“I’ll go to her friends’ homes,” Delia said when he returned without Anna. “Maybe she went there after all.”
He nodded. “I’ll go by her favorite shops.”
But an hour later, the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, and they still hadn’t located Anna.
Max met Delia at the house, and wordlessly, he led the way to the marshal’s office.
“Foster.” Marshal Wright stood. “Mrs. Foster. I didn’t expect to see you both here.” He gave Max a curious look.
Max shifted uncomfortably. “This isn’t about . . . our conversation,” he said quickly. He could feel Delia’s questioning eyes on him. “My daughter, Anna, was supposed to meet me at the hotel, but she never arrived. We’ve searched everywhere, and we can’t find her.”
“Could she have visited a friend?” Wright asked.
Max shook his head in answer to that question, and to every other suggestion Wright made. They’d already thought of all of them.
Wright nodded thoughtfully, and then reached for the hat on his desk. “I’ll get a few men together. Meet me back here in half an hour. We’ll comb this town until we find her.”
“I’ll wait at home,” Delia said. “Just in case she comes back there.”
“That’s good,” Wright said, holding the door open for them.
Max walked Delia back to the house. She stood in the open door and looked up at him with worried eyes. “You don’t suppose she’s hurt?” she asked.
Every horrible possibility had already run through Max’s mind. “She’s a strong little girl,” he said with more courage than he felt. “It would take a lot to hurt her.”
Delia gave him a wavering smile. “I’ll send word right away if she comes home.”
Max paused, every fear he had reflected in Delia’s eyes. In that moment, her motivation for marrying him didn’t matter, not when he saw the concern she held for Anna. He lifted a hand and rested it on her cheek. “I’ll find her, I promise.”
Delia closed her eyes and nodded.
And Max left, intending to hold himself to that promise. He’d find his daughter if it was the last thing on this earth that he did.
Chapter Seventeen
DELIA CROSSED THE PARLORagain, swiping dust from items that weren’t dusty and straightening furniture that was fine where it was.
The slightest noise made her heart jump and her gaze shoot to the door. How long would it take Max and the others to find Anna?
She felt so useless here, waiting and doing nothing to help.
Delia paced across the room to where Anna slept. Her bed was neatly made, a habit that had taken some convincing and practice to maintain. She smiled at it, but it hurt, because all she wanted was for Anna to be here, safe and loved where she needed to be.
She sat on the bed, resting a hand on either side of her. Max had spoken of finding another home for them, one in which Anna would have her own bedroom. Delia sighed and stood up. She straightened the bedcovers where she’d wrinkled them, and as she did so, her toe nudged something that rustled slightly under the bed.
