Logan's Outlaw (12 page)

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Authors: Elaine Levine

BOOK: Logan's Outlaw
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“No. We'll do it now,” Logan countered.
Leah and Jace came to the kitchen door. “He needs time to prepare,” she pointed out.
“We're not waiting.”
Leah let out a gleeful shout as she ran into the room. She hugged him, then Sarah. “Come—we'll go to your room and pick out a dress while the men get everything arranged.”
“I have only this dress.” Sarah looked down at it and tried to straighten the worn homespun material.
Leah looked at Logan, as fierce as a mama bear over a cub. “Sally and Jim have two ready-made dresses in their general store. They're machine made, but surely one of them will be serviceable for the wedding.”
“Then go get them.” Logan handed Sarah his wallet. “Get what you want, whatever you need.” Sarah was reluctant to take his money. He bent close to her ear as he folded her hand over his leather billfold. “It falls under my right to provide for you. Go with Leah. I'll be ready when you are.”
“What will you wear?” Sarah asked him.
“Don't worry about him. I'll loan him something suitable,” Jace assured her. “He'll be as pretty as he can be when you see him at the church.”
Leah pulled Sarah from the room, but stopped a moment in front of Jace. Grabbing his arms, she kissed him quickly and said, “Logan's getting married! Can you believe it? Oh, I wish Audrey were here!” She was gone before Jace could react, dragging Sarah behind her.
The men stared after the women in stunned silence. Logan would have liked to have Audrey—another childhood friend of his and Leah's—there for the ceremony. But she lived four hours from town. There was no way she could make it before morning. And if they waited for her and her family, they would need to alert Logan's father and brother, who lived a day's ride north of town. It would be days before their nuptials could be concluded, and that was days too long. He wanted Sarah under his protection now.
“Well, then. Why don't we go get Reverend Adamson ready, Logan? Sheriff—mind alerting Maddie? She'd never forgive us if she weren't invited.”
Chapter 8
Several hours later, the dark shadow of the church entrance yawned before Sarah. She stepped up the stairs, trying not to feel overwhelmed. This was not at all how she'd thought the day would end when she'd awoken this morning. She clutched a bouquet of sweet lilac flowers. Maddie had loaned her a veil of fragile lace, aged to ivory. The outfit she wore was a pink linen skirt and matching jacket with a white, high-necked blouse.
Maddie, Sally—the storekeeper's wife—and Leah had helped her bathe and do her hair. She was terribly self-conscious of her scars, but no one had said anything after the first shock of seeing them wore off. In the bustle of having her nails done, her hair dried and braided and quick tucks made in her new outfit, she'd closed her mind to the recent horrors. That time was over. She was here now. Safe. Embraced by these people who knew and loved Logan. Everyone they had met loved him, even Cloud Walker and his band.
She was very fortunate indeed to have come to this point in her life. It was hard to believe that little more than two years ago she'd married another man, a man who'd never loved her, a man who, if she were honest with herself, never meant to return to St. Louis for her. Logan, a stranger still, had shown her a higher regard than Eugene ever had.
Leah came to the door and peered out at her. “Ready?” she asked.
Sarah nodded, anything but ready. She stepped inside the church. It wasn't dark at all, but lit brilliantly from sunlight pouring through the tall, stained glass windows on the west side of the building. Two tidy rows of pews lined either side of the aisle, leading her eyes to the front where Logan stood, solemnly watching her. He was freshly shaved. His hair was still damp. He wore a dark suit that showed his tanned face and blond hair off to quite an advantage. Seeing him, the church and its occupants faded from her vision.
“I want to marry you,”
he'd said at the sheriff's office. He wanted this. She had nothing to offer him. No dowry. No joy. Not even the promise of future children. Only the certainty that her past was quickly catching up to her.
Yet still, he'd said he wanted her.
“Mrs. Hawkins, won't you please hand your flowers to Leah to hold?” Reverend Adamson asked. She did as he requested, hiding her ungloved hands in the folds of her skirt as she faced Mr. Taggert. “Now, if you would set your hands on Mr. Taggert's?”
She drew a breath, locking her eyes with Mr. Taggert's gray gaze, willing him not to look down, willing him not to withdraw from her now. He smiled at her.
“Do you, Sarah Worthington Hawkins, take Logan Samuel Taggert to be your lawfully wedded husband. . .” She looked at the reverend, her mind a whirl. Was this real? What if this was another bad decision? It was hard to breathe.
“Mrs. Hawkins. Look at me.” She moved her gaze to Mr. Taggert's. His gray eyes held a warmth in them, as if he was about to smile. Faint lines radiated out from his eyes, paler in the short furrows where he squinted from the sun. “Breathe, honey. I never break a bargain. You have my word about how our lives will unfold. Tell the reverend if you take me as your husband.”
