Mary Connealy - [Kincaid Brides 03]

by Over the Edge

“See how the ground is broken away?” Seth lit up the jagged edges of the thin sheet of rock. It was easy to see where the old cave floor had been. “It wasn’t then. Rafe and Ethan and I had been down this tunnel lots of times. The ground was solid. But this time, it broke under my feet.”

  “How does rock form a thin layer like that? I’ve never seen anything like this before.” She ran her hand along the edge of the hole.

  Seth heard the quiet scratch of her hand on stone. “Neither have I, not in this cave, nor anywhere else. Julia studies things like that and she could probably explain it. I’ve got a picture in my head of boiling rock.”

  “Rock doesn’t boil.”

  “In a volcano it does. Julia says lava is molten rock.”

  “Molten?” Callie asked.

  “Yes, rock that’s so hot it boils. I can imagine it bubbling up just as it finally cools off enough to stop being liquid. And this is the top of a bubble. When I stepped on it, it cracked. First just one leg went through.”

  “Oh, Seth, you must have been scared to death.”

  “It was pitch-dark and I didn’t really know what had happened, but I’d been down this tunnel plenty of times and I knew there weren’t any drop-offs. I screamed to beat all for help, because my leg was in a hole. Then the whole floor just shattered and I fell down to the bottom.”

  Seth looked at it with the most rational mind he’d ever used in this particular spot, and the hole didn’t look all that deep, except for one dark corner. It wasn’t the first time, though, that he’d thought if he just hadn’t screamed and brought Eth and Rafe coming at a run, he’d’ve been fine. It was all stupid panic that had made things turn from a simple fall that left him a little bruised into life-and-death danger that had destroyed his family.

  “Eth and Rafe came running and they almost fell. The hole was still small, and the ground broke under Ethan. Rafe caught him before he fell, but Eth dropped his lantern and the kerosene splattered all over, including on me.”

  “Oh, Seth.” Callie slid her arm around his waist.

  He extended his lantern so it lit up the depths.

  “That looks deep. How did you survive it? How did you ever get out?” Callie pointed to one side of the hole that dropped off into the pitch-dark.

  “I didn’t fall there. I’d have died if I’d gone over that lower ledge. I only fell . . . look at that piece of lantern. That’s the lantern Ethan dropped. That’s close to where I landed.” Seth pointed to the rusted lantern base about twenty feet down. He was tempted to go and get it. The glass chimney was broken and long gone, but maybe the lantern would still work if they brushed it up, got the rust off.

  But he didn’t go down. For all his exploring, he’d never gone down there.

  “Thank God for that.”

  A broken laugh bubbled from him like lava in a pit. “Thank God?” He set his lantern aside and turned to look at her. “Never for one second have I considered thanking God for what happened to me that day.”

  “But it could have been so much worse.”

  “Worse than burns all over my back that kept me in bed, feverish, for a month? Worse than the nightmares I’ve had ever since? Worst than making life so miserable for my family that Ma died and Pa ran off?”

  “You could have died. That would have been worse.”

  “It wouldn’t have been much of a loss.”

  “Well, Connor would have missed you, seeing as how he’d’ve never been born.”

  “True.” Seth managed a brief smile. “And he’s a fine boy.”

  “You must hate this place.”

  “Oh, no. I love it. I spent most of my growin’-up years exploring it. I don’t know if anyone will ever get it all the way explored, but I reckon I know it better than anyone.”

  “But how can you stand it when you were hurt so badly down here?”

  Seth looked at the lantern, then at Callie. He wanted to say more. How driven he was to search and search until he found—

  “I’m so glad you didn’t die, Seth.” She threw her arms around him and kissed him.

  Kneeling there, facing her, holding her, he forgot what he was going to say. Forgot everything but how nice it was to have a wife. “You’re really sweet, you know that?”

  Callie snorted in a completely not-sweet way. “Ask the stagecoach robbers if I’m sweet.”

  Seth rubbed the silk of her hair between his callused hands. “Your hair is out of its braid.”

