The Bride Series (Omnibus Edition)

by Bittner, Rosanne

  She struggled to keep her senses about her. The man was crazy. She realized that now. She opened her eyes to meet his dark ones. “I’ll go get my things,” she said quietly. “We…can’t do anything here. Delores could come home any minute.”

  John grinned, bending down to kiss her once more and squeezing her breast. She could hardly believe he could talk about killing his own brother one minute, be beating on her the next, and then actually believe she would want to go with him and let him make love to her. But he seemed to think she meant it. He let go of her and helped her up. Danny stared at them both with puckered lips, not quite sure if his mommy was happy or sad.

  Marybeth pulled the front of her dress back over herself and licked at blood at the corner of her mouth. Her face hurt fiercely, and white welts that matched John’s finger marks were swelling on her cheek. “I have to change and dress Danny,” she told him, taking the boy’s hand.

  “Just hurry it up,” John told her.

  She led Danny into the bedroom and laid him on the bed, then took a scarf from a drawer and tied it around his waist and to a bedpost so the boy could not get away and possibly get hurt. She turned and glanced at Aaron’s rifle that sat in the corner of the room, left there for her and Delores’ protection when he was away. She took a deep breath for courage and picked it up, carrying it to the bedroom door. She cocked it and pointed it at John, who looked at her in surprise.

  “How could you think I would really go off with you? How could you think I would let a murderer raise Danny, or that I would really desert my new babies? You get out of here, John MacKinder, before I kill you!”

  His eyes looked as wild as a stalking bear. “You would not have the courage to shoot me,” he said.

  “You would be surprised at what I would do to anyone who would try to kill the man I love—to anyone who would threaten my babies! Get out of here—now!”

  She held the gun steadily, but he did not move.

  “You bitch,” he growled. “No woman points a gun at John MacKinder! No woman gives me orders! You lied to me! Bitch! Bitch! I never knew a woman like you! I hope Josh is dead, and I hope he died slowly!”

  He started toward her, and Marybeth pulled the trigger.

  His body whirled and crashed into a wall. Marybeth stood frozen, hardly believing what she had just done. She watched him get to his knees, then to his feet. She remembered Cap telling a story once about a bear that he had shot over and over before it would finally die. She knew that was the way it was for John MacKinder, and she prayed he would just leave. She wasn’t sure she had enough courage or hatred in her to keep shooting at him like he was some kind of animal; yet she realized that was exactly what he was.

  She cocked the rifle again, keeping it steady on him as he turned to face her, holding his arm. Blood poured over his hand and began dripping to the floor. “You…shot me,” he exclaimed, as though he could not believe it.

  “The next one will be right in your middle,” she told him calmly, inwardly realizing she had shot wildly the first time and could not really guarantee where the next bullet would go. She only prayed he would believe her. “Maybe it will settle in your belly, John MacKinder, and put you through the horrible suffering Josh went through. If you don’t want that for yourself, you’d better get out now!”

  He stood there shaking, holding his arm. “I will be back, only the next time I will not announce myself,” he hissed.

  Delores suddenly appeared at the door, her eyes widening at what she saw. She dropped her packages and ran and John stumbled toward the door. He looked at Marybeth once more in disbelief. “You’ll pay for this!” He ran out, and moments later Marybeth heard a horse ride off. Delores came running back with two men from the nearby blacksmith shop, one of them carrying a heavy hammer. They found Marybeth still holding the rifle, still staring at the doorway, trembling. Blood had dried at the corner of her mouth, and her right cheek was turning blue. She turned eyes filled with horror to Delores.

  “He…killed Dan…his own brother,” she gasped. “And he…he shot Josh. It was John, Delores; it was John.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Marybeth pulled up the sides of her hair and pinned it, placing the little flowers in it that Aaron had brought for her and Delores. Today was the spring celebration and dance, but Marybeth did not feel like celebrating anything. Cap had been gone nearly six weeks, and had still not returned.

