When they reached the turnoff for Nugget’s father’s cabin, they didn’t turn, but rode on.
“The cabin’s that way,” Annabelle said, twisting to get Tom’s attention.
“We’re not going to the cabin, Miss Know It All.” He yanked on Annabelle’s hair in imitation of Slade.
What was it with these men and her hair? At least it gave her an excuse to pull out yet another hairpin to leave as a marker. She dropped an extra one, and another closer than what she ordinarily would have in hopes that they’d pick up on her clue and keep going.
What must her father be thinking right now? Had they gotten word of Joseph’s death? Did he know Slade was the culprit, or would her father be wondering who could have taken her?
Did they even know they were gone?
Annabelle pushed those thoughts out of her head. She wasn’t going to give up. She simply couldn’t. Too many bad things had happened already, and she wasn’t going to let this have the same end.
They reached an outcropping of rocks, which must’ve been the other side of where Joseph’s father had built his cabin.
“There!” One of Slade’s men pointed in the direction of a rock formation.
Tom dismounted, then yanked her off the horse. “Walk.”
She did as she was bade, eager to catch up with Slade and to check on Nugget.
When they got to the base of the formation, Slade turned toward Annabelle. “Get the kid to tell me where the silver is.”
Annabelle started toward Nugget, who raced into her arms. “That man is mean.”
“I know.” Annabelle hugged her tight. “Is the silver here?” she whispered.
Nugget nodded. “Papa said I shouldn’t tell anyone.”
How could she convince a child to betray her father’s confidence? Worse, how could she get the information about the silver to Slade in such a way that he’d let them live, at least long enough for them to escape?
“You know that the mean man is going to hurt us if you don’t tell him?”
Tears ran down Nugget’s face. A child so young should not be responsible for all the things she’d had to face.
With a look braver than her age, Nugget wiped an arm across her face, took Annabelle’s hand, then tugged her in the direction of Slade.
“In that cave,” Nugget said, pointing at a small fissure in the rock.
Slade went to the spot Nugget indicated, staring into it. He tried squeezing into the space, but his body was too big.
“How’d he get the silver out? Is there another entrance?” He returned his attention to Nugget.
She shook her head, then said quietly, “I got the silver for him.”
If there was anyone Annabelle wanted to hurt more than Slade and his men, it was Nugget’s father for putting a child in this position. How could he?
Slade, though, had no such thoughts, as a wicked grin crossed his face. “Then get it for me.”
Nugget glanced in Annabelle’s direction. “Annabelle has to come with me. There’s enough room. Mama used to come so’s the bats wouldn’t get me.”
Bats. Annabelle swallowed. Well, if she had to choose between bats and bullets, she supposed bats were the best option.
“You wouldn’t be trying to pull anything, would you?” Slade got right in Nugget’s face, but the little girl remained unmoved.
“She’s a child,” Annabelle said. “What exactly do you think she’s going to pull?”
Slade turned to his men. “Where’s the dynamite? Let’s just blast it out.”
The men whispered amongst themselves, then Bart came forward. “Slim used it all on Joseph. There isn’t any more.”
For a moment, Annabelle was sure Slade was going to shoot him on the spot. Then Slade looked over at the one she presumed to be Slim.
“Then Slim had best get in to town and get us some more.”
Slade returned his attention to Nugget and Annabelle. “I guess it’s time for you to prove there’s really silver in there. Go in and get me some silver.”
Nugget scrambled into the cave, and Annabelle followed, barely able to squeeze into the tight space.
“Nugget?”
Annabelle could hear a soft scrape, then a light shone in the distance.
“Crawl on your belly to my light.”
She did as the tiny girl ordered, finding herself in a large cavern.
“Papa told me to come here if anyone ever tried to get me to tell them where the silver is.”
Nugget shone the lantern around to indicate an empty cavern that had shiny flecks of some sort of mineral adorning the wall. Unfortunately, it wasn’t gold or silver. That much Annabelle knew. “Mama called it my secret house.”
Annabelle closed her eyes. They were safe for now, but once Slade realized they were not coming out, he’d just get dynamite and blast them out.
“But how do we get out?”
Nugget shrugged. “Papa always came.”
