Skelly took her arm and escorted her out the door. Few people occupied the street, none of them nearby. No doubt they were at home enjoying supper. Store owners would have locked up for the night. A sense of doom enveloped her as she realized how poorly she'd planned her getaway. Nothing had gone as she'd hoped. In minutes she would become tied to Skelly Bernard for life. Bile filled her mouth. She swallowed it down.
If only the minister hadn't returned. Her only chance now was if Jared came to rescue her.
They reached the church and were about to climb the steps when Chips said, "Boss, I just saw Blackie. He ducked into that saloon. Want me to get him?"
"Yes. Bring him here." Skelly opened the door. "I'll deal with him after the ceremony."
Chips rushed off toward the saloon and Skelly ushered Healy into the church. The minister reminded her of a pregnant cow. He had a huge belly that hung over the waistband of his trousers. His coat barely fit enough to button.
"May I help you? I'm Reverend Sworski." He set an apple he'd been ready to bite into on a small table at the side of the room.
"Yes, Reverend," Skelly said. "You may marry this young lady and myself."
The minister Holstein's face fell. "I'm afraid I can't right now. I left my Bible at home. Can you wait while I fetch it?"
Skelly's mouth tightened and annoyance flashed in his eyes, but he nodded. "Go ahead. We'll wait here."
Reverend Sworski waddled out and Skelly indicated for Healy to sit on one of the pews. As she did, she set her bag on the floor at her feet. Percy stood at the back near the door. Skelly motioned him forward. "You'll need to stand as a witness so you may as well come up here, Percy."
The man complied, standing to the side, feet spread, hands clasped at his back. Healy wondered if he had ever smiled in his entire life. He hadn't since Healy met him, not once. Skelly paced in front of the pulpit while they waited.
Healy took in her surroundings, noting the side door at the front of the chapel. Could she dart through the door before the men could catch her? With Chips gone, she'd have a better chance of outrunning Ax and Percy. Would Skelly lose his temper then and kill her?
She considered trying to set up the recorder so she could play it after the reverend returned and ask him for help. The machine was cumbersome and the amplifier too obvious. She cast that idea aside.
At last, the minister lumbered back inside and down the aisle to the pulpit. Clearing his throat and positioning the Bible on the stand before him, he asked, "Shall we begin?"
A notion entered Healy's head. She stood. "Yes, please. We are in kind of a hurry. You see, I'm in the family way and my parents will be showing up with the marshal at any moment. I look older but I'm only fourteen."
"Ruth!" Skelly blurted. "What are you doing?"
She gave him a half-shrug. "Being honest."
The minister's mouth dropped open and his gaze went directly to Healy's middle. "Well, uh… Humph. This is an awkward situation. Under the circumstances, I feel we should wait for this girl's—" Beads of sweat formed on his upper lip and forehead.
"No!" Skelly shouted. "We will not wait."
He drew a small gun from inside his coat and pointed it at the reverend. "You will begin the ceremony now."
Sworski's eyes grew round and he took a step back. "Sir, this is a church. You can't wave weapons around in here."
"Not only can I," Skelly said, "but I can also fire it, if I feel so inclined. The ceremony, you fat pig."
The minister blubbered something incomprehensible and picked up the Bible, flipping pages with shaking hands until he found the one he needed.
"We are gathered here today—"
"Get to the point." Skelly raised his gun to sight on the man's heart.
Wiping sweat from his lip, Sworski said, "Do you…"
"Skelly Bernard," he provided.
"…take this woman…"
Healy paused despite knowing it might enrage Skelly. "Ruth Kimbrough."
"…Ruth Kimbrough as your lawfully wedded wife?"
Unsmiling, Skelly said, "I do."
The minister turned to Healy. "Do you, Ruth Kimbrough, take Skelly Bernard as your lawfully wedded husband?"
Healy's gaze went from the gun in Skelly's hand to his grim countenance as she debated her answer.
"Ruth, do not try me," he said.
