---*---
James looked out at the gathering crowd. There were more people than he had thought there would be; they were gathering by the minute. Once word had gotten out that Joey was missing, people started volunteering to help with the search.
James might not be the most social person in town, but he knew that the townspeople did care about him, even if it was only an appreciation for his work as the sheriff.
He stood on the porch of the sheriff’s office. It was nearly three in the afternoon. It was time to start.
People who arrived later would hear about what they were doing from others, and would help them as they came.
“Thank you, everyone, for coming. As you know, the little boy I’ve taken in as my adopted son has been kidnapped and his life threatened.”
Murmurs and whispers washed through the crowd.
“A man named Keith Morgan came to town and kidnapped him because he is trying to hurt his mother, Lyla Smith, my fiancée. He is trying to force her to go back to Merrill, Illinois, against her will.
More whispers followed. James knew that this was all news for the townspeople. Some of them had met and seen Lyla around town and a lot of them knew that she was going to marry James, but the fact that Joey was her son was new to them.
“All I ask is that you all help me search for him to the best of your abilities. When we find him, Keith is going to go to prison, where he belongs for kidnapping. We need to get him back alive and unharmed.”
An older man stepped forward from the crowd. “I think I speak for all of us, here—every time we’ve ever needed something, since you’ve been the sheriff, you’ve taken care of us. It’s time for us to repay that favor.” The man turned to the crowd. “Let’s go find us a little boy!”
The crowd cheered and began to organize itself. James felt his heart swell with pride. Some men began to split everyone into groups, assigning various areas to search based on a map of the region.
Merrick suddenly appeared, riding up from the west side of town. The crowd stilled as he rode through them, then hurried up the steps of the jailhouse.
“Did you find anything? Were you able to follow him?” James asked eagerly. If only Merrick had seen where Keith’s hideout was, this search might be over before it began.
Merrick shook his head, a look of frustration on his face. “I tried. Daniel and I trailed him for quite a while, but then he started weaving through some buildings, and when we caught up, we’d lost him. We think he maybe went into the creek but there are no tracks, so we don’t know if he went upstream or down.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault. I’m sure you did your best.”
Merrick grunted. “My best wasn’t enough. I don’t know how this man has the skill to avoid us. Isn’t he just a banker?”
“I don’t know. Whoever he is, we underestimated him. I never thought he would go this far. The townspeople are going to help us search. Why don’t you find out what part they won’t be looking in, and we’ll search it?”
Merrick nodded and went to join the group of men organizing things. James took a deep breath. He had promised Lyla that he would protect them. It seemed that, so far, he was doing a pretty lousy job.
---*---
James rode up the path to his ranch. His shoulders were hunched in despair. It was late. Darkness had already fallen, and he was sure that Lyla was worried out of her mind. James had been searching the whole day, along with the rest of the people from town.
They hadn’t given up, even after nightfall. The majority of them had lit lanterns and kept looking. James was even suspicious some of them were still out there looking at midnight, but there was still no sign of Keith of Joey.
They’d started searching the surrounding woods, but it was a huge area. This search could take days.
James had been hoping that they would find Joey today, but it seemed this was going to be a long battle they were only beginning.
How did Keith think this would help him? Why would a man want to marry someone who detested him? James didn’t understand the man, no matter how he tried. And in the end, Keith would be arrested. He had already committed a crime.
After putting the horse in the barn, he walked wearily to the big house. He was fairly certain that Lyla would be there, instead of in the little cabin she’d been staying in.
When he walked inside, his mother came rushing over from the kitchen. “Shhh, try to be quiet. Lyla just fell asleep.”
James followed his mother’s gaze to one of the chairs in the fireplace, where Lyla was sleeping next to the blaze. Her beautiful face looked troubled, even in sleep.
“I’m glad she’s getting some rest,” James said heavily. It had been everything he could do to make her go home. She had wanted to stay and search, but he’d finally convinced her that it was too dangerous.
What if Keith managed to kidnap her, too? Then, James would have nothing left.
“She’s spent the entire afternoon pacing and crying. She’s so upset.” Bonnie twisted her apron around her hands. “The poor dear. Losing a child is so hard, and she feels like it’s her fault.”
