After the Midnight Hour

by Linda Randall Wisdom

  The idea that Rachel would still be with him in fifty years was good. The idea that Rachel would look as she had the night before, and that the day could come when he would have to leave her forever, was downright depressing.

  “There are two little old ladies in town who I know would love to talk to you,” Jared said. He was pleased to see that Rachel was once again wearing the dress he’d gotten her. He vowed to find a few more. “They run the local historical society.” He showed her the Web page on his laptop computer. They sat on the couch together as he showed her pictures the society had posted. “They have newspapers dating back to the very first issue printed in town, some diaries written by local ladies, and furniture that’s as old as you are,” he teased.

  Rachel wrinkled her nose at him. “Yes, but I look very young for my age.” She entered into the play, then sobered. “They know about me and Caleb?”

  He nodded. “It seems not too many people liked him back then. It’s just a hunch, but I think you could have found someone to help you.”

  She placed her hand on his. “I did find someone.” Her eyes glowed.

  He leaned over and kissed her softly. “Maya said some things are meant to be. So maybe I’ll be the one to find the key to free you. Hey!” He used his thumb to wipe the lone tear that tracked down her cheek. “No crying, okay?”

  “I did not expect you,” she confessed. “I did not expect to feel the way I do. And that makes me afraid.”

  “Afraid, why?” He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Even with everything Rachel and Maya had told him, he still had no idea how the curse worked or what it truly entailed. As if he feared she might suddenly disappear right in front of him, he wrapped his arms around her. She laid her head against his shoulder and snuggled closer.

  “That I do not deserve this,” she said softly. “No matter what happens, Jared, I want you to know that you have given me something very special and I will always cherish these memories.”

  Jared dropped a kiss on her forehead and tightened his hold on her, but she didn’t protest.

  With his chin resting on her hair, he stared unseeing at the wall as thoughts raced through his head.

  He had grown up without knowing what affection was. The only positive note in his life had been Lea.

  As an adult, he’d seen himself growing old without a family. It never bothered him before. His solitary lifestyle was fine with him and he didn’t miss a thing. Then Rachel had entered his life and he realized what he wanted.

  He wanted this woman. He even wanted kids with her. The idea of having a child scared the hell out of him; he hadn’t had the best role model for fatherhood. But Jared figured he knew what not to do.

  Now all he needed was to bring Rachel fully into this world. He knew there would be some tricky details to iron out, but it wasn’t as if he didn’t know what to do to bring a nineteenth century woman into the twenty-first. After all, he was a cop with access to pretty much every database in California. And he knew of a few forgers who were artisans in creating false identification papers. Jared was positive he could provide Rachel with a brand-new life.

  Another troubling thought that plagued him was the idea he would have to tell her he was related to Caleb. She was still afraid of a man long dead. At least the paperwork revealing the relationship was still safely locked away.

  Jared was a stubborn man who was determined not to give up the best thing in his life.

  Chapter 13

  “You are in love with him, niña,” Maya talked as she busily polished the furniture until it shone from the lemon oil she used. “And it is very obvious that he loves you.”

  Love shouldn’t hurt. It should make you feel joyful and excited. So why do I feel so sad?

  Rachel knew why she was sad. For the first time in decades she felt free and happy. She felt as if she had something very extraordinary in a special someone. It wasn’t just the time they spent making love, but the way they curled up in each other’s arms and talked about anything and everything.

  But something he’d said to her that first night they made love always remained in the back of her mind. Jared had told her the day would come when he would no longer be here. The thought of losing him hurt her more than anything she’d experienced before.

  Maya paused in her task of polishing the coffee table. “With love must come trust, chica,” she said softly. “With love and trust, you will have everything. But you must be brave enough, and strong enough, to allow them into your heart.”

