by Barbara Goss
They walked back to where Rebecca was sitting. “You!” Joseph spat. “You: she-devil! You told McKenna our plans, and you’re in on this with him. Well, you’ll get the same punishment as he will when we find him.”
“Joseph, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a houseguest, watching the house for McKenna while he’s out of town.”
“Liar!” Joseph shouted. “Come, son—let’s get out of here. They’ve hidden her somewhere.”
Joseph, Jared, and the sheriff searched the outbuildings and surroundings, but they came up with nothing.
Once they were on their horses, Jared told his father: “I’m riding in the direction of Russell. I might catch McKenna on his way back.”
“What will you do with him?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“No, I’ll be fine. I need you to go and tell Ross what’s going on. He and Amelia are probably nervous wrecks by now.”
Joseph nodded, and Jared headed his horse for the road to Russell.
Joanna heard male voices and heavy footsteps above her. She tried calling out and even screaming, but the cellar walls seemed to absorb her voice. She tried pounding on the wooden door at the top of the stairs with her shoulders to no avail. The men rushed from room to room, and their footsteps seemed louder than the noises she was making. When they were gone, Joanna’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
Suddenly, the door at the top of the stairs opened. “You might as well come up," the woman said. "They’re gone.”
“Who are you, and what do you want with me?” Joanna asked as she climbed the steps.
Before she answered, the woman spun her around and she banged Joanna’s head on the wall. The woman turned Joanna back around to face her. “Why, I’m the mother of Jared’s baby.”
“Rebecca!”
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do with me?”
“Well, I was saving you for McKenna since he wanted you so badly, but I’ve lost any chance of marrying a Steele, so I might as well settle for a pig farmer. That means you’re in my way, and I need to get rid of you. He and I have been a couple for some time now, and I know that he'll marry me once you're gone. I can try to get him to consider a different occupation after we marry; I can’t bear the smell.”
Joanna spoke up. “Why don’t you just let me run back to Jared? We’ll get married right away, and I’ll be untouchable as far as McKenna's concerned.”
“Oh, I’m not stupid—you’d turn us both in for kidnapping you. I don’t like jails. I’d rather marry a pig farmer.” Rebecca pushed her out the back door and into the buggy. She flicked the reins and they rode off, away from town.
Joanna wondered if leaping from the speeding buggy would lead to a fate better than what Rebecca had planned for her. She looked at the ground speeding by as the buggy raced onward and tried to get up the nerve to jump, but she just couldn’t do it.
“Where are you taking me?”
“I don’t even know myself other than as far away from Hays as I can.”
After more than an hour of breakneck riding, Rebecca stopped the buggy in the middle of a flat area where there was nothing but empty fields in all directions.
After untying Joanna’s hands, Rebecca yelled, “Get out,” and she pushed her from the buggy.
Joanna ended up on the ground looking up as Rebecca turned the buggy around and sped away. The sun was on its way down, and there she was, out in the middle of nowhere. She crawled about four hundred feet to a group of shaggy bushes and she laid down to think.
Chapter Thirteen
Joanna lay close to the road under the lone, scraggly tree she’d found in the tall field grass where she could hide herself from being seen. It had been a quiet night. She’d slept some, but the horses and buggies woke her up as they traveled along the dusty highway. Maybe she'd be able to find help from a passerby. Rebecca had made several turns during their mad ride the day before, so she wasn’t sure if the road she was on led to Hays or somewhere else. She figured it went somewhere populated since there seemed to be a good deal of traffic along it.
Two rugged men on horseback rode by, but she decided she wouldn’t feel safe with them. The next vehicle was an older man driving a hay wagon. She was tempted to hail him, but as he got closer, he reminded her of McKenna so she stayed where she was. About fifteen minutes later, another wagon came down the road with a middle-aged man and a woman on it: perfect. She rolled out from her hiding place and hailed them.
“Stop, stop!” she cried, waving her arms wildly.
The man stopped the wagon. The woman beside him looked frightened and she held tightly to the man driving.
“I need a ride.”
The man looked around them. “You don’t have any friends here-abouts ready to rob us, do you?” His hand rested on the rifle beside him.
“No. I was dumped here by a woman who wanted to get rid of me. I belong in Hays. Can you get me there?”
The woman beside him spoke up. “We’re going to Russell to visit our daughter.”
“If that’s as far as you can take me, I’d be so grateful,” Joanna said.
The couple exchanged looks and the husband nodded. “Hop in the back.”
About the time the sun was directly overhead, the man pulled the wagon over and the woman brought out a basket.