"I don't believe I'm ready to marry, Skelly." She sucked in a deep breath. She would never be ready for this horror. Not even to stay alive. If she must be separated from Jared, it might as well be through death rather than life with Skelly. "Especially not to a man who only wants to wed me so I can't testify against him."
"Oh, dear me," the reverend uttered, looking ready to faint.
"Ruth, I can still send one of my men back to that ranch of yours."
The threat was plain.
"Very well, Skelly." She turned to the preacher. "I do."
Having lost his place in his Bible, he fumbled at turning pages, breathing heavily the whole time. "Here we are. By the powers invested in me, I pronounce you man and wife."
A voice from the back of the church spoke up. "That is what I've been waiting for."
Everyone spun around to see a man with a badge on his coat standing halfway down the main aisle.
"Oh, thank goodness," Healy muttered, feeling as though she could finally breathe again. Pushing past Skelly, she hurried toward the lawman. "Please, sir, that man forced me to marry him against my will."
"Is that so?" He walked toward Skelly, stopped a few feet from him. "You remember me, Skelly? U.S. Marshal Johansson, from Denver, Colorado. I've been after you a long time. It appears I've finally got you. You're under arrest."
"On what charge?" Skelly's face had paled but he clung to his pretense of being a good man.
"Right now, bigamy," Johansson said.
The rear door opened, and several people entered. First, a beautiful woman in her thirties Healy had never seen before. Behind her stood Blackie and Chips.
The marshal turned toward them and motioned the lady forward. "Meet Skelly's other wife, Miss Kimbrough. His first wife. He's been keeping her locked in a room of his house in St. Louis. This man—" He nodded to Blackie "—freed her and brought her to me."
Blackie tipped his hat, a crooked smile on his handsome face.
"Good to see you again, miss," he said. "I hope we came in time."
"You missed the wedding," Healy answered. "But, since it apparently isn't legal, it doesn't matter. Thank you, and you too, Chips, for rescuing me."
She turned to face the marshal. "Sir, do you need any more evidence of Skelly's wrongdoing? I happen to have, I believe, a recording of him talking with me about how he murdered a man in St. Louis."
Skelly gasped and clenched his fists. Fury reddened his face.
"A murder, you say?" Johansson said, interest lighting his eyes. "I'd be very interested. A recording, you say?"
"Yes, a good friend of mine made this phonograph recorder." As she spoke, she hurried over to get her bag. While everyone watched, she brought out the recorder and reassembled it.
"I set this up in my room at the hotel earlier and succeeded in recording Skelly talking about the murder of a man named Obermeier. Skelly ordered his death."
She turned the recorder on and set the stylus on the edge of the recording plate. After a second, a scratching sound came from the machine. Everyone in the room gasped. Skelly's face paled and his shoulders slumped.
The voice from the recorder emerged rough and difficult to understand but clear enough for the marshal to get the gist of the conversation.
"Young lady, you're an angel and a miracle." The spread of Johannson's smile showed his pleasure. "You've given me the means of putting this piece of dung in prison for a good long time. I'll need that recording device and a deposition from you as well."
"That's fine, sir. I will need the recorder back. It doesn't belong to me, you see." She took the plate off the turntable and handed it to him. "I'll bri
ng the recorder to the jail if you wish or where you want to talk with me."
"I appreciate your help and cooperation." Johansson took out a pair of handcuffs from the back of his gun-belt. "Turn around, Skelly."
"That isn't necessary, Marshal," Skelly said stiffly.
"I think it is." He took hold of Skelly's arm and swung him around, clasping the cuffs onto his wrists behind his back. "Now, let's go. I'm sure the town marshal here will let me use his office to take care of formalities. Then I'll be taking Skelly back to Denver with me."
It was over. Healy felt a weight lifted from her chest and shoulders. The nightmare had finally ended. Now, she could go home to High Mountain. Would she find everything the same? Were Cynara and the triplets all right? And Jared—had he missed her? Or was he even now coming after her?
Hurry, Jared. Hurry.
"What about me?" a childish feminine voice said.