“But your papa is dead. Is there any other way out?”
Annabelle took the lantern and looked around for some sign that the cavern had another exit. Every fissure in the cavern appeared tighter than the one they’d just entered. Nugget went to one of the spaces and pulled out a blanket.
“I want my mama,” she said, plopping down on the hard ground and wrapping the blanket around her.
Annabelle joined her and pulled the little girl into her lap. “I know. I want my mama, too.”
Because her mother would know exactly what to do. She always did. At some point, Slade was going to get impatient for the silver. And if he found dynamite, and the rocks exploded around them, they surely wouldn’t survive.
Lord, please. Help me find a way to get us out safely. We can’t have come this far for nothing. My faith is so lacking, but the Bible says that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed... Surely I have that much in me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be calling on You now.
Annabelle wasn’t sure what else to say, so she cuddled Nugget closer to her and tried peering around in the limited light. If Nugget had faith that her papa would come get her, there had to be another way in if the way they’d entered was too small for a man.
“Nugget? Will you tell me where the silver is?”
The little girl sighed. “You won’t tell the bad men, will you?”
“I won’t tell them.” Please God, let me not break this promise.
But Nugget seemed to know Annabelle was weak. “Yes, you will.”
So Annabelle continued her search, shining the light and running her hand along the surface of the cave walls. She stumbled over a pile of rocks.
Could this be it?
She started digging among the rocks, moving them aside in hopes that they would lead to a passageway. Each rock seemed heavier than the last, but it didn’t make a dent in the pile.
“It’s not there,” Nugget said, moving to stand beside her.
Great. Annabelle let out a long breath. She’d been working to get them out of the cave, and Nugget was still trying to protect her father’s silver.
“Then where?” She tried keeping the exasperation out of her voice, but she was running out of options.
Nugget looked at her with big, watery green eyes. “I promised my papa.”
“Then at least tell me how he got in.”
Shadows crossed Nugget’s face, and she’d liked to have thought that it was because Nugget was carefully considering the idea. That meant there had to be another way.
“Papa came in from the big rock.” Nugget pointed, and when Annabelle swung the lantern, her heart sank. The big rock was bigger than the two of them put together.
“Some other bad men came for Papa once, and he told me to stay in here until it was safe.” She walked to the spot where she’d found the blanket, then pulled out a canteen. “The food’s gone, but Papa left us water and this lantern.” Nugget held up the lantern that illuminated the cave.
This was not what she was looking for. But maybe, if she got Nugget to tell more of the story, she’d find out something that could help them. “How long were you in here?”
“Ages.” Nugget let out a long, dramatic sigh. “But then Papa pushed the big rock out of the way and he saved me.”
“Annabelle!” The echo through the cave reminded her that they didn’t have ages. They had only as much time as the men had to bring dynamite in from town. Which, if they rode hard, only gave them a couple hours.
She turned toward the opening from which they’d come. “We’re still looking. It’s all a bunch of rocks.”
“You best find me some silver.”
If only Annabelle and God had been on good enough terms that He would listen to her prayers. But maybe...
Lord, please help us. Help me find a way to save us. To save Nugget. You saw fit to save me when all of these good people died in spite of all my prayers. Why did You have to take Joseph, too? And now to leave me in this situation where only You can save us? This time, if You have to take someone, let it be me instead of a little girl who hasn’t done anything wrong.
Because that, of all things, was her greatest fear. That somehow, God would once again take someone she loved and leave her behind to regret.
Annabelle took Nugget in her arms. “They’re not going to be patient much longer. Please, if there is silver, tell me where to find it.”
The little girl looked up at her with tears in her eyes. “You don’t believe me?”
But this...breaking a child’s heart, was probably the worst of all her sins. Faith was supposed to be about believing in things unseen. These men had never seen the silver. Joseph had never seen the silver. But they were all willing to fight for it. How much so should her faith be?
She couldn’t even believe in silver when she was supposed to believe in God.
“I just...” Annabelle hated the way her heart churned. “I’ve seen no evidence...no...”
A voice inside the back of her head asked her if she hadn’t seen evidence, or if she hadn’t seen the evidence she’d wanted to see.
