After the Storm (9 page)

They had all turned their eyes toward him, swearing that he was next. And it wasn’t that he didn’t want that. Of all his brothers, he’d probably been the least resistant to marriage and family. He just hadn’t met the right woman yet.

When he married, he knew that his wife and children would get a hundred and ten percent of his loyalty. And he hadn’t yet met a woman who made him reorder his priorities.

He studied his cell phone a moment and then shoved it back into his pocket, deciding to head over to Sam’s to give him the heads-up on the weather and Steele’s return.

CHAPTER 10

EVE
was waiting anxiously just inside the doorway when Travis walked up to the trailer. As soon as he walked in, his gaze caught Eve’s and worry instantly flooded his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Evie?”

She put a hand to his arm in an attempt to reassure him, but she couldn’t very well do that when she knew they had to run. Again.

“We need to leave,” she said in a low voice.

Alarm blazed across his face. “What happened? Did he find us?”

She shook her head. “No. At least I don’t think so. It’s just that . . .” She blew out her breath and then glanced in Cammie’s direction. “We need to go. We’ve gained the notice of too many people here. Donovan was here today and he plans to bring a doctor over to see Cammie tomorrow. I don’t want to risk it.”

Regret dulled Travis’s eyes. “I liked it here. I had hoped . . .”

“I know,” she whispered. “I’d hoped too. It will be better the next place, Trav.”

It was what she’d said every time they’d picked up and fled, and they both knew it was a lie. It would never be better until Walt was no longer a threat.

Travis pulled out several folded bills and handed them over to Eve. “I hope this will help some.”

Eve took the money and then hugged Travis, pulling his lanky frame into her arms. “Thank you, Trav. You are an amazing guy. Donovan brought groceries when he came today. We’ll pack everything we can carry with us. We can’t afford to just leave it behind.”

Travis hesitated and then pulled away, his eyes troubled. “Evie, do you think we’re doing the right thing by leaving? Maybe . . . Maybe they do just want to help.”

“I want to believe that. But I can’t risk you and Cammie by trusting the wrong people. And while they may not be any danger themselves, we risk a lot by exposing ourselves to even more people here. The fewer people we gain the notice of, the safer we are.”

Travis nodded. “I understand. When do you want to leave?”

Eve glanced again to where Cammie was sleeping on the couch. “After it gets dark, I think.”

“There are some pretty dark clouds in the distance,” Travis said. “It’s completely black to the west. Maybe we should wait until whatever storm passes before we take Cammie out.”

Eve nodded her agreement. “Yes. We’ll pack what we can and let Cammie rest for as long as she’s able. After the storm passes, we’ll head out.”

“Have you given any thought to where?” Travis asked quietly.

Helplessness gripped Eve as she contemplated Travis’s question. “Yes and no,” she said honestly. “I thought perhaps we could head south. Or maybe west toward Jackson. With the money you’ve brought in here, it’s possible we could afford bus tickets to the next state at least, but I’ll need to see a schedule and prices. We could take the bus into Mississippi, to a larger town. I think that was our mistake here. We stopped in too small a town not to gain notice. In a larger city, we’d blend in better and maybe even be able to get a cheap hotel. I can pick up a waitressing job and you can stay at home with Cammie. Hopefully she’ll be better by then.”

“And if she’s not?” Travis asked fearfully.

Eve inhaled sharply. She wouldn’t contemplate that possibility. It did no good to borrow trouble.

“She will be,” Eve said in a determined voice.

“Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll get started,” Travis said.

“Get the two suitcases out of the closet and put in as much food as possible from the pantry, anything that’s nonperishable in one and pack what clothing will fit in the other. Cammie doesn’t need much. Just her nightclothes and a pair of shorts and a top. I’ll get one or two changes of clothing to put with whatever you pack of yours.”

Travis nodded and then walked quietly through the living room toward the bedroom where the suitcases were closeted. Eve followed behind and stopped at the rickety dresser and opened the top drawer to where her mother’s jewelry rested in a torn box.

Regret and sorrow tugged at her chest as she faced the inevitable. She hadn’t wanted to part with the only things she, Travis and Cammie had left of their mother. She’d wanted to keep them for Travis and Cammie to have. But they needed the money more than they needed the reminder. She hadn’t wanted to risk pawning it before now, saving it for a last resort. It was too risky. Pawnshops required ID. But time had run out, and this was her only option now.

