by Katy Lee
“I need help.” She looked over her shoulder frantically. “I’m a friend of Liza’s. Is she here?”
“A friend of Liza’s?” Irritation threaded his voice. How dare this woman ask for his wife? She was no friend. A friend would know. She would have been at Liza’s vigil, which had lasted for three days. He withheld his retort and asked, “How do you know Liza?”
“Please, there’s no time. Someone’s chasing me.”
Sawyer reached for the light switch.
“No!” she shouted, still glancing over her shoulder. “Don’t turn it on. He’ll see I’m here.”
“And just who are you? And how do you know Liza?”
“We’re good friends,” the woman said, dropping her head down in a shake. She spoke breathlessly in a rush, saying, “I mean, we were friends. The best of friends. I’ve been gone for a long time. My name is Naomi Kemp. I grew up in Rogues Ridge. Please, won’t you help me?”
Sawyer shrank back.
Naomi Kemp? It couldn’t be.
His throat tightened and he could only sputter at the information just thrown at him. He denied such a thing, and in the next second, flipped the light switch to see for himself.
“I said no, don’t do that!” she cried with pure fear in her voice, dropping to the floor in a crouch.
The next second, the glass of his front window shattered into a million pieces, and the wall beside him splintered with a hole at the center.
Right where the woman had been standing a moment before.
“Get down!” she yelled and pulled at his pant leg while covering the infant with her bent head. “Now! Or you’ll be shot.”
Shot?
The idea was unfathomable. And yet, the bullet lodged in his wall proved otherwise.
In a daze, he followed the woman’s orders and knelt in front of her. There he came face-to-face with Naomi Kemp.
“It really is you.” Stunned, his breathing halted.
Her eyes widened from beneath the bonnet. “Sawyer?” she whispered. Her own shock was apparent. Her mouth fell wide. She swallowed hard before saying, “What are you doing here?”
Instant anger flared, and before he could hold his tongue, he said to the woman he once asked to marry, “You’ll be the only one answering that question today. Right after you explain why someone is shooting at you.”
TWO
Naomi stared into the one pair of blue eyes she had hoped she would never have to face again. How could they be the first pair she looked into upon her return? Clearly it was all the proof she needed that she should have never returned. If being run off the road, chased through the woods by a mad man, then shot at wasn’t enough.
Now she had to beg Sawyer Zook for help.
Sawyer Zook!
The man who would be her husband today if she hadn’t left town after that horrifying night at the Englishers’ high school party. She hadn’t thought she could ever face him again, except here he was mere inches away, and all she could do was hope he had never found out about that night. The only other person who knew, besides her attacker, had promised her he wouldn’t tell. Was her secret still safe? Or did the whole town know by now?
Naomi forced her attention from that horrid thought and focused on the danger at hand. She glanced down at Chloe. She needed to focus on safety for the baby, and safety alone.
She humbled herself and begged to not be turned away. “Please. I have a baby.”
Sawyer’s eyes dropped to the child she held protectively beneath her. Chloe stirred and whimpered with a fearful expression. The poor child didn’t understand what was happening. Neither did Naomi, but she did know safety had to be secured quickly, no matter who had to help her.
Sawyer’s firm nod said he understood that too.
“Let me take—”
At his pause, she quickly replied, “Her. Her name is Chloe Han...” Naomi stumbled at giving the child’s full name. She sought help, but she couldn’t be sure who she could trust completely. Thankfully, Sawyer didn’t notice as he reached for the infant and gently tucked her into the crook of his arm. The baby looked so much smaller against his wide, tall frame. There was so much more of him than she remembered from their youth. Holding Chloe close and secure as he was, she had the sense that he could take on the world.
“Stay low,” he instructed her. “My office is in the back. Get behind the furniture.” He nodded at a large bureau with an oval mirror attached. “You go right, and I’ll go left. On three. One, two, three!”