Annabelle took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Nugget. If you say there’s silver, then I believe.” She had to choose to believe.
Annabelle looked Nugget in the eye. “I know your father said to wait here for him, but what did he say to do if he didn’t come?”
The uncertainty in the child’s eyes didn’t give her any comfort. But Annabelle had to do something. Otherwise, sitting here, thinking about the men after her... Men who’d killed Nugget’s father. And Joseph... No, she couldn’t think about him. Not now. Otherwise, the pain might completely immobilize her.
Nugget’s voice piped up. “Papa said for me to sing some songs so I wouldn’t miss him so much while I waited for him to come. I could sing one my mama taught me.”
The earnestness in the small child’s voice gave Annabelle the strength she needed to keep fighting. “That sounds like a great idea.”
As Nugget began singing “Rock of Ages,” Annabelle looked around for something to use as a lever. If the rock moved one way to get Nugget out before, surely she could find a way to make it work again.
* * *
Joseph slowed his horse just before the turnoff for the cabin. Maybe his pa had left more clues there. Something to tell him where to find the secret rock house or Monkey Rock.
Lord, please. Help me find Annabelle and Nugget.
Something glinted off a rock in the sunlight and caught his eye. He stopped and looked closer. The letter A, made out of Annabelle’s hairpins.
“Frank!” He twisted in his saddle and waved at the other man. “I’ve found something.”
Without waiting for Frank’s answer, Joseph jumped off the horse and picked up the pins. He searched the area around where she’d left the clue. She’d been here, but which direction did they go?
Frank joined him where he stood and examined the pins. “I’ve always appreciated that she didn’t worry herself into a tizzy the way so many ladies do. I just wish...” He shook his head.
Joseph put his arm on the other man’s shoulder. “Don’t wish. We’re going to find her and Nugget, and we’ll bring them home safely. Then you can tell her all the things you wish you could have told her.”
Like that fact that he was kidding himself to think he could only be her friend. No other woman would have the kind of gumption Annabelle did. And in the face of being kidnapped, she still found a way to fight. She’d given his sister her heart and loved her in spite of all the reasons a respectable woman wouldn’t be so kind to Nugget. Even though she had to face her own grief to do so.
If anyone could hold her own against Slade and his gang, Annabelle could.
Joseph held up the pins. “Annabelle left us some clues. Do any of you see anything that looks like a monkey rock?”
The men scanned the area, and Joseph’s stomach sank at the realization that none of the rocks in the area looked like a monkey.
“I found another pin!”
Frank’s shout gave Joseph more hope. Annabelle had left them a trail. Surely as they followed her clues, they’d find a monkey rock.
They were headed east, by the looks of things. He turned toward the other men. “What’s east of here? Anything that would be like a monkey?”
Wes’s face turned white. “I know where they are. It’s not monkey rock, it’s long key rock, and it looks like a long key.”
He watched as the other man shook his head slowly. “I can’t believe the silver was there the whole time. He even tried to get me to buy the claim off him, said he needed to send money home. Said he didn’t want just anyone to have it.”
Hearing of his pa’s honor, or what looked to be it, caused Joseph’s gut to churn in an unfamiliar way. No matter how much he thought he knew about his pa, it seemed like there was always something more to be learned. Just as he’d been unable to fit Annabelle into a box, so too, had he failed to do so with his pa.
Joseph went to his horse, prepared to travel to Long Key Rock, but as he headed in the direction of the pins, Wes stopped him. “That’s the way they went, but I know a back way. They won’t be expecting us from that direction, so maybe we can get a jump on them.”
Wes turned toward the men who’d ridden from camp with them. “Someone get the sheriff.”
They followed Wes through a tight canyon, so tight that they could barely fit their horses through. If Joseph had been in charge of navigating the passage, he would have been tempted to turn back. It seemed to be nearly impassable as his horse slipped on some rocks.
“Careful!” Wes called behind them. “We’re almost there.”
A large boulder blocked their path. Wes jumped off his horse. “We’ll lead the horses through here. Funny, I don’t remember this boulder being here before.”
