Authors: Cynthia Woolf
“They was only going a little way and Martha was with her. Missus Ella said they’d be alright and I agreed with her. So I stayed to do my chores.”
Nathan’s chest constricted. “Come with me. I need help onto my horse.” He set off at a run for the house where Seth helped him on the horse. He didn’t explain anything, just kicked the horse and galloped down the road. Toward Ella. Toward his heart.
* * *
Ella walked into the kitchen where Martha was putting away the last of the dinner dishes.
“Get your coat. We’re going to the Atwoods and maybe then on to town. I need some more material for baby clothes.” She pressed her hand against her stomach. Clearly pregnant now at about five months, she wondered when she would feel the baby kick. The doctor said it would be any time now, said it took longer for first time mothers.
Martha put the last plate in the cupboard and said, “Let me get Seth so he can come with us.”
“That’s not necessary. You’re with me. I think Nathan’s being a little over protective.”
“I don’t know,” she hedged.
“Come on, Martha. Seth’s got chores that need to be done here. There’s no need for him to be tagging along with us.”
“Well, I guess it’ll be alright. It’s not far and we can always come home if you get tired.”
“Tired!? It’s a rest not to be doing housework and cooking for eighteen people every day. I hate to admit it, but this has been like a vacation since the men went after the mustangs.”
Martha chuckled. “It has been, hasn’t it? Don’t tell Nathan. He’s probably missing you somethin’ fierce.”
“I doubt that. Nathan doesn’t love me. If I wasn’t pregnant—”
“Now stop right there. I told ya before. Of course, Nathan loves you. Don’t ya see the way he acts, touching ya all the time, guiding you from the room with his hand on yer waist. Kissing ya every time he comes in, no matter who’s here. Sitting with ya every night after supper rather than go to his office like he used ta.”
“He’s just being polite and possessive of me because of the baby. He doesn’t love me. He told me so.”
Martha rolled her eyes. “He’s scared. He don’t wanna be hurt again.” She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side. “And I don’t suppose you love him either. Ya just blush every time he looks at cha and you just sit there with yer heart in yer eyes every time he’s in the room.”
Ella sucked in a breath. “I don’t.”
Martha grinned. “Ya do. You two are the most stubborn and, obviously blind people I know. Everyone else sees it.”
Ella could believe her ears. Martha and Sarah had both told her that Nathan loved her but he insisted he didn’t believe in love. How could he love her if he didn’t believe it possible? Her heart quickened and for some reason just thinking about him made her a little breathless.
“Does it really show that much?”
“Almost since the day you got here.”
“Oh, Martha. What am I going to do? What if you’re wrong? What if he can’t let himself love me?”
“First we’re going to get in the buggy and get to the Atwoods. Then you have to convince him to let go. Let go of the past, of the hurt, of the fear and to live for the future with you and that little one growin’ in yer belly.”
“I don’t know how.”
They walked out to the front of the house. Seth had brought the buggy around and was holding the team in place waiting for Ella and Martha. He helped Ella in, while Martha hopped up on the other side.
Martha picked up the reins. “Thank ya Seth. We’ll be back soon.” She slapped the reins on the horses, not waiting for an answer from Seth.
After a few minutes, she said, “Talk to him, Ella. Yer both smart and you’ll figure it out.”
Ella teared up. She seemed to do that a lot more lately. She knew it was the changes because of the baby, Sarah had told her about them, but that didn’t make her like it any better. “I can’t. I can’t risk the possible rejection.”
“Well, knowing Nathan, yer gonna have to make the first move.”
She took a deep breath and the tears abated. “I could make a special supper for just the two of us and serve it in our room.”
Martha nodded and then grinned. “That’s a good start. But with you two, you might never get to supper. Maybe Sarah has some better ideas.” She slapped the butts of the horses. “Giddy up.”
They turned onto the road leading to the Atwoods house. Just a couple of minutes and they’d be there and then she could grill Sarah. John and Sarah obviously loved each other, but it couldn’t have always been that way. Sarah was a mail order bride just like Ella, yet somehow they’d fallen in love.
Just as they pulled up in front of the house, the buggy gave a loud creak and dropped to the ground. As it hit, Ella and Martha were thrown from the vehicle.
“Ella! Martha! John! Come quick.” Sarah shouted as she ran down the porch stairs to the buggy.
“I’m fine,” said Martha. She got up off the ground and dusted herself off. “How’s Ella?”
“I think I’m okay.” She had landed on her hands and knees. She rolled over, sat in the dirt and took off her gloves. There were abrasions on her palms, but no blood. Her leather gloves had protected her hands. The same couldn’t be said for her knees. Her dress was torn and her knees both had cuts from the rocks.
Sarah stopped by Ella and looked at her knees. “They’re not bad. Can you get up? Here let me help you? How is the baby?” She extended her hand to Ella and pulled her to her feet.
“The baby is fine. What in the world just happened?”
John had come running when Sarah yelled. He looked at the buggy. “The axle broke. If this had happened while you were moving along the road, you both could have been killed.”
Ella’s breath caught. She remembered the carriage accident in New York. But that couldn’t have happened here. MacGregor couldn’t be here. Unless it wasn’t MacGregor that tried to kill her in New York. She couldn’t think about that right now.
She turned at the sound of the pounding of horses hooves. There was Nathan bearing down on them at a full gallop.
“Ella!” he called, sliding to a stop in back of the broken carriage. “Ella, are you all right?” He ran to her and wrapped her in his embrace. “Are you hurt?”
“No. But you are,” she pulled back from him. “Oh, my God, what happened to you?”
“It’s nothing.” He hugged her again as much as he could with one good arm and one braced with tree branches. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“When you broke your arm?” She hugged him back, very glad and very surprised to see him.
