When Becky turned around, leaving the apron on the edge of the bed, she felt triumphant. As though she had just won a marathon event. She moved across the floor to the door and pulled it open.
Kenny stood on the other side, leaning against the hallway wall, his arms crossed over his chest and a happy grin on his face. “I knew you’d come to your senses. You are stubborn, aren’t you?”
Becky kept in her grin and the fact that seeing him there made her realize more than ever what a handsome man he was. The sound of his voice was like music to her ears. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.
“Are you all right?” Kenny was suddenly directly in front of her, a look of concern on his face. He reached out and grabbed her slender arm in his large hand. His touch sent shivers up and down Becky’s thighs. She pulled away from him but did so much more gently than she could have. His hand hovered in the air by her arm as if he expected her to faint at any moment.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Why do you ask?”
“You went pale for a moment. I thought I was going to have to break your fall.”
She smiled at him. “I think I would like to perhaps read a book for a bit if that’s really okay with you.”
Kenny shook his head. “You don’t need to ask my permission. I know I took you from your home, but I want you to think of yourself as a guest here in my cabin. Do what you want. Rest when you want. You can do anything you want – even leave. I just hope that you won’t. You deserve a holiday from the life you’ve been living.”
He led her down the small hallway to the large front room, where an unlit fireplace was flanked by two long couches facing each other. There was a rug on the floor in front of the fireplace in between the couches.
“If you get chilly, please feel free to start a fire. Or ask me and I will do it. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“I would not want to put you out.” Becky looked around the room in awe. He kept it very clean. It was obviously recently dusted. What would she be left to do? Her eyes swept the room from one side to the other.
“Don’t think like that,” Kenny said. She turned her eyes to him.
“Whatever do you mean?”
Kenny shook his head, grabbed her hand, and took her to the couch, where he put both hands on her shoulders and applied pressure so she would sit down.
She did so, staring up at him with wide eyes. He was glad to see the look on her face was more one of curiosity than fear. He leaned forward so their faces were closer together and whispered, “You think I didn’t see you scanning the room for cleanliness? I know you were. You probably picked out every spot I missed, or spider web, or something. Don’t look around for what needs to be cleaned. Look at the beauty of that bookshelf. It’s made from a special kind of mahogany wood by a friend of mine. One of the natives, actually.”
She turned her eyes to him. “You are familiar with natives?”
“They aren’t a bad people,” Kenny shrugged. “I’ve done many dealings with them, but mostly purchasing unique furniture. See the ripple along the edge of the shelf? No one else in the world has one like this.”
She examined the bookshelf with wonder. “That’s amazing, Kenny.”
He sat down beside her and took her hand. “I can show you a lot of amazing things like that, Becky. If you’ll let me. You don’t want to grow into an old maid waiting on your brother hand and foot, do you?”
Becky turned her face away from him but, once again, he touched her chin with his fingers and turned it back so she was looking in his eyes like he wanted her to. “Becky,” he said in a near whisper. “I hope you will want to stay here for a while. You’re welcome to stay the rest of your life, if you so choose.”
“I don’t know if I can live in sin that way,” Becky said. “I think it would bother me to live with anyone I was not related to, like my brother.”
“But, Becky, you can’t live with him forever, you can’t choose him to be a dictator for you. I suppose you can actually, but you shouldn’t. You really shouldn’t. I can show you a much better life.”
Becky’s face brightened as she had an idea. “I could stay on as a housekeeper though. That would be good.”
With a slightly downtrodden face, Kenny had to agree. “I reckon you could. But I don’t know how long I can wait for…” He stopped before saying “you”. He wouldn’t be able to hold back from telling her how much he had fallen for her and never wanted her to leave.
“Wait for what, Kenny?”
He shook his head, unable to think of a reply. “Never mind. I don’t want you as a housekeeper.”
“Why not?” Becky sounded offended. “I do a good job. My house is always perfectly clean from top to bottom.”
He continued shaking his head. “No, you can’t be a housekeeper here. I want you to think of this as your home. You are welcome to come and go as you please. I want you to think of yourself as my guest. That’s all.”
“Why are you so willing to do that for me?” Becky tilted her head to the side and gazed at him. He was intrigued by her eyes that had a deep blue ring around the green.
“Because you deserve someone in your life who wants you to be happy and is actively making it happen for you. I know you have a few lady friends. But you have no male friends. I don’t want you to think all men are like Bruce. We’re not.”
“I’ve met other boys before,” again Becky jumped to a defensive voice.
He nodded. “Oh yes, when you went to the schoolhouse. But those weren’t men, Becky. Those were boys. And boys grow into men. Therefore, they aren’t the same as a grown man, with the same responsibilities. They now have many more things to think about. Bruce was not a good influence on your perception of us men.”
Becky tilted her head and smiled at him. “All right, Kenny. I’m gonna trust you. I’m going to really try not to think about the house or Bruce, and try to relax. What books do you have?”
