“Tanner…” Temperance voice was frightened and Tanner went to her.
“He won’t do anything, Temp.”
“But I want you to take me…”
Tanner shook his head, “I have something I have to take care of. I’ll uh…” Tanner hated lying but knew that right now it had to be done. “I’ll go find some law and have Yancy seen to and then I’ll be along.”
“Tanner…” Temperance still seemed doubtful.
Tanner glanced at Sophia and she took Temperance’s arm. “Come on now. Let’s go get cleaned off and wash those memories off our skin,” Sophia urged.
Temperance let herself be led away but she kept her head turned her gaze on Tanner until she rounded the corner and was out of sight.
Tanner glanced around at the men surrounding him. Two were dead, one was going to be unconscious a good long while and the other was holding a bandana to his nose and whimpering in pain as he twitched on the ground.
Tanner clenched his bloody fists and headed into the warehouse. He had a reckoning to bring about.
Chapter Sixty
“You were really brave, Temperance. Sophia has been going on about how you saved the two of you from those terrible men…”
Temperance shook her head as she used the warm bathwater to wash the blood and dirt from her skin. Wilma poured a small bucket of water over her hair and helped her to clean it as well.
“Jackson is happy as a lark and eating lunch down in the café with Millie and Sara. Thankfully he hasn’t realized that anything is off about today.” Wilma smiled. “He’s just happy to be the birthday boy.”
Temperance was glad her son hadn’t been impacted by the terrible morning his parents had had. She didn’t want his innocence tarnished at such a young age.
“Where is Sophia now?” Temperance asked as she stood up and began to dry herself.
“Sleeping. The poor thing was tired and drained dry…. I hate that they did what they did to her but if not for your bravery it would have been much worse.”
Temperance shifted awkwardly and didn’t respond as she slid into her underclothes. She didn’t feel brave just now. Right now she felt raw, exposed, vulnerable and on edge. She would like to see her son but mostly she needed Tanner.
She needed to feel him holding her, know that she was safe and know that nothing terrible had happened to him.
Was he okay?
If so, where was he?
She had been at this hotel for over an hour and the man wasn’t here yet. How long would it take the lawmen to simply lock Yancy up… or what if more men had come and Tanner was…
Temperance clutched her locket tightly in her fist and tried carefully to breathe and not lose herself to the panic that attempted to clutch hold of her. She couldn’t let herself believe that something bad would have happened to her husband but what if…
“Holy hell, sweetheart, ain’t that a sight for sore eyes.”
Temperance’s head whipped around and she realized that Wilma was gone and it was Tanner standing inside the hotel room with her and the door was closed behind him.
Temperance released her hold on the locket and ran to him. Tanner wrapped her up tight in his arms and kissed her hair roughly. Temperance clung to him, so happy to have him in her arms and to have his scent filling her nose.
“What took you so long?” she whispered.
“I cleaned up a bit,” Tanner replied. “I didn’t want to risk Jackson seeing me as dirty as I was…”
Temperance pulled away and realized that he had indeed taken a bath. The dirt and blood that had been splattered on his shirt and skin was gone and his knuckles had been wrapped in crisp white bandages. Obviously, he had bought a whole new suit of clothes to wear before coming back as well.
Temperance swallowed hard. “Is he locked up, Tanner?”
Tanner swallowed hard and averted his gaze. For the first time since she’d known him she could see dishonesty shining in his blue/gray eyes. “Yeah, the law took care of him, Temp… He won’t be bothering you any longer.”
Temperance chewed her lip and held her locket tight. Tanner was lying. Did that mean the law had let Yancy go or did that mean…
“Tanner, do you swear he can’t get to me again?”
Tanner met her gaze then and took her hands in his. “I swear it to you, sweetheart. You never have to worry about him for another second of your life. He won’t be bothering anyone else ever again.”
Temperance laid her head on his chest again and let out a sigh. She knew that he was lying about the law. She knew what he had done. She should be upset at him for taking such a risk but she couldn’t muster that energy.
