Laying a kiss on Aaron and Sophie Ann’s head, Keri stood and turned to face Abigail. "Is it over?"
Abigail cut a look across the room at her. "Not yet." She sighed and closed her eyes as a shudder wracked her body. "They stole horses that were tethered in front of the saloon and headed across the valley. Morgan and a few other men went after them."
Keri glanced at the still open door. She could hear voices, people talking, some shouting, and that fear she'd felt when Noah didn't come back grew. She turned to Abigail, met her eyes and said, "Did you see Noah outside?"
Abigail nodded. "He went with Morgan and the others."
The air left Keri's lungs in a rush as her pulse leaped. Why did he go and leave them all alone? They needed him here. She glanced at Abigail again and guilt caused her stomach to clench. Abigail probably thought the same about Morgan, but it was his job to go after those men. She couldn't imagine the fear the woman felt. It made her own seem trivial knowing Abigail probably spent many nights worried for her husband as he hunted down men hell bent on raising a ruckus.
Her husband. The moment she thought it, Keri knew she had no right to feel abandoned. Noah may provide for them but he owed her nothing. Not even his time, if truth be known.
Noah had cut himself off from everyone for so long, it would be selfish of her to refuse to let him finally be an active member of this small community. If helping Morgan and whoever else went with them was what he thought he needed to do, then who was she to say otherwise?
Knowing there was nothing to do but wait until Noah returned, she turned to Aaron. "I need to walk outside and wash my hands. Will you be all right until I get back?" He nodded but she could still see fear shining brightly in his eyes. "I'll be back before you can count to twenty."
Keri hurried outside to the well, pulled up a bucket of water and washed her hands, drying them on her skirt and rushed back inside. Aaron looked relieved when she came in and shut the door. She smiled in his direction then searched every corner until she found a broom. She swept up the glass, straightened the desks and benches and finally settled into a corner of the room to sit with the school kids until Noah came back.
Abigail eventually took Alexandra to her house, telling Keri she'd send word once she knew how Laurel was. It was near noon when the sound of horses running caught her attention. Keri stood and crossed to the broken window. Jesse and Holden Avery came barreling into town. Holden barely slowed his horse before he jumped from the saddle and rushed into the doctor’s office. Her heart pinched. She imagined she knew exactly how Holden felt when Jesse told him the news that Laurel had been shot.
John's death replayed in her mind's eye and the anguish she'd felt hearing he was dead was as fresh as if it happened only yesterday. There may not have been any love between them but she'd cared about him. Had felt the blow of his death like a punch to the gut. The fear and confusion she'd lived with hearing the news left her knees weak.
She turned to the bench closest to her and sank onto it, her heart pounding as images raced across her mind. The temporary relief Robert had brought when he showed up after John's death was dulled by the horror of him moving in as if he owned the place. As if he owned her. His cruelty and harsh words were burned into her memory to the point she'd never forget a moment of it. Never forget the night it all went so wrong.
She stifled a sob as the memories surfaced again and she stared at the floor as the past two years played like moving pictures inside her head. She'd felt true fear when she grabbed Aaron and Sophie Ann and ran from the farm that night, but nothing compared to the terror she felt a month later when she realized they were starving. The obstacles they'd faced, the uncomfortable nights trying to sleep on the ground littered with rocks while things scurried in the grass by their heads.
And the apprehension when a wild, untamed man tossed them out into the snow, then came back and rescued them.
As if only thinking about him had conjured him into life, Keri lifted her head to find Noah standing a few feet away, the look in his eyes full of an emotion she was too scared to try and read. Her heart knew what she wanted to see, what she wanted to believe, but Noah had yet to say anything to make her think he cared deeply for her. That he loved her. But the look in his eyes as he stared at her made her wonder, and her heart skipped a beat just thinking about it. Thinking of how much she loved him.
