Mac shrugged. “I can’t say. He hasn’t been showing his face much since Jillian’s little outburst.”
Mary laughed. “Good thing that wife of yours doesn’t carry a gun.” She reached out to unlock her room door but felt it swing open.
“That’s strange, I thought for sure I locked this. Jillian,” she called, “I’m back, and look who I’ve brought.”
Both Mac and Mary stood completely dumbfounded, however, when they caught sight of Jillian tied to a chair and gagged. Tears were streaming down her face as she struggled against the ropes that bound her.
“Jillian!” Mac declared before Mary could speak. He rushed to his wife’s side and quickly untied her gag. “Who did this to you?”
“Oh, Mac,” she cried in earnest now. “He’s taken her.”
“Taken who?” Mac questioned.
“Hope,” Mary said, looking around the room to see where the baby might have been. “Someone has taken Hope.”
Jillian nodded. “Mr. Cooper. He came here shortly after Mary left.” Mac finished untying her as she told them the story. “He was so angry. He said he wasn’t going to have anyone holding his mistakes over his head for the rest of his life. I told him to leave, but he . . . he . . . slapped me—” “I’ll kill him,” Mac declared.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Mary replied calmly. “Jillian, how long ago did he leave with Hope?”
Jillian shook her head. “It seems like forever. I know it was still light outside.”
Mary nodded. “Maybe half an hour to an hour ago?”
“Yes, that would be about right,” Jillian replied.
“Did he say where he was taking her?” asked Mary gently.
Jillian’s tears came anew as Mac took her into his arms. “He said he was going to eliminate his problem. That’s all he said. Oh, Mac, what if he kills her?”
Mac held his wife tightly and looked at Mary over her shoulder. Mary wished she could comfort them, wished she could convince Jillian that there wasn’t anything to worry about, but she was scared half out of her wits herself.
“We need to pray about this,” she suggested. “We need to pray good and hard.”
TWENTY-FIVE
MAC TOOK JILLIAN BACK TO THE HOUSE and wondered how they would ever manage through the night. He worried that if left alone, Jillian might cry herself into hysterics—or worse, try to sneak off to find the baby.
“I want to go look for Hope,” she said as Mac went around the room lighting lamps.
“Jillian, we can’t. It’s the dead of night and there are wild animals, angry Navajo, and soldiers out there, none of whom will care that you are on a mission of mercy. We’ll do something about it in the morning.” “But morning might be too late. Oh, Mac,” she started to tear up again. “What if he just leaves her out there in the desert to die?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Mac said, barely containing his anger. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. “But right now we’re going to pray and give it over to the good Lord.” “But—”
He put a finger to her lips. “Listen to me, please.” She nodded. “I left a note for Zack with Gwen. She’ll see to it that he comes here and checks in with us when he gets back. I’ve scouted around town, and Cooper is nowhere to be found. Mary wouldn’t hear reason, and she’s headed back out across the desert, in spite of the hour. So we’ve done all we can do—tonight.”
“I know,” Jillian finally managed to say.
Leading her to the sofa, Mac pulled her down with him. He put an arm around her shoulder and eased Jillian closer until her head rested against him. “Jillian,” he breathed her name and sighed. “I want you to listen to me now. I have to say some things. Some things that should have been said a long while back.”
“I’m listening,” she said, her voice sounding very much like a child’s.
“I love you. I think I’ve loved you since you first walked through my door. I didn’t think I could ever love another woman after what had happened to me, but I love you so much it scares me.”
She rose up and touched his cheek. “Oh, Mac, I love you too. Everything I told my mother in those letters was true. I fell in love with you, but I didn’t know how to go about making it a mutual feeling.”
He smiled and took hold of her hand as it caressed his cheek. “Oh, sweetheart, the feeling was already mutual. I got the cold sweats every time I saw you. If I hadn’t known the truth, I would have thought I had malaria.”
