He couldn't possibly trust himself.
The thoughts passed through her mind in a few seconds, and she finally let out her breath, as if to absorb this new insight into Harmon's character.
Trust…
She had no choice now but to trust herself. And Jack… she knew she could trust Jack.
She turned her attention to the man at her side and forced herself to focus on his words and not the almost tangible energy that she felt at the close contact. His thigh was tightly fitted against hers and his arm was around the back of the chair. His fingers lightly brushed the stands of her hair and a shiver ran through her body. Was this merely acting for Virginia's sake? She'd think about it later, not right now when their lives depended on clear thinking.
"I just wish there was a way to get him pissing drunk." He caught himself and added, "Excuse me, but that's the kind of diversion we need with this man, and from what Mairie has told me, he'd never accept alcohol."
"He wouldn't," Mairie whispered.
"Oh, Jack," Virginia said with a grin. "First of all, your language in the presence of ladies has always been appropriate. Right now it's appropriate to find a way to achieve a pissing drunk state."
Her grin widened and Mairie could see the glimmer in Virginia Gass's eyes deepen. "And I have the answer."
Both she and Jack were riveted as the woman explained she would bake a chicken, stuffed with raisins, made from the grapes harvested at the ranch and to make wine. The raisins she would use were soaked from the first extract of alcohol, which made them extremely potent. She couldn't use a large amount without its being detected, but enough to produce a relaxed, sleepy feeling.
They agreed that that would have to suffice and continued to refine their plan. Mairie realized Virginia was actually happy to be of assistance. Somehow, in some way… something was looking out for her and placing her in the right place at the right time with the right people. She had no idea what it was and was grateful, actually, that she didn't have time to question it. She'd just have to trust now that it would continue to be there. To guide her home.
Pretty scary, to be flying solo.
And then Mairie looked at Jack's profile and realized she wasn't flying solo… she was a copilot. Each respected the other. Trusted the other. No wonder her heart was opening to love again. She had found her equal.
Suddenly she had the irresistible urge to slap herself on the side of the head and laugh.
She resisted it.
But did she have to travel back in time a hundred and twenty-two years into the damn desert to find him? Talk about not controlling love… and making things hard.
The rest of the day was spent in preparation. Virginia never even questioned why Mairie wanted an earthen jar with a stopper. Using the candle in her room to thickly seal it, Mairie gave the jar to Jack to put in his saddlebag. Meanwhile, Jack had borrowed a horse from the ranch and was busy organizing his return trek into the desert with supplies.
A little while earlier when O.D. came in to wash for supper, he announced to his wife that the stranger camping out at the creek asked to buy a meal when he found out the ranch was also a way-station for travelers west. Virginia had calmly agreed to take it out, without once giving away that it played perfectly into their plan.
The baked chicken a la Virginia was finished, placed in a basket with fresh biscuits, corn on the cob, and a whole apple pie, with a few more potent raisins baked in for good measure, and a mason jar with homemade lemonade, all covered with a red gingham cloth. Virginia accepted her mission quite seriously, stood straight with both arms under the heavy basket handle, and walked outside to deliver it to Harmon. Virginia Gass was one remarkable woman.
Trying to ignore the debate by Fenton and his sisters over whether Digger should sleep in the house, Mairie paced in the kitchen while fighting the tension creeping into her body. If only Harmon would eat the meal without detecting the alcohol content. She had to trust their plan. It had to work. If only to stop the nagging worry as she waited for Virginia to return, Mairie reminded herself again that everything was falling into place without her frantically directing it.
Moments later, Mairie spun toward the back door and saw the triumphant look on Virginia's face as the woman entered her home.
"Well…?" Mairie couldn't help but ask.
"He tasted it first before he paid me." She winked at Mairie. "Must have liked it. Look what he gave me."
She held out two shiny silver dollars.
Mairie came closer and picked up one. Holding it in the fading light from the kitchen window, she read the date, 1870.
