“Sure, I am ready to stop for the night. It’s been a long day.”
The money that Ronan borrowed from Mitchel had gotten them basic supplies to get them to Drydale. Ronan knew that Elise was tired of riding. They had been going at it since sunrise, and it was almost sunset.
“I’ll get the things unpacked and try to get us some water. You can rest if you would like.” Ronan pulled his horse to a stop and dismounted, walking over to a tree to tie the horse’s reins to it.
Elise did the same. When she stepped down, he saw her wince slightly.
“How are you doing? I know today was a lot of riding.”
“I’m all right. Just a little sore. I’m sure it will pass after I get used to being in the saddle so long. How safe is it out here with the Indians being after us?”
“I’m not sure. It is probably not the safest, but probably not too dangerous either. The most likely thing is that they are not after us. We only took one horse, which took off, and probably went back to them. But just in case, we will use the fire until the sun goes down, and then we will keep an eye out just in case.”
“What are we going to do if they find us?” Elise looked worried.
“Don’t worry. We will cross that bridge when we get to it. You shouldn’t worry so much.”
Elise nodded, but her worry was still there. It was easy to see.
“I’ll be right back. I think there is a stream near here.”
Elise gave a quick smile, and Ronan took it as a sign to go. He hurried through the woods, and when he got to the bottom of the hill, he came out near a small creek. It wasn’t too far from their campsite, and it had clear fresh water. He was relieved to see it. He’d been worried about finding a good place to spend the night. It had been a very long while since the last time he went through this area.
He wasn’t sure if he remembered all the landmarks. He was hopeful that he was right about most of them. He took the canteens that he’d purchased in town and filled them with water. On his way back to camp, he gathered up some smaller pieces of wood. When he stepped back into the clearing, he was surprised to hear the sounds of a crackling fire already burning.
Elise was sitting on the ground; her legs folded neatly to one side with a proud look on her face. The second thing Ronan noticed was how she was cradling her hand.
“What happened? Are you okay?” Ronan rushed over, dumping the wood near the fire.
“I’m fine, I just … I burnt my hand a little while I was lighting the fire.” The smile on Elise’s face wilted, and tears gathered in her eyes.
“Why? Why did you start a fire?” Ronan shook his head. He knew that Elise didn’t have a lot of experience working out in the middle of nowhere with minimal supplies. He knelt in front of her and took her hand in his own, examining the burn. It wasn’t big, but it looked painful.
“Here, hold on a second; I will get something from our pack. I bought some salve at the general store in case something like this happened.”
Elise bit her lip but said nothing as he hurried off. He returned a few seconds later with the promised salve and a couple of strips of cloth.
“I didn’t mean to cause all this trouble. You usually take care of everything, and I just wanted to be helpful.” Elise’s shoulders sagged, and Ronan saw defeat written all over her face.
“Elise, you have more than pulled your share of the weight on this journey. You don’t have to worry about keeping up or about doing things like this. I could have handled doing the fire. I don’t mind helping you on this trip.”
“I know, but sometimes it feels kind of wrong making you come along to help me.”
“No one made me come along.” Ronan pulled her hand closer to him and took a better look. He dipped his finger in the salve, then hesitated a moment. “This is probably going to sting.”
Elise didn’t pull her hand back or offer any resistance, so he slowly applied the cream, being careful not to press too hard on her burned skin. Elise winced and then let out a swift breath.
Ronan took the long strips of cloth and wrapped them firmly but carefully around her injured hand. “Is that better?”
“Yes. It is hurting less already. Clearly, I need to stick to making fires in a stove and not out in the open prairie.”
“It’s something you will learn with practice, and between here and California, you will get lots of practice. There’s something else I want you to practice on our journey.” Ronan wasn’t sure how Elise was going to react to what he was about to say.
“What’s that?”
“I want to teach you a few things about protecting yourself.”
“Why would I need that?”
“I don’t know. The criminal we are tracking, he’s rather dangerous, and then there are the Indians. If they do catch us again and you find yourself alone and tied up, I want you to be able to escape.”
“You said that it wouldn’t happen, that they wouldn’t catch us.”
