She shook her head, loosening a few strands of dark hair from her chignon. “No. I can’t.” Her voice quavered and the whites of her eyes reddened.
“At least tell me what’s wrong. Tell me, and I’ll make it right.” He lowered his voice. “Please, talk to me.”
“You’re right. You deserve an explanation.” She took another deep breath and glued her gaze to her hands. “All along, I felt something wasn’t right. Other girls didn’t have the kind of pain I did when I had—you know—my monthly. Sometimes, it was so awful I couldn’t get out of bed. Daddy told me again and again that I should see my female specialist, but I was afraid. I knew something was wrong and I didn’t want to hear the doctor tell me the thing I knew in my heart to be true.” She glanced at him quickly and bent her head again. “Daddy said I shouldn’t let my fears get the best of me, that I should face them head on.” She wiped at the streaks from the tears that had begun to run down her cheeks. “And then you asked me to marry you the night of the Valentine’s ball when we found you and little orphan Max in the blizzard. I had to know the truth before we got married, so I went to my gynecologist for my premarital exam and told her everything. She ran some tests, took some X-Rays and so on. The results came back yesterday.”
“What are you talking about? What does any of this medical business have to do with you suddenly not wanting to marry me?”
“Harry, you and I have talked so often about how much we both want to raise a house full of children. It’s our big dream to have the sound of youthful laughter, the particular happy energy of children scampering through a house filled with love. But I can’t give you that. With me, you’ll never have that big, happy family because I—I can’t have children. There’s nothing the doctor can do. There is no surgery, no specialist, nothing that can change it.”
He drew her to his side and hugged her. “Oh, honey, do you think that’s all I care about? I love you. Kids or not. I don’t want to spend my life with anyone but you.”
She pulled back. “It wouldn’t be fair to you. You deserve your dream and there are plenty of women who can make it come true, who can give you children.”
He clasped both her forearms in his hands a little tighter than he intended. Blood roared in his ears. “Now, you listen to me, Juliet Wilding, this is not some medieval kingdom where a wife’s duty is to produce an heir. This is Wyoming, here in the land of the free. And we’re not cattle, either. We can still have our house full of children. We can adopt. You know how much you’ve come to love that little runaway, Max. If you can open your heart to one child, you can open it to more.”
“You don’t understand, Harry. Of course, I love Max, but I wanted children we made together—children with your red hair and silly grin. I can’t have that, but you can.”
Harry saw the pain-filled shadows in her eyes. But he was not about to give in to her. He couldn’t make her marry him if she didn’t love him, but he knew she did. He knew there had to be a way to make her change her mind. The Wilding women were well known for their stubbornness, but he was not deterred. No man could love a woman more than he loved Juliet and, by God, he would find a way to convince her to marry him. There was nothing as stubborn as an Irishman in love.
“I have to get back to work now, Harry.” She rose to stand before him, her face pale, her eyes dark green. She reached out her hand as if to shake his hand.
Harry took her hand, pulled her tight against his chest and took her mouth with his. Intentionally, he kissed her slow and tender—and then he deepened the kiss to show her his passion and love for her.
She responded to him, melted into his arms, and then, abruptly, she pulled back and stepped out of reach. She spoke in a raw whisper. “I’ll never forget you, Harry O’ Connor.” Before he could stop her, she turned and ran into the hotel.
You won’t have to forget me, Juliet Wilding, because I intend to live my life with you at my side. Perhaps it was time to show her the house he bought for them.
“Wait, Juliet!” He cried out as he ran in after her. He stopped her just before she entered the kitchen and lowered his voice to keep their words private. “Before you make up your mind, please let me show you something. It’s something you’ve always wanted.”
“Please don’t make this any harder—”
“There you are, Harry!” The voice of Sheriff Wilcox cried out over the noise surrounding them. “I need your help. It’s urgent.”
Harry turned toward the sheriff and Juliet stood very still as Sheriff Wilcox and his son, Luke, approached them. Trailing slightly behind the sheriff and his deputy was a tall, lean woman with brown hair wound into a tight knot on top of her head.
