The Bride Price

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  After Fred left, Sep quietly made his way up the ladder, straining to hear any noises coming from the loft that would let him know that someone was moving around up there.

  But all was silent.

  He made it to the top of the ladder, the gun pointed at the shadows in the far left corner where light never seemed to go. That corner had been one of his favorite hiding spots. But now, as he examined it, he saw that no one was there. He did, however, see a rolled up blanket with some food nearby. Everything was neatly pressed up against the wall. So someone had been up here. There was no telling how long he had been here, but he had definitely been up here.

  Sep got onto the loft and settled into a spot that gave him the best view of the barn entrance. Good. When the man came, he would be ready for him. He had managed to get back before the man did.

  He waited for about ten minutes before Fred started barking. He bolted up and then quickly remembered that he didn’t want the man to see him when he entered the barn. He could only hope Fred would be alright. Hopefully, the man would ignore his dog.

  A man’s shadow came to the doorway, and Sep got his gun ready.

  “Is anyone in here?” a familiar voice asked.

  Sep lowered the gun. He peered over the edge of the loft as Deputy Barnes stepped into the barn.

  What was the deputy doing here? He had been careful not to get him or Owen involved in this. He had asked Joel to do the same. But maybe Owen got suspicious when Joel had Jenny ask about the prisoners. Maybe Owen had sent his deputy out just to make sure everything was alright.

  “I’m up here,” Sep said and then went to the ladder and started climbing down.

  “What are you doing up there?” the deputy asked.

  “Someone’s been up here recently.” Sep reached the ground and turned to the deputy, his gun hanging down at his side. He glanced around. “I expect the man to be coming back soon.”

  “It’s a good thing I came out then. Do you know who the man is?”

  “It’s someone who was involved in Mr. Dodson’s scheme to auction off those three women. Did the sheriff mention anything today about any of those men?”

  The deputy shook his head. “I haven’t seen much of the sheriff today. Why? Did you find out something that he should know?”

  “I didn’t tell him anything. But I did get a letter from someone who was involved in that auction scheme. He wants $300. He seems to think I owe it to him because I married Angela.”

  “Why didn’t you go to Owen or me about this?”

  “Because he said if I did, he would take her. I didn’t want to take that chance.”

  The deputy rubbed his neck and side. “While I can understand your motives, you put yourself in a lot of danger by not coming to one of us. We’re here to help protect people like you.”

  “I know, but I didn’t want to take the risk.”

  “Well, I’m here now, and I’m going to help you. Now, has anyone come directly to you about paying $300 for Angela?”

  “I only got the letter,” Sep said.

  “When did you get the letter?”

  “Yesterday.”

  “And all the letter told you was to pay $300 for Angela?”

  Sep nodded. “I went to the bank today, and I’m hoping he saw me go there.”

  “So you are going to give him the money?”

  Sep almost replied when it occurred to him that though he could hear Fred barking, Fred wasn’t in the barn. Which meant Fred was probably trying to warn him about something. Since Fred wasn’t coming to him, Fred probably saw a stranger. That stranger, no doubt, was the man he was expecting.

  “I have to find out what my dog is trying to tell me,” Sep said and left the barn.

  He didn’t see Fred right away, but when he did, he saw that someone had tied him to a tree. Fred stopped barking when he saw Sep. Fred looked over at the barn and growled. Fred had only growled like that twice in the time Sep had been his owner. Once was when the bull had gotten loose on the property and was coming right at Sep. The other time was when they had been hunting, and a rattlesnake was nearby.

  Sep turned back to the barn. Was Fred warning him about the deputy? Sep renewed his grip on his gun and cautiously made his way back to the barn. Of all the people he had expected to pose a threat, Deputy Barnes had not been one of them.

  But this explained a lot. It explained why he was getting the letter when no one from the jailhouse had escaped. Angela and the other two women had said that Owen had gotten all of the men who were trying to auction them off. The only thing that made sense was that there was another man involved that they had never seen. Or…someone who had arrested the men.

  When Sep got into the barn, the deputy was opening the envelope that Sep had put in the bucket. Sep raised his gun and pointed it at the deputy. “How long were you going to let me think you were here to help me?”

  The deputy laughed. “I am here to help you. You said there was something in the bucket yesterday. I was just seeing if something else was in it tonight. If this is from the man who wants the money, then I need to know about it. The more information I have, the better I can help you.”

  Sep glanced at the deputy’s boots. It was hard to tell from this angle and from the dim light, but he bet if he turned those boots over, they would match the footprints of the man who had been creeping around his property. “Were you going to release Mr. Dodson and those other men, or were you going to keep that $300 for yourself?” Sep asked.

  “You’re imagining things. I’m not in cahoots with those men. I have nothing to do with them.” He lifted the envelope. “This is evidence. We need to take this before the judge, along with that letter the man wrote you. Where is it?”

  Since the deputy was playing games with him, Sep decided to do the same. “I had Joel give it to Owen earlier today.”

  The deputy’s eyebrows furrowed. “But I thought you said you didn’t go to Owen.”

  “I didn’t. Joel did it for me.”

  “That’s impossible. I didn’t see Joel go to Owen today.”

