Hallie watched sweat bead across Antonio’s brow. His nostril’s flared. A nerve in his jaw twitched. He turned toward Tani. “Take Lukachukai to the creek and wash the dye from his hair. Now.”
At his order, Tani grasped the boy’s hand and left with Diego and Max on their heels.
Antonio bent and rummaged through some leather saddlebags. Then he began to place a few belongings inside. He was leaving again?
“Thanks, Antonio. You’ve just ruined the children’s evening.” He ignored her. Hands on hips, she stood over him. “Okay, mister, don’t you think the silent treatment has gone on long enough?”
He rose to tower over her and she felt the biting nip of air. Was it him, or the chill of late afternoon?
“I don’t know who you are. What more do you expect me to say. I have been living with a stranger all these months.”
He’d been living with a stranger? For a man who had more than a few dark secrets of his own, he certainly had some nerve passing judgment. “I would have told you sooner but I didn’t think you’d believe me. Besides, you haven’t exactly been honest with me, either.”
“You know everything—thanks to Tani.” He pulled a leather pouch from a peg on the wall slung it over his shoulder. “What else is there to add?”
He stared at her for the longest time, hesitating, as if there was more he longed to say, but was afraid. “I have known for sometime you are different, Halle. The way you speak…the things you know about The People. Sonny saw you in a vision months before I found you. Lukachukai dreamed of you, as did I.”
Hope flared within. “Then you believe I’m not crazy? That I did come from the future…that I saw you on the road that night of the storm?”
“I believe you arrived into my world that night, but I am still not certain how that is possible. I cannot even fathom who or what you are.”
Halle lifted a hand to touch his face, then withdrew, sensing it would do no good. “I’m flesh and blood like you.”
He shook his head. “No. You are much more.”
She watched him move about the hogan, gathering a few tools—a knife, rope and a few cooking implements. What did he mean, she was ‘much more’? Did he think she possessed supernatural powers?
“Are you angry with me?”
He didn’t answer.
“Are you afraid?”
His eyes lifted to hers. “I have no fear of you. I fear for you.”
Her heart squeezed in her chest and she knelt beside him. “I didn’t tell you sooner because I was afraid you’d think I was crazy.”
At her words, his harsh expression softened. “From the first moment I found you, unconscious and lying in the arroyo, I knew you were not ordinary.”
He rose and brushed past as if their conversation was over.
“Wait! Is that all you have to say?” Standing, Halle put her hands on her hips. He glanced at her, then returned to packing. “You never answered my question, Antonio. Where are you going?”
“That is of no concern to you.”
“Please tell me you’re not going to a raid a fort again.”
“Rest assured I am not. Such is too risky now.”
“Are you meeting with an arms supplier?”
“I asked that you not concern yourself in my affairs, Halle. You should not be involved in any of this.” Opening the canvas bag side, he tossed in a coil of rope, a small hatchet and some jerked meat, then turned to look at her. “I also feel it is in your best interest that we don’t share a hogan any longer. We are not properly married and my family has expressed their disapproval of our living arrangements. I will move my things out when I return from my trip. Lukachukai’s as well.”
The ground moved beneath her feet and she steadied herself with one hand on the wall. He was abandoning her? Oh, God. Just as she’d always feared. One day he’d tire of her and leave. Like everyone else in her life. Tears bubbled up, but she fought them back. “I thought your family was all right with the idea of us living together. Tani said since you’d spent much of your life among the whites, they understood your ways were different.”
“My ‘ways’ are disrespectful.” His lips pressed together and he looked away. “Besides, it is clear that you don’t wish to remain here with me. Therefore, I will not marry you, Halle and force you to live with The People. Neither will I continue to risk the possibility of getting you with child.”
His verbal slap stung worse than if he’d actually struck her. She wished she had something to clunk this pig headed lout with over the head! “You hate me.”
“I certainly do not.”
