Adam lifted one hand and gave a hard knock on the door. The voices halted and before the two inside could do anything, Adam turned the knob and opened the door.
The four of them stood frozen, staring at each other. Adam and Mark didn’t move. Kenny took a step to the side so that he was standing in front of Becky.
“You aren’t taking her back,” he said in a firm voice.
Adam snorted, causing a frightened look to cover Becky’s face. “What in heaven’s name makes you think we want to take her back?” he asked.
Relief flooded the faces of both Becky and Kenny. Kenny’s body relaxed and he put his arms down to his sides. Becky peeked around him.
“You know me, don’t you, Adam? You remember me?”
Adam nodded, giving her a sympathetic look. “Of course I do, Becky. You are good friends with my wife. Come, let’s all sit down and discuss what’s happened here.”
As they walked to the couch and chairs in the sitting room beside the kitchen, Kenny said, “Adam, Mark, you must promise us you won’t tell Bruce where she is. He is a difficult man, such a difficult man. I don’t want him to find her and come to retrieve her. There may be dire circumstances for him if he should try to do that. I carry my pistol at all times.”
“You don’t have it on now,” Adam said, looking down at Kenny’s waist.
Kenny responded by leaning over and pulling up his pant leg. A small pistol was tucked into his boot.
“It’s not in the most convenient place but I felt safe here today.” He grinned at them. “Wouldn’t you know I would feel safe on the day Becky and I are exposed.”
“We won’t tell anyone,” Mark said in a hurry. “And we won’t pose a threat to you. We don’t want any harm to come to either of you. We just needed to make sure you were safe, that you,” he looked directly at Becky. “Were safe and not in any danger. We were worried about you.”
“It’s nice that you were worried,” Becky replied in a soft voice. “I didn’t know anyone would be worried about me. I suppose I thought Bruce was the only one who would come looking for me and if anyone else came, it was because he sent them. I don’t want to go back there, Mark. I really don’t.”
“I know you don’t.” Mark acknowledged with a nod. “I wouldn’t either if I were you. Adam and I have been spending the time since your departure dealing with him and his moods.”
“How is he doing?” Becky sounded concerned. Kenny frowned.
“How can you even care?” he asked. She looked wounded and he hugged her to him, apologizing. “I’m sorry, dear. I just don’t understand why you care how he is after all he has done to you.”
Becky looked up at Kenny. “He’s still my brother, Kenny. I care about him, no matter what he’s done. I just want my freedom now. I want to live my life happy and out from under his thumb. I want to… I want to be with you.”
“I want you here, Becky. I’m so glad you want to be with me, too.”
Adam and Mark looked away when Becky and Kenny met in a passionate kiss. They broke apart, Becky’s face red with embarrassment.
“I am so sorry, please excuse me,” Becky covered her mouth, her cheeks red as a rose.
“Your brother is not doing very well, Becky,” Adam said, looking back at her. She really was a pretty woman. The few times she had come for dinner at his house, though, she had not looked so lively, so perky and full of life. Now she had color to her cheeks and a sparkle in her eye that he had never seen there before.
“He isn’t doing well?”
“Did you expect him to? You took away the only source of life he had,” Mark said, softly. “You took complete care of him. Now no one will cook for him or clean his clothes. No one will draw his baths. No one will do anything for him. He doesn’t want to get a housekeeper and it is unlikely he’d be able to get one, at least not one here in Wickenburg. He could hire one from out of town, I reckon. But I don’t think they would stay long. He’s a slob.”
Becky giggled. “He is a slob.”
“We’ve been to your house several times over the last few weeks and he’s not maintaining it very well. Dust everywhere, trash and clothes everywhere. He’s not doing a good job at all.”
“He never was much of a housekeeper,” Becky continued to giggle. The men were glad to see she was getting some amusement out of her brother’s suffering.
“He still isn’t.”
When Mark said that, Becky’s giggle became a burst of laughter. Her happiness caused all three men to smile at her. Then they looked at each other.
“We are getting ready to make a potato soup. Would you care to join us?” Becky asked when her laughter died down.
Adam and Mark looked at each other. “Alice is expecting me, but not until later. I think we have time to sit and chat with you. And I’d love to taste your potato soup. I heard you two discussing what kind of herbs you like to add to it, give it some extra taste.”
“I’m trying to get her to let me make it my way but since she has been cooking her entire life, she thinks I should try it her way,” Kenny laughed.
Adam looked at the way the two were gazing at each other. He tapped Mark on the arm when the couple got up to go to the kitchen. He leaned over and spoke to Mark in a low voice. “Look at them. Living together a few weeks and they are acting like they’ve always been around each other. They are in love, that is for sure.”
“It’s too bad Alice isn’t here. She would be so happy to see this.”
They both quieted down when Kenny came back and threw himself down on the couch. “I give up. The woman is going to make it how she wants to make it.”
The men laughed.
“Tell me, how long have you been planning this?” Adam asked. “Did you think about it for a long time or suddenly decide to take Becky in the middle of the night?”
