Midnight Lover

by Barbara Bretton

  This was Jesse's wife. He cared for Jade but he had married this yellow-haired gal and that was one fact nothing was going to change.

  Jade knew she was wasting too much time with this gal but every time she looked down at the dead face of the boy from Boston she remembered the soft touch of his hands and the sweet taste of his mouth and she wished there'd been some other way.

  "Didn't want to do it," Jade said as the girl cried pretty, crystal tears. "I was just runnin' out of time and I had to leave a warning..."

  "You killed him," Jesse's wife lashed out. "He never did anything to harm anyone in his life and you killed him in cold blood."

  "If you hadn't pushed your way into my life, I wouldn't have had to, missy. I only wanted to leave a warnin'..."

  "You bitch!" The girl sprang to her feet. "You cowardly, rotten bitch!"

  "You talk real brave for a dead woman, Mrs. Jesse Reardon." A cascade of loose rock showered down over her head and shoulders and for a moment she was fourteen years old again in San Francisco with those miners who didn't care if she lived or died.

  Your kind's easy to come by, little lady...gotta see if you're built same as other gals...don't rip her too bad, Will...gotta keep her tight for me...

  Her grip on the gun tightened. That would never have happened to this pretty little yellow-haired gal. Men married her kind, same as Jesse had.

  * * *

  Jesse slowed Diablo down at the eastern entrance. The mare Caroline had sworn she would never ride but had grown to love was tethered to a creosote bush. Jade's gilt-and-enamel coach with the four matched palominos waited near the Joshua Tree.

  How could he have been so goddamn stupid, so all-fired blind? The clues had been staring him right in his face from the first and he'd just refused to see them. Same as he'd denied his love for Caroline, he had managed to ignore Jade's rage. If she harmed Caroline in any way, there'd be no place in hell dark enough to hide Jade from the business end of his gun. Voices echoed in the darkness and he prayed he'd get to them before it was too late for them all.

  Chapter 23

  The derringer pressed against the small of Caroline's back, mocking her. Tucked into her waistband, it was her only chance to save herself and yet she knew the slightest movement on her part would cause Jade to pull the trigger.

  The mine groaned ominously and several large rocks crashed to the ground just outside the lighted cavern. A wild laugh threatened to break through her control. Did it matter that Jade had a gun? Any moment the mine was bound to crash in upon them all.

  Jade's eyes darted wildly as another roar echoed through the mine. "I believe that's one of the supports near the entrance," Caroline said, willing herself to stay calm. "There's no choice, Jade. We have to get out of here."

  Jade motioned toward the silver and gold stacked behind her, glittering from the light of the kerosene lamps. "You gotta die, Mrs. Jesse Reardon. I can't let you see all of that and flounce back into town, shootin' your mouth off, now can I?"

  The ground beneath them shook violently and Caroline winced as a small rock caught her in the forehead. "You'll be buried with your treasure if you don't get out now. You're running out of time." Slowly she inched her hand toward the derringer at the small of her back. Again the mine rumbled and Jade's eyes flickered closed for a second. That was all the time Caroline needed.

  Her hands shook so badly she needed both of them to aim the derringer. Jade seemed barely to notice the gun for her eyes went wide with terror as another deafening volley of thunder rocked the walls of the mine.

  "Don't shoot, darlin'."

  She spun around to see Jesse at the opening to the secret room.

  "The mine can't take it," he said, his voice urgent, low.

  Both she and Jade stared at him and Caroline wondered if the other woman's thought paralleled her own. Who was he, this man she called a husband? Was he her midnight lover or an enemy set to destroy her? His gun was still in its holster.

  He moved slowly into the circle of light. "Listen to me," he said, advancing toward Jade. "The entrance is caved in. We got to go out the back. Put your gun down and take my hand."

  Caroline's breath caught as another tremor struck and more of the mine behind her caved in. She went to put her own gun back in her waistband but something in Jade's expression stopped her.

  "Drop the gun, Jade," Jesse urged as rocks showered them from overhead. "It's now or never, gal."

