Chapter 27

After almost three weeks of living on edge, barely stepping outside her door, and getting herself so worked up that she barely ate or slept, Tabitha let her guard down.

She didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Even though she was still deathly afraid of Leon returning, life continued for everyone else in Crittenden County. A string of robberies had kept Sheriff Johnson busy most every day. And when someone set fire to an abandoned trailer near Morganfield two days ago, Deputy Ernst had his hands full with that. Little by little, their concern about Leon Yoder violating a restraining order seemed to have faded. She barely saw them drive by anymore.

She didn't blame them, especially since she hadn't seen a hint of Leon again. She even began to breathe a little bit easier.

And then one moment she was on her front porch fishing out wooden slats from the cranberry dye and placing them on newsprint and the next she was grabbed from behind.

She screamed, looking for Chance. But he was in the house. She'd taken him on a long walk that morning, and he'd fallen asleep in front of the fireplace.

The grip around her middle was so tight that she could barely breathe. It prevented her from doing much more than giving a token struggle and kick.

"Stop," he ordered.

The voice confirmed her suspicions. Leon had returned. The Tabitha of old would have frozen, too afraid to do anything to make her "punishment" worse. But that wasn't who she was anymore. She might still be weaker than him, but she wasn't afraid to try. Nothing she could do now would make her life any worse than it had been when he'd hurt her so badly that she'd ended up in the hospital.

Kicking a leg back again, she did her best to hit his shin with the heavy heel of her boot. He gasped and loosened his hold, and that was all she needed to pull away. Scrambling for balance, she ran around to the other side of the worktable.

Leon's expression burned. "You are so foolish. Do you really think there's anything you can do to harm me?"

She didn't dare answer him. Fresh memories of all the times he'd been so cruel to her, making her say and do things that were wrong just because she was too afraid to do otherwise, came back to her. Instead, she eyed the large metal drum filled with hot water and cranberries on the table in front of her. Needing to slow him down, she grabbed the side of the container and pushed it toward him.

Hot, red water shot out. The majority of it hit the center of his chest, and the rest splashed into his face and eyes.

Leon cried out and raised his hands. That was the break she needed to run as fast as she could toward the woods.

Behind her, the worktable crashed over and a chair sounded like it broke in two. Fear rose inside of her and she attempted to increase her pace. She didn't know how successful she was since she kept tripping on roots and branches.

"Stop, Tabitha!" Leon yelled. "You're only making this worse for yourself."

She used to believe every word he said. Now she knew better.

She forced everything from her mind except for her one goal: get away. Remembering the advice Deputy Ernst had shared, she repeated it over and over in her head. Her own personal mantra.

Run as fast as you can toward the road. There you'll be in the open, allowing someone to see you and preventing Leon from his primary objective, to keep his return hidden.

Spying the road up ahead, she belatedly remembered the cell phone the sheriff had made her promise to always keep in her dress's pocket. Her guard might have been let down, but not completely. Giving praise, Tabitha pulled it out. She was running too fast to dial a number, but she was able to finally dial 911.

Relief filled her. The phone would immediately ding both Sheriff Johnson and Deputy Ernst. They would be able to find her thanks to the tracking feature they'd installed on her phone.

Footsteps pounded behind her, and branches and twigs broke and popped as Leon followed.

Focusing intently, she knew Leon was breathing hard. From the sound of him, maybe even harder than she was. That shouldn't be a surprise since they'd had two very different living experiences over the last several years. Her body had gotten stronger and healthier. She was used to physical exertion and pushing herself. Leon, on the other hand, was now out of shape.

Her phone dinged with a text. She didn't dare slow down enough to see what it said. All she could do was hope and pray that law enforcement was on their way.

She soon reached the road, but there were no vehicles or people in sight. Her heart sank as despair threatened to overtake her. But then she remembered another piece of the deputy's advice. She was to run to the nearest house and scream as loud as she could. Being quiet would only give Leon the ammunition he craved to pull her out of sight.

