Phebe's Promise (The Alphabet Mail-Order Brides Book 16)

by Cathryn Chandler

  Her husband laughed and captured one of her hands. But instead of pulling her toward the cabin, he headed for the far side of the field. “We never did take that walk together down by the lake. Why don’t we do that now?”

  Feeling a twinge of guilt at leaving the entire meal preparation to Martha, Phebe resisted the tug on her hand. “I should help with supper.”

  “You’ve earned some idle time, Phebe.” Henry tightened his grip on her hand to get her moving again. “And there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  Hearing the serious note in her husband’s voice, Phebe glanced up at him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, sweetheart, but I do have to tell you something.”

  Blinking at the endearment she’d never heard Henry use before, Phebe walked quietly along. She hoped her husband was going to declare his love for her, but the nervous butterflies in her stomach told her whatever he had on his mind wasn’t making him happy.

  They walked all the way to a pointed piece of land that hung slightly over the lake, a small cave carved into the rock wall below it. Henry led her to a flat-topped boulder and waited as Phebe sat and arranged her skirt so it wasn’t tangled around her legs. She finally folded her hands in front of her and waited.

  Henry stood silently, looking out over the water, the afternoon sun glinting off the lenses of his glasses. After a long moment, he lifted his hand and ran it through his hair before squatting in front of Phebe. He took both her hands in his.

  “Before we left San Francisco, I asked a favor of a friend.”

  “What favor, Henry?”

  “This friend owns a shipping line, and I wanted him to do a little research into the name Cora B.”

  Phebe’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Cora B.? The name my mother wrote down?”

  Her husband nodded, his gaze locked with hers. “I thought it might be a ship, and it was.”

  “A ship,” Phebe repeated softly. “You thought it might be the name of the ship that my father and brother sailed on?”

  “It seemed a logical conclusion that your mother would have given you some way to find your father.” Henry looked so worried that Phebe felt a sense of dread over what he was trying to say. Tears were already forming in her eyes as he nodded.

  “My friend easily found a record of the ship with that name since it had been one of theirs.” Henry paused and sucked in a long breath. “He also found the ship’s log in their inventory of old records.”

  “Was there a Daniel Johnson listed as a passenger?” Phebe asked quietly.

  “Yes, there was, sweetheart. A Daniel Johnson, aged thirty-two, and his son, Samuel, aged eight, were recorded in the log.” Henry shifted his position and sat down next to his wife on the wide rock. “A fever broke out on the ship and claimed over half the passengers.”

  Phebe gasped, and a tear spilled down her cheek. “Oh no.”

  “I’m sorry, Phebe. Your father’s name was listed among the dead.”

  Phebe went very still, her breath caught in her throat. “Was my brother on that list too?”

  Henry shook his head. “No. There was a notation by your father’s name that his son was taken in by another family, but there wasn’t anything else identifying who they were.”

  Phebe slowly stood and walked to the edge of the point of land. She wrapped her arms around her middle and stared out over the water, silently mourning the father she’d never met, and the brother she would never know. He’d been taken in by another family, who might not have gone to the gold fields at all. They could have stayed in San Francisco, or gone north to Oregon, or even continued on to sail to China for all she knew.

  Samuel. His name was Samuel. But it was just a name. She had no face to go with it. Suddenly, it all seemed so final.

  Two names among many entered into the log of a ship that had likely stopped sailing long ago. All these years she’d been making a promise to her angel mother that she would find her father and brother, when her mother had known all along where her husband was, and that her daughter would never be able to find her brother.

  “Are you all right?” Henry’s hands slid over her shoulders as he placed a kiss in her hair. “What can I do to help?”

  She leaned her head back until it was resting against her husband’s chest. “You’ve already done more than I can ever thank you for, Henry. You found my answers.” She turned and twined her arms around his neck. “Finally knowing what happened to them, or at least why they never returned for Mama and me, is better than spending the rest of my life wondering.”

