Midnight Fire

by Linda Ladd

  At first, he'd been glad to have Carlisle out of the house. Then he'd found himself pacing the floor of their bedchamber each night, missing her and wanting her with him. He'd had little peace since she left, and it galled him to admit he needed her.

  More difficult still was living with the knowledge that he'd treated her badly and said spiteful things to her, things that he really didn't mean. Sometimes he wanted to hurt her, but when he saw the pain darken her eyes to jade, he felt worse than she did. He'd felt that way when they had argued about her visiting her family in Chicago, and Carlisle's face had reflected her wounded feelings.

  He knew why he'd forbidden the trip. He was afraid she'd never come back. But he'd already decided how to make it up to her. They'd spend Christmas together at Tía Isabella's, and he'd give her the diamond necklace and matching bracelet he'd purchased.

  The city of Puebla was very old, set on hills with narrow, winding cobblestone streets. He hardly noticed the pedestrians in the market stalls as he spurred his mount along, irritated with himself for the eagerness he felt. Damn Carlisle and her hold on his heart!

  Within ten minutes, the estancia where his aunt lived came into sight. The front walls were high and bleached white from the sun, and when he pounded on the door, the portero immediately admitted him.

  "Buenos diás, Don Chaso!" he cried. "How are You?"

  "Bien, Tomacinto. Where is my mother?"

  "Dona Maria is in the patio, senor."

  "Gracias," Chase said, handing over his reins. He took off his sombrero and slapped it against his thigh to rid it of dust, then strode across the courtyard to the walled garden. A few moments later, he discovered his mother and aunt sipping canela tea in the shade. His mother looked shocked to see him.

  "Chaso! What are you doing here? We had no idea you were coming!"

  Chase smiled, bent to kiss his mother, then his short, plump aunt. "Buenos diás, Mama. Tía Isabella, you are looking muy bonita."

  "Gracias, Chaso," his tía answered, looking so distinctly uncomfortable that Chase's eyes lingered on her for an extra moment. He helped himself to a glass of orange juice from the pitcher on the table, then sat down on a bench near the women.

  "Where's Carly, Mother? Resting?"

  Tía Isabella seemed aghast at his question, and his mother quickly picked up a plate of buñuelos.

  "Would you care for something to eat, Chaso?"

  "Sí," he answered, looking at the paper-thin pancakes dripping with honey. He realized his stomach was empty, since he'd left the Casa Amarilla before breakfast. His aunt seemed overly thrilled that he was hungry.

  "Then I will bring you tortillas and eggs as well," she cried, jumping up and rushing away.

  Chase watched her leave, then turned inquiring eyes to his mother.

  "What's wrong with Tía Isabella?"

  "She's just pleased to have you visit her. You haven't been here in over a year, you know." His mother smiled, but her eyes watched him, a distinct wariness lurking in their black depths.

  "Is something wrong with Carlisle?" he demanded, suddenly alarmed by their strange behavior. He sat up straighter. "She's not ill, is she? Is it the baby?"

  "Oh, no," his mother reassured him quickly. "She's fine, but I imagine she's a bit uncomfortable now that she's beginning to show."

  Chase nodded and got to his feet. "What chamber does Carly have? I’d like to see her."

  His mother poured more tea into her cup. "I must say your concern surprises me. You've gone to great lengths in the past few months to make her miserable. Why do you wish to see her now?"

  Chase frowned at his mother's uncharacteristic rebuke. Because I missed her so much I couldn't shut my eyes at night, he wanted to say. He didn't.

  "Because she's my wife," he replied, his tone frigid enough to make his mother lower her gaze. He glanced up at the second-floor veranda, where the bedchambers were located. "Now, where's Carly?"

  His mother hesitated, then spoke, low and sorrowfully. "Carlita's gone, mi hijo."

  Chase's frown deepened. "You shouldn't let her go off visiting alone in her condition. When will she be back? Is she with Tomas?" he added as an afterthought, annoyed to think of the two of them alone together somewhere. Tomas was already too infatuated with his wife.

  "I'm sorry, Chaso, but Carlita won't be back. She's gone home."

