Savage Spring

by Constance O'Banyon

  “I…want to sleep,” she whispered.

  “Later, my love. Right now, we are going to be married, so there will never be any question in any of these folks’ mind that you belong to me.”

  The parson wished himself anywhere but where he was at the moment. He had come here tonight to perform what he thought would be a simple wedding ceremony, and it had turned out to be anything but simple.

  As he recited the words, Tag shook Alexandria, and her eyes fluttered open. “Say I do, Alexandria,” he urged.

  All Alexandria wanted to do was lie down, but someone kept making her stand. If she did as they asked, perhaps they would leave her alone, she thought.

  “Say I do,” Tag coached again.

  “I…do…what?” she asked.

  “That’s close enough, parson,” Farley spoke up. “You heard her say she does. Get on with it.”

  The preacher eyed Farley carefully. He wasn’t about to argue with the crazy old man who kept waving his gun in everybody’s face. “I now pronounce you man and wife. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder,” he said hurriedly.

  “The marriage isn’t legal,” Rodney spoke up. “Alexandria isn’t your wife.”

  “Is he right, parson? Do I need a document to prove Alexandria is my legal wife?” Tag asked.

  The preacher wasn’t about to deny that the ceremony he had just performed was legal. He asked their names and Tag gave him his real name and Alexandria’s. The preacher printed them on the wedding document and handed it to Tag. “It’s legal. Ain’t no court in these United States going to dispute your claim, Mr. James.”

  “They better not,” Farley said, waving his gun in the man’s face. “Ifen I was to find out that this here wedding ain’t legal and binding, it won’t bother me one little bit to shoot me a preacher.”

  Tag lifted Alexandria up into his arms and carried her toward the door. Then he turned back and gave Rodney a penetrating gaze. “I would advise you and your mother never to set foot on my wife’s farm again. If you do, I will leave orders that you are to be shot!”

  “You can’t do this,” Barbara spoke up. “I’ll have the law on you.”

  “With what charge, Mrs. Bradford?” Tag asked.

  “I…”

  “Exactly, Mrs. Bradford. You are the ones who will be arrested when and if I ever decide to talk to the law. I’m sure there are laws against trying to force a young girl to marry against her will.”

  “If there are laws, perhaps you will be the one who will be arrested. Alexandria wasn’t in her right mind when you married her tonight,” Barbara stated.

  “I think when she is herself, she would tell you that she likes being my wife. No lawmaker in his right mind would deny a woman the right to marry the man of her choice. I think Alexandria prefers me to your son any day.”

  Barbara looked at the handsome young man and knew that he spoke the truth. “Rodney and I have some things that belong to us at Meadowlake. You aren’t going to keep us from getting them, are you?”

  “Not at all. Farley will be going to the farm bright and early in the morning to take my housekeeper so she can set the place in order. He will see that your belongings are sent on to you.”

  Barbara and Rodney had no more to say as the three men left. The parson made a speedy retreat shortly thereafter, and soon the house on Front Street became quiet.

  “If they hadn’t had guns, I would have stood up to them,” Rodney said sourly.

  “Oh, shut up, Rodney,” his mother said. “I don’t trust that man not to sic the authorities onto us. I think it might be best if we go and stay with my Aunt Sarah in Marysville. It doesn’t seem too wise to press Mr. James. I could tell by his speech that he’s a well-fixed gentleman and not without influence.”

  Barbara’s sister Annabelle had been cowering in a corner and now spoke up for the first time. “I been studying on who that man is. I had the feeling I’d met him before. He was the same gentleman who I told you about who called himself Falcon Knight. You know, the one I told you who came here asking to buy Meadowlake. Tonight he told the preacher his name was Taggart James.”

  “Well, that settles the mystery, doesn’t it? He married Alexandria so he could get his hands on Meadowlake. We came close to getting our hands on Meadowlake ourselves,” Barbara stated regretfully.

  “I am never going to find a wife as pretty and well-off as Alexandria,” Rodney said, sitting down and clasping his head in his hands.

