An Unexpected Dilemma Bride_Family of Love Series_A Western Romance Story

by Elliee Atkinson

  “Evil comes in all forms, Uncle,” Joshua said. “We gotta find her. Gerald said it’s not real far, but it’s hard to find. It’s like a little shack on the side of a cliff and there’s a stream on the other side.

  “Where is the shack?”

  Joshua told the two men what Gerald had told him. They turned their horses to go back out to the main road, nudging their horses to go faster.

  “Gerald said if we go too fast, we’ll miss it. So we gotta look close.”

  “If she went down it recently, it should have fresh tracks,” Nate said. “It’s been raining, so the wet grass will be pressed down.”

  Joshua nodded. “Good thinking. That’s what we need to look for.”

  They went slowly, their eyes focused on the ground on either side of the road.

  Nate called to them finally, gesturing with his hand. “I think this is the trail. It looks like one to me.”

  Joshua and Adam got close enough to look past him at the ground, where distinct wagon wheel tracks could be seen in the grass. “Look at that. What did I tell ya? That’s what we were looking for. Unless you know of some kind of animal that has wheels for feet?”

  The two men shook their heads soberly. “Nope.”

  “I think you have found the trail, Nate. Thank you.” Joshua nodded at Nate, pushing his horse to go down the trail. “Let us see if we can get to Laura before something bad happens to her.”

  “Yes, sir,” Nate said, giving his friend a knowing look.

  Adam caught it and turned his eyes to Joshua. ”You know, Laura is a good woman. She’s going to need someone to lean on through all of this. Especially now. No telling how traumatized she’s gonna be. She’s gonna need a shoulder to cry on.”

  Joshua looked at his uncle, who was looking directly at him. “I know, Uncle Adam.”

  “You thinking about something like that, son?”

  Joshua chewed on his lip, thinking. She was a beautiful woman. He would like to get to know her better. He wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to ask her a million questions and memorize the answers so that he would never forget anything about her.

  “It’s something I’m considering. But I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m hoping she’s safe right now. I hope we don’t have to go too far back on this trail to find her. I don’t know how anyone can build a house out here, even if it is a shack. Living out here would be too isolated.”

  “I wouldn’t want to,” Nate admitted. “I get lonely sometimes, and that’s when people are around. I can’t imagine never wanting people around. It would be painful. I wouldn’t do it.”

  “I wouldn’t, either,” Adam said. “But I come from a lifetime of being with a woman I love, having children, losing one wife and gaining another, and now I have a family. I have been blessed with a good life. I would never want to give that up for isolation.”

  “Something must have really made this old man want to retreat from everything,” Nate said, noticing the remoteness that surrounded them. “Something evil must have happened in his life.”

  Nate stopped. He stared at the area in front of him and turned in his saddle to look at his companions. “Look there. See that opening? And I hear water. That must be the stream. We’re going in the right direction.”

  “I hear the water, too,” Adam said. He looked at Joshua. “Do you?”

  Joshua listened closely. After a moment, he distinctly heard the rippling of water. It wouldn’t prove to be a large body of water, but it was enough to send its gentle sound through the woods for them to hear. “I hear it,” he confirmed.

  “We should probably be quick but quiet,” Nate said, lowering his voice suddenly. “If she hears us coming, there’s no telling what she’ll do.”

  They agreed with him and moved their horses through grassy spots as often as possible to make very little noise.

  “It’s got to be up here somewhere,” Nate whispered loudly. “Gerald said it was hard to find, but not impossible, and that once you found it, you would know.”

  “This is taking too long,” Joshua said anxiously. “We could already be too late. Poison acts quickly sometimes and whatever Cynthia got her hands on seems to work in just a few hours. She’s already had Laura that long.”

  “Don’t think like that,” Adam said from behind him. “Stay positive. No matter what, we will stop Cynthia. We’ll get her. Laura will be fine. You just keep thinking that and believing it. This is almost over. We’re gonna bring that evil woman to justice.”

