by Laura Drewry
Lucy lifted her chin and forced her voice to stop trembling. “Not anymore. I won’t do this, Deacon, and I won’t let you do it, either.”
His laughter was anything but joyful. Instead, it was the same condescending sound it always was when he spoke to Lucy. “Have you forgotten – again – who we’re dealing with? Our father will not be left empty-handed.”
“He won’t be.” She squared her shoulders. “He sent you to make sure I failed, and I did.” She swallowed a stomach full of bile and forced the quiver out of her voice. “So do it. Take me back.”
Jed was on his feet, realization flooding his face. He grabbed Lucy by the shoulders and held on. “No.”
“Yes.” She couldn’t swallow fast enough to stop the tears. “We have no other choice. Reverend Conroy is here, so the baby is protected. Deacon can’t touch it.”
They both looked down at Maggie, her face red, her muscles straining, and Berta who knelt beside her, praying as hard and as fast as Reverend Conroy.
Fury raged in Deacon’s eyes, but before he could move, Lucy caught him in an invisible grip, freezing him.
There was no telling how long her hold on Deacon would last. He’d always been much stronger than she was.
“Jed, listen to me.”
She stepped closer, hating the fear she saw in his eyes; fear of her and what she was, and fear of what he thought she would do to him.
“We don’t have much time,” she said. “But you have to believe I love you, Jed. If I didn’t, I would have finished you and Maggie off last night and you never would have known what happened.”
The pain etched across his face ripped through her.
“I needed you to love me, and you did. The only thing missing were the words.”
A stifled grunt sounded from Deacon, but his lips remained frozen.
“I tried . . .” He trailed off, his frown deep.
“I know.” She reached for his hands, willing her love to flow through them. “But I couldn’t let you. I was so confused, I didn’t know what I was feeling or what I would do if you said it.”
She dared a glance back at her brother. His face had turned a fiery red. He’d soon be free. “I was stupid enough to believe my father when he said I could be free. But he was never going to let me go, even if I did take the child.”
“You knew about Sam.” Torment twisted Jed’s features. “And you didn’t say anything.”
“It happened before I came here, and there was nothing I could do about it.”
“But you knew.” He spun away, raked his hands through his hair, and muttered more curses than Lucy had ever heard – even in Hell. After a long moment, he turned back to her. “Are Maggie and the baby really safe?” he asked warily.
She pressed her palms flat against his chest. “Yes.” She choked on a sob. “But you’re not.”
His head hung low, his shoulders slumped. “Maggie knew. She knew and I didn’t believe her.” Jed shook his head slowly; every ounce of his pain seeped into Lucy, searing her from the inside out.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I wanted to be free of it all, and I didn’t care who got hurt.”
Very slowly, Jed lifted his face to hers.
“And now?” He seized her wrists and narrowed his eyes at her. “What about now?”
Her wrists pinched in his grasp, but she didn’t try to escape.
“Now I know Deacon was right. I was stupid.”
“To hell with Deacon,” he growled. “I’m talking about us. What happens to us?”
A blast of warmth shot through her heart, followed immediately by a rip so painful it made her gasp. “If you trust me and believe me when I say I love you more than anything else, then you can save yourself.”
Darkness clouded Jed’s face. “What do you mean? What about you?”
She tried to free herself from the heat of his touch, but he refused to release her. “Deacon will never let me go. His powers – his hatred – it’s too strong.”
“Deacon has nothing to do with you two.” Berta’s voice made them both jump. Her face was flushed and sweat trickled down her cheeks. “You can win this – you just have to trust in what you know.”
Deacon burst out of his freeze and stumbled face-first to the ground. Horrified, he pushed to his feet, and stared at the toe of his boot, and his once white ferret, both now covered in a thin layer of brown dust.
“Ugh,” he grunted as he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and began wiping the dust from his pet.
“Sonuvabitch.” Jed whirled, swinging his fist toward Deacon, but he’d already moved.
