Love's Sweet Surrender

by Love's Sweet Surrender (lit)

  Struggling to understand what his son was telling him, Seth said, “Who did you tell that Lily was going to town?”

  “Mr. Roberts,” Jarod whispered, wincing when he saw the rage flare in his father’s eyes.

  “Daniel,” Seth growled as his fists clenched at his sides. “I’ll kill him.”

  “I’ll take you to him, Poppa. I have to help save her. It’s my fault she’s there.” Jarod squared his shoulders, fully prepared to take the consequences of his actions.

  “Do you know the way?” Seth tried to control the rage he felt.

  “Yes. I can show you.”

  Seth stood up but had to grip the side of the bed while his head swam.

  The doctor interrupted, “You can’t go anywhere, Seth. You’ve been badly wounded.”

  “I have to get my wife. I’ll not let him hurt her, and he's not taking her from me, like he did Victoria.” Seth opened his eyes again, now that his head had righted itself, and then he walked a little unsteadily toward the door.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Not quite sure what he meant by that, the two boys and the doctor stood silently by while Seth made his way out the door of the bedroom and down the stairs. The trio followed close behind, and when Seth reached the front door, he murmured, “I need a horse.”

  “I’ll go to the livery, Pop, and get three. I’m going with you. I know how to shoot, so I can help.”

  “You can’t do this alone, Seth.”

  “What do you propose I do, doc? We don’t have a sheriff anymore,” Seth said while he waited for his son to return.

  “I realize that, but if we tell some of the others in town what’s going on, we can get a posse together and go after them.”

  “We don’t have time. He could kill her before we get there if we wait.”

  “I know Seth. God I know, but we have to be practical about this. Let me go see the mayor. Wait here until I get back.” The doctor strode off down the boardwalk to the mayor’s office.

  After a few minutes Johnny returned with three horses, fully saddled and ready to ride. Seth knew they couldn’t wait for the mayor and doctor to help. When Johnny returned with the horses, he was ready to ride.

  “Should we wait?”

  “No, we can’t wait. We don’t have time.” Seth struggled to mount, his head throbbing in his ears.

  The boys mounted their horses, and they all rode out in the direction Jarod pointed.

  They continued in that direction while Jarod told his father about the hideout, where it was, and how many men Daniel had with him. He also reluctantly told him about how he had been warning Daniel concerning Seth’s movements on the trains.

  “We’ll talk about this after we get Lily,” he told Jarod while he struggled to focus. With his head so terribly foggy from the drugs the doctor had given him and from the pounding headache, concentration proved a difficult task.

  A short while later, just as the sun climbed high in the sky, they reached the mouth of the canyon where the cabin lay hidden.

  Seth groaned when he climbed down from the horse, and the boys followed closely behind. They found a spot where they could tie the horses without them being seen and then crept around boulders and brush, trying to get close to the hideout. He didn’t see much activity around the cabin while he surveyed the layout. He only saw two men, one posted at the cabin door, and Daniel. He had to rein in his feelings as the rage threatened to consume him.

  Seth saw Daniel laugh with the man at the door, then walk inside and shut it behind him. He would have to take out the man at the door without making any noise if he was to succeed in getting to Daniel and Lily. He continued to watch the surrounding area, waiting to see if there were more men nearby. Jarod had said there were several men who rode with the gang, and Seth wanted to know where they were, should he be caught trying to rescue Lily.

  After a while, he didn’t see any movement from anyone. Even the man at the door had taken a seat and now leaned, apparently sleeping, against the cabin. Seth was concerned about how much time had gone by since Daniel had gone into the cabin, and he sent up a silent prayer that his wife was all right.

  “We’ll have to be very quiet, boys. We can’t alert anyone to our presence before we can get to the cabin. You should stay here.”

  “No, Poppa. I’m coming with you. I can help. I took a gun from the livery when I was there, see,” Johnny said, holding up a pistol that Seth didn’t recognize.

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Johnny.”

  “I know, Pop, but we needed the extra gun. Yours was the only one we had against how many?”

  “All right, son. You come with me, but Jarod, you stay here, out of sight. All right?” Seth told his youngest boy, and he watched him nod his head in agreement.

  Seth and Johnny slowly approached from the side of the cabin. They needed to reach the man leaning against the wall before he awoke and alerted the others. Seth got within a couple of feet of the man before he stirred, snorted, and then settled back against the wall again. Father and son took a big sigh of relief.

  There was a large rock near his feet, so Seth picked it up and slid a little closer to the man. When he was close enough, Seth crashed the rock down heavily on top of the man's and knocked him completely unconscious. The man slumped in the chair but stayed upright. Seth and Johnny silently crept onto the porch of the cabin and stopped, listening at the door for any noise.

  * * * *

  Lily sat up in the bed trying to get her bearings. She knew there was no one in the cabin with her right now, but Daniel would return. Of that, she had no doubt.

  As the sun rose in the sky, telling her it was getting close to noon, she heard boots on the porch and male laughter, and then the door swung open to reveal Daniel.

  “Ah, I see you’re awake. Good, I could use some entertainment,” he said with a malicious smile as he started in her direction.

