Shelter in Seattle (16 page)

Momentarily speechless in her surprise, Julianne spoke without thinking.

“Broke? Destitute?” The two words caused her mind to spin with bewilderment. Her Uncle owned businesses in six different cities. His name was a household word. “What are you talking about, Uncle Edmond? You’re one of the wealthiest men in New York.”

“Not any more.” For a moment it seemed his eyes glimmered with visions of the past then he regarded her with curious intensity. “Do you remember several years ago when I made that trip to the Nevada territory?”

“Yes. You went on a survey trip to investigate the possibility of building stores in the rapidly growing mining towns.”

“That’s right. Well, I began to play there in a gaming house.”

Comprehension dawned and a soft gasp escaped her.

“Oh, Uncle. You gambled?”

He spread his hands regretfully and shrugged.

“Quite often, Julie girl. And finally, one time too many. I lost it all. The businesses, my horses, and bank account. I’m fifty years old and starting from scratch again.”

“How did Aunt Elizabeth handle the news?” Julianne thought about her proud Aunt and her heart filled with compassion.

“She doesn’t know, and she must never learn of this. That’s why you have to go back. If you handle all the domestic jobs, I can earn enough money from the sale of my cattle to keep us going ‘til I get on my feet again. It shouldn’t take more than a year, you keep the secret, the baby stays safe, and then you’re free to leave again.”

Julianne blinked with bafflement.

“How could she not know?” Julianne’s disbelief showed in the tone of her voice. Aunt Elizabeth loved going to the store her uncle owned in New York, when the new shipments came in. She opened all the household wares, and made Julianne place the items strategically on the shelves. If the store had a new owner, her aunt would not be allowed that privilege.

“I told her I sold the business for funds to open new stores in Nevada territory. That’s where she thinks I’m at right now.” He leaned toward her, his voice mocking. “Imagine her surprise when I show up with you.”

“Why didn’t you just tell her you made a bad mistake? Aunt Elizabeth loves you. She would have forgiven you and helped you fix this mess.”

His expression changed and became almost somber. He was a massive self-confident presence, but at the moment his shoulders sagged as if they bore the weight of the world. Drops of moisture clung to his forehead and the age lines about his eyes and mouth carved deep into his skin.

“I couldn’t bear to see the pain in her eyes that my confession would have created. I told one lie, and then I had to lie again to cover that one. Then before I knew it I created a web of deceit that could not be straightened out without major damage to my family. My girls would have been ashamed of their Papa.”

Julianne fought hard against tears and clenched her jaw to kill the sob in her throat. How could she judge her uncle? She was guilty of the same sin. She had lied to Caleb so many times in order to keep her secret about the laundry. Now, she might never get the chance to say she was sorry. How could one little lie cause so much turmoil?

The baby’s stomach growled loudly, and he twisted in Julianne’s arms. She shifted him, placing his head against her shoulder. She looked up at her uncle, expecting the hardness to have returned to his face, but the dark eyes surveyed her kindly. It was as if confessing his faults had lightened his load. Too bad he had confessed to the wrong person. Julianne could not help him, but she knew someone that could. She opened her mouth to tell her Uncle how she had accepted the Lord.

“We will talk no more, Julianne.” He took her by the elbow and propelled her toward the mouth of the cave. Though she tried hard to feel no sympathy, her heart ached for her uncle. He wanted the same thing she did.

Freedom.

Freedom from the lies that had them bound. Did he not understand that accepting the Lord could set a person free? How could he not know this when he had quoted scripture to her, her entire life? How angry would he become if she shared with him the miracle that happened to her.

Edmond entered the cavern, pulling Julianne along behind him. Marcus stood in the shadows at the back of the lair. Julianne bent her head to speak to the baby, but something about Marcus’s stance caused her head to jerk upwards again, icy fear twisting around her heart.

With a flick of his wrist, Marcus’s knife flew through the air. It hit Edmond in the chest. The dull thud echoed in the cave.

Julianne screamed as her uncle fell to the ground. She dropped by his side. His hands clutched at the knife buried in his chest.

“Oh Lord, what have you done, Marcus?” She laid the baby on the ground beside her.

He moved from the shadows to stand by her side. “I did what I should have done days ago.” Marcus bent down and jerked the knife from Edmonds heart. He wiped the blood on his pant leg and walked toward the entrance.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Be ready to travel.”

She moved to her uncle’s head and placed it on her lap. Julianne knew he didn’t have long to live. Tears ran down her cheeks unchecked. He may have abused her, but at one time in her young life, Uncle Edmond had been her hero.

He looked up into her face. “I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t try to talk, Uncle Edmond. I’m going to get you out of here.” Julianne couldn’t stop the flow of tears.

He reached up and touched her swollen lips and then her eye. “I never wanted to hurt you, Julie girl. Can you forgive me?” He coughed and blood trickled from the corner of his lip.

Julianne placed her hand over his. “Uncle Edmond, don’t give up. We’ll get you out of here and you’ll be good as new.”

He coughed once more. His eyes drifted shut, and with his last breath he said. “That’s not going to happen, Julie girl.” His hand slid from her face and landed on the ground.

The sound of boots at the entrance of the cave announced Marcus’s return. Julianne gently slid out from under her uncle. She rested his head on the ground and gently lifted the baby into her shaking arms. Tears blinded her and rolled down her cheeks. A flash of wild grief ripped through her. Her uncle had not treated her kindly, and most of her life she’d feared him, but he was family.

“We’re leaving.” Marcus grabbed his bag and the one Edmond had been carrying.

Julianne stood her ground. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She clung tightly to the baby.

Marcus growled in the back of his throat. “Yes, you are.”

She shook her head at him and stepped backwards.

