In a Stranger's Arms (35 page)

Why hadn’t the man just pulled out a gun and shot her the way he’d shot Del? Caddie wondered. It probably wouldn’t have hurt as much as what he’d put her through.

Or had she put herself through it?

Once her initial shock and outrage had begun to subside, she’d tried to separate what Manning had said from her own assumptions. It was useless. Once she’d realized he was responsible for Del’s death, and that he’d only come to Sabbath Hollow to salve his conscience, she’d stopped listening to the words that came out of his mouth in favor of the ones that swirled inside her own head.

She remembered his last words though. They’d been branded onto her heart with red-hot irons.
I had no right to love you, but I couldn’t help myself.

Could she believe him? After everything that had happened with Del and now with Manning, could she trust him? Even if it was possible, against all pride, was it too late for them to start over?

Varina padded into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. “Where’s Tem?”

“Isn’t he upstairs?” A clammy hand squeezed Caddie’s innards hard.

“Uh-uh.” Varina shook her head vigorously. “He was gone when I woked up. Did Manning take him fishing early and leave me behind? If they did...”

“No, dear. Tem’s not fishing. I’ll go fetch him in for breakfast. Can you dress yourself, like a big girl?”

“Can I pick which clothes?”

Caddie was already halfway out the door. “Fine, just as long as it’s not your Sunday best. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Now scoot!”

Outside, she called Templeton’s name several times with no response. At least none from the boy. After her second try Sergeant came loping around from the front of the house. The dog let out a loud bark every time she called after that.

“Will you hush so Tem can hear me?” she scolded.

The dog whined and his ears dropped a little, but his tail whipped back and forth in an ingratiating manner.

“Can you find Tem, boy?”

Sergeant barked. Off like a shot, the dog circled around the house and up the lane. Caddie panted along behind him, praying Tem wasn’t in any danger. After the boy’s drastic reactions to her past quarrels with Manning, she dreaded to think how this irreparable breach might crush Tem’s sensitive spirit.

How could she have been so selfish as to send Manning away without even considering her children’s feelings? They adored Manning and he adored them. What might have begun as an obligation to their dead father had rapidly grown into something deep and genuine.

Could the same be true of his feelings for her, or was she just trying to fool herself again?

Up ahead on the road she could make out a small figure running toward her. Thank heaven he was all right!

Caddie ran to meet him, arms outstretched to offer a mother’s comfort. As Tem came closer, she could tell he’d been crying, hard. “Come on, precious. It’s going to be all right.”

Tem resisted her effort to gather him close. Sniffling and swiping away tears with the back of his hand, he cried, “Manning’s going away, Mama!”

Caddie’s heart lurched in her chest as if it had just begun to beat again. Tem had said going, not gone.

“You have to stop him.” The boy grabbed her sleeve and pulled her up the road. “He’ll listen to you. I know he will.”

“But, Tem, honey, we’ll never catch up with him.”

“Sure we will. He’s talking to Uncle Lon right now. Just ’round the next bend.”

Lon.
If her world was crashing down around her yet again, chances were good Lon and Lydene had a hand in it.

“Very well, then. I’ll go talk to him. But I need you and Sergeant to go back to the house and watch Varina. Who knows what mischief she’ll get into on her own? I’ll bring Manning back to the house if he’ll come, and we can all talk to him.”

And listen. With her ears this time, and her heart, instead of her oversensitive pride.

“Go on, now.”

“Don’t be long, Mama.”

“I won’t.” To prove it she picked up her skirts and hurried down the road.

As soon as she rounded the bend she saw them—Lon seated with lordly grace on his fine bay mare and Manning standing his ground, the rucksack slung over his shoulder. For an instant she wondered where he had spent the night. Then she knew.

“What’s going on here?” she called out in a breathless voice as she approached them.

Manning answered first. “Go home, Caddie!”

He hadn’t spoken to her in so peremptory a manner since that morning after the first night they’d spent together. Had she just imagined his reluctance about leaving last night? Or after the hysteria with which she’d greeted his confession, had he decided he was well rid of her?

Then Caddie saw the gun in Lon’s hand and she knew Manning was trying to protect her. From the very first minute they’d met, he’d been trying to protect her from someone or something. Most recently he’d tried to protect her from the truth he knew would hurt her so badly, even when the lies gnawed him to pieces.

“Don’t run off, Caddie!” barked Lon. “This Yankee claims he told you how he killed Del, but I reckon he just slunk away without saying anything.”

What was Caddie doing here? Though Manning burned to know, and his whole being ached with joy at seeing her one last time, he wished she’d turn around and scurry back home like he’d ordered her. If any harm came to her on his account, he’d never be able to live with that corrosive knowledge.

Caddie flung her reply at Lon. “He told me.”

Astonishment got the better of Lon’s rage for about five seconds. “In that case, maybe I ought to give you the satisfaction of shooting the varmint.”

“Hand me the gun.”

Both men stared at Caddie for an instant, slack-jawed. Manning tried to get his mouth to work so he could warn her that Lon’s offer was a trap. With him dead and her in jail, nothing would stand between Lon and Sabbath Hollow...or between Lon and the children.

That thought knocked the air out of Manning as handily as a hard jab in the belly.

Caddie held out her hand for the pistol, but Lon shook his head. “Tut-tut, now. Do you take me for a fool, woman? How do I know you wouldn’t blow a hole in me, instead?”

“I’d be sorely tempted, Lon, you can be sure of that.”