“All because I didn’t tell you who I really was or why I’d come? But you wouldn’t have understood.”
He turned, his dark gaze meeting hers. “Are you so certain?”
“My story is insane.”
“Yes, and I still cannot believe it,” he said as he stood. “Traveling back in time...riding on wagons without horses…”
“Cars,” she interjected.
“Guides named Sally.”
“Stella.”
He shrugged. “I would rather believe you were ill, that your captivity by soldiers impaired your ability to reason. But in my heart I know you are not sick and what you said is true.”
“You do?”
He nodded.
“Then if you know I’m telling the truth why don’t you trust me when I tell you we must get the children to Albuquerque?”
“There is nothing left for us there.”
“I asked you to trust me on this one.”
He scoffed. “Considering your poor judgment where Frank Cole was concerned, perhaps that is too much to ask. You will dismiss any notions of ever returning to Albuquerque, Halle. I forbid further talk on the matter.”
“What am I to do? Stay here like a sitting duck and wait until the soldiers arrive?”
“When I return, I will decide where to send you. Since you don’t wish to remain with me in the encampment, then I will release you, Halle. You will be free to return to your former life—but not to Elena Costanza’s.”
She bit down on her lower lip to keep from bawling like a baby as she watched him leave, feeling as empty as the wide vast canyon lands surrounding them. Damn him! It wasn’t her freedom she wanted. It was him!
She couldn’t let him go—not yet with so many words left unspoken between them. She followed him to the door. “Antonio, are you really not coming back to live in our hogan?”
He paused but did not turn around. “No. I am not coming back to live with you.”
Her legs almost collapsed from beneath her as numbness settled into her extremities. It was over. Truly over. The hopelessness of her situation hit her full force. She’d given up everything for Antonio, had probably wasted her only chance to return to the future because she’d been stupid enough to fall in love with him. Now this mule headed man had the audacity to brush her aside as if these past few months meant nothing? Men were nothing but self serving pigs and the women who were stupid enough to love them were the biggest fools of all!
“Pack your belongings, Halle. I will return in a few days, and at that time decide on a safe destination for you.”
Then, he was gone.
Tears blinded her and she dashed them away with her hands. What a screwed up wreck her life had become. All because she trusted her heart and not her intellect. Never again would she make that same mistake. If Antonio loved her—truly loved her—he’d never abandon her. He’d remain in their hogan and they’d work through their differences despite what his Navajo family thought. Yet he was all too eager to discard her. Why? Had he found another woman? Or was it true what she always believed? She was so screwed up no one could ever love her?
She glanced around the hogan at the sand drawings Lukachukai made for her today, and the combs and pots of colored gel she’d styled the children’s hair with. Maybe it all hadn’t been in vain. Antonio might not love her the way she needed but at least she had the children—their loy
alty. As Stella once said, these kids were her family now, and they were in mortal danger. Even the tiny bud of new life growing inside her deserved protection.
Hadn’t her mother made the ultimate sacrifice years ago by having her aunt hide her in the foster care system? More tears welled up in her eyes and she fought them down. Sacrifice. That’s what love was really all about. She knew that now. Even so, it didn’t fill the emptiness in her heart for a man whose love she could never possess.
There was of no use crying over Antonio. He was battling his own demons and spiraling downward into a pit of lost causes. Time was running out. Soon, soldiers would arrive. If Antonio continued this insane fight, he’d be killed. Right now, she had to think of the future. Of the children. And the baby.
“Fine. Leave, Antonio,” she muttered under her breath as copious tears poured from her eyes. “I don’t need you and you obviously don’t need me anymore, but I will protect these children. And another thing, mister—” She raged at the empty doorway. “I’m not leaving without them. They’re my family now, too, and they’re going with me to Albuquerque—to Elena Costanza’s. We won’t be here when you get back, so deal with that. ”
* * * * *
Antonio hastily departed their hogan, anguish squeezing at his chest. He had not meant his harsh words, but for Halle’s sake he tried to be convincing. No one in camp frowned upon their living arrangements. In fact, Halle’s adoptive parents were thrilled at the possibility of having future grandchildren. But if Halle believed it was over between them and that he planned to return her to civilization, perhaps she would not do anything foolish like attempt a treacherous trip alone to Albuquerque. To ensure she’d not run away in his absence, he’d ask Tani to stay with her and Lukachukai in the hogan to keep a watch over her until his return.
