“I think you should put the gun down, Lucy,” Angel said quietly.
“I don’t think so.” Lucy waved it around.
Angel sucked in air, petrified with a drunken Lucy handling a gun with the children in the kitchen.
“Can the boys go outside and start on their chores?”
“Oh, always the perfect mama, aren’t you? No, everyone stays right here.”
Julia-Rose continued to scream. Lucy swung around to face the baby.
Angel jerked in the direction of the table and shouted, “No!”
Lucy looked at her with disdain. “Don’t worry, Mama, I won’t hurt her. Nate wouldn’t like that.”
Everyone stood still as Julia-Rose continued to scream, “Mama, up now, please.”
“It’s okay, baby. Mama’s right here.” She reached out in the direction of the little girl.
“I said don’t move!” Lucy screamed so loud, the boys jumped. Luke and John clutched each other’s hands and cried.
Angel’s eyes shifted to see Mark at the back door. Lucy’s back faced him.
“Lucy, I really think you should put the gun down.” Angel spoke loudly, praying Mark would hear her. She watched through the glass as his eyes grew wide. Slowly he backed up, and ran down the stairs.
“I’ve tried every way I could, to get Nate to realize you’re not good enough for him. I guess the only way to be rid of you is the same way I got rid of that milquetoast he was married to before.” Lucy aimed the gun at Angel again.
A jolt hit Angel’s gut, and all the moisture left her mouth.
Lucy had killed Amy?
Tears flooded her eyes, but all she could think of right now was getting the children out of the house and away from this crazy woman.
“Please, Lucy.” Her voice trembled. “Let the children go in the backyard.”
“No. I don’t want anyone running off ‘til I say so. I’m giving the orders here, not you, Mrs. Hale.” Then with a high-pitched, hysterical laugh, she sat down abruptly, still pointing the gun at her with both hands. “Not for long will you be Mrs. Hale, though. You won’t be Mrs. anyone.”
Angel inched further away from the table, where the children still sat.
“Don’t move, I told you,” Lucy growled. “I hate you, Angel. And I hate your stupid stepmother.” She jumped up and walked around the kitchen like a caged animal. “You ruined my life!” she screamed. “Everything was fine until you came along. Nate should have married me. He was supposed to wait for me to come back from Europe. But no, he sent for a mail order bride. A mail order bride. My God!”
She dropped her head back, staring at the ceiling, then slowly lowered her head and looked directly at Angel again, aiming the gun at her chest.
Angel could feel the sweat trickling down between her breasts and back. She licked her dry lips and edged toward the corner of the room, as far away from the table as she could get.
“And then, if things weren’t bad enough, your whore of a stepmother, Mrs. Sylvia Hardwick, comes along and steals my papa!” Lucy’s face glowed beet red with anger.
“Lucy,” Angel said softly, “I know you’re upset about Nate, but this is not the way to settle things. Why don’t you hand me the gun and we’ll let the children leave?”
“That’s you, isn’t it? Miss Perfect. So wonderful. Everyone loves Angel. Always thinking about the brats first. When Nate and I are married, they’ll all be in boarding school.” She waved the gun in the direction of the children.
“No!” Angel screamed, starting toward the table.
“Get back,” Lucy said quietly, which scared Angel more. “Maybe I should shoot you all. Then I’ll have Nate to myself. No stupid wife, no brats always crying.” She turned her attention to Matt. “I told you to shut that little monster up!”
Angel’s attention shifted to the slight movement behind Lucy, as Nate quietly entered the kitchen. His face flushed, and taking deep gulps of air, he viewed the scene in stony silence.
21
Nate hesitated as he considered his next move. Lucy had a gun pointed at Angel, and four of his five children sat at the table, the baby screaming and reaching for Angel, the boys with tears rolling down their faces.
Lucy wasn’t near the table where the children sat, but the way her body swayed left no doubt about her inebriation. That, plus a loaded gun, created a very dangerous situation.
He could rush her, but the gun might go off, hitting one or more of his family. There were too many people in the room.
