by Dina Chapel
Silent tears streamed down Annie’s face, as she stood rooted to the spot Rafe had placed her in the corner. The urge to run coursed through every fiber of her. It was what she always did and it was exactly what she wanted to do right now. So why didn’t she? The snow had stopped. Rafe had mentioned earlier in the day that they may very well be able to head out to Tom and Jenny’s in the morning. She could probably get away right now then, if she really wanted to.
Instead she stood very still in the corner and cried silently with a bar of soap lodged in her mouth. Annie didn’t even understand herself anymore.
“Dinner’s just about ready.” Rafe came up behind her, took her shoulders and turned her around. “Open,” he ordered, and Annie did as she was told. Rafe took the soap from her mouth and used his handkerchief to dry her eyes. He then fetched a glass of water for her so she could rinse her mouth out.
When she was done, he turned her face toward his with his thumb and forefinger on her chin. “I hope I never hear those words or any like them come from your mouth again.” Rafe was solemn and serious. “Your punishment will be much harsher if that ever happens.” He released her chin and set to serving the food he had prepared.
Annie glared at his back. “I’m not hungry,” Annie said, no louder than a whisper.
“You’ll sit for the meal all the same, even if you don’t want to eat.” Rafe wasn’t letting her off that easy. He knew that she wanted to turn away from him and he was determined to prevent her from doing just that. Annie did as she was told and sat, gingerly, at the table, staring down at her plate. As always, Rafe found himself surprised when she didn’t give him any argument.
“Weather’s cleared quite a bit. I was thinkin’ that we could get you back to Tom’s ranch tomorrow morning. Tom and Jenny should be getting back from their trip tomorrow too.”
He was halfway through his supper when he realized that Annie was still crying, even harder than she had been when she first sat down. She was doing it so quietly that Rafe hadn’t noticed at first. And here he’d thought the news that she wouldn’t be trapped in this house with him after tomorrow would almost surely put a smile on her face. Or at the very least help dry those tears. Sometimes there was just no figurin’ a woman at all.
“Now I know you’re not still cryin’ over the soaping. And I didn’t spank you that hard.”
“Not that hard?” Annie cried indignantly.
“Watch your tone of voice, little girl, or I’ll give you a taste of hard.” Annie started on a fresh round of tears at this statement. “You’ll tell me why you’re crying now.” Annie looked down at the hands she was wringing in her lap and shook her head. “Annie...” Rafe growled.
She kept her head down and her eyes averted. Annie didn’t want any more punishment from Rafe, but she just couldn’t talk, she just couldn’t tell him.
“All right then,” Rafe said evenly, “you can get yourself straight to bed. And,” Rafe reached out and tipped Annie tear-streaked face up to look in her eyes, “we will talk about this in the morning. Am I making myself clear?”
Annie nodded her understanding. But she had no intention of talking to Rafe come morning because she wasn’t planning on being here to talk. She’d go to bed now so that she could rise earlier than he and get away. As far away from Rafe Stanton and his rules as possible. Annie was going to run.
* * * * *
Annie had a plan. It was a tentative plan, but a plan all the same, and a pretty good one, or so she thought. She could make the rest of it up as she went along.
She had managed to slip quietly past Rafe, snoring fit to wake the dead, and out of the house. She ran to the barn and quickly and efficiently saddled one of Rafe’s sturdier horses. Her plan was to ride to Tom and Jenny’s and trade Rafe’s horse for one of Tom’s. She would leave a note she already had tucked in her saddlebag attached to Rafe’s horse, explaining that she was leaving and promising to leave Tom’s horse at the stable in town. Annie figured Tom might be a bit more understanding about her ‘borrowing’ the horse than Rafe would. Actually, Rafe wasn’t really understanding about much of anything at all. She broke a rule, she was punished. She had learned that lesson well over the past week spent almost exclusively with Rafe Stanton. He was fairly unyielding in that respect.
