He looked down the street toward home. He couldn’t very well let Lanora encounter someone who could cause her harm. If he hurried, he’d only be about half an hour later than he had told Abigail to expect him.
Resigned to do his good deed, he turned back to Lanora. “Alright, I’ll walk you to the officer’s quarters, but if you see the man who is pursuing you, you must point him out to me and I’ll have him reprimanded at once.”
“I will. Thank you so much. You are such a good man. Any woman would be glad to call you hers.”
“Shall we get going then?” He wasn’t comfortable with where this conversation was going and he hoped to make it as short a trip as possible.
Lanora latched on to his arm as they walked toward the fort’s gate. He tried to dislodge her grip, but she was just as determined to hang on to him. He didn’t wish to call attention to themselves, so he forced himself to relax and increased his stride hoping to deposit Lanora and head home without anyone seeing them together. It was an innocent enough meeting, him and Lanora, but he didn’t want anyone reaching the wrong conclusion, especially if Danielle happened along.
“Must you walk so fast? I can’t keep up,” Lanora complained just inside the fort’s wall.
“I’m sorry, but as I said, I’m supposed to be headed home now.”
“It won’t take more than a few minutes. I had no idea you had become so henpecked. You certainly didn’t jump that high when I called for you, now did you?”
“Look, Lanora. That night we spent together was a mistake. You’ve got to know that. I had no idea where I was or who I was with. I’m sorry. I can’t apologize enough, but you have to know that is the truth. You and I had too much to drink and got caught up in...well, I honestly can’t say since I don’t remember most of it. I didn’t mean to disrespect you. Again, I apologize.” They arrived at the officer’s quarters and he pried her fingers off his arm and turned to go.
“Wait, Will. What if he’s not here yet and I’m attacked by one of your soldiers. You would have a hard time explaining yourself to your commanding officer. Just walk with me until I can be sure my ‘friend’ is already waiting for me.” Without waiting for him to agree, she stepped up on the porch and tried a door three doors down.
“Wait, Lanora. That’s my room. That’s not—” Exasperated at the woman, he watched her disappear inside his old officer’s quarters. “Damn it.”
He turned to look toward the gate and home. He should just leave the impossible woman where she was and go home to Abigail and his little girls, but he didn’t want someone to stumble along and find Lanora in his room, especially if he wasn’t here to explain her presence. There’s no telling what sort of story she might spin.
Will took off after her. His room door was open, but he didn’t see any trace of Lanora. He peeked outside his doorway and looked down the porch. No sign of her. No, he was certain she had come inside his room.
“Lanora? Where are you? You have the wrong room. This is my old room.” He stepped inside and looked around. No sign of the woman. “What is going on?” he mumbled to himself.
Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind him. Before he could turn around, a sharp stab of pain dulled his senses and his knees gave out beneath him. Dazed, he slumped to the floor and all he could see was Lanora’s boots coming toward him.
“What happened?” he could barely utter a whisper. “Lanora?” His eyes closed and he thought he might pass out. He struggled to stay awake. It was then he felt Lanora bend down and kiss him on the lips. When she pulled away, something wet dripped off the side of his mouth followed by a horrible bitter taste. He tried to force his brain to make sense of what was happening, but blackness overtook him and he knew he was in trouble.
Chapter 22
Abigail was worried. She had expected Will home hours ago. Where could he be? It was then Danielle’s words came back to haunt her. She pushed them away.
A knock on the door chased all her worries away. “Will. You’re so late. I was so worried about—”
She swung the door open wide expecting to see Will, but it was Danielle who stood on the front stoop.
All of Abigail’s worry for Will culminated into fury for this woman. “I thought I told you not to come back here again.”
“You did, but I thought I would come watch the girls for you.”
“Why would you think I would want you too? You’re not welcome here, remember?” Abigail tried not to yell for the sake of the girls, but this woman had pushed Abigail to her breaking point.
