“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” Alice said. “Perhaps it would be good for you to come and stay with us for a while. Just to help you get a little peace and freedom.”
“Oh, Alice, I do love you. Thank you so much for your kind offer.”
The two of them sat on the couch, turned sideways toward each other. Alice took Becky’s hands in her own and squeezed them. “Oh, please say you will, my dear. Just for a short time.”
Becky considered it for a moment but reluctantly shook her head. “I can’t leave my home, Alice.”
Alice looked disappointed. “Oh, Becky, it’s because of him, isn’t it? You don’t owe him anything, Becky!”
“He’s my brother. He’s my only living relative. It’s just him and me now. I can’t abandon him.”
“After everything he’s done to you, you remain loyal. I fear your loyalty is wasted on a scoundrel. I am sorry, dear. I know you love him. But you are miserable and unhappy. You are wasting your life!”
Becky sighed, knowing Alice was telling nothing but the truth. She wanted to stay with Alice and her husband, Adam, and their children for a time. However, she knew the stress she would be under, thinking about how angry Bruce would be and what she would come back to when she inevitably had to leave the Collins home. It was better to not go through it when the result would be so horrible.
“I… I want to but… I just can’t, Alice. I’m not ready to be away from here yet.”
Alice shook her head. “Oh, poo. No, my dear. You are ready. You are just scared.”
Becky nodded. “I admit I’m scared, Alice. I have never been away from here. I don’t know anything else. I barely make it through the market without feeling like everyone is watching me.”
“Oh, dear. You have been very anxious. I’m sorry, dear.”
Becky shook her head. “Let’s not talk about gloomy things, Alice. Not while you’re here. Please. Have you no news from town? Is there any gossip I don’t know about?”
Alice patted her hands and rolled her eyes. “Oh yes, my friend, I must tell you all. I know it’s not my place, and Lord forgive me for spreading people’s business, but if they didn’t want to be talked about, they wouldn’t do these disgraceful things to begin with.”
“Oh no. Maybe I don’t want to hear about it.”
“I won’t tell you anything I think might bother you. I’ll just tell you about the new babies and who is in love with who and like that. Is that okay?”
“I suppose so,” Becky gave her a sweet smile. “I am so glad you came by, Alice. I truly am.”
“I’m always here to encourage you, Becky.”
“Can I get you a cup of coffee?”
“I’d love that. I’ll come with you to the kitchen. We can sit in there and talk if you like.”
“All right.”
The women stood up and walked together to the kitchen.
“Tell me how your beautiful children are doing. I have not seen them in so long!”
Alice sat at the table and clasped her hands in front of her. “Riley and Max are doing wonderfully. Did I tell you Adam built another room onto the house so that we could fit Max in there?”
“That is very nice. Kind of amazing, too.”
“He had a lot of men from town helping him. They even donated some of the supplies he needed. We had men working at that house almost non-stop until the room was added. Max is so happy with it.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
Becky brought a mug of coffee to her friend and set it down on the table in front of her. “Here you go, Alice.”
“Thank you, Becky.”
She went back to the stove and poured herself a cup of the warm liquid.
“I’m getting old, you know,” Becky said as she returned to the table with her coffee. “I don’t know of anyone my age that is not yet married and has a family of her own.”
Alice shook her head. “Our paths will not always be the same as others. I never would have expected to marry my sister’s husband after she passed away, but here I am.”
“I envy you, Alice. You and Adam are so happy together.”
“It’s not hard when the man you love is such a gentleman, a wonderful human being. He is… amazing. I am nothing special. It’s Adam that keeps it all together right.”
Becky shook her head. “I know you, Alice. You are an angel to him and to everyone else. You two are so blessed.”
Alice leaned forward. “Now, don’t you go comparing your life to mine or anyone else’s. We all have our own battles to fight, you know that. I have been through hard times, too. We all go through it. You just haven’t found your place yet. You’ve been wrapped up under the heavy blanket of your brother all of your life.”
“I can’t help feeling like I owe him, Alice. He sacrificed his freedom to help me grow up.”
“He didn’t help you grow up. He was just there and he was an adult. You grew up on your own.”
Becky sat for a moment, thinking about that. Everything she had learned throughout her childhood had come from the ladies who doted on her and gave her motherly advice. Bruce had taught her nothing. They taught her to cook, the proper way to do laundry, how to care for her growing body… everything. She couldn’t think of anything he’d helped her learn, except how to be miserable.
“I do long for a change,” Becky sighed. “But I don’t know what to do to make that happen. I have no resources, no skills, no one to count on.”
“I already told you to come and stay with us for a while. Reconsider, Becky,”
The temptation to grab her clothes and run to the Collins home was strong. However, Becky felt a resistance. She didn’t know why she felt it. It seemed like such a welcoming proposal. She shook her head.
“I… I can’t. I need to take a little more time to think about it.”
Alice sighed in a pitying way. “Oh, Becky! You are so stubborn. Just know that I am only trying to help you, all right? Don’t be mad at me.”
Becky grinned. “I could never be mad at you, Alice. You are such a good friend to me.”
