Will smiled at the thought, but his lips cracked. Why was he so parched? Pushing his body to respond, he reached for his night table and a glass of water, but his fingers grasped only thin air.
It was then he felt a movement in the bed beside him. Abigail? Perhaps now he understood his problem. He and Abigail must have decided to get married last night. Perhaps he had celebrated a little too much. He hoped he hadn’t overdone it before the honeymoon. Wait. If he and Abigail were at home, then where had the girls stayed last night? For the life of him, he couldn’t remember a single detail past Lanora pulling him by the arm to the officer’s quarters. His mind came to a screeching halt. It hadn’t been to any room in the officer’s quarters. She had dragged him to his own abandoned room. But why? No other officer had use of his room yet because he hadn’t signed the paperwork to relinquish it. So, why would Lanora bring him—
Finally, his mind comprehended the situation. He pushed his body out of bed, hitting the floor with a dull thud. He would have laid there longer, but for the female voice calling him from the other side of the bed. “Will, are you alright? Come back to bed. I’m cold.”
Lanora.
Will sat up and saw Lanora cover up her head with the bedcovers. “What the hell is going on here?” He looked down to see himself fully clothed. “Okay, that’s good to know.” Then, he pushed himself up from the floor using the bed as a crutch. Why was he was dazed? He knew now he hadn’t taken a drink, so it wasn’t alcohol that dulled his senses.
He raked both hands through his tousled hair and hit a sore spot on the back. “Ow.” He rubbed his fingers over the area again and found a knot the size of a robin’s egg. Now, he remembered something hit him from behind.
“Wake up, Lanora. I want some answers. Why are we both still here this morning? Did you pay someone to attack me? Wake up, before I drag you out of this room and put you in stocks.” Will racked his brain trying to remember what happened. The last thing he remembered was Lanora telling him she was meeting someone. But then she went into his old room. Wait. That wasn’t the last thing he remembered. When he followed her inside to tell her she was in the wrong room, someone hit him on the head.
“Lanora, I said wake up you little—” It was then he saw the handwritten note. He recognized Jeremy’s handwriting and rushed to read it. Why would Jeremy find him here and not help him? Instead, his friend left him a note? None of this was making sense.
His fingers shook as he unfolded the note. The words blurred in front of him and he had to blink several times for his vision to clear enough for him to see.
Dear Will,
I don’t know what happened tonight, but you are in big trouble. For some unknown reason, you and Lanora ended up here in your old room. And it seems when you didn’t come home, Abigail came looking for you. She said she was worried because it wasn’t like you to be late without letting her know. Unfortunately, she found you and Lanora in bed.
I didn’t know any of this until I ran into Abigail on her way to the livery stable to rent a horse. I tried to stop her, but her mind is made up. The livery stable was closed and I knew she wouldn’t be able to leave until morning, so, I came back here and tried to wake you, but you wouldn’t budge. It was then I found a vial of laudanum lying on the floor. My guess is Lanora has done something rather drastic to gain your undivided attention.
Abigail is determined to ride out for Angel Creek at first light. I tried to talk her out of going until she could talk to you, but she won’t hear of it. So, I’m going to do the next best thing and escort her safely to Angel Creek, since I can’t let her go alone.
I know you, Will. I know whatever happened was not of your doing. I’m going to try my best to convince Abigail of that fact on the way to Angel Creek. Best case scenario, I’ll convince her to come back to you. Worst case, at least I can keep her safe until you can get to her.
Don’t do anything rash, Will. A court-martial or a hanging won’t help your cause in getting Abigail back. Besides, I’ve posted a guard outside your door and as soon as Lanora is awake, he has orders to arrest her for assaulting an officer of the United States Army.
J.
Fear mixed with unbridled anger threatened to overcome his good sense and Jeremy’s good advice. He wanted to choke Lanora Babcock right where she lay, but he couldn’t spare the time. “Wake up, Lanora!” he yelled. Then he yelled to the guard Jeremy had posted, “Soldier. Enter.”