James ran a hand over his chin. “We aren’t going to lose Joey. We will get him back, no matter what it takes.”
“I’m glad to hear it. That little boy belongs here, just like the two of you do.” Bonnie glanced at Lyla. “I just hope that she’ll be patient enough to give you time to resolve this.”
James hoped so, too. But he knew that every minute that passed in which they didn’t find Joey, Lyla would be more and more tempted to actually take up Keith’s offer.
If he lost both Lyla and Joey, James knew that his life would be nothing. He had to find a way to save his new family before they were gone forever, lost beyond his grasp.
Chapter 32
Hesitantly, Lyla opened her eyes. She didn’t look forward to waking up anymore. It had been nearly four days since Joey had been taken. The searches continued. The townspeople were moving steadily through the woods, looking through every inch of trees for Joey and Keith, but to no avail.
One team had even found a recent fire pit, but every lead turned up nothing. It seemed that either Keith had experience in hiding, or he had someone with him who did.
Lyla sat up in her bed and pressed her palms against her eyes. When was this nightmare going to end?
After letting the reality of the dismal morning set in for several more minutes, Lyla reluctantly slipped downstairs and went outside. It was a beautiful day. She could imagine that if Joey were here, he would be romping and playing with his dog, having a wonderful time.
The dog seemed as disconsolate as the rest of them, wandering around the farm with his sad eyes looking up at each of them, as if asking where the child had gone who had played with him every day. He’d been shaking his head a lot since he had been hit by Keith’s makeshift club. Lyla hoped he would recover to be there for Joey when he returned home.
Tears threatened to spill out, she turned to close the door and was surprised to find a little piece of paper tucked into the window. She opened it and read the words with trembling hands.
Dearest Lyla,
I know how upset you are about your son. The sheriff doesn’t seem to be worried about this going the wrong way, but you should be.
If you’re ready for all of this to be put behind us and for your son to be safe, then meet me by the mercantile in town this afternoon, ALONE.
Yours truly, Keith
Lyla re-read the letter several times. What was she thinking? She couldn’t meet Keith alone. James would be infuriated. Then again, how long were they going to wait before they realized that there might be no other way to get Joey back, other than cooperating with Keith’s demands?
She hated the thought of getting married to him, of giving in, of not fighting anymore. But the idea that Joey was unsafe and was far away from them was even worse.
Maybe the time had come where she needed to sacrifice for Joey. She had abando
ned him once because she was selfish, but this time, it might be to save him and James.
She had seen what this search was doing to James. He was barely eating or sleeping and was out from before sunrise to after sundown.
This couldn’t go on. Lyla turned around and went back into the little house she’d been staying in. It didn’t take long to find her satchel. She wouldn’t take everything, just the essentials. She left everything that James or his mother had purchased for her since she’d arrived.
She only took two extra dresses, her brush, and a small book of blank pages. Maybe she’d need it for writing something.
She left the packed satchel by the door and headed to the big house. She would come back for her things when she needed to leave in time for noon.
---*---
Lyla walked briskly down the town road. She felt as if everyone could see right through her. Did they know she had given up? Did they know that she was about to do the one thing everyone had been trying to avoid? She hurried to the side of the mercantile, hoping that no one inside had spotted her.
“You came.” The low voice made her jump. Keith was standing there, a triumphant grin on his face. “I see you brought your satchel. That is the sensible thing to do, you know.”
Lyla looked down at her packed satchel sheepishly. She had known what this meeting was about, and she hadn’t wanted to come unprepared. She forced the unshed tears and her frightened heart down into her stomach. This was the only way.
“I’m prepared to accept your terms, on a few conditions,” Lyla announced in the strongest voice she could muster.
“Oh, we have conditions now. That wasn’t part of the deal.”
Lyla clenched her jaw. “It is now, or I turn and walk back to James’ farm and we’ll take our chances on finding Joey.”
Keith looked as if he didn’t believe her, but when she started to turn, he changed his mind. «Fine, tell me your conditions.”
“First, Joey goes back to James once we leave.”
