“I’m sure he can.” Claudia agreed, knowing how the special agent felt about Micah’s sister, even if Micah did not. Seeing the puzzled look on her husband’s face, she knew he had no idea about the love that awaited Patrice.
“Is that why you left her there? You believe this Noah can help her better than we, her family, can?” Hank asked, his doubt showing.
“No. I had to leave her there, because I had to get back to Washington as quickly as possible. Bringing Patrice with me would have slowed me down too much.” Micah squeezed Claudia’s shoulder.
A shudder of apprehension went through her body.
“Jonathan Gibson is still on the loose.”
“But he couldn’t possibly know where we are, Micah.” She felt the tension in his body. Looking up, she saw a look she didn’t like on his face. “You’ve had another vision, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“One that involves me? That’s why you had to get back to us. Not because you were ready to be a part of this family, but because you knew he was coming after me.” She shoved against his ironclad grip. “Well, maybe your vision was wrong. Maybe he wasn’t coming after me. And maybe I don’t want a husband who doesn’t want me.”
She shoved again, and this time he let her go. Blinding tears filled her eyes as she ran into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
Her heart lay at her feet and she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to ever repair it.
Since that day she tried to be friendly with Micah without really giving more of herself than necessary. He continued to make love to her every night, bringing them both great pleasure, but she wondered if he felt the rift between them as greatly as she did.
Neither of them spoke again of that night, his visions, or his reason for returning to her. For the sake of her child and the boys, she decided to continue her marriage, making it the hardest decision she’d ever had to make. If she couldn’t have Micah’s love, she would settle for his body and his name.
That night left something else with her besides a broken heart. It left her with an unnerving sense of fear. Whenever she was left alone, panic rose in her chest. For Micah’s visions, although not one hundred percent accurate, were fairly close to the mark. Knowing that, she knew in her heart Jonathan Gibson would someday find her. Every sound heightened that awareness. She feared not for her life, but for that of her unborn child.
“You ready for me to carry that out to the forest, Claudia?” Hank asked from the doorway, breaking her train of thought.
“Just about, Hank.” She greeted him with a smile, trying to hide her worries from the young man. “If you’ll carry this basket, I’ll bring the pitcher of milk.”
“You ought to bring a blanket along, too.” Hank lifted the heavy basket.
“For us to sit on, like a picnic?” Claudia picked up the quilt from off of the bed.
“No. More like a place for you to take your daily nap.” He winked at her.
“Oh, you. I don’t take a nap every time I come out there.”
“Micah says he’s thinking of building you a bed between those two pines, since you like to sleep there so much.” He held her elbow to steady her up the hillside to the woods and over the uneven ground of the forest.
“He worries about you working so hard.”
“Hank, your father doesn’t worry about anything I do. Right now, I’m part of one of his visions. He’s too busy worrying about them to be concerned with what I’m doing.”
“I think you’re wrong, Claudia.”
“And I know I’m right.” Stopping, she looked up to see her husband and Henderson swinging axes in a steady rhythm against a mighty cedar. “Hank, this conversation will get us nothing more than a ruined day. I think we should leave things just as they are between myself and your father. If he and I can live with it, then I guess you’ll have to try to do so, too.”
“Like I said, I think you’re wrong, but if that’s the way you want it for now, then I guess I’ll leave it be.”
“Good. Let’s find a nice cool spot to rest in.”
* * * * *
The cedar fell, crashing against the forest floor. Both men wiped their brows of the sweat and smiled at the force of their efforts. Claudia called them over as she emptied the basket of their meal.
“How many more do you think it will take to finish the barn?” she asked, handing Micah a plate and fork.
“We have enough for the frame already trimmed and ready for the main support beams of the barn.”
Micah sat Indian style on the blanket next to Claudia. He liked the way the sun streamed in through the tree branches on her hair, setting the coppery mane off like a warm fire.
She set her plate to rest slightly on her rounded belly.
He wished he could tell her how pleased he was they’d made a child together, but ever since he told her of his vision about her and Gibson, she hid herself behind a wall of hurt feelings. Until he was sure she was going to be all right, he didn’t want to try to penetrate it. Maybe that wall would be the one thing which would alter the course fate had set for them.
“Micah, did you hear me?” Claudia studied him, her brows drawn together in question.
“I’m sorry, what did you ask?” He tried to remember what they were talking about.
“I asked why you were cutting so many trees now, if you have enough for the frame already.”
“Uh, to be sure we have enough to finish the outside and build stalls. Once the frame is up and we get the siding up, we’ll have to stop to bring in the harvest. Winter comes early this high in the mountains. We could see the first snowfall as early as October.” He took a drink of the cold milk, then finished off his meal.
“We going to get some hunting in before then, Micah?” Hank asked between bites.
“I’d like to put in some venison with the beef we’re going to cure. With so many of us to feed, we’ll need to get an early start.” He looked hesitantly. “Might just ask Nathan to go with you two, though.”
