Love on the Horizon (A Northern Woods Novel) (19 page)

“We don’t know what’s going on,
and it’s none of our business. They live three miles down the dirt road. They
have a right to be in seclusion if that’s the way they want it.”

“But Nick, I’m sure it was
Natalie looking out the bedroom window. She seemed frightened and lonely.
Something is wrong, and I think we should call the police. If you don’t want to
report them, at least tell them about the garbage that completely fills the
back of their property. Why would they install a fence that high and dump their
trash in their yard? It’s absolutely sickening.”

“Okay, honey, calm down. I’ll
check into it. Perhaps if an officer went over there to investigate the
property, they’d also notice how they seem to have no contact with other
people. They’ll do whatever they’re able to, but people do have the right to
live in private and avoid their neighbors, if they want to live that way. Now
please stay away from there. You could end up getting hurt for trespassing.”

“Okay, if you’ll call to report
it, but something just isn’t right, and it appears as though she’s being
abused. If that’s the case, she needs help.”

“I love you sweetheart. I need to
get back out to the stable.” He placed a kiss on her cheek. She walked out with
him to the end of the deck and leaned against the wood railing. With the new
home now being further away, he drives over to the stable. She watched him
climb into his truck and drive away, then went back into the house.
There
must be something I can do.
She decided to call Sarah. Together they’d come
up with a plan.

* * *

 “Okay, Sarah, that’s a great
idea. I’ll be waiting for you by the corral. I’ll have Precious Angel ready to
go when you get here.”

Mariah informed Bess and Nick
that she and Sarah were going for a long leisurely ride. Mariah wore a cotton
short-sleeve blouse, a pair of jeans and her cowgirl boots. She packed a lunch
for each of them, along with bottled water, and placed it all in her new
TrailMax 500 Saddlebag that Nick bought for her when she was able to ride
again.

Sarah arrived, and they took off
across the pasture acting as though this was just one of their usual jaunts.
They entered the meadow and enjoyed miles and miles of wildflowers. “Such a
beautiful site,” Sarah said. “I’m jealous, Mariah. You have so much space to
ride on your own property and all we have is ten acres.”

“You know you can visit anytime
you wish. If I had the time, I’d be out riding every day, but my class has been
keeping me busy. Being an instructor isn’t as easy as one might think. Let’s
stop along the edge of the creek. It’s close by. We can eat our lunch before we
reach our destination.”

“Okay, I’ll race you,” Sarah called
out over her shoulder, and her Palomino took off in a gallop, quite a distance
ahead of Mariah and Precious Angel.

After finishing their lunch, they
packed up the saddlebag and headed off in the direction of the Larsons’
property. When they approached they noticed their car was nowhere in sight.

“I guess we’re out of luck,
Sarah. She’s always with him, everywhere he goes.”

“Well I’m going to go take a look
at this backyard you described. That way, you’ll have me as a witness.”

“You’d better not. If he’s home,
he’s not a very nice person.”

“My horse is high enough so I can
see over the fence. I’ll only be a second.”

“All right, but I’m going to wait
right here. I promised Nick I’d stay away from there; I didn’t promise not to
go near their street, however. Just hurry, they may be home any minute.”

Sarah approached the backyard and
aligned her horse with the fence. She stood in the stirrups, held onto the top
of the barrier and looked out into the yard.

“Oh Lord,” she said, moving her
eyes from one end to the other.

“Sarah, they’re coming, hurry!”
Mariah shouted, and she began to move Precious Angel into a trot. Sarah met up
with her and they headed out to the northwestern boundaries.

“I don’t think they saw me. I
rode along the far edge of their property then came through the field and up
behind you.”

“Oh, I hope not. We don’t want to
cause any trouble. I wish we could contact Natalie in some way or another to
find out how she’s doing.”

“There’s one thing I
have
noticed. Whenever I see them in the mall, she’s always wearing lengthy sleeves
that reach her wrists, and long pants, even during our hot and humid summer
months. I wonder why she’d want to dress that way during this sweltering time
of the year.”

“I’ve wondered the same thing.
Let’s turn onto the dirt road up ahead. It leads to the north end of our
property. Then we’d better head back before Nick wonders if something happened
to us.”

“We’re going to have to figure
out some way to contact Nattie. Perhaps she doesn’t even care to associate with
us, but we need to make sure she’s okay. We have a bit of thinking to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“You, Nattie and I were best
friends throughout high school. It’s hard to believe she wouldn’t want to see
us. We never fought. We did everything together. It had always been the three
of us.”

“I was thinking the same thing.
We’ll figure something out. I’m heading on home,” Sarah said when they reached
Mariah’s driveway. “I’ll give you a call in a day or two.”

Mariah waved goodbye as Sarah
turned her horse to the south and road toward her own property.

Chapter
Thirty

“Mariah, I just saw Nattie. She
drove right by me as I was turning into the parking lot. She seemed to be in
quite a hurry.”

“You mean with Carl in the
passenger seat?”

“No, she was alone. She passed
the entrance to the mall and was heading north. I have no idea how fast she was
going, but it was definitely over the speed limit.”

“I don’t know where she’d be off
to. I’ve never even seen her drive.”

“Well if she never drove before,
she certainly does now.”

“Let’s take another ride through
the meadow in a couple of hours and try to get close enough to their house to
see whether or not she returned. The edge of our property will be as far as we
go. That husband of hers seems to be a very evil man.”

“Okay, I’ll be over around noon.”

When Sara arrived, Mariah was
ready to go. They took off across the fields, the same route they traveled the
previous day, and stopped a short distance from the area.

“The car is back. Apparently, she
does drive, and we were mistaken,” Mariah said. She glanced over at Sarah.
“What’s wrong?”

