Midnight Marriage

by Victoria Bylin

  As soon as Susanna shut the door, Rafe took off for the parsonage. Whiskey was a poor substitute for holding her in his arms, but tonight it would have to do.

  Being careful not to awaken Nick, Susanna stood at the window overlooking the street and watched Rafe walk away. She wanted to be disappointed in how the evening had ended, but she couldn’t deny the relief that had come when he’d refused her. She wasn’t afraid of making love—she could hardly wait—but she also knew that she’d been settling for less than she wanted. As surely as Tim was less than the man she wanted for a husband, a single night was less than she wanted from Rafe.

  Hugging herself inside his coat, she breathed in his scent and recalled the taut muscles in his back. She’d kissed him and knew how he tasted. Was a night better than nothing? She didn’t know, but another truth fell in her stomach like a stone. Rafe was two men. The rogue at the dance had broken her will. In spite of her dreams of a husband, she had been ready to go to bed with him without the benefit of marriage. The gentleman who’d just left had been just as dangerous, maybe more so. When he’d left, he’d taken her heart.

  Clutching the lapels of the coat, Susanna closed her eyes and sighed. Tonight she’d fallen in love with Rafe LaCroix and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. He was a man with secrets and he was headed to Mexico. Tonight had ended for the best.

  Susanna went into her bedroom and closed the door. Using a buttonhook, she undid the back of her dress and let it fall to the floor. Then she tugged on the ribbons to the corset and peeled it away from her skin. Her camisole and stockings came next. Shivering, she put on her flannel nightgown and pulled the covers up to her chin, wondering what she would do if Rafe came back.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Rafe? I’ve been thinking.”

  The kid had been doing a lot of it lately. That’s why Rafe had taken him fishing in spite of the nip in the air. The stream behind the parsonage still carried a few trout, and the cottonwoods had turned bright yellow. It was a perfect place for a man to sit and let his thoughts unfold.

  Rafe had discovered it after the dance. Instead of holing up in the parsonage with a bottle, he’d walked toward the rushing water and sat on a rock, shivering because Susanna had his coat. The cold air had cured what ailed him and he’d felt better than he had in years. For both their sakes, he’d vowed to keep away from Susanna.

  As much as he missed her, he had no regrets. Getting tangled up in his life could only bring her heartache. He also had to consider Nick. The boy had fallen for her as hard as he had. Neither of them had mentioned Mexico in days, but the circumstances hadn’t changed. Rafe would be leaving soon. The choice to go with him or stay in Midas would be Nick’s.

  Rafe looked upstream where the boy was perched on a slab of granite with his crutches propped at an angle. The pole in his hand belonged to one of Susanna’s brothers and made him look carefree. Rafe envied that innocence. For himself, he had taken a longer pole with a thick handle and a fancy reel.

  As a fish swam past his hook, he answered Nick. “So what’s on your mind, kid?”

  “Do you think you’re still being followed?”

  “I’m sure of it.”

  “When do you think we’ll have to leave?”

  Rafe heard the have to and felt bad. He’d enjoyed living in the parsonage. Between the bookshelves and John Leaf’s gun cabinet, he had spent hours speculating about Susanna and her family. He’d even skimmed through the family Bible where he’d seen a genealogy. On Abigail’s side, the family tree stretched back for five generations. But the Leaf side started with John, as if he had no mother or father.

  As he watched the fishing line bob in the current, Rafe wished his own father was that easy to forget. Without his guardian angel hunting him down, he could have settled in Midas and started a new life. But that wasn’t possible.

  “It depends on your leg,” he said to Nick.

  “Can we stay for Thanksgiving?”

  November had arrived a few days ago. Rafe blinked and imagined the three of them sitting at Susanna’s table with pies and platters of food. They’d play checkers and tell silly stories, then Nick would go to sleep and he’d kiss her for the last time. What harm could there be in making a memory? “Turkey sounds good.”

  “That’s great,” Nick declared. “They make a turkey and a ham.”

  Rafe’s nerves prickled. “Who are ‘they’?”