Sophie Ann's voice forced them to turn and look across the room. She was running toward them and Keri stood, ready to hug away any fears she had but her baby girl bypassed her and ran to Noah. He looked as shocked as she felt but it didn't last long. He knelt, wrapped Sophie Ann in his arms and let her cling to him.
Sophie Ann's voice was barely a whisper when she said, "Can we go home now?"
Noah glanced up, locking eyes with her for a brief second before turning his attention back to Sophie Ann. "Yes, we can go home now."
Keri glanced back across the room and saw Aaron and the other children. "I can't leave yet," she said. "Someone has to be here for the children."
"Percy Goins over at the livery stable is getting a wagon hitched up. He's going to take them all home."
It took nearly an hour but with the help of Jesse Samuels, they finally got the remaining school kids loaded into a wagon and headed out of town. Keri's nerves were still on edge when she stepped out of the school.
The townsfolk were in the street, some of them inspecting windows of nearby storefronts, and a small congregation had gathered near Evan Reid's door. Abigail and Alexandra were there, along with others she didn't recognize. "Do you know how Laurel is?"
"Still alive," he said, his hand on her back. "The doctor said she'd survive the bullet wound. It missed everything important. She may lose some function of her right arm, though. Evan's worried about infection more. If anything gets her, it'll be that."
Keri nodded. She knew all too well what an infection could do. Her uncle had died from nothing more than a cut to his leg. The wound festered and he was dead before anyone even knew it wasn't healing.
Noah helped her and the kids into his wagon then crossed the street. He spoke to Abigail for a brief moment then came back, crawled up into the wagon and took the reins. "Still no change," he said before turning them toward home.
Keri's gaze lingered over that small crowd. "I saw Holden ride into town earlier and go inside. I'm surprised he's calm enough to help Dr. Reid much."
"He wasn't." Noah readjusted his hat. "Morgan locked him inside the jail."
"He locked him up?" Keri's eyes flew wide. "Why?"
"To keep him from killing the man who shot his wife." Noah turned and gave her a strange look. There was anger there, but she saw fear, hopelessness and desperation. She wasn't sure what was going through his head. Questions about what happened when they chased down those men shooting up the town filled her thoughts, but she held her tongue. Aaron and Sophie Ann still had a look of shock about their face and bringing it all up again would just cause their fear to return.
The ride home was made in silence, no one saying a word. Supper was a somber affair, the tension in the air thick and choking. It wasn't until she'd tucked Aaron and Sophie Ann into bed that she dared ask Noah what happened.
He was still at the kitchen table, a single candle burning. His face was cast in shadow, the candle light flickering across his features. He raised his head to look at her when she sat down across from him, his voice pitched low when he said, "The men who shot up the town were the same ones who broke in here."
It took long moments for his words to sink in. When they did, Keri's heart started racing. The man who attacked her, and the one who tried to shoot Noah, had shot Laurel? Keri tensed, her body flushing hot. "Did the marshal catch them?"
Noah nodded. "Yes." His voice was bland, no emotion shining in his eyes. "The one who attacked you is dead."
Keri's heart thumped harder against her ribs. The same look she'd seen in Noah's eyes when they left town was there again. Some unnamed emotion she couldn't
quite figure out. She waited for him to say more but when he sat there, silent, she finally asked, "What about the other one?"
"In jail." He shook his head, a far off look in his eye. "Holden came after him the minute we got back into town. It's why Morgan locked him up. Although, I'm not sure how well that's going. I can't imagine Holden sitting quietly knowing what the bastard in the cell beside him did."
Noah sighed and raised his hand, pushing his hair away from his face. He didn't have his gloves on and even though the light was dim, Keri could see the skin around his knuckles was busted and splattered with dried blood.
She reached out and took his right hand. "What happened?" He made no attempt to answer and Keri sighed before standing and turning to the sink. She wet a towel then retook her seat and spent long minutes seeing to his busted knuckles.