  Barbara looked at her son in disgust. Since the accident, he had become a whining, complaining annoyance. She truly thought that he was becoming sick in the mind. She knew the best thing for her to do was put as much distance as she could between herself and Philadelphia. There was no telling if Mr. James might not decide to have her and her son locked up.

  When Tag reached the house, he dismounted and carried Alexandria up to his bedroom. Laying his new bride down on the bed, he undressed her and pulled the covers up over her. She hadn’t moved since he had carried her to his horse. Leaning over her, he placed his hand against her chest to reassure himself that her heart was beating steadily.

  He shuddered, thinking what might have happened to her had he not arrived in time to save her from becoming Rodney’s wife.

  Tag touched her face softly, and he felt his heart swell with love for her. He now knew without a doubt that she was the one true love of his life. What he had shared with Morning Song had been beautiful, but that was in the past, and it didn’t compare with how he felt about Alexandria. He didn’t know how she felt about him, and he wasn’t sure how she would react when she awoke in the morning and found herself to be his wife. At least she would know she was safe from her stepmother and stepbrother.

  Tag lightly touched his lips to hers, thanking God that she was safely back with him. He didn’t know what he would have done if he had lost her. Not only was she beautiful beyond compare, but she was courageous and loyal as well—the two virtues he admired most in a woman. Tag thought he might have been drawn to her at first because she reminded him of Joanna, but that wasn’t why he had fallen in love with her. He loved her because she had beauty in her heart.

  What if she didn’t love him? he wondered. He remembered the last time he had gone to her she had asked him to leave her alone.

  Tag reached into his pocket and withdrew Alexandria’s mother’s cameo necklace and clasped it about her neck. He hadn’t been able to give her a ring tonight, but perhaps the necklace would signify his love for her. Later, if she would allow it, he would give her a ring.

  “Sleep well, my little love,” he whispered. “You are safe with me. No one will ever harm you again.”

  Tag went downstairs, expecting to find the stranger who had helped him rescue Alexandria. He had many questions to ask the man, and he intended to have his answers tonight.

  He found only Farley waiting for him in the parlor. The old man was stretched out in a chair, his feet propped up and his eyes closed.

  “That there stranger done lit out. When I went to stable the horses, he just clean went and disappeared.”

  “Damn it, Farley! You knew I wanted to talk to him. You should have kept your eye on him.”

  “That one’s a slippery one. I don’t know who he is, but you oughta be mighty beholden to him after tonight.”

  Tag sat down and leaned his head back against the chair, feeling the weariness creep into his body. “I suppose, but I damn sure would like to know who he is and why he keeps turning up everywhere I go.”

  “There’s lots of things that don’t make no sense to me. What kind of folks would drug a young girl like our Alexandria, and try to force her to wed?” Farley asked.

  “I don’t know, Farley. It seems to me that everywhere we turn since we came to Philadelphia, we have run into some shady characters. I have a fear that the whole damned white world is corrupt.”

  “You have better things to worry ’bout tonight besides the sins of the world,” Farley said, crinkling up his fac
e into a grin. “It just don’t hardly seem right to me that a strapping young man like you would spend his wedding night with the likes of me.”

  “You know it wasn’t really a proper wedding, Farley. I had to marry her so that damned rabble would stop hounding her.”

  “You heard the man say the wedding were legal and binding. She’s your true and lawful wife.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it anymore tonight. I’m going to bed,” Tag said, standing up and moving toward the door. He turned back to Farley. “I will be sleeping in the front bedroom,” he said, to clarify his meaning.

  Farley’s laughter followed him out into the hallway and up the stairs.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  When Alexandria awoke, the afternoon sun was streaming through the bedroom window. She sat up quickly, looking about her in total confusion. She saw a man’s gray coat thrown carelessly across the back of a chair and a pair of black boots setting on the floor. It took her only a moment to realize she was in Tag’s bedroom!

