Chapter 8

Lily put the last of the paintings in the back of the truck and spread a sheet over them. She used some concrete blocks she’d found stacked at the rear of the house to secure the sheet. It should hold until she got to the Marsh Ranch.

She headed in for her keys and while inside decided, she’d pack up her tablet. Since she was going to be stuck on the Marsh ranch until Cam returned, maybe she’d try her hand at drawing one of the horses.

That led to another idea, and she ran to the bedroom to get her camera case from the closet. She threw clothes into her old suitcase along with her few toiletries.

She had the camera case strap hooked over one shoulder, the suitcase at her feet that she pushed along with her foot and was sliding her tablet into its case as she returned to the kitchen where she’d left her keys. She didn’t see the big figure of a man in her way until she was standing beside the kitchen table.

He stood in the doorway, a huge man in both height and girth, dressed in dark slacks, with a black hoodie and a ski mask.

That struck terror in her. She placed the tablet on the table to free her hands and started backing up. When she bumped into something, she squeaked and jumped. Hands wrapped around her upper arms and prevented her from moving.

Ellie screamed and the man at the kitchen door reached behind him. When his hand moved forward again, there was a gun in it. “Shut up.”

He walked over closer, keeping the gun leveled at her head. “Now listen very carefully. We don’t want to hurt you, but that’s entirely up to you.”

Using his free hand, he reached inside his hoodie and pulled out an envelope. She looked at it, up at him and then back at the envelope.

“Take it.”

With trembling hands, she took the envelope and opened it. Inside was another offer on the property. This time the price was six hundred and thirty thousand dollars. There was a space at the bottom of the page for her signature.

She looked up at the man with the gun. “I don’t want to sell.”

“Wrong answer. Want to try again?”

Ellie felt like she was going to throw up she was so scared. What should she do? Surely, he wouldn’t shoot her if she said no. Whoever wanted the land couldn’t get it if she died. According to her father’s will, if she died the land went either to her children if she had any or to a conservancy.

“No,” she said, trying to keep her voice from trembling as much as her body.

The man heaved a loud sigh. “Have it your way.”

And then his hand moved. Ellie’s eyes slammed closed. Oh god, he was going to shoot her.

The blow that hit the side of her head would have driven her to the floor had the man behind her not be holding her. She felt something warm run down her face, into her left eye.

The next blow was to her stomach. All the air went whooshing out of her lungs and her body doubled over. Gasping and retching, she struggled to stand upright. But the man holding her shoved her and she fell onto the floor. She started crawling toward the door, desperate to escape.

A kick from the man with the gun stopped her progress and had her curling into a fetal position, pain radiating throughout her body. Ellie had never been so scared. She was going to die. They were going to kill her.

A million things flashed through her mind. Things she wished she had done, things she wished she had not. Words she regretted speaking and words she longed to say. Most of all thoughts of Cam assailed her. She would never have a chance to discover if the attraction between them would turn into something more.

When the masked man knelt down beside her, she whimpered, expecting to feel the gun press against her. “Next time, it’s going to be much worse, so I strongly advise that you sign. We’ll be back.”

With that, he stood, delivered one more vicious kick and the two of them left through the kitchen door, leaving it standing open. Ellie cried out as she tried to stand and when she failed, she crawled, slowly to the door.

She managed to push it closed and get herself into a seated position with her back to the door. She couldn’t see well out of her left eye and swiped at it. Her hand came away bloody.

Ellie tried to stand and failed. She sat there for a few minutes and tried again. This time she got to her feet. Using the countertop to support her, she made it to her phone. Please be there, please be there.

Lily’s voice came on the line. “Hey, girl, what’s up?”

“I…I need help.”

Lily’s voice calling her name was the last thing she heard before everything went black.

*****

Cam paced back and forth, five steps one way, five steps back, glancing toward the door of the emergency room every time he turned. They’d taken Ellie in an hour ago, and so far, no one had given an update on her condition.

“Cam, sit down,” Lily said and patted the seat beside her. “They’ll let us know as soon as they can.”

“What did she say again? Exactly.” He sat down beside her.

“She said I need help. I already told you fifty times. That’s all she said. I called 911 and gave them the address then ran to the barn, got Clint and we headed over. We got there just as they were loading her into the ambulance. She was unconscious. We followed the ambulance here and that’s all I know.”

