“Here they are, Alice,” Nate said menacingly. “Come and get them.”
Alice didn’t move. He didn’t have a gun. If he did, she didn’t see it. He wasn’t pointing one at the children. He was just holding them against him, one with each arm.
“Nathan, you have lost your senses. Why are you doing this? What has happened to you?”
“I’ve lost my senses?” Nathan snarled. “You are getting close to the man who killed our sister and I’m the one who’s lost his senses? You have betrayed this family, Alice. You have betrayed us with your love for that man.”
Alice felt the blood run out of her face. “Adam did not kill our sister, Nathan. He didn’t have anything to do with it. Doc would have told us all if there was anything that could have stopped what happened.”
“I don’t believe that!” Nathan yelled. Alice looked at the children. They were staring at her, too afraid to move. She held out her arms.
“Come to me, children,” she said softly.
When they made an attempt to move, Nathan pulled them back roughly. “I don’t think so. Aunt Alice has to come and get you. That’s how this works.”
Alice looked at her brother closely. “Nathan, think about what you’re doing. You can’t continue on like this. Are you going to hurt me? Are you really going to hurt me?”
“You betrayed our family.”
“You are hurting those children. Let them come to me. They’ve done nothing to you.”
“I want you to come get them.” Nate responded in a taunting voice.
“Nathan…” Alice tried to stay calm. She thought if she could show that she was calm and in control, the children would be less scared. She could see Riley visibly shaking and Max, normally so confident and strong, looked like a weak little boy about to fall to the ground crying. Tears streamed down Riley’s face.
“Aunt Alice…” she said weakly.
“Yes, call to your Aunt Alice, Riley.”
“Nathan, those are Holly’s children. You are scaring Holly’s children. How can you do that?”
“You don’t get to say her name!” Nathan said, suddenly enraged. “You don’t get to talk about her anymore! You have become part of the problem.”
Alice shook her head. “Nathan, please. I’m begging you. Let the children go. Please let them go.”
“I don’t want to. I’m not going to. Their daddy is gonna come for them and then I will have him where I want him.”
“What do you mean? What are you going to do to Adam?”
“He needs to know what pain I’m in. He needs to know what he’s done!”
“Adam is not responsible for our sister’s death! You cannot keep blaming him for something he had no control of!”
“Do you know what it feels like,” Nathan growled. “To listen to you defending that murderer? Do you know how it feels to know that you couldn’t save your sister from a monster like him and now your other sister is falling into the same trap?”
Alice shook her head. “You’re wrong, Nate. You’ve got this all wrong. You can’t hold these children hostage to make Adam feel pain. He already feels pain. His heart was broken just like ours. You can’t do this. You can’t keep doing this. Let Max and Riley go. Let them go, Nathan.”
“I’ll let them go when you come over here.”
Fear gripped Alice. She would do anything to save the children. How did she know that he wouldn’t hurt them in the process of getting her? Or that his intentions weren't to harm all three of them and wait for Adam to find them so he could kill him?
She took a step closer. Nathan smiled. She didn’t like the look of that smile. As she got closer, she noticed he was, in fact, carrying a gun in his belt. She saw the handle of the pistol shining in the sunlight. It was pressed against Max’s shoulder blade.
She took another step toward him. “Please, Nate. Don’t hurt them. Let them go. I’ll come over to you if you let them go.”
“Not going to happen, my dear,” Nathan said, shaking his head. “You need to come closer so that I can reach you. Someone is going to pay for Holly’s death. If it isn’t Adam, it will be you.”
Alice swallowed and fought against her fear. “I am your sister,” she whispered.
“What? I can’t hear you when you whisper!” Nathan said angrily.
Alice let her tears fall. The children were already scared. She could no longer keep up a brave front. “I am your sister! How can you do this?”
“You have betrayed this family by befriending that murderer!”
“Stop it!” Alice covered her ears. “He is not a murderer. You should not say such things in front of his children! You don’t realize what you’re doing! You have lost your mind! Think of mama and papa! They wouldn’t want you to do this. They would not want you to do this!”
