She didn’t say a word the whole way home. She didn’t say anything when they pulled up and Tabitha ran to her. Emma didn’t acknowledge her as she walked past her, Tucker, and Travis. She didn’t say a damn thing to anyone. She just walked into the house, straight for the bedroom. She closed and locked the door, and sat on the bed, staring out into nothing.
Fear, total uninhibited fear flew through her body, like a bullet searching for its target, engulfing her. Her heart was beating so fast, it felt like it was about to burst right out of her chest. She was a dead woman. He was going to kill her. Nothing on this earth was going to stop him, and nothing she did was going to stop him from finding her.
She knew this. He had made it very clear. Show up in Denver on August 7 before 7:00 p.m. and hand deliver the deed and will to him, and he would let her live. He had hunted her down and beaten her to a bloody pulp for refusing to give him the information, but when he saw Tabitha hiding in the corner, he had threatened to kill her daughter, or make Tabitha watch as he killed her. That was the real reason she left.
Emma had never had any real intentions of going to Denver. She was running. It was a plain miracle when Tucker happened to be the tow truck driver, and she quickly realized what she had to do. She didn’t want to involve them, but she knew to not look a gift horse in the mouth. Those boys would die protecting Tabitha, and she was safer with them than with her. It killed her to leave her daughter, but it was the right thing to do and now, she was back where she started. She had to figure something out and fast, before he came looking for her here. And that was something she didn’t want to happen.
She had inadvertently involved the boys, and for that she was truly sorry, but she had no choice. The longer she stayed, the more danger they were in. Everyone who touched her was at risk. She still couldn’t believe this was happening to her. What confused her more was why. Instantly, a vicious, menacing voice pushed itself into her head. I don’t care how you do it, but you better get me the deeds to the house and the land or I will tell them.
“Where did that come from?” Emma whispered to herself.
Then out of nowhere, a dark memory flashed before her eyes. Darkness, the eternal abyss of nothing, as the night loomed a pitch-black veil over everything beautiful. Suffocating, she couldn’t breathe. Pain, excruciating pain, permeated her body. The smell of whiskey and cigarettes surrounded her, but it was the pressure, piercing and unbearable pressure, that stole her breath.
Emma was gasping so hard, soon her vision blurred, then everything went black.
Chapter Four
It was dark when the boys heard her screams. They all heard her screaming their names over and over again as they rushed to the room, only to find it locked. Tate immediately kicked open the door, as Travis and Tucker rushed in to witness Emma thrashing in bed as if she was fighting for her very existence.
Tate grabbed a hold of her thrashing body, trying to wake her, but Emma in this state was so strong it took all three of them to hold her down. Emma was fighting all them as if her life was in danger. Nothing was waking her. She kept fighting and screaming their names over and over again. After about five minutes, her body broke out in a cold sweat and she began to shake.
“What the fuck is going on!” Tucker shouted as he and Tate tried to hold her body with theirs.
“Travis, call Doc, now!” Tate yelled, as Emma’s body just went lifeless in their arms. “Emma, baby, come on, sweetheart, wake up for me. Please, baby, wake up.” Tate whispered kisses over her face, trying to bring her out of this hellacious nightmare.
Travis ran back into the room. “Doc is on his way. Said give him ten minutes. He also said to get Emma into a cold shower.” With that Travis ran ahead and started the water, quickly peeling off his clothes. Tucker handed Emma to Travis, and soon he and Tate were disrobing and entering the cold spray.
Together they held Emma under the cold, icy water, allowing the coolness of the water to shock her body. It didn’t take long for Emma to awaken. Seeing her boys surrounding her with fear in their eyes, Emma just broke down and sobbed uncontrollably. Travis and Tucker left her alone with Tate, while they dried off and got dressed. They came back to help Tate take care of Emma.
Tate handed Emma over to them as they dried her and dressed her in dry, warm clothes. Travis picked her up and carried her down the hall and into the master bedroom.
None of the boys ever slept in there, and after the death of their father, they had completely gutted the place and remodeled the whole thing in the hopes that one day Emma would return. This was her room, and for some reason, this was the room they felt she needed to be in. Laying her down on the oversized king bed, Travis covered her with the thick quilt.
Emma was still crying uncontrollably. It broke Travis’s heart to see her in so much pain. “What the hell happened to her?” he whispered to himself.
They all heard the doorbell. Tucker volunteered to answer it. As soon as the doc saw Emma, he noticed her emotional state. Travis watched as the doc took her wrist in his hand, feeling for a pulse.
Seeing the tension and beads of sweat on her brow, and the fixed dilation of her pupils, he worried that Emma was on the brink of a full mental breakdown, and was surprised as the doc immediately administered a sedative. The boys watched as the doc did his job, never saying a single word while the man worked. When the doc was done, he motioned for the boys to follow him.
* * * *
In the kitchen the doc set his bag on the table and took a deep breath. “Someone want to tell me what the hell happened to Emma? That’s not the young, vibrant girl I remember seeing seven years ago.”
“We don’t know, Doc. She just woke up screaming. So we called you,” Tucker offered.
“What’s wrong with her, Doc?” Travis asked.