  “Her parents. They’re going to be back in two weeks.”

  Rafe felt like a fish that had taken the bait and been jerked out of the water. “This may not work.”

  “It’ll be fun,” Nick insisted. “Reverend Leaf and J.J. hunt for the turkey, and her mother makes the pies. Susanna makes fudge and everyone eats and plays games. I bet I can win at checkers.”

  “You probably could.”

  Rafe nearly strangled on the words. He’d spent hours studying the Leaf family photographs on the hearth. A double frame held pictures of Susanna and her father, while a row of others showed Abigail in her wedding gown, Susanna’s half-brother who was away at college and poses of the three boys looking rascally.

  Nick’s smile lit up his face. “Did you know that she has four brothers and three of them are my age?”

  Rafe knew their names and more. The twins were called Silas and Law and collected toy trains. John Jr. devoured detective stories. The oldest brother, Robert, was listed in the family Bible but had the last name of Windsor. Rafe guessed there was a story to tell.

  “I know all about her family,” he said mildly.

  Nick jiggled the line. “I wish I had brothers.”

  “I know how that is.”

  “Do you think I might have one someday? Not a blood brother, but maybe… I don’t know.”

  Hoping to stop Nick’s train of thought, Rafe pulled his line out of the water and checked the hook. The worm had wiggled away, so he put on another one and reset the line. “The fish aren’t biting, are they? I guess it’s late in the year.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  He tried again. “I bet the fishing’s good in Mexico.”

  When the boy looked up, Rafe saw a world of hurt in his eyes. “You like Susanna a lot, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  “She likes you, too.”

  Rafe heard the question Nick didn’t have the heart to ask. “I have to leave, kid. But if you want to stay, I understand.”

  “But you’re my best friend.”

  “And you’re mine.” Rafe swallowed back a lump.

  “Nothing will change that.”

  The boy looked to the stream. “Can I think about it?”

  “Of course.”

  Rafe had no doubt which road the boy would choose. He knew what he would have done. He’d have courted Susanna properly, opened a gunsmithing business and made her proud. As for those brothers Nick wanted, Rafe imagined a little girl with her mother’s brown eyes.

  The thought sent him down a lonely road that ended in saying goodbye. He’d rarely done it in his life and decided he wouldn’t do it now. When the time was right, he’d leave a letter and disappear. Rafe was dreading that moment when he felt a tug on the line. As soon as the fish took the bait, he reeled it out the water. He’d clean it and give it to Susanna to cook for supper, but he wouldn’t be sitting at her table. Never mind that she had him hook, line and sinker…he couldn’t stay.

  “The baby’s due in June,” Susanna said to Melissa.

  She had just finished examining the girl and the two were talking in the back office. The room had once been a haven for Susanna, but now it held the memory of her first encounter with Rafe. For the past week, he’d avoided her and she’d been grateful—almost.

  She pushed the candy jar toward her patient. “Try a lemon drop. Sour things might settle your stomach.”

  Melissa did as Susanna urged, but they both knew a piece of candy couldn’t touch her real problem. As she popped the sweet into her mouth, she slumped in her chair. “My father think
s I should go away for a while.”

  “It’s an option.” Susanna’s heart broke for the girl. At seventeen, she had no resources of her own. “How do you feel about it?”

  “I don’t know. If I keep the baby, it won’t have a father. I’d be so ashamed. I could live somewhere else and say I was a widow, but where could I go? I don’t know how to do anything but housework. Besides, this is my home. I don’t want to leave.”

  Susanna understood how Melissa felt. She couldn’t imagine leaving her family and living on letters, or worse, having no contact at all. “That’s true.”

  “There’s something else.” Melissa lowered her eyes. “I can’t stand the way people stare at me. They know what happened.”

  Sympathetic or not, people liked to gossip and Melissa had endured everything from curious stares to pity. “I wish I could fix it,” Susanna said. “Someday it’ll pass, but right now it’s hard.”

  Melissa twisted the hankie in her lap. “There’s something else, but I can hardly say it.”

