The Gift of a Child (19 page)

Another taller man, wearing a soiled range coat, emerged from the brush, pointing a shotgun directly at them. “Don’t be thinkin’ yer running away. Ol’ Tex don’t mind none dispatching you to your Maker.”

The first man approached Lavinia and jerked the reins from her hand. “Git in.” He poked her with his gun. “We’re goin’ fer a little ride, gals.”

“Now see here, sir.” Lavinia’s lips were clenched in outrage. “There must be some mistake.”

The man used the pistol to goad Lavinia into the buggy. “No mistake,” he said climbing onto the seat beside them, his foul odor further unnerving Rose. “Saddle up, Tex, and follow along to our camp.”

Camp?
Reaching for Lavinia’s hand, Rose closed her eyes in frantic prayer.
Good Lord, deliver us. I haven’t come this far to leave my Alf...and Seth.
Then with a lurch of the buggy, they were off...headed for what? It didn’t bear considering.

* * *

Knowing Alf would be at Lily’s this day, Seth rode out from the ranch after the midday meal in the hope of spending some time with the boy instead of having to wait until the weekend. When he arrived, the children were napping, so at Lily’s suggestion, he prowled around in search of Caleb. He found him in the corral halter-training a colt. “Looks like a dandy,” he said of the horse.

Caleb led the animal through two more circuits, then turned him loose and joined Seth, who was perched on the fence. “You do a fine job, brother, but I wouldn’t expect any less of a former cavalry officer.”

Caleb coiled the rope between his hands. “Nothing more important than a good mount.”

“How old you reckon Alf needs to be for his first pony?”

“If you select a tractable animal, I figure in another year or so he’ll be ready.”

“He’s sure keen to have one.”

Caleb chuckled. “So were we, if I remember correctly.” He made another loop in the rope. “You enjoying married life?”

“Hard to say, living in two different places.” Seth studied his boots. “I reckon it’ll get better.”

“You didn’t have any time for courtship. That’s gotta be hard on you both.”

“It was all suddenlike. You know me, Caleb. I don’t expect much, but if I was gonna get married, it should’ve been for love.”

Caleb clapped a hand on Seth’s shoulder. “Love? You think there’s no love? Thunderation, man, you’ve had your eyes on Rose since she first moved to town. I don’t know what you call it, but I sure call it love.”

“She’s powerful important to me.”

“So there. Enjoy it.”

“I can’t tell her. She just married me for Alf’s sake.” He hurried on. “And that’s all right by me. I mean, we both think the world of that boy.”

Caleb shoved his hat back on his head. “You are one dumb fella.”

Seth cringed. Even his own brother echoed the school-yard taunts.
Dumb
. “What do you mean?”

Caleb threw up his arms. “The woman is mad for you, Seth. Anyone with any sense can see it. Pa and Sophie see it. Lily sees it. I see it. What’s holding you back?”

Seth twiddled his thumbs between his knees. Could he believe Caleb? He wanted to. But if Rose loved him, why was she holding back? After several moments, he looked at his brother and gave the answer that cost him so dearly to admit. “I’m scared.”

“Scared? You don’t think I was scared when Lily traipsed off to St. Louis after I proposed? Scared when I traveled back there to tell her I loved her and to give her one more chance? Give us one more chance? Scared? I know all about that, brother. But here’s what else I know. That’s what love’s about. Risk, man. You have to risk it all if you want the reward. It doesn’t bear thinking what my life would have been like without Lily, but it didn’t come easy. You gotta risk, Seth.”

Seth had no answer, but Caleb had given him much to ponder. Even if words had been forthcoming, he would’ve been interrupted by Lily who was running toward them, trailed by the children. “Thank goodness I’ve found you close by. I’m worried.”

Both men jumped to the ground. “Worried? About what?” Caleb asked.

“It’s well past four and Lavinia and Rose left here before noon. They should’ve been back before now. I thought maybe they were waiting to return until the children awoke, but that was almost an hour ago. I’m afraid something’s happened.”

Seth started running for the barn before the words were out of his sister-in-law’s mouth. He heard Caleb shouting to her, “We’ll go look for them. Meanwhile, stay inside and lock the doors.”