The two of them scrambled at the same time, but just as Naomi reached the back of the bureau more gunshots rang out. She managed to get around to the back to meet him there. Another gunshot rang out and glass shattered and rained down on Naomi.
She screamed and covered her head as she realized the bullet hit the mirror. “Why are there mirrors in an Amish store?” she yelled and pushed up to cover the baby.
But Sawyer turned Chloe away quickly. He wrapped his other arm around Naomi and pulled her close. “Stay low, I said!” His large body over her felt impenetrable, but she knew no matter how strong and muscular he was, he was no match for a bullet.
Naomi’s cheek pressed against his chest, feeling his erratic breathing. Surprisingly, she felt protected. The idea was ludicrous, but for the moment, it gave her strength. “What next?” she asked, lifting her face from his blue cotton shirt and brushing against his collar-length brown hair.
He bent his head down, their faces closer than before. So close she could feel his warm, quick breaths and smell coffee from his lips. Their gazes locked, his blue and hers brown. Eyes that used to hold love and tenderness for each other now held fear and confusion.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. All I do know is I won’t let go of you. I promise.”
Naomi inhaled sharply at his straightforward declaration. Why would he say such a thing?
His head turned to look at something behind him. “There’s an entertainment center tall enough to protect us.” He looked back down at her. “This time, I’ll be right behind you.”
Tears pricked Naomi’s eyes. They were the words she had hoped for when she left eight years ago. All the lonely days and nights, alone in the city of Louisville and out of her element, she had dreamed he’d be right behind her, that he would come for her and would have followed her anywhere.
“You’ll be all right,” he said and looked to Chloe. “Your baby will be too.”
Naomi frowned. She needed to tell him she wasn’t Chloe’s mother.
“Stay low. Are you ready?” He leaned away from her and nodded at the entertainment center. “Go!”
Naomi did as he instructed, running on her knees and hands, and crouched over. She felt Sawyer close on her heels, then coming up alongside her, ushering her forward and protecting her body with his.
They reached the tall cabinet and pressed their backs against it. From there, Naomi could see into the office door beyond the machinery in the workshop.
Something moved behind the door frame.
“Sawyer, someone’s in your office,” she whispered frantically.
“I know. It’s my apprentice. I hope he called the sheriff’s office.”
“Do you have a phone in there?”
“Yes, for business purposes, I can have one.” He leaned over to peer on the other side of the cabinet. “It’s quiet. I think the shooter has left. Who is he? How do you know him?”
“I don’t. I was helping a friend who thought she was being followed. Next thing I know, I’m being targeted. He ran me off the interstate. Then he chased us through the woods. I lost him a while back, but when I entered downtown, I saw a car moving slowly. It must have been him looking for me. I knew if I could just get to Liza, she would help.”
Sawyer jerked his head back at her. “Liza’s dead.”
Nothing could have hit Naomi
harder than the news that her lifelong childhood friend was no longer on this earth. “Wh-when?” Her voice squeaked, and she covered her mouth.
“Three years ago.”
Naomi looked at Sawyer, expecting to see compassion from him. Instead, anger darkened his blue eyes to gray. Her hand fell from her mouth at the sight she had never seen in him in all their childhood.
He had changed.
“You would have known that if you had stuck around.” His words were like daggers. “Just because you didn’t want me didn’t mean you had to hurt everybody else who loved you.” He looked over his shoulder. “Caleb! Call Sheriff Shaw!”
Naomi jolted at his deep command to his apprentice. She then trembled as his cruel words echoed in her head. He was so far off the mark, but there was nothing she could say to right his thinking. To do so would mean telling the truth of why she’d really left town. And that wasn’t possible. Sharing her story in the support group was one thing. Those people didn’t know her. She wouldn’t have to see them in the outside world. She wouldn’t have to face them, knowing they knew her secret.
“They’re on their way,” the apprentice called out, a young boy by the sound of trepidation in his cracking voice. “Is it safe?”
