Once in a Blue Moon (43 page)

Melissa brows drew
together. “Yes, but...but what about...about...” her face erupted
in joy. “I can’t wait to get home!”

Richard gripped Melissa
tight and laughed.

Jessica grinned and
twirled in a circle. “Baths where we don’t have to heat water!”

“Showers!” added
Richard.

“Toilet paper,” Melissa
said reverently.

“The trampoline!” said
Jeremy.

“The refrigerator.
Someone to cook and clean!” Melissa grinned. “I’m giving Claudia a
raise when we get home!”

“Our jobs!” said
Richard.

“Our cars!” said
Melissa.

Jeremy grinned.
“School. Mom, I should get an awesome grade on my science
presentation, don’t you think?”

They all laughed.

Sudden fear showed in
Melissa’s face. “Richard! We have to get home tomorrow!”

“I know. Don’t worry.”
Coldness gripped his guts once more as he tried to keep his
expression steady. “We will.”

They had to.

So, this was it. They
were actually going home.

Suddenly cold, Melissa
wrapped her new shawl tightly around her shoulders, a gift from her
women friends, and scanned the cabin to make sure she had
everything. Their possessions, for lack of a better description,
had been stuffed into gunny sacks and lay on the floor near the
door. There wasn’t much.

Richard bounded up the
stairs and into the cabin. “Well, I got paid.” He tossed one of the
coins in his hand and the weak afternoon sunlight flashed gold
before he caught it.

Melissa held in a sigh
and refrained from shaking her head. It was too little, too late.
Since they weren’t headed to town, they wouldn’t even have a chance
to spend the money. “What are you going to do with it?”

His hand fisted over
the coins. “Keep it. I’m going to frame the coins and hang them in
the family room.” He glanced around the cabin and picked up the
gunny sacks. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Melissa joined
him and, at the door, paused and took one last look around. The bed
was made, the children’s bedding neatly folded on their cots. The
curtains were closed on the shelves, but opened at the windows. The
kerosene lantern buffed and on the center of the table. Everything
was neat and tidy. The cabin had been cleaned until it sparkled and
the next occupants would have no cause to complain.

Her throat tightened at
the thought of anyone but their family living there. This cabin had
been good to them. The cramped quarters had brought their family
closer than Melissa could have ever thought possible. “I can’t
believe we’re really leaving. Our former life feels like it was all
a dream and this feels like the reality now.”

Richard laid a hand on
her shoulder, his fingers flexing lightly. “Still want to go home?”
he teased.

Melissa grinned, and
thankfully, the feelings so close to the surface eased. She gave
him a light shove. “What are you waiting for? Let’s get out of
here.” After one last look around, Melissa followed him
outside.

All their friends were
there to see them off: Hannah, the widow, the Cowboy Wives, quite a
few ranch hands, and of course, Sully.

Her throat tightened
again, and her chest as well. She took a breath, determined not to
cry.

Sully’s dog went crazy
when he saw her, yipping and wagging his tail so hard his butt
danced as he worked his way toward her. Melissa pressed her
wobbling lips together and leaned over to pet the dumb animal, glad
to have something with which to occupy herself as she reined in her
wayward emotions.

After a moment,
composure restored, she looked into the smiling faces of her
friends. She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but she’d really
grown to love these people and this place. She swallowed, unable to
believe how hard it was to leave everyone. So much for her restored
composure.

Eyes burning, she
glanced down at Zeke again and dug her fingers into his black coat,
causing him to whimper in ecstasy. She wouldn’t cry; she refused to
cry.

Sully spoke up. “Well,
you going to stand there all day, or are we leavin’? You’ve got a
train to catch.”

Melissa laughed,
straightened, and gratefully felt her self-control return. Sully
was supposedly taking them to the train station two towns away,
since they’d let everyone believe they were going back east.

Amanda stepped forward
to give her a hug. “Promise you’ll write.”

