A couple of them were likely the type who could have done it easily, but the proof wasn’t there to charge them. One of the men, Pete Laurier, was the most likely suspect, so he’d mentioned to the other Mounties to keep an eye on him.
He was known for making trades for alcohol, and sometimes he’d do just about anything to get what he needed for his next bottle. Laurier was a distant cousin to Hawkeye’s family, which was why they allowed him to stay. In their culture, family stuck together no matter what, even if one of them wasn’t particularly well liked by any of the others.
It was bothering him that he couldn’t find the culprit. Even though it was unlikely the money was still around, at least he felt he was doing something to help Lily. It was obvious his wife had taken a real liking to the little girl, and he had to admit, he had too. He hated seeing what she was going through, especially when he realized Annie had gone through the exact same thing as a child.
He knew kids could be cruel, and he had no doubt Annie had faced her share of meanness in her life. He hoped her family had offered her the support she would have needed as a child, like Lily’s were giving to her.
But Annie still hadn’t opened up about her family. He knew she had an older sister, and that they’d grown up in Vancouver. She’d briefly mentioned her father was in banking but she’d made it clear she didn’t want to talk about the man, so Malcolm hadn’t pushed her.
It had been almost a week now since the storm, and he smiled to himself as he thought how much had changed in that week. He was genuinely enjoying every minute he spent with his wife, and was even finding himself making excuses as he worked throughout the day to stop in and see her.
Today, he was going to take her for a picnic. A month ago, there was no way he’d have ever believed he’d be taking a woman on a picnic lunch. Especially since it was the middle of winter.
But the weather was unseasonably warm today, so he figured they could sit outside and have some lunch without getting too cold. And Annie seemed to love being outdoors, so he knew she wouldn’t be uncomfortable.
He pushed the papers to the side of the table and looked over at his wife as she came out of the bedroom with a large blanket in her arms. “I washed this one after Finnegan used it, so it will be perfect.”
He didn’t mention to her the blanket that Finnegan had stolen when he’d gone out to retrieve them after the storm. The ungrateful animal had helped himself to the thicker blanket, and when he’d mentioned it to her, she’d just shrugged and said that he must have needed it.
Her shoulders slouched as she saw him still sitting at the table. “I thought you were getting ready while I got the blanket. You’re still not even dressed.”
She’d been so excited when he’d mentioned the picnic, she’d instantly put some biscuits and cheese into a small basket, then got bundled up and went to get a blanket. Meanwhile, he’d been caught up in reading over the notes from the theft.
He stood up quickly and grabbed his heavy coat from the hook, throwing it over his shoulders. “Well, it doesn’t take me nearly as long to get dressed to go outside as you do, so I figured I’d have plenty of time.” Pushing his feet into his boots, he grabbed his hat and pulled it on, then reached out for the blanket and basket.
He grinned at her as he swept his arm in front of him and opened the door to let her out ahead of him. “See? All ready to go.”
She shook her head, but smiled at him as she went past. “It’s so beautiful out here today. I’d have believed it to be so much colder here in January.”
As they walked along the street to the spot in front of the church where the snow was shovelled daily, he reached out to take her hand. “It normally would be, but we’ve been blessed with a warm day like this, so we’d be fools not to take advantage of it. You never know when you’ll be holed up in your cabin for the rest of the winter when the temperatures drop again.”
She looked up at him with a grin. “What will your men think if they see you taking me for a picnic in front of the church?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really care. Besides, I’m getting the impression that every one of them might be besotted with their own wives, so will be too busy to pay any attention to what I’m doing with mine.”
When they got to the churchyard, he set the basket down, then threw the blanket out. Taking her hand again, he helped her to get seated on the blanket. She had to put her legs out to the side a bit to accommodate her skirt.
“I have to admit I’m glad to see you never did follow through on making yourself a pair of trousers. I think I much prefer you wearing a skirt.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Well, I have actually been working on sewing a couple of my older skirts together for when the spring comes, and I want to go riding. But I don’t know if I could ever go so far as to wear actual trousers.”
“I should have known.” He had to laugh. Of course she’d be doing something like that with her skirts. He had a feeling that in the spring and summer, his wife would quite likely never be inside the cabin.
“Well, it was either that or I’d have to wear my bloomers while I was riding, and I’m quite certain you wouldn’t want your men seeing me parading around town on the back of a horse wearing those.”
He coughed as a piece of the biscuit he’d just popped into his mouth lodged in his throat. When he could breathe again, he lifted his eyes to look at her. Annie sat there innocently smiling at him while she ate a piece of cheese.
“No, you’re probably right about that.”
This woman never ceased to amuse him. One minute she could be sweet and full of innocence, and the next he would be shocked at what came out of her mouth. Life was certainly never going to be boring with her around.
“Is your sister much like you? I’ve heard you mention her a few times, but you’ve never really told me a lot about your family.”
Her face clouded over, and she looked down at the piece of cheese she held in her hand. He thought for sure she was going to avoid talking about her family again.
