While he hadn’t meant to drag her into this untenable situation between the Navajos and the government, what was done was done. As his lover, she was deeply involved and could be implicated in his crimes should he be apprehended.
He blew out a breath of frustration. No. That would never happen. Even as his wife—that is, if she agreed to marry him—he’d take great care to assure she would never be linked to him. If captured, he would deny that he knew her—even under the duress of torture.
He turned on to his back and rested a forearm over his eyes. But what if she did not accept his marriage proposal? They could not simply cohabitate within the Dine village. His maternal family would frown upon such behavior, not to mention Halle would have no rights afforded a Navajo wife. In The People’s eyes, she would possess no more status than a slave. But how could he let her go to another man should she choose that path?
He had been the first man inside her body, and now had branded her with the possibility of new life. It was a selfish wish, but he hoped his seed would take hold and give him a child. Not one to replace the daughter he lost, but a child with this woman—the woman he now loved more than his own life. His breath caught in his throat at the image of Halle holding their babe to her breast.
“No. I will not let you go,” he whispered as he stroked her soft hair. “I have staked my claim on you woman.”
She stirred, her eyes fluttering open. “Antonio?”
“I am here.”
“I’ve been dreaming about something.”
Such could be dangerous. “And about what have you been dreaming?”
“Marrying you.”
He froze. Was this her way of telling him she accepted? “Have you made a decision?”
“Yep.”
He held his breath, waited.
“I do want to marry you.”
He pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head. “Then I will make the arrangements.”
She pulled back to look at him, a puzzled expression on her face. “Antonio, do you hear that?”
At her mention, he did. The low rolling thunder of hooves in the distance. His skin goose fleshed. He lay still, not breathing for a moment, listening.
“What is that?” she whispered.
Horses.
“Get dressed.” He sprang to his feet, grabbed his pants and rolled to his feet as a sick feeling hit him in the gut. Most of the men in camp had left for a two-day hunt and he feared soldiers were about to ambush the encampment. Women and children were defenseless without guns in the event of a surprise attack.
He tossed her moccasins to her. Hurry.” He strapped the Colt to his thigh. “Soldiers have arrived.”
“Oh my God! We have to find the children!” She threw on the dress haphazardly, not bothering to sash it. “And Max! He’ll get frightened and run away! He might get trampled by the horses!” She sprinted toward the door but Antonio caught her by the wrist and pulled her backward, causing them both to tumble down to the blankets again. “Stay here. I will bring the children here—Max, too.”
“Oh, no, mister. I’m not staying behind. I’m going with you!”
He seized her by the shoulders and gave her a quick, sobering shake. “This is not the time to be stubborn! You could be killed!”
Tears gathered in her eyes and she lifted a hand and touched his cheek with trembling fingertips. “And you could get killed, too.”
Cradling her face in his hands, he kissed her hard. “Halle? ”
Her gaze locked with his. “Yeah?”
He almost told her he loved her. He memorized her child-like face, the soft curves of her flushed cheeks, the sparse sprinkling of pale freckles across her sun-reddened nose. He had lost one wife and child to the soldiers, and nearly a son. But, damn them they would not hurt this woman if he could prevent it.
Before she could protest, he flipped her onto her belly and pulled both her hands behind her back to lash her wrists together with leather cord.
“Antonio, no! Please don’t tie me. I’ll do as you say. I’ll stay here and wait.”
“Be still.”
She squirmed against the restraints. “But I promised.”
“I have no choice.” He grasped her legs and forced her ankles together. “If solders find you bound, they will think you were taken captive. They will treat you better.” He tied her ankles, then rolled her onto her back. The fear he saw in her tear-filled eyes broke his heart.
“Don’t leave me” she whispered hoarsely.
Tears blinded him. He turned his face, not wanting her to see him cry. “If they ask about me, tell them you don’t know me. Deny everything.” He pushed up from the ground. “You never knew me, Halle. We never met.”