  "To Mexico City? When?"

  "Not to the Casa Amarilla. Home to America."

  Chase's heart stopped. "What?"

  His mother moistened her lips. "Tomas and I took her to Veracruz last week. She and Juana set sail on a steamer to New Orleans."

  At first, Chase could only stare at her; then his face grew purple with rage. "Why the hell didn't you stop her?"

  His mother raised her chin. "I didn't want to stop her. She asked for my help because she had nowhere else to turn."

  "Goddamn it, Mother, she's my wife! She has no right to leave without my permission! How could you do this to me?"

  Dona Maria stared at him calmly. "I did it because you deserved for her to leave you. You've treated her abominably ever since you married her."

  "She's my wife!" Chase shouted, outraged at her interference. "She'll do as I say!"

  "Apparently not, Chaso. If you've lost her, you've only yourself to blame. For the first time in your life, your actions shame me. You remind me of your father."

  Shocked to silence by her words, Chase turned around and paced a few distracted steps away. A bird chirped on the branch above the table, but that sound was the only noise in the quiet patio as Chase wrestled with his emotions. Carly gone? Fled from him?

  "You shouldn't have helped her go, Mother," he said thickly. "She'll never come back."

  "You disappoint me, my son," Dona Maria answered. "You speak of her as if she were dead, when, in truth, she is only a sea voyage away."

  "Perhaps, but I'll be damned if I'll go chasing after her." He looked coldly at her. "I hope you're happy, Mother, because now you'll probably never lay eyes on your first grandchild."

  Dona Maria looked down as Chase stalked away and yelled furiously for his horse.

  19

  Tyler MacKenzie Kincaid rubbed her fingers in a circular motion, trying to dislodge the lacy frost covering the windowpanes. Outside in the frigid January night, Lincoln Avenue was deserted, the corner lamplight revealing huge snowflakes falling as softly as goose down.

  "Gray, what could be taking them so long?" she cried, turning to look at her husband. "I told you we should have taken the sleigh to the railway station!"

  Gray smiled at her from where he stood with one elbow propped on the mantelpiece, his calm demeanor in direct contrast to his wife's excitement. "And I told you, my love, that I won't allow you outside on icy sidewalks in your condition. Be patient. Carly and Chase will arrive as soon as they can."

  "But we haven't seen them in months! I'm having a baby, I grant you that, but I won't melt if I get a little wet!" she retorted, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm not made of sugar, you know!"

  Amusement flickered in her husband's blue eyes.

  "Well, now, sweetheart, I suppose that's a matter of opinion."

  Tyler had to laugh as Gray came toward her, and she met his embrace eagerly, always happy when his arms were around her.

  "I want you to quit worrying, Tyler," he murmured, his chin resting atop her soft auburn hair. "They'll be here soon. I'm as eager to see Carly as you are, but I have no doubt that Chase is taking very good care of her. He's managed to put up with her headstrong ways for all these months down in Mexico, hasn't he? If he can handle that job, I trust he can get her safely home from LaSalle Street Station, just four blocks from here."

  "But it's been so long! And so much has happened since we left New Orleans last spring! I'm going to give them both a piece of my mind for not writing to us. We haven't had a letter from Carlisle since she arrived at Chase's hacienda!"

  "Carly doesn't like to write letters. She's always too busy, or at least
that's what she says."

  Tyler disentangled herself from Gray's arms and took her place on the window seat again. She just couldn't wait! She and Gray had both been surprised when Carly's telegraph message had arrived Tuesday with the news that she was in New Orleans and ready to take the train home.

  Although Carlisle hadn't mentioned Chase in her wire, Tyler knew he must be with her. He'd never have allowed her to travel alone. They must have decided to come when they got her letter informing them of her pregnancy!

  Impatiently, she scratched at the ice crusting the glass, her eyes sharpening when she caught sight of a sleigh turning into the side driveway.

  "Gray! They're here!" she cried, whirling and rushing past her husband.

  Gray reached out and stopped her, his grip gentle but firm.

  "Remember what Charles said about running? He is your doctor, you know."