A smug little smile lifted Deacon’s mouth. “Temper temper, human.”
Before Jed could swing again, Lucy moved herself between him and Deacon. “Don’t.” She wrapped her hand around his fist and eased it back to his side. “If you can believe that I love you, if you can hold that in your heart, Deacon can never take you.”
Deacon settled his ferret back inside his coat pocket, and stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his bowler hat sitting slightly off-center and his fancy black suit looking like he’d just had it cleaned and pressed.
“Lovely words coming from you,” Deacon scoffed. “Considering you’re the one who put the human in this situation to start with. If that’s what you call love--”
Jed lunged for him again, but Lucy pulled him back.
“Look at me,” she repeated.
He resisted. His hatred for Deacon poured out of him as fast as Lucy’s tears fell. She could feel darkness falling over him, but she had to stop it. She couldn’t let his light be snuffed out as hers was about to.
She took his hand and pressed it flat against her left breast. Jed stared at it for a minute, then locked gazes with her. Those deep, dark eyes that had warmed her through so many times were now flooded with confusion and doubt.
“You gave it light,” she murmured. “And you made it grow. There’s nothing Deacon can say to make that any different.”
Jed swallowed. His gaze flickered to their hands, his brow furrowed. Maybe, just maybe he was beginning to believe her.
“How touching.” Deacon rolled his eyes. “Jedidiah, perhaps it’s time for you to come clean with Lucille, too.”
Reverend Conroy continued to read from the Bible, his left hand clutching its binding, while his right hand lifted in prayer over Maggie’s head.
“What is he talking about?” Lucy asked haltingly. Jed would never lie to her. Would he? If only he’d look at her, she’d feel a lot better.
“Tell her,” Deacon said. “Tell her about your relationship with your sister-in-law. Or I will.”
Lucy frowned. Why did Jed seem so unnerved?
“There’s nothing to tell,” he said, his voice flat. “She married my brother.”
“You were not the first woman your beloved human proposed to,” Deacon began. “Unless I’m mistaken, his dear sister-in-law is his first love.”
Jed’s eyes squeezed shut for a moment, before he blinked down at her.
“Jed?” Lucy stepped back a bit.
“That’s not all, is it, Jedidiah?” Deacon’s taunting voice echoed through Lucy’s heart. “His brother hadn’t been gone but a few days before he proposed a second time.”
“You sonuvabitch,” Jed ground out. “That’s not how it was.”
Deacon snorted. “No? Are you saying you didn’t propose to her? And not just once, but twice?”
Jed’s dark eyes gazed desperately at Lucy. His only answer was a brief nod.
A sharp sob ripped out of Lucy’s throat.
“It was before I knew you,” he said, reaching for her hands. “I never loved her.”
“But--”
“No.” He shook his head and sighed heavily. “I thought she would make a good wife, a sensible one who’d work hard and not question me at every turn. And even though she refused to believe Sam was gone, I knew it. I could feel it in my gut, and I knew Sam would want his wife and child taken care of.”
>
Lucy’s heart began to soften again. The Jed Caine she’d first met, the one at the auction, had been looking for the same thing in a wife.
“I never loved her,” he repeated quietly, then choked on his next breath. “I’ve only ever loved you.”
A low growl started in Deacon’s throat. His anger was a double-edged sword. Good, because it meant Jed wasn’t going along with what Deacon wanted; bad because his anger made him stronger, which would make it more difficult for Jed to defend himself.
Lucy dashed her arm across her eyes.
“And I’ve only ever loved you,” she said, pouring everything she had into the touch of their hands. “Hold on to that.”
She leaned up and kissed his mouth, soft and slow. Tears ran over her lips and when she looked up, it nearly killed her to see wet streaks down Jed’s cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I hope someday you can forgive me.”
She stepped back from him and started toward Deacon.
o0o
“No.” Jed’s voice thundered across the yard. “Lucy stays with me.”
