True Heart's Desire

by Caroline Fyffe

  “Is there a problem with that?”

  Lavinia relaxed in the saddle, enjoying the easy banter. Whether they wanted to think it or not, they might have a fight on their hands. Confronting the lumber operation could be dangerous. She thought of the squinty-eyed younger man, and an uneasy shiver tickled up her spine. As if he’d felt her disquiet, up ahead, Rhett turned in his saddle and glanced back, catching her gaze. He stared for a moment and then turned forward and reined up with Clint and Maverick.

  “Once we enter the timberland, the trail is quite narrow,” Rhett said when the women arrived. “You’ll have to ride single file again. And I suggest keeping the noise to a minimum, just in case they have sentries.”

  He shifted in his saddle, looking as comfortable as Blake or Clint.

  Clint nodded. “That’s a good idea, Laughlin. We don’t want to go looking for trouble we can avoid.”

  Reaching the creek on horseback took less time than it had on foot. When the group came to the stream, Katie, now riding in front of Lavinia, turned and stared. With a tip of her head, she gestured to Rhett’s tall sculpture and Lavinia’s small, simplistic one.

  Tidbit splashed through the stream without a care. The forest was different this morning. The once dark, scary trees now moved gently in open invitation. Perhaps the fact she had her whole family around her, as well as four armed men, played a part in her boldness. It was the first time she’d seen Rhett with a gun instead of a hammer.

  When they came to the first split, Katie, having heard the recounting, pointed out the wilted alyssum on the side of the trail. Lavinia smiled to herself, again remembering standing in Rhett’s arms. Speaking about intimate things, the sound of his heart and the warmth of his chest. With the winding trail, she couldn’t see the men anymore, but she knew he was there, leading the way.

  They reached the knoll with no fanfare, no sentries to stop them, and no real expectations. What would the river look like in the light of the day? The men had dismounted and left their horses back where they wouldn’t be spotted from below. They slowly approached the ridge.

  Filled with dread, Lavinia dismounted and tied Tidbit’s reins to a bush, hurrying forward. The men had pulled their rifles from the scabbards and remained out of sight, hunched forward on the edge of the ridge, forearm rested on bended knee as they took in the damage below. Seeing the encampment for the first time in light made Lavinia sick. Her sisters’ murmured despair was lifted away on the breeze. Logs even now jammed the river. Between Rhett and the rest of the men, their expressions were a mixture of shock, devastation—and anger. Her heart trembled at the thought of what was to come.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Clint turned to Mavis and her sisters, barely able to contain a curse. “You’ll remain up here with the horses. Out of sight. We don’t want the camp to know that you’re here. Is that clear?”

  Blake and Rhett nodded their agreement. Lumberjacks weren’t normally to be feared, any more than other hardworking men, but the fact that they were here without letting him know, despite that they’d been in town a handful of times, made Clint suspicious. He’d lay money on the fact they didn’t have authorization to be cutting this timber.

  “Is that clear?” he repeated, intentionally avoiding Mavis’s gaze.

  Lavinia nodded, her expression serious. “It is.”

  “Belle?” Blake said. “We won’t be able to concentrate on what we’re doing if we have to worry about you five. Are you going to do as Clint asks?”

  Belle looked around at her sisters, and they all nodded. “We will.”

  “Good,” Blake said. “We’re just going down to talk. Find out what’s going on. We see the beginnings of a road and the trees they’ve already felled along the bank. Now we need to see their paperwork.”

  Clint heaved a sigh. They’d be spotted the moment they started down, but that couldn’t be helped. “Let’s get this done,” he said, and glanced at Mavis. He still felt a connection. Her hurt and pride couldn’t stop that. “Mavis, you’re in charge, as if you didn’t know that already.” He wished for their easygoing camaraderie. “If something happens, you’re to mount up and get the hell out—fast. Get back to Eden and let Henry know what’s transpired.”

  For a flicker of a second, he thought he saw warmth deep in her eyes. She nodded. “We will. I still think we could be a help down in the camp, being John Brinkman was our father. His name carries clout. Maybe the foreman down there knew him. Maybe we’d have better luck with him than you.”