Healy whirled toward Skelly's wife. His real wife. She'd almost forgotten her. Walking to her, she held out a hand. "Hello. I'm Healy Kimbrough. If you need any help getting free of Skelly, I'd be happy to help any way I can."
"I'm Annie," the woman said in a simple, high-pitched voice, accepting Healy's hand. One look into her eyes and Healy knew Anne was more child than woman. Had she always been like this? Or had her condition resulted from living with Skelly?
"Thank you for your kindness." Annie kept her gaze on Skelly while Marshal Johansson fetched him from where he sat on a pew."I don't wanna to be free. Not from Skelly. See, he found me in a real bad place and took me away from there. He treated me so sweet and gentle. He said if I married him, no one would ever hurt me again."
"And he hasn't hurt you?" Healy asked, doubting she could believe such a thing.
Skelly glanced over and she waved to him. "I'd stay with him 'till death do us part, like the marriage vows said, 'cept now the marshal says he's going away for a long time and I won't have no one to protect me."
"I'm sorry." Healy felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach. After all she'd learned about Skelly, she couldn't imagine him having a good side, but maybe she was wrong. "I guess this is my fault. If I can help you, I'll do my best."
"Miss Kimbrough," Chips approached her. "May I escort you to the hotel? You still have your room there. I reckon you could use some rest. Besides, I'd like to explain something to you."
"I'll go along to make sure she gets there all right." Blackie tipped his hat to her. He turned to Annie. "Go with the marshal, and I'll be back to fetch you."
Annie nodded.
The man certainly was protective of her. Healy wondered if he cared for Annie, more than just as a friend.
Chips held out his arm for her and she accepted. "I don't know how well you two will protect me, but I am sure it'll be entertaining."
She left the church on the arms of the two men, not even bothering to watch the man she'd just married—the one she'd once been thrilled to think of marrying—being taken to jail, his sorrowful wife tagging along.
Glancing around, Healy asked, "Where did Percy and Ax go? Did the marshal arrest them too?"
"No." Chips looked up and down the street. "They're here somewhere."
"Probably at the saloon," Blackie said.
Aiming Healy toward the hotel, Chips said, "What I wanted to tell you is about Annie. See, when Skelly found her, she was in a real bad state, half-starved, diseased, mostly naked, bruised and battered from repeated beatings."
"That's awful." Healy stopped and stared at him. "Where was she?"
"In a whorehouse by the docks," Blackie added to the story. "She'd been held there against her will for years."
Chips took over again. "Blackie here found her and went to Skelly to ask for help getting her away."
The three of them stood to the side of the road near the boardwalk, engrossed in their conversation. Healy couldn't believe what she was hearing, a horror story worse than any she'd known before. She looked at Blackie. "Did Skelly save her?"
"Yes, ma'am." Blackie rolled a smoke, lit it and took a puff. "He went in there and bought her. Paid what would be a bundle of money to someone who wasn't living hand to mouth, like I was at the time."
"I'm so glad he was able to get her away." Healy's chest tightened with emotion. She wanted to go back and hug Annie and take her home. "But why did she marry Skelly?"
"He was so good to her, she saw him as the sun, the moon and all the stars in the heavens." Blackie blew out smoke and snuffed out his smoke on a hitching rail, then tucked the stub in his pocket. "Skelly may seem incapable of love. I don't know if he is or not, but he offered her marriage and a life of being well taken care of. Didn't figure it was my place to stop her. Didn't know Skelly so well back then."
"Yeah," Chips said, "but he did all he promised. Annie never wanted for nothing. When her cat ran off, he went right out and found her another one. She has him in a basket in her hotel room. The man may not have been faithful to her in a Bible sense, but he never touched her, not even on their wedding night. I know, 'cause I was there."
"So was I," Blackie put in. "Annie was smart when she was young. It was too many fists pounding on her head that changed her, but she's as sweet as they come, and she worships Skelly."
Healy's forehead creased with a frown. "You mean, he never…you know, slept with her the way a husband and wife do?"
"No, ma'am." Blackie shook his head. "He loved her in his own way, almost like you might love a child. But he's never been a true husband to her in that way."
