by Merri Hiatt
“Sure. Several times.”
“And?” Purity asked.
“Plain ol’ water compounds, mixed in with some other natural elements. It’s a mystery as to why it heals people. Maybe that’s part of the reason it works.”
“What do you mean?” Purity said.
“Because you can’t explain it. Maybe you have to believe first, then you receive your miracle.”
“Is that how you two have stayed so young looking?” Pure asked.
“No. Our grandkids keep us young,” Emma said.
“And sex,” Frank added with a wink. “Lots of good ol’ fashioned sexual relations.”
“Frank!” Emma’s cheeks tinted pink.
“Hear that, Alex. We don’t need a magic hot spring, we just need to keep having sex.”
“That’s a hardship I think I can endure most willingly.”
Brad approached their table. “Emma, may I pull you away from your adoring husband for a trip around the dance floor?”
“Why I’d love to. The conversation was taking a bit of an uncomfortable turn anyway.”
Brad held out his hand and escorted Emma to the dance floor.
“She’s just as beautiful as the day we met. Hasn’t changed a bit,” Frank said, his eyes filled with love. He saw Courtney standing alone. “Excuse me for a minute, will ya. Turnabout is fair play.”
Purity and Alex watched as Frank asked Courtney to dance. They did a mean bow to the corner of their square and then promenaded around in a circle.
“Do you think when we’re old, we’ll look at each other the way Emma and Frank do?” Pure asked.
“I’m certain of it.”
“Wouldn’t it be funny if we started a ranch of our own and invited city folk to vacation with us?”
“What would we call it?” Alex asked.
“Something reflective of our love, and our family.” Purity ran her hand across her growing belly.
“Bun in the Oven Ranch.”
“Okay, you don’t get to name it if you’re not going to be serious.”
“I was being serious, sort of. Let me take another stab at it.” Alex thought for a moment. “Family Farm.”
“You really suck at this.” Purity giggled.
“Diego’s Den.”
“Stop, please.”
“Cow Hands. We could have the outline of our hands done in metal and the word Cow Hands in great big letters.”
“Honey, I love you, but you’re fired.”
“Want to dance?”
“I’d love to.”
They joined the others in a square, laughing and messing up the movements, especially during the allemande. Purity ended up standing all by herself while Brad and Alex were holding hands.
“I think I went left when I should have gone right,” Pure said.
“I’m thinking Brad and I should team up. He’s a hell of a dancer,” Alex said.
Courtney and Purity laughed as the boys promenaded around the room, ending by bowing to each other.
“If you don’t need me, I’m heading over to get some of that fried chicken,” Court said.
“Oh, that does sound good,” Pure agreed.
“You’d rather eat than dance with me?” Brad asked.
“You seem to be doing fine without us,” Courtney said, heading for the buffet table.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As the night wore on, the music seemed to get louder, the lanterns shone brighter and Courtney was convinced someone had spiked every available beverage, except water.
“Red said there’s a swimmin’ hole with a swing around here somewhere,” Jeremy said. “Do you think we can look for it tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Bobby said. “There ought to be somewhere to fish, too.”
“I brought my hunting rifle,” Brad said. “There must be something in season that we can shoot at.”
“Brad! I can’t believe you’re okay with killing innocent animals,” Meg said.
“Look out,” Courtney said. “You’ve got Meg’s dander up.”
“I’d eat whatever I shot. It’s not like I’m hunting just for sport.”
“It’s not like you don’t have enough money to go buy meat. There’s no need to kill defenseless animals.”
“You’re chowing down pretty good on that chicken. Someone had to kill it.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Plenty of animals have already been killed. Why add another one unnecessarily? And, before you answer, I already know why. It’s the thrill of the chase. Which goes back to your point about not being in it for sport. You are in it for sport. So why not just go shoot beer cans or clay discs?”
“Because they can’t get away,” Bobby said. “I think hunting and fishing is about survival. It’s you and nature out in the woods. What are you going to do, eat berries and nuts? No, you’re going to find a way to kill a small animal, probably a rabbit or a squirrel. Next is fire. You have to have a way to cook the meat. And, you need a water source and shelter. Once you’ve got all these things, you can survive. Humankind = 1, Nature = 0.”
“Not if I take away your gun,” Meg said. “You can survive on berries, nuts, seeds and other plant life. We don’t have to eat meat. It’s something we choose to do. I’m not even saying it’s wrong. What I’m saying is that I don’t like the idea of killing animals as a game.”
“Your point is understood,” Brad said, deciding to end the conversation before their friendship took a turn neither one would like.
“I need some air.” Meg headed toward the barn doors, grateful no one followed her. She wound her way through the orchard until she found the gazebo, then sat down on the steps. The moonlight filtered through the trees sporadically.
A snapped twig had her peering into the darkness. “Who’s there?”
“Just me,” Purity said. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“What was that all about back there?” Purity sat down next to her friend.
“I don’t know. Probably just all this stuff with Jacob.”
