Jason was nowhere to be seen, so the ladies climbed up into the wagon. Alice had the horses going quickly and took a long way around the small town to get back to the main road that would take them out to the Collins’ home. Sarah realized she was taking a round-a-bout way to keep Jason guessing.
“Does he know where we live?” Alice asked in an apprehensive voice.
Sarah shook her head. “I don’t think so. I don’t know. Like I said yesterday, your friend Mark knew more about him than I ever did. It was strange that he would know so much.”
“Mark, yes, I should stop and see if he can come out, too. He would protect you from anything.”
“Mark barely knows me.”
Alice nodded and gave her a serious look. “I’m not saying he’s in love with you, Sarah. I’m just saying that he is the kind of man that will help out and protect a damsel in distress. Trust me, I know the man. He doesn’t have to love you to want to protect you. So, I’m not implying it’s anything more than it is.”
Sarah, who hadn’t even been thinking along those lines, just nodded and did not respond further. Alice was having a hard time controlling her temper and she didn’t want to inadvertently cause the woman to lose it.
They rode in silence from then on until they reached the house. Alice looked as though she was brooding. Her face was set in an angry look and she jumped down from the wagon with less than ladylike grace.
Sarah grabbed the two bags from the back of the wagon. Alice took the burlap sack from her and Sarah followed her inside. “I’m scared for my baby,” Sarah said, resting one hand on her flat belly after dropping the luggage trunk to the floor just inside the door. “I don’t want to be hurt. I don’t want it to be hurt either. I don’t know what to do.”
Alice shook her head. “You mustn’t think any negative thoughts, Sarah. Come sit on the couch by the window. We will wait for Adam and he will know what to do. He is a wise man. Maybe he’ll go have a talk with Jason.”
“That won’t do any good. Jason doesn’t listen to anyone. He can never keep a job for that reason. That’s why he works in the field and we sell as much produce as we can. We are barely making it on the stock we sell.”
“At least you have food on the table,” Alice said, sitting at the table in the middle of the room. “And clothes on your back. And a roof over your head.”
“Thanks to my mother,” Sarah nodded. “If not for her, we wouldn’t have a thing. Not one thing! He is not the best provider, I must say.”
“He is not good at much. It shocks me that it took you this long to understand that.”
“I had a lot of faith in him. I trusted him. He really told me so many different things while we were married it was hard for me to keep track of it all. It could be something as simple as whether or not he likes to take his carrots in beef stew or a batch on the side. He’s indecisive about everything.”
“From what Adam tells me, whenever he has been in town, he has not conducted himself as a gentleman in any way, not to the other men or the women he chanced to meet.”
“It sounds like no one likes my husband.” Sarah mumbled.
“You are his only advocate, Sarah,” Alice sniffed. “And I certainly hope you will not be one for much longer.”
Sarah shook her head. “I’m not his advocate. He has done enough to push me as far as he can. He can’t pull me back now.”
Alice looked at her. “We shall see, Sarah. “We’ll see.”
Sarah frowned. “Why do you say it like that, Alice?”
“I don’t mean to offend you, my dear,” Alice said, reaching across the table to pat Sarah’s hand. “I just worry because he is your husband and there are many reasons why a woman might love a man.”
Sarah shook her head vigorously. “He has not given me any reason to hold on to any of the love I might have felt for him. He has threatened to kill me and my baby. Those are fine reasons to leave him behind.”
“Yes, that is true.” Alice nodded. “I’m glad you are thinking that way.”
“I want my baby to be safe and sound. I want to be able to raise him in an environment that promotes happiness and laughter and love. Not anger and resentment. I don’t want my child raised around him. It may be his child, too, but he is not good material for being a daddy.”
“Having a child around might change his attitude,” Alice said. “I’ve seen it happen before.”
“He doesn’t want it. If he’s threatening to kill it before it is even here, I’m not taking that kind of chance.”
Alice nodded. “That’s understandable.”
The sound of approaching horses made both ladies stand up.
“Adam was quick,” Alice said hurrying to the door. “I’m glad.”
She opened the door to see Jason jumping down from the wagon. She shrieked and slammed the door shut. He was only a few feet away and bolting toward the door. Alice turned around in a panic, her eyes as wide as saucers.
Sarah looked terrified, realizing it was not Adam outside but Jason. “Oh, no,” she breathed.
“We must find something to put in front of the door, Sarah. Quick, bring me that chair.”
Sarah brought one of the heavy wooden chairs over and Alice propped it up in front of the door for long enough to grab the heavy side table and try to shove it in front of the door.
“Help me, Alice.”
Sarah was listening closely. “I don’t think he’s out front. Is your back door closed?”
Alice looked like she wanted to cry. “I didn’t check it when we came in. Go! Go!”
Sarah raced through the small living room and kitchen to the back door. She reached it just as Jason did and slammed it shut. He banged on it with his fists, yelling out to her.
“You’re my wife, Sarah! You will come home with me! You are not going to hide from me!”
“How did you know where I was?” She screamed through the door, not really wanting to know the answer, just wanting to distract him from doing any damage to the house. “Why should I come back with you? You want to kill me and my baby.”