  “What is it you want from me?”

  “I just want you. You see, Seth has always taken everything away from me: Victoria, you and my sons,” he said, slowly advancing on her. Her eyes widened when she realized what he had said.

  “Your sons?” She continued to back away, not wanting him to know she was aware of the boys' parentage.

  “Don’t tell me you didn’t know, Lily. It’s very clear that his two boys are mine. Victoria told me herself.” He continued to stalk her around the room.

  “I… uh…” she stammered. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “There isn’t anything you need to say. Just know that you’ll be mine, one way or the other.” He reached her, grabbed the hands that she’d put up to keep him away and pulled her to him.

  He held onto her while she struggled against him. He wrapped his other hand in her hair to hold her head still as his lips came down on hers, brutally, cutting her lips with his teeth.

  * * * *

  The door burst open and Seth launched himself at Daniel, knocking all of them to the floor. The two men rolled away from Lily as she struggled to rise. Johnny rushed in to help her. Seth had pulled his pistol, but it lay trapped between the two men as they continued to roll on the floor, each attempting to get the upper hand.

  Lily had never been so glad to see Seth before in her life. When the horrifying sound had ripped from his throat and he had lunged at the crazy man holding her captive, she was terrified he would be hurt.

  Lily and Johnny moved toward the door, in the event things went terribly wrong. The two men broke apart a moment later, and the gun went flying, wedging itself against the wall. Fists began to fly while each took out his hatred of the other with well-planted fists. Lily knew the wound on Seth’s head had finally gotten the better of him when he landed on the floor, unable to rise. She choked back a strangled cry as she watched Daniel slowly walk to where the gun was and pick it up. He panted with exertion and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand before he grinned at Seth.

  “Now, my friend, I’ll have what you’ve ta
ken from me for years. I’m going to enjoy your pretty new wife just like I enjoyed your last one. I enjoyed her so much, I fathered your two sons. Yes, I know they are mine, the two boys you have thought all this time were yours.” Daniel taunted. Lily saw the color drain from Johnny’s face when he heard the words.

  “You are a bastard, Daniel. I’ve never hated you like I hate you now. Those boys are mine, no matter whether you fathered them or not,” Seth growled, struggling from the floor.

  Shrugging, Daniel leveled the gun at Seth’s chest, prepared to kill him in cold blood. With the sound of gunfire exploding in the room, Lily screamed as she waited to see the blood spread across the chest of her husband, but it never came. Instead, a bright pool of blood quickly spread across the back of Daniel’s shirt. Smoke curled from the pistol held tightly in Jarod's fist as he stood near the door. Daniel turned around with a surprised look in his eyes before he fell to the floor in silence, still holding the gun.

  Lily ran to her husband as he made his way to his feet and wrapped her arms around him. “I was so scared.” She buried her head against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

  “I know, sweetheart. It’s over now,” Seth whispered, kissing her hair.

  Lily heard the boys drop their guns before they ran to their parents' side and wrapped their little arms around them. A few moments later Lily heard the thunder of horse hooves in the distance. Afraid it was the rest of the gang of robbers returning, Seth pull himself from the grip of his family and quickly closed the door to the cabin.

  They heard the horses stop in front of the cabin, and several pairs of boots stepped onto the porch.

  “Seth? Lily?”

  Seth opened the door to the grim faces of several of the men from town, including the mayor and the doctor. They had obviously come to help, even if it was a little late.

  The doctor moved into the room, and, seeing the body lying in a pool of blood, he bent to examine him. “He’s dead,” the doctor said, rising to his feet and turning the man over.

  “Daniel Roberts? Want to tell me what happened here, Seth?” the mayor asked, stunned when he saw who now lay dead on the floor.

  Lily moved Seth to a chair nearby, to sit for a few minutes, when she noticed the paleness of his face and the fresh blood that stained the bandage on his head.

  Seth explained how he had learned Daniel was behind the robberies. He told the mayor how Jarod had been giving the criminals information about posting the guards on the train, and he added that Jarod had been involved in Lily’s kidnapping.

  “This is serious, Seth. That boy was helping them break the law.”

  “Harland, I think I should handle the situation with Jarod at home. I realize he was helping them, but he was also the one who saved all of us by shooting Daniel before he could kill me.” Seth pulled his son to his side.

  “He shot Daniel?” the doctor and the mayor said together.

  “Yes, he did, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

  “Well, seeing how he saved all of your lives and also helped rid the town of the train robbers or of their leader, anyway, I guess we can overlook this.”

  “Thanks, Harland. I’m sure we can handle this at home.” Seth tried to stand again so they could leave the dreadful place, and Lily braced him with her own body until they walked out the door. When they reached the porch, they were completely surprised at the number of people who had come from town to help. There must have been twenty men sitting on their horses or meandering around the yard.

  “Thanks, gentlemen, for coming to our aid. It’s nice to know you have friends,” Seth said, addressing the group.

  “I wish you would have waited, Seth. We would have been here to help,” one man said as the horse shifted under him.

  “You know me, Zeke, I’m not very patient, especially when it comes to my wife,” Seth said, pulling Lily even closer.

  “Yeah, we know,” another said, and the men laughed under their breath.

