Her Secret Baby

by Christine Sterling

  Harold pulled her back against him, reaching over to angle her face towards him. “You believe I can’t? I was able to find you. Finding a baby will be no trouble. But if you help me, I’ll be sure to let you live,” he said, his breath hot on her face. She trembled. How was she going to get out of this?

  “Elizabeth!” he heard a shout behind her. Harold turned, dragging Elizabeth with him. Through the clearing, she saw Tom and Seth appear. Tom was practically running to them. He looked tired, sweaty, and distraught. “Elizabeth,” he breathed again. He looked at her from head to toe, as if he was taking stock of her body. “Are you alright?” he asked cautiously.

  She wanted to tell him to go, because she didn’t want anything to happen to him. And she knew Harold was capable of anything. Before she could speak though, Harold had pulled her back. “Don’t come any closer, or I will drop her. And from what I can see, it’s quite a ways down.”

  Tom cautiously took a small step forward, with Seth waiting behind him. “You don’t have to do anything rash. Maybe we can work out a deal,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender.

  Harold laughed. “You think you can fool me? I know what you are here for, and you have no intentions of helping me.”

  “That’s not true. I would do anything for her. I love her,” Tom said, with no hesitation.

  Even though they were in that tumultuous situation, Elizabeth couldn’t help but feel her heart flutter. Though she would have rather been told in a different setting. Harold sneered. “I told you not to come any closer!”

  Elizabeth could feel them teetering towards the cliff and Harold was in such a state, she knew one more step and they would both be tumbling down the cliff. She tried to keep as rational as possible, looking to the side. She was trying to find an escape, but it was no use. With her hands bound, she couldn’t pick up anything. However, her feet were free, as she was standing right next to him. In that moment, it was as if another power was helping her. Harold loosened his grip as he was continuing yelling at Tom. Here was her shot. She ripped herself from his grip and pushed him back. Harold grabbed for her, but she was too quick. She backed away quickly right into the arms of Tom. As she looked at Harold, she could see his face turn from anger and hate to fear. He fell over, his arms flailing around until his whole body disappeared. Elizabeth turned her head into Tom. They listened to his screams until they were gone too.

  Tom threw his arms around Elizabeth. “Elizabeth! I was so scared. I thought I would never see you again.”

  “Me too,” she whispered into his chest. “I love you, too,” she said, before moving her head to the side so she could look at his face. “I think I’ve always loved you, since the first time we met. I was just afraid to tell you.”

  Tom hugged her closer to him. “I meant what I said earlier. I should have said it this morning. But now, I will say it every day, because we are never going to be apart.”

  Elizabeth heard a noise, and turned around, scared it was another foe. It was just Seth, whom she forgot was there. “I’m glad you are ok Elizabeth. And while I don’t want to interrupt this nice moment, I think we should head on home to your daughter.”

  Elizabeth looked up at Tom, who was smiling at her. “Yes, I think we should.”

  Epilogue

  Looking at the little bundle of joy in his arms, Tom couldn’t be any happier with his life. Harold was indeed dead. The sheriff scoured the cliff to be sure and they did find his body. They arrested Carl, after he had confessed to being part of the smuggling ring. Turns out, the rumor was true about him doing away with the old man to get ownership of the saloon. One of the man’s family members came into town and took over the saloon and now everything seemed to be back to normal.

  Madeline cooed in his arms as Elizabeth flittered around the room. They were back in the hotel, seeing that they didn’t have a house anymore. Tom had started to break ground for a new house and he promised Elizabeth to build the house of her dreams. Though she had been very polite about it, he knew she didn’t care for the old house. He didn’t want to make anything that might remind her of the incident.

  “Colin dropped by the other day,” she said as she was folding some clothes, “and the adoption papers have gone through.”

  “That’s wonderful,” he said, turning his head into Madeline’s belly. “Isn’t that right Maddie?” With Harold finally gone, it was easy for the adoption papers go through. Elizabeth didn’t want to waste any time. She didn’t know if something else would happen and she wanted Madeline to be theirs officially. Tom was growing more and more in love with the child every day. It didn’t help that her first words were “Da,” which annoyed Elizabeth to no end.