“Time for lunch,” she said. “I can spare a biscuit if you’d like one.”
“I would. Thank you.”
As they ate, the couple told her they were from Great Bend and were visiting their daughter, Nancy, who had married a man from Russell. They seemed like a nice couple, and Joanna thanked God for sending them.
They reached Russell after dark, and Joanna wondered where she’d go next. She didn’t know anyone in Russell. When she jumped down from the wagon on the main street, she looked around her in bewilderment.
“Oh, dear,” the woman said to her husband, “we can’t just leave the poor woman here.”
“C’mon, miss, we’ll take you to Nancy’s. She’ll put you up for the night.”
Joanna thanked God once more and hopped back into the wagon.
Nancy was a plain and serious woman who welcomed Joanna quietly but without a smile. Her husband, Hank, was just the opposite. He greeted her and his in-laws robustly and carried their luggage inside. Nancy showed Joanna to a sparsely furnished room in the attic for which Joanna was more than grateful.
“Thank you so much for letting me stay here for the night.”
“Just so you know,” Nancy said, “entertaining my parents is taking us to the limit of our budget as my husband’s been out of work. I’d invite you to stay longer, but I just cannot.”
Joanna smiled at her. “That’s fine. I need to find my way to Hays. I appreciate your hospitality for the night.”
Her husband came up behind Nancy. “Is everything all right?” When Nancy nodded, he said, “You told her this was for one night, right?”
“Yes, and she’s fine with it.”
Joanna told him, “I’m trying to get to Hays. I’ll start out first thing in the morning.”
“Do you have family there?” he asked.
“Not exactly. My betrothed is there.”
“Really? I lived in Hays for a few years. What’s his name? Maybe I know him.”
“Jared Steele.”
“Yes! I worked for his brother Ross. Nice family.”
Nancy touched her husband’s arm. “We should let our guest get some sleep.”
“Of course.” He and Nancy turned. “Goodnight,” they said.
At the breakfast table, Hank asked, “How will you get to Hays, Miss Rodgers?”
Joanna shrugged. “I’m really not sure. I thought I’d go to the livery and beg a buggy with the promise to return it for double the price or something
“How about if I send a telegram to Jared Steele and ask him to come for you?” Hank asked.
“But that wo
uld mean I’d have to stay here at least another day.”
“It’s fine. You’re welcome.”
Joanna noticed Nancy give Hank a stern look.
“That would be wonderful, then.”
“Hank, we hardly have enough food to feed my folks and you invite another guest to stay?”
“Easy, Nancy, I know what I’m doing. The Steeles are one of the richest families around here. I’ll handle this. I’ll ask if there's a reward for her return. If they say there is, I’ll deliver her myself. This is a good opportunity to make some money.”
Jared didn’t find McKenna on the trail back from Russell so he returned to his cabin to pray for Joanna’s safety.
He’d done all he could. It was in God's hands now. He continued to pray for most of the day, stopping only when someone knocked on his door.
Joanna! was his first thought, and he ran to the door and swung it open, trying not to look too disappointed when he found his father standing on his doorstep.
He opened the door wide so he could enter.
“I’m sorry I don’t have good news to bring,” Joseph said.
“Have a seat, Father.” Jared ran his fingers through his dark hair. “I feel like I should be doing something, but I don’t know what.”
“McKenna’s returned. The sheriff questioned him, but he claims he took a pig to a farmer in Victoria and has just returned. He said the buggy was out because he’d taken his friend, Rebecca, for a ride earlier that day.”
“He’s lying.” Jared sat down on the bed beside his father.
“You went to the church about the same time as Joanna and you didn’t see anything?”
“No. I entered through the front door of the church and walked right to the minister’s office. I didn’t see or hear a thing.”
“I just wondered because baby clothes were scattered around by the back door.”
Jared dropped his head into his hands. “Dear God: help Joanna.”
He slammed his fist on the bed. “I’m going to see McKenna and make him—”
“Not a good idea, son. He told the sheriff that if you step a foot on his property, he’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”
McKenna shook Rebecca’s shoulders. “Where is she?”
“The sheriff was coming to search the house so I threw her in the root cellar.”
“Is she still there?”
“No, Brad. Calm down and listen: as I was taking her back to the bedroom she sprang loose and ran out the back door and through the woods. I tried to chase her, but by the time I saddled a horse and rode in that direction, I'd lost track of her and she was gone. I had no choice but to return here.”
McKenna pounded his fist on the wall. “So, she’s gone.”
Rebecca sidled up to him and rubbed her hand up and down his arm. “You still have me.”
“I need a wife, Rebecca. