“I’ve never seen the desert.”
“Oh, you must. It’s completely different from here.”
I shrugged. “I don’t think about stuff like that.”
“What do you mean? You’re not even curious?”
I leaned back and sighed. “No. I mean, that’s something that most likely will never happen to me. So I don’t think about it.”
“Why not?” His expression was baffled.
“I don’t know. I just don’t get all bothered by stuff like that. Life’s too short.”
He studied his hands moving beneath the water then he ducked under again. I watched his tan body streak across the clear pond and surface on the other side facing away from me. Chewing my lip, I worried I’d said something wrong and lost him.
After a few moments, I stood and gingerly slipped out of my sweaty coveralls. I had on my tanktop and boxers, and both were very thin. But I was wearing a bra, and I didn’t care at this point. It was hot, and I was getting in that water. I went over and eased into the pool then squealed. Gallatin jerked around to see what was wrong.
“It’s freezing!” I laughed.
He smiled and went under again. A moment later his head resurfaced very close to where I was lowering my body into the pool by degrees.
“Does it hurt your injury?” His tan brows pulled together over his amber eyes. Somehow they were less startling to me the more time we spent together.
“No more than anything else does,” I said. “I think my whole body is going numb now.”
Once in the water, I quickly ducked my head and pushed off from the bottom to the other side where he had just been. When I resurfaced, he was still at my point of entry, watching me with a smile.
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”
I nodded. He slowly tread water to where I was floating, doing the same. I could tell he was thinking about our conversation.
“I wish I could be like you,” he said.
Cupping my hand, I splashed a peal of water at him. “No you don’t.”
He laughed. “But I do!”
“Which part?”
“I’d like not to wish for things that can’t happen. To be content with the way things are.”
“I don’t know if that’s how I am. It’s not that I don’t wish for things. I just don’t worry about things that are impossible.”
“But I thought in this country anything was possible.”
We were floating closer together, and I decided to take a chance. “Is that why you hate us? Our country, I mean?”
“I don’t hate you or your country. Why would you say that?” His eyes flashed, and my heart beat painfully hard.
When I spoke again, my voice trembled. “Why else would you attack us? Take us prisoners.”
Silence followed my question. All I could hear was the trickling of the water over the rocks. He looked around the forest that curved over our heads, then he looked straight at me.
“We’re not here to hurt you. We’re hoping to leave very soon, but we have to be sure the timing is right. We don’t want you to be harmed as a result of our visit.”
Blinking hard, I tried to breathe normally. “What does that mean?”
He turned and swam to the other side of the pond. Then he pressed his hands in the grass and pushed up onto the bank. I watched as he stood and went to the backpack and pulled out a large blanket. He spread it out on the grass in the patch of sunlight and flopped down on it.
“Would you like to lie in the sun?” he said.
“No, thank you.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean... The water’s very cold, and I only thought you might want to warm yourself. Nothing more.”
“I’m okay. Thanks.”
He nodded and stretched out on the blanket in the sunshine. His tan body was long and lean, and if things had been different, I might’ve found him attractive. If I wasn’t already in a committed relationship, of course. And if he weren’t The Enemy.
I turned my back and swam to my side of the bank near the fallen tree and climbed out. My coveralls were warm and cozy as I slipped my chilled body into them. Slowly, I lowered myself to sit in front of the log and leaned my head back against it. The sun made speckled shadows across my face as it drifted past the leaves overhead, drying the creek water in my hair. He hadn’t answered my question, but I was pacing myself. I’d learned several new things today. Nothing really concrete I could use for my escape plan, but we were building to that. I took a deep breath and allowed myself to relax.
Next thing I knew, Gallatin was gently shaking my shoulder. “We have to get back now.” My eyes blinked open, and I couldn’t believe I’d fallen asleep. “Would you like me to carry you?”
“I can walk.” I tried to jump up, but the pain slowed me immediately. “OW!”
“Here.”
He gently lifted me by my waist. I stood, and my head was in his chest. His genuine concern had softened my defenses toward him, but I had to stay focused. I stepped back, and he waited, holding the backpack as I rubbed my eyes and pulled up the zipper on my coveralls. My hip was still sore, but I could tell it was getting better. It hurt, but not as fiercely as before. Still, I let him slip a strong arm around my waist and hold me close against his body as we practically jogged back to camp.
“I’m sorry I fell asleep.” With every step my head bounced against his shoulder.
“It’s my fault. I did too, and now it’s almost dinner.”
We quickly went up the next hill and then down again to the break in the fence. I stood on one foot as he rolled the chicken wire back then caught me again and lifted me through the opening. Quickly we were back at the small cabins, but just as we stepped out by the guardhouse, voices made us jump back.
I almost cried out in pain at our sudden halt, and the fact that he was nervous made my chest tighten uncomfortably. Gallatin covered my mouth, holding me close against his chest. My back was pressed against the wall of the cabin, and as he peeked around the corner, he slid his palm from my face to cover my hand. Instantly, a feeling of calm flowed through me, unclenching the fear in my lungs. I thought of the way a cat relaxes under a long stroke, and my eyes almost closed.