  What was she doing here? She tried to remember, but her mind was so fuzzy, and her head was hurting something fierce. She searched the deep recesses of her mind, and in a flash she remembered some of the events of the previous evening. Barbara and Rodney had taken her back to the house on Front Street! She couldn’t seem to remember anything past the time Rodney had given her a drink, which she now knew had been drugged. Everything else was a hazy nightmare, and she didn’t know what had happened to her.

  Feeling something warm resting against her breast, she looked down and discovered she was wearing her mother’s cameo necklace. Her face flamed red when she realized the necklace was all she had on.

  Alexandria moved off the bed and tried to stand up. When she attempted to take a step, she felt the room whirling and caught onto the bedpost to steady herself. After several attempts, she managed to put her gown on and fasten it up the front.

  “Dear Lord, what has happened to me?” she whimpered. “What am I doing in Tag’s bedroom?” she cried aloud.

  As hard as she tried to remember the events of the previous night, she could remember no more than vague shadows and dark illusions.

  The door opened softly, and Alexandria whirled around to see Mrs. Green enter the room carrying a tray of food.

  “My poor little dear,” the older woman said as she laid the tray aside and helped Alexandria back to bed. “You had an awful experience last night, but you are safe now, the saints be praised.”

  Alexandria lay back against the oak headboard, her confusion reflected in her golden eyes. “Can you tell me what happened, Mrs. Green? I don’t seem to remember.”

  “Don’t you worry your pretty head about anything. I have instructions that you are to do nothing but rest for today.” Mrs. Green touched her forehead to see if she was feverish but found it cool to the touch. “I was the most surprised woman alive when Farley told me that you were a girl instead of the boy I thought you to be.”

  Alexandria looked into the kind, soft eyes of the housekeeper, feeling guilty that she had deceived her. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Green,” was all she could manage to say.

  The housekeeper’s eyes were dancing merrily. “Nonsense! You have no reason to feel sorry. You just eat the food on your tray and try to get your strength back.”

  When the housekeeper placed the tray on Alexandria’s lap and handed her a napkin, the girl caught her by the hand. “Please tell me what happened to me, Mrs. Green. How did I come to be in this bedroom?”

  “All I know is that the strange seaman that’s been hanging around here spying on Mr. James came bursting in last night insisting you had been carried off by your stepmother and stepbrother. Mr. James and Farley left here with the man, and when they returned, you were with them.”

  Alexandria stared at Mrs. Green. The housekeeper had called Tag by his right name. That would mean that she knew about Tag’s past. “I…wish I could remember what happened,” she said, placing her hand over her eyes.

  “Don’t trouble your head about such things. I’m quite sure when Mr. James returns he will explain everything to you. Right now, you should eat a good meal and then do nothing but rest for the remainder of the day.”

  Tag had seen Farley off to Valley Forge, where he would have to ask directions to Meadowlake, with instructions to make sure Alexandria’s stepmother and stepbrother didn’t return to her farm. Alexandria had once told Tag that all the servants at the farm were loyal to Barbara, so Mrs. Green and several of the other servants were to follow Farley the next day, to set the place in order and hire new help. If Alexandria decided she wanted to return to her farm, he didn’t want her to have to worry about anything.

  Tag pulled his horse up and dismounted. He had decided to pay a visit to Claudia to see what was happening with her. He suspected she was somehow involved in Alexandria’s abduction. If it were true, that would be one more sin he would lay at Claudia’s door. The chips were rapidly stacking against her, and the time was drawing near when Tag would call on her to cash them in.

  Before he could knock on the door it swung open, and Mrs. Dodson faced him. “Mrs. Landon isn’t receiving visitors today, Mr. Knight. The house is in mourning. You see, Mr. Landon passed away last night.”

  Tag’s eyes narrowed, and Mrs. Dodson shivered at the coldness in the blue depths. “Tell Mrs. Landon I am here. I think she will want to see me.”

  In no time at all, Mrs. Dodson returned and led Tag upstairs. She left him in front of Claudia’s bedroom door with a disapproving frown on her face.

