Moonlight on Water (33 page)

“You make it sound as if we are beasts to be bred.” She looked from one face to the next, wanting one of them to deny her words.

Mr. Carpenter frowned. “You should be as eager as the rest of us to bring the very best to River's Haven. Mr. Foley has agreed to this marriage wholeheartedly.”

“That's no surprise.” She turned to face Mr. Foley as she asked, “Has he told you that he has agreed wholeheartedly to sleep with Miss Turnbull as well as me?”

The Elders, save for Mr. Foley, gasped.

Mr. Foley's face bleached for a moment; then he smiled coolly. “Really, Miss Browning,” he said in his most condescending tone, “I expected better of you than these groundless accusations.”

“Groundless? I saw the two of you kissing in the stables only days ago.”

He laughed as he shook his head. “I believe you're mistaking your sins for mine.” His face grew hard. “How many saw you kissing Colton on his steamboat this afternoon? What more have you shared with him?”

“That, Mr. Foley, is none of your business.”

“It is when I'm your husband.”

“But you aren't my husband, and I don't wish to marry you … not ever!”

Merrill pinched her face between his hands as he growled, “That's enough, Rachel. You'll do as you are told, and you'll do it without any more mewling.” He released her.

She put her hand up to her right cheek and stared at him in disbelief. “Merrill—”

“I'm her brother,” he said, looking past her, “and I give you permission, Mr. Carpenter, to wed her to Mr. Foley now.”

She shouted, “I won't—”

He put his hand over her mouth. “Go ahead.” Lowering his voice, he growled, “Cooperate, Rachel, if you value Colton's life.”

She froze. What did Merrill know about Wyatt's whereabouts? She could not ask when his hand silenced her.

Mr. Carpenter looked troubled, but opened the book that contained the wedding service used at River's Haven. Again and again, he hesitated as he glanced at Rachel. Each time, Mr. Foley urged him on.

“Will you take Calvin Foley for your husband,” asked Mr. Carpenter, “to have and to hold, through sickness and health, through richer or poorer, for the next year?” He frowned. “Mr. Browning, you must allow her to speak.”

“Take care what you say,” whispered Merrill close to her ear. He withdrew his hand from her mouth.

Rachel looked back at her brother. So many things she wanted to ask him. Why had he brought her here? To remain a family or to benefit this Community he wanted to belong to by using her skill with numbers? Why was he forcing her to marry Mr. Foley? What was Merrill hoping to gain from this? A chance to marry more young women and have them in his bed for a year? Her stomach cramped with disgust.

“Miss Browning,” Mr. Carpenter said, looking more and more unsettled, “you must answer the question.”

The door crashed open.

Mr. Foley glanced over his shoulder and ordered, “Keep going!”

When Mr. Carpenter looked past her, Rachel tried to turn to discover what had caused the Elder's face to grow ashen. Merrill gripped her arm, holding her in place.

“Stop this travesty!” came a shout.

Wyatt!

She was not sure if she had shouted that or cried out only in her thoughts. Jerking her arm away from her brother, she saw Wyatt shove his way past two men who were trying to halt him. She winced when she heard a fist drive into a man. Which one? Was Wyatt the one struck or the one hitting someone else? If he had been hurt during the attack on them, he might be injured worse now. She could not let that happen.

With a screech, she drove her elbow back into Merrill's stomach. She had wrestled with him often when they were children, but this was the first time she had struck him in anger. His breath exploded out in a cough. As his grip loosened, she pulled away and ran to where Wyatt was standing over two men who were lying facedown. He wiped blood from his cracked lip, and she saw his left sleeve was ripped and bloody.

“Wyatt, are you badly hurt?” she gasped.

“I've been worse off.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “Who's in charge here?”

Miss Stokes answered, because Mr. Carpenter was slowly lowering himself to a chair by the wall. “The Assembly of Elders is in charge of everything within the River's Haven Community. What's the meaning of this intrusion?”

“I'm here to stop this absurd wedding.”

“Who are you?” Miss Stokes asked. When Mr. Johnson hastily whispered in her ear, she said, “Mr. Colton, your business with River's Haven was completed some days ago.”

