as you can, Adeline. I won’t be able to hold him back once he wakes.”
“He’ll kill you, Mother. You know that.” This was the first time she’d spoken since Ezekiel had punched her in the throat, and she was relieved to still have her voice.
Ingrid’s dirty hair fell over her face and her eyes were dull. “I’m already dead. Have been for a very long while. This way someone can put me in the ground. Please forgive my failings and try to think of me with kindness.”
Ezekiel muttered something and made a gravelly sound. Both women froze.
Please don’t let him wake up now.
He coughed once, then rolled over. Every nerve and muscle taut, Addie couldn’t bring herself to relax.
Finally, the last of the ropes fell away. Addie stood and kissed her mother’s cheek. “Come with me. We can both escape him. I don’t want to leave you behind.”
“It’s too late for me. Now go.” Ingrid slipped the knife in her pocket. “Go.”
Addie glanced around. She didn’t know where she was or what direction to run. She only knew she had to pick one. She grabbed her mother’s hand. “Run away with me.”
“I can’t. I’ll hold you back. Go.”
Wasting precious seconds arguing was crazy. Addie turned her mother loose, made out the wagon ruts, and began to retrace the path toward home as fast as she could. Her heart pounding, she’d taken only a few long strides into the brush when Ezekiel roared awake. “Where is she? You stupid, stupid woman!” he hollered.
Three loud cracks echoed through the night, telling her Ingrid’s torture had begun anew. For a moment, Addie almost turned back to help the woman who’d risked her life to save her. But now Ezekiel was tearing through the brush after Addie, hate in his heart, blood on his hands—and killing on his mind.
* * *
Worry crawled up Ridge’s neck like a big, black tarantula. Every second counted, and yet he had to keep backtracking because he wasn’t paying close enough attention or had caught himself dozing off.
With no moon, the night was one of the darkest in recent memory. The clouds hid the stars, so not even a sliver of light dotted the sky.
“Whoa.” Ridge reined to a stop. “We can’t keep going, Cob. I don’t want to kill you.” He wearily dismounted beside a large scrub oak and built a fire. A few winks while he waited for dawn would refresh him. Until he could read signs, pressing on blind wouldn’t do Addie any good. Hopefully, Ezekiel would sleep too and leave her safe for a few hours.
Feeling more alone than he’d been in his entire life, Ridge put his head in his hands. He whispered into the night, “Wherever you are, Addie, know this. Love for you spills from the deepest part of my soul. You’re worth more than all the gold on earth, and I will bring you home. Mark my words.”
Thirty-Three
Run faster! Oh God, he was coming! Addie gasped for air, her heart pounding against her ribs.
She turned to look behind her and ran into a mesquite tree. It knocked her backward, the thorny branches scratching her face and arms. Stinging pain ricocheted through her, taking her breath. A sob burst from her mouth. If only she could see! But the thick blackness of the night was as impenetrable as that hateful hood.
The thrashing in the branches told her the devil was closing in. She had to keep going.
Her legs burning from the mad dash, she struggled to her feet, wiping her nose. She squinted through the darkness for a place to hide but saw nothing nearby other than mesquite and cactus. Maybe she’d find a ravine or gully up ahead, somewhere to hunker down out of sight.
“Where are you, girl?” Ezekiel bellowed. “I’m gonna find you one way or another.” Voices carried a great distance at night on the prairie; still, he sounded very close.
A loud squawk on her right startled her. She must’ve leaped a foot high. Just an animal of some sort. She tried to calm her trembles, her heart racing.
A twig snapped behind her. Addie swung around, her fists clenched tight, but no one stood there. Maybe that noise was an animal as well.
She began to gather her confidence. She could escape. Ezekiel was behind her, and if she kept running, she could stay ahead. Three long strides carried her to the shadow of a thick group of saplings and a creek that wound through the plains.
Had they passed the