“No. When I saw the sawdust.”
“Sawdust?”
Nathan looked over at John who was examining the axle. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me the axle wasn’t cut.”
John shook his head. “Can’t do it. It was definitely cut, but not all the way through. It was meant to break while traveling. Whoever did this was trying to kill someone.”
All the women sucked in a breath, stunned at what John said.
“Damn,” said Nathan, “I’d hoped for Ella’s sake I was wrong.”
Sarah spoke up. “Everyone come inside. I need to get Ella cleaned up and we need to do some talking, by the sounds of it.”
They walked inside. Nathan put his good arm around Ella’s shoulders and she put her arm around his waist. Neither of them wanted to let the other go. For Ella, she needed reassurance that he was okay.
They all went to the kitchen. Bertha was already there. When she saw everyone come in and the state of Ella’s dress she said, “I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long afternoon.”
Sarah got a basin of warm water, some wash cloths and a towel. She cleaned Ella’s knees and hands with lye soap. It stung even though Ella was sure she was trying to be gentle, but when Sarah brought out the iodine, Ella stopped her.
“You are not putting that stuff on me. It stings like hell,” she said cursing like she’d heard Nathan do. “We’ve got some salve we’ll put on at home.”
“Horse liniment,” said Nathan absently.
“Horse liniment! You put horse liniment on me?”
“It worked didn’t it? And it didn’t hurt did it?”
“Well, yes it worked and no, it didn’t hurt, but the thought—”
“Then don’t complain unless you want the iodine.”
She hushed, but was not happy.
They sat around a huge, rectangular oak table, big enough to seat twenty people. John and his family ate with his employees, just as she and Nathan did. They rarely used the dining room unless they had guests. Even then it was only because the kitchen table simply couldn’t hold any more people.
“Nathan, you start. What happened to you? You’re a mess,” said John.
“The strap on my saddle tore. I went one way and my horse went another.”
“Oh, Nathan, I’m so sorry,” said Ella.
“Honey, it’s not your fault.” He squeezed her hand and smiled at her.
That just made it worse. “But it is.” She started to cry, unable to keep the tears at bay.
“Ella, honey, calm down.” Nathan sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay, I’m fine.”
She pushed away from him enough to look up at his face. His beloved face, now covered with scratches and bruises and a cut on his forehead. “You’re not fine. Your arm is broken and you’ve a wound on your forehead, which needs cleaning. Now.”
“Not now. It’s fine.”
“Yes. Now. I need to do it now. I’ll explain everything while I do it.”
Sarah brought her some fresh water and towels.
Ella took the bandage off and gasped. “Nathan. This is terrible. How were you able to ride?”
“I had more important things to worry about. You and this baby.” He rubbed his hand slowly across her belly, but looked up at her.
She smiled at his possessiveness of the baby.
Ella started talking as she cleaned his head wound. “You all know I was in a carriage accident. It’s what left me with these scars. It wasn’t an accident. The axle broke just like the one today, in almost the exact same place. Except we were moving at a good clip, Father was late for a meeting. The horses dragged the carriage, tearing it apart and us with it. Father was killed. After our investigator’s findings, Joshua and I knew someone was trying to kills us.”
She stopped, her mouth dry. After wrapping a new bandage around Nathan’s head, she picked up her cup and took a large swallow of her now cold coffee.
“We thought it was Father’s former business partner, Angus MacGregor. Thought he wanted us out so he could get back into the business, but now I’m sure it wasn’t him. He’s not here. He couldn’t have cut the axle and someone else wouldn’t have known to cut it in the exact same place. But…”
“Daniel could.” Nathan finished for her.
She nodded and broke into tears again.
Nathan took her hand and pulled her onto his lap.
“I brought him to the ranch, into our home. He would have had plenty of opportunity to saw through the axle.”
“And cut the strap on my saddle.”
Ella gasped.
“But none of that is your fault. You had no way of knowing.”
“You never said the strap was cut,” said John.
“Coffee’s done,” interrupted Bertha. “Who wants some?”
“Serve everyone, Bertha. We’re all going to need it,” said Sarah.
“Don’t you see? It’s all my fault. I let him—”
“No, you didn’t,” said Nathan. “Daniel followed you here. Don’t you see? He waited until he
happened
to run into you. Then he stayed just long enough for his resemblance to your father to trigger your memories. He knew you’d come find him.”
“You knew something was wrong. I just didn’t want to see it. I miss Joshua so much, I thought finding Daniel was a God send,” she wept.
Nathan didn’t say anything. He just wrapped her in his arms as best he could and let her cry. It was the sweetest thing he could have done. Finally, she got a hold of herself and stopped crying. Now she was just mad.
“You don’t believe that he went back to New York do you?” she asked Nathan.
“No. I think he’ll want to make sure his handiwork was successful. I’m sure he didn’t stay at the Astor House either, but if he’s not in Golden then he’s in Denver. He’s too much a city boy to be camping anywhere near.”
“Can’t we can get the sheriff to search the area hotels?” asked Sarah.
“In Golden it would work, there are still few enough of them, but if he went to ground in Denver, like William did, we won’t find him,” said John.
Ella watched a shudder pass through Sarah and she moved close to John. “Who’s William?”
“William was Sarah’s cousin. He was obsessed with her and when he couldn’t have her he decided to kill her.”
“He threatened MaryAnn, too,” added Sarah. “John had to kill him.”
“I wish I could kill Daniel,” muttered Nathan.
“I can understand that,” said Ella. “I never thought I’d feel that way about anyone, but I wish I could kill him, too. He killed Father and now he’s tried to kill you. If he’s not stopped he’ll eliminate everyone I love.”