  She reached for her hair tie. “I need to fix it before Julia comes back. She’ll probably think that we are—are—”

  “We are.” He kissed her again. “You’re so beautiful, Callie. I do remember you.”

  She let the kissing go on a long time before turning her head aside. “Tell me more about that day, Seth. How did you ever get out of there? How sick were you from those burns? How long did the nightmares—?”

  He kissed her quiet. “No more questions.” He wanted to kiss her, but more than that, he did not want to talk about that day. Bring the nightmares into the daytime.

  “But, Seth . . .” She turned her head aside. “How did you—?”

  He kissed her throat. She shuddered, and he rested a hand on her cheek and turned her mouth back to his.

  There was no more talk of burns and floors that broke like glass. There was only Callie in his arms in the lamplight. Then Seth heard hurrying footsteps.

  “Julia’s back.” He eased away from her, stood, and helped her up. Longing for more time alone with her. Really alone, back at his cabin. Then he thought of taking his energetic little son and his hostile new brother home with him and knew he was never going to be truly alone with his wife, not for the rest of his life. He turned, his arm around Callie. Her knees seemed a little wobbly, and he couldn’t help but enjoy that. He’d get her alone somehow for sure.

  “I’m back.” Julia came into sight just as Seth picked up his lantern, then Callie’s, and handed it to her.

  “Good. Let’s get going.”

  “I’ll cross first.” Julia took one look at Callie’s unbound hair, quirked a knowing smile, and went straight for the hole.

  Callie gasped. “Be careful.”

  Seth took Callie’s hand. “It’s plenty wide enough.”

  Julia walked along the ledge running the length of the broken floor.

  “I know the path we’re traveling really well.” Seth guided her onto the ledge. “As long as you’re with me, nothing down here can hurt you.”

  Chapter

  22

  “I want your solemn vow that you won’t hurt anybody, Jasper.” Bea swung up on her horse before Jasper could help her.

  “You have it. I’m just going to do what I need to do to get the diamonds back.” He chafed at her being here. “You can’t steal something that belongs to you already.”

  “So we’re going to ride up to the first Kincaid we see and ask nicely if they’ve seen our diamonds and please give them back?”

  Jasper hadn’t really noticed how sarcastic Bea was before he’d married her. “They won’t give them back.”

  “They might.”

  “If I have to I’ll . . . I’ll make some demands.” Jasper was disgusted at his hesitance. In Houston he’d been ruthless. But now, it wasn’t just his softening the words for Bea’s benefit; he also felt his own hesitation toward cruelty.

  “You mean you’ll threaten them, maybe shoot or kill someone if you have to?”

  “No, I just want what’s mine. No one needs to get hurt.”

  Bea sighed and shook her head.

  “You’re with me, Bea. You’ll make sure nothing bad happens.” The thought that she’d be drawn into, for want of a better word, sin, when she’d cleaned up her life made Jasper feel worse than if he’d just planned a few little sins of his own.

  “I married you for better or for worse, honey. I just hope it doesn’t get much worse than this.”

  They rode on in silence, and every time Jasper thought about going home with Bea, forgetting
his money, he’d picture those flashing diamonds. A lifetime spent gathering wealth, then condensing it into a pile of rocks no bigger than a deck of cards.

  He just needed those diamonds and then he’d straighten up, live an honorable life with a man’s pride. Maybe if things went well today, he could start being honest tomorrow.

  “This is what you want me to draw a picture of?” Callie couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “How did a fish get up here on top of a mountain?”

  Even though they’d climbed down into a hole, when the hole was in the top of a mountain, a body was still up real high.

  Julia turned, and even in the dim lantern light her eyes glittered with excitement. “I think this fish is proof of the Great Flood.”

  “There was a flood up this high?” Callie wanted to ask if madness might be catching in these parts. First Seth, now Julia. Maybe the cavern caused it somehow. Maybe the air wasn’t that good down here. Callie wondered if she ought to leave.

  And yet, there was that fish.

