“You look just like a family!” Kari whispered into Ingrid’s ear as waiters cleared away the last of the dessert plates, her slice of chocolate cake untouched. Ingrid gently shushed her sister, though she smiled at the thought, wondering if Joshua might have overheard what Kari had said.
He sat on her opposite side, Davy next to his father and Emily seated next to Davy, both children looking content and sleepy after polishing off a meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and buttered green beans. Meanwhile Ingrid had found it difficult to eat much of anything, she’d felt so breathless from the moment she had walked into the Frederick Hotel with Joshua helping Davy along with his crutches, and her, holding Emily’s hand.
They had felt like a family, Ingrid couldn’t deny it, her heart full to overflowing with the possibilities of the future and thankfulness at the unexpected blessings of the day.
First, Kari pushing her toward Joshua in the churchyard and asking if Ingrid might ride along with him. She couldn’t believe her sister had done such a thing, but she was grateful nonetheless for the wonderful time she’d had accompanying Joshua and his children.
Even her fear when she’d heard that Davy remembered her waking him from his nightmare had been eased when Joshua gave no indication that he knew his son had revealed so much to her. His sincere thanks had warmed her, and she had decided not to ask anyone else about the tragedy that had befallen his wife but to wait for when the time was right to ask Joshua herself.
Something told her that time would come just from the way he’d looked at her today, Ingrid astonished that the man she’d thought so odious was so quickly capturing her heart. Kari had said she and Seth fell in love almost overnight. Was that what she glimpsed in Joshua’s eyes that matched the burgeoning feelings inside her? Might she be special to him after all?
Then her siblings and Caleb and Seth greeting her and Joshua and the children so warmly as well as Charles and Molly Davis, Ingrid looking around the table at faces long beloved and those of new friends and family members.
She glanced at Joshua to find him staring at her even now, something so arresting in his gaze, though she felt a restraint in him that she could not name. Perhaps she would have a chance to ask him about that as well once they had more time to spend together. She had made her request to visit Davy after school quite innocently, never imagining Joshua might be at home, too. His invitation to join them at supper had thrilled her, she couldn’t deny that, either.
“A brandy, gentlemen?” Caleb asked as he rose from the table situated near the entrance to the dining room, looking so distinguished in his dark three-piece suit. “Perhaps more tea for the ladies? Another piece of cake for Davy and Emily—what in blazes? Get down, everyone, get down!”
Ingrid gasped as Joshua swept her from her chair onto the floor and then grabbed for his children as a second bullet tore through the ceiling, plaster raining down upon them. Suddenly everyone was huddled beneath the table, Emily bursting into frightened tears.
“Hold onto them tight, Ingrid!”
She did as Joshua bade her, pulling Davy and Emily close to her as he lunged to his feet alongside Caleb while an enraged roar came from the foyer of the hotel.
“Logan, this time you’ve gone too far! Locking my brothers up for a fight they didn’t start? Get out here and face me or I’m coming in there after you!”
Chapter 6
Wide-eyed in horror, Ingrid watched as Seth and Andreas jumped to their feet as well, but Joshua gestured sharply for them not to follow him.
“Stay here and protect the women and children,” he ordered sternly, and then he said to Caleb, “Cover me.”
Ingrid gasped as Joshua and Caleb, with their guns drawn, moved swiftly to the arched entryway. They paused for only an instant, Joshua giving a signal, and then he bolted to the reception area opposite the dining room while Caleb fired several shots toward the foyer.
Ingrid heard the frightened cries of other hotel patrons when the man who’d yelled at Joshua fired back, one of the double doors at the hotel entrance slamming hard against the outer wall. Realizing their attacker must have retreated outside, she gathered Emily and Davy closer, both children holding tightly to her and trembling.
“It’s going to be all right,” she whispered, shaking from head to foot herself, Anita genuinely sobbing now, too. Would it be all right, though? Desperately Ingrid started to pray as Caleb disappeared around the corner after Joshua, both men she imagined taking cover closer to the hotel entrance.
