Audra was at the door, holding Maggie. Julia had heard all that her father had admitted to Audra and that Audra had hit him, though Julia knew better than to think Audra carried much power in her fists. But that didn’t mean her father wouldn’t be cruel.
“Get out, Julia. I want to talk to my wife.”
“No.” She’d been protecting Audra from her father almost since the day they’d been married. “I need to see to your arm. Go ahead and—”
“Get out!” Wendell’s roar barely bothered Julia. She’d heard it many times before. It had always shaken Audra badly, though. Maggie jumped and started to whimper.
“Go on, Julia.” Audra spoke quietly, but with a strength Julia hadn’t heard before. “We need to have a talk, your father and I.”
“She’ll mind me whether you tell her to or not. I’m the head of this house.” Profanity laced every sentence as he ordered Julia out. He lunged at her but was too weak to even sit up. Julia turned, kneeling at Audra’s feet. She saw Audra studying those ugly red streaks. Their eyes met. They knew whatever talking was done now might be the last.
“Please, go. Take the baby.” Audra extended her heavily laden arms.
Julia rose to take Maggie just as another stream of filth came from her father’s mouth. Tears rolled down Maggie’s face and she cried louder. But Audra looked calm and unruffled.
“I’ll be praying for you, Father.” Julia gave him one last look, then clutched her precious baby sister in her arms and slipped past Audra just as Rafe appeared in the doorway.
He looked with contempt at Wendell, who was still shouting at Audra. Then Julia saw his eyes go to those lines of infection. He understood everything. Including why Audra was putting up with the shouting and Julia was following the vile orders.
“Audra?” Rafe’s voice distracted Father from his yelling.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Wendell demanded. “Don’t I know you?”
“What is it, Rafe?” Audra ignored Wendell. And Rafe didn’t waste his time reminding the man of their brief meeting yesterday in Rawhide.
“I’m just outside. I won’t put up with him hurting you. All you need to do is holler.”
“Thank you.” Audra turned to Wendell. “This is Rafe Kincaid, the man who brought Julia home.”
Rafe stepped back to let Julia pass, then followed her outside.
Rafe looked at Julia with the baby in her arms and was confused by how pleasant it was. He had no memories of his ma and babies. Seth was close enough in age that by the time Rafe could remember much, they’d all been running wild outside, winter and summer.
Rafe and Julia walked away from the house. Downhill rather than up toward the creek that led to the cavern. The cabin was in a pretty spot. The mountain they were on swept downward, then rose up again to a flat-topped mountain a few miles away to the west. Rafe saw the slender trail that led around it and no doubt went into Rawhide. Julia was right. It was probably only about five miles away.
A ledge with a level path topping it led to a small corral where Wendell’s horse stood grazing. Rafe guided Julia toward the corral to put some space between themselves and the house.
“If . . . No, I mean when he dies . . .” Julia lifted her chin and held the little one close.
Rafe’s heart beat hard to see a woman stand strong. His ma had never lifted her chin in her life. She was more the slumped shoulders, bowed head type. But here Julia stood, her shoulders square, her green eyes fierce, her messy red hair wild and alive and fiery.
She still hadn’t cleaned up from her ordeal in the cavern. Blood on her dress, her hair in snarls. She’d been too busy tending to business, caring for her father and stepmother and baby sister, to take care of herself. Too busy ordering Rafe and Ethan around, too.
“We’ll have to figure out where to go. Back to Houston? Into Rawhide? North to Denver? What about the men he stole from?” Julia shook her head. “All I know is, we can’t stay here.”
“You don’t have to make any decisions right away. When is Audra’s baby due?”
“Maybe two months.” Julia shrugged. “Maybe one. Maggie’s just over a year. This one came along so soon.” Julia turned to give the baby a gentle smile and tickled her little sister’s soggy chin. “Audra’s not sure when it . . . when it . . . began.” Julia glanced at him, her cheeks faintly pink, then looked down at the baby in her arms and drew one finger over the child’s tear-streaked face.
