chapter Eleven
Without opening her eyes, Liberty took stock of her surroundings. She was on the mattress. In her chamber. The scent of cinnamon candles, and Nathaniel’s deep breathing gave it away.
She thought of how the story would sound before she opened her eyes. Rehearsed what she was going to say silently.
Nathaniel interrupted her inner speech, “I know you’re awake.”
She pretended not to be, kept her eyes shut to buy some time.
“I can tell you’re awake, Liberty. Your breathing changed and your eyelids are twitchy.”
Fine. She didn’t care for the game anymore, either. She took a deep breath and slowly opened them. She lifted a hand to feel her head.
Nathaniel nodded. “Yeah, it’s a bandage. Seems you were injured on your little excursion this evening.”
She licked her lips and croaked, “Shot.” She sounded unwell without trying.
He raised his eyebrows, looking at her like she’d just told him there was a cloud in the sky. “You don’t say.”
She bristled. His wife was shot, fainted, and now he was acting like the injured party.
“Can I get some water, please?” She couldn’t stand the sound of her own voice. Weak. Shaky.
“Here you go.”
He didn’t attempt to hold it for her while she drank, but he was kind enough to unscrew the bottle before handing it to her. She managed to get it to her lips on her own and drained half the bottle before giving it back. “Thanks.”
“I don’t even need to tell you how bad this is, right?” He wasn’t interested in a response, started his lecture. “It’s wrong in so many ways. I can’t even wrap my head around your stupidity.” He looked at her without the steadfast love she’d grown accustomed to seeing in his eyes. “I don’t think I know you anymore.”
She listened without interruption, lay there and watched a hollow version of Nathaniel shake his head. Liberty was just as unsure of herself as he was, so didn’t see the point in arguing.
“You mind telling me what you think you were doing?”
She decided to tell the truth. Lies hadn’t helped her so far. “Meeting with Adrian at the rendezvous.”
“Really? Huh.” His expression remained focused, and for some reason, that worried her more than him ranting.
“Aren’t you going to yell?”
He shook his head, and looked at her like she was nobody. “Yell? Where’s yelling get me?” He leaned in closer, until his nose was an inch from hers. She could feel his breath, tell his jaw was set as the muscle in his cheek flexed.
She shrank back into the pillow, started to feel like she had in the back of Becky’s truck. “Well, what then?”
He spoke in a low and deliberate voice, “It’s settled, Liberty. You’re unwell and we’re going to Proem.”
No “I think,” or better yet, “What do you think?” Just like that he had decided. She hadn’t seen the decision coming, and the lack of choice left her speechless.
The words came flowing back all at once. “The hell we are. You.” She poked his chest for emphasis. “Maybe. But not me. Since when do you think you can disregard my Pardon?” She called his bluff and tried to keep a steady expression on her face, though she panicked inside.
“Hmm, let’s see.” He tipped his head from side to side like it was a scale truly weighing matters out. Then stopped and looked back at her. “Since you’ve gone…become unstable.”
She was about to, she really was. Nathaniel had pushed the button, the one he’d always steered clear of before, because he knew it was painful for her, but mostly because it was untrue. He didn’t believe she was unstable, he couldn’t possibly, but he had to feel out of control and so he tried to hurt her. Maybe slow her up a bit.
“You don’t mean it,” she said. “I know you don’t.”
“Actually, you don’t know what I’m thinking.”
Liberty tried to diffuse the situation, hoped there was a way to keep him from crossing a line he couldn’t uncross. “Aren’t you going to ask me what happened?” She reached up and touched the bandage he’d put on her wound.
He shrugged. “Does it matter?”
“It does if you care about me. If you love me.”
He didn’t blink, but she saw a shift in his eyes. It was either that or wishful thinking on her part.
When he didn’t respond, she continued, “The other day when Katie, Gabriel and Adrian left, and I went to sleep in the guest chamber?”
He crossed his arms. A wall. She was talking to a wall of Nathaniel.