  "Yes, yes, I'm sorry, but come on, hurry. I can't believe you're not as excited as I am! She's your sister! And I know how much you've missed her!"

  Gray laughed and allowed her to pull him into the hallway that led to the side portico, where they could hear the jingle of bells as the sleigh came up the driveway. Tyler threw open the door just as the driver assisted Carlisle from the covered cutter.

  ''Carly!"

  Tyler ran down the steps, disregarding her husband's concerned frown. A heavily cloaked Carlisle met her at the bottom of the stairs, taking her hands and squeezing them as they both laughed with delight.

  "Thank God you're here, Carly, so Tyler will quit worrying about you and give me some peace," Gray said, putting his arm fondly around his sister's shoulders and kissing her cheek.

  "But where's Chase?" Tyler cried, looking past Carlisle to see if her cousin was still in the sleigh. The only person she saw was a young girl with dark skin who shivered and rubbed her hands together.

  "Chase didn't come with me," Carlisle told them. "This is my maid, Juana. Juana, this is my brother, Gray, and my sister-in-law, Tyler."

  Gray nodded to the young servant, frowning slightly. "You'll both freeze out here in this weather. Come on, let's go inside where it's warm."

  Tyler slipped her arm through Carlisle's and walked with her into the brightly lit hall while Gray helped Juana up the steps.

  "Oh, Carly, it's so wonderful to see you again! Here, let me take your cloak, then we'll go into the parlor! We've got a nice hot fire burning."

  Carlisle unbuttoned her cape, and Gray helped her out of it. Tyler gasped when she saw that Carlisle was big with child.

  "Oh, no," she cried without thinking, turning horrified eyes to her husband's face. Gray's jaw hung slack, and when Carlisle saw his expression, she spoke quietly.

  "Chase and I got married while I was in Mexico," she told them, and when Tyler and Gray continued to stare at her in astonishment, she turned to her maid. "Juana, would you go upstairs and unpack our things, por favor? The kitchen is through those doors behind the staircase. Someone will be there to show you the way."

  As the Indian girl hurried away, Carlisle faced her family again, almost as if they were a panel of judges.

  Tyler suddenly realized how embarrassed Carlisle must be. "Why, Carly, you and Chase! That's the most wonderful news in the world!" Sincerely pleased by the unexpected development, she took Carlisle's cold hand. "Why didn't you write and tell us? Why, it must have been months and months ago! You're farther along than I am!"

  Her innocent observation was followed by an extremely awkward silence, during which Carlisle's face turned bright pink. Tyler glanced up at her husband as he muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

  "Where the hell is Chase?" he demanded furiously. "What's he thinking of, letting his wife travel alone when she's about to give birth?"

  "I've left him," Carlisle admitted.

  "You've what?"

  "Because he never really wanted to marry me. He had to."

  Tyler watched the telltale tic in her husband's cheek, the one which consistently foretold his rage.

  "Damn him! I trusted him to take care of you, and look what he did!" Gray muttered in outrage.

  When tears welled in Carlisle's eyes, Tyler glared at her husband. "Gray! Can't you see how tired and upset Carly is? She needs to rest before you start shouting at her and questioning her as if she's some sort of criminal! I'm sure there are reasonable explanations for everything!"

  Gray was still furious and showing it, so Tyler put her arm around Carlisle's waist and led her to the steps.

  "Come on, Carly, we'll get you settled in your old room. Then later, we'll join Gray for supper." She glanced over her shoulder at her husband. "Gray, darling, will you have Hildie bring up a pot of tea for us?"

  Her husband's frown didn't lessen, but he turned and strode off toward the kitchen. At least she'd saved Carlisle from his wrath, she thought, relieved, as she helped her sister-in-law up the steps. Poor Carlisle looked unhappy enough.

  A short time later, when the two women sat sipping chamomile tea in the window seat of Carlisle's childhood bedchamber, Carlisle recounted all that had happened to her during her stay in Mexico. Tyler sat silently, listening. The snow built into a deep drift on the windowsill behind them as Carlisle talked on and on, sometimes interrupting her story with her own weeping. When she'd finished, Tyler shook her head sadly.

