Sharon Poppen

by Hannah

  Chapter 17

  Finding Hope

  A rap on the hotel room door brought Hannah out of a light sleep. She opened it to find a worried Daniel.

  “Come in,” she smiled, trying to allay his concern.

  “Damn.” Daniel swore as he rushed over to the bed and looked down at his brother’s battered face. “What happened? Is he ...” His voice broke with emotion.

  Hannah moved to stand beside Daniel and touched his arm. “He’s alive. He’s sleeping. The doctor gave him laudanum for sleep while his body heals.

  “When did this happen?”

  “Two nights ago. We found the men who killed my husband.”

  Daniel had been looking at his brother, but at Hannah’s words he turned and asked, “you’re not hurt?”

  “They only hurt Liam because he was helping me.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “One’s dead, but one got away.”

  “Liam’s going to be alright?”

  “When the laudanum wears off, he’s aware of what happened and his mind seems clear. But, the doctor says he has some broken ribs and multiple bruising.”

  “When the deputy arrived at Aunt Emiliana’s ranch, all he said was that Liam needed either Frank or me and to hurry.”

  “Thanks for coming, Daniel.” Hannah walked to the door. “When he wakes up, he’ll feel better just seeing you.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Hannah, I don’t understand.”

  “Liam will explain.”

  Daniel moved to stand between Hannah and the door. “My brother stayed to help you. Looks like he took a hell of a beating, for you. Stay until he wakes up. You owe him.”

  “Who’s leaving?”

  Liam’s voice startled them.

  “Hannah,” Daniel answered.

  Liam struggled to sit up, grimacing several times with the effort. “Why?”

  Hannah shook her head. “Liam, lie down.”

  Muttering a curse, he swung his feet to the floor.

  Hannah rushed over and tried to force him back onto the bed.

  Liam gripped her hand. “Don’t leave.”

  “I have to. Please, don’t make this hard. Daniel’s here to take care of you.”

  “Why do you have to leave?” Liam asked.

  Hannah backed away. “Liam, I’m empty. It’s like the pocket of my future has been picked. All hope has been taken from me. I have no money, no clothes and worst of all no emotions, other than hate. I’m alone, stranded from decent folks. I’m no good. You’ve seen my body.” She walked into the hall, turned and whispered, “Thank you.”

  Daniel and Liam looked on in disbelief. Liam tried to stand, but his bruised legs buckled. Daniel helped him back into bed.

  “Go get her.” Liam begged.

  Alone in the room, Liam waited. He cursed his legs for their weakness to avoid thinking the unthinkable; Hannah was gone. One look at Daniel’s face when he reentered the room and Liam knew the unthinkable was upon him.

  Daniel shook his head as he came over to the bed. He touched Liam’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. She’s gone.”

  “No!” Liam moaned.

  Daniel grabbed some laudanum from the bureau and urged Liam to take some. “You need to heal. Once you get your strength back, you can decide what to do.”

  Liam looked at Daniel’s offering and then at the closed door. “Hannah,” he whispered as if in prayer. Finally, he turned to Daniel. “Give me the damn stuff.”

  *****

  Daniel paused in his pacing to look out the window. The rising sun was unforgiving as it accented his five o’clock shadow and the worry wrinkles across his forehead. Liam had slept solidly for three days, and then yesterday evening, he’d refused any laudanum. A small candle lamp emitted scant light into the darkness of the hotel room, but it was enough for Daniel to see his brother’s eyes, open and staring at the ceiling. He had tried to start conversation several times, but Liam kept his silence and stared. When dawn crept across Liam’s face, he stood up. “Let’s go home.”

  “You healed enough for a full day’s ride?” Daniel watched Liam struggle into his shirt.

  “I’m fine.”

  “It’s only been a few days. I don’t like this.”

  “I said I’m fine.” Struggling to pull on his boots, he growled. “Damn!”

  “Let me help.” Daniel tugged while Liam pushed and the boots were on.

