by Amber Stokes
Seth struggled to pin the man’s arm, which was waving wildly. Images of his own body in place of Joe’s flitted in and out of his mind as he tried to control the pistol. If he was going to die today, it would be as his brother had – protecting Sally.
Throwing his full weight on O’Daniel’s arm, he gripped the pistol in both hands. O’Daniel wouldn’t let go, but his hold seemed to be getting weaker…
Suddenly, another pair of hands reached down and yanked the pistol away from both of them. Seth scrambled to his feet, his gaze flitting from Sally, who was squirming in O’Daniel’s arms, to the man who had interfered. The proprietor he had questioned just minutes before now held the pistol aimed at him.
“This man paid good money to be left alone.” He gestured to O’Daniel, who had somehow found his feet while keeping an arm around Sally’s waist.
Seth lifted his hands, his mind filling with a cold fog. He had to do something, but he couldn’t think of any solution through the thick cloud of memories and fears. “I…”
He glanced over at Sally, remembering the day he had let her fend for herself in the Bucket of Blood, when the glass had shattered and she had fallen to the floor in O’Daniel’s embrace.
He nodded toward O’Daniel. “This woman doesn’t belong to him. Look at her. He’s forcing her to go somewhere she doesn’t want to go. Can’t you see…?”
The proprietor shook his head stubbornly. “I see plenty of things in this place. The men pay me to mind my own business. What they do with their whores is none of my concern.”
“She’s not a whore! She’s my brother’s widow.”
The proprietor shrugged his shoulders, but the gun never wavered. “It’s yer word against his.”
This can’t be happening.
Seth watched helplessly as O’Daniel dragged Sally down the hallway, coming up beside the proprietor. He wouldn’t get far, not when it was obvious Sally was being abducted, but the thought brought no comfort.
Please, God. Please. Please. Please.
The silent prayer stuttered in time to the beat of his heart.
***
Sally’s heart was shattering like glass. Seth had tried to rescue her, but he was outnumbered, outgunned. If Rufus succeeded in getting her out of Eureka, what would happen to her? Would Seth blame himself? And what about Myghal and Mr. Taylor?
Seth stared after her, his gaze fiercely intense and his jaw locked. She pictured his appearance when she had first come to the ranch after marrying Joe – his eyes red from tears and lack of sleep, his clothes and hair rumpled. She could still remember the smell of alcohol on his breath, more sour than the soothing scent of his pipe tobacco. Would he return to that state when she was gone?
Rufus pushed her through a door, into a storage room stacked with clutter.
“Why do you have to cause so much trouble?” he growled, taking out that wet cloth again. She guessed it was doused with chloroform – and she wasn’t about to let him render her defenseless, incapable of protesting or fighting back.
Grabbing the neck of a bottle between her tied hands, she stood on shaky legs.
He looked shaken himself. “Come on, Sally. It won’t be long before we can put all of this behind us.”
Stepping back along the wall, she swung the bottle against a crate. It broke with a crash, the contents spilling out like a flood of tears upon the floor. She held up what was left – the neck and part of the top of the bottle, now with jagged edges.
“Sally, do not defy me. We need each other – do you hear me?”
His control seemed to be dripping away like the rest of the wine from the bottle. The hint of pleading underlying his demands reminded her of the desperation, the longing, the false hope that had brought her west in the first place. What would have happened if Jack had never married – if she’d found him single but still determined to push her out of his life? How far would she have gone to get her revenge, or to get him to take her back?
She felt tears dripping off her chin. I’m so sorry. For how far we’ve all gone. For how desperately we’ve wanted our own ways.
Suddenly, she realized that Rufus was standing before her. The bottle slipped from her hands, her mind registering the loss of it too late. He towered over her, but he didn’t take advantage of the moment like she thought he would. Instead of grabbing her, he slowly reached out with his free hand and stroked the hair hanging over her shoulder. She saw him swallow with effort, his eyes still blazing but his hand trembling with some held-back emotion.