The jewelry wouldn’t bring much, though it was fine quality and expensive when it had been purchased. But pawnshops didn’t pay even a fraction of retail value. The few hundred dollars she could hope to get from the sale would have to be stretched to provide a place for them to live. Hopefully the food that Donovan had brought earlier that day would last them for some time if they ate sparingly.

“She would want you to use it, Evie,” Travis said.

She turned to see Travis staring at her, at the box in her hand.

“I know,” she whispered. “But I had wanted to save this for you and Cammie. It’s all we have left of her.”

Travis shook his head. “No. We have our memories. Good memories. She was a great mom. You’re a lot like her, Evie. You look just like her and you have her same heart. She would be so proud of you for doing what you have to protect me and Cammie.”

Eve felt guilty for the brief surge of anger she had to battle back. She was in turns angry and sorrowful over her mother’s decision to remain with a husband she knew to be a danger to her children. Her mother knew, and yet she’d never tried to get out. To get Travis and Cammie out of his reach.

Eve had seen the truth about Walt, had known the kind of man he was, and she would have never had contact with her mother or Walt—Walt wouldn’t have allowed it—if it hadn’t been for Travis’s phone call to Eve. His plea for help and his suspicions concerning Walt and his intentions toward Cammie. Suspicions that Eve took very seriously, because she knew.

She should have taken more time to develop a plan, thought out their escape better. But she’d been too desperate to remove Cammie from a dangerous situation to take the time to formulate a better plan. And so they were still running.

“We’ll stop in Memphis long enough for me to pawn it,” she said. “Then we’ll take another bus into Mississippi. We’ll need a place to live. Somewhere that Cammie isn’t exposed like she is now. She needs to get better. Have good food to eat and a dry place to sleep.”

On cue, raindrops sounded on the tin roof and Eve glanced up, grimacing.

“I’ll finish packing, Trav. You go make sure Cammie stays dry, okay?”

Travis exited the tiny bedroom and went to see to his sister while Eve finished stuffing their belongings into the suitcase.

When she was done, she dragged the full suitcase into the living room and then took the empty one into the kitchen and began packing the food that Donovan had brought over. The roof had already started leaking and small puddles were forming on the floor. Hopefully the rain wouldn’t last long and they could leave as soon as possible.

A loud boom sounded, shaking the entire trailer. Cammie let out a startled shriek and Eve flinched. Her gaze flew to where Travis was holding Cammie on the couch, his arms wrapped around her to shield her from the leaks. Two more lightning flashes illuminated the dark interior of the trailer before the thunder sounded again, right on their heels.

“I’m scared, Evie,” Cammie said in a faltering voice.

Her thumb slid into her mouth as Travis comforted her.

“It will be all right, darling,” Eve said with a smile. “Trav won’t let anything hurt you.”

Thunderstorms certainly weren’t anything new. The entire two weeks they’d lived here, they’d had many afternoon storms. By the time the trailer dried out from one storm, another would roll through, making the interior musty and dank from mold and mildew.

They had to find a better place to live. For Cammie’s sake. She’d never get well in these living conditions. It only hardened Eve’s resolve to pawn her mother’s jewelry so they could afford better accommodations. It was what she should have done from the beginning. Only fear of discovery had prevented her from the desperate act.

But now she realized she should have pawned it much earlier. When they were still on the West Coast. That way there would be nothing pointing Walt—or the police—in their direction. Live and learn. It wasn’t as if she was an expert on being a fugitive. She’d pawn it in Memphis and then relocate to Mississippi as fast as possible and as far away as possible from Tennessee.

She finished packing the food, cramming everything possible inside the suitcase. Then she took one of the bottles of Pedialyte and one of the snacks she’d left out for Cammie over to the couch.

She sat next to Travis, who had Cammie perched on his lap and nestled against his chest.

“Are you hungry?” Eve asked. “You should probably try to get some fluids down and maybe something to eat before we leave.”

Cammie’s thumb slid farther into her mouth and she stared at Eve with wide eyes. “Where are we going, Evie?”

Eve slid a reassuring hand down Cammie’s leg as she extended the bottle. Travis snagged it from Eve’s grasp and put it to Cammie’s lips for her to drink.

