Unending Devotion by Jody Hedlund

Author:Jody Hedlund [Hedlund, Jody]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: FIC042000, FIC042040, FIC042030, 3. Corruption—Fiction, Lumber camps—Fiction, Sisters—Michigan—Fiction
ISBN: 9781441260420
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

17

The stiff branches above Lily clattered like dry bones. With a shudder, she leaned her head against the trunk of the maple, the lone tree on the hill—one of the few trees left in Harrison, its hardwood unwanted by the lumber companies who fought over the soft wood of the white pine.

In the blackness of the early morning, the pale light from the tavern windows illuminated the barren, gnarled limbs. They reached toward her like claws of a devilish monster. She had no doubt they would snatch her and devour her if they could.

Every shadow, every dark moving shape was a demon. She’d heard the flap of their thin translucent wings. And she’d even seen the flash of fire in a pair of eyes.

She was sitting at the doorstep of hell itself. She’d braced herself for the pit, had told herself she was willing to enter hell for Daisy and to die if need be.

Even so, she couldn’t keep from wondering—was she doing the right thing?

The question had only grown louder with each passing hour, swirling through her blood, chilling it, making it sluggish, until dread had reached every vessel in her body.

Should she have waited to attempt the rescue with Connell and Stuart?

The open gate in the Stockade’s palisade whispered to her, urging her to slip back through it while no one was looking. She still had time to retreat down the hill to the safety of her room in the Northern. No one would have to know she’d gone.

She could wait for Saturday night as the men had planned.

“Get out of here, you good-for-nothing piece of scum!” The rear door of the tavern banged opened, and the shout shattered the eerie silence of the night.

One of the dogs in a pen on the opposite side of the yard began to bark.

Lily shrank against the trunk, trying to make herself invisible. The slight movement sent sharp pains into her cramped limbs and her frozen fingers and toes.

Though it was an early February night, the temperature still belonged to the deep freeze of winter. At least it had lost the arctic frigidness that had blown in with the last storm. The milder sleet and snow showers earlier that night had made the conditions perfect for an escape. Among all the other obstacles, they wouldn’t have to battle blizzard conditions or frostbite.

Yes, she was doing the right thing. The men’s plan had been foolhardy. If she’d gone along with it, she would have sent them to their deaths. She wouldn’t have been able to live with herself knowing she’d saved Daisy’s life at the expense of two brave, kindhearted men.

“You ain’t nothing but a worthless drunk!” the same voice bellowed.

Lily peeked around the edge of her hiding spot toward the back door in time to see one of Carr’s wide-shouldered bouncers carrying a shanty boy by his suspenders. The bouncer dug through first one pocket of the man’s pants and then the other, likely emptying them of every dollar the man owned.

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