Alice nodded. “That’s why I want you to come to my house. Your presence would even help me out a little because you would take the kids attention and I might get a moment’s peace.”
They both laughed.
“Oh, Alice, I can’t see those children being a bother. They seem so lovely.”
“They are, my dear, they really are. But when there are three young people running around the house, playing, laughing and sometimes arguing, well, it can be a bit hectic sometimes.”
Becky laughed some more. “I can only imagine. The only noise in this house is the sound of a bellowing rhino.”
Alice joined her laughter. “A bellowing drunken rhino.”
They took a moment to laugh till their bellies hurt.
“Oh my,” Alice said, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. “I don’t believe we should be laughing about that. How hateful of us.”
Becky was still giggling. “It’s not hateful if it’s the truth. It’s not like we’re making anything up.”
Alice calmed herself and patted her hot cheeks. “Well, I suppose. Still, I feel bad for it.”
“He wouldn’t appreciate your sympathy. I don’t think he appreciates anything. Except a tall bottle of whiskey.”
Alice’s joviality turned sober and she frowned slightly. “It’s such a bad environment for you, Becky. I am afraid for you all the time. He’s not keeping you safe from harm. He’s actually the one causing the harm. Why do you continue to stay here?”
Becky shook her head, running one hand through her long blond locks and twirling the end around in her fingers. “I don’t know,” she replied. Most of her long blond hair was piled up on her head and pulled to the back, tied with a ribbon. Loose strands in the front swirled around her cheeks. These were the strands she was pulling and circling her fingers with. Alice tilted her head to the side.
“It does seem strange to me that you haven’t
been approached by any men at all. No one has ever tried to take you to dinner, to a hayride, or anything?”
“I was approached when I was younger. But Wickenburg isn’t very big. All of the men who might have been interested in me, the ones who are my age, I mean, realized quickly that Bruce wasn’t going to let anyone around me. They never tried more than once.”
Alice shook her head. “How sad. I am sorry, my dear.”
Becky shrugged. “It’s in the past now. There’s nothing I can do to change it.”
“You are so lovely. I wish you weren’t stuck here with him.”
“Thank you, Alice,” Becky blushed. “I do, too. And before you say anything, I will consider staying with you and your family. I’ll think about it. I’ll let you know.”
Alice licked her lips and took a sip of her coffee, looking down in the cup as she drank.
“I met a nice man earlier. He’s staying at the Lewinsky’s.”
Alice raised her eyebrows. “You met a man and didn’t tell me?”
“It’s not like he asked me to marry him, Alice. He was outside, I took a walk, and we talked for a minute. It’s nothing special.”
“I’d like to meet him. Is he a stranger to town?”
Becky shook her head. “I don’t know much about him, to be frank with you. Just that his name is Kenny.”
CHAPTER FIVE
GOES MISSING
GOES MISSING
Bruce woke up disoriented. His body was hot and sweaty. He had wrapped the blanket haphazardly around himself in his sleep and he had to untangle himself from it before he did anything else. He sat up and pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes. His head was pounding. He needed to get a drink quick.
He came to reality with a jolt and looked up. He didn’t smell coffee in the air. He didn’t smell any breakfast cooking. Instantly angry, he shoved aside the remaining blanket and stood up. The quickness of it made him sway and he had to quickly get his balance. He headed toward the door of his room.
“Becky!” He yelled and instantly regretted it. He put one hand to his forehead and moaned. “Becky, I need coffee! Where’s the coffee!” He continued in a slightly lower yelling voice. He pulled open his door and went through, down a silent hallway and into an empty kitchen.
“Becky?” Now confused, he stared at the empty room for a moment before turning to look in the living room. When she wasn’t there, he turned to stare at her closed bedroom door. One thing he didn’t want to do was go in her room and wake her up. However, she was nowhere else and she never slept this long.
He went to her door and put his hand on the knob. He hadn’t been in her room in years. It was the only privacy he ever gave her. He felt good about it. It showed he was compassionate.
He smirked, turned the knob and pushed the door open. He stared at her empty bed. It looked like it had been slept in. He looked around the room. He went to the washroom door and knocked. “Becky!” He pressed his ear against the door but heard no sound on the other side. He pushed open the door, but no one was in the wash tub.
Now thoroughly confused, Bruce went back to the kitchen and sat at the table. He looked around, wondering where the coffee was. The pot for it was on the stove but he didn’t know where the coffee grounds were. With a low growl, he went back to his room and got dressed. As he pulled on his boots, he wondered where she could have gone and why she wouldn’t tell him where she was going. She knew he required that. She never went anywhere without his permission. It was her duty. She knew that.
He growled again and stomped through the house, slamming the door as he went out. He scoured the yard first, going all the way around the house to see if she was out there. She wasn’t. When he got back to the front of the house, he went around to the small barn and looked around in there. She wasn’t there, either. He went to the stable at the back of the barn and saddled his horse. He would check the main street area, where people always seemed to end up when they went out.