  “I sure hope we are in time,” Nate said. “But we can only go so fast. Like I said, if she hears us, no telling what she’ll do to Laura.”

  “Look, let’s just keep going. We’re following the stream, that’s what…”

  Joshua put out his hand and stopped Nate. The three of them came to a halt, Nate and Adam staring at Joshua’s profile. His eyes were intense as they peered through the sparse trees ahead. He nodded once in the direction he was looking, prompting both of his companions to look.

  Nate inhaled sharply and held his breath. He almost urged his horse forward, but Joshua stopped him again. He shook his head. When he spoke, Nate could barely hear the words.

  “She’ll push Laura right off the cliff if you go barging in there. We gotta pull back. Wait here.”

  “If we wait, she might push her off anyway. We gotta save her!”

  Joshua grinned slightly. “I thought I was the one panicking about Laura? We gotta stay back here.”

  He turned and moved away from the spot just enough to hide his horse behind a large oak tree. He dismounted and crept on quiet feet back to where he had been. Adam and Nate followed his lead.

  You can’t get away with this, Cynthia,” Laura said softly. She almost had her hands free. One wrist was sliding through the cloth, which had become wet with sweat. “Please stop and think first.”

  “No. I have to make a decision.” She turned to look at the shack behind her and then moved her head to look over the cliff. “Which one?”

  “Why do you keep looking at that shack? What’s in there?”

  Cynthia’s eyes twinkled when she looked at Laura. She smiled wide. “I have everything I need to set it on fire. I can do that. I can do it with you in it.”

  “But you… You don’t want to die. I know you don’t.”

  Cynthia shrugged. “I might not die. I might just go on living. I wonder if Joshua would show me some attention then?”

  “Oh, Cynthia, I can’t believe…”

  “You know…” Cynthia pressed her lips together and looked Laura straight in the eyes. She grabbed both of Laura’s arms at the shoulders, making Laura tense up with fear. Her hand was almost free. She couldn’t let Cynthia find out before she was ready. “I’m getting so tired of hearing you say my name. I hate the way you say it. Cynthia,” she sneered, mocking Laura.

  “I’m beginning to think it might be best to burn the shack down. You do realize, my dear Laura,” Cynthia said in a taunting voice. “That even if they find the shack, and I can’t imagine anyone will come this far searching for you, it will be impossible to tell where the ashes of you end and the ashes of the cottage begin. The fire will bring down the ceiling and you’ll be crushed.”

  After a heart pounding moment, Cynthia suddenly grabbed Laura and pushed her toward the shack. Laura stumbled and almost fell on her face in the dirt. Cynthia grabbed her by the back of her hair, pulling her back up painfully. Laura cried out. She held her wrists together so that Cynthia wouldn’t see that she almost had one of her wrists out of the cloth binding.

  Cynthia pushed her into the shack. She tumbled to her knees, trying to keep her senses so that she could look around her. There were hay bales all around the sides of the shack, some cloth, and an unlit lantern. She looked up at Cynthia. “Oh please don’t do this,” she begged.

  “Keep talking and I’ll put another cloth in your mouth. This one I’ll soak with oil.”

  The very thought of what Cynthia was implying made
Laura’s skin crawl.

  At that moment, Cynthia leaned over and put a spark to the lantern. Laura felt her hand come loose from the restraint. She yanked on the ones around her ankles and vaulted herself in Cynthia’s direction. She landed on the woman, who fell backward, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open in surprise.

  The two women rolled around the floor as each one fought for control. Cynthia took advantage of Laura’s long hair, thrusting her fingers into the strands and yanking as many times as she could.

  Laura screamed when her foot kicked into the lantern and it fell over, spilling fiery oil on the loose hay Cynthia had scattered around the floor. She kicked at the fire with her feet, trying to get as far away from it as possible.

  Cynthia shrieked and bounced to her feet. She looked down at Laura and with a vicious kick to the face, rendered her friend unconscious on the floor of the burning shack.