  That was her hurt talking, but he wouldn’t take offense. “You may be right, but we’re not going to chance it. We’ll stick with my plan. Those were the terms you agreed upon when we allowed you to come along.” He let his gaze slip around the group.

  She nodded stiffly. “That’s true. You have my word we won’t interfere.”

  “Good.” He turned, gathered up his horse, and mounted, followed by Blake, Rhett, and Maverick.

  Lavinia and the women watched from behind a grouping of rocks as the men rode down the hill. Just like Clint predicted, they were spotted immediately. Working stopped. One man ran over to a covered wagon and soon emerged with another, larger man. Nerves skittered up and down Lavinia’s back. Armed and standing tall, they waited for their four men to reach the bottom of the hill. She couldn’t imagine what Belle was feeling at this point, watching her new husband ride knowingly into danger.

  “What do you think’ll happen?” Katie whispered. As far as Lavinia knew, she hadn’t seen Santiago since she, Lara, and Rhett had caught them in the cantina.

  “That’s a good question,” Emma whispered back. “I wish Henry were here. The more men, the better. Look at all the lumberjacks. I wonder where they get all the food to feed this crowd.”

  Belle hadn’t said a thing. Her troubled gaze stayed on the riders as she chewed her bottom lip. They’d reached the bottom and stayed mounted as the men in the group crowded around.

  “I wish we could hear what they’re saying,” Mavis said softly. When her hands trembled, she clasped them together but never took her eyes off the men.

  And Lavinia stared at Rhett, whose broad back was easy to spot on the end next to Blake. The only one of their men hatless. There was something about the way he sat his horse too. Different. She liked that.

  The man in charge looked around at his camp and waved his arm, as if trying to explain something. Clint dismounted, and instead of dropping his reins to the ground as she’d seen him do many times with Alibi, he handed them right, to Maverick. The men stood face-to-face.

  Lavinia felt a rush of panic.

  Was something about to happen? Surely the loggers didn’t think they could get away with harming a sheriff and three other men. That would be madness.

  “Oh, Lord,” Belle whispered. “Things look tense. Please don’t let anything happen to the men. Please don’t let violence break out. They’re seriously outnumbered.”

  “Everything’ll be fine,” Lavinia said to calm her nerves. She reached over and placed her hand over Belle’s, who was shivering even though the sun was gaining strength and Lavinia felt a sheen of perspiration on her forehead.

  Shouts sounded from upstream on the riverbank. A tall tree, far from the camp, crashed to the ground. The distraction startled the men around the powwow. Confusion broke out. Did they think they were under attack?

  Mavis held out her hands as if that would stop the confusion, soften rattled nerves. But like an anthill, men began moving, some running. The foreman, barely visible anymore, glanced around and shouted some orders. When Clint turned to go back to his horse, someone hit him over the head with something, and he crumpled to the ground.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Mavis gasped and sprang to her feet, but her sisters pulled her back.

  Lavinia watched in horror as a circle of men, tall and brawny, closed in around the horses. It was difficult to see. Turning, she gaped at her sisters crouched at her side, her heart thundering in her chest. Would they k
ill Blake and the others for asking questions? Fear for everyone threated to drop her. Fear for Rhett superseded all thought.

  She corralled her fears. “What’s happening down there? Will they hurt the men?” Blake, Clint, Maverick . . . and Rhett. The feel of his warm arms last night was ever present on her mind. His agitation when he’d thought her in danger, and then his kind and patient words when she’d told him about Lara. She didn’t want him harmed. He meant something to her. But what?

  “I don’t know,” Mavis whispered urgently, watching intently, her hands gripping the rock in front of her. “I have a very bad feeling about this.”

  The rest of the men dismounted.

  Belle was already on her feet, running to the horses. She withdrew the rifle from the scabbard on her saddle and raced back. It was almost like she didn’t see her sisters anymore. Her expression, set in stone, was one of resolve.

  Sinking back behind the stone, she raised the rifle and took aim, but Emma pushed the barrel down. “Belle! Be careful! You might kill someone!”