  “Whatever it is, you need to get it out.” Susanna spoke gently but with authority. Sometimes being a doctor meant causing pain to find the source of it.

  “I hate Zeke Benton.” Sobs racked Melissa’s thin body as she squeezed her hankie. “How can I love his baby? Or maybe I do love it. I want it to have a good home with nice things, but I can’t buy her clothes or even feed her without help from my pa.”

  Back in a Baltimore clinic, Susanna had helped other women with Melissa’s burden. The circumstances always broke her heart. “Have you thought about adoption?”

  The girl took a deep breath and sagged with relief. “I don’t know what else to do.”

  “Maybe I can help you,” Susanna said. “Do you have family outside of Midas?”

  “Only an aunt, but I don’t like her.”

  “Any cousins?”

  “No one.”

  Susanna knew of a home for unwed mothers in Baltimore, but New Orleans was closer. She’d been avoiding Rafe since the dance, but the time had come to pay a call on him at the parsonage. She wasn’t sure what to say about the aftermath of the dance, but his absence was hurting Nick. The boy hadn’t been himself, and that fishing trip had made him even more silent. Melissa’s situation was the final excuse Susanna needed to confront him, and she decided to go tonight.

  “There’s a home in New Orleans that’s run by nuns,” she said. “I’ll found out more about it.”

  “I’d appreciate it.”

  As Melissa pushed to her feet, Susanna walked around her desk and gave her a hug. Together they walked to the street where Melissa’s father was waiting in the family wagon. After a round of promises to visit, Melissa’s father steered the wagon down the street.

  “Dr. Leaf?”

  Susanna looked to her right and saw a man in his thirties. He was dressed in an expensive suit, but life hadn’t been kind to him. A scar ran across the orbit of his right eye and down his cheek. The eye itself was lazy, a sign of blindness, and he was carrying a cane. Without the scars, he would have been a handsome man with sandy hair, hazel eyes and a square jaw.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “I hope so.” The stranger handed her a photograph. “Do you recognize this man?”

  There was no mistaking the angry slant of Rafe’s mouth and his pale eyes. Judging by the crest on his coat, she was looking at a graduation picture from Hamptonshire, a distinguished boys’ academy in Boston. A classmate at Hopkins had attended the school and bragged about it. Susanna blanked her expression. She wasn’t about to reveal Rafe’s whereabouts to a stranger, but she also saw a chance to glean information. She handed back the photograph. “I saw this man two weeks ago.”

  “Is he still in town?”

  “I doubt it. I figured he was a drifter.”

  “Why did he come to you?”

  Susanna gave him the look she used on stingy bankers.

  “I don’t gossip about my patients.”

  The stranger frowned. “Did he mention where he was headed?”

  “No, and I didn’t ask.”

  “What about his name. He goes by Rafe LaCroix. Is that familiar?”

  “I don’t recall.”

  As the man leaned more heavily on his cane, Susanna glanced at the handle where she saw a silver casing studded with three rubies. Her visitor wasn’t a lawman or a Pinkerton’s detective. Wealth oozed from his pores. Wanting information but afraid of revealing her connection to Rafe, Susanna tried to appear casual. “Why are you looking for him?”

  The stranger forced a smile. “Excuse my lack of manners. My name is Thomas Smith. Mr. LaCroix has inherited a large sum of money. I was asked by the family to locate him.”

  The cane gave credence to the man’s claim, but Susanna suspected he’d made up the story on the spot. An inheritance struck her as too convenient, a device designed to tug on her goodwill. Even his plain name had a false ring to it.

  Susanna considered quizzing the man, but she wasn’t a good liar. With a false word she could give away Rafe’s presence without understanding the cost. Before she said anything else to Thomas Smith, she wanted to hear the truth from Rafe.

  To end the conversation, she stepped to the clinic door. “I wish I could help, but that’s all I know.”

  The stranger moved the cane so that the rubies caught the light. “You should know there’s a reward for information regarding Mr. LaCroix.”

  Susanna could only stare. “How much?”

  “A thousand dollars in gold.”

