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everything, right, Ellie?”
    “Right.”
    Later, lying on the uncomfortable bed in the dark, Ellie prayed as fervently as she ever had in her life for a miracle.
    * * * *
    The Bride Fights were nothing like Ellie had expected. Years ago, when Taye had won his wife in a Bride Fight, Ellie thought it was the most romantic thing she’d ever heard of. This was not romantic.
    She, Sara, and Mel were locked in a small dark closet just off what had been the high school gymnasium in the years before terrorists had destroyed the world. It was too dark for them to see each other, but Ellie could imagine the anger on Mel’s face and the disgust on Sara’s. The raucous noise of hundreds of men out in the gym was so loud that Ellie could barely hear Mel’s inventive cursing.
    “Can you see anything?” Ellie asked Sara.
    Sara, kneeling on the floor, with her eye peering through the narrow slots at the bottom of the door, grumbled. “Just a bunch of muddy boots and legs.” She straightened up with a grunt, and one of her elbows jabbed into Ellie’s side. “I told you we should have run away. It would have been nice of your cousin to show up.”
    Ellie rubbed the rib Sara’s elbow had poked. “Taye must be on his way. He’ll get here.”
    “Unless Jeremy didn’t make it to him,” Sara countered disagreeably. “Anything could have happened to him. His horse could have fallen on him. He could have been attacked by outlaws.”
    Fear rumbled through Ellie’s stomach. As soon as he knew she was in trouble, Taye would come for her. Ellie had no doubt about that. But, if he hadn’t received the message, she would find herself married to a stranger within a few hours. She could still get a message to Taye, and he would find a way to get her released from an unwanted marriage. Ellie’s shoulders twitched. Taye would make her a widow without hesitating, but Ellie didn’t want to be responsible for a man’s death.
    “Taye is coming,” she said firmly.
    “Well, he’d better hurry up.”
    Ellie breathed another silent prayer.
    Sara said to Mel, “Would you shut up? I’m trying to hear what’s going on out there.”
    Mel finished her latest round of swearing with, “And I want my gun back, dammit! If any of those bastard Fosses win, I’m gonna shoot him.”
    Ellie didn’t blame Mel for wanting her gun. She almost wished she had one herself.
    A cheer that vibrated the closet door rose outside in the gym. “I guess something’s about to get started,” said Mel grimly.
    The door of the closet opened to slice a swath of light through the darkness. Sara backed up, her boot heel grinding Ellie’s toes into the floor.
    “This way, ladies,” the mayor bawled at them, barely audible over the cheering crowd.
    Ellie limped out behind Sara, her toes still stinging. The noise of the men was deafening. It hit her like a cold wave even though the room was warm, followed immediately by the stench of unwashed bodies sweating liberally. There was a stage at the far end of the gym, with a large square marked by poles and ropes, and the mayor led them up the steps on one side to stand at the center in front of the ring so everyone could see them.
    The mayor was as slovenly as his house. His thinning brown hair lay in a greasy wave over his shiny forehead, showing as much gray as his stubbly chin. His button-up shirt may have been white once, but it was gray now, except for yellow circles, which were revealed when he raised his arms to get the crowd’s attention.
    “Quiet down, gentlemen!” the mayor screamed. “Quiet down!”
    Gradually, the roar died to a low rumble, and the hundreds of men on the gym floor all turned their faces to look at the three women. Ellie despised the tremble in her hands. Clenching them didn’t quite control it. She searched the faces in the crowd, praying to see Taye’s among them, but he wasn’t here. She tried to control her speeding heart.
    Oh, God, why isn’t he here ?
    “The preliminary fights