Lorna shoved a small coin purse into Priscilla’s hands.

“I can’t.” Priscilla tried to give it back, but Lorna had closed her hands into tight little fists.

Lorna shook her head and Priscilla saw the tears in her eyes. Her sister was going to break down if she spoke. So Priscilla held onto the purse. “Thank you.” Then she reached out and hugged her. “I’m sorry I won’t be here to help you with the children.” It was a ridiculous thing to say, but she knew how much Lorna was giving up by helping her with this. Lorna was going to have to raise her siblings. Lorna may not have been much help, but at least Priscilla had her to lean on when things got really bad. Lorna had no one.

She could not believe she was leaving Sweetwater. She did not want to go. She just resented Jimmy all the more. Now she had to be separated from her family because of him. She did not want to live with her mother’s sister, Diana. Diana was nice enough, but Priscilla really did not know her. But it had been arranged. She would live with Diana; pretend her husband would join them until his sudden death.

“What are you going to tell Father?” Priscilla asked, swallowing her own tears. She and Lorna could not think of a suitable lie. So they had said nothing.

“I think the truth,” Lorna managed and then she burst into tears.

Priscilla nodded.

“All aboard!” the stagecoach driver called out.

“I’ll write as soon as I get there,” Priscilla said before climbing into the coach. “Go now. Distract Father for a while, until the stage gets far enough way.” She took a seat in the corner, next to the window. She wanted to see where she was going. She also kept her eyes on Lorna until she could no longer see her. Her sister was hurrying down the street.

This is going to be an adventure, she told herself. She would finally be able to make her own decisions. She would have her own room, at least until the baby came. She would be free. Suddenly Priscilla burst into tears. She ignored the strange looks the other passengers gave her. She would be alone, she would eat with just her maiden aunt, she would sleep alone, she had never slept alone. She would have no one to talk to, no one to fight with, no one…

“Now what?” the man across from Priscilla sighed. He pounded on the roof of the coach. “Let’s go. I’m going to be late,” he muttered. “I have a train to catch.”

So did she, Priscilla thought, as she worried about making her own connection. She dried her tears and took a deep breath. She had to get a hold of herself. Tears would not help.

“Move it,” she heard the driver yell. “I have a schedule to keep.”

“I need to talk to a passenger,” Priscilla heard a voice say. Idiot, she thought. Quit holding the rest of us up.

Her mouth fell open when Jimmy yanked the coach door open. “Cill,” he said, his breath coming quickly.

“Shut the door,” Priscilla shouted. She stuck her head out the window. “Move those horses,” she commanded the driver.

“Please,” Jimmy beseeched her.

She picked up a bag that belonged to the man sitting across from her and threw it at Jimmy’s head.

“Hey,” the man protested.

Jimmy rubbed the red mark on his forehead and shoved the offending bag out the door. “I am not letting this coach go,” he declared, his eyes darkening with anger.

“Then you will be dragged,” Priscilla snapped. She stared straight ahead.

“Forget this,” Jimmy erupted. When Priscilla turned her head, she found Jimmy in the coach.

“Sorry,” he muttered to the passengers. One woman squeezed her way out and so did her companion. It was just Priscilla, the man across from her and Jimmy left in the coach then.

“Please, Cill, please just listen to me.” Jimmy sat next to her and reached for her hand. She slapped it away.

“I’m sorry.”

Priscilla wanted to kick him. But she restrained herself and turned her head, staring at Tompkins General Store.

“I was wrong.”

“I don’t care,” Priscilla yelled, unable to contain herself anymore. “Get out of here. You are making us all late.”

“I do have a tight connection,” the man told Jimmy.

“Shut up,” Jimmy barked at the man who shrank visibly. “One more word out of you and I’ll shoot you.”

“He is such a bully,” Priscilla told the man.

“That’s enough!” Jimmy exploded.

“It most certainly is enough, now go away,” Priscilla shouted.

“She is expecting my baby,” Jimmy told the man. “Don’t you think she should get off the coach and talk to me?”

Priscilla stared at him. He knew? He knew! Now what? Keep your head, she told herself. He is a louse, a dirt bag. She had a plan and Jimmy did not figure into it.

The man’s eyes grew wide. He attempted to rise to his feet.

“Sit down,” Priscilla yelled at him. “If you leave now, you’ll miss your connection,” she added in what she hoped was a reasonable tone.

“Um, maybe you should talk to him, somewhere off the coach,” the man said.

“Oh shut up,” Priscilla snapped. “Who asked for your opinion?”

“If you don’t get off this coach, I will tell everyone,” Jimmy said, narrowing his eyes at Priscilla.

“So?”

Jimmy’s face grew thunderous and suddenly he grabbed Priscilla, kicked the coach door open and carried her out. He flung her over his shoulder and marched down the street until he reached the alley behind Sam’s office with Priscilla kicking and shouting the whole time. She was being kidnapped and not one person did anything to help her!