by BJ James
Her hair was down this morning and just beginning to curl in the damp morning air. “I hoped…”
“What, sweetheart?” Adams voice was ragged. His nails scoured his palms against his need to touch her.
“It doesn’t matter.” Her head was down as she stared at broken flowers. Then she lifted her gaze to his. “I won’t ask if you love me. I know you do. I won’t ask why you feel you must leave. I didn’t want to admit it, but I’ve known since the fire you would go. To protect those you love from Junior Rabb’s vendetta.”
“If there was another way…”
“But there isn’t,” Eden finished. “Without causing more grief for your father.” Bitterness crept in. “A man who used you unmercifully, yet can’t forgive what he thinks you did.
“I won’t ever believe it, Adams. No matter what you say or what Junior Rabb claims, I won’t ever believe you could be capable of an unprovoked attack.” The bitterness was gone, and the defeat. She was magnificent in the morning sun, magnificent in her trust and belief in him.
“That’s a finished chapter, Eden. Nothing can change it.”
“I can.” Junior Rabb stepped away from the trunk of a massive oak, his glare wild and feral. Raising a rifle to his shoulder, he set his sights on Adams. “Now.”
“No!” Eden cried, and took a step toward Rabb.
“Eden. Don’t,” Adams said quietly, catching her wrist, keeping her close. Even as he marveled at her courage, he felt an oppressive regret that she’d drawn Rabb’s attention.
Adams had seen madness in the face marked by the livid scar left by the blow that had changed all their lives. The killing madness he’d witnessed too often in prison to mistake for mere anger. Though pitiful comfort, it solved the mystery of why Rabb should suddenly go on his rampage. The man, a product of brutality and inbreeding, had likely teetered on the brink of madness for years. Adams’ return, the long-standing hatred and bitter envy it recalled, was surely the final push that had sent him over the edge.
There would be no reasoning with him, but Adams had to try. “You don’t want to do this, Junior.”
“Don’t I?” The rifle wavered.
“We know you destroyed the river cottage and torched Jackson’s barns. But we have no proof. If you do this, there will be witnesses. People who saw you come here.”
“If you’re talking about Sheriff Rivers’ watchdog, forget him. I drowneded him. But if you’re talking about this lady here, now I know how it is between you, I got plans for her.”
Still shackling her wrist with his circling fingers, Adams stepped in front of Eden. “Let her go, Junior. She won’t say anything. I give you my word.”
Rabb’s bark of laughter was hoarse and loud. “Gonna protect your lady like you did that piss-ant little brother of yourn? Gonna come riding hell-for-leather to the rescue?
“Know what I think?” The rifle barrel wavered as Rabb sought a second target, but found Eden too well shielded by Adams. “Now I know how it is between you, you was gonna watch her die.” Bulky shoulders lifted, stretching a dirty plaid shirt over a bulging belly. “But no matter. I can do it this way. You first, Cade. Your fancy lady second.”
Rabb was enjoying the sound of his own voice. Adams saw it as Eden’s chance. “When I release you, hit the ground, Eden,” he whispered through stiff lips. “Don’t hesitate, don’t look up.
“Your word, Eden,” he demanded before she could question.
“Shut up!” The rifle wavered again, a grimy finger convulsed on the trigger. But it didn’t matter, Adams had the promise he sought in the squeeze of Eden’s hand.
“You’re a fool, Junior.” He was baiting Rabb. Twice in his agitation, the hate-filled man had lost his aim. Adams could only hope for a third time. “An even bigger fool than I thought.”
“Which one of us went to prison?” Rabb cackled, but the name-calling hit a nerve. Launching into a crowing tirade, he recounted the night of the fight. “The kid snuck through the swamp into Rabb Town. Thought he would ‘count coup’ like some damned redskin, but got hisself caught, instead. I woulda cut his throat and fed him to the gaters, along with his horse, and no one would ever a knowed. Then big brother come riding in hell-for-leather and got hisself a prison sentence, instead. So, who’s the fool?”
“You are. Now.” The rifle had wavered. The last was a command meant for Eden as Adams flung her aside and launched himself at Junior Rabb.
Eden heard the shot as she sprawled facedown, her head crashing against the concrete pad of a sundial. Then the garden was quiet and still. The sun grew dark.
Eden moved restlessly. She tried to open her eyes, but they were weighted, too heavy. She struggled harder.
“Shh, shh.” A touch soothed her. “Easy, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart. “Adams.” She bolted upright and the move brought lightning slicing through her skull. Her lashes lifted at last, but all she saw was a sea of white. “Adams!”
“No, Eden. Not Adams, Jefferson.”
She recognized the white sea as a hospital room and the starched linens of a hospital bed. Then she remembered the garden, Junior Rabb and Adams. “Is he…?”
“Adams is in surgery, but he’ll be all right. So will you, as soon as a minor concussion and some bruises heal.”
“Junior?”
“He’s in custody and raving like a maniac. In his delusion he’s spilling the whole story. Bragging about what he was going to do to me the night Adams followed me to Rabb Town.” Taking her by the shoulders, he leaned her back against the pillows, then folded her hand in both of his. “It’s over, Eden. The truth can finally be told, and Adams can come home to stay.”
