Out of Control by Mary Connealy

if trying to decipher what Ethan meant by awhile .
    â€œLet’s get you home.” Rafe turned to look at her for a change.
    So grateful her knees wobbled, Julia did her best not to lean all her weight against him. She was far too used to standing alone. “Thank you.”
    Rafe looked at his brother. “Do you want to ride to Julia’s cabin with us? I don’t like taking off and leaving you alone when you’re just back.”
    Ethan hesitated for so long, Julia thought he’d refuse. “I’ll ride along,” he said.

    Audra clutched Maggie to her chest as she waited for Wendell. “Please, God, please help him find her. Protect her.”
    Her arms trembled as they held her daughter. The little girl whimpered, and Audra realized she was holding too tight.
    â€œShhh, baby girl. Shhh, Maggie.”
    She heard footsteps and listened to the foul, sinful words pouring from her husband’s mouth. She was a woman of faith. How had she ended up married to such a man?
    A stupid question.
    Her father had arranged it. He’d as good as sold her to Wendell to pay off debts. She looked down at her daughter and wondered if her father owed more money. Audra had a little sister, Carolyn. Would her father sell Carolyn to some brute? There was a baby brother, Isaac. He might not be such a commodity as a girl, but he might already be learning to behave in the image of her father.
    Thinking of the fate of her little sister and brother back in Houston almost started her to squeezing Maggie again.
    From the words Wendell muttered between the cussing, she knew Julia wasn’t with him. He shouldn’t have come back without her. Furious with her husband for being angry and cursing the Lord when anyone with a lick of sense would be asking for God’s help, Audra straightened her usually limp backbone until it was rigid.
    She’d been a dutiful wife, as the Bible laid down. But there came a time when obeying a man so steeped in sin was a sin unto itself.
    Well, no more. No more would she stand idly while her husband was evil and her children were in danger and her dearest friend, Julia, was missing.
    Her days of letting any man control her life were over.
    Her father and Wendell had done a poor job of it. She was taking charge.
    â€œThings are going to change in this household.” She spoke the words as a vow to God. The changes would start as soon as her husband stepped back inside that door.
    She’d always believed a woman must go along with things. But that was before she’d met Julia and seen how brave and smart a woman could be.
    Julia was stronger, smarter, and more independent than any woman Audra had ever known.
    Audra was changing right now to be like Julia.

Chapter
5

    Julia Gilliland was a half-wit, and no amount of Christian charity would change that one speck.
    Since the woman was too weak-headed to know what was good for her, Rafe kept his mouth shut as she mounted the horse he gave her to ride and kicked it into a trot, in the exact opposite direction of the cavern.
    Julia rode for about a dozen yards before Rafe caught up, grabbed her reins, and said, “Wrong way.”
    â€œAre you sure?”
    No, he was just guessing. “Weren’t you mostly crying your head off the whole ride home? What makes you think you know how to get to the cavern from here?”
    â€œI normally have an excellent sense of direction.” She arched a brow at him but let him redirect her horse. “And I almost never cry.”
    â€œYou’ve been crying pretty much nonstop since I met you.” The moon was so full and bright it blotted out the stars. He saw clearly how puffy her eyes were.
    She sat up straight. “These are not normal circumstances.”
    â€œI sure hope not.”
    â€œAs a rule I have very steady nerves.”
    â€œI’m going to have to take your word on that, because I’ve seen no proof of it. For now, just follow me.” He