Yet, Annie also remembered wistfully how tenderly Rafe had held her and kissed her. She wished he hadn’t done that. The memory of it stuck in the back of her mind and she couldn’t seem to shake it, no matter how hard she tried. She didn’t want to remember Rafe Stanton for his kiss. She wanted to recall the heavy-handed way he felt he had every right to punish her. She had really never been spanked so much and so hard in her life than she had been over the past week by him. So why couldn’t she get that kiss out of her head? And why couldn’t she hate him?
When Rafe had stated his desire to head back to Tom’s ranch, Annie knew the truth then. She had thought his discipline was different from all the others who had spanked, strapped and whipped her in the past. She thought he did it because he cared for her. Those other folks hadn’t given one whit about her. They were just annoyed with her for causin’ them trouble and almost always decided to vent their displeasure with her on her backside.
She had thought him different than all the others. She was truly mad at herself for thinking of him that way and that’s what had brought on the tears last night at Rafe’s supper table. The tears that she just couldn’t seem to control, no matter how hard she tried.
He didn’t want her; he wanted to be rid of her. She was a thorn in his side, a responsibility that he didn’t want. Annie felt the tears well up again and quickly wiped the back of her sleeve across her eyes to rid herself of them.
The distant sight of Tom’s ranch jolted Annie out of her thoughts. She hoped for all she was worth that no one had risen yet – it was still dark as pitch, so there was a chance. If she could make it away from Tom’s ranch unnoticed, then she would be in the clear. The rest of her plan consisted of riding on into town, the same one that Rafe had taken her to for the dresses, selling her Pa’s pocket watch for travelling money, and boarding the first stage out of town. She didn’t really much care where she would be going. Annie just wanted to get away; she’d figure out the rest once she was safely out of the reach of whoever might try to fetch her back.
* * * * *
Rafe woke early, as he usually did. And then he felt it – something was wrong. He jumped up and ran straight into the bedroom.
She wouldn’t dare, he thought, as he reached for the covers and yanked them back.
Pillows. And an extra blanket. Bunched up to look like a sleeping form. She would dare.
Rafe doused what was left of the fire, yanked on his boots and coat, grabbed his gun belt and plopped his hat on his head as he headed out of the cabin for the barn. He could still make out her footprints in the snow, so she couldn’t be gone that long. He hoped.
Rafe decided as soon as he was seated on his horse to head for Tom’s ranch first. Maybe she just wanted to get away from him; maybe she thought he meant to punish her again this morning. When he’d said “talk” to her last night, he had actually meant “talk.” He wanted to know why she was crying. He should have been clear on that.
But now he would have to spank her again. She still hadn’t learned that she just couldn’t do things like this – just pick up and go when she felt like it. She should have waited for him. He had told her he would bring her back to Tom’s today. That little girl was like to make him loco, he was sure of it.
When Rafe arrived at Tom’s, he headed straight for the barn to see if his horse was there. It was, along with Tom, Zeke and two of Tom’s other hired hands.
“She’s gone,” Tom said as soon as he saw Rafe. Those two words hit Rafe like a fist to his gut.
“She left your horse here with a note for me and another note for Jenny, and she took one of my horses.”
“I don’t suppose either one of them notes says where she’s headed,” Rafe sai
d, mostly to himself. Tom shook his head.
“Why don’t we head for town – the tracks look like that’s the way she was headin’ – and, just in case, Zeke and Caleb can ride to the north a bit to make sure she didn’t go that way and get lost.” Tom looked at Rafe and waited for his agreement. He was about to ask if Rafe could spare the time to help him chase after Annie, but at the last second he thought better of it.
Tom already sensed that something had changed between Rafe and Annie while he and Jenny were gone. He got the feeling that now he was the one helping Rafe, instead of the other way around.
“We’d best get goin’ then.” Rafe was just barely able to control his impatience. While they talked, Annie got farther and farther away.
Tom saddled his horse and he and Rafe headed for town. Zeke and Caleb headed north, while Luke, the other hand who had been in the barn, went to tell Jenny what was happening.
“When did you get back?” Rafe asked when they were well on their way.
