Free Now and Forever by Mary Connealy Page B

small sound, so small she wasn’t sure if he didn’t hurt that much or he was being brave and it was really terrible.
    Knowing Tucker, he was covering up a lot of pain. She didn’t think his friends were being overly gentle with him.
    The third friend walked behind Tucker, close by in case more help was needed. Shannon brought up the rear. Tucker looked back over his shoulder at her every few minutes, and she’d smile to let him know she was all right.
    But she wasn’t. She’d just spent five days depending utterly on a man and him depending on her. It was like no experience she’d ever had, and it was now over.
    She felt confused and empty and alone, in a way shedidn’t think she could fully recover from. Like maybe she’d have this feeling of aloneness now for the rest of her life. Like part of her was missing.
    They soon picked up a trail and were making decent time winding downward. But it felt wrong. She was so worried about Tucker, she could barely stand it.
    “Shannon needs something to eat.” She heard that same worry in his voice. “She hasn’t had more than a swallow of water at a time in days.” The men kept moving. “Stop! Right now, stop!” Tucker’s voice cracked like the whip he carried at his waist.
    Caleb stopped.
    “Shannon needs water,” Tucker said. It was nice of him to be thinking of her, but he was in far worse shape than she was.
    Shannon spoke up. “Tucker does, too. And we’re both starving hungry. If you’ve got anything to eat, please, we’d be obliged.” She also wanted to wash and change her clothes, and she’d really like to know how her sheep were doing. And she wouldn’t mind walking much closer to Tucker, with her arm around him.
    She didn’t bother listing all of that.
    “There’s a stream at the bottom of this slope.” Caleb sounded suddenly kind as if maybe in his relentless, thoughtless mountain-man head, it occurred to him to wonder how the two of them might be feeling after all they’d been through. “We’ll stop there. Rupert, you go hunting Sunrise. Bring her to us. Peever’ll get started with doctoring. We’ll need the horses, too. Tucker, she’s got Grew, so you’ll have a ride home. You two won’t haveto walk no farther. Bring ’em to the stream. Bring Miss Shannon’s sister, too.”
    That stopped her breath for a moment, the thought of seeing Bailey again. There was no doubt it was Bailey. And it was as well, because Kylie would surely take better care of the sheep. Bailey would be worried, yet no amount of worry would stop her from taking action.
    The man who’d been walking behind Tucker took off running. That put Shannon much closer to Tucker, which made her feel a bit better.
    They rounded a turn in the trail, and Shannon saw the water ahead. Rupert was already across it and far in the distance. Only when she saw the water did Shannon realize how close her knees were to giving out. How empty her belly was. Her vision darkened and her head spun, but she kept moving. It reminded her of the war. That was when she’d learned to march on, even when she wanted to quit.
    They reached the bank of the pretty rushing stream. The men settled Tucker onto a waist-high boulder and went to unpacking food and water.
    She wolfed down a hard, dry biscuit. Then almost as soon as she started eating, her stomach felt so full she thought she might vomit. A bit of water and she was done with the meal she’d longed for so desperately.
    She noticed then her blackened fingers. Eating with such filthy hands was sickening. “Do any of you have some soap?”
    All three men—Tucker, Peever, Caleb—turned to her and stared, clearly confused. Which didn’t speak well of their personal cleanliness. She went to the stream and didher best to get clean. She set about washing her face and hands, and even dunked her head in and then watched as coal-dust-darkened water floated away.
    If she’d had privacy, she’d have washed her clothes and put them back on wet,