Before the Larkspur Blooms (23 page)

A long silence ensued. “You got something to say, Donovan?” Chase asked.

Thom stood, his appetite all but gone. He took the slice of pie Jessie offered anyway, just to be polite.

“I’m not your man.” He boldly met Chase’s gaze. Explaining himself to Logan rankled just as much as it had with Dwight. “I wasn’t guilty then, and I’m not guilty now. I’m working and minding my own business. Ask Win if you don’t believe me.”

He quickly ate his pie and handed the plate back to Jessie. “Thank you, Jessie. That was real good. You, too, Violet.”

Everyone, including Hannah, kept their eyes trained on their plates. The clink of forks on dishes mingled with the solo chirp of an early cricket. Thom looked toward the buggy and the sleeping horses. “I’m going to get packed up,” he said. Hannah had stood and now came to his side. “You need me to load anything for you?”

Just as the others were getting up and stretching out the kinks, a vicious barking ripped through the strained silence.

Thom swung around. Ivan was two feet away from Shane’s blanket. The child was still asleep as his dog carried on like a wild animal, growling and barking at the toddler.

Chase ran to the wagon and grabbed his gun. “What the hell’s wrong with your dog? Get him away from my son!” he yelled as he ran toward the blanket. Shane, stirring from all the commotion, lifted a small fist to rub sleepy eyes.

Thom grasped Chase’s arm to stop him. “Wait. He’s not barking at the baby. There’s something else.”

Ivan lowered his head and growled, then pounced up and down on his front paws. He stopped for only an instant and looked around before again taking up the alarm.

“Chase!” Jessie cried. “What is it? What—” She stopped as Sarah, who’d dashed over, buried her face in Jessie’s skirt. Shane’s frightened eyes blinked several times as the adults looked on helplessly. “Get my baby away from him!”

“Tell Shane to keep still,” Thom demanded. Ivan looked at him for only an instant before launching into another barking tirade.

“
Ivan. Quiet!
” Thom inched forward, squatted, and took him around the scruff of the neck. Carefully he pulled the anxious animal away with a struggle. It was clear Ivan didn’t want to go.

“Come on, boy,” Thom said. “Come, Ivan.” When he had him a few feet back, Mrs. Hollyhock took hold of him.

Jessie stepped forward.

“Wait!” Thom and Chase cried at the same time.

She looked at them, confused. Shane’s face clouded, his eyes watery with unshed tears, surely frightened by all the commotion.

Thom held his hand up. “Just wait a second. Ivan wouldn’t send up an alarm like that unless he sensed danger. There must be something wrong.” Hannah stood by, holding tightly to Markus’s hand.

Chase nodded. “You just stay still, Shane,” he called out. “Pa’s gonna pick you up. Just stay real still.”

The toddler nodded and smiled as if this were some fun new game and looked over to Gabe and Jake standing close by.

Chase handed his gun to Thom and inched forward, begging God not to let anything happen to his son.
His son.
The incarnation of his and Jessie’s love. Everything around him slowed as he carefully lifted the tiny blanket off the boy.

Jessie gasped. A three-inch-long scorpion scuttled closer to Shane’s bare thigh. Its two main claws opened and closed threateningly, and the stinger rolled up over its thick black body, dangerously close to the child’s skin.

D
on’t move, Shane,” Chase ordered. “Stay very, very still.”

Mrs. Hollyhock struggled to hold Ivan. The dog growled menacingly, as if begging to be let free, sensing a great need to get the deadly creature.

Chase glanced over his shoulder at the others. He wasn’t quite sure how to get Shane free without his boy being stung.

Without saying anything, Thom handed the gun to Gabe and circled around to the other side of the blanket. Shane rolled his head to watch his progress. The scorpion crept closer to the underside of his leg, trying to hide. Shane started to reach down with his hand.

“Halt!” Chase barked. “You
must
stay still, Shane.” Chase’s tone said everything. “Thom is going to pick you up—fast. But you have to hold your body as—” Chase’s voice cracked. He looked away, getting his emotions under control. Shane was so small. The scorpion’s venom could easily kill him in minutes.

He inched a little closer as Thom did the same on the other side.

He looked up at Donovan. “On three.”

Even the evening sounds seemed to hush, as if they knew something very dangerous, very life changing was about to happen. Ivan quieted. Chase didn’t have to look to know the dog was sitting at attention, somehow understanding the seriousness of
the situation. The only thing Chase heard was the rasp of his own breath.

Chase tensed. “One. Two.
Three!
”

Thom leaped forward, clamping Shane in a viselike grip under his arms and swinging him up. At the exact time, Chase swung his leg, connecting with his target just as the scorpion’s stinger snapped. Shane screamed. Thom jumped back, the child gripped in his arms, and ran over to a frantic Jessie. Mrs. Hollyhock struggled to keep ahold of Ivan, who fought to get free. His snarls of anger were frightening.

Jessie sank to the blanket and set the screaming toddler down. She ran her hands repeatedly over his legs and arms, even his neck, looking for any spot where he might have been stung. Chase dropped to her side to help. Moments passed as the group crowded around.