Kenny leaned forward, his face becoming serious. He folded his hands in front of him and used them to gesture at the two men. “I need you to promise me this isn’t going back to the sheriff. I don’t want to be arrested. I don’t want Becky being forced to go back there. Even if I was arrested and jailed, I would want her to live here in my cabin until my release. I don’t want her going back there.”
“I think you can safely assure yourself that she isn’t going back to Bruce under any circumstances,” Adam said. “She is a grown woman and can live wherever she wants. The people of Wickenburg are aware of how Bruce treats her. They are not his friends and wouldn’t betray her for anything.”
“I sometimes wonder,” Kenny sat back. “Why no one tried to help Becky before?”
“It wasn’t because no one wanted to. The women in town fear him and the men don’t want to get shot. And the majority of people didn’t realize the extent of her situation.”
“She was a hostage in that place,” Kenny spit out with disgust. “She was a slave to that man. He was brutal, violent, and yelled at her and forced her to do things. He is a monster and a despicable man.”
“You are very brave for having gone in there and taken her that way.”
Kenny shook his head. “I’m no hero. I just did what had to be done. I wanted the woman and I took her. That’s actually selfish of me and completely against the law.”
“She wanted to be freed,” Mark said. “That was obvious. She would never have stayed with you if she didn’t want to be free. The singing… while putting out the laundry,” Mark smiled, nodding. “Pretty clear indication she wanted to be saved and that she had been saved. You did it. You saved her.”
Kenny nodded. “Yes, I guess I saved her. But I’m not holding her here. If she wants to go back or if she wants to go anywhere she can. I love her. I want her to be happy above all else. Even if it meant that I would lose her and that I would not have her love. I just want her to be happy. She deserves it after all she’s been through.”
“It’s been very hard for her,” Mark agreed. “I know it has.”
“She is good friends with my wife, Alice,” Adam said.
“There were at least a handful of women who helped her understand what it was like to become a woman, you know what I mean. The things they have to go through. Things we would never understand.”
Kenny nodded.
“She is well respected and well-loved in Wickenburg. I know a great deal of people are worried for her safety.”
“What will you tell them?” Kenny asked in a nervous voice.
“I haven’t thought of it yet. We had already decided to tell Andrew, the husband of one of the women in town who took care of Becky when she was younger. Also, Alice should know the truth because she’s going to want to visit and continue to be her friend.”
Kenny nodded. “I can understand about Alice. I don’t think she would tell anyone. But do you think the other ladies in town should know? It only takes one lady to gossip about Becky and it will be spread like wildfire. Then it might come back to Bruce and he will try to come and find her.”
“You can go into hiding and stay away from Wickenburg. You have friends there. She has friends there. You don’t want to coop her up here, do you? It would almost be like leaving one jail for another, don’t you agree?”
Kenny chewed on his bottom lip, his eyes drifting over to where the woman he loved was stirring a pot and adding bits of herbs to it as she did. She looked up at him and smiled.
“What do you think we should do, Becky?” he asked.
She left the long spoon in the large pot and walked over to put her hand in his outstretched one. “About what, my dear?”
“Telling people in town. Adam and Mark have a good point. If we go into hiding and I was the only one showing up in town, you would not only be left here alone, but you wouldn’t be in any different situation than the one you were in. You wouldn’t be able to leave the house, you couldn’t even go for a walk or a ride because you might see him. I don’t want that for you. I want you to be free as a bird to do what you want.”
“I think we should take it one day at a time. If it comes to a day when I want to visit in town, I will go and just do my best to avoid seeing Bruce.”
“But that would mean telling everyone in town, lest they see you on the day you visit. They will be filled with questions.”
Becky shrugged. “I don’t know what to do, Kenny. All I know is that I want to be with you and I will do whatever I have to do to make that happen. I love you and I want to be with you.”
Kenny stood up and pulled her into a hug. “I love you, too, my sweet girl.”
Becky smiled over his shoulder at Adam. “I’m so glad Alice didn’t give up on me. I knew she would make you come find me.”
“She cares a great deal about you, Becky. I do want her to know that you are all right.”
The woman looked up at Kenny again. “I think I know what I’d like to do. I want to just stay here until the storm settles, if you know what I mean. When things calm down and we find out what Bruce ends up doing, I will show myself in town again. If I have to, I will tell them all I took a vacation and then found you and decided to stay with you. It’s my life. I’ll do what I want to with it.”
Kenny pulled her into another tight hug and she giggled. “I can’t breathe, Kenny.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LEFT IN THE DARK
LEFT IN THE DARK
By the time Adam and Mark left the cabin, it was dark and they were using a lantern to light the way in front of them. They discussed details of what they would say about the situation with the people in town as they rode back.
“Why don’t you come on over to my house and we’ll talk to Alice about it. She probably knows who should be told what.”
“She probably does. She knows everyone in town.”
Adam nodded.
“Bruce is gonna find out one way or another. Unless Becky steers clear of town for a real long time. Maybe he’ll leave town.”