“That’s our baby! And you’re my wife! I will make the decisions!”
“Not this time, Jason!” Sarah tried not to sound as frightened as she really was. Her hands were shaking and her legs felt weak. “I am going to make decisions for this baby and I don’t think you are fit to be its parent. I will do just fine without you!”
“You aren’t going anywhere, Sarah! I’ll take care of you both before you have a chance to raise it!”
“Stop it! Stop what you are doing!”
Alice had pushed the table in front of the other door and joined Sarah trying to keep him from coming through the back door. Both women pushed against it as hard as they could but he made them bounce with the force of his body against the other side.
The bouncing stopped and they pressed their bodies against the door to hold it closed. It got quiet. The women both looked at each other.
“Do you think he’s gone?” Alice whispered.
Sarah shook her head.
Both women looked at the window and then back at each other. Sarah swallowed hard.
“Keep pushing against the door.”
She moved slowly toward the window. Just as she peeked out to see if she could get a glimpse of where Jason had gone, he slammed hard against the door and Alice fell backward as it came open.
She scrambled to her feet as he came barreling through. He almost tripped on her but slammed into her instead, knocking her back against the counter. She caught herself against it and rushed toward him again, grabbing a pot from the stove. She swung it at him but he reached up easily and took it from her. She screamed as he spun her around and held her against him, one arm around the front of her shoulders under her neck and twisted one of her arms around her back. He turned to look at Sarah, who had frozen for a moment.
Sarah stepped toward him and he narrowed his eyes, menacingly. “Your friend is about to be very, very hurt.” He said. “I see she’s
in the same state as you are. You come with me or she will suffer the same fate.”
“Why do you want me to come with you?” Sarah instinctively lifted both hands, her palms toward him. “Where are you taking me?”
“I’m taking you back home where you belong. You will stay in the house. You won’t talk to anyone. You won’t see anyone.”
“You said you are going to kill me.”
“That will depend on your own behavior, won’t it?”
“Let her go. Leave her alone. She has done nothing to you.” Sarah pleaded with him, her eyes filled with tears. She could see the pain and fear on Alice’s face. “I’m so sorry, Alice, I’m so sorry.”
“Alice, is it? You’re Adam’s wife,” Jason said it in a tone that was as unfriendly as it could get. “Well, isn’t he lucky?”
“Adam will get you if you hurt her, Jason,” Sarah said. “If you hurt her, he’ll…”
“He won’t do anything to me.” Jason sniffed. “I’m not afraid of that old man. I can beat him in a fight, just like I do at cards.”
“He will be here any minute.” Sarah continued. “And then we’ll see who beats who.”
Her words had more impact than she’d expected. Jason tossed Alice to the side and came at her before she could react. He grabbed her by the back of the hair and yanked her toward the door.
“We’re going!” he yelled. As he passed the counter, Alice was getting up and he grabbed a long knife from the table and waved it at her. “You’re going to lose that little baby of yours if you take a step closer to me.”
Sarah shook her head, as best she could with Jason’s fingers gripped in her hair. “No, Alice, you stay here. Don’t get hurt any more than you already have. I’ll go. I’ll be fine.”
Jason snorted. “Yeah, Alice, she’ll be fine.”
Without letting go of her hair, Jason dragged Sarah out the door. She screamed as he yanked on her. Pain split through her head and she was sure he would pull out the bundle of hair he had in his hand.
“Shut up, woman!” Jason yelled in her ear, making her head ache more. “Shut up!”
He pulled her around the house. Alice did not follow them through the door but when they came around the front, she could see her friend had moved the table from the front door and was standing there watching, sobbing into her hands.
“I’ll be all right, Alice!” She called out. “I’ll be all right!”
“Sarah! Sarah!” Alice screamed, coming out onto the porch.
Before Jason shoved Sarah against the back of the wagon, he dropped the knife onto the ground. He reached down, lifted Sarah up by her legs, and threw her into the back of the wagon. Her head hit the wooden surface hard and everything went black.
CHAPTER EIGHT
JASON GETS RID OF SARAH
JASON GETS RID OF SARAH
Her head bumped against the hard wood in the back of the wagon, bringing her to consciousness. Her head hurt tremendously. When another bump made her hit it again, she winced and groaned, pain splitting through to the backs of her eyes. She wriggled around, trying to sit up but her hands had been tied behind her back. Her ankles were also bound.
New fear flowed through her. Her first thought was if her baby could possibly survive this. It’s still so small, she thought to herself. It must be safe for now. But what is Jason going to do to me?
Tears filled her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She blinked them away, concentrating on being angry instead of afraid. Fear would get her nowhere. Anger would give her the strength to fight back if she could. She looked over the side of the wagon but all she saw was passing trees and a bright blue sky. The sun was nearly in the middle above her. It was mid-day. She wondered how long she had been out.
She struggled to sit once more, pushing her elbows against the floor of the wagon and maneuvering to sit up.