He never said a word as she tended to him, just sat rigidly as she cleaned the abrasions on his hands and by the time she'd finished, a sense of dread filled her, especially when she saw the look on his face. It was distant, as if she were looking into the face of a stranger. "What's wrong?"
Noah refocused his gaze on her and shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "It's been a long day. Go to bed. I'll be back in once I see to the animals."
He blew out the candle before she could say a word and left her in the dark kitchen alone. The front door opened, then closed, and the waft of cool air tickling the back of her neck sent shivers down her spine.
Noah said he had to check on the animals but a small voice in the back of her mind whispered it was more than that. Something had happened when Noah went with Morgan to chase after those men. Something he didn't feel like sharing.
Her mind flashed back to his busted knuckles, to the distant look on his face, and she remembered the anger she'd witnessed that nearly drove him to shoot a man right in front of her when she'd been attacked. A man she now knew was dead.
Dread settled in her stomach like a rock. How did the man die? And who killed him?
Chapter Thirty One
The images wouldn't go away. Noah paced the length of the barn, his harsh breaths crystallizing in the cold air as he crossed the dirt floor, turned, then started back the other way.
His hands ached, his busted knuckles cracked open again from clenching and unclenching his fists and the suffocating tightness in his chest damn near took his breath.
He'd rode back into town with Morgan and the others resigned to his fate but no one had said a word. He'd been waiting for Morgan to arrest him, but the marshal had walked into the jail as if he wasn't even standing there. As if he hadn't killed a man with his bare hands right in front of him and six other witnesses.
A sickening wave of nausea caused his stomach to roll. Killing the bastard who attacked Keri had left him feeling numb—until he saw her face. Then the reality of what he'd done hit him. He'd killed a man without remorse and a small twisted part of him relished the man's shocked gasp when his neck snapped, the loud pop of breaking bone still ringing in his ears. The hard thud of his body hitting the frozen ground caused a satisfied warmth to spread through his limbs… then he saw Keri's face in his mind’s eye and realized those taunts the people in Willow Creek always made about him were finally true. He really was a monster. Anyone who could kill a man and be glad he did it, had to be.
He stopped pacing and stared at the barn door. The wind whistled past the walls, the night quiet and cold. That small place in his heart that Keri had warmed started to chill as the day’s events kept playing inside his head. He'd made plans enough to last the whole of his life and Keri and those kids had been in every one of them but now…
Noah closed his eyes, the tightness in his chest stealing his breath. How could he ask Keri to stay with him after what he'd done? He'd killed a man for no other reason than he'd wanted to. Because he didn't think the man deserved to live. Because he'd hurt and terrified a woman he loved more than he loved himself.
Reaching into his coat, he closed his fingers around the ring he'd bought for Keri and pulled it from his pocket. The gold and emerald ring cost him a bundle, Mrs. Jenkins charging him extra for the special rush order. It was too extravagant, much too fancy for life in a dusty little town like Willow Creek, but no more so than the coat he'd bought her. The look on her face when he'd held that fur lined coat open for her so she could slip it on told him it was worth every penny he spent on it. He imagined that look of awe would fill her eyes again when she saw the ring. When he asked her to marry him. Something he knew now, he had no right to do.
What woman would want a man who could kill without remorse? Who still had no feelings of guilt for doing it. A man who would kill that sorry bastard all over again given the chance.
A man Morgan Avery would eventually arrest for murder.
* * * *
Keri couldn't shake the feelings of dread. They'd been plaguing her body since the day of the shooting in town. Noah had withdrawn again, kept to himself most of the day and spoke very little when they all sat down together in the evenings.
She smiled at him when he walked into the kitchen. As he'd done for the past three days, he barely spared her a glance. He poured a mug of coffee and left again without a word. Her heart ached at his quick retreat. She wasn't sure what was wrong but she'd lived with the silence too long.