"Can I see?" Fenton asked, pushing back his chair and standing before Mairie.
She handed the coin to the child and watched him examine it.
"I wish I could hang it up," he whispered, and Mairie knew he was visualizing it in his secret place.
"Even though they're seven years old, they look newly minted," Virginia announced, turning the other coin over in her hand.
Mairie mentally agreed it was newly minted. Only not seven years ago. Try over a hundred years into the future. The government would naturally supply him with authentic currency. She remembered seeing a thick leather pouch on the ground where the horse drank from the creek. What else might Harmon have with him?
Mairie looked at Virginia and said, "Now we wait … and see."
Virginia nodded with encouragement as Fenton relentlessly begged his mother for the shiny silver dollar. Mairie felt her stomach muscles tighten with tension. She hoped Harmon was starving and ate the entire contents of the basket. Every last morsel.
The family supper proved to be both strained and comical.
Fenton would not let the silver dollar issue rest.
"But Momma, if I do all the chores, even Lelah's…?"
O.D. put his glass of water down sharply. "Fenton Gass, stop pestering your mother. The man gave it to her. She cooked him supper, not you. And she must have cooked him one hell of a supper, too." He looked at his wife like someone had taken away a special gift. "I would have liked chicken myself. Only time we have it is on a holiday. What is the occasion, my dear?"
It was almost funny to see Virginia recover her composure. Mairie watched as the woman appeared startled for just a moment before smiling prettily at her husband. "Oh, O.D., that chicken was so old and tough you would have loosened your teeth. Besides, you raised this beef. Are you saying you don't care for the way I prepared it?"
O.D. immediately shook his head. "It's delicious. Just seemed odd to me, is all."
Virginia continued to gaze at the tall bearded man seated across the long table. Her smile was filled with love. "You've always trusted my reasons, dear. We'll speak again on this subject and you will understand."
Again Mairie observed that silent communication between the husband and wife. Virginia was telling him she would explain everything later and he was content. She wondered if it took years to develop that level of understanding so that one is almost reading the other's mind. Mairie glanced at Jack from underneath her lashes and saw him staring at her. She couldn't stop the blush from creeping up her throat to her cheeks. Hiding the cringe, she could feel heat under her skin spreading like a neon light announcing … I'm falling in love. It was embarrassing.
Yet in the safety of this family, she allowed herself to indulge in a small fantasy. What would it be like to be loved by a man like Jack Delaney? Hormones she swore had been shut down by months and months of celibacy surged forth into every cell in her body, and she actually felt her legs tingle, her breasts ache, her belly yearn for his touch.
It was hormones. That's all, she told herself. Yet her heart was trying to get her attention. Secretly, in a place she couldn't afford to examine right then, she knew it was more than hormones, and suddenly she felt very sad that she would be leaving him tomorrow afternoon. What irony to find she was capable of love again now, here in someone else's lifetime. The wall around her heart, which she had built so well during and after
her divorce, was dissolving. And in that moment, Mairie knew it was going to be hell to walk away from him.
"Tell me again how the Paiutes are doing on Mount Charleston. They're still friendly, correct?" O.D. directed his conversation to Jack. "We've had some difficulty with a few local squaw men. Chief Tecopa tells me they're Mojaves, from Arizona, east of the Colorado River, and make skirmishes into Paiute territory over a longstanding dispute about the wild grapes."
Jack smiled at his host. "My brothers live in peace, Pe-no-kab. As a matter of fact, they are more determined than ever to continue that way of life."
He glanced at Mairie and she somehow knew he was referring to what they both had witnessed the night of the celebration. The message of peace from Wovoka. Was that it? Was this the silent communication she had wondered how long it takes to develop with a man? Wow…
Virginia grinned at Mairie. "Pe-no-kab is the name the Indians call O.D. It means 'long back,' given for my husband's broad shoulders."
Nodding, Mairie saw the stature of O.D. Gass and knew it took broad shoulders, and a strong heart, to have survived the tests of the desert. She glanced back at Virginia and returned the smile. O.D. Gass got the balance of heart from his wife.