“You’re tying me because you don’t believe I’ll wait here for you! You think I’ll follow!”
“I bound you so you will not be harmed!” he yelled, wishing he could make her understand. “If they find you—if they think you’ve been intimate with me or any man in this tribe...” He stopped short of telling her they would take turns abusing her. “Tell them no man here has touched you.”
As an afterthought, he shoved up her dress to wipe away a smear of blood on her inner thigh, evidence of her lost innocence, proof of their afternoon together.
A pang of guilt tore at his heart as he walked away. He promised he would return, although he wasn’t certain he would. If he were killed, Sonny would take her as his third wife and provide well for her. She only cried harder as he left which made it worse. Taking his rifle, he stormed from the hogan, tears scalding his eyes.
Women’s and children’s shouts and screams echoed through the canyon as he tore up the ridge toward the village. He had to find Lukachukai, Diego and Tani —and that damned, crazy dog of Halle’s.
Gunshots rang out, followed by more screams. He ascended the trail at breakneck speed, not certain what he would find over the rise, but praying to God—to any god who would listen now—that the people he loved most would not be forever lost to him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The bed in the small cabin dipped and creaked beneath the shadowed figure’s weight. Max growled low and Halle gripped his hind legs, then yanked him beneath the cover again and clamped two fingers around his stumpy muzzle. She hadn’t heard the door to her private quarters open, hadn’t seen a light from the sentry’s torches, but she remained still, her back turned, afraid to move or breathe. For a moment, she wondered if the person sitting on the side of her bed were even a person at all—a living, breathing one.
Rumbles erupted from Max again, but she kept her hand closed tightly over his mouth. She turned slowly and dared a peek over her shoulder. No one. But she had felt the bed move, felt the warmth of another body in the room. Had it been a dream? No. Max was still clearly disturbed by an unseen presence. A ridge of hair stood erect on the back of his neck. Besides, she felt it in every taut nerve of her body. Someone or something was sitting beside her. Then she smelled peppermint.
“Stella?” she whispered into the darkness. “Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me, baby girl,” came the honeyed voice that was unmistakably Stella’s.
Halle rolled over and stared at the dark outline ringed in a shimmering gold mist.
She released Max who dashed toward Stella, this time not with the intent to rip her to shreds, but to lick her to death. “Where have you been? I’ve been summoning you for weeks. What’d you do—go on vacation? It’s about time you got here. I’m in big trouble.”
“You’re telling me, Halle girl. But first I have a question. What ever possessed you to hatch a blackmail plot against Frank Cole?”
“Oh, yeah, that. I thought if could squeeze some money out of him, I could start fresh somewhere else.”
“I don’t think part of the plan was for you to get involved with one of Elena’s ladies in some hair-brained scheme.”
“Hair-brained scheme? I needed money. Besides, I called for you so many times I lost count. You didn’t
come. I got scared, thinking you’d abandoned me, too.”
“I’ll never abandon you, Halle.”
“Really? Well if my own mother would dump me—my own flesh and blood—you probably would, too. ”
“Your mother did what she had to do.”
“Don’t even try to justify her running out on me, Stella. She hated me. I tied her down and she only wanted her freedom.”
Stella sighed and took Halle’s hand in hers. “Oh, baby girl…I knew this day would come and I’ve long dreaded it. I probably shouldn’t tell you this yet, but you leave me no choice.”
“No choice about what?”
“It’s time you know the truth about your mother.”
Halle held a breath, braced herself. “Oh God. That woman—N. Brooks in Las Cruces—really was my mother?”
“No.”
All feeling left Halle’s body. “Who is she?”
“Your aunt.”
“My aunt?”
Stella drew in a deep breath. “Your mother was protecting you from thugs who would have hurt you. True, the woman in the photograph given to you by the children’s home wasn’t Naomi Brooks. That was a picture of your aunt, your father’s sister, Norah. He’d disappeared two years earlier. Apparently the same dangerous people who killed him later came after your mother so your aunt delivered you into foster care so you’d be safe, so they would never find you.