The little girl grabbed for her hand with a happy squeak, then bounced. All the fear brought on by her father’s cruelty forgotten. Rafe stopped, out of hearing distance from the cabin.
“I don’t know how strong Audra is,” Rafe said. “But she looks like a wind would blow her over. A long journey right now might be more than she can take. I think you should come back to Kincaid Ranch. We’ve got room there. You can stay until the baby comes and Audra has regained her strength. Then decide.”
“We can just stay here.” Julia caressed the baby’s back and the tyke’s eyes drooped. She leaned against Julia’s chest and nodded off as quickly as if someone had snuffed out a light.
“Do they always fall asleep like that?” Rafe didn’t know much about babies.
“Maggie does. She’s the only baby I’ve ever been around. Let me go lay her down.” Julia vanished before Rafe could stop her. He suspected she went back in as much to check on her pa and Audra as to put the baby to bed. She was back right away.
“How’s it going in there?”
Julia shrugged. “I heard them talking quietly. The door was closed, so I left them some privacy.”
“Julia, it’s not safe for you and Audra to stay out here alone.”
“I know.” Julia ran her hands up and down her arms like she was cold. The day was warm, even though there was a light breeze. So her chill must have come from inside. Rafe knew how that was.
“Father started doing this not long after Mother died. We moved real suddenly. That was the first time. I know he had a general store back then because I’d been in it. He bought a house in the country and had his store in town. He’d come home only Saturday nights and Sundays. I got myself to school—if I could find a school near me—and lived alone after school.”
“Completely alone?” Rafe wondered at such a lonely life. He’d been terribly lonely since Ethan and Seth had left, but he’d been a man grown, and he’d had the hands and the ranch. He wasn’t truly alone.
Julia gave him a rueful smile. “Being alone was usually preferable to being with Father. I was glad to see him head for work. Before he married Audra, it didn’t matter.”
Rafe thought of a little girl, growing up too much alone. It did matter.
“I got so I roamed the hills. I was about ten when my mother died and old enough to see to myself and the house, at least after a fashion.”
Rafe remembered being ten. He and his brothers had run wild just like Julia. But they’d come home to a warm meal and two parents—except when Pa was gone tending his traplines. One was a grouch, the other cried too much. But at least they were there. And there were hired hands around the place. Not the same at all.
“After Mother died, we moved to Illinois. Father set me up in a house way out of town. He left me. Said he’d be back in a week. I found a cavern there and started to explore. That’s where I found my first fossil. In my wandering, I also found a school. It was a long walk, but I showed up at the door every morning and they let me attend. I had a teacher who loved geological things, and he was full of stories of rocks and caverns and ancient beasts that roamed the earth and were now long gone. He let me borrow books from him and he even gave me my first copy of the Proceedings. I took that interest with me wherever we went.”
“Fossils, huh? Old bones. Never figured those were of much use.”
Julia smiled and shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe not of much use, but definitely of some interest.” Her eyes flashed with sudden excitement that dispelled the sadness weighing her down. “In the cavern here, t
he one you call Seth’s Cavern, there is so much to study. I could spend a lifetime down there.”
“No, it’s dangerous.”
“If we stay here, I’ll be able to continue exploring. I’ll be able to write papers on what I find. I’ll get them published and earn money that way. This is a really fascinating, unique cavern, Rafe. I could find fossils maybe of some creature that’s never been seen. And if I could find proof that this mountain was once underwater, that would—”
“I told you I’d take you down there one more time. Then that’s it. You can’t keep going.”
“Of course I can. I have to. That’s the main reason I hate the thought of moving. I need to explore that cavern.”
“What about that rope?”
The fire went out of her flashing green eyes, as if he’d drowned her excitement in ice water. He had a talent for bringing coldness to the world. He hated doing it to this fiery woman.
“Who could have done such a thing?” She raised her hands to clutch her wild red curls.