Lucy took a long time to face him. “I can’t.”
The pain in her eyes matched that in his heart. She was scared, too. Terrified.
But Jed wasn’t. Not anymore. He’d gone way beyond scared and moved right on to burning anger.
Fury.
“Yes, you can.” He stood straight, kept his voice calm and held out his hand for her to take.
“Humans.” Deacon’s laughter chilled the air. “You have no idea what you’re up against.”
Jed snorted. “You think I’m scared of you – a cowardly little rat who hides behind his fear?”
“Jed.” Lucy gasped his name.
“Careful, human,” Deacon said, his voice rising. “Lucille warned you about my powers. I can just as easily take you, too.”
“So do it.”
Lucy gasped again.
“He won’t.” Jed kept his eyes focused on Deacon. “He can’t.”
“Jed, please.”
“Best listen to your wife, human,” Deacon warned. “I can hurt you in ways you can’t even imagine.”
“Go ahead.” He stepped closer to Deacon, daring him with each breath. “I’ll still love Lucy. And she’ll still love me.”
Deacon’s features darkened, his eyes bulged, and for a second, Jed wondered if he’d sprout horns. “She was willing to whore herself to get your soul.”
Though Lucy remained upright, Jed felt a tiny part of her slip away.
“That’s right,” Deacon went on, curling his lips into an evil smile at Lucy. “A lying whore. That’s all she was. That’s all she’ll ever be.”
She slipped again. Deacon’s smile widened. What the hell was going on?
“You’re wrong.” Jed fought to remain strong. He couldn’t let Deacon’s words hurt him or Lucy. He had to hold on. But to what?“The baby’s coming!” Berta’s cry froze everyone where they stood.
Reverend Conroy’s voice grew louder, stronger. “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”
Every muscle in Maggie’s body contracted at the same time. Jed and Lucy stepped closer, but Deacon remained back, his growing fury almost palpable.
“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help--”
“Bear down, Maggie.” Berta’s soft, calm voice spoke over the reverend’s. Kneeling between Maggie’s legs, Berta kept one hand on her contracting belly and the other on the baby’s crowning head. “Good. Do it again.”
Jed stared in awe at everything going on around him. If Lucy was lying to him still, this baby would soon be ripped from its family. And that would no doubt be Maggie’s undoing.
“Then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Lucy was struggling to unbutton her dress. What the hell. . .?
“Help me.” She backed toward Jed, who took over undoing the buttons, but why he had no idea. When he was done, she pulled her arms out of the dress and struggled to keep it up. She turned to Jed. “Hold this.”
He did as instructed, and while he held her dress up, she managed to somehow wiggle out of her chemise, slip her arms back in the sleeves, and jerked her thumb at the buttons. As if in a trance, his fingers skittered over each button, fumbling to find its matching hole.
Deacon’s fuming grew louder, and though Jed didn’t look at him, he wouldn’t have been surprised to see flames coming out Deacon’s ears. If the baby was safe, as Lucy said, why was Deacon still there? He could have taken Lucy and Jed at any time, so what was he waiting for?
Lucy knelt next to Berta, her chemise draped over her arms, waiting for the child.
There was a collective gasp as Maggie pushed the wailing baby out and into Lucy’s waiting hands.
“No,” Maggie sobbed. “Give me my baby!”
Reverend Conroy fumbled beneath his trouser leg and pulled a small knife from inside his sock. With a guilty shrug, he handed it to Berta.
“No!” Maggie continued to wail. “Don’t hurt my baby!”
Jed held his breath. This was Lucy’s chance to save herself. This was what she’d come for, and everyone’s lives rested in what she did next. And now it made sense; this is what Deacon was waiting for.
Would Lucy give him the child?
With deft hands, Berta knotted the umbilical cord and used the preacher’s knife to cut it. Lucy snuggled the wriggling infant deeper into her embrace and gently tucked the edges of her chemise over its head and around its tiny body.