“Awake, are ya?” She heard Jason’s voice and looked up at him, sitting in the bench seat of the wagon, his elbows rested on his knees, looking relaxed and comfortable. “Well, ya won’t be for long.”
“Jason, where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see. I’m not really sure what I plan to do yet but… we’ll see.”
Sarah fought against her tears again. “How can you do this? How can you do this to your own wife and baby?”
“That baby probably ain’t even mine. I don’t know what you do while I’m out. You could have every man in the town over for all I’m aware.”
“You know that isn’t true, Jason! I have always been loyal to you!”
Jason laughed. Sarah thought it was strange how amused and happy the sound was.
“Loyalty means nothing to me. You haven’t kept your promise and that’s all I need to know.”
“What promise?” Sarah was confused, thinking back to a promise she might have made.
“You said no babies. You said you wouldn’t get pregnant. I don’t want no babies.”
“I didn’t promise you that!” Sarah said boldly, finally able to sit up and press her back against the side of the wagon. “I can’t promise something like that. It isn’t my fault. It’s nothing I caused.”
“You did it and you’ll pay for it.”
“You’re being unreasonable, Jason. This is your baby, too! You said so yourself! If you would just give it a chance, you might even find you like it.” She said the words without believing them herself. She knew he wouldn’t believe them either. He laughed again.
“After the way my pappy was, I don’t want no kids around to deal with. He didn’t want me. I don’t want one of my own. Too much hassle. I don’t want to be responsible for anybody.”
“You should have said all these things before we got married.”
“So you wouldn’t have married me and I wouldn’t have gotten the house and the land? I don’t think that sounds very smart. But me, I’m a smart man, Sarah. I’m a very smart man. You want to think me stupid, but I ain’t.”
“I never said you were stupid. Where are you taking me? What are you going to do?”
“You keep running your mouth and you will see what I do.”
“I don’t want to live in another town. I don’t want to die out here. What are you doing? Where are you going?”
“We’re going up the mountain. We’re gonna have us a nice picnic, you and me. We’re gonna have one last picnic as husband and wife.”
The menacing words split through Sarah and her fear was renewed. He was planning to kill her.
“What are you going to do to me? Are you going to shoot me?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m gonna do yet. It’s gonna take some time for me to figure it out. Either way, we’re gonna have a picnic and then you’re gonna go on your merry way.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Wherever you end up will be too good for you.”
Sarah gave in to her tears. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t keep them from sliding down her cheeks. She lowered her head and rested it on her knees, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. Thoughts of the child growing inside her made it worse.
“Crying won’t get you anywhere,” Jason sneered. “You’re a weak, pathetic woman, you know that? I’ll be glad to be rid of you.”
“What will you tell people? You told Alice you were taking me home. She will question it. She will wonder.”
“You ain’t gonna see anybody. And she’ll keep her mouth shut if she knows what’s good for her. She’s got two kids other than that one in her belly to think about. Her sister’s kids, right? Yeah.”
“What about Adam? He won’t let you hurt his family.”
“Adam doesn’t even know what’s going on. I’ll get him before I get the rest.”
Anger split through Sarah and dried up her tears. “So you’re gonna kill everybody in Wickenburg? Are you completely insane? You’re going to kill everyone because you don’t want a baby? You have lost your mind! You have really lost your mind!”
Jason shrugged. “I’ll do wh
at I gotta do. I’ll tell them you ran away. They’ll believe that. They might even go looking for you. Wouldn’t that be a real friend? To go looking for you? But they won’t find you. They won’t ever find you.” He laughed and it was a sound that no longer sounded pleasant to Sarah. She looked around, hoping to place where they might be, but she had not been out of Wickenburg or gone up this mountain since she was a child.
“Someone will find me, Jason. Someone will find me.”
“You can repeat that as many times as you want but it ain’t gonna happen.”
The mountain side was suddenly steep and she lost her balance, falling to the side and rolling to the back of the wagon. Her body slammed up against the tailgate. She felt a burning sensation in the arm that made contact with the wood and she cried out.
Jason looked back at her and brought the horses to a halt. He jumped over the back and into the wagon, crossing quickly to grab at her. She pulled her legs back and kicked at him with them both, as they were tied together at the ankles. She made contact with his upper thighs but not quite high enough to get him in the groin. He roared in anger and reached out to grab her up by her arms. When he pulled on her, she felt a crack in one arm and screamed in pain. He picked up her and tossed her over the tailgate.
She hit the ground hard. Pain split through every muscle in her body. She managed to keep her head from hitting too hard. She rolled without wanting to and the rocks under her body jabbed at her. She could feel wet blood seeping through cuts all over her body. She looked back to see him jump down from the wagon and come toward her. She didn’t want him anywhere near her but she did want to get up off the ground and hoped he would pick her up.
He did pick her up and for a brief moment, she felt relief from some of the pain in her body. But instead of carrying her back to the wagon, he carried her to the side of the mountain path and looked down over the edge. The ravine there was steeper than the road and filled with bushes, trees, and large rocks.
“I guess this is as good a place as any.” He looked into her eyes and she stared back, terrified of what he was about to do.
An Uncivilized Romance Page 6
