Chapter Fourteen

Rain ran down her neck soaking her dress and dripping down to her hem. Her feet, her bare feet, ran fast, carrying her far from home, from pain, from matrimony. Her shiny shoes from Lucas lay wasted in a muddy field. Searching for shelter she dashed under the trees but every leaf dripped and dropped down to the earth. She shivered. The light silk dress left her defenseless against the elements.

Lighting flashed across the woods illuminating the deer trail. She stumbled through, cold and tired. She wanted to curl up and sleep in her warm, soft bed. A dog barked causing her to jump. Focused on escaping Lucas, Merlyn lost her way in the storm and panic. Sticks tore her panty hose and cut her feet. Leaves stuck to the blood and water on her skin. The will to continue disappeared with each step in the cold hard rain. Up ahead a log with its branches intact rested on the forest floor offering shelter.

Merlyn picked up her train and hurried to the tree. Crouching she crawled in the small space and huddled. Not a match or morsal of food she had. Now sitting she feared in her haste she left foolishly unprepared, but the alternative she feared more.

Lucas. Lucas had her and wanted more. He hurt her. And she rather live-in shame with a bastard child than marry him.

She cried. The thunder drowned out her cries. If only her mama lived none of this would have happened. Judith loved her, protected her but deep down she knew that she killed her mother. She opened the door and let the monster in. A little girl of six did not know foe from friend. First, he came for mama than he came for her.

Merlyn whispered the trees. The dog barked again. The forest faded away with each second. Merlyn run teased the rustling branches. Merlyn.

"Merlyn!" cried the desperate voice of her baby brother. He was close.

Merlyn froze. No, he could not find her. Returning to her impending nuptials only spelled doom.

"There you are Merly." Caleb spotted her and ran to her. "Why didn't you answer me?"

"Caleb please don't. . ."

He hollered he found her before she could stop him.

She grabbed his shirt. "Don't tell them I'm here please," she said too late as Lucas walked into sight. Ben followed with a bloodhound.

"Good job son." Still in his wedding clothes, he must have tracked her from the beginning.

Merlyn struggled out of the branches only to slip in the mud. Lucas caught her and pulled her out. She screamed and begged for him to let her go. She asked Caleb for help her but he gave her a perplex look. Chilled, hungry, and pregnant her body simply gave up and collapsed into Lucas's waiting arms. She buried her face in his shoulder and cried. Cried in the mud, in the rain, in the cold.

The ground left her as Lucas picked her up and carried her out of the forest.

In a private room she waited with Caleb. Earlier Gail helped her out of the ruin gown before returning to Gage's room. The once pristine garment stained with grass and mud. Mud and leaves still clung to her damp hair. She pulled a blanket tighter over the hospital gown. Caleb offered her hot tea. He too wore a gown. His wet suit hung on the back of a chair.

"I don't understand why you don't want to marry Sheriff Buck. He's nice and has a big house. You'll be rich."

"He's your father." Merlyn let the words slip out of her mouth without a thought. Numbness consumed her.

Caleb raised an eyebrow. "You're lying."

"I'm not."

"Then why ain't I living with him instead of you and daddy?"

"Because he hurt mama and killed her."

"How?" he asked still not convinced.

"He raped her, Caleb. You know what that is? He forced himself on her until she got pregnant like he raped me. He doesn't want me. Not really. He wants the baby. He wants you."

Tears started running down Caleb's face. "No, you're lying. He didn't kill mama." Overcome by grief he hugged Merlyn and sobbed.

A knock came at the door. Matt peaked in. "Merlyn, Caleb, your father's asking for you."

Without a word the siblings followed him down the hall. Nurse Rita, Father Tilden, Gail and even Selena stood around the bed of the dying man. Gage gasped as he motioned his children over.

Unbidden tears welled up in Merlyn's eyes. After everything Gage did to her, the hate she expected to feel turned into pity when she saw him helpless in bed. She kissed his head sensing that they only had moments left.

"Marry him daughter and I can rest in peace," he said in a quiet breathy voice.

Merlyn shook her head. A heavy hand landed on her shoulder. The hand belonged to Lucas Buck. The father of her child. He rested the other hand on her stomach and pull her tight against him. "You don't want to refuse a dying man's final wish darling, do you?"

When she gave no response, Lucas asked the father to read the vows. Merlyn held Gage's hand as each and every word was said and repeated. Without missing a beat, she said, "I do." The next moment Gage's hand went limp and his spirit left the body.

Feeling the change Caleb threw himself over the only man he knew as father. "Daddy!" he cried in pain, cried his last good-bye.

She buried her father the next day. Down the center of the cemetery Lucas walked her. His hand in hers. Husband and wife. A chill ran down her spine when she looked into the dark hole her father's coffin rested in.

Her family gathered silently with a few onlookers. Word of her hasty marriage at the request of her dying father spread throughout town. Merlyn became the honorable daughter. Lucas, her knight in shining armor.

Not a tear did she shed. Her river of tears ran dry the night he died. Anger replaced pity. He gave her to the devil.