  After Daniel packed a satchel, Liam looked around the empty room. When he was drugged, he’d made himself believe that it was just a bad dream that Hannah was gone. But he was drug free now and had to accept that it was true. He shook his head. It may be true, but I can’t just let it be. I’ve got to find her. He walked to the door. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  *****

  Daniel reined his horse. “We’ve been riding for hours. Don’t you need to rest?”

  “No.” Liam spurred his horse into a trot.

  “Well, damn it. I need to piss. And, I’d like to rinse my face in that stream just yonder.”

  Liam turned around and followed Daniel off the dusty trail. Once nature had been taken care of and the men had swabbed their faces, Daniel claimed to be hungry and refused to continue on until he ate something. Liam tried to argue, but in truth, he knew he was pushing too hard and decided some nourishment might boost his stamina. The brothers hunkered down under a cottonwood and Daniel handed his brother some jerky. They gnawed at the dried meat in silence with Daniel watching Liam sink further into his unshared thoughts.

  “Liam.”

  They jumped to their feet. Hannah was standing across the stream from them.

  “Hannah,” Daniel smiled.

  Liam stared across the water for a few seconds and closed his eyes in fear that she was a mirage, that his desperation was playing tricks on his mind.

  “Liam, I...”

  He opened his eyes and extended his arms to her. “I need you, Hannah.”

  Daniel backed away. “I’ll be with the horses.” Liam was blind and deaf to the world around him as he began to move toward Hannah.

  His boots splashed across the shallow stream. When he reached her, he cupped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. “I don’t care about what happened. I don’t care about the marks on your body. I don’t care that you say you have no emotions left. All I care about is being with you. I love you.”

  Hannah put her hands over his. “I left because I thought I was dead inside. I was afraid I’d hurt you by staying.”

  “It hurts when you’re gone.” She offered the hint of a smile that settled right into Liam’s heart. He felt dizzy with hope that she was back to stay.

  “When I rode away the other day, I felt it was the right thing to do. And, while it’s not as strong now, the need to find Drake still gnaws at me. But I found myself fighting the urge to turn around and head straight back to you.”

  Liam pulled her into his arms. His heart raced as she relaxed into his embrace with her breasts crushed against his chest. Her hair and skin filled his senses with a soft aroma that he’d missed and needed so desperately.

  “Each day it got worse,” she continued with her lips against his shirt. “When I found this stream, I lingered. I couldn’t make myself go on. This morning, when I leaned over to rinse my face in the water, I felt clean for the first time in ages. I looked deep into my heart and I felt hope. I felt love.”

  “You felt love?” He lifted her chin.

  She nodded. “I love you.”

  Liam kissed her. “Let’s go home?”

  She kissed him back. “I’ll try to never make you sorry you asked.”

  Liam took her hand and started for the horses. “Hannah, I have a feeling that with your fire and spirit, there’ll be occasions when I’ll wonder about taking you home.”

  She stopped and looked up in a scowl.

  He kissed her scowl away. “But, I know I’ll never be sorry.” He sque
ezed her hand and said a quick prayer of thanks that she squeezed back.

  As they continued on, a niggle of concern was demanding his attention. What about her obsession with Drake? She’s going to keep chasing him. Can you live with that? Liam wasn’t sure if he could, but he was damn sure he couldn’t live without Hannah.

  Chapter 18

  The Kidnapping

  “There it is.” Daniel’s arm made a broad sweep of the horizon. “It may not be as green as that plantation we left behind in North Carolina, but it sure is bigger.”

  Liam stretched his legs, which lifted him from the saddle and he craned his neck. “How much of what I can see is Canady land?”

  “All of it,” said Daniel.

  The pride in his voice was not lost on Hannah. Her eyes raked the horizon as the brother’s discussed the land. She couldn’t help but compare this bouquet of colors in the red rock formations, the glistening river and the inviting terrain dotted with brush and cacti to the flat sandy plains she and Caleb had worked at taming. A sense of guilt that she had lived to see this while Caleb had been cheated tugged at her heart. Her day began to darken with regret for what would never be.

