Mending Hope (Contemporary Western Romance) (License to Love Series:Book 2) (10 page)

Woody knew that the bucket was useless but leaning against the wall next to it was something of use, an old pitchfork.

As he picked it up, Woody noticed that the handle was broken.  The wooden remnant was so short that the pitchfork sat on the end of a brittle wooden handle that was only about two foot long.  While it was shorter, Woody knew its rusty spikes would at least provide him some protection if he came face to face with Sanders.  He had been clearing each section quickly but carefully, making sure to keep his back against the walls and moving through the shadows so as to keep his element of surprise. 

He hadn’t heard Alyssa scream again but even so he moved as fast as he thought he possibly could, hoping with each step that she was okay.  As he walked forward he kept his back to the wall.  Every few steps he would briefly pause to take a cautious look around and make sure that he hadn’t been spotted. 

When he was within striking distance of the door and barrier separating him from progressing to the third section he heard a man’s voice.  He picked up his pace, moving forward now without pausing or checking behind him.  As long as he could hear Sanders’ voice, he knew that he would not have to worry about him sneaking up behind him. 

As Woody rounded the corner he immediately stepped into the shadows.  He could see Sanders in an open area just ahead of him.  Sanders pushed instruments around on a table in front of him, apparently looking through a stack of tools for a specific one.  At first, Woody didn’t see Alyssa but when Sanders moved away from the chair, Woody leaned around one of the partitions.

The instant he saw her, Woody had to stop himself from charging to her side immediately.  His fingers gripped the old wooden handle of the pitchfork so tightly that he could feel the splinters begin to crumble into his fingers, but he did not care.  As Woody looked around and tried to plan his next move he realized that Sanders was heating up a screwdriver by holding it in the flame of a handheld lighter.

There wasn’t a straight path to where they were, so instead Woody zigzagged between the stalls, trying to not be spotted as he moved. Sanders continued to heat up the screwdriver and Woody never took his eyes off of him.  When he was close enough, he raised the pitchfork up in a defensive posture. He knew that no matter how far away he was, if that heated screwdriver made it anywhere near Alyssa he was going to have to attack.   

Just as he rounded the side of the stall his foot slid in some dirt and hay. The small scuff was barely audible but in the large silent space it echoed.  The lighter in Sanders’ hand flickered and fell as he turned to face Woody.  At first his eyebrows were raised in surprise that he had been discovered but even as Woody advanced on him he saw the expression morph into a sneer and he began to charge at Woody as well, hot screwdriver thrust out in front of him.

Woody raised the pitchfork  ready to drive it into the man’s chest.  Even from where he stood he could see the tear stains trailing down the dirt on Alyssa’s face causing the rage to roar up within him like an inferno.  He ran across the short space, pitchfork outstretched like an extension of his arm and lunged toward him.  

A growl of frustration and anger tore across the building, echoing across the open space with such intensity that it sounded as if a wild animal were loose in the building.  As Woody rushed toward him, Sanders’ eyes opened widely and the sneer fell.  He dodged to the right at the last moment and the pitchfork just barely grazed across the flesh on his left forearm before their bodies came into contact, jarring Woody’s grip and causing the pitchfork to fall to the ground.

Sanders pressed the screwdriver into Woody’s side.  Although Woody could feel it searing into his skin, he had managed to dodge the jab at the last minute.  Instead of a direct puncture the screwdriver glanced into his body at an angle, preventing it from deep penetration.   

At the same instance, as if the world was suddenly turning in slow motion, Sanders had managed to drop to the floor and roll out of the way to avoid Woody and the pitchfork. 

Turning around, Woody tried to pick up the pitchfork in the same movement.  Instead it slipped from his fingers and he was forced to turn around and face Sanders empty handed.  As he ran towards Sanders, Woody’s foot caught the edge of the pitchfork and kicked it over to the side of the room with such force that Woody knew he would not be able to get back to it until he could get the upper hand in the fight.

Sanders lunged at him again and Woody was able to hit his arm with such force that the screwdriver was flung across the room.  It fell near Alyssa and he noticed her jump in her chair.  As he was momentarily distracted by his attention on Alyssa, Sanders seized the opportunity to run at him and land a punch on Woody’s stomach. 

Woody felt the air rush out of him and he doubled over.  It was then that Woody noticed the bloody paper towels that had been duck taped to Sanders’ side.  In one quick move, he managed to turn so that he fell forward onto Sanders and punching him in that damaged area.  Then it was Sanders turn to scream as he fell to his knees.

Woody stumbled away from him and made his way back to where the pitchfork laid in the dirt on the far side of the room.  He picked up the weapon and spun around, the pitchfork once again raised out in front of him in case he needed to immediately defend himself. 

When he raised his head he expected to see a madman running at him but there was nothing there.  The room was now empty and Woody stood completely still to make sure he wasn’t missing something.  The area where he had last fallen during the scuffle showed a trail of bloody drops and footsteps leading away from the area and toward the back of the room to the previous section of the barn that Woody had come through.

For a couple of moments he was positive that Sanders was hiding somewhere in the room, and that as soon as he went to help Alyssa he would be charged.  He knew that the smart thing to do would be to wait until he was absolutely certain Sanders wasn’t coming back but when he looked at Alyssa’s quiet tear-stained face he knew that he couldn’t wait any longer to rush to her side.

As he ran across the room to her, he heard the faint sound of an engine turning over and tires crunching over the loose gravel, signaling that Sanders had left for good. 

Alyssa had her eyes squeezed firmly shut, and when he touched her hand she flinched in pain, biting her lip as more tears flowed.  He looked down and noticed that her pinky had been horribly mangled and was bleeding in several places. 

