Obadiah's hands shook. He’d kill them both. He ran to her side and punched the man in the face as James stood watching. Coward. He let go of Esther as he turned his attention to Obadiah. They circled one another. He tried to find the best way to disarm and disable Simon. Obadiah sent up a silent prayer for help. He ducked low when Simon punched in his direction.
“Go. Now.” He yelled at Esther. She was bent over trying to catch her breath. She shook her head at him.
Stubborn woman. He needed her away from danger. Back at the camp where the others could keep an eye on her while he dealt with these two. If this went wrong, he didn’t want her to see him die defending her. He didn’t have time to argue with her. They’d talk about this later. Obadiah punched the other man in the nose.
Crunch. Blood splattered. He jumped out of the way hoping to not get any blood on him.
Esther screamed.
James ran at him with the knife pointing at him. Obadiah rolled on the ground out of the way, knocking James off his feet. The man who caused so much pain in his life lay on the ground. He stood over him, landing a blow to his face. “That’s for killing my Ma.”
“Now it’s your turn.”
That seemed to wake James up and he leapt to his feet. He jumped, the knife in front of him, blade pointing at Obadiah. James charged at him. Obadiah grabbed for the knife, twisting it around to face away from himself. They fell to the ground, wrestling for control of the weapon. He knew the moment it stabbed the man in the chest. Hard resistance and then it slipped in smoothly. He shoved James off him as Esther again screamed.
Turning in her direction, he saw that Simon was coming at her. This man didn’t learn. He wouldn’t have her. Ever. She threw rocks at him, standing her ground, yelling at him. He’d never heard her utter a curse before. She fought with such force. At times he had thought she was innocent and then there times like this when he saw her strength and it made him love her even more.
Obadiah grabbed him in a chokehold, slamming him to the ground. Still, she didn’t run for help. This was personal to her. With thunder on her face, she didn’t back down. Lenna came into sight with Ethan. Sure they arrive after he’d already been fighting off two men at one time. He chuckled to himself. Not much left to do now. Except maybe his wife would go back with Lenna. He might not like the woman, but his wife did.
“Lenna, get her back to camp.”
She wrapped her arm around Esther trying to lead her away, but his wife dug her heels in. “I can’t leave him with this man. He’ll…….” Her voice broke for the first time.
“He’ll be fine. He’s got him and Ethan will help him restrain him. Come on.”
“No.”
Obadiah growled.
“Don’t growl at me!” Esther yelled at him. Heaven help him with this woman.
“Then go with her.” He lowered his voice, softening it for her sake. “Please.”
Esther stomped her foot, throwing her hands up in the air. She shot him a look as she wanted to slap him for asking her to go. Didn’t she see he needed to know she was safe? He’d deal with the threat and then come to talk to her. She no longer had to handle these hard ordeals on her own. He wished he could get this through to her.
“Fine.”
“You have your hands full,” Ethan said, laughing.
“You have no idea.”
She let Lenna lead her back to the camp. Ethan came back, taking Simon by the arm. They worked to secure him. The man cussed at them and they ignored him,leaning him against the tree. They had to handle James’s dead body. Hours later, quite late into the night, Obadiah came back into camp, and allowed the foreman to handle Simon. Getting him to the sheriff and for once letting the law handle a mess sounded like a good idea to him. His wife needed him.
She sat next to the fire, Lenna close by keeping an eye on her. The others were already off to sleep for the night. Esther had her knees pulled close to her chest, sitting and staring at the fire. For once he was thankful for the other woman. She’d taken care of his wife and had not tried to be the hero.
“Thank you, Lenna.”
She nodded and walked off to her tent. No words. A different side of her and the others in the tribe might like this change. He turned his attention to Esther, as she looked up at him. Shame in her eyes. He never wanted her to feel this way around him. Everyone has a past and to him, it didn’t matter. He knew her. The real her.
“The things he said…they’re not true, except I did owe him money, as did Ruth.”
She told him everything. He didn’t interrupt her, letting her share her heart with him. The difference in her tonight shone through and he thanked God for her openness. For a moment he almost listened as a man and not with his heart. She’d been given to the home as a baby, growing up there. They had not allowed this very often. “I believe you.”
She sighed in relief. Her face relaxing as she leaned into his arm. “I’m so glad. I was afraid neither of us would get out alive.”
“I know. Esther, I love you.”
He kissed her hard on the lips. He kissed her with every ounce of love he had for her. In a way, it was as if he had never kissed