Jessie looked up with tear-filled eyes. “He’s OK.” That’s all she got out before she broke down in sobs. Shane stood up on shaky legs and wrapped his arms around Jessie’s head, looking at his pa. Sarah squeezed in. Chase enfolded them in an embrace, a reminder that there were things more dangerous than rustlers—and more valuable than a few lost head of cattle. He vowed never to let anything in this wild, unpredictable world hurt his family.

As the rented buggy swayed along smoothly in the soft moonlight, Hannah ran her hands over Markus for the fiftieth time, thankful that her little boy slept safely in her lap. She’d not take a single day for granted. Life was precious. Look at Caleb, how his health had deteriorated in a matter of days. Now, this narrow escape for Chase and Jessie’s toddler was one more reminder to cherish every moment.

She glanced up at the fluffy, cotton-like clouds that surrounded the moon. Random stars twinkled, and a silvery glow made the countryside look magical. The twitter from a night bird perched in the tall trees made Hannah smile. She resisted the urge to snuggle closer to Thom, who drove the buggy in silence. He’d insisted on taking her and Markus into Logan Meadows to save Gabe or Jake the trip. She’d gladly accepted and squished in beside him with Mrs. Hollyhock on her right and Ivan at their feet.

She tried to ignore the intoxicating feel of Thom next to her. The pleasing knowledge of his protective presence so close by. Would he kiss her again when they got to her house? After all those times pushing her away, she still couldn’t believe that it had happened.

Mrs. Hollyhock’s head softly plunked onto Hannah’s shoulder, and then a tiny snore sounded next to her ear. Hannah nudged Thom’s knee.

He looked down into her eyes, the moonlight caressing his face.

She tilted her head toward the old woman, and he smiled. “Guess
everyone
is wore out.” He put the reins into one hand and with the other rubbed Markus’s head. “This little cowpoke sure had a busy day. He’ll most likely sleep for a week.”

His breath, so near and warm on her face, sent tingles twirling inside. She hadn’t been married all that long, but those kinds of feelings were hard to forget. Difficult to ignore the yearning inside.

She wished this buggy ride could go on forever. “We’re almost to town,” she said quietly. “I hate to wake her.”

“I’ll carry her in and then take you two home.” There was a question in his eyes. “Is that OK?”

“Fine.” The urge to lean up and kiss his lips, stroke his cheek, was strong. Hannah looked away.

They pulled up in front of the Red Rooster in silence. Thom handed her the reins and climbed down, circling around to the
other side. “Shhh,” he said as he gathered the old woman into his arms. Violet started to protest, but he shushed her again. He took the stairs easily with her cradled in his arms and disappeared inside the inn. A moment later in the doorway, he called to Ivan. The dog jumped out and trotted inside.

Thom closed the pine door and returned to the buggy. He looked at Markus. “You want to stretch him out?”

“No. He’ll be fine.”

“I was thinking of you. He must be getting heavy.”

She shook her head, pretending at least for this short time that they were a real family. That Thom was her husband and Markus’s father, that they were returning from a night out with friends, only to nestle into her large goose-down mattress until morning. The homey scene was an intoxicating thought. “I enjoy the feel of him. Besides, he’s keeping me warm.”

Thom nodded as he turned the buggy back toward Main Street.

Surprisingly, Logan Meadows was still awake. A lantern shone in the window of the El Dorado, illuminating the parlor, where a woman sat reading a book and several unidentifiable men talked.
Breakfast customers
, Hannah thought happily. Farther down the street, Maude, still up, swept the boardwalk in front of the mercantile, her white apron tied around her ample waist. As they approached, she stopped and squinted through the shadowy street. Her mouth formed an O when she recognized them, and she lifted her hand to wave.

Hannah’s cheeks warmed. Thom waved back. Five horses tethered in front of the Bright Nugget dozed. Two men standing outside watched the buggy pass. The sounds of a lively piano tune floated through the swinging doors, punctuated with the sound of men’s laughter.

“Town’s busy,” Thom whispered. He snapped the reins over the bay mare’s back, and they trotted across the bridge and continued
to Hannah’s house. With disappointment, Hannah realized they were nearly home.

“Whoa,” Thom called as they pulled up in front of Hannah’s two-story. Several lanterns were burning inside.
Roberta. Up and waiting.
He hopped out and went to Hannah’s side, taking Markus from her lap and extending a hand to assist her to the ground. The sleepy boy rolled his head onto Thom’s shoulder and wrapped his arm around Thom’s neck like a baby raccoon. His scent called to mind him wrestling with his brother and chasing his sister around the yard, laughing and screaming in fun. Memories, a mixture of joy and pain.

They took the porch steps side by side, Hannah moving ahead to open the door. Thom stepped over the threshold, and a warm, comforting aroma enveloped them. He took a moment to look around. The room was neat and clean, everything in its place. Some things he remembered from his childhood visits. The large hutch along the far wall, a tall grandfather clock with a crack at the top, the old rocking chair still in the same spot by the window. He felt Caleb in the room, in the emotions this house evoked.

Hannah touched his arm. “Do you mind carrying him up to his room for me? I hate to wake him.”