A Shelter of Hope by Tracie Peterson Read Free Book Online

moved to the bed to get her things, but Davis shadowed her.
    “We’re goin’ to have a good time, missy. Sooner you settle yourself down to the idea, the better.”
    Simone grabbed her pack and tried to edge down along the side of the bed. “I’m sorry if my father gave you the wrong impression. You can’t expect me to just up and marry you without knowing anything about you, and you can’t expect me to cooperate with what you have in mind.”
    Davis laughed and lunged for her, knocking the pack and coat from her hands. His beefy fingers caught her thick braid, and he yanked her head back painfully. Simone fought against him, knowing—fearing—what was to come as his free arm wrapped around her to force her body against his.
    “Leave me alone!” she screamed, pushing and straining to free herself.
    Davis threw her backward down across the bed, but Simone moved quickly to the side and avoided being pinned down by the man. She jumped up, stumbling back against the washbasin. For a stocky man, Davis moved with lightning speed, and before Simone could gather her things and escape, he had already reached out to take hold of her again.
    Screaming and kicking, Simone slammed back against the washbasin as Garvey grabbed and fumbled at trying to remove her clothes. “Don’t make me hit you, girl,” Davis bellowed out in anger. “Just settle yourself down. We can do this the hard way or the easy way. It’s up to you.”
    Simone had no idea what the hard or easy way might entail, but either way, she had no desire for anything that included Garvey Davis. Trying to steady herself against the attack, Simone’s hand grazed the cold porcelain of her mother’s basin and pitcher. Without giving it a second thought, Simone turned and took hold of the pitcher. Then, without warning, she whirled back around, bringing the pitcher down on Garvey Davis’s head.
    For a moment, nothing happened. The man stood weaving in place for several seconds, looking at her with such an expression of disbelief that Simone almost felt sorry for him. Almost, but not quite.
    Then in a flash, everything changed. Blood began pouring down the side of Garvey’s face and the man’s knees buckled. With a loud, resounding crash, Davis fell in a heap at her feet, leaving Simone to now stare in disbelief.
    She nudged at his body with her moccasined foot. He didn’t move. Blood continued to pour from the head wound, and instantly Simone became aware of what she’d done.
    “I’ve murdered him!” she declared in horror.
    Instantly she recalled a story related to her in Uniontown of a cantankerous old man who had taken a half-breed woman to be his wife. The woman, fed up with being beaten on a nightly basis, had poisoned his food and killed him. They had her strung up and hanged before twenty-four hours had passed, and all for the murder of a ruthless man that nobody much cared for.
    “And now I’ve done my own murdering,” Simone murmured. Terrified at what it all might mean, she quickly gathered her things and headed for the door. She had to get away before someone found out what she’d done. She pulled on her coat and tried to steady her nerves.
    “What should I do?” she questioned, as if someone might give her the answer.
    She glanced around the room and shook her head. Hunger gnawed at her stomach, but she couldn’t take time out to eat. Instead, she went quickly to the kettle and skimmed off three of the biscuits and wrapped them in a dish towel. This accomplished, she grabbed her bedroll and hurried out of the cabin.
    The first thing that met her eye was Davis’s horse and gear. He’d not even bothered to unsaddle the beast, and now that he lay dead in her house, Simone believed it a much lesser crime to consider stealing his horse and saddle. She tied her bedroll to the back of the saddle, then went to take up the reins from the post. The horse whinnied softly as if questioning her actions, but the mare seemed otherwise unconcerned as