  She’s talking about the key again. Why does she still believe it’s out there? And why talk of love and trust? I feel love for Jared and I would trust him with my life, if I still had one! But it has nothing to do with the key. If it existed we would have found it by now. It’s gone, Maya. It’s not here, just the way Caleb’s alleged treasure is nothing more than a story. A legend, like you and me.

  “He never puts anything away,” Maya grumbled, stacking together papers that were strewn about near Jared’s laptop computer.

  Rachel couldn’t see clearly, but she saw well enough to note that the letterhead on the top sheet of paper was from a lawyer’s office. She remembered that Jared had sat there earlier in the day writing something on the computer. When he’d heard Maya scolding Harley for digging more holes, he’d left the computer and must have forgotten what he had been doing before he was distracted. As Rachel looked at the paper, Caleb’s name sprang out at her.

  What is this about?

  For the rest of the day, Rachel counted the seconds until sunset. She hoped the papers would still be there, so she could look at them more closely. She knew she would have a chance when Jared went upstairs for his shower, although he usually tried to tempt her into taking it with him. That was one temptation she always succumbed to without an ounce of guilt.

  Tonight, she stood her ground and sent him upstairs alone. The moment she heard the water running, she hurried over to the table and picked up the papers. She wasn’t familiar with some of the legal language that indicated the paperwork was the deed to the ranch, but the accompanying letter told her everything else. She felt an icy cold lump settle in her stomach as she realized that the reason Jared had inherited the property was because he was a direct descendant of Caleb Bingham.

  “No.” She refused to believe what she’d read and reread. She hadn’t imagined it. She felt as if she was encased in ice.

  Jared was descended from Caleb’s brother.

  Rachel had only met the man once and thought him as cold and evil as Caleb himself had been.

  She’d never really stopped to question how Jared had obtained the property. He’d mentioned he’d inherited the ranch from his mother, but Rachel hadn’t realized that he was a Bingham descendant. Caleb had once explained that the property could only be handed down to the eldest son of the owner. She’d thought the property had changed hands over the years and left the Bingham family, altogether.

  “And to think Maya always believed in Jared,” she whispered to herself. The fear she hadn’t felt for a while came back with a vengeance as she heard his footsteps on the stairs.

  “Rach, what’s wrong?” He walked downstairs, wearing only his jeans, his hair still damp from his shower. His smile faded when he saw the expression on her face. “Rachel?” His voice sharpened. He glanced at her hand. She still held the papers, but what bothered him was that her hand was trembling.

  “You…” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “These papers say that you are descended from Caleb.”

  “You knew I’d inherited the ranch.” He was puzzled by her calm manner. With the revelation, he’d expected fireworks. He knew how she felt about Caleb. That was why he hadn’t wanted to tell her just yet.

  She shook her head. “Yes, but I did not realize you were a direct descendent of Caleb’s. Or perhaps I did not want to realize it.”

  Jared started toward her, then froze when she backed away.

  “Just because I’m somehow related to that old bastard doe
sn’t make me any different than I was five minutes ago,” he said harshly. “Or does it?” he demanded when she remained silent. “Answer me, Rachel!”

  She flinched.

  “Caleb made me believe I could have a house and a family,” she whispered, still refusing to look at him. “I didn’t realize the price I would pay. He felt as if he’d been cheated because I couldn’t give him children. He didn’t want anyone to know that I wasn’t the perfect wife he’d led people to believe I was. I was to let them think we had a wonderful marriage. My clothing could hide the bruises. When he killed me I thought I was finally free. Instead, he found another way to imprison me.”

  Jared looked incredulous. “And you think I’ll turn into a sadistic monster like him?” he demanded. Pain crossed his face.

  She gazed down at her clasped hands. “You have a dark nature, Jared. Perhaps it is because of your work, I don’t know. But what if it overtakes you? What if something happens that you can’t control?”

