Ellie’s hands trembled, but her hunger won over her caution. She nodded quickly, unable to form words as her mouth suddenly began to water at the thought of food. Micah unlatched a leather bag from his saddle and checked the contents. Placing his canteen inside as well, the man tossed it to the ground at her feet. “There, hopefully that’ll keep you fed for a day or two, and if you do decide you need help, we’re over the ridge to the south.” He pointed behind him, and Ellie warred within herself.
How was it the sight of the food and canteen tossed at her feet felt nothing like the papers from her trust tossed in the same spot? The papers had been thrown in an attempt to humiliate her, but Micah had stayed on his horse for the purpose of making her comfortable. What was it he’d said?
A ranch? That meant cowboys, more men than she could stomach at the moment. Especially after all that had happened in California after news of her grandfather’s will stipulations had spread. She still didn’t understand how it had happened, but it wouldn’t surprise her if Percival James had been involved in creating her even more desperate situation. No, more than a handful of the miners had all become predators, and Ellie felt like nothing but prey. The rules served no purpose but to torture her, though she had no doubt he’d convinced his lawyer of other motives. “Thank you.”
It took everything in Micah not to swing down from Finn, throw this woman over his shoulder, and take her back to the ranch so she could be properly taken care of. There was dried blood in her blonde hair, a fading bruise on her cheek, and she looked at least fifteen pounds underweight. She had to be the woman at the camp he had found, and the wounds on her wrists told him exactly why the camp itself hadn’t looked like a woman was there at first.
At least, it hadn’t until he’d found her hair pins the day before. Could he possibly convince her to come with him? Not today, but maybe he could slowly gain her trust. “Listen, why don’t you meet me back here tomorrow morning? I can bring you some more food, and maybe some warm clothes.” He’d do it right now, but Micah sensed the woman needed more time. “It’s warming up, but do you need my coat? You can give it back tomorrow.”
In these woods, there were also predators, wolves, coyotes, the occasional black bear, and snakes once the weather warmed up. She didn’t look like she had much in the way of survival skills, and she certainly didn’t carry anything with her to catch or snare food. Still, this woman was like a skittish, unbroken colt. If he pushed, she’d bolt, and he’d never see her again.
The woman seemed to debate with herself whether she should grab the bag, but her hunger apparently won out. She hurried forward, kneeling to grab the bag without breaking eye contact with him. The second she had it in her possession, she scurried backwards once more.
Shaking her head wildly, the woman stepped back two more steps. Her fingers clutched his saddle bag to her like it held the finest gold. “No. No, I don’t need your jacket. I…I’ll try to comeback tomorrow.” Her words tumbled out until she clamped her mouth shut. “I…thank you for the food. I need to go.”
With energy he couldn’t imagine she had based on her appearance, the woman turned and fled to the east, the opposite direction of the camp he’d found. He felt completely powerless, helpless when all he wanted to do was take her home, but he couldn’t force her. He wouldn’t, especially when someone else had apparently already held her against her will.
His gut churned, the blood in his veins boiling. Micah had no doubt he’d be capable of murder if said man were to wander across his path. After the way Pa had treated Mama, he’d not hesitate to pull the trigger on any man who harmed a woman. For better or worse, the Lord would forgive him for it.
At that moment, said man was nowhere near him. He had no outlet for his anger, his worry over the woman he’d run off, or any way to change things for her. The chilly breeze wafting through this dense tree cover normally brought him peace, as did any other time outside in the vast expanses of God’s creation, but not right now.
Something pricked his heart. Was it the conviction Pastor Jim talked about? Should he pray about it the way the man always said? His whole life, he’d heard the encouragement to pray and give things to the Lord, but where was God when his father had treated them as he had? Micah went to church for the children, to set a good example for them, and he supposed he believed the Almighty was real, but he’d never be able to trust difficult situations to Him. He’d seen too much.
No, he’d be back tomorrow and convince the woman to come with him. It’d fly in the face of everything he stood for, but if she wouldn’t come, he’d figure out a way to make it happen. Isaac would be gone with the others on the cattle drive, and he’d asked Micah to stay behind in case whoever had been squatting at the camp to the north of their property caused trouble. Still, none ofthat felt as important as getting this woman out of the woods and into a place where she could heal.
He sighed, the prick in his heart even stronger. “Fine,” he grumbled as he pointed Finn back in the direction of the ranch. “Lord, if You care about this woman, I need You to bring her back tomorrow so I can help her.” His mama would probably tell him to quit telling God how to do His job, but it was the only solution he could see. “She’s gonna freeze out here when the weather turns, or she’ll get recaptured by whoever had her. Please, bring her back.”