“So falling in love with me made you sick?” she asked, giving him a weak smile.
“Fearing that I’d lose you, that you’d go back to Kansas City—that made me sick. Then when all this happened, I worried that you’d just married me out of being forced into it.”
“I wanted to marry you, Mac. I’ve never wanted to marry anyone but you.”
“And you didn’t just do this to avoid your mother’s other suitors?” he questioned lightly, but inside he desperately needed to know that she felt as committed as he did.
“I kept wondering how I was going to pull it off,” she began softly. “Here my parents were expecting a wedding, but you knew it was just a game to put them off. The days were narrowing on me and I wanted to tell you the truth, but I was so afraid of being . . .” She paused, seeming to search for the right word.
“Rejected?” he questioned, understanding that kind of heartbreak.
She nodded. “Yes. I was worried that you would laugh and think it great sport that I had lost my heart to you. I worried that you’d make light of it and then I would have to make light of it, too, in order to save face with everyone. But mostly I worried that when it was all said and done, I’d have to get on the train and head somewhere else in order to try to forget you.”
He lightly kissed her mouth and shook his head. “I would never make light of your feelings, and had you left town, I would have had to follow because I cannot imagine life without you.”
“Oh, Mac,” she whispered, laying her head on his chest.
In one fluid motion, Mac pulled her across his lap, cradling her in his arms. “No regrets, Mrs. MacCallister?”
She looked into his eyes and shook her head. “Not where you are concerned.”
He knew her mind had drifted back to the baby. How could he expect it to be any other way when his own heart was still contemplating whether there was something else to be done?
“God sees everything, Jillian. He sees the sparrow fall, my mother used to tell me. It’s in the Bible. He sees even the tiniest bird and knows its needs. We have to trust that He’ll know Hope’s needs as well. We may not be the best ones to care for her, and if she never comes back to us, we have to trust that the Lord has seen a better way.”
She lay quietly against him. “I guess this is what faith is all about. Mary said it was a fiercesome thing at times.”
“Faith?”
She sat back up. “Yes. Mary said faith on a sunny day when everything is going right is nice, but in order to be strong, faith has to be used. And during those times when nothing goes right and everything looks—”
“Hopeless?” Mac interjected with a grin.
Jillian smiled and nodded. “Good point. Anyway, she said faith could be quite fiercesome then. If it’s strong enough, it can stand up to even the most powerful storms.”
“I suppose it’s like anything else,” Mac said. “It takes time and constant use to make faith grow. I know it’s the kind of faith my mother and father had. It’s the kind of faith I want,” he admitted. “I couldn’t really say that a few months back, but God has managed to get my attention. I see that His Word is real and that we can count on Him to be faithful, even when the world or other people hurt us. I got on my knees, Jillian, and gave my heart and soul and life to God. I asked Him to cleanse me and heal my hurt, and I asked Him to give me a Christian wife. I asked Him to give me you, and God answered my prayers.”
Jillian eased back against him. “He answered my prayers in that area as well,” she murm
ured.
“Then trust Him to answer our prayers now,” he whispered. She sighed, and Mac knew that she was finally allowing her faith to take strong root.
Mac held her close, his desire for her strong. God had given him a woman to love, and one to love him in return. The images from the past were finally laid to rest. Abigail could no longer hurt him.
* * *
Jillian woke up first with the pale light of dawn falling muted through the dusty windowpane. She yawned and stretched and then remembered the man at her side. Smiling, she leaned up on her elbow and studied him for a moment. His dark hair fell across his forehead in that rumpled look she had come to love. Reaching up, she gently pushed back the strands and leaned closer to kiss her husband’s cheek.
His eyes opened slowly. “I thought I was dreaming,” his husky voice murmured.
“Nope, this is your life, Dr. MacCallister.”
He came more fully awake and brought her lips back to his own.
“I think I can tolerate it.”
He had barely started to kiss her when a knock sounded furiously on the front door.
