“Can this really be right?” Lily’s question seeped through Ellis’s thoughts and the thrumming of the rain. They were parked near the base of the Gantrys’ drive to regroup and rethink. She was reviewing Calvin’s papers, partially covering the flashlight to keep the car dim. “On the back here, it says adoptions take a year to finalize. That means it’s not official yet. This should make it easier for Geraldine, shouldn’t it?”
Distracted, Ellis was slow to reply. “I would hope so.”
“Well…either way, we need to figure out a plan.”
The truth was, a plan was taking shape that didn’t include we.
“Could you hand me the map?” he asked. It was on the floorboard by her feet.
“The map? Why?”
Sensing she was going to object, he answered without fully looking at her. “I have to find a bus or train depot close by.”
“Why’s that?”
Their combined funds would be enough for a single ticket. Of course, he would stay with her until morning when the next ride departed. “I’m sending you home.”
She stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“You need to get back early. You’re due at the paper tomorrow.”
“And you’re not?”
“Lily, please. I promise I’ll keep you updated.” He held out his upturned hand. “Now, could you pass it over?” At her defiant stare, he reached down and snagged the map himself. He’d just spread it over the steering wheel when she snapped the light off.
Lord help him…
“You’re going to do something foolish, aren’t you?”
He dragged his gaze to meet hers.
“You heard Mr. Gantry up there. He’d jump at the chance to call the sheriff. If he doesn’t grab his shotgun first.”
“There’s no need to worry. I’m not going to sneak into the house or break any other law.” He saw no point in reminding her that busting into the orphanage had been her idea.
“Fine. Then, what are you planning to do?”
They were getting nowhere. To placate her, he’d reveal his thoughts. Just without mention of the dangers. “Since Mr. Gantry’ll be working early in the fields—with Calvin, too, I figure—I could catch his wife on her own. She might be willing to help if given the chance. Maybe behind closed doors, she actually has some sway over her husband. Anyway, there’s no harm in trying.”
Unless…Mr. Gantry happened to come home early. Or if Ellis, as he’d done with the Millstones, was pegging Mrs. Gantry all wrong.
Lily pondered the proposal, and she nodded. A minor miracle.
Ellis turned back to the map, still needing the flashlight.
“In that case,” she stated, “it makes perfect sense for me to stay.”
Ellis’s relief dissipated as fast as it had formed.
“I guarantee she’ll be more open to speaking with a woman than a man. I know I would with a husband like that.”
It was impossible to counter her arguments, but he also knew the stakes. “Lily, listen.”
“Where should we wait in the meantime?”
“Lily—”
“I am not going anywhere. Force me out of the car if you want, but I’m not leaving without that child.”
She was prideful and determined and stubborn, as usual. They were traits that made him want to kiss her as much as strangle her. Another reason to send her off. He had to concentrate on the goal. Here in the dark, with only inches dividing them, it would be hard to dwell on anything but her. Rain had matted her hair and washed away her makeup, and she was still a goddamn knockout. Somehow even more so. If it weren’t pouring outside, he’d take a walk to clear his senses and shake off his stupidity. She was spoken for. Practically engaged.
“Ellis, try to understand,” she said after a pause. She shifted toward him, and her voice softened. “Yes, I realize it might be dangerous. But you know about my past, about Samuel…so you know why I have to see this through.” Her sudden vulnerability only magnified the battle in his head. “Please, say something.”
Don’t marry him. The words rushed to his throat. They pooled on his tongue, ready to spill free. All he had to do was let them out.
But how could he? How could he tell her to pass up a life with Clayton Brauer? As much as Ellis wanted to disparage the guy, he couldn’t. Occasional arrogance aside, Clayton would make for a worthy husband. And he could give Lily and her son the secure future they deserved.
In contrast, here was Ellis, on the brink of being penniless, jobless, and homeless. If he didn’t count jail. Depending on a judge’s ruling, he could be back in a concrete pen before long, rendering him useless to anyone. A valid reason for her parents to care for him even less.
And yet, in this moment, despite all that, what he feared above all was not telling her. Of spending decades like his father, festering in silence and regret.