“We’d be a perfect fit. You need me.” But when his gaze met hers, she saw the words his pride wouldn’t let him say aloud. I need you.
The door burst open without any warning, and Mr. Taylor stood in the entrance with another man, both pointing guns at Rufus.
The second man declared with authority, “You’re under arrest, Mr. O’Daniel, for kidnapping…”
She didn’t hear anything else. She collapsed to the floor among the shards of glass and the sad remains of broken hearts.
Chapter 26
Sunlight flooded the floor of the marshal’s office. Seth traced his boot through it, then slouched further in his chair as his mind wandered.
He had told the marshal all he knew about the crimes O’Daniel had committed. At times, it had seemed impossible to try to describe what he had seen. How could he convey the shock of seeing the life violently slammed out of his younger brother? How could he express the agony of seeing Sally suffering? And then there were things the marshal didn’t need to be told, but they were still a part of the horror – like the blood stains on the ranch-house porch and Sally’s bleeding hands. The three of them kneeling beside Joe’s grave in the late-autumn cold. Sally’s nightmares – and his own.
“Mr. O’Daniel will stay in jail tonight, and I’ll wire the sheriff in Virginia City tomorrow regarding the murder of Joe Clifton,” the marshal said, glancing between Seth and Taylor. “I’ll talk to Mrs. Clifton and that Cornish man you mentioned tomorrow, as well. From what I’ve seen and what you both have testified to, I think it’s safe to say that there’ll be a hangin’ soon.”
Seth felt sick. All he wanted to do was go back to the hotel and see Sally, make sure that she was still sleeping soundly and that the owner’s wife was checking in on her as she’d promised.
The marshal stood, fingering the brim of his hat. “I’m sorry for what you’ve all gone through. It’s a real shame.”
Yes. So much shame. O’Daniel had done terrible things, but the shame didn’t entirely belong to him, did it?
Seth and Taylor stepped out of the building that housed the marshal’s office.
“I’ll be heading back to Falk, then,” Taylor said. “If I see Myghal, I’ll send him along. And I’ll tell the boys that the search is over.” He sighed deeply and gazed across the street, his eyes filled with some indescribable emotion despite the familiar confident stance he maintained.
Seth nodded absently, held back from rushing to the hotel by something he didn’t understand.
Finally, Taylor spoke again. “It’s not right, what’s he’s done to Sally and your brother. He of all people should know that there are consequences for every decision a man makes.”
Seth glanced at him sidelong and saw that Taylor had closed his eyes.
“We all had a difficult time accepting defeat, but Rufus never seemed to be able to get his mind and heart out of the Confederate Army. First, it was the silver. Then Sally. They became his new battles to win.”
Taylor opened his eyes and turned to meet Seth’s gaze. “He lost. Again.” His fingers flexed, and his throat convulsed. “It’s just a sorry mess. I wish it could have been different.”
Clenching his fist, Seth bit back the words that rose as a reflex. After a moment of silence, he said, “I think we all wish many things to be different than how they are.”
“Yes, well, I suppose wishing doesn’t change another man’s choices.”
Taylor stepped off the wooden sidewalk
and into the street. Turning back, he added with a slight tremor in his voice, “Make good choices, Seth. And take care of her.”
Seth glanced into the afternoon sun, letting it mask the reasons for his watering eyes. He gave a sharp nod. By the time he looked back to where Taylor had been, the man was walking down the street and out of town.
Seth made his way to the hotel, pondering the tragic friendship of two men who had once fought for the same cause. He had some choices of his own to make, but who was to say he wouldn’t succumb to the same selfishness that had engulfed O’Daniel? Who was to say he hadn’t already done so too many times to count?
God, I’m so weak. I want to be strong – for Sally, for my friends. Show me the way?