“Not as long as Rachel and the child are here. I wish to arrange for them to leave River's Haven.”

“Impossible,” Miss Stokes announced.

“Why?” Wyatt's voice was as frigid as the Elder's, and Miss Stokes's lips tightened. No doubt in exasperation because she could not order him to follow the Community's rules. Wyatt followed only his own.

“You're an outsider. You dictate nothing here.”

He turned to Rachel, taking her hand. “Honey, you aren't an outsider.” He gave her a fleeting grin as he added, “Yet. Do you want to marry Foley?”

She did not hesitate. “No.”

“Your marriage has been approved by the Assembly of Elders, Miss Browning,” Miss Stokes said. “You've agreed to abide by the tenets of River's Haven and the ruling of the Assembly of Elders. You must do so now.”

“Or you could come with me, Rachel,” Wyatt added.

“With you?” she whispered, wondering how much joy her heart could hold before it burst.

“If you stay here, you'll have to marry this hypocrite who's going to do more damage to River's Haven with his lusts for his former wife than you could ever do.”

Mr. Foley took a step forward but stopped when Wyatt drew a gun from his belt.

“The decision is hers, Foley, not yours.” Wyatt asked, “What's your decision, honey?”

“Kitty Cat and I will leave, and go with you.”

His eyes widened before he looked past her to the Elders. “You heard what she has decided.”

“Yes.” Mr. Carpenter shoved himself to his feet. “You're banished from River's Haven Community, Rachel Browning. You must leave now.”

She trembled, overwhelmed with how she had changed her future with one moment of rebellion. “As soon as I get Kitty Cat … Katherine.”

“
You
are banished. She's still a member of this Community!”

“No!” she cried. “You can't take her away from me.”

Wyatt said quietly, “Let's go now, honey.”

“But, Kitty Cat …”

“You first, honey.” He gave her a bolstering smile. “If you stay here, you'll end up married to Foley. You've got to leave now. We'll get K. C. later.”

She knew he was right, but every instinct told her to keep arguing. If she left Kitty Cat here … No, she must not panic. Miss Hanson was kindhearted, and Kitty Cat had always adored her.

Turning, she squared her shoulders as she said, “Goodbye, Merrill.”

“If you leave with him,” her brother retorted, “don't think you'll be welcomed back. Spend the rest of your life alone!”

Wyatt herded her out of the Community room before her resolve could crack. Her brother had known the exact words to say to wound her and make her reconsider her rash actions.

“Ignore him, honey,” Wyatt said as he led her onto the grass of the common area. “Stop worrying about what your brother thinks! You should be ecstatic that Foley can now remarry his Miss Turnbull instead of making you miserable!”

“You would think so, wouldn't you?”

“But you aren't.”

“No, for this could—”

“Make trouble for Merrill. Why don't you think of yourself for once?”

“He's my brother. I love him.”

“Does he still love you?”

“I don't know.” Rachel paused on the wet grass and looked back at the windows of the children's dormitory. If Kitty Cat happened to peek out, what would the child think to see Rachel leaving without her?

“K. C. knows you love
her
”

She rested her head on his shoulder, so glad he understood what would be too painful to speak. “Thank you, Wyatt. Let's get my things.”

“Leave them for now.”

“All right Let's go … wherever.”

Wyatt nodded, putting his arm around Rachel. He had not said anything about the tearstains on her face or how her voice quivered on each word. As she leaned more heavily on him with every step they took away from the dark heart of River's Haven, he lifted her into his arms and against his chest.

He grimaced, hoping that she had not seen it. A foolish hope, for she immediately asked if he was all right. He gave her a brief and very expunged version of what he had endured during the scuffle along this very road. He did not want her to guess how only luck and quick reflexes had kept him from being killed. As it was, blood was dripping down his arm, which burned as if someone had stuffed a torch into it.

He was unsure if Rachel was asleep or had lost consciousness when she did not reply to his tale. Rage gave a boost to his flagging strength. When he had seen one of the men strike her with the butt of a knife, his fury had blinded him … and betrayed him. He had tried to get to her to protect her and found himself surrounded by a half-dozen men who seemed at first just determined to teach him a lesson. Then he had seen the flash of steel in the moonlight and had known that scaring him off was not their intention. They had tried that—and failed—by setting fire to
The Ohio Star
. Now their methods were growing more deadly.

