The two farmers helped her get the car turned back around and wished her luck wherever she was going. She waved as she drove away again.
She had to get gasoline once, then she was off again
, up into the mountains. She prayed Whitey hadn’t lied to her about where Hank was, and the closer she got, the more she worried. When she came to the deserted mountain cabin with half the roof caved in, she was almost out of the car before she could get it stopped. She hauled on the heavy hand brake, shoved a rock behind the back wheel and went running.
The cabin was empty. For a moment she panicked and was sure Whitey had lied, but then she saw a stain on what was left of the floor near the back wall. She went to it and examined it. Blood. There seemed to be a great deal of it on the floor, as if a wounded person had slept there all night.
For a moment she wanted to cry. She was tired and hungry and scared—and there was dried blood on the floor.
“Looking for me?”
She looked up to see Hank standing in the doorway. With a cry, she leaped up and into his arms. “You’re alive! Oh my darling, my love, I was so afraid.” She began kissing his face and neck.
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Hank said, drawing back from her. “What’s going on and could you ease up on my arm a little?”
She pulled away from him and saw the blood on the right side of his body. “They shot you? I’ll kill them! I’ll use Mr. Eiler’s shotgun and—”
Hank put his fingers to her lips. “Could we save this until later? I’d like to know what’s been going on. I’m afraid I’ve been knocked out all night. I just woke up when I heard the car. Who drove the Mercer, anyway?”
“I did. Hank, darling, I’ve been worried sick. I was afraid you were dead.”
Hank was weak from loss of blood and a cold night without food or water, and he was afraid he might have enough fever that he was dreaming this. It couldn’t be possible that Amanda was calling him darling.
He knew he needed to get back to the ranch to prevent what could happen, but right now all that seemed to matter was Amanda. He put his fingertips to her hair. “Why are you here, Amanda?”
“To get you. I’ve come to take you back.” Embarrassment overcame her. The last time she’d seen him he was blaming her for the living conditions of the workers.
“To help with the union? Couldn’t you have appealed to Taylor?”
She opened her mouth to lie, to say that she came for him to prevent violence, but she stopped herself. “Yes,” she said softly, “I came to get you for the unionists but, more than that, I came because I love you.”
Hank didn’t say anything at all, just stood there and stared at her for so long that Amanda knew she’d made a fool of herself. “Excuse me,” she said and pushed past him to go outside. She kept her back to him. “If you’re ready, I’ll drive you back to the ranch. Whitey presented a list of grievances to my father yesterday, and my father, of course, wouldn’t agree to a pay raise, so Whitey threatened him and my father slapped Whitey. The sheriff plans to arrest Whitey, probably today, and so you can see that—”
She broke off because Hank turned her around, dug his uninjured left hand into her hair and kissed her so hard her toes curled up inside her tight little shoes.
“I love you, Amanda,” he said. “I’ve loved you for so long I can’t remember not loving you. I think I’ve been waiting for you, waiting for you to make up your mind.”
“I have made up my mind,” she whispered. “I want to leave Kingman with you. I want to go with you wherever you go. I want to be with you always.”
He smiled as he caressed her cheek. Her arms around him were hurting his shoulder, but physical pain was nothing to the pain he’d felt since he’d met her. When he first saw her he’d thought she was the woman for him, but it was as if an automaton were inside the body of the woman he wanted. But it was a woman, a flesh and blood woman, who had come for him.
“How did you get Whitey to tell you where I was?”
“I held a shotgun to his face.”
Hank smiled. “How did you learn to drive the car?”
“I’ve been watching you.”
He smiled broader. “What about Taylor?”
“I suggested he spend more time with Reva, and Reva asked for him so I gave him to her.”
“Oh, you did, did you?” Hank laughed. “So you and Reva divided us up. I guess I should be glad you didn’t flip a coin.”
She pulled away from him. “If you are through laughing at me, I suggest we go.”
He caught her arm. “Did you really mean it, Amanda? Have you realized at last that you love me?”