Valle : Book 2 of the Heku Series (17 page)

Emily waited for almost two hours before she heard her name called. She stood up and turned to her cousin, Pat, and smiled. Pat froze on the sidewalk and looked over her, and then grinned.

“Good to see you!” he said, hugging her.

“You too, Pat, thanks for this,” she said, and watched him put her bag in the back of the truck.

He looked at her tummy again, and then crawled into the truck. Emily hoisted herself up into the extra tall cab and buckled up. She always enjoyed the time with her cousin. He was fun to be around, and he seemed glad to see her.

As he pulled out onto I-40, he kicked the truck into high gear and turned up the air conditioner.

“How are things?” he asked, watching the road.

“You don’t have to beat around the bush,” she said softly.

“Fine then… who are you running from?”

“My husband, actually,” she watched the sandy dunes pass by the truck.

“Keith?”

“No, my new husband.” She’d forgotten that they would all still think she was with Keith.

“Good, I never liked him,” Pat said, and then hesitated. “When’s the baby due?”

“In 3 months.”

Pat nodded, and they sat in silence for a while.

“Mom will be even happier to have you around when she knows a baby is coming,” Pat said, grinning.

“I hope to not be here that long. I just need to find a job and get me an apartment.” She watched her hands.

“It’s none of my business, I know that, but you’re family. Did he hurt you?” Pat asked, his hands tight on the steering wheel.

She looked at him, “No.”

“Then why are you running from him?” he questioned.

“It’s a long story.”

“If you want to talk…” He offered, but didn’t ask any more about that.

***

“Where is she?” Chevalier asked, pushing Sam into the wall.

“I have no idea. She didn’t tell me she was leaving,” Sam said, standing up straight.

“You helped her, though, didn’t you? What was in that bag? Money?” He took a step toward Sam, his hands clenched into tight fists.

“Clothes, shoes, and yes, money.”

“Where would she go? She must have family or friends she’s gone to,” Kyle asked, and grabbed Sam’s shoulder.

“If she wanted you to know, she would have told you,” Sam said, moments before he was knocked to the ground by a backhand from Kyle.

“Tell me.” Chevalier stood over him, crouched to attack.

“No,” Sam said, and ducked low to the ground.

Chevalier picked Sam up by his neck, “Tell me… now!”

Sam shook his head, unable to catch a breath.

“Let’s all calm down and try this again,” Kyle suggested, and Chevalier put Sam back on his feet.

“I’m not going to tell you where she could have gone, and to be honest, I don’t know as though she’d have gone there anyway. I don’t know what the big deal is, she’d be gone in three months anyway,” Sam said, straightening his clothing.

“Why don’t you tell us where she ‘could’ have gone then,” Kyle said, trying to be calm.

“What do you mean she’d be gone in three months anyway?” Chevalier hissed.

“No,” he told Kyle, and then turned to Chevalier. “You know… Winchester women… most of them die during childbirth.”

“What?” Chevalier and Kyle both said together.

“You didn’t study the Winchester family enough then. The women are small boned. Most of them die during childbirth,” Sam said casually.

Chevalier growled deeply.

“Define most,” Kyle said, and took a step toward Sam.

“Come now, you had to have known. Why do you think there were so few descendants from Elizabeth and Lord Ulrich, even after three hundred years? Most of the Winchester women only had one child.” Sam backed away as he saw the look on Chevalier’s face.

“Does Emily know this?” Kyle asked.

“Probably not.” Sam raised his eyebrows.

“Emily’s mother had two children,” Chevalier snapped.

“Yes, she did, and she didn’t die during the second birth either. I said most… not all. But look at Emily’s size, and then yours, that baby is going to be too big for her.” Sam seemed unconcerned and uncaring.

“Where is she?” Chevalier asked, again advancing on Sam.

“I won’t tell you without her permission,” Sam told him, stepping back. He found himself backed against the wall.

Chevalier grabbed Sam by the throat and threw him violently across the room. He smashed into the stone wall and crumpled to the floor.

***

“Thank you, this is perfect,” Emily said, looking around the tiny bunk house.

Her Aunt Jess had been excited to see Emily and was even more excited that Emily was pregnant. Neither her Aunt, nor her Uncle, asked about her reasons for being there. They welcomed her with open arms and an invitation to join their staff on the ranch. Emily accepted and agreed to start a month after the baby was born.