The door opened immediately and two soldiers armed with their rifles stood at attention just outside the door. “Yes, sir, Captain Bennett.”
“Take this woman to the guard house and hold her there until I can get to the bottom of this,” he demanded grabbing his hat from the floor where it had fallen when he was knocked out. He was glad he was fully clothed and still had his coat on. Just to be sure, he crossed to the other side of the bed and ripped away the bedclothes. Lanora lay in a dazed stupor fully clothed too. “Thank goodness.”
He left the soldiers in charge of the schoolteacher while he rushed to the livery stable in hopes of stopping Abigail. He was too late. “No, sir. Captain Bennett. Miss Whittaker and Lieutenant Maxwell left just before daylight. I thought it was an odd happening since I heard tell you and the miss are getting married tonight, but it ain’t none of my business to question.”
“Thank you, Mr. Gallagher. I’ll see that the horse Abigail borrowed is returned.” He then ran toward the fort’s horse stables, saddled his own horse, and galloped out of town. He passed by his house and wondered who was caring for the girls. He figured Danielle was front and center when Abigail needed someone to watch the girls. And after she found him with Lanora, he was even more certain the vile woman played an active part in this wicked plan to come between him and Abigail. Once he found Abigail and convinced her to come home, he would take care of Danielle Wilson once and for all. But for now, he needed to find Jeremy and Abigail. He just hoped he found them in good health. The mountain’s dense forests weren’t the place to be in front of a winter snowstorm. Frigid temperatures and deep snow could easily kill a man and his horse, not to mention—a southern woman from Charleston.
Chapter 24
Abigail followed behind Jeremy single file down the narrow mountain trail. He said he was taking her a different way than she had come when she arrived with Will and the girls in the buckboard. He said it was shorter on horseback and with the gray low-hanging winter clouds smothering out the mountaintops, he felt like it was the safest route to take too.
The thought of Will and the girls almost sent a new wave of fresh tears coursing down her face, but she forced them back. Her cheeks were already raw and chapped enough from her earlier tears and the fierce winter wind blowing at them.
“It’s a lot colder than I’d thought it’d be,” she said, her teeth chattering together.
Jeremy turned on his horse so she could hear his words before they were carried away by the wind. “It’s a lot later in the season than when Will brought you here from Angel Creek. It’s nearly the end of December. Most folks don’t venture out in this stuff.”
“I’m sorry,” she hollered back to him. “I didn’t want you to come, but now I can see this wouldn’t have been a good idea for me to do this alone,” she hollered at his hunkered back, his long cape pulled tight around him. She wasn’t sure he’d heard.
He turned again and offered her a sad smile. “It isn’t a good idea for anyone on a day like today, but I understand your need to get away from—everything. I just wish you’d let me offer an alternative explanation to what you think you saw last night.”
Tears burned again so she shook her head no and kept quiet. There was nothing Will’s friend could say to her that would convince her she hadn’t seen the ugly truth with her own eyes.
Her feet were freezing in her stirrups. They had been on the trail for about two hours, but the sun was nowhere to be found. Perhaps they should head back to the fort and wait for the storm to pass. She hadn’t bothered to return to the hous
e to get her things. She couldn’t bear to say good to the girls under the smug eye of their righteous aunt.
He pulled his horse to a stop and she guided hers beside him. “Why are we stopping?”
“Just over that ridge is an old hunting cabin I know. We can catch our breath there, get warmed up, and then decide what we should do. We can’t stay long because the storm is gathering over the mountains and it won’t be long before it starts to dump snow on us. The last thing we want to do is get caught out in it after dark.”
“Alright,” she agreed and let him lead the way. It was slow going on the icy mountain trail and she had to admit the two times her horse slipped, her heart punched her throat in fear of slipping over the edge. She was fairly certain the thick stand of pine trees would catch her horse before it hit the bottom, but she was pretty sure she would just keep falling and falling until she hit the bottom. Not a very desirable conclusion to her escape.
