Page 49 of Moon's Promise

“You couldn’t harm a fly,” she teased. “Can I talk to Priscilla?”

“I guess. By the way, she called the cops on you.”

“What did you just say?” Larissa was listening to the call from her car speaker. Had she heard Crazy Bitch wrong?

Priscilla’s voice came on “Are you still there, Larissa?”

“Yes. Did I hear Crazy Bitch right? Did you call the police?”

“I didn’t want you going alone,” Priscilla said unapologetically. “You know the statistics as well as I do. IPV increases when a woman becomes pregnant. Dusty has a restraining order to stay away from Eryn.”

“Eryn told me she was going to drop it. He has a girlfriend in Tennessee. I called him before you; Dusty doesn’t want anything to do with her. He said he’s moved on and hasn’t talked to or seen her.”

“Dusty could be saying that to give himself an alibi.”

“He could be, but I don’t think so. Hang on; I need to concentrate. I’m trying to find her turnoff.”

She would have missed the turnoff for Eryn’s house if she hadn’t memorized the directions before leaving the office. When she had taken Eryn on as a patient, the first step was to go to the home. Using the excuse that her husband worked nights and Dusty slept during the day, the home visit had been delayed. Then, when they had broken up, Eryn had come up with various excuses to put her off. She had been about to give her an ultimatum if she had come yesterday that she wouldn’t be able to be her midwife if she didn’t schedule the home meeting.

The rutted road had her Jeep bouncing as she followed the directions. Then she held her breath when she went over the small bridge, which seemed ready to collapse under the weight of the Jeep.

“Wow,” Larissa breathed out a sigh of relief.

“What’s going on?” Priscilla voice came from the speaker anxiously.

“Nothing,” Larissa reassured her. “It’s a good thing I did come out. There’s no way I can be her midwife unless she comes to the hospital. An ambulance wouldn’t be able to get to her if there’s an emergency.”

“Why didn’t Eryn say something?”

“I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure that’s why she put me off on the home visit.”

Driving forward, she climbed the nob of the mountain, then went down the slope on the other side. The house she was searching for had finally become visible. Eryn’s home sat on top of another rise, with several vehicles sitting to the side of home.

“I see several cars outside.” Larissa held the steering wheel for dear life as she went down the steep hill. “It looks like she has company, which is probably why she missed the appointment and didn’t answer my calls.”

As she drove closer to the home, Larissa debated turning around, but the trees were too thick and the rise to Eryn’s house was so rocky there was no way she would make it to the top if she weren’t driving her Jeep.

She parked next to a jacked-up black truck and released the death grip she had on the steering wheel. “I’m here. And since I’m here, I might as well check in with her. I’ll call you back when I get back in the car.”

“Are you sure it’s safe?”

“There are at least six trucks here, and three men and a woman are sitting on the porch. I’m good. I would turn around if there weren’t so many blocking the way. I’ll have to ask a couple of them to move. There’s no way I’m going to back down this hillside.”

“That bad?”

“I don’t understand why they made it so steep. I thought I was going to get a nosebleed for a second. All righty, I need to hang up to get out and go talk to Eryn.”

“Make sure you take your phone,” Priscilla insisted.

“I will. You can call the sheriff back and tell him everything is okay.” Larissa detached the cell phone from the holder as she got out. Juggling it, she started to pull her crutches toward her. “Wait—I see the sheriff coming up the hill. He’s not going to be happy you dragged him out—”

She leaned her head back into the car when she heard her cell start to lose the connection. Then Larissa unconsciously gave a startled scream. A burning pain on her shoulder had her releasing the cell phone as she dropped to her knees to hide behind the door.

“What are you doing shooting at me!” Larissa yelled out. “I’m Eryn’s midwife!” She placed a hand on her shoulder at the stinging pain and felt blood seeping through her fingers.

“What are you doing here?” a loud male voice yelled back.

“Eryn missed her appointment yesterday. I wanted to check on her!” Larissa yelled without raising her head.

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