The River Widow(80)

She had but one moment to decide, one moment to leave, or she would miss her chance—one moment to choose the course of the rest of her life and Daisy’s. Did luck really fall on people like her? Of course she knew it could. She’d seen Lady Luck sprinkle her gifts about like little trinkets left on a table. Occasionally one had landed in front of her, having taken the form of Father Sparrow, the Nash brothers, or Jessamine. And Adah realized that if a gift landed in front of you, you had only to pick it up, roll it in your hand, and pocket it. Quick, before someone else stepped up and snatched it away. Why was she hesitating? Only fear and doubt and a man named Jack stood before her and destiny.

But there was never any real doubt about what she would do.

Adrenaline surging through her every cell, Adah ran back into the bedroom and threw a dress over her nightgown, stuffed her feet into shoes, then awakened Daisy, who was resistant and complaining.

“Where are we going, Mama?” the girl asked.

“Shhh,” Adah said. “I’ll tell you soon.” She pulled one of Daisy’s dresses on over her pajamas, shoved on her shoes, and lifted the girl onto her hip, gently urging Daisy to lay her head on her shoulder; then she grabbed the bag she had packed and headed for the stairs.

At the bottom of the steps, the front door called to her, and its promise of freedom beyond was something she could taste. Adah hitched up Daisy and headed for it.

“Oh no you don’t.”

Mabel’s voice. It hit Adah flat out.

Her mother-in-law moved in front of the door, blocking Adah’s exit. She stood braced in a wide stance, her face suffused with anger. She was shaking her head without speaking, and the room lit up with the power of her rage. “You leave if you want, abandon a ship in trouble. I’ve expected something like this. But you ain’t taking Daisy with you.”

Daisy had come fully awake but said nothing as Adah lowered the girl to stand beside her. It was as if even the very young could discern when something life changing was happening, and it held Daisy still and silent. She stood clinging to Adah’s left leg as though it were a life raft.

There was only one thing to do. Barely breathing, Adah moved the needlepoint bag in front of her body, reached her right hand inside, and felt for the cold, hard metal. She pulled the pistol from her bag, lifted it in one swift movement, and aimed it at Mabel’s eyes. She planted her feet on the floor with steadfast care. Then slipped off the safeties and retracted the slide.

Mabel flinched but made no other move. Adah could read how shock was hitting Mabel, how her cold-chambered heart had been pierced with new fear, how it surrounded her as if in a black vapor.

Adah was afraid her hands would be shaking and weak around the barrel, but they were steady and strong, like the small bones of her body.

“Listen to me, Mabel,” she began. “People around here already suspect that perhaps Lester killed Betsy, and that you and Buck, maybe Jesse, too, helped him cover it up by staging an accident on this farm. I’m not sure you were aware of that, and I’m also pretty certain you didn’t know that Betsy and her mother were corresponding in secret.”

Mabel’s face didn’t move, but her eyes looked stunned and filled with imaginings. Probably she was remembering the day she was party to concealing a murder.

A chill traveled up Adah’s arms all the way to her chest, but she continued playing the cards she had, the same ones she would’ve left in a letter had she gone through with her original escape plan: “Betsy had revealed that Lester was hitting her and she was planning to leave him. There’s proof, in letters, and someone nearby in town has possession of them. If released to the newspaper and the police, they will place serious doubt on your story. Maybe the police will even take a new look at the case. But even if they don’t, your reputation as a family will be ruined.”

Adah had to stop to breathe as she took note of Mabel’s pale, stunned expression, horror in her eyes.

“I’m leaving here now, and if anyone comes after me and Daisy, someone nearby will make all of those letters public. The moonshining could be exposed, too. Your lives will never be the same, and I know how much appearances mean to you.”

Mabel lifted her chin. “All I have to do is step outside and shout for Buck. They’ll stop you.”

“But you won’t,” Adah said. “I’m holding a gun on you. Don’t fool yourself into thinking I won’t use it. And even if I don’t, I doubt you could get Buck and Jesse’s attention in time. I’ll be gone as fast as that lightning has been traveling. And if you report me or try to find me, everyone in these parts will know that your son was a wife beater and probably a murderer, too. Is that what you really want?”

Mabel stood paralyzed, as if searching inside all the hidden crevices of her brain for answers, to no avail. Then a more defiant look appeared on her face; she would not give up easily. But Adah had to make her do just that. Time was of the essence.

Huffing now, Mabel said, “How can I just let you go?”

Adah answered, “You just do. Tell everyone the storm and the fire scared us to death, and you let me take Daisy to start a new life. You can tell everyone it was amicable and that we send letters back and forth. You can save your standing in the community, and you don’t really want Daisy anyway, now, do you?”

Again, Mabel didn’t answer.

“In your heart of hearts, you know Daisy is better off with me. You do love your granddaughter, I know it.” Adah gestured with the gun. “Now move aside.”