  It had been a week since John invaded the house and threatened her. The local sheriff had hired men to watch the house until Aaron and Sam returned. Marybeth had hardly slept since that day, her nights filled with terrible visions of John coming back, beating her, killing her babies, raping her. Her nerves were nearly shattered, and she was afraid now that if Cap returned without Josh, she would lose her mind completely. She had prayed and prayed for forgiveness for shooting John, but she reasoned God surely understood why she had to do it. She could not forget the horror she felt when at first she thought she had actually killed him. She could not have lived with such a thing, yet she knew that if he returned to threaten her or the babies, she would do it again.

  She adjusted her yellow dress, which she had carefully pressed, and remembered the first time she had worn it for Josh. It seemed like such a long time ago now. She struggled against tears, retying the sash and realizing she at least had lost considerable weight and had her waistline back. But it was due mostly to her loss of appetite since finding out John MacKinder still lived and intended to make trouble for her.

  She applied a soft cream to her face, lightly patting some cornstarch on her cheek to hide the faint bruise that still showed there. She splashed her neck and wrists with rosewater. She really didn’t care what anyone else thought of how she looked, but Josh could return any day now, and she took great care to look her best in case he came. Today she would go to the spring celebration only because Aaron had insisted it was not safe for her to remain behind alone.

  She walked into the main room, and Aaron and Delores both exclaimed over how beautiful she looked.

  “Thank you, but I feel foolish going to the dance at all,” she told them. “For one thing, everyone in town must be buzzing with gossip about me shooting John MacKinder. And what about the babies? They’ve got to be fed.”

  “We’ll take the babies with us in the wagon,” Aaron told her. “I’ll carry Stanley, and we’ll put a string of rawhide around Danny’s waist and let him walk. It will keep him from straying. You will enjoy it, Marybeth. It will be good for you to get out.”

  “The only gossip is about John, Marybeth,” Delores assured her. “Aaron says some men remembered John coming into a tavern about three weeks ago and challenging several men to arm wrestling. That must be when he first got into town. He must have asked around to find out where you were. They all know he’s a brute and he’s half crazy. No one blames you for what happened.”

  Marybeth sighed. “The fact remains that he could come back.” She looked at Aaron. “I’m going to take a room at the boarding house, Aaron. I won’t subject you all to that man’s insanity. If he comes back, I know you’ll try to defend me, and he’d kill you. I can’t let it come to that.”

  “You let me worry about that. You are not going anywhere until Cap returns and we know what has happened to Josh. If Josh does not return, you will go with us to the valley and live with us there. John will not know where you have gone.”

  “He found me here. He can find me anywhere, and he is determined enough to do it.” She closed her eyes and hung her head. “Sometimes I wish that bullet had struck his heart. It’s a horrible thing to say, but I’ll never be free of him until he’s dead.” She looked at Aaron with tear-filled eyes. “If Josh doesn’t make it back, you go on to the valley without me. It’s time the two of you settled into the home you’ve been dreaming of—and led your own lives. The same goes for Sam and Florence. They’ve had more heartache in their lives than anyone should be expected to suffer. Now they have a whole new family. I’ll not subject
their children to witnessing the kind of violence and language John MacKinder is capable of using. Somehow I’ll find a way to fight him. Maybe the sheriff will keep men on watch.”

  “Do you really think we would leave you here alone?” Delores asked. “Not only is there your safety to consider, but what about the fact that you have three children to provide for?”

  “I cannot let Aaron do it. I have a little money left. I am thinking that if Cap comes back alone, perhaps I will have him take me back east. Maybe I could get some kind of work—as a governess or something. Or perhaps I could try San Francisco. Sam was saying there are some very wealthy people in San Francisco. I’m sure I could find a job working for one of them. If no one is told where I am going, John would probably never find me in a city like that. Everyone could tell him I went back east. That would send him away and I would be rid of him.”

  “Marybeth, we won’t let you—”

  “I’ve made up my mind, Aaron! I’ll not be a burden to you and Delores any longer. You have been so kind and generous, but you have many years ahead of you, and you have had little privacy since clear back on the trail when I first started traveling with you. I know you mean well, and that you would do exactly what you have offered to do. I simply will not accept the offer. It is bad enough that John MacKinder has interfered with everyone’s lives as much as he has. I have got to find a way to be rid of him, as well as a way to fend for myself.”