Breathless, the sheriff introduced the woman. “This is Miss Lucille Thoroughgood from Child Welfare. She can tell you better than I can what has happened.”
Miss Thoroughgood nodded. “It was awful. I went out to the Wilsons’ house to check on the foster children this morning. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were drunk from alcohol. Bottles were everywhere. The place was quite a mess, littered with dirty clothes, dishes piled up in the sink and on the floor and filth…well, I’m sure you can picture it. The thing is, Mr. O’Connor, the children could not be found. Since you were of such service to us previously finding the boy, Max, in that cave during the snow storm, we thought you might know where we could start searching for him. Max knows you and he trusts you. If he’s hiding somewhere, maybe you can convince him to show himself so we can help him. Will you help us find the children?”
“I certainly will.” Harry turned once again to Juliet. “We haven’t finished our conversation, Juliet. I’ll come back later.” He left her to join the others in the search for the missing children with a heavy heart, but he would not allow himself to be hopeless. Juliet was a sensible woman, even if she was as hard-headed as a mule. He would just have to find a way to show her that her fears were groundless.
Chapter 2
“We best take the squad car. Luke, you take Miss Thoroughgood and Harry in your car.” Wilcox glanced at Harry, his weathered face all business. “You two stay with Luke and don’t get out of the car until we know things are safe.”
“You think the foster parents are a possible danger to us?” Harry didn’t want to think about what kind of horrible people this couple must be and what they must have done to little Max to make him want to run away—again. That poor kid had no one to go to and no safe place to run to. His fear must have been unimaginable.
Wilcox nodded. “Yes. I do.”
Following the sheriff, Luke drove Harry and Miss Thoroughgood down a long, dirt road that ran deep into the woods. The road seemed to go on for miles until they finally reached the farm.
The Wilsons lived on a thirty-acre plot of land with a dilapidated house, several out buildings, and a large barn in desperate need of repair. Harry’s gut clenched at the sight of the place. Old tires and garbage lay everywhere. The posts on the porch were rotted and it wouldn’t take much more time before the roof fell. A couple of bony work horses, one cow, two pigs and a scattering of scrawny chickens lingered around the edges of the barnyard near the fence in what seemed an attempt to search for an escape from the sea of muck, in need to find a footing on more solid ground. A man and woman stood on the porch with defiant faces, and the man had a shotgun in his hands.
Sheriff Wilcox pulled into the drive, got out of the squad car, walked back to Luke’s car and peered in the window. “You all stay here a moment while I talk to them.”
Harry couldn’t hear what the sheriff and the couple on the porch said, but he noticed from the rigid body poster of each of the Wilsons, and the contorted snarl on their faces as they talked, that things were heating up. The man grabbed for his shotgun as Luke leapt from the patrol car. Miss Thoroughgood made a high pitched yelp as a tussle for the shotgun ensued. “Stay here in the car,” Harry instructed, as he jumped out of the patrol car and hurried to the porch. As a shot rang out, he fell to the ground and rolled the way he’d learned t
o do in battle in the war, during the Normandy invasion.
When he got to his feet, he saw no one was injured and the sheriff and Luke were handcuffing the couple. Once the sheriff had the couple in custody, he made a call on his radio for backup and animal control.
“Do you know where the children are?” Harry asked the sheriff as he stood at the door of the squad car.
“The Wilsons say they don’t know where they are, but my gut tells me they’re around here. They might be scared and hiding. Things are safe enough now for you and Miss Thoroughgood to take a look around. The boy might come to you. He trusts you. The social worker will need to assess things and write an official report.” He glanced around the place and shook his head. “What a miserable life these kids must have had here. Even the animals look downhearted. Animal control is on the way. We’ll get Joey Wilding to take a look at the critters and see if they need anything.” He huffed a breath. “Luke will take a look around with you and Miss Thoroughgood. We’ve got to find those kids soon.”