Alice had a sudden thought and it gave her courage. Adam wasn’t going to stay back there with Scott. There was no way Scott would have overtaken Adam. He would find her soon. He would save her and the children. She was sure of it.
She dropped her arms to her sides and took another step toward Nathan.
“Aunt Alice, be careful,” Riley’s soft voice broke through the quiet, sending sharp pains through Alice. She looked down at the little girl.
“Don’t cry, darling,” she said. “Uncle Nate isn’t going to hurt you. He isn’t going to hurt anyone. He’s just sad because your mama isn’t here with us anymore.”
“He says he’s gonna hurt daddy,” Riley sniffed emphatically, blinking the tears from her eyes. She had both of her small hands up on Nathan’s arm where he was holding her to his side. “Don’t let him hurt daddy, Aunt Alice.”
“I’m afraid she doesn’t have any control over that, now does she?” Nathan retorted, never taking his eyes from Alice’s face. Alice didn’t look back at him. She moved her eyes from Max to Riley, trying to decide what she wanted to do. If she went to him, there was a chance he wouldn’t let them go. But how could he not let them go if he was to grab her?
If she could just stall him, it would give Adam enough time to find her.
She gathered all her courage and shouted at Nathan. “Let them go! Let them go!” She hoped she was loud enough for Adam to hear her. Someone had to come and save them. She had only a thin nightgown on. She looked up at Nathan, noticing for the first time that he was swaying slightly and his eyes looked foggy. His breathing was becoming ragged. He was drunk.
“Nathan, if you keep doing this, you will get hurt. I don’t want you to be hurt. I don’t want any of us to be hurt. We are family! We are all family! Adam is part of our family, too! He didn’t kill Holly! No one did! It was her time! God wanted another angel! That’s the way I think about it. That’s how you should think about it!”
“God wanted another angel??” Nathan spat the words out. His hands tightened on the children and they squirmed, making him grip them tighter. “Don’t you move!” He said to them.
“Stop! Stop hurting them! They didn’t do anything to you! They are just little ones. Stop hurting them.”
She saw a fleeting look of regret pass over his face. He loosened his grip but held them close so they could not get away. Where was Adam? She wanted desperately to look over her shoulder to see if he was coming but didn’t dare. If Nate knew he was close by, there was no telling what he would do.
“Nate. If I promise not to speak to Adam ever again, will you let the children go? Can we all go home?”
Nathan snorted. “You think I’m going to fall for that? I’ve seen the way you look at him. You looked at him with that face the day our sister was put in the ground.”
Alice shook her head. “You are mistaken.”
“You’ve been pining for him for a long time, Alice. I know it. Holly knew it. You betrayed her and the family before she was even in the ground. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if…”
“Don’t you say it!” Alice exclaimed in a warning tone. “Don’t you dare! Not in front of the children. You are filling their heads with lie
s. You shut your mouth!”
“Oh, you finally getting angry? Maybe now you know how I feel!” Nathan yelled back.
When Adam’s voice came from behind her, Alice felt a sweeping sense of relief. Her shoulders sagged and she let out a deep sigh.
“Let my children go, Nathan,” Adam said. “We will settle this like men.”
“Are you sure you can handle that, Adam?” Nathan growled. “You couldn’t handle keeping my sister alive, could you?”
Alice turned to look at Adam. He didn’t look back. His eyes never left Nathan’s face. She could see how angry he was.
“Let my children go. Now.” He finally moved his eyes to Alice. “Go get them, Alice.”
Without hesitation, Alice took the remaining steps to her brother, who shoved the children toward her before she got to him. She grabbed them and pulled them away from the scene. Max hung back, wanting to see what happened but Riley buried her face in Alice’s gown, refusing to watch. She held on to both of them, not really wanting to watch what was going to happen either.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
NATHAN AND ADAM SQUARE OFF
NATHAN AND ADAM SQUARE OFF
Adam stared at Nathan for a moment, watching to see if he drew his gun. He could see Nathan had been drinking. He could see the pain on the man’s face. His heart went out to his brother-in-law and his anger dissipated. He licked his lips.