Finally, she looked up with a sad smile. “Andrea is older than me by a year, and she is the most beautiful woman you’ll ever meet.”
He raised his eyebrows in annoyance. “I’d beg to differ. I’m almost certain there’s no way she could even come close to you.”
She rolled her eyes and laughed. “You might be just a bit biased. Anyway, she’s beautiful, but she’s not always a nice person to be around. I think it’s just because she was spoiled by my father.”
As soon as she mentioned her father, he watched her whole face fill with sadness.
“How come you didn’t end up being like her then? I’m sure having two daughters, he’d have been spoiling both of you.”
She shook her head and looked past him toward the church. “My father didn’t spoil me. He barely tolerated having me around. Andrea was his prized child who he could parade around and show off. I was just the one who was different, and who he’d have rather pretended wasn’t there. I think he took my problems at birth as an attack on his manliness or something. He never accepted me. I once overheard him yelling at my mother after she’d demanded he pay for me to have my surgery. I was just a child, and was supposed to be in bed, but I’d snuck out to hear what they were fighting about.”
He waited, watching as the memories flickered across her face. He dreaded hearing what she was going to say, but he knew it was something she needed to talk about.
“He told my mother that he would never forgive her for giving him such a broken child, and for making him spend that kind of money trying to fix something that couldn’t be fixed. He said I’d always be different, and he should have just taken me to the orphanage after he first saw me like he’d wanted to do.”
Her voice broke slightly as she spoke. He moved closer and reached out to put his arm around her.
“Your father doesn’t sound like the kind of man I want to know. I’m glad he wasn’t able to break your spirit or change who you are, Annie.
”
“He isn’t a good man, and I am so glad you’re nothing like him, Malcolm.” She lifted her eyes to his, and he smiled down at her.
As he was about to lower his head to let her know exactly how much he wasn’t like her father, he heard his name being called. Cursing, he lifted his head to see Robert coming up the street toward him with Hawkeye beside him.
Annie pulled back, looking down as she patted invisible wrinkles from her skirt.
“Sorry to interrupt, Mrs. Wilson, but we need to talk to your husband for a moment.”
Malcolm nodded and waited for them to continue. They better be here to tell him that the office was on fire or something dire like that, or he wasn’t going to be happy about the intrusion.
“I went to check my traplines today, and everything’s been taken.”
He stood up to face Hawkeye. “What do you mean?”
“The traps have been opened and all of my catches were removed. There were tracks all around them, and some blood spatters. So I know there had been animals caught in them. Someone took them all.”
Malcolm clenched his jaw tightly together as he fought his anger. First someone steals the money saved for Lily’s surgery, now someone was stealing the only way her uncle had to save up again.
Whoever was doing this was going to pay. Malcolm wasn’t going to let them get away with stealing from a little girl who needed this surgery.
He tried not to let a case get to him, but he knew that already, this one had just become personal.
Chapter 13
Annie smiled at the children who were running around the street in front of the store. She’d walked here with Gemma and had been happy to see Ida in town with Lily picking up some supplies. The weather was still quite warm, so now the ladies were sitting on the bench along the street watching Lily play with Olivia.
Minnie had been feeling quite tired today from her pregnancy, and Annie had offered to look after Olivia for a while so she could rest. It had worked out wonderfully because now the little girls seemed to be quite happy playing together.
At first, Lily had been afraid when she’d seen Olivia, until the little girl had clapped her hands together excitedly when she saw that Lily was “cute, just like Miss Annie.”
“I still can’t believe how accepting Olivia has been of Lily. It’s like she doesn’t even notice anything different.” Ida was still in shock, not used to seeing her daughter out running around and playing with other children.
Annie had to laugh. “Olivia is a special little girl. She doesn’t see anything different. The first time she met me, she said I was cute too. I’d never in my life had anyone tell me that before.”
Gemma looked over and crinkled her eyebrows together. “I’m sure at least your parents or someone would have said you were cute at some point in your life. You likely just don’t remember.”
“No, my mother might have at one time, but I know for a fact my father wouldn’t have.” She tried not to let them hear the bitterness in her laugh.
The other two women looked at each other, but Annie just shrugged. “It’s no big deal now. At the time, it was hard growing up with a father who never even tried to hide how much he hated the disfigurement on my face. But honestly, now that I think back, he taught me how to just accept people’s reactions when they see me for the first time. Because at least I always know it will probably never be as bad as my own father’s.”
Ida looked out at Lily again. “I wish Lily wouldn’t have to go through that for the rest of her life too. I know having the surgery will help to some degree, but it won’t fix it completely. I hope she can be as strong as you are, Annie.”
“She’s already strong. She just doesn’t know it yet.” Annie placed her hand on Ida’s arm.
Annie enjoyed the chance to just sit like this with friends. She hadn’t made many friends growing up, living a sheltered life that she now realized was probably because her father was trying not to get caught.
She’d had her sister, but Andrea had never been someone she could confide in. And unfortunately, her mother had pretty much given up on life after years at the hands of her father, so she hadn’t been around for her either.
