Turner's Vision (32 page)

The ladies also had curtains made for the two windows on the lower level of the house. There was a large main room with space for a large table and two benches. A fireplace and a cook stove lined the back wall, along with a dry sink and pantry. A fireplace stood along one wall, as well as a chair and wooden settee, which the ladies made pillows for. The farthest wall from the entrance was divided into two rooms. Claudia took the one which Micah had obviously slept in, while Henderson used the other one. A loft extended across the entire length of the house. Hank, Adam and Joey delighted in dividing it among themselves.

Once the crop was in the soil in good shape, Nathan took Hank and Henderson on a hunting expedition. He wanted to be sure both men knew how to hunt for meat until Micah returned so the small group wouldn’t starve.

Finally, the day arrived when Laura and Nathan needed go home. They assured Claudia they’d be back in the fall for a week during the harvest. Since the harvest would come sooner at this higher altitude, Nathan said he could help them get their crop in successfully before seeing to his own.

Claudia waved as Laura and her family disappeared into the trees, hating the tears she was so frequently shedding these days. She felt Hank’s arm come softly around her shoulder and hug her gently.

“They’ll be back,” was all he said.

“I know. I can’t seem to control my feelings these days.” She wiped her eyes dry.

“Mr. Cantrell said you was going to cry a lot and get em…em…” Joey faltered.

“Emotional,” Adam finished for him.

“Yeah, emotional. But we was to be extra nice to you and it would help.”

“He also said you had to take lots of naps.” Adam explained to her.

“Then I think this would be a good time for one of those naps.” Claudia turned a smile on all of them. “It might help with this emotional problem, too.”

“I’m going to take the boys down to look a little closer at the mustangs.” Hank hopped off the porch with both boys on his heels.

“Not too close,” she warned.

“Would you like me to stay close by, Claudia?” Henderson stood beside her, watching the boys from the top step of the porch.

“I think, Robert, those boys could all use a man with them right now—even Hank. I’m going to go take a nap like they suggested. Go on.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I know how much you’ve wanted to live in the west. Go enjoy the farm. I’ll be just fine.”

She watched him jog out after the others, smiling at how much like the little boys he really was. She turned into the house and headed for the large quilt covered bed in her room. She pulled one of the old used pillows close, cuddled around it and inhaled the cedar and pine fragrance of the cabin. She let the tears flow, releasing the tension the previous weeks had placed on her.

Where are you, Micah? Don’t you know how much I need you? Please come home soon.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Micah stopped the buckskin at the rise just before his valley. He reached into his saddlebag and took out the sealed envelope, fingering Claudia’s writing on it as he’d done every night for the last month.

Micah
.

It was his only link to Claudia and the boys, except for his memories. He glanced at the afternoon sky. He only had another hour of winding through the forest before he would be home.

Home.

Somehow, he now thought of home as a town house in crowded Washington, D.C., filled with the sound of little boys’ laughter. Home was a big feather bed and the soft, warm body of his wife snuggled up to him as he slept. Home was sitting on a damp pine bough in the Georgia forest, talking in earnest with a son he could never claim. Home could never again be a lone cabin in the isolated mountains of Colorado in the dead of winter.

The last two months had nearly killed him. He’d arrived back in the capital, and headed straight for the town house, only to find it deserted. Claudia had packed up many of her things and taken the boys away. No one knew where they’d gone. She hadn’t gone to Cain at the war department like he’d asked her to do. Cain, Simon and Kelly helped him search the city. No trace of her, the boys or Henderson was found.

Finally in a last-ditch effort, he went to Baltimore to see if Neil had delivered the divorce papers like he’d asked. Neil and Beth explained they’d visited Claudia right after his visit. Both said she was highly upset over his high handedness in ending the marriage. Beth was quite clear in her disappointment in his actions.

“How could you just leave without even explaining to her why?” Beth had held nothing in reserve when she released her wrath upon him. “Do you know how lonely it is for a woman to live a life without a man? Then you sweep her off her feet, show her how nice it is to have someone to lean on, only to leave her alone once again? Do you know how she must hurt right now?”

