Alice stared at her for a moment and then pulled her hands back. She clutched them together in her lap and looked away from Molly.
“What… what are you thinking, Alice? I am not making this up.”
“You are sure you saw someone outside? Are you sure it wasn’t Mark?”
“Why would Mark be prowling around outside my house at night?”
Alice blinked a few times and then shook her head. “No. He would have let you know he was there. Did this person run away when you noticed them?”
“Yes. I left the lantern in the kitchen. When they went around to look in that window, I went outside, but they must have seen I wasn’t in the kitchen and left in a hurry. I know it was a man. It had to be. A woman doesn’t make a shadow that broad or tall.”
Alice bit her upper lip. “This sounds dangerous. Have you seen him since then?”
“I have seen him one other time and heard something outside a few other times.”
“Have you told Mark?”
Molly hesitated for a second. She pulled the button from her apron pocket and held it up for Alice to see. “I found this outside this morning. Near the patch of grass at the bottom of the porch. It isn’t my button.”
Alice took the button and turned it over in her hand. “Oh, my. It’s a man’s button.”
“Yes, it is. It’s Mark’s.”
Alice looked up at her. “This is Mark’s button?”
Molly nodded, unable to vocalize her answer. “I saw his jacket earlier. There’s a button missing and the others on the jacket match this one.”
“Oh.” Alice handed the button back to Molly. “He must have lost it while he was preparing the house for you. It’s his house, after all. There are probably a few other items he’s accidentally left behind.”
“You don’t think he could have lost this while he was walking around the house at night? I fell asleep on the couch last night. I don’t remember turning my lantern off but it was when I woke up.”
“You need to be careful. It only takes a little knock to turn a lantern over. You could have been burned alive!”
Molly shook her head. “That’s not the point, Alice. The point is that someone was there last night. That person turned off my lantern. This button shows it was Mark. If it was him last night, why wouldn’t it have been him the rest of the time?”
Alice shook her head. “I don’t believe it. Mark could have lost that button any time. It’s his property and his house. You know, he was telling Adam he was thinking of giving you this house. He said it fit you so well. Adam and I agreed. And now you want to accuse him of being a… a peeper? Oh, Molly, no. I simply won’t believe it.”
Molly pulled in a deep sigh. She didn’t want to believe it, either. She liked Mark. She had from the first time she saw him in the hotel. “I don’t want to think it’s him, but, Alice, this button wasn’t there before. It wasn’t there yesterday.”
“You said you saw Mark earlier.” Alice gave her a direct look.
“Yes, we went target shooting.”
“Well, did you ask him about the button then?”
Molly shook her head, flushing a deep red.
“Why not?” Alice demanded.
“I was afraid it would make him angry. I don’t want him to be angry with me. And if he lied to me about it, I would know. Or I would find out.”
“Mark is not a liar and I am willing to bet there is a perfectly good explanation for this.” Alice stood up. “Let’s go find out right now.”
Molly shook her head. “No, Alice. I’m not going to confront Mark at the Horse N Saddle when he’s with his friends. I want to find out a little more. If it’s not him, I want to prove it.”
“Maybe you should come stay with us again for a while.”
Molly smiled. “That’s so generous of you, Alice, but no, I can’t do that. You know I can’t. Mark would never understand why I would abandon this house. He knows how much I love it.”
“I know he does.”
“Let me figure it out first. I’ll let you know what I find out. But don’t say anything to anyone yet. All right? Do you promise?”
“I promise.” Alice said the words but wondered if she would be able to keep them.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
IN THE DARK OF NIGHT
IN THE DARK OF NIGHT
Something woke Molly later that night, in the early hours of the next morning. She opened her eyes and lay in bed, instantly wide awake. She had always been a heavy sleeper. Since she noticed someone outside the house at night, she had become more sensitive to the sounds around her. She shivered and pulled the quilt up higher so that it was just below her chin. She went motionless again, holding her breath for a short time.
She was just about to roll over onto her side when she heard a branch outside her window snap. For a moment, she was terrified. Then, anger swept through her. She didn’t want to be scared. She wanted to get the intruder and stop the madness.
She slowly and gently pushed aside her covers and slid her legs out from under them. She pushed her feet into the slippers by her bed and reached out slowly for her robe. If the intruder was able to see her in the dim light of the moon, she wouldn’t be able to stop it. Nevertheless, she wasn’t going to lie in the bed and let him get away with it.
She wrapped her robe around her quickly and scurried to the door of her room, keeping her eyes on the window. No one was peeking in. She thought if she saw a face pop up in that window, she might very well have a heart attack. She opened her door and slipped through into the short hallway going to the front room. She went straight for the rifle by the door and then thought her pistol might be better for short distances.
She went to a table by the couch and pulled open the drawer. From it, she took her pistol, removed it from the holster and checked to make sure it was loaded. She did this as quickly as she could before moving smoothly across the room to the window behind the couch. She crouched down and after breathing slowly a few times, she lifted up and peeked out. It was very dark but the moon afforded enough light for her to see shadows and shapes. She didn’t see anything out of place.