“It’s been too long. We should have heard something. I’m going to get some answers.” Cam stood again. Just then, a man in blue scrubs exited the emergency room door. He consulted the clipboard in his hand. “Mrs. Marsh?”

“Right here.” Lily stood, as did Clint who took her hand.

The man walked over. “Dr. Padan,” he introduced himself in a British accent. “You are listed as the contact for Ms. Whitehorse.”

“Yes, she’s my neighbor and she called—”

“Detective Cam Marsh,” Cam interrupted. “What can you tell us about her condition?”

“She was quite lucky. She suffered blunt force trauma to the head that luckily did not result in a concussion. Along with that, she has a cracked rib; severe bruising to the abdomen and unfortunately one of the blows she sustained ruptured her spleen. She is in recovery now. All in all, she was lucky.”

“When can we see her?” Cam asked.

“She will not be available for questioning until after she leaves recovery and that may be some time.”

“Not officially,” Cam said. “We’re her friends—neighbors. She has no one else. No family. Someone she knows should be there when she wakes.”

The doctor looked from him to Lily and back to him. “I cannot allow all three of you in.”

“Cam should be the one.” Lily said. “He’s closer to her. And she feels safe with him.”

“Very well,” the doctor agreed. “If you’ll accompany me?”

Cam cut a look at Lily and Clint. “I’ll call.”

“Give her our love,” Lily said and hugged him.

“Will do.”

Cam followed the doctor who led him to the recovery room where Ellie was unconscious. Cam felt rage sing in his veins when he saw her in the bed. The left side of her face was black and blue, swollen and there was a large bandage just below the hairline on her forehead. Her arms were bare, and he could see bruises along their length, particularly above the elbows.

He really wanted to slug someone. That kind of bruising came from being held in a brutal grip. God only knew what kind of bruises she had beneath the hospital gown. He pulled the lone chair in the space over beside her bed, sat down and gently took her hand in his.

“I’m here, Ellie. God honey, I’m sorry. I wasn’t there to protect you from the snakes. I should have been.”

The fear at hearing the news that she had been attacked, waiting for word on her condition and seeing her looking so small and so damaged lying in that bed got the best of him and Cam did something he hadn’t done since his father died.

He cried.

*****

Ellie heard her father’s voice. He was singing. Ellie didn’t understand the words, but she liked the sound of Papa’s voice. She sat on a threadbare blanket beneath the shelter of an old tree with her doll taking a nap beside her and her pad of paper and crayons on the blanket before her.

Today the yellow sun in her drawing had a big fluffy cloud covering its bottom half. The sun had a big smile, and its eyes were pointed down, looking at the cloud. Beneath the cloud, a tree’s arms reached up into the blue sky.

Ellie smiled at the happy drawing. She liked being outside on her blanket. She could hear birds and the murmur of voices from people inside the house, and Papa’s singing.

Two big warm hands suddenly came from behind her and covered her eyes. She didn’t have to guess who it was. Papa’s hands almost smelled of the cigarettes he smoked, and his hands were always warmer than anyone else was.

“Guess who?”

Ellie giggled and pulled at his hands, wrapping hers around the index finger of each of his. “Papa!”

“What you doing little one? Drawing Papa something pretty?”

“A happy day.” Ellie pointed to her drawing.

“A very happy day.” He agreed and kissed her on the top of her head. He then moved her doll aside, took a seat on the blanket and pulled Ellie onto his lap. “Listen to Papa, little one. Mama and Papa are going away for a short time.”

“No!” Ellie argued. “I go too.”

“No, this time Mama and Papa need to go alone. But you’ll be here with Grannie, and you will have fun. We will be back very soon, and I will bring you a surprise.”

“What? What?”

“If I tell you, it will not be a surprise. So, you be very good for Grannie. And when we get back, we will all go find a fair and you can ride the horses on the carousel all day.”

“The white horse,” Ellie emphasized. “Always the white horse.”

He chuckled and hugged her. “Yes, little one. The white horse.”

“Because he is family.” She intoned words she’d had spoken to her. “White horse is family.”

“Yes. Never forget. Now, give Papa a hug.”

Ellie turned and stood to put her arms around his neck. He held her close for a long time. “I love you little one.”

“I love you, Papa.”

Ellie felt something tugging her from the dream. She didn’t want to leave it. Feeling Papa’s arms holding her made her safe. She wanted to stay there. But something pinched at her arm, something that tore her from her Papa’s arms. She tried to speak but could not force words from her lips. And the pull of sleep reclaimed her, taking her back. Back to Grannie’s.