“I do,” was the simple answer he gave.

For he did know. He knew all too well how she felt. Finding her gone had ripped out his heart and left a hole bigger than any bullet he’d ever received.

“You should be horsewhipped for treating her like that, Micah Turner.”

“Beth,” Neil cautioned his wife from his seat behind his desk. “I think Micah knows how angry you are right now. But what he needs is our help.”

“No.” She shook her head and walked away from him.

“Beth,” Neil implored from his seat.

“We promised, Neil. I won’t break a promise to her. She’s had too many of them broken in her life. Just give him the letter like she instructed you to do. You’re acting as her lawyer now, not his.”

“She left a letter for me?” Micah’s empty soul filled with hope. “You know where she is? Are they all right?”

“Micah…” Neil began, removing a sealed letter from his desk drawer.

“You promised, Neil.” Beth whisked the letter from her husband’s grasp.

“Beth, I have to know where they are.” Micah was near to throwing himself to his knees. “They could be in great danger.”

“Micah, if you want the letter, you may have it.” Beth brought the sealed letter to wave in his face. “But on two conditions.”

“If this will tell me where they are, I’ll promise you anything, Beth.” He reached out to grab it, but she pulled it away. He looked at Neil to warn the man he was losing his patience.

“First, no more questions about her whereabouts. They’re all fine, and that’s all you need to know right now.” Beth looked him in the face just as his old mammy used to, expecting him to give his word of honor. She had him right where she wanted, knowing that once a southern man gave his word, he was honor-bound to keep it.

“Yes, I agree,” he bit out.

“And secondly, I want your word you won’t open this until you are one hour away from your cabin.”

“What? You can’t mean that, Beth! My cabin is in Colorado. I have to be here to protect them.”

“I’m perfectly aware where your cabin is, sir. I want your word as a gentleman.”

Micah looked at Neil, who only shrugged his shoulders in mute sympathy. “Some friend you are, Neil. Remind me to shoot you the next time I see you.” Micah held out his hand to Beth. “I promise.”

“Good.” She handed him the letter. “Now, get on your way. I hate to see a man suffer. The sooner you get to that cabin, the sooner you’ll know what she has to say.”

* * * * *    

Micah’s fingers ran over the crisp, elegant handwriting in the afternoon sunlight filtering through the trees. The hope in his soul lay at the wayside.

Claudia would never forgive him. How could she? Beth had been right four weeks ago in Baltimore. He should be horsewhipped. He’d treated his wife badly, assuming what he thought best for Claudia wasn’t necessarily what she thought was best. He’d trusted his visions, forgetting to trust her.

Claudia was a warm, caring, intelligent woman. Between the two of them, they could’ve come up with a way to protect her from Gibson. But now, she was alone, and there was nothing he could do to warn her.

If this letter told him to stay out of her life, he would. He’d stay away from her and the boys once he tracked them down and ended Gibson’s threat to them. Then he’d walk away.

He opened the seal. There he found the torn remnants of his divorce papers, and two written lines on the outer sheet.

Come home to your cabin, Micah.

We all miss you.

Micah read the lines again. And yet again, letting their meaning and the meaning of the ripped legal documents sink into his brain. She was there, only one hour away and she wanted him to come home.

He set the buckskin into motion and wove his way haphazardly through the trees in his haste to get home.

She was there and she was his.

When he entered the clearing he stopped to take in the sight before him. His cabin was still there, and up on the hillside were his mustangs, but those were the only things that remained the same from the last time he’d ridden out of the valley. Several cows grazed near his horses. Between him and the house a garden grew, covering more than ten acres.

They were here. And they’d been busy.

Micah squinted out over the land, unable to see anyone stirring. Where was everyone? Then he saw smoke coming from the cabin. He set the buckskin toward the house, around the knee high corn and the rest of the vegetables. At the rail, he stopped to tie his mount and unsaddle him. Once the saddle sat on the rail, he unbridled the weary animal, brushed his coat and slapped him on the rump to send him off to graze.

