Sooner or Later

by Debbie Macomber

  The truth be known, she’d barely tasted a bite. “Wonderful.”

  “That’s what I’ve heard. Someone told me you can’t get a cup of coffee there for under five bucks.” He opened the passenger door for her, and because it was something of a hike upward, he offered his arm.

  Once she was inside the cab, Clifford jogged around the front and joined her. He started the engine, his gaze trained straight ahead. Then, out of the blue, he announced, “I’m never going to be a rich man, Marcie.”

  “Johnny’s just a friend,” she murmured, and immediately felt guilty because she’d been far more than pals with Johnny. She’d said it because she didn’t want to hurt Clifford, but she knew that she already had.

  “Have you known him long?” he asked at the first red light.

  “A couple of years. I told Johnny I was dating you now, and he said you sounded like a good person and he was pleased for me.”

  Clifford didn’t change his expression, but she noted the way his hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Will you be seeing him again?”

  That was what it all boiled down to, she realized. Would she be seeing Johnny again? Honesty was the best policy, Marcie reminded herself. “I don’t know.”

  Clifford glanced at her, and it seemed that his eyes bored holes straight through her. “I guess what I’m really asking is if you want to see him again.”

  If she thought the first question was difficult, the second was impossible. She glanced out the side window in an effort to be truthful not only with Clifford, but with herself.

  What she realized almost made her sick. She did want to see Johnny again. He was like dessert, scintillating, enticing, but ultimately unhealthy and bad for her.

  Johnny whistled in and out of her life on a lark. He was always generous with her, but he wasn’t the type of man who was interested in a permanent relationship, nor had he ever expressed a desire for a family. Marcie made no apologies for wanting to be a wife and mother.

  “Marcie?” Clifford pressed anxiously.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted miserably. “I just don’t know.”

  Clifford grew quiet after that. Marcie wanted to reassure him, wanted him to know she considered him her future. But she couldn’t very well tell him that when she was half crazy for Johnny, even when she knew it was a dead-end relationship.

  Clifford parked the truck at the baseball field. Several other team members had already arrived and were on the grass doing stretching exercises.

  He turned off the engine and kept his hand on the key. “I can’t say that I’m happy knowing you want to see this other guy.”

  Marcie didn’t imagine he would be. She wasn’t particularly pleased herself.

  “Would you like for me to step out of the picture completely?” he asked.

  “No,” she said automatically, forcefully. She didn’t want to lose Clifford. On the other hand, she wanted to be fair to him, too. Although she hadn’t made any specific plans to see Johnny again, he’d be back. They both knew it.

  Clifford’s dark eyes held hers.

  “Perhaps I should leave that up to you,” Marcie offered, appalled at her own lack of grit. She couldn’t promise him she wouldn’t see Johnny again. How he responded to that would determine the course of their relationship.

  Naturally she could lie, lead him on, tell him what he wanted to hear. She could always feed him a line, one she’d swallowed a hundred times herself. But she refused to do that to the one decent, kind-hearted man she’d ever dated.

  Clifford inhaled a deep breath and held it inside his chest a long time. “I’m sure all those self-help people would advise me to make a stand,” he said finally. “It’s either him or me, that kind of thing. But I’m afraid if I did that, you’d choose him.” He paused and released his breath forcefully. “I’m probably not going to be able to afford to take you to dinner at the Cattleman’s Place for another ten years or so, if then. I’ve got a business I’m building, a future, and that doesn’t leave a lot of money for discretionary spending.”

  “Clifford, it isn’t the fact he’s rich.”

  “I know,” he threw out crisply, “he’s probably a hell of a lot better looking than I am, too.” Not waiting for her to respond, he opened the truck door and hopped out.

  Even though he was hurt and angry, he came around to Marcie’s side and offered her his hand. Clifford was right. Johnny was by far the better looking of the two. But there were other ways of measuring the worth of a man than his sex appeal. Now if she could only make herself do it.

  21

  At dawn Letty woke and discovered Murphy had built a small fire and was heating water for coffee. She sat up and stretched her arms high above her head and swallowed a yawn.

  The children slept peaceably about her, innocent as lambs, exhausted from their ordeal, clinging to each other.

  Her heart softened as she studied them.

  Her gaze drifted to the beast of a jeep, which had decided for no apparent reason to stop running. Murphy had spent two frustrating hours attempting to find and correct the problem and had finally given up. At his best estimate they were five miles outside Questo, but it might as well have been a hundred.

  Delivering the children to their grandmother had required far more time and effort than Letty had intended. She had hoped to deliver the children and be on their way long before now. Instead they’d been forced to spend the night in the jungle. Her heart pounded with dread, fearing what was happening to Luke while she was delayed.

  She also had a strong desire to be rid of Murphy. She wanted him out of her life. Just looking at him, with that smug smile of his, disgusted her. The man was completely lacking in moral decency. Because of Luke she was willing to tolerate his presence, but she wouldn’t for a moment longer than absolutely necessary.

  The night before, when the decision was made to wait until morning to travel, Murphy had gruffly ordered her to set up camp. Then he’d promptly disappeared, leaving her to deal with all of the children alone.

