Journey to Bliss (Saskatchewan Saga Book #3) by Ruth Glover Read Free Book Online Page B

knees and shoving with them at Lucian until the tender anatomy was excruciatingly gouged. Lucian rolled, screaming, from her, to huddle in the fetal position, cradling himself in his own arms and sobbing.
    Anne made her escape, crawling into the brush and hiding until Lucian gained some measure of control, got to his feet, limped to the road, and headed down it in pursuit of the missing horse, still moaning, still cursing, threatening.
    Already near Binkiebrae, and not wanting to go in the same direction as Lucian, Anne determined to reach the Caulder home, and Tierney. Greatly hampered by the sprained ankle, her progress had been slow—a crawl much of the way, a limping walk at times. Soiled, clothing torn, battered and degraded—but intact, Anne reached the Caulder doorstep the victor.
    “But I can never go through it again,” she concluded, her eyes reflecting, in the firelight, the horror of her experience. “Whatever am I going to do, Tierney? Whaur can I go that I can escape the MacDermotts? How can I ever be safe again?”

I twas Tierney herself who took the word the following morning to the Frasers that Anne was in Binkiebrae and would be staying, for the time being, with the Caulders.
    Paul Fraser laid aside his pitchfork and walked with Tierney from the great stables to the yard. Though his face took on a red, congested appearance, his voice, when he spoke, was controlled.
    But it was grim. “Perhaps that’s best,” he said. “Lord knows I canna do muckle for her. And her brothers—weel, Pauly learned the hard way; he’ll no’ be protectin’ his sister any mair, the young master seen to that. Oh, Pauly’s bigger and stronger, a’reet, but one raises his hand to his master—and his master’s son—verra carefully indaid. I mysel’ barely stoppit the brawl that was a’risin’, and thereby saved our Pauly from heaven alone knows wha’ terrible consequences.”
    Paul Fraser shook his head, while his defeated eyes gazed into space, refusing to look at Tierney as he confessed his inabilityto stand up for his daughter against his employer and master. And that master’s son, bully that he was.
    “I dinna know,” he continued, “how long Anne can get away wi’ stayin’ wi’ ye. I’ll tell them, up at the big hoose, that she’s sick, but I dinna know how long ’twill work. I seen the young master come limpin’ in last night; in a foul mood, he was, and his clo’es torn and dairty. I kep’ me’sel’ oot o’ his way. And then when me dautie didn’t coom home, I was half sick wi’ worry and shame—”
    Paul Fraser bowed his head and scuffed his boot in the dirt of the yard. “Ye tell her it’s a’reet wi’ me if she stays wi’ ye fer a time. Best to be careful, though, and stay oot o’ the way—”
    “Oh, she’ll stay oot o’ the way, never fear. She’s a sight to behold, Mr. Fraser—scratched and bruised, not to mention her ruined clothes. . . . Now, if ye dinna mind, I’d like to go into the hoose and pick up some of her things, if that’s a’reet wi’ ye.”
    “Go ahead,” Paul Fraser said, adding hesitantly as Tierney turned away, “Anne . . . she’s a’reet? He dinna . . . that is, she’s a’reet, is she?”
    “Depends on what ye mean by a’reet,” Tierney said with heat. “Ye should see her face, Mr. Fraser, and her torn garments. But yes, she’s a’reet.”
    Paul Fraser drew a deep breath and said gruffly, “Tell her to take care. And then,” he added doggedly, “if we’re not tae be in serious trouble, she’ll hae tae coom back. I can only make excuses so long, ye know.”
    Tierney swung away, as angry as it was possible for her to be. The helplessness of her friend’s situation, the uselessness of speaking out, the impotence experienced in the face of terrible unfairness, infuriated and frustrated her almost past enduring. A female’s lot was a hard one! Was there no equality anywhere?
    Though she herself suffered no such physical abuse, though