“After all that’s happened, you’re not still mooning for this Yankee, are you?” Lon sneered. “Why, he doesn’t care a fig for you and those young’uns. If he did, he would have jumped at the chance I offered him to take the three of you away from here and nobody the wiser. Sabbath Hollow would be back in Marsh hands where it belongs.”

“The chance
you
gave him?” Caddie looked as if she’d been struck by a bolt of lightning out of a blue sky.

“I found that damn letter he took off Del.” Somewhat awkwardly with his left hand, Lon fished the paper out of his coat pocket and threw it to the ground at Caddie’s feet “I gave him twenty-four hours to talk you into leaving Sabbath Hollow or I’d show it to you. The carpetbagger here had to go get noble and stupid. If he gave half a damn about you and the young’uns, you’d be on a train out of the state by now.”

Manning couldn’t keep silent a moment longer. “That’s not true, Caddie.”

Let Lon put a bullet in him. He couldn’t stand having Caddie think he’d chosen this course because he didn’t love her enough to cheat Tem and Varina out of their birthright.

She chewed on her bottom lip, and Manning thought he spied a faint glitter of moisture in her eyes.

He shut his mouth. After the way he’d deceived Caddie since coming to Sabbath Hollow, what could he say at this late date that he had any right to hope she might believe?

“Put your gun away, Lon, and I’ll give you what you want.” With an air of regal defiance, Caddie hurled the words at her brother-in-law.

“Huh?” Lon scratched his chin, clearly not grasping her intent.

Manning did, and it staggered him. After all that had happened, Caddie was willing to forfeit her dearest dream... for him. If Lon Marsh gunned him down right now, he would die a perfectly happy man.

What he couldn’t do was live with the burden of that sacrifice. “No, Caddie, I won’t let you do this.”

“I don’t see how you can stop me.” She probably meant to sound tart. The look on her face told Manning this decision might have been quick, but it hadn’t been easy.

“Think of Templeton... Varina...”

She shook her. “They need a pa who loves them the way you do a whole lot worse than they need any piece of land.” Caddie sounded more resolute with every word. “And I need a live husband I can raise my children and grow old with more than I need to hang on to memories of a past that’s dead and gone.”

“Hush up,” snapped Lon, “before you make me puke. Let’s go back to Sabbath Hollow so you can sign that deed over to me.”

Something about Lon’s voice and posture told Manning that this bargain had sucked most of the sweetness from his triumph.

Despite what Caddie had said, Manning realized there was something he could do to stop her. He could rush Lon and disarm him. Or take a bullet, canceling this unholy transaction.

Before he could act, the woods beside the road roared to life. Sergeant burst out baying like all the hounds of hell. Hot on the dog’s heels, howling like bloodthirsty barbarians, raced Tem and Varina.

What happened next took seconds. But to Manning it felt as though the hourglass of time had squeezed tight in the middle, passing only one single grain of sand after another.

Templeton carried Manning’s rifle in a way that showed he hadn’t a clue how to fire it. Manning knew the weapon couldn’t be loaded. The hatchet in Varina’s hand scared him far worse.

Not as bad as the whole attack scared Lon’s horse, though. The big bay reared, its powerful front hooves flailing. In an instant, they would plunge back to earth, striking down the slender boy who froze in the horse’s path.

Manning sprang forward. Tem’s cry echoed in his ears as he tackled the child to the ground, shielding him from the bay’s lethal hooves. Before the thunder of pain and darkness came a single lightning bolt of exultation.

Having taken the life of one Marsh, Manning now gave his up for another. His soul belonged to him again.

“Am I going to lose him?” Caddie searched Doc Mercer’s eyes, not caring how pitifully scared she sounded.

The doctor glanced toward the half-open door of her bedroom. “I wish I could give you a reliable answer one way or the other, child, but I can’t. I’ve set his arm. It was a clean break, which is a mercy. His body’s bruised some, but that could just be the way he hit the ground. I can’t tell if he’s bleeding inside. If he is... well...”

“What about his head?”

Avoiding her eyes, Doc Mercer began to unroll his shirtsleeves. “What doctor knows any fool thing about head wounds? I’ve seen patients with skulls pounded to a jelly come around the next day right as rain. Others just take a little knock in the wrong spot and they waste away without ever waking up.”

“Is there nothing you can do?”

“Nothing anybody can do, child.” The doctor reconsidered. “Except maybe Him.” He nodded heavenward.

“And him.” He inclined his head toward the bedroom door. “Often it all comes down to the patient’s will to recover.”

Caddie tried to digest that information and decide whether it was good news or bad. Manning had been willing to surrender his own happiness, even his life for what he believed best for her and the children. But could he wrestle free of the guilt that had dogged him?

Could he ever bring himself to believe that the very best thing for her and Tem and Varina was
him
?

Doc Mercer was saying something. Caddie tried to shake herself free from the dank fog of fear that had settled over her.

“Is it true what I heard—that Forbes killed Del?”

“The war killed Del, Dr. Mercer. Manning just happened to be holding the wrong gun.”

“Well, well.” The doctor shook his head “And he came down here to look after you and the young’uns? Who’d have thought a Yankee would have it in him to do something like that? I don’t reckon I’d have done the same in his place.”

They both stood there for a moment, lost in thought. Then Doc Mercer asked, “You planning to set the law on Lon? I don’t defend him by any means, but for what it’s worth, I think he’s learned his lesson. When he saw Tem in front of that horse, I think it jolted him back to his senses. He’s going to be laid up for a spell from his horse throwing him. Once he’s back on his feet, though, I doubt he’ll give you any more trouble.”