shoulders, hidden in the shadows of the massive tree.
They waited that way until a light cut through the darkness, a person approaching on the trail from below. Scarlett stood quickly, pulling the girls to their feet, and holding her finger to her lips and then indicating they should follow her behind the trunk of the tree.
They huddled there together, Scarlett peeking out, watching as a man in uniform walked closer, squinting up the trail, his flashlight held out in front of him. Haddie pulled at her shirt. “It’s okay, Mommy,” she whispered. “He doesn’t want to hurt us. He’s going to help.”
Scarlett released a gust of breath. “Okay, baby.” They stepped out of the trees and began waving to the officer.
When he caught sight of them, he hurried forward, his eyes moving over the three of them, lingering on Scarlett’s feet for a beat. He put an arm around her shoulders, holding her up. “Don’t worry, ma’am. I’m going to get you three help. Are you able to walk to my car? It’s just about a quarter mile from here. I couldn’t drive any closer.”
She leaned on him. “Yes. Yes. We can walk.”
They began moving down the trail, when a noise sounded in the brush. The officer let go of her, pulling his weapon out and pointing it at the sound. No. No. We’re so close. Please, God. Please. Scarlett stepped back, her heart drumming, drawing the girls close to her side as they took cover behind the officer.
A second later, a man came stumbling out of the trees, his arm wrapped around another man as he supported his weight . Scarlett let out a strangled gasp. “Camden!” She rushed toward them and he opened the arm not around his brother, the ghost of a smile tilting his lips. His brother blinked at her.
“Oh my God! You’ve been shot.” She ran her hand over his chest. So much blood. So much blood. “Oh my God.”
“You made it. You did it,” he breathed, and even through the exhaustion evident in his voice, she also heard the pride.
Tears streaked down her cheeks as she took them in. They both looked half dead, one from his injury, one from fatigue. Cam was shirtless, with his uniform button-up wrapped like a tourniquet around his chest. His brother had a brown leather satchel strapped around his body. “So did you. You both did. Oh my God. Hold on. Hold on for us.”
Camden looked at the man he was leaning heavily on. “His name is Alonzo. He saved my life.”
They’d walked miles and miles. That had to mean Camden would survive his wound. Please. Scarlett reached for Alonzo’s hand and brought it to her cheek. “Thank you, Alonzo. You did so well.”
The deputy swept in, shooting the man in the fur and horns a curious look before ducking and putting his shoulder in Camden’s armpit so he could support him as Alonzo stepped aside. “Come with me,” he said, and the six of them staggered the quarter mile to the squad car.
Alonzo got in the front seat and the officer lowered Camden into the back and Scarlett, Millie, and Haddie piled in on the other side, Scarlett wrapping her arms around Camden and holding him tight as the car drove off. Camden reached forward and put his hand on his brother’s shoulder, leaving it there. Alonzo turned his head and Scarlett saw the curve of his gentle smile.
She put her head on Camden’s shoulder, Haddie’s body pressed against her, Millie right on the other side. The lights of the squad car cut the darkness as they turned onto the main highway, heading in the opposite direction of Farrow.
They were going to be okay.
They were all going to be okay.
Never had Scarlett believed her life would lead her to this moment and all that had unfolded since she’d first bent down on a city street and retrieved a fallen flyer. But now, with her fatigue pulling her under, with all she loved tucked into her sides, Scarlett clung to the tenuous hope lying just beneath the deep-seated exhaustion and fear.
Her purpose had been bigger than she’d ever imagined. She was too tired to wrap her head around it now, but somehow she sensed, deep inside, that Kandi had been part of all that had come to pass. She moved her eyes upward, out the window where the trees of the forest whizzed by, the miles between them and Farrow ever growing. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Rest now,