“You’re supposed to be asleep.”
He stepped back when I took a step toward him then visibly relaxed when the moonlight from the window hit my face.
“Thought you were Dad,” he said in relief, running to me.
“You will never have to see him again,” I promised, picking up the kid and cuddling him to my chest.
Meg had thought I had wanted her in my life because I wanted to foist the kids on her. That couldn’t be further from the truth. She’d had to take care of her sisters, just like I had to take care of my brothers. I had wanted someone in my life who knew what that was like and respected the sacrifice.
Except you haven’t been able to rescue your sisters.
* * *
Thinkingabout my sisters had ruined the rest of my night. My father was never going to release his hold on them. We weren’t even sure how many there even were, though it wasn’t that many. The great irony of my father being the patriarch of a polygamist doomsday cult was that he seemed to be able to father only boys. Girls were preferred in those types of sister wife environments for obvious reasons.
I pushed myself to run faster along the trails that wound through the large acreage to the back of the property, trying to outrun all the bad memories. A few miles later, I was sweaty, and the blood was pounding in my head as I slowed to a jog and bounded up the terrace steps. I stripped off my shirt when I walked back into the house, wiping my face with it.
“Coffee?” Mace called as I walked into the dining room. He handed me a mug from a carafe that was on the long buffet. The kids were being herded outside to the bus to take them to school.
“Must be nice not to have to go to work,” Parker commented snidely.
“Must be nice to hand out in town at all hours of the night,” I retorted, “and only come back to change clothes and grab a free meal.”
Parker refilled his mug and raised a hand.
“Stop making rude gestures,” Mace scolded our younger brother. “You’re the CTO of a major company. You need to act like it. Besides, Hunter’s just mad about the family meeting tonight.”
“He should be looking forward to it,” Garrett said mildly as he swung his laptop bag over his shoulder. “Crawford’s coming. The fireworks should be a sight to behold.”
I sipped my coffee as my brothers left. My smart watch reminded me that the meeting about composting had already started. I hit the ignore button.
I did not have the patience for a small-town meeting. Besides, I needed to worry about my father. Many of my sisters were almost at the age the cult deemed girls marriageable. Time was running out. We had to do something; we couldn’t just sit around and talk about potential solutions.
I poured another cup of coffee. I was exhausted. If it wasn’t my father haunting my sleep, it was Meg. She could not be with Walter.
I won’t allow it.
I balked. I sounded like my father. He loved to control people, keep them off-balance and beholden to him. What if I was doing the same thing to Meg? What if I didn’t really love her; I just wanted to control her?
Fuck.I rubbed my eyes.You’re just tired. Take a shower and take a nap.
Ding-dong.
I frowned. I didn’t recall anyone ringing at the front gate. Paranoia crept into my thoughts.
What if it was my father? He had shown up in Harrogate a few months back and set off a nuclear bomb among my family.
I put down the coffee then grabbed one of the knives from the kitchen and snuck to the front door. But when I peeked through the curtains, it wasn’t my father standing on the stoop. Instead, it was the whole gaggle of the Harrogate composting committee… and Meg.
I swung the door open. “Why are you even—”
One of the older women screamed.
31
Meghan
It was seven a.m.… and Hunter was nowhere to be found.
