She heard him cursing and breathing hard as he tried to follow her ascent.
“Royal, you get back here. I mean it!”
She sank lower behind the tree, hoping he wouldn’t climb any farther. Royal never got another glimpse of Wade, and after ten minutes or so she heard the truck engine come to life down below.
Holy shit. She leaned her head back against the old felled tree trunk and let out a long sigh. Lovey had probably saved her life.
Just to be sure, Royal walked back a little way, following the crest of the ridge. She wanted to see the truck actually head down the road and then she’d feel safe enough to strike out toward the house. The truck didn’t drive off right away. Maybe Wade was waiting to see if she’d come back. He must really have believed she was crazier than he was. She kept walking just below the ridgeline until she could get a clear view of the road for the next quarter mile. What she saw along the road in the moonlight stopped her in her tracks.
At least four dark sedans were crisscrossing the road around the bend, ahead of where she’d pulled the truck off. Two of them she recognized as county vehicles. One of them was probably Boyd Cotton. The other two looked like the paneled cars she’d seen the federal boys drive. She hunkered down behind an old stump just as Wade’s headlights crested the small rise and illuminated the blockade in front of him.
Royal’s heart thundered in her chest at the thought that this trap had also almost caught her. She had a front row seat to what happened next.
Wade stopped the truck twenty or thirty feet before reaching the roadblock. He stepped out of the truck but stayed behind the open door. The engine was still running, and the headlights lit the gathering in front of him.
“We don’t want no trouble, Wade,” Boyd Cotton yelled from behind one of the large forward sedans. “Throw out that shotgun and nobody will get hurt.”
“Fuck you, Boyd!” The shotgun discharged and sparks flew across the hood of the car near where Boyd was standing.
Royal could see that Wade was ready to shoot again from behind the door. The shotgun was doing him no good at this distance. The barrels were too short; his alteration of the firearm for intimidation and short-range use were his undoing.
Boyd returned fire and Wade recoiled as the round caught him in the shoulder. He tried to raise the shotgun with his other hand, but before he could pull it off, two of Boyd’s deputies were on him, wrestling him to the ground.
Royal couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed and how close she’d been to throwing her chance with Lovey away. She was shaken up and too afraid to walk along the road, so she skirted the ridge above the roadway all the way back to the house. It was late when she arrived.
She figured Lovey had probably gotten angry and left, and it would serve her right. She was berating herself as she approached the dark house when she heard Lovey call her name.
“Royal?” Lovey ran to her and jumped into her arms, kissing her all over her face. “Oh, Royal! You’re safe!”
“Lovey, I’m so sorry I had to leave you. My uncle has lost his damn mind.”
“Oh, Royal. If anything had happened to you I wouldn’t have survived.”
Royal realized her shirt was soiled and she had scratches on her arms from briars she’d encountered in the dark woods. “You waited for me?”
“Royal Duval, I would have waited on you forever. Did you forget the part where I said I was madly in love with you?”
Royal grinned. “I guess I was afraid I’d heard that part wrong.”
They walked arm in arm toward the house, where it looked like only one light was still on.
“What are you wearing?” Royal looked sideways at Lovey.
“I took a bath after dinner and borrowed one of your shirts. Your mother said you wouldn’t mind.” Lovey pulled at the front of the oversized shirt. She also had on a pair of Royal’s trousers, which didn’t fit her any better than the shirt. “I left some clothes at your other place. Maybe we can get them tomorrow.”
“You’re just making yourself at home, aren’t you?” Royal put an arm around Lovey’s shoulder and pulled her close, kissing her on the forehead.
“I hope I am home.” Lovey leaned into Royal’s shoulder as they walked toward the porch steps.
Royal stopped and turned toward Lovey, pulling her into a tender kiss.
They walked arm in arm into the house and up to Royal’s room. She excused herself to wash up from her nighttime trek and then returned to find Lovey curled on her side, wearing Royal’s shirt and nothing else.
Royal pulled the door closed and dropped her robe before climbing in next to Lovey.
“I feel like I’m in a dream,” she said.
“Me too.” Lovey caressed her face and then leaned closer and kissed her.
After they kissed for a moment, Lovey rolled on top of Royal, straddling her at the waist, the loose-fitting shirt falling open to reveal pale, perfect flesh underneath.
“Don’t ever leave me again, okay?” Royal let her hands drift down Lovey’s satin ribs under the shirt.
“I won’t, baby.” Lovey leaned over her and kissed her again. “I’m so sorry I hurt you. I want to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
Royal pulled Lovey close so that she was lying full on top of her, bare skin touching bare skin. “I like the sound of that.”
Chapter Thirty-five
The morning after Royal’s late night hike through the woods, the Duval family received word from local authorities that after a short visit to the hospital in Gainesville, Wade had been taken into custody for the transport and sale of illegal liquor. Wade would be held at the county jail until his trial. His state-appointed attorney said, based on the sheer volume of physical evidence found at the