  As she lifted her mouth to his, a loud snap echoed from the trees to their left.

  “Now ain’t that sweet? Sorry to be interruptin’, folks, but we got some business with Frommer.”

  Henry gave her a warning with his eyes before he slowly turned around, keeping Phebe behind him. Two men moved into the open, the late-afternoon sunlight glinting off the barrels of the guns they had pointed right at Henry.

  The taller one stepped forward. His mouth curved up into a cheeky grin. “We appreciate you comin’ out for a little stroll with the lady. Been tryin’ to figger out how to git you alone fer a couple of days, and here you up and done it fer us.”

  “Yeah, much obliged,” the second man sneered. “Now let’s tie him up and git goin’.”

  Henry kept a hand on Phebe, moving her as he slowly turned to keep the two men directly in front of him. “What do you want?”

  “There’s someone who thinks you’ve insulted him, and he wants to have a little talk with you about it.” The closest man held out a length of rope. “He’s payin’ us to bring you back to Reno. He’ll be waiting there fer you by now.”

  Her husband took his glasses off and slowly wiped the lenses on the sleeve of his shirt. “You’re speaking of Mr. Janson, I presume?”

  Peeking around Henry, Phebe saw the jolt of surprise on both men’s faces before their eyes narrowed. One of them gestured directly at her.

  “How quietly you come along will decide on whether we tie the woman up or toss her in the lake.”

  Chapter 17

  Phebe had watched Henry and the two men ride off, wanting to scream out in terror. It was as if the trees had swallowed up her husband and she’d never see him again. Tears leaked out and soaked into the filthy gag one of the men had fastened around her mouth.

  With her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound together, she’d never felt so helpless in her life.

  She had to do something to help Henry.

  Squirming and wiggling, she twisted and turned, trying to loosen the ropes, but nothing seemed to work. She kept at it until her wrists and ankles began to bleed, but still couldn’t get free. The tears, borne of fear and frustration, came faster, until she was completely exhausted and had to lie still. The ropes weren’t going to give way, so her only hope was if someone came looking for the absent couple. Holding on to that thought, Phebe fought to even out her breathing as she listened to every sound coming from the forest.

  For the next few hours, time stood still. It seemed as if an eternity had passed since Henry had been taken away from her at gunpoint. She shivered as the cool breeze from the lake blew over the point of land and on into the forest. Along with the gentle lap of water against the shore, the wind playing through the forest was the only sound Phebe had heard since the voices of Henry’s captors had faded out. Until now.

  A rustling noise came from the direction of the trees. Phebe squinted into the darkness, trying to identify the source of the sound.

  “Miz Phebe? Mister Henry? Are you out here?”

  Micah! She closed her eyes in relief at the familiar voice. But lying on the ground in the dark the way she was, and behind the boulder to boot, it was very likely the boy wouldn’t realize she was there.

  She tried to make enough noise through her gag so he would hear her. When that didn’t work, she wiggled around to point her feet at the rock. Then she banged her heels against its hard surfac
e until Micah’s face appeared over the edge of the boulder.

  “Miz Phebe? Are you sick or somethin’?” Micah’s head swiveled in both directions. “Where’s Mister Henry? Did he fall into the lake?”

  Phebe made several frantic noises until the boy finally came around the rock and knelt beside her. He bent over and took a close look at her face in the dark. “This ain’t good.”

  He quickly undid the gag, then reached down and pulled a wooden-handled knife out from his belt. After he’d made short work of her bonds, Micah slid his hands under her armpits and hauled her to her feet. She was thankful he kept a firm hold on her as he helped her to sit on the rock.

  “They have Henry,” Phebe gasped out. “Help me back to the ranch. I have to go after him.”

  The boy didn’t say a word to that, but simply drew her arm over his shoulders and slipped one of his own around her waist. “Let’s go, Miz Phebe. I’ll start callin’ out when we git closer. Ma will come right quick.”