Drying the last dinner plate, she placed it on the shelf and removed the old flour sack she used for an apron and stepped to the kitchen doorway. Noah was in the rocker by the fire, staring into the flames with a blank look on his face. Grabbing one of the chairs from the table, Keri made her way into the other room and stopped when she'd reached Noah's side. He never spared her a glance when she set her chair down and slid into it. Nor when she turned to face him.
His coffee mug was perched on his leg but it looked untouched. She sighed, then shook her head. "Noah, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
The dull tone of his voice told her he was lying. "Don't lie to me."
Long minutes passed, the crack and pop of firewood the only sound in the room. He finally turned his head to her and the look in his eyes nearly did her in. Such sadness. More so than she'd seen when they first came to be with him. Her chest tightened before she leaned over and grabbed his hand. "Please tell me what's bothering you."
He sighed and pulled his hand away. "Nothing's wrong, Keri. I just have a lot on my mind is all." He turned back to the fire. "I didn't realize I was required to tell you my every thought."
"You're not."
"No?" He shot her an accusing glare. "Then stop badgering me with all your stupid questions and go to bed. It's late. Those kids will be up before the sun as usual and I have better things to do tomorrow than tend them while you sleep in."
He stood and walked back toward the kitchen, dismissing her yet again. Keri watched him walk away, her heart aching as his cross words replayed inside her head. He was angry and she didn't know why. Had she done something to upset him? Had the kids?
Or was he finally getting tired of them being there all the time?
She thought back to the day of the shooting, to how happy he'd been when they'd dropped the kids off at school. He'd had plans for them that day. Plans, she was sure, which consisted of them being naked and in his bed. One last blissful day alone before school was dismissed for the Christmas break.
He wasn't happy now. The very sight of her seemed to anger him and not knowing why was eating away at her until fear started to creep into her heart.
Standing, she walked behind the blankets that still hung from the ceiling. She undressed, put her nightshirt on and slid under the covers, careful not to disturb Aaron and Sophie Ann. Her thoughts were a tangle of questions, fears she'd not had to worry about since Noah had found them that snowy day in the line shack once again making her stomach cramp with dread.
Had Noah grown tired of them? Of her? She dismissed the notion as soon as she thought it. He'd been eager to have her three days ago. He couldn't have tired of her in such a short per
iod of time. Could he?
The doubts lingered, grew until her heart was racing, and it wasn't until she realized Noah hadn't attempted to kiss her, to touch her in any way since the day of the shooting, that real worry started to sink in. What if he was tired of her? Tired of taking care of, and having them, in his house.
She felt sick, anxiety making it hard to breathe. Was this his way of letting her know he was through with her? That whatever had been between them was now over?
Tears clouded her eyes as the very real possibility whispered inside her head. She'd known since the day Noah took them in that their current situation was temporary, but not once had she realized how much it would hurt when it was all over. To walk away from a man she'd do anything for would be the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, but something told her she'd have no choice.
* * * *
"Do you think it'll snow again before Christmas? Can we take another ride on that sled you rigged up if it does? If Sophie Ann gets better, I mean. You think she'll be sick long?"
Noah blew out a breath and tried again, unsuccessfully, to ignore Aaron and his questions. The kid hadn't stopped talking since breakfast.
He opened the stall door and spoke softly to his horse when he nickered at him, then grabbed the brush and spent the next ten minutes ignoring Aaron's constant chatter and thinking of anything other than what had happened over the past week.
It seemed to work and the moment he noticed the silence, he breathed a sigh of relief. Until he looked toward the stall door. Aaron stood there staring at him, his eyebrows raised as if he were waiting on him to say something. He tried to remember the last thing he'd said but couldn't. Lowering his arm, he tossed the brush aside and turned to face him. "What?"
Aaron smiled but there was a bit of apprehension shining in his eyes. "I said my pa promised to teach me how to ride a horse but he never got around to it. Just wondering if you'd teach me."
Willow Creek Christmas Page 23