There was barely enough moonlight to see by, but her feet followed a rut in the gravel and sand. She kept running toward the Boyd house. If anyone could keep Finn away from her, it was Nathaniel. Her skirt swung at her legs until she nearly tripped. She ran until she couldn’t run anymore, then she could do nothing but walk at a quickened pace, arms swinging at her sides to pull her body along. Her breath scraped her lungs and tore through her nostrils. She had to stop, rest, but fear was fully upon her. She never should’ve flirted with him that first day on the boat or sat with him in the restaurant. She never should’ve told him that she would take a walk. How was she to know that he would react like this? As she ran up the hill, she felt the threat of him behind her. The sweat along her back and under her arms wet her dress. She didn’t want to cry, not now, not before she got up the hill. She started walking again, nearly staggering, toward the house.
Her heart lifted at the sight of a dim light in the first-floor window, and she slowed now that she knew Nathaniel was there. The light grew brighter, and she cut through the hedge and went around to the kitchen door.
“Nathaniel!” She called out to him. “It’s Rachel.”
He appeared shirtless, startled, his hair pressed up on one side where he’d been sleeping on it. He led her to the chair by the kitchen table and directed her to sit. “Tell me,” he said.
“Your brother,” she said.
“What’s happened?”
Rachel began trembling. “You can’t tell him I told you.”
“You can tell me,” Nathaniel said.
“He waited for me in the dark, beneath the stairs to my room. He forced himself on me, kissed me on the mouth, threatened me.”
Nathaniel stood up. He turned from the girl and looked out the window toward the harbor and his brother’s shop.
“He’ll do it again,” Rachel said. “I’m afraid.”
“I’ll stop him.”
“If he knows I told you—”
“It will not happen again, Rachel. I promise you.” Nathaniel leaned toward her and let her rest against the curve of his body.
A ragged intake of breath, and she began sobbing. She wanted to tell him about the money, but she was afraid of what he would do. She wanted to go home, but she didn’t know where to go. Home was suddenly just an idea in her head, a misty feeling that she couldn’t associate with any place she knew.