Woman of Courage (Four Full length Historical Christian Romances in One Volume): Woman of Courage Series

by Cynthia Hickey

  *

  “That’s insane.” Jacob shoved his hands in his pockets to stop their trembling. “Your kids need you here, not traipsing off up the mountain.” Ben had his priorities wrong. He needed to be at home and let the law handle the moonshiners.

  “I have to get back to work before someone grows suspicious.”

  “What if the authorities find the still while you’re working? You’ll go to jail, Ben.”

  “That’s a risk I’ve got to take. Besides, son, you need to trust me. Tomorrow, I got a few men going up with me to wreck those moonshine trucks. Once we do that, we all have to go into hiding for a while.” He laid a hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “I’m counting on you to look after my brood. Will you?”

  “You know I will.” Jacob rubbed his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t immediately tell you about Viola, but she’s seventeen now and I figured her business was hers. I would’ve told you if I thought you were worrying.”

  Ben waved off his apology. “I know my daughter. No apology necessary. Are you afraid to use that gun on your hip?”

  “No, I choose not to.” Leaning against the porch railing, Jacob watched the sun set over the mountain. He loved this hollow and its people, one in particular, and couldn’t think of living anywhere else. More than anything, he wanted this whole horrible moonshine mess to end so he could convince Phoebe she belonged with him, and that Eli’s actions had nothing to do with how he felt about her.

  “During my days as law enforcement, my partner and I responded to a domestic disturbance. A man held a gun to his wife’s head. He was drunk beyond all reason. Five children watched from the window as we told him to relinquish his gun.” Jacob took a deep shuddering breath, the memory like a knife in his gut.

  “Even with all my training, it was the first time I’d had to draw my gun on a man. The husband cocked the gun. The children were crying. Silent tears ran down the wife’s face.” Jacob could see it as plain as if the scene took place in front of him at that moment. His eyes burned. “I gave him one more directive, then took the shot. At that moment, the man yanked his wife in front of him. The bullet went through her into him, killing them both and leaving a handful of orphans. I told myself at that time, I’d never draw on another human. It still haunts my sleep.”

  It wasn’t until that moment that he saw Phoebe’s pale face come around the corner of the house. Her shocked expression told him she’d heard all, or at least most, of his story. Instead of anger or disgust, he saw pity flit across her features. The one emotion he wanted least to see.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Ben said. “It could have happened to anyone. Evil exists in this world. That’s why me and the others want to put a stop to it, at least in Pine Ridge. You’re a fine, Godly man. You’ll do what’s right when the time comes.”

  Jacob wasn’t so sure. What if someone had Phoebe or another member of the Lillie family in their sights? Could he shoot to save them or would he freeze as solid as a pond in deep winter?

  “Supper’s ready.” Phoebe brushed past them and headed back into the house, avoiding Jacob’s gaze.

  “Stay for supper?” Ben turned to follow his daughter.

  Although it would most likely stick in his throat, Jacob nodded and moved inside. They’d already set him a place at the table, and he squeezed in between Ben and JJ. The rich aroma of beef and vegetables swimming in gravy teased his nostrils. The fire warmed his back. For the first time in a long time, Jacob felt part of a family. What would happen if Ben didn’t return? Would the Lillie’s become his family because of a lack of a man around the house? He didn’t want Phoebe to marry him out of obligation. He wanted her undying love.

  “I’m going to be gone for a while,” Ben said, digging into his stew. “Jacob is going to stay here while I’m gone. Y’all respect his authority, you hear?”

  “No disrespect, but I’m old enough to care for the family,” JJ spoke up. “This ain’t the first time you’ve headed somewhere.”

  Phoebe’s gaze darted from Ben to Jacob. “But this time, you might not return, right? What are you planning?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about. Just help your grandma.” Ben dipped a biscuit into his gravy. “I’ll be back.”

  “I’m going with you,” she said.

  “No, you’re not.” Ben pointed a finger at her. “I’ll lock you in your room if I have to. What I’m fixin’ to do ain’t for a girl.”

  Wonderful. Jacob would be hard pressed to keep Phoebe in line if she wanted to do something. The gleam in her eye alerted him she already had a plan up her sleeve.