The lamps still hung, wet and unlit, around the green. Only a few people remained to watch sky rockets being fired off.

At the first dull boom, Rachel shuddered in Wyatt's arms. He set her on her feet, knowing that she would not want to create a scene by being toted across the village green. Putting his arm around her waist to steady her, he peered through the darkness.

“This way, honey,” he said.

“All right.”

That she was so compliant warned him that those River's Haven bullyboys had hurt her worse than she had let him guess. She wobbled against him while he led her to where Sawyer and his family were cheering as more rockets detonated.

“We need to speak with you, Sawyer,” he said quietly.

In the glare from the explosions overhead, he saw Sawyer's smile fade at their sorry state.

“Come with me,” Sawyer said. He glanced at his wife and motioned with his head toward their house.

Mrs. Sawyer gathered the children, who protested sleepily. No one said anything while they went to the red house around the corner from the store.

Helping Rachel up the steps, Wyatt winced as his bloody arm brushed an upright on the porch. He heard Mrs. Sawyer's sharp intake of breath when they stepped into the light of the lamp Sawyer had lit. She sent the children upstairs to bed before they could see the blood.

Sean paused on the stairs and said, “Emma, my throat's still really sore.”

“I'll bring you a posset,” Mrs. Sawyer replied. “As soon as I can.”

The boy went up the stairs while Mrs. Sawyer went through a door at the end of the foyer.

“Rachel needs a place to stay.” Wyatt sat her in a chair in the parlor. “She can't go back to River's Haven, and
The Ohio Star
is already a target.”

Sawyer nodded, although curiosity filled his eyes. “We don't have room here, but out at our farm—”

“Where is it?” When Sawyer began to give him directions, Wyatt added, “No. It's closer to River's Haven, and I think she'd be better off here in the village.”

Mrs. Sawyer returned and placed a damp cloth on Rachel's head before handing another one to Wyatt. “We'll find a place for her here in Haven. That's no problem.”

Dabbing at the blood on his sleeve and grimacing, he said, “It has to be some place where she wouldn't be expected to be. Tempers are pretty high right now, and I don't know what foolish thing they'll do next.”

“We'll find a place,” Mrs. Sawyer repeated. “Does that arm need to be stitched up?”

“I'll have Horace bandage it when I get back to the boat.” He wondered if he could have refrained from asking questions about what had happened. Then he realized that they must have a very good idea of what exactly had happened.

That was confirmed when Mrs. Sawyer asked, “Where's Kitty Cat? Was she hurt, too, in this attack on you?”

Rachel stood and came back out into the foyer. She measured each step with care. When Wyatt put his arm around her again, she gave him a grateful smile. Quietly she said, “Emma, Kitty Cat is still at River's Haven. They took her away from me before …” Wyatt's fingers dug into her shoulder, and she patted his hand. “They sent her to the children's dormitory. We thought it best to go back and get her later.”

“They won't welcome you back.”

“They won't stop me.” She closed her eyes and clutched the banister to keep herself from collapsing. “But I've got to be able to take more than a few steps on my own before I go for her.”

Emma took her arm. “I know the perfect place for you. Noah, get one of my nightgowns for Rachel to use and send it to Alice's house. Wyatt, you're welcome to join us for breakfast when we can talk about this more.”

“I'll be here,” he said. Tilting Rachel's face toward his, he added, “Honey, don't worry about K. C. tonight. They aren't angry at
her
, and you know Miss Hanson will keep a close eye on her.”

“I know, but I'll still worry.”

A smile warmed his face, which was hard with fury. “Why am I not surprised at that answer?”

When he drew her to him, she took care not to touch his bloodstained sleeve. His lips caressed hers, and she wanted to lose herself completely in his kisses. Lose herself and never have to return to the pain surrounding them. As she rested her head against him, while he stroked her back, she knew that was impossible. They had to think of Kitty Cat, too.