Aunt Jess offered to watch the baby during the days, and Emily was given one of the bunk houses as her own. They left her alone in the tiny bunkhouse so she could get settled. Emily looked around the room, and buried her face in her hands to cry.

***

“She’s upset damnit. How can I tell what she’s feeling, but can’t tell where she is?” Chevalier growled.

“There has to be a way to find out where she went. Maybe we should check with Bangor International, see if she’s on a manifest,” Kyle suggested.

“Storm’s already on it. So far, the red tape is stopping her from finding anything out.” Chevalier was standing on Emily’s balcony, watching out over the ocean.

“Maybe she’ll come back, Chief.”

“Depends on why she left. If she left for her benefit, then she’ll re-think it and come back. If she left for my benefit, then she won’t be back,” he said quietly.

Kyle nodded. He knew it was true. Emily wouldn’t stay away from Chevalier for long unless she felt she was a danger or a threat to him. After what happened at the ceremony, Kyle felt pretty sure he knew which reason she had.

Chevalier sighed when his cell phone rang. He hesitated, and then clicked it open, “What?”

“Chev,” she said softly.

“Emily! Emily, where are you?” he asked, gasping. Kyle watched him carefully.

“I… I just wanted to let you know I’m ok,” she whispered.

“Please, come back.” His voice was pleading.

“No, I can’t.”

“Why not? You belong here.”

“It’s too dangerous. I can’t hurt anyone here.”

“Where are you?”

“I love you,” she said, and he heard the phone disconnect.

Chevalier pushed through the last call, and the ID came up as “Restricted.” He growled and slammed the phone down on the table.

“She’s not coming back?” Kyle assumed, but had to ask.

“No, she thinks she’ll hurt someone here,” Chevalier hissed, and blurred out of the room.

***

Emily woke up at the crack of dawn, pregnant or not, she wasn’t going to be a burden to her Aunt and Uncle. She dressed quickly and headed out to do some of the early chores. Easiest, she figured, was to collect the eggs and feed the chickens. That task was done in only half an hour. She put the basket full of eggs on the kitchen table in the ranch house, and then put on some coffee.

The other ranch hands were beginning to come out as she went into the barn to feed the horses. Emily remembered when she was growing up, her Dad would bring her here and she always loved their barn. It was much larger than hers back in Montana, and housed twice as many horses, all lined up in shiny clean stalls. She pried open the feed and scooped out a bucket full, then headed to the first of the horse stalls.

“What do we have here?” she heard a gruff voice say from behind her.

She turned and smiled at the man standing behind her, watching her suspiciously, “Hi, I’m Emily.” She put the feed down and went to shake his hand.

“Ahh that’s right, Pat mentioned you’d be helping out.” He was grinning broadly, and Emily felt uncomfortable at the way his eyes trailed down her body.

She turned and grabbed the bucket and went back to feeding the horses.

“You need any help, Tiny?” he asked. Emily cringed at the tiny comment, but kept working, trying to ignore the feel of his eyes on her back.

“No, I’m good,” she said.

“Yeah… you are, aren’t you?” he asked, laughing as he left the barn.

“Em? You in here?” Pat called from the doorway.

“Yeah… back here,” she yelled from the back stall in the barn.

“Mom said she doesn’t think you should be working… you know… until after the baby.” She could hear his footsteps coming closer.

“I’m fine, Pat. I can’t sit around doing nothing for three months,” she said, dumping a bucket full of oats into the feeder.

“Well, anyway, she wants you to come eat breakfast,” Pat told her, and then leaned up against the stall.

“Tell her I’ll be right there.”

“Heard you met Jeff,” Pat said, grinning.

Emily handed Pat the bucket and headed toward the door.

“Don’t mind him, he’s a jerk.” Pat dropped the bucket and ran to catch up with her.

“Yes, he’s quite friendly, isn’t he?” Pat smiled at her sarcasm.

“He does a good job, that’s why we keep him, not for his people skills.” Pat held the door open for Emily. She stepped into the house and the smell of fresh bacon and eggs filled the kitchen.

“Smells great, Jess,” Emily said, sitting at the table.

“I talked to Alec, and we decided we don’t want you working until after the baby comes,” Jess said, piling large amounts of food on Emily’s plate.