They managed to squeeze past the boulder, and from there, Wes’s description of being almost there didn’t seem to be so far off. The canyon opened up, and to their right stood a large rock formation. Ahead, nothing but sheer cliffs and the edge of the mountains. From his vantage point, facing the villains directly seemed almost the smarter choice.
“We can tie up the horses here.” Wes gestured at a tree with well-worn ground. “Looks like this is probably where someone else did.”
That someone being his pa? Or someone else? Joseph examined the rock formation that Wes said was the rear of the rock where they’d likely taken Annabelle and Nugget. He clambered up the pile of debris. Piles of rock had been dumped here and there, almost as if someone was searching for silver but hadn’t found it yet. Someone had been prospecting here.
The other two men joined him, scrambling up the rock, looking for a way to sneak around the front. A fissure in the rock appeared to be almost large enough for a man to squeeze through. If his pa had hidden silver in here, he’d made it nearly impossible for anyone to get to it. But maybe that was the challenge. The way he’d kept it safe all this time.
And why two people were in grave danger.
Joseph peered into the rock opening. Could there be a way through here to where Annabelle and Nugget were being held?
A sound, almost like someone calling Annabelle’s name, reached his ears. Joseph squeezed in deeper. Could they have escaped?
“Annabelle....” The word echoed to his ears.
They were there. Had to be.
He squeezed back out of the cave and motioned to Wes and Frank. “I can hear someone calling to Annabelle through here.”
Without waiting for their answer, Joseph returned to where he’d positioned himself.
“I’ve got a lantern.” Wes’s voice sounded behind him, and light filled the tight space.
Joseph pressed against the wall, realizing there wasn’t enough room for two men to walk comfortably in the space, which dead-ended only a few feet ahead of him.
“Annnnnnnaaaaabellllllleeee....” The voice came again. “Bring out my silver, or we’re going to use dynamite.”
Dynamite. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as the air grew distinctly colder.
In a cavern like this, who knew how stable the rocks around them were. Dynamite could get them all killed.
A child’s voice singing “Rock of Ages” echoed through the cavern. Nugget.
“Give me the lantern.” He reached back to Wes, who handed him the light.
Joseph held it up, shining it against each side of the rock around them. Surely there was some passageway to lead them to the girls.
* * *
Light seeped through the crack of the boulder that Nugget had said her father pushed aside to get her out. Was it one of Slade’s men? Or someone come to save them?
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee.”
Though Nugget’s childish voice spoke of Christ, Annabelle looked around for a hiding place in the rock they were already hiding in. Was there a deeper place for them to find themselves in?
A small voice inside her told her to have a little faith. And she was reminded that she needed to simply believe.
“Annnnnaaabellleee....” Slade’s voice came from the other end, though sounding closer than his previous threats had been. “Bring out my silver, or I’m going to use dynamite.”
Surely he wouldn’t be threatening dynamite if he was sending someone else in through the other side.
“Nugget.” Annabelle got the little girl’s attention, and indicated to the rock. “I see light coming from there.”
The little girl jumped up. “Papa!”
She ran to the boulder and clawed at the crack. “Papa, we’re here. The bad men are trying to steal our silver.”
“Nugget!”
Joseph. Tears clogged her throat at the sweet sound of a voice she’d never imagined she’d hear again. Annabelle closed her eyes and breathed a simultaneous prayer of relief and prayer for his safety. Against these evil men, Joseph would be no match.
Still, he was alive. All the regret over his death could be erased. She could love him, and let him love her in return.
If they got out alive.
She spoke low and urgently, not wishing for their voices to echo back to Slade. “We’re both here, and we’re safe. But I don’t know for how much longer. Slade is threatening to use dynamite if we don’t bring out silver for him.”
“Papa moved the rock out of the way to get me out of here,” Nugget added.
“Who else is there?” Slade’s voice called out. He yelled something to his men, probably to either look for the other entrance or ready the dynamite. Neither would end well for them.
Annabelle knelt in front of Nugget. “Can we send some silver their way? If we tempt them with something, it will give Joseph more time to get us out of here.”
Nugget looked in the direction they’d come from, then back at the boulder. “But Papa said...”
“If there’s a lot of silver, it won’t matter if we give them some. Besides, it’ll give the sheriff a way to find them.”