“I always thought…”
Stella squeezed Halle’s hand. “All your life you thought your mother didn’t love you, that she’d abandoned you. You couldn’t have known the danger you were in, the sacrifices your mother made to keep you alive or the danger your aunt put herself in to hide you. True, Naomi and your father made some bad choices in their associations, but your mother didn’t want you to end up hurt because of her mistakes. That’s real love, Halle, not some greeting card version all sugared up. Love is sacrifice, doing the right thing, even if it hurts and you don’t get what you want out of the deal.”
“Why didn’t my aunt come back for me?”
“Apparently there was a miscommunication. Norah did come for you when you were about ten years old, but she was told you’d been adopted and the records were sealed. She believed you were better off—happy with your adoptive family. She didn’t want to destroy your new life.”
Halle flicked away tears with her fingertips, and drew a deep, steadying breath. All these years she believed no one cared. So many nights she’d cried herself to sleep believing she’d been unworthy of anyone’s love. She struggled to stave off another round, but failed. A river coursed down her cheeks as deep, choking sobs overtook her.
Stella’s comforting arm went around her shoulder. “That’s right, baby girl. Let it out. You’re certainly entitled.”
Halle wept a moment, grieving for the frightened little girl she’d been. For most of her life she believed the lie that she’d been abandoned, that her parents hadn’t cared. She allowed others to define her—who and what she was. But someone had cared. Her aunt Norah Brooks. Just knowing that Norah tried to find her, gave her heart peace.
Halle sniffed hard and fought to compose herself. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
Stella sighed. “It wouldn’t have meant anything if you’d known too soon. Now you understand what it is like to lose everything, to feel abandoned, to be endangered. Think of Lukachukai and Tani and Diego. Those children are innocent, yet there are those who wish to do them harm. Can you imagine what Antonio’s maimed son must have endured, watching his own mother and baby sister die, knowing his father wasn’t there to protect them. He was old enough to remember the loss of his family and to grieve for them every day of his life since—just like you have remembered the loss of your mother and carry the unhealed wound deep in your heart.”
Halle’s eyes teared up again. “How does all this involve me? You’d said my presence here is supposed to help bring Hope Brannigan justice. How? What was the great purpose I was supposed to serve by going back in time?”
Stella reached up and cupped Halle’s cheek in one warm palm. “You will bring closure to Hope’s tragic death, Halle. But there is so much more coming. But right now, you are the only one who can reach Lukachukai, and his father. Antonio is fighting for a lost cause, not out of loyalty to his mother’s people. That was his original intent. In his conscience, he believes he’s failed his son and his dead daughter. He’s still beating himself up with guilt, trying to make it all right by ‘saving the world’ in the end. It will never happen. You know the history that has gone before. Soldiers are coming, and soon. While the Navajo can hide for a while, eventually, they will surrender. But the one most at risk is young Lukachukai. That poor child hasn’t spoken since his mother’s death two years ago. You didn’t speak either for a few years after you went into foster care, remember?”
Halle hadn’t remembered that fact until now. “They thought something was wrong with me. I was sent for special tests at a doctor’s office every week and speech therapy for a few years.”
“You’d been traumatized by losing your mother. Wasn’t a thing wrong with you except you’d shut the world out. In your innocent mind, the only person you’d ever loved had betrayed you. You closed up inside and built a protective cocoon around yourself so that your little broken heart wouldn’t hurt anymore.”
“But I don’t know what to do for these people—for the kids, for Antonio. How am I going to help anyone now? We’re trapped in this fort and the women and children are behind bars.”
Stella laid a warm, reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Halle girl, you can’t save the world and no one is asking you to, but you do have the power to change Antonio and Lukachukai’s lives, to heal their hurts and be the influence on them that will help them to grow into the people they were destined to become. Think about the positive effect you’ve already had on Tani. She’s becoming her own woman thanks to you. You have been the strongest source of inspiration for these people in a long time.”