As Harry walked the property with the social worker and Luke, he saw piles of rotting garbage along with dead animals in a large mound just behind the barn that had either starved to death or died of disease. The smell of death and rotted flesh filled the air and mixed with the stench of feces and garbage. Miss Thoroughgood quietly went into the bushes to be sick.
But it wasn’t until they entered the barn that the true horror of the Wilson farm was discovered.
Chapter 3
Juliet’s heart ached with the knowledge she couldn’t marry Harry. She tried to focus her thoughts on her work, but they kept wandering back to Harry’s face when she told him the wedding was off. She looked up from the cake she was icing in time to see a small face peeking around the kitchen door. Max! Her heart squeezed painfully at the fear she saw in his blue eyes, his matted, yellow hair and shabby clothes covered in dirt and filth as if he’d worn them every day for all his four years.
She went to him and knelt to speak with him at eye-level, coaxing him inside. “Hello, Max. What’s happened, sweetheart?”
“Is Mister O’Connor here?” His voice trembled.
“He’s out looking for you. He should be back soon. Are you all right? Are you hungry?”
He nodded his head and took the hand she offered him.
“First, let’s wash your face and hands, and then I’ll fix you something delicious.”
Once she had him somewhat clean, she sat him in the private room just off the kitchen where a small table and chairs sat in front of a window. Her brother had placed a big bird feeder at the window and a colorful display of the winged creatures as they fed lifted her spirits. Maybe they would cheer up the boy, too. In spite of all he had obviously been through, a tentative smile worked its way onto his face. “Birdies!”
“I thought you might like them. My brother, Joey, has a fondness for all creatures. He bands them and keeps track of the birds for the National Wildlife Service.” She pointed out the different colored bands around the legs of some of the birds. “They’re like little bracelets, but all the numbers mean something. He writes it all down in his notebook. He made this birdfeeder and he has a trap nearby to catch them so he—”
“A trap?” Blue eyes widened with fear. “Does he kill the birdies? Does he hurt them?”
Juliet couldn’t help reaching across the table and clasping Max’s hand to reassure him. “Lord, no. Joey will soon be a veterinarian. He wants to help animals, not hurt them. He catches them so he can put the metal bands on them and write all the information about each bird in his book. He writes things like what kind of bird, if it’s a girl or a boy, when he saw them, and so on. He examines them for parasites and disease or to see if they have any injuries. He takes care of them and lets the wildlife service know so they can plan how to help all the birds.”
His eyes brightened. “Do you think he would let me help him?”
A quickening in her chest warmed her. “He might. You’ll have to ask him. Will your foster parents allow you to spend time with Joey?”
The light went out of his eyes in an instant, and he hung his head. Juliet wanted to pull him up in her arms to comfort him, but she forced down her maternal urge to allow him dignity… and she didn’t want to frighten him.
Something is very wrong with those foster parents. I hope Harry and the law officers get to the bottom of it.
“Perhaps I can ask them for you, or maybe Harry…I mean Mr. O’Connor.” She smiled. “Mr. O’Connor has his Irish gifts of persuasion.”
“Please, don’t ask them.” Max lifted his head and her stomach clenched when she saw the shadow of fear in his eyes. She didn’t want to press him any further.
“I made some vegetable beef soup and crusty bread for the hotel guests. Would you like some?”
A sunny smile broke out on the lad’s face and he nodded enthusiastically.
Just as she sat the bowl of soup in front of him, a commotion ensued just outside the kitchen door. Shouting and cursing soon followed. Juliet gently squeezed Max’s shoulder. “You stay here and eat your dinner, darlin’. I’ll only be gone a moment. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
He dropped his spoon and grabbed her hand. “No. Don’t leave me. Don’t let them get me.”
Juliet’s mother entered the kitchen, obviously concerned about the mayhem taking place outside. “What’s that noise all about, Juliet?” Lola asked. “Has something happened?” She walked over to where Juliet stood beside Max. “Hello, young man. I think I remember you. You’re Max. I’m so happy to see you again.”