“Well, Adrian had been looking at Sage’s album, and he left it on the cot. I found a note from him inside. Addressed to me. He said he needed to talk to me, to tell me more about Sage.” She felt tears well up, her vision got blurry. “He said he might know more concerning the day she disappeared.”
“I’ve reached my breaking point,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Why?” she swiped her eyes, “It’s like you’re so determined to be right, that you’d refuse to recognize your own daughter if she walked in this second.” She sat up, “Nathaniel, listen to me.” She reached for his hand. “I went to meet Adrian but he wasn’t there. I found a trail camera mounted nearby, though. I broke it up and buried it.”
He nodded. “I think we’re leaving at the right time, then. This area isn’t safe anym—”
“I don’t get you,” she snapped. “Stop being a bull and listen to me.” She tore off the blanket and sat on the edge of the bed, a little wobbly. “It’s too late. Weird stuff has happened. Someone took the clothes out of the rendezvous and the area was disturbed.” She took a deep breath. “And I’m afraid Adrian might be in serious trouble.”
She stood and started to walk away when Nathaniel grabbed a hold of her wrists and yelled, “Where do you think you’re going?”
Right as she believed the situation was going to get ugly, bloody, the hatch slammed and they heard a thud as somebody dropped down into the vestibule. Liberty hoped for Adrian, but the noise said this person wasn’t as slight of build. They froze mid-argument.
As the person began to run down the corridor, toward them, Nathaniel put his hand to her mouth to signal quiet. He quickly crept to the doorway, his chest expanding as he took in a deep breath ready to pound the intruder the moment they came into sight. A familiar voice called out.
“Nate? Liberty?”
Gabriel.
Liberty saw Nathaniel relax with relief and, in the span of a second, saw him tense again with worry as he stepped into the corridor. “Gabe? What’s wrong?”
“Are they here?”
“Who?”
Gabriel reached the doorway, pushed past Nathaniel, and stopped short when he saw her. “What happened to you? Tell me you’ve seen Adrian.”
Liberty recounted her night, repeating herself and then getting further than Nathaniel had let her. Gabriel sat on the bed with a towel from the vestibule around his waist, a mixture of desperation and despair on his face. Her heart went out to him. He looked a lot like she felt.
As nonchalant as possible, she said, “Have you heard Adrian wail lately?”
“Wail? Why?”
“The truth is, there happened to be a lot going on when the four-wheeler showed up, but I heard a call. And I know I’m not wrong because I heard it twice.”
Gabriel’s eye widened. Nathaniel looked unsure, but at least he hadn’t brushed her off as unstable for the moment.
“I also know it was male, but it sounded too mature for Adrian.”
Gabriel got to his feet. “Are you sure? Adrian is sixteen now.”
She shook her head. “Honestly? The more I think about it, it sounded like twelve feet and late stages. I guess I thought it might be him because, what other male is in our territory? I just don’t know.”
They looked at one another. She figured they probably all asked themselves the same question, but it was Nathaniel who spoke first, “If it’s not Adrian, then who?”
Liberty shrugged.
Gabriel looked at Nathaniel. “I have to go and see for myself.”
Nathaniel nodded. “I’ll go with you.” He looked at Liberty and said, “You should go be with Mitch.”
“I know.” As hard as it was to put aside the search, death didn’t make it a habit to wait around until it was convenient, at least not in Liberty’s world. “Becky said before we left it was getting close to the time.” She swallowed. “That he’d probably be gone before morning…” It crossed her mind it might already be too late.
“I’ll try to make it back,” Nathaniel said, “but it’s probably a good idea not to mention the events that have happened tonight.”
Of course she wouldn’t. The last thing Mitch needed was a heap of worry on the way out. What did Nathaniel think? She was a complete imbecile? “Yeah, okay.”
Liberty gave them directions and they left, cutting through the eastern portion of the property to shorten the distance. She left a note for Adrian, just in case he appeared there, telling him his father and Nathaniel were looking for him and she was with Mitch. If he showed up he needed to wait for them to come back.
Five minutes later Liberty was running through the tunnel on her way to the farmhouse.