Abigail

Chapter 18

**Seven years later**

"What have you done?" I rushed over and gripped the bars, wishing I could pry them open.

Over the years I'd worried about plenty concerning Levi, but I never thought to worry about him going to jail! He was so young. Just sixteen! He was taller than me, but he was still my baby boy.

Levi glanced at me, but quickly looked away and stared at the floor.

Feeling utterly helpless, I turned to the sheriff for some explanation. I'd been worried sick since discovering that he was missing yesterday. Finally this afternoon, someone had come with a message saying that Levi was here, but I didn't know why. What could he have possibly done? He'd been angry and sullen lately, but he wasn't a criminal!

And honestly, who could blame him for being angry? I didn't have any right to tell him not to be upset about my past. I still struggled with those angry, bitter feelings plenty. But for Levi, it was more than knowing about my past. He wanted to know about his father.

He'd asked about him since he was small, but I always refused to tell him anything. Maybe that was wrong of me, but I couldn't stand the thought of him knowing. It was bad enough that he understood, at least vaguely, the circumstances under which he'd been born. I didn't want him knowing anything about the person who, unfortunately, shared his blood.

It was so much easier when he was little. I could placate him by telling him that I loved him enough for a mother and a father, but he wasn't so easy to dissuade any longer. I understood his desire to know, but that didn't make me willing to talk about it. Maybe I would when he was older, but for now, I wanted him to be blissfully ignorant.

I also didn't want him trying to track his father down. Thankfully, Levi was nothing like him, and I wanted to keep it that way.

The sheriff seemed sympathetic as he looked at me, but then he directed a hard look at Levi, making me worry more. I hated seeing that kind of a look directed at my son. I wanted to insist that this was some kind of mistake and that he was innocent, but I still didn't know what crime he supposedly committed. And I knew the sheriff. He was a decent and fair man. He wouldn't lock anyone up without a reason.

"You want to tell her?" he asked Levi, sternly.

Levi guiltily glanced up before fixing his eyes on the floor again.

The sheriff sighed. "He tried to steal a horse," he said to me.

"What?" I asked, horrified before looking at Levi. "Why?" Levi wasn't a thief! Maybe I hadn't been able to give him that many things, but he never seemed to mind very much. He'd never even asked about getting a horse.

But to steal one! They hung people for that!

"Levi, how could you?" I said, my eyes filling with tears. I tried so hard to make sure he was safe and taken care of his whole life, and now he did this?

He didn't answer, and he wouldn't look at me.

"Seems he's been hangin' around a group of boys, lookin' for trouble," the sheriff said. "And he found plenty of it."

I wasn't even aware of him having a group of close friends. That must be where he'd been sneaking off to lately.

"Please," I said, facing the sheriff. "He didn't know what he was doing. He's not a thief. He just-"

"He's nearly a man," the sheriff said, casting a stern glance at Levi. "And stealin' horses ain't a small matter."

Like so many times in my life, I felt completely helpless. My baby was in serious trouble and I couldn't do a thing to get him out of it.