“Not yet. Stay there,” Sawyer ordered. “And make sure the rear entrance is locked.”
“I already did.”
“Well done, Caleb.”
Sirens sounded off in the distance. Help was on the way.
“I’m sorry I hurt everyone,” Naomi whispered. “I never wanted to.” She shook her head, unable to say more. To see his disgust for her would be so much worse than his anger. She held on to that consolation. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t here for Liza. I want to tell her husband how sorry I am. Who did she marry?”
Sawyer’s eyes dimmed back to their light blue. His lips twisted a bit but before he could speak, the sound of glass crunching in the front of the store stopped him.
“Sheriff’s department!” a woman’s deep voice bellowed. “Is everyone safe? The ambulance is on the way if there are injuries.”
Sawyer lifted his face and yelled, “We’re safe, Sheriff Shaw. No one’s been hurt.” He eyed Naomi and whispered, “Today.”
Naomi dropped her gaze to her hands in her lap, where they wrung together tightly. She let them go to reach for Chloe, but withheld eye contact from Sawyer. Thankfully he passed the baby over to her. “I meant what I said. I want to apologize to Liza’s husband.” Naomi fussed with the baby’s coat collar.
“Don’t bother,” Sawyer said and stood up.
“Please tell me who he is.” Naomi implored him to give her this opportunity to fix a wrong.
His smirk was back as he looked down at her. Just as he turned to step out from behind the cabinet, he said, “Me, Naomi. Liza married me.”
Minutes ticked by. Somewhere in the room Sawyer was talking to the officers, but the words reached Naomi’s ears in a contorted muffle. Her chest ached, and she pulled the baby close to her and forced herself to take a ragged breath. She pressed her cheek to the top of Chloe’s soft head of satiny auburn hair. The texture should have comforted Naomi, but with Sawyer’s announcement bouncing around in her mind, she couldn’t feel a thing. All she knew was she had been wrong about the impact of learning about Liza’s death. She had thought nothing could have taken her down faster than that.
Thoughts tried to form into words.
Liza, her best friend.
Sawyer.
Her Sawyer.
Married?
Suddenly, all Naomi wanted was to run from this place again. Slowly, she stood and tucked Chloe beneath her cloak. The office door beckoned. A glance around the cabinet showed Sawyer intently discussing the shooting. With her head bent and face shielded by the brim of her bonnet, she moved her feet toward the exit.
She passed by various woodshop machines, cutting in and out around them quickly. A few more steps, and she would be through the door and out the back exit Sawyer had mentioned to Caleb.
She took two more steps, then halted. Or rather, was halted. She turned her head to see a hand on her shoulder.
“Running away again?” Sawyer chided her from behind. “I’m sorry, but this time, you’re not going anywhere.”
THREE
“Do you have any idea why this man came after you?” Sheriff Cassie Shaw asked Naomi. The two sat alone in Sawyer’s office while the rest of her team processed the scene out in the storefront and on the street. Sawyer had been with them, until the sheriff had asked him to leave. “We’re alone now, if that will help you speak freely.”
Naomi nodded once. Somehow the woman understood Naomi’s hesitancy to share with Sawyer in the room. If there had been any question of whether he could be trusted before, now she had her answer.
Sawyer Zook considered her the threat, and that meant she could trust no one. Possibly not even the law.
She tested the waters and said, “I run a support group for women who have experienced certain...traumas.”
“‘Certain traumas’? As in assault?” Sheriff Shaw glanced at Chloe in Naomi’s arms.
Naomi dropped her gaze to the sleeping baby snuggled so peacefully, oblivious to the danger she’d been through tonight, and even the dangerous way she’d come into this world to begin with.
Naomi looked back at the sheriff. “I became close to one of the women in the group, and she moved in with me recently. She had no one to turn to after her attack, and she feared she was being stalked by him again. I didn’t believe her. I didn’t think it was possible, but she suggested I take Chloe somewhere safe until she could figure out if the threat was real.”
