Page 117 of My Heart Will Find You

The arrow flew through the air.

“Max!” Etta yelled, overjoyed to see him. Between him and Lester, everything would be solved. Peace would be obtained. No one would be hurt.

When Max collapsed at her feet, she didn’t understand. She just stood there, staring down at him.

A hush fell over everyone. Not a person or animal, not even birds, made a sound. Lester stopped a few feet away and didn’t move. Lillian sat on her horse, utterly still.

“Max?” Etta said. “What happened? Did you trip?” She just blinked down at him.

Lillian came to her and put her arm around Etta’s shoulders.

Etta shrugged the arm away, then knelt beside Max. His eyes were closed. “Max?” she cried, but he didn’t move.

“Henrietta,” Lillian said, “I’m so sorry.”

Etta saw the arrow sticking out of Max’s chest. Blood was at the base. “No, this isn’t right.” She sat down on the ground and pulled at Max’s shoulders.

It was Lester who lifted Max’s inert body so his head was in her lap.

She stroked his hair. “Please wake up. We have so much to do. You promised me a trip to Paris, remember?”

Behind her, the Kanza began to sing a song of mourning.

“Max, please,” Etta whispered. “Please.”

Lillian sat down beside her.

“Mom,” Etta whispered. “Mom, I can’t bear this. I can’t do it.”

“I know. I know too well.”

“Etta,” came a voice she recognized, and she looked up. The sun was bright and she wasn’t sure what she was seeing, but they all seemed to be there. Alice, Nellie, and Pat. Tobias was behind Lillian. Cornelia and Bert were looking down at her.

At the end was Martha and beside her was Henry in his suit with the string tie. But as Etta looked at him, his clothing changed to a plaid shirt and khaki trousers. He held out his hand to her.

Etta shook her head no, her arms around Max in her lap. “No,” she whispered.

Henry leaned forward, his hand closer to her.

“Etta!” she heard. It was Zack’s voice. “Etta! Wake up. Henry is leaving.”

But Henry was there, beckoning to her.

She reached up and her fingertips touched his.

In the next second, Etta knew she was in Henry’s house in Kansas City, and the people she’d come to love were far away in distance and in time.

And Max was...

Etta wouldn’t open her eyes.

23

Etta lay still, her eyes closed.This one is different, she thought. The other times after her dream ended, she’d felt a strong need to return. She knew there was more she had to do. But not this time. Now she knew it was over. Done. Her task had been completed.

She waited a while, not moving, and she could feel the past being “put away.” It was like it was going to another part of her mind, like tucking away a love letter in a box of memories.

She refused to think about—to remember—the very last of her dream. She didn’t want to see Max lying on the ground. Didn’t want to recall the looks on the faces of the people around them. Had everyone really been there or had she imagined that?

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