Annie had spent a lot of time alone, and having friends now who she could feel comfortable with, was something she cherished. Gemma and Ida had accepted her without ever making her feel like there was anything different about her, as had the other wives and the people in the community of Reindeer Rock.
She’d only been here for a couple of weeks now, but already this place made her feel more at peace than anywhere she’d ever been in her life.
People walked by on their way to the stables, or heading into the store, waving and shouting hello to the women. The community was small, but she was sure that was what made the residents seem so much friendlier than in the bigger cities. Everyone knew each other, and they all became like family.
“Mrs. Wilson? I have a telegraph that’s just come in for you. I thought you’d want to see it.”
Mr. Harper came out from the store waving a piece of paper in his hand. Annie stood up to walk over to get it from him, trying to push down the niggling worry that was starting to churn in her stomach.
Who would be sending her a telegram? She wasn’t even sure if her family knew where she was. She hadn’t sent anything to let them know.
With shaking hands, she looked down to see what was written.
ANNIE YOUR FATHER HAS ESCAPED (STOP) SISTER WORRIED ABOUT YOU (STOP) HAVEN’T TOLD ANYONE ELSE WHERE YOU (STOP) WHAT SHOULD I TELL FAMILY (STOP) MISS HAZEL
She sat back down on the edge of the bench, not able to lift her eyes from the message. Her father was supposed to stand trial for the counterfeiting charges, and he was also being charged with murdering a witness who’d been set to testify against him a few years ago.
He’d been caught when they’d been staying in Alberta just before Christmas, after he’d kidnapped her and tried to force her to take part in an illegal payoff with some other criminal. She’d been terrified, seeing how far her father was willing to go—even using his child to save his own neck.
She’d always known her father didn’t like her, but that day proved to her just how much he didn’t care.
Would he come here to find her, believing in his sick, twisted mind that she was responsible for him being captured?
What if he’d already found her and was here somewhere? By the time Andrea would have contacted her friend Claire to get in touch with Miss Hazel, it might already have been days since he escaped.
“Is everything all right, Annie?” Gemma’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
She lifted her eyes and tried to smile nonchalantly. “Fine. It’s nothing. Really.”
But Gemma wasn’t buying it. She shook her head and put her hand on Annie’s arm. “I can tell something’s wrong, Annie. Tell us. We’re your friends.”
Ida nodded, and Annie had to struggle against the lump in her throat.
“It’s just…my father.”
How was she going to tell her friends about him?
Ida gasped and took her hand. “Oh no, Annie. Is he sick?”
Annie let out a groan. “No, worse than that. He’s escaped from the prison where he was being held on trial for murder and counterfeiting charges.”
Gemma’s mouth had been partially open as she prepared to speak, and now hung in disbelief. Ida was looking at her like she’d just grown another nose on her face.
Shrugging, she figured she may as well just tell them everything. It was only a matter of time until everyone found out. She was going to have to tell Malcolm for sure now.
“My father is one of the biggest criminals on the west coast. Before I left to come out here, I was still finding out some of the crimes he’d been involved in over my lifetime. I’m sure we’ll never even know about half of them. All I know is that everything I had growing up was thanks to money he made off his criminal activities. It’s not something I’m proud of, and had I known
as a child, I’m not even sure what I could have done about it.”
Her friends were letting her speak, but from the looks on their faces, she was sure they wouldn’t have known what to say anyway.
“When he was caught, he’d taken me and forced me to make a trade of money to a man who was blackmailing him. He knew the man was dangerous, so he sent me to be the one to meet him. It didn’t matter if I was hurt. My father wouldn’t have shed any tears over it. But when the Mounties caught him and took him away, he was yelling that it was my fault because I’d become friends with one of the Mountie’s wives. He thought I’d led him into a trap, even though he was the one who’d kidnapped his own child to do his dirty work. So now, it would appear my sister is worried with him escaping, he might try to find me.”
Her shoulders actually felt a bit lighter as she unloaded the burden she’d carried about her father. She was used to having people reject her anyway, so if her friends turned away, she knew she could handle it.
But suddenly, Gemma’s hand reached out to her. “Annie, you don’t have to be ashamed of anything your father did. Sometimes, our parents aren’t the kind of people they should be, and that’s no fault of yours. Your father’s crimes aren’t on your shoulders.”
Gemma’s eyes told Annie that nothing had changed how she felt about her. When she looked at Ida, she was nodding and blinking back tears.
“Oh, Annie, it’s horrible what you’ve had to grow up with. You should have never been afraid to tell us about any of this. Real friends, and people who love you, will never judge you based on things that were beyond your control.”
Annie’s chin quivered as she tried to keep her own emotions from spilling over. “I’m not sure that everyone can be so forgiving. Finding out you’re married to the daughter of a wanted criminal isn’t something a Mountie would find easy to forgive.”
Ida cringed. “You haven’t told Malcolm?”
Annie just shook her head as she looked back down at the telegram in her hands.
RNWMP: Bride for Malcolm (Mail Order Mounties Book 14) Page 6