“Hope!” Jillian declared, pulling away from her husband. “Oh, Mac, do you think maybe they’ve found her?”
Mac shook his head. “I don’t know. You get dressed while I go see who it is.”
Jillian jumped from the end of the bed and pulled on her robe. “I’m coming with you. After all, I’m going to need some help getting dressed, and you’re the only one here to see to it.”
The knock sounded again, and Mac nodded, even as he pulled on his shirt. “Come on, then.”
They opened the door to Zack Matthews, who looked at them both with a worried expression. “I came as soon as I heard. I didn’t even get back to town until a few minutes ago.”
“I don’t suppose you saw anything of Cooper while you were scouting for Bear and his bunch.”
“No,” Zack replied. “Are you all right?” he questioned, looking to Jillian.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “But Cooper has bad plans for Hope. He told me he planned to eliminate his problems.”
Zack shook his head. “I should have known he’d take the news in a bad way.”
“What news?” Jillian and Mac asked in unison.
“He’s being replaced. A telegram came recalling him to Washington. Apparently Mary caught someone’s attention.”
“And he knew this last night?” Mac questioned.
“Yup. Matter of fact, word came to him Saturday night.”
“Then there’s no telling what he’s up to,” Mac said, tucking his shirt in his pants.
“He didn’t say anything about where he planned to go?” Zack asked, looking to Jillian for answers.
“No. He came to Mary’s room last night and knocked on the door. I thought it was Mary and went to open it. He pushed me back and stalked into the room like he owned the place. He locked the door and grabbed me.” She shuddered at the memory. “I tried to scream, but he told me if I didn’t stay quiet, he’d hurt Hope.” She felt tears come to her eyes. “I told him I’d be quiet and begged him not to hurt her. He laughed and said he wasn’t going to have anyone holding his mistakes over his head the rest of his life. He said some other ugly things, and I told him he had no right to barge into Mary’s room and threaten the life of a baby. He slapped me, then dragged me to the chair and tied me up and gagged me.”
“Then he took the baby and left?” Zack questioned.
The tears flowed freely by now. “Yes,” her voice broke into a sob, and Mac put his arm around her supportively. “He put her in a carpetbag. She . . . she . . . slept through it. She’s a good baby.” Collapsing against her husband, Jillian cried quietly while the men discussed what was to be done.
“Where’s Mary?” Zack asked.
“She wouldn’t listen to reason and stay here. She harnessed up those mules of hers and drove out of town to go search for Cooper. I couldn’t very well go after her with Jillian needing me here, and I wasn’t about to let Jillian go scouting around in the dead of night.”
Jillian tried to compose herself a bit and stood up straight. “I want to go look for her now.” She tried her best to sound determined.
“I think you’d do more good if you stayed here,” Zack told her. He looked at her compassionately. “I’m afraid of what might happen if we get too many folks out there. Those Navajo are still missing, and the army won’t take too kindly to us stirring up the countryside and interfering with their tracking.”
“We can’t just sit here and do nothing,” Jillian protested.
“I know,” Zack told her. “And I don’t intend to do nothing, trust me.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Mac asked.
“No, I’d rather you stuck around. Someone might end up hurt, and we’ll need to know where the doctor is. I’d feel a whole sight better knowing where to send folks.”
Mac nodded. “We’ll stay put, then.”
Jillian pulled away. “But there has to be something we can do to help.”
Zack nodded. “Pray.”
“Folks have been telling me that all night,” Jillian said in exasperation, “but it just doesn’t seem like enough.”
Zack smiled. “I bet it will accomplish more than my efforts will. You just pray and let the good Lord work.”
* * *
Mary Barnes had never taken the easy road for a single day in her life and she wasn’t compelled to start now. Even so, she knew a bit of fear as she moved deeper into the canyon. The Navajo women had finally told her where she could find Bear, and now, with all that had happened, she had to find him.
