Whispers of Yesterday

by Marie Higgins

  “Oh.” She sat back on her legs. “Well, I suppose we can say that you were stabbed and that I found you.”

  “I suppose that works. But who would stab me?”

  She shrugged. “I see new people coming to Belle all the time.”

  “So, you want the sheriff to think that there is someone in town going around and stabbing people, and waste his time looking for nobody?”

  She scowled. She hated it when he was right. “Then do you have a better idea?”

  He was silent for a few minutes, but his gaze stayed on her... he looked over her face slowly, just as she did to him. She should feel uncomfortable, but for some reason, she wasn’t. After all, they were married. They had kissed, although very briefly, at their wedding ceremony, but not since. And they’d lived with each other for at least a year before Grange had decided to part ways without a divorce.

  “I can tell the doctor that I accidentally cut myself.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “And do you honestly think he’ll believe it?”

  “He doesn’t know me that well, so he has no other choice but to believe me.”

  “Fine.” She rose to her knees. “Now how are we going to get you there?”

  He pointed toward his horse. “Bring the horse closer. You’ll have to help me onto the horse and we’ll ride back to town.”

  She stood and hurried toward the horse, grabbing the reins. As she led the animal toward Grange, she grumbled. This wasn’t going to work. He had lost too much blood, and the effort it would take to get him on the horse might cost him his life. She glanced around the field. And yet, there wasn’t anything she could turn into a make-shift cot for him to lie on while the horse pulled him back to town.

  She tied the animal to the nearby tree before moving back to Grange. She helped him sit up, and moments later, he was standing. He swayed, so she wrapped her arms around his waist to keep him steady. He slid an arm around her shoulders and they slowly walked to the horse. It took some finagling, but he was soon sitting on the saddle.

  He reached a hand down to help her up, but she shook her head. “Grange, I think it’ll be better if I walked and led the horse into town.”

  “No. I need you up here just in case I lose consciousness.”

  She frowned. He had a point. “Fine.” She grasped his hand and he pulled her up. It surprised her how strong he still was, considering his injury.

  As she took the reins, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his head against the back of her shoulder. Urging the animal into a trot, she hoped it wasn’t too fast and that Grange would be able to stay on the horse until they reached the town.

  “Are you going to tell me why you’re here now?” she wondered.

  “No,” he grumbled.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’d appreciate it if you did... just in case you die between now and when we get to the doctor’s office.”

  He released a heavy sigh. “Someone is looking for you, and he’s not a very respectable man, either. I feared for your safety, so I came to find you and protect you.”

  “Is this man the person who ransacked my house in Utah?”

  “I don’t know, but he has hired someone to bring you back to him.”

  She gasped and turned her head to look his way, but with his head still resting against her shoulder, it was impossible. “Who did he hire?”

  “Me.”

  Her heart sank and her body stiffened. “And that is why you are in town?”

  “Yes... Your husband wants you back.”

  “Ha, ha. Very funny, Granger.” She used the nickname she gave him whenever she was upset with him.

  His body shook with a silent laugh. “I forgot that you used to call me that.”

  “Stop jumping around the subject.”

  “What subject? That you married another man while you were still married to me? Or...” he paused briefly, “or are you lying about being the Widow Clayborne?”

  They were almost into town. Dare she tell him the truth now? She was sure this discussion would be lengthy. “And what about you, Mr. Baxter, a wealthy man who is looking for land? Why did you change your name?”

  “In my line of work, it’s necessary to have several aliases.”

  “Yes, well... that’s a good way to describe my life.” Her voice tightened. “Do you realize how humiliating it is to tell everyone that your husband decided he didn’t want to live with you any longer and so left?” She cleared her throat. “It was easier to make myself a widow.”

  A low groan rattled through his body. “Well, if we don’t get me to a doctor soon, your wish will come true.”

  GRANGE WAS ALIVE, BUT barely.

  Doctor Frank Mason was good, and quickly stitched Grange’s wound closed. The doctor made Sabine go home and change her clothes since they were covered with blood. Grange just hoped she’d hurry back. They still had a lot to discuss.

  “I would like you to stay and rest for a few days to give those stitches time to heal.” Doctor Mason stood by the table, cleaning his tools. “You’ve lost a lot of blood, so you’ll be weak, anyway.”

  “That’s fine and dandy, but I really don’t have any place to stay.” He’d only paid for one night at the hotel, hoping that he could snatch Sabine and get her out of Belle before Foster Clayborne sent someone else to find his wife.

  The doctor narrowed his gaze on Grange. “Are you friends with Gerald and Milly?”

  “Who?”

  The doctor nodded toward the door. “Mrs. Clayborne’s aunt and uncle.”

  “Oh, then no. I don’t know them well.”

  “So... how do you know Mrs. Clayborne?”

  Grange’s mind spun with answers. He needed to think on his feet – even though he was lying down. “I’ve known her since she was a young girl in pigtails. My family grew up next to hers.” Sometimes the truth was the best answer.

  “How nice of you to come to visit her.” The doc smiled.

  “Actually, I didn’t know she was here until I saw her yesterday walking down the boardwalk. I didn’t talk to her because I needed to know if it really was her or not.”