The little girl examined her like an older, wiser, person would. Weighing the risks and benefits of her plan. But mostly, she looked like she wanted to cry.
Nugget nodded slowly, then walked over to another rock. “Behind there.”
It looked like any other rock in the place. Part of the many piles of rocks that seemed to lead nowhere. But she trusted Nugget. Annabelle pushed against the rock, but it didn’t budge.
“Help me.”
Nugget joined her, pushing with all the might the little girl had. Her face reddened with the exertion, but nothing seemed to move.
From the direction of the other boulder, Annabelle could hear sounds of scraping at rock, but no movement.
“Annnnaaabellle....” Slade’s voice threatened.
“I’m trying,” she called back. “Truly. I just need to move this rock.”
She pushed harder, using all of her strength. Nugget grunted as she helped Annabelle push against the rock, which began to move slightly.
Finding silver would give them more time for Joseph to get through the other entrance.
“Dynamite can move the rock.”
His voice sounded closer, like he’d managed to find a way through the tiny passageway.
Nugget seemed to realize that, too, as she cast a worried look in Annabelle’s direction.
“Come on.” She motioned to Nugget, and pointed at the other boulder.
They moved to the other boulder. “Slade is coming,” Annabelle said in a harsh whisper.
“Push!” Annabelle said loud enough for Slade, or whoever he might be sending after the silver, to hear.
They gave a couple of shoves at the rock, just as Slade entered the larger cavern.
Annabelle’s heart stuck in her throat, and she willed it to go back to normal. To cling to the hope that Joseph would find a way to get them out.
Slade’s clothes were torn and covered in dust from using a pick to get to them. Dirty, messy work, and he clearly wasn’t happy about having to do the work himself. And, she noted, he’d had to leave his gun behind. Maybe they stood a chance after all.
He tossed the pick at them as he held up the lantern. “What kind of trick is this? There’s no silver here.”
Annabelle shook her head. “Nugget says it is. She said her father came for her from behind this rock, so it must be here.”
Slade looked even more imposing than ever. “That so?” He shone his lantern around the rock. “Yes, we’ll need some dynamite.”
Hopefully Joseph had heard.
Nugget tugged on Annabelle’s skirt. Annabelle looked down at the little girl, who looked terrified at the prospect. “Papa said—”
“I don’t care what that no-account papa of yours said,” Slade roared as he spun in their direction. “All’s he had to do was give me some silver and we’d have been square. But that lyin’, cheatin’—”
“Enough!” Annabelle gave him a stern look. “There’s no call to use such language.”
Then, she looked down at Nugget. “Or dynamite. Clearly, with these tunnels, this is an established mine. We need to dig out the access to the silver, and when we have a better sense of the layout, then you can dynamite where appropriate. If you randomly blast things, you’re going to make an awful mess, and I’m sure it’ll be that much harder for you to get your silver.”
Slade leaned in at her, his eyes gleaming with enough avarice to make her wonder how anyone could have seen anything other than what a cold, hard man he was. His laughter rang through the cavern, surely carrying through to the other tunnels where the others could hear. They were in grave danger.
Slade kicked the pick. “Start digging.”
Annabelle took the pick and started swinging it, aiming for the gap in the rock where she knew Joseph would be, but far enough away that she wouldn’t strike him with debris. She hoped.
“Help. Please,” she said the words as quietly as she could, but Slade immediately jumped up.
“Who you talking to? Who’s there?”
Annabelle spun. “I suppose your praying was just for show, so you have no idea what it looks like to truly pray.”
Her own words shamed her. How long had she merely given lip service to her faith? Making people think she believed when she had none? Even now, her faith was weak, so weak she could hardly defend it. But here, in the cleft of the rock, she had to believe that she was in the protection of a greater rock.
“Your God’s not going to help you. He didn’t help your family. Didn’t help mine. You think you’ve uncovered some elixir to make Him listen?”
She closed her eyes, trying to drown out the shame of his words. But just as the familiar darkness threatened to overtake her, another truth sprang to the back of her mind. And her mother’s voice came to her, clearer than anything else she’d heard in a long time.