“Why?” Claudia asked, her eyebrow raised in suspicion.
“What with the baby due and all.” Micah looked out into the woods, not meeting her gaze. “I think I should be close by.”
“You mean, you want to be here in case Gibson shows up, don’t you?” Claudia struggled to her feet. “How long do you think it will be before he finds us? A week? A month? A year? A lifetime?”
“Claudia.” Micah stood, towering over her. “Calm down a minute.”
“Micah, say what you mean. There may never be much between us, but there should at least be the truth.” She turned around and walked back to the house, calling out behind her, “Bring the things back when you’re done, gentlemen.”
Micah watched her walk away with one hand on her back as she picked her way carefully across the pine covered forest. “Hank, go check the valley entrance again. I don’t like her being at the cabin alone.”
“You know something, Micah? The two of you need to talk.” Hank stood next to his father, watching Claudia’s progress.
“We will, son. But her anger at me should keep her mind off Gibson. I think anger might be better for the baby than worry.”
“She thinks you don’t want her or the baby—that you don’t love them.”
“I know what she thinks. You just get on up there and check that trail real careful like.”
“Okay.” Hank answered his father’s dismissal of the subject. He went off to do as asked, shaking his head over the two lovesick adults.
* * * * *
From deep in the trees behind the cabin a pair of eyes the color of night watched the woman stomp through the forest back to the cabin. A young man followed at a discreet distance.
A slow, evil grin split the watcher’s face. No matter how many men Turner sent to watch her, she was his.
He’d make his enemy suffer.
Micah Turner and his woman ruined his plans, took away his glory and killed his brother.
They were g
oing to pay.
* * * * *
The wagons arrived on Friday of the next week. Nathan and Laura’s was the first to pull into the valley. The two women greeted each other with tearful hugs. Frank Jensen arrived later that day with his stepsons, Ned and Billy Jones. By late Saturday, most of the menfolk of Doverton were camped out around the cabin, including the rancher David Burnside, along with several of his ranch hands, and Dr. Dawson, who took the opportunity to examine Claudia and the baby.
“You’re looking a bit worn out Mrs. Turner,” the doctor said when he finished his examination. “Are you taking regular naps during the day?”
“Of course I do.” Claudia smiled as brightly as she could at the country physician, trying to cover up her weariness and not look at her husband. “I think it’s just the heat.”
“The heat might cause swelling in your feet and hands, but not these dark circles under your eyes. I want you to promise me you’ll try to get a nap every afternoon.”
“I really don’t…” She started to protest.
“She’ll take one, Doc.” Micah gave her a stern look. “If I have to hogtie her, she’s going to get more rest.”
“Good. Now that I know someone will be taking care of you, I think I’ll see to getting a little rest before we start on that barn in the morning.” The grey haired man picked up his medical bag from the table and walked to the door. Stopping, he looked back at Claudia. “You are planning on coming down to Nathan’s before this baby is born, aren’t you?”
“Um, we haven’t talked about it yet, Doctor Dawson.” Claudia hedged his question, not wanting to commit herself to that course in front of Micah. If she did, he’d force her to do something she didn’t want to.
“Think about it.” The doctor left the cabin, whistling a tuneless tune.
“What did the doctor mean by you coming down to Nathan’s before the baby’s born?”
“Nothing much, really.” Loosening her braid, she began brushing her hair, completely ignoring him.
“What?” Micah walked to stand behind her.
“He just wants me to be nearer town when the time comes to deliver the baby. It’s silly, really.”
Claudia walked over to the armoire and pulled out a nightgown. With her back to him, she unbuttoned her dress and slipped the gown over her head. She turned around and stopped in her tracks.
Micah sat on the bed staring at her, his face strangely pale.
“What’s wrong, Micah?”
“He’s absolutely right.”
“What do you mean?” It was her turn to sound suspicious.
“This is no place for a woman to have a child. I never thought about it before.” He stood, taking her in his arms. “We’ll move down to Nathan’s a month before the baby is due. Then the doc will be close by in case you need him.” He bent over to kiss her on the forehead like a good little child.
“No.” She pushed against his chest, forcing him to release her.
“What do you mean, no? It’s the best thing for you and the baby. You don’t have any say in the matter.”
“That’s what I mean, Micah.” Claudia went to stand at the doorway. “So far in this marriage, I have done everything you wanted. You said we get married or else I’m off the case. We got married. You said it wouldn’t be in name only, so we made love.”
“Claudia, lower your voice,” he said in a hushed voice and moved past her to close the bedroom door. “Everyone can hear you.”
“I don’t give a damn, Micah,” she shouted, just to be sure anyone who wanted to listen would get an earful. “They can all hear every word I have to say, for all I care. My whole life I’ve had men tell me what to do. First my father, then my husband, and now the doctor. Well, I’m done listening to what you men want. I may not be beautiful enough for you to love, but I certainly am intelligent enough to make my own decisions. I am going to have this baby here in this valley, in my own home, with my own family. If you don’t like it, that’s just too bad for you. And one more thing—”
“What?” he yelled back, his own temper in full force.