“I think toward Jackson. It may take us a few days to get there, but once there, we can buy bus tickets to Memphis. When we get to Memphis, I’ll sell Mom’s jewelry so we can afford a nicer place to live and bus tickets to the next place. The next few days will be the hardest, but if we stick together, we can do anything.”

Travis smiled at Eve’s statement, and even Cammie nodded solemnly. Eve smiled back and then extended her hand, palm down, in front of Travis and Cammie. Travis slid his hand over Eve’s and then Cammie put her free hand on top. Then Eve put her hand over Cammie’s, sandwiching hers and Travis’s between Eve’s. It was a gesture of solidarity that had become familiar to them over the last while. Eve had begun it as a way to reassure Cammie that they were family and that Eve would never leave them.

“Together,” Travis said quietly.

“Together,” Cammie said in a fervent voice. “We’ll always be together, won’t we, Evie?”

Eve reached for Cammie, pulling her warm body into her arms. She hugged her close, giving her a squeeze. “Yes, darling. We’ll always be together. I promise you that.”

It was hard to promise her younger sister something Eve had no way of controlling. But if intent counted for anything, then they’d be together forever. Safe. Away from their father.

“I want you to promise me something,” Eve said in a serious voice. She stared over at Travis and then down at Cammie. “I want you both to promise me.”

“Anything,” Travis said.

Cammie nodded her agreement.

The words knotted in Eve’s throat. She didn’t even want to contemplate what she was about to say, but it had to be considered. And she wanted to make certain that Travis and Cammie knew what to do if the worst happened.

“If something happens to me . . .”

Cammie immediately went rigid in Eve’s arms, and Eve closed her eyes in regret over upsetting her baby sister. But she couldn’t afford not to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Travis’s and Cammie’s lives depended on it.

“Listen to me, darling. If something happens to me. If the police find me or if your father discovers us, you have to promise me that you’ll go with Travis and do what he tells you to.”

Her gaze lifted to Travis to see the torment in his eyes. The reality that what she was saying could very well come true.

“If something happens to me, you take Cammie and you run. Stay on the move. Do not worry about me.”

“I can’t do that, Evie,” Travis said hoarsely. “You’d never leave us. We can’t leave you.”

Eve shook her head emphatically. “
Promise
me, Trav. You
have
to protect Cammie. And yourself. That means you keep her away from Walt. Whatever it takes, you keep her safe and keep running.”

Travis closed his eyes and bowed his head in resignation. “I promise.”

Feeling only marginally better now that she had his promise, she shifted Cammie in her arms and took the drink from Travis’s hand to make Cammie sip more.

“You should eat something too,” she said quietly to Travis. “I left enough out on the counter to make sandwiches. There’s even pop in the refrigerator, thanks to Donovan. Eat now while we have time. We may not have that luxury over the next few days.”

Still, Travis hesitated. It broke Eve’s heart that he often went hungry and without because he placed Cammie’s—and Eve’s—needs above his own. He of all of them needed regular meals. In the last year, he’d hit an enormous growth spurt, going from an average height of five foot six to nearly six feet. And it was obvious that he was undernourished. His tall, lanky frame showed his thinness. With adequate nourishment, he’d be a broad, much thicker . . . man. It was hard to envision him as an adult, but in fact, he’d been forced to grow up and mature much too fast. He had knowledge and experience of the evil in the world that most adults never gained.

If it was the last thing Eve did, she was going to ensure that they had a good place to live, or at least an adequate place, and food so Travis and Cammie ate regularly. Even if it meant going without herself.

“Eat,” Eve prompted gently. “There wasn’t room to pack it all anyway. No sense in it going to waste. Eat as much as you can stomach because as I said, we’re going to be on the move for the next several days, and we’ll have to eat when we can and sparingly so we stretch the food as far as possible before we have to buy more.”

“Do you want anything?” Travis asked as he rose.

Eve started to shake her head. The thought of food made her nauseated when her thoughts were in turmoil over what they faced for the next days. But she also knew that she couldn’t very well convince Travis of his need to eat if she refused to eat herself.

She forced a smile in Travis’s direction. “That would be nice. Just make me a sandwich. There are two cans of pop left in the fridge that I couldn’t fit in the suitcase. Why don’t we drink those before we head out?”

There was still enough of a boy in Travis to be happy over the “treat” offered to him. Her heart ached at the idea that something as simple as a sandwich and a can of soda would be a luxury often denied them.