Esther grabbed a big branch as she lost her footing coming up the hill. Her stomach took a dive. Calm down. You caught yourself. She picked up some of the smaller limbs as she made her way further along. Laughter, trailing behind her from the camp. She made out Lenna’s louder laugh as she explained how she caught her brother off guard. Esther giggled, picturing it in her mind.
Lenna hiding behind a tent and jumping out to spook her brother. The screams and laughs following from the prank. As time went on, she liked Lenna more and more. A little brash for a woman, but a woman not afraid to speak her mind or to think larger than others around her. Her dreams were big and Esther wondered if she’d make them come true. According to her husband she would not. Lenna’s husband seemed to be a soft-spoken man, but well respected by the other men on the job. A good foreman.
Bev, bless her, was more soft spoken than either Esther or Lenna. They’d gotten to know one another. She’d loved living in the house she’d grown up in. There was routine and hard work; not much time for playing around. Esther shivered as her mind drifted to her former home. She hoped to never see it again. She thought of the way she used to worry about her calloused hands, but Obadiah didn’t mind them and she was thankful.
She gathered more twigs.
Snap.
Snap.
Esther jerked her head to the right. The shadow as figure darted behind a big tree. Sweat dripped down her neck. In the last few weeks, she’d been certain someone was following them, but she’d never seen anyone in the shadows. Now she knew without a doubt. Who? Why? What did they want? A memory flashed through her mind. Nathan.
He’d followed her and Ruth. Came for his payment. Cursed under her breath. Glad her husband wasn’t close to her and heard the word.
One step. Two. Three. She tried to stay on task. Get the sticks and out of the woods alive. She’d tell her husband. She had no other choice. He’d keep her safe. Reaching down for the last twig, a pair of arms caught her around the waist. A hand clamped to her mouth to keep her from screaming.
No!
The blood in her veins turned ice cold. Goosebumps rose on her skin. She struggled against the unknown person’s hold. A man. Had to be as a woman wouldn’t be this strong. Pain shot down her arm as he tightened his grip. The sticks dropped from her grasp. She clawed at the clutching arms. Her fingers were white from the effort she used. The hold still didn’t budge.
“Calm down, brat.”
She froze at his words. The voice. She knew it. It wasn’t the moneylender.
It was James.
The man her husband warned her about. The one who’d been trying to come between them and had scared her something fierce. She tried to swallow against the lump in her throat. He wouldn’t take her or hurt her without a fight. She didn’t know why he wanted to harm her or had followed her into the woods. It didn’t matter. She had to get Obadiah.
Esther bit down on his hand when he pressed it harder against her mouth. With her leg, she kicked him hard in the shin at the same time. He cursed. His arms let go of her. This was her chance. She ran down the hill as fast as her legs would carry her. Her arms were being scratched by the branches sticking out from bushes and trees but she didn’t feel it.
“I’ll kill you.”
He would if he got her. She had no doubt. When her husband had spoken of this man, she didn’t really think he was all that dangerous. A vulgar older man, but that’s about all. Wrong! She’d been so wrong. The way he made her skin crawl had been a warning and now she regretted not telling Obadiah more so he could protect her. She should have told him she was certain something or someone had been following them.
Her legs gave out as she tripped on a bump in the terrain. With the darkness coming closer, it was harder to see. Rats. Her hands thrust in front of her broke the brunt of her fall. A scream bubbling to the surface, as pain shot through her wrist. James pulled her up by her hair and smacked her face with his palm.
“Shut up.”
“No!” Esther dug her heels into the ground beneath her, making it hard for him to move her.
“Don’t need that husband of yours coming or anyone else.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
She screamed again. He jerked her arm behind her back. Something poked her back. She froze in place. What was that? She refused to show how frightened she was at the turn of events. He shoved her forward. “Be quiet or I’ll shoot you.”
Twisting to try and get away from his grip, she had no luck getting away. He shoved the gun harder at her back. He was a lunatic she thought. For years she fought anything to do with God, and now if He was true was only One, could He help her?. She prayed her husband would find them. Prayed her screams had been loud enough that someone in the camp heard it, and they would come to search. She willed her body not to shake even though all she wanted to do was to roll into a ball and cry.
He dragged her deeper into the woods. Each step took
