painted lady carried a tray loaded down with a week’s supply of food. All kinds of food. Not just meat, or bread, or roots.
‘‘Here you go, sweetie.’’ The woman smiled with dark red lips as she set the tray on a footstool and stepped back. She folded her arms over her ample breasts and waited for Allie to make the next move.
For a moment, all Allie could see was the piece of meat, bread layered in butter, a baked apple still steamy from the oven. From somewhere far in her past came the memory of such foods. Then she saw it-the knife placed beside the plate.
In one lightning lunge, she raised from her coverings, grabbed the weapon, and folded back into the cave of covers.
The woman called Rose jumped back as though someone had punched her. ‘‘Did you see that?’’ she yelled toward the doctor.
‘‘See what?’’ Adam answered without lifting his stare from the book.
Rose pointed toward Allie with a shaking hand. ‘‘She stole the knife!’’
‘‘Then get her another one,’’ Adam answered without giving the matter a glance.
Rose huffed and stormed out of the room. ‘‘Well, I never in all my born days seen…’’ Words trailed after her.
Allie closed her eyes and let the knife turn over in her hand. The food looked good and the room felt wonderfully warm, but nothing compared to the feel of a weapon in her hand. She was no longer defenseless.
‘‘There!’’ Rose appeared in front of Allie once more. ‘‘I brought you another fork, too.’’ She clanked the gift down next to the plate.
When Allie grabbed the second knife Rose screamed again, this time drawing Adam’s full attention.
‘‘She did it again, Doc. She took the knife.’’ Rose waved her finger in a whipping motion. ‘‘Land’s sake to goodness, she’ll kill us all in our sleep.’’
‘‘I doubt anyone in the house is asleep, thanks to your screaming.’’ Adam stood and moved slowly toward Allie. ‘‘Get another knife, Rose,’’ he said calmly. ‘‘In fact, bring all we have.’’
‘‘What!’’ Rose shifted her startled gaze to the doctor.
‘‘You heard me. Bring all the knives from your kitchen.’’
Rose stormed off, her hands at full-blown mast above her head and words following her like smoke does from a train.
Adam knelt in front of Allie. Very slowly, he lifted the bread and offered it to her.
Allie didn’t move. She’d been offered food before only to find it a trap. If she didn’t take the bread, maybe he wouldn’t hurt her or demand something in return.
‘‘You’ve no call to be afraid,’’ Adam said calmly. ‘‘We owe you a great debt for bringing Wes to us.’’ He put the bread on the tray and picked up the glass of milk.She didn’t reach for it.
‘‘I’m sorry if Rose frightened you. She’s a great cook. Won’t you try her meal?’’
Allie knew his words, but somehow all the meaning didn’t come through. She’d been tricked too often to trust now.
Rose returned with her starched apron loaded down with weapons.
Adam reached in her stash and offered Allie a small knife. ‘‘If you want these, you are welcome to them,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve nothing to fear from such a brave one as you. I don’t know how my brother found his way into your care, but I’m glad you brought him to us. We are all in your debt.’’
Allie could never remember being called brave. She’d always thought of herself as a coward. All her life it seemed she’d been running. First from the raid that killed her family, then from tribes that warred against one another, then from the men who captured her and called it a saving.
‘‘I’ll just put a few of them here.’’ Adam stood, taking the knives, apron and all, from Rose. He placed two on the bookshelf beside the door he opened. ‘‘The rest will be in the room across the hallway. Nichole prepared you a bath, and Rose will take your food in there so you can have some privacy.’’
Rose looked at the doctor as if he’d lost his mind and this wasn’t the first time she’d noticed. She let out a loud sigh and shook her head toward heaven. ‘‘Lord, Lord, protect us all tonight so we don’t get knifed in our sleep.’’ She lifted the tray and followed the doctor without ceasing in her prayer. ‘‘Lord, please send Sister Cel and the others safely back home, and Lord, please don’t let them be the ones that finds us all dead in our own blood from the knife wounds, and Lord, I’m truly sorry for my life of sin. It was an evil life, and I don’t have time to list everything one by one, but I don’t deserve to be stabbed like a hog neither and Lord-’’
‘‘That will be enough, Rose,’’ the doctor interrupted. ‘‘You’ll frighten our guest.’’
She opened one eye to glare at him as she continued silently mouthing her prayer while following Adam out of the room.
Allie waited.
Silence.
She could still smell the baked apple. Slowly, she shifted the weapons in her hands. Could it be possible no one was going to fight her for them?
Letting the blanket slip away, she looked around the room.
No one. Only the stranger, who Adam had called Wes. He lay on the bed asleep.
With a tight grip on the largest knife, Allie stood. She turned a full circle twice.
No one.
Without a sound, she moved toward the door where Adam and Rose had disappeared. They could be just beyond the opening, waiting to jump at her. Waiting to take her weapon away. Waiting to hurt her.
But as she inched past the door, she saw no one. Only the light from across the hall. The knives Adam had carried from the room were spread out on the bed like an offering. The tray of food sat on a table.
Hunger drove Allie closer. Every inch of her was alive, ready to bolt at any sound or hint of danger. She moved into the hallway.
Nothing.
She entered the small room and, once again, turned a circle with her knife drawn. The room was too small to hide a person. There was only space enough for a bed, a small table, a chair, and a huge tub of water.
As she finished the rotation, Allie caught sight of Nichole in the doorway. Allie’s knuckles turned white with her tight grip on the weapon, but she didn’t advance. She waited. She had no desire to harm the lady, but Allie had made up her mind she wouldn’t let anyone hurt her again.
Nichole stepped to the bed and laid down a pile of clothing. ‘‘I thought you could use these for tonight,’’ she said as she backed from the room. ‘‘I’ll leave you to your privacy, but if you need anything, you’ve only to ask.’’
She closed the door.
Allie bolted, dropping one of the knives in her hurry to grab the door.
But the knob turned easily in her hand. It wasn’t locked. She jerked it open to make sure.
Nichole stood a few feet away. She smiled as if she’d read Allie’s mind. ‘‘The key’s on the inside of the door. You can lock it if you wish. But no one will bother you. You’re safe here.’’
Allie closed the door quickly and looked down. The key. She knew about locks. She’d been locked in many rooms over the past weeks. Again and again, she’d seen the preacher take the key, then the lock would turn and she’d be imprisoned once more.
Hesitantly, she placed the knife on the table and let her fingers close around the key. When she pulled, it came away in her hand.
She put the key back in the lock and twisted it as she’d seen the preacher do. Next, she tried the door. Locked. Then she twisted the key again and opened the door.
The hall was quiet.
Allie slowly closed the door and turned the key once more. She wasn’t being locked in. This time she locked the world out.
Without taking her eyes away from the door for more than a moment, she sat on the floor and lowered the tray of food to her lap. For the first few bites, she scooped the food with her fingers. When the hunger grew more under control, she picked up the fork. Deliberately she stabbed for each bite. The fork felt strange in her hand, but not totally foreign. Halfway through the meal, she slowed enough to taste.Good, she thought.Very good.The tiny loud woman might wear war paint, but Adam had been right: Rose was a cook.
When the food was gone, she drank the milk. Wiping her mouth on the back of her arm, she pushed the tray