“Tell me about Adams.”
“He took a bullet in the shoulder. I won’t lie to you, it was a close call. But he took Junior down. He was more concerned with keeping you safe than with his own life. But thanks to Cullen’s quick first aid, he’s going to be fine. I promise.”
“When can I see him?” The throb in her head wouldn’t ease. But that Adams lived was all that mattered.
“The minute we get the okay, I’ll take you to him.”
Now that she could think again, she saw how haggard the youngest Cade was. “You’re exhausted, Jefferson.”
“Long day.” He grinned crookedly. “Not one to repeat.”
“Lincoln? Jackson?”
“We’re all here. Cullen, too. Even Hobie Verey and Gus. Hobie’s called Gus every kind of fool and told Jericho and everybody he saw me ride toward Rabb Town while he was night fishing. And that later Adams rode by, trailing my horse.
“Hobie says he never told anything to anyone, because if this was how the damn fool Cades wanted it, that was their business. From the first, I wanted to confess that I cracked Junior’s skull. But Adams was afraid it would kill Gus to know his favorite…” Jefferson’s voice drifted away in disgust.
“He was probably right,” Eden assured him. “And Adams doesn’t regret it, Jeffie.” Squeezing his hand, she smiled into his glittering blue gaze. “Now that I understand, neither do I.”
“But it didn’t need to be this way for you and Adams.”
“Who’s to say this isn’t the best way? We might not have ever realized what we have, if we hadn’t lost it first.”
“Can you forgive me? You don’t think I was a coward?”
“You were young. This was Adams’ decision. There’s nothing cowardly, nor anything to forgive. Except in Gus’ case.”
Jefferson grinned at the last. “Gus would like to speak with you, if you feel up to it.”
“Does he know?”
“That Adams followed his favorite son into Rabb Town? That it was the favorite who struck the fateful blow? He knows. Hobie made sure, remember? Now, after years of denying Adams any compassion or forgiveness, Gus is wondering if Adams can forgive him. That’s what he wants to talk to you about.”
“I’ll see him.” Eden caught a sharp breath as shards of pain splintered through her brain and her eyes.
“But not just yet. First I want to hear the story of that night, this time from beginning to end. The entire sequence of events.”
As Jefferson began to speak, she closed her eyes and, in her mind, rode to Rabb Town with Adams.
“Hello.” Adams’ voice and his fingers stroking the tangles from her hair woke Eden. As she raised her head from the edge of his bed, he touched her face. “I thought I dreamed you.”
“I’m not a dream, Adams.” Sliding her palm into his, she brought his bruised knuckles to her lips. “Thank you, my love.”
“For what?” He was pale from loss of blood and hours of surgery, but he managed a cynical smile. “For putting you in danger that almost killed you?”
“No.” Eden left the chair where she’d dozed for hours waiting for Adams to awake. Bending over him, she brushed back his hair and let her fingertips linger on the heated flesh of his temple. “For being Adams Cade. For my life. For all our lives.”
Her voice dropped a note. “We know, Adams. What Junior Rabb hasn’t ranted in his dementia, Jefferson clarified. Everyone knows and everyone is here waiting to see you.”
“Even Gus?” Dark brows lifted in disbelief.
“Especially Gus. He’s hoping you can forgive him. I’ve taken the liberty of suggesting that you will. If I’ve overstepped, I’m sorry.”
Adams smiled ruefully. “He’s an ornery old cuss. Always has been, always will be. But I love him. I suppose I always will.”
That was the consensus of most everyone at the party. Though none were privy to the concerns of Adams’ return, it was enough that he’d come, that he’d labored alongside his brothers to save a home he’d been denied. All for a man who had rejected him when he needed a father most. That was their proof.
“Gus Cade is fortunate in his sons.” Tears threatening, Eden spoke the opinion of most of Belle Terre.
“Maybe.” Adams recalled the rare tender times, the times Gus dared show his emotions. He was a proud and hard man, but Adams understood at last that he truly cared. “Anyway, our children need one grandparent at least. Even a curmudgeon.”
Reaching up with his good arm, he tangled his fingers in Eden’s hair. “Maybe we’ll have a little girl who will wrap herself around his heart like her mother did mine so long ago.”
Eden cringed. To love Adams and have his children was what she’d wanted most. But there was something she had to tell him first, something she dreaded telling him. “Adams,” she said hesitantly, “when we made love on the beach, you asked if I was protected.”
Adams watched her intently. “You said yes.”
She looked away, unable to hold his gaze. “That wasn’t quite the truth. I had no protection.”
“Because you’ve been told it’s highly unlikely you could ever conceive a child. Cullen told me. Our silent islander can be quite talkative with a bottle of wine under his belt.”
“Cullen?” Eden was astonished. He never discussed private matters. With anyone. “When did he tell you?”
“Just before I left the river cottage. He arrived at my door with a couple of bottles of wine, invited himself in and proceeded to demand that I tell him what my intentions were toward you. In the course of the conversation he vowed that if I hurt you, he’d kill me. Then he told me you’d been hurt enough, and why.
