Love on the Horizon (A Northern Woods Novel) (12 page)

“The twins are still asleep. Want
to make a pizza?”

Sarah nodded and they both jumped
from the couch and raced out to the kitchen, just like high school days.

Chapter
Nineteen

“Mommy, Mommy,” Nicky said, when
he ran toward the porch. “I caught a fish, Mommy! It’s this big!” He spread his
arms apart as wide as he could and stood looking up at her with a very proud
grin.

“Oh my! How did you ever manage
such a huge fish all by yourself? You must be getting big muscles if you reeled
it in without any help.”

“Well, daddy kinda helped me, a
little.”

Nick came up the steps carrying
their fishing poles, placed them up against the railing, and set the tackle box
down next to them.

“Hi honey, we sure missed you.”
He looked her up and down and tipped his head, then crossed his arms and stared
at her.

“What?”

“Something’s different. You look
even sexier than you did when we left.”

“Sarah and I went for makeovers
yesterday, but only for our hair. We decided our bodies were seductive enough
already.” She grinned and fluttered her lashes.

“You’re beautiful, sweetheart.
You don’t need any type of makeover. Your hair looks very nice though.”

“Are you trying to butter me up
for something?” she asked and raised her brows with a glint in her eyes.

“We were looking for a good meal,
Ma’am, weren’t we cowboy?”

“I’m hungry, Mommy. All we had
was fish and hot dogs, but that was a long time ago.”

Mariah playfully tapped his nose
with the end of her forefinger, and gave them both a kiss.  “Let’s go then, I
have fried chicken and fresh potato salad waiting for you.”

“Oh goody,” Nicky said, and
climbed up the steps, ran into the house and let the screen door slam behind
him.

“Well, I guess the twins will be
awake soon, if that didn’t wake them already,” she laughed, and followed him
in.

When they stepped into the
kitchen, she looked up at Nick and whispered, “I have some very important
information to tell you, honey.”

“You look worried; did something
happen?”

“I’ll discuss it with you after
Nicky goes to bed.”

* * *

“Ah… it feels good to be
home," Nick sighed. He lightly touched Mariah’s hand and leaned back to
admire the sunset and the beautiful scent of wildflowers across the meadow.

They were sitting in lawn chairs
on the deck, enjoying the cool summer breeze and the early evening chatter of
cicadas.

He leaned forward in his chair,
placed his elbows on his knees and looked over at Mariah. “What was the
important news you wanted to tell me?"

She stood and pulled the note
from her pocket. She read it to him, and he rubbed his hands across his face
and shook his head. “Could I see that, please?”

After he read it to himself, he
looked at Mariah.

“That was all Sarah heard. When
Anya noticed her coming out of the restroom, she turned in the opposite
direction and sat at a nearby picnic table. She had no idea who Sarah was, and
she didn’t see me waiting near the pond with the twins.”

“May
I keep that, honey? I need to let Jake know about this.”

She handed him the piece of
notepaper.

“Let’s retire for the night. The
mosquitoes are beginning to eat us up. Tomorrow will be very busy; I’ll also
have to corner Jake the minute he arrives.”

He held his hand out to her,
helped her out of her chair, and placed his arm around her waist as they walked
into the house.

* * *

With the rise of the sun and a
fresh mug of coffee in his hand, Nick headed outdoors and down the drive that
led to the barn. When he stepped through the stable door, he spotted Art and
motioned him over.

“Mornin, Nick. How was your trip?
Catch any fish?”

“A few trout, but we cleaned and
fried them over the campfire. They were mighty good.”

“You didn’t bring a few home for
me?”

“With two adults and three boys,
there was barely enough for us.” Nick shook his head with a grin. “The boys had
a blast – Nicky’s first camping trip. When we loaded up the car to head home,
he wanted to know how soon we’d be going again. He wouldn’t have cared to leave
the campgrounds if Mariah and the twins had been with us.”

“Well, it’s good to hear you have
a happy camper to replace me. Don’t think I’d make it out in the woods for more
than one night these days.”

“Sure you would. You only want an
excuse to stay home with Lillie,” he said teasingly. “Anyway, I need you to
keep an eye out for Jake and let him know I want to see him, pronto.” He
frowned and headed toward his office.

“More trouble?”

Nick turned to face him, walking backward
as he answered. “I’ll tell you about it later,” he said, then turned around and
continued walking, anxious to get to his office.

When Jake knocked on the frame of
the door, Nick motioned for him to come in.

“Sit down Jake, I have something
to discuss with you.” He poured a cup of coffee and handed it to him.

“Thanks. What’s up?”

Before he returned to his desk,
he closed the office door. “There are a few things I need to tell you. I want
you to listen, no interruptions.”

“Ranch problems?”

“No.” He moved over to his side
of the desk, then sat and took a sip of his coffee. He set the cup down and
picked up a pencil, turned it around and looked at the eraser. Thinking deeply
of what he was about to say, he tried to come up with the best words to use.

“I don’t know of a good way to
break this to you, Jake. It’s regarding your wife.”

“What? Did something happen? I
haven’t received a phone call.”

“No. Please don’t interrupt as I
try to explain. On Saturday, Mariah and Sarah took the twins for a walk in the park
next to the Pine Cone Café. When Sarah visited the restroom, she overheard a
conversation outside of the exit door. She said the woman was on her cell
phone. Apparently, she was speaking to her boyfriend.”

