Dorothy Garlock (9 page)

“Now, don’t that just beat all,” he hooted. “We got us a war involvin’ the Krauts breakin’ out right here in the middle of
Victory!”

Cole opened his mouth to argue but fell silent as the sound of sobs reached his ear. He spun on his heel to find Sophie breaking
down into tears behind him. Her hands rose to her mouth, covering her trembling lips. Her gaze held his for a long second
before she ran back down the length of the counter, her shoulders shaking.

“Sophie!” he shouted. “Wait!” But she was already out the door and gone.

“Now ain’t that just like a woman.”

Cole turned back around at Ellis Watts’s words. The man was casually sipping at his coffee but his wolfish eyes never left
Cole.

“What did you say to her?” Cole demanded of him.

“The three of us was just enjoyin’ a bite to eat when she came over, accusin’ us of somethin’ or other, and got all out of
shape,” Ellis explained, waving to his other companions. For the first time, Cole took stock of the third stranger; staring
downward at his plate, the man gave off the air that he wished he were somewhere else.

“I bet her story is a mite different,” Cole suggested.

“A woman’s always is.”

“Stay away from her.”

“Or you’ll do what?” the younger man asked, some of his bravery returning.

Though he prided himself on being a man of intelligence, a man who would not jump to using his fists easily, Cole knew with
certainty that he would do whatever he could to protect Sophie Heller from these men. He was equally certain that that was
precisely what it would come to. He wouldn’t leave her to their mercy.

“You don’t want to find out.”

Before they could offer an answer, Cole turned and walked away as steadily as he could, all the while waiting for them to
start laughing at him, to make fun of his disability, but was instead met with a silence that chilled him straight to the
bone. These were dangerous men, of that there was no doubt.

“We’ll be seein’ you, hero,” Ellis called after him. “You can bet on that.”

T
EARS STREAMED DOWN
Sophie’s cheeks as she hurried from the diner, crossed the empty street, and rushed down the opposite sidewalk. The wetness
in her eyes made it hard to see where she was going and she nearly collided with an elderly man as he left the barber shop.
Mumbling her apologies, she kept on. More than a few heads turned to watch her pass but she paid them no mind, rushing on
as more sobs racked her body.

The encounter at the diner had unnerved her. She knew in her heart that Ellis Watts, Riley Mason, and, as hard as it was for
her to truly believe, Graham Grier had been the hooded men who had attacked her family. The three of them had burned the barn,
beaten her father, and threatened her own life. Though she felt sure of the horrible truth, she could not stop the questions
that raced across her confused and distraught mind.

Why do they carry such hatred for my family?

Now that I know who they are, to what lengths will they be willing to go to keep me silent?

How could Graham have become mixed up with such men?

When Cole Ambrose rescued her from Riley’s grasp, pulling her behind him and out of harm’s way, her relief had been great.
Not only had her wrist been freed from that wild man’s painful grasp, but she had also been removed from Graham’s side. Only
then had her confusion been temporarily broken. She wished she had thanked Cole for rushing to her aide, for selflessly standing
up for her, but it was a sentiment that would have to wait.

With every step, the memories of her past with Graham pummeled her: how they had played down on the dry creek bed as children,
soon after the Hellers had arrived in America; helping him with his arithmetic in school; and the anxious look on his face
when he had finally given voice to his feelings for her.
Was all of this because I rejected him?
On many a late night she had lain in bed, staring at the blanket of stars outside her window, wondering what would have happened
if she had answered differently. But now it was too late… far too late for all of them, it seemed.

Soon, Sophie found herself in front of the
Victory Gazette
office, but instead of heading inside and returning to work, she kept on walking. It had been hard enough to go about her
business that morning; now, with what had happened at the diner, she knew it would be impossible. She wouldn’t be able to
hide her tears from her coworkers, and lying to them would only make her feel worse.

But if not work, then where do I go?

