and she hadn’t indicated what it would be. Until now.
“I think…I have a couple things to finish in the back,” Daralyn said after a long moment.
“Okay.” Rory suppressed a strong sigh of relief and stroked her cheek, her mouth. Held her gaze. There weren’t words for moments like these, but he showed her his feelings, his will. “There may be fire burning all around us,” he said, “But around you and me, there’s a circle, and nothing gets past it. Got it?”
She nodded. Then she slipped away, returning to the back with precise steps. She hadn’t said much, but he could tell a lot was going on. He’d realized that deep place she’d carved inside her head was a place she went to deal with things. Which made sense, since it had been the only place she could live, be something other than what she’d been forced to be. She didn’t hide there, not so much anymore. Now it was where she went to work things out.
When she was ready to be held, when she needed him to take control and bring her out of that place, he’d be there.
He pushed himself out into the parking lot, got into his van and followed Johnny in his pickup. When they reached the stretch of rural two-lane highway that was the main artery into their small town, he saw they weren’t the first to arrive. Over thirty people were already here, including Thomas and Marcus, who’d returned from New York specifically for this. His mother was with them. More were arriving, a convoy of cars parking on either side of the road.
If he’d had their town’s phone tree, Paul Revere and his cohorts could have saved themselves a hell of a hard night’s ride.
Rory didn’t say much to anyone as he left the van and moved to where Thomas and Marcus were. When Elaine embraced him, her eyes were serious, her mouth set. She didn’t comment on Daralyn’s absence, but all his family looked as glad as he was that she’d decided to sit this out.
Everyone was quiet, most gazing down the empty stretch of road. Anticipating, watchful. Other community gatherings were noisy with laughter and local gossip, but the purpose of those events was socializing. Celebrating.
This was an army, waiting for the enemy to show himself.
They didn’t have long to wait. He saw the car coming, a nineties-era dusty black Chrysler sedan. His heart thudded like a hammer. He remembered that same car, occasionally parked in town as Burton or Oscar came to the grocery store, the bank. Even more infrequent had been the times Daralyn was with one or both of them, a shadow that stayed close.
They’d rarely come into his parents’ store. Maybe once or twice, but the Moorfield brothers probably sensed his mother’s eagle eyes, her growing suspicions about Daralyn.
Burton had three cars trailing behind him, far enough back that it looked like he’d simply picked up some traffic on his way into town. One of them had Brick in it, who’d sent the text to Rory. He’d volunteered to be the one to drive from Richmond to Tabor City and dog Burton once he’d left the prison, confirm his first stop was their town. The last text he’d sent Rory, the one he’d received at the store, had been brief.
Forty-five minutes. Doesn’t seem to know he’s being tailed.
Rory figured Burton wouldn’t expect a tail, so he hadn’t been looking for it. The other two cars following Brick were town residents who’d fallen in behind him a few miles back. One of them included the Baptist preacher, Reverend Mueller, and his mother. That was the church Burton and Oscar had gone to, only a stone’s throw from the Catholic one that Rory’s family attended.
Rory rolled to the center of the road. He didn’t have to look to know the now nearly seventy people had followed his lead. They were gathering and spreading out behind him, a human roadblock. Thomas and Marcus were closest to him, just ahead of his mom. Thomas had probably exhorted her to stay back a little bit, and she’d graciously accepted the protectiveness, while staying close enough to go mama bear if needed. At another time, that thought would have made him smile. Not right now.
The Chrysler slowed but kept approaching. Burton probably thought it was some local festival. As he drew close enough to realize it might be something different, the car slowed further. That was when Brick and the other two cars