  “That’s what I intend to do if they touch Blake, or any of the others. What’s happening? Can anyone see in the mess?”

  The crowd had closed in, joined by the foreman that had come from the wagon. Lavinia couldn’t distinguish much from this distance. The crowd swelled and moved. She thought she saw someone throw a punch, and then two. “A fight’s broken out! They’re outnumbered! They don’t stand a chance!” Fear for their men raced up her arms.

  “We have to do something before it’s too late!” Mavis stated. “Emma!” she shouted. “Besides Belle, you’re the best rider. Gallop back to town and tell Henry. Get men. Hurry!”

  Emma ran to the horses. She ripped Dusty’s reins from the bush where he was tied, shoved her foot in the stirrup, threw her leg over the saddle, and galloped away without a backward glance.

  Lavinia prayed urgently for the men in the lumber camp, for her sister and the dangerous ride ahead, and for others to get here as fast as they could. They needed a miracle, and they needed one fast.

  Belle took aim.

  Crack! Crack!

  Dirt kicked up at the feet of the men on the perimeter. Movement stopped. She still couldn’t see Rhett and the others. The crowd turned and looked at the place the bullets landed, and then up the hill, seeking the shooter.

  Lavinia sucked in a breath. “We have to spread out, and Belle needs to shoot from a different location so they think we have several gunmen watching.”

  Mavis and Katie nodded. Belle slunk back and hurried twenty feet over, edged out, and pointed down the hill.

  Men had peeled away, making ready to come in search.

  “Hurry!” Lavinia shouted. She stood, ran to Tidbit, and withdrew the gun she’d only shot twice, on Blake’s insistence. All the sisters had taken part that day, but only begrudgingly, thinking they’d never need to shoot anything. Only Belle took marksmanship seriously and had been shooting since her first month. Blake bragged on her all the time, saying he’d never seen anyone, let alone a woman, take to the rifle as quickly as she had.

  As two of the men hurried toward a couple of horses, she placed perfect shots between their boots. They pulled up and looked back at the man in charge, whose attention was now on Belle’s new location.

  “Move again, Belle,” Mavis softly called.

  Lavinia ran to Strider. She wasn’t all that well acquainted with their father’s tall black horse. He turned to see who approached his side, then pinned his ears when she reached up to unbuckle the saddlebag where she knew Belle kept ammunition. Belle had fired four times. She’d soon need to reload.

  “Easy, boy,” Lavinia crooned. “I don’t mean any harm. I just want a few bullets from your saddlebag.” As fast as she could, she unbuckled the leather, just as she heard two more shots from Belle’s rifle.

  On tiptoe, Lavinia grasped two handfuls and ran to Belle’s side, holding them out with shaky hands. She desperately wanted to see what was happening below.

  “Thank you,” Belle mumbled as she reloaded faster than Lavinia thought possible.

  “What’s going on down there? Can you see Blake or any of the men?”

  “At times when the crowd shifts.”

  Lavinia glanced over to Katie and Mavis. Her older sister’s face was ashen, and it looked like she wanted to bolt down the hill.

  “What should we do now?” Lavinia asked, close to Belle’s ear. The men below seemed to be waiting for some kind of command or order. Would they kill Blake and the rest? That seemed far-fetched. Rhett’s calm voice, when he’d been extracting the splinter from her eye, flitted through Lavinia’s mind. She remembered the gentleness of his touch. His crooked smile as he’d helped her run to the church. So many memories in such a short amount of time.

  Belle nudged her with an elbow. “How many do you think are down there?”

  She had no idea, but for Belle, who was staying calm and collected well past the point that she’d have expected her to, she’d give a calculated guess.

  “I don’t know. Seventy-five, eighty, maybe.”

  “Exactly. With so many men, I’m surprised they haven’t rushed us. With only one rifle, they could easily overpower us in no time.”

  Lavinia nodded. “I figure they’re lumberjacks, not killers. Most probably have families and are good men.”

