Page 103 of Knot Her Cowboys
“They let us out of the compound sometimes to run errands, but never with all of our children. We have to leave at least one behind, and they check to make sure they’re where we say they are.”
“God, I’m so sorry. What can I do?”
“Nothing.” She chewed her bottom lip, running her fingertips over the toddler’s downy hair. “You have to stay out of here. Don’t let them get you too.”
“My pack wouldn’t let them keep me.”
Maisie’s eyes widened. “You have a pack?”
“It’s very new, but yes. You remember Morgan Harris, right?” At Maisie’s nod, I continued, “I dated her brother Cooper all through high school, and our best friend at the time, Cash, formed a pack with him, Dakota, and Levi. Levi is one of the vets helping out.”
“You love them?”
“Already crossed that bridge with Cooper and Cash, and well on my way over it with the others. They’re really good men, and I hope you’ll get to meet them.”
“I gave up hope of a pack. The alphas here are…”
“Fucking terrible?”
Maisie let out a tremulous laugh. “Yes. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with more than Paul. I don’t think I would survive it.”
“Maisie.”
My sister and I both froze as Martha Combs, Maisie’s mother, stepped around the shed.
“I’ve told you to stop coming out here. What would Paul say if he heard you talking like that? You know better than to speak where you can be overheard.” She kneeled next to us, her voice somehow gentle and fierce at the same time. “I evaded two guards on my way here. You need to be more careful.”
Maisie wilted. “I’m sorry, Mama.”
Martha turned to me, eyes sharp. “And you? I thought you were smarter than your mother. I get her out of here to spare myself her existence and you a life growing up here, and then you come traipsing back in?”
“Wait, what? What do you mean tospare me?”
Martha kneeled next to us, her voice quiet but firm. “Keeping Darlene out was no easy task. The woman is miserable, and I would have fed her to the pigs if my husband had allowed her to stay.” Martha sighed, her gaze sweeping from me and into the distance where the men worked. “Selfishly, I pushed her out for myself. I was already so miserable here that I couldn’t have dealt with her on top of everything else, but I came to realize it was good that I did. I couldn’t save my own babies from this life, but I could save hers. No matter how much I hated her, you didn’t deserve to pay for her choices.”
My whole worldview around Maisie’s mom shattered. “Youprotectedme?”
“Do you have cotton in your ears?”
“No, I just…I didn’t know.”
“What are you doing here, Riley? How could you be so reckless?”
“I wanted to see how Maisie was, if she was safe.”
“And now you’ve seen. Leave before Darrell catches wind of you being here.”
I leaned in to whisper in Maisie’s ear. “Rowdy Rock Ranch. Go there if you ever get out. We’ll help you.” I got to my feet,giving the two of them a sharp nod. “I’m sorry I made your life harder. Thank you, though. I wish I had known.”
“It would’ve changed nothing,” Martha insisted.
I spared a glance at my sister, still tucked in the grass, cradling her sleeping daughter. Tears slid down her cheeks.
What could I say?I’ll come back?I’ll get you out?
I wasn’t as naïve as that. She wasn’t safe and she wasn’t okay. She never would be so long as she was here.
But…I’d gotten my chance of freedom, and Maisie deserved hers too.
