Chase the Wind (Apache Runaway Book 2)
Page 18
Beth glanced at the pistol in her father’s hand, at the rage in his eyes. The finger wrapped around the trigger was white and trembling. “Yes, please, go.” Better he should leave her than be killed in front of her very eyes.
She saw a muscle twitch in his jaw; then, head high, he took up the reins of his horse and swung into the saddle. He looked at her for one long moment, then clucked softly to the horse.
He looked back at her only once, and then he urged the roan into a gallop.
She watched until he was lost in a haze of dust, and then she climbed into the carriage beside her mother.
* * * * *
Dusty was sitting on the front porch reading the newspaper when he heard the hoof beats pounding down the road. Glancing over the top of the paper, at first all he saw was a cloud of dust. He recognized the horse immediately, and then, catching a glimpse of the rider’s face, he stood up.
They were back.
Chase reined his horse to a walk as he neared the house. He could see Dusty standing on the porch, and he had a sudden desire to turn tail and run. What could he say to his brother, to this man he hardly knew? How could he explain the attraction he felt for Beth? How could he expect Dusty or understand, or forgive?
Reining his horse to a halt, he met his brother’s gaze. And waited.
Tension strung out between them, might have gone on forever if Jenny hadn’t stepped onto the porch.
“Chase!” she exclaimed. She ran down the stairs. “I’m so glad you’re home.”
Not knowing what to say, Chase dismounted and tossed the reins over the hitch rack.
“You’re all right?” Jenny asked. Her gaze, filled with a mother’s concern, ran over him. “Your wound healed all right?”
“I am fine.”
“Come in and sit down.” She reached for his arm, then withdrew her hand, afraid he might not welcome her touch. “We’ve got so much to talk about.”
Chase met Dusty’s gaze. “Yes,” he said. “We have a lot to talk about.”
He followed his mother inside, aware of Dusty entering the house behind him.
“I’ll make some coffee,” Jenny said.
Chase and Dusty followed her into the kitchen. Dusty sat down at the big oak table and after a moment, Chase sat down across from him.
“Where’s Beth?” They were the first words Dusty had spoken and they emerged from his throat as though torn.
“With her parents.”
Dusty looked surprised.
Jenny placed three cups of coffee on the table, then sat down between her two sons. She could feel the tension radiating from Dusty, feel Chase’s unease. She wanted to know everything that had happened since Chase left town, but she wasn’t sure where to start.
Dusty went right to the heart of what was bothering him.
“Where did you meet Beth?”
“Near the river.”
“When? How long have you known her?”
“We met at the river for the first time.”
“And she ran away with you?”
Chase nodded.
“Why?”
Chase stared into his coffee cup, as if he hoped to find the answers somewhere inside. “I cannot explain it to you. I looked at her, and…I did not know she was yours.”
“So, you admit she’s my girl and you ran off with her!” Dusty ran a hand through his hair. “Dammit, how could you do such a thing?”
Chase looked up and met his brother’s gaze. “I did not know then. She didn’t tell me until later.”
Dusty stood up and began to pace the room. “I don’t understand.”
“I do,” Jenny said. “Sometimes it just takes one look, Dusty. That’s all. Just one look.”
“Dammit, I loved her. I asked her to marry me, and she ran off without so much as a goodbye! Ran off! Hah! She drugged me and broke him out of jail.”
“Dusty, calm down.”
Dusty came to a halt in mid-stride. Slowly, he turned to face his father, who had just come in the back door. “I will not calm down. I have every right to be angry. If he wasn’t my brother, I’d call him out.”
Ryder closed the door behind him. “I asked you to calm down. Now I’m telling you.”
Dusty took a deep breath, and for a moment, Chase thought he’d argue, but then, with a muttered oath, Dusty sat down, his arms crossed over his chest, his expression mutinous.
“I heard everything,” Ryder remarked. He sat down across from Jenny and reached for her hand. “Sounds to me like it’s your pride that’s hurt, not your heart.”