  Aaron sighed, looking at Delores. Neither of them liked the resignation in Marybeth’s voice. She was losing her spirit, losing her hope. “Let’s not talk about it today,” Aaron said. “I want you to come with us, where you will be safer, and I think it will be good for you to get out, Marybeth. Sam and I took the cakes over this morning. There will be lots of food and dancing and laughter.”

  Delores walked over to Marybeth and put an arm around her shoulders. “Come. Let’s get the babies ready. You just fed both of them, didn’t you?”

  “Yes. They’ll probably fall asleep in the wagon.”

  “Aaron, get the wagon, and we’ll put the babies in it.”

  Marybeth walked into the bedroom with Delores while Danny toddled after Aaron. Marybeth touched Delores’ arm. “I don’t know what I would have done all this time without your friendship,” she said. “And it’s because I love you both that I simply can’t go on like this, Delores. Please, if you really care about me in return, you’ll go on to the valley without me. I would feel much better about it.”

  Delores’s eyes teared, and the two women embraced.

  The day was filled with pie-eating contests, sack races, baking contests and the like. Marybeth and Delores enjoyed viewing handmade quilts and doilies, and Marybeth entered Danny in a toddlers’ race. She stretched out her arms to him, as all the other mothers did to entice their children, and he ran to her as fast as his fat little legs could carry him, his mouth open in laughter, six baby teeth showing as he headed for his Mama. He landed in her arms full of giggles, and Marybeth lifted him and hugged him tightly, wondering how anything so sweet and loving could come from a MacKinder. She realized Dan and John both must have been this way once, and her heart went out to Ella at what the woman had missed in life. In spite of her own terrible predicament, at least she had had Josh for a while, and Danny’s precious laughter gave her the courage she needed to make sure he would not be raised by a man like John MacKinder.

  Danny got a little wooden horse for coming in second; a baby three months older had beat him. She thought how Mac or John would have bragged about how some day no one would beat Danny MacKinder at anything, and she vowed that no matter how big and strong her son became, she would never goad him into competition or allow him to lord his size and strength over others.

  Aaron kept a rein on Danny then while Delores and Marybeth went into a tent that had been set up for mothers breastfeeding babies. Women smiled and exclaimed over Marybeth’s beautiful twins, asking her how in the world she kept up with them. They were the center of attention, and those women who knew about Marybeth’s situation told her they hoped her husband would return soon.

  “I don’t think there are many of us here in Portland who do not have a horror story to tell about our trips west,” one woman put in. “It is something we would all rather not think about.”

  “Aren’t you the one who shot at an intruder recently?” another woman asked Marybeth.

  Marybeth laid Emma in the wagon and picked up Joe to feed him. “Yes,” she answered, unable to face the woman.

  “Someone said he was a brother-in-law or something?”

  Marybeth moved Joe under the blanket with which she covered herself, putting him to the opposite breast from the one Emma had fed on. “It’s a long story,” she told the woman. “The man spent the winter in the mountains. I think it affected his mind.”

  Talk inside the tent quieted for a moment, and Marybeth reddened, feeling their stares.

  “I think you must be a very brave and strong young woman,” one of them finally put in. “Out here alone, not knowing if your husband is dead or alive, giving birth to twins without him. We don’t mean to pry, Mrs. Rivers. It’s just that all of us have had to face death and disease and losing things precious to us. I suppose if we can find someone who is worse off than we are, we think it will make us feel better about our own losses. The fact remains we have all suffered in one way or another. We truly do hope your husband makes it here and is healthy again. And we hope the man who gave you trouble won’t return.”

  Marybeth fought tears of embarassment and frustration. “Thank you,” she answered, glancing at Delores, who gave her a reassuring smile. Marybeth felt suddenly out of place, totally alone. Not even Delores’ friendship could help. She felt like the only remaining fish in a dried-up lake, flopping and struggling to find water where there was none. Josh was her water.

