Nugget coughed, and Annabelle thought she might have heard the little girl say yes.
“Don’t try to talk. The dust’s too thick.”
“Hey, boss!” A man’s voice called from the other end of the tunnel. “You ready for us to get the silver?”
Though the heavy man on top of her was most uncomfortable, at least he wasn’t able to answer and warn them that rescuers were on the way.
“There’s a lot of dust,” Annabelle called back. “Best wait a while.”
She could hear murmuring, probably the men discussing why she’d answered instead of Slade. And no quick retort came to her to explain. Instead, she felt the weight being moved off her, giving her room to shift toward a dim light.
Two familiar eyes glowed back at her.
Joseph!
Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around him, feeling the warmth of a body she’d believed dead.
“Shh...it’s all right. Where’s Nugget?”
Of course. Annabelle should have realized that his sister would be a priority in his mind. She shouldn’t have... Her face heated. Had she truly put her arms around this man? No matter what she might have vowed otherwise, she’d had no business doing so.
As Annabelle moved out of the way, she heard yells and gunshots coming from the end of the tunnel where Slade’s men had been waiting. “The sheriff?” She looked for confirmation from Joseph, who nodded.
“Your pa is waiting on the other side.”
He picked up Nugget, then led Annabelle through the cavern, where dust still settled.
“Keep your mouth covered. You don’t want to breathe in all the dust.” He pressed a handkerchief into her hand, which she gratefully took. It was a sight better than her sleeve.
She followed him out into the sunlight. A setting sun, but sun nonetheless.
“Father!” She ran into his arms, and he hugged her tight to him, tighter than she could ever remember being held.
When he finally pulled away, he picked at her hair. “Why, Annabelle, I do believe you’ve got silver dust in your hair.”
He ran his fingers along the strands, then held his hands up to look. “Joseph! Wes! Look here! There really is silver in that mountain!”
The men gathered round, exclaiming over the silver in Annabelle’s hair, and as they examined her further, even among the folds of her dress. Nugget merely lifted her head from her brother’s shoulder and gave a shrug as if to say, “I told you so.”
On the way back to the camp, she shared what she’d discovered with her father, whose face grew more ashen as he realized the depths of the perfidy of a man he’d loved like his own son.
But they passed camp, taking the trail instead toward town.
“Aren’t we stopping at the mining camp?”
Her father shook his head. “There’s men to be put in jail. Plus, you could use a bath and to sleep in your own bed.”
Annabelle closed her eyes for a brief moment. A bath and her own bed sounded just about perfect. Only... “What about Gertie? I’m sure she must be worried sick.”
Even when Annabelle chose to shut the other woman out, Gertie had loved her. It was time Annabelle let her.
He pulled his horse to a stop in front of her. “We sent a rider to let them know what happened. Getting you safely home is the priority now.”
“Do you think we could go up and see her soon? I know she won’t be satisfied until she hugs me herself.”
The look on her father’s face was the final piece of healing she needed. “I’m sure she’d like that.”
But then the wrinkles on her father’s forehead deepened more than she’d ever seen. “I’m sorry, Annabelle. I was blind to a lot of things, like your pain. You were hurting, and instead of talking to you, I assumed I knew what was best. I forced you to help in a ministry that you didn’t believe in.”
Annabelle swallowed, wishing she could say something to ease the pain in her father’s voice. “It’s a good ministry, Father.”
“But it’s not your ministry. Can you forgive me for being so blind? I feel it’s my fault for placing you in danger by forcing you—”
“No.” Annabelle wished they weren’t both on horseback so she could reach for him and offer him some comfort. “If I hadn’t been here, Slade would have taken Nugget, and there would have been no one to protect her. But I was here. And it all worked out, all of our mistakes, for the saving of lives.”
Her father brushed his hand across his eyes. “You are something else, Annabelle. Your mother would be so proud. Just as I am.”
She’d never imagined her father would ever say such a thing of her. In that moment, all of the pain she’d endured through this ordeal was completely worth it.
Joseph slowed his horse alongside them. “Is anything wrong?”
“No,” her father said. “I was just telling Annabelle how proud I was of her. And, if she still wishes, I’ll be putting her on the next train East to visit her aunt Celeste.”
Annabelle’s heart leaped. Finally! After all this time. But Nugget’s tiny gasp made her stop. How could she leave Nugget?
Her father had been right. Having been forced to confront the pain and push past it, her heart didn’t hurt so much anymore. The people she loved were safe, and she wanted to cling to them rather than push them away.
“Father, I...”
Her throat seemed to swell, and it wasn’t from all the dust she’d breathed in. Everything she’d ever dreamed of was being offered to her with no price, and yet, it felt wrong somehow.
“I shouldn’t have been so selfish in keeping you here.”
Her father’s voice was gruff, but she wasn’t looking at him. Rather, she couldn’t keep her eyes off the lone tear trickling down Nugget’s cheek.
Her place was with Nugget. But how could she insist? Joseph had said nary a word to her since her rescue, and he’d already made it clear that his future was about taking care of his family, and...
There was no room for Annabelle in Joseph’s