He knew he was stalling. He wanted to get his nerves under control before he saw Claudia again. Her letter said he was welcome.

Obviously she planned to stay awhile, but what if it were only temporary? What if she could never forgive him?

Damn, he hated this uneasiness. If she planned to leave him, then he’d give her the chance now and get it over with. He steeled himself on his past experiences, knowing family had let him down before and they would probably do so again.

He stepped onto the porch and opened the door. He looked around the inside of the cabin, expecting to be rushed by two little boys. The house was empty except for Claudia. She stood on the other side of the room, her slender back to him. He watched the evening light play on her long, russet hair hanging down over her shoulders. He wanted to rush over and take her in his arms, but was afraid of the pain he’d find there.

“Hello, Micah.” She didn’t turn around.

“Hello, Claudia.” He rubbed his big hands on his legs, trying to dry their sudden dampness. “Where are the boys?”

“They’re down at Laura and Nathan’s visiting for a while.” She still didn’t turn around.

“Claudia, how did you get here?”

“By train, of course. Then Nathan and Laura helped us move up here. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, no. Of course not.” He rubbed his hands across his beard. Why wouldn’t she look at him? Did she hate him that much? “Claudia, please look at me.”

Slowly she turned around to face him, tears running unchecked down her face.

He looked at those beautiful, whiskey colored eyes, that sweet face. Then his gaze dropped to take in her slender shoulders and the Colt she had aimed at his midsection.

That didn’t surprise him as much as the round belly just below her weapon.

“You’re carrying,” was all he could say as he stood there, staring at the evidence.

“That’s right, mountain man. You’re going to be a father again.”

“Little one, I didn’t know.” He started toward her, but stopped when she pulled back on the hammer of the pistol.

“Sit down, Micah. I have a few things to say to you, and I want to be very sure you hear every one of them.”

“Okay.” He hesitantly moved back from her to sit on the long bench. Once he was seated, he sat back to await the verdict she was about to pronounce.

She was leaving. He knew it.

It was the punishment he deserved. Nothing had ever worked out for him. Every time he tried to claim the prize, it was pulled out of his grasp. That prize was a loving family.

Micah braced himself for what was about to come. He might survive losing her. He doubted it. Once she was gone, he’d let it kill him, but he wouldn’t let her know it now. She deserved to unload her anger on him and he’d take it like a man.

Claudia stood watching the emotions play across her husband’s face. She knew what he was thinking. Instead of letting it soften her to his cause, she used his doubt to fire her anger. She had five months of anger, frustration, loneliness, and morning sickness to take out of his hide. She intended to get her just compensation.

“Do you know what happened two weeks after I awoke to find you gone? No? I answered my door to find Nathan’s brother, Neil, and his wife on my doorstep, delivering divorce papers for me to sign.
Divorce papers
.” Claudia leveled the gun right between Micah’s eyes.

“Not only did you leave me without a word, but you decided I’d be better off without you. Guess what? We’re still married. I ripped the papers in two. Then you know what I did? I asked Neil to see to the selling of my home. I asked him to wire Nathan to meet me at the station in Denver. Then I packed up the boys and what possessions I really wanted to keep, and boarded the train.

“Do you know what happened on that train? No? I spent two weeks throwing up. I was sick through eight states and thousands of miles. And I thought of you every inch of the way.” She lowered the gun from between Micah’s eyes to between his legs, zeroing in on his precious manhood.

“I thought of you with every bout of morning sickness, because you were the reason I was so ill. I thought of you because you gave me something I never thought I’d have—a baby. I thought of you because I was scared to death you wouldn’t come back and know we’d created a life together.” The gun slipped down to point at the floor. Claudia’s voice caught on a small whimper, tears once again filling her eyes.

“I thought of you because I didn’t know if I’d ever get a chance to tell you how much I love you and want to spend my life with you.”

The tears were now streaming down her face, the gun lying limply in her hands.