Sophie knew that she couldn’t stay in town, not with every face searching hers, wondering why she was so upset. Surprisingly,
she didn’t fear the three men chasing after her; confusion and shame had completely replaced her fright. Though her father
wasn’t supposed to pick her up from work for hours, she set her feet toward the edge of town, determined to walk the four
miles to her family’s farm. Once she got outside of Victory’s limits, she was certain there would be no one to hear her cry.

Cole Ambrose burst from the diner’s door, looked up both sides of the street, and gave a silent curse that he could see no
sign of Sophie Heller. Where in the heck had she gone? He’d hurried from the three men’s table, slapped a few coins on the
counter to settle his bill, and headed outside as fast as he could, but it appeared that he hadn’t moved quickly enough.
Damn my leg!
Still, he was determined to catch up with her and make sure she was all right. For a moment he hesitated, unsure of which
way to turn, before deciding upon the center of town, and he began to hobble off in his search.

Try as he might, he couldn’t make heads or tails of what had happened in the diner. It had been hard enough to understand
why Sophie had walked away from him as she had, but it had been made all the more confusing when he had recognized just
who
sat in the rear booth. Ellis Watts was not the sort of man he expected an intelligent and vivacious young woman like Sophie
to know; approaching a no-good thug like him was even further out of the question. His companion, the scraggly man who had
grabbed her by the wrist, looked to have been cut from much the same cloth. Though he hadn’t taken a good look at the third
man, Cole couldn’t imagine him to have been much better.

What had they said or done to make Sophie so upset?

Why had that son of a bitch put his filthy hands on her?

Even if he were to find Sophie and offer her his help, would she want it?

What further confused Cole were the strange feelings stirring in his own gut. Though he’d only spoken to Sophie for a couple
of minutes, he had felt
something
for her. He liked her smile, the sound of her voice, her laugh, and especially the way she looked. It had been a long while
since he’d felt comfortable around a woman, comfortable enough to not be painfully aware of his own handicap; it was a feeling
that he wanted to get to know a bit better. To do that, he would have to find her.

Where the heck had she disappeared to so fast?

Hurrying as fast as he could on his bad leg, Cole rounded the corner near the Victory Bank and Trust and slowed to a stop.
Sweating under the glare of the blistering sun, he sucked air in ragged gasps, his shirt clinging tightly to his skin. His
bad leg throbbing steadily, he peered up both ends of the street, hopeful for some sign of Sophie. But strain as he might,
he couldn’t find her tear-streaked face among the few people hearty enough to brave the Victory summer.

“Damn it,” he muttered.

He was just about to give up and trudge back home when he caught sight of her off in the distance, nearly lost among the heat
shimmers. Though she was little more than a speck approaching the horizon, he was sure that he recognized her white blouse
and dark skirt. She was heading east on Colvin Road toward Baker’s Corner; her family must live out that way. She was farther
in the distance than he had estimated, but thankfully she hadn’t completely vanished from sight.

But what am I supposed to do now?

Even if his leg hadn’t been deformed, she was far enough ahead of him that he would have a hard time catching up to her. Certainly,
it would do no good for him to shout her name; he’d have better luck being heard over the roar of a tornado! Indecision racked
him, but slowly the realization of what he needed to do dawned on him.

Cole turned on his heel and headed for home as quickly as he could.

* * *

Wiping sweat from her brow, Sophie gazed down the long road that stretched out before her. A scattering of thin clouds scudded
across the distant horizon, the only stain on an otherwise perfectly blue sky. The sun hung fat above her, having just begun
to dip toward the west, its heat as intense as it was relentless. The faint smell of wildflowers drifted on a lazy breeze
far too light to offer any relief.

She had already walked most of the way home; she guessed that she’d covered three of the four miles since she’d just passed
the Moores’ farm. Up ahead, the road began to fall away as the countryside dipped toward the river, but she swore that she
could see the charred remains of the family barn in the distance. Though she was tired and thirsty, she’d soon be home.

