For Love

Chapter 36

LAURIE

"Here, drink some water."

Laurie groaned. Dizzy and disoriented, she wasn't ready to focus on her surroundings. She touched the side of her face and felt a tingling numbness. That was almost more intolerable than the ringing in her ears. "What happened?" she murmured.

"John told Frank he knocked you out with a shovel and then he brought you here. You weren't moving, Laurie! I thought he might have killed you."

The voice hit a nerve, and Laurie's eyes flew open. She tried to sit up but dropped her head back on the pillow, the smell of musty dirt assaulting her senses. She watched the person in front of her come into focus, and she blinked several times before she trusted them. "Hannah?"

"It's me," Hannah whispered. Gone were the blonde curls and pouty lips. Instead, her hair hung in stringy strands around her face. Her dress was dirty and looked like it was now two sizes too big. She sat on a small chair beside a small window, sunlight the only source of light in the room.

"Where have you been? Everyone in town thought you eloped, but then Aaron found your..." She paused, trying to remember. "Well, we weren't sure what happened. They've been out looking for you several times, but they couldn't find any trace of you. Jason has been so worried."

Hannah looked out the window and said, "I thought I was meeting John to go for a walk. He told me the way Jason treated me wasn't right and said we'd show you up by missing his birthday party. I knew Jason would notice."

Laurie didn't have the heart to tell Hannah about Jason's reaction to her invitation.

"But John brought me here instead. Later he told me it was only fair that if Jason took his woman, he got to play with his." She cocked her head to the side, her hair hanging in her face. "He's angry with Jason, and you, too. That's not a good thing."

Laurie shuddered. "What's his name?"

"John McAllister."

Laurie scrunched her head in thought. "I don't know him."

"Oh." Hannah shrugged and glanced out the window again. "Well, he works for Jason. Maybe he developed a crush on you."

Laurie sighed, assuming it was someone who had heard her sing. "How long have I been here?"

"A few hours."

"A few hours? Oh! Jason will be looking for me!" Laurie struggled to sit upright, but a sharp pain made her sit back. Once it subsided, she glanced at Hannah again. "What's wrong with me?"

Hannah moved to sit next to her and touched her forehead with a gentleness Laurie didn't think the girl was capable of. "You have a cut on your head, and there's blood in your hair. I tried cleaning it up, but I couldn't get it all out. John's a dangerous man, Laurie. Can you run? You have to get out of here before he does to you what he did to me. The things he does to women? He might have been telling Frank the truth." She sighed when Laurie's eyes drooped. "Did he? Did he really hit you with a shovel? "

Laurie tried to recall someone hitting her and felt a new kind of pain. Dizzying fear overwhelmed her, and after murmuring, "I can't remember," she closed her eyes and slipped back into unconsciousness.

JASON

The search party had split up to find Sherman and Laurie quickly. After rigorously searching through their section of the mountain, Jason and Richard rode into the logging camp to grab some food and refill their canteens. After learning none of the men who had stopped by the camp to refill their bellies had anything to report, Jason grew tired of the nervous glances they threw his way and left to go pace in the privacy of his office, knowing his worry had made him an intolerable companion.