  She spun around and ran out the door.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  BONDING WITH BURNED FEET

  BONDING WITH BURNED FEET

  Joshua went on high alert as soon as he saw Cynthia shove Laura into the shack. For a minute there, he’d thought the woman was going to push Laura over the cliff. He shuddered at the thought.

  As soon as the door closed behind the women, he turned to Nate, who was crouched right behind him. “We need to find a way to sneak up on that shack.”

  “At least we know Laura is alive.”

  Joshua nodded at Adam. “Yeah, that’s a relief, but she might not be for much longer. We gotta think of something, and fast. What would you do, Uncle Adam?”

  Adam looked at the wagon in front of the shack and scanned the land around the small building. “There’s a couple places we could use to hide and sneak up slowly. There’s only one window though, and it’s boarded up. We can’t see inside. Can’t see what she’s doing to Laura.”

  “You really didn’t have to say it like that, Uncle.”

  Adam looked at him apologetically. “I didn’t mean it to sound like that. She hasn’t been real violent so far. She’s a murderer, but she’s… never mind. Listen, you go over that way, Joshua. Over there by that big oak. I’ll stay here with the horses and you, Nate, you go around that way. If someone comes out the front and sees me, I’ll have you to cover me. We’ll get as close as we can to the house and bust in. She’ll never know what hit her.”

  “Okay, that sounds good, but we gotta do it soon,” Joshua said eagerly, un-holstering his gun and holding it with tight fingers.

  Adam shook his head. “Hold your horses, son. We gotta do this right. She could have a knife in there. Hell, she could have a gun for all we know. We gotta be careful. You don’t want to get Laura killed. You’ll never forgive yourself for that.”

  Joshua nodded. “All right.”

  “Slowly. Slowly, boys, just go around there, go on around…” Adam gestured to both of them to go in their separate directions. The younger men separated.

  Joshua wanted to run up to the front of the shack right then and kick in the door. That would be one heckuva surprise, wouldn’t it?

  His body jerked in its direction, but he stopped himself. Uncle Adam had said to stay away until the right moment. But when was the right moment? What if that moment was now?

  The temptation was strong. He was on edge, trying to be patient, and it had only been a few moments.

  At that moment, they heard Laura scream. The sound rang out through the air, making Joshua cringe. He decided it was time, whether his uncle thought so or not. Laura’s scream was followed by another shriek, but this one wasn’t Laura. It was Cynthia. He was running toward the shack when the door opened and Cynthia came barreling out. She almost ran into him, but managed to slip past him and run off into the woods, hissing at the three men like an angry snake.

  “I’m going after her.” Nate said quickly and kicked his horse into motion.

  Joshua got as close to the cottage as he could, holding up one hand to combat the heat. It seemed to be quite a lot of smoke. He didn’t know what was inside the building, but it was really flammable.

  “Be careful, Joshua! That roof is gonna come down!” Adam called out to him. He was near the shack, too, looking for an entrance that wouldn’t kill him.

  Laura regained consciousness only moments after Cynthia ran out of the building, slamming the door behind her. She realized what was happening and where she was. She could hear the voices of men outside calling to each other, despite the volume of the flames jumping around her.

  Sweat was pouring down her face and her lungs were filling with smoke. She got close to the ground and crawled to the door. She tried to lift her hand to reach the knob and turn it to free herself, but her arm wasn’t long enough.

  She faced the floor for a moment, trying to catch a clean breath. After a few short breaths in, she took a long one and held it. She jumped to her feet, turned the knob and pulled open the door, running out into Joshua’s arms.

  He caught her and held her up as she gasped for air. Her throat was burning. She wondered if she would ever be able to speak or swallow without pain again. “Oh Joshua. I am so glad you’re here. I… so glad… so glad.”

  “Me, too. I’m so glad you’re safe now.” He held her to his chest, moving to take her to the horses, where there would be a canteen of water. He pulled one from his saddle, uncorked it and gave it to her.

  “Drink this. Slowly now. You probably burned your throat.”

