“If it is so much of your concern, then you can have her!” The dark-haired man flung a hand in Dawn’s direction. The woman beside him gasped. “She is more trouble than she is worth.” He spat on the ground at Dawn’s feet, and Jacob struggled to keep his feet firmly on the ground. “And take the girl too.”
“Gladly,” Jacob ground out. When he turned to Dawn, though, her face was stricken. Tears swam in her eyes. She swayed. He clutched her elbows to steady her, and his closeness seemed to break her from her trance. Her blue eyes lifted from the man behind her to his face before she pulled in a deep breath. Jacob gentled his voice. “Gather your belongings and come with me.”
Mary looked on with a sense of wonder, her little eyes wide and round while Dawn went over and fetched a single, small carpetbag before returning to his side. Jacob glanced around. Surely, there was more. The bag did not seem large enough to carry even a change of garments for the two. Was this all their worldly possessions? “Is that all?”
Dawn nodded. Pain flashed in her eyes but was gone in the same second. What had she had to leave behind because of these cruel masters? Jacob’s jaw tensed, but he worked to loosen it.
Instead, he placed a hand lightly at the small of her back and guided her up the grassy hill toward his family’s camp. His fingers tingled where they came into contact with her linen blouse. It was not exactly proper for him to be touching her so, but he could not bring himself to remove that protective barrier between her and the man who had slapped her.
Perhaps, once he had Dawn settled into camp with his family, he could finally gain some answers about who those people were and what had happened in the years since their parting. He still knew not why she had disappeared from his life without a single word or letter of explanation. What if it was because of something he had done or said? Because she no longer wanted anything to do with him? There had been no quarrel before her disappearance, though. Her smile had been as whimsical as ever as she danced off into the sunset with a promise to meet him at their secret pond the next day.
But the next day, Jacob had waited and waited, until darkness fell. Every day that week, he had waited until dusk, to no avail.
He glanced over at Dawn’s profile in the summer sun. Blond tendrils escaped from under the edges of the straw bonnet tied on with a fetching purple ribbon that danced in the wind. Her blue eyes were focused ahead, and her thin pink mouth was crimped with what he could only assume was worry.
Was she not glad to have one another in each other’s lives again? Her initial reaction had not exactly been one of joy. Jacob frowned and withdrew his hand. Perhaps he should prepare himself for disappointment. No matter how much the woman beside him resembled the young lady who had captured his heart all those years ago and filled his memories since, the passage of time had changed them both in ways that were not visible to the eye.
’Twas best for him to take each moment as it came and see what God had in store for him. How long had it been since he felt the Maker’s hand on his life?
Yet here he was with his past come back to meet him.
Little was clear except for one truth. Dawn and Mary’s safety and well-being were of the utmost importance. Answers could wait, at least for the moment. For these two women had fallen to his responsibility. A responsibility he would gladly bear.
As it was, Jacob had his own questions to answer. Back at camp, Jonah and Joseph were on their feet, waiting. All eyes were on him and his guests as they approached. His mother stood to greet them.
“This is Dawn,” he said and could not help the smile that spread across his face.
His mother knew all about the woman who had captivated him those years ago.
The elder woman’s brows rose, then her eyes widened with realization. “Dawn?”
Jacob nodded.
His mother took Dawn’s right hand into both of hers, and her cheeks crinkled in a smile. “It is so very nice to finally meet you.”
Jacob’s chest swelled as he looked between the two women.
Dawn’s cheeks reddened. “Thank you,” she whispered. When she glanced in his direction, both her brow and the corners of her mouth were raised. The question of, “You told her about me,” was as plain as the blue sky above them.
His mother had already turned her attention to Mary, though. “And you,” she added as she bent to take the child’s hands into hers in much the same way as she had Dawn’s.
“This is Mary. My stepsister,” Dawn explained.
Guilt followed the relief that flooded through him. Though his esteem for Dawn had never truly wavered, he never should have questioned or cared whether there was a simple explanation for Mary’s presence. It should not have mattered what her relation to Dawn was or, if she was Dawn’s child, what the circumstances of her conception were. Not only was every child a gift from God, but Dawn should not be judged by her fellow man on what decisions she may or may not have made.
Jacob should be more like his mother. From the moment they approached, before any explanations had been made, her expression and her demeanor had been welcoming, without even a hint of judgement or question. Now, she knelt and wrapped the little girl, whom she had only just met, in a warm hug. Mary turned wide eyes to Dawn, as though she could not believe what was taking place, before she returned the hug with a smile. Had the poor child never received much affection? She certainly had not in the past month. How long had such treatment occurred? How long had they served those ruthless masters?
“Are you hungry?” His mother asked the question as she withdrew from the hug and straightened. “Or thirsty?”
Dawn held up her right hand. “Oh, we do not wish to impose.” She glanced between Jacob and his mother. “I did not mean for any of this to happen.”
“Do not worry one bit. God had seen fit to bring you into our lives again, and there is no sense in questioning it.” His mother wagged her finger. “Come. Settle in. ’Tis not much, but I made a ham soup with plenty enough to go around.”
Dawn’s expression was still strained as she lowered onto the ground beside him. But when she took her first bite of soup, her eyes closed, and a look of contentment washed over her. Meanwhile, Mary tucked into her bowl, giving Jacob’s brothers a run for their money on how quickly it could be drained of its contents. Was such simple fare a blessing for them? Jacob swallowed the lump that tried to climb up his throat. What horrors had these two faced?
Dawn savored every sip of her soup until the heaviness of Jacob’s gaze settled over her. She glanced up from her bowl to find him watching her intently. Heat spread through her cheeks. She lowered her bowl to her lap and looked around. His was not the only attention she had gained. All three of Jacob’s brothers, as well as his mother and sister, watched her and Mary with open interest. Though Dawn was accustomed to curious stares, it did not stop her from wishing it was socially acceptable to play dead like an opossum. Although, running and hiding in a burrow like a rabbit should prove to be more effective in her current circumstances.
Yet she was not so lucky as to have those options. No. It was time for her to face the situation in which she had been thrust and to answer the queries awaiting her. Dawn placed her half-eaten bowl of soup on the ground beside her and turned her attention to Jacob. The questions that filled his brown eyes were those of a fourteen-year-old boy who had been abandoned by his best friend without explanation. “Where do I begin?”
