I sighed as I turned away from the barn, walked around the jeep, and into the house. I headed toward Sy's excited chattering. It was time to grab him and go. We'd been here long enough.
"Sy," I said as soon as I spotted him. He was sitting at the center island helping Ze'ev make cookies. I hated to pull him away, but it was time for us to leave. "Go get your jacket."
Sy glanced at me intently for a moment, almost as if studying me to see if I meant what I said. He finally sighed heavily. "I gotta go."
"Take some cookies with you," Ze'ev said. He grabbed a small plastic container and placed several cookies inside before handing it to Sy and then ruffling the hair at the top of his head. "You're a good cook's assistant."
I waited for Sy to leave the room before looking at Ze'ev. "Thank you for all you've done for me and Sy."
Ze'ev leveled a hard gaze at me, one that made me think he knew all my deep dark secrets. "I know you have your reasons for leaving, but I want you to remember that you and Sy are always welcome here."
"I appreciate that."
Ze'ev nodded once before turning toward the oven. "We'll be here when you want to come back."
He said that as if he fully expected me to come back at some point.
I wouldn't. Once Sy and I left the ranch, I doubted I would ever see these people again. There was a part of me that was saddened by that fact. These were good people.
That was a huge deciding factor for me. If Sy and I stayed, we'd only bring danger down on the ranch and its inhabitants. I couldn't do that to them.
"Sy and I need to get on the road while there is still daylight," I said as I grabbed the container of cookies. I held them up in the air a little. "Thank you for these."
Ze'ev shot me a friendly smile. "Come back when you need a refill."
Man, these guys were very persistent.
I waved to Ze'ev and then walked into the other room. As soon as Sy came down the stairs with his jacket, I handed him the container of cookies and then walked him out to the Jeep Rad had arranged for us.
"Pretty car."
"Yeah." I chuckled as I opened the back door and then lifted Sy into the car seat. "Looks like we might be traveling in style this time, little man."
Sy's light giggle brought a bit of sunshine to my heart. It felt as if it had been forever since I heard that sound.
"You ready to hit the road?"
"No stay?"
That sunshine in my heart darkened just a bit. "No, not this time. We've inconvenienced everyone here enough. It's time for us to go."
Sy hiccupped and his eyes flooded with tears before he said, "Okay."
I closed my eyes for a moment, wondering if I was making the right choice in leaving. Sy hadn't had a stable place to live since our mother was murdered.
If we weren't running for our lives, we were being held against our will and tortured. This was the first place I'd seen him act like the three year old he was in ages.
I drew in a deep breath and then opened my eyes. "Maybe we can come back some day, but right now, we need to leave. It's safer for us and it's safer for our friends here. We can't let the bad guys find us."
Sy nodded as if he understood, but I wondered if he truly did. He had faced horror after horror in his limited lifetime. I tried to shield him from most of it, but he still knew that the Boogeyman was alive and well and out to get us.
It was no life for a kid.
It wasn't a life for me either, but I had no other choice. Sy was my last living relative. He was the treasure my mother had left in my care and I refused to let her down by allowing anything to happen to him.
I plastered a smile on my face that I really didn't feel and patted Sy's leg. "It's going to be fun. Rad put a bunch of camping gear in the back. Maybe we'll just tour the United States until we find a place to settle down."
I was pretty sure we'd already found it.