He was on her in a heartbeat. “I said we are going.” Marcus ground out the words through clinched teeth. His fingers bit into her arm as he dragged her from the cave.

“Where are you taking me?” Julianne tried to dig her feet into the cave floor.

Marcus jerked on her arm harder. “We’re being followed. I’m trying to get you to safety.”

Julianne was tired, sore and her heart ached at her recent loss. She didn’t understand why she did it, but she laughed. “Get me to safety?” She fell to the ground on her knees.

He was at her side in a flash. When Julianne didn’t attempt to get up, Marcus thrust the knife under her chin. “See this?”

Laughter continued to spill from her body as she rocked back and forth. “Yeah, I see it. But, I don’t think you will kill me, Marcus. If you had wanted to kill me, I’d already be dead. So put that away.” The words poured from her lips. Julianne wondered if exhaustion could be the reason she didn’t care what he did to her now.

Marcus jerked the baby from her arms. “You’re right. I plan to sell you to one of the ships captains.” He turned the knife on the baby.

“No!” The word shuddered through the breath that caught in her throat. “I’ll go.” She added a little more calmly.

“I thought so.” Marcus yanked her to her feet.

They walked for what seemed like hours, but in actuality couldn’t have been more than fifteen or twenty minutes. They entered a clearing where the trees had little underbrush, and Marcus began to run at a fast clip, his tight grip on Julianne’s upper arm propelling her along beside him. They ran until the underbrush thickened again and began to scratch through her long dress, tearing her petticoat. Her sides ached, and her stomach heaved. “Marcus, please, I can’t run any more.”

He stopped. His gaze searched the trees. “We’ll rest here—but only for a few moments.” His hard eyes warned her not to try to escape.

Fear gripped her heart. Julianne sat down on a boulder by a large tree. In the evening dusk, she couldn’t make out what type of tree it was, and she really didn’t care. “Marcus, please let me have my baby back. I’ll go with you.”

Marcus thrust the baby into her arms and sank down at her feet. His eyes searched the woods around them.

She checked the baby to make sure he wasn’t injured. He grabbed her finger and sucked on it. “Oh, you poor thing.” Julianne cooed.

“Be quiet.” Marcus hissed.

“Who do you think is following us?” Julianne whispered as she clutched the baby closer to her. The thoughts that maybe Caleb was out there made her heart quicken.

“We’re not far from an Indian village. If you’re a smart girl, you’ll keep quiet. Haven’t you heard what they do to pretty little white girls?”

Julianne had heard the stories of tribes taking captives and turning them into slaves. She’d heard many tales of horrors that the Indian men did to white women. But, she also knew Morning Star, and Julianne couldn’t imagine her people being that cruel.

They sat in silence for several minutes. The sounds of small animals rustling through the leaves and grass filled the evening air.

Julianne tucked the baby’s blanket around her shoulders and cuddled him close to keep him warm.

“Marcus, why did you kill my uncle?”

Her question seemed to amuse him. “Why do you think?”

“I don’t know. I thought you would let him live; at least until he paid you.” She patted the baby’s back.

“I guess it won’t hurt none to tell you. While you were out, I checked his bag and found all the money. I didn’t need him anymore.” He tipped his head and looked up into the foliage blocking what little light was left of the evening.

Julianne’s tired mind spun with questions. How could he kill in cold blood? How many times had he killed? She knew he would have killed her already, if he didn’t think the captain of the ship would pay handsomely for her.

“What do you care anyway?” He sneered.”Wasn’t like he was yer fav’rit uncle or nothing. He slapped you around worse’n my old man did me.”

Julianne rocked the baby from side to side. “He was my uncle.”

Marcus laughed, “Yea, he told me he didn’t think you had it in ya to run off the way you did. Especially since he stole all yer money.”

“I forgave him for that. I would have loved to have seen him make it back home to my aunt and cousins.”

“Now don’t ya go spouting that religious stuff ta me ‘bout forgiveness. I tried me that when I married my first wife. So purdy she was and loved to go to Sunday meeting. I thought about it and figered it was a better way of life than my Pa had, so I started going with her to the services.” He leaned his head back against the tree.

“But the whole time I was a’trying to live better, she was seeing another man. Ever’ day she told me she had to drive just outside town to tend her sick mama, but it was all lies. She left on the stage one day; with the preacher man. That’s when I found out. Decided right then and there that there’d be no more religion fer me. No siree.”

Julianne saw a frown settle deep into his features and sought for a plausible answer to soothe the anger, betrayal, and hurt she knew lay buried in this man’s soul. It did not escape her tired mind that once again, lies had taken away a persons happiness, leaving in its place an empty broken shell. She’d noticed that with each word he spoke, Marcus dropped more letters in words. It was like he was reliving a time when he’d been younger.

She pulled her thoughts back to the problem at hand. What could she say to him? Her uncle was dead but there was still a chance for her and Marcus to grow whole again. “Marcus, when you tried out religion with your wife, did you give your heart to the Lord?” Julianne kept her voice low and purposefully nonchalant.

“Naw, I reckon not. I was a workin up to it, but when Daisy left, it came to me that ever’thing she ever said about religious stuff was pro’bly a lie, just like all the other stuff that came outta her mouth. Since that day, I been a’takin what I wanted and killing anything that got in my way.”

A hand, massive and strong clamped down on her knee.

“And I be a’thinkin that it’s time I take what you got to offer, and I don’t mean no religion.”

Julianne stiffened, bracing herself for the fight she knew approached like a raging fire. She cast a fearful look down at Marcus. She gasped.

The largest rattler Julianne had ever seen lay coiled a few inches from his hip. He turned his head to see what had captured her attention, and jumped up at the same time the snake struck.

Its fangs sank into Marcus’s calf. He yelled and swung his leg back and forth.

Julianne jumped off the boulder and ran.