“I don’t know. But I aim to find out.” Rafe suddenly thought of Ethan. Ethan was always easygoing. Always happy. But deep things stirred in Ethan. Old pain that was trapped inside him. Ethan had come home at the same time someone had played a cruel, possibly deadly trick on Julia. And Ethan hated that cavern.
Rafe shook off the thought. Not possible. Ethan wasn’t capable of such a thing.
“But how can you find who did it?”
“The how will come, but while I’m figuring it out, I’m going to make sure you’re safe.”
“So you’ll come down with me?” Her excitement flared to life again.
Rafe couldn’t stand to douse it. “One more time.”
She looked a little doused. “I need more than once.”
Rafe was silent for too long. “I’ll let you have a good long look around. Maybe if you see something you think needs to be studied, we could go back again.”
“Oh, Rafe. Thank you.” She threw herself into his arms.
He wrapped his arms around the grateful little thing. “You like that idea, huh?”
“Very much.”
“So, all I’ve got to do to keep you happy is . . . let you do anything you want?” Rafe pulled back just enough to see her smile.
His eyes flickered to her pink lips. What came to his mind was more dangerous than anything he’d ever faced. But he wanted to feel something.
He tightened his hold on her and lowered his head.
Fast-moving footsteps pulled Rafe’s attention away from Julia. His Colt was out and cocked by the time he moved between her and whoever approached. Ethan rounded the corner of the house from the back. Steele was right behind him.
“Good, you’re here.” Rafe holstered his pistol and started for the house—doing his best to ignore the remembered warmth of her arms and the frost that was softening in his heart.
As he came around the house, Ethan noticed Rafe standing way too close to the pretty lady he’d pulled out of the belly of the earth.
Rafe had saved her. Ethan could imagine how good that felt. Saving someone, coming through, was a yardstick Ethan measured himself with. He always came up short.
“I don’t think there’s much you can do for him, Steele.” Rafe strode toward them, ignoring Ethan to focus on his ranch foreman. Rafe would pay attention to Ethan when he had some orders to issue. That twisted Ethan’s temper, but he covered his anger with a smile.
The ranch foreman was right on Ethan’s heels, carrying a pack as big as Ethan’s. He was spry for an old-timer.
“Tell me what’s wrong.” Gray brows lowered over eyes as black as a raven.
Rafe gave a quick, cold outline of Wendell’s condition.
Ethan didn’t know medicine and he didn’t know Steele Coulter. But he knew hopeless.
His thoughts immediately went to the fragile woman who must be inside with her husband. With a quick glance at Julia, he asked, “Is Audra with him?”
“She’s in there.” Rafe looked grim.
“I’ll go look at the arm. Doubt there’s anything . . .” Steele’s eyes slid to Julia. “Sorry, miss. It sure sounds like things are serious for your pa.”
“Let’s go in.” Julia started toward the cabin.
Rafe turned to take the lead, as always, but Ethan grabbed his arm. “Wait a minute.”
With an impatient glare, Rafe said, “We should be in there.”
Julia went inside with Steele tagging after her.
“There’s not room for us to be in there, and you know it.”
“There’s room. They might need something.” Rafe jerked at Ethan’s hold.
Hanging on doggedly, Ethan said, “Let Steele have a minute alone with the family.”
Rafe’s jaw tensed, but Ethan was right.
“I saw your chain ladder tossed on the ground beside the cave. And the rope is lying there, coiled up. So nobody can be down there, right? There’d have to be a rope or ladder hanging down. That’s the only way in or out.”
“Unless someone went down and another person pulled up the ladder.”
“Which would mean two people hiding around here. And they couldn’t be together because whoever trapped Julia would’ve also had to trap the other man. Not real likely.”
Nodding, Rafe glared at Ethan as if he were only holding himself out of the cabin by pure force of will.
“So, whoever scared her and stranded her is out here.” Ethan looked around and felt the forest pressing on him. Someone could be watching just a few yards away.
“He’s got to be around somewhere.”
