Joline's Redemption

by McDonough, Vickie;

  Moaning, Badger grabbed his throbbing head and rolled onto his side. He enjoyed drinking as much as any man, but he hated how he felt afterward—hated losing control of his mind and body. The guilt at separating Sapphire and her son was eating at him. She adored that boy, as did all of his ladies, but he’d already indulged her far too long. She would hate him for what he’d done, but he was used to women despising him.

  Someone pounded on his door.

  “Go away,” he yelled, clutching his head.

  The door creaked open. Badger flipped over and reached for the gun on his nightstand. With a shaking hand, he aimed it at the door. His eyes focused on Stoney, and he lowered the gun. “What do you want? Can’t a man get his rest?”

  “Sapphire’s gone.”

  “Gone?” Badger bolted to his feet, reaching out to steady himself on the nightstand. His eyes blurred then slowly refocused. “Did you check out back?”

  Stoney nodded. “The kid’s gone, too, along with most of his belongings.”

  Sapphire wouldn’t cross him. She wouldn’t dare. But she deeply loved that snot-nosed kid.

  Badger kicked the leg of the nightstand, rattling his bowl and pitcher. “Is the buggy gone? Maybe she went to deliver the boy to that couple on her own.”

  Stoney shook his big head. “The buggy’s still there, but the horse is gone.”

  Badger lurched to the doorway. He needed coffee, and lots of it, to sober up. “We gotta go after her and bring her back.” He stepped into the hallway. “Sarah! Bring me a pot of coffee—and something to eat.”

  Stoney cleared his throat, drawing Badger’s gaze. He shook his head. “Cain’t find her neither.”

  Badger blinked. “What?”

  “She’s gone, too.”

  Grabbing the door frame, Badger shook his head. “She wouldn’t leave. She knows I have plans for her.”

  Stoney rattled out a raspy laugh. “Maybe that’s why she’s gone.”

  Badger narrowed his gaze. Stoney was a bigger man, but Badger was younger and quicker—at least when he wasn’t drunk. He’d never had call to fight the man, but he was sorely tempted to right now. “You know nothin’ about Sarah, so keep your trap shut. Go rent a horse and see if you can pick up their trail.

  “I’ll find someone to stay here and run the place; then once you find their trail, we’ll go after them. I’m not losing two females, especially those two.”

  Stoney lumbered off, and Badger dropped into his chair. The first time he met Jo Jensen, he was attracted to her, even though she had been hot and dirty at the time. Her man had left her, and she had nowhere to go. He was more than a little happy to help her, and once she got cleaned up, he’d discovered she was a beauty, as he had suspected. Her fiery spirit was something else that drew him to her. He knew back then that his customers would pay extra to spend time with a woman as fine as her, but then he’d discovered she was carrying a child. He should have turned her out then and there instead of supporting a woman who couldn’t work for months, but he knew how much his customers would like her, so he bided his time until the kid had been born and Jo had recovered. He hadn’t counted on being so attracted to her that he would have trouble sharing her, but that would change—as soon as he got Sapphire back. He owned a popular bordello that made good money, and he was foolish for allowing his own physical desires to overrule good business sense. Sapphire would pay dearly for runnin’ off.

  When she’d first discovered what he had planned for her, she tried to escape over and over. He rubbed the back of his neck, hating that it had taken several beatings to teach her a lesson. He leaned back in his chair, smiling. Jo had finally accepted her plight and agreed to become Sapphire. But he had still coddled her because he fancied her—but no more.

  He didn’t like beating her, and he’d never wanted to break her spirit. One side of his mouth cocked up. It looked as if he hadn’t. She’d simply been playing along and biding her time. If he hadn’t pushed her to get rid of the boy, she’d still be here, but people had been talking. Saying he was getting soft. He had to get rid of that kid or people would think he was weak.

  If people learned Jo held a place in his heart, they would use it against him. He cursed. His mistake was letting her keep the baby in the first place, but when she turned those tearful blue eyes on him, he was putty in her hands.

  But no more.

