Someone called to him from far away. “Mr. Schmitt—”
“I need to be by her side.” He didn’t know or care who spoke and tugged at his arm. No one would stop him.
Two deputies had hold of the guilty woman’s arms, and they pulled her back. She was ranting and raving about something, but Devin didn’t listen.
Eliza was on the floor. Eyes closed. A pool of red expanding around her left leg.
Noise from the room rushed in and filled his senses. He blinked and then went into action. Devin stripped off his jacket and pressed it against the bullet wound in Eliza’s leg. Stop the bleeding. That’s what he had to do. But it soaked through so fast...
He pulled the jacket away, folded it, and then used the sleeves to tie it around her leg as tight as he could. “Where’s the doctor?”
“He’s riding up as we speak, son.” The sheriff crouched beside him and gripped Devin’s shoulder. “She’s still breathing...”
“Why isn’t she conscious?” Was that his voice? That hoarse, desperate sound?
The sheriff studied her. “She must have hit her head when she fell.”
He nodded. Everything he wanted to say to Eliza bubbled to the surface. If she’d only move. Open her eyes—
He couldn’t take it anymore. He lifted her into one arm, untying the ropes from her wrists with his free hand. Then he cradled her, pressing his face against her hair. “I love you.” His whisper was choked by the emotion clogging his throat. “Don’t you dare leave me now. You made a promise, remember?”
She moaned, and he pulled back a few inches. Her eyelids fluttered!
“That’s my girl. Stay with me, Eliza. Forever.” He kept his words soft as he pressed a kiss against her temple.
Another moan and her hand came up and gripped his shirt. Even as her face relaxed, her grip on him held tight.
He whispered to her, lips against her ear. “Doc is coming. You’re going to be right as rain.”Lord God in heaven—please. Please!“You’ve shared your hopes and dreams with me since we were barely as tall as the shrubs at Mills Manor.” Strength surged into him. He willed it to seep out of his hands and into her body. “Well ... my hopes have been long buried. So I’m going to tell you a secret. I’m writing a book, Eliza. You have to be here to read it... to tell me where I can make it better.”
A commotion at the door pulled his gaze away. The doctor.
He whispered against her hair. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Eliza. A life with you. I love you...”
The doctor reached her side and examined the wound in her leg. “I need to get her back to my place as soon as possible. Let’s get a tourniquet even tighter and keep the wound from being jostled too much.” The man’s piercing gaze snagged Devin’s. “You up for holding her steady in the back of a wagon?”
“Yes, sir.” He clenched his jaw.
“Good. It’s going to be a long, hard ride.” The doc went back to her leg. “I’ll pack the wound, but time is of the essence.”
Devin held Eliza’s shoulders as the doctor made quick work of bandaging the wound.
“Why?”
Devin glanced into the corner where Lucas Meyer hovered over his sister. “I don’t understand why you would do such a thing...” The man’s upper body began to quake.“Youkilled our family?” Great sobs erupted out of him.
The woman turned her face away. Her expression was hard. Angry.
Disgusted.
What could make someone so cold? And evil? What could be so terrible it drove people to do horrific things?
Lucas collapsed onto his knees, and several of the sheriff’s men stepped to put a hand on his shoulders.
“All these years, I’ve carried the guilt and shame ... thinking it was my fault...”
Such pain in the man’s words, it almost took Devin’s breath away.God, help him... He glanced at Eliza’s pale face.
Help us all.