“I thought you’d like to see for yourself where your husband-to-be goes when he’s not with you.” The satisfied look on the woman’s face stabbed at Abigail’s confidence.
“What business is it of yours where Will is or isn’t?” Her bravado was slipping. Where was Will anyway?
“As I told you this afternoon, you don’t have to believe me. If you are so sure of his fidelity, then why are you so reluctant to see for yourself? I think, Miss Whittaker, you’re afraid I’m right.”
“Nonsense. I’m tired of you trying to come between me and Will. The only way I know to stop you is to prove you wrong. You want to watch the girls? So be it. I’ll go find Will and prove to you that whatever it is you think you know, you don’t.”
Again, the woman’s confident air threatened Abigail’s confidence, but she wouldn’t dare let the woman see her doubt.
“I’ll be back in half an hour...with Will in tow and then I don’t want to hear another word from you about Will ever again. Do I make myself clear?” she demanded as she grabbed her mittens and hooded cloak.
“Oh, we will certainly be clear then. Yes, we most certainly will.”
Abigail wanted to slam the front door so hard, it would shatter every window in the house, but that was childish behavior and she was about to be a mother of three. She didn’t have the luxury of indulging in that sort of behavior no matter how satisfying it felt at the time.
The streets were dark and everyone had gone home. Where could Will be? If he were at the fort, he would have sent one of his soldiers with a message to let her know he would be late so she wouldn’t worry. He was considerate that way, so what had gone wrong tonight?
She passed a couple of soldiers just outside the fort gates and stopped them. “Have either one of you seen Captain Bennett tonight?”
One of the soldiers shook his head. “No, ma’am. I haven’t seen him since early afternoon.”
“Thank you. What about you?” She turned to the other soldier. “Have you seen Captain Bennett tonight?”
“Um, well, I don’t know…” The soldier seemed nervous and reluctant to talk. Something was definitely wrong.
“Please, if you’ve seen him, I must find him. It’s a—family emergency.” She hadn’t lied exactly.
“Well, I might have seen him earlier. About six-thirty, I think it was.” The man cut a look to his fellow soldier and then back to her. “But I can’t be absolutely sure it was him.”
“Well then, just tell me what you think you saw.” She urged the man to tell her what he knew. Without a place to start looking, she could be out half the night.
“Well, like I said, ma’am. I might have seen the captain go toward the officer’s quarters about six-thirty, but I can’t guarantee it was him cause it was pretty dark.”
“Alright. I can start there. Was he with anyone? His friend Jeremy perhaps.”
“No, he wasn’t with Lieutenant Maxwell.”
“Someone else then?” She pushed for answers. The soldier was being very reluctant to provide the information she needed to find Will.
“Yes, ma’am. He was with someone else.”
“For goodness sake, soldier. Can’t you string more than three or four words together at one time? I need information. Did you or did you not see Captain Bennett with someone, and if you did, please give me a name.”
“Yes, ma’am, he was with someone. It was the schoolteacher. Miss Babcock.”
Abigail’s hear
t stumbled at the mention of the schoolteacher’s name. “Lanora Babcock? The schoolteacher?”
“Yes, ma’am. The same one. Now, if you don’t mind, we gotta get going.”
She couldn’t stop her mind from jumping to conclusions. Why would Will be with Lanora? Rational thoughts intervened. Even if he had been seen with Lanora, it did not mean he was still with her. What would be the purpose?
Danielle’s words cut through her thoughts taunting her with accusations against Will. “He’s a rounder, a ladies’ man, a pleasure seeker.”
She ran through the fort gates and searched for someone who could direct her to the officer’s quarters. She had to prove Danielle wrong. She had to prove it for Will’s sake, and the sake of those precious little girls who deserved a happy family. She needed to prove it to herself so her fragile grasp on love and happiness wasn’t shattered.
“Excuse me, soldier. Can you point the way to the officer’s quarters?”