The nearest neighbors were the Lapps. Joseph lived there with his mother and grandmother. None of them had been sympathetic to her over the years. In fact, Rose Lapp had once even gone out of her way to say cutting things to Tabitha in the middle of the market. What would they do if she showed up screaming? Would they turn her away? Worse, would they try to help Leon?

Could they be so cruel?

She used to think that wasn't possible, but experience with some people in the community had proved otherwise. Joseph and Rose were her only option, and she hoped and prayed they would help her. She couldn't keep running.

She ran as quickly as she could toward the Lapps' house. It was at the top of a steep hill, and her muscles strained on the incline. All she could hope was that Leon's poor conditioning would slow him down.

When she heard his steps quicken, that hope began to fade.

"Do you really think Joseph or Rose is gonna help you, Tabitha? They hate you! They think you're terrible because you divorced me."

Maybe they did. However, she also had to believe there was still goodness in their hearts. Had to believe that Joseph, at the very least, would step in before Leon could hurt her.

Her heart and lungs burned as she continued up the hill. Her legs were starting to cramp. "Help!" she screamed as loud as she could. "Help me! I need help!" Tabitha wasn't sure if she was crying for the Lapps to help her or for the Lord to intervene.

A window curtain moved but the door didn't open.

She was now in the Lapps' front yard. They had a big fence behind the house and some old lawn equipment in a rusty pile to one side. She had nowhere else to go.

Behind her, Leon laughed as he slowed to a walk. "You're so stupid. Did you really think they would suddenly care about you? They won't come out, Tabitha. Not for you. You're unforgiven."

No. No, Leon's words weren't true. The Lord already had forgiven her. So had Mary. So had Roy.

And now she had Seth. She was no longer alone.

Tears filled her eyes as despair threatened to take over her. She fought them back. "Help me!" she screamed again. Then, seeing a big rock at her feet, she picked it up, rushed up the three steps leading to the front porch, and threw it at the window.

The shattering of glass reverberated around them.

The door flew open, revealing Rose and an angry-sounding Doberman by her side.

"Tabitha Yoder, you've lost your—"

"Help me, Rose!" she said just as Leon grabbed her arm and wrenched her around to face him. She cried out as pain shot from her shoulder down her arm, then gasped as he yanked her again before slamming his fist into her face.

The world went black as she fell.

"Get up!" Leon yelled against a backdrop of angry barking. "Get up, Tabitha. You need to be punished."

She knew she should, but pain still radiated from her face. In addition, her shoulder burned and her wrist was throbbing. She must have landed on it when she'd fallen. Her ears buzzed from his crushing blow, and she could feel warm liquid on her face. Her nose was bleeding.

She managed to get on her knees.

As if in slow motion, Rose called for Joseph. Then out he came, wielding his grandmother's hickory cane. Tabitha ducked her head as Joseph swung it around into Leon's shoulder.

Leon yelled, but it was overpowered by the blaring of the sheriff's cruiser's siren as it tore up the drive. Both front doors opened and then men jumped out.

"Freeze!" Deputy Ernst yelled as he drew his weapon. "Leon Yoder, you're under arrest!"

Leon froze, then darted toward the side of the house.

"You run away, my dog will attack," Rose called out. "I'm serious."

The dog's fierce barking erupted again, and Leon turned toward the old farm implements.

"Don't do it, Leon!" Sheriff Johnson said as he pulled out his gun.

To Tabitha's shock, Leon smirked. "You wouldn't dare do a thing. I'm unarmed. Plus Joseph just hit me for no reason. I'm going to press charges."

Sheriff Johnson didn't move a muscle. "It's over, Leon. Don't make things worse for yourself."

Barely two seconds passed, but it felt like an eternity as all of them stared at Leon. At last, Leon put his hands up. Sheriff Johnson cuffed his hands behind his back.

"Leon, what a liar you have turned into," Rose said as she toddled outside to join them. "I feared Tabitha's words were true all this time. Now I know for sure and I'm going to make sure everyone knows that."

