by Cathy Marie Hake, Lynn A. Coleman, Mary Davis, Susan Page Davis
“Not that way. We need to stay in the water.”
“They’ll see us.”
“Jonathon is helping from the ship. He won’t let anyone approach this side. It’s tilting away from us. The crew is busy on the other side, trying to lighten the load so the ship will rise off the sandbar.”
“Why not go into the cover of the trees?”
“The foliage is too dense. We have to get to the path, but we need to stay in the water so they can’t follow our tracks.”
They reached a shallow creek and turned to follow it into the trees.
“We’re safe for now, Hollan. Their guns won’t reach this far. No one can see us.”
Hollan’s legs gave out. Jacob caught her and held her close.
“We’re safe,” he murmured again. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I need a quick rest.” Gunter climbed out of the creek and sank to the ground nearby. He leaned against a tree. “What’s the plan from here?”
“We’ll go to Amos’s cabin.”
Hollan pulled her face away from Jacob’s chest and looked up at him. Her eyes were smudged with exhaustion, but she stared directly at him. He watched her eyes soften as she surveyed his features. Her mouth broadened into a smile. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“Your vision seemed to be intact the entire time we were on the ship. Is it fully restored?”
“At first it came back in bits and pieces, but yes, I can consistently see clearly now. And thank you.”
“Why are you thanking me?”
“You came after me. You rescued us.”
“You’re my wife. I’ll always come for you.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “But about the return of your vision …”
She smirked and turned his words on him. “We’ll discuss it later.”
Gunter motioned for their attention. “If you two can try to concentrate, we do have some pretty angry men aboard that ship who would probably like to recapture us. I’d like to get some more space between them and us. I think I can walk some more now.”
“Wait.” Hollan looked up at Jacob. “You said the other day that the cabin looked like someone had been there.”
“That would have been me,” Gunter interrupted. “I cleaned it up and took shelter from a storm a short while back.”
“I remember now.” Hollan looked at her father. “You were gone all day, and I was so worried. If only I’d known then what the coming days would bring.”
“Speaking of … we do need to move on,” Jacob prompted.
Gunter stood to lead the way.
Jacob held Hollan back. “How long has it been since your vision returned? Since the day we walked around the island?”
“Before that.” She frowned. “It was better when I woke up after hitting my head in the storm. I could see, but I wasn’t sure my vision would stay.”
“And you kept that from me? Why?” Jacob could hear the tremor in his voice. He wanted his wife to trust him, but apparently, after all he’d done in the past, she still didn’t.
Hollan stared into his eyes. “I was afraid you’d think I didn’t need you anymore. I was afraid you’d leave.”
“So you trust me that little, even after I’ve told you repeatedly that I was here to stay.”
“You did tell me that.” Hollan nodded. “But that was when you thought I couldn’t see. I wasn’t sure things would stay the same if you knew. I needed more time.”
“And when were you going to tell me?”
“The morning I was kidnapped.”
“I see.” Jacob stared back at her for a moment and then turned to stalk away up the path.
“That’s it?” Hollan hurried to catch up with him. She grabbed his arm. “That’s all you have to say?”
“I married you the moment I heard you were in need of a husband, Hollan. I stood by you through the hurricane, and I tended your injuries. I saved you from a ship full of rogues. If you don’t trust me by now, after everything we’ve been through, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to regain your confidence.”
Chapter 12
Jacob, wait!” Hollan’s heart moved into her throat. She couldn’t breathe. Her worst nightmare was coming true. Her deception had caused the exact scenario she’d wanted to avoid. She’d hurt Jacob, and now he didn’t want to talk to her. “You kept saying you were here for me and that you wouldn’t leave. But I wasn’t sure if it was because you wanted to be here or because you had no choice.”
“Not now, Hollan.” Jacob continued to move ahead at a quick pace.
Hollan raised her voice. “I was afraid you’d leave if you knew I could see.”
“I said not now.” Jacob’s words were clipped and cold.
Hollan dropped back and lagged behind. She could hardly see past her tears. She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter, that with the return of her vision she’d be fine. She had her father back, and things could return to the way they’d been before this all happened. At least life would return to normal as soon as they figured out a way to rid themselves of David and his crew.
Hollan realized Jacob was right in that respect. This wasn’t the time to worry about anything but their safety. They’d figure the rest out later. Even though she knew this all to be true, tears still forged their way down her cheeks.
The trio worked their way up the path, and Hollan wished for her boots. Chipped and broken shells lined the creek’s bed, and the path wasn’t any better. Hollan knew a cut from one of the shells could cause a serious infection. But she wasn’t about to ask Jacob for his help. She hesitated and glanced around, trying to figure out a way to walk without causing injury or drawing Jacob’s attention to her ineptness.
“Keep up, Hollan. We need to carry on.”
Hollan snapped, “I have to find my way around the shells.”
Jacob came back and abruptly swept her up into his arms. “You should have worn your boots.”
“I’ll try to remember that next time I walk the shore prior to getting unexpectedly kidnapped.”
A vein throbbed in Jacob’s throat, but he didn’t comment further.
