Chapter One #2
Her stomach, devoid of food for nearly two days now, gnawed on itself.
It wasn’t audible, but the feel of her bones protruding without her normal layer of healthy fat was probably obvious.
Her slightly more curvy natural frame had always bothered Grandfather, and he’d told the cooks to limit food for her more than once in an attempt to give her the waifish figure he said men preferred on women.
Why he cared, she didn’t know, as he’d not accepted the suit of any young men who’d asked to court her.
She’d only been of age for a little while, and he was sick for most of it.
A bitter amusement rose in her at the idea he might finally be satisfied with her figure.
It wasn’t her low weight which had Ellie infuriatingly self-conscious as she locked eyes with the handsome cowboy.
It was also the knowledge her curly blonde hair was caked and matted, her clothes were torn and nearly threadbare from the time on the trail, and she sported an entire layer of dirt and mud where her normally fair skin ought to be.
“I’m fine.” The words were clipped, and her body rebelled at that particular lie with as much energy as it could, her stomach growling in betrayal. Would she starve to death out here before she made it into town? Would she faint from hunger and a predator come by and eat her?
The man, Micah he’d said, sighed again. “Let me at least give you some food. I won’t even dismount Finn if it’ll make you more comfortable.”
Ellie’s hands trembled, but her hunger won over her caution.
She nodded quickly, unable to form words as her mouth suddenly began to water at the thought of food.
Micah unlatched a leather bag from his saddle and checked the contents.
Placing his canteen inside as well, the man tossed it to the ground at her feet.
“There, hopefully that’ll keep you fed for a day or two, and if you do decide you need help, we’re over the ridge to the south.
” He pointed behind him, and Ellie warred within herself.
How was it the sight of the food and canteen tossed at her feet felt nothing like the papers from her trust tossed in the same spot? The papers had been thrown in an attempt to humiliate her, but Micah had stayed on his horse for the purpose of making her comfortable. What was it he’d said?
A ranch? That meant cowboys, more men than she could stomach at the moment.
Especially after all that had happened in California after news of her grandfather’s will stipulations had spread.
She still didn’t understand how it had happened, but it wouldn’t surprise her if Percival James had been involved in creating her even more desperate situation.
No, more than a handful of the miners had all become predators, and Ellie felt like nothing but prey.
The rules served no purpose but to torture her, though she had no doubt he’d convinced his lawyer of other motives. “Thank you.”
It took everything in Micah not to swing down from Finn, throw this woman over his shoulder, and take her back to the ranch so she could be properly taken care of.
There was dried blood in her blonde hair, a fading bruise on her cheek, and she looked at least fifteen pounds underweight.
She had to be the woman at the camp he had found, and the wounds on her wrists told him exactly why the camp itself hadn’t looked like a woman was there at first.
At least, it hadn’t until he’d found her hair pins the day before.
Could he possibly convince her to come with him?
Not today, but maybe he could slowly gain her trust. “Listen, why don’t you meet me back here tomorrow morning?
I can bring you some more food, and maybe some warm clothes.
” He’d do it right now, but Micah sensed the woman needed more time.
“It’s warming up, but do you need my coat? You can give it back tomorrow.”
In these woods, there were also predators, wolves, coyotes, the occasional black bear, and snakes once the weather warmed up.
She didn’t look like she had much in the way of survival skills, and she certainly didn’t carry anything with her to catch or snare food.
Still, this woman was like a skittish, unbroken colt.
If he pushed, she’d bolt, and he’d never see her again.
The woman seemed to debate with herself whether she should grab the bag, but her hunger apparently won out. She hurried forward, kneeling to grab the bag without breaking eye contact with him. The second she had it in her possession, she scurried backwards once more.
Shaking her head wildly, the woman stepped back two more steps.
Her fingers clutched his saddle bag to her like it held the finest gold.
“No. No, I don’t need your jacket. I…I’ll try to come back tomorrow.
” Her words tumbled out until she clamped her mouth shut.
“I…thank you for the food. I need to go.”
With energy he couldn’t imagine she had based on her appearance, the woman turned and fled to the east, the opposite direction of the camp he’d found.
He felt completely powerless, helpless when all he wanted to do was take her home, but he couldn’t force her.
He wouldn’t, especially when someone else had apparently already held her against her will.
His gut churned, the blood in his veins boiling. Micah had no doubt he’d be capable of murder if said man were to wander across his path. After the way Pa had treated Mama, he’d not hesitate to pull the trigger on any man who harmed a woman. For better or worse, the Lord would forgive him for it.
At that moment, said man was nowhere near him.
He had no outlet for his anger, his worry over the woman he’d run off, or any way to change things for her.
The chilly breeze wafting through this dense tree cover normally brought him peace, as did any other time outside in the vast expanses of God’s creation, but not right now.
Something pricked his heart. Was it the conviction Pastor Jim talked about?
Should he pray about it the way the man always said?
His whole life, he’d heard the encouragement to pray and give things to the Lord, but where was God when his father had treated them as he had?
Micah went to church for the children, to set a good example for them, and he supposed he believed the Almighty was real, but he’d never be able to trust difficult situations to Him. He’d seen too much.
No, he’d be back tomorrow and convince the woman to come with him.
It’d fly in the face of everything he stood for, but if she wouldn’t come, he’d figure out a way to make it happen.
Isaac would be gone with the others on the cattle drive, and he’d asked Micah to stay behind in case whoever had been squatting at the camp to the north of their property caused trouble.
Still, none of that felt as important as getting this woman out of the woods and into a place where she could heal.
He sighed, the prick in his heart even stronger.
“Fine,” he grumbled as he pointed Finn back in the direction of the ranch.
“Lord, if You care about this woman, I need You to bring her back tomorrow so I can help her.” His mama would probably tell him to quit telling God how to do His job, but it was the only solution he could see.
“She’s gonna freeze out here when the weather turns, or she’ll get recaptured by whoever had her. Please, bring her back.”
Isaac had recently become far more convinced of God’s care for the happenings of their day to day lives, something Micah attributed to his falling for the children's teacher, Louisa. She’d been good for him, and Micah was happy for his brother, but he didn’t know if he’d ever get there.
It had burned when he learned how Isaac’s first wife, Martha, had died.
Micah had always thought his brother married for love only to find out he’d married her because she knew she was dying and wanted someone to adopt her three children.
He understood he’d been young when Martha and the children came to stay with them, and she hadn’t been with them long before she’d succumbed to the illness she’d gotten trying to provide for her children, but for his brothers to never tell him the truth?
It felt like a betrayal, or maybe like they didn’t trust him.
There wasn’t any use in dwelling on things of the past. He’d do what Pastor Jim and Hal always tried to convince him to do and give the blonde woman he’d come across in the woods over to the Lord.
His fists clenched on Finn’s reins, and he had to actively work to loosen them and relax his body.
Maybe surrender was a muscle which grew the more it was used?
With barely a thimble full of faith anyone was even listening, Micah nudged Finn into a gallop and rode towards the ranch, the brick of dread settled in his stomach like nothing but dead weight.
He’d be back, and he’d figure out a way to get her back to the ranch.
It was the only answer, the only one he could stomach, anyway.