  Seth shot the snickering men a furious look and then his face relaxed. “The horses are over there by those rocks. Maybe one of you men could retrieve them for us.”

  “Sure, Seth,” Zeke said, before he headed toward where the horses were tied.

  “What are we going to tell Madge?” Lily asked as they waited for the man to bring the horses down.

  “The truth. Daniel was her pride and joy, but she needs to know the truth.”

  “I suppose you’re right, but she’s not going to like it.” Lily pulled her dress up between her legs and tucked it in her waistband, enabling her to ride astride the horse. Wolf whistles from the men around them echoed through the clearing.

  “Look all you want, gentlemen, but just remember, she’s mine,” Seth said, with a mocking, furious look in their direction before turning the horses in the direction of the ranch. “Let’s go home.”

  Later that afternoon they headed into town to talk to Madge. When they rode up in front of her place, she came out the front door, wiping her hands on her apron.

  “Well hello, you two. I’m surprised to see you.”

  “We need to tell you something, Madge. Can we go inside?” Seth asked, attempting to take her elbow and guide her into the house.

  “Of course, Seth.” They went in and sat down in the front parlor. “Now what’s going on? I don’t like the look on your faces.”

  “Madge,” Lily said softly, taking her hands in her own, “Daniel is dead.”

  “No! That can’t be! I just saw him this morning before he rode out. He said he was going to be gone a few days. That’s all,” Madge pulled her hands from Lily’s grasp and began to pace the room.

  “It’s true, Madge," Seth began. "There are some things we need to tell you that you aren’t going to like, I’m sure, but you need to know. You see, Daniel has been the one behind the robberies, and he kidnapped Lily yesterday. He and the others were holding her in a cabin in the canyon beyond town, I guess until he could move her without anyone seeing them. He was responsible for me being shot yesterday, too.” Seth recounted the events leading to Daniel’s death.

  “It’s just not possible,” Madge whispered, sinking back onto the sofa next to Lily.

  “I know you loved him like he was your own son, Madge, but he was keeping all this from you. I wouldn’t have thought him capable of this either, had I not seen it with my own eyes,” Lily said, trying to comfort the woman.

  “Who shot him? Did you, Seth?”

  “No, he was going to kill me after we had gotten into a fist fight in the cabin, but Jarod shot him from behind.”

  “Jarod? How did he get involved?”

  “Johnny was with Lily yesterday when they kidnapped her, but we found out later Jarod had been helping Daniel by giving him information on my movements. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you want to look at it, Daniel didn’t know I was on the train yesterday, so they attempted to rob it.”

  Madge shook her head and stared at the floor for a moment before she said, “Wait, I have something I need to show you.” She left the room and came back a few minutes later. “I don’t know if this has anything to do with anything, but I found this on your floor, Lily, at the house here in town, after those men attacked you. It looks like a map, but I didn’t know of what.” She handed the map to Seth. “What do you think it means?”

  Seth opened the paper and showed it to Lily and was surprised to see that the map indicated the cabin where they had found Lily. It was a pretty detailed map of the surrounding area, with obvious escape routes, should the need arise for them to leave quickly. “I wish you’d shown this to me earlier, Madge. We might have been able to prevent this whole thing,” Seth whispered, and Lily felt him shiver.

  “I’m sorry, Seth. I didn’t think it was that important, until now. I’m just glad everyone is safe,” Madge said, and a tear slipped down her cheek.

  “It’s over, and thankfully, no one else was hurt or killed. We just have to move on and try to
forget the terror of the last couple of days,” Lily said.

  “Yes, I suppose you’re right. It’s just going to be very quiet around here, now that Daniel is gone,” Madge said sadly. “He was the only family I had.”

  “You have us, Madge. Isn’t that right, Seth?” Lily said, and their eyes met over Madge’s head.

  “Of course. You had nothing to do with what Daniel was up to. We won’t hold his behavior against you.”

  “I think we should be going, Seth. We still need to address Jarod’s involvement with him,” Lily said.

  “Yes, we do,” Seth said, rising from his place. They walked arm and arm to the front door, with Madge close behind.

  “Will you come out for supper on Sunday?” they asked.

  “That would be nice,” Madge said.

  “You can ride back with us when we come in for church, all right?”

  Seth helped Lily into the wagon seat before he went around and jumped into the driver’s seat.

  “That’s perfect,” Madge replied and waved.

  When Seth and Lily reached the house, he helped her down and began to unhitch the team so they could be stabled for the night. Lily walked inside to find all of the children sitting quietly in the front room with Carmen, waiting for their return.

  She turned to the children she had grown to love with all of her heart over the year that she and Seth had been together, and she said, “Johnny, Anne, can you leave us for a while? Your poppa and I need to talk to Jarod alone.”

  “Sure, come on, Anne. You can show me those new kittens in the barn,” Johnny said, taking his sister’s hand as they headed for the barn.

  Lily saw Seth come in a few minutes later as she and Jarod sat in the living room, and she waved for him to join them. He entered the room and sat down next to his wife, and together they faced their son.

  “You’ve told me what you did to help Daniel, but what I want to know, son, is why?”