  It made Tom think of having more kids in the future. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauties like their mother. But not right now, as he looked at his wife, who was now arranging the clothes into the chest at the foot of the bed. There was talk of opening a school, now that there were some school aged children around. Elizabeth had expressed interest in the school teaching job and Tom had it on good authority the town leadership was also interested in hiring her.

  There was a knock on the door. Elizabeth walked over to open it. Seth and the sheriff spilled into the room. “Seth, Sheriff! What brings you two here?” asked Tom.

  Tom motioned to the chairs in front of him, with Seth taking a seat. The sheriff just stood. “Well, I was on my way to talk to you about some farm business and I saw John in the hallway. I asked him to join us.”

  Tom scratched his head, perplexed. Elizabeth walked over and took the baby from Tom’s arms. “I think I’ll leave you three. Madeline and I are going to go out for a walk.” She secured Madeline in her arms and left the room.

  Tom looked towards the two gentlemen. “What’s going on?”

  Seth took off his hat, giving a somber look at Tom. “I think someone is stealing some of the cattle.”

  Tom leaned into his chair, pressing his hands into his legs. This couldn’t be good. “How can you tell?”

  “I’ve done a few counts, and I’m coming up short. And I’ve checked the area around and I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. At first, I was afraid some had died or just wandered off.” He looked up at the sheriff, who was scratching his chin. “But then I checked one of the back fences, it was destroyed. Someone took some cutters and sliced right through it.”

  “I’ve heard the same thing, a few farms down, at the Tillers. They have told me they have lost some cattle too,” the sheriff added, looking between both men. “Taken the same way, through a cut in the fence.”

  “What can we do?” Tom asked, looking at the sheriff.

  “I’ve been doing some patrols at night. I think there are rustlers in the area, but I haven’t been able to find their camp yet. I think our best chance is to catch them in the act.”

  “That’s why I came down to talk to you,” Seth added, “I think it might be safer for you to come back to the house.”

  Tom face fell. “But I don’t think I can just leave Elizabeth here alone. We’d have no place to stay.”

  Seth put up his hand to quiet Tom. “I know. That’s why I propose Samantha comes down here and stays with Elizabeth. I’m afraid that these people might want more than the cattle, and I don’t want to take any chances. They’ll stay here until we can catch these people.”

  The sheriff nodded. “I think it would be a good idea, Tom.”

  Tom wasn’t one to listen to the law, but for this one reason, he thought he should. Their livelihood was at stake, and if he wanted to provide for his family, he had to do something. “Ok, I’ll start tomorrow. I’ll be by early to help fix the fence.”

  There was a knock on the door and Tom went to open it. It was Old Man Higgins and his face showed he was ready for a fight. “I settled up the bill. Is there a problem?”

  Higgins stormed into the room, ignoring Tom’s questions. “I heard the sheriff was here,” he said as he looked around the room. When he spotted him, he walked over with
his hands shaking. “I need you do something about that girl!”

  The sheriff crossed his arms in annoyance. “You know I can’t do much. I can’t lock her up because of her attitude.”

  “Well, I can’t run a business if she keeps getting into fights with all the patrons! This morning, there was a businessman. He stayed here for the night because he’s going to catch the next train out to Missouri. When he was at the restaurant for breakfast, he mentioned he needed more linens. I sent Misty to deliver it and she gave him a bloody nose.”

  Tom raised his eyebrow toward Seth and whispered, “Remind me never to cross Misty.”

  The sheriff’s eyes looked angry, but he kept his face impassive. “Did she tell you why?”

  “No! The girl was so heated, I told her to go take a walk. Do you know how long it took me to talk that guy from wanting his money back?”

  “Then why don’t you just fire her?” Seth asked.

  Higgins looked as if Seth had slapped him. “She’s my best worker. She does ten times the work my other girls do. If only she were more docile.”

  The sheriff sighed and tipped his hat. “I’ll go talk to her,” he said as he left the room.

  Tom nudged Seth in the shoulder. “Time to kiss her or arrest her, eh Seth?”

  Elizabeth was a few feet from the hotel when she noticed Misty was sitting on a small wooden bench. She was wiping her eyes, which were red from tears. Elizabeth slowed down, standing by her side. “Misty, what’s wrong?”