  So it was the deputy. The deputy was the one who had been watching him today. The only way he could know that Joel had no interaction directly with Owen was if he had been watching him and Sep. Sep held the gun steady and took a deep breath.

  The deputy was still holding the envelope, but his hand was going to his holster.

  Sep wasn’t going to let himself lose his focus. This time, the other man wasn’t going to get the best of him.

  “There’s no money in that envelope,” Sep said. “And if you pull out that gun, I’ll shoot your wrist.”

  The deputy stared at him as if he was trying to figure out whether or not he should take Sep seriously. To give him an incentive to take his hand away from his gun, Sep pulled back the hammer.

  The tactic worked, for the deputy’s hand left the holster and went back to the envelope. “I bet you’re bluffing. I bet there really is money in here.”

  “Open it and see for yourself.”

  The deputy hesitated but then turned his attention to the envelope, and when he saw there was no money in it, he pulled the gun out of his holster.

  The action happened so fast that Sep almost didn’t have time to respond. But since he had kept his focus on the man’s hands the entire time, he was able to detect a sudden movement in time to shoot the deputy’s wrist.

  The gun flew out of the deputy’s hand and landed on the barn floor. The deputy called out several curse words as he held his wrist to his chest.

  “I warned you,” Sep said as he hurried over to the deputy’s gun. He retrieved it and slipped it into his pocket. “You’re coming with me. We’re going directly to Owen, and I’m telling him everything.”

  “There’s no need to take him to me. I’m already here.”

  The two men turned to the barn entrance where Joel and Owen were hurrying over to them.

  Sep backed away so that Owen could apprehend the deputy.

  Joel came
over to Sep and scanned him up and down. “Are you alright? We got here as soon as we could.”

  Sep nodded and gave Joel the deputy’s gun. “I’m fine. Just shaken up a bit, that’s all.”

  “Were you really behind this?” Owen asked the deputy.

  When the deputy didn’t answer, Joel said, “You might as well tell him the truth. We heard enough to get you in trouble with the judge.”

  The deputy glanced from one man to the other and then gave in. “It was just an easy way to make some money. I had no intention of letting any of those men go. They’re still in jail, and they’ll face the judge this week. I’m not changing any of that.”

  “So you were acting alone?” Joel asked.

  The deputy nodded. “It was just me. I wasn’t going to hurt Sep, and I had no intention of taking Angela. I just wanted to scare Sep enough so that he would give me the money.”

  “He killed two rabbits and put them in my bed,” Sep told Owen. “I don’t believe for a minute he wouldn’t have done something to hurt either me or Angela.”

  “Believe it or not, it’s true,” the deputy replied. “The rabbits were meant to scare you. They were supposed to make you take me seriously. And then, after you got the money, I was supposed to step in and help you so that you and Angela would’ve been safe. I wasn’t going to hurt either of you.”

  “What were you going to do with the money?” Owen asked.

  “I was going to pay off some gambling debts,” the deputy replied.

  “Just some?” Owen asked.

  “My debts in Missouri are substantial. I came here to get a new start, but one of the men I owed money to back in Missouri tracked me down and demanded I pay up. When the whole thing happened with Mr. Dodson and his men, I saw that as an opportunity to get the money to pay him back. Like I said, I wasn’t going to hurt anyone. I was just going to take the money and tell Sep that I gave it to you. Then I was going to work something out with the banker so that he would forgive Sep’s loan. It was all going to work out.”

  “What makes you think you can talk the banker into forgiving the loan?”

  “The banker has a mistress. I’m sure his wealthy father-in-law wouldn’t like to hear about it.”

  “You mentioned you have a lot of debt,” Owen said. “How much debt do you have altogether?”

  The deputy shifted from one foot to the other. “I owe about $900.”

  “Then why did you ask him for $300? Why not $900?” Joel asked, gesturing to Sep.

  “There was no way he was going to get $900,” the deputy replied. “My plan was to do this to all three men who married the three women we saved from the auction block. It just so happens that the other two women are taking forever to get married.”

  “That’s because they both want to marry Mark, and Mark hasn’t made up his mind on which one he’ll take,” Owen said. “But that’s beside the point. You were going to take $300 from Sep, and then you were going to get $300 from Mark and another $300 from Anthony?”

  “Yes, that was the plan,” the deputy said. “But like Sep, they weren’t really going to lose anything.”

  “That’s a stupid plan,” Joel said. “The whole thing might’ve worked for Sep, but you couldn’t guarantee it would work so well for the other two.”

  “There are always ways to give someone their money back,” the deputy replied.

  “So far, your plans have worked so well that you’re $900 in debt,” Joel said, not hiding his sarcasm.

  “This isn’t the time or place for this, Joel,” Owen interrupted. He turned to the deputy. “As much as I like you, I can’t overlook this. You’re going to have to deal with the things you’ve done.”

  “Yes, I know,” the deputy replied in surrender.

  As Owen led the deputy out of the barn, Joel gave a firm pat on Sep’s back. “Well done. You did good.”

  Now that everything was going to be alright, Sep could relax. “Thanks.”