  “I’ve studied geology, Callie,” Julia said.

  “Geology?”

  “Yes, the study of nature. Rocks, rivers, caves, soil. I’ve done a lot of exploring in caves in the different places I’ve lived, and I’ve seen fossils before. Though fossils aren’t really geology. They’re paleontology. Paleontology is—”

  “Don’t go to the next ology,” Callie cut her off, “before I understand the first one.”

  Julia thrust a paper and pencil at Callie. “Draw while I talk. I want that fish, and I’d like a rough map of this place, too. I want to start naming the rooms, and I want to study the types of stone.”

  “Types of stone? Aren’t all stones just stone?”

  “Draw!”

  Callie would have taken issue with Julia’s bossiness if she hadn’t planned to live quite a distance from the woman. “Let’s hide the diamonds first. That’s the main reason we came down here, right? Is there some crevice in here that we can all find again but that no one would stumble on?”

  “This is the first good fish fossil.” Julia pointed to a small ledge just above the fish. “Seth, put the diamonds up there. Push them all the way against the wall and see if they’ll stay.”

  Seth reached up and slipped the little cylinder onto the ledge. “It slopes down just enough so it won’t roll. It’s only about three inches deep. See if you can reach it, Callie. Julia’s not tall enough, but you might be.”

  Callie reached it easily. “Good spot for it.”

  Callie looked at Julia. “Can you remember this place for sure? I’d never be able to get back in here.”

  “Absolutely. And Rafe could find it too with a few simple directions. I’ve shown him this fossil before and he knows the cavern well enough to find it.” Julia looked at Seth. “You’ll remember it, too?”

  “Yep.”

  “Now I’ll draw that picture and we can get out of here.” Callie took the paper and, looking between the fish on the wall and the pad, did a quick sketch of the fish. “It really is strange to see it up there. It’s like it was swimming and just suddenly froze.”

  “You think it got trapped in lava, Julia?” Seth asked. “Why wouldn’t it burn up?”

  “Well, that’s the thing. If it had been lava from a volcano, it would be burned up. That’s what makes me think of Noah’s Flood. If water had burst out of the deep—”

  “Wait a minute. The flood was rain,” Callie said. She quit her drawing and frowned at Julia.

  She saw Seth making a shushing gesture, waving her off.

  Julia smiled. “I’d be glad to tell you my theory. First I should tell you how a fossil is formed. Several things have to be just right for the animal that dies to become a fossil. My explanation will take a while but—”

  Callie figured out Seth’s gestures. Looked like once Julia started talking about fossils, she could go on talking about nonsense for a long, long time.

  “Let her draw, Jules,” Seth interrupted, “and look around for other fossils you want pictures of.” Seth swung his arms wide to direct Julia’s attention at the wall, and maybe to shoo her away.

  “Yes, you’re right, of course. I’d better look around and make some notes.” Julia pulled out yet more paper, picked up her lantern, and walked off. Speaking over her shoulder, she said, “We’ll talk about the fossils some other time. I’ve got so much to teach you.”

  Callie smiled until Julia looked away, then turned to glare at Seth. Who grinned and pointed to the fish on the wall.

  With a shake of her head, Callie got back to her drawing. Seth came up behind her and looked over her shoulder. It should have bothered her, for normally she didn’t like anyone watching her draw. But she liked him being close, and she hoped he was just the littlest bit impressed.

  “You’re good at that.” Seth’s warm breath fluttered a few hairs on her neck. She’d forgotten her hair was down. But now that he reminded her, she also remembered just why it had come out of its braid.

  “Thank you.” She made quick, confident lines with her pencil. “A fossil is really just lines. It’s going to be easy to draw. It’s not like a person’s face or a tree or an animal.”

  Seth’s voice dropped to a murmur. “Are you looking forward to being home with me? Are you starting to believe I won’t abandon you?”

  “I’m trying to draw.” Her knees were getting wobbly, and it was mighty hard to concentrate on that stupid bony fish.

