Beyond This Moment Read Online Free PDF Page B

not as far as he'd estimated. Or for as long. He scrambled back, trying to make it in time. But momentum stalled as the stage angled back toward the mountain for the final time.
    He saw Lewis and Tolliver straining to hold on to the rope and felt Charlie Daggett's grip go viselike around his wrist. But nowherenowhere-did he see Molly.
    And oddly enough, hers was the face he would've liked to have seen again. Just one last time.
     

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    olly dug in her heels and pulled hard on the mare's harness. "Come on, girl! Move!" she screamed, but the animal was slow to obey. Overlong reins trailed the muddy ground. Lewis and Tolliver yelled, and Molly turned to see the stagecoach dipping back toward the mountain.
    Fear spurred her courage, and she swung onto the horse and gripped the harness-in time to see the stage slide off into the ravine. She sank her heels into the mare's flank.
    It wasn't but twenty feet to where Lewis and Tolliver stood, gripping the rope, their bodies braced against the weight of Charlie Daggett-who lay hanging off the edge of the cliff, belly down, holding on to James McPherson one-handed.
    Growling as he tried, Charlie strained to pull him up but couldn't.
    "Hold on, Charlie!" Molly slid from the mare and led her as close to the cliff and to Charlie Daggett as the animal would go.
    The horse reared, but Molly's instincts kicked in, sharpened by years of riding, and she held her steady.
    "Mr. Lewis!" she called, and found him already there.
    "Daggett! Grab hold of this!" Lewis yelled, tossing him the rein.
    His shirt slick with sweat, Daggett reached for the rein behind him, finally grabbing hold. With surprising speed, he looped it around his thick wrist. One, two, three times. Then Lewis smacked the mare's rear, and the animal dug a slow path up the incline, protesting the load.
    Unable to see James's face, Molly kept her attention glued to the wrist locked tight in Charlie Daggett's grip. Inch by inch, the mare pulled Charlie forward. But not until James lay on the ground beside him, panting and laughing, did Molly allow herself to breathe.
    The men's whoops and hollers carried over the canyon and echoed back. And though she shared their relief, she couldn't share their laughter. Her legs barely supporting her, she turned away, not wanting them to see her tears.
    The reality of what had almost happened to her-to them all-left her bone-chilled and shaking. She'd thought her life was over. Staring down into that ravine had been the closest to death she'd ever come, and she despised how it had felt, and the dark disturbing restlessness it awakened inside her. That throbbed in her bones even now.
    Tears slid down her cheeks. She tried to gain her breath. Death was a thief, an intruder. Unwelcome and abrupt. And that it would seek her-and nearly find her-out here ...
    She shivered, numb inside, recalling the undeniable knowledge that she hadn't been ready to meet her Maker face-to-face. That she still wasn't. And what of the child in her belly?
    Renewed guilt and shame washed over her as thoughts of Jeremy Fowler forced themselves back in. Following their one-and only-night together, his affections for her had cooled. And that was putting it mildly. Devastated, humiliated, she'd done her best to continue instructing her classes, but it had become increasingly difficult to concentrate, and her teaching had suffered.
    One morning in early July, President Northrop had summoned her to his office to discuss her poor performance and to question her propriety on the rumor that her reputation had been sullied. She'd asked him to reveal his source, but he'd refused. Days later, when she'd read in the newspaper about Jeremy's engagement to Maria Elena Patterson, daughter of the college's largest donor, she'd found her question answered. And later that week when another article reported a record donation to Franklin College by Jeremy's future father-in-law, her humiliation had been complete.
    By then, she knew she was with