True, he was stunned when she first confessed she had come from the future, although he already believed this in his heart. From the beginning, Sonny claimed she had traveled the stars. It wasn’t the bizarre attire she’d worn, or the fancy words she used which aroused his suspicion. She knew details—dates, places and names in The People’s war for freedom—facts no outsider was privileged to.
But the other day, his cousin told him something more disturbing. Halle was not The People’s destiny as he had previously believed. She was Antonio’s. And his cousin urged him to leave their band and take Halle and the children away to safety.
They would go to Rancho de los Santos in California, the ancestral home of his grandfather. From there, they would begin a new life together.
While he would have preferred to spare her heartache, he’d no choice but to be cruel. She hadn’t believed him when he told her Elena was planning to sell her. Besides, it was too dangerous for anyone to travel the main routes to Albuquerque. Navajo scouts recently returned and reported spying garrisons along the major roads leading in and out of the city. It was also true what she revealed a few weeks before about neighboring tribes tracking The People. After weeks of surveillance, he, too, discovered the cavalry had enlisted the aid of the Utes, one of the Navajo’s sworn enemies.
Since he suspected Halle’s pregnancy, he could not in good conscience risk jeopardizing another innocent life. They were reasonably safe in their mountain refuge for a week, perhaps longer. She’d be safe with his family in the event he was killed or captured. So would his unborn child.
He tumbled dozens of questions through his mind. Which room at Elena’s had been hers? Would Rosa or Pedro tell him, or would they turn him in for the reward? Would Halle’s money still be hidden in the drapery lining? Too many questions remained unanswered.
After he led the men to yet another hidden weapon’s cache higher into the mountains—a two day operation at best—he’d double back and head southeast toward Albuquerque. He prayed the money was still safely there. Once he retrieved the cash, he would secure a wagon load of supplies and head back to the Chuska’s one last time. Then, they would leave immediately—he, Halle and the children—departing for California before the first snowfall.
He prayed Halle would understand, and that in time she would forgive him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Out of breath and pouring sweat from two minutes of vigorous humping, Frank Cole crawled off the dead whore and dragged himself across the filthy, oak plank floor. The bitch had put up one hell of a fight, though he rather liked that in a woman. Still, he hadn’t meant to snap her neck. But when he wouldn’t pay her for the lousy job she’d done the first time, she’d gone crazy on him and started throwin’ things and shoutin’ at the top of her lungs. He’d no choice but to silence her.
Using a chair as leverage, he lifted himself to his feet and scratched his itchy red genitals. He needed more sulfur salve and soon. He glanced over at Myra Mae’s sprawled, plump body, her enormous breasts and thick, meaty thighs spread wide. Not the kind of woman he’d pick if he had any choice in the matter. Sometimes a man had just to settle on what was available.
He pulled on his britches, then rifled through Myra’s bureau drawers and found a small tin box filled with cash. He’d stolen more the other day from the register after shooting that lyin’ store owner in Union City. That’d teach the old weasel to keep that red-headed niece of his a post office slot in his establishment. Now he knew for sure she’d survived Jack Dudley’s attack months before and had been blackmailing him. It took a while to get the truth out of the old man, but once he’d cut off a couple of fingers, the old fella’d been right cooperative. The man told him she’d paid him regularly to keep quiet on her whereabouts.
Frank bet that damned Elena Costanza was in on this scheme, too. And that uppity whore was gonna get everything she had coming to her, too.