***
Weeks had passed since Sally’s abduction. Myghal’s heart had raced when he came across Zachary Taylor on his way out of Eureka. The cook had told him the grand news of Sally’s rescue – and the bittersweet news that O’Daniel was in jail, awaiting his sentence. His heart had pounded with worry when he’d first knocked on Sally’s door at the hotel, then sped with relief when she opened it with a small smile. His heart had throbbed while he held her hand as she sobbed on the day of O’Daniel’s hanging. Now, finally, it seemed things would at last settle back to their old routine.
But while his heart’s beating had settled, his heart’s restlessness had not.
It was Friday night, and Sally was bringing plates of some sort of cake with strawberries on it to the table, where Myghal and Seth were still digesting the delicious supper she had made.
“This looks great, Sally,” Seth said, not waiting until she sat down before forking a bite into his mouth.
Myghal and Sally shared a smile. She was a great cook – and she would make Seth a great wife. It wouldn’t be long now before Seth proposed, he guessed.
Myghal took his own bite, swallowing down the sweetness before saying, “I won’t be goin’ to Falk tonight, or tomorrow.”
Sally glanced up, surprise sparkling in her blue eyes. Her head tilted a little, asking a silent question.
“Taking Saturday off?” Seth voiced his question between forkfuls of cake.
“Yeah.”
What he didn’t tell them yet was that he would be taking every other day off, as well – at least from that job. He rubbed his hand across the rough wood of their kitchen table, knowing he would miss this companionship, this feeling of belonging. And yet this wasn’t his home.
Sally and Seth would urge him to stay, even after their marriage. They were a family of sorts, and that truth made him smile. He wouldn’t hesitate to accept their offer, except that he felt a longing in his gut to go somewhere. Thoughts of Cornwall, of the voyage across the Atlantic, of the westward trek with some Cornish friends, of the dangers and excitement of mining in Virginia City – they filled his mind and made him want more.
Not that what Seth and Sally and even Taylor had to offer was not enough. He simply realized that he wasn’t ready to settle. When he did, he wanted it to be with a wife and children of his own.
After they polished off dessert, while Sally was cleaning up the kitchen, Myghal gestured to Seth to follow him out onto the porch.
Myghal closed the door and leaned his shoulder against it. “I’ll be headin’ out tomorrow.”
Seth squinted in confusion. “I thought you said you weren’t going to work.”
“I’m not. I’m leavin’, Seth.”
Seth sat down on a chair, crossing his arms. After a moment of contemplation, he finally asked, “Where will you go?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll go to Eureka, see if I can join a crew goin’ out to sea. Or maybe I’ll head up the coast a ways.”
“If you don’t know, why don’t you stay for a while?”
Myghal turned to look out at the darkening sky, imagining all the places he had seen, and all the places he had yet to see. “It’s time. I’m ready to go somewhere new.”
“Is it because of me?”
Glancing back, Myghal could see the shame on Seth’s shadowed face. “What do ya mean?”
“My feelings for Sally.”
Myghal grinned. “Naw, I know ye two will be good fer each other.”
A smile of relief crossed Seth’s face. “I want to ask her to marry me.”
“I know.”
“Won’t you stay for the wedding, if she’ll have me?”
A wedding could happen within a few weeks, or it might be months. Myghal shook his head regretfully. “Ye know I would love to be there, but I’m eager to be on my way.”
Seth stood and joined Myghal on the edge of the porch. “I understand. You know we’ll both miss you.”
“And I’ll miss ye.”
Seth offered his hand, his dark eyes lightened with a mixture of kinship and wistfulness.
Myghal took the offered hand in his own and shook it firmly.
“If you ever come through this way again, we’d be happy to have you visit.”
Myghal smiled again. “I’ll remember that.” Then, turning to the door, he asked, “Do you mind if I speak to Sally alone for a moment?”
Seth nodded in agreement, then sat and tilted the chair back.
Myghal entered the house. He found Sally still in the kitchen, wiping the table with a wet rag. “Sally? May I speak with ye?”
She looked up and gave him a wide smile. “Of course.” When he didn’t sit down, her smile faded a little. “Does this have anythin’ to do with your not going to Falk this weekend?”