Yancy was gone. Tanner was back. He didn’t seem worried. That would have to be enough.
***
Two days later found them enjoying the final evening of the fair. Jackson was down at the arena with the event trainers preparing for his final event--racing Storm around barrels, grabbing a flag and returning it as quickly as possible. The child who received the best time and cleanest ride would win 5 points. If Jackson managed it he would win the competition and get the trophy.
Temperance was trembling with excitement and hoping he’d get what he’d been working so hard all summer for. She knew either way the boy would be happy--he had had the best time of his life at this fair and was already talking about coming back next year.
And Temperance was happy that not a single lawman had approached Tanner in the last two days. As a matter of fact, there had been no mention of Yancy or those men in the alley that Temperance was aware of. Tanner hadn’t spoken of what had went on in that basement between himself and Yancy and Temperance hadn’t asked.
Temperance had opened up about her own time there because Tanner had noticed the bruises on her ribs and demanded answers. It had been therapeutic to let it out instead of keeping it locked inside as she had once done with her pain.
Temperance laid her head on Tanner’s shoulder and wished the contest could go faster. Jackson still had at least ten boys ahead of him--they were entertaining to watch however as they galloped along on their ponies and did their very best to yell out calls and sound like the grown men that competed.
As her attention wavered from the contest it was quickly snared by the conversation taking place between three older gentleman behind them. “Shit, from what I heard it looked like a slaughterhouse.”
“I talked to the police chief,” the other man replied. “He said that man had been mutilated. What kind of monster would do something like that?”
Temperance glanced behind her and saw that Tanner’s jaw was tight but his eyes were still locked on the contest.
“I wouldn’t feel too sorry for old Yancy,” the third man stated with a snort. “He was a monster of the worst sorts and got took out by one of his own kind. It serves him right.”
“Hell, based on what had been done to the man I’d say it was the father or brother of one of those girls he sold. He finally messed with the wrong family,” the first man admitted.
“Did you hear what the body looked like? His face had been beat to mush, his tongue had been cut out and…. Well… whoever killed the man cut off his man parts and shoved them… Hell, he shoved them into his mouth where his tongue had been!”
Temperance’s stomach rolled. She felt her head get dizzy as her breathing quickened. Temperance leapt to her feet, jerked her arm from Tanner’s sudden grasp and took off running through the crowd.
She jostled several ladies who exclaimed over the rudeness of today’s youth and she nearly trampled a young girl with a lollipop. Temperance ran behind a makeshift barn and doubled over as she lost the contents of her stomach in the dirt.
How could her Tanner have done such a thing?Her gentle, warm, kind Tanner!
She had suspected--known really--that Tanner had killed Yancy but to hear those graphic details of just what he’d done…
“Here,” Temperance saw a clean, crisp bandana suddenly enter her line of vision
. She took it from Tanner’s outstretched hand as she stood straight and wiped her face.
She couldn’t meet his eyes so focused on his chest instead. “Tanner, what did you do?”
“I dealt with him.”
“But… but you…you tortured him.”
“Yes I did. And it was less than that bastard deserved, Temp.”
Temperance didn’t hear an ounce of regret in his voice and that was what struck her hardest. “You’re okay with what you did to him?”
Tanner sighed, “Temperance, I don’t think when I’m in that state of mind. I get lost in that rage and what happens. Are you honestly saying the bastard didn’t deserve to suffer a bit because of what he’d done to you? What he’d done to hundreds of helpless girls?”
Temperance wanted to be a better person than she was and say that no, no one deserved to be tortured that way. She wanted to say that he should have been tried for his crimes and then punished according to the law. She wanted to say that Tanner should not have done what he’d done…
But Temperance couldn’t say any of those things.
She was glad that Yancy was dead. She was glad he had suffered. And it made her stomach ache to know she could be so cold.