  A gentle breeze brought her back to the moment with its offer of cool relief to her dusty, sweaty body. She undid the ribbon holding her hair securely behind her and let the breeze have its way. Silky strands drifted over her shoulders and fluttered against her cheeks, only to sweep back behind her again. She let them have their way as she breathed in the sun, the view and the smell of the land to help dispel her pangs of regret, at least for now. She turned to find Liam watching her.

  She smiled. “It’s beautiful.”

  His eyes told her that he felt the same about her. “Beautiful.”

  “All right, you two. Enough of this mushy stuff. I’m hungry and Aunt Emiliana makes some mean beef stew, to-die-for biscuits and the best gravy ever.” He spurred his horse forward.

  With Hannah feeling the warmth of a blush across her cheeks and Liam wearing a sly grin, the couple followed his lead.

  The trio rode up to the hacienda style building that Daniel had identified as their new home. It was the centerpiece of several buildings used to store equipment, preserve foodstuff and house livestock.

  When they were still a few hundred yards away, Frank rushed out onto the veranda yelling, “It’s about time!”

  The look on his face turned their mood from anticipation to suspicion. All three riders dropped a hand to the pistols at their waists.

  “What’s going on?” Daniel acted as spokesman for the three of them. They remained astride their mounts.

  “The baby’s been taken.”

  “Taken?” Liam echoed his brother’s word. He looked up to see an elderly Spanish woman, followed by a petite, middle-aged, blond woman, come from inside to stand near Frank.

  “Yes. Looks like maybe a kidnapping. Happened yesterday.”

  “Senors and senorita.” The Spanish woman touched Frank’s arm. “Please, come inside. Tomas will take your horses.” She pointed to a young man who had jumped from the corral fence and was walking toward them.

  Hannah dismounted and handed the reins to Tomas as introductions began. The Spanish woman was Aunt Emiliana and the blond woman was a Mrs. Sara Jackson. Over cooled glasses of tea, the story was told.

  A woman had arrived early yesterday morning claiming to be the sister of the baby’s mother. Said she’d been expecting her sister to arrive in San Antonio, but a sick husband had kept her from meeting the train. When she’d finally arrived in town and heard about her sister’s death, she was devastated, but happy to hear that her niece was alive.

  “Why didn’t she contact us? We were still in town.” Liam asked.

  “Said she heard that Daniel and I had taken the baby and just naturally followed us.”

  Liam nodded. “Makes sense. What did she have to prove it was her niece?”

  Frank dropped his head to avoid eye contact with his brothers.

  “Senors, we had no reason to suspect she was being untruthful. We let her take the baby.”

  Hannah turned to the blond woman who was silently weeping, while dabbing at her tears. “How does this woman fit into the picture?”

  “She arrived about an hour ago and claims to be the baby’s grandmother,” explained Aunt Emiliana.

  “I am the baby’s grandmother.” The woman’s voice was tearful, but firm. “Her mother, my daughter Caroline, fell in love with a Ben Stevenson, one of our ranch hands. He was lazy and didn’t seem to know much about ranching, but he was handsome and charming. We woke one morning and she was gone. Over the next year, we’d get letters from her but by the time my husband would get to the area from where the letters had come, she’d be gone. Her last letter told us of the birth of Jessica Marie and that she was coming home. Said she’d be on the train that arrived yesterday, but she must have caught an earlier one.”

  “How’d you find out about your daughter and the baby?” Hannah pressed for more information.

  “I checked with the ticket master. He told me about a woman being killed and that her unclaimed baby had been taken by two men to the Canady Ranch. After getting a description of the woman from the train conductor, I knew it was my Caroline.” Sarah Jackson paused for a moment as she struggled for control of her emotions. Aunt Emiliana urged her to sip some tea, then Sarah continued. “I didn’t even take the time to go back to our ranch to tell my husband. My ranch hand and I caught a couple of hours sleep at the train depot, and then I had him bring me straight here. My husband must be frantic.”

  “What would this woman want with your granddaughter?” Hannah asked.