He didn’t bother to count the money he’d stolen from the mercantile. Didn’t care to. He hadn’t gone there with the intention of robbing the place. He just wanted to know where them blackmailing letters had originated, and where his money was being wired to.
He stuffed his pants pockets full of coins and bills. Using the back of his hand, he wiped the whore’s greasy lip rouge from his mouth. If he rode hard he might make it to Albuquerque in three days. And then there was gonna be some reckonin’ with the high and mighty Elena Costanza.
He opened the door and turned to look back at Myra Mae one last time. Her death gaze was wide, her rouged mouth gaped open. “I’d thank you for the good time, darlin,’” he said with a chuckle, “but you wasn’t any good.”
Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a coin and tossed it at her. “Here’s a little somthin’ for your trouble, sugar. Buy yourself somethin’ purty.”
He set his hat on his head and closed the door behind him.
* * * * *
By the light of the nearly full moon Halle and Tani loaded saddlebags filled with jerked meat, roasted ears of corn and pinion nuts for the trip to Albuquerque.
“We’ll be safe at Elena’s,” Halle reassured a nervous Tani for the umpteenth time as they wrapped more dried food bundles in clean skins and tied them with leather cord. At least she hoped Elena would welcome her and the children. “I have a lot of money hidden in my old room at Elena’s parlor. We can rent a building in town and set up a boutique.”
“What if this Elena woman turns us in to the soldiers?”
“She won’t. Besides, we have no other choice. Soldiers are coming to the Chuskas soon.”
“Antonio will be angry when he discovers we left.”
“The way I see it, he’s already pissed at me. How much worse could it get?”
Tani lowered her eyes. “My mother will cry for me.”
“Your mother will cry more if you are dead or locked in a detention camp. At least in Albuquerque, we’ll be safe.”
“Are you certain this woman can be trusted?”
Halle wasn’t, but taking a chance was a suitable alternative to their impending situation. Still, she hadn’t figured out a story for Elena and supposed she’d work on a whopper of a tale while they traveled. If
the madam knew Antonio had abducted her that day, or suspected she’d become his lover during her months away, Elena might toss her and the children out in the street like the contents of her chamber pot.
Hopefully with the note she left for Antonio, he’d play into her game once he returned from his latest raid and follow her straight to Albuquerque. At least she was counting on it.
With Rosa’s help, she’d hide the children and hire a driver to deliver a wagon filled with food and blankets back to The People. If, or when Antonio arrived, she and the children would plead for him to take them to his grandfather’s ranch in California.
She blew out an exhaustive breath and hefted another bag onto the horse’s back. “We need to move quickly. Since Antonio will probably return in a couple of days, we have to leave tonight to get a head start. Later, when everyone is asleep, I want you to quietly awaken Diego and have him join us. I’ll pack Lukachukai’s things when I return to the hogan.”
Tani nodded.
* * * * *
Elena Costanza donned her finest red silk peignoir, her newest treasure from Paris. She posed before her dressing table and practiced seductive facial expressions. In the mirror’s reflection she watched Lola gather her clothes from the wardrobe. She admired the young woman’s nude form, her round little bottom and long shapely legs. Regrettably, she must send her lover away and prepare for Antonio’s arrival, later tonight the telegram had stated.
She folded her arms across her bosom and thought of his last visit. He had taken the girl the day soldiers arrived. She’d watched from her window, her heart ripping into pieces as he lifted that little red haired bitch onto the horse’s back and swung up behind her. She never questioned if he had slept with her. Of course he had. She was pretty and young. Virginal.
She sighed and tossed her head back, forcing a smile. Even if he had enjoyed the girl, he would tire of her soon if he already hadn’t. She licked a finger and touched up a stray tendril of hair at her temple. No woman could compare to her own beauty, or her exceptional skills in the bedroom. Besides, Antonio always returned to her when he grew bored of his latest woman. He always would.
Ride The Wild Wind (Time Travel Historical Romance) Page 30