  “If that was the case, it would have happened years ago. My God!” He looked as if he was ready to tear his hair out. “Rachel, the property came to me through my mother. There wasn’t one mean bone in her body. That’s why she left my old man. She left him because she couldn’t take his abuse anymore. The problem was, she left me, too, and I don’t know what I did to deserve to be left behind. Maybe she thought I’d end up like him. Maybe she didn’t love me, so she left me the property as her way of getting rid of her guilt for abandoning me. I don’t know. But I learned long ago that if I didn’t want to end up in a prison cell like my father I’d have to find a way to control my temper. And I did,” he told her. “The last thing I would ever do is hurt a woman. I’d cut my hand off first. You should know that by now.”

  He tried to reason with her, but for some reason she refused to listen. She kept shaking her head.

  “Dammit, Rachel! What—are you afraid I’ll kill you?” he shouted, feeling the frustration build up.

  Realizing he wasn’t getting anywhere, he turned away.

  “Fine, you want to believe the worst because it’s easier for you.” He headed for the open French doors and went outside, an agitated Harley following him.

  Jared didn’t know what to do. Why did Rachel have to be so stubborn?

  “Quiet, Harley,” he ordered when the young dog started barking. “You’re not chasing rabbits or whatever you think is out here.”

  The words barely left his mouth when the memory of a sound he’d heard before finally made sense.

  “A bike that needs a ring job!” he whispered. Blinding pain exploded across the back of his head and he fell to his knees.

  “You had to stick your nose in our operation, cop,” the man snarled. “Big mistake!”

  Rachel! Her name bounced around inside his head just as his world turned dark.

  Rachel walked over to the open doors and looked outside just as a man crept up behind Jared and hit him on the back of the head. She screamed his name but realized her warning came too late. She instinctively ran to help him, but was violently thrown back.

  “No!”

  As she looked outside she saw the man who’d struck Jared now look up at her. The cold, feral smile on his face sent a chilling fear through her body. She had no doubt he would kill Jared, then come after her. And before he tried to kill her she knew even worse things would happen.

  She stood frozen to the spot as the man started walking toward the house with his gun held loosely in one hand.

  “That cop thought he’d mess with our lab and we wouldn’t find out? Undercover cops are like snitches. They deserve to be dead,” he said in a rough voice as he advanced toward her. “Nice to see I’ll be getting something extra.”

  “I’m homicide, you idiot, not a narc!” Jared snarled as he got to his feet and jumped at the man’s back. Except his head injury affected his balance and he couldn’t hold on as well as he wanted to.

  The two men tumbled into the house, both fighting for a grip on the gun.

  Rachel screamed when gunshots echoed inside the house and a bullet buried itself in the wall near her head.

  She knew immediately that one shot had found its target when she saw red blossom on Jared’s chest. With a last burst of energy, he wrestled the gun from the attacker’s hands and managed to shoot him in the knee. His assailant dropped to the floor, screaming in agony, while Jared also fell backward. The gun slid across the polished planking.

  Rachel’s hands shook violently as she ran over and picked up the gun before making her way to Jared. She winced along with him as she carefully lifted his shoulders so she could hold him against her.

  “Keep the gun pointed at him,” he wheezed.

  “You need a doctor,” she cried. Fear gave her the strength to tear a strip off the bottom of her dress. She folded it into a pad and pressed it firmly against the wound on his chest. She looked around wildly.

  “My phone’s in my front pocket,” Jared gasped. “You’ve seen me use it. Just punch 911 and tell whoever answers that a cop is down.” He lifted his hand and caressed her cheek. “Trust me, sweetheart, they’ll know what you mean.”

  “You’re going to die, cop!” the man screamed at Jared.

  Rachel’s heart thumped wildly at his words.

  “Yeah, well, you’ll be walking with a limp for the rest of your life. Nothing like a cripple in prison,” Jared retorted in a weak voice. The hand he’d used to touch Rachel’s cheek now lay limply on her arm.

  Rachel tried not to jostle Jared too much as she pulled the cell phone from his pocket and followed his instructions.