  To his credit, an hour after he’d abandoned her with the children, Murphy had returned with two dead iguana and announced this was to be their dinner. Letty had heard that iguanas were often referred to as tree chickens because of their taste, but she’d never actually sampled one.

  The roasted meat was delicious, and after the evening meal she’d readily fallen asleep and slept like a dead woman until morning.

  Taking her backpack with her, she walked away from the clearing into the protection of the woods in order to change clothes. It had been a mistake to wear the dress, one that she intended to correct.

  Once she’d changed back into her pants and shirt, she returned.

  “There’s extra hot water if you want coffee,” Murphy offered. He sat close to the small fire, holding a tin cup. He swirled the liquid around a couple of times and then raised it to his lips.

  “Thank you, no,” she said primly.

  “Very well, Your Highness.”

  He was baiting her, and she knew it. So she did the only sensible thing: she ignored him. She did, however, need to discuss one small item with him, however embarrassing.

  “I’m afraid,” she said tentatively, “that I might have given you the wrong impression.”

  Unconcerned, he glanced up at her. “You probably have any number of times.”

  His attitude rankled, but she was woman enough to overlook that. “The other morning…when I…when we were in the lake, I…I guess you could say I cried on your shoulder.”

  “You could say that.” He tipped back the tin cup and downed a swallowful of coffee.

  “My fear is that you might have been misled into thinking that I’m attracted to you.”

  “Physically, you mean?”

  “Yes,” she said quickly, perhaps too quickly.

  A smile edged up one side of his mouth. “That worries you, does it?”

  “Not exactly. I just felt it would be best to clear the air, so to speak.” This was
far more difficult than she’d imagined. His attitude wasn’t helping, but then she knew better than to expect any assistance from him.

  “What are you afraid of, sweetheart?”

  She resisted the urge to ask him to refrain from calling her by any terms of affection, especially since that wasn’t the way he intended them.

  “I’m sure there are plenty of women in this world who are…who would be strongly attracted to you, but I don’t happen to be one of them. No offense meant.”

  He arched twin eyebrows as if to cast doubt on the sincerity of her words. The edges of his mouth quivered with the effort to suppress a smile. “None taken,” he said. She had the impression he would have laughed outright if he had.

  “The entire incident was an unfortunate one.”

  “I understand perfectly,” he returned, “however…”

  “What?” she pressed when he wasn’t immediately forthcoming.

  “How do you explain the night before we left Boothill?”

  She stiffened. “Exactly what do you mean?”

  “You want me to spell it out for you? You seemed hot enough for me then. Would you care for me to elaborate?”

  Letty bristled. “I think not.”

  “That’s what I assumed.” He threw what remained of his coffee onto the fire. The water hissed against the burning wood. Murphy stood. “You’d better get the kids up. We’ve got a long walk ahead of us.”

  Letty turned to comply.

  “By the way,” he said, stopping her, “the top button of your blouse is fastened.”

  Her fingers reached automatically for the button before she realized what he’d said. Mortified, she whirled around, in such a hurry that she nearly stumbled.

  It took the better part of an hour to get the children up, fed, and ready to travel.

  To Letty’s surprise, Murphy lifted the baby into his own arms. The toddler didn’t so much as protest. If anything, the little boy seemed deeply curious about Murphy, staring up at him in wide-eyed wonder.

  They marched silently in no real order. By the time they arrived outside the Questo city limits they were tired, dirty, and hungry.

  “Our grandmother lives next to the grocery store,” Maria told Murphy when he stopped them a safe distance outside the city. The hill where they stood looked down into the town, which to Letty’s surprise was a respectable size. Large enough to have a decent-size post office, she noted. From the number of businesses, she’d guess the population to be equal to that of Boothill, around five thousand.

  Murphy handed the baby to Letty. “Wait here with the children,” he instructed.

  “Where are you going?” She could tell from the way his mouth tightened that he wasn’t accustomed to having to answer for his actions. She didn’t care. Since she was footing the bill for this little adventure, he could darn well tell her.

  “First off I want to make sure the grandmother is still around to take the children.”

  Good point, and one Letty hadn’t paused to consider.

  “Secondly, it might behoove us both if I checked out the streets before either one of us goes parading down the center of them.”

  Another bull’s-eye.

  “We didn’t exactly go out of our way in the last village to make friends,” he reminded her.

  That was true as well. Murphy never had told her what he’d blown up, but from the force of the explosion she knew it had to be something big. Something expensive that Captain Norte wouldn’t easily dismiss.

  “Anything else you care to know?” His eyes filled with impatience.

  “No,” she said, but as he turned and walked away, she changed her mind. “Murphy,” she called, and stepped forward. “Please be careful.”

  He cast her a cocky smile and headed down the road at a half trot. “I’ll be back before you know it,” he promised.

  He wasn’t.

  An hour passed and then two.

  After the last episode in which she’d gone against Murphy’s orders, Letty didn’t dare investigate what had happened this time. Clearly something had.

  All Murphy had planned on doing was checking out the town. For safety’s sake.