  After supper, Jacob and Ben moved back to the porch so Ben could smoke his pipe. They both took seats on the top step. “Ben, why are you so against the moonshine ring anyway? How does it affect you personally to where you’ll risk everything to shut it down?”

  There had to be more than just a moral obligation. Everything was on the line. Ben’s life, and possibly the lives of his family.

  “Whiskey ruined my pa and sent my brother to an early grave.” He struck a match and held it to the bowl of his pipe before puffing a few times to ignite the tobacco. “I had a bit of trouble with drinking myself when I was in the army. Wasn’t until I about got myself killed because I didn’t have my wits about me, that I quit cold turkey.” He tapped his pipe. “I don’t want the evils around my family or kin. It’s as simple as that. I’ve seen the drink ruin families. You know what it did to Phoebe.”

  Jacob stared across the dark yard. “Eli Coffman did that to Phoebe.”

  “Because of the drink. I’m going to stop that and make all those involved pay before it completely destroys my family.”

  17

  Phoebe stepped into the kitchen as Grandma sprinkled water on spilled salt. She pressed her lips together and shook her head. When would Grandma give up on her silly superstitions? “Afraid someone will have a quarrel today?”

  “Just making sure they don’t.” Grandma wiped the wet salt into her hand and brushed it into the sink.

  “Where’s Pa?” Phoebe grabbed a dry biscuit from a basket on the table and slathered on Muscadine jelly.

  “Said he had business up the mountain and not to wait up for him. He said he’d be gone for a while.”

  Phoebe knew what that meant. Pa had gone to stop the moonshiners. To stop Eli. Not without her, he wouldn’t. “I’ll check on the little ones.” She grabbed her sweater and dashed outside, making a beeline to the shed where she’d hidden a shotgun the day before.

  The mounds of sugar bags were gone. How could she have slept through what had to be several men carting off pounds and pounds of sugar? She grabbed the shotgun and turned, running into JJ.

  “Where are you going?” He asked.

  “Hunting.”

  “For Pa and the moonshiners, I bet.” He quirked his mouth. “I know where they went, but if you want me to tell you, then you have to let me go with you.”

  She glanced at the ax in his hand. “You don’t have a gun.”

  “Pa took an axe.”

  Phoebe bit her bottom lip. She’d bet her last dollar that Pa also had his hog leg with him. What did he want an axe for? She glanced at the house, relieved to see the children playing on the porch. She didn’t need them wanting to follow, too. “Fine. You can come, but stay out of my way and do what I say.”

  He grabbed a bag from the side of the shed. “I knew you’d let me so I brought lunch.”

  “Smart aleck.” Phoebe hefted the gun and pushed through the thick trees by their cabin. Just as she dropped the last branch back into place, she spotted Jacob approaching the porch. Her heart raced, remembering Pa telling him to keep a watch out for her. Obviously, he’d arrived to share their cabin for the next few days. “We need to hurry.”

  They picked up their pace, trying to remain as quiet as possible despite their haste. Every scamper of tiny feet through the forest floor sent Phoebe’s heart into overdrive. Every squawk of a bird made her skittish. What was she doin
g? She wasn’t a vigilante. She was nothing more than a crippled quilt-making girl from the hollow.

  The pale face of her younger brother gave her pause. “Maybe you should go back.”

  He shook his head hard enough to send a curl flopping forward over his forehead. “Not a chance. Pa might need us. Are we heading for the still?”

  “You know about the still?” Why was Phoebe the last to know of something so detrimental to her family’s livelihood?

  “Everybody does.”

  Phoebe shrugged. “If Pa isn’t there, we’ll continue to the mountain road. The moonshiners have to be moving their product somehow, and that’s the easiest way I can figure.” She scrambled across a fallen tree over a swift moving creek until reaching the solid embankment on the other side.

  JJ ran across like a mountain goat. Even with her improved shoe, Phoebe would never have her brother’s agility.

  Voices raised in anger and the rumble of engines, drove her forward. She clutched the rifle like a life line and peered through another stand of brush.