“Lucille.” Deacon’s voice wavered slightly. “Give it to me.”
Tears coursed down her cheeks as she leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss to the baby’s forehead. Then, smiling brilliantly, she shuffled forward and leaned down to Maggie. “You have a beautiful baby girl.”
Maggie struggled to sit up while reaching for her child at the same time. Lucy waited until the baby was secure in Maggie’s arms before completely releasing her, and stepping away.
“No!” Deacon’s fury bounced off the tree and echoed off into the distance. “Lucille!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Lucy. Jed watched in horror as she began to back away from Maggie, past where Jed stood, and closer to Deacon. It was as though everything was happening in slow motion. He reached toward her, but missed; she slipped past, shaking her head and smiling back at him through her tears.
“Jed.” Berta’s one word, like a distant echo in his mind, shocked him back to his senses.
Lucy was going to leave him. Worse than that, Deacon was going to take her back to. . .
The hell with that.
“Lucy.” He grasped her by the shoulders, glanced behind him at Maggie’s baby, then focused everything he had on Lucy. His wife. “Why did you do that?”
Lucy dashed away her tears and gazed lovingly at the baby now curled up to its mother’s breast.
“Look at that, Jed,” she murmured. “It’s a miracle.”
He didn’t need to follow her gaze to understand. “Yes,” he nodded. “It is.”
After a long moment, she sighed and turned back to him. The ache he saw in her eyes ripped a hole a mile wide across his heart.
“You’re my miracle,” she said quietly, her hands pressed flat against his chest. “Because of you I know what love is. And I’ll carry that with me for the rest of my life.”
She made to pull out of Jed’s hold, but he tightened his grip. “Lucy.”
“I love you,” she sniffed. “I’m so sorry.”
Berta’s voice beckoned. “Jed, we need to get Maggie some proper care. We can’t leave her out here like this.”
“Go to Maggie,” Lucy whispered. “She needs you.”
“Perhaps one of us should walk back to town,” Rev
erend Conroy suggested hesitantly.
“You’re not going anywhere, Reverend,” Berta snapped. “I’ll go.”
But nobody moved. Not a foot step sounded behind Jed. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Lucy through any of it. Even through her ocean of tears, he felt her strength, felt the love she had for not only him, but his family. Her family.
“Go,” she whispered again. “It’s the right thing.”
Deacon moved forward to take her by the arm, but Jed was quicker. “She stays.”
“Lucille.” Deacon’s voice grew tighter, lower.
Jed’s heart swelled. Deacon couldn’t hurt them. They loved each other, and that was the one thing the devil couldn’t win against; love.
Just as a smile began to work its way across his mouth, Lucy moved. Jed’s smile faded as one began to spread across Deacon’s face.
“Lucy?”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t let him hurt you, Jed.”
“He can’t!”
“You don’t understand--”
“I understand he’s a spineless coward.”
Lucy sucked in a breath.
“Careful, human,” Deacon growled.
“You can’t do anything to us,” Jed said, surprised at the strength in his own voice. “You can’t make me love her any less.”
“She came to take your soul.”
“And she did,” Jed replied. “Whether she’s here with me or not, my heart and soul belong to her.”
Deacon’s lips squeezed white against the burning red fury of his face.
“I won’t let you take her,” Jed said calmly.
Deacon laughed without humor. “You won’t let me? Try to stop me, human.”
Jed ignored him, speaking directly to Lucy. “You saved the baby, Lucy. Let me save you.”
She kept her eyes cast down as she shook her head.
“Then take me with you.”
“No!” Her head whipped up, her eyes huge, and she lunged toward Jed. “No.”
Berta and Maggie cried out behind him, but Deacon’s smile widened. “Yes.” He tightened his grip on Lucy’s arm, while he focused all his energy on Jed.