“I do.”
More words. Jace reached over and handed him something. He took her left hand and held her third finger out so that he could slip his ring on her finger. A ring. A bright, wide, gold band. She stared down at it. Her first wedding ring had been a small, thin band. The Indians had taken it and had given it to one of their wives. She was already a terrible wife—she hadn't thought of a ring for Logan. He pressed something cold against her right hand. His ring. He'd thought of his ring. He held his left hand steady for her, his long, blunt, ring finger extended. At the reverend's prompting, she slipped his ring on his finger. He grinned at her.
“I now pronounce you man and wife. Mr. Taggert, you may kiss your bride.”
Logan looked at her. “May I kiss my bride?” he asked her. She nodded almost imperceptibly, her mouth pressed shut. She prayed she wouldn't vomit as she tried unsuccessfully to block out memories of other men, other faces moving above her, laughing, touching her with their mouths, with their hands.
He turned her away from the small crowd and bent toward her without actually kissing her. He cupped her cheek with a hand. “You did just fine. Now you're mine, and I will take care of you.”
She met his gaze and released a long, shaky breath. Then they were suddenly engulfed by all of Mr. Taggert's friends. Like dust in a wind burst, they moved as a group down the aisle and out into the sunlight. Sarah filled her lungs with the warm afternoon air. There was much laughter and chatter. She was feeling apart from it all, until Mr. Taggert reached down and took her hand in his. She looked up at him, but he was talking to Jace and Jim, the storekeeper. It was an unconscious gesture. She tightened her hand around his, glad for his strength.
They crossed the street and entered Maddie's kitchen. The smells of coffee, roasting meat, and all the fixings filled the room. Maddie had sneaked down to her kitchen while Sarah was being prepared for the wedding to make an extensive feast for them. Leah walked over to the cupboard and began setting out dishes. Sally poured coffee and brought cream and sugar to the table. In short order, the roast was carved and the table filled with bowls of mashed potatoes, green beans, fresh bread, and sweet butter.
Jim popped corks on a couple bottles of champagne he'd brought down from the store. “I'm sorry your family couldn't be here,” he said to Logan as he filled glasses.
“There wasn't time,” Logan answered. “Maybe, when things settle down, we'll have another reception. Until then, I'm going to keep Sarah out of town so that she won't be a magnet for trouble while Cal does some research and sees what he can discover.”
Cal met Logan's look. “And when I do get to the bottom of things, I'll handle it within the boundaries of the law.”
Logan grinned. “That would be the ideal resolution.”
“That will be the
only
resolution.” The two men shared a look.
“Now, now, boys. We can't fight during a wedding celebration!” Sally broke the tension. “Here's to the newly wedded couple. May your lives together be filled with love, laughter, and the blessings of many, many children!”
Logan lifted his glass and sipped the cold champagne, watching as Sarah did the same—quietly and without looking at anyone. He wondered if he would be able to chase away the shadows in her eyes, the horrors in her mind that were always so close to the surface.
They ate a leisurely dinner, catching up on each other's lives and the changes that had come to Defiance after Logan left. Between his college years and the time since, he'd been gone almost twelve years. Maddie and the Kesslers had aged, but were the same in so many ways. Jace and Cal were new additions to the community, but they fit in as easily as if they'd been lifelong residents.
The warmth of the gathering made Logan edgy, and he didn't like to think why. It was well past sunset when he stood up and offered the group a polite smile. “I think it's time my wife and I retire. We need to hit the trail early tomorrow.”
Sarah felt her limbs turn wooden. Mr. Taggert helped draw her seat back so that she could stand. He exchanged polite words with those gathered. She kept her eyes pinned on the table, the floor, her feet—anywhere but the people in the room who thought they knew what was about to happen. She moved silently beside Mr. Taggert, causing him no problems, no reason to challenge her. Would he remember his promise? Was he different behind a door than he was in public as Eugene had been? Would it matter? Who would fault him for seeking the rights due him in their marriage bed?
They went up the stairs and paused in front of her room. She didn't know what she was allowed to do. She unlocked the door, but didn't open it.
“My room is just next to yours. I'll come over in a half hour. Will that give you time to settle? I need to write a couple of letters. My family and friends should hear about us from me.”
She did look at him then. “How will your family react to our being married?”
He met her look. “It doesn't matter. You will be safe at their ranch. And I won't leave you with them long.” He opened her door for her.
“It is a bad bargain you made, Logan Taggert.”
“It is the best bargain I ever made, Sarah Taggert. I told you I would have gone as high as thirteen horses.”
 