“Maybe ducked down in a clump of scrub pines or hiding behind a boulder or over that ledge.” Ethan jabbed a thumb to indicate all the possible places a man could conceal himself. “Did you get any idea who’d done it? Did you see any tracks?”
“No. I didn’t take the time to track anyone. It was full dark and I was busy with a hysterical woman.”
“Anyone low-down enough to do that to a woman is a danger to all of us.” Ethan looked at the cabin, thinking of the hacksaw Steele had packed. He felt as if the cabin held the terrors of Hades. Not unlike that cavern.
All that grief, crying, bleeding, dying. Ethan didn’t want any part of it.
He didn’t want any part of the cavern, either. But tracking—that he could do.
“I’m going to go see if there’s a trail. Try and follow it.”
“You’re needed here, Ethan.”
A sudden cry came from the cabin—must be Audra. Steele must have just given his opinion of Wendell’s wounds.
“I’ll be back after a while.” Ethan ran from the commotion inside that cabin. He was good at running. Good at being useless when someone needed him.
Julia came out of the cabin carrying Maggie just as Ethan dodged toward the back of the cabin.
“Ethan, you get back here.” Julia’s voice froze Ethan in his tracks.
Dreading the thought of Audra sobbing over her no-account husband, Ethan turned to see Maggie sniffling, tears running down her face.
His panic subsided. A baby crying. He could handle that.
The baby snuggled against Julia and her heavy eyelids dropped shut. With a couple more whimpers, she fell asleep.
He slid a wary look between the baby and Julia. But he stayed.
“Where are you going?” Julia rubbed Maggie’s back.
“I’m gonna try and pick up the trail of the man who trapped you in the cavern.”
Julia looked from the baby to Rafe to Ethan to the cabin, and whispered, “If Maggie stays asleep, can I come?”
“No, you can’t come. Tracking’s a one man job.” Ethan took a longing look over his shoulder, toward that cabin and the trail behind it.
“Steele wants to tend Father for a while. Maggie woke up, but she hasn’t been asleep nearly long enough.” Julia rested a gentle hand on the baby’s face. “I need to get out of the cabin. Every move I make bothers Audra or Maggie.”
“But Stee
le will bother them.” Ethan was looking forward to going off on his own. He had half a notion to just keep going, get away from all of them.
Then Ethan thought of the homecoming hug Rafe had given him and how long it’d been since anyone, even someone as bossy as his big brother, had cared if Ethan lived or died.
“Steele’s being quiet, working on the wound. It was me moving around that was the problem.” Julia took a close look at Maggie. “She’s out. Let me put her down.” Julia was looking straight at Rafe. “You wait for me.”
More orders.
Ethan looked at Rafe, who shrugged.
“Okay, go lay her down. Steele will look after your pa until we come back.”
Julia nodded eagerly and went inside.
“Tracking is a quiet business, Rafe. If we follow the tracks until we find someone, there could be trouble.”
“After this many hours, we’ll be lucky to even read his sign, let alone follow him back to wherever he’s hiding. If it looks like we might be coming on him, you can take Julia back and I’ll go on after him.”
“Why don’t you just give me a rattle to play with.” Ethan smiled at Rafe, when he wanted to growl. But nobody could out-growl Rafe, so why bother to try?
Rafe opened his mouth to say something bossy, Ethan was sure, just as Julia came back out. They set off.
“You really have to leave the house every day?” Ethan headed around the cabin and up the slope and down.
“Yes, that’s the only way Audra gets a good rest. She shouldn’t be having another baby so soon. She’s gone into labor at least three times since we left home.”
Ethan wasn’t real sure how a woman went into labor, then didn’t go ahead and have the baby. He knew better than to ask—for fear Julia would answer. In detail. He crossed the stream and climbed.
“The first two times didn’t amount to much, but the last time I thought the baby was coming. I’ve been trying to keep Audra still as much as possible, and I give her time to sleep whenever I can.” Julia almost caught Ethan, but he moved fast enough to stay ahead of her. Julia was going to lead this expedition if she could manage it. Even though she had no idea where they were going.
Out of Control Page 9