Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
“W ill the rain never relent?” Corrine moaned and held a handkerchief to her nose and mouth. “I swear it’s making my nausea worse.”
Henry put a reassuring hand on her knee. “Hang on, Corrine. The town has to be close now.”
Lisa opened her eyes, fully expecting to see the brother and sister in the stagecoach with her. But she didn’t see them. She didn’t even see a stagecoach. She wasn’t even sitting up. She was lying on her back. It felt like she was on a bed. Also, she couldn’t make out the sound of rain. After a moment, she realized there was no rain. But she did hear something. She focused on her surroundings.
It was dim around her. She could barely make out where she was. Her gaze went to two different sources of light. One source was the fire in a fireplace. The second source came from two small windows. The sun was out, but it must be morning or evening because it wasn’t as bright as it would be if it was midday or afternoon.
She frowned. Where was she? She didn’t remember coming to this one-room cabin. A sharp pain stabbed her temple. She winced and closed her eyes.
The last thing she remembered, she was standing on the edge of a cliff, trying to muster up the courage to jump. To end it all.
Then she got scared and ran for the trees. She couldn’t jump, and she had nowhere to go in this town. She hadn’t come here to live. She had come here to die. It was why she hadn’t packed anything to take with her. All she had was a little money in her cloak, and that was supposed to be enough to get her as far West as one could go. If you ever get a chance to see the Pacific Ocean, you should, someone had told her long ago. Or maybe it hadn’t been long ago. That part of her life seemed to be more of a nightmare than a reality. The less she remembered, the better.
The sound of a door opening caught her attention. Her eyes flew open, and she turned her head in time to see a tall man with dark hair enter the cabin. He was holding a pail and was carrying a cloth bag over his shoulder. He shut the door. He started to look her way, so she hurried to close her eyes and pretended to be asleep.
Who was he? How had he found her? Why had he brought her here? What was he planning to do with her?
She had to take a deep breath to calm down. She had to get out of there. But how?
She heard him place the pail down on a hard surface. Then he was rummaging through something. Clangs of pots and skillets came next. She peeked out of the corner of her eye and saw that his back was to her. She opened her eyes and watched as he set a skillet on the cookstove. He pulled the sack off his shoulder then reached into it. A moment later, he was cracking a couple of eggs into the skillet.
She glanced at the door. He was closer to it than she was. She had no chance of escaping as long as he was in there. Her gaze caught sight of her cloak that was pinned up near the door. It had grass stains on it.
That was right. After crying all the tears she had left, she’d ended up lying on the wet ground. The last thing she recalled, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
And then… And then…
She brought her gaze back to the stranger. And then she woke up here.
What did he want with her?
He left the cookstove to retrieve a plate and a cup from a shelf on the nearby wall. She closed her eyes in case he turned and realized she was awake. He must not know she was awake. He had left her alone while she slept. As long as he thought she continued to sleep, he would keep leaving her alone. What she needed to do was wait until he left the cabin. Then she would get out of this bed, grab her cloak, and hightail it out of there.
Pretending to sleep proved to be a difficult task. Every time she heard him move, her tension increased. Would he come over to her? Did he pick up on the fact that she was awake? If she opened her eyes, would she see him staring at her? She had to focus on staying still and taking deep, even breaths in order to keep up the pretense of sleeping.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, she heard the door open and shut. She partly opened her eyes. The cabin was empty. She waited for a long moment to see if he would return. He didn’t.
She had no way of telling how long he’d be gone, but she had to get out of there. She sat up in the bed. A couple of round and hard things rolled off of her chest and stomach. Surprised, she lifted the top blanket. It was thicker than the other one. She spotted three potatoes. Under the potatoes was a thinner blanket. And under that thin blanket was…
She gasped and brought the thick blanket up to her neck. She was naked! Not only had this stranger brought her here, but he had undressed her.
He hadn’t done anything else to her, had he?
She swallowed. She hated to find out, but she had to know. She lifted the blankets and peered down at her body. Everything looked normal. She parted her legs and tentatively examined the tender flesh hidden by the dark patch of curls. There was no evidence that he had spilled his seed inside her. She breathed a sigh of relief. She thought she would remember if he had done something to her, but this additional proof was much appreciated.
She had no idea what the potatoes were for. Right now, that didn’t matter. What mattered was that she got out of there.