When he entered Sarah's room a short while later, the lamp had been turned low. She was in bed with the blankets pulled up to her chin. He moved silently across the room, his feet bare. He'd washed and shaved, then donned a fresh pair of denims and a loose cotton shirt. He usually slept in just his drawers, but he felt it would be awhile before his wife would be comfortable enough with him that he could resume that habit.
He turned the light out and lay down next to her, on top of the covers. His wife. He liked the sound of that.
“Good night, Mr. Taggert.”
He turned on his side and looked at her lying stiffly next to him. “Mrs. Taggert, do you think, now that we're married, we might use each other's given names?”
She looked at him, turning only her head to do so. “I guess that would be all right.”
“Are you tired?”
She straightened and shut her eyes. “I feel like throwing up.”
Logan laughed, appreciating her honesty. She didn't pretend to be comfortable just to appease his vanity. It was a good start. “Would a foot rub help?”
“No! No, it would not.”
Logan settled on his back, next to his very stiff wife. “When we leave here, we'll head north for about a week. We're meeting with a man named Chayton. He's Sioux. His mother was a white captive. He is unbelievable with horses. I wonder sometimes if he hasn't found a way of speaking to them without words. I trade each year with his wife, whose beadwork is the highest quality I've ever seen.”
“Does he have white wives?”
“No. He has only one wife. Laughs-Like-Water. They have two kids, a boy who's about six and a little girl who's four or so.”
“You sound fond of them.”
“Chayton is like a brother to me.” More a brother than Logan's own stepbrother was. “When I left home, he was the first person I met. We almost killed each other, but we ended up hunting together instead. He had gone to search out a herd of wild horses. Laughs-Like-Water's father had set a high bride price on her—five horses. Chayton had asked her father to not accept any suitor for her until he returned at the end of the summer. I stayed with him that entire summer and helped him catch his horses. Her other beaux offered the requested horses and many gifts. One, whose father had many horses and was the wealthiest man in the village, even offered ten horses. But Laughs-Like-Water made her father keep his promise to Chayton.” Logan paused, remembering Chayton's ride into the village, followed by twenty horses.
“What happened?” Sarah prompted him to continue.
“Summer ended. We were a long way from his people. An early snow hampered our return. He was sick with worry that her father would have waited only until the end of the summer moon.”
“Did she wait for him?”
“We didn't know yet. He rode into his village at dusk, leading his herd. I rode drag, but no one paid attention to me. Chayton brought great wealth to his people, and he'd done it by his own hand. He didn't trade on the strength of his father. That night, he stood with fifteen horses outside Laughs-Like-Water's tepee. He gave a command, and the horses rose on their hind legs as Chayton cried her name. He gave another command and they went down on one leg. It was magnificent. Long seconds passed. I watched him wait. It seemed a lifetime. At last her father emerged. He looked impassively at the gift Chayton offered. Three times the bride price he'd asked.”
“Logan! What happened?”
He smiled at her. His wife was a romantic. “Laughs-Like-Water's father called for her mother to come out and take the horses to the corral. He accepted the bid. Chayton and Laughs-Like-Water have been together ever since. He has become a legend among his people. All the warriors bring him their horses to train. What he does with them is nothing short of magic.”
“You make the Sioux sound so different from the people I knew.”
“There are good and bad among all peoples, Sarah. I think you've just gotten to see mostly the bad.”
 
When Sarah woke the next morning, the sun was high, flooding her room with light. Disoriented, she looked around the unfamiliar room, listened to the sounds of the house. People were talking in the kitchen. The tantalizing aromas of coffee and breakfast floated in the air. She remembered every minute of the whirlwind yesterday had been.
Logan! She jumped out of bed. They were supposed to have left early this morning. The morning was well along. Had he gone without her?
She rushed to wash and dress. Hands shaking, she gathered her things and put them in a pile, having no satchel to pack them in. She stepped into the hall. He'd said his room was next to hers. She tried the one to the right. It was empty. Same with the one on the other side. He was gone. All of his fancy words, his promises. He'd still left her. She wrapped her arms about herself as the hallway seemed to spin.

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