Melissa nodded. “Of
course,” she choked out the words, along with a silent apology
because she knew she wouldn’t be able to contact any of them again.
But what else could she say?

Jessica and Jeremy
hugged their friends.

Sarah stepped forward
and gave Melissa a little cloth sack filled with cookies. “Be very
careful that these do not make you fat,” she reminded Melissa of
the day they met.

Everyone laughed.

Melissa took the
cookies and gave Sarah a hug, then Emily. When it was Hannah’s
turn, she hugged her close. “You are going to have a wonderful
life, you know that, right?”

Hannah pulled back to
wipe at eyes with a handkerchief and nodded, her breath
catching.

Finally, Melissa stood
in front of the widow, lifted her free arm and gave her a hug.

The old bat actually
hugged her back.

“Don’t forget your
promise,” reminded Melissa.

The widow actually
smiled, slightly wistful, her wrinkles digging a deep groove in the
corner of her eyes. “I would like nothing better than to find
myself with the need to keep my word.”

Richard finished
shaking hands and slapping backs, and helped Melissa up into the
back of Sully’s wagon before climbing in behind her.

With a click of his
tongue and a flick of the reins, Sully started the horse
moving.

They waved goodbye as
the wagon bounced away.

About half-a-mile down
the road, just before they went over the rise, Melissa tugged at
Sully’s sleeve. “Sully, stop here for a moment.”

Sully pulled on the
reins.

They all turned to look
back at the ranch.

The tears finally came.
She turned to Richard. “It was great, wasn’t it?”

Richard put his arm
around her. “Yes, it was.”

Jessica started to
cry.

Jeremy wiped at his
eyes.

Sully snorted. “Now,
none of that blubberin’ stuff. Not in my wagon.”

Melissa laughed and
rubbed Jessica’s back, then Jeremy’s. “Okay, now let’s go
home.”

Grumbling about bossy,
irritatin’ women, Sully signaled the horse to go again.

Melissa watched the
ranch until it was out of sight, and, lifting her eyes, noticed for
the first time the clouds in the sky.

Hours
later, Melissa’s neck hurt from looking up at the sky.
“
Nothing is happening
,” she whispered the words to Richard so the kids wouldn’t
hear.

“Give it some more
time.”

Like she had a choice,
Melissa despaired silently. They’d done everything right. Sully had
dropped them off long before sunset, so it was the right time. They
were on their property, so they were in the right place. And they
were supposed to be looking at the blue moon, but there was no moon
in sight, blue or otherwise.

The
clouds, which had been patchy all afternoon, were now a solid block
of dark fluff that had grown ever darker in the twilight sky until,
a few hours later, there was simply nothing to see. Not a star in
sight, let alone a moon. How were they supposed to get out of there
if they couldn’t even
see
the moon?

Melissa clutched her
shawl tightly against the chill, glanced at the kids and saw the
worry on their faces reflected in the lantern’s glow. She almost
wished Sully had stayed, after all. At least he’d be a distraction
to the kids. But he’d left soon after he’d dropped them off,
telling them he had no intention of getting sucked into their
nonsense. Not with his son coming home.

She
looked at the sky again, searching for a crack, a spot of
moonlight,
anything
, but there was nothing to be seen except endless dark
clouds. She shivered and for the first time allowed herself to
wonder what they would do if this didn’t work. If they didn’t go
back. Could she stay in this century?

She might not have a
choice.

She looked at Richard
and the kids and felt reassured. Everything would be all right as
long as they were together as a family.

But
she
really
,
really
wanted to go home.

Melissa reached out and
took hold of Jessica’s hand and gave her a squeeze.

“There!” Jeremy called
out excitedly, pointing.

Melissa quickly glanced
up. A small section of clouds glowed low in the sky for a moment,
then darkened once more.

“At least we know the
moon is there,” said Richard.

Melissa squelched her
irritation at his encouraging words.