“Nathan,” he said as gently as he could. “Think about what you’re doing. This isn’t right and you know it.”
“You killed my sister!” Nathan bellowed, moving his hand to his gun. Adam put both hands up.
“I didn’t kill her, Nate. Listen to me. You are drunk. You are in pain. Don’t do this. Put your gun aside. If you want to fight me, we can fight. But I won’t draw my gun on you. You know I can draw faster. In your state, you will surely miss. I won’t. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want this. I’ll fight you but I won’t pull my gun on you.”
Nathan snorted. “It would be a mistake for you not to.”
“No. Don’t do it.”
“Don’t do it, Nate!” Alice cried out. “I lost Holly. I don’t want to lose you! You’re my brother! Please don’t do this!”
Nathan swayed on his feet. He hesitated. Adam watched him closely. Noises from the woods distracted all of them. Horses were arriving. The men who had come with Adam were riding up and surrounding them.
Adam put his hands up to them. “Stay back, men.” He called out to them. He saw Mark ride up alongside Alice and the children. He dismounted and held on to the reins while putting his other arm around Alice. Relief flooded his face for a moment before it turned to concern.
Nathan looked defeated. He looked back at Adam through droopy eyes. “Well, now you have your posse. You want them all to watch you die.”
Adam sighed. “Nate. You must listen to reason. Think about what it will do to my children. Your niece. Your nephew. Look at them. Look at your sister. Tell me then that you want them to see such a horrible thing. They just lost their mother. We must come to some kind of understanding. Please. Put your gun to the side. If you want to fight me, you can fight me without a weapon. If it gives you some relief, that’s what we will do. I can’t draw my gun. I can’t let my children see that. Moreover, if you do shoot me down, you know you will not leave here alive. One of these men will take your life. Is that what you want? You want your parents to lose two of their children in such a short time? You don’t. I know you. You don’t want that.”
“You know me?” Nathan’s voice raised in pitch. “You know me?”
Adam nodded. “I do. You’re a good man, Nate. You are. You don’t want to shoot me. You know I didn’t kill Holly. She had a medical condition. We didn’t know anything was… we didn’t know. You must realize that.”
Nathan unhooked his gun belt and removed it from his waist, tossing it to the side. He had tears running down his face but his anger was still boiling over. “You take off your gun. You tell these men not to shoot me.”
“They aren’t going to shoot you, Nate. No one is going to die here today.” Adam took off his gun belt and tossed it aside the way Nathan had done. He walked toward Nathan slowly, his hands outstretched. “No one has to be hurt anymore.”
When he reached Nathan, he was caught off guard by a punch to his jaw. He was knocked to the side and heard Alice and Riley scream. He lost his balance and fell to his knees. A second later, Nathan was on top of him. He grabbed Adam’s shoulders and turned him over. He began pummeling Adam with his fists. Adam lifted his arms and blocked the punches as best he could.
“Nathan, stop!” He heard Alice screaming. Riley was crying. He turned his head to see Mark coming into the clearing.
“Mark! Stay back!” He called out. The moment Nathan paused to gather his strength, Adam reached up and grasped him by both arms, shoving him off. He held on, rolling with Nathan over and over until he was the one on top. He held the man down. “Stop it, Nathan!”
“You are responsible!” Nathan cried out, his face a crumpled mess of pain. “You killed her!”
“You’ve got to stop this! You’ve got to stop blaming me! There was nothing I could do!”
Nathan screamed in rage and bucked up against Adam, knocking him back into the dust. Adam hit the ground hard, feeling a rock under him, sending a jolt of pain through his body. He cringed and rolled over onto his side. Nathan was on his feet faster than Adam would have expected and landed a kick to Adam’s gut. All the air went out of Adam but he managed to roll away from Nathan, who’d already kicked out at him again. The kick missed and Nathan fell flat on his back. Adam pushed himself to his feet and limped toward Nathan.
“Listen to me, Nate. Listen to me.”
