They didn’t have time to make it up to the tree line above to find the robbers’ horses.
If they tried, they would just expose themselves and risk it going way worse.
Nick fought the urge to yell and kick something. They had to stay hidden.
“We’ll just make sure they leave town and that nobody is hurt and then we go find Lana.” As the minutes ticked by Nick began to think of all the realistic things that could have detained Lana and he didn’t like any of the options.
All of them included something bad happening to Lana. His only goal with this plan was to do right, not to lose someone else.
They watched as the three robbers retreated up to the tree line and disappeared. A few moments later, the three clouds of dust formed as they rode off into the hills.
“Come on!” Nick called to Derek. They rushed down to the bank. He had heard the commotion in the bank while they robbed it. He hoped that none of the townspeople had been injured.
As they burst through the door, his eyes swept the room. It didn’t take him long to see that the main damage was to the actual building. Things had been thrown all over the room and a few things had been broken.
But the people who were currently busy untying each other seemed to be unharmed.
They were mumbling and talking amongst themselves, asking who had locked the robbers in with them and where the sheriff was.
Nick was wondering about the second question also. “I’m going to find Lana. Come or stay but there’s no more time to waste,” he announced to Derek.
Nick turned and rushed from the bank, not waiting any longer for Derek’s response.
“Wait up, I’m coming with you.” Derek caught up with him, breathing heavily.
Nick’s lungs began to burn as he pushed through the town, but he didn’t feel like he could stop to rest. The longer it took him to reach the sheriff’s office, the more worried he became.
The sheriff’s office came into view and what he saw made his heart beat even faster, though that was nearly impossible.
The sheriff’s office door was shut and there was no one to be seen. Nick wasn’t sure what he had expected to find, but it wasn’t that.
He rushed up and nearly knocked into a man who was walking by.
“What’s going on? Where are you in such a hurry to, Nick?”
Nick knew the man, he just couldn’t think of his name right now. “I- the bank’s been robbed. Have you seen the sheriff?”
“The bank’s been robbed? How do you know? When? Goodness, I have years of savings in that place. It’s all gone?” The man began to pace back and forth, worried and distraught.
“That’s not what’s important right now. I need to know where the sheriff is.” Nick felt the urgency relayed in his voice. How could this man not understand how important this was?
“I don’t know. He usually has a drink at the saloon at about this time but I was just there and didn’t see him. Maybe he’s just locked inside or gonna be back soon. I have to get to the bank.” The man hurried off down the road in the direction of the bank.
Nick wanted to tell him that it was no use, but he had a feeling that it wouldn’t matter.
He rushed up the steps to the sheriff’s office and knocked at the door and Derek ran around the back. A few moments later, Derek re-appeared, “There’s no one in there, I looked through the window.”
“Great. What are we supposed to do? Something is wrong, I can feel it. She wouldn’t have just gone somewhere else.”
“Don’t jump to the worst conclusion. We don’t know what happened.” Derek began to pace and between the two of them, they made the porch move under their weight.
“Let’s stick around for a little and if he doesn’t come, we’ll go check at his house. Maybe he was sick or something and decided not to come to town,” Derek offered.
Nick felt tears prick the back of his eyes. Lana’s face came to memory. The fear she’d had of things going wrong had happened.
He scolded himself for telling her that nothing would happen. She had trusted him and he had given her false hope.
He could only imagine if something terrible had happened to her. She would be afraid and alone, remembering him telling her how everything would work out.
“We can’t just wait here, Derek. We have to do something. I can’t just stand around and do nothing. And that doesn’t make any sense. He never leaves the office unattended. There’s not even a deputy here. Something is wrong. I can feel it.”
Every single time that he had been with Lana came back to haunt him. He had taken their time together for granted and now that he had lost her, he wished that he had said so much more to her before they had started this evening.
Darkness was beginning to fall and a cool breeze was picking up.
“Come on, we are going to the sheriff’s house. If he hasn’t come by now, he probably was never in town to begin with.”
Derek nodded in agreement but didn’t say anything. The look of sadness and regret said enough on his face.
Derek knew that this was more serious than some small delay for Lana. Something had happened to her and they had limited time to find out what.