She needed to support
him in keeping everyone’s spirits up. “Yes, we have all night. The
clouds have to clear sometime, right?” She tried to sound as if she
believed it.

In the weak lantern
light, Richard smiled at her and nodded approvingly. “Come on,
everyone, why the long faces? We’re going home tonight!”

Jessica looked dubious.
“What if we don’t get back?”

Richard looked up at
the sky. “Don’t worry, we will. What’s the first thing you want to
do when we get home?”

Jeremy jumped up.
“Order pizza!”

Jessica answered, more
subdued. “Watch a movie and eat candy bars.”

Melissa played along. “Take a bubble bath and read
People
magazine.” She
glanced up at the black sky, and flinched as a drop of rain hit her
on the forehead.

“It’s raining,” said
Jessica, her tone defeated.

Melissa turned to
Jeremy. “When did you say the next blue moon was?”

The lantern light
barely illuminated Jeremy’s worried features. “Three years from
now.”

Feeling sick, Melissa
lifted her head and more fat drops of rain hit her in the face. She
willed the clouds to part. “There’s no place like home, there’s no
place like home,” she whispered under her breath.

Jeremy turned to
Richard. “Dad, do you think the widow would hire us back?”

They
were not staying here
! She couldn’t stand
still one more moment. Melissa turned and climbed to the top of the
hill, knowing the view wouldn’t improve, but needing to do
something. She reached the crest just as lightening flashed,
illuminating Sully’s cabin and causing her to flinch. Going to high
ground probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do during a
storm.

Seconds later a loud,
ear-splitting, boom of thunder shook the air, quickly followed by a
noisy torrent of rain falling from the sky and hitting the
ground.

She was soaked and cold
in seconds. Perhaps they should make a dash for the cabin. But did
they dare go inside, out of the potential moonlight? It didn’t look
like they had a choice.

She turned to call
Richard and a black shape loomed up in front of her.

Instantly paralyzed, a
scream caught in her throat.

A rough, burlap sack
was thrown over her body, scratching her face and trapping her arms
as she was quickly hoisted over a brawny shoulder, knocking the
remaining air right out of her lungs.

* * *

She couldn’t believe
it! She’d actually been kidnapped! Terror beat at her, keeping the
same fast pace as the pounding of the horse’s hooves as she lay
face down over her kidnapper’s knees, a hand placed firmly in the
middle of her back. The air jounced out of her lungs with every
hammer of the animal’s striking feet.

Rain lashed at her
exposed calves, numbing them. She couldn’t breathe, and the smell
of wet gunny sack made her gag. She gulped helplessly, trying not
to vomit, trying to gasp in enough air to protest, to beg if she
had to, and especially to fight if she got the chance.

She
struggled again, trying to push away from the hard thighs
underneath her. “Please, let me go!” Defeat burned at her eyes. She
couldn’t even hear herself over the assaulting rain and crashing
hooves. Desperate, she gulped in air and screamed,
“
I have to get back to my
family
!
I can’t
be separated from my family
.
Please
!
Let me go!”

The horse briefly
soared, then landed hard, and Melissa gasped as the air surged out
of her again. Dizziness gripped her. She couldn’t pass out. She
wouldn’t! If she could just get her arms free, perhaps she could
defend herself.

She squirmed against
the tight, wet material, and the hand at her back pressed hard,
taking what little air she had left. She stopped moving, despair
rushing through her. When would they stop? Which direction were
they going? How would she ever get back to her family in time? What
if they left without her?

Melissa fell into a
numbed daze, and after what felt like an eternity, they finally
stopped and she was dragged off the horse and carried like an
infant.

She
struggled again; bowed her body and tried to buck away from the
hard chest as she sucked in a deep breath. “
Help me!
Somebody help me.
I’ve been
--”

She was hoisted over a
shoulder once more, the air effectively knocked out of her once
again.

Fear clawed at her
insides and she could feel her heart beating painfully in her
chest. Why was this happening? Did it have anything to do with the
blue moon?