“I haven’t seen him since lunch,” I heard Ovett say.
“I checked the barn, the yard, his cabin.” It was Cato, and she sounded agitated. “I had to help Oma with the milking this afternoon.”
Gallatin looked down and gave me a mischievous grin as if he’d just pulled the best prank. My eyebrows pulled together. I didn’t understand his response, but I couldn’t help smiling in reply. Then he peeked around the corner again.
“Maybe he is with the little one,” Ovett said. “The one who was injured?”
“She’s in his thoughts too much.” Cato sighed. “I don’t like it.”
Gallatin didn’t look at me this time, and my stomach felt squirmy being pressed so close to him now.
“I thought he’d chosen celibacy. With his uncle and how dangerous it is—”
“He’s too young to make that choice,” Cato snapped. “I’m not even sure it’s the right one for him anyway. Gallatin’s too much like his father to be celibate.”
I watched the muscle in his jaw move, and he kept his chin lifted, not meeting my eyes. I might not have the best vocabulary in the world, but I knew what celibacy meant. I just didn’t understand what it meant with regard to him. Was Gallatin some sort of priest?
“Please try and stay calm, your grace,” Ovett’s voice was gentle now. “He’ll turn up, and we’ll be leaving soon.”
“That’s what worries me. If anything happens to him—”
“We’ve received no alerts of danger. As far as we can tell, the plan’s working. I just spoke to his grandfather last night.”
“As did I. Not much longer, it seems.” Cato exhaled a delicate sigh.
“We’ll be gone in no time. Everything here will go back to the way it was before, and your brother will be safe.”
Their voices grew quieter, and I could tell they were walking away. So many questions hung in the silence they left behind. I was sure there was no way I could avoid asking at least a few of them. We didn’t speak as he helped me past the guards’ quarters and across the empty yard. At the grove in the center he turned to me, but his expression was troubled.
“Are you okay?” I said.
Instantly it vanished, and he smiled. “Yes. Thank you for going with me today.”
“Thank you for taking me.”
“Would you like to do it again?”
I couldn’t figure him out, but I decided to go with whatever he was doing. For now. “Is that okay? I mean, do you think it’s safe?”
“Of course!”
My investigation wasn’t complete, so I nodded. “I’d love to.”
“We might have to do our afternoon shift first.”
“Or your sister might get mad?”
“I don’t want to jeopardize our escape.”
His choice of words made me pause, but the dinner tone was sounding. I let go of his arm and he checked me a moment to be sure I was okay. I nodded and then watched as he quickly cross the yard toward the barn, my curiosity flying off the charts.
I wanted to know more about this boy with the scars who was either a prince or a priest—or both? I still wanted to escape, to rescue my friends and find Jackson, but I also wanted to know why his sister was so fearful for his safety. I wanted to know about this grandfather and his uncle and why all of this was happening. And if they were leaving soon, and we’d be free, should I do like Braxton and D’Lo kept saying? It was all so confusing and I’d only just scratched the surface. I had to find out more if only to understand why.
Chapter 13
The hot sun dried the creek water from my skin as I lay on my back on the blanket. It felt delicious, and I wondered how I’d ever made it through the hours before our daily trips to our secret escape, as Gallatin called it. Only three days, and I was addicted to the icy water washing away the sweat and humidity of the morning.
I was also walking more on my own. Gallatin was quick to catch me if I lost my footing or even winced in pain, and his care had effectively removed all my hesitation around him. I’d become so accustomed to his touch, it seemed ridiculous that I was ever afraid of him before.
“Bully is growing so fast.” He lay on his stomach beside me and pulled a blade of grass. “Probably because he eats constantly.”
As he spoke I studied the movement of his lips, the way he positioned his dark hair back over his facial scar.
“You don’t have to do that.” I rolled onto my side to face him.
“What?”
“Cover it. Your scar doesn’t bother me.”
He looked down and didn’t reply. I wanted to know how he’d gotten it, but I was still hesitant to ask that question. So I watched the water shimmering in the sunlight, the sun passing in and out of the clouds. As the light rippled on the small breaks, a sparkle would be followed by a blinding flash that hurt my eyes. I sat up and then stood, walking to the edge of the water. Brown, red, and white rocks lined the creek bed, and a long-legged fly swirled down like a falling leaf. When it touched the pond, it went into its ice-skating walk across the surface. My eyes followed it until I looked up and saw Gallatin watching me.
“When I first saw you, I wondered why you were so small,” he said. “If it meant you were a runt or somehow inferior. Weaker than the rest.”
“Thanks.” My lips pinched into a frown, and he laughed that low, rippling sound.
“I’m sure you know by now I do not think less of you. You’re very smart, and very different from the others. So very strong.” The last part he added softly.
“No, I’m not.” I spoke a little louder, going back and slowly easing to sit next to him. “I’m just a dumb little hick.”