“But he doesn’t even deserve the boy. He doesn’t deserve anything,” Keith sputtered.
“And what would you suggest happens to Joey? I doubt you’re offering to take him back to Merrill and raise him as your own.” Lyla didn’t really care what Keith suggested. Joey would be staying with James, or she wasn’t going through with this. But she was still curious as to what Keith had to say.
“He should go to your uncle, just like the original plan when you came out here in the first place.”
Lyla almost laughed. “No, he stays with James. Is that understood?”
“Fine, I don’t care what happens to the kid, anyway.”
Lyla could tell he was lying. He did care that she got her way, even if it was in the smallest thing as what happened to her son that he didn’t care about.
“Secondly, I may be married to you on paper, but I will not be your wife in other ways. I will live my own life and you yours, but nothing more.”
Keith smirked. “We’ll see.”
“No, I want you to promise.”
Keith shrugged his shoulders. “Things change, I can’t promise that…what if you fall in love with me?”
“That will never happen,” Lyla practically spit. She didn’t know what Keith had in mind, but she was sure she wouldn’t like it.
“I’ll let the boy stay, but you will marry me and come back to town, and then from there we’ll work things out. How does that sound?”
Lyla thought about it for a moment. This was probably as good as it was going to get. “Fine,” she said, “but I get to say goodbye to him before he leaves.”
Keith nodded.
He motioned to Lyla and she followed him to his horse reluctantly. She almost wanted to vomit when she saw he had two horses. He had known she would give in.
As they rode, she tried to work through her plan. This was the only way to get Joey back. If she would have taken her plan to James, he never would have agreed to it and it never would have worked. Even now, she could very well end up marrying Keith.
But she was hoping that once Joey was safe with James, James would try to find her.
He would at least know for certain where they were headed. Maybe he would have a chance at rescuing her before her fate was sealed.
Even as she thought it, though, she knew it was unrealistic. The entire town hadn’t been able to find Joey. What made her think that James and his deputies alone would be able to find her?
It took a long time to get to the camp. They rode through the forest, taking turns and twists that left Lyla confused. When they finally did ride into camp, her eyes searched for Joey.
The little boy was sitting by the fire, playing a game of some sort with another man.
Lyla leapt from her horse and ran towards him. “Joey!” she called.
He looked up from what he was doing and jumped up. He barreled into Lyla and hugged her tight.
Lyla let herself savor the moment as long as she could.
“That’s enough. Tell the boy whatever you’re going to tell him, we’re going to send him back right away. We have a long trip back home.”
“What’s going on? Where are you going to send me?” Joey whimpered, looking up at Lyla with tear-filled eyes.
His sadness made Lyla’s heart break. “I’m sorry, Joey, but you’re going to have to trust me,” she said softly.
She took his hand and pulled him a little further away from the others so they couldn’t hear. She took out her little book and a pencil and began to write. It didn’t take long to write the letter.
When she finished, she handed it to Joey. “Joey, listen to me,” she told him quietly. “I need you to give this to James, okay?”
Joey nodded somberly. “Where are you going?”
“I have to go away for a little while, but hopefully, we will see each other again.”
James wrapped his little arms around her neck, and it was all Lyla could do to keep her tears from falling.
“I don’t want you to go,” Joey whispered.
“I don’t want to go, either. All I wanted was to be your mama and to love you and have a family with you and James.”
“Why can’t we do that?” Joey didn’t understand, and Lyla didn’t expect him to.
She tried to memorize every detail of his little face; it was very probable that she would never see him again. Once they got back to town and she and Keith were married, her fate would be sealed, and she wouldn’t be able to go back.
“There are some times in life where we don’t have a choice, and this is one of those times.” Lyla took Joey’s face in her hands. “I just want you to know how much I love you and that I never wanted to leave, okay?”
Joey nodded, but Lyla could tell he was still confused. “The men are going to take you back home. Give the paper to James, okay?”
Joey nodded again.
“What did you write?” Keith was suddenly by them, glaring down at Joey.
“That is none of your business. I couldn’t exactly give James directions to find you, so you don’t have to worry.”
“I still want to see it,” Keith demanded.
A Treasure Brought by Fate: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 24