Still, her feet were scratched and sore by the time they reached the shack. Her tears of heartache had diminished, but the pain of Jacob’s anger simmered under the surface.
Jacob set her down next to the small building in the clearing. Hollan wandered over to the edge of the stream and sat down, placing her sore feet in the cool water. She cupped some of the water into her hands to wash her face and scrubbed away all trace of her tears.
“I’m going inside to lie down.” Her father’s face was pale with exhaustion.
“I’ll help you get settled.” Hollan moved to stand, but her father waved her away.
“Let me be. I can manage to lie down without assistance. Rest your feet.”
Jacob watched from a distance and waited until her father had entered the shack before coming up beside her. “You should have told me.”
“About my feet or my vision?”
He squatted at her side. Hollan glanced up at him. The sun broke through the leaves, and one shaft highlighted the gold in his hair. His green eyes were lined with fatigue. “Both.”
“I told you. I was going to tell you about my vision, but the crew got to me first.”
“And your feet?”
“What good would it do to tell you? What could you have done? If I’d worn my boots, I wouldn’t have had a problem. It was my problem alone to deal with, and my feet are fine.” Her words sounded bitter, but he’d walked away from her. Why would she think to bother him with anything after that?
“To answer your second question, I would have done this”—his face took on a devious expression as he reached over and swept her up into his arms—“earlier than I did.”
“Put me down!” she hissed while glancing at the shack.
“No.”
“I’m a mess.”
“You look fine to me.”
“Then maybe we need to be concerned about your
vision.”
“My vision is fine.”
“I just spent the night on a smelly ship.”
“And you had a nice dunk in the water after. You look beautiful.”
“Beautiful? My dress is torn and cut to pieces. My petticoats are in shreds. My feet are filthy, and my hair is a mess. How can you say such a thing?”
“I mean it. I went a lot of years without seeing you. I intend to enjoy every moment of seeing you now.”
“You’re finished being angry?”
“Do I look angry?” He raised his eyebrows up and down. “You aren’t going to chase me away, Hollan.”
Hollan rolled her eyes. “My father’s going to come out and see us this way.”
“Your father isn’t coming out. He’s exhausted.” Jacob settled back against a tree with Hollan held securely in his arms. “And regardless, he’s not going to take offense.”
She laid her head on his shoulder and snuggled closer. Her heart felt full. “I didn’t expect you to carry me through the woods. My feet hurt, but I’m fine. I would have dealt with sore feet.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along. Nothing—no problem—is yours to deal with alone. Not anymore. You have me to lean on now. I didn’t marry you because you were blind. I didn’t marry you because I felt sorry for you or because I felt there was no other choice. I married you because I love you. We’d planned to marry before I left. The pieces fell together when I returned, and I felt marriage to you was what God had brought me back here for. I’ll carry you through any situation I need to.”
Hollan stared at her reflection in the creek, afraid to meet his eyes. She knew she’d burst into tears. The stress of the past two weeks was taking its toll. She was exhausted from lack of sleep the night before and the anxiety caused by their escape. Her mind was a muddled mess.
“You need to rest. You barely recuperated from the blow to your head before you were taken. I’m sure you didn’t sleep well on the ship.”
The compassion in his voice was her undoing. A sob racked her body.
Jacob stroked her back. “I’m sorry,” he crooned into her hair. “I didn’t mean to make things worse.”
“You didn’t make things worse.” She didn’t want to talk. She just let him hold her while she stared into the water. The reflection there confirmed what she already knew. Her hair was a mess; her dress was dirty and torn. She looked awful. She likely smelled worse, even with her dip.
“You’ve made things so much better,” she whispered.
“I haven’t seen you cry before now.”
“I haven’t faced the reality of losing you before now.”
He tilted her chin up. “I’m not leaving.”
“You were so angry.”
“Not angry, just frustrated.”
His emerald eyes were so beautiful. He studied her.
“I don’t want to make you frustrated.”
He grinned. She’d forgotten about the way his dimples curved around his smile. “You’ve been making me frustrated since we were very young. I doubt anything’s going to change in that respect.”
“Oh.”
He reached up to caress a strand of her hair.
She made a face and tried to swat him away.
His hand drifted down to her chin, and his thumb caressed her cheek. “Hollan, I’m going to disappoint you. You’re going to frustrate me. But none of that will change the fact that we’ll always love each other. Can you live with that?”
“I can,” she whispered.
He slid his hand back to comb through her hair. He gently tugged her toward him as he leaned in for a kiss. “I can, too, very happily.”
They sat forehead to forehead.
She breathed him in. “I’m so glad you’re back.”
“Me, too.” He kissed her again and pulled away. “You need to rest.”
“Don’t leave.”
He set her aside and tried to stand. She tugged him back down and leaned against him. He stroked her hair.
“I have to leave. Samson must be going nuts in the cottage. If the men come ashore—and I’m sure they will—the cottage will be their first target. I need to get Sam out of there and salvage some of our things.”
“Poor Samson. I wondered how you got away without him.”