“That’s not true at all.” He sat up straighter. “Your friends look up to you. You’re a leader.”
His words shot a nervous flash across my stomach. Being a leader was dangerous. We’d all seen how that played out with Cleve. But instead of threatened, Gallatin was completely relaxed. He seemed pleased with me.
He smiled and reached out to slide a strand of hair off my cheek and behind my ear. I let him do it and didn’t pull away like I should have, and as always, his touch somehow erased my fears. In their place, something wholly unexpected emerged—I was proud of myself. I liked impressing him.
“So what happened?” I said quietly.
“When?”
“There.” I reached out, only a little surprised by my boldness, and lightly touched the damaged skin on his cheek with my fingertips. His eyes softened, and he caught my hand.
“What’s in Jackson?”
I jerked my hand away, instantly alert. “What?”
“The night you were hurt, when you were sleeping, you kept saying Jackson.”
Bending my knees, I hugged my arms around them and looked out at the water. These last few days I’d allowed my guard to relax, and Jackson had drifted from my mind. Now it was all back in my face. I remembered everything—what I had to do and why, and I was ashamed that I’d been letting my mind drift to thoughts of this guy beside me. I’d been thinking about him as a person and wanting to know him better in a kind of sentimental, affectionate way instead of staying focused on my goals.
“I’m sorry,” Gallatin said. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“It’s not that. I just remembered someone.”
“Jackson’s a person?”
“He’s my fiancé.” I cleared my throat and straightened up. “He’s not here, but I’m going to find him.”
Instantly, my companion’s demeanor changed as well. He moved away from me and then stood, walked over to the creek, and stepped down into it. I studied his back as he lifted his arms and dove under the surface.
The little grove was silent as I waited for him to emerge, and when he did, he was on the whole other side, my old side, by the fallen log. I didn’t know what to do now. It was like we’d gone all the way back to the beginning in the space of a few words. But that didn’t make sense. The possibility of something more than friendship was never why I spent time with Gallatin. Was it possible that was why he spent time with me?
I watched him exploring the hill where the stream met up with the larger pond, then I noticed the position of the sun.
“We probably should start back,” I called, standing and pulling on my coveralls.
He looked back and then made his way around the edge of the pool. I picked up the blanket and started to fold it as he stepped into his pants and the pulled the t-shirt over his head. His eyes avoided mine as he loaded the pack and swung it onto his shoulder.
“Do you need help?” he asked as we began to walk.
“No,” I said, feeling guilty although I had no idea why.
We walked in silence to the top of the small hill. Then I stopped and caught his arm.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Of course not,” he said, but our eyes didn’t meet.
“You seem angry or something.”
He turned and started walking again with me close behind.
“Gallatin,” I said. “I thought we were friends. Friends talk about things, right?”
We were back at the fence, and he paused. This time his eyes did meet mine, and they were sad.
“Sometimes being here, in this little town, makes me feel... I don’t know.”
“Like you miss the desert?”
“Yes. But at the same time...” His eyes traveled around my face. “It’s like something’s happened to me.”
He turned, and we slipped past the cabins. Then he paused to drop the pack by his door. “It’s early still. Want to see Bully?”
“Sure,” I said, following him the back way to the barn.
We entered at the stall, and there was the growing calf with its mother. Gallatin climbed up on the wooden fence and watched him, and I leaned my
head against the rail, looking through the space in the boards.
“We probably should move them to a bigger yard,” I said.
“I’ve thought of that, but I’m not sure we have space.”
I leaned back and put my foot on one of the boards, raising myself until I was level with him. Then we faced each other. He looked at me and smiled.
“What?” I said.
“So you’re planning to be married?”
I shrugged. “That was the plan before all this happened.”
“Did you lose your ring?”
I studied the back of my left hand. “I didn’t have a ring.”
“But I thought it was customary in this country to give a ring with a proposal.”
“We weren’t officially engaged. Yet.”
“I don’t understand.”
I looked up at his curious eyes. His previous disposition seemed to have changed somehow, and he wasn’t quite so sad anymore. I chose to believe it was because of Bully. We both liked watching the little bull that brought us together.
Shrugging, I tried to explain. “It was always just sort of understood that we’d get married after we graduated, next year or something. We didn’t have an exact date.”
Gallatin nodded and turned his attention back to the calf, and I wondered why in the world I was telling him so much information about my personal life. The whole point was for me to get information about him to help us escape this darn prison camp. Why did I have to justify myself to him? Or back down from what had been set in stone between Jackson and me since forever.
“So this is your last summer as a girl,” he said, thoughtfully.
“I guess.” I needed a way to turn the focus back on him. “Did you have anybody special? Back in Arizona?”
“Sort of,” he said. “But she wasn’t what I thought she was.”
So shut my mouth. I never expected to feel so curious or disturbed by hearing those words from him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means sometimes people aren’t who you think they are.” Then he laughed. “But that isn’t anything you need to worry about. Your future’s all settled, and as smart as you are, I’m sure you’ve found the right person.”
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