“No!” Nathan was on his feet, coming at him again. Adam braced himself for impact. The punch Nathan landed was in almost the exact same spot as the kick had been. Adam felt the breath leave his body once again. He tried to recover as fast as he could, amazed that Nathan could be so effective in his drunken state.
“I know you’re angry, Nathan but you have to stop. This isn’t getting us anywhere.” He refused to let himself be angry at the man. Despite everything, Nathan was in a weaker mental state than Adam and he couldn’t bring himself to hurt him further.
“Nathan, stop! Stop!” Alice screamed out. Her words had some effect on Nathan. He stopped and stood in front of Adam, heaving as Adam gulped for air. It only took a few seconds before Adam was back to his senses.
He lifted one hand up, pressing the other one into his stomach. “Nathan. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Nathan stared at him. His fists were clenched at his sides. He looked ready to land many more blows on Adam but instead he stood, as if frozen. After what seemed like an eternity, his shoulders relaxed and his hands relaxed.
He looked around him at the men, at Alice and the children. His eyes moved back to Adam, who was looking at him, still holding his hand up in the air. Adam took a step back, in case Nathan wanted to come at him again.
He breathed a sigh of relief when Nathan dropped to his hands and knees, hanging his head. He sobbed, his tears dropping into the dirt. He screamed in a rage, grabbing at the dirt with his large fingers.
Mark had already left Alice behind and was by Adam’s side within moments. He put his arm around his friend and helped him to where she was standing with the children. As soon as he was close enough, she grabbed him and pulled him to her in a tight embrace.
“Oh, Adam, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” She cried, burying her face in his chest. He held her to him.
“Don’t be sorry, Alice. None of this is your fault. Don’t be sorry.” He murmured in her ear. He pushed her away gently and looked down in her eyes. “Go to your brother. He needs you.”
She blinked through her tears and nodded. “All right, Adam.”
As she went to Nathan, Adam leaned down and pulled both his children into his arms. He planted kisses on their cheeks and held them so tightly, he w
as sure they might not be able to breathe.
Alice bent over Nathan, putting her arms around his shoulders. She held him as he cried, knowing the men who had come with Adam were slowly surrounding her brother. One of them picked up Nathan’s gun belt and held it firmly in his hand, walking over to where Adam was, standing to the side, waiting patiently.
Nathan stopped his heavy sobbing, swiped at his wet face and sat back. Alice wrapped him in her arms and held him to her. He lifted both arms and put them around her.
“Ally,” he murmured so softly she could barely hear him. “Ally.”
Alice looked up at the men around her and her brother. “What are you going to do?” She asked Bud, who was the closest one. He shook his head.
“We’re not gonna hurt him, Alice. However, we have to take him to the sheriff. He has to answer for what he’s done.”
“You won’t hurt him?” Her tears came swiftly. She didn’t want to let go of Nathan, who had become silent. She wondered for a moment if he’d passed out.
Bud shook his head again and held out one hand to her. “We won’t hurt him as long as he behaves himself. I swear it.”
Alice pulled away from Nathan and looked in his wet eyes. “Behave yourself, Nathan. For me?”
Nathan blinked at her. He nodded. “Ally,” he said. “Ally.”
One of the men handed Alice a handkerchief and she took it, wiping the tears, sweat, and dirt from her brother’s face. “It’s going to be all right, Nathan. We’re going to be all right.”
She backed away from him when Bud and one of the other men took his arms and helped him to his feet.
“Come on, brother,” Bud said in a low voice. “Come on.”
As they led him to one of the horses, Alice moved to stand with Adam and the children. They watched the men help Nathan onto the horse.
“He looks so miserable,” Alice said, more tears clogging her voice. She looked up at Adam. He looked miserable, too. He moved his eyes down to hers. His sorrow was clear.
“I know he does, Alice. I wish I could change that. I wish we could go back to a month ago or two months ago and could change what’s happened here. But he’ll get better. He didn’t kill anyone. He just scared us all.”
Handsome Widower’s Second Chance (Family of Love Series) (A Western Romance Story) Page 18