  Seth’s breath was replaced by his lips. She gasped loudly enough it echoed. A quick glance at Julia showed that she’d gone behind a tall rock that reached to the ceiling. A tower, just like Julia and Seth had said.

  Seth’s arm came around her waist. “Get to work, woman.”

  “Seth, stop.”

  “Ignore me and draw.” His hand caressed her belly, and it was so intimate and reminded her so powerfully of being in his arms after they’d gotten married that she wanted to cry from the loneliness.

  “I was so sure you were dead, Seth. I had hope, but . . .”

  Seth turned her in his arms and kissed her. Just as well. She wasn’t saying anything new anyway.

  Between kisses he whispered, “I remember you, Callie, and I’m not going anywhere.”

  His strong hands settled on her waist and pulled her against him. “Say you trust me. Say you’ll be married to me again.”

  Callie knew what he meant by married. She wanted that so badly. “Do you remember when we said our vows, Seth?”

  Their eyes locked, and Callie could tell he wasn’t going to just say he did without meaning it. She appreciated it at the same time she wanted to slug him for having to think of it.

  “The parson was . . . did he have a Confederate uniform on? A really ragged one?”

  A smile she could not control bloomed on her face. “Yes, he did. And his name—”

  “Parson Pearson. I remember because we laughed about it later. Parson Pearson.”

  Feeling the tears burning in her eyes, Callie nodded. “You remember when we laughed about it? Because it was after we were back at my boardinghouse.”

  Seth laughed. “It wasn’t easy getting your landlady to let me stay. She was a true daughter of the South and she didn’t like a Yankee in her house.”

  “Then you almost collapsed and she took pity on me.”

  “Probably because you’d married a sickly man, a sickly Yankee.”

  “I’d told her I was from Texas, come to fetch my brother home, and she assumed he fought for the South. And my pa was a rebel tried and true, so she took to him right off and he didn’t clear up her thinking.”

  “And you got me upstairs and . . . and she brought us a meal. Chicken noodle soup with almost no chicken in it and precious few noodles.”

  “You’re remembering, Seth.” Callie threw her arms around his neck and he kissed her hard.

  “Will you two knock it off?” Julia’s voice was a bucket of cold water.

  Callie jumped back from him and whirled around to fac
e the fish.

  “For heaven’s sake, Seth, leave the woman alone and let her draw. You’re the one who just said we don’t have long.”

  Julia marched up to him while Callie studiously ignored them both. Riveted on a fish she didn’t give two hoots about.

  With a single jab in the ribs with her pencil, Julia gave him a saucy grin. She knew exactly what she’d interrupted and had no remorse.

  “Done.” Callie turned from her drawing. “Next fish.”

  Julia took the sketch pad and lifted her lantern to study Callie’s work carefully. “This is perfect.”

  Her eyes went to the fossil on the wall to compare the two. Then with excitement flashing in her eyes, she said, “Callie, you are going to be such a big help to me.”

  “I’ve got a ranch to run, Julia.” Callie said it, but held out no hope that Julia would give up. “Let’s get these pictures drawn and get out of here.”

  Julia led Callie to the next fish. “I can keep you busy for years.”

  “Years? What?”

  “There are thousands of fossils down here.”

  “Thousands?” Callie arched a brow.

  “She isn’t drawing a thousand pictures, Jules.” Seth followed along, grumbling.

  “Some of them are species that have never been written about.”

  “What’s a species?” Callie asked, then regretted it when Julia answered at length.

  “How can you know these are new species? You can’t have read every word ever written about bones.”

  “But there are lists, books being published with details of every dinosaur.”

  “Dining on sour what?” Callie wished they could break for lunch, but she didn’t want anything sour to eat.

  Julia didn’t answer. She just went on talking. “We can get our own book published. Make some money.”

  “Money from fish bones?” Callie had never heard such nonsense. She looked at Seth, who stood on one side of her, with Julia on the other. She was trapped between two people without a lick of sense.

  She really hoped she remembered that the next time Seth went to kissing her on the neck.

  Chapter

  23