“Yesterday. Late.” Tom was focused on the ground, searching for any sign of tracks. He wasn’t seeing any.
“How was the honeymoon?” Rafe looked at Tom.
“It was fine,” Tom smiled, mostly to himself, as if remembering. “Real fine.”
They made the rest of the trip to town in silence.
* * * * *
When Will Jameson stepped out of the hotel onto the boardwalk, the sun was just beginning to rise. He had gotten into town late the night before, had a hot meal and a good night’s rest and was ready now to get to the bottom of things – things being whether or not his mail-order intended had deceived him and was living close by on the ranch of a man by the name of Tom McCallister.
Will was still kicking himself over not meeting the stage that day. It had been a last-minute change of plans that he lived to regret. He had planned to go himself, meet the stage and bring his mail-order bride, Miss Annie Walters, home. He had been eager to make her acquaintance and anxious to make her his wife. He’d been alone for too long.
But problems that morning with some of the livestock led him to send Teddy Cobb, one of his newer and therefore less valuable hands, to fetch Annie in town that day.
And he’d returned without her.
According to him, Annie Walters wasn’t on the stagecoach. Her twin sister, Jenny Walters, told Teddy that her sister had gotten cold feet and stayed in town two stops back. She planned to take the next available stagecoach back east. But there was another young woman on the stagecoach, although Teddy said she didn’t look much like a woman at all. She claimed to be Tom McCallister’s cousin who was meant to be Jenny’s traveling companion. Teddy believed them because, according to him, “She didn’t look like no one you’d want to take to wife.”
Something about the whole story just didn’t set well with Will. He could understand the cold feet. Any young woman traveling this far to wed a man she didn’t know was taking a big chance. However, in her few letters to him, Annie claimed to not have much of anything – money or possessions. How could she manage a return trip?
There were too many unanswered questions as far as Will was concerned, and he aimed to get himself some answers. If that other woman had, in fact, been Annie, then he was takin’ her home with him. If she hadn’t, well then maybe her sister could answer some of his questions to his satisfaction. He felt he deserved at least that much, given the money and time he had invested in Annie.
He intended his first stop to be the town jail to speak to the sheriff. The sheriff should know Tom McCallister and what kind of man he was. Plus Will didn’t want any trouble. He would be letting the sheriff know his intention to go to Tom’s ranch and take back his bride. After fetching his horse from the livery, Will made his way over to the town jail. He stepped inside and immediately put out his hand.
“Mornin’, Sheriff. Name’s Will Jameson and I’m lookin’ for a man named Tom McCallister. You know him?”
“Tom McCallister? Why sure, I know Tom.” Sheriff Cole stood up from where he had been seated behind a big desk drinking the first of many cups of coffee for the day. He shook Will’s hand. “He’s a good man. Fair, honest. One of our best citizens, I think it’s safe to say. What do you want to see him for?”
Will quickly explained his reasons to the sheriff for needing to pay a visit to Tom’s ranch.
“Now I do recall the day that stagecoach arrived with Tom’s mail-order bride and I also do recall that other woman.” The sheriff was scratching his whiskers and thinking as he spoke. “But I can’t say as I know for sure whether that was Tom’s cousin or Miss Jenny’s sister.”
“Then you can understand my reasons for wantin’ to find out for sure which way it is, Sheriff.”
“Of course, of course.” The sheriff then looked straight at Will. “I have no problem directing you to Tom’s ranch. As long as you can assure me you don’t mean to cause trouble there, ‘cause you’ll get none from Tom. If there was deception, I can guarantee he had no part in it.”
“I’m not lookin’ for trouble, Sheriff. Just my mail-order bride or some answers.”
“Very well, then. Let’s step outside and I’ll point you in the right direction.” With that, the two stepped out onto the boardwalk just as Rafe and Tom rode past on their way to check the stables for Tom’s horse.
“Well, whaddaya know,” the sheriff said. “That’s Tom McCallister right there. Tom!” Sheriff Cole called out to Tom and waved him over. Tom turned to Rafe.