“I believe Emma is suffering from a very severe case of posttraumatic shock. But until I can fully examine her, I can only suspect.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Tate asked, moving closer to the doc.
“It means that something very fucking bad happened to that little girl. Whatever it was was so profound that her mind has literally built a brick wall around it, and I would wager big bucks she also built an electrical fence with a damn moat. She has hidden it so damn deep within her subconscious that it’s almost as if it never happened. I’ve only seen cases like this with returning vets, but never this severe with someone who has never seen combat.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Tate questioned.
“That’s just it, Tate, until she is ready to tell us what happened, I don’t know how to help her. If she hasn’t remembered what happened by now, I doubt she will remember in the morning,” he explained, running his hands through his hair in frustration.
“If that’s the case, what opened the door?” Travis asked, looking at everyone.
“That’s the million-dollar question. What happened in the last twenty-four hours?” Doc asked, taking a seat at the table. The boys soon followed.
“Emma took off for Denver to take care of a personal matter. She wasn’t happy when we stopped her. We brought her back here, and she went straight to my room,” Tate offered.
“That’s not entirely true, bro. Don’t forget what Tabitha said. She said that she was afraid the bad man was going to hurt Emma again.”
“Who is Tabitha?” Doc immediately asked.
“Shit, doc, we’re sorry. With so much going on around here, nobody knows, do they? Emma has a daughter, our daughter. Her name is Tabitha.” Tate explained.
“Well, that clarifies that.” The doc smiled at the happy news. “So, what about this bad man?”
“We don’t know and neither does Tabitha,” Tucker said.
“Well, whatever happened, it opened the door. I don’t know how she will respond when she wakes. She will either act as if nothing happened, and in my opinion that is really bad, because she will have repressed that memory again, or she will remember, which
means she will need me, so I am not leaving until she wakes up. Better go get the coffee on, boys, it’s going to be a long night.”
* * * *
Emma walked into the kitchen to find all the boys sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. They each looked at her with concern. She noticed Doc standing against the counter, watching as she entered the room.
“Morning,” Emma said as she made her way to the coffeemaker. Everyone held their breaths as Emma poured a cup of coffee and soon began making breakfast.
The kitchen was so quiet that it was giving Emma the creeps. She turned to find them all looking at her. “What?” she asked, perturbed to be gawked at like some freak show.
“How are you feeling this morning, Emma?” Doc began.
“Fine. Why are you here, Doc? Oh my God, did something happen to Tabitha?” Emma said franticly as she quickly moved to get to her daughter, only to be stopped by Tucker. “She’s fine, baby, sleeping peacefully. I checked on her no more than an hour ago.”
Emma sighed in relief. “Then what is going on?” she asked, looking nervously at everyone.
“Emma,” the doc began, “what was the last thing you remember from yesterday?”
Emma looked from the boys to the doc, slowly sitting down. Tucker and Tate were there instantly, supporting her in any way she needed. “It’s okay, sweetheart, just tell the doc what you remember,” Tate said, gently rubbing her leg.
Something was up. Emma knew it. Her gut was screaming at her, but what? She couldn’t think of anything. She remembered everything from yesterday, from her leaving to how angry she was that Tate came to bring her back home. She remembered the quiet drive, and walking directly into the bedroom. She never came out for dinner, just showered and went to bed. That was it. Nothing had happened.
Emma told them as such, but by the looks on their faces, it wasn’t what they wanted to hear. They were hiding something, something big, and quite frankly, it was beginning to freak her out.
“Someone better tell me what the hell is going on. You’re scaring me.”
“Emma, the boys called me last night because you had a nightmare.”
“They called you for a nightmare?” Emma questioned with a hint of amusement. “I can’t wait to see how you boys will react when Tabitha scrapes her knee. What’s that gonna warrant, a trip to the emergency room?” she said, laughing. Getting up, Emma was still laughing when she patted the doc on his shoulder. “Sorry, Doc. This is so funny.”
“Emma, you scared the shit out of us last night,” Travis said, getting angry.
“Well, I’m sorry my nightmare scared you, Travis, but it was just a nightmare.”
“It wasn’t just a nightmare! You screamed our names over and over again. Then you began fighting so hard, it took me and Tucker and Tate to control you. You wouldn’t wake up, Emma…You didn’t wake up!” Travis said, grabbing a hold of her.
“Travis, let her go,” Tate said in an eerily vicious tone behind him.
The sound of Tate’s tone slithered through Emma, traveling slowly into her body till it reached her head. That tone, that evil, menacing tone, erupted violently within her, as her past came crushing forward once again. Sweat instantly dotted her forehead, her skin got clammy, her pupils dilated, and her heart felt like it was going to explode right out of her chest.
She remembered that voice, and everything in her steeled. Her eyes became unfocused, glazed over, and survival became paramount. Her surroundings disappeared, and she saw nothing but the danger in front of her. Nothing existed except freedom. She had to get free. “Get your filthy hands off me, you nasty-ass son of a bitch. Don’t you ever touch me again. I will kill you if you do,” she whispered with such rage it shocked everyone.