“This means I’m not ever going back to the future, doesn’t it?”
Stella hesitated. “I also knew this time would come and I’m ready to address that question. Do you want to return to your former life in the future?”
Halle’s heart beat sped up. Stella wasn’t serious, was she? “But you made it sound like I’d be trapped here a long time. Are you saying I can go back to the future at any time?”
“No.”
Halle’s heart dipped. “Well, gee, thanks for dangling the carrot in front of a starving rabbit.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t go back to the future, Halle. I merely said you couldn’t go back any time you wished. But you can decide right now, and when the time is right, you’ll make the transition back through the vortex to your old life in Albuquerque.”
“Can Antonio and the children go too?”
“No, baby. It’s just you and Max as it was in the beginning.”
“I can’t abandon the kids.”
Stella squeezed her hand. “That’s because they’re your family now, the one you never had but the one you always deserved.” Stella shifted to face her. “Look, baby girl, it wasn’t your fault your mother got mixed up with the wrong people, or that she couldn’t be there for you when you were growing up. You deserved better than you got, I’ll admit, but in your new life in the past, you’ve gotten more than you ever thought you’d have. These people are your family—your future, your destiny. Embrace the opportunity you’ve been given. It is your only hope for survival, and theirs, too.”
“I hate the harshness of this era. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.”
“Shhh. Keep your voice it down. There’s a guard outside the door again.”
Halle snorted. “Why, that old fart is deaf as the wall and twice as stupid.”
“Don’t be fooled. He can hear every word you say.”
“Help us all escape, Stella. I don’t think they’ve fed the children in days.”
“Don
’t worry. Antonio is bringing skilled warriors, the likes of which this fort has never seen before. I’d hate to be in these men’s boots tomorrow night when his men descend upon this place.”
“Promise me Antonio won’t be hurt.”
Stella released her hands and stood. “Believe that everything is going to work out the way it is supposed to. You are here for a reason and your life in the past counts. Don’t ever doubt that. This is where you are supposed to be Halle girl.”
“Antonio asked me to marry him.” Fresh tears bubbled up.
“I know.”
“Should I? I mean, I want to, but…is there any time left for us?”
Stella drew in an audible breath. “That’s not a decision I can make, and you know I can’t foretell the future, but after your romantic interlude the other day, you might seriously consider such a move.”
Halle gasped, feeling heat suffuse her cheeks. “You saw us together?”
Stella waved a hand. “Now don’t worry. I didn’t see anything, but I am privileged to certain information.”
“Are Lukachukai and Diego and Tani all right?”
“They’re hungry tonight, but doing as best they can. But there is something you must do. Once you are free of this place and back with Antonio, you must convince him to take you and the children to Albuquerque—specifically, to Elena’s.”
What was Stella not telling her? “Why Elena’s? Do you know she was going to sell me, then hand me over to Frank Cole?”
“I certainly do, but with a bit of quick thinking on Antonio’s part you were saved. You’ll be spared that woman’s wrath again, but you must go back.”
“What if Antonio refuses?”
Stella blew out a breath. “Oh, baby girl you wear me out sometimes! If you never believe anything else, know that your fate is sealed with this man—your past, present and future. You must do whatever is in your power to convince him it is for the best. You’re a crafty sort. I’m sure you’ll think of some clever way.”
“He’s a stubborn mule, Stella.”
“Then I’d say he’s met his match in you. Knock him over the head with a pan or hog tie him if you must, but all of you must get to Albuquerque—that means, you, Antonio, Tani, Lukachukai and Diego. When the time comes, you’ll know what to do. Oh, and one more thing before I go. You stay away from that Frank Cole character. No more blackmail letters. No contact period. He’s a murderer and a rapist, Halle, pure evil incarnate. If you get into trouble with Frank Cole, I can’t guarantee that anyone this side of heaven can help you.”
Ride The Wild Wind (Time Travel Historical Romance) Page 26