Lost and Found

by B C Yancey

  He yelled and cussed for several seconds and pointed at Kitty, making her cry and huddle into a tight ball on the wet mattress.

  All of a sudden, the woman stood and pushed against the man's chest, shouting at him as she took up a defensive position in front of Kitty.

  The man's face grew red with anger, and he lashed out, slapping the woman so hard she fell to the floor. She touched her split bottom lip, pulled bloody fingers away, and glared up at the man as she staggered to her feet.

  Once she stood straight, she stepped directly in front of Kitty. Squaring her shoulders, she screamed at the man. Yelling back, he grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against the wall. Her feet dangled above the wooden floor as he yelled at her until she nodded.

  Paul's heart raced as the man tightened his hold around her throat, only releasing her when her eyes started to roll back in her head.

  The woman fell to the floor, gasping for breath. Paul held his breath and waited to see what would happen next. The woman's arms trembled as she pushed herself to her feet, talking as the man took several steps away then turned back and glared at her.

  A cruel smile bent her lips as she spoke, even as the man took several threatening steps toward her, his face full of rage.

  When he spun on his heel, headed back into the other room, and slammed the door closed behind him, the woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She reached up a hand to rub at her bruised neck with trembling hands.

  Paul grew frantic. He'd only been able to catch a muffled word here and there, but he knew whatever they'd said wasn't good for Kitty.

  He needed Pa. Pa would know what to do. But, no matter how hard Paul ran, he would never be able to find him in time to save Kitty and Ma.

  Overwhelmed by the hopelessness of the situation, Paul sank to his knees and sobbed.

  It was extremely dark as clouds scuttled across the late-night sky, periodically blotting out the moon. But it was for the best. Beth needed the dark. She had waited until she was positive Walker was fast asleep.

  Her heart raced with her decision to disobey him, but she would not allow him to hurt Lily's little girl, Kitty she'd called her.

  Moving as quietly as she could over the squeaky floorboards, Beth tiptoed to the sleeping girl, fearful of what Walker would do if she remained in his company any longer.

  Touching Kitty on her shoulder, and keeping a hand to her mouth to help her understand the importance of being quiet, she picked Kitty up and crept to the front door.

  A look of fright came to Kitty's little face as she shook her head, holding her hands out toward the door. She grabbed Beth by the cheeks, made her look toward the door in the kitchen, and then back to her, and nodded.

  Beth glanced at the closed door to the room Walker slept in, which stood feet away, then back to the one Kitty was trying to tell her to use.

  How did she know which door to take?

  Knowing the wrong decision would cost them both their lives, Beth held Kitty closer to her chest and decided to trust her. She muttered a curse. None of this would be happening if that sheriff hadn't fallen asleep all those weeks ago.

  Walker would be dead and buried by now, and she would have been free to pick up the tattered remnants of her life.

  How had she been so blind to him and his evil nature all these years? What kind of spell had he cast on her to make her willingly go along with his crazy schemes that left dead bodies in their wake? He'd swept her off her feet when she was eighteen and gotten her promptly with child in the process.

  Knowing she was a disgrace to her family by making such a foolish mistake, Beth convinced herself she would be better off with the father of the baby, rather than on her own. She couldn't endure the cruelty of the small-mindedness of her hometown, and she refused to bring further shame to her parents.

  However, six months into her pregnancy, Walker's rough demands of her body had caused her to lose the baby. Afterward, she told herself it was for the best since they were always on the run at that point. But, she'd wanted that baby and couldn't forgive Walker for being the cause of its death.

  With the first step out of the neglected little house, Beth was sure that when she returned she was a dead woman. Taking a deep breath, she tried to prepare herself for what would come.

  The further the house was behind her, the easier it was to breathe, and the faster she walked until she was running as swiftly as she could while holding Kitty tight in her arms.

  Beth guessed it was well after ten o'clock when she came to a stop, gasping for breath. She set Kitty down and began untying her legs and wrists, then took the material from Kitty's mouth.

  Tears stung her eyes as she stared at the beautiful little girl. "I'm so sorry..." She clamped her mouth shut until her lips quit trembling then straightened Kitty's dress, and asked, "Do you know how to get home from here?"

