Becoming Calder (A Sign of Love Novel)(93)

Calder burst through the brush, his eyes wild, panting heavily, Xander over his shoulder. Alarm filled me. "Is he okay?"
"He's fine, just out cold."
I exhaled heavily. My emotion burst to the surface and I rushed toward him. He lay Xander down gently in the grass and caught me in his arms as I sobbed out his name.
"Shh, Eden, it's okay. I'm here. Tell me what happened. What happened, Morning Glory? What did he do to you?" He held me tight and ran his hand down the back of my hair, whispering the soothing words into my ear.
I had trouble drawing in air as the sobs rose up my chest, the hysteria now finding a safe place to land in Calder's strong arms. "I . . . he . . ." I drew in a big breath, gathering myself together. It wouldn't help any of us if I went stark raving mad. "He found your letters, Calder." I leaned back, looking up at his handsome, worried face with shame and regret. "I'm so sorry. I," I shook my head, "shouldn't have kept them. But I wanted to take them with me when we left. They were mine. They were part of us and I wanted them." More tears coursed down my cheeks.
Calder looked down at me tenderly and used his thumb to wipe the tears off my cheek. "We're all okay. What did he do to you? Tell me."
I shook my head again, trying to move the memory away. "He . . . went crazy." My eyes widened as I pictured Hector's beet-red face, the bulging vein at his temple, his crazed eyes. "After what happened with Xander, I was so upset." I looked down at Xander, snoring quietly on the ground. "I'm so sorry, Xander," I said quietly, knowing he couldn't hear me, but needing to say the words anyway. "You paid the price for all of us."
"He's okay, Eden. Really, he is."
I frowned, looking at Calder for a few beats. I doubted he was really okay. I'd seen his raw, open skin and the look on his face as that whip made contact. But he'd been so brave. He hadn't uttered a single noise. I bit my lip and straightened my spine. "I helped Hailey put the boys to bed and then I went back up to my room and he was there, sitting on my bed reading your letters." Dread filled my chest again, just like it had when I'd walked into my bedroom.
"Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?" Calder asked, his jaw tense and his eyes filling with coldness.
"No. He just kept saying, 'He burns for you? He burns for you? I'll show you how he burns for you.'" I choked back a sob, shuddering with the memory. "He wanted to kill you," I whispered, "and maybe me, too."
"What did you do? How did you get out?" Calder asked icily, running his hands over me as if to prove to himself I was whole.
"He locked me in his office. I dragged the filing cabinet in front of the door and then broke a window with the fireplace poker. They were all banging on the door as I climbed outside. A council member, Ken Wahl, I think, I don't know, came around the outside, but I was already hiding and he didn't see me." I shivered again. Calder blinked at me and then ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head slowly, a small, disbelieving smile on his lips.
"Morning Glory," he muttered.
"I didn't have a choice," I said. "It was that or . . . who knows what. Something bad." I looked up at Calder. "I'm just sorry we have to leave before we're really ready."
"No, you made the right choice, did the right thing. And we'd have had to leave soon anyway. My marriage to Hannah is supposed to take place next week." Calder brought his hands to my cheeks, tilting my face up and looking into my eyes. "And after today, Xander and I had already decided to leave earlier." He studied me. "You were so brave."
We stared at each other for a few seconds; I drew strength from the face I loved so very, very much. I felt calmer already. We were together. We were safe—for now.
"Our only issue now is we don't have a cent to our name," Calder said.
"Oh," I said, stepping back. "No, that's not true." I walked to the canvas bag I'd hidden in the bushes behind the main lodge. Thankfully, I'd been able to sneak around and retrieve it quickly after I'd jumped out of Hector's office window. From there I'd snuck to the grove of trees a hundred feet or so from the sick tent, done my best nighthawk call three times, and then made my way carefully to the trail that led to the spring.
I knelt down on the grass and dumped out the contents of my bag, all the loose cash I'd stolen all over the main lodge, and all the jewelry I'd swiped from the council members and their wives. I had become especially brazen as Calder's marriage to Hannah drew near. I really should have been the one to be whipped today. It was only Xander's bad luck that the one thing discovered was something he'd taken.