  “Your man is gone a long time,” Maria commented as the sun rose steadily toward the middle of the sky.

  Letty didn’t correct the girl. Murphy was most definitely not her man. Nevertheless, she worried. What could possibly have gone wrong? The possibilities were endless. He could be dead, dying, wounded, unconscious, captured.

  “I’ll go,” Vincente suggested.

  “No,” Letty objected.

  “I’m just a boy. No one will ask questions. No one will know that I’m there,” he explained with perfect logic. “I do it all the time.”

  “He does,” Maria assured her.

  Letty bit into her lower lip, undecided. If Murphy found out that she’d sent a child into town, searching for him, he’d have her hide. But what else was she to do?

  All the children were looking to her for guidance. Letty felt at a loss. She closed her eyes and prayed sending Vincente was the right thing to do.

  “All right,” she whispered, “but please be careful.”

  Maria chuckled. “That’s what you said to Mr. Murphy.”

  Letty swore the next hour claimed a year of her life. She paced and fretted and worried and stewed. The children grew restless as well, squabbling with each other, impatient and irritable. Letty knew she’d transmitted her own fears and regretted that, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.

  Just when she was about to give everything up for lost, Vincente appeared with a short, stocky woman at his side.

  The instant the children saw her they raised their arms, cried, “Abuela!” and raced toward her.

  The woman was breathing heavily after climbing up the steep hillside. She wore a white blouse and black skirt. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and her face was red with exertion. The children’s grandmother sat on a large rock to catch her breath. The youngsters all spoke at once. Even the baby took it upon himself to let out a piercing yell just then.

  Abuela hugged and kissed each child in turn, then took the toddler in her arms, squeezing him protectively against her. His chubby hands clung to her neck.

  Letty caught Vincente by the shoulders. “Did you find out what happened to Murphy?” she asked.

  The boy’s eyes went to his grandmother.

  “Abuela,” Letty said, having no other name by which to address her.

  “Your man,” the older woman said, struggling still to talk. She wiped the perspiration from her face with a white handkerchief. “The most unfortunate thing has happened.”

  Letty’s heart stopped. “Unfortunate thing?”

  “He came into town just as the local police received notification to be on the lookout for an American man and woman.” She paused, her eyes dark and serious. “Our police chief is a conscientious man who seeks to please the new powers-that-be in our country. On receiving word that there was an American man and woman in the area, he organized a patrol.” She paused to take in a deep breath. “As it happened, two officers were opposed to joining a search party without first having a cold beer. It was just bad luck that they spotted your friend in the cantina.”

  “Murphy went to the cantina?” Letty cried, forgetting her concern. The mercenary appeared to have a penchant for such establishments and a weakness for the women who frequented them. Just thinking about him holding and kissing another woman caused her blood to boil.

  He’d done it again. He’d left her to sit and twiddle her thumbs in the hot sun with six children while he quenched his thirst and his sexual appetite.

  “Where is he now?” she asked, none too gently.

  “Jail.”

  As far as Letty was concerned, he could sit there for a good long while. She was so furious that she found it impossible to stand still.

  “I’ve asked a friend to give me what information he could.” The woman’s eyes grew dark with concern. “He to
ld me that a man by the name of Captain Norte has been notified of your man’s capture.”

  Letty pressed her fingertips against her lips to hold back a gasp.

  “The captain is said to be very pleased. He is sure to arrive before nightfall.”

  “Oh no,” Letty whispered. She sank onto a rock and tried to think.

  “There’s other bad news, I fear,” the older woman continued gently. “Your man put up a fight.”

  “How badly is he hurt?” Letty cried. She might find Murphy’s behavior despicable, but she didn’t want to see him suffer. Especially when he’d come to Zarcero to help her find Luke.

  “This much I don’t know.” A soft smile touched the older woman’s lips. “But from what I learned, the other two men suffered more than your friend.”

  “I have to break him out of jail,” Letty announced, purpose making her words loud and strong, “and I have to do it before Captain Norte arrives.”

  The woman placed her arms around the two oldest children. “My family and I will do everything we can to help you.”

  Murphy spat out a mouthful of blood and worked his jaw back and forth, testing the tenderness. All in all he wasn’t in bad shape. This was one exchange in which he’d given worse than he’d got. Not bad considering it was two against one, and then three. By the time he was in jail it had taken five men to hold him down.

  Talk about a lack of luck. He hadn’t been in town ten minutes when two local police strolled inside the cantina. He hadn’t given them much concern. His fight wasn’t with the local authorities, but with the rebels who’d taken control of the army. In small towns that dotted the countryside, it was difficult to detect which direction the political winds blew. It wouldn’t have been unlikely to find loyalists in Questo.

  With one eye on the officers, Murphy had made himself as inconspicuous as he could. Unfortunately it was too little, too late. The next thing he knew, the pair were strolling toward him. Before he knew it he was slapped around and tossed inside the city jail.

  Such as it was. The building seemed to have been built by the same outfit that constructed the jail in the old television series Mayberry RFD. The entire adobe structure was one large room, which contained three cells divided by thick metal bars. Two desks lined one wall so that he could be kept under constant surveillance.