  He needed to find her and show her who was boss. She’d taken Sarah—and stolen his horse. That was still a hangin’ offense in these parts.

  After watering the horse, Sarah led him to a patch of grass near where Sapphire tended her son and secured him to a sapling so he could graze. She checked the saddle, anxious to start riding again. Every minute they weren’t on the move was a minute that Badger was probably closing in on them. He would come, she was certain.

  With the horse tended to, she grabbed a fallen tree branch and walked back the way they’d traveled until she reached a fork in the trail. Using the branch, she blended the horse’s tracks into the dirt until there was no sign they had come this way. If anyone was following, they’d have to check both trails, and that would give Jo and her more time to get away.

  And she had to get away. Badger was a hard man most times, although he had treated her fairly well since he took her from her dying mother, but she didn’t know if he would continue to do so. Though only twelve, she was starting to fill out, becoming a woman. How long before he forced her to move upstairs and earn her keep in that horrible way the other ladies did?

  She shuddered at the thought. Many times she had considered slipping away while the others slept, but being so young and half-Cherokee, she knew getting by on her own would be difficult. Many people still looked down on anyone with native blood, especially half-breeds like her. Her mother had told her that many men thought they could have their way with a woman who carried Indian blood. Was that what had happened to her own mother?

  As she approached Sapphire, the woman spun around. “Sarah, where have you been? I was afraid you’d gotten lost.”

  Pausing, Sarah glanced at the horse, her heartbeat racing. She’d made a careless error. She hadn’t considered that Sapphire could have ridden off without her. She’d have to be more careful in the future, at least until the woman proved that she would keep her word. Bawdy house women weren’t exactly known for being honest. “I hide trail so Badger not find us.”

  Sapphire smiled. “That’s a wonderful idea. I’m so glad you thought of it, but come, we need to be off now that Jamie is satisfied and has a dry diaper.”

  Her stomach rumbled, but she wouldn’t complain. She just wished that she’d been able to collect some food before they left, but going back into the house was too risky.

  “Could you tie Jamie on me like you did before?”

  She nodded and attended to the task then watered the horse again. Mounting was harder without a stump to climb on, but they managed. Back on the horse, Sarah held lightly to her companion’s hips. “It is good you wore calico, Sapphire.”

  She nodded. “Yes, it will help if we run into others. They wouldn’t look too kindly on us if I were dressed in a colorful low-cut satin gown.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I think it’s best if you call me Jo now.”

  Sarah wrinkled her nose. “That is man’s name.”

  Sapphire chuckled. “My full name is Joline, but no one calls me that except my sister—when she’s mad at me—and sometimes my grandpa. Besides, a man called Joe spells his name J-o-e, but mine is just J-o.”

  “That almost same thing.”

  “Yes, it is, I suppose. If you’d rather, you may call me Joline.”

  Sarah thought it was odd to know the real name of one of the painted ladies. Badger always insisted they have a new one when they first arrived, and he never allowed a woman to keep her old name or let others call her by it. She’d been the only one to keep hers. She supposed having the new one made it easier to pretend you were someone else when living such a life.

  “Sara
h is a lovely name, but it isn’t a Cherokee one. Do you mind if I ask how you came by it?”

  Sarah stared at the passing landscape. No one had ever asked her that before. “My mother say my father give me name. Same name his grandmother had.”

  Jo looked back over her shoulder. “Did you know that Sarah means ‘princess’?”

  Sarah’s gaze shot to Jo’s. “That true?”

  Jo shrugged as she faced forward again. “I believe so. I once heard a preacher talk about it. The name is in the Bible, and it belonged to the wife of a man named Abraham.”

  Sarah had never known what her name meant. Her father sure didn’t treat her like a princess. In fact, she felt as if he was ashamed of her, always making her stay in her room if the women were awake or anyone else was there. She’d lived mostly alone since Badger had brought her to the bawdy house. Working when the others slept as much as possible and staying in her room with the door locked after sunset, with only Jamie for company whenever Sapphire worked.