“You head to the livery. I’ll see what Cole wants and catch up to you.” Rafe nodded in response. He had no intention of stopping to talk to the sheriff. He wasn’t wasting another minute.
Sheriff Cole quickly made the introductions and then let Will Jameson explain the rest.
“Annie is staying at my ranch,” Tom said slowly, “but she and Jenny both claimed that you rejected her on sight.” Will shook his head. He had just known something wasn’t right. And it was plain to see that Tom McCallister, true to the sheriff’s word, had played no part in it.
“I was never there that day,” Will explained. “I had to send one of my hands to fetch Miss Walters and he’s the one they deceived.”
Tom was shaking his head in disbelief as he listened. “I’d like to apologize to you on behalf of my wife, Jenny. You can rest assured that her behavior will not go unpunished.” Tom was not happy. “As for Annie, well, there’s a problem there.” Tom proceeded to explain to Will why he, along with his friend and neighbor Rafe Stanton, just happened to be in town this morning. With that, Rafe rode up to them.
“Your horse is at the livery and Annie took the early stage out. If we leave right now, we should be able to catch it.” Rafe was almost relieved. She hadn’t gotten that far. They would catch up to her and get her safely back to Tom’s ranch. Rafe’s palm was already itchin’ to give her the walloping she deserved for this wild goose chase.
But something wasn’t right. Tom wasn’t making for his horse.
“Let’s go,” said Rafe, as if he didn’t believe it actually had to be said.
Tom looked real uncomfortable. He quickly made the introductions, then turned to Rafe. “Will here needs to come with us. He can explain why on the way so we don’t waste any time.” Rafe just nodded. He didn’t understand, but something about the way Tom was acting told him that he would understand soon enough and wish that he didn’t.
Tom and Will then mounted their horses and the three rode out in the same direction taken by the stagecoach, with the sheriff shouting good luck after them.
Chapter 6
Annie stared wistfully out the small window next to her seat on the stagecoach. She just couldn’t seem to shake the funny feeling in her stomach that she’d been feeling since buying her ticket for the stage. Every other time in her life when she’d had the urge to run away, and then had actually done so, she had always felt nothing other than elation and relief at her escape. Joy, basically. She felt nothing like that now. Something was wrong.
&n
bsp; She’d bought her ticket and had plenty left over from the sale of Pa’s watch to keep her for a while, if she was careful with it – and she would be. Everything had gone smoothly at Tom and Jenny’s. She had slipped in and out of the barn unnoticed and made the trip to town without a hitch. In fact, the whole thing made Annie a little nervous. There was always a problem, small or large, and since she hadn’t encountered one yet, she just knew one was yet to come. It was the not knowing when or where that worried her.
In addition to the note explaining the horse situation, Annie had also left a letter for Jenny. It broke her heart to leave her sister, but she knew there was no other way. Jenny would understand and forgive her. And Annie had promised she would write and let Jenny know where she was and how she was doing. She just knew that Jenny would be happy with Tom and have a good life, the life that Jenny had wanted for so long, with a husband and babies. Maybe Annie would be able to come back and visit sometime, even.
So was it because she knew she’d miss Jenny? She thought hard on that for a minute or two. Nope, that wasn’t it. Of course she’d miss Jenny. But she had also run before and left Jenny behind before. Nothing new there. Thinking about Jenny didn’t bring that feeling on.
Rafe’s stern face came to mind and, with it, that feeling, as strong as any kick in the stomach could ever be. No, can’t be! Annie thought. I can’t wait to get away from him! In fact, Annie knew for sure that if Rafe Stanton caught her right now as she was trying to run off, he wouldn’t hesitate to take his belt off and tan her bare bottom with it. Why, he’d probably do it right in the stagecoach!
He was overbearing and unrelenting in his discipline. He was harsh and unyielding. He was dictatorial and dominant. But then he was also tender at times and gentle, generous and kind, strong and fair. And Annie had never before in her life experienced anything like his kiss.