  Smiling, Joel and Sep left the barn to get Fred and then they returned to town to let Angela and April know that everything was alright.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Angela couldn’t sleep, so she was sitting in a rocking chair in the parlor, holding a sleeping Opal in her arms. Being exhausted from giving birth, April had fallen asleep shortly after Joel had left. The other children were in bed as well. For the moment, she was pretty much alone.

  Sep had been gone for almost eight hours. She tried not to give into the fear that something bad had happened to him. It took him a while to get to town. It wasn’t like they were only a couple of blocks away from this residence. And if he ran into trouble, then that would only complicate things. She hoped Joel and Owen got out there in time to prevent anything bad from happening. She didn’t know what she’d do if they gave her the news that Sep had been shot.

  She wiped a tear from her cheek. She had to remain hopeful. Sep was a good shot. She’d seen his skill firsthand. He had quick reflexes. But…were they quick enough?

  Little Opal stirred in her arms, bringing her attention back to her. At first, Angela thought the girl was going to wake up since it had been three hours since she last ate. However, the baby snuggled back into the blanket tightly wrapped around her and dozed back off to sleep.

  Babies were such sweet things. Full of newness and innocence. They brought hope with them wherever they went. She was grateful to have Opal to watch tonight, or else she would have driven herself to distraction by worrying about Sep.

  She smiled at the small bundle in her arms. She recalled the hope she’d had of having a family of her own – children who would call her ‘mother’ and come to her when they needed someone to comfort them. It was why she had decided to be a mail-order bride to begin with. She hadn’t planned to fall in love with her husband, but doing so had been a very pleasant surprise. Even better was knowing he loved her in return. She just hoped he would be coming back to her, alive and well.

  Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she stood up and went to the window. No sign of Sep. She checked the clock. It was just after four in the morning. Soon the sun would be coming up.

  She went to the kitchen, which was lit by a kerosene lamp. She drank the rest of the water she had poured into a glass earlier that evening. This had to be the longest night of her life. Wondering what was happening. Worrying that things wouldn’t go well for her husband. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, held it, and released it. The action helped to settle her back down so she wouldn’t give into the urge to cry.

  When she opened her eyes, she noticed the calendar on the wall. It was sewn onto a cloth tapestry, and it listed all of the months so a person could glance at it and know what day it was. She stared at the month of June for a long moment, knowing there was something she was forgetting.

  She frowned and tried to remember what it was. There was something about the end of the month that she had told herself to remember before she left Indiana. She had been thinking about it while she was packing her things. The carpetbag she’d taken wasn’t all that big. She had been careful to only take what was absolutely necessary. Whatever she didn’t need for the trip had to wait until she was in Omaha.

  She gasped, and all at once, a spark of anticipation shot through her. She had been expecting the women’s time of month to visit her at the end of June. That was why she hadn’t packed any rags with her. She figured she would make rags out of whatever old clothes she could find after she married. That, or she could go to the mercantile and get something there.

  In all the excitement of falling in love with Sep, she had forgotten all about her cycle. She approached the calendar and counted back the days to the last time she’d had her flow. She should have started menstruating three days ago. She’d never been late before. One of the things she could depend on was getting her flow every twenty-seven to twenty-eight days. It never started at twenty-nine days. And right now, she was on day thirty-one!

  Her enthusiasm was quickly diminished when she realized
she might not be able to tell Sep that he was going to be a father. It seemed like a cruel twist of fate to finally have a child on the way that she had always hoped for without having Sep with her, too.

  The front door opened, and she hurried out of the kitchen. She cried out with relief when she saw Sep and Joel stepping in through the front door. Sep had made it! He was still with her!

  She ran over to him and hugged him, careful not to disturb Opal as she did so. “I’m glad you’re back.”

  He hugged her in return. “I’m glad to be back, too. I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too. I was afraid I wasn’t going to see you again.”

  He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “I’m happy to say that everything’s alright. Deputy Barnes is now in jail. Joel had to tend to his wound, and I had to give my report to Owen before I could come back. I’ll tell you all about what happened later. Right now, I’m so tired that I can barely think.”

  Since Sep, Joel, and Owen were all doing fine, she decided she could satisfy her curiosity later.

  Joel took Opal from her. “You two should get some sleep. It’s been a long night, and I can tell you’re just as tired as Sep is. I’ll get two cots and a couple of blankets out here.”

  After Joel left the parlor, Sep said, “Fred is back at the farm. After being cooped up all day in the house, he needed to run around.”

  She gave him another hug. “I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Her voice cracked, so she had to stop for a moment to regain her composure.

  He tightened his hold on her. “I love you, Angela. I’m sorry I made you worry so much. I really thought that by not telling you everything, I was saving you from worrying about me. Now I can see I only made things worse.” He pulled away from her. “I’ll give you all of the details after we get some sleep. And in the future if anything dangerous happens, I promise that I won’t keep it a secret.”

  “I appreciate that, Sep, but I hope you won’t ever have to keep that promise.”

  “You and me both.”

  “Sep,” she said before Joel returned and interrupted them, “while you were gone, I counted the days on the calendar, and I realized I’m expecting a child.”