“There’s this bookshelf and the one on the other side of the room that matches, but has different designs. Becky walked to the bookshelf closest to her and ran her finger over the mahogany swirls. They were dark in some spots and slightly darker in others. They ran in such odd shapes, Becky couldn’t make out anything. At one point it would seem to be leaves, but at the end there were differently shaped tiny flowers, and other swirls that didn’t look like anything at all but a swirl. Becky had never seen anything so beautiful.
CHAPTER TWELVE
TWO WEEKS MISSING
TWO WEEKS MISSING
One of the worst things about searching for Becky Dupont, Mark quickly realized, was that he had to deal with her brother. Bruce was not always unpleasant. Sometimes, he came up with witty or amusing responses that made both he and Adam laugh. However, it was never really comfortable, because, as the day wore on, Bruce would become more and more intoxicated. His demeanor changed to one of an angry sailor. He could turn on anyone in a millisecond. Without any provocation.
After one week of searching through Wickenburg after work, the men had decided to expand their search to the wooded forest that stretched out on three sides of the town. There were fields going south of Wickenburg as far as the eye could see.
They had met in the small café on the corner of Main Street to talk about it. Andrew, the husband of one of the women who had cared for Becky after the death of her mother, had joined the search and was seated next to Bruce. The two seemed to get along from the moment they met, which came as a surprise to Adam.
It was not just a surprise though. It was a relief.
The founder of Wickenburg had taken the time to create elaborate maps of the town and the surrounding landscape. He went nearly fifty miles in each direction, north, south, east and west. Houses were scattered all around out there, but their inhabitants were rarely seen in Wickenburg. Some were too close to Louisville for them to come to Wickenburg for any reason.
Adam picked up a tube next to him and uncapped it. He let the
map slide out into his hand and held it out to Andrew. “I got the maps from the mayor. He said if we don’t have success in another week, we may need to get everyone in town involved in the search. But he says if we don’t find her with these maps, we probably aren’t going to find her at all. And that can only mean that she left on her own accord, or was taken to another part of the country by someone.”
“Lord knows there’s been plenty of time for that,” Bruce grumbled. “She could have gone to another state by now for sure.”
Adam narrowed his eyes at Bruce. “I thought you said there was no way she would run away from home.”
Bruce shook his head. “I did say that and I meant it. She’s a child. She needs to stay inside and finish chores so the house looks nice. She doesn’t know how to live on her own.”
“But how do you know that? She’s never lived on her own.”
Bruce scowled so deep, it made him look like a monster. Adam looked down at the map as he spread it over the table. “This is the one you will take first. You’re going to have to keep track of where you’ve been so you know it’s been covered. We’ll take this area down here. Mark and I are very familiar with it. That’s around where my house is. There aren’t too many people out in the woods around my house, but we’ll look there anyway.”
“I don’t know about making assumptions, Adam. We don’t know if she even wants to be found.”
Adam gave Mark a sharp look, expecting Bruce to react exactly as the man did.
“Why wouldn’t she want to be found?” the big man bellowed. Mark didn’t flinch. He looked at Bruce and shook his head.
“She’s been cooped up there too long. Maybe she wants a different life.”
Bruce slammed his hand down on the small table, making it rock. “She does want to come home. I’m sure of it!”
“Well, I think it’s best if we search for her, Mark. If she did leave on her own and got hurt somehow, she needs to be found. She could have slipped down a ravine and have a broken leg.”
“It’s been six days,” Mark replied. Do you really think she’d still be alive?”
“Now she’s dead??” Bruce stood up suddenly, knocking the chair back with his large knees. “She’s not dead!”
Mark stood up, too, not wanting the big man to loom over him and make him feel like a child. Andrew, who got along best with Bruce, stood up and placed one hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “He didn’t say that, friend. Please, sit. Let’s discuss this. Mark is right about one thing. It’s been a while since she has been gone, so the sooner we start searching the better. There are all kinds of berries and water and things to keep someone alive in the woods. If she’s out there hurt, we gotta start looking now.” He rolled up the map and put it in the tube sitting next to the table. “Let’s go. You two work your area and we will go through this one. If she is found, or there is a clue to where she might be, one of us will ride to the others and tell them. Sound good?”
Adam stood, too, resting his hand on the knapsack he carried over his shoulder that had three more maps in it. They were copies made by hand and he regretted having to deface them by marking where they looked for Becky. However, it was necessary.
He watched Bruce and Andrew walk toward their horses, mount, and ride away. He looked at Mark.
“I hope we’re the ones who find her, if she’s out there. I want to make sure she actually wants to come home.”
“I dread the thought she might have slipped and gotten hurt, Adam. She seems to be a frail girl, as much as I’ve seen.”
Adam nodded. “She is a fragile little lass, isn’t she? But she’s also got a good temperament. I’m sure she has the wits to keep herself alive, maybe even doctor herself if she was hurt.”
“Yes, that is true.” They turned to their horses and mounted them at the same time. Kicking gently with his ankles and tugging to the right on the reins made the horse turn and head down the road back toward Adam’s house.