  When they were within a few hundred yards of the cleared field, Micah kept his word and started to yell at the top of his lungs. Phebe’s ears were ringing by the time Jake and Reb came breaking through the forest, with Martha right behind them.

  The two men skidded to a stop and gaped at Phebe as Martha pushed them aside.

  “Here now, let me git to her.” She peered into Phebe’s face. “Where’re you hurt?”

  “She ain’t hurt, Ma,” Micah spoke up. “She was tied up, and she keeps sayin’ someone took Mister Henry away.”

  “Two men,” Phebe choked out. “They’re taking him to Reno. I heard them say so.”

  “What’s that you said?” Jake took a step forward but was pushed back by Martha.

  “All right, all right. Let’s git her back to the fire, and a warm blanket around her, then we’ll git the whole story and decide what to do.”

  Phebe didn’t bother to argue. She wanted to get to a horse as fast as she could. Hobbling forward, she made no protest when Reb came around to her side and picked her up in his arms.

  “That’s better,” Martha approved. “Let’s go.”

  It only took ten minutes to reach the fire. As Micah rounded up the children and took them to the barn, Martha handed Phebe a mug of water while the men pressed close, forming a circle around her.

  “There now.” Martha sank down on her haunches in front of Phebe, with Jake standing behind her. “What happened out there? You said some men took Mister Henry?”

  “To Reno,” Phebe confirmed, her voice growing stronger now that the cool water had slid down her aching throat. “They said someone Henry has insulted was waiting for him in Reno.” Phebe frowned. Henry had sounded so certain that the man waiting to avenge an insult was Mr. Janson. Could the man really be that angry over Henry not marrying his daughter?

  “I need to go after them.” She looked at Reb. “I need someone to show me the way back to Reno. Can you ride a horse?”

  Martha snorted. “Can you?”

  The older woman shook her head at Phebe, who’d completely deflated. She’d never been on a horse’s back in her life.

  Jake let out a loud grunt as he scratched the top of his head. “Looks like Adam was right.”

  “Adam? What does Henry’s brother have to do with this?” Phebe demanded.

  Jake crooked his finger at one of the men standing behind Phebe before returning his gaze to her. “Adam thought Janson needed money badly enough that he might grab Henry for ransom.”

  Reb turned his head and spit out into the darkness. “Guess he got desperate enough to try it. This way, he gits his money and his revenge.”

  “Seems like,” Jake agreed. He nodded at the man who’d broken away and trotted around the circle to stand beside him. “This here is Charlie. Adam sent him along because Ethan Mayes couldn’t come.”

  Ethan Mayes? The tracker? Phebe stared at the man with light-brown eyes and hair that reached past his collar.

  Charlie bobbed his head in return. “How long a head start have they got?”

  “We’d only been at the point for a half hour or so,” Phebe replied.

  Martha rose and faced the tracker. “They went out there an hour before supper. So I’m thinkin’ about five hours. We thought they was out there spoonin’, so we didn’t go lookin’ until now.”

  Charlie nodded. “I can’t do much in the dark. But they’ll be avoiding the main roads and traveling through the woods, so they’ve likely stopped for the night as well. I’ll start out at first light.” The smile Charlie turned on Phebe looked grim and determined. “I’ll find him.”

  “Git down off that horse, Frommer.”

  Henry lifted one leg over the saddle horn and carefully slid to the ground. With his hands bound together, he had to work at keeping his balance, but he managed to stay on his feet. It was dark, and he was worried about Phebe. She’d been tied up and left next to the rock they’d both been sitting on when the two men had ambushed them. But it was better than watching her be thrown into the lake.

  He fervently hoped that Jake or Martha had come looking for them when they hadn’t shown up for supper, and Phebe hadn’t been lying alone in the woods for the last five hours. The thought of her being so helpless had him edging close to a full panic.

  Anything could have happened to her. Some hungry animal could have come along, or just as bad, a stray hunter or miner might have stumbled across her. Henry broke out into a cold sweat. He needed to get back to his wife.

