Read Online No River Too Wide by Emilie Richards - Free Book Online Page B

it.”
    Taylor drank half the water before she finally rested the glass on her jean-clad knee. “He’s that bad?” She addressed the question to Jan.
    Jan looked torn. She didn’t answer.
    “You left him, but you can’t admit how frightening he is?” Harmony asked her mother. “Can’t you tell her how many times he hit you or how many bones he’s broken?”
    “He’s possessive and...” Jan hesitated, then lifted her eyes to Taylor’s. “I’m afraid he’s capable of almost anything where I’m concerned.”
    “Has he ever hurt anybody else?”
    “He’s a successful businessman,” Harmony said. “He’s also a deacon in our church, and he used to be on the boards of two charities, maybe still is. I don’t think anybody really likes him, but they respect him well enough. Unless he changed after I left home, he was careful to save his fury for his family, mostly Mom. When he was angry at other people, his revenge was always more subtle or aimed at us.” She looked at her mother. “Is that still accurate?”
    Jan looked distressed, but she nodded.
    “He sounds like a monster,” Taylor said, and waited for Jan to deny it. When she didn’t, Taylor began to get the full picture.
    She wished one of the other goddesses, Analiese or Georgia, had walked into this instead of her. They were both older and more experienced. Analiese was a minister, used to dealing with family problems, and Georgia was a school administrator who worked with difficult kids and their difficult home lives every day. Her own degree was in health and wellness promotion, and it had never prepared her for this.
    But she was here, and they were not.
    “What can I do?” she asked, when nothing more profound occurred to her.
    Jan was a slight woman, rail thin and haggard, but now that she was inside, Taylor could see even more clearly the resemblance to Harmony. “There’s nothing to do. I have to leave. I can’t stay here.”
    Her conviction was absolute. Taylor could hear it. “But where will you go?”
    “I’ve laid plans. I’ve been...working on getting away for a long time, and I have help.”
    “Mom says Dad will think she’s gone west.”
    “But you’re not going west?” Taylor asked.
    “She’s not going anywhere, ” Harmony said. “She’s going to stay here, with her daughter and granddaughter. Dad’s not going to find us. I’ve been in Asheville since high school graduation, and he never traced me here.”
    Taylor thought Harmony was being a bit naive. Motivation was a powerful factor. If Harmony’s father viewed his wife as property he’d been robbed of, he would undoubtedly do anything to find her.
    “Do you have another place you really want to go?” Taylor asked Jan. She watched as Jan looked down at her granddaughter, and before she looked up again the longing on her face was clear and strong.
    “It’s not about wanting to go anywhere. I just know I can’t stay here. And Harmony and Lottie can’t come with me. We shouldn’t be in the same place at the same time... Not until I know Rex isn’t looking anymore.”
    “How will you know that?”
    “People are watching him.”
    Taylor liked the sound of that. “Then they’ll be able to keep track of where he is and when?”
    “Not every moment.”
    “But generally.”
    Jan shrugged.
    “Can you be nearby?” Taylor asked. “Where you and Harmony can see each other sometimes if you’re careful? At least until you know it’s safe?”
    “It would be safer to be far away.”
    “Okay, safer, maybe, but would it be safe enough to be, say, on the other side of Asheville, with somebody who knows you both?”
    “I...”
    “You?” Harmony asked.
    “I’m twenty miles away, and you and I don’t see each other very often. We’re both too busy and it’s too far to be easy.” Taylor realized she and Harmony were making plans for Jan without consulting her.
    She turned to Harmony’s mother. “Jan, I just moved into my father’s house in a quiet