  “In one of her letters, Caroline wrote that Ben said the baby was going to guarantee him a good steady income for some time to come. Since he was the father, no one could take the baby from him and if we wanted to keep it alive and healthy, we’d pay good money.”

  “Blackmail money.” Liam named it.

  “Yes,” Sarah managed before she broke into tears again.

  To see a woman in such pain, stirred up painful memories of her own. Now, to add to that, Hannah remembered her promise on the day of the young mother’s killing. She’d promised that she’d remember for the baby. Hannah had seen to it that the killers were going to face justice, but now it seemed that the killers had created a new danger for the baby. Her face edged into a portrait of undisguised determination to help right this wrong.

  She looked across at Liam. He nodded.

  Hannah reached over to touch the woman’s knee. “Do you have any idea where they may have gone?”

  Chapter 19

  Offers and Promises

  They were gathered in an open-air courtyard in the center of the house, or hacienda as Aunt Emiliana called it. Amid flowers and shrubs, they sipped at glasses of water that Aunt Emiliana had poured. Hannah and Sarah sat side by side on a gaily-painted bench while Aunt Emiliana, Frank and Daniel used a similar bench just across from them. Claiming he needed to stretch his legs, Liam stood next to Daniel and watched Hannah interrogate Sarah.

  “No, I can’t imagine where this woman would take little Jessica.” Sarah dabbed at her eyes. “Oh, I can’t believe my daughter and granddaughter are both gone. I need this small part of Caroline, this baby.” She looked across at Hannah. “I just know Ben is involved.”

  “Did Ben ever mention a family or where he came from?” Hannah asked.

  “No. Said he had no family. Said he’d been drifting around since he was a boy,” she answered.

  To give Sarah a moment to blow her nose and gather her thoughts, Hannah turned to Frank. “Can you describe the woman who took the baby?”

  “A looker. Young. About your age, I reckon. Brown hair, near your height.”

  “What was she wearing,” asked Hannah.

  “Plain dress.” The tips of his ears colored as he turned from Hannah and spoke to Liam. “She …, ah …, oh hell, it was white. I think.”

  With a hint of smile, Au
nt Emiliana came to Frank’s rescue. “It was a calico dress, yellow with tiny dots of many colors. It was at least one size too small for her. The buttons on her bodice threatened to burst free.”

  “Oh, so she was –

  “Never mind, Daniel,” Liam interrupted. “Let Hannah go on.”

  “Does the description of the woman bring anything to mind?”

  “No,” Sarah’s jaw tightened. “Probably one of those women Ben dallied with from time to time. My poor Caroline refused to believe he had other women, but from the sound of her letter I think she finally figured him out and tried to leave.”

  The desperation on Sarah’s face reaffirmed Hannah’s promise about remembering for the baby. She exchanged glances with Liam and was glad to see support in his eyes.

  “I think you’re right, Sarah.” She touched the distraught woman’s hand. “Please know that we’ve come to love little Jessica and wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.” Sarah nodded and Hannah continued. “Now, we need to ask you if you can put your trust in us to track her down. Once we do, we’ll bring her to you and your husband.”

  “My husband! He must be frantic with worry.”

  “I’m sure he is. You need to go to him.”

  “Oh, dear God! When he finds out what’s happened to Caroline, he’ll go crazy. He’ll chase Ben down and kill him.”

  Hannah gripped Sarah’s hand tighter. “Or, Ben will kill your husband. That’s why I suggested that we find the baby. Ben would recognize you or your husband and move on the minute he saw you. He wouldn’t know Liam or me and this would give us time to ask questions and look around.”

  Sarah’s forehead wrinkled with indecision and worry as she looked from face to face until coming back to Hannah. “Yes. I suppose you’re right. I just couldn’t bear the thought of another loss.”

  “Of course not. Come,” Aunt Emiliana stood up. “Let’s get you some food and water together for your trip home.” She eased Sarah along toward the kitchen. “These young people will chase that horrible Ben down and find little Jessica. I’m sure of it. In the meantime, after you tell your husband, you’re welcome to come back here and we’ll wait together. “