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William, to give him a chance, to give him a future. She had to let him go. The decision had been made months ago, but it had taken Ruth this long to accept it. She had known that she could not keep running, that she could not keep hiding, that she could not keep William safe on her own. She had known that the only way to protect her son was to give him up, to let him go. She had thought about the woman on the Greyhound, about the preacher, about the kindness of strangers. She had thought about the town of Willow Creek, about the people who lived there, about the church with the white steeple. She had made her decision. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE GREYHOUND TICKET The Greyhound ticket was the most expensive thing Ruth had ever bought, a piece of paper that had cost her almost everything she had. She had stood in line at the bus station, her hands trembling, her heart pounding, and she had handed over the money with a prayer on her lips. "Two tickets," she had said. "One adult, one child." The ticket agent had looked at her, his eyes lingering on William, and Ruth had felt a chill run down her spine. She had known that he was judging her, that he was wondering why a woman with a child was traveling alone, that he was seeing the desperation in her eyes. But she had also known that she didn t care. She would do whatever it took to protect her son. The journey had been long and hard, a blur of endless roads and endless nights. Ruth had held William close, her arms wrapped around him, her heart aching with love and fear. She had watched the landscape change, the familiar scenery of Mississippi giving way to the unknown. She had not known where they were going, where they would end up. All she knew was that they had to keep moving, keep running, keep hoping. The hope was the only thing that kept her going, a fragile, flickering light in the darkness. She hoped that James would come back, that they would be together, that everything would work out in the end. She hoped that William would have a better life, a life filled with love and joy and happiness. She hoped that one day, the running would be over. The bus had pulled into Willow Creek in the early morning, the sky still dark, the air cold and biting. Ruth had stepped off the bus, William s hand in hers, and looked around at the town that would become her son s home. It was small, smaller than she had expected, a cluster of buildings that seemed to have been forgotten by time. There was a grocery store with a faded sign, a diner with a flickering neon sign that promised "Good Eats," a barber shop with a red and white pole that hadn t been painted in years, and a church with a white clapboard steeple that rose above the treetops like a silent prayer. It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, where secrets were hard to keep, where a woman with a child and no husband would be noticed. But it was also the kind of place where people could start over, where the past didn t follow you, where you could be whoever you wanted to be. She had walked through the streets, William s hand in hers, her heart pounding with fear and hope. She had seen the people, the