Turner's Vision (36 page)

“Let her go, Gibson. It’s me you want.” Micah ignored the tears in his wife’s eyes, willing her to trust him. He saw the movement from the corner of the house, near the outhouse. If he could just distract Gibson long enough…

“But that’s just the point.” Gibson fired a second shot. This one tore into Micah’s leg, bringing him down to the ground. “I want you to suffer. I figure knowing you can’t stop me from killing her will be the greatest torture for the mighty Micah Turner. No man is more vulnerable than when the thing he loves most is threatened. Just like the dream you took from me. That raw power was the thing I loved most. For that, you have to pay.”

Micah struggled to his feet. A third shot rang out, followed by a woman’s scream. Micah’s other arm was hit on the top of his shoulder. He remained vertical only by sheer determination.

“Please, you have to let him go,” Claudia begged.

“Dear woman,” her captor sneered into her ear, “your husband is going to die. But don’t worry. I plan to leave one bullet for you. That way you’ll both go to your graves together.”

In that brief moment, Claudia looked up at her husband. He looked her straight in the eye and winked. She saw the gun come up to take aim once more. Lifting her foot, she brought her boot down into the instep of her captor and threw her body sideways.

A final shot rang out.

Claudia and Gibson fell to the ground in a heap.

Micah hobbled forward, just as Claudia managed to wiggle out from under Gibson’s inert from. She rushed over to support her husband, her tears mixing with his blood on the front of his shirt.

“Are you all right?” he asked, squeezing her up into his side, his weight almost toppling them both back down to the ground.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. But you have to get inside.” His weight was suddenly lifted from her shoulders by Nathan and Henderson. “You’ve lost too much blood.”

“I’m all right, love,” he whispered, fainting onto the two men’s shoulders.

“Oh, my God.” Claudia gasped, her hands flying to her face as he fainted. She surged forward, determinedly taking charge of the situation and giving orders. “Take him in to the kitchen table, Nathan. Doctor Dawson will have room to move around in there. Tom, could you and your brother get us a couple of buckets of water? Laura? I’m going to need something to bandage him with.”

People scurried in different directions while the good doctor followed the men into the cabin. Claudia started onto the porch to follow them, then stopped. She turned on her heel, walking over to the corner of the cabin.

Hank stood there, listlessly holding his Colt and staring at the dead body in front of the porch.

Claudia placed both her hands on the side of his face, forcing him to look at her.

“Hank, listen to me,” she said very carefully. “He deserved to die. He was totally evil. He was systematically using your father for target practice, and you had to stop him. Killing for the sake of enjoyment is wrong. But sometimes a man has no choice. You had no choice. Your father needed you and you did what you had to. Do you understand me?”

Hank nodded his head, his eyes slowly focusing on her face. The gun dropped from his hand. He threw his arms around her, hugging her close so no one would see his tears. She held him for a few moments, knowing he needed the release, then drew herself back.

“I need to help the doctor work on your father. But I need you to do something for me. See those two boys over there?” She pointed him to Adam and Joey, who stood staring at the cabin. “They need something to keep them busy. They’re worried about the only father they’ve ever known. Could you take them to hunt for a willow tree? I need some bark to make tea for your father.”

“I think I saw one, way out past the mustangs, Claudia.” Hank gave her an embarrassed, faltering grin. “Far enough to keep two worried little boys busy.”

“Not too far,” she said, hurrying back to the cabin.

At the door, she turned to watch the three walk off. Then she saw Dave Burnside and Frank Jensen drag the dead body off into the woods.

It was finally over. Now they could get on with their lives.

Before entering the cabin she said a small prayer that God would grant Micah a chance to live that life.

* * * * *    

Later that night, Micah lay in their bed, resting comfortably with Claudia beside him, holding his hand. Doctor Dawson pronounced him one very lucky man, and Gibson a very precise shot.

“Apparently your great size was very much an asset to you, Micah.” The doctor put his cleaned instruments back into his bag.

“How so, Doc?” Micah squeezed his wife’s hand.