The men tracked through the woods on Adam’s side of Wickenburg. They were quiet most of the time. They had stopped calling out for Becky. If she was able to answer, she would have already. Adam nervously moved his eyes through the brush, letting his large horse walk very slowly.
“What do you suppose we’re going to find, Adam?” Mark asked, instinctively keeping his voice low, as if he might disturb someone. Adam looked at him and shrugged.
“I’ll tell you, Mark, I don’t know. I really don’t. I worry what we will find.”
Mark sighed. “If only someone had already done something to stop Bruce from browbeating Becky all the time, treating her like a slave. People knew. Why didn’t anyone do anything about it?” He shook his head. “Even I turned a blind eye to it.”
“I’ll tell you what I think of that, Mark,” Adam said, still moving his eyes slowly, looking for any sign of the missing girl. “Everybody is living their lives. They may think once or twice, ‘someone ought to stop that man from hurting his sister’ but never follow up on it. It’s forgotten in minutes.”
“Are we really that self-absorbed as a town?”
“I don’t think it’s our town. I think it’s human nature.”
“I don’t like it. I wish someone had done something.”
“Nothing can be done about that now. Now we just need to find that girl.”
“We should have gone to Becky’s that day when we knew Bruce wasn’t going to be there. I wanted to check on those stuffed animals.”
“It was a shame we didn’t go when we thought about it. I know Alice has mentioned it several times since, but we haven’t found the time.”
“He’s not there now. How about we go?”
Adam stopped his horse. “I reckon we could. You think we should get Alice?”
Mark shrugged. “She’s your wife. You think she’ll want to come?”
“I think she would.”
“Well, your house is right over there. Let’s go see if she wants to come.”
The two of them rode swiftly out of the woods and into the long yard that led to the Collins' home. Adam could see Alice in the back yard, hanging clothes on the line. He circled around the house and rode up close to where she was pinning up the long sheets.
“Alice, dear, we’re gonna ride out to the Duponts' and see what is missing from Becky’s things. You want to ride along?” Alice swept her hands down her dress as if they were damp and nodded up at him. “Yes, just let me get my riding clothes on.”
“Don’t take too long. We don’t know when Bruce is going back to the house and we want to get there while he’s still out searching the woods.”
Alice nodded. “I understand. I’ll be right back out.”
She was right. Only moments later, she was stepping out of the house in a pair of women’s riding britches and a smart looking hat on her head to keep her hair from flying and tangling. Adam and Mark stared at her.
“How in heaven’s name did you do that so quickly?”
Alice just laughed. “Oh, I have my secrets.”
“Uh, oh,” Mark said, looking at Adam. “She’s keeping secrets from you, Adam.”
Alice pulled herself up behind Adam on the horse and stuck her tongue out at Mark. “If you want to know the truth, I’ve been waiting for you both to come and ask me if I wanted to join the search. I’ve already told Riley to watch over the baby. So let’s go to the Dupont house. I am almost positive I will be able to tell you if any of her stuffed animals are missing. I even know approximately how many dresses she has. And pairs of shoes.”
Mark raised his eyebrows. “You know quite a lot about her then?”
Alice grinned. “I, and some of the other ladies in town, bought the material for her dresses, and the fabric and stuffing for her animals. She never has any money of her own. And she never asks, we always offer. So I’m pretty sure I know how many animals she has, their names, and what they mean to her.”
“That’s pretty amazing,” Mark said. “I must say I’m impressed. We were just talking earlier
about how no one tried to interfere in that house. No one in town tried to stop him from treating her that way. But I think I was wrong. You and the other ladies who helped were doing what you could, weren’t you?”
Alice nodded. “The only other recourse is for a man to confront Bruce. And he’s not a very nice man, especially when he’s drinking.”
“He’s usually drinking. It’s a dawn to dusk and after thing for him.” Mark said in a disgusted voice.
“He’s learning his lesson now,” Alice said quietly.
“Don’t tell me you feel sorry for him, Alice,” Adam said from in front of her. He turned his head to the side so she would hear him better. He didn’t see her shaking her head.
“No, I don’t feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for her. I always have. There’s no way he will move out of that house, which means she will lose all the memories of her parents that she had of them.”
“She won’t lose memories. She might lose the familiar atmosphere, but I personally don’t think she could have been too happy there.”
“She was miserable,” Alice admitted.
“So if she did leave of her own accord and we find her, I don’t suppose you’re going to want to inform Bruce, are you?”
She squeezed him around the waist and rested her cheek against his back. “I don’t want to, no. If we find her safe and sound. And if we don’t find her safe and sound, then she needs to be brought back to our house. You don’t mind, do you, Adam?”
“Of course not. Not even a question, my dear.”
Alice squeezed him again and sighed. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. I know she’s a friend of yours and she is in need of help. We are always here to provide that.”
“I’m so glad I married you.” Alice pulled herself up some so she could give him a kiss on the cheek but the highest she could reach was his shoulder, so she planted one there instead. “You are such a good man.”
“Thank you, love. I feel the same about you, except, you know from a man to a woman.”
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