You Can't Hide by Theresa Sneed (uplifting novels TXT) 📕

Gabby seemed to sense her uneasiness. Her eyes softened. “If we don’t address depression, it festers, and before we know it, it hurts us worse than what was depressing us.”

Nancy froze. Nothing could hurt more than what she went through. She glanced sideways at the door leading outside of the lodge.

“Seriously.” Gabby touched her arm. “Whatever caused the depression is over.” She pulled away, seeming to sense she had overstepped her boundaries. “Hopefully,” she added cautiously. A sigh escaped her throat. “What remains is only the aftermath, and if it’s left unresolved in our minds, the thing that caused it keeps happening to us, over and over again. It eats away at everything that we could become.”

Okay, that was too much. Nancy glanced around. “Is there a bathroom?” She’d slip away unnoticed, once she got away from Gabby. Millie pointed it out. “Excuse me,” she said, and rushed toward it.

Locking the bathroom door behind her, she leaned against it, fighting the sob caught in her throat. Gabby was right. Gabby was so right. She didn’t want to face any of the horror she went through. She couldn’t even think about her real marriage to Malcolm, because her thoughts had no other way to go but to his murderer. She clung to the upcoming execution of the man who had done it—Merrick Snyder—perhaps then, she could have some peace.

Trembling, she opened the door, and stepped back into the world. She groaned inwardly. Gabby and Millie were standing nearby. It was obvious they had been waiting for her, though their necks craned toward the entrance of the lodge. Nancy followed their eyes to the front door.

Sofia stood there. Dressed in a bright red dress, with a flower stuck in her wild hair, she looked more like she was going out on the town than to just an evening meal at a cozy lodge. The room went quiet. The women stepped aside and made a path. No one spoke, until Sofia moved past them, and went into the next room.

It was strange. Now more curious than anxious to leave, Nancy whispered, “What just happened?”

Millie appeared to be at a loss for words. “I don’t know. She’s never, I mean never come to dinner before.”

From what must have been the kitchen, a clanking sounded, like an old cow bell.

“Time to eat,” Gabby said. She, too, had a stunned look on her face, as she guided Nancy and Millie toward the next room.

Twenty-Two

Sofia

Nancy looked around the room. Most of the women seemed to veer away from Sofia, but a few joined her at her table. Wendy was already in an animated conversation with her.

“Now, Sofia, you know as well as I do that I cannot do that.”

Sofia spewed a few words off in her native tongue, which Wendy readily returned.

Millie leaned into Nancy and whispered. “She is the only one brave enough to talk to Sofia like that.”

“I’m not going to have her move to another cabin, Sofi,” Wendy said. She glanced their way, and then she turned back at Sofia. “Tienes que superar esto,” she said, her voice tight and forceful.

“Uh-oh,” said Millie. “That can’t be good.”

“¡No la quiero allí. ¡No quiero a nadie en la cabina azul.” She slapped her hands down on the table.

Nancy’s Spanish was rusty, but she got it. Sofia was upset that the blue cabin had a guest. Her. Really? She moved quickly to Sofia’s side. “I’m okay with moving. Er, yo,” she said, searching for the words. She pointed to herself. “Yo . . . bueno . . . vete . . .”

Wendy blinked. Sofia pulled her head back and stared up at Nancy. A tiny smile played at her lips and then she burst out laughing. Wendy rolled her eyes. “You just told her, I good, you leave. It’s a good thing you said it in English first.”

“Yes, very good,” said Sofia with a grin. “Sit.” She patted the chair beside her.

Nancy glanced at Millie, who looked a bit stunned. She grabbed Millie’s arm and pulled her into the chair beside her, as she obeyed Sofia’s command and sat down.

Sofia leaned forward and looked around Nancy. “Hello, Millie.”

“Uh, hi, Sofia,” Millie mumbled in return. “Hi, Wendy,” she added, when Wendy gave her a wave. “Um, this is my friend, Nancy.”

Sofia’s piercing eyes searched her face. “You are new here?” It was as if her eyes bore into Nancy’s soul. “Why are you here?” The smile was gone and her eyes hardened.

At first, Nancy was shocked at her rudeness, and then irate. She belonged at Lac Caché de la Beauté, just as much as Sofia did. Anger swirled within her, and the words spilled out before she could stop them. “My husband was murdered by his twin brother—a twin, he didn’t even know he had. He . . . he . . .” She stood and gripped the undersides of the table, her fingernails digging into its wood. “He took his brother’s identity and then hid me away in a cave under the house.”

Now it was her turn to slap the table, and then she walked out of the lodge, deeply regretting her foolish move. She’d have to leave Lac Caché de la Beauté now, and she couldn’t leave quick enough.

She was a good distance down the road, before Millie caught up to her.

“Stop! Wait for me, Nancy!” She grabbed her arm and spun her around. “That was horrible.”

“What?” Nancy said, surprised by Millie’s reaction. “That I couldn’t express myself? You wanted to know, didn’t you? Everyone wants to know.”

Millie gave her a blank stare. “Half the women in that room were brutally abused by their husbands or boyfriends. You’re not alone, that’s all I meant.”

“I . . . I . . .” Dang. She was right again. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Yes, you are,” Sofia said, coming up behind them. Apparently more than Millie had followed Nancy in her botched escape. “But, I have my