* * * *
The room was so damn quiet that nobody had any problems hearing the cows out in the back forty. Travis looked at the woman before him, and there no longer stood the woman he loved, but a caged animal that would do anything to get free. Fear blazed through her eyes, and in that instant Travis knew the Emma he loved was no longer there. Afraid to move, Travis slowly lowered his hands and backed away. “Emma?” he softly questioned.
Before them all was not the loving, sweet Emma. What stood in the kitchen was a woman who was about to kill. Never before had any of them seen such rage radiate from Emma. Tucker swore he was standing before the gates of hell himself, and there standing guard was Emma. Tate could see that electricity emanating from her body, and for a split second, he could swear he heard thunder clap somewhere off in the distance. Just then, everyone heard Tabitha running down the hall. When Emma went to grab her, Travis tackled Emma, while Tate and Tucker ran to head Tabitha off at the pass, before she entered the kitchen.
Travis fought off Emma’s punches and tried desperately to hold her still, while Doc injected her arm with a sedative.
“I’m calling for an ambulance. I want her admitted immediately to the psychiatric ward for a seventy-two-hour hold. I want to run some tests on her. She needs help, Travis. Help that she can only get in a hospital,” Doc informed him, getting to his feet.
Travis looked up at the doc while holding Emma’s now-sleeping body in his hands. “I can’t let you do that.”
“You have no choice. You wouldn’t want to risk her around Tabitha, would you? She needs help, Travis,” Doc shouted.
“Emma is not leaving this house,” Tate said from the doorway. “Whatever she needs, we will help her. You can stay if you like, but Emma is not leaving this house.”
“You guys are crazy, you know that! This woman needs professional help. She is a danger to you and her daughter,” he shouted back.
“She is not leaving,” Tate said resolutely.
“Fine, have it your way, but let me tell you, if Emma so much as acts likes she is getting ready to run with Tabitha, I will call child welfare and have Tabitha removed from this house and you!”
Travis watched as Tate moved stealthily nose to nose with the doc. “Don’t threaten me, Doc.”
“Tate, I am only concerned for Emma. She needs help. Help I can get her at a hospital. Look,” Doc said, taking a deep breath, trying to get control of the situation, “how about I send Kelly over here? She has a degree in psychology and child welfare. She is young, but very good. Kelly has been helping me with some of the soldiers that live around here. I will ask her if she could help out over here. Is that okay?”
“Are you talking about Kelly Brannon, Margaret and Conner’s daughter?” Travis asked, holding Emma.
“Yes. She has been working for me for over five months now, and has been wonderful with helping the vets. She has this ability to get them to open up and talk,” Doc replied, trying to calm the situation.
“See if she can come over. We will pay whatever she asks, but I am serious Doc, Emma is not leaving this house. I just found her, and I will not lose her again,” Tate said, taking Emma from Travis and taking her back to the bedroom.
“I’m going home, but understand this, that wasn’t a threat. I meant every word. Call me if you need me,” Doc said, grabbing his bag and leaving.
Chapter Five
Emma woke with Tate holding her. She could feel his soft breath tickling her neck, and she giggled, quietly. Rolling over, she snuggled closer to him, loving the feel of his arms around her. Emma knew that the situation she was in was still not resolved, but for this one moment, she just wanted everything to be fine. She wanted to feel his strong, loving arms around her again. Out of all the boys, Tate was the most compassionate, the most loving. He understood her where the other two didn’t always understand. Each of the boys had a trait that Emma adored, and it was Tate’s undying compassion that she loved.
It was Tate who, when Emma was eight and fell off of her horse and broke her leg, carried her all the way to Doc Jenkins’s office, and held her hand while the doc set and casted her leg. When she was thirteen, Tate had held her when she cried because her first date ended horribly. He
listened to her retell her story, holding her for hours as she cried into his shirt. He was there when at fifteen he found her crying in an open field, because she had just learned that her father was losing his ranch. Tate had been her rock her whole life. She talked to him and he listened, and she loved him.
“You awake?” he whispered, holding her tighter.
“Yeah, sorry I woke you.”
“No need to apologize, sweetheart. I wasn’t really sleeping, anyway.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” Emma laughed as she looked up at him.
“Emma, we have to talk, baby.”
“I know, but not right now, okay?”
“Emma,” Tate said, moaning, releasing her as he sat up in the bed. “Sweetheart, you scared the crap out of me. Something is going on, and I really need you to help me understand. This isn’t about you withholding Tabitha anymore. We can talk about that later, but this,” he said, emphasizing his arms wide, “this whole mess is getting out of hand. You’re fighting something that I think you can’t win against. Please talk to me.”
Rising from the bed, Emma donned Tate’s robe. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re lying, Emma, to me and to yourself.”
“Honestly, Tate, I am sorry my nightmare scared the crap out of you, but that’s all it was. A nightmare. Hell, I can’t even remember what it was.”
“What about when you freaked out on Travis in the kitchen. Doc had to give you another shot to calm you down. You were acting like a madwoman, Emma.”
“I did that?” she said, sitting back on the bed, trying to remember what had happened, but nothing came to mind. All she remembered was talking with the boys and Doc about her nightmare. Then she remembered Travis getting angry. That was it, nothing more.
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