  The doctor left his tools and walked closer to Grange’s bed.

  “Did you know her husband when he was alive?”

  Slowly, Grange nodded, not really wanting to lie, but... “I knew him a little. I heard he was a good man.”

  “It’s too bad his heart gave out on him.”

  “Yes, it is.” Grange tried not to grin. He didn’t want to give Sabine’s secret away. As long as she didn’t tell anyone about his secret, he’d be tight-lipped about hers.

  The doctor pulled out his pocket-watch and checked the time. “I’ve got an appointment shortly, so I’m going to leave you here. Please don’t try to get up yet. Mrs. Clayborne said she’d be back, so wait for her before you do anything.”

  Grange nodded. “Anything you say, doc.”

  The man grabbed his medical bag and left the office. When the room filled with silence, Grange sighed heavily. In all of his years of being a bounty hunter, this was the first time he’d been injured so badly that he was put on bed rest.

  How could he have known Sabine would be hiding a knife?

  It really was his fault. He should have made her aware of his presence, but he was afraid she’d say something in front of others. He’d wanted their first meeting after all these years to be in private. When he noticed her and the store’s owner peeking out the window, he realized the only way he’d be able to get a private moment with her was to slip in the back and take her away.

  Obviously, he’d made the wrong choice... and now it was too late. And to punish him, he would have to recuperate for a few weeks. He wasn’t sure that was going to happen quite the way the doctor had advised.

  A small knock sounded on the door before it opened and Sabine poked her head inside the room.

  “Doctor Mason?”

  “He’s not here,” Grange told her. “Come in and sit with me. The doc appointed you my caretake
r.”

  She had taken two steps inside when her body jerked to a halt and her eyes widened. “Your caretaker?” She shook her head. “You must be joking.”

  “Go ask him yourself if you don’t believe me.”

  She gasped. “But why me?”

  “Besides the fact that you’re my wife?”

  “You didn’t tell the doctor, did you?”

  “It’s not my place to tell him.”

  Her shoulders relaxed. “Good.” She folded her arms and cocked her head, giving him that scowl he’d seen so much of when they were first married. “But being your wife doesn’t mean I need to take care of you. We may be married on paper, but that’s as far as it goes.” She tapped her foot.

  “Then the reason will have to be because you stabbed me.” He nodded. “Yes, that sounds like a plausible excuse for you to be my caregiver.”

  She huffed and walked closer to his cot. “That’s not fair. If you hadn’t sneaked up on me and pretended to kidnap me, I wouldn’t have stabbed you.”

  “I didn’t want you screaming when you saw me.”

  She chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Why would I scream? You don’t frighten me.”

  “No, Sabine. Your scream would have been one out of temper.”

  She moved toward the window in the room and looked out. “When can we send you back where you came from? I don’t want you here.”

  Grange shifted on the bed, biting back a groan from the sting of pain in his side. He gently laid his palm on the bandages wrapped around his middle. Every so often, he noticed her gaze dropped to his bare chest. She’d only seen him without a shirt once right after they were married, because he had just ripped it and he’d wanted her to sew it. “I’m not leaving until I’ve stopped the person who is after you.”

  She swung around and folded her arms, glaring at him. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”

  “You know I am. Didn’t you mention having your house ransacked?”

  She wrung her hands. “The man responsible had written me a note two days before my house was torn apart. He mentioned my pa had left me something very important, and I was to meet this person at the park and give it to him.” Her body stiffened and she lifted her chin. “There aren’t many things that I have of my pa’s since he died, but you can bet I’m not going to hand over anything to some stranger.”

  “Did the man give you a name?”

  She shook her head. “No. I suspected he knew what I looked like and would find me at the park. However, I never went to the park. When he broke into my home, trying to find this keepsake, that is when I decided to come to Belle, Wyoming. I knew my aunt and uncle would help me.”

  The more Sabine explained her situation, the more he realized the danger she was in. “I really think this is the man who hired me. His name is Foster Powell. Do you think he followed you?”

  “I don’t think so, but I was in a stagecoach until I reached the train, then from the train to another stagecoach that brought me here. There were different people in each conveyance that I took coming here.”

  Grange pieced together the timeline, and he suspected that Foster didn’t know where Sabine had gone, which was why the man hired Grange to find her. Thankfully, he had a good reputation with finding people or else Foster would have hired someone else, and who knows what could have happened to her. Grange had done some checking on Foster, and the man was as ruthless as they came. But one thing he found interesting about the man was that Foster was also a treasure seeker.

  “Sabine, do you have this item with you?”

  She narrowed her gaze on him. “Not right now.”

  “No, I mean is it at your aunt’s house?”

  “Yes.”

  “I think you need to let me look at it.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “Why?”

  “Because there’s got to be a reason this man is so determined to get that from you. We need to find out what it is so that we have the upper hand.”

  She watched him in silence as she tapped her fingers on her arm. Her expression was distrustful. He supposed he’d earned that. After all, it was his decision for them to separate and live different lives. And yet, he knew she felt the same way. She hadn’t wanted to get married, either. If only he’d had better control over his hormones when they were alone that one afternoon at the barbeque luncheon.

