Grace paced the floor when a thought crossed her mind, and a shiver ran down her back. Wade wouldn’t shoot Willow to keep her hidden? She knew he was deranged in his thinking, but would he kill her horse? No, Wade needed to get back to the ranch quickly before someone asked where he was when Grace left. He’d have to shoot her somewhere close, and she didn’t hear a shot. She prayed Willow was safe.
Grace dropped back down on the cot and let her emotions out. She wanted to scream for help, but no one would hear her, and it would waste her energy. She tried to stop the tears from coming, but it was as if she tried to hold back the tide. Tears spilled freely down her cheeks, and she buried her face in her hands.
After what seemed like an hour, Grace wiped the tears from her cheeks with her hands. The front of her blouse was wet with tears, and many had dropped onto her riding skirt. Admonishing herself for giving in to her emotions, she decided that tears wouldn’t help her escape, but somehow, she felt calmer and more resolved than ever to find a way out and convince her husband she loved him and never left on her own accord.
Grace stood and opened the shutter on the small window enough to take stock of everything in the shack once more. Somehow, there had to be an answer to her dilemma, and she’d find it. After perusing everything again, she wasn’t sure exactly what she could do, but she closed the shutter against any danger and decided to think of every story she ever read about damsels in distress. Certainly, she’d find an answer. In the morning, she needed to find a way to save herself.
Chapter Sixteen
The wagon bounced down the access road as the Hutchison family returned from their trip to town. The bright afternoon sunshine matched Elizabeth’s mood after spending a few hours listening to Grandpa Hutch’s stories of Wade and Clay in their youth and his kindness toward her. His insistence that she purchase a new dress thrilled Elizabeth. New dresses were something she never had while growing up and once leaving the orphanage, she seldom could afford hair ribbons much less fabric for a new dress. She couldn’t wait to share her excitement with Grace.
Grandpa pulled the wagon behind the house and Clay climbed off his horse to assist in carrying in the multitude of packages Cora had managed to purchase.
Clay grumbled a bit, and Cora told him if he didn’t eat so much she wouldn’t need to buy as much which made Clay smile and shake his head.
Elizabeth rushed into the house to share her excitement over her new dress with Grace. A few minutes later, she returned to the kitchen with tears streaming down her face.
Holding the note she found on Grace’s bed along with her wedding ring in her shaking hand, she handed them to Clay. “Grace is gone.”
“What?” Clay said as he read the note. “This isn’t possible. The note doesn’t make sense. She didn’t enjoy living in Chicago. She wouldn’t go back. Grace said she loved living here and that she loved me.”
Clay dropped the note on the table and ran from the house toward the barn. Cora watched him as he walked back from the barn with his head low and shoulders slumped. Clay pulled the back door open and said, “Willow isn’t in the barn. Grace must have taken her. Can you tell if she packed a bag?”
Elizabeth rushed back to the room she shared with Grace and looked around. She couldn’t tell exactly what Grace took, but most of her things were packed away in her trunks. She turned to leave the room when her eyes were drawn to the floor where Grace’s necklace lay. Elizabeth then looked at the items on the dresser.
Rushing back to the kitchen holding a bottle of perfume in one hand and Grace’s pearls and the necklace from Clay in the other, she said, “Something’s wrong. Grace left these behind. They weren’t packed in her trunks. The perfume was the last gift she received from her father before he died, and these are her mother’s pearls. She would never leave them behind intentionally . Here’s the necklace you gave her, Clay. It was lying on the floor by her bed. It’s broken.”
Clay stopped his pacing to listen to Elizabeth and said, “All right, she wrote a note but left behind her most precious items. Either she was forced to leave or was threatened and thought running was the only answer. She’s my wife. She loves me, and I know she wouldn’t leave without talking to me. I have to find her. She couldn’t have gone far.”
“But what if she didn’t leave on her own,” Elizabeth asked. “If she was forced, where could she be?”
“I don’t know,” Clay answered and looked to Cora and his grandpa. “Do you have any idea?”
Grandpa shook his head, and Cora offered, “We need help finding her. You need to get the sheriff.”
“No,” Grandpa insisted. “Whatever happened is family business and we’ll handle it ourselves. The sheriff won’t have any idea what to do, and I’ll not have this family’s business become fodder for gossip.”
Clay spun and looked at his grandpa, “What do you mean family business?”
Grandpa’s head dropped for a moment before he looked back at Clay with tears shimmering in his aging eyes, “This is my fault, Clay. I only wanted you boys to marry and have children. I wanted to see a few more babies in the house before I die. I never changed my will. You and Wade inherit equally married or not.”
Clay
