False Pretenses - Kathy Herman [91]
She felt a tickle on her wrist and locked gazes with a hairy spider the size of nickel. Instinctively she shook her arm, a stabbing pain in her wounded shoulder taking her breath away. What if she’d been more than grazed? What if the bullet was lodged? How many times had she heard her mother say that a victim’s body would try to reject a bullet, that the person would get sicker and sicker until the bullet was removed—or the person died?
Lord, You’re the Great Physician. Help me!
A loud snap, followed by an explosion of thunder, cracked open the heavens. Rain started to come down, and then come down harder and harder—in torrents—rolling down the sugarcane plants and splashing on her from all sides. If Shapiro was combing the field, how could he hear or see her in this downpour? Wasn’t this her best chance to pick up her pace and get to the other side? But what if she couldn’t find her way out? What if she couldn’t escape his clutches? What if she couldn’t get home to Carter and Ethan?
Vanessa’s gaze fell on the ruby ring on her left hand, and she was, in an instant, transported back to the glider on her parents’ screened-in porch.…
Ethan got up and knelt on the porch on one knee and took her hand.
“What are you doing?” she said.
Ethan held her hand to his cheek. “Vanessa, it’s no secret that I love you. Or that you and Carter are the most important people in my life. You’re in my thoughts, on my heart, and in my prayers every hour of every day. I can’t imagine living my life without you. Our paths were meant to intersect—and I believe you and I were meant to become one.”
Ethan reached in his pocket, took out a ring, and held it between his thumb and forefinger.
“This ruby ring was my great-grandmother Langley’s engagement ring. My dad gave it to my mother when they got engaged, and she wore it until their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Someday, I want to buy you a diamond ring that we pick out together. But for now, while my money is going to pay for tuition and to keep the old Camry running, would you wear this special family heirloom and let it signify that one day, when the time is right, you’ll be my wife?”
A tear trickled down Vanessa’s cheek, and she heard herself say, “Yes! I can hardly wait for that day. The ring is beautiful. And it’s so special that both your great-grandmother and your mother wore it.”
Ethan slipped the ring on her finger and, ever so tenderly, pressed his lips to her hand. “I love you, Vanessa. I can’t imagine my future without you and Carter. We were meant to be together—”
A boom of thunder brought Vanessa back to the present. She pictured Ethan taking the ring off her cold, dead finger. Was she going to allow Shapiro to rob Carter and Ethan of the one they loved—or was she going to fight to stay alive?
She took a step forward, and then another, her arms folded in front of her face, shielding her from the sharp leaves. She was either going to make it Langley Manor—or die trying.
CHAPTER 29
Zoe lay on the air mattress in the back bedroom at Langley Manor, her eyes focused on the crystal-globe light fixture on the ceiling, her hearing intent on the rain pelting the windows. Why was she too lethargic to get up and make herself a sandwich, even though it might settle her stomach? She had felt sick all morning and was afraid she might throw up. What then? It’s not as though she could flush the toilet. How much longer could her body hold up under this level of stress?
Pierce lay on his side on the other air mattress, seemingly staring at nothing. Their silence was a presence in the room, like some sort of truth police just waiting for a chance to interrogate her. All she needed was another guilt trip. Did she need any more reminders of how miserably she had failed?
A loud ringing startled her, and she realized it was the cell phone. She reached over and grabbed it and put it to her ear.
“Vanessa! Where have you been?”
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Zoe Benoit Broussard.”
The voice was unmistakably Cowan’s. Her skin turned to goose flesh. She locked gazes with