Dawn had been upon them for twenty or thirty minutes, but even with this meager lighting, the canyon remained dark and foreboding. Shadows danced off the walls, creating spectral images, and strange sounds echoed around Mary as she pushed Dobbin and Clarence forward.
At least now she had hopes of finding Bear, and because of his hatred for the white man, she had a strange feeling she might also find Cooper. Or at worst, learn where he was.
It hadn’t been easy to get information out of the closed-mouth Navajo women. Most were completely distraught about the soldiers rounding up their children for schools in faraway places. But Mary had appealed to their motherhood and told them the story of Cooper and baby Hope. Finally the women had opened up to her. Years of building trust had convinced them that Mary only meant to see good come to them.
The canyon walls rose up on either side of her in an impressive barrier of crimson sandstone. Mary squinted her eyes to see any detail that might betray the presence of another human being, but there was nothing. Deeper and deeper she pushed into the silent sanctuary. She could easily see why Bear would choose this place to hide. Not only had it been difficult to find, but with its twists and turns and jagged walls, it made the perfect place for an ambush or defense.
And then suddenly Mary knew she’d come far enough, sensing the presence of another person before seeing proof of it. Right in front of her, Bear came to stand on the edge of a rocky outcropping. He had blended perfectly with the scenery until he allowed her to see him.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“I need your help,” she said, never taking her eyes off Bear’s stern face. He jumped from the rock with the grace of a puma and came to stand beside Dobbin. Well-muscled and fierce looking, he did nothing but watch her for several moments. Mary knew he was trying to intimidate her, but she wasn’t afraid. “Will you hear me out?”
“I don’t need to,” he replied. “You have come for the child of my sister.”
“You have Hope here?” Mary questioned. “But how? When?”
Bear shrugged, then added as if it explained everything, “We have Cooper.”
Mary felt a chill go down her spine. “Bear, you haven’t killed him, have you? It’s bad enough they want you for burning down the school, but if you’ve killed a man, the army will shoot you as soon as look at you.”
Bear’
s eyes narrowed. “The white soldiers will have to find me first.”
“But I found you, and Mr. Cooper apparently found you.”
“We made deal with Cooper. He knows this place only because we let him know. He can’t tell anyone now.”
“So you have killed him,” Mary said, feeling rather overwhelmed.
“He not dead yet. Soon,” Bear explained.
“Let me see him,” Mary demanded. “Let me see if there’s anything I can do to help him. You don’t need to die for this man, Bear. He’s evil and what he did was unacceptable, but you can’t go rightin’ wrongs this way.”
Bear said nothing more, but he took hold of Dobbin’s harnesses and pulled himself on the back of the animal. Mary fully expected Dobbin to protest, but the animal remained still until Bear urged him forward. Holding the reins very loosely in her hands, Mary couldn’t help but wonder about Bear’s plan.
She didn’t have long to wonder, however. He negotiated a narrow passage that Mary would never have believed would allow for her wagon, then moved them out into a small opening. In the middle of the opening lay Cooper. He was staked out spread eagle on the floor of the canyon. He had been severely beaten and his face was swollen almost beyond recognition. There was blood all over his body, indicating knife wounds—torture mostly likely, Mary decided. But worse still, Mary could now see as they drew nearer that Bear had tied a rattlesnake to each of Mr. Cooper’s limbs. Whenever the man cried out in pain or tried to struggle, he irritated the snakes into biting him.
“Oh, Bear,” Mary whispered as they came to a stop. “This wasn’t the answer.”
She climbed down from the wagon and went to the Navajo. There was nothing she could do for Cooper. “Where’s the baby?” she asked softly.
Bear pointed and Mary followed his gaze to where several other Navajo men sat. In the middle of these men lay Hope on top of the carpetbag.
Mary went to the baby and lifted her into her arms. Hope seemed no worse for the wear, but Mary knew she wouldn’t feel better until she had the baby safely back with Mac and Jillian.
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