  If only they could make their escape without getting caught, maybe she would no longer have to live that way. She longed to walk the streets of a town and not have people whispering behind her back because they knew she lived at the bawdy house. She’d finally found a way to leave that dreadful place. Dare she hope for a different life with Jo?

  Would Jo keep her word? Or would she dump her somewhere, leaving her completely alone?

  With each mile closer to Lara’s homestead, Jo’s stomach churned more. In the rebelliousness of youth, she’d treated her sister despicably. Still, Lara wouldn’t turn out her or Sarah, no matter what her living conditions were. Probably by now, Gabe had built her a decent house—at least Jo hoped that was the case. She refused to live in a soddy again, not after having her own room with a feather bed. She’d rather stay in a barn.

  Jo sighed, knowing she really had no choice. She’d have to live wherever Lara did, and she couldn’t afford to be picky. If she could find some kind of work, maybe she could save enough money so that she, Jamie, and Sarah could move farther away from Badger. Just thirty-some-odd miles was far too close for her liking. And what was she thinking? How could she work in Guthrie when Badger would be looking for her?

  The horse trotted down an incline, and Jo pressed her hand against Jamie’s back and held on with her knees.

  Oh, why couldn’t she have been more like Lara? Less troublesome and stubborn? Why had she thought she knew what was best for herself when she was just sixteen? If she’d been more cautious, she wouldn’t have fallen for the likes of Mark Hillborne—but then she wouldn’t have Jamie, either. She bent and kissed her son’s head.

  She’d paid a high price for her son. Life with Mark, except for the first few months, had been difficult. She’d thought him so kind and handsome when they first met, and she’d jumped at the chance to work in his store with him when she first left home.

  Jo reined the horse to the right, following the trail. She glanced at the clouds, hoping it wouldn’t rain tonight. If only she could go back to the snug house Mark had built for them. If only …

  She had far too many “if onlys.”

  She thought about how she’d fallen under Mark’s charming spell while he was wooing her, but once he’d gotten what he wanted from her, life with him changed. After a few months, he became verbally and physically abusive. It seemed that nothing she did pleased him. Gone was the charmer, and an ogre took his place. Jamie squirmed, as if sensing her distress at the awful memories.

  She gritted her teeth, remembering how hard she had worked in his store and how she’d endured his abuse. And then she learned she was with child—at just seventeen years old. She had hoped the news would make him as happy as it did her, but instead, it had the opposite effect. Mark nearly tore up their new house when she told him. Then she lost the baby and things settled back as they were in the beginning. Until she became pregnant again. Life repeated itself until the third time she told him she was expecting. She blew out a breath at the memory of how he packed her a bag and put her out of his home, then boarded up the store and left town.

  A cool gust of wind slapped her in the face, yanking her from her thoughts. She had no idea why so many disturbing memories were assaulting her today. Probably because she had little to do at the moment besides think.

  Why had Mark just walked out of her life? Most men would be happy to become a father, but not him. Stunned, ashamed, and humiliated, she had fled Guthrie and headed to Oklahoma City. Desperate and penniless, she easily succumbed to Pete Worley’s charm. The handsome man offered to marry her, but instead he took her to his bordello where she discovered he was better known as Badger. If not for Jamie, she never would have endured life there for the past year and a half.

  She swiped at a tear running down her cheek. She’d never been a crybaby, but she had been sorely afraid those first months. At least Badger had let her keep the baby, once it became obvious she was carrying, but not until after he nearly beat the child from her body. Thank God he hadn’t succeeded.

  “Why are you shaking?” Sarah asked.

  Jo shrugged. “Just thinking about the mistakes I’ve made in the past and dreading the thought of having to ask my sister for help.”

  “You do not think she will help us?”

  “I do—I know she will. She’s a kindhearted woman, but I dread my family knowing how low my life has fallen.”

  Sarah was silent for a long moment. “You were married. Yes?”

  Jo nodded, although she knew now that her marriage wasn’t real. The man Mark had stand in as a minister was not truly a man of the cloth. So in truth, she’d never been married.

  “You could tell people you are widow.”