  She finished feeding Joe and laid him into the wagon, and she and Delores went back outside to watch a horse race with Aaron. Sam and Florence joined them, and they all went to watch their son Billy, and twelve-year-old Ruth Billings in a cake-eating contest. Sam and Florence already had visited a judge and had paperwork in progress to legally adopt the three Billings children, who had adjusted well to their parents’ death, thanks to Florence’s tender, loving care. Everyone roared with laughter at the sight of the young boys and girls with faces covered with cake and frosting. Billy won, and everyone cheered while the judges presented him with a blue ribbon.

  While everyone was laughing and patting Billy on the back and helping clean up his and Ruth’s faces, Marybeth glanced up the street to see what other events were taking place. It was then she saw them. They were riding down the street, scanning the crowds as though looking for someone. At first she stood frozen in place, afraid to believe what she was seeing, afraid it was only a dream. He sat on his horse so naturally, looking so strong and sure, just as she had remembered him. Marybeth grasped Delores’s arm and squeezed so tightly it startled Delores, who looked up to follow Marybeth’s eyes, afraid at first she had seen John MacKinder.

  “Josh! It’s Josh!” Delores exclaimed. “Look, everybody, it’s Josh and Cap!”

  They all turned to stare. “By God, it is him,” Aaron shouted. “My God, he’s riding a horse! Would you look at that? Go on, Marybeth,” he said then, taking the wagon handle from her. “We’ll watch the babies.”

  Delores saw the tears on Marybeth’s cheeks. She gave Marybeth a little nudge as Josh came riding toward them, all grins. “Go on, Marybeth. It’s really him. Go to him.”

  Suddenly Marybeth could not hear the crowd around her. She heard no voices, no laughter, no whinnying horses, no children’s squeals. She moved through the crowd on rubbery legs, her eyes glued to one man who came closer, riding a handsome Appaloosa, smiling the warm smile she had remembered. So much thinner he was! But there was no mistaking him, and no mistaking the fact that he was riding a horse on his own.

  “Marybeth,” he called out. She watched him dismount as Ca
p grinned in the background. She stared at Josh as he walked toward her as though he were an apparition.

  “Josh,” she whispered. She ran toward him then, and in one quick moment she was swept up in his arms. Oh, the glory of it! His arms were still strong, his scent so familiar when she buried her face against his neck. She felt him lift her feet off the ground and whirl her around. Was this the same man she had left near death back at Fort Hall eight months ago? She could not let go of him. She could only cling to him and weep, crying his name over and over, mingled with the words “Thank God,” and “Thank you, blessed Virgin Mary.”

  She sensed they were surrounded by people now, felt him let go of her with one hand so he could shake hands with the others, but still she would not let go of him. She clung to him, her face buried against his chest as she heard him saying something about coming as fast as he could. “I still have to put on more weight, but I’m feeling good,” he was telling Aaron. She felt Florence and Delores hugging both of them together.

  “You’re just in time to come to the valley with us,” Aaron was saying. “I found the best piece of land a man could ask for.”

  “I can’t believe this,” Sam said. “My God, Josh, we never really thought you’d make it, certainly not looking this healthy, and standing on your own feet like this.”

  He kept a firm arm around Marybeth as he explained about his determination not to come to Oregon unless he could ride his own horse. For the next several minutes there was general commotion and conversation, back-slapping, tears and laughter. “We went to the house, but nobody was there,” Josh was saying. “Talk about being disappointed. I picked a heck of a day to come back. What’s going on?”

  “Spring celebrations. There’s a dance tonight, but I have a feeling you and Marybeth won’t be there,” Sam said.

  A rush of old desires and passion swept through Marybeth at the meaning of the words, and she felt Josh press her closer as the man laughed. “Where are my babies? What’s this about twins?” He was bending down and kissing her tear-streaked cheeks now. Were those really his lips? “My God, woman, I said I wanted a family, but I didn’t mean I wanted an instant brood.”