Myghal watched her as he gave a slight nod. Her blue eyes looked darker than normal in the dull lamplight, filled with a sad knowing.
She let the rag slip from her limp fingers. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
He wasn’t entirely surprised that she had guessed. They had shared a long journey this past year, from Virginia City to Oregon and back, finally settling on the California coast. But it was more than the miles – it was the shared memories and the longings for past love, for future hope. It stood to reason that they had come to understand each other, to anticipate each other’s emotions.
“I’ll miss you, Myghal. You’ve been a better friend than anyone could deserve.” She sank down into a chair, her eyes brightening with unshed tears. “How can I ever thank you for all that you’ve done for me?”
He cut her off with an uplifted hand. “I’ve been blessed by our friendship, too. Yer strength inspires me. Yer healing gives me hope.”
“But, I’ve been such a burden.”
“Never say so, lass. I don’t regret any of it.”
A tear fell down her cheek, and she swallowed with difficulty. He reached out his hand, his palm facing up as he rested it on the table. She placed her hand in his, giving him a small smile.
She had touched his heart with her beauty and long-buried innocence. As he stood, bringing Sally up with him, he clung to the peace they had both embraced by the Eel River mere weeks ago. The words he had shared with her, the look of release on her face, had given him the perspective he needed to move forward.
“Let’s go join Seth. I bought me own fiddle last time I was in Eureka. We’ll sing our cares away.”
“I’d like that,” she said as she left the kitchen. When he walked out onto the porch a few minutes later, he noticed that Sally had brought Seth his pipe. He smiled at the homey smell of tobacco smoke. It reminded him of his father, of his home in Cornwall.
He began to play a generally fast tune, one that was interlaced with longer, melancholy notes. It was a song about traveling, about crossing the ocean to find a new life in America. It was a song about bittersweet farewells and an insatiable desire for adventure, for freedom.
He grinned as he looked up to the stars, ready to go wandering once more.
Chapter 27
“Seth Clifton, are you trying to ask me to marry you?”
Sally relished the baffled look on Seth’s face – the way his head tilted as he looked up at her, and the way his lips parted sligh
tly, as if she had caught the words right before he had been ready to speak them.
She wanted to tease him, but it was only a matter of seconds before a smile bloomed on her face. It reflected on Seth’s handsome face, bringing his lips together and lightening his redwood-brown eyes.
He looked so good, so different from that day Joe had first brought her to their ranch. His eyes looked clear. His cheeks and chin were clean-shaven, and his dark hair was neatly trimmed. Even as he knelt before her, he looked more confident, and certainly more at peace.
She held her hand out to him, and he took it.
“Since you already know the question,” he said with a deeper-than-normal voice, “what’s your answer, Sally Clifton?”
She laughed. “Don’t call me that! It sounds like we’re brother and sister. That would never do.”
“No, you’re right. What was your last name before…?”
“Clay. Sally Clay.”
It couldn’t be very comfortable there on the hard wooden floor of the bakery. She decided to take pity on him. “And yes, Sally Clay Clifton accepts the proposal of marriage from Seth Clifton, former rancher and now business partner,” she said in as serious and stately a voice as she could manage through her mirth.
Seth got to his feet, still holding onto her hand. She looked up at him, her breath sticking in her throat at the sight of him standing over her. He still had his vulnerabilities. The wounds to his pride and his heart were still healing. But the light of hope in his eyes gave him a look of strength that made her want to fall into his embrace.
So she did.
“I love you, Seth.”
His arms came around her, holding her close as she rested her cheek against the rough fabric of his shirt. “I love you, too,” he whispered into her hair.
She grinned as she pulled back a bit, but faltered when she saw that Seth wasn’t smiling anymore. “What is it?”
“It’s just… Do you think it’s too soon?”
She cleared a spot on the counter. When Seth saw her struggling in her attempts to get up on it, he lifted her. Sitting on the edge, she stopped his hands from completely pulling away, holding them in hers. She met his gaze.