“I’m sure that has something to do with it, but I get the feeling there’s something more.”
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s me, isn’t it? I mean, not me, the baby. It’s bringing up all kinds of feelings you’ve spent time putting away in nice little neat cubbies in your brain.”
“I’m really excited for you and Alex.”
“I know.” Purity held Meg’s hand.
“It’s just that I really wanted Bobby and I to have a baby. It’s so much harder than I thought it was going to be to watch you and Alex together. I’m so sorry. I’m a horrible friend.”
“You are not, don’t ever say that. I’ve been trying not to do anything to hurt you. Not talking about the baby. Not oohing and aahing over baby clothes. Trying to keep it all low key, but I could see the pain in your eyes. What can I do, Meg?” Tears spilled down Purity’s cheeks.
Meg sniffed away her tears. “There’s nothing to be done.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s just the way it is. I hate it. Everything in me wants to have a baby. I love Jacob and Jeremy with all my heart, but I have room for so much more.
A woman at church told me that God doesn’t give babies to selfish women. Do you think I’m selfish?”
“Who in the hell said that? Sometimes I could just strangle so-called Christians. Meg, you are the least selfish person I know.”
“Then why? Why would God punish me like this?”
“It’s not a punishment. I hear you when you say it feels like it is, but I think there’s a bigger plan here, one that neither one of us can see. It was no mistake that Jeremy and Jacob ended up in your lives. I wonder how things would have been different if you were pregnant.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, would you and Bobby have wanted to adopt the boys if you’d already started a family together? Their past is hard enough to handle without adding a baby to the mix.
In the past few months, Jacob’s behavio
r has been unstable and he’s so quiet. That’s so unlike him. Having another kid in the house would have detracted from the time you and Bobby spent trying to understand both Jacob and Jeremy.
I’m not saying it’s right or wrong and I don’t have some crystal ball that can tell the future, but I believe God’s hand is in all of this, in all of us. There are too many coincidences and close calls to make me believe anything else.”
“I keep thinking that God might wait until things are settled and then allow me to get pregnant. Do you think that’s wrong?”
“Meg, you know I don’t do the whole right and wrong thing very well. There’s so much gray area. I think what you feel is what you feel. No right or wrong. Your actions, on the other hand, swing on the pendulum. Some days are better than others.
We all screw up, make poor choices, take paths we never intended to go down. We learn and grow and, hopefully, become stronger, in both our faith and our understanding of ourselves.”
“You have this way of never answering my questions, yet sounding so wise.”
Purity laughed. “I’m not sure how that happens.”
“I don’t begrudge you any happiness and I’ll be the first one to fawn all over that baby of yours, you know that.”
“I do.”
“But there will be times, like now, when it’s just too much for my heart to take without breaking.”
Purity nodded, wishing she could take Meg’s pain away. “One of the hardest things is seeing someone you love hurting and not being able to do anything to help. I love you so much, Meg. Please promise me that during those times when you’re feeling so low, you’ll talk with someone. It doesn’t have to be me. It probably can’t even be me because that would be insanely difficult. But, call Court or Sheila or someone. Even one of the guys, who we all know would just look at you, wanting to fix everything.
You don’t have to simply endure this alone. It’s just like we told Jacob. We’re in this together and we’re stronger together. It’s true for all of us.”
“I promise. You have to make a promise, too.”
“What?”
“That you won’t diminish your pregnancy joy. That you’ll laugh and press you hand to your belly when the baby kicks. Even that you’ll call me immediately and tell me. You’ll want to stop yourself, but don’t. Don’t treat me like I’m some fragile egg that will shatter into a million pieces at any moment. I won’t. And I want to celebrate with you.” She put her hands on Pure’s belly. “That’s my little niece or nephew in there being built.”
Tears pricked Purity’s eyes anew as the two women hugged.
“You’re my best friend,” Meg said.
“And you’re mine.”
“Well, that was a real touchin’ moment there,” a tall man said as he stepped from behind an apple tree. “Almost makes me wish I didn’t have to ask you ladies to come with me.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Meg said, standing up.
Purity stood by Meg. “You might as well turn around and go back to where you came from, mister.”
“Why, that don’t sound very neighborly. Don’t you city folk have any manners?”
Two men appeared on either side of the first man. “We’s lookin’ for the healin’ well.”
“I don’t know what—”
“Save it. We know ya been there. All’s you got to do is show us the way, then we let you go. Simple.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know three men who were shoved into a well today, would you?” Purity asked.
“This ain’t a question and answer period. Tie ‘em up.”
Meg and Purity struggled, but the men were strong.
“We’s gonna give you one more chance to be straight with us.”
“Or what?” Meg asked.
The man removed a knife from its sheath. The blade was at least a foot long and wide as a horse’s hoof. “Ya ever heard of bleedin’? I’m not talkin’ about scrapin’ your knee. There’s a way to cut a person, just so.” He made a motion with the blade. “You slice ‘em just right, they bleed on the surface, not all the way deep down.