  The sum was huge by anyone’s standards, but the thought of money for betraying Rafe was repulsive to her. Still, she had to wonder what he had done. Susanna forced herself to shrug. “Like I said, I don’t know anything else.”

  Thomas Smith had cat eyes and they were glimmering. “If you think of something, I’ll be at the Midas Hotel.”

  “For how long?” she asked, thinking of Rafe.

  “As long as necessary.” After a tip of his hat, Thomas Smith turned his back and limped down the boardwalk.

  Melissa had been her last patient, so Susanna fled to the privacy of her apartment. Butterflies were beating in her stomach, and she wanted to talk to Nick about Thomas Smith. Having traveled with Rafe, the boy might have heard of the stranger. She stepped into the front room and found Nick sitting by the window with Kidnapped in his lap.

  As Susanna approached, he looked up with a troubled expression. “I think he’s gone.”

  “Who?” she asked. “The man I just saw?”

  “No, Rafe.”

  Susanna’s stomach knotted. “But why?”

  “Because of what I said when we went fishing.”

  She didn’t have to ask Nick for an explanation. With Rafe keeping his distance, she’d taken his place at the checkerboard and they had talked about the possibility of Nick staying in Midas. The boy had come to love her and she loved him. With the added appeal of school and the promised friendship of her brothers and the Duke girls, Nick had found a home.

  Susanna patted the boy’s shoulder. “I don’t think he’d leave without saying goodbye.”

  Nick’s fingers curled on the cover of the book. “Someone bad is after him. Maybe he had to leave.”

  But without a goodbye? Susanna wanted to reassure the boy that Rafe wouldn’t do such a thing, but she couldn’t. He had a knack for doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Or the right thing at the wrong time as he had on the night of the dance. Susanna felt a throbbing in her chest. In spite of telling herself that his rejection had been for the best, Rafe haunted her thoughts. Her feelings went deeper than mere desire. She saw blood on his soul, a gunshot wound that needed to be cleaned and stitched. For all his bravado, he was as lost as Nick.

  If it hadn’t been for Thomas Smith, she would have left for the parsonage immediately. Instead she rubbed Nick’s shoulder.

  “I’ll visit him tonight,” she said. “At least we’ll know for sure.”

  Garrett trusted h
is instincts, and they were telling him to keep an eye on Dr. Leaf. She had held Rafe’s photograph a little too long, as if she were looking for clues of her own. And even more revealing, she hadn’t shown interest in the reward money. Certainly not as much as the other business people he’d visited this afternoon. At the mention of a thousand dollars, everyone else had found more to say. But not Dr. Leaf. Garrett was sure that Rafe meant something to her, but what?

  As he headed for the Midas Hotel, he decided a late-night walk would be in order. He’d enjoy a good supper, smoke a cigar and then take a stroll when the town had settled down. With a little luck, Dr. Leaf would leave her apartment and lead him to Rafe.

  Garrett hoped it happened soon. Back in Raton, the first city over the New Mexico territorial line, he’d received a wire from the boss. The old man was growing more impatient and Garret knew why. Poor health had a way of putting things in perspective. The hurts a man had suffered stopped being important, while the ones he’d inflicted haunted his sleep. Garrett had a few regrets of own.

  Limping down the street, he wondered if Rafe felt the same way.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Grateful for a moonless sky, Susanna put on her duster and hurried to the parsonage. She thought of glancing in the stable to see if Rafe’s horses were gone, but she didn’t want to cross the yard. Instead she climbed the back steps and let herself into the house where she scanned the kitchen for a sign of him—a coffee cup, a dirty plate—but the counters had been wiped clean and the stove was cold.

  Her heart sank, but she couldn’t believe he’d gone without saying goodbye. She glanced at the table, dreading the presence of a letter. When she didn’t see one, she didn’t know whether to be relieved or angry.

  With her hope fading, she climbed the stairs and turned down the hall where the bedroom doors were closed except for hers. Other than a gray square of light, the hall was pitch-black. She paused to listen for Rafe’s breathing but heard only silence. Accepting that he’d left, she walked toward her old room. Perhaps he’d left a letter on her bureau.