“Hold your fire, Sutherland!” came Joshua’s shouted demand. “It’s not too late to surrender! Let’s talk before anyone gets hurt—”
“No talk, Logan! One of your deputies tried to stop me from coming into town and got a bullet to the head with witnesses aplenty. If I surrender I’ll be swinging at the end of a rope anyway, so come out here and face a dead man!”
“Oh, Joshua, no…” Ingrid pleaded while it seemed the whole world had stopped around her.
She no longer heard Davy and Emily crying in her arms.
She no longer saw the ashen faces of Molly and Charles underneath the table, or Andreas kneeling down to try and comfort Anita, or Seth crouched near the dining room entrance with his gun poised at the ready, or Kari with tears streaming down her face as she stared, stricken, at her husband.
All she heard ringing in her ears and her heart was her fervent whispered prayer repeating over and over, “Please, Lord, protect him. Please, Lord…”
She jumped at the sound of the hotel door kicked open and slamming against the wall.
She bit her lip, drawing blood, at the deafening report from a revolver, followed almost instantly by another, the two shots reverberating all around them.
Then she heard shouting from the street as if townspeople were running to the scene from every direction.
No, no, no, not to look at Joshua lying dead just outside the hotel doors, please, God, no!
“It’s over!” came Seth’s cry as he ran back to the table to sweep his sobbing wife into his arms. “It’s safe to stand up!”
Safe? That must mean Joshua…! Swept by overwhelming relief, Ingrid struggled to move with the children still clinging to her. At once Molly rose and came running around the table to take Emily into her arms while her husband hastened over to assist Ingrid with Davy.
Caleb returned, too, looking grim as he holstered a small pistol inside his coat.
“Everyone, the danger’s past, go back to your meal,” he announced to the shaken patrons in the dining room who climbed out from under tables and chairs and stood straightening their coats and bonnets. “Cormac Sutherland won’t cause us any more trouble.”
“Cormac…” Ingrid murmured, shuddering at the memory of those leering men at the jail, two of them the man’s brothers. He had clearly come to town gunning for Joshua…and anyone else who stood in his way. If she hadn’t understood before the mortal danger he faced every day as sheriff of Walker Creek, now her knees suddenly felt weak and she grabbed for the back of a chair.
“Easy, Ingrid, everything’s all right. I’m here.”
She looked up into Joshua’s grim face at the same moment her legs buckled, but he caught her and pulled her against him to steady her. She didn’t say anything…couldn’t say anything as he held her close, the steady thud of his heartbeat drumming in her ear.
He was safe…he was safe, intoned over and over in her head, yet somewhere in town his poor deputy lay dead in the dirt.
“I can’t stay, Ingrid,” she heard Joshua say as his arms, so strong, so reassuring, tightened around her for a brief moment before he set her away from him to look into her eyes. “I need you to take my children home and to stay with them until our housekeeper, Inez, returns from her Sunday visit to her mother. The Davises will have to accompany me.”
“Yes, Joshua, of course.” Saying his name like an affirmation that he lived and breathed, Ingrid glanced over to where Molly still consoled Emily and Charles had his arm aro
und Davy’s shoulders. “Seth and Kari will help me.”
“Certainly we will,” Seth affirmed, Kari tucked protectively under his arm.
“So will I,” Caleb interjected. “With my carriage and theirs, we’ll have room for everyone. I’ll come find you afterward.”
“Good. Doc, we’d better go. I heard Billy Braun’s the one shot. Molly, his wife surely knows by now, so she’ll be needing your comfort.”
As Molly nodded sadly, leading Emily over to Ingrid while Seth tended to Davy, Ingrid could only imagine the painful task that lay ahead for Seth’s parents. Joshua didn’t say anything more, but hugged Emily first, his eyes holding Ingrid’s, and then his son before he strode out of the dining room with Charles and Molly following him.
“Andreas, will you take Anita home?” Ingrid asked, so overwhelmed by everything that had happened that she still found it difficult to speak. As her brother nodded, shepherding Anita toward the entryway as other patrons abandoned their dinners, Ingrid felt her heart go out to Joshua’s children, who looked more than ready to go home, too.
