Give My Love to Rose (35 page)

Rose broke down in heart-wrenching sobs as
she clung to him. Marston held her tight a moment before pulled her
face up and swooping low to press a tender kiss to her tear soaked
lips. Then he knelt and pressed another kiss to her stomach and the
life growing there, knowing her apron would be damp with his
tears.

Marston stood straight and squared his
shoulders. “Take care of yourself, Rose, and take care of the
children.”

Somehow Rose managed to nod.

“
Marston Jacobs!” a voice
bellowed from outside. “This is United States Marshall Hubert
Montgomery! We’ve come to take you in dead or alive!”

Marston turned his back to Rose. “I’m coming
out and I’m coming willingly!” Marston called back. “Don’t you
shoot! My wife and kids are in here!”

“
Come out with your hands
high then!”

“
I have to go now, Rose,”
Marston whispered, swiping at the tears he wished desperately he
could turn off.

Rose came around him and laid her hand on
his wet cheek. She came up on her toes and pressed her lips to his,
knowing it would be the last time she ever felt his firm mouth
against her own.

“
Please tell me you know
how much I love you,” Marston pleaded, his golden eyes searching
hers.

“
I know,” she whispered
hoarsely.

Marston pressed a kiss to her hair. “Be
strong for me, Rose. Take care of our family and make sure they
know how much their pa loved them.”

Rose nodded. She would be strong if he asked
it of her. It would damn near kill her, but somehow she would keep
herself together for Marston—for their children.

Marston walked to the door and unlocked it.
He took a deep breath before opening it wide and raising his arms.
Much to his irritation, he realized that Rose was coming out behind
him. Her hands were gripping the back of his shirt as if she
thought she could stop the hands of fate simply by touching
him.

“
Put your hands up too!”
the Marshall warned, his gun trained on Rose.

Marston’s blood boiled as he twisted and
placed himself between Rose and the Marshall’s gun. “She ain’t got
nothing to do with this so kindly take your gun off my wife.”

The Marshall nodded and motioned toward
Marston’s revolver. “I need you to take off your gun belt and toss
it to the side along with any other weapons you might have.”

“
Give me your word that
you won’t harm my family and I’ll toss every weapon aside and ride
out of here without a fight.” Marston wasn’t sure this man’s word
would count for much, but it was all Marston had to keep his family
safe.

“
A cold-blooded outlaw
wants to keep his family safe?” a deputy asked. “What about all the
families you have destroyed?”

Marston growled and squared his shoulders.
“Leave him alone, Harold,” Marshall Montgomery warned.

Marston glared at the Marshall. “Give me
your word, Marshall, because I can guarantee that I can get at
least one bullet in you before you and your men take me down.”

Rose gasped behind him, but Marston ignored
her. He had to turn off that side of himself. He had to become the
cold outlaw once more or he’d turn into a blubbering mess in front
of these lawmen and that could prove fatal for those he loved.

“
You have my word,” the
Marshall agreed. “Your family will not be harmed, you’ll be taken
to Millerton, jailed until next Saturday and then hanged by the
neck until dead.”

Marston nodded and yanked himself from
Rose’s vice-like grip. He pulled off his gun belt and removed his
knives before stepping forward with his wrists together. “Tie him,”
Marshall Montgomery gave the order.

Two deputies dismounted their horses and
walked to Marston. One held him at gunpoint while the other tied
the rope around his wrists. The deputy holding him at gunpoint was
little more than a boy and trembling so badly Marston doubted he’d
be able to hit him with a bullet even point blank range.

Marston stared down his nose at the
frightened deputy and smiled. This nearly caused the gun to tumble
from his hand as he yelped and then swallowed hard.

Rose watched as Marston was led to a horse,
allowed to mount and then the rope attached to his wrists was tied
to the Marshall’s saddle horn. It simply didn’t seem right to have
the strong man being taken away so easily. Rose was forced to watch
the tall, proud man be led away like a horse to slaughter simply
because he wanted to keep his family safe.