Chapter 31
“Mama, where’s Lana?” Lydia tugged at Ginger’s skirt. Ginger gave her daughter a tight smile. “I don’t know. It seems that they should have gotten back by now.”
Ginger had suspected that something was odd about her brother’s trip with Lana to the doctor, but she couldn’t think of what they’d possibly gone to do.
She tried thinking of the different possibilities, but nothing really came to mind. The night was falling, and she was starting to worry now. What had happened? It wasn’t like Nick to leave her alone for so long anymore.
Back when Daniel was alive, he, of course, hadn’t been around as much, but since Daniel’s death, Nick had been so different, so overprotective.
Ginger heard a knock on the door. Who could be visiting now? She hoped that it was Nick and Lana. Dusk would be here soon, and she was wondering what could possibly be taking so long.
It wasn’t Nick and Lana though. It was Christy. She was standing outside with a happy smile on her face and pink cheeks glowing. “I’m sorry for stopping by uninvited.”
“No, no. You know you are always welcome here, with or without an invitation. Come in!”
Christy stepped inside. “My brother is actually waiting for me. We are coming back from his pastures behind your property and I wanted to stop by and give you some produce from my garden. I know it isn’t much, but I also wanted to see how you are doing. Can you walk on your leg yet?”
Ginger accepted the basket that Christy gave her and proceeded to pass the vegetables into a bowl in the kitchen. “Thank you, Christy. That is very kind of you. Yes, actually today is the first day I am allowed to walk on it. I’m a little worried about putting too much weight on it though.”
“Oh, you should be. I heard a story of a woman who started walking on her broken leg too soon, and it broke again.”
Ginger laughed nervously. Her friend’s words only made her more worried than she already had been about walking on it.
“I’m sure something like that won’t happen to you though. I’m sorry to just stop by and leave again so soon, but my brother is waiting outside.”
Christy pulled Ginger into a quick hug and then headed toward the door.
“Wait, have you seen or heard anything about Lana and Nick? They left this afternoon to go to the doctor’s office, but I haven’t heard anything. I thought they would be back by now.”
Christy shook her head. I’m sorry, I haven’t. Maybe they just got held up talking.”
“Okay, thank you again.” Ginger watched sadly as Christy hurried across the yard and climbed into the wagon beside her brother.
Ginger hoped that her friend was right. It seemed odd that Lana and Nick weren’t back yet. For now, she was going to feed the children some supper: maybe by then, they would be back.
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“Mama, who will read to us tonight?” Freddy was tugging on her skirts this time. She had already fed the children dinner and put off getting them to bed as long as she could.
She couldn’t wait for Lana and Nick any longer. She could only hope that everything was well because there was little that she could do from here.
“I’ll read to both of you. You’ll see, it’ll be just as exciting as when Lana does it.” Even though her words were sure, Ginger wasn’t. She didn’t compare to Lana when it came to reading to the children.
Lana had a way about her that kept them clinging to every single word that came from her mouth.
She went to the parlor and situated herself, Freddy and Lydia nestling up against her.
“So, what chapter were you both on?”
“Chapter seven, I can read the word seven now. Lana taught me,” Freddy proclaimed proudly.
“Is that so? I am proud of you.” Ginger loved the fact that Lana was teaching her children to read. She wanted better for them than what she had received.
Of course, she had known how to read and do some basic math, but her education had stopped before it had even begun really. Her saving grace was meeting Daniel.
Her parents hadn’t been wealthy like Lana’s. Lana had been trained to get a husband. She had been taught how to sing beautifully and taught to play the piano. Ginger had overheard Lana’s mother talking about how Lana would find herself a wealthy husband to take care of her.
Ginger shook her head as she began to read chapter seven. She wondered what Lana’s parents would think of her now that she had left the city for the wild west.
She had seen the way her brother looked at Lana and the way Lana was nervous around Nick.
There was something there and she wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up being more than friends to each other.
She almost laughed. Nobody would have guessed it from the way Nick had received Lana. He had been so against her at first that even Ginger had worried he wouldn’t have gotten over it.
But look at them now. It was getting late and they were still in town together. Ginger sighed; it would certainly be nice to have Lana be a permanent part of the family.