  "You don't got the right to tell me what to do, Jesse. Not any more."

  "Trust me, gal. I ain't never done anything to hurt you."

  Jade looked at Caroline then at Jesse. Suddenly a sharp cry rang out from the depths of the woman's soul and she aimed the gun at Jesse.

  "It's the only way, Jesse," said Jade, her voice a whisper. "It's the only way I'll ever have you now."

  In that instant Caroline understood beyond doubt that Jade meant to pull that trigger and she forgot everything—her fears, her anger, her guilt over Thomas—before the power of her love for Jesse. She aimed her pistol, cocked the trigger and fired. The sound of Jade's scream would follow her for the rest of her life.

  The gun clattered to the dirt floor and she watched, horrified, as Jade fell, blood rushing from her chest, her dark eyes imploring Caroline in the light from the kerosene lamps dancing wildly overhead. The mine shuddered and swayed around them and Caroline covered her face with her arms against another barrage of rocks.

  "It's going, darlin'." Jesse yelled, grabbing her arm. "Move before we're buried alive."

  Caroline was paralyzed to the spot. "We can't leave," she said, her heart twisting at the sight of dear Thomas's lifeless body.

  Jesse looked down at her friend and she saw the compassion in his eyes. "He'll never know, darlin'. Save yourself!"

  Jade's moan was barely audible over the sound of destruction inside the mine.

  Caroline cried out as Jesse grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the exit. The mine grew suddenly still, an eerie silence that chilled Caroline to the bone, in a way that not even the thunder she hated ever had.

  He stopped in his tracks. "Run toward the light."

  Panic rose inside her breast. "Jesse! You can't—"

  "She's still alive. I owe her that much."

  The mine rumbled again and Caroline knew they were on borrowed time.

  "Jesse, please! Don't go back. She meant to kill you...she might—"

  "I owe her, darlin'. She loved me in her way." He pulled Caroline roughly into his arms and kissed her, his lips hard and demanding. "Go! Save yourself!" He grabbed her up by the waist and flung her toward the light.

  A deep rumble issued from the mine again. Caroline grunted as she hit the ground a few feet from the entrance, her head striking a fallen rock.

  "Jesse!" Was that scream real or was it trapped inside her aching head? Beneath her hands the earth seemed to open up and welcome her. "Jesse, no!"

  But it was too late. The mine was already reclaiming its own.

  * * *

  Abby and Sam had set out the call and it seemed to Caroline that the entire town showed up at the mine. Big Red and Luke and Three Toe; the McGuigan sisters and the Wilder girls—everyone who knew Caroline or Jesse put aside their differences and showed up to lend a hand. They'd rescued her from the slide near the entrance to the mine and she vaguely remembered wincing as Abby washed the cut on her forehead but the pain from her bruises were nothing compared to the fierce pain inside her soul. Led by the bartender from the King of Hearts, the men lost no time in trying to dig out survivors and Abby—God bless her—stood by Caroline's side, murmuring prayers that could never come true.

  Caroline watched silently as the men worked, shock blessedly numbing the grief that waited, claws bared, to rip at her heart.

  From the very beginning on that hot Fourth of July night, Caroline knew their marriage would end but never once did she expect it to end in tragedy. The beautiful Jade was gone and a part of Caroline understood the pain that must have t
orn at the woman's heart each time she looked at Jesse and knew he would never belong to her.

  To think that she'd never again see Thomas Addison's dear face. Why hadn't he stayed in Boston, safe and secure behind his books and papers, living the life he'd been meant for? And Jesse—dear God! So strong, so virile—how could she go on without him? For all his talk of needing no one, of caring for nothing at all, he'd pushed Caroline toward safety then plunged back into the mine to give Jade that same chance, no matter how slim the odds. His courage had cost him his life and a black anger took Caroline's soul and claimed it for its own, same as the mine had claimed her husband.

  The sun rose high in the sky and still she stood there with Abby by her side and waited for the inevitable news.

  Come to me, darlin'...you got yourself a sharp tongue, Car-o-line...ain't never seen a woman stubborn as you....

