“Oh, baby, what have you done?”
Sara was able to pull his foot free, but his shoe came off and then disappeared. Brand had stopped crying in surprise. They finally heard a splash, and she gave a sick gasp.
“It must be an abandoned well.” She pinned her daughter with a firm glare. “You and Lessahaveto stay away from it until Alex and I can get it covered properly. Did you notice how long it took to hear the splash? That means it’s a very deep hole.”
Brand had started to whimper, and Sara squatted down to examine his foot. She removed a couple of large splinters with him screaming like she’d cut off his foot.
“These last two will need tweezers. Come here, and I’ll carry you.”
He let her lift him and sobbed into her shoulder. By the time they reached the house, he was softly snoring. He was such a deep sleeper that she was able to gently remove the remaining splinters without him waking. It would have been worse if he’d been barefoot.
She checked on Janna who’d settled on the couch with a book. Still shivering a little at the close call, Sara sat at the dining room table and picked up her phone. She texted Alex about the well. His reply came quickly.
Thanks for letting me know. I’ll warn the kids about it and check with the city.
Her gaze shifted to the text from Tia. So much had changed since she’d broken free from Landon. Only then had she come to understand what a control freak he’d been. When she’d met him, it hadn’t just been his good looks but his take-charge attitude that had drawn her to him. He’d been like her father. She’d married to get away from an abusive home and had walked into a relationship like her mother’s.
For years, under her father’s brutality, Sara had believed that she deserved it. Some of her earliest memories were of her father yelling as he struck her. He always accompanied each blow with hateful comments about how she was a waste of space, that she was a pathetic excuse for a daughter. She’d believed him. And then later, Landon.
Until he’d started in on Janna. Sara had convinced herself that she’d deserved it. It’s what her father and mother had told her all her life. But her sweet babies hadn’t. Sara’s eyes brimmed with tears at the memory of the huge bruises on the back of her daughter’s thighs where he’d taken a belt. Not even a year old, Brand had tried to get in the way, and Landon had shoved him aside. The baby had hit his head and been knocked out. It’d scared Landon enough that he’d stormed from the house. Sara had called the police. She and the kids had been gone before he got out of jail.
Landon had found her location two other times, both in the first six months. Thanks to warnings from Tia, Sara had managed to escape before he’d found them, though she’d recognized him driving by in a car as they fled again. She had no doubt that if he ever laid hands on them again, he’d make her wish she was dead.
Sara shook her head to clear the morbid train of thought from her mind. Still, she’d gotten too comfortable here. She needed to make sure her children were prepared.
“Baby,” she said, working to keep her voice level and calm. When Janna sat up and looked at her, Sara said, “We’ve gotten lazy with our drills.”
Her daughter’s shoulders slumped.
“No, don’t look like that. It’s always better to be safe. Just like we have fire drills at school, we have a plan of where to meet at home.”
“I know.” Janna heaved out a breath. Really, she was picking up more and more of Lessa’s mannerisms.
“If a strange man were to come to the house,” Sara chose her words carefully, “and I told you to run, I’d need you to take Brand and run to the Diederiks’ house.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll join you, but just like if you smell smoke in the house, you must get Brand and run outside.” Sara held her daughter’s gaze. “This is important. Do you understand?”
Janna nodded. She was in the process of lying back when she straightened.
“What?”
“I miss Ezreal. He’s fun.”
“Yes, he is.”
“I haven’t seen him in forever.”
“He’s planning to come tomorrow.”
Janna grinned and leaned back on the couch.
* * *
Because of hisbusy work schedule, it’d been a week since Ezreal had visited Sara’s house. He hadn’t expected to miss the little family. Looking for them at Francie’s for her weekly Sunday dinner at the B&B, he’d been disappointed to find only the Diederiks and the guys, as usual.
Ezreal pulled up to Sara’s house. He’d heard back from some contractors. Several had expressed interest in doing the project but said it’d have to wait until the fall. Boone's booming economy was keeping the contractors busy. Since most of Sara’s project was indoors, they’d all wanted to push it off into the fall or winter.
