Page 1 of Sheltering Lawson
Chapter 1
LAWSON
Fear biting at my heels, I’d left Arkansas in my dust, not wanting to be reminded what I had done there to survive. Crossing into Louisiana sometime in the dead of night, I blew through Lafayette. Now I was in Cajun Country faint from hunger, getting low on gas but flat broke, all familiar feelings.
I looked to the right and gasped. I’d heard this was a beautiful state, but hadn’t gotten the full force of it until the sun had risen.
Thenbam, right between the eyes. Hailing from the posh part of Atlanta, surrounded by a prison of concrete and glass, who knew the swamp could be so beautiful. Above the Atchafalaya the sky was radiant with soft streaks of intense saturation. Orange the shade of a gorgeous tangerine, glowing and sultry. Flamingo Pink, vibrant and glorious as the coral color of their feathers, a blush of saturated hue across the sky. Deep, lush ethereal yellow, like a river of gold, the last remnants of night brightening into a new day, with a strong pulsing twinkle of the morning star. I had landscaped in Tennessee, shoveled manure in Kentucky, a short stint as a waitress in Virginia, then in North Carolina I baked doughnuts, in South Carolina a much longer waitressing job and finally taking my clothes off in Arkansas, but Louisiana. Wow. Just freaking wow.
A horn blared and I looked back to the road, swerving abruptly. My car skidded as the car thundered by, never even so much as slowing down. I came to a halt right near a sign. For a moment, I worked at catching my breath, my heart in my throat, hammering with adrenaline. My momentary lapse had almost landed me into a car accident and wouldn’t that have been a disaster.
I looked to my right and a shiver went down my spine.Sanctuary. I blinked a couple of times, then realized I had read it wrong. The sign actually readSuttontowne.I stared at it for a few minutes and got the same kind of reaction…a tingle of what? Hope? I could only laugh when I saw that I was in Hope Parish. Hmm. My grandmother had been very metaphysical, and I think she might have passed some of that to me. She had looked like a gypsy, but I was as blonde as Barbie.
My dreams had always been elusive, but I stubbornly held onto them. I shivered again as the name pulled at me. It was my imagination. I had been seeking a place to call home for a long time, maybe lifetimes. Warm hugs, happy family and a sweet life, but I never found myself in that picture. I thought I had…for a few moments, but they were nothing but wisps of a girl’s illusive vision. Tears welled and I sniffed them back. They were as useless as lamenting my fate. I always seemed to draw the attention of the wolves in this world like Little Red Riding Hood, and I had no clue how to shake them.
Well, running from wolves was my specialty, and I was determined they wouldn’t catch me. All I had to do was endure this and maybe they would give up, find other prey.
I argued that I would be exposed easily in a small town, but then I looked at my gas tank needle almost on the E and my stomach turned over in that sick, oh-God-I-could-eat-a-horse way. It could be a way stop? Someplace to rest for just a few weeks until I could make enough money to move on. Enough money for gas and a hotel room. It was all someone like me could hope for. My goal was to lose myself in the second biggest state in the union—Texas. Alaska was out. I didn’t like the cold and my days were more than dark enough.
I hit the gas and turned in the direction of the arrow on the sign, my stomach cramping again and not from hunger. A temporary stop…notsanctuary. There would be no knight for me, even though, once upon a time I had been a princess.
The lushness outside the window only got thicker as I drove toward the small town nestled in the bayou. I’d never been to Louisiana and had spent most of my traveling in cities, so the mountain of greenery as far as the eye could see was daunting for a city girl.
I instantly felt alone, isolated, as if I were surrounded by an invisible force field. I had been brought up in a socially sterile environment, with proper teas and soirees and cotillions. My father had been the cream of Atlanta’s society, but after he’d died, the lambs who had pretended to treat me like my father had turned into snapping, snarling wolves.
Caught off guard for an instant, I felt the old bitterness hit me by surprise and dig its teeth in deep. But it was shoved aside by newer unpleasant feelings as my strongest misgivings about my course of action surfaced and threatened to swamp me—not the fear of no one knowing me, but the fear of everyone knowing me. The fear of everyone’s scrutiny and gossip. The fear they would easily remember me. And, the even bigger fear that they would tell anyone asking about me where I might have gone.
This was risky. In the city, I could blend in with humanity. People didn’t pay attention to another unfamiliar face, but here, in this small town, everyone would want to know who the new girl was. There was no anonymous here. A shiver of apprehension went through me at anyone even inquiring into who I was, where I came from, even my name. I had wanted to be invisible, but that wasn’t going to be possible here. I had no choice.
I cursed that man who cornered me in the strip joint where I was working. I hadn’t wanted any undue attention, but he wouldn’t stop shouting at me, then following me. I had to dash out of there without my nightly earnings and without that money to fuel my transient life, I was now in dire straits.
I looked out the window and another shiver altogether different hit me from the thought of being exposed. It was as if I’d been transported to an alien world, dropped into no man’s land to navigate an unfamiliar landscape. I shivered at the deep, dark pockets of green I caught glimpses of, wondering what was in those pockets of shadow where the canopy of trees blocked out light.
How often had I felt lost and alone in the darkness? I snapped out of it when my car started to chug, then as I hit the edge of town, sputtered. A structure appeared to my left and even as my car died, I coasted into the crushed shell parking lot and pulled into a parking space.
Outlaws. The sign was red neon and advertised cold beer, fresh food, and live music. It looked like the place where regular people would hang out. I could only hope they weren’t all rednecks. I’d had my fair share of them in Arkansas with their lascivious eyes and fast hands.
The building stood fifty feet back from the levee and sat up off the ground on stilts that protected it from flooding. It faced the gorgeous bayou and the lightening sky, the sound of frogs, crickets and a chorus of insects singing the bayou’s praises. I liked the hominess of it with the touch of the whimsical red and white awning with a porch along the side with wooden poles and sturdy decking. The place was quiet now, but I could envision the crushed shell parking lot filled with cars and pickups, the bar animated with noise. The sounds of laughter, shouting, the light clink of glasses mixed with lively Cajun music that rolled out to entice in more people.
The vision dissipated, and I had to wonder if I was hallucinating as the heavenly smell of food made my gut twist with savage hunger. I couldn’t quite remember the last time I had eaten or had a full stomach. Before too long, I was going to be skin and bones.
I looked at my watch and saw the place didn’t open for another thirty minutes. Exhausted, I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes. Maybe I could get a job here or at the very least do some odd jobs for a meal. My car was out of gas, so the bottom line—I wasn’t going anywhere until I got cash flow.
The next thing I knew, I jerked awake at the metallic sound of someone outside near the back dumpster. I opened the door and stood up, but had to clutch the door as my mind tumbled. I swallowed, my empty stomach protesting. I had to stand there for a moment to let all that sick hunger and dizziness roll through me.
When it was over, I headed for the front doors, my hunger driving me toward the smell. As I walked toward them, they seemed to get further away as gray started to fog my mind. I stopped and swallowed, but the ashen feelers reached out and ensnared me, wrapping around my consciousness and gripping me tight, turning black. In the wan light of dawn, night rumbled toward me and engulfed me.
The next thing I knew, a deep voice rumbled, but I was lost in the dark haze and couldn’t seem to answer. I felt my world shift and then I was floating safe against something solid and warm.
A murmur tumbled around me, but it was as if I was in rushing rapids and couldn’t make out the distinct words. Something soft and giving was beneath my back, and I sighed at the comfort of it.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I just found her like that.”
“Who is she?”
“I don’t know, Brax. She was unconscious.”