  Afterward, she talked to him incessantly.

  “Stay awake, Jared,” she pleaded. “Please, do not close your eyes.” She stroked his forehead even as she made sure to keep the gun trained on their prisoner. At one point, her gaze turned cold as she stared at the man. “If you move even a finger, I will kill you.” She knew he was aware she made no idle threat. She glanced down at Jared. “They said someone is coming right away. I love you so much,” she whispered against his ear. “Do not leave me, Jared.”

  “By the time they show up he won’t need a doctor. He’ll need the coroner,” the man laughed.

  Rachel didn’t think twice; she raised the gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet left a hole in the floor a bare inch from the man’s hip.

  “I promise you the next time I will not miss,” she said coldly. Her head snapped up when Harley started howling in accompaniment to a high-pitched wail that grew louder by the second. Another siren sounded, coming from another direction.

  “Cavalry’s a little late.” Jared laughed weakly.

  Vehicles skidded to a stop and Rachel soon found herself flanked by two men, while the woman deputy she’d seen before ran in with her weapon drawn.

  “Please, help him!” Rachel begged the paramedics. One of them helped her to her feet and gently put her to one side as the second briefly checked the other man, then came over to Jared.

  “Hey, I’m shot, too!” the man growled.

  “Doesn’t look as if anything important was hit,” the deputy said dispassionately. “You should have aimed a bit higher, Stryker.” She glanced curiously at Rachel, then back at the man as she crouched down next to him. “While I know you know your Miranda word for word, I don’t earn my pay unless I repeat it to you.” She fastened handcuffs on him as she recited his rights to him.

  “We’ve got a collapsed lung and looks like internal bleeding,” one EMT reported. “We need to get him in now.”

  Rachel watched them carefully maneuver Jared onto a gurney.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “We’re taking him in to the hospital, ma’am,” one of the paramedics told her, as he set up an IV line.

  “Hospital?” She felt her breath leave her body. Memories of the hospitals more than a hundred years swept over her. People died in hospitals!

  She felt helpless as she watched the paramedics load Jared in the ambulance, whi
le another ambulance arrived and paramedics settled Deputy Wright’s prisoner inside the vehicle.

  “If you want to go to the hospital I can arrange for someone to take you in,” the deputy offered gently, sensing Rachel’s distress.

  She felt like crying, but adrenaline had run through her body so fast she couldn’t find the energy for any more tears.

  “No,” she whispered, feeling the lump in her chest move upward. She had no idea her face was a picture of raw anguish.

  “He’ll be fine,” the woman told her, obviously puzzled by her refusal. “He’s a tough guy. Look, I’ve got to go. If you want someone to take you to the hospital, just call the sheriff’s station. Someone will pick you up and take you over there.” She ran out to the ambulance and climbed inside with her prisoner.

  Rachel saw the rapidly fading taillights of the first ambulance. She looked down and saw smears of blood on the front of her dress. While she never saw the graphic evidence of her own death on her clothing, Jared’s blood remained on the fabric.

  Worse than the horror of her past was the terror of not being with Jared when he needed her the most. The idea that he could die alone filled her with a panic that threatened to overtake her.

  “No!” she screamed, with a fury she had never felt before. “It is not right!”

  She didn’t think twice as she ran to the doorway. She only knew she wasn’t about to be denied what she wanted most.

  Rachel felt herself pitching forward and she fell hard onto the veranda.

  She feebly batted an excited Harley from her as she slowly stumbled to her feet. She felt as if her long-starved senses were on overload. She heard the steady drone of night insects, and looking up, saw the black canopy of the night sky instead of a beamed ceiling. Even the rich scent of jasmine in her nostrils seemed stronger. Disorienting.

  She stared with shocked disbelief at her surroundings. Tiny spots of light danced before her eyes.

  “I am free,” she whispered, stepping forward. A rush of cold air hit her face just before her world turned black.