“I hope that it won’t happen, but I can’t say for sure. No one can be sure that it won’t happen.” Ronan knew that it was a real possibility that the Indians or some other party along the trail might give them trouble. While he didn’t want to scare Elise, he did want her to be prepared. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to protect her for the duration of the journey. He was well aware that they could be separated, or something could happen to him. If that were to occur, he wanted her to be prepared with the tools she would need to survive.
“So, what do you want to show me? We can start tonight.”
“You sure?” Ronan glanced down at her hand. He had wanted to start that night, but he wasn’t sure she would be up to it with her injury.
“Yes. I’m sure. We can put supper on the fire, and then we can do whatever you were thinking of.”
“I’ll put the dinner on. Your hand could use some rest.” Ronan grinned. He actually wanted to do the cooking tonight because Elise had that knack for burning things or just giving them the wrong flavor in general. He felt bad for her. No one should be allowed to cook as badly as she did.
Elise giggled and rolled her eyes. “I know why you want to start it, but it’s fine.”
Ronan hurried back with the things he would need and made quick work of putting beans on the stove. He had bought some that were already cooked, making it easy to prepare them on the way.
“Okay then, let’s start with getting untied. I know that it will be your biggest challenge if you are ever detained by someone.”
“Okay, so what should I do?” Elise held her hands out.
Ronan pulled out a small strip of rope. “I’m going to tie you really loosely, and then I will show you exactly the movements you need to make to get out of the ropes. This technique should work most of the time, even if the ropes are tight.”
“Why didn’t you use it when we were captured by the Indians?” Elise watched carefully as he wrapped the rope around her wrists.
“The first time, I could have, but I wasn’t about to leave you behind. The second time, I didn’t know when you were planning on escaping and didn’t want to hinder your chances if they caught me with my wrists untied.”
“So how is this going to help me? I can’t just escape without you if we get caught by someone.”
“Yes, you can. You need to do whatever you can to protect yourself. Don’t worry about me. Do you understand?”
“Okay.” Elise adjusted her hands. “Is this fine?” she asked.
“Yes, now, when you are tied, you are going to want to twist your hands this way, then this way. Make sure to pull slightly to increase the space between your wrists, this could hurt your skin a little, but it shouldn’t take too long if done right.”
“All right, so should I try?” Elise looked excited for a moment.
“You should.”
She took her wrists and began to twist them just as he’d instructed. Because the ropes weren’t that tight, her hands slipped out a few seconds later.
“There you are
, pretty easy, don’t you think?”
“Only because you didn’t tie the ropes very tight. If they had been as tight as a bad person would have actually made them, I wouldn’t have had a chance.”
“True, let’s try again, this time I am going to tie it a little tighter. Another thing to do is try to hold your hands at a slight angle like this when they are tying you. If you are lucky, they won’t notice, and that will give you a little extra room.” Ronan took the rope and started the process again. He wanted to make sure that Elise was capable of getting out of her restraints if she should find herself in that position.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t have any need for the information. He certainly hoped that he could keep her from falling into a moment where she needed to escape.
“Okay, there you go. Let’s see if you can do it this time.”
The second time, Elise took a bit longer to free herself from the ropes. Her wrists were a little red from the effort but not hurt. Her burn didn’t seem to be affected.
“Should I do it again?” Elise asked, looking willing.
“No, it’s fine. We can pick this up again tomorrow. You don’t need to worry.”
“Okay. Thank you, Ronan, for teaching me this.” Elise set the rope down and stared into the fire for a moment. She looked sad, and memories played on her face.
“What’s wrong?” Ronan asked.
“Nothing, I just …” Elise trailed off.
Ronan scooted a bit closer, making himself comfortable. He could tell that Elise wanted to talk.
“What is it? You can tell me.”
“I don’t know if I really want to go to California, you know? I never thought that I would live in California, but the day my father died, he made me promise that I would because he didn’t want me to live alone.”
“We don’t have to go to California if you don’t want to. I can find you a better town, one that is small where you can set up a new life.”
Ronan saw the indecision in Elise’s face, how worried and sad she looked. He hated to see her looking like that.
“I know – I know I don’t have to. But I promised my father that I would, and it would honestly feel wrong not to honor that promise.”