Adam snorted. “It would nice if he would.”
“We could run him off.”
“No, I don’t think we can do that. He’s already on the brink of losing his sanity. He might just have to make the decision on his own to leave. He might want to. Especially if everyone in town thinks he killed Becky.”
“We can’t say that.”
Adam shook his head. “Of course, we can’t. I’m just trying to think of a way she can stay safe without his interference. I don’t know if that’s possible.”
“Maybe he’ll enjoy the fact that he’s free of being responsible for her and go back to living his life like he wanted to in the first place. She says that’s why he was so hard on her. He thinks she owed him because he had to come back and take care of her.”
“I know. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
When the two men got back to the Collins' ranch, they went in to see the house was all action. The children had returned home from school and the baby was awake. There was much noise as the children played and Alice made dinner.
She came in from the kitchen just as they stepped in the door.
“Do you have news?” she asked.
Adam smiled. “We do.”
Alice stopped in her tracks and held the cloth in her hands in front of her. “You found her?”
Adam’s smile gave it away. Alice smiled wide and ran to him, throwing her arms around him. “Oh, I’m so glad!” She pulled away and looked up at him. “You found her safe, right?”
“Of course!” Adam chuckled. “We wouldn’t be smiling if something bad had happened to her.”
“You must tell me what happened? Where is she? How is she?”
“You’ll get to see her yourself very soon, dear,” Adam said, comfortingly. “She is in a safe place and with a safe person.”
“Don’t be vague. Tell me what’s going on.” Alice took her husband’s hand and led him to the couch to sit down next to her. Mark sat in another chair near them and watched the couple, letting Adam have time to speak to her.
“She was taken from her home, we know that for sure.”
“Oh! By whom?”
“His name is Kenny. He lives in a cabin in the woods. He was watching the Lewinsky house, that’s the one just down from the Duponts', you know.”
Alice was nodding. “Yes, I know the Lewinsky’s. They are not in town right now.”
“That’s right. And Kenny was watching their house for them. He saw Becky and saw how Bruce treated her. It made him angry and he decided to take her away from there. Becky is at his cabin in the woods. She doesn’t want Bruce to know where she is. She doesn’t want anyone to know where she is, even if that means staying in the cabin for the rest of her life.”
“I don’t want her to do that. I would never see her!”
“She says you can come visit her whenever you want.”
Alice shook her head. “Well, I’m certainly going to visit her. But I’m not happy that she wants to isolate herself that way. Many people in town are worried about her. They think Bruce has done something to her. He… he didn’t do anything to her before she was taken, did he? Did Kenny see something that upset him so much, he felt he had to take her away?”
Adam and Mark shared a look. “I don’t think he needed a specific event. He saw that she was Bruce’s slave. He didn’t like it. He took her because he wanted her away from that life.”
“Oh, my,” Alice said softly. “I can’t believe it. After all these years of her being a servant to that man and, finally, someone came and took her away from him. He saved her. He could be her guardian angel.”
The men nodded in agreement. “He did save her,” Mark said.
“Do you think she is happy? Did you see her?”
“Yes, she was at the cabin when we visited. The first time, she was hidden away. I think she thought we were going to bring her back and make her live with Bruce again.”
“No, no,” Alice said, shaking her head.
> “She didn’t know that at first. We left but went back because we just thought there were too many signs that she was there. Kenny talked about her with an affection no man would have for a woman he didn’t claim to know. He seems like a completely changed man to me.”
Alice looked at Mark.
“Did you know him well?”
“I knew him better than Adam and better than a lot of the people in town. But not to any real friendship extent. We’ve worked together on a couple projects and seen each other in town a few times.”
“And he is a decent man?”
“He is a gentleman, yes.”
“Becky seemed happy.”
Both men smiled instinctively. “She seemed very happy, Alice. You will get a chance to go see for yourself very soon, I promise. All you have to do is figure out what to do with these darn kids tomorrow and we’ll go take a trip back up there.”
Alice laughed. “The children will be back at school tomorrow. I can leave the baby with Maggie. She loves children. Should I tell Maggie about what’s happened to Becky?”
“We were wondering if that would be a good idea,” Adam said. “You, my dear, of all people in town, would know the ladies that should know the truth and those that shouldn’t. If word gets back to Bruce, he will search for them. If he finds Kenny’s cabin, one of them will be dead by the end of it, and I don’t think it will be Kenny.”
“If Kenny has to shoot to kill, he will,” Mark said. “And then bury the body on his land and never tell anyone. It would just be another troublemaker eliminated from society.”
“What a way to put it,” Alice said softly. “Eliminated seems like such a strong word.”
“No one will make Becky go back after this. No one. You know that, dear.”
“I know.”
“And she won’t want to go back. She’s tasted not only what freedom is like, but what it’s like to be loved by a man. A gentleman.”
“They are in love?” Alice asked, lifting her eyebrows.
Snatching The Bride (Family of Love Series) (A Western Romance Story) Page 17