  Never again. Never again would she hear his words, feel his breath against her cheek, his touch against her skin.

  She swore to herself that she wouldn't cry. No matter how fiercely her heart ached within her breast, her sorrow would remain as private as her love for him. She gripped Abby's hand, readying herself for the worst, when a cry echoed from deep inside the mine.

  "He's alive!" Sam Markham ran up to Caroline and Abby, his broad face streaked with sweat and dirt but radiantly triumphant. "He made it to a ladderway and the cribbing saved him."

  Caroline's voice was trapped behind an enormous wave of pure emotion.

  "Is he hurt?" Abby asked.

  "Unconscious," Sam said, already heading back toward the mine, "but he's breathin', Abby! He's still breathin'!"

  Caroline, who had never believed in miracles, lowered her head and wept at last.

  * * *

  For the next twenty-four hours it was touch-and-go, but Caroline knew it would take more than a cave-in to destroy Jesse Reardon. On the third day after the mine collapse, doctors declared him out of the woods and Caroline knew what her next step must be.

  She and Jesse had a marriage in name only, a marriage whose raison d'etre was to protect their interests in the mine.

  Well, the mine no longer existed and, for all practical purposes, neither did their marriage and it was high time she understood that fact.

  "You can't go, miss," Abby protested as Caroline packed the last of her belongings into her Saratoga trunk. "What will we do without you?"

  "You and Sam will do just fine," Caroline said, glancing at the tiny diamond sparkling on Abby's ring finger. "I cannot think of better caretakers for the Crazy Arrow."

  "But Mr. Jesse..." Abby began. "What will he—"

  Caroline shook her head as tears stung behind her eyelids. "It's for the best, Abby. It's the only way."

  Too much had happened between them. She'd seen the look in his eyes when he thought her guilty of leading Thomas on a merry chase. Jesse's pain had been all too real—and his lack of trust, all too understandable. Women were faithless; he'd learned that at his mother's knee while other little boys were having their bumps and bruises kissed away. They had said terrible, hurtful things to each other that last afternoon and there could be no turning back.

  Besides, Caroline couldn't bear to live so close to Jesse and not be able to touch him, not be able to turn to him in the night, to feel his heart beating against her breasts. She would rather have two thousand miles separating them than to know beyond doubt that he simply did not love her.

  Abby and Sam carried her valises out to the street where she would wait for the stagecoach to arrive.

  "Wish I could change your mind, missus," said Sam. "Town's changing fast. Needs people like you to help it grow."

  She squeezed Sam's hand. "You and Abby will have to carry out my plans for me."

  How she hated to relinquish her grandiose ideas for the Crazy Arrow Hotel and not watch them come to pass before her eyes. Soon the West would attract more than crazy prospectors and husband-hungry women. One day it would prosper and grow and she would love to be part of that growth.

  To share the excitement with Jesse Reardon, to savor the rewards as their dreams came to pass.

  But without him, those dreams were hollow.

  She was determined to head back east and attempt to build a new life even if her heart broke in the process.

  "Oh, miss, I cannot believe it's comin' to this..." Abby ducked her head as big sobs wracked her little body. "If only you'd be stayin'—"

  "Hush, Abigail!" Caroline hugged the girl close. "I must go just as you must stay. At least one of us found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."

  "Godspeed," Abby whispered. "I'll do my best for the Arrow."

  "Do your best for yourself and Sam, Abby. The rest will take care of itself." If only she'd understood that back when she and Jesse still had a chance.

  Abby turned and ran into the arms of her future husband and Caroline envied her former maid with all her heart and soul.

  As usual, the stage was late as usual. It lumbered into town after two o'clock, kicking up a cloud of dust in the hot afternoon sun. For one instant, Caroline longed to rip up her ticket, grab her bags, and run back to the Crazy Arrow and Jesse but that was a ridiculous, romantic notion—a dream that could never face reality.

  Their marriage was a business arrangement; she and Jesse had shared nothing but the illusion of love. Real love had been painfully one-sided; her slowly-breaking heart was proof of that.