“Go sleep with the other men. I’m through with all of you.” She threw open the door.
“Fine!” He stomped out of the room, only to have her slam the door behind him. “I don’t want to sleep with a crazy woman, anyhow.” Micah slammed the cabin’s outer door behind him and stomped off the porch, muttering, “Crazy woman. Can’t tell when someone wants what’s best for her. Wants to have a baby out here in the wilderness. Who does she think’s going to deliver it? Me?”
“Problems, old friend?” an amused voice asked behind him.
He turned to find Nathan sitting beneath the pine tree closest to his wagon. With one last glance at the cabin door, he joined his friend.
“Why can’t Claudia be as reasonable as Laura?”
“Yep. Laura was so reasonable, she rode up a mountainside by herself weeks before our baby was due, forcing me to follow her and deliver it under the most primitive of circumstances. All Claudia wants to do is stay home and have her baby in her own home. Now that’s what I call unreasonable.”
“You heard her?”
Nathan nodded.
“She thinks she’s not beautiful enough for any man to love. She thinks I don’t love her. Doesn’t she know how beautiful she is? With each day that passes, she gets more beautiful. I never knew a woman who was carrying could be so lovely. I didn’t know I could love anyone like this in my life.” He shoved his hand into his hair, staring into the fire at Nathan’s camp site.
“What am I going to do?” he sighed. “I want her to be near the doctor when the time comes for the baby. Doesn’t she understand that I don’t want anything to happen to her?”
“Seems to me if a man loved a woman as much as you say you love Claudia, then he’d find some way to give her what she wants along with what she needs.” Nathan stepped up onto his wagon steps and stood looking down at his heavy hearted friend. “But I think you need to figure out what it is she needs, Micah. It may not be just a doctor for the baby. It may be something else altogether.”
Micah sat staring into the dying fire for some time, thinking about everything that had transpired since his arrival back in the valley. He’d found Claudia and their extended family awaiting him. He’d been given the gift of his son, her two sons, and a new child. He’d been given the love of a woman worthy of all the good things life had to offer. She’d given him so much.
He knew what he had to do. And with the problem solved, he would keep his wife’s privacy safe.
A slow smile spread across his face. He kicked dirt into the fire to snuff out the flames, then walked back to the cabin. He took a pillow and quilt off the settee, curling on the floor in front of his bedroom door.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“I’ve never seen a barn raising before,” Laura said the next morning, coming over to stand at the cabin door next to Claudia. “Are they really going to get the whole thing up in the two days that the men will be here?”
“No. Micah explained to us that today the men are divided into two crews to put together the frames for the barn’s sides.” She pointed to the large hewed poles lying to the side of the barn site. “Once the frames are ready, they’ll place the main support beams in the center of the prepared floor planks.”
“Those poles are so tall. How will they get the sides up to them?”
Claudia laughed. “Joey and Adam asked the same exact thing. Micah told the boys they’d really like watching that part. Using ropes, the men will work in teams to raise the side frames in place and secure them to the poles with the ropes. Finally, the most-experienced men will scale the wooden structure, hammering the upper support beams onto the main support beams and frames. Tomorrow Micah said they’ll put on the roof. After that, I think most of the men will head back down the mountains to Doverton.”
“But who will put up the sides to the barn if everyone is leaving tomorrow?”
“Micah seems to think
, he, Robert and Hank will finish the task at their leisure before, during and after the harvest.”
After seeing that Micah had Adam and Joey busy carrying nails and tools to the men and not getting into mischief, Claudia turned back to the task of preparing enough food to fill twenty sweating men and boys at the midday supper.
Her heart clenched a little at how, despite his grueling task of overseeing the building, she was glad to see that Micah always had an eye on what the younger boys were doing. It was important to him that they to learn to work like the men, but also keep out of harm’s way.
If only he could love her like he loved those boys and Hank. He’d taken him and the two Jones boys aside, instructing them on the safe way to build the frames then put them to work learning the business ends of a hammer. The three seemed to enjoy working together.
Everyone seemed to be finding their place here, but her. Oh, she wanted to belong. She wanted this to be her home for the rest of her days, but she didn’t know if she could live with a man who couldn’t give her his heart.
She sighed heavily.
“How are you doing today?” Laura asked Claudia as she returned to the mound of potatoes she’d been peeling.
“I’m fine.” Claudia continued snapping her mess of beans. “I suppose you heard all that was said between Micah and me last night.”
“It was a little hard to miss. Frankly, I didn’t know you were capable of yelling that loud.”
“He just makes me so angry. He thinks he can issue an order and I’m going to obey it, no matter what my feelings are.” Claudia’s fingers picked up their pace the more she talked. “Do you know, he hasn’t once asked me how I feel about this baby or about my plans for having it? I’m beginning to think it might be a mistake, my trying to be here with him and make a family of us all.”
Turner's Vision Page 27