Ten minutes later, she and the lieutenant crested the ridge where she was able to catch a faint outline of a building in the distance. What she hadn’t expected to see was smoke coming out of the chimney already. It was apparent neither had Lieutenant Maxwell. As soon as he saw the smoke, he reigned his horse in and pulled out his field glasses from his saddlebag. After a couple of minutes, he turned a worried glance to her, his tone suddenly low and serious. “We need to turn around and go another way.”
“What’s wrong, Lieutenant?” She saw his worried expression and shot a look back toward the cabin.
“I recognize a couple of the horse standing in the lean-to down there. They belong to some men we don’t want to meet. I’m afraid we need to turn back now. I think we should head back to the fort—”
“Must we? Is there no other way to get to Angel Creek before the storm comes?” She knew she wasn’t being reasonable, but she would rather do just about anything than to go back to Fort Benton and face Danielle and the truth about Will.
The lieutenant rode up next to her. His knee against hers, he rested his hand on her saddle horn and looked her straight in the eye. “Abigail, I know you have your heart set on getting to Angel Creek. And I would get you there if at all possible, but Mother Nature is working against us. We can’t beat that storm to Angel Creek, and we can’t seek shelter down there.” He nodded to the cabin down below. “So the only way I can ensure your safety is to get you back to the fort before the trail gets too deep. If you don’t want to take a chance on running into Will, I can help you get settled at the hotel. Maybe you can stay there a day or two—just until after Christmas. After that, I should be able to get you back to where you want to go without ever having to lay eyes on Will. Although, I think if you just talked to him, you’d see this was all a terrible misunderstanding.”
Abigail shook her head. “You’re Will’s best friend. I don’t blame you one bit for taking up for your friend. I admire your loyalty actually, but in the face of what my own eyes witnessed, there’s no point in me listening to Will’s—excuses. My eyes saw what they saw.”
“Did they?” Lieutenant Maxwell’s attitude was starting to annoy her.
“Yes. They did. I walked into that room and saw Will and Lanora Babcock sharing a bed. They were together just one day before he and I were to get married. I suppose I owe Danielle a debt of gratitude since she was the one who told me of Will’s repeated infidelity. I admit I didn’t believe it either and went to the fort to prove it. But it was I who was proved wrong.”
“Don’t you think it odd that Danielle would know about Will philandering before you? Think about it, Abigail. Danielle wants something Will has and the only way she thinks she can get it is to split the two of you up. I saw some things too and I would like to tell you about them if you would let me.”
The door on the cabin slammed against the door frame sending an echo reverberating across the mountains. She and the lieutenant turned to see two men walking toward the horses.
“We gotta go. Nice and quiet.” Her escort led the way back up the trail the same way they had come down. They were just leaving the clearing on the ridge above the cabin when one of the horses down below whinnied. Her horse answered back.
“Ride, Abigail. Stay right behind me and don’t let me out of your sight.” Lieutenant Maxwell kicked his mount into a dead run up the trail and Abigail did her best to keep up. They cleared the open meadow and were just entering the pine forest when two men stepped out of the woods in front of them. She saw Lieutenant Maxwell reach for his pistol when one of the men fired striking him, knocking him from his horse.
She heard him yell at her to keep riding, but she was torn between being in danger and leaving him behind in the snow, possibly to die. If she ran, could she get help for him in time to save his life? Probably not. She slowed her mount and the other man stepped in front of her horse and grabbed the reins. The horse reared and she tumbled to the ground just a few feet from where the lieutenant fell.
“Well, well, well, what have we here, Frank?” One of the men came to stand over her, his grin exposed his lack of teeth, but it was the look in his eyes that made her skin crawl.
The other man came to stand over her too. “Well, I’ll be. Looks like we been good boys, Jack. Santa done gone and brung us an early Christmas present. Now, who’d a thunk it.”