“I can’t sit around. I only got the eggs and fed the horses, easy enough,” Emily told her. She hadn’t eaten since the previous day on the airplane, and she was starving.

“I guess that should be ok. Nothing more though, ok?” Jess said, and poured Emily a cup of coffee before sitting down.

“Agreed,” Emily said, still eating.

“Do you need to talk, Dear?” Jess asked, watching Emily carefully.

Emily shook her head. She couldn’t talk about any of that now.

“We’re worried about you. We didn’t hear from you after Allen died, and then we heard you sold the ranch.” Jess wasn’t going to drop it like Pat had.

“I had to. I couldn’t handle the ranch on my own after Keith left.” Emily thought that sounded like a compelling enough reason.

“Where is the baby’s father?” Jess asked suddenly.

Emily swallowed a dry bite of egg, no longer hungry, “He’s back east.”

Jess touched Emily’s ring, “That’s a very beautiful ring, so unique.”

Emily glanced down at the ring and felt the sting of tears in her eyes. She turned back to her food to hide it from Jess.

“Does he know where you are?” Jess whispered, touching Emily’s hand lightly.

Emily shook her head, still pretending to be eating.

“Do you need help getting a divorce?” Jess was only trying to be helpful, but that was too much and Emily buried her face in her hands.

Jess wrapped her arms around her niece, “Please, Emi, let me help.”

Emily shook her head again, “There’s nothing anyone can do. You’re helping me more than I could ever ask for.”

Jess kissed her on the top of her head and let her go, “If you need anything, just ask. “

“I will, I promise,” Emily said, and got up to clean her plate.

“No, no, let me do that,” her aunt said, pulling the dish rag from Emily’s hand.

“Honestly, Jess, I have to do something. I’ll go crazy sitting around.” Emily took the dish from Jess and began to dry them.

“Too much thinking time?” Jess guessed.

“Yes”

“Why don’t you take a horse out, go explore the property,” Jess suggested, and Emily’s face lit up.

“Would that be ok?”

“Of course, Dear, take whichever horse you’d like,” Jess said, smiling. She felt better now that Emily seemed excited about something, “Actually, don’t take that Arabian, he’s not broken in very well and he’s moody.”

Emily’s heart ached at her aunt’s words, so she hurried out of the house and into the barn.

She entered the barn and checked out what options she had. The Arabian looked nothing like Chevalier’s horse, so she felt a little better, less to remind her of him.

Emily chose a quiet thoroughbred mare and slipped a bridle on her before taking her out of the stall. She eyed the saddles, and decided bareback would probably be best, she wasn’t sure she could get the saddle onto the tall horse.

“You need help, Tiny?” She heard the gruff voice from behind her and sighed.

“No, I’m pretty sure I can handle this,” she said, irritated, and turned toward Jeff.

Jeff was scanning her body again, and she gritted her teeth.

“Fine, fine, you sure you can bareback such a strong horse? That’s a lot of power between those little legs.” He was grinning.

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “Guess that’s something you wouldn’t know anything about then, eh?”

“Oh well aren’t you a little spitfire.” Jeff walked past her and patted her butt quickly before disappearing into the next room.

Emily growled and got onto a bale of hay to hoist herself onto the horse. She clicked her tongue and took off slowly across the closest pasture. The sheep looked up at her lazily. She’d always preferred cows, something about the sheep made her annoyed. Soon she was past the pasture and following a small stream. The ranch was beautiful. It was quiet and serene, just what she needed to clear her head.

Her Aunt and Uncle’s ranch was a lot bigger than she remembered. She’d ridden for almost an hour before she reached the property line. She glanced around her, and then decided to head back the way she’d come. It was amazing to her how good it felt to be out on a horse again. Chevalier had been so concerned about her on a horse while pregnant, that she hadn’t taken Patra out in a few months. Sam was watching the animals now. She’d left him strict orders to watch over them if she wasn’t able.

Her heart sank as she thought of Sam. She hadn’t forgiven him for his betrayal, but he’d somehow known she may need to make a hasty departure, and packed her bag for it. Because of that, she was able to get away quickly and without any trouble.

“Howdy, Shortcake.” She cringed when she heard Jeff’s voice behind her.

“What do you want?” she asked, irritated.