“Why wouldn’t it be possible?” Cassie Shaw tilted her slim jawline up. Her black hair was pulled back tight into a low bun. Her light green uniform shirt was clean and crisp. She was a no-nonsense officer, and Naomi sensed she would be thorough. But would she care? The last sheriff Naomi remembered from Rogues Ridge had never seemed approachable, but that could have been Naomi’s Amish upbringing of avoiding the English law enforcement—even the night of her own assault. Besides, it wasn’t like she was left to handle the situation alone. She had help from a nice stranger that night. A man named James Clark had found her in her distress, and he understood her need to forget that night forever. It was not a night she ever wanted to face again.
She shifted in her ladder-back chair and replied, “I guess I should say I hoped it couldn’t be possible. The idea of a second attack...” Naomi swallowed hard and closed her eyes to regroup her wandering thoughts heading into the dark places of her memory. Another event from last year came to mind. She opened her eyes in a flash and blurted out, “There was a death last year. A woman in my group died when she was hit by a car. It was a hit-and-run, but what if... No, that’s absurd. The idea of being attacked by the same person is not helping me to think clearly.” She gulped and lifted her chin. “Is it typical for a rapist to target the same victim again? Does that happen a lot?” Naomi swallowed her own fear at the horrid idea. It was too much to imagine.
Cassie studied Naomi while she twirled her pen between her fingers. “It’s probably just a coincidence. I’m sure you don’t have anything to worry about, Naomi.”
Her words were meant to calm Naomi. As hard as she tried to cover up her fear, Cassie was sure to see right through her.
“You think this guy tonight could be unrelated to anyone’s assault then?” Hope filled her voice.
The sheriff cleared her throat and pursed her lips. “You really don’t know who drove you off the road and shot at you?”
Naomi shook her head. “All I can guess is it has something to do with Debby since she felt someone was following her.”
“Had your friend ever told you the identity of her attacker?”
“It’s confidential, what we talk about in group. Sometimes we share names, but she n
ever mentioned his name. At least not in any session.”
“But you know,” Cassie raised her eyebrows.
“I do have some idea of his name, but I could be wrong. She talks in her sleep, so it’s really a guess.”
Cassie let out a frustrated sigh and Naomi knew this was not a lead she could work with.
“All right then, can you tell me your friend’s name?” the sheriff asked her. “If for no other reason than so I can contact the local force in Louisville and have an officer do a wellness check.”
A wave of relief swept over Naomi. She provided the address, saying, “I appreciate you doing this. Her full name is Debby Hanover.”
The pen made a scratching sound as the sheriff took notes. “Is she married?” she asked as she wrote.
Naomi shook her head, then Cassie continued. “When was she assaulted?”
Naomi looked down at Chloe before giving her reply. “A little over a year ago.”
“And how about yourself? Are you—”
Naomi lifted her chin in a flash. “My past really isn’t important here.”
Cassie widened her eyes, then frowned. “Sorry, I was asking if you’re married.”
The door opened, and in walked Sawyer and one of the deputies.
Naomi held her response, but Sawyer said, “Go ahead and answer the question. I was actually wondering the same thing. Are you married?”
Naomi felt her head swirl in instant light-headedness. Sawyer had heard the sheriff’s question through the door. What else had he heard? She tried to think if she’d said anything about her last night in this town.
His pointed stare wasn’t filled with revulsion or discomfort. The fact that he looked her in the eye proved her secret was safe from him...so far. She would rather he spend the rest of his life hating her than knowing about that horrid night.
“Sawyer,” Sheriff Shaw interrupted, “I think it’s best if I ask the questions in private.”
“I’m fine,” Naomi said. “I’ll answer your questions about Debby honestly and openly. I came here for protection from a dangerous man. I want to know who he is and why he tried to kill me.” She looked up at Sawyer in the doorway. “But if you must know, I’m not married. And I never was.” Unlike you, who married my best friend.
