Loving Lily- Sequel to Loving River

The Cabin

Placing a hand to her throbbing head, Lily Vanculon continued her journey through the uncut field of weeds. The late autumn provided a nip to the air that hadn't been there a month before. The ground held more leaves then the trees currently wore. Lily noticed none of these things as she walked on. Though the land held beauties to delight and dazzle the human eye, Lily could think only of getting to the small cabin where she could lie down and rest for a while. 

Usually, Lily's job as a serving girl provided a pleasant uneventful day. Today had been different however. On this fall evening, a very loud, drunk horrible man had drug her upstairs in the small establishment. Even though Bub, the saloon owner, had attempted to champion Lily in her time of need, Bub was much too small to be taken as a real threat. The nasty man had only laughed at him. Lily wasn't exactly certain what happened after the rotten man had taken her upstairs. Maybe he hit her. Perhaps she fell and hit her head. Whatever it was had made her head ache something awful. It had caused bleeding too. Lily had woken up in the Doc's office.

Pushing the wooden door open, Lily let herself into the small abandoned cabin. She didn't know who had lived there originally, but whoever they where they weren't living there now. Lily found the cabin before she had even seen the small western town. Tired and hungry, she had decided to rest for the night in the cabin. The next day, after seeing how worn down the cabin and lands looked, Lily figured it would make an ideal home for her.

It was nothing like the grand house she had grown up in, but it was exactly what she needed. To her way of thinking, if the cabin and its' land were so ill kept then she would be able to live in it without worrying about whoever owned it. Sure she was trespassing, but she was too tired and sad to let it bother her much.  That had been almost two months ago. Lily had been living in the small ramshackle cabin for nearly two months and so far nobody had bothered her. These past two months had been the most peaceful months of her life. If it wasn't for the constant worrying over her sister, Lily would be perfectly happy in her new life.

Closing the door, Lily pushed and heaved until she managed to move the chest of drawers in front of the door. The door had no latch to secure it, and Lily was terrified of someone entering while she slept in the night. Lily was much too exhausted to eat, not that she had much in the cabin. She squirreled away most of her money, doing her best to live on nothing. It was a simple task during the last couple summer months. Bub kindly provided his employees one free meal a day. For breakfast and dinner, Lilly would search the berry bushes in the woods. She had a feeling that she would be eating just one meal a day during the winter. She didn't dare take from her money to buy something as insignificant as food. Not when her employer was kind enough to offer her a meal a day.  

"It's much better to save your money until you can buy your sister's freedom."Lily mumbled to herself  as she moved to her pallet set up in the far corner of the one room cabin.

---

Micah slammed his hand on he table. "What do you mean she left?" he was doing his best to keep himself under control but his good intentions were slipping away as worry and fatigue filled him.

The old doctor sighed as he turned to face Micah. "Listen, I told you, she woke up and decided to take herself home. She wasn't in danger so I had to let her go."

"How could you be so careless?" Micah snapped in frustration. He ran his fingers through his hair irritably.

"Micah." The doctor sat down in the overstuffed chair in front of the window. He gestured for Micah to be seated as well. Micah, being in the mood  he was currently in, stubbornly refused to sit. The doctor sighed and continued. "The girl is young and healthy. She said her head ached some but otherwise she was fine. The bleeding stopped hours ago. Her heartbeat was strong, her pulse steady. I would have never agreed to let her leave if I thought she was in danger of any sort. You must believe me, Micah. I would never intentionally hurt anyone. I've dedicated my life to helping people, not hurting them."