him a few lessons, too.” Her father opened a cabinet and pulled down a mug before walking stiffly to the single-serve coffee pot. “That boy is trouble.”
Maybe she needed that advice when she was eighteen, but she wasn’t anymore. “He’s thirty, Dad. So am I. We’ve been over this.”
“Watch your tone. I’m not in the mood.” He shoved a pod into the machine and jerked the lid down harder than necessary.
“Well, I’m not in the mood either. I watched a good man get hauled to jail for no reason because you wouldn’t say anything.” She swallowed hard, guilt bubbling up her chest. “Because I wouldn’t say anything.”
Dad jabbed the start button. “Family comes first.”
“Not when something is unjust.” She shook her head. “You of all people should know that.”
“What are you trying to say, Elisa?” He turned, his voice cold as he braced his hip against the counter. The coffee pot gurgled to life.
She couldn’t do this again—wouldn’t. And maybe she didn’t have to. Maybe she could risk being real because she would be loved anyway. By her heavenly father, if not her earthly one.
“I didn’t stand up for Noah twelve years ago when you found out about us, and tonight I failed him again. Yes, I was being loyal to you—but not because you were right. Because I was scared.”
He scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. I’m not a threat to you.”
“Yes, you are. I’ve played by your rules for my entire life, even when I knew they were wrong.” Her hands shook and she folded them tightly under her arms. “But what you’re doing isn’t right.”
He stared at a space on the linoleum floor between them, jaw clenched.