Dusty snorted softly.
“For a man with a broken heart, you turned to another mighty quick.”
“Rebecca’s just a friend.”
Ryder nodded. “Maybe, but she’d like to be more. And from the way I saw you kissing her one night when she was here keeping you company, it looked like you might feel the same.”
Dusty blushed from the roots of his hair to his toes. “One kiss doesn’t mean anything. I was lonely. She was willing…” He shrugged.
“So it didn’t mean anything?”
“All right, I like her. She’s a nice girl. But I don’t want to talk about Rebecca, I want to talk about Beth.”
“I think Beth’s made her choice.” Ryder looked at Chase. “Where is she?”
“Her father took her home.”
“What do you mean?”
“We were coming here when we met him on the road. He took Beth home.”
“And you let him?” Dusty asked, a sneer in his voice.
“He pulled a gun on me.”
“A gun!” Jenny exclaimed.
Chase nodded. “He said she was not old enough to marry without his permission, and that he would have our wedding a…” He searched for the word. “Annulled.”
“You got married!” Dusty stared at Chase, his green eyes dark with anger and disbelief.
“In the Apache way.”
Ryder grunted softly. “Last time I looked, that still wasn’t considered legal in these parts.”
“She is my woman,” Chase said. “I will not let her go.”
“Hold on now,” Ryder admonished. “No sense going off half-cocked. Dusty, when’s Beth’s birthday?”
“Sometime in December. The fifteenth, I think.”
“That’s a little less than five months away. Until then, maybe we’d better just sit tight and let things cool off.”
“She is my wife,” Chase said, biting off each word. “I do not wish to wait a few months.”
Ryder looked at Jenny and grinned. Ah, the impatience of youth! “So, what do you want to do? Kidnap her and carry her off again? Have her father hate you, hunt you down, charge you with kidnapping a minor?”
“She is mine,” Chase said stubbornly.
“Chase, please try to reasonable,” Jenny urged. She placed her free hand over his. “Ralph Johnson is a very powerful man. He has a lot of money, and a lot of influence. And he’s Beth’s father. Wouldn’t you rather have all this settled peacefully?”
“Your mother’s right. Why not give it a few days? Give Beth a chance to explain things to her father. Maybe he’ll cool off when he’s had a chance to think.”
“Time will not change what I am. No matter what Beth says, no matter how hard she argues, he will never accept me as his son.”
And that, Ryder mused, just about summed it up.
Chapter Nineteen
Beth paced her room, growing more agitated by the moment. Knowing the door was locked, she turned the handle anyway, then shook it in frustration.
When they had reached home, she had tried to talk to her mother, tried to reason with her father, but to no avail. Her father had dragged her to her room and locked her inside.
A short time later, her mother had unlocked the door and informed Beth that she was to bathe and dress for dinner.
And now she paced, waiting, wondering. Where was Chase? Had he gone to see his mother? Would he come after her? Would her father really shoot
him if he did?
She’d known it would be a mistake to come back here. Her father would never let her marry Chase, not in a million years.
The sound of a key turning in the lock stilled her thoughts.
“Dinner is ready, Miss Elizabeth.”
“Thank you, Dottie.”
With a slight bow, the maid turned away.
It was in Beth’s mind to sulk, to refuse to eat, but she knew it wouldn’t do her any good. It never had.
A quick look in the mirror assured her that her hair was neatly combed. Smoothing the front of her dress, she left the room and went downstairs. Into the lion’s den, she thought ruefully.
Her parents were already seated. Wordlessly, she took her usual place, spread her napkin in her lap, bowed her head while her father said grace.
“Lord, we thank you for this food, and for the return of our daughter. We pray that she will forget her foolishness and the shame she has brought upon us. Amen.”
“There’s to be a party at the Carter’s on Friday,” Theda Johnson remarked. “We’ve all been invited.”
“I don’t wish to go.”