  Pa and several of their neighbors stood with assorted guns and axes in hand while facing Eli and two men armed with shotguns. Behind them stood a truck filled with barrels of what could only be moonshine.

  Her hands sweated and she transferred the rifle from one hand to the other, wiping her palms on her dress. Clouds, pregnant with rain, covered the sun and cast the forest into a grey afternoon. A wind blew chills up Phoebe’s legs and neck. She glanced at her brother who stood as still as one of the thick tree trunks. “Afraid?”

  The panic in his eyes belied the bravado of his shake of his head. “Pa needs us.”

  “Not us, JJ.” Phoebe put a hand on his shoulder. “It isn’t too late for you to go home.”

  “As the next oldest male in our home, I should help.”

  He took his role as first-born son too seriously. Maybe it was a mistake to allow him to follow. Phoebe was the one who wanted revenge. JJ had no stake in what might happen that day. “You really should go home. If something happens to me or Pa, Grandma and the younger ones will need you. We can’t all go rushing in like fools.”

  “Fools adequately describes the two of you.” A hand spun Phoebe around, and she came face-to-face with Jacob.

  “Get out of here.” She yanked free. “This doesn’t concern you.”

  “Since your Pa asked me to watch out for you, I think it does.” Jacob narrowed his eyes.

  She snorted. “How can you protect us? You’re afraid to draw that pistol on your hip.”

  Pain flashed across his face. She regretted the words the moment they left her mouth, but squelched the regret deep into the recesses of her soul. There was no time for compassion. She had a job to do and nothing, or no one, would stand in her way.

  *

  Jacob stared into the eyes of the woman he loved and saw a stranger. Where had the soft Phoebe gone? Lost in one act of violence. His fingers itched to curl around the handle of his gun. But, he couldn’t. He’d made an oath. To do so, would put him in a dangerous place: A place that could steal his soul.

  She pushed him back and parted the bushes, stepping to her Pa’s side. Ben turned, a muscle twitching in his jaw. “Take them away.”

  “I can’t short of shooting them.” Jacob joined the crowd facing the moonshiners. “They both snuck out before I arrived at your place.” All he could do now was join the madness and pray no one was hurt or killed.

  “JJ, step back by those trees. There by the water and stay out of the way.” Ben squared his shoulders. “Daughter, I’ll deal with you when we get home. Jacob, keep her out of the way.”

  “I deserve to be here.” Phoebe stomped her foot. “You can’t make me leave. I snuck off and found you, therefore, I should stay.”

  “You brought your brother into danger. That is something I cannot tolerate.” Ben’s low voice should have been a warning. Even Jacob knew the man was reaching his boiling point.

  He wrapped his arms around Phoebe’s waist and lifted her off her feet. “Let’s go by JJ. Leave these men to fight their battle.”

  “Let me go.” She kicked and screamed like a she-cat, connecting with his shins a couple of times, until he spread his legs and walked like a bow-legged sailor to a safe distance. The men prepared to do battle laughed, momentarily pulled away from their feud.

  “Calm down or I’ll tie you to a tree with my belt.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.” She pummeled his chest with her fists.

  He staggered back against the trunk of a tree before gathering her hands in his. “I made a promise to Ben. Please don’t make me renege on that promise.”

  Her shoulders sagged, and she covered her face with her hands. “He’s right there. Eli is standing there taunting me. Forgive me, Lord, but I want to see the light fade from the man’s eyes as he takes his last breath.”

  “I’m sorry.” Jacob gathered her in his arms and pulled her close. He rested his chin on the top of her soft head and closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to whisk her away from the hollow and give her a better life. One where shotguns and moonshine weren’t a daily occurrence. If she said the word, he’d marry her and cart her off to Little Rock.

  By this time, Ben and his group charged past the three moonshiners. They raised their axes and the woods reverberated with the sound of metal on metal. Moonshine filled the air with its stench.

  Jacob’s grip on Phoebe eased. Along with JJ they watched in awe as the men tore the trucks and barrels to shreds, and the ground soaked with hundreds of dollars’ worth of illegal whiskey.

  “Wow.” JJ stepped from under the overhang of an oak. “Pa is really serious about shutting this down. I want to be a part of it.”