Grannie sat at the kitchen table, shelling beans. There was a big basket of beans on the floor at her feet and a large bowl in her lap. She’d reach into the basket and get a big handful of beans, put them on the table and then one by one split them open, pop the beans into the bowl and dump the empty shell in an old bucket that sat adjacent to the basket on the floor.

Ellie tried to mimic her movements and speed, but Grannie shelled five beans for every one Ellie managed to finish. There had been silence in the kitchen for a long time. It was often that way with Grannie. She did not talk needlessly because, as she said, she “did not need to hear the sound of her own voice.”

“Grannie, do you think Papa will ever come home?” Ellie asked.

Grannie paused, her hands went completely still, and looked across the table at Ellie. “What makes you ask this, Elana?”

Ellie shrugged. She was twelve, in middle school now and there was a dance coming up. A Father and Daughter dance. Her friends had talked about it all week. It made her feel alone. She had no father and that made her feel like an outcast.

“Why don’t we have any more family, Grannie? You said you had brothers and sisters. Where are they? They must have families. Don’t I have any cousins or aunts and uncles? And what about Papa’s family? Why don’t I know any of them?”

“So many questions, Elana. Why the sudden interest?”

Ellie sighed and told her about the dance. Grannie was quiet for a long time, so long that Ellie thought she was never going to comment and so she went back to shelling beans.

“Your Papa’s people are…displaced.”

“Displaced? What do you mean?”

“Just that they do not often settle down. They move from one place to another and so are difficult to keep track of.”

“And what about your family, Grannie?”

Grannie stood up suddenly, put her bowl on the table, and walked over to the old stove to pick up the teakettle and take it to the sink to run tap water into it. Ellie suddenly felt worried. Grannie fixed tea when she was upset. It calmed her, she said.

“Grannie, are you mad at me?”

“No, child.” Grannie put the kettle on the stove and turned on the burner but did not turn to face Ellie. “It is natural for you to be curious, just as it is natural for you to feel left out when your school has things like this Father and Daughter Dance.”

“Maybe there’s someone in your family that could go with me?” Ellie asked with more than a little nervousness. As much as she hated to admit it, she didn’t want to be the outcast, to be the only of her class who could not go because she had no father.

Grannie shook her head. “My family does not speak with me, Ellie. I could not call upon any of them.”

“Why?”

Grannie turned to face her. “Because your mama married a Whitehorse.”

Ellie felt her own mouth drop open. “They didn’t like my Papa?”

“No, they did not. He was…he was not one of us, child.”

“What do you mean not one of you?”

“He was not of our…tribe.”

“Well what difference does that make?” Ellie jumped up, spilling her bowl of beans. “Alice’s mother is Catholic, and her dad is Baptist, and their families don’t hate each other. And Denny’s dad is part Cherokee, and his mom is from Scotland and that doesn’t matter. That’s stupid and mean.”

“It is our way, child. We do not mix blood. Particularly not with one such as him.”

Ellie was shocked to hear such words emerge from her Grandmother’s lips. “What do you mean such as him? What was wrong with him? You said mama loved him, that he was the love of her life.”

“Yes, she did, and he was. But it was a forbidden love and the payment for their love was that we were cut out of the family.”

Ellie’s anger turned to worry when she saw the first of the tears that escaped her Grandmother’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Grannie!” She ran to her Grandmother and hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“It’s not your fault, child,” Grannie hugged her in return and kissed the top of her head. “Your mama knew the price as did I. We both knew and we agreed that her love for Michael was worth it.”

She pushed Ellie to arm’s length and smiled at her. “And we were right because here you are—the result of that love. My beautiful Elana.”

“Whitehorse,” Ellie added. “I’m a Whitehorse, like my Papa. You’ve told me before that I’m my father’s daughter.”

Grannie pulled Ellie to her with force and embraced her tightly. “I was wrong, Elana. If the gods smile on us, I was wrong.”

Ellie felt herself being pulled out of the dream and struggled against it. What did Grannie mean by that? She needed to know. But consciousness was taking the memory from her, making it fade like fog in sunlight.

The moment she was conscious fear flooded her. Where those men still standing over her? Her eyes flew open, and confusion set in. Where was she?

“Hey, you’re awake.” Cam’s voice came from beside her.

It was that moment she realized he had her hand in his and she was gripping it like it was a lifeline. She turned her head and saw him.