“Is that you, Nate?” Lucy said without taking her eyes off Angel.
“Yes, it is. Can I ask you a favor?”
“What?”
“Let the children go out the back door.”
“You always cared about them more than me.” She turned and pointed the gun at his stomach. Angel gasped and her hand flew to cover her mouth.
Nate looked at the weaving girl. “Lucy, this is between you and me. Please let my wife and children leave the house.”
“No! Not her. I want her right here.” Lucy swung back to Angel.
Nate felt the blood leave his face. “How about letting the children leave?”
“Fine.” She turned to the boys sitting at the table. “Go. And shut that baby up.”
Matt looked up at his father, who nodded. “Go on son, take your brothers and sister out to the back yard.”
The boys scrambled out the back door, Luke and John clinging to each other, and Julia-Rose still screaming.
“Lucy, what do you hope to accomplish?” Nate slowly proceeded to where Angel stood.
“Get away from her.” She waved the gun toward the corner of the room. “It could have been so good for us. I took care of getting rid of Amy for you. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
Nate jolted at her words, and what they meant.
She continued in a sing-song voice. “We could have married, and with my papa’s money, we could have traveled, gone to parties, museums, plays.” Her expression turned nasty as she continued. “But no. You couldn’t wait for me to come back from Europe, could you?”
Nate continued to move toward Angel, all the time watching the gun in Lucy’s hand.
“No, Lucy, we couldn’t have done all that. I have five children.”
Angel immediately laid her hand on her stomach.
Lucy waved her other hand around. “Nannies, Nate. We could have hired a nanny, sent them to boarding school. You would have been free.”
“There’s just one problem with your plan.” Nate finally worked his way over to Angel. “I don’t want to be free. I love my children, and wouldn’t want nannies to raise them.”
“No?” She screamed. “But instead, you marry a woman so desperate for a husband she has to travel all the way across the country and marry a stranger? And that’s not bad enough. Then she brings her witch of a stepmother here to take my papa away from me, too? Don’t you understand? I have no one. No one, and it’s all her fault.”
“Lucy.” Nate reached his hand out. “Calm down. No one has taken your father away. Sylvia is concerned about you.”
She uttered a curse word. The tension had increased, and he hoped Mark had reached the sheriff’s office. He’d sent the boy there as he headed for home. Unsure how long he could keep Lucy talking, time could be running out.
“Do you know how long I had to give arsenic to Amy before she finally died?”
“My God,” he whispered, his suspicions confirmed. “You gave Amy poison?”
“Yes. That’s why I came to help after the baby’s birth. I made sure she had little bit every day, until she finally died. She was a pathetic woman, never good enough for you, either. I had planned to allow you enough time to mourn, but before I even returned from Europe, you had already replaced her.” Pointing the gun again at Angel, she snarled, “With that.”
Nate crept in front of Angel, facing Lucy.
“Hand me the gun, Lucy. You don’t really want to hurt anyone.”
“No. I mean, y
es. I do. Now get out of the way.”
“Think of your father.” He tried to keep her talking. “He’ll be home from his honeymoon in a few days. Maybe the two of you can talk things out.”
“Yes, he’ll be home. Bringing that bitch with him.” She looked behind Nate at Angel. “I’ll bet that’s a word your prissy little wife never uses. Does she? Does she?” she screamed.
The front door flew open, and Sheriff Travis rushed into the room. When Lucy spun around at the sheriff’s entrance, Nate lunged at her to get the gun, but she twisted back and stumbled as they hit the floor. The gun went off before he wrestled it away from her.
Gasping for breath, Nate stood, and turned to find Angel lying on the floor, blood pouring from her chest.
“Matt!” Nate yelled from the kitchen. Mark and Matt raced into the room, still holding the wailing baby.
“Get me some towels,” he shouted at the boy.
Matt handed Julia-Rose off to Mark and raced for the washroom.
Sheriff Travis joined Nate on the floor. “I think we better get her to the doctor.”
Matt returned with an armful of towels. Nate folded one and pressed it to the wound. It seemed to be her shoulder, but the blood kept coming.