  Kitty nodded but stayed where she was.

  Fearful that Walker would appear at any moment, Beth gave Kitty a little push, "Go! Run home as fast as you can, honey!"

  Kitty stood there with a confused frown marring her brow and tugged on Beth's skirt, "Where is ya gonna go? Aren't ya gonna come with me?"

  Beth shook her head and choked on a sob. "I'm so sorry," she gasped as tears streamed down her face, "please, tell your Mama I'm sorry." When Kitty still didn't move, Beth pushed her in the direction of her house and growled, "Run! Run as fast as you can and don't look back!"

  Kitty nodded and took a few steps away, then stopped.

  Beth's heart kicked against her ribs as someone crept up among the tall grass alongside the road, just a few feet away from them. Was it Walker? Had he found them already? If so, both of them would be dead.

  But, then the clouds opened and allowed just enough moonlight to put her mind at ease. Kitty's brother waited, crouching low enough she would never have seen him if not for the brief flash of moonlight.

  She'd saved Lily's girl after all. A sense of calm threaded its way through her heart and eased her fear. Now it was time to face her demons. She slowly straightened and picked up her skirts then ran back the way she had come.

  Chapter twenty-three

  Paul lifted his head from his knees and blinked in confusion when a shadowed figure ran in front of where he'd fallen asleep. Seconds later, from her perch in the woman's arms, Kitty's white-blonde hair reflected the moonlight.

  Where was the woman taking her? Suddenly glad he'd decided to stay with Kitty, he stood with a groan and followed after them. He remained in the shadows; just far enough behind to make sure the woman didn't see and tried to push aside his worry about where they were headed.

  His body was tired and sore and protested the long run, but hope began to fill his heart when the woman ran in the direction of his new home. He slowed to a stop, crouching low in the tall grass as he watched her stop and lower Kitty to the ground.

  Quickly, she removed the bindings on Kitty's legs and wrists and pushed her away. Paul crept closer, praying she wouldn't hear the rustling of the grass, when suddenly, she said, "Go! Run home as fast as you can, honey!"

  He stared in disbelief. The woman was letting her go! He glanced around; positive it was a trick of some kind. But, the next thing he knew, the woman was running back the way she'd come.

  After looking one more time down toward his old house, Paul raced over to Kitty, picked her up, and just as the lady had said to do, he ran home as fast as he could.

  Lillian squeezed her eyes against the ache in her head, moaning as she opened them to find the moon shone behind partial clouds and she was lying on the cold ground.

  Her jaw and arm ached. She tried moving it, but quickly stopped when stars exploded before her eyes and she began dry heaving. Her arm was useless—again. Shivers raced up and down her body, urging her to find warmth.

  Her eyes widened as terror struck her heart when she remembered what had happened. When she struggled to her feet, she cried out in pain and clutched her arm to her side. Her vision wavered,
and she swayed on her feet, but she remained standing.

  "Paul? Kitty?!" she yelled in a panic as she turned in a full circle, looking for their bodies on the ground. "PAUL! KITTY!" She screamed, stumbling as searched for them outside.

  Where were they? What had Walker done with them? Had he killed them? She choked on a sob and ran to the house. Broken pottery littered her once clean floors and crackled under her shoes as she explored every room for a sign of them. They weren't there, and it was all her fault.

  Tripping over the rug on her way back outside, she ran down the porch steps, "Paul?"

  Nothing but the silence answered her.

  "Kitty?" she whimpered. But, there was no reply.

  Trembling from cold and misery, she sank to her knees in the middle of the yard and wept. She had lost them.

  If only she had told Sawyer about Walker being alive! He would have protected them and killed the vile man, and none of this would have happened. And Beth! She'd trusted Beth, when all along she not only played her false and helped Walker steal her children from her, but planned to live the rest of her life with him. A sob escaped her.

  She didn't know what to do, or even who to go to for help. Freddie had never showed up like he said he would; he'd never come, and her children were gone, but she couldn't blame him for something she'd practically set in motion.