“You will go,” Ralph Johnson said, his voice firm yet mild. “Tomorrow you will go shopping with your mother and buy a new dress. Something white.”
“White, father?” Beth regarded her father with wry amusement. Did he think that, by clothing her in a white gown, people would be foolish enough to think she was still young and innocent, that she had run away with a man and nothing had happened between them?
“White. Lester Harbaugh has asked for your hand in marriage, and I have accepted for you.”
“Accepted! But I’ve never even met the man.”
“That will be remedied. As it happens, Lester is coming out here the first of October. If your mother and I approve of him, and he approves of you, the wedding will take place the first Saturday in December. That’s the third, I believe.”
“And what about me? What if I don’t approve of him?”
“You have no say in the matter.”
“It’s my life!”
“And I am your father. And you will do as I say.”
“What about Ernest Toombs?” Beth asked, thinking that, if she was to be forced into marrying someone, she would at least like to marry a man her own age.
“After the shameful way you’ve behaved, he is no longer interested in marrying you.”
Theda Johnson shrugged. “It’s just as well. Lester is a much better match.”
“But he’s so old. And he’s got three children.”
“He’ll make you a good husband. You’re far too headstrong for your own good. You need an older man to look after you.”
“I won’t do it!”
“You will,” Ralph Johnson said, his voice smug. “If you oppose me in this, I shall send you to school at the convent in New Mexico.”
“Convent! We’re not even Catholic.”
“A minor point, if one can pay the price.”
“I don’t believe this. You don’t care anything about me, about my happiness.”
“Of course we do, dear,” Theda Johnson said. “You’ll thank us for it later.”
Beth groaned softly. How often had she heard those words in the past? A hundred times? A thousand? Had she ever felt like thanking them for interfering in her life? Never! Well, maybe once or twice, but not in this. She loved Chase. She would never be happy with anyone else, especially not with a man old enough to be her father.
Her appetite ruined, she pushed her plate away.
“Finished, dear? Perhaps you should go to bed, then. You need your rest.”
“Yes, bed,” Beth said. Folding her napkin, she placed it on the table and stood up. “Good night, Mother. Father.”
“Good night, Elizabeth.”
“Good night, dear.” Theda Johnson watched her daughter leave the room, unable to ignore the tiny voice in the back of her mind that wondered if they were doing the right thing.
* * * * *
Chase stood at the window, staring out into the darkness. His mother had insisted he stay at the ranch, though he had been reluctant to do so. He knew Dusty didn’t want him here. He had seen the surprise in his brother’s eyes, the surprise and the disapproval. The animosity between them was almost tangible. Try as he might, he couldn’t help but feel guilty about Beth. And yet he wouldn’t give her up. Not for Dusty. Not for anyone. She was his, for now and for always.
A movement in the darkness caught his eye. It was Ryder, standing near one of the corrals. Chase watched him a moment, then left the house.
Ryder whirled around at the sound of footsteps coming up behind him. He grinned ruefully when he recognized Chase. It had been over twenty years since he hung up his guns, he mused, and he still reacted to people coming up behind him.
“You’re up late,” Ryder remarked. Leaning back against the corral, he crossed his arms over his chest.
“So are you.”
Ryder nodded. “Pretty night.”
Chase grunted softly, remembering the warm summer nights he had spent with the People, the buffalo hunts, the feasts, the dances. So many good memories, so many people he would never see again.
“Something on your mind?” Ryder asked.
“I think I should not stay here. This is Dusty’s home, and he does not want me here.”
“Be that as it may, it’s your mother’s home, too, and she wants you here. And so do I.”
Chase swallowed against the sudden tightness in his throat. He didn’t really want to leave. He wanted a chance to get to know his mother. And he wanted to get to know Ryder Fallon.
“You’ve got as much right to be here as Dusty,” Ryder remarked. “Maybe more.”
“I cannot blame him for hating me.”