She was waiting for a response, the rain falling harder, when something flickered in his periphery. A light near the house.
Somebody was out there.
“Get down.” Ellis pulled Lily by her shoulder, and they dropped low in their seats. The map fell to the floor. Had the flashlight given them away?
He imagined Mr. Gantry marching down the drive. Shells loaded, finger on the trigger.
Lily’s eyes widened, questioning what he’d seen.
Ellis lowered her window for a better view. Once more, the air was black. “The light… It’s gone.”
It had been a mistake to park so close.
Lily dared to peek for herself. Ellis was about to start the engine, rarely an easy task, when the light reappeared. The glow of a window.
“It’s from inside the barn,” she said.
He’d been wrong. It hadn’t come from outside. Someone earlier—Mrs. Gantry, he’d guess—had used her kerosene lamp to navigate from the barn to the house. But he hadn’t seen anyone go back since.
“Something about it’s odd,” Lily said.
His gut told him the same. “I’d better go take a look.”
She agreed, and before he could tell her to stay put, she was out of the car.
“Lily, no,” he rasped, unable to yell. Even if he could, some good it would do him. Bridling his frustration, he hurried through the rain and over pebbles to catch up. If she couldn’t be discouraged, he’d at least stick by her side.
Without his fedora, water clouded his vision as they ascended the drive. He surveyed the house, confirming all was still and dark.
“Keep behind me,” he whispered, an unbending order, as they crept around a weathered truck. To his relief, she didn’t put up a fight.
Finally at the barn, he clutched the vertical handle of the door and cautiously rolled it open a crack. Sure enough, there was a light. A flashlight beam, aimed at the rafters. His heart skittered in alarm, but not enough to back off. He inched the door farther, causing a squeak from its metal track, and the light vanished.
Confounded, he glanced back at Lily. She was anxiously hunched with their flashlight, ready to click it on when needed. In that instant, he saw himself as a kid, caught reading under the covers after bedtime.
All at once, he knew the source of the light.
He stepped into the barn, and Lily followed. The place was dry at least, but the musty air carried an animal smell, along with a chill that ran down Ellis’s arms.
“Calvin?” he called out quietly. Then he closed the door and told Lily, “Turn on your light.”
She did just that, and the shadows of her face underscored the horror of what they might find. They separated, plunging into a search.
Ellis wove around pieces of farm equipment. Rain from his clothing dripped onto the dirt floor. He investigated the area around creamery cans and broken stacks of hay bales. “Calvin?”
A horse nickered in reply. From a nearby stall, its black eyes glinted in the faint light. A white blaze of hair sloped from its forehead.
“Ellis, over here.” Lily’s urgent whisper pulled him to the only other stall in the barn. Beside her flashlight, set on the floor, was a small plate of crumbs and a Gold Shield Coffee can that reeked of urine. She was kneeling by a mounded blanket in the corner. Above the woolen fabric was a tuft of blond hair. “Calvin?” she said. “Is that you?”
Two large eyes gradually emerged. At the recognition of his small, round face, Ellis had trouble moving. Whether this was the boy’s nightly spot or a severe form of punishment, the situation was sickening.
“It’s all right, we’re here to help you.” Lily assumed a soothing maternal tone. “We’ll get you out of this awful place and take you somewhere safe. I can carry you out. Would you like that?” When he didn’t answer, she gently touched his shoulder. The contact sent him scrambling farther into the corner.
He didn’t know her, didn’t trust her.
Why in God’s name would he trust anyone?
Maybe it would help, though, if he recognized Ellis.
“Hey, Calvin. Remember me?” The words sounded clogged. Ellis cleared the emotion from his throat. He summoned what cheerfulness he could. “I’m the reporter friend of your mom. And your sister too.” Calvin’s brow conveyed interest, but just a trace through his wariness.
For years, Ellis had reveled in collecting details, seeking importance in the smallest of things. If ever again, he needed to do that now.
He mined his memory as he moved closer, one disarming step at a time. “You know, back in the summer, I bought all those flowers from Ruby. Remember that?” He could still see the dandelions in his head, bound and wilted by the sun.