How many times had they experienced such distress in the past from their father’s dangerous occupation? A sudden intuition struck her that their unfortunate mother must have suffered, too, though Ingrid still did not know the full story.
Yet now wasn’t the time to think about anything else than that Joshua’s children needed to be comforted and cared for. Joshua was counting on her and she would not disappoint him. She gave Emily’s small hand a squeeze.
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you home.”
“Are you sure we can’t give you a ride to your house?”
Ingrid nodded at Seth and Kari, who stood with her in the small foyer of Joshua’s home. “It’s getting late. You’ve been wonderful to keep me company and to help with the children, but you’d best head out to the ranch. I’m sure Joshua will return soon.”
“But Inez is back now from visiting her mother,” Kari said gently. “He won’t be expecting you to still be here.”
“Perhaps not, but Emily asked if I’d stay until her father gets home and I can’t say no. Not after what happened today.”
“Yes, those big brown eyes are hard to refuse. I’m sure he’ll see that you get home safely. Good night, Ingrid. It’s a kind thing you’ve done here today.”
“You and Seth as well.” Ingrid gave her sister a hug and then watched at the front door as Kari and Seth climbed into their carriage and drove away.
Twilight was falling, the air thankfully growing cooler after another hot day. Funny, though, she hadn’t even noticed the heat when she’d ridden with Joshua and Emily to fetch Davy from the infirmary. Sighing, Ingrid closed the door and turned around to find Inez, a plump older woman with a grandmotherly demeanor and kind smile, standing in the hallway leading to the kitchen.
“Would you like a cup of tea, Miss Hagen? Something to eat?”
Ingrid shook her head. “I’m not hungry, Inez, but thank you. Did you have a good visit with your mother?”
“Sí, she lives in the next town and I take the train first thing to attend Mass with her. She’s very old now so I’m always happy to see her. Such trouble here, though. If I’d known, I would have come back earlier.”
“It was terrible,” Ingrid agreed, not wanting to think about those gut-wrenching moments of terror when she had prayed so desperately for Joshua’s safety. “I’m glad to have been able to help, though Emily and Davy were very happy to see you come home. Have you been with the family long?”
“Since their mama died, poor soul. I went up the back stairs to check on the children. Davy is asleep, but Emily asks for you. If you need anything, I’ll be in the kitchen.”
“Thank you, Inez.” As the woman disappeared down the hallway, Ingrid moved to the staircase.
Joshua’s home was simply furnished and comfortable, but with little trace of a feminine presence other than everything was neat and in its place thanks to his kindly housekeeper. Not even a wedding photograph of the wife and mother lost last year, making Ingrid wonder if Joshua had purposefully put away anything that reminded him of her.
She imagined grief could do that to a man…or anger. The latter made sense to her considering Davy had said that his mother hadn’t loved them, though Ingrid found that so hard to believe—
“Miss Hagen, is that you?”
Emily’s small voice touching her heart, Ingrid turned into the first bedroom and went straight to the little girl’s side.
“Inez said you asked for me. Aren’t you tired? Davy is already fast asleep.”
“Yes, I think those crutches wore him out. He will get better, won’t he?”
Ingrid sank down beside the bed and tucked the covers more tightly around her. “Of course he will. He’ll be joining all the other children playing in the schoolyard in no time. Now, why don’t you close your eyes and try to sleep—”
“My mama used to sing to me every night. Do you know any lullabies, Miss Hagen?”
Her throat tightening, Ingrid knew then and there that Joshua’s wife had loved her children, no matter what Davy had overheard at some traumatic moment. “When my sisters and brother and I were little, our mother sang us a bedtime song in Norwegian.”
“Norwegian? That’s a funny word.”
Ingrid gave a small laugh. “Yes, it is a funny word. It’s the language of the country where her mama came from, Norway. A land of snow and ice and mountains so high it looks like they touch the sky.”
“That doesn’t sound like Walker Creek at all,” Emily said so matter-of-factly that Ingrid laughed again. “Will you sing it for me, Miss Hagen?”