  Freddie was innocent in this. She was the one to blame because she'd refused to tell Sawyer. Now she didn't know where to look for them, or if they were even alive.

  And when Sawyer returned and found out she could have done more to stop Paul and Kitty from being taken, possibly killed—Lillian let out a choked sob as despair took her in its cold grip and held tight.

  Slowing to a walk as the dilapidated home they'd been staying in came into view, Beth's heart ached for whoever had lived in it before. There were holes in one of the walls that appeared to have come from a shotgun, and everything was in terrible shape.

  When her brother first brought her and Walker there, she'd felt saddened by the small room off the front, barely large enough for the narrow lumpy mattress that lay on the floor. A broken wood toy shoved in a corner with a half-burned moth-eaten doll revealed it had been a child's room at one point.

  It appeared, from the darkened windows and eerily silent house, Walker was still in the bedroom sleeping. Taking a calming breath, she grasped the cold and misshapen doorknob with trembling hands and stepped inside.

  Searching the dark little home from the open door, Beth found no sign Walker was awake or alerted to what she'd done. With any luck, she'd be able to get some sleep and feign shock when he confronted her with the disappearance in the morning. Closing her eyes on a relieved sigh, she leaned back against the door until the latch clicked shut.

  At the sound of a gun cocking, her eyes shot wide open; but instead of quaking in fear when Walker pointed the gun he'd stolen from Lillian directly at her, Beth's heart filled with peace. Finally, all the pain and anguish she'd endured at his hand would be over.

  Walker faced her. "Did ya think I wouldn't notice?" A furious snarl twisted his once handsome face, "Ya thought I wouldn't think twice of checkin' to make sure that little girl was still where I put her after you threatened to take her back?" He pressed the gun to her breast, "Did ya honestly believe I wouldn't shoot ya for settin' her free just because ya let me 'tween yer thighs?"

  It was as though someone removed a curtain was from her eyes. Walker's true character—what other people saw when they looked at him—stood before her.

  Beth shook her head, "What did I ever see in you to allow you to ruin my life for so long? You're despicable. I can't believe I let you breathe the same air as me, let alone touch me the way I've allowed you. You're evil,” she spat.

  Walker slapped her, "Shut yer mouth."

  She held a hand to her throbbing cheek, "I know what you tried doing to that little girl."

  The blood drained from his face. "You don't know what yer talkin' bout," he sneered.

  Beth laughed, "Really? That eight-year-old nearly got you hung. I was almost free of you and your revolting existence." She cried out as he backhanded her and reopened the wound on her lip from earlier.

  Doggedly, she continued, "Yes, I helped Kitty escape. I would rather you kill me for letting her go than live knowing what you intended to do to her, you perverted mongrel."

  Walker pushed the barrel of the gun as hard as he could against her chest, and sneered, "You shut yer mouth!"

  Beth leaned forward and looked him straight in his eyes, "I curse the day I met you."

  He screamed, "I WARNED YA."

  When the roar of the gun echoed loudly in the small home, he stared in cold surprise as Beth crumpled to the floor. The blood on her bodice bloomed around the hole he'd just shot through her chest.

  Beth stared up at him. Death drew closer with each breath she struggled to take. "Walker," she convulsively swallowed as blood pooled in her mouth. Struggling for breath, she smiled, "burn in h-"

  Walker fired another shot, hitting her square in the head before she could speak another condemning word. "YOU STUPID WOMAN," he screeched, "I LOVED YOU." He screamed again, louder, and punched a hole in the rotten wood door, making the house shudder from the impact. Staring down at Beth's dead body at his feet, his lips trembled.

  What had he done? He'd killed her. His sweet and naïve Beth, the only girl who'd ever looked at him with kindness instead of distaste; he'd shot her without a second thought of what it would do to his heart.

  Falling to his knees in front of her, Walker dropped the stolen gun on the wood floor. Sobbing her name, he pulled Beth's corpse tightly to his chest and wept.

  "MAMA, MAMA," Paul and Kitty yelled as soon as the shadow of the barn and house was in view.

  His lungs were ready to burst, and Kitty's nails were sure to leave marks from the tight grip she had around him, but he refused to give in and pumped his legs faster.