  As the taller man prodded him forward with the barrel of his gun, Henry forced himself to take deep breaths. Think, man, think. What would Adam do?

  At least his hands had been tied in front of him and not behind his back. It might have been a necessity for Henry to be able to hang on to the saddle horn and keep his seat on the horse, but it was also a small bit of luck.

  “I’m goin’ to make a fire and start a pot of beans.” The second captor glared at Henry. “Sit ’im down and tie up his feet, then come help me out. We’ll take care of the horses while the food is heatin’ up.”

  As he stumbled forward, two things stuck in Henry’s mind. The men had been overly careful to not use each other’s names, and that meant they were worried about Henry being able to identify them. Which also led Henry to believe that they had no intention of killing him. So that was a good thing, even if he might be facing Priscilla Janson’s enraged father in the next day or so. But that was only a possibility. They had to get their captive to Reno first.

  Henry took a slow look around the small clearing as he moved forward, urged on by the gun digging into his spine. The glade was ringed with boulders, and the remains of several trees stuck out of the ground here and there. Henry almost smiled when he spotted the growth on one of them. It seemed he’d managed to have a bit more luck.

  “Sit down.” The command was followed by a hard shove. Henry stumbled against one of the large rocks and pushed away from it to fall to the ground next to a rotting log. He quickly scooted up and back until he was leaning against the decaying wood.

  “Stick them legs out straight.”

  As Henry did as he was told, he watched in astonishment as the man wrapped a piece of rope around his ankles and tied the loose ends into a knot. The man didn’t give Henry a second glance as he stood and walked over to the small fire his partner was trying to coax along.

  As the two men busied themselves with making their supper, Henry slowly drew his legs up to his chest. He laid his head on top of his knees, making it look as if he were resting, while his bound hands began picking at the knot in the rope tying his ankles together. Since his captor hadn’t been particularly careful in securing his prisoner, it didn’t take Henry long to free his legs.

  Keeping his eyes on the men, he slowly twisted to the side, reaching over and feeling along the ridges of the fallen log until he found what he was looking for. Once he’d carefully ripped a piece off and held it in his hands, Henry straightened up and slowly smiled.

  Chapter 18
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  Phebe stared out the cabin window. She’d been looking toward the empty road leading to the ranch ever since Martha had insisted that she lie down and get some rest. But sleep had eluded her. She wasn’t about to lie in that brand-new bed for the first time without her husband. And putting her head down on the table had only given her an easy way to hide her face and cry. As hard as she tried to stay calm, fear held her firmly in its grasp. She couldn’t live here without Henry. He had to be all right and come home to her. He simply had to.

  When the first streak of light spread slowly over the sky, Phebe went out to the porch and watched Charlie saddle his horse and ride off. Since then, nothing had stirred on the road. Even as the rest of the camp came to life, Phebe kept her eyes on the empty space cutting through the trees, willing Henry to suddenly appear.

  As the hours dragged on, Phebe refused to leave the cabin. It had been their home, and that was where she was determined to wait for Henry. As the sun rose to its midday position overhead, Phebe felt her defenses against the black pit that had opened inside her begin to crumble.

  She walked over to the table, where several books were stacked neatly on one end. She ran a finger down the spines, stopping at the one at the bottom. She pulled it out, cradled it between her hands, and stared at the cover. The Gentleman’s Guide to Domestic Tranquility. Tears formed at the corners of Phebe’s red-rimmed eyes. She would have sworn she didn’t have even one left in her, but clearly, when it came to worrying about Henry Frommer, she had an endless supply of them.

  She was still standing by the table, tears dripping onto the cover of the book, when a loud shout blasted through the window.

  “Mister Henry? Where have you been?”

  Phebe reached out and braced herself against the table, breathing in air in huge gulps, praying that she had really heard Henry’s name and hadn’t imagined it.