She didn’t like the look the man gave her and pulled her cloak tighter around her body. “Captain Bennett is having a meeting there. I’m his fiancée. Can you tell me where to find him? It’s an urgent matter.”
The soldier snapped to attention. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you.”
“No worries, soldier. Now, which way?”
He pointed to the far corner. “There. That row of buildings. Captain Bennett’s room is the third one from the left.”
“Thank you again. I’ll make certain Captain Bennett knows how helpful you were to me.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
She hurried toward the row of buildings the soldier had pointed out. The soldier had said his room was the third one from the left. Did that mean the room he used to have, or did that mean Will still had his room just like Danielle said?
Abigail’s heart hurt from beating so fast and her stomach ached with dread. Could Danielle be telling the truth? A few hours ago, she would have bet her life on the fact that she was lying. Now? She wasn’t so sure.
All of the windows of the officer’s quarters were dark except one. She counted the doorways and sure enough, the third doorway from the left held the only glow of a low-burning lamp.
Careful not to make noise walking on the wooden planks of the porch, she stepped lightly up the steps and down the porch to stop in front of the right door. Her heart beat so hard, she swear she could hear it pounding in her ears. It sounded so loud, she feared the occupants of the rooms could hear it too, but no sounds stirred behind any of the doors. She wasn’t interested in any of the doors. She was only interested in one.
Abigail tried to peek through the curtains, but the room was too dim to see anything clearly. Everything was a blur of gray and silver shapes. She had come too far to turn coward and run now. Her future, and the future of those girls, depended upon her proving Danielle wrong.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly hoping to calm her nerves. She decided it helped a little so she took two more long slow breathes. In. Out. In. Out. She was ready.
Her hand shook as she reached out to test the doorknob. She nearly jumped out of her boots when the knob turned and the door opened just a crack.
Nothing moved and no sound came from the room. She stood frozen in place for a minute or two waiting for someone to confront her at the door. No one did. So she once again reached out and pushed the door open a little bit more. Just enough to see into the room. The door moved ever so slightly and she was grateful the hinges didn’t give her presence away.
Her eyes adjusted to the dim light of the room and she searched every corner in the dim light. There was a chair next to a desk.
She pushed on the door a little bit more to see the rest of the room and it opened enough for her to get her head inside. There was a washstand in one corner. She could see the white porcelain pitcher and washbowl on it. Her eyes followed the wall to an iron headboard and the bed attached to it. It was then she saw the outline of someone lying in the bed under the bedcovers.
She tried to convince herself that it wasn’t Will, but she was no longer sure. She hoped she would be able to chastise herself for doubting him when all of this was said and done, but until she knew for sure, she could only assume his innocence.
Her current dilemma was how was she going to make certain that the person sleeping in that bed was not her Will. She thought of all the possibilities and the only surefire way was to go inside and hope she could learn the truth without getting herself shot by a startled soldier.
Time was ticking and she needed answers. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open a little wider. Careful to step softly on the floorboards, she tested each one before she gave it her full weight. It was only a few steps from the door to the bed, but it took forever before she was finally standing beside it.
There were definitely two people in the bed. She could see a woman’s leg sticking out from the covers. And she heard the soft deep snores of a man. Her heart in her throat, she gently picked up the corner of the bedcovers, her fingers shaking from nerves. Slowly, she pulled it back inch by slow inch until finally she saw what she needed to see.
There, lying in the bed, side-by-side, in what should have been Will’s old room, was Lanora Babcock, and wrapped around her was the arm and leg of her soon-to-be husband, Captain William Bennett.
A sob escaped before she knew she was crying. Lanora moved in her sleep, but not her cheating, two-timing fiancé. She wanted to hit him with something while he slept, but there was no point in it. It was better if she left before he could try to stop her. Danielle had been right all along. Theirs was a marriage of convenience. She was just there to care for his nieces, clean his house, and cook his damn meals while he was occupied elsewhere.
