His Pledge to Hold by Shanae Johnson

Author:Shanae Johnson [Johnson, Shanae]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Those Johnson Girls

Chapter Twelve

Gunny felt the walls closing in on her. She couldn't draw in a deep breath to fill her lungs. Her legs felt like jelly as she tried to move. To get away from the walls. To find a place where she could breathe.

The dress she was wearing felt itchy on her skin. The shoes she wore pinched her toes. The pins in her hair made her temples throb.

She needed to get out. To get away. To shout. To raise her fist.

But at who? And to what end?

Finally, she found the door to the building and pushed through. The sun warmed her face, but the rays didn't penetrate through to her shivering bones. The fresh air hit her nostrils, but she couldn't gulp down enough.

If she couldn't breathe, she couldn't shout. If she couldn't shout, she couldn't launch into a formal protest. Protesting is what had gotten her here.

It was all her fault. She'd saved the wild horses, which was great. Those majestic creatures needed a hero. But so did the kids at the foster home.

Gunny turned in a circle. She was unsure which way to go. In the end, strong arms stopped any forward motion and pulled her into a cocoon of firm, cushiony muscles.

The hard and soft sensations further scrambled Gunny's brain. That had to be why she didn't fight being overtaken. She surrendered to Truman as he brought her tightly against him.

"Breathe," he crooned. "Just breathe. I've got you."

She didn't need him to have her. She was woman. Hear her roar. Instead, what came out of her was a whimper.

"This is my fault." The words were said into Truman's chest. "Those kids are going to lose the only home they know. And it's all my fault."

"You were trying to do a good thing for the horses. Sometimes there's only the choice between the best bad option or the irreconcilable good."

His words weren't making much sense. The only bad or good option she wanted right now was to not move from this space. It was bad to let him hold her like this. After all, Gunny was getting on a plane in just a few days. But right now, in this moment, it simply felt so good to let someone else have her back.

"Seems to me," Truman went on, "either the horses have to move or the people do."

Two bad decisions. The horses had roamed that land for decades. Over the years, their habitat had been threatened by the encroachment of humanity. The resources they thrived on were in stark competition with herded cattle and domesticated horses. Their long-term survival was in serious jeopardy.

The same could be said for the kids that Savy and her sisters took care of at Bright Horizons. The place was a haven for kids who were sent from the inner cities, often as a last resort. The James girls worked magic that reform schools and juvenile halls envied. It was no wonder. They'd come up out of the foster care system in that same house years ago.

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