Isaac had recently become far more convinced of God’s care for the happenings of their day to day lives, something Micah attributed to his falling for the children's teacher, Louisa. She’d been good for him, and Micah was happy for his brother, but he didn’t know if he’d ever get there.
It had burned when he learned how Isaac’s first wife, Martha, had died. Micah had always thought his brother married for love only to find out he’d married her because she knew she was dying and wanted someone to adopt her three children. He understood he’d been young when Martha and the children came to stay with them, and she hadn’t been with them long before she’d succumbed to the illness she’d gotten trying to provide for her children, but for his brothers to never tell him the truth? It felt like a betrayal, or maybe like they didn’t trust him.
There wasn’t any use in dwelling on things of the past. He’d do what Pastor Jim and Hal always tried to convince him to do and give the blonde woman he’d come across in the woods over to the Lord. His fists clenched on Finn’s reins, and he had to actively work to loosen them and relax his body. Maybe surrender was a muscle which grew the more it was used?
With barely a thimble full of faith anyone was even listening, Micah nudged Finn into a gallop and rode towards the ranch,the brick of dread settled in his stomach like nothing but dead weight. He’d be back, and he’d figure out a way to get her back to the ranch. It was the only answer, the only one he could stomach, anyway.
Chapter Two
“Ellie girl,” Mama said loudly to be heard over the waves lapping at the shoreline. “Come look at this.” Mama crouched in the sand, picking up a star shaped seashell. “This is called a starfish. Have you read about those?”
Eleven-year-old Ellie loved to read, and any books Mama had been able to get her hands on, she’d given to her daughter. Her tutor, Miss Lutken, had done the same. “Yes! They’re so interesting. Is it alive?” It was rough and pinkish cream, but it looked more like a seashell than any sort of fish Ellie had ever seen. “Does it bite?”
Mama chuckled, the light in her eyes somehow still not dimmed by the way the two of them were treated at Grandfather’s. Mama’s brown eyes twinkled, this time with happiness instead of the tears she so often shed at home. “I don’t believe they bite. Would you like to hold it before tossing it back into the ocean?”
She winked, and Ellie nodded resolutely, somewhat wishing she could keep it but knowing the ocean was where it belonged.Slowly, carefully, Mama placed the starfish in her hand and Ellie relished in the feel of its rough flesh against hers. It was impossible to believe it was really a fish, even though she’d read about them with Miss Lutken. Turning it over, she handed it back to her mother. “I think he wants to go home, now.”
After all, it couldn’t be comfortable to be out of the water, could it? Ellie knew a thing or two about being out of place, and she wouldn’t wish it on any creature. Her brow furrowed, and she watched the alleged fish sail back into the ocean. “Are you sure it’ll be all right, Mama? I read that fish can’t survive very long out of the water due to their gills, but I didn’t see any gills on the starfish.”
“Oh, my dear girl,” Mama said as she wrapped her arm around Ellie’s shoulders and they stared out at the ocean. It was the first time they’d been alone since Grandfather dragged them all the way out here to this meeting with his colleague. The man was a widower, and even Ellie knew Grandfather had hoped the man would be drawn in by Mama’s beauty - her beautiful blonde hair and soft features. “You are too smart for your own good at times, too perceptive as well.”
She placed a kiss on Ellie’s head and glanced back up the beach to the fancy hotel where they’d been staying - yet another “gilded cage” as Mama called it. The business partner hadn’t seemed the least bit interested in Mama, and he’d completely ignored Ellie at dinner the night before. “I suppose we’d better head back before your grandfather returns from his meetings. We’d better not mention we came down here to the beach.”
He might find out anyway, but at least, they’d had their toes in the sand for a moment. Of course, Grandfather would find their bare feet scandalous, but Ellie didn’t care. He found a lot of things scandalous.
Ellie swung in and out of consciousness, her head pounding as she wrenched her eyes open, her shoulder in so much painshe wanted to vomit. Why was it so dark, and what was on the ground below her? It was cold, so cold, and damp wherever she’d been placed. Only then, forcing herself onto her side to get a breath, did she remember what had happened.
She’d run from Micah, the cowboy who’d seemed kind enough, only to decide to turn around and take a risk on meeting him again the next day. Only, Brent managed to find her in the woods, taking his anger out on her with a leather strap to her back and basically throwing her down what she thought was a mine shaft. She’d initially tried to climb out, but apparently he’d pulled her shoulder out of its socket when he dropped her.
The movement to her side only exacerbated the pain in her shoulder, and in the moment, she’d gladly let someone take it off with a rusty saw if it meant it would stop the hurting. She’d not had any food in days, but maybe it was a good thing as the pain brought the bile up into her throat. No, she couldn’t vomit, not when she couldn’t move out of her own way.
