“But how?” She wiped the tears from her eyes as she said, “You said yourself that if Antonio found out I was alive, he would kill me.”
“I’ll just have to make sure he never finds out you’re alive.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“No, nothing easy about it, especially for you.” I lowered myself to the floor and sat down next to her. Then speaking as calmly as possible, I told her, “You’ll have a new life. A new name. A new home. A new job.”
“And I won’t get to see my family or friends ever again.”
“No, you won’t.”
“It’s so unfair,” she cried. “He’s the monster. He’s the one who should lose everything.”
“Trust me. The time will come that Antonio gets what’s coming to him.”
“I sure hope you’re right about that. I really, really do.”
I could see that she was struggling mentally, but physically, she’d gotten a good deal stronger. Her wounds were healing, and her color was looking better, so I thought it might do her some good to get out for a bit. With that in mind, I gave her a warm smile and asked, “You feel up to a little walk?”
“Where?”
“Just around the property.”
“Yeah, I think I could manage that.”
I stood, then helped Everleigh up off the floor. Once she was standing, I stepped over and opened the front door, then waited as she stepped outside. As soon as I closed the door behind us, she turned to me and asked, “So, where do you want to go on this walk of yours?”
“I thought we’d go down to the pond for a bit.” I motioned my hand over to the pier as I asked, “Do you think you can make it that far?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
I gave her a quick nod, then guided her down the steps and over to the gravel path. We hadn’t gotten far when Cy, the friendly stray, came wandering up. Everleigh knelt down and ran her hand across his head as she asked, “Who’s this?”
“That would be Cy.” I leaned down and gave him a light rub on the head. “He’s been coming around for a couple of years now, but he never stays long.”
“Do you think he belongs to someone?”
“No idea who.” I stood and motioned my hand toward the corn field. “The next house down is about five miles away.”
“Well, he looks well fed to be living completely on his own.” She gave him another quick rub across his back, then stood. “And most strays aren’t so friendly.”
“You’ve got a point there.”
Seconds later, Cy spotted a bird and disappeared into the field, so we continued on with our walk. When we reached the dock, I turned to her and asked, “What do you think?”
“It’s really beautiful.” She took a quick glance around, then admitted, “I didn’t realize how big your place was.”
“It’s hard to tell from inside.”
“Yeah, it definitely is.” She looked back out at the pond as she asked, “How long have you lived out here?”
“For as long as I can remember. We moved in well before Kiersten was born.”
"You know, you never told me what happened to your wife.”
“No, I guess I didn’t.” I wasn’t in the mood to dredge up the memories of that day, so I kept my explanation brief. “She had an unexpected reaction to her medication, and it killed her.”
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry, Billy. That must’ve been really hard for you and your daughter.”