  Jo considered the girl’s suggestion. It might pacify Lara for a time, but she would want to know more. Her sister already knew that Mark had closed his store and might have even heard how he put her out. But she’d left quietly, so it was possible that wasn’t common knowledge. Jamie would certainly face less scorn if people didn’t know. “I like that idea. I won’t mention the bordello if you don’t.”

  “I will not.”

  Jo doubted that Sarah would speak of that awful place, but she felt the warning was warranted, even though the girl rarely talked. In fact, she’d talked more in the past few hours than she had as long as Jo had known her. Badger didn’t like for his ladies to socialize with Sarah, and he kept her away from them as much as possible. She always thought that odd. He’d never done that before, even when a new girl arrived. Sooner or later, Sarah would have become an upstairs lady, so why keep her separate from them? She shook her head. It never made any sense.

  “How far to sister’s house?”

  Jo shrugged. “I’m not sure. We won’t make it today. I’m afraid we’ll have to go to Guthrie first, because I won’t be able to find Lara’s place unless I go there from town. And I don’t want to take the chance of asking too many people for directions, because if Badger gets this far and happens to talk to them, he’ll know we came this way.”

  “We must find place to camp soon.”

  “I suppose so.” Jamie wriggled in his bindings and fussed. When awake, he didn’t like being constrained for so long, but she was afraid to ride with him free. What if he fell off the horse?

  Her stomach grumbled. She didn’t look forward to the long night with nothing to eat except for two dried biscuits.

  A short while later, they forded a shallow creek. Jo held tightly to the saddle horn and gripped with her knees as the horse lurched up the incline on the far side. As soon as they reached level land, she relaxed, but Sarah slid off.

  “I find place to camp.”

  Jo followed as the girl headed to the right and away from the trail they’d been traveling on. Although they’d be safer not camping near the trail, she was more than ready to get off this horse for a long while. Too bad that they couldn’t have used the buggy, but she supposed it was bad enough that she’d stolen the horse. In her rush to get away, she hadn
’t considered that horse stealing was still a hanging offense in some places. Jo swallowed the lump in her throat and rubbed her neck. She had no idea what the law was like in Guthrie or Oklahoma City. If she was caught, would she be sent to Arkansas for trial since Oklahoma was still a territory? She sure would hate to end up in Judge Parker’s court. He’d sentenced a woman or two to hang.

  A branch smacked her cheek, pulling her from her thoughts. She’d better pay attention or she could cause herself or Jamie to get hurt. She caught up with Sarah, who was clearing a small open area surrounded by trees. The girl tossed a big limb to the side and added some smaller limbs. She dusted off her hands, walked over to the horse, and helped Jo dismount. Jamie squealed, as if he knew he’d soon be free. Sarah unfastened the papoose contraption that held him to Jo’s chest, pulled Jamie’s quilt loose, and spread it on the ground. Jo held on to him as he was freed of his tight bindings, enjoying his big smile. She placed him on the quilt then glanced at Sarah. “Could you watch him while I …” She waved her hand toward the trees.

  Sarah nodded, and Jo set off to find a private spot. One thing she hoped Lara had was indoor plumbing, although it probably wasn’t likely with them living on a ranch. Jo quickly finished her business and turned to head back. A man’s sudden yell made her freeze and hunker down.

  Chapter 4

  Baron dumped the last of the dried-up produce in a pile out back of the store, ready to be burned. He’d wait for a less windy day before tackling the big stack of refuse he’d cleaned out. Taking a moment from his labors, he turned to face the setting sun. If he stood in just the right spot, he could look down the streets and between buildings and see it. Pinkish-orange clouds dotted the horizon, creating an enchanting scene. Watching sunsets was something he rarely got to do back in St. Louis because the tall buildings usually blocked them.

  “Hillborne, is that you?”

  Baron turned to face the man who stalked toward him. The anger in the stranger’s voice surprised him. He had only arrived a few days ago so he hadn’t had time to make enemies—not that he was in the habit of doing so—but this man certainly sounded as if he considered him one. He eyed the tall cowboy with dark hair and piercing black eyes and nodded. “My name is Hillborne. Have we met before?”