  “Grange? Why do you want to help me?”

  He sighed, not really knowing the answer himself. “When Foster told me the name of the woman he wanted me to find, I had a gut feeling that he was lying. He claimed you as his runaway wife. I knew right away that you wouldn’t marry him unless he was really wealthy, but—”

  “What?” Her voice screeched. “Do you honestly believe I would only marry a man because of his money?”

  Grange shrugged. “Forgive me for speaking ill of the dead, but that was exactly what your father told me when he forced me to marry you. Your father was quite upset that I had ruined you because he was in the process of betrothing you to a wealthy man.”

  Tears filled her eyes and she shook her head. “You know I only went along with my father’s wishes because he was ill and dying.”

  “Forgive me, then.”

  She wiped the moisture from her eyes but more came. “I’m trying to figure this out... So, when you realized Foster was after me, you felt guilty for neglecting me all these years and decided to be the gallant husband? I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that, Granger.” She inhaled a shaky breath. “In fact, I’m starting to believe the only reason you came to find me was to see just how much my pa’s keepsake was worth. You are too selfish to think of others. You always have been, and you always will be.”

  Sabine swung back to the door and grasped the doorknob. “And as for me being your caretaker, I decline. You’ll have to find someone else to fool this time.”

  She marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

  Groaning, Grange closed his eyes and relaxed on the bed. He needed to do some serious apologizing and quickly because, knowing Foster, that man would start looking for her soon. If that happened, Sabine would be in serious trouble.

  But right now, Grange’s biggest dilemma was figuring out what the real reason was for wanting to help her. Once he had that solved, everything would fall into place.

  At least he hoped so.

  FOUR

  Things were quite boring when confined to a bed with stitches in his side, especially when he was alone and had only his memories to keep him company. Grange struggled to stay awake, but soon his heavy eyelids just wouldn’t stay open.

  It didn’t take long for his mind to return to yesteryear, to the summer when he had gone back to his hometown and seen Sabine Lewis – the most beautiful woman in Utah. In fact, Grange was willing to bet he hadn’t seen a prettier woman in any of his travels.

  Benjamin and Dora Stillman were having their annual barbeque luncheon, and most of Springville attended. They remembered Grange from when he and his family lived there five years previously, and they invited him to join them. As he mingled with the people he grew up with, he saw a vision climbing out of her father’s buggy. Grange’s breath caught in his throat and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. It took him a moment to realize it was Sabine Lewis.

  Within minutes, a flock of men had rushed to her side. She laughed at their banter and fluttered her long eyelashes. Indeed, she had grown into a woman who knew how to control men. They walked with her to one of the many benches the Stillmans had in their yard, and clustered around where she sat. The men still flocked to her like bees to honey, because she was just as sweet as she could be.

  Grange mingled with other people, but he still kept his eye on the luscious beauty. Once, he saw her looking his way, and when their gazes locked, he gave her a nod of acknowledgment. She returned the nod before looking away.

  For the next hour or so, he tried to keep busy and not worry about what man was fetching her some lemonade, or what man w
as sitting so close to her. Soon, he became bored and decided to leave. After all, he had things to do, places to be... and people to see. His new job as a bounty hunter had him looking for one particular man. Unfortunately, that man wasn’t at the luncheon. He’d thought about asking the man’s sister where he was, but he didn’t want to take her away from her collection of beaus.

  Although, that would be a good reason to talk to her, and it would keep him here a little bit longer.

  He headed in the direction of the shade tree that she and her beaus were under. When she saw him approach, her eyes widened and a bright smile touched her pretty face.

  “Mr. Keller, what a surprise it is to see you here after all these years.” She flipped her fan in front of her face to circulate the humid air hampering everyone’s outing.

  “Miss Lewis.” He stepped closer and bowed slightly. “How delighted I am that you remembered me.”

  “If I recall, you were friends with my brother, Kendall.”

  “Indeed, you remember well.” He glanced around. “Did he come to the party with your family?”

  “No, he was under the weather.”

  Grange clenched his jaw. Under the weather? He’d bet good money that the man was meeting up with his bank-robber friends, instead. “That’s disappointing. I hope you will wish him well for me when you see him next.”

  “Yes, I will.” She motioned to the five other men around her. “Mr. Keller? Do you remember these men? I think they were here before you left.”

  He nodded to each one, issuing a greeting. Once he’d gone around the circle, his gaze again stopped at Sabine. A pink tint blossomed in her cheeks as she looked at him.

  “Miss Lewis, would you mind taking a stroll with me? I’d really like to catch up if you don’t mind.” Once the words had left his mouth, he wondered why he’d hadn’t stopped his mind from spilling forth on his tongue first.

  Excitement danced in her eyes and she stood. The two men beside her helped her up.

  “I would love to.” Her eyes twinkled. “Gentlemen, I hope you’ll excuse me.”

  The group of beaus muttered and nodded as she stepped past them toward Grange. He held out his elbow, and she hooked her hand around it. She held her parasol to block the sun from them, which he really appreciated.