Abigail fled out the door and down the steps when she collided with a hard body. “Whoa, there, little missy. What’s your hurry?”
It was Jeremy. “Abigail? What are you doing here?”
She was crying too hard to answer, so she turned and pointed to the open door.
Jeremy look to where she pointed and frowned. “Has someone hurt you?”
She sobbed again and pulled away from Will’s friend. “Yes, someone’s hurt me. Someone’s hurt me deeply and I shall never forgive him.” She turned and ran toward the fort’s gates ignoring Jeremy’s pleas for her to stop. But she didn’t stop. She ran and ran and ran until she could run no more. She was cold and numb and searched for a place to hide until she could gain her senses enough to make a plan of escape.
“Abigail, it’s not what you think.” Jeremy had followed her. “Please, it can’t be true. I just know it.” Jeremy caught up with her and pulled her to him. “Abigail, I don’t know what has happened tonight, but I can swear beyond a doubt, Will was not a party to it.”
She jerked away from Will’s friend. “How can you stand there and defend him? Did you not see him? Did you not see him in that bed with...with Lanora? It isn’t like it’s the first time he’s been with her and you know it as well as I do. Now that I know the truth, I dare say, it won’t be the last time either. I’ll not be a party to any of it.”
“Oh, so you know about that.”
“Yes, I know about that. I know about a lot of things. My eyes are suddenly wide open.”
“But Abigail, if you’ll just listen to what I have to say—”
“Why? So you can plant seeds of doubt that what I saw with my own eyes is not true? No, I’m leaving to go back to Angel Creek first thing tomorrow morning and you, nor Will, is going to stop me.”
“You can’t go by yourself. It’s too dangerous. There’s Indians and moonshiners between here and there. You won’t make it five miles. Just wait until you can talk to Will—”
She pushed Jeremy away and turned toward the livery stable swiping at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’ll never speak to him again. Now, leave me alone. I’m leaving in the morning and there’s nothing you, or anyone else, can do to stop me.”
Abigail slipped ins
ide the livery stable and locked it behind her preventing Jeremy from following her. She heard him pounding on the barn door and yelling her name, but she refused to answer. By the time she found an empty stall full of hay to bed down in, Jeremy had given up and gone away.
She heard the church tower clock strike midnight. It was Christmas Eve and tonight was supposed to have been her wedding day. She turned her face into her cloak and sobbed as if her heart was broken—because it certainly felt like it was.
Chapter 23
Will tried to turn over in his bed, but his body refused to obey. He lay unable to move and listened to the quiet house. Odd, he thought. Usually, there was some noise coming from the kitchen this time of morning. He assumed it was morning.
He tried to open his eyes, but it seemed nothing was working. Why, he wondered. What day was it anyway? The silence was puzzling. Most mornings, Baby Rose was crying or Violet and Lily were laughing or Abigail was rustling pots and pans in the kitchen.
His mouth was parched and he had a weird taste in his mouth. And a headache. No, not just a headache. It felt like his skull was going to split in two.
Will tried again to force his eyes open. Why was he having such a hard time waking up? What was wrong with him? He didn’t feel right. He must be coming down with something.
He caught a tiny glimpse of sunlight through a forgiving eyelid. So, it was morning. Why couldn’t he move? Thoughts of last night’s activities came slow, but come they did. He remembered Lanora catching him in town after he had bought Abigail’s wedding band. She had begged him to walk her through the fort because of some unknown admirer who had been pestering her. Doubt caught up with his meandering thoughts and his confidence wavered. If his intuition served him correctly, Lanora might have been playing him for a fool. But he wasn’t a fool. He wasn’t interested in anything Lanora had to offer, because he—loved Abigail.
There it was. Finally. He had known he had some very strong feelings for Abigail, but he hadn’t been ready to call it love—until this very minute. Reality came rushing back. Today was Christmas Eve. Today was his wedding day.
Abigail (Angel Creek Christmas Brides Book 12) Page 16