She dropped back down and thought for a moment. She’d heard the branch snap outside her bedroom window. It could have happened anywhere and the sound may have traveled but she doubted it. It was most likely the intruder was somewhere near her bedroom. She stayed low as she went back to the bedroom and slowly pushed open the door.
There was no light in the room, no lantern lit. The window was closed and as secure as it had been when she left. She stayed low and crossed the room, daring to stand up by the window and look out. That side of the house was darker.
Her heart was pounding. She felt helpless when she couldn’t see. She desperately wanted a torch or a lantern but was afraid to get the intruder’s attention. There could be a chance he wasn’t there for her. If he was there for her, couldn’t he have already done something harmful to her?
Molly sighed. She bent over and crossed to the other side of the window, looking out from that direction. She still saw no one in the yard.
It must have been an animal, she thought, consciously breathing slower to calm her rapidly beating heart. It had to be an animal. I’m just being paranoid. I’m too scared. I need to…
She wanted to tell Mark, confide in him. However, if it was him in the yard at night, how would he react to knowing she was going to shoot him dead in his tracks if he did it again? He wouldn’t think twice about making her leave.
She didn’t want to leave. She’d truly grown to love the little yellow house. She also didn’t want to believe it was Mark causing her fear.
She lowered her pistol and let out a pent up breath. Standing directly in front of the window, she looked in both directions as far as her eyes could see. Nothing but the normal scenery, darkened by the night sky. She saw nothing moving, no animals crossing into the desert beyond the back field. No man stalking her.
She pulled away from the window and pulled the cord
to close the drapes. It blocked all light from coming in and she held out her hands to feel over to the table. She blindly went through the motions of lighting the lantern, turning it up bright. She wasn’t going back to sleep any time soon. She might as well stay up and ponder the danger she was in.
She went to the kitchen and prepared a small pot of coffee. She avoided looking through the window. If someone wanted to watch what she was doing, let them. She wasn’t doing anything amazing or spectacular. She was just making coffee, trying to calm down after being scared half to death.
She sat at the table and stared into space, thinking about her life before Bill’s death. They had traveled together and made friends in many places. Not once had she ever felt afraid when she was with him. Even when they weren’t together, she still felt his protective presence over her at all times. She still felt his presence, in a way. Now it was something she couldn’t harness. He wasn’t there to put his bulk in between her and harm’s way.
She remembered when he had swept her off her feet, riding into town, looking majestic and strong. His smile was so warm and welcoming, it was impossible not to smile back at him. That had not won her many fights. If he felt the argument was silly, he would smile at her and she would lose all willpower. She would melt into his arms and he would hold her close.
She remembered the feeling of being in his arms. She missed it more than she could have imagined.
When the coffee smelled done, she got up and went back to the stove. She poured some into a large mug and took it back to the table. She closed her eyes. She enjoyed putting her face directly over the steam rising from the mug and smiled as it brushed over her face.
“You do that every time I hand you a cup of something hot,” she heard Bill’s voice in her mind.
She opened her eyes. She could see Bill in her mind, sitting across from her at the table they used to have in her house in Virginia. “It feels like silk going over my face,” she said out loud. It was her typical response when he said that. It had become a running joke between them. He called them her “silk tendrils” and often said it was like the arms of an octopus massaging her face.
“How would you know what the arms of an octopus feel like? You’ve never been to the ocean.” She said out loud again.
“I’ll change that someday. We’ve traveled on land. Soon we will travel on the ocean.”
Molly smiled, remembering his words.
They never got to travel on the ocean. They went to it but never got on a boat. The last time Molly saw Bill, he was heading into town to make plans for that very trip. However, he hadn’t made it. A group of bandits shot him in the street and took everything of value off his person. His brother had come to deliver the news at around the same time she was expecting Bill to come home. The news brought her to her knees.
She wouldn’t forget that day, not for the rest of her life. She would feel the same pain every time she let it cross her mind. She knew in her heart she would never love another man the way she’d loved her husband.
When the cup of coffee was almost gone and she swallowed the last cooled drops, she decided she might as well try to sleep for a while. She was tired and her nerves were worn out. She took the pistol with her to bed and slept with it on the pillow next to her for the rest of the night.
The next morning, Molly woke up to a dark room. She slipped out of bed and opened her drapes. The sky was bright and sunny. There were streaks of white clouds, making it look like God had dragged His fingers across the sky to create them.
“How beautiful,” she whispered. “Good job, Lord.” She smiled and turned away from the window. She went to the dressing table and used some of the cool water in the pitcher to splash her face and rinse her hands off.
Ten minutes later, she was in the kitchen, fixing a small pot of hot water. The heat from the stove warmed her chilly fingers. The day would quickly heat up but, at that moment, the early morning chill was still in the air.