“
Marston Jacobs,” the
Marshall spoke. “You are under arrests for countless robberies,
kidnappings and murders. The most recent being the murder of
Gilliam Tomlinson only a few short weeks ago. The judge has already
signed off on your execution, it seems you’ve been at this awhile.
You are now the property of the state of Louisiana.”

“
Well isn’t that special?”
Marston drawled.

“
Marston!” Rose exclaimed
as they began to lead him away. “Marston, I love you and I have
faith in the man you are now! I’ll see you again….
Someday.”

Rose had no doubts that Marston would
reunite with her in heaven… He had to make it there. Rose knew he
had been a bad man in the past, but he had changed and only a truly
good man could have opened his heart to children who weren’t his as
willingly and fully as Marston had.

Marston didn’t reply and didn’t look back at
her. Rose stood there watching long after they’d ridden out of
sight. The morning had suddenly gone silent. It was shocking how
calm everything had become.

Finally, Rose turned and walked on stiff
legs back into the house, holding her arms over her stomach as if
hoping she could shield her unborn child from the pain she was
feeling.

Rose pushed the cabinet away from the water
closet and opened the door. Langley and Kaitlyn both leaped into
her embrace and the three tumbled to the floor, clutching at one
another with desperation.

“
Is it true, mama?”
Langley’s words nearly strangled in his throat. “Did pa really do
such bad things?”

“
Yes,” Rose whispered. “He
did. But Marston changed and that’s what we need to remember. We
know the man he truly was deep down and that man was
good.”

“
Are they really going to
kill him?” Kaitlyn whispered.

Rose took a deep breath to fight off the
pain raging through her. Pain that had her wanting to scream at the
top of her lungs and shout about the unfairness of it all.

“
Yes,” she somehow managed
to say. “But he wanted us to be strong and we’re going to do that
for him. God gave us a great gift when He gave us Marston and we’re
not going to waste that by breaking down now.”

“
Yes ma’am,” the children
said in unison.

None of them tried to stand as they simply
lay there all wrapped up together. Movement seemed unimportant just
then and no one had any urge to be strong just then.

***

Marston carefully studied the five men
around him.

He could get free.

The deputy on his left was close enough for
Marston to land a swift kick to his head. He could then swing
himself onto the Marshall’s horse, send the Marshall’s knife into
the second deputy and use the Marshall’s gun to take out the third
and fourth deputies as well as the Marshall. The entire process
would take less than sixty seconds.

But that would be pointless. Marston Jacobs
was known now. Known and wanted dead or alive. Killing lawmen would
only make the target on his back bigger. If he killed them he
couldn’t return to his family without putting them in terrible
danger and that simply wasn’t something Marston was willing to do.
If laying down and dying was what it took to keep them safe then
that’s exactly what Marston intended to do.

“
I can see where your mind
is going, Marston,” Marshall Montgomery warned.

Marston shook his head. “I doubt that.”

He hated the man riding beside him. Hubert
Montgomery—Gilliam Montgomery’s brother and the main reason that
Gilliam was able to get by with everything he’d been doing for
years and years.

The lawman was as dirty and crooked as they
come and wouldn’t be fooling with arresting Marston now if it
hadn’t been for Marston killing Gilliam—Marston wondered how they’d
figured out he’d been the one to commit that murder….

He supposed it didn’t matter now.

Marshall Montgomery tipped his head. “Still,
I feel the need to warn you that should you raise a finger to
escape, every officer here has been ordered to not only kill you,
but turn around, go back to that shack of a cabin and put a bullet
in every person there. Understood?”

The rage coursing through Marston’s veins
was a palpable thing. “We’re understood, Marshall.”

Marshall Montgomery chuckled. “I must admit
it’ll be fun to watch your body twitch as it sways back and forth.
My brother will be waiting for you on the other side to repay the
favor you gave him and outlaws far and wide will fear me for being
the man that took down Marston Jacobs.”

Marston chose to ignore the lawman’s
goading. Instead, he focused on last night and the way he had held
Rose’s soft body in his arms. The memory was nearly enough to do
away with his fear.