She nodded, leaning in closer to caress Emily’s soft brown hair as she sang the words set to Brahms’s “Lullaby.” “Nå i ro slumre inn, lille hjertevenn' min. Når du legger deg ned, vil til drømmenes sted, dine tanker fly hen, til du vekkes igjen. Dine tanker fly hen, til du vekkes igjen.”
“You sing so pretty,” Emily breathed, looking drowsy already. “Mama knew that song, too. What do the words say? Will you sing it again the way we talk here?”
“Shh, only if you promise me you’ll close your eyes.” When Emily nodded, squeezing her eyes shut, Ingrid had to suppress a smile as she began to sing, “Now in peace, go to sleep, my little darling. When you lay yourself down, to the dreamers town, your thoughts will travel, until you awake. Your thoughts will travel, until you awake.”
Now Emily gave a big yawn and snuggled deeper under the covers. “The words are different than the ones Mama used to sing, but it’s nice all the same. Good night, Miss Hagen.”
“Good night, sweetheart.” Relieved that Emily didn’t seem distressed she had sung the same melody as her mother, Ingrid rose and bent over the narrow bed to kiss her cheek.
“You’ll stay until Papa comes home, won’t you?”
“Yes, I told you I would.” Ingrid turned down the lamp on the bedside table to a faint glow and started to move away when Emily raised herself up on her elbows.
“Do you think my papa is brave, Miss Hagen?”
Her throat tightening again, Ingrid nodded. “Very brave. Now close your eyes. You promised, remember?” She tucked Emily once more beneath the covers and then quickly left the room before the child could stop her again, and closed the door behind her.
“Leave it open a crack, will you?”
Ingrid gasped in surprise to see Joshua standing in the hallway, her hand to her throat. “You-you startled me!”
“I didn’t mean to. I leave the door open a little so I can hear if Emily cries out during the night. Sometimes she has nightmares, too.”
Ingrid obliged him and cracked the door, but very quietly so as not to disturb Emily. Her hand trembled to have him so suddenly appear when she’d just been wondering when he might return. He gestured for her to follow him down the stairs, not speaking again until they reached the bottom where he turned to face her.
“I’ll go up again to see them after I take you home. Inez tol
d me Kari and Seth left a while ago and that you were with Emily. I heard what she said about you staying until I got home, but you didn’t have to.”
Standing so close to him in the foyer, his handsome face weary in the lamplight, Ingrid felt her breath catch in her throat. “I know, but it seemed to comfort her. She’s been waiting for you to come home. Davy, too. After what happened today, they’ve been worried about you. I’ve been worried for you, too—oh!”
He pulled her close to him so suddenly that she could but stare up at him, wide-eyed, her heart racing in her breast.
“I don’t want you worrying about me, Ingrid, do you hear me? No good will come of it, only sadness and heartbreak. Yours! You’ve been more than kind to help me today, but I’m not the man for you! Do you understand? I’m not the man for you!”
Chapter 7
Joshua had kept his voice low but his tone couldn’t have been more emphatic. Stunned by what he’d just said to her, Ingrid hastened alongside him as he steered her by the arm toward the front door. He wasn’t being rough with her, but almost…desperate.
“Joshua…” she began as he escorted her outside onto the porch, clearly intending to take her home posthaste. Yet she saw no buckboard and realized he must have already taken the wagon to the stable behind the house. Her observation proved correct when he drew her toward a pair of rocking chairs.
“Stay here while I saddle up Blaze. You’ll have to ride with me. Big Pete’s had too long of a day to take the buckboard.”
He turned to leave her, but Ingrid tried again, her voice equally emphatic as she caught his hand. “Joshua, wait, please!”
Now he looked surprised in the light streaming from the parlor window where a lamp still burned. Ingrid swallowed hard, something intuitive telling her, as if a voice whispered in her ear, that she’d found the right moment to ask him about what had happened to his wife…especially given what he’d warned about sadness and heartbreak.
Ingrid (Walker Creek Brides Book 2) Page 5