  Phoebe shot out an arm to stop him. “No. They are handling things just fine.”

  The moonshiners entered the fray, yanking men from the truck and throwing punches. Two of them propped their rifles against a boulder while Eli stood back and rolled a homemade cigarette.

  Jacob was astounded at the man’s coolness. Did he have no conscience? No remorse for his deeds?

  Phoebe shuddered next to him, and Jacob put his arm around her shoulders. She stiffened, but didn’t pull away. Maybe they could repair their love after all? Given time, once the moonshiners were put away and Eli dealt with, she would see how much Jacob still cared for her. He’d make sure of it.

  “That’s enough.” Eli blew a smoke ring into the air. “Y’all have had your fun.” He lifted his rifle and shot into the sky.

  The men grappling around the trucks turned. Ben took two steps forward. “We aren’t finished until you bunch of no-gooders are run out of this hollow.”

  Eli dropped his smoke and ground it into the leaves under his feet. “Don’t provoke me, Ben. I have ways of hurting you that you can’t even comprehend.”

  “We’d call the sheriff,” Ben said. “But I’m guessing he’s in cahoots with you.”

  Eli shrugged. “So you take your self-righteousness here to where I provide for my family and try to take that all away from me. Not everyone has an army pension to help make ends meet.” He aimed the barrel at Ben’s chest.

  Phoebe made a move to dash forward, and Jacob grabbed her arm. “Don’t. You’ll distract your pa.”

  A rustle in the brush behind them drew Jacob’s attention. He turned and peered, unable to make out anything in the thickness. Most likely an animal disturbed by all the ruckus.

  “Want me to check it out?” JJ asked. “It’s better than standing here doing nothing while the rest of the men are fighting to save our livelihood.”

  “Don’t leave,” Phoebe said. “I don’t want you out of my sight.”

  “I’m not a child.” He glared into the trees. “I think I saw something.” He parted the branches of an overgrown pine tree.

  A shot rang out.

  JJ’s eyes widened and he pitched forward.

  Jacob jumped to grab him, the boy’s shirt slipping through his fingers.

  JJ
fell into the murky creek and disappeared under the swift moving water.

  18

  Jacob kicked off his shoes and splashed into the creek, ignoring the fight that erupted with an all new fury behind him with more shots being fired. Phoebe screamed and raced up and down the bank as Jacob fought the current and dove time after time to find JJ.

  The bitter bite of the freezing water stole his breath yet he continued to search for the boy, praying he’d find him before it was too late. He didn’t think the Lillie family would survive the loss of Ben’s oldest boy.

  Soon, Ben and a few of his group, Jacob hoped they weren’t all that was left of the fighters, thundered down the bank ahead of him. Precious minutes ticked by, and Jacob found nothing but weeds and rocks.

  “Find my boy!” Ben shouted, his breath pluming from his mouth like dragon fire. “Please, God, save him.”

  Jacob’s fingers and toes burned with the cold, yet he didn’t give up. Wait. There. His fingers grasped fabric and he pulled, ripping JJ away from the submerged tree branches. “Here. I can’t get him out myself.”

  Eager hands lifted the boy from Jacob’s arms, and then helped Jacob up the bank. He collapsed on his back, shivering and gasping.

  “He isn’t breathing.” Phoebe fell to her knees beside her brother. “Jacob?”

  With what strength he had left, he rolled to his side to face her. “Help me up. I’m frozen.”

  Ben held out a hand and hauled Jacob to his feet. “Can you save him?”

  “I’ll try.” During his time on the force, he’d witnessed a man breathe life into a drowning victim. He sent up a swift prayer that he could do the same.

  Blood spread across JJ’s chest, staining his denim overalls despite his soaking in the creek. Jacob knelt and tilted the boy’s head, then felt for a pulse. Nothing. He breathed in twice, and then pressed ten times on JJ’s chest. The boy’s pallor made him work faster despite the pain in his body from his own dunking. After the fifth sequence of breathe and press, JJ coughed. Jacob rolled him on his side so the boy could vomit, then collapsed and closed his eyes.