“I know that Nicholas Claibourne had an inherited degenerative disease he wanted to stop with him. I know he was so fearful you would conceive his child that measures were taken to see it wouldn’t happen. Then it was discovered there was little chance of it due to a minor physical anomaly. An anomaly that can be corrected, sweetheart,” he said quietly. “If you wish.”
“Cullen told you all this? I didn’t realize he knew.”
“There was more.” With a tug he drew her to his kiss. “I know Nicholas Claibourne was a man of little passion, and though you loved him, he didn’t care that you loved me more.”
“Nicholas knew from the beginning that you were first in my heart. That you would always be,” Eden admitted. “It was part of the attraction. He didn’t have long to live, and he knew it.
“The last thing he wanted was that I love him so deeply I would want to have his child. He wanted no part of him left. No child to inherit and perpetuate his terrible legacy.
“I understood from the start that Nicholas wanted a friend more than a wife. Even so, our marriage was good, Adams.”
“None of that matters,” he said softly. “We’re free of our pasts and finally together. I’d like it to be that way forever.”
“But if this…anomaly can’t be corrected?” Her heart stood still in fear that, no matter how much he loved her, he wouldn’t want her if she couldn’t give him children.
“Ah, my Eden.” Adams smiled. “There are children all over the world who need someone. We make them ours by loving them.
“Now, I’m tired. I need to sleep, and I want to sleep with you. Just you. No hospital gown, nothing but your skin against mine. As it was on Summer Island.”
“Your arm. I might hurt you,” she whispered.
“Not as much as not holding you. We’ll manage, Eden. Whatever happens, now or in the future.”
“Yes,” Eden promised as her heart soared, “we will.”
Stripped to a G-string, she lay with her body curved into his. His hand wandered to the ribbons at her hip. “One day,” he said, “I’d like to sleep with you on the beach where you sunbathe like this.”
“All we’ll need is a boat and a blanket,” she promised.
“And a little more stamina,” Adams suggested.
“What about Gus?”
“You want Gus to go to the island with us?” Adams’ voice was heavy with tongue-in-cheek humor as fatigue descended.
“No, silly. He’s waiting outside to see you.”
“He’s kept me waiting thirteen years. Another day won’t hurt.” Adams kissed the back of her neck wishing he had the strength for more than a kiss.
“Adams?” Eden’s mind was hopscotching.
“Another question, love?”
“How did you know Jefferson had gone to Rabb Town?”
“I didn’t. I missed his horse and saddle when I checked the barn before turning in. Jeffie was gone, but I didn’t know where. I trailed him awhile. Then I knew.” A bitter note crept into his slurring voice. “I should have known from the first.”
“Why?” Eden laced her fingers through his good hand and brought it to her naked breast. “Why should you have known?”
Adams caught a long breath and found comfort in the softness of her body. “Junior hated me. More for being a Cade than for any other reason. He said some things in town that morning. The usual hate-filled garbage. I laughed it off, but Jeffie decided he should redeem my honor.”
“Then he went to Rabb Town for you. Because he did, you count all that happened as your fault.”
“That’s part of it,” Adams admitted. “And Gus.”
“Yes,” Eden whispered. “And Gus.”
With that she fell silent, consumed by her thoughts. Once, Adams had been her champion, then Jefferson’s. And now again. How fortunate they were to have Adams. How fortunate for all of them. Even Gus Cade. Especially Gus Cade.
Hurrying footsteps sounded in the hall as the nursing staff readied patients for bed. None paused at Adams’ door. None dared. If the sign instructing that the occupants were not to be disturbed hadn’t been deterrent enough, the big islander who stood guard would have.
“Adams.” Eden’s voice was drowsy. “I love you.”
Smiling, Adams held her tighter. Closing her eyes, savoring the beat of his heart and the touch of his body, Eden slept in her lover’s arms.
The room was quiet when the door opened and Cullen looked in. Eden Roberts Claibourne was finally where she belonged.
There were legal details to work out. But with Lincoln and Jackson and Jefferson helping, Jericho had already begun unsnarling the silence of years. When the truth that each brother had saved the
life of the other was finally public knowledge, it would all be set right. Then the world would know that the man who held Eden in his arms was a good son, a good brother, a man of great strength and greater honor.
Then Belle Terre could truly celebrate the return of Adams Cade. But the true celebration was that of two lovers, as deep in the night, Adams stirred and awoke, and whispered against her hair the words he’d carried in his heart for years, “I love you, Eden. I have loved you through all our yesterdays. I will love you tomorrow and tomorrow and—”
“Forever,” she finished for him, making her own pledge, giving irrevocably into his care the heart he’d won so long ago.
“Forever,” Adams Cade, once the hardened outcast who thought he’d lost the gentleness and joy of loving, repeated softly, “and ever.”
ISBN: 978-1-4603-1118-9
THE RETURN OF ADAMS CADE
Copyright © 2000 by BJ James
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*Men of the Black Watch
†The Black Watch
‡Men of Belle Terre