Chapter Thirty-Two

It was late. Three days had passed since
Rose’s life had come crashing down around her. She was sitting on
the porch, staring out at the moonlit forest, unable to force
herself into the bed she had shared with Marston—she hadn’t touched
that bed since he’d been taken away. Rose didn’t want to face the
memories she’d have if she laid down where they’d made love so many
times—but she was also worried that if she allowed herself to lay
in a bed, she would never find it within herself to get back
up.

A horse snorted, signaling someone’s
approach. Rose took up Marston’s revolver and stood slowly.
“Whoever is coming better speak now or I’ll shoot and leave you
laying.”

That threat, coming from Rose, would have
been an empty one not long ago, but it wasn’t empty any longer.
Marston had taught her that when it came to protecting those you
loved, anything went. She had promised the man she would keep their
children safe and she intended to keep that promise.

“
Woohoo! That’d be the
first time I’d been shot to death by a pretty woman,” Jeremiah’s
voice came through the night just as the shadow of him and his
horse entered her line of vision. “Do you reckon you would nurse me
back to health afterward?”

Duke snorted. “That’d be pretty hard to do
if you’re dead.”

Rose lifted the lantern beside her and both
men stopped their horses and dismounted slowly, sharing looks of
confusion. “Why exactly are you out here in the middle of the night
alone?” Jeremiah asked.

“
Where’s Marston?” Duke
added, recognizing the revolver in Rose’s hand.

Rose broke down. The stress of the last few
days became too much to bear. She hadn’t had a break down since
Marston had gone, but no one could be strong forever.

Jeremiah and Duke shared a look of horror,
neither experienced at handling sobbing women. Duke saw Rose’s
knees buckling and he leaped forward and caught her against his
chest. He took the lantern from her trembling hand as she
whimpered, sniffed and hiccupped against his shirt.

“
Rose honey?” Duke asked,
rubbing her back to comfort her the best he could. “Where’s
Marston?”

Rose took huge, gulping breaths attempting
to calm herself. “They….they took.. him.”

“
Who took him?” Jeremiah
demanded.

Rose pulled away from Duke’s chest and
swiped at her face. “The law.”

Jeremiah’s face contorted and he growled
with murder in his eyes. Duke, however, seemed to soften at the
word law and he put a gentle arm around Rose’s shoulders. “Come on,
now. Let’s get you inside,” he ushered gently.

Rose nodded and allowed him to lead her
inside. Jeremiah scanned the yard and then followed them inside,
closing and locking the door behind him. Duke sat Rose down at the
table and took a seat across from her. “What happened, Rose?”

Jeremiah was pacing the floor and his boots
woke Kaitlyn. “What’s going on?” the girl asked as she sat up on
the sofa and stared with fear in her eyes at the two men she had
never before met.

Rose stood. “Kaitlyn, you go rest in my
room, okay?”

Kaitlyn frowned. “But who are they? Are you
they going to…” her face paled. “Are they going to hurt you?”

Rose shook her head and offered the most
comforting smile she could muster, though she feared it was more a
grimace than a grin. “They aren’t going to hurt any of us,” she
assured the girl. “Jeremiah is Marston’s brother and Duke was like
a father to Marston.” Rose frowned. “Is like a father to Marston,”
she amended. Marston wasn’t dead yet. Her stomach rolled. Saturday
was still five days away.

Rose covered her mouth with her hand as she
fought the urge to vomit. Duke, knowing that Marston would want his
woman taken care of, stood and took her in his arms once more to
offer her what support he could. Women often found comfort in
simple things such as hugs…. He had no idea why.

Kaitlyn stood up and walked on shaking legs
to them. She laid her hand on Rose’s back and looked up into Duke’s
eyes. “Will you take care of her? She tries to be so strong and
hide it but she doesn’t eat and she hasn’t been sleeping and I’m
worried about the baby….”

“
Baby?!” Duke and Jeremiah
gasped in unison.

Rose pulled out of Duke’s hold and glared at
her. “I’m fine, Kaitlyn. I don’t need to be coddled or taken care
of and I certainly won’t let anything happen to this baby.” She
laid her hand over her stomach. “Now go to bed.”