  "Carly, I just can't believe all those terrible things happened between you and Chase. Gray and I never once worried. We thought you were having a wonderful time and just didn't have the time to write to us."

  "I love Mexico," Carlisle said. "It nearly broke my heart to leave."

  Tyler's cinnamon-brown eyes brimmed with sympathy, and she leaned forward to embrace Carlisle.

  "I'm so sorry, Carly. Is there anything I can do? Do you want me to write to Chase for you? If you left without telling him, he must be terribly worried."

  "I had to. He couldn't forget I went with the Perezes. I think he wanted to. I think he tried, especially after we were married, but he just couldn't. And I couldn't stand seeing the cold look come into his eyes. Most of all, I was afraid he'd send me away after the baby was born."

  "Oh, no, Carly. He'd never do that. He might have gotten angry and said he would, but I'm sure he didn't mean it."

  Carlisle sighed. "I was afraid, and I wanted to come home to have my baby."

  Tyler smiled. "I'm so glad you did." She rested her palm on her own swollen belly. "Our babies will be cousins, and they'll be good friends, like we are." She pressed Carlisle's hand. "I've not told Gray, but I'm a little scared. I've heard frightening stories about childbirth. But I've been talking to Dr. Bond, and he's explained everything that will

  happen to me when the baby is born. And he's promised to let me accompany him to a birthing so I can see it firsthand. If I know what to expect, I don't think I'll dread it so much. One of his patients is due in the next couple of weeks. Would you like to go with us? He says I can help him deliver the child if I want."

  "I don't know. Perhaps. Won't Gray mind?"

  "He doesn't know yet. But he'll let me if I really want to, especially if he thinks it'll make me feel better about having my own child. He worries about me too much anyway, so please don't tell him I'm uneasy about the birth."

  "I won't. I know how you feel because I've had the same thoughts. I was deathly sick every morning at first. Were you?"

  "Oh, yes! I was violently ill when I first woke up, but then the nausea just went away. I feel wonderful now." Her whole face lit up. "And I felt the baby move for the first time just a week or so ago. You should have seen Gray's face when I put his hand on my stomach and let him feel it."

  Carlisle felt the most awful sensation of loss. Chase had not felt his baby move, nor would he.

  "I'm sorry, Carly, that was so insensitive. I wasn't thinking."

  "No, I'm glad you and Gray are happy together. You weren't when I saw you last."

  "We went through a lot, but we loved each other so much that we worked our p
roblems out. You and Chase will do the game thing."

  Carlisle nodded, but she was not at all sure Tyler's prophecy would come true.

  "Last summer when we were living at Rose Point Plantation in Mississippi, I met a woman named Bess Rainey," Tyler told her. "She was carrying a child, and one day she let me feel her baby kick. I can still remember the wonder I felt that day. And now I feel it every time my own baby moves. It's such a miracle to carry a separate little life inside you."

  Somehow Tyler's words gave Carlisle comfort, more than anything anyone else had said. "I'm glad now that I came home, Tyler. I felt alone in Mexico, even though Chase's family treated me well. But this is home, and I feel safe here."

  "You are safe here! We'll take good care of you until Chase comes. And I know he will. Until then, we'll be together and plan for our babies. It'll be wonderful to have another mother to talk to." Tyler paused, smiling. "Remember how afraid of the wedding night we were, Carly? We were both so innocent and unworldly then. But we were scared for nothing, weren't we?"

  Carlisle tried to remember how she'd felt in New Orleans. But now when she thought about it, all her actions just seemed frivolous.

  "I was so foolish then, and it seems like a million years ago," she told Tyler. "I don't know how Gray used to put up with me. All I thought about was myself."

  "Don't look so sad, Carly. You were just gay and happy. You helped me when I was having a hard time with Gray." Tyler lowered her eyes. "Actually, I was the silly one. Even now, after all these months of marriage, I'm horribly ashamed that I wore black to my own wedding. I can remember Chase telling me that someday I'd look back on that day as one of the happiest of my life. And he was right. Now it hurts when I think how much I must have humiliated Gray by acting that way. I wish I could go back and make our ceremony beautiful and happy, the way weddings are supposed to be."