Anna gripped the porch railing.
“Where did he go?”
“Home.”
Her eyes filled instantly.
“No.”
“He went home.”
“My mother never said—”
“I know.”
“Why would she hide that from me?”
“I don’t know everything Ruth knew.”
Noah stood.
“My father never told me until the end.”
Anna shook her head.
“You said they both escaped.”
“They did.”
“Then why didn’t my father stay home?”
Noah’s voice broke.
“Because my father realized he had left something behind.”
Anna stared at him.
“What?”
Noah looked toward the cellar.
“A map showing another section of the mine.”
“Why did that matter?”
“Because Caleb believed somebody else had gone into those tunnels earlier that day.”
Colter frowned.
“Who?”
Noah swallowed.
“My father’s younger brother, Eli.”
Anna knew the name.
Colter could tell by her expression.
“Eli Reed disappeared that same summer.”
“Yes.”
“They said he left Kentucky.”
“My father started that story.”
“Why?”
“Because when Caleb and Thomas escaped the first time, Caleb admitted Eli might be trapped somewhere below them.”
Anna whispered, “And my father went back.”
Noah nodded.
“He went home first.”
“He saw your mother.”
“He saw you.”
Anna’s hand flew to her mouth.
“I was six.”
“He stayed until morning.”
Anna shook her head again, but this time tears ran silently down her face.
“I don’t remember.”
“You might.”
Noah’s own eyes were wet.
“Maybe not clearly.”
“But he was there.”
“At sunrise, Thomas returned here with my father.”
“They went back underground.”
“Only Caleb came out.”
Lily held her mother’s hand.
Anna stood amid strangers, deputies, motorcycles in the distance, and a collapsing cabin full of dust, yet for a moment she seemed completely alone.
“My whole life,” she whispered, “I believed he never came home.”
Noah nodded.
“I know.”
“I thought he chose work over us that night.”
“I know.”
“I was angry at a dead man for twenty-seven years.”
Noah lowered his head.
“My father was angry at himself for the same twenty-seven.”