The moon was still full as its light came through the bedroom window. Mairie used the cotton dress to wipe every piece of furniture in the room. Once more wearing her leggings and cropped top under the jumpsuit, she realized her clothes felt strange and restricting as she methodically accomplished her task. In a little more than twelve hours she would be back in her own time, with her brother. Why wasn't she ecstatic? She should be. It was all she had wanted since she was lost… to be able to get home.
Jack. Jack Fitzhue Delaney had changed all that.
How was she ever going to leave him? Never see him again? Ever…
She couldn't think about it now. Taking one last look around the room, Mairie thought back to her last conversation with Jack and later Virginia. How she would miss them both…
She patted the weight in her zippered side pocket. She hadn't expected to ask Jack for another favor, since he had already done so much for her. On top of that, he was risking his life, yet she needed the money. He said he would take care of everything, and he did, she thought, as she blew out the candle on the nightstand.
Earlier, she'd given Jack the rest of her equipment; now all she had to do was meet him.
Slipping out her door, Mairie hesitated only a moment while her eyes adjusted to the dark hallway. She paused at another door and quietly opened it. She could see Fenton asleep in his bed with Digger at his feet.
"Shh…" she whispered to the dog who raised his head and started wagging his tail in recognition. "I've got something for our friend here."
Tiptoeing into the room, she unzipped her pocket and took out the shiny silver dollar Jack had bought from Virginia at her request earlier that night. She bent down and stuck it under his pillow, then softly placed a kiss on the boy's temple.
"Good-bye, my friend. When you hang this in your secret place, think of me."
He sighed in his sleep and Mairie smiled as the moonlight showed his peaceful face. So like Bryan. What a lesson this child had taught her.
Life really could be magical again.
Patting Digger's head, she turned to quietly leave the room.
"Mairie …"
She jumped at the sound of her name and the candlelight illuminating the hall as she closed Fenton's bedroom door. Virginia stood in another doorway, wearing a nightgown and a crocheted shawl. Her long black hair was braided down her back.
"I know we said good-bye earlier," she whispered, as she closed the door of her bedroom behind her. "I just wanted to wish you good luck again." She placed the candlestick holder on a narrow hall table. "I have to wake O.D. when you two leave, to prepare him for whatever ruckus Harmon might make when he finds you're gone." Virginia looked at Mairie's clothes for the first time and added, "Interesting attire, my dear. From a distance, one would never mistake you for a woman."
Mairie touched the thin ribbon holding her hair in a ponytail. "Thank you for the loan of your dress," she said, handing it back. "I'm sorry it's soiled. I was just going to leave it in the kitchen for Lee to wash. The ribbon will be a keepsake to remember your hospitality by." Regardless of what Harmon said, a simple ribbon would be harmless to take with me, she thought.
Virginia held out her hands and accepted the dress. "I'll take care of it. I just want you to know that my prayers will go with you tonight. Though for some reason, my intuition is telling me it will all work out as it should… whatever that is." She smiled sadly. "I shall miss you and all the excitement you brought into my life. Be happy, Mairie Callahan. That's a choice only you can make."
Mairie thought she might cry, as she hugged the woman tightly. "Thank you so much, Virginia. I don't know what would have happened to me without you. You saved my life."
Virginia returned the embrace for a few moments. Pulling back, she said, "When I got the dinner plate from Harmon earlier, I could see the effect of the wine working. He was fighting to stay alert. He should be asleep by now. Jack's waiting in the courtyard with the horses, right?"
Mairie nodded. "Right. I should leave. I didn't know it would be this hard. All of you have become so important to me."
Virginia chuckled. "Jack gave you the silver dollar and you gave it to Fenton just now, didn't you?"
With a muffled laugh, Mairie again nodded. "He'll know what to do with it."
"Hang it in that thicket of mesquite trees, he will. Sometimes I wonder if that child will ever grow up. He spends so much time in that place."