“Look, over there.” Sarah pointed
toward the north side of the house. “Is that her husband standing by the door?
Is he watching us?”

The man was a good distance away.
He was wearing ragged stonewashed denims and a worn sport shirt with a ripped
pocket. He stood with a bottle of beer in his hand, his potbelly drooping below
the hem. His long, filthy hair was blowing in the blustery wind.

“Oh no... move slowly. We’ll
pretend we’re looking for something. Better yet, let’s get down from our horses
and begin picking wildflowers. That should look innocent enough.”

While bending over to reach for a
flower Mariah lifted her eyes to see what he was doing. That was when she
noticed him watching with deadly concentration. Suddenly his face became red
and blotchy with anger, and he quickly turned toward the side door, where
Natalie suddenly appeared. He motioned for her to stay indoors. His glare was
hard and cruel, showing no concern for her whatsoever. With a wounded look,
Natalie slowly backed into the house. He glowered at her until she shut the
door, then turned away and stomped drunkenly to the shed behind the garage.

“Did you see that, Mariah?” They
stared after him, astounded.

 Mariah felt the hair stand up on
the back of her neck. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” They leaped into their
saddles and galloped across the field as quickly as possible, the wind blowing
Mariah’s long hair out behind her.

When they reached the ranch, she
invited Sarah in for lunch.

“I better not. The boys will be
home from school soon, plus I have tons of chores to do.”

Mariah pulled Precious Angel up
alongside of her and spoke quietly. “We better stay away from their property
from this point on, Sarah. Nick would be angry if he found that I was still
going there after he told me I shouldn’t. He looks like a very abusive man.
Let’s just keep our eyes open, maybe even drive down their road now and then,
but no more riding near their land.”

“Okay, I’m getting a bit nervous
too. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.” She turned her horse to leave and waved as
she rode away.

* * *

“Hurry and finish your breakfast,
Nicky, we have to be on our way soon.”

“I don’t want to go to the
doctor, Mommy.”

“Why not, honey? They’re going to
remove the cast today.”

“But everybody at school thinks
it’s cool. All the kids signed their names on it. I want to leave it on.”

“We’ll ask the doctor if you can
bring it home with you.”

“Okay, I want to keep it forever
and ever, so I can show it off to everyone who comes to our house.” He tipped
his head and tried to wink at her.

Mariah laughed and lightly
tickled his neck. “Okay, let’s get a move on it. The doctor runs a busy
schedule and expects us to be there on time.”

When she entered the parking lot
at the doctor’s office, she pulled into a space along the sidewalk, under the
shade of a tree. As she grabbed her purse off the seat and looked up, she
noticed Nattie, as she drove by. Mariah waved at her and she returned the
gesture, with a deep frown on her face.

“I wonder what she’s up to,” she
muttered.

“What did you say, Mommy?” Nicky
asked, as he unhooked his seatbelt.

“I’m just talking to myself,
sweetie. Let’s go.” She helped him climb out of the SUV.

* * *

Mariah invited Sarah over for a
cup of coffee while the twins were napping. This was Bess’s day off, so she
wouldn’t be able to leave the house.

“I told you she drives,” Sarah
said with a smug look. “Now you saw for yourself.”

“Perhaps her husband has her
running errands. She had such a disturbed expression, although she did wave at
me as she flew by. He must have her do everything over there. By the looks of
their yard, he doesn’t do much of anything at all, other than throw the garbage
out the door,” Mariah said, with a shiver of vivid recollection.

Nicky ran into the kitchen,
carrying his empty cast. “Auntie Sarah, look! The doctor let me bring it home.”
Sarah has always told Nicky to call her Auntie. She may as well be, she's
around here often enough, Mariah thought with a smile.

“Wow! That really is cool, honey.
Is my name still on there?”

“I think so,” he said and
examined it closely. “Yes! Here it is, S-r-a. See? I found it,” he grinned from
ear to ear.

She looked up at Mariah and they
both laughed. “Close enough.”

“And look, I can even move my
arm,” he showed her by stretching his arm out as far as he could.

“You be careful now, Nicky. Don’t
overdo it. You don’t want to hurt your arm all over again and have another cast
put on,” Mariah told him.

“That would be fun, Mommy. Then
I’d let everybody sign it again.”

“But it wouldn’t be much fun if
it hurts again, would it? Now go in and rest for a little while, sweetie.”

“Okay.”

Sarah handed his cast to him and
he slowly walked back to his bedroom.

When he left the room, they
continued their conversation.

“Maybe we’d find out something
about her if we met up with her in a store. She wouldn’t have to be looking
around nervously, worried that he’d see her talking to us.” Mariah placed her
forearms on the table and held her cup in her hands. She thought of how that
horrible man’s face haunted her, and a cold shiver spread over her when she
remembered the way he’d glared at them. “He really gives me the creeps,” she
said softly.

Sarah let out a long sigh, then
clasped her slender hands together and stared at them. “He makes me a bit
nervous too. I don’t understand why she doesn’t leave him. She looks so lonely
and miserable.” She pushed her chair away from the table and stood. “I have to
get back. It’s time to figure out what to make for dinner.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”
Mariah remained seated. “Let’s both seriously think about this. We should be
able to find a way to accidentally run into her somewhere.”

Sarah opened the door and stepped
out. “Give me a call tomorrow,” she whispered through the screen.

Mariah nodded and continued to
stare off into space.
Why would Nattie’s husband tell everyone that his wife
has Alzheimer’s and that visitors weren’t welcome? If she has Alzheimer’s, she
shouldn’t be driving a car.
She shook her head, and stood when she heard
the twins begin to cry.