“But if you don’t want to go, your father would want you to be happy,” Ronan said softly, trying his best to console Elise. He wanted her to be happy too. He wanted her to have a life where she could enjoy herself and make a real life for herself like she deserved. But he also knew that she didn’t care about what he wanted, so he didn’t mention it.
“I don’t let myself think about my father much, you know?” Elise sounded even sadder than before, and tears glistened in her eyes.
“You don’t?” Ronan was surprised. He thought that Elise would always be thinking about her father.
“No, I guess I am worried that if I let myself stop and think about what I lost, I will never be able to keep on living. I am worried that once I let myself stop and really think about it, I am going to fall apart.”
“Your father would understand,” Ronan spoke softly. He didn’t really let himself dwell on Mr. Herrin’s death. In a way, he considered Mr. Herrin as a father, and it was devastating to him to think that he’d lost the opportunity to tell him that forever.
“I miss him so much. We always lived together, just the two of us, and you remember? There are times when I think he is here with us. I expect him to walk out of the trees with some water or wood for the fire. I just imagine him being around and being there for me. It feels so unreal to think he’s really gone forever. It’s so final.”
“I know, Elise, I know.” Ronan didn’t know what to say or how he could make the situation better. He knew that the loss of her father could never be fixed. Of course, Elise missed her father. Any daughter who had the type of relationship Elise shared with her father would.
“I keep thinking about our last moments together and how I didn’t get to say everything I wanted to. I keep wishing I had another chance to say goodbye.” Elise’s shoulders shook, and tears streamed down her face.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Ronan reached out and took her hand into his. He ran his thumb over the back of it. “It’s okay, Elise. It’s all going to work out.”
Elise nodded, but she was still crying, nearly breaking Ronan’s heart in half. He hated to see her so unhappy. He wished there was something he could say to make it better. But he knew that wounds like hers needed time to heal.
Chapter 25
Elise thought nothing could distract her from the overwhelming sadness in her chest, but Ronan’s hand did just that.
“Do you miss him often?” she asked.
It was getting dark, and she knew they needed to put out the fire soon.
“I do miss him, very often. I feel bad for not going back. My life just got so complicated, and I thought about it, but I wasn’t sure what he would think about me being a bounty hunter. I thought I had more time.” Ronan looked as if a piece of him were missing. Elise knew what that felt like.
“He told me something for you when he died.” Elise knew she needed to share her father’s last words with Ronan. She had kept them to herself for so long. Maybe it was because she felt like it was the last secret they had shared.
“He did? I didn’t know he remembered me much or …” Ronan trailed off, and Elise wondered what he was about to say.
“He did. He wanted me to tell you that he was proud of you and everything you accomplished. When I reminded him that we had no idea what happened to you, he told me he was certain that you had done something great with your life, and whatever it was, he was proud of you.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Ronan choked on his words slightly, and Elise’s heart went out to him. The regret and sadness were all over his features. “I thought he would hate me after what I did, running off without turning back and telling either of you anything.”
“He never hated you. Why did you leave?”
Ronan seemed to consider the question for a moment, but then Elise decided maybe she didn’t want to know why he left just yet.
“You don’t have to tell me. The point is, my father always wondered what happened to you. I know he was hurt that you disappeared without a trace out of nowhere. But he always had hopes for you. He always believed you found a path in life, and it looks like he was right. You were in his prayers every night.”
“You have no idea how much that changes things for me.” Ronan looked away, and Elise wondered if there were tears in his eyes. It was her turn to reach out and take his hand.
“Thank you for coming with me on this trip. I know that at first, I was rather disagreeable, but you have helped me in so many ways.”
“It’s nothing. It was the least I could do.” Ronan stood suddenly, leaving Elise sitting alone. “I should put the fire out. We don’t want ourselves visible for too long.”
Elise nodded, realizing that the moment they had shared was over, and it was time to go back to the reality of here and now.
“How can I help?” Elise asked. She hated to be useless, a person along for the ride while Ronan took on all the responsibility and the risk.
“You’re fine. I don’t want you to hurt your hand further. You could dish up our food if you would like.” He carefully took the pot of steaming beans off the fire and set it on a nearby rock before covering the fire with dirt to extinguish it.
Elise nodded in agreement. She was starving, and she was certain that Ronan probably was too.
A Long Way to Love: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 18