“Temperance, I love you. I hear your nightmares, sweetheart. I hold you through your tears. I, more than anyone, have seen the damage of what that man did to you. The law would have let him out, Temp. He knew too many things about too many people and there wasn’t a judge alive that would have prosecuted him. He deserved what he got.”
Temperance was quiet for a moment before raising her gaze and looking into his eyes. She could see his worry over her reaction but also his determination that what he had done was right. “I know that,” she promised. “I love you, Tanner.”
Tanner pulled her into a warm hug and Temperance was once again struck by the contradiction that lived inside the man. He was her warm, patient, kind Tanner--but he could also be a cold-hearted, murdering man who loved to torture those he felt deserved it….
“Tanner, did you really do that with his….well…that?” Temperance asked finding that to be the hardest part of it all to believe.
Tanner shrugged and Temperance swore she thought she could see a smile attempting to curve his lips. “Well, you always said he was real damn fond of shoving his cock in women’s mouths… figured he’d wanna see what it felt like.”
Chapter Sixty-One
The next day found the family all packed up and preparing for the trip back home. Wilma and the other girls had gone to have the wagon prepared and Tanner was attempting to usher his son and wife from the hotel but that was proving easier said than done with Jackson.
The boy was stopping every single person he met along the way and attempting to show them his newly won trophy and tell them all about riding his pony and what it had felt like to win the contest.
“They all cheered and clapped and everything!” Jackson exclaimed to the elderly couple he had cornered in the hall.
“Well isn’t that something?” the soft-waisted woman replied with a smile. “You must have been quite proud of yourself.”
“I was. My mommy and daddy were too! Weren’t you?” Jackson craned his neck to look up at Tanner and he nodded with a grin.
“Sure was, son.”
“Me too,” Temperance agreed, holding onto Tanner’s arm and laying her head against his shoulder.
Tanner was happy the woman hadn’t been too upset and angry at him over what had happened with Yancy. Had he gone a bit overboard in his torture of the man by doing everything he’d done before the man had had a chance to bleed out? Yeah, probably. Did Tanner regret it for one damn minute? Hell no. Yancy had stolen so much from Temperance and from countless other girls before and after her… He had deserved even worse than what he’d been given.
“You must be a proud man,” the old gentleman said as he patted Tanner’s shoulder. “You’ve got you a beautiful family.”
Tanner smiled down at his son. “I am and I happen to agree with you,” he replied. Then Tanner scooped Jackson up and propped the boy on his hip. “I’ve gotta be getting them home now. Y’all have a good day,” Tanner tipped his head and led Temperance down the hall.
They stepped out into the sunlight and Tanner breathed in the scent of the midmorning air. The fair had ended and the streets were surprisingly empty compared to the crowds that had been the norm. Vendors were gone, games were gone and everything seemed deserted despite the vastness of the city.
“Daddy, why don’t you wear a hat like mine?” Jackson asked as he adjusted the leather hat on his head hat he’d gotten for his birthday.
“Sometimes I do,” Tanner shrugged. “When the mood strikes me.”
Jackson grunted. “Well I woke up today and the mood said, ‘Put on your hat’ and so I did!” A smile split the boy’s cheeks and Tanner couldn’t help but laugh.
“We have to hurry you two,” Temperance urged. “Wilma and the others will think we got lost.”
“Mama, can we go to the barn and see that horse one last time before we leave? I promised him I’d say goodbye before we left….”
Tanner sighed. Jackson had fallen in love with a large Clydesdale gelding named Big George that was too old to do much of anything other than stand in a stall and graze in a pasture. The boy wanted to take the horse home with him but the owner had said he loved the beast too much and hadn’t wanted to sell him.
“Jackson…” Temperance began and Tanner could tell she was going to tell the boy no.
“I don’t see what it would hurt, Temp. The barn is on our way to the livery anyhow and that’s where our wagon will be waiting,” Tanner reminded her.
Temperance smiled and gave an exasperated wave of her hand. “Fine. We’ll go see Big George.”