“Seems your large muscle mass protected your bones. The shoulder injury was more show than actual damage. The bullet barely grazed across the top. In your arm wound, the bullet passed completely through the muscle of your triceps. Even though the bullet to your leg lodged in the calf muscles, it missed the bones themselves by less than an inch. On a man of average height and weight, the bullets would’ve shattered bone each time.

“You’re a lucky man, Micah. And I believe there are three young people outside who want to see you. That beautiful wife of yours has kept them all at bay while we stitched you up.”

“Doc, before you bring them in, I think you should take a look at Claudia. That was some fall she took out there. You know what I mean. Just to be sure everything is still all right with the baby and all.” Micah let go of her hand so the doctor could help her off the bed. “I’d also like to talk to Dave Burnside a moment before the boys come in. So, why don’t you take her into Henderson’s room to check her?”

“Why do you want to talk with Mr. Burnside?” Claudia eyed him suspiciously.

“He’s the county judge, love.” Micah simply stated. “I have some business to discuss with him.”

“Business.” Claudia’s hope sank and her anger rose just as quickly. “You nearly bled to death this afternoon, Micah Turner. But you go ahead and take care of your
business
, if it’s so important to you to be rid of us. I couldn’t care less.”

With that, she stomped out of the room, leaving the doctor to follow her. In the cabin’s main room she stopped in front of David Burnside.

“The big idiot wants to talk business with you,
Judge.
And I hope it makes him happy. Laura, could you come with the doctor and me while he checks the baby?” she asked, then stomped off to Henderson’s room.

“That’s one angry woman, Micah.” Dave shook his head, closing the door behind him. “What the hell did you say to make her that angry?”

“It’s a simple misunderstanding on her part, believe me, Dave.” Micah smiled up at the older rancher. “I have something I want you to do for me, and she thinks she knows what it is. When she finds out what I want to do, she’ll be a different woman.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive. Now here’s what I want.” Micah listed several things, which Burnside wrote down.

* * * * *    

“Claudia, the baby sounds fine,” Doctor Dawson announced, listening to her belly with a funny instrument strapped to his forehead. “Have you felt it move or kick since the fall earlier?”

“Many times.” Claudia fastened her skirt then sat up with Laura’s aid. “Everything looks fine?”

“I’d say you should spend some time off of your feet the next few days to be sure. But I think you’re both doing well.”

“Nathan and I are planning to stay a few more days, dear,” Laura reassured her. “I want to be sure all three of you are fine before we head back down the mountain. And Nathan is hoping to help Henderson with the harvest, since Micah won’t be able to.”

“Well, after Micah finishes his business with the judge, it probably won’t matter anyway, Laura.” Claudia stood by the window, looking out into the dark night.

“Whatever do you mean?” Laura put her arm around Claudia’s shoulders.

“The only business Micah could have with the judge this soon after Gibson’s death, would be to follow through with the divorce.”

“Oh, Claudia, you can’t believe that.” Laura turned her into her shoulder, knowing the truth her friend wasn’t able to see.

“I do. And we’ll probably be leaving with you first thing in the morning,” Claudia said dejectedly.

A knock sounded on the door.

Nathan opened it. “Are you ready? Micah wants to see us all in your room.”

Claudia took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

She felt like a condemned man going to the gallows. She walked into their bedroom, standing at the foot of the bed, looking Micah straight in the eye, determined to keep her dignity no matter how much he humiliated her.

“Nathan, would you ask Hank, Adam and Joey to come in?” Micah directed his friend.

When they arrived, he motioned for Hank to come stand beside him.

“First, I want to thank you for saving myself and Claudia, Hank.” He shook his son’s hand. “Then I want everyone to know that this is my son, Henry Turner. And before witnesses, I claim him as such. I hope that will be satisfactory with you, Hank.” He looked up at the young man to see what his reaction would be.

“I’m proud to be your son, Micah.” He shook his hand, then leaned down to hug his father.

“And I’m proud to have a son like you.”

“Especially one who can shoot so good,” added Joey.

“That’s true,” Micah joined the room’s laughter.

Claudia continued to watch him in silence.