Nate picked her up. “Sheriff, can I use your horse? It’s faster than the buggy.”
“Sure. I’ll take Lucy in your buggy.”
Both men looked around the room and realized Lucy had disappeared. Nate hurried outside, and once he mounted, the sheriff handed Angel to him. He laid her across his lap, and grabbing the reins with one hand, he pressed the blood-soaked towel to his wife’s injury with the other hand.
Dust billowed up as Nate turned the horse toward the doctor’s house. About three hundred yards ahead of him, Lucy’s carriage careened down the road, going in the opposite direction from town.
“Please don’t die, baby.” Nate said over and over as he headed through town. “We can’t live without you. I can’t live without you.” Every time he looked at her pale face and the amount of blood absorbed on the towels, his gut twisted.
Nate pulled up in front of the doctor’s house and yelled for him as he slid off the horse. Mrs. Penrose came out of the house holding a stirring spoon.
“Oh, dear, what happened here?”
“Angel’s been shot. Is the doc home?”
“Yes, come right in, and I’ll get him.”
Carrying Angel, Nate went up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He entered the house and went directly to the back room where the doctor had his office. He laid Angel on the table as Dr. Penrose came into the office.
“What happened, son?” He shoved his sleeves up, scooped out a handful of soap and washed his hands.
“She’s been shot, and bleeding a lot.” His voice quivered, as he clutched Angel’s cold fingers.
“Okay, take it easy. Let me have a look.”
Mrs. Penrose came into the room with clean towels. She and the doctor worked for a few minutes, and then the doctor looked up. “Why don’t you wait outside, and I’ll come get you as soon as we’re done here.”
“No, I don’t want to leave her.”
“It’s all right. I think she’ll be fine. I would feel better if you weren’t here watching the whole thing.”
“I’m not leaving.” He continued to grasp her hand, and ran his thumb over her wedding ring. Mrs. Penrose brought over a chair for him that he ignored.
The doctor’s wife cut away Angel’s dress. When Nate saw the bloody hole in her upper chest, he went livid with rage. No more would he baby Lucy, concerned about her feelings. She would pay for this, and for what she admitted she had done to Amy.
Dr. Penrose cleaned the wound as his wife assembled what he needed to stitch the gaping hole. He gently lifted Angel, and examined the back of her shoulder. He glanced at Nate. “The bullet went clear through, which is good.” Angel moaned, her eyes blinking rapidly. Sweat beaded her forehead.
“What happened?” She turned to Nate.
The doctor nodded to his wife, who poured a clear liquid on a cloth and placed it over Angel’s nose.
Nate shot a glance at the doctor.
“It’s better for her to remain unconscious, son. It will wear off in a little bit.”
Grimly, Nate watched the procedure, all the time praying this woman who had become the center of his life would be all right.
The minutes ticked by. Angel’s skin felt pale and cool to his touch. She lay so still, as if in death. Sweat trickled down his face, and he swiped it with his sleeve. Dr. Penrose and his wife worked quickly and efficiently. She anticipated what the doctor needed, and had it ready. All of this became so much background movement to Nate, who concentrated on every breath his wife took.
After a while, Dr. Penrose turned from the table and washed up again. Mrs. Penrose tied a bandage over the pad of cloth covering the sewn up bullet hole.
“She’s doing well, Nate.” The doctor shook his wet hands, and then dried them on the towel his wife held out. “She’ll have a scar there, but otherwise heal fine. I’d like to keep her overnight in case infection sets in.”
Nate slumped. “Thanks, doc, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.” He rubbed his eyes with his fists. They felt gritty, as if dirt had invaded them.
“It’s okay, go on home and take care of that family of yours.”
“I’ll get Mrs. Darby to handle the children, and I’ll return to sit with my wife. I want to be here when she wakes up.”
As Nate entered the front room of the house, Sheriff Travis walked in.
“Where are the children?” Nate looked behind him.
“I dropped them off at Mrs. Darby’s house. She said she would bring them to your house and stay overnight with them.”