Both men leaped into the saddle and galloped away, heads bent low over their horses. Seth had never known such fear in his life, even when Alf had been taken. Then he could comfort himself that someone who loved Alf was behind the kidnapping. But now? There was no comfort. If something had happened to Rose... Whether it was the wind or tears that caused his eyes to water didn’t matter, he loved that woman and a life without her...why, he couldn’t fathom such an existence. He spurred Patches, throwing caution to the winds. Right behind him, he heard Caleb’s horse snorting with exertion. Finally they crested the hill above Lavinia’s property and looked down. Nothing.

They raced to a stop by the house and dismounted. Caleb began walking around, studying the ground. “Here,” he called. “See the ruts in the grass. This is where the buggy was parked. I wonder if the horse bolted.”

Seth ran one direction around the house and Caleb the other, all the time calling Lavinia’s and Rose’s names. Only the wind, now picking up, answered, its mournful howl echoing that in Seth’s chest. When they met up again, they looked at one another, grim-faced. “We’ll try to follow the trail,” Caleb said, remounting. Seth could only pray that Caleb’s experience as an army scout would lead them to the women.

* * *

Rose clutched Lavinia’s hand as the buggy went hurtling over the countryside, the horse urged on by the unrelenting whip administered by the ruffian sitting beside her. The man named Tex rode ahead of them, leading a second horse. With every lurch and bounce, Rose was sure they would be tossed out onto the hard ground...and with each turn of the wheels they were being transported farther and farther away from help. Rose’s stomach seized with fear. Would she ever see Alf again? Or have the chance to make a real marriage with Seth?

“Try to keep calm,” Lavinia said. “It’s our only chance.”

In hindsight, Rose recognized how careless it was of them to visit the building site alone, with no menfolk and no weapon. Lavinia was new to the territory, but Rose should have known better. Before this, the talk of desperadoes in the area had been just that—talk. Obviously, talk she’d too easily dismissed. If something happened to her... She bit her lip against the scream threatening to rip her lungs apart. Seth would care for Alf. Lily would help. As would others. But not seeing her boy again? Merely thinking about it was beyond bearing.

“Surely Lily will figure out we’re in trouble,” Lavinia tried to reassure her.

“But their home is miles from the sheriff.”

“Shut your mouths,” the driver snarled at them. “No talk.”

Rose eyed Lavinia with alarm, but the older woman merely shrugged. How could she be so calm, Rose wondered.

After jolting down a rocky cow path, they approached a large rock formation, surrounded by cedars. Finally the buggy rolled to a halt. “Stay put.” The driver aimed his pistol straight at them.

“Lester, I’ll tie up the horses and then we can get on with it.”

Lester
. Rose hoped knowing their names might help apprehend them later, if she ever escaped their clutches.

Tex reappeared and unceremoniously lifted Lavinia from the buggy. Rose watched in horror as the man shoved her aunt to the ground and lashed her with a rope to a sturdy tree trunk. Before Rose could call out, Lester jabbed her with the gun. “Git out. No funny business. I’ve got you in my sights.”

Rose’s eyes darted around the scene, but no avenue of escape presented itself. She had no sooner hit the ground than Lester marched her to a tree adjacent to where Lavinia was secured. “You’re next.”

She felt the rough hemp biting into her wrists. This could not be happening. She couldn’t just sit here. “Sir, I pray you, don’t harm us. Take what you want, but leave us be. I have a small child who depends on me.”

Tex chortled. “As if we care.”

“You ladies think yer right fine.” Lester lifted Lavinia’s skirt above the ankle. “Fancy petticoats and all.”

“Don’t want no old woman,” Tex said. “But this here young one—”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Aunt Lavinia lifted her chin. “Take what you want from us, and then leave us be. Harming us will only get you in further trouble when you’re caught, as I’m sure you will be.”

“Oh, we’ll take what we want all right, starting with this.” Tex stepped forward and grabbed at Lavinia’s fur-lined cloak that had slipped from her shoulders when they tied her up.

“And this,” Lester grabbed at the ornate necklace, jerking it over Lavinia’s head.

“You may as well have the earrings, too,” Lavinia said. “Try not to wrench off my ears, sir.”

“What about you?” Tex faced Rose. “What you got?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie,” Tex hunkered beside Rose, then jerked her head back by her hair.

“Unhand her,” Lavinia shouted. “You have my jewels. If you leave us alone, I will tell you where you can find a significant sum of money.”