“I had to lock him up.” He seemed as hesitant about leaving as she was about watching him go. “Anyway, we need some supplies. I’ll run up to the cottage and bring Samson back with me. We’ll need food and clean clothes.” He sent her a pointed look. “And I’ll grab your boots and some more salve, too.”
She laughed. She wanted to go with him, but no way would her feet allow that. Nor would Jacob. The brambles in the path would tear her to shreds. “Thank you. I appreciate your consideration. Just stay safe and hurry back quickly.”
“I’ll always hurry back to you.”
Hollan could only nod.
“Do you want me to help you into the shack?”
“I’ll stay out here, thank you. I’ll have enough of the cabin when we have to go in there at dark.”
“I’ll hold you close and keep you safe.”
Hollan blushed. “I’m sure you will. And my father will be right there on the other side, with me sandwiched in between. Sounds like a wonderful way to spend the night.”
“Oh yeah, I suppose your father will be right there.” Jacob’s laugh told her he hadn’t forgotten her father. He was teasing her again. “But we will make an excellent shield for you, protecting you from all that lurks in the dark.”
Hollan shivered. “And there could be plenty of things lurking with David’s crew wandering about.”
“Last time we were here, you were worried about gators and snakes. Are you sure you don’t want to go in with your father?”
“It was dark and creepy that day if I remember correctly, or at least it seemed so back then. Now I know scarier things lurk in the area. Today the clearing feels brighter and sun dappled. I’ll stay here.”
“Sun dappled?”
“Sun dappled.”
Jacob walked over to where he’d placed his coat and folded it into a square. He placed it on the ground and motioned for her to lie down. “Go to sleep. When you wake up, I’ll be here.”
“Sounds nice,” she murmured. She was already drifting off.
Jacob hurried back to the cottage and heard Samson barking frantically from inside. He released the dog, and Samson ran in circles around his legs.
“She’s fine, boy. I have her safely stashed away. We need to get you to safety as well.”
Jacob hurried inside to gather some clothes for Hollan and her father. He stuffed a day’s worth of food into the bag, too. He quickly grabbed anything he found of value and took it all to his room in the base of the lighthouse. Larger, less expensive items he hid as best he could in the outbuilding. He kept Gunter’s rifle and ammunition with him.
“C’mon, boy, I need to make one more stop by the lighthouse before I take you to Hollan.”
Samson didn’t need any encouragement.
Jacob hurried back into his room and added his clothes to the bag. He hefted it up and placed it outside.
“Stay.” He pointed to the bag, and Samson sat beside it. “I’ll only be a moment.”
He’d come a long way since the day he’d watched the men take Hollan. He was back at the lighthouse. At least now he had Hollan safely tucked away and out of the grasp of David. Still, he needed to get back to her.
Jacob hurried up the stairs. The lighthouse gave him a full view of the stranded ship. The ship didn’t list quite as badly and seemed to have stabilized, but it remained stuck on the sandbar. Perhaps his wife had done her job a bit too well.
He noticed the smaller boats from the ship were being lowered to the water. He searched the treetops for any sign of the shack, but it couldn’t be found. They’d be safe as long as they could get to Fletcher before David and his crew got to them.
Jacob secured the lighthouse
as well as he could and motioned for Samson to come. He didn’t think the men would carry along the right tools to break into the tower, and he hid any of Gunter’s tools he could find. He prayed the men would be too tired to try to gain entry to the lighthouse. The damage they could do in vengeance would be expensive to repair.
Jacob and Samson set off for the shack. They finally arrived, with Samson leading the way through the trees, into the small clearing. Hollan lay where Jacob had left her. He quietly opened the door to the shack and placed their supplies inside. Gunter’s exhausted snores reverberated throughout the room.
Jacob closed the door and walked over to where Samson stood watch over Hollan. “I can take care of things from here, boy.” He dropped down beside Hollan and pulled her close. He shut his eyes and listened to her breathe.
She shifted in his arms. “Jacob?”
“I told you I’d be back.”
“I’m glad.”
Samson nudged his way between them. Hollan laughed and petted him.
“I think I got everything we need.”
“Good.” She nestled against Jacob, still half asleep.
Jacob grinned.
“I think nothing short of the arrival of outlaws would wake you up right now.”
Her auburn hair fell across her face, and he pushed it back. She squinted up at him, her brown eyes warm. “I’m awake.”
“Ah, then you still must consider me an outlaw.”
“Hardly.” She tried to sit up. “More like a hero.”
“Stay. We have nowhere to go.” He captured her with his arm. “So I’m a hero now. I like that much better than being compared to my outlaw family.”
“I apologize for that.”
“You had reason to be upset.”
“Perhaps just a bit of a reason.” She changed the subject. “And what did my hero find out through his explorations?”
“The crew is just now leaving the ship.” He felt her tense up. “They won’t find us here. I knew where to look and couldn’t see a thing. It’ll be dusk before they reach the lighthouse. I’m pretty sure they’ll head to the cottage for now. While I was up in the lighthouse, I tracked the path Fletcher’s boat will travel if he shows up tomorrow. If they leave a man on watch, he’ll see Fletcher coming this way.”