  Lillian raised her head from the ground where she'd drifted into a fitful slumber, hoping she hadn't been dreaming. Was her mind playing tricks on her, or had Paul and Kitty called for her?

  "Paul?" she croaked, straining her ears.

  When she heard them again in the distance and saw his shadow running toward her, she cried out for joy.

  "Mama!" Paul hollered, scanning the front of the house where he'd last seen her, praying she wasn't dead because of him.

  "Paul?" Lillian's voice called from the dark ahead.

  He forced his legs to run faster when he finally found her as she rose to her knees, "MAMA."

  Kitty wriggled in his grasp, "Let me go, Paulie. I want mama."

  But Paul just got her back and was worried he'd lose her again, so he held her tighter and sprinted the remaining distance.

  "Mama," Kitty cried, "Oh Mama, I missed you so much. That mean man fell asleep, and the lady let me go. And then Paulie found me and scared me so bad I almost started cryin' again."

  She finally wriggled her body free of Paul and scurried to Lillian as she cried, "I thought he was a wolf comin' to eat me, Mama, and I would never have seen you again, not ever." She broke into tears as she crumpled against Lillian's chest.

  Lillian grimaced in pain when Kitty jostled her shoulder, but she wrapped her right arm around her. "What are you saying? How did you escape?"

  "It's true, Ma, the lady let Kitty go. I saw her do it myself," Paul nodded, gasping for air.

  Kitty pulled back and sobbed, "I was so scared, Mama. I thought you was dead."

  "It's alright, sweetie," Lillian soothed, rocking gently, not knowing if it was for Kitty's benefit or her own.

  Paul stared horror-struck at Lillian's appearance. Dried blood covered her chin and bodice, and even in the darkness, a noticeable bruise spread along her jaw. Dirt stained her left cheek and the entire left side of her body.

  When he noticed her arm, his mouth dropped open in surprise. "Ma...your arm..." Paul knelt by her and reached toward her arm that hung at a strange
angle down her side.

  Lillian glanced at her shoulder, knowing she needed to get it seen to as soon as possible; but she had bigger worries to deal with right now.

  If Beth had let Kitty go, it meant Walker would be out for blood and was still a threat to them; possibly even worse than before. She needed to get Paul and Kitty inside, find the revolver, and pray they would be alive when Sawyer finally made it home in a few more months.

  Pasting a reassuring smile on her face, Lillian said, "I'm all right, I just need help standing up." She rubbed Kitty's back and kissed her cheek as she turned to Paul, "Perhaps you should take Kitty inside first."

  "No, I'll help you, Mama," Kitty scrambled down from her perch on Lillian's lap.

  Paul hovered on her right side, eager to offer what support he could.

  Lillian groaned as she struggled to her feet. She'd been in the same position for so long her limbs had frozen in place. Grimacing in pain, she hugged her arm to her chest and bit back a smile when she found Kitty holding onto her skirt.

  Kitty glanced up and smiled, "See, I'm helpin'."

  Paul grinned and pressed a light hand to Lillian's back, leading her up the porch steps.

  Once they stepped over the threshold, Lillian closed her eyes in relief. Leaning against the closed door, Lillian breathed a prayer of gratitude that they were together and safe—for now.

  "Golly," Paul breathed in dismay after lighting a lamp. Taking in the damage, he walked to the book they'd been reading - now torn in half and thrown on the floor.

  "That bad man did it, I saw him," Kitty growled, "He's gonna be in so much trouble, isn't he, Mama?" She tugged Lillian's skirt.

  Lillian nodded and swallowed. They were all going to be in trouble if she didn't find the gun and get them to safety soon.

  Paul turned to Lillian, "Should we go to Aunt Charlie's? Uncle Freddie will know what to do, won't he? Just in case that bad man comes back..." His eyes wandered over Lillian's battered face, damaged shoulder, and squared his shoulders. "I'll go hitch up the wagon, you help Mama pack some things, Kitty, and then we'll go to Uncle Freddie's." The issue decided, Paul strode with purpose to the back door and ran to the barn.