Page 28 of Healing Love

“I nabbed this several days ago from an abandoned shack nearby when I was on one of my solo dump trips. Stored it here. Figured we’d need it sometime.”

The thought of freedom roared in her mind, but soon disappeared as they made their way to the water’s edge. The rain-swollen river was rushing and, even though she could only see several feet out, she knew the current had to be dangerous.

“Cam?” she said, looking up at him, her eyes wide.

“Know what you’re gonna say and don’t worry. I got this. I just need you to get in, sit where I tell you and I’ll get us down the river.”

“I…I…”

“Sweetheart?” He captured her attention, pulling it away from the river. “What choice do we have?”

He watched in fascination as her lips pursed, shestraightened a little taller and held his gaze before giving him a nod. “I can do this,” she pronounced.

Not able to hide his smile, he nodded back. She reminded him of her sister-in-law, Jobe’s wife, Mackenna. He met Mackenna when he helped rescue her and thought then how rare it was to find a woman that strong. Now he had once more.Iron-willed maiden, that’s for fuckin’ sure.

Maneuvering the canoe at the edge of the water, he helped her settle. The current was fast, but he knew that could play to their advantage in covering more miles away from the cartel that would be looking for them. The cartel’s reach covered the entirety of western Mexico, but with the storm battering the area he was hopeful it would be at least a day, or more, before they were missed.

Pushing off, he quickly sat inside the craft and grabbed one of the paddles. Using it expertly, he kept them near enough to the shore that he could control her safety if they capsized and not so close as to be snagged by the overhanging tree branches.

He knew the dangers of the swift current and canoeing in a storm, but the dangers of being caught by the cartel…he liked his odds on the river a whole helluva lot better. Glancing down, he saw they had taken on about an inch of water.

Miriam noticed it also and wondered if she should try to bend over and splash the water out with her hands, then quickly dismissed the thought.If he needs me to do something, he’ll tell me.She alsodid not fancy her chances of not rocking the canoe if she tried to get the water out.

Losing all sense of time, she had no idea how long they had been going. Not only was the rushing water carrying them along, but when the distant lightning flashed across the sky she saw the trees on the side of the river rush by as well.

Fear threatened to choke her, held back only by the hope that they were getting away. To what and to where, she did not know.But just away.

Two hours later, in the wee hours of the morning, Cam steered the canoe closer to the edge where he saw a small opening in the tree line. Jumping out into the waist deep water, he trudged slowly toward the shoreline dragging the canoe behind him. By the time he pulled the front half up on the muddy edge, Miriam was already scrambling forward.

“Hang on, babe,” he ordered as he tied off the craft. Then he reached back and plucked her up into his arms and carried her bride-style until they were under the large-leaf trees. The storm was still in effect, but the rain had diminished. Placing her down on a large, flat rock he sat back on his haunches, peering through the darkness at her face.

“How you holding up?” he asked gently.

“Good. I’m good,” she quickly replied.

Too quickly,he thought. At this close proximity, he could see her hair, naturally thick and wavy, plasteredto her head. The navy scrub top she was wearing was soaked and molded to her chest like a second skin. The bottom of her pants were covered in mud and equally as soaked. Droplets of water slid down from her hair onto her cheeks before continuing their path to drip off her chin.

Instinctively he reached out, cupping her face, using his thumb to wipe the drops. She leaned slightly into his palm, and he felt her trust.Beautiful. So goddamn beautiful.His mind jumped back to the first time he saw her—or rather, her picture. The vision in the photograph struck him. Now he knew that the camera had been unable to even begin to capture what he saw in front of him. Strength, along with beauty. Character, along with compassion.

Heaving a deep sigh, he felt her eyes on him as she lifted her head away from his hand.

“Are we okay?” she asked, the timidity evident in her words.

“We made it this far, sweetheart,” he replied. “Won’t lie. We’ve got a long way to go. I’m going to try to get hold of my contact and see if we can get picked up somewhere once it’s daylight. I’m not keen on trying the river much longer.”

“Can’t we take it all the way to the coast, if we need to?”

Avoiding her gaze for a moment, he looked back knowing he needed to be straight with her. “Not all the way. There’s a significant waterfall and we can’t ride that out.”

He could see the wheels turning in her mind andjumped in, wanting to alleviate her worry. “We’re going to rest and have a bite to eat and then get back into the canoe once I make contact. If I’m figuring right, we should be able to go another hour on the water and then ditch it as soon as he can tell me where there’s a farm or field he can land on.”

She nodded, then silently turned, grabbing her bag. Reaching in, she pulled out a pack of crackers. “I didn’t have much food in the room, but we would take some when we could in case we needed a snack in the infirmary.”

Taking the offered crackers, he smiled. “Appreciate it,” he said before ripping open the package.

Shoving the crackers into their mouths, while hunkered over to keep them from getting wet, they finished their quick snack. Miriam stepped a little way into the woods to take care of her business while Cam made the call.

“Marc? Got no fuckin’ clue where we are, man. We made it out and into the river. Looks like we were in it about two hours, but with the current faster because of the storm, you need to have to get Luke to find our location.”

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