She turned her attention to Juliet. “I’ll sit with him while you see what’s going on out there.” She glanced at Max. “I’ll sit with you awhile, if that’s okay.”
“Are you Juliet and Joey’s mom?”
Lola nodded her head as she took a seat beside the trembling boy. “Yes, I am.”
“Miss Juliet told me about Joey’s birds.”
Juliet went to the kitchen door and stepped out onto the porch. What she saw in the chaos made her stomach knot.
Harry hurried to her the moment she stepped off the porch into the yard and wrapped an arm around her as if to protect her. He leaned close to her ear. “Please tell me Max found his way here. He wasn’t with the others.”
“He’s scared, but Mom is with him and he’s eating supper.” She gazed around her. A man and woman sat in the back seat of a police car. Both of them were shouting obscenities so loud it made her face heat to hear the words they spoke. “Are those the foster parents? Why are they in the police car? Did the sheriff arrest them? What’s going on, Harry?”
“I must warn you, it’s bad, Juliet, but I don’t want to tell you about it out here. First, we need to do something about these three children who have nowhere to go. Turns out, Max has an older brother and sister, and a baby sister.”
She spied the children standing in the yard hugging close together as if protecting each other from the rest of the world. The oldest boy looked to be eleven or twelve. He held a baby who might be eighteen months old. Standing next to him, clinging to his shirt, stood a little girl of about six or seven. All three of them, dressed in their raggedy clothes, looked dirty, exhausted and terrified.
“They’re coming home with me. Now that Lilith and Madeline are married and have moved into their own homes, there’s just me and Joey under Mom and Daddy’s roof. It’s been quiet way too long.”
“Are you sure your parents won’t mind? That’s four children, including Max, to take on. Miss Thoroughgood is doing what she can to find another foster home, but it might take a while. She said she might even have to separate them.”
Juliet’s heart sank. “Separating them would be cruel.”
“I agree.” Her mother’s voice sounded firm and final from where she appeared behind her. “They look like they could use a good meal and a warm bath.” She searched the crowd and motioned to Miss Thoroughgood, who made her way to Lola’s side. “If you like, Miss Thoroughgood,
Joe can check out the children to make sure they’re well and unharmed.”
Miss Thoroughgood stepped forward and clasped Lola’s hand. “Thank you. That’s a generous offer. I would be so pleased if Dr. Wilding would examine the children and write a report on his findings. I think we’re going to press charges against the Wilsons.” The stoic Miss Thoroughgood gulped back a sob, and Juliet realized how very bad it must have been out on the Wilson farm.
Juliet moved past the crowd that had gathered outside to speak to the children. She knelt before them not wanting to scare them any more than they already were. “Your brother is safe and sound inside the kitchen eating supper. Would you like to join him after we wash your hands and faces?” The boy nodded. Juliet held her arms out for the baby who went into them without hesitation. “I’ll fix something special for the baby while the rest of you eat. Please, follow me.” As she passed Harry, she took his hand in her free one, and he followed her inside.
When Max spied his brother and sisters, he ran to them. Tears of happiness followed. He peered up at his older brother. “I’m sorry I runned away, Dane. I was scared those people would hurt me.”
Dane placed a hand on Max’s shoulder. “You did what you had to do to save yourself, brother. They would have hurt you. No need to feel bad about it.”
Juliet thought how much like an adult Dane sounded. She couldn’t imagine the burdens he had had to bear. Harry helped her wash the children while Lola filled bowls with soup and placed them on the table where she and Max had sat earlier. The sun was going down, but the children could still see the birds at the feeder, and they gathered at the window to watch as they ate.
As soon as the children were all eating with her mother watching over them, Juliet took Harry aside to find out what had happened to them. The older girl was Mina, he said, and the baby, Blossom. Their parents died in a car accident when Blossom was still an infant. “I’m sorry for this imposition, Juliet. With no living relatives, they’ve been moved from one foster home to another. They truly have nowhere to go.”
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