Calvin watched him intently, scrutinizing; he was, after all, the skeptical sibling.
“And you were at the apple tree, hanging on the branches.” Ellis squatted beside Lily. “Your mama, she was doing the laundry. That’s the day I took a picture of you on the porch for the paper…” He nearly choked on the last bit, realizing how that very photo, his photo, had brought the child to this.
Lily joined back in. “I’m sure this is terribly confusing. But you being here, it was all a big mistake. Just know that your real family loves you. I swear they never stopped.” Her speed was increasing, a reminder that every minute in this place was a minute too long. “If you want to be with them again, you have to come with us. Okay, Calvin?” She tentatively reached for him, and he drew his head back as if her fingers were made of hot lead. “Calvin, please.” Tears entered her voice. She turned to Ellis.
If they just grabbed him and ran, they would risk his screaming. Not to mention traumatizing him even more. He was already recoiled in his blanket, the rim of his flashlight cresting the fabric.
What else could possibly comfort him? What would Geraldine tell them to do?
She’d hummed to Samuel once, to soothe him when he was sick. It was worth a try, but Ellis had to recall the right tune.
Was it “Clementine”? No…but it was a gal’s name.
Maybe “Oh! Susanna”?
Blasted. The melody echoed distantly in the hollow of his ears. He could almost catch the lyrics. About giving an answer and being half crazy…about a bicycle built for two…
It was “Daisy Bell.”
“You know, Cal, I bet your mama would hum a song to make you feel better. We could sing one of her favorites, you and me. Want to try?”
Not waiting, Ellis took the liberty of alternating his humming with the verses he knew. He probably was off-key and swapped a few words, but by the time he finished, a smile teased a corner of the boy’s mouth.
It was enough to give Ellis hope. “Ready to go see her?”
Calvin studied him for a long, strained moment. At last, he relented with a tiny nod, and Lily’s eyes moistened as she smiled.
“I’m gonna pick you up now,” Ellis said with only partial relief. “And we can all go on a car ride.” With care, he put his arms around Calvin, who didn’t pull away. Once the kid was in a secure hold, Ellis started to rise. But something clinked and yanked them back down.
What the hell?
Lily lifted the blanket to identify the cause. A rusted chain, bolted to the wall, was tethered to a thick leather band. A cuff that looped Calvin’s ankle.
The boy was shackled.
Like a spark to gunpowder, a bolt of fury flared through Ellis. The only thing containing it was the need to get Calvin as far away from here as possible.
Lily was struggling with the binding, in a panic. “I can’t get it loose.”
“Tell me, buddy”—Ellis did his damnedest to sound calm—“how do they get this thing off ya?”
Calvin shrugged that he didn’t know. Or if he did, he wasn’t up for yammering about it.
“That’s okay. We’ll get creative.” Ellis set him back down and joined Lily in scavenging the place for some kind of key or a cutter, anything. Then a noise came from outside, and they stopped.
Ellis would gladly take Mr. Gantry on—the wretched bastard—but he couldn’t jeopardize the lives of everyone else.
Already near the door, Ellis looked out. No lights or movement that he could see. Still in the clear, for now.
He resumed the hunt until Lily called to him, “Will this do?” She indicated a tool that resembled oversized pliers, hanging among gadgets on the wall.
“Let’s try it.”
She reached high to pull it off a hook but sent it toppling. The handles bounced off the rail of the adjacent stall. The startled horse burst into fit of squealing and snorting. Lily tried in vain to quiet the animal as it kicked the wall with its back hooves.
Ellis raced to snatch up the tool—all the noise was going to wake the house—and returned to Calvin. The poor kid was shaking. There was no time to soothe him. Ellis tried to cut through a rusted link, to no avail.
His heart was pounding against his ribs.
Leaning down, he cupped Calvin’s face to ensure the boy listened. “Don’t move a muscle. You hear me?”
Calvin eked out a nod, his chin caked with dirt.
The horse had ceased kicking but was still whinnying and shifting in its stall.