And safe…

Since leaving Victory, she’d been able to do little else than replay her awful confrontation with Ellis, Riley, and Graham.
It had been nothing short of a nightmare! Every step recounted harsh words, menacing stares, and the paralyzing fear she had
felt upon being grabbed. But while she had been truly shaken by the whole ordeal, shedding more salty tears as she solemnly
walked, she had soon found herself unable to cry any further.

She worried about what she would say to her father when he asked why she wasn’t at work. As much as she hated to admit it,
Sophie thought that Hermann Heller might just have been right all along; if she’d only turned the other cheek at the diner
and not approached the men when they’d hissed at her, nothing would have happened. Instead, she’d gone against her father’s
advice and it had cost her. Now she would have to explain why she was home from work early; she certainly felt sick enough
to her stomach over all that had happened that it wouldn’t be much of a fib to say she wasn’t feeling well.

I don’t feel right about lying to my family, but how can I possibly tell them the truth?

If she were to tell her family of her tale in the diner, it would do nothing but cause them more worry. To give faces and
names to the hooded men would make the nightmares that terrorized Karl worse and would cause her mother and grandmother to
fret even more. Her father would snort, bellow about how he would not be forced from his home, and then proceed to chide her
about her foolishness in approaching such men. She needed to stay quiet, to keep her story to…

From somewhere far behind her, a horn honked. Turning around to look up the road, Sophie could see a pickup truck approaching
in the distance, dust billowing up in clouds from the gravel road. Though it was a little less than a mile back, it was closing
quickly.
Could it be Ellis Watts, Riley Mason, or even Graham Grier coming after me?

With every quickly passing second, Sophie weighed what she should do. Far too tired to go bounding from the road into the
cornfields, she knew that she wouldn’t truly be safe even if she made it that far; the men would certainly hunt her down in
minutes. Besides, if the driver of the truck was someone who meant to do her harm, why would he honk and announce his presence?
It would have been much easier to just run her down without warning and be done with it.

Resigned to learning the driver’s identity, Sophie stepped to the side of the road and waited as the truck steadily approached
through the shimmering heat, finally revealed to be well kept and black in color, though covered in dust from the road. It
slowed as it neared her, its engine rumbling.

Through the dusty windshield, Sophie could see that the driver was Cole Ambrose and her heart made a soft flutter that surprised
her. He brought the truck to a stop and smiled easily at her through the open window on the passenger side. Even in the glare
of the bright summer day, she thought his blue eyes shimmered as he regarded her. Still, a simmering anger suddenly bubbled
over within her and Sophie found she could only scowl in return.

“Were you following me?” she asked accusingly.

Surprise wrote itself across Cole’s face just as clearly as the words in a book. He was momentarily taken aback, his warm
smile vanishing, and he stammered his answer. “It’s… it’s not like that, Sophie,” he said defensively. “I tried to hurry after
you once you’d left the diner, but I only managed to see you walking in the distance. I drove out here to see if I could give
you a lift.”

As grateful as she was for Cole’s help in the diner and, as equally relieved as she was to find him behind the pickup’s wheel,
something prevented Sophie from meeting his answer with a smile. Too much had already happened to her, too many fears had
become far too real, for her to be so trusting. She could only think of her father’s words, of how not listening to them had
cost her dearly, and she found herself resigned to bearing her burden alone.

I cannot trust anyone!

“I’m fine,” she answered. “I’m almost home.”

“It’s still awfully uncomfortable in the hot sun,” he offered, his smile slowly returning as he looked out the windshield
at the road ahead. “You’re the only one out here under it. Everyone else has enough sense to stay in the shade where it’s
cool. Heck, even the cows know better! If I were in your shoes, I believe I’d be more than a bit grateful to get out of this
heat, even for a short while.”

“I don’t have a problem with walking.”

Once again, Sophie began to head up the road, intent upon leaving Cole and his offer of a ride far behind her, but she hadn’t
gone more than a couple of steps before she heard the crunch of gravel under the pickup’s wheels. She stubbornly stared straight
ahead as he came alongside her, matching the speed of the truck to her own.