“Thanks, Sheriff, I appreciate it.”
“How’s your wife?” The sheriff wanted to know.
“Doc’s finished working on her. He said he thought she would be fine. He’s keeping her overnight to watch for infection.”
“Well, if you have everything under control here, I’m on my way to find Lucy.” Nodding, he tugged his hat back on and left.
Nate shoved his hands into his pockets and walked to the window, staring out at the bustling town. Long shadows formed where the scant sun slid behind the horizon. He thought about Lucy, and the impact of what she said finally hit him. She had been responsible for Amy’s death, and had planned to make him a widower once again.
Shaking his head, he realized she would be headed to jail. Any sympathy he would have had for her vanished when he watched his wife having a bullet wound sewn up. He felt sorry for Eli, but was glad Sylvia would be there to help him through this. But mostly, he hoped the sheriff would find Lucy and she would finally leave him and his family in peace.
After about ten minutes of musing, he turned when Dr. Penrose came out, rolling his sleeves down. “Mrs. Penrose and I put Angel in a clean nightgown, and moved her to a bed in the room down the hall. You can sit with her there.”
Nate followed him to an open doorway where Angel lay. Her breathing appeared steady, but she remained very pale.
“Another thing.” The doctor continued. “The baby seems to be fine. I don’t think there will be any problems.”
Nate frowned. “The baby? What are you talking about? I mean, what baby?”
The older man laughed, slapping him on the back. “The new little one your wife is carrying. I guess she hadn’t gotten around to telling you.” Chuckling and shaking his head, he said, “You can go in and sit with her now. She should be waking up soon.”
* * *
Angel’s shoulder burned. She’d never felt such pain before. The dryness in her mouth resembled a wad of old cotton, and she couldn’t orient herself. Pale sun streamed through the window on her right. Her fuzzy gaze wandered the room, over the pink flowered wallpaper, and the maple furniture, not a room she recognized. And why in heaven’s name was she lying in bed in the middle of the day? She turned her head to th
e side at the sound of low voices. Nate spoke with Dr. Penrose.
“Nate?” Angel rasped.
He turned from the doctor and went down on one knee next to her. He smoothed back the hair from her forehead, and gently placed a kiss on her lips.
“What happened?”
“Lucy’s gun went off and the bullet hit you in the shoulder. It went clean through, though, so Dr. Penrose cleaned it up and stitched it. Your lovely body may be marred with a small scar, but otherwise you’re fine.”
She closed her eyes, and then opened them abruptly, her hands on her stomach.
“Yes, darlin’, the baby is fine.”
Angel blushed and smiled, holding her hand out to clasp his.
“And when were you planning on telling me?” Nate said with a grin.
“Soon. I didn’t know how you would feel about six children.”
“The more the merrier.” He kissed her again. “The doc wants to keep you overnight, so I’m staying here with you.”
“No, Nate,” she pleaded. “Please, go on home to the children. They’ll be scared. You need to reassure them everything is all right.” She laid her finger against his lips when he began to protest.
“Please, I’m worried about our family.”
Nate kissed her forehead and squeezed her hand. “All right, honey, I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Nate?” Angel reached up with her good arm to caress his face. “Did you ever suspect Amy’s death wasn’t from natural causes?”
“No, I never did. I still have a hard time digesting that. I never suspected such a threat from Lucy.”
“Where is she now?” Angel yawned.
“She ran off after she shot you. The sheriff is out looking for her.” Pulling up the blanket Mrs. Penrose had placed on her bed, Nate kissed Angel once more. “Go to sleep now, sweetheart. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Angel’s voice drifted off.
* * *
Nate had finally bedded all the children. It hadn’t been easy. Julia-Rose continued to cry for her mama, and the boys were concerned about Angel being shot. After many reassurances they would all see her tomorrow, they finally relented and went to sleep. Julia-Rose fell asleep in his lap with her fingers in her mouth, clutching her ragdoll. Her eyelashes were clumped together from her tears, her baby cheeks flushed.
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