Ellis laid out the chain away from Calvin. Standing with feet apart, as if splitting wood with an ax, he gripped the tool overhead with both hands and came down hard. Clank. The links moved but stayed intact.
“Damn it.”
He laid them out again as Lily came to Calvin’s side. This time, Ellis singled out a weaker-looking section. Fully rusted, it flaked between his fingers. Keeping his eyes on the target, he swung with all of his strength. Clank. A link broke free.
“Thank God,” Lily said.
“Help me get him loose.”
She hurried to unhook the chain as Ellis swooped up the bundled kid. Then she snatched the flashlight, and they all headed to the door. She opened it wide enough for them to pass through. But before slipping out, Ellis glanced toward the house. Upstairs, a light traveled past a window.
Someone was coming.
Ellis commanded in a hush, “Run.”
They took off in a sprint toward the car that felt a thousand miles away. Raindrops assaulted Ellis’s eyes. His lungs burned. More than one stone nearly rolled his ankles, but he held Calvin snug to his chest, refusing to let him tumble to the ground. Lily never left their side.
They were almost at the car when a man’s bellowing burst out. “You! Get back here!”
A gunshot cracked the air, and Ellis reflexively ducked. Lily covered her head.
“C’mon, c’mon!” Ellis told her. “Let’s go!”
She opened the passenger side and jumped in, arms outstretched for Calvin. Ellis transferred him onto her lap, the remaining chain rattling, and slammed the door. He rounded the car and got behind the wheel. The odds that the engine would come to life without several turns of the crank were slim. But with him already there in the seat, the engine still relatively warm, he gave the starter pedal a try. The motor coughed and died. But it was close.
“Ellis, he’s coming!”
In the distance, the truck’s head lamps were moving by the barn. Mr. Gantry’s silhouette loomed at the steering wheel.
Ellis tried his starter again. A longer cough with a sputter.
“The truck stopped,” she said.
It must have stalled. Ellis could hear the farmer’s engine struggling just like his.
“Please, please, please,” he murmured to his dear, beloved Model T. If it cooperated just this once, he’d keep it forever, restore it better than new.
He pressed the pedal again…and the car shuddered to life!
Head lamps on, Ellis opened up the throttle and tore off down the road, back the way they had come. A faint revving from behind told him not to celebrate. Hopefully, the pebbled drive would slow the truck down.
Lily whispered into Calvin’s ear, rocking him, telling him everything would be all right. Ellis prayed that wasn’t a lie.
He flipped the wiper to clear his view, but their breaths were fogging the glass.
Lily twisted to look back. “He’s following.”
In the side mirror were two pinpricks of lights, head lamps that would likely gain on them before long. Unless they figured out how to lose the guy. Found a place to hide away.
“The wrong turn we took earlier,” Ellis said, remembering an option. “Where was it?”
“Which one?”
“The last one.”
“It’s…to the right…another half mile maybe.”
“Tell me when you see it.”
She lowered her window, getting ready.
Ellis swiped fog from the windshield with his coat sleeve, but the damp fabric smeared his view. Shit. He rolled down his window and poked his head out, squinting and blinking to watch the road ahead. Rain pelted his face. He tried not to imagine a shot to the back of his skull.
“There it is!” Lily pointed. “Down there.”
He saw it. At the bottom of the hill, he swung a right. Almost immediately, he swerved into the graveled lot they’d passed on their last wrong turn. A feed store closed for the night. He came to a stop behind the building and killed the head lamps. Over his shoulder was a partial view of the main road.
Lily squeezed Ellis’s hand.
Seconds stretched and thinned like endless strings of taffy. Darkness amplified every sound. The rain splashing the roof. The idle motor ticking. The blood pumping in his ears.
And the engine of the truck. Its roar gained power and momentum, louder and louder, like a rocket preparing to launch.
But Ellis, too, was prepared. He’d face the man with his fists, if nothing else. Though Ellis was no Jack Dempsey in the flesh, he’d fight till the end to keep Lily and Calvin safe.
Finally, as if in slow motion, the shadowed truck rode into sight.
First the hood…the cab…the flatbed…
Then it passed them right on by.