He motioned Adam and Joey over to the bed. “I know you two think of Claudia as your mother, boys. But since legally you’re orphans, I’d like to remedy that situation if it’s okay with you two?”

“I guess so, Micah. Except…” Joey hedged his question.

“Except what, little fella?” Micah asked, a sudden fear in his own heart that the boys might not want to be adopted.

“Except what does remedy mean? It doesn’t mean we have to take medicine does it?” He eyed the doctor suspiciously.

“No.” Micah laughed again. “What it means is I’d like to fix that problem.”

“How?”

“By adopting you both. Would that be okay with you?’

The boys exchanged looks and said, “Sure,” simultaneously.

Claudia’s heart skipped several beats. Not only was Micah going to divorce her, he was going to take her family away from her. Could the earth just open up and swallow her?

“Claudia, did you hear me?” Micah asked from his spot in the bed.

“Um…no, I didn’t,” she stammered, trying to think of what he’d just said.

“I asked if it would be all right with you if we adopted the boys as our own sons?”

“Ours?”

“Come here.” He held out his hand. She walked over, sitting on the side of the bed and taking it. “They’ll always be our sons, no matter what, but I want there to be no legal question that they’re members of our family.”

“Our family? You didn’t talk to the judge about a divorce?”

“I learned several things in those months away from you.” He brought her hand to his lips for a brief kiss. “First, is that I love you.”

“You love me?” Hope sprang in her heart.

“More than my own life.”

She watched his eyes soften, moisture filling them as he blinked a few times. Memories of how close they both came to losing each other that afternoon flooded her mind. She blinked back her own tears. “What else did you learn?”

“That you and I, Hank, Adam, Joey, Henderson,” he laid his hand on her belly, “and this baby are a family worth fighting for. And finally, that the divorce idea was a stupid one on my part.”

“Yes, it was.” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she leaned down to kiss him with all the joy in her heart. “But the adoption is a great idea. How long until it’s final?”

“We just need your signatures on this piece of paper, then I’ll file it in Denver next week.” Dave handed her a paper and pen.

“Then I say let’s make it legal. We’ll soon have the biggest family in the whole state.” Micah hugged his wife, then smiled at his friends and family, knowing peace was finally his.

For most of his life, he’d been lost, adrift in an ocean of loneliness. No family that he could really call his own. No one to whom he could trust his heart. Then one small, feisty woman dropped into his life, and all that changed. Claudia had rescued him from that existence and set him on a course for happiness.

EPILOGUE

He was watching again.

This time Micah watched the fine sheen of perspiration form on Claudia’s upper lip as she concentrated on pushing out their child. For hours she worked, trying to control her body’s painful attempts to give birth.

She’d gone into labor earlier that day. But finally, after ten hours, she felt the need to push. Now, they were beginning to see the round head of the baby emerge through the birth canal.

“One more push, Claudia.” Doctor Dawson held a hand up to guide the head out, then the shoulders, and finally the body of their baby.

“It’s a girl,” he said as he rubbed a blanket over her face and back, eliciting a cry. He tied off and cut the cord, then handed her over to Laura, who continued to dry her off with a blanket to keep her warm.

“A girl!” Micah hugged his wife. His daughter’s screams filling the room. “What are we going to do with a girl? All we know are boys.”

“Don’t worry, mountain man,” Claudia teased through her tears. “I’m sure we’ll figure out something. What are we going to call her?”

“You did all the work, little one. Whatever you want will be fine with me.” Micah leaned over to kiss his wife gently on the lips. The work she’d just put out to make him a father once again awed him.

“I think Honor would be nice.”

“Honor?”

“Yes, my husband. Honor. Because she was conceived by an honorable man.”

“Thank you.” He kissed her once more, words no longer able to pass by the knot in his throat.

“Your daughter, Claudia.” Laura handed the tiny baby to her parents. Then she and the doctor left them alone to admire her.

“Micah, I want you to know what you did for me tonight was wonderful.” Claudia smiled up at him with tears once again in her eyes after minutes of checking her daughter out, from her dark hair to her tiny toes. “I want you to know I love your gift and you for it.”