Nick pulled the note from his
pocket and read it to him: ‘Maybe I should come clean. I’m sure he knows
something already. I’m getting tired of this game, honey. I know we planned our
future well ahead of time, and conspired very carefully, but I miss you so
much. I want to come back home with you. When will this be over?’

“That was all Sara was able to
hear.” He looked at Jake.

“What’s this got to do with me?”

“Sarah noticed a wedding band on
her left hand. She went back to where Mariah was waiting and told her about the
conversation she overheard. When Mariah turned and looked at the woman, she saw
that it was Anya.”

“That’s not true. Anya let me
know that she was going to spend the day at the mall in Huntington. She has new
clothes to prove it.”

“Jake, she hadn’t been at the
park very long. Evidently she went into town first and on her way home she
stopped there to eat her lunch and make the phone call where she thought she’d
be in private.”

“No way in hell. I don’t believe
you. She loves me. She’d never do such a thing.”

“Okay, listen. You go home and
have a long talk with her. I’ll give you the day off with pay. You need to find
out what’s going on.

“Oh, and one more thing,” he
said. He opened the bottom desk drawer and pulled out the information he found
on the Internet about this type of mail-order brides. He placed them in his
hand. “Read these papers over. It tells of the actions of other women who
wanted to come to our country to live.”

Jake glanced through them and
shook his head. “Anya isn’t like these women.”

“Read through them anyway. There
are several listed who have done the same things Anya has. I really am sorry,
Jake. You didn’t deserve this.”

Jake again shook his head in
anger and abruptly left the office, closing the door behind him with a bit more
force than needed.

* * *

When Jake entered the house, he
found Anya in his office. She was on the computer, which was all she seemed to
do these days, between that and spend money. He stood in the doorway and
watched her for a moment. She was so involved with whatever she was doing, that
she didn’t even notice him.

“Hi honey,” he said. She jumped
at the sound of his voice.

“Oh! You scared me,” she
answered, then quickly deleted whatever was on the computer screen. She stood
from her chair and wrapped her arms around his neck. “What are you doing home
already?”

“I decided to take the day off to
be with my beautiful wife. Would you like to go for a walk at the park while
Zak is still in school?”

“That sounds like fun,” she
smiled and went to get her purse.

When they arrived at the park,
they walked all the way around the pond and then sat down in the grass to rest.

“This park is beautiful, isn’t
it?” he asked her.

“Yes, very nice.”

“Many people come here to eat
their lunch, enjoy the pond and watch the loons. Have you ever been here?”

“No, I never have, but it is very
nice. Maybe I stop here again sometime.”

He now had doubt about whether
she was telling the truth. He turned to face her.

“Mariah told Nick that she and
Sarah saw you here last Saturday. They said you were eating lunch and speaking
to someone on your cell phone.”

“It must have been one who looked
like me. I shop at the mall for new clothes. It’s been warm and I needed more
summer clothes. I showed you. You don’t remember?”

“Yes I do, and they are very
pretty shorts. I didn’t think you’d been anywhere other than the mall. You’re
right. They must have seen someone else. We’d better get back home. It’s
getting late and Zak will be home from school soon.”

Jake barbequed some burgers out
on the grill and Anya made potato salad to have along with it. The three of
them enjoyed their dinner then Zak went to his room to watch television on the
set that Anya had recently purchased for him.

At nine p.m. Anya yawned and told
Jake she was tired and went to bed. Jake waited in the living room until he was
sure she’d fallen asleep. He then entered his office and turned on the
computer. When he logged into Anya’s email, he found that she’d received
messages from someone in Russia. She had signed in with the name of Karina
Chepelskii. He wasn’t able to read them; they were in a folder that was
blocked.

He then checked her cell phone
where he also found calls to and from Russia. He set it back on the desk where
she had left it, turned the computer off and got ready for bed.

He thought she was sound asleep
and decided to speak with her in the morning, after he slept on it. He’d just
begun to doze off when suddenly he felt her sharp fingernails digging into his
back, from his neck down to his waist. He jumped up, turned to face her and
grabbed her wrists.

“Anya, stop! What is wrong with
you?”

She pulled her hands free and
began to scratch his face. He took hold of her wrists and pulled them away from
him, then pushed her toward the bed. She fell back on the pillow and began to
yell at him.

“Why are you doing this to me?
Why are you hitting me?” she screamed.

He moved away from her and
quickly stepped into his jeans and pulled them up.

“What is the matter with you? I
wasn’t touching you, you were attacking me!”

“You are a liar! I hate you!”

“Get out of that bed right now,
Anya.” He opened the closet and pulled out a small suitcase. “You pack whatever
you can fit into this suitcase for both you and Zak. I’m taking you to a
motel.”

She sat there staring at him,
holding her hair in her fists and crying.

“Now, Anya! You move your ass out
of my bed
now
, or I’ll throw you out with nothing but the nightgown
you’re wearing. You’d have no clothes, so you’d better start packin’!

“You’ve lied to me. You’ve been
talking to your lover-boy in Russia. I want nothing more to do with you. This
is the end. Your pleasure ride is over.”

After he dropped her and Zak off
at a motel on the outskirts of town he drove back home. He cleared out the rest
of her belongings from the bedroom and threw them into garbage bags. He carried
them out to the garage and cleaned the house the best he could. He shook his
head. He’d have to hire a cleaning company to come and thoroughly sanitize his
home.

He glanced at the clock. It was
already five a.m. He picked up the phone and dialed the number at Colburn
Stables.

Chapter
Twenty

“Colburn Stables,” Nick answered,
and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Hi Nick, this is Jake.”