Her hand traveled down to her stomach and a wave of nausea washed over her. She stood quickly, nearly knocking Freddy and Lydia from their seats. She hobbled as quickly as she could to the kitchen, using the cane that Nick had made for her to support herself.
She found the waste bin and emptied her dinner into it. What was going on? She had been feeling more and more sick over the last couple of months.
Having regained some composure, she hurried back to the parlor where the children were watching her with wide worried eyes.
“Are you okay mama?” Lydia was bunching her dress in her fists in a nervous way.
“I’m fine, I will be fine. It’s just a little sickness. It’ll probably pass to the two of you soon enough.” Ginger laughed, trying to brush it off.
Even as she sat back down and continued reading, the worried look lingered in her children’s eyes. She hated them feeling worried, but she hadn’t been able to hide it this time.
Worry tugged at her heart as she remembered the other times that she had lost her meals in the last few weeks. She had been sicker this week than she’d had been in a long time and there was no explanation for it. She only hoped it wasn’t anything serious.
She continued to read, letting the sound of her voice lull the children to sleep. Hopefully, Nick and Lana wouldn’t take too much longer, and she would be put at ease when she knew they were safe.
Chapter 32
As Lana regained consciousness, she felt a wave of pain hit her in a rush. It took her a few minutes to orient herself. She was draped over the back of a horse and her hands were still tied behind her back. There was a gag over her mouth that made it hard to breathe.
There didn’t seem to be anyone else on the horse with her. For a moment she thought the deputy had put her on a horse and sent her off alone, but she then spotted a rope tying her to a horse in front of her where a man was riding.
She couldn’t make him out very well from her position, but she was fairly certain it was the deputy. Who else could it be?
The moon was casting a strange light over everything that danced with dark shadows. Her head swam and there was a strange taste in her mouth. She wondered what he had used to knock her out.
Fear ate at her heart. Where was he taking her and what was going to happen to her when she got there? Her heart thudded so loudly in her chest, she was certain that the man on the horse would be able to hear it.
Her head pounded with pain and she could feel tears on her cheeks. By the lighting, she was sure she had been out for at least an hour.
She still wasn’t sure what the man’s motivation was for taking her. Since the sheriff hadn’t arrived, she was fairly certain that the robbery had gone as planned for the gang. They had no reason to take her if they had escaped and they were in the clear. The horse began to come to a stop and Lana felt her fear increase.
She had hated the ride, but she had a feeling that she would hate whatever came next even more.
Rough hands pulled her down off the horse and Lana nearly sank to the ground as her legs trembled under her weight.
“We’re here.” It was the deputy’s voice. He sounded angry and amused all at once.
Lana wanted to ask where ‘here’ was, but she couldn’t because of the nasty-tasting gag in her mouth.
She struggled against the man and the gag, hoping he would take a hint and remove the gag so that she could talk, but he didn’t. Instead, he just pulled her through the trees.
Lana’s legs felt weak and trembly. She was fairly certain it had something to do with all the running she had done earlier to get to the sheriff’s office.
Twigs and branches scraped her face and snagged on her clothing. If the deputy wasn’t so determined in his pace, she would have thought they were lost.
After what seemed like forever, they burst through into a clearing. There was a campfire and one other man was there sitting beside it, looking dejected.
As soon as they made their arrival known, he stood to his feet, peering at them as if something was wrong. “David! Where is everyone else and who is she?”
The deputy, who Lana now knew was named David, pushed her toward the fire and urged her to sit, which she did without complaint. She was exhausted and a little rest felt wonderful.
“If the others haven’t come back yet, I’m sure they're on the way. She’s a girl from the city actually, doesn’t belong in the west if you ask me.”
Again, Lana had plenty to say about that but couldn’t make more than a muffled sound because of the gag. She bit against it defiantly.
“What did you bring her here for? Jake said specifically not to include hostages. He said it would make it complicated.”
David shrugged, “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Besides, she didn’t give me much choice. I didn’t know exactly what stage they were at when I came up here. They may still have been in the bank and she knew that it was being robbed.”
An Encounter of Courageous Hearts: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 23