“Yeah, well, that might be true. On the other hand, it was Beth’s decision. I never thought they were right for each other.” Ryder studied Chase for a moment. “But I think the two of you will make it.”
“Not if her father has anything to say about it,” Chase replied bitterly.
“Can’t argue with that.”
“Beth did not want to come home. She wanted us to go away, but I said no. I told her I was tired of running. I think now I should have listened to her.”
“It probably would have been the easiest thing to do,” Ryder agreed, “but that don’t make it the right thing.”
“Her father will not let me see her.”
“I might be able to get a message to her.”
“You would do that?”
“Hate to stand in the way of true love.”
“You are a good man, Ryder Fallon. I think my mother was wise to marry you.”
Grinning, Ryder clapped Chase on the shoulder. “I think so, too.”
Chase laughed, surprised at how good it felt, at how good he felt. For the first time since returning to Twin Rivers, he thought things might work out for the best after all.
* * * * *
Sunday morning, Beth sat between her parents in church. As always, they had arrived early. As always, they sat in the right front pew that her father considered as his.
Hands folded in her lap, Beth stared at the church’s single stained-glass window. It was situated above the pulpit and depicted several biblical scenes interwoven in bright rainbow hues. Her favorite scene was Adam and Eve in the garden, surrounded by flowers and trees. She remembered the days she had spent with Chase in the canyon. She had felt like Eve then, alone in a beautiful place with the man she loved.
Gradually, the church filled with people and the service began. Standing to sing the opening hymn, she glanced across the aisle, felt her heartbeat increase when she saw Chase looking back at her. She smiled for the first time in days as she felt the warmth of his gaze wash over her.
The music faded into the background and she was aware of nothing but Chase, of the love in his eyes. He smiled at her, that wonderful smile that made her believe everything would be all right.
Sh
e glanced up at her father when he tugged on her arm. Only then did she realize that the hymn was over and everyone was sitting down.
She quickly sat down and folded her hands in her lap again.
She had no idea what the minister said that day. She was aware of nothing but Chase sitting across the aisle. Occasionally, she leaned forward a little, just enough so she could see him. He was still here, she thought, still in town. One night he’d come for her, and she’d be ready.
When the service was over, she followed her parents outside, stood beside them while they conversed with other members of the congregation.
Ryder and Jenny Fallon stood nearby, talking to Mace Carson. Chase stood behind his mother, saying nothing. Beth noticed that most of Reverend Cleghorne’s flock avoided speaking to Chase, though he received numerous speculative glances.
Surprised, Beth watched Ryder approach her father. “Good morning, Ralph,” Ryder said. “Mrs. Johnson. Beth.”
“Good morning, Ryder,” her father replied. “Something I can do for you?”
“No, I just came by to make sure Beth is all right.”
“She’s fine.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I want to apologize for any worry that my family has caused you.”
“No harm done,” Ralph Johnson said stiffly.
“I’m glad. Good day to you, then,” Ryder said. He nodded at Ralph and Theda Johnson, then took Beth’s hand in both of his. “I’m glad you’re back,” he said, squeezing her hand.
“Thank you,” Beth replied. Slowly, she drew her hand from his, then slid her hand into the pocket of her skirt. “Good day to you.”
“And you.”
“He has a lot of nerve,” Theda Johnson said indignantly.
“Well, what can you expect of his kind?” Ralph replied. “Come, Beth, let’s go home.”
“Yes, Father,” she replied.
At home, she pleaded a headache and went upstairs to lie down. In her room, she withdrew the small piece of paper from her pocket.
Beth, I will be waiting for you tonight, at the river where we met. Come, if you can. If not, I will wait for you every night until you can get away. I love you. Chase.
She stared at the words, written in a bold hand. Chase had learned the rudiments of reading and writing, but not enough to compose this note. Tears stung her eyes as she realized that Ryder Fallon must have written the note for Chase. The fact that he was an accomplice indicated approval. It lifted her spirits to think that Chase’s family, at least, were on their side.