She looked at Virginia Gass and said sincerely, "Don't let him grow up completely. Fenton knows something many of us have forgotten. Life can still be magical."
"Go create some magic then, Mairie. Go safely into your life."
Mairie squeezed her hand and kissed the woman's cheek then turned to the kitchen door. Beyond it waited Jack… and her future, whatever it might contain. All she could do now was trust… in love, and the magic of life.
Fenton had taught her that.
Jack was waiting for her in the shadows of the stable across the courtyard. Her heart began beating faster as she walked up to him and the horses. Now it began… the most difficult part of the plan. Somehow, they must leave the ranch without alerting Harmon.
"Virginia said the wine was taking effect when last she checked. We should be all right," she said, with as much confidence as she could muster.
Jack nodded and handed her the reins to her horse. "We'll walk them for about a hundred yards into the sand. That will muffle the noise of the hooves. Then we'll mount and slowly leave. No point in disturbing the man's sleep, now, is there?"
She looked into his smiling face and returned the sly expression. "No point at all. Listen, before we start, I want to tell you how much I appreciate everything you've done for me and to say again how very sorry I am that your involvement with me has endangered your life. I realize all that you've done to help me since that day when you found me, and—"
He quickly held his finger up to her lips to silence her. "Hush now, Mairie. Everything I did was also for me. You were my gift, remember? I came off that mountain to find you. I brought you to my brother's camp and you returned a gift to them." He looked up to the stars and shrugged. "This… this is just a moonlit ride back to where it all began. Stop worrying. Just be quiet now and follow my lead."
"Yes, sir. You're in charge." She gladly assumed the copilot's mental attitude. He was leading this part of the journey. It was his land, his time, and she was the inexperienced one.
"All right, let's go. Slowly… remember, until we mount, everything we do must be done slowly and as the coyote stalks his prey. Be alert. Listen. Hear the warm desert breeze moving through the brush and trees. You must be at one with the Mother and Father. You can do it, Mar."
She was stunned when she heard his last words. First Fenton, and now Jack. Bot
h had repeated Bryan's words to her. She didn't need any more proof that she was on the right path.
Now all she had to do was walk it.
Slowly. Very, very slowly.
She could have done without the mention of coyotes, though.
Following him across the courtyard to the huge gate, Mairie realized she was holding her breath and told herself to exhale. Trust. She had to trust that Virginia's supper had done its job. Seeing that Jack had already removed the heavy wooden crossbar from the gate, she closed her eyes as he reached out and cautiously opened it.
She quickly opened her eyes when her horse jerked to follow the movement of Jack's horse. She moved quietly forward. As she led her horse through the gate, she expected at any moment to hear Harmon's voice, demanding to know what she was doing. Then something inside her instructed she stop thinking of Harmon. Listen to the wind… she reminded herself … even the coyotes were preferable to that man. Right now she must walk as an Indian, and be attuned to everything.
Jack turned left, away from the camping man, and Mairie deliberately averted her eyes from that direction. She hoped Harmon was deep in dreamland and wouldn't wake until dawn. It would give them the time they needed to get to the cave and back down to the base of the mountain. She didn't want to picture Harmon's furious face at noon when she was waiting for him at the spot where she had landed days ago. Hoping that he would just be relieved to see her, Mairie figured she would deal with it when it happened. Right now she needed to concentrate, to focus, to follow Jack's every movement. To become one.
In silence they led the horses down to the creek and Jack's movement slowed even more. When they passed through the water, Mairie was surprised not to hear any more noise than the soothing rush of the stream itself. The man knew what he was doing, and her respect for him grew.
After they crossed the creek, the night air was cool through her damp jumpsuit. She was glad she had on her Nikes, although she knew the prints would be easy for Harmon to track in the morning light. Hopefully, by that time she would have completed her task and would be coming down off the mountain to meet with him anyway.
Anywhere You Are Page 14