“Alyssa,” he breathed.  She opened her mouth, but not her eyes. He was worried that she couldn’t open her eyes.  “Are you okay? What did he do to you?” Woody whispered to her.    When he leaned down, she shut her mouth when he started pulling at the tape to free her hands.  When he couldn’t break it with his hands he pulled out his small pocket knife and began to cut on the tape.  It was so tightly wound against her flesh that the skin around it was twisted and purple.  He worked the blade in and tried to move slowly so as not to accidentally cut her skin.

“Don’t worry Alyssa.  I’m going to have the tape off in just a minute.” 

“I don’t know how you’re doing it, but stop trying to trick me.  I’m not opening my eyes,” she said as she spat the words out at him, thrusting her chin out in defiance.  His heart swelled with pride, and he immediately set down the knife and placed both hands on her cheeks.

“He’s gone, Alyssa.  It’s just me.”  Woody whispered as he leaned down and kissed the tears on her eyelids.

She gasped and flung her eyes open, blinking at the sudden light.

“Oh, Woody! “  She cried through quivering lips.  “I thought I’d never see you again!  I thought he was just tormenting me.  First the screaming and then all of the noises…” She trailed off as more tears clouded her vision and ran down her cheeks.

Woody let go of her face and picked the knife up again, immediately sawing at the bonds on her hands.  In a few seconds he’d freed her and she flung herself up from the chair into his arms.

She buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably.  Woody stood very still for a moment before gently pulling back from her.  He wiped her eyes with his fingers and then trailed his hand down to her stomach.  “Is the baby okay?”

Alyssa’s eyes widened in shock and the corners of her lips began to tremble.  “You mean…”

Woody tilted his head and studied her, but when she didn’t say anything else he reached in his pocket and pulled out the test. 

She held it in her hand and looked at it, the blinking pregnancy still visible on the grey background.

They both smiled and hugged each other tightly.  For a little while neither of them spoke.

*

Alyssa stared at the test in her hand in mounting disbelief.  The burst of energy and relief that she had felt only moments before when Woody had let her free from the chair now faded into exhaustion and she found herself wanting to sit down again.  She looked around the room but the only chair in there was the one that had kept her prisoner.  And she was not returning to that chair for comfort.

Pregnant

It was only one word but in it there were a wealth of possibilities suddenly springing up around her.  She closed her mouth and looked up at Woody, realizing for the first time since he’d handed her the test that this might also mean the end of their relationship. 

“I didn’t know,” Alyssa stated softly, finally answering his initial question about the baby’s well-being.  “He took me before I found out what it said.”  She placed her hand over Woody’s that was still resting on her abdomen.  “I wasn’t lying to you before.  They told me I couldn’t get pregnant without surgery and hormone treatments.”  Tears began welling up in her eyes as she spoke.    “I don’t know what happened, but I will understand if…”

Her voice trailed off and she lowered her head to look at their hands. She couldn’t bear to think of the rest.  He didn’t want kids.  He had told her this and she knew what the consequences of her pregnancy might mean to their relationship.  But she couldn’t bear to think of losing him now.

She felt his finger under her chin, his free hand pushing her face back up to meet his gaze.  “When I saw this test, I couldn’t think of anything else other than you and that baby.  I knew that I had to get to you no matter the risks because the
two
of you are the most important things in my life.  I
want
to be there with you and our child, and I can’t imagine any part of any day in my life without you in it.”

He paused and looked down at her and she saw the concern and the worry as it stretched across his features before he started talking again.  “When I went into that house today and saw that blood and realized that you were gone, I knew I couldn’t stop the world from turning.  I will protect you and I will make sure that you have the best care possible but unless I keep you in a cage, things are going to happen.  You are in no more danger with this pregnancy than you are driving to the grocery store and I had to come to terms with that.”

He leaned down and kissed her, his lips pressing into hers so gently that she was overcome with an overabundance of warmth and love.  She put her arms around his neck and pulled him close, relief crashing down over her. 

When the kiss was over, Woody swept her up into his arms and headed back to the car, her head resting on his shoulder.  She finally let the exhaustion sweep over her and by the time he loaded her into the front of the Thing, her lids were so heavy she could hardly keep her eyes open. 

*

As soon as Woody was close enough to town to get a decent signal on his cell he had called Melinda and let her know that he had found Alyssa but that Charles Sanders had gotten away.  He could hear the edge in her voice, and he knew that he was in some serious trouble from her, but it no longer mattered.

Now he was in the waiting room of the hospital in Lawton while they stitched up her finger, checked out the wounds on her arms and checked on the pregnancy.  She had been so mentally exhausted that she had fallen asleep before they had even been able to get down to the highway to drive to the hospital. 

Woody had no intentions of returning to the farm until Sanders was safely behind bars.  He told Melinda to close and lock the shop and to let all of his clients know that he would not be returning until further notice.  He then called a friend of his, Zack, for a favor. Woody was just finishing up the phone call to ensure that Zack would come in and finish the repairs to the vehicles currently being worked on when he heard the door behind him open.

When Alyssa came out into the waiting room with the doctor he jumped to his feet and immediately hung up the phone.  “How is she?” he asked, the excitement creeping into his voice. 

“She and the baby are both fine.” The doctor said as a smiling Alyssa leaned against him. “We only had to put four stitches in her finger and none of them are severely broken, just a few hairline fractures.  The skin on her wrists and calves will heal soon and we prescribed a salve to help with that issue.”

“And the baby?” he looked down at Alyssa and smiled. 

“Do you want to tell him?” the doctor asked Alyssa.

“Tell me what?” he asked, worry edging each word.

“They did a special ultrasound known as a trans-vaginal, and they were able to see everything very clearly.  In fact the umbilical cords are developed and it looks like the babies are growing well.” Alyssa told him, her smile broadening.