  She nodded. “I think so,” she whispered. She didn’t want to speak out loud. It might hurt too much. “Where is she? Did you get her?”

  “She took off. Nate went after her. She was on foot, so I’m sure she couldn’t have gotten far.”

  Adam was suddenly by their side, shaking his head. “Can’t believe he’s not back with her yet.” He looked at the shack as a tremendous cracking sound filled the air. “It’s coming down!” Adam held one hand up in their direction, as if it would protect them from being harmed.

  Joshua gave Laura an amused look, which she returned.

  The roof of the shack cracked down the middle and it fell in on itself. Two of the walls remained standing while the other two crumbled as if they were made of tiny rocks.

  “Oh, I’m so glad I wasn’t in there,” Laura said, watching it with fascinated eyes. “I’m so glad.”

  “I’m glad you weren’t, too, Laura.” Joshua put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her.

  She looked up at him. “You saved me.”

  Joshua shook his head. “Nope. I didn’t do a thing. You’re the one who busted out that door and into my arms. Not the other way around.”

  Laura and Adam both laughed.

  “Do you think he’s going to bring her back here? Should we go looking for her?”

  “You two stay here. I’ll go looking for her. I can’t see how she could get away from Nate on foot.”

  “I don’t know, but you’d think he would have been back by now.” He moved off into the woods in the direction they’d seen Cynthia go.

  “Let’s go over to the wagon, Joshua,” Laura said. “I want to sit down. My feet hurt. I think I stepped in the fire.”

  Joshua reached down and scooped her up, one arm under her knees and the other around her back. “I can help you with that.”

  “Oh my. Thank you,” Laura giggled.

  “You are welcome.” He carried her to the wagon and set her down so that she was sitting on the edge. He put one hand under one of her heels and lifted her foot so he could look at the bottom. She studied the pained look on his face.

  “Is it very bad?”

  He looked up at her. “I can’t believe you were standing on these. They are going to hurt for a while. You should have Doc Brown look at them as soon as he can.”

  She nodded. “I will.” He looked up at her, not saying anything for a moment. She blushed. “You look at me so strangely. What are you thinking about?”

  He dropped his head. “Just thinking about how pretty you
are. I don’t think there’s a single woman in Louisville that is as pretty as you are.”

  “That’s quite a compliment,” Laura smiled at him. “There’s a lot of ladies in Louisville. A lot more than here.”

  “I know. I’d be willing to bet it goes even further, maybe all of Nevada. All of America.” Suddenly, Joshua felt embarrassed. He looked away from her and out over the edge of the cliff. The land below looked like a huge puzzle, the pieces fitting together perfectly.

  “I can see why Cynthia came here to play. A bit dangerous yes, but so pretty.”

  Laura admired his profile. He was such a handsome man. “I’ll bet you attract a lot of ladies, don’t you, Joshua?”

  He looked at her without responding. He put both hands on the gate of the wagon and pulled himself up to sit next to her. “I reckon I can’t deny it. But I never do anything with them. I… I’m waiting for the right one.”

  “How will you know when the right one comes along?” she asked innocently, gazing up at him through her eyelashes.

  He looked away again. “I reckon that’s an unmistakable feeling, don’t you think?”

  “I do.”

  “I don’t… didn’t expect the right woman to come running out of the blue, unexpected, when I wasn’t even looking.”

  “Did that happen to you?”

  He smiled at her. “It did.”

  “When was that?”

  Joshua sighed. “The first time I saw you. I didn’t want to say anything. It still feels like it’s too soon to expect you to…open yourself up to another man.”

  Laura nodded. “I know what you mean, Joshua. I’ve thought about it, too. Everyone knew James. They know what a good man he was. I wouldn’t want to tarnish his memory or ruin my own reputation.”

  Joshua nodded, looking downhearted. He was afraid of that. She was going to reject him, or at least make him wait. He would if she asked him to. He would wait until the end of time for her. He had never met a woman that made him feel that way.

  Laura cringed and coughed. He picked up the canteen beside him and handed it to her, opening it first. She took several long swallows.