  Not bothering to knock, Tag pushed the door open and entered the darkened room. It took him a moment to see Claudia huddled in a chair near the window. Her hair was tangled and hung lankly about her ghostly-white face. As Tag approached her, he could see that her eyes were wild with terror.

  He towered above Claudia and looked down at her, unable to hide his look of contempt. “I understand condolences are in order, Claudia.” he said in a cold voice.

  Her head snapped up, and she stared at Tag as if she didn’t really see him. “He’s gone. Howard’s dead, and it’s my fault. I didn’t know he would have such a violent reaction when I sent Alexandria away. I’m lost and have nowhere to go. I will be put out in the cold.”

  Tag knelt down and grabbed her arm. “Don’t crack up on me now, Claudia. I want your mind to be clear when we have our little talk.”

  She grasped his shirtfront and leaned her head against his shoulder. “You have to help me, Falcon. I’m surrounded by enemies. Everyone wants to see me dead!”

  He dislodged her hands and forced her to look at him. “Not everyone, Claudia. I don’t want you to die. I want you to live to be a very old woman.”

  “You’re the only one who I can turn to, Falcon. When it’s learned that Howard is dead, I’ll be asked to leave this house. What shall I do?”

  “Do nothing for now. Just try to pull yourself together. The harder ordeal is ahead of you, Claudia. Prepare yourself for a battle you will never forget.”

  Claudia looked at him in confusion. “I don’t know what you mean, Falcon.”

  He stood up. “No matter—in time everything will be made clear to you.”

  Tag left the room and stepped out into the hallway. He went to the bedroom that Howard had occupied, opened the door, and walked to the portrait that hung over the mantel. As his gaze swept each member of his family, his thoughts were in a turmoil. One of the enemy was dead and the other was very close to losing her mind. He wanted Claudia to be in full possession of her faculties before he moved in for the final blow. Deep inside Tag, there was a strong bitterness that his hadn’t been the hand that had ended the life of his father’s murderer. His eyes traced Joanna’s face, and he remembered the anguish his sister had suffered because of Howard Landon. He could now close that chapter of his life and concentrate his efforts on Claudia. In a way, he supposed there was some kind of justice in Howard’s death, after all. Somehow he found satisfaction in the fact that one of the
enemies was responsible for the death of the other. He knew that Joanna had long ago put her bitterness aside. It was he who had been eaten up with hatred for all these years. He still had one more debt to settle before he could be at peace with himself.

  When Alexandria stepped out of the bathing tub, she was feeling much better. She dried herself off, then combed the tangles from her wet hair. The gown she had worn the day before had been washed and pressed by Mrs. Green, and Alexandria slipped it over her head and buttoned it up the front.

  It was late in the day when she finally made her way downstairs. Mrs. Green had told her that neither Tag nor Farley were at home, and she felt restless. There were so many things she wanted to know…so much that she didn’t remember. She watched the clock on the mantel tick the minutes away, thinking that if someone didn’t tell her what was going on, she would explode!

  Alexandria was sitting down to a solitary dinner when Tag finally came home. He entered the dining room and sat down beside her, looking at her inquiringly.

  “I have been waiting for you to come home all day,” she said accusingly. “Please tell me what has been going on. Mrs. Green has been close-mouthed and refuses to tell me anything.”

  Tag looked away from her and waited for Mrs. Green to place a plate of food in front of him and leave the room before he replied. “Tell me, how much do you remember about last night, Alexandria?”

  “I remember nothing much past Rodney’s giving me some kind of drink. I believe he drugged me.”

  “Yes, I’m sure of it. You were in no condition to know what was going on last night.”

  Alexandria pushed a piece of meat around her plate with her fork. “Yes. I just can’t remember what happened.” She lifted her eyes to his. “Tag, tell me before I lose my mind. Was…did…I…was I married last night?”

  He smiled slightly. “Oh, yes, most assuredly you were married last night. I myself was a witness to the ceremony.”