She scanned the room until she found her undergarments and dress. They were on a stool that was at the foot of her bed. She scrambled out of the bed. Her head spun as her feet hit the floor. She rested against the bed until the bout of dizziness went away.
She released her breath then hurried to put on her clothes. Thankfully, her stockings and boots were under the stool, so she didn’t have to search for them. Once she had everything on, she slipped her cloak on. She thought about going straight to the door and bolting out of there but restrained herself enough to go to the window by the bed first. The cabin was tucked in the middle of a lot of trees. She had no way of knowing how far she was from the ocean. She also had no idea how far she was from town.
Pushing aside her disappointment, she reminded herself that she had to get out of here. She had no way of knowing if she could trust the man who had removed her clothes and put her in his bed. It certainly didn’t seem like something an honorable man would do.
When she was assured that the man wasn’t anywhere near the cabin, she went to the door. She’d get out of here and never look back. She wasn’t sure where she’d go. She’d figure that out later. Right now, she had to get to safety.
She slipped out of the cabin and softly shut the door behind her. Making sure she was still alone, she ran into the forest.
* * *
Two hours later, Ashley returned home. He would have stayed out longer to chop more wood, but he had to check on the woman. His efforts over the past two days had yielded good results. She was much warmer. He didn’t have to change out the potatoes so much anymore. He suspected he might not even have to place more heated potatoes on her at this point.
While checking on her that morning, he noted that her skin color was normal, and her body, even her feet and hands, were warm. He was happy he had been able to save her. When he first saw her, he worried about her chances of survival, and if she did survive, he worried she might end up with frostbite. It was a miracle that she turned out alright. And he was glad to know God still granted miracles.
As soon as he opened the door of his cabin, he saw that the bed was empty. The blankets had been shoved aside. The potatoes had fallen to the floor. His gaze swept the small area. She wasn’t anywhere. Her things were missing. She couldn’t fit under the bed. He had too many things under there.
He was surprised she’d had the energy to leave. Well, he bet she wouldn’t make it far. Not in her weakened condition. She was going to end up collapsing before she made it a mile. That meant it wouldn’t take too long to find her. After being here for five years, he knew this area like the back of his hand.
He went over to the small table and poured water into a canteen. She needed water. He had pressed a wet cloth to her lips every so often while she’d been unconscious, but she had to be thirsty. He swung the canteen over his shoulder and headed out to look for her.
* * *
Lisa tripped over a tree root. She barely avoided landing face first on the damp earth by throwing her hands out in front of her. Her fingers clawed into the dirt as the impact from the fall hit her full force. She grunted. The stupid cloak and dress were working against her. It was difficult to navigate a forest this way.
She straightened up on her knees and brushed her loose red curls from her face. Too late did she realize that she’d gotten mud in her hair. With a grimace, she did her best to wipe her hands on some old leaves. When that didn’t work, she decided to wipe them on her cloak. Even that didn’t get all of the grime off of her hands. She gave up and placed her hands in her lap.
All was quiet in the forest. Where was the ocean from here? She noted the gentle downward slope of the hill. That had to be the way to town. She didn’t know what she thought was waiting for her in that direction. She didn’t know anyone there. She didn’t know anyone anywhere around here. The people she did know back East had made it clear that she should never show her face there again. When she thought she was going to end her life, that hadn’t hurt. But now that she realized she was too scared to end her life, knowing she had nowhere to go filled her with a fear she’d never experienced before.
The only place she had to go to around here was that cabin with that creepy man. Only bad things happened to women who were trapped alone with men in cabins stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Maybe she should find the ocean instead of the town. Maybe this time, she could gather the courage to step off the cliff.
She used her hands to push herself off the ground. She wiped as much mud from her hands as she could. A wave of dizziness hit her. She remained still and closed her eyes as she waited for the sensation to go away. After it did, she opened her eyes and took a deep breath.
Going down the hill would take her to town. She glanced around her. Which way was the ocean?
She heard a noise in the sky. She looked up and squinted against the sunlight that filtered through the trees. A couple of birds flew across the sky. They headed in the same direction. Were they birds that liked the beach? If so, they would lead her in that direction.
What did she have to lose by following them? She lowered her head and proceeded to the path that was level in front of her. She made it fifteen minutes heading in this new direction when the world tilted about her. She tried to compensate for it, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t regain her balance. Her vision went black. Then she lost consciousness.