As he rode away from the house, he thought about where she might be. He didn’t think she had any friends, none that he knew of. Some of the older ladies might still talk to her, but he hadn’t seen anyone around Becky in years. It was her own fault. She was timid and unfriendly. She should have tried to be more outgoing.
Bruce went past several houses and instinctively stared at them. She wouldn’t be visiting any of these people. She didn’t know any of them.
He came up on the Horse N Saddle. That was the last place Becky would be, but the first place Bruce would stop. He needed a beer before he could process what was going on.
He tethered his horse to the post and went inside, strolling casually up to the bar and nodding at Sam, the bartender.
“Hey, mate,” Bruce said. He had picked up Sam’s habit of calling everyone “mate”. He was originally from Scotland and had not migrated to America until he was in his late 20’s. He had not lost all of his accent and sometimes used phrases the Western American citizens did not understand.
Sam nodded back. “Mate. What you havin’ this morning?”
“The usual.”
Sam turned his back to prepare the beer for Bruce. “You aren’t usually in here this early. You got a job to do?”
Bruce shook his head. “Not going in to work today. Gotta find Becky.”
“Gotta find her? What do you mean? She went missing?”
Bruce shrugged. “Woke up this morning to no breakfast or coffee. Went looking and she’s nowhere to be found.”
“You aren’t gonna find her in here, my friend,” Sam said.
“Nah, I’m here for me. That woman stresses me out. She can be a real pain in the backside, you know.”
Sam set the beer in front of Bruce and leaned against the counter, looking at the man through narrow eyes. “I was under the impression she dotes on you hand and foot. You can’t ask for a better sister than that. None of my sisters was ever that way. You should meet them sometime. They are quite a pair. Twins. Identical. They played a lot of pranks on people because of it.”
“Twins, huh?” Was all Bruce had to say.
“Ya. And they are older than me so they would boss me around when we were little. Being little mothers they were. Five years older than me.”
“They took care of you, did they?”
“They did.” Sam nodded, pulled the washcloth from his shoulder and began to wipe up some spills around the back of the counter.
“They did it because they wanted to. You never had to go through losing your parents and being forced to care for a little girl – sister or not.”
“You grumble about it a lot, Bruce,” Sam said, honestly. “But you don’t leave. She can take care of herself now. She’s, what, almost 30 years old? She is becoming a spinster. The two of you need to go your separate ways.”
“Well, apparently she decided that, too.” Sam begrudgingly took a drink, a sour look on his face. “Unless somebody kidnapped her. I hope they don’t ask for ransom because I’m not gonna pay one thin dime for her.”
Sam shook his head. “That’s no way to talk about your sister. She’s taken good care of you.”
“She should. It’s her responsibility to take care of me.”
Sam looked confused. “Oh? And why is that?”
“Because I gave up my freedom to raise her after Mama and Papa died. I had no choice. I did it.”
“It was your choice. You did sacrifice a lot. But she doesn’t need your help and hasn’t for about eight years. You should be glad she might have ventured out on her own. It will give you time to regain your freedom.”
Bruce thought about that but frowned and shook his head. “She wouldn’t just disappear in the middle of the night. She didn’t take any clothes. I mean, she might have, but she doesn’t really have a lot in the first place and I didn’t see any missing. She… she has a collection of stuffed animals that she made herself. She loves them. They were still there. Seems to me she was taken away.”
Sam nodded. “That’s some fine det
ective work, son. Yeah, it doesn’t sound like she’d leave those behind if she went on purpose.”
“I don’t even know where to look. I don’t know a lot about her habits. I only know what she does in the house. And there’s no way she could be coming to town frequently because the house stays really clean. That’s one of her chores. She has a list I leave for her every morning. If it’s not done by the time I get home, she doesn’t get to eat dinner.”
“You make dinner and don’t let her have any?” Sam sounded shocked and was beginning to look a bit angry. “You cannot be serious.”
“I am,” Bruce didn’t seem to realize there was anything wrong with his behavior. “And no, I don’t cook it. I never cook. She cooks. That’s what a woman is for. She cleans, she cooks, she obeys.”
“She’s not your wife. She’s your sister. Don’t you think she’s entitled to have a life of her own?”
Bruce shrugged, still unable to see the error of his ways. “She doesn’t want a life of her own. She’s a drab, little, uninteresting, plain, unskilled girl. She won’t account for much in this world.”
Sam was in shock, listening to Bruce’s words. It was almost like a confession when he didn’t know he was confessing. Sam was disgusted by his treatment of his sister. His eyes wandered around the room and he spotted Adam Collins in the corner.
Adam happened to look at him when Sam noticed him and he nodded. Sam gestured with his head that Adam should come closer and listen to the conversation he was having with Bruce. Adam looked surprised for a moment before standing up from his table and strolling over to a seat near Bruce. He didn’t acknowledge Bruce’s presence nor make his own noticeable. He casually slid into a bar stool a few seats down from Bruce and Sam immediately brought him a beer.
“I think she’s pretty,” Sam said, returning to Bruce. “And the few times I have spoken with her, she seems like a gentle, kind soul.”
Snatching The Bride (Family of Love Series) (A Western Romance Story) Page 4