Jackson let out a happy hoot of victory and then launched into a ramble about how shiny his trophy was in the sunlight. They entered the barn and the Big George’s owner laughed the moment he saw them. “I figured you’d come back at least one more time!”
“The boy is in love with your horse,” Tanner replied as he sat Jackson on his feet and the boy raced back to Big George’s stall. Instantly that massive piece of horseflesh tossed his head over the low door and let the boy hug his muzzle.
“I think my horse is in love with your boy as well,” the man, Greg Profit, admitted, rubbing at his white beard. He pulled a sugar cube from his pocket and walked over to Jackson. The boy happily took it from him and fed it to Big George who gobbled it greedily.
“Jackson, I’ve been thinking…” Greg sighed. “Big George is getting older now and I’m sure he’d like living somewhere with open fields where he could roam and enjoy his remaining years instead of being locked in that old dirty stall. Do you have fields he could play in?”
Jackson’s green eyes widened and his head bobbed up and down. “Yes, sir…” he whispered.
“Would you be willing to let my horse come stay with you then? He just seems to like you an awful lot and I fear he’ll get mad at me if I don’t let him go on home with his new friend.”
Tanner was surprised by the tears that shown in Jackson’s eyes. “Really?”
Greg gave a long sigh and nodded. “Yeah, really. Just so long as it’s okay with your folks of course.”
Jackson was hopping up and down as he turned to Temperance and Tanner. “Can I bring him home? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Please?” he begged as he grabbed their hands and shook them with his bouncing.
Tanner and Temperance shared a look of amusement and then Temperance smiled down at their son. “Will you help with all his care? Will you feed him and make sure he gets brushed and loved on?”
“Yes, mama! I promise!” Jackson vowed as a happy tear slid down his cheek.
Temperance pretended to think hard for a moment as she tapped her chin and studied the boy. Finally she shrugged, “I suppose you’ll need to ask your daddy.”
Jackson was practically bursting with anticipation at this point.
He turned his attention to Tanner and stuck out his bottom lip. “Please, daddy? I’ll be real good with Big George and I’ll take care of him all the time. Please?”
Tanner couldn’t help but laugh and could simply nod in response. Jackson hopped up and down with happiness and turned to Big George who was watching the whole scene and sniffing around as if hoping for a second sugar cube.
“Did ya hear that, George? You’re my horse now!” Jackson exclaimed jubilantly. Big George tossed his head and let out a snort as if to say he was fairly happy about the arrangement as well.
Temperance motioned for Greg to follow her as she walked a short distance away. Tanner followed as well. “Now, Mr. Profitt, are you sure about this gift? Tanner and I would be happy to pay you whatever you feel that horse is worth…”
“Nonsense,” Greg waved his hand. “Now I did hear tell that you breed and sell work horses, is that true?”
Temperance nodded. “Yes, sir. It’s a business we’ve just been getting into the last few years or so. Why?”
Greg smiled. “I can always use a good work horse and I’d like to come down sometime and have a look at what you’ve got. Maybe we could work out a good deal in my favor?”
Tanner knew that, as good as Temperance’s horses were, they weren’t equal to Big George. Clydesdales were rare in these parts and highly sought after--even the older ones.
Temperance seemed doubtful a moment, no doubt thinking the same thing that Tanner was, but Greg held out his hand. “Don’t hurt my feelings now, miss. Take my offer.”
With a sigh and a smile Temperance shook the man’s hand and sealed the deal. “You’re welcome on our ranch anytime, Mr. Profitt.”
A short time later Tanner found himself leading a gelding Clydesdale down the road with Jackson’s hand held tight in his while Temperance held Jackson’s other hand after having safely tucked his trophy away in Big George’s saddle bags.
“Do you think everybody will like my new horse, daddy?” Jackson asked.
Tanner clicked his tongue. “If they don’t then there’s clearly something wrong with them, isn’t there?”
Against Her Will Page 29