  Misty turned her face, trying to wipe her eyes. “Nothing is wrong. I just got some sand in my eyes,” she said, as she dusted off her dress and stood up. “Are you going for a walk?”

  Elizabeth wanted to press further, but when she looked into the girl’s pleading eyes, she felt she should just leave it. She knew how it felt to have someone try to pry into your life. “Yes, I thought it would be good. Tom is talking to Seth about some farm business, and in all honesty, I find all that boring. I thought I could take Madeline out for a bit.”

  “She looks so pretty. She’s going to grow up to be so beautiful.”

  “I hope so, although I don’t think Tom would like that. He’s really starting to get very overprotective of her.”

  “I can imagine,” Misty said, with a glint in her eyes.

  “Misty, can I have a word with you?”

  Both ladies turned around to see who was calling. The sheriff came barreling down the street towards them.

  “Oh no, looks like I’m in trouble again. I’ll see you later, Elizabeth. Maybe I’ll stop by tonight to visit the little one.” And with that, Misty picked up her skirt and walked fast down the path.

  Elizabeth smiled at the two of them, as the sheriff tipped his hat in greeting before hollering after Misty. She walked further down into town, she passed by the train station. Looking up at it, she thought about how her adventure had started right on that very platform. As she looked at it now, she thought she saw a familiar face. At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, until that familiar face started to wave at her.

  “Mary?” she asked, as the figure came closer to her. “What on earth are you doing here?”

  “Elizabeth!” Mary yelled as she ran up and hugged her, which made Madeline cry out. She dropped back, patting the baby on the head. “Oh, I’m sorry, little one.” She turned her face to Elizabeth. “I’m so glad I found you!”

  “What happened?” she asked, wondering why the girl was there. “Why are you not at home at the Grayson house.”

  Mary’s eyes watered, and she looked on the verge of tears. “The mistress let me go. Your uncle wanted to know where you were and when I refused to tell him, he told the mistress of my past. She didn’t think that it would be wise for her to have her children around the daughter of a whore.” Tears streamed down her face, as Mary wiped them away. “I was doing so well after you left! I think even the mistress was impressed. But it wasn’t enough. I pleaded with her, telling her I had nowhere else to go, and she just dismissed me.”

  Elizabeth patted Mary with her free hand. “Don’t cry, Mary, it’s going to be ok.”

  “I didn’t know what else to do. I really have nowhere else to go. I can’t go back to live with my mother. She basically told me if I left I could never come back.” Now tears were falling down her face in full force. “I didn’t know where else to turn. So I took all my savings and bought a ticket out here. I know it’s presumptuous of me, but I was hoping I could stay with you?”

  Elizabeth thought to herself about how uncomfortable it would be; she didn’t have a large space in the hotel and it was hard enough to get privacy with her husband while having a baby. But maybe Mr. Higgins could help. “Yes, of course. We’ll figure it out. I have a friend who works at the hotel. Maybe we can secure you a job with room and board.”

  “Oh really? That would be great! I promise I will work hard.”

  Elizabeth smiled at Mary’s determination. “Of course. I’ll have to check with Misty. She can let us know if there are any openings.”

  “Misty?” Mary questioned, as her tears dried up.

  “Yes, Misty. She’s the one that works in the hotel.”

  “Oh, that’s a rather interesting name,” Mary said.

  “Why do you say that?” Elizabeth inquired.

  “Well, my sister. That was her middle name. I have never heard anyone with it before. I just thought it was unique.”

  “Oh, well, maybe there are just two mothers who think very alike,” Elizabeth said, as she reached over to hold Mary’s hand. “Don’t worry anymore. We’ll figure this out together.”

  As Elizabeth considered Mary’s happy face, she had never felt so content, knowing that everything was going to work out.

  The End

  I hope you have enjoyed Elizabeth’s and Tom’s story. If you would like to learn more about the Black Hills Brides series, upcoming book, multi-author projects, readership opportunities, and sneak peeks, please visit my website. While there, be sure to sign up for my newsletter and receive the first 2 chapters of Her Secret Past, Samantha’s and Seth’s story of love and how far parents will go to protect their daughter.

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