It said in Isaiah, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
It didn’t matter what her thoughts were, or how she perceived the situation. The Lord’s purpose was far greater than she could see. She just had to believe.
“You hated me,” Slade’s voice taunted. “Because I didn’t get the doctor in time to save your brother. You thought I was too busy going after silver.”
Annabelle’s eyes flew open, and she looked at him. “I put my faith in the wrong man.”
“That you did.” He gave the kind of laugh Annabelle imagined only came from a truly wicked being.
And, with the most callous of looks she’d ever seen, he grinned. “Sorry.”
Rage boiled inside Annabelle at the unfairness of it all. How long she’d suffered for her supposedly rash judgment of this man, which, as it turned out, had been right all along. But then she remembered a passage from Genesis, when Joseph’s brothers feared that he would take retribution for what they had done to him. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Whether Annabelle had been right or wrong, the Lord knew, and not only would He take full accounting of all that had gone on, everything, including all of this, would be used for the Lord’s purpose.
Oh, how she’d resented her father trying to comfort her with placating words of how the Lord’s will would be done. But now she understood. The Lord saw, and He knew.
Annabelle had a choice. To act in accordance with what the Lord had commanded her, or to act on her pain.
A flash on the other side of the rock caught Annabelle’s attention, and she noticed that Joseph had almost worked his way through.
“May the Lord have mercy on your soul,” she whispered, setting the pick down with a loud clank, and going to where Nugget sat, whimpering.
“What’s that?” Slade looked past her, toward the spot where Annabelle had been digging.
Moments later, his face mottled with rage, he spun. “You’ve been stalling so’s they can—”
“Annabelle, get Nugget out of the blast area so we can blow this rock.” Joseph’s voice rang through the cave.
She didn’t need another invitation. Annabelle grabbed Nugget by the hand and yanked her in the direction of the other tunnel. Though Slade’s men waited at the other end, at least it would offer them some protection from the blast until Joseph could get to them.
Slade shoved at her back. “Make way, you stupid—”
An explosion rocked the cavern. Rocks and debris flew everywhere, filling the area with so much dust Annabelle could hardly breathe. She covered her mouth with a sleeve as she pulled her handkerchief out of her pocket to cover Nugget’s. At least it would afford the child some protection.
The heavy weight of Slade’s body pressed her to the ground, and she shifted to keep most of the weight of the two adults off a squirming Nugget.
“Are you all right?” Annabelle choked the words out, thankful that at least she knew Nugget was alive. Slade, on the other hand, remained a dead weight on top of her.
Nugget coughed, and Annabelle thought she might have heard the little girl say yes.
“Don’t try to talk. The dust’s too thick.”
“Hey, boss!” A man’s voice called from the other end of the tunnel. “You ready for us to get the silver?”
Though the heavy man on top of her was most uncomfortable, at least he wasn’t able to answer and warn them that rescuers were on the way.
“There’s a lot of dust,” Annabelle called back. “Best wait a while.”
She could hear murmuring, probably the men discussing why she’d answered instead of Slade. And no quick retort came to her to explain. Instead, she felt the weight being moved off her, giving her room to shift toward a dim light.
Two familiar eyes glowed back at her.
Joseph!
Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around him, feeling the warmth of a body she’d believed dead.
“Shh...it’s all right. Where’s Nugget?”
Of course. Annabelle should have realized that his sister would be a priority in his mind. She shouldn’t have... Her face heated. Had she truly put her arms around this man? No matter what she might have vowed otherwise, she’d had no business doing so.
As Annabelle moved out of the way, she heard yells and gunshots coming from the end of the tunnel where Slade’s men had been waiting. “The sheriff?” She looked for confirmation from Joseph, who nodded.
“Your pa is waiting on the other side.”
He picked up Nugget, then led Annabelle through the cavern, where dust still settled.
“Keep your mouth covered. You don’t want to breathe in all the dust.” He pressed a handkerchief into her hand, which she gratefully took. It was a sight better than her sleeve.
She followed him out into the sunlight. A setting sun, but sun nonetheless.
“Father!” She ran into his arms, and he hugged her tight to him, tighter than she could ever remember being held.