“Money?” Tex leaped to his feet. “We had a little something more in mind, but...” He and Lester stepped a few paces away to confer. Rose glanced at Lavinia, who seemed ready to face whatever would happen next.

The two returned and stood over them, Lester brandishing his weapon. “Where?” Tex asked.

“If you look in my reticule, you will find some gold pieces, but there is more hidden inside the well behind my house. Under cover of dark, you should have no trouble lifting the lid and finding the packet attached to the wall about four feet down.” Then she gave them directions to her residence. “Best go now, before we are discovered missing and a posse comes looking for us.”

The two looked at one another, as if debating whether to stay and do more harm or go. Greed won out. Tex doffed his hat. “Have a good night with the coyotes.” Then he guffawed. “All kind of critters come out in the dark.” Then he moved away to roll up their tent.

Lester approached and stood menacingly over them. “You say anything about who we are, we’ll come find you and it won’t be so pretty then.”

With that they unhitched the buggy horse and slapped him on the rump to shoo him off and then mounted their own horses and rode away. When the last sound of hoofbeats died, Lavinia muttered, “Good riddance.”

“Is there really money in the well?”

Somehow Lavinia managed a wry smile. “Certainly not. My hope is that in the effort to reach the nonexistent packet, one of them will fall into the water. Also my man may very well hear them and apprehend them. Anything was better than having them stay here and act on any more nefarious impulses.”

“We’re very far from Lily’s,” Rose said.

“Your sister is no fool. She will surmise something has happened to us and roust the men to come looking for us.”

“Oh, Aunt Lavinia, I pray it may be so.”

“Prayer is a good idea. If ever we needed God, it would be now.”

And so Rose began, tentatively at first and then more confidently. “Our Father who art in heaven...”

Their two voices, joined in supplication, gave Rose hope, especially when they came to the line “deliver us from evil.” When they finished, a silence fell, broken only by the rustling of the cedars in the wind.

“Now all we can do is wait.”

Rose knew they must remain alert and positive. “If anyone can find us it is Caleb.”

“And Seth.”

“How would he receive word that we are missing? He’s at the ranch,” Rose reminded her aunt.

“Caleb will think of something.”

“I’m cold. And I have my cloak, but they took yours.”

“Perhaps we should get our minds off our discomfort. I think now might be a good time for me to tell you why your Alf is so important to me.” Lavinia paused a long while, as if gathering her thoughts. “Mine has not been an altogether happy life. Louis and I were not able to have children. To compensate, I plunged into the whirlwind of St. Louis society. I distanced myself from other people’s children, even convinced myself that I did not like children. In some ways, I felt isolated from the experiences of other women. It was only when Lily came to visit and I saw her courage and her love for Caleb that I was able to permit a small chink in my armor.”

“So it must have disturbed you to see me, a spinster, being presented with the gift of a child,” Rose murmured.

“At first, it seemed unfair that I should’ve been denied what God blessed you with. But then...then little Alf wrapped himself around my heart and Mattie endeared her sweet self to me. It came as a shock to me to realize that I could let down my guard and enjoy my great-niece and—nephew. That I wanted to.”

“Thank you for telling me that. Your story helps me because there was a time when I was envious of Lily. She had a loving husband and a precious daughter. I had neither. It was especially the lack of a child that broke my heart.”

“And that, I suspect, explains Bertha Britten’s poisonous reactions. Perhaps, she, too, longs for a child she can never have.”

Rose let her aunt’s words sink in before replying. “I must exercise forgiveness rather than judgment.”

“A difficult but important lesson in life, my dear.” Aunt Lavinia struggled against her bonds and turned slightly toward Rose. “Now you have not only a child but a loving husband.”

“A husband, at any rate.”

“Child, whatever are you saying? That man adores you.”

Rose swallowed nervously. “He has never told me so.”

“I’ve noticed something about your Seth. Words do not come easily to him, but there are other ways to say ‘I love you.’ Through actions, Rose. Perhaps you need to spend some time thinking about the many ways Seth has demonstrated love. Don’t fault him for not uttering the words.”

Rose couldn’t answer. Her mind was flooded with examples—Seth spending time with her on the porch, inventing excuses to come see Alf, complimenting her on her cooking, praying for a sick Alf when she could not and accompanying her to Council Grove. But most important? Proposing marriage in the attempt to save Alf for her. Her eyes filled with tears. How could she ever have doubted his devotion?