“If you make me leave, I’ll hate you forever. Please, Silas, I can talk to Papa Will. He’ll let me stay—”
“He agrees with me.” He stood up. “I’ll go get you a bag for your things. Hurry up; the sheriff will be coming, and you’ll say good-bye to the boys.”
When Silas left her room, Ginny jumped on the bed and walked across the made bed to reach the shelf. Taking the brown kangaroo down, she plopped back down to her butt and reached into the pocket, coming out with the cell phone that Will had given her. Every year, he switched it out with a newer model. She then frantically dialed the number that Hammer had made her memorize years ago, praying he would answer before Silas came back.
“Hello?”
“It’s … me,” she hiccupped the words out.
“Ginny … quit crying. I can barely hear you.”
Taking a deep breath, she held the phone in a death grip. “Make Papa Will let me stay.”
She could only hear silence on the other end.
“Please, Hammer, I swear I won’t call you anymore to bug you about Trudy. Don’t make me leave my family.” Tears slipped from her eyes, but she managed to hold the cries back so he could hear her.
“We’re only doing what’s best for you. Will found a place where you can live and he can keep a better eye on you.”
“I don’t need Will. Dad taught me how to shoot. I can protect myself.”
“No, you can’t.”
“I can—”
“No, Ginny, you can’t. Do you remember the man who was on the boat with us after I got you out of plane? He came to the cabin the night before I took you to Will?”
“Yes.” Ginny had never forgot the mean’s man face.
“He’s dead. Both he and his wife are dead. He was able to take care of himself a lot better than you will ever be. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“Are you saying they’re dead because of me?”
Bewildered by what Hammer was telling her, she waited breathlessly for his reply.
“Maybe, maybe not. We can’t be sure. There’s no need to be frightened. It happened a few years ago, and if he had given up any information about you, someone would have showed up long before now.”
“Then why can’t I stay?”
“Because Will said that the man who was protecting you is dead. If they find you, do you want your family hurt?”
“No,” she mumbled, laying her head on her knees.
“Sorry, kid. I wish you could stay. I really do.”
“I hate you. I’m not going to call you anymore.” Raising her head to disconnect the call, she saw Silas standing in the doorway with a black trash bag in his hand.
“Where did you get the phone?”
Silently crying, she climbed off the bed to walk toward him. Jerking the bag away from him, she starting tossing her things inside as Silas watched. Going to her closet, she pulled her clothes off the hangers and shoved them into the bag. “Go away. I’ll be down in minute,” she snapped, unable to handle him watching her.
Waiting for him to leave, she turned back to the closet, tears blurring her vision as she stared at the remaining clothes. They were Leah’s.
Sliding the pink jacket off the hanger and leaving the exact same jacket that her dad had bought her for Christmas, she put on Leah’s. She wanted to sink to the floor and close the door when she smelled Leah’s scent still clinging to it.
With her bedroom door open, she could hear someone knocking on the front door downstairs.
“Evening, Sheriff.”
“Evening, Silas. How are you boys doing?”
Not paying attention to what Silas was saying, she went back to the bed. Tying the trash bag closed, she lifted it up and, without looking back, went downstairs to see the sheriff and Silas standing by the door.
“I’m ready,” she told the sheriff, not looking at Silas.
When the sheriff would have reached for the trash bag, Ginny jerked it away.
“I can carry it,” she snapped.
“All right.” The sheriff opened the door and went through it.
“Don’t you want to say good-bye to the boys?” Silas asked huskily.
Ginny encased her emotions in steel. This wasn’t the first time she had to leave her family behind—Manny, Trudy, her dad, Leah. She didn’t have another good-bye in her.
Dry-cheeked, she went out the door, determined not to break when her little brothers came out onto the porch, crying for her.
She didn’t look back, carrying her bag to the car and opening the back door, she tossed the bag inside before getting in and closing the door. She didn’t even look out the car window when Ezra, Jacob, and Jody started banging on the glass beside her as the sheriff got in the car.
She also didn’t look back when she heard Silas and Isaac tell the boys to get back to let the car pull out.