She pulled on a small pair of gloves to keep her hands warm and stepped out into the fresh air. She breathed in deep and sighed. It was a fine day. She felt refreshed, despite the events of the night before. She looked down at the ground and began to walk around the house, staring at the ground.
When Molly got to the side of the house where her window was, she swept her eyes carefully over the ground. It didn’t take long for her to spot what she was looking for. She couldn’t be 100% sure, but when she picked up the two pieces of a thin, broken tree limb and looked at it, she knew in her heart it caused the sound she’d heard the night before.
She lifted her eyes and looked directly at the side of Mark’s house. Disappointment and anger flooded through her. She tried to hold it back, but she gripped the tree limbs so hard, the one in her right hand snapped again. She looked down at it.
She was already afraid she wouldn’t be able to rid herself of Luke. Now the man she actually had an interest in was turning out to be someone other than who he was. She looked around for any kind of boot prints the intruder had left but saw none. She walked toward Mark’s house, still looking for a sign that he had recently been down the path. There was no way to tell when the last time was he set foot on the well-worn ground.
She turned back and headed toward the little yellow house. She admired it as she approached and sadness covered her as she thought she might have to move again. If she did, she could only see moving back to Virginia. Staying here only meant that she would never escape the clutches of Luke McAllister and her heart would always long for Mark.
She went around the house, stopping at the very corner and looking back at Mark’s house. She saw someone had come out, heading toward the stables. It was Mark. She stepped around the corner and peeked around.
He was walking casually but looked determined, like he was short on time. She noticed he hurriedly threw a saddle on Journey and strapped it tight. He pulled himself up. As he turned the horse in her direction, she slipped back around the corner of the house so he wouldn’t see she had been looking at him.
Now who’s spying? She closed her eyes tight, berating herself.
She ran back to the porch, up the front steps and into the house, closing the door behind her with a bang. If he was coming to her house, she didn’t want him catching her outside watching him. She waited in anticipation, her heart pounding in her chest.
She heard approaching horse’s hooves. They came close to the house and passed by without stopping. She pushed aside the drapes that covered the front window and watched Mark as he went toward town on his horse.
She let the drapes close, breathing a sigh of relief. She was going to confront him. When should she do it, though? Should she talk to Alice first?
She thought it would be a good idea to talk to Alice. Maybe it was time to tell Adam. He might know what to do. He was Mark’s best friend.
She still didn’t want to believe it was him. She wanted to trust him. She wanted… she wanted to fall in love with him.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ALICE TELLS THE TRUTH
ALICE TELLS THE TRUTH
Mark arrived at Adam’s house that morning, anxious to get inside for a cup of coffee. He hadn’t stopped thinking about Molly. He’d been up thinking about her most of the night, tossing and turning. It didn’t do much for his mood and he was tired. He would have slept in if he hadn’t had to help Adam with his broken fence. He wasn’t about to let his friend down, so he’d forced himself to get up and do what he said he would do. The cup of coffee he’d had before he left had failed to wake up him thoroughly. He knew Alice would have some for him.
He slid from his horse and threw the reins over the post. Journey wasn’t going anywhere so he didn’t tie the reins. He looped them once and went up the steps to the porch. Before he could knock, the door opened and Alice looked at him in surprise.
“Oh!” she exclaimed and then laughed. “I didn’t expect to see you there.”
“I came over to help with the fence,” Mark explained.
She shook her head. “Oh, I knew you were coming, Mark, I just didn’t hear you knock.”
“That’s because I hadn’t yet.” Mark smiled at her. “I was just getting ready to. Do you need to come out? Can I come in?”
Alice laughed. “Of course, you can come in! Please…” she stepped back, holding the door open wide for him. “I do apologize.”
“It’s all right. Please tell me you have some coffee made.”
“I certainly do, a fresh pot on the stove. Go ahead and help yourself.”
“Thanks, Alice. Where’s Adam?”
“He’s out there doing some early morning chores. I’m really not sure exactly what he’s doing though.”
“I’ll just get some coffee and go on out there and search for him.”
Alice laughed again. “He’s around back. You won’t have any trouble finding him. Excuse me…” she gave him a quick nod and a smile, going through the door and closing it behind her. Mark was left in the silent house alone. He looked around, wondering where the baby was.
He was in the kitchen less than a minute later, pouring a cup of coffee for himself. He took the time to drink half and put more in the cup before he went outside to find Adam.
Adam was indeed just outside the house in the back. He looked up from the water pump as Mark stepped out into the bright sunlight.
“Mornin’, Mark.”
Mark gave him a nod. “Mornin’. You need help?”
“Nah, thanks, though. I’ll be done here in a minute. Just helping Alice get ready to do some washing. The baby made a mess in her bed last night and it’s imperative that we get it cleaned up.”
“I thought I noticed a peculiar smell when I went in your house.”
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