He had circles under his eyes, looked like he hadn’t shaved in several days and his shirt was wrinkled, as if he’d slept in in. “Hospital?” she asked in a voice that sounded raspy even to her own ears.

Cam moved to the bed and gently settled on it beside her, still holding her hand. “Lily got your call. She called 911 and then me.”

Ellie cleared her throat. Her mouth felt dry and sticky and her tongue strangely thick.

“Here,” Cam picked up a cup from the table by the bed that had a straw in it. He helped her and she drank a few swallows of water.

“Oh god that was good. Thank you. How long have I been here?”

“Three days. You had a pretty bad head injury—sixteen stitches and a cracked rib. Lots of contusions and bruises but the worst…they had to operate Ellie. You had a ruptured spleen.”

As scary as that sounded, Ellie couldn’t help but feel grateful. She was alive and when she was lying on that kitchen floor, she didn’t think she was going to be.

“You can live without a spleen,” she said. “I’m just happy to be alive. To wake and…” She realized she was about to spill her guts and looked away.

“And?” He asked.

She looked back at him. “And find you here.”

“Ellie.”

In all her life, she’d never heard her name spoken that way. It was the sound that emerges when someone prayed, the sound that comes from a deep emotion inside that finds vocal expression.

“Cam?”

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I promised to protect you and—”

“This isn’t your fault!” she insisted and tried to sit, but ended up gasping at the sudden stab of pain and falling back on the pillow.

“Are you okay, do you want me to call the nurse?”

“No, I’m fine, I just moved too fast. You have to listen to me, Cam. None of this was your fault. Someone wants my property. And they want it bad enough to try to beat me into selling. You couldn’t have known that would happen. And we both are smart enough to know that if someone wants to get to you bad enough, they’ll find a way.”

“Not again they won’t.” His voice took on a rough edge. “Never again. I promise you that.”

“Cam.” God, how did she say what needed to be said without giving away the fact that she was falling in love with him? If he knew that it might make him feel obligated and she didn’t want that. But she also didn’t want to try to dodge the truth. Had it not been from Lily’s swift action, she might have died and never had the chance to tell Cam how she really felt.

“What?”

She squeezed his hand. “Okay, this might be a big mistake, but life of late has shown me that nothing is guaranteed so I’m just going to be honest. I didn’t want to come to Florida. Didn’t want to have anything to do with what my father left me. But I didn’t have any other options.

“And then I found you here and that changed things. You changed things. I…you were the first boy I loved and maybe I’ve loved you ever since. I came here and saw you and…well damn, you’re like a wet dream so I was attracted to you. But I realized that despite all the time that’s passed I still like you. You made me feel safe and made me feel like there was…was maybe something more in life for me than just struggling to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly. You made me want more.

“I…god this is hard. I think I’m falling in love with you and right now the last thing I can take is you feeling that you have some responsibility or obligation to protect me from the snakes because I can’t do it myself or because I’m some poor charity case or because—”

“How about if I just want to take care of you?” He interrupted.

“But why?” She asked. “Why would you want to saddle yourself with my problems, Cam? I mean you’re…you’re you. You’re smart and strong and the sexiest man I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and you could have any woman you wanted with one smile so why in the world would you want to have to put up with all this—”

“I love you, Ellie.”

That interruption shocked her right into silence. At least for a few moments. Then disbelief loosened her tongue. “No. No, you don’t. You can’t.”

“Oh, I think I can.” He gave her a smile. “Maybe a part of me always has. And maybe a week ago I might have agreed with you. Yeah, I’m attracted to you, and I like you but love? Hell, I don’t even know what that is. I haven’t loved anyone since I was a kid. Until now.

“When I heard what happened to you…I’ve never felt that way ever, except when my dad died. That sick, I want to change reality feeling that takes you over. I felt that and I’ve felt it every minute since until you opened your eyes.

“And that’s not obligation or responsibility. It has to be love. I don’t want to think about life without you in it. So, yeah, I am making a promise. I won’t let this happen again. I will protect you, Ellie.”

“From the snakes,” she said and brushed at the tears that streamed down her face.

“You got it, honey.”

She smiled up at him, suddenly overcome with fatigue. “And frogs,” she said as lassitude started to claim her. “Don’t forget the frogs. Those ugly gray…”

Cam smiled as she drifted off to sleep in the middle of her sentence. She was going to be okay. That was all that mattered. That and making damn sure that whoever did this to her got what was coming to him.