The two men cackled like hens. Abigail was scared to death, but she knew better than to let them see it. Instead of cowering on the ground, she stood and dusted the snow off her coat. “How dare you shoot at an officer of the United States Army. His whole company is not far behind and there will be hell to pay when they get here. Now help me get him up off that cold ground. If he dies, you’ll be looking at the business end of a hanging noose, my friends.”
Her heart thudded in her chest and she had to work hard to keep her bravado up. “Grab our horses and help me get him up on his horse. You two beat all, you know that?” She admonished them like she would a couple of schoolboys. So far, it was working. At least for the time present.
The one called Jack held their horses’ reins. She took them from him and pointed to Lieutenant Maxwell lying in the snow. “Get him up on his horse. And hurry. If he dies, you won’t be able to run far enough, or fast enough, to escape justice from the United States Army, not when his best friend is the commander of Fort Benton.”
The two men eyed each other and then picked the fallen soldier up between them, throwing him over the saddle belly first. She heard the lieutenant grunt, so she was fairly certain he was conscious, but pretending not to be.
“Easy. You don’t know how bad he’s hurt.” She criticized them again. Now, she knew the only choice she had was to go with them to their cabin, and she was fairly certain there were more men down there, some of them to be avoided according to her traveling companion, but it was the only chance Lieutenant Maxwell had to live. He had shown her an extraordinary amount of consideration and respect in agreeing to help her leave Fort Benton. She would do no less than for him. She would do whatever she could to help him survive.
The first snowflake fell as they crested the ridge and descended the trail to the cabin. Before she and the wounded lieutenant could get inside, she could barely see the horses in the lean-to through the thick blanket of snow.
She sent a prayer heavenward hoping for a Christmas miracle, because without one, she didn’t hold much hope for her, or Lieutenant Maxwell, ever seeing Fort Benton again.
Chapter 25
Will had stayed on the wagon trail and rode his horse as hard as he dared. He figured Jeremy would have taken Abigail by the mountain trails. It was more rugged, but a shorter trip and therefore faster. Just before noon, the snow began to fall from the iron-gray sky. Soon, he had no choice but to slow his mount for fear of crippling him on the slippery road.
He loped into Angel Creek a little after two in the afternoon. He and his horse were both beyond exhausted, but he had had to keep going to get to Abigail before nightfall.
Will rode his horse to the livery stable and pa
id extra for a rub down, food, and a stall full of clean hay. Now that he had done all he could for his horse, he headed straight to the sheriff’s office.
The snow was starting to stick on every surface. He was just glad Jeremy had gotten Abigail to town where they would be safe. Now, she couldn’t run anywhere and he would make her listen to the sordid story of how Lanora, and probably Danielle, had worked to tear them apart.
He stomped his boots on the wooden boardwalk outside the sheriff’s office. He opened the door and stepped inside brushing the snow off his hat. The sheriff was alone in his office and looked up when he entered.
“Hello, Captain. What are you doing back in Angel Creek? Looking for another housekeeper?” The sheriff rose and extended his hand.
Will took off his gloves and shook the man’s hand. “Sheriff Cassidy. Good to see you.”
The lawman nodded back in greeting. “Good to see you too, Captain Bennett. I have to say I’m kind of surprised to see you tonight. It’s Christmas Eve. I thought you’d be at the fort spending it with your family. I hope your visit doesn’t mean there’s trouble afoot. I haven’t heard anything from the Blackfoot and not much out of that moonshiner family up on the mountain either.”
“No, Sheriff. There’s no trouble. At least not with the two you mentioned. No, this is more of a family matter, I guess you could say. You see, me and Abigail—Miss Whittaker—we were supposed to get married tonight, but because of a rather serious misunderstanding, it seems she has decided to return to Angel Creek for a spell. I’m here to try to convince her to come back with me to Fort Benton and the girls.”
“I see.” The sheriff frowned.
“I don’t intend to force her to go back if she doesn’t want to, Sheriff. I hope you know I’m not that kind of man—”
Abigail (Angel Creek Christmas Brides Book 12) Page 17