When he finally pulled away, he picked at her hair. “Why, Annabelle, I do believe you’ve got silver dust in your hair.”
He ran his fingers along the strands, then held his hands up to look. “Joseph! Wes! Look here! There really is silver in that mountain!”
The men gathered round, exclaiming over the silver in Annabelle’s hair, and as they examined her further, even among the folds of her dress. Nugget merely lifted her head from her brother’s shoulder and gave a shrug as if to say, “I told you so.”
On the way back to the camp, she shared what she’d discovered with her father, whose face grew more ashen as he realized the depths of the perfidy of a man he’d loved like his own son.
But they passed camp, taking the trail instead toward town.
“Aren’t we stopping at the mining camp?”
Her father shook his head. “There’s men to be put in jail. Plus, you could use a bath and to sleep in your own bed.”
Annabelle closed her eyes for a brief moment. A bath and her own bed sounded just about perfect. Only... “What about Gertie? I’m sure she must be worried sick.”
Even when Annabelle chose to shut the other woman out, Gertie had loved her. It was time Annabelle let her.
He pulled his horse to a stop in front of her. “We sent a rider to let them know what happened. Getting you safely home is the priority now.”
“Do you think we could go up and see her soon? I know she won’t be satisfied until she hugs me herself.”
The look on her father’s face was the final piece of healing she needed. “I’m sure she’d like that.”
But then the wrinkles on her father’s forehead deepened more than she’d ever seen. “I’m sorry, Annabelle. I was blind to a lot of things, like your pain. You were hurting, and instead of talking to you, I assumed I knew what was best. I forced you to help in a ministry that you didn’t believe in.”
Annabelle swallowed, wishing she could say something to ease the pain in her father’s voice. “It’s a good ministry, Father.”
“But it’s not your ministry. Can you forgive me for being so blind? I feel it’s my fault for placing you in danger by forcing you—”
“No.” Annabelle wished they weren’t both on horseback so she could reach for him and offer him some comfort. “If I hadn’t been here, Slade would have taken Nugget, and there would have been no one to protect her. But I was here. And it all worked out, all of our mistakes, for the saving of lives.”
Her father brushed his hand across his eyes. “You are something else, Annabelle. Your mother would be so proud. Just as I am.”
She’d never imagined her father would ever say such a thing of her. In that moment, all of the pain she’d endured through this ordeal was completely worth it.
Joseph slowed his horse alongside them. “Is anything wrong?”
“No,” her father said. “I was just telling Annabelle how proud I was of her. And, if she still wishes, I’ll be putting her on the next train East to visit her aunt Celeste.”
Annabelle’s heart leaped. Finally! After all this time. But Nugget’s tiny gasp made her stop. How could she leave Nugget?
Her father had been right. Having been forced to confront the pain and push past it, her heart didn’t hurt so much anymore. The people she loved were safe, and she wanted to cling to them rather than push them away.
“Father, I...”
Her throat seemed to swell, and it wasn’t from all the dust she’d breathed in. Everything she’d ever dreamed of was being offered to her with no price, and yet, it felt wrong somehow.
“I shouldn’t have been so selfish in keeping you here.”
Her father’s voice was gruff, but she wasn’t looking at him. Rather, she couldn’t keep her eyes off the lone tear trickling down Nugget’s cheek.
Her place was with Nugget. But how could she insist? Joseph had said nary a word to her since her rescue, and he’d already made it clear that his future was about taking care of his family, and...
There was no room for Annabelle in Joseph’s life. Though she was ready to accept his love, he had none to give.
“Thank you, Father,” she said quietly, no longer feeling joy in her newfound victory.
Then she looked over at Nugget. “Remember what I said. We’ll write. And if Joseph is agreeable, then I can visit, or you can visit me. It’ll be all right. You’ll see.”
But her stomach churned. None of it felt right. Joseph would have what he wanted. His silver, his family, and Nugget. And though Annabelle was also finally getting what she wanted, she didn’t want to leave anymore. But she had no right. Not to Joseph, and not to Nugget, as much as she’d grown to love them both.
It should be enough for her that Joseph finally had the means to provide for his family. Annabelle’s prayers had been answered.