Confusion narrowed Healy's eyes. "How do you know all this?"
"She told me," Blackie said simply.
Healy leaned against a porch post, feeling a need for something to support her tired body. It had been a long, hard day and what she'd been listening to the last few minutes was more than she could deal with at the moment. The one thing she knew was that she had to find a way to help Annie. "I'm tired."
"You look tired." Chips took her arm and led her to the hotel entrance. "You need some sleep. Blackie and I will be here when you're rested up."
They walked her into the hotel and all the way to her room.
"May I take you to supper tonight, Miss Kimbrough?" Chips asked."As my way of thanking you for your kindness?"
"Hey," Blackie objected. "I was going to take her for the finest meal in town."
"We'll all go," she declared. "But first, I need a nap. I feel like I haven't slept for two days."
They reached her door and she unlocked it with the key she'd taken from Skelly before the marshal took him away. "Thank you, gentlemen. Shall I meet you in the lobby in an hour?"
"That should be fine, Miss Kimbrough," Chips said, tipping his hat.
"I wouldn't miss it," Blackie said.
Healy ducked into her room then and started to shut the door. When the men started back down the corridor, she peeked out to see them elbowing each other and arguing over her. Both were good looking men, both good men, but the only one she wanted was Jared. The past two days had proven to her how much she felt for him. Being torn away from High Mountain had broken her heart. She couldn't wait to go home.
Closing the door, she locked it and turned.
Skelly's man, Percy, sat on the bed, his back to the headboard and his boots dirtying the bedspread. Healy's gaze darted around the room, wondering where Ax was.
"Forgot about me, didn't ya, miss?" Percy leered. "Well, I didn't forget about you. Come over here and let's have some fun before I get rid of you for my boss, like he wanted."
Chapter Fourteen
Jared slowed his horse when they reached the crossroads. To the west lay Pony. The left branch of the northern route angled off to Cutthroat. The right one led to Hawksville—the town Dirk Shindler had taken Cynara to when he kidnapped her and the babies six months before. Barclay sat now staring down that lane, no doubt remembering how close he'd come to losing her.
Now Jared found himself in much the same pickle with Healy, and he had more than an inkling of wha
t his brother might be feeling. With every moment of uncertainty and fear that he searched for Healy, the fact that he loved her became clearer. What a fool he'd been to try to hang onto his old plan to marry Melanie. She had been a boy's dream. He was a man now. He wanted Healy.
To hear her soft, lilting laugh and see her blue eyes turn violet with passion when he kissed her would ease the ache inside him. Dad-blast it, he needed her.
Hundreds of hoof prints marked the intersection of the three forks, but one stood out. Swinging down off General, he crouched to study the impression. He'd noticed one like it at the house after Skelly Bernard had taken Healy.
"Barclay! Over here." He waved for his brother to join him.
"You find something?" Barclay asked, dismounting beside him.
"Yeah. This track familiar to you? I believe I saw one like it at the house after Bernard took Healy."
"You're right." Barclay moved a few steps forward to the mouth of the Pony road. "Here's another one. They're headed for Pony."
"Good. It's closer than Hawksville. Let's go." Jared leaped onto his horse, not waiting for his brother to mount up. Leaning over the gelding's neck, he nudged it to a gallop. Seconds later, he heard Barclay's horse catch up.
"Good thing we didn't let the hands come with us," Barclay said, pulling alongside. "They'd have slowed us down."
"The same with taking time to fetch the marshal in Cutthroat," Jared answered.
That ended their conversation until they topped the rise and saw Pony in the distance. Likeminded, they slowed their pace.
"How do you want to handle this?" Barclay asked. "Think we should visit the marshal first or start searching hotels straight off?"
"Remember what we did in Hawksville when we rescued Cynara?"
"'Course I remember," Barclay said. "We rode the back streets until we found a café where we could fill our bellies and look the town over."
"It worked well there. I'm figuring it will here too. Cynara said she glimpsed a black, two chestnut bays, and a roan. We'll start by watching for them."
Jared (Bachelors And Babies Book 7) Page 16
