Page 98 of Always to Remember
“Gawd Almighty!” the twins yelled.
“Get under the table!” Lucian ordered.
Meg felt her breath forced from her body as he slammed her to the floor and laid his body over hers. The twins, trembling violently, curled up beside her.
She heard horses whinny and more guns fire. She could see an eerie dance of shadows and flames through the cracks in the shutters as though the people outside were carrying torches.
“If you promise to keep quiet, I’ll take my hand off your mouth,” Lucian whispered.
She nodded. Cautiously, he moved his hand away.
“Please let me go out there,” she pleaded.
“It’ll just go worse for him if they know you’re here.”
“Who is it? Who’s out there?”
“I don’t know. They’re wearing flour sacks over their heads.”
They heard an agonized wail that sounded as though it rose from the bowels of hell. Meg elbowed Lucian in the ribs and broke free of his hold. She scrambled out from beneath the table. He came after her, grabbed her legs, and brought her back down to the floor.
She kicked him and pounded her fists into his shoulders. “Please, let me go. They’ve hurt him!”
“I can’t, Meg. I gave him my word.”
The yells of men, the singing of bullets, and the pounding of hooves faded into the night. Lucian released her. She scrambled to her feet, threw open the door, and rushed outside in time to see the last of the hooded riders disappear in the darkness.
But she didn’t see Clay.
She spun around as Lucian and the twins came outside. “Where is he?”
Lucian lifted the lantern, but all they could see was the emptiness. “Did they take him?” he asked.
A low moan, like that of a wounded animal without hope, sounded through the darkness. In long strides, Lucian walked around to the side of the house, with Meg and the twins in his wake. He came to an abrupt halt. “Dear Lord.”
The lantern cast a glow over Clay’s battered face as he looked up at his brother. Kneeling beside the tree stump, he wrapped his right hand around the hilt of the knife that someone had driven through his left palm into the stump. “Help me.”
Meg swallowed the bile rising in her throat and took the lantern from Lucian. “Help him.”
With uncertainty, Lucian approached Clay. “Maybe I should get Dr. Martin.”
Clay shook his head. “Just help me with the knife.”
Lucian placed his foot on the stump and wrapped his hand around the knife handle. “It’s gonna hurt like the devil.”
Nodding, Clay pressed his free hand against the wrist of his pinned hand. Lucian glanced over his shoulder at Meg, and she saw the anguish reflected in his face. He closed his eyes and pulled the knife.
Clay released a strangled groan as Lucian worked the knife free. Lucian stumbled back, the bloodied knife in his hand. Clay slumped to the ground, wrapped the end of his shirt around his wounded hand, and cradled it against his side. Meg set the lantern on the stump, and the light glistened off the black pool of blood. She knelt beside Clay. “Let me see your hand.”
“Go home, Meg. This doesn’t concern you.” He placed his good hand on the stump and struggled to his feet.
“I want to help—”
He staggered to the house and leaned against the wall. “You think I’m a coward. Your brother called me a coward in church, and you let the words go unchallenged. I’ve never—” Closing his eyes, he took a shaky, shallow breath. Opening his eyes, he impaled her with his gaze as effectively as the knife had pierced his hand. “I’ve never done anything in my life that I had to cover my face to do. Go home to your brave men.”
He took an unsteady step toward the door, faltered, and collapsed. Meg hurried to his side and placed his head in her lap. His eyes were closed, and his head lolled in whichever direction she turned it. She lifted her gaze to Lucian. “Help me get him into the house.”
He moved swiftly and put his hands under Clay’s shoulders. “Joe, you carry the lantern. Josh, you and Meg carry his feet.”