  "Car-o-line."

  Surely she was imagining things, a cruel trick of the blistering heat.

  "Darlin'." His voice was against her ear, his breath warm and sweet on her skin.

  Turning, she looked up at Jesse, her midnight lover, her life. Dark bruises marred the beauty of his face and his right arm was heavily bandaged but he was there before her, hale and whole, and blessedly alive. She stared at him, unable to speak, not knowing what to say if she could.

  The stagecoach driver sidled up to them. "Boardin' the stage, ma'am. Ain't got all day."

  She swallowed and clutched her ticket. "How—how did you know I was leaving?"

  "Abby and Sam told me."

  "I have to go, Jesse."

  He ripped the ticket from her hand. "Don't go, Car-o-line."

  "Last call!" the driver yelled. "St Louis-bound."

  Jesse pulled her to him with his left arm. "We're still married, darlin'."

  Her eyes fluttered closed against the thrill of his touch. "I'll take care of that when I get to Boston," she managed, choking back the tears. "You'll be free, Jesse."

  "Damn it, woman!" His voice boomed up and down the quiet street. "Don't you understand? I don't want to be free."

  Say it, her heart whispered. Say it once, Jesse, so I know it's real.

  "I love you, Caroline Reardon," he said, his voice gruff and beautiful to her ears. "I ain't never said that to nobody before."

  "I love you, Jesse," she said, taking the crumpled ticket from him and tossing it to the summer wind. "More than I ever knew." The words she'd whispered once in the midnight hour seemed right and natural in the uncompromising light of day.

  His dark eyes met hers. "We got us a lot to learn about each other, darlin'. Going to take us a real long time to do it right."

  "Forty or fifty years, at least," she said solemnly. She could think of no paradise greater than spending the rest of her life at the side of the man she loved, working and loving and—God willing—raising a family of children who would carry their dreams into the next century.

  "Come on, Car-o-line." Her husband put his arm about her waist. "Let's go on home."

  She looked up at him and saw their future reflected in his eyes. "Yes," she said, letting happiness take root inside her heart. "That sounds like a splendid idea."

  Epilogue

  Silver Spur

  Independence Day

  They were old now and grey but when they stepped inside the parlour of the Crazy Arrow the years dropped away from them. Grizzled beards didn't matter, nor girlish waists gr
own wide with time. All that mattered was that another year had passed and brought them safely back to the place where they had been young together.

  The parlour was crowded with the evidence of lives well-lived. Babies cried in the arms of loving grandmothers. Newlyweds gazed into one another's eyes. Old men lit fat cigars and reminisced about secret nights in the basement of the infamous Golden Dragon, whispering so their grandsons couldn't hear.

  Once a year, on Independence Day, the old timers of Silver Spur gathered together in the front parlor of the Crazy Arrow with their wives and children and grandchildren by their sides and toasted the Single Men's Protective League and the follies of their youth.

  Silver Spur flourished as one by one members of the League married and settled down. Jade's stash of gold and silver had built homes and schools and made sure no one ever went hungry. Soon children played in the streets where gunslingers once fought and died. The old ways disappeared but the new ways brought with them peace and prosperity and the time was right for both.

  Jesse's intuition had proved right. After the mine collapsed, he went in with his crew and began digging anew and damned if the old Rayburn site didn't yield a vein of silver so rich and pure that for years to come, when people talked of silver they talked of Jesse Reardon.

  Caroline's Crazy Arrow Hotel was a roaring success and before too long, she had a string of hotels at railroad stops in Nevada and points west. The sky was the limit.

  But none of their successes equaled the joy they'd found in marriage.

  Fifty years had come and gone in the blink of an eye. Fifty years that had brought them four sons and two daughters and a score of grandchildren who would carry the Reardon name and spirit into the future.

  "Abby's daughter is serving up the cake and coffee in the yard," Caroline whispered into her husband's ear. "I think we can slip away now."

  Jesse's eyes still held the glitter of excitement she'd always loved. Taking her hand, he led her up the stairs to the room on the second floor where it had all begun.