  “She’s right,” Mavis agreed, having slipped in beside them. Katie kept watch from her spot behind the large rock Mavis had just left. “They’ve come out here to work, not lose their lives. They may act loyal to the foreman, but I highly doubt they’re cold-blooded killers.”

  Another shout went up, and another. Looked as if someone was fighting again, although it didn’t look like any of their men. They needed to act, do something to calm the tension. How could they help before all was lost?

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  We were stupid to let them go down alone,” Lavinia whispered. “Money will make men—”

  “Look!” Katie pointed, her breath coming fast. “Men are sneaking up the hill! If we’re overtaken, what chance will Blake and the rest have?”

  Aiming carefully, Belle squeezed off a shot that landed three feet in front of their boots.

  The men, dressed in suspenders and tall black boots, with bandannas around their necks, jerked to a halt. The shortest one actually dropped to the ground, and the other two covered their heads with their arms. They turned questioningly to their foreman below.

  “Stay where you are!” Belle bellowed in a deep voice. “Unless you want your ears shot off.”

  They ducked. Katie laughed. “Good shot, Belle. You scared the poo right out of ’em.”

  “Katie!” Mavis yelped. “Mind your tongue. You sound like a ranch hand.”

  “No, she doesn’t,” Belle replied. “The ranch hands don’t talk like that!”

  “That’s what those scabbers get,” Katie went on. “Our men went down there with peaceful intent and were set upon. Clint’s been hurt.”

  “Yes, yes, I know.” Mavis wrung her hands. “I’m going down there myself to stall them until Emma returns with help. I can’t stay put a moment longer.”

  “I’m the one who should go down,” Belle said. “Because of Blake. I can’t see the top of his head anymore or any of the others. I’m worried sick.”

  “You can’t go down,” Lavinia objected. Seemed none of her sisters were thinking clearly. “You’re the sharpshooter who’s keeping them honest.” She glanced around at all her sisters’ faces, dearer to her than her own heart. “Belle, you’re staying here with Katie, and Mavis and I will find out what’s happened to Clint.”

  Katie reached over and clutched Lavinia’s sleeve. “No, it’s too dangerous.”

  Mavis nodded to Katie. “We have to. If we say more men are about to arrive, they won’t try anything stupid. If they think it’s just us up here, that foreman may be even bolder. We have to try.”

  Lavinia stood, untied her cream bandanna from around her neck, and waved it ba
ck and forth. The three climbers on the side of the hill were still huddled in place.

  “Hold your fire,” Lavinia hollered.

  More movement in the tightly compacted crowd below made Lavinia’s throat tighten. Clint had told them specifically not to interfere, and here they were ready to march into the camp. Are we doing the right thing?

  Mavis reached over and took Lavinia’s hand as they descended. “Don’t be frightened,” she whispered. “Right and truth are on our side. They aren’t going to kill all of us. Only fools would do that.”

  Mavis’s words were justified, but that didn’t stop the butterflies in Lavinia’s stomach. She thought she might be sick. Her sturdy riding boots helped to keep her footing as they completed their descent. Would Henry show up soon? She wished him here now.

  The sea of men parted.

  Clint was sprawled on the ground, and Blake, Maverick, and Rhett stood guard by his side. Blake and Maverick’s eyes narrowed. Rhett’s hands fisted at his side, his mouth flattened, and one eyebrow tipped at Lavinia. Seemed nobody approved their decision.

  “What the hell is going on?” Mavis demanded.

  Lavinia gaped at Mavis, never having heard her sister speak so sharply. Her sister’s gaze touched Clint only briefly and then cut to the head logger. “I asked you a question! Is this how you treat everyone who comes into your camp? You’ll pay for this. And pay big!”

  Just like the others, the foreman wore tall black boots, thick brown pants, a tight-fitting shirt with matching red suspenders, and a kerchief around his neck. He was middle-aged and well built. His shaggy brown hair was streaked with gray.

  Lavinia disliked him instantly.

  “We didn’t intend for any violence to happen, Mrs. Applebee.”

  So he knows us, Lavinia thought. Amid all the new faces, she didn’t see the four men who came often into Eden to eat at her café, the traitors. Liars, all of them.