Redemption Road(146)

“Of course not.”

“Is he nice?”

“Yes, he’s nice. He’s also smart and patient and knows everything about horses and cattle and the desert. He loved your mother very much. I think he’ll love you, too.”

“If I come?”

“If you come, yes.” He stared at the dirt. “That’s my truck.” She pointed. “It’s a three-day drive. Just you and me.”

He looked at the truck. It was dusty and travel-streaked. “What about my stuff? You know…?”

“I’ll let your foster parents know you’re safe. Your father, too, if you like. People might look for you, but we can handle that, if need be. As for your stuff, we’ll get new stuff. Clothes. Toys. A new name if you want it. Channing is with us, too. She hopes you’ll come.”

He looked at the house again, and at the near-empty park. “Is it nice where you live?”

“Very.”

He tried to be tough, to be grown up about it. But, his face crumpled as she watched. “I’ve really missed you.” He leaned into her.

She hugged him until it was time to stop. “Are you ready?”

He nodded.

“Can you tell me which way is west?”

He pointed at the yellow sky.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Very.”

*

The drive back was slower, gentler; and they talked a lot as she drove, about cactus and tarantulas and a dapple-gray mare with a brother for sale two valleys south. The days were warm for March, and long; and the boy stared often through the window. Elizabeth wondered at his thoughts and guessed they were of a father he might never see, and of a girl who might just make a sister. He grew quieter as the green fell away, and rivers dwindled. But, there was nothing wrong with silence, and he was wise to know as much so young. So, she left him to the fullness of his thoughts and led him into the desert. It was another day, another life, and family waited beyond the mountain.





ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JOHN HART is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, The King of Lies, Down River, The Last Child, and Iron House. The only author in history to win the Edgar Award for Best Novel consecutively, John has also won the Barry Award, the Southern Independent Bookseller’s Award for Fiction, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, and the North Carolina Award for Literature. His novels have been translated into thirty languages and can be found in more than seventy countries. You can sign up for email updates here.