Ya see, there’s layers in the skin. We go layer by layer. You tell us what we wanna know, you don’t get bled. You play us, we go deeper.”
“If you kill us, you’ll never find the healing well,” Meg said.
The man laughed. “All I got to do is find your men and tell ‘em we got you. They’ll start singin’ like a pretty little yellow canary.”
“So go find ‘em,” Purity said. “Why are you wasting your time with us?”
“We start with the weak ones first.”
We’ll see who’s weak, Purity thought. She glanced at Meg. “Should we tell ‘em?”
“I think we’d better. I don’t want anything to happen to you or the baby.”
“Now this little lady is makin’ good sense. You should listen to her. Where’s the well?”
“I’ve only been there once, and it was dark. It’s where the river makes a double y. That’s how the ranch got its name.”
“I been to the river, there ain’t no well there.”
“It’s underground. It’s not exactly a well. It’s more like a spring. The water flows through a secret cave in the river up into a cavern. You have to swim down into it and then you swim up through the hole. It’s beautiful there.”
“Meg! Don’t tell him all this. You’re playing right into his hand?”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Keep your mouth shut!”
“Hey now, don’t you talk to her like that.”
“I’ll talk to her any damn way I want.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, that’s so. You got a problem with that?”
The man standing closest to Purity grabbed her tied up hands and shoved her against the side of the gazebo.
Pure gasped with the sudden pain.
“You need to learn some manners.”
“Not from the likes of you!” Purity spun around, catching the man off guard. Her hands found the handle of his knife and she pulled it from its leather holder.
He was about to holler when she kicked him hard in the knee and he went down. She quickly headed toward Meg, turned around and cut the rope binding her hands. Meg took the knife from her and sliced through Pure’s bonds.
“Hooey! We got ourselves a couple a fire crackers,” the man said, then ran toward them.
“Go to the barn,” Pure yelled, shoving Meg forward.
She took off running. “I’ll be back with help!”
“Go after that one,” the man said. “This one’s all mine.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I hate to tell you, but you’re not man enough for me,” Pure said, stepping to the side as he tried to ram her through with the blade.
As he whizzed past her, she headed up the gazebo steps, then shimmied up the lattice until she was on the roof of the gazebo, lying flat.
The man had fallen to the ground. When he was upright again, he looked around. “Where are you? I know you’re here.”
Pure thought her furious heartbeat would give away her whereabouts.
The other man came running back. “Lost her.”
“Dammit, Jay, can’t you even keep track of one woman?”
“Where’s yours?”
“She’s right here somewhere.”
“Looks like you can’t keep track, either.”
“Shut up and start lookin’. We got to find ‘em quick. Red ain’t gonna be happy if he hears we failed, too. C’mon.”
Purity wasn’t sure she heard the man correctly. Had he said Red? She thought he was a trusted ranch hand. Why in the world would he be searching for the healing well? He should already know where it is. He’d worked the ranch long enough. Surely he’d have found it by now.
The sound of running feet caught Pure’s attention, along with lanterns swinging light into the darkness.
“Purity!” Alex yelled.
“Over here!
I’m okay. On top of the gazebo.”
It seemed like half the people who had been in the barn were now in the orchard.
“Who was it?” Frank asked as Bobby and Alex helped Purity get down.
“I don’t know. Some tall guy and two other tall guys. I took one of them down with a kick to the knee.”
“What’d they want?” Bobby asked.
“To know where the healing well was.”
Frank rubbed his chin. “This is becoming quite a problem.”
“It gets worse. Frank, I need to talk with you alone,” Purity said.
“Let’s go back to the main house.”
Purity looked around for Red, but saw he was nowhere in the vicinity. Funny how he hadn’t come rushing to help. He’d been at the big, red barn for the hoedown all night.
When they were all settled in the living room of Frank and Emma’s sprawling ranch home, Purity told Frank about Red.
“Are you sure you didn’t hear him wrong?”
“I didn’t hear him wrong. He mentioned Red specifically. Doesn’t Red know where the hot springs are?”
Frank sighed, “Actually, no. We don’t really talk about it amongst our staff. If anyone ever brings it up, we deny its existence.”
“But people know about it,” Meg said.
“Some do. Some don’t.”
“Some don’t believe,” Emma said. “Red’s been around the ranch a long time, but he ain’t one to take any kind of gossip seriously. If he can’t see or feel it himself, he don’t believe it.”
“That’s a good thing, for the most part,” Frank said. “But sometimes he takes things a bit too far. Everything is black and white, right or wrong, good or bad.”
“And there’s a lot of gray in the world,” Meg said.
“Exactly.”
“If what you’re saying is accurate, then why would Red care if the healing well existed or not?” Bobby asked.
“Money is a powerful elixir. Red has seen a lot of hard times. He’s always wanted to have his own ranch, but he could never get the money together. Maybe he sees this as a way to finally get what he wanted,” Frank said.
“Couldn’t he have simply asked you?” Courtney said.
