Free Missing by Sharon Sala

swiped them across his face, then tossed them on the table near a bowl of peas.
     
      Ally resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead refilled the glasses of iced tea all around the table.
      "Hey, sis, good meat," Porter said.
      "Just like always," Danny added.
      "Ally is a fine cook," Gideon said, then added, "She's careful with money, too. That's a fine attribute in a woman, you know."
      Ally was frowning slightly as she began cutting the pie. Her brothers never complimented her cooking. They just ate it. Sometimes her father thanked her for a meal, but today he was acting as if she was competing for a prize. What was even stranger was that with four men at the table, not one of them had talked about the cattle herd or the bull calf that Freddie Joe wanted to buy.
      She served the pie without fuss, but when she slid Freddie Joe's pie in front of him, she was taken aback when he grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.
      "Smells great!" he said. "Good thing you're used to cooking for lots of people."
      Startled, she yanked her hand away, then looked to her father for intervention. To her dismay, he not only ignored her silent plea, but was smiling benevolently. Something was wrong—horribly wrong. It was like being the only person in the crowd who didn't get the joke.
      "I don't know why it's a good thing that I can feed a thrashing crew without breaking a sweat, but I'd appreciate it if the conversation changed to something besides me and my skills in a kitchen."
      Porter and Danny were stuffing pie in their mouths without looking at her, and her father's smile slipped a bit. Freddie Joe was frowning and looking from her to Gideon and back again, as if he was waiting for Gideon to put her in her place. When no one spoke, his tone of voice became belligerent as he pointed at Ally with his fork.
      "Look here, missy, I came here willing to give you a chance to—"
      Gideon stood abruptly.
      "That was a fine meal, but we'd best be getting on to business. Freddie Joe, if you're done, let's go on out to the barn. I got some fine calves you'll be wanting to see."
      Freddie Joe frowned.
      "But I ain't finished my pie and your girl ain't—"
      "Ally will pack you up a piece to go, won't you, girl?"
      Then he grabbed Freddie Joe by the arm and all but dragged him out the door.
      Frowning, Ally turned to her brothers.
      "Danny, what's going on?"
      He shrugged, stuffed the last bite of pie in his mouth and bolted from the room.
      Ally frowned. "Porter?"
      He shoved his chair back from the table and got up, then hesitated. He didn't like Detweiller and felt sorry for his sister, but he didn't want to get on the bad side of his father's plans. Still, he knew this wasn't fair. Ally wasn't some simple backwoods female. She had a fine mind and, except for the limp, was a good-looking woman.
      "Please," Ally begged.
      Finally, he sighed.
      "Look, Detweiller's missing a wife, right?"
      Ally's eyes widened as her lips went slack. Shock spread slowly, leaving her momentarily speechless.
      Porter left before she could press him for further information, while silently cursing his father for putting Ally in such a predicament.
      "Oh, my God," Ally muttered. "He can't...he wouldn't..." But she knew as soon as she'd said it that he would.
     
      Her father had always meddled in her life, and because she felt obligated, she'd let him. But she would leave Blue Creek forever before she would marry that creep.
      Heartsick and feeling betrayed, she put away the leftover food, cleaned up the kitchen, then went to her room. Even though the garden needed hoeing and she had shirts to patch, she curled up on her bed and cried herself to sleep.
      And as she slept, she dreamed of a tall, dark-haired man who came walking out of the trees. He asked for a drink of water, then told her he'd been looking for her all his life.
      She cried again as she slept, but this time for joy. When she woke, it was