Realizing she was now safe, Tabitha carefully slid off her knees and turned around so she was sitting on the top porch step. The pain in her shoulder and arm was excruciating, but she could finally breathe.

"It's over," Deputy Ernst said as he sat by her side. "Looks like you're hurt bad. I already radioed for an ambulance just in case. It's on the way."

"Danke," she whispered.

Sheriff Johnson read Leon his rights as he led him toward the cruiser. "After the ambulance comes, get the Lapps' statements, Junior," he called over his shoulder.

"Yes, sir."

Rose came over. "I'll stay with her, son. Never fear."

To Tabitha's surprise, the older woman gingerly lowered herself until she was sitting beside her. "My, it's been quite a while since I sat in this spot. Feels good out here, don't it?" she asked, just as if they were relaxing on a summer's day.

Tabitha nodded.

"Any reason why part of Leon is bright red?"

It took a moment for her to realize what Rose was talking about. "It's cranberry dye," she whispered.

The sheriff faced them after shoving Leon into the back seat of the cruiser. "Dye?"

"When Leon found me, I was dyeing wooden slats for my baskets. I pushed a metal container of hot dye water on him so I could run away."

"Now ain't that something?" Rose murmured. "That was mighty quick thinking, girl."

"I had to do something. I promised myself I'd never be hurt by him again. Not without a fight, anyway."

"Sounds like the Lord heard your promise and helped you out."

Thinking of how heavy the metal container had been and how hard it usually was for her to empty it, she had to agree.

Sheriff Johnson returned to her side just as the sirens from the ambulance approached. "We're going to get you loaded up and on your way to the hospital right now. I'll stop by there later to see how you're doing."

He'd also no doubt ask her a lot of questions.

"I understand."

"Who would you like me to contact for you?"

She supposed the best person would be her sister, but she didn't want to involve Mary and Roy just yet. Besides, there was only one person who would truly understand how she felt. Only one person who she could trust to help her but not pester her with a dozen questions about the day's events.

Oh, who was she kidding? While all that was true, the main thing was that there was only one person who she trusted with her heart ... just like he trusted her with his. "Would you call Seth Zimmerman?"

"Seth?" He sounded surprised but then nodded. "I'll call him now."

An ambulance pulled up with a parade of flashing lights.

"Thank you. Oh, and Sheriff?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for everything."

"Anytime. But don't forget that you helped yourself today. You fought, ran, and called for help. You should be real proud."

She was glad that was the last of their conversation. Her arm and shoulder really hurt and it was getting hard to see out of her one eye. She closed her eyes as the paramedics spoke to Sheriff Johnson.

"Tabitha, my name is Kurt. Can you hear me all right?"

She opened her one good eye. "Jah."

Kurt had a kind look about him. His cheeks were full and looked as if he only needed to shave every couple of days. His blue eyes were bright and framed by light brown eyelashes. "Looks like you've got some bruising on your face. What else is hurting?"

"My shoulder and wrist."

"Anything else?" he asked as he took her pulse.

"I don't think so," she said.

He shined a light into her pupils and then scanned the rest of her body. After immobilizing her arm, he said, "Okay. Billy and me are going to help you onto the stretcher and get you loaded in the ambulance."

"All right." She closed her eyes again as the two men spoke to each other and carefully lifted her onto the stretcher.

She was vaguely aware of the sheriff speaking with the Lapps, no doubt telling Rose that someone would be over to help board up the window she broke. When Tabitha was situated in the ambulance, Kurt asked her more questions as he pricked her good hand and started an IV. Then, the next thing she knew, they were on their way to the hospital.

Maybe she should be worried about what the doctors were going to do, or be thinking about how she was going to pay for the services, but all she could concentrate on was that Leon had been apprehended. She was safe again.

Just as important to her was the knowledge that she'd fought her ex-husband and run instead of cowering at his demands. She'd gotten stronger.

"We're almost there, Tabitha," Kurt said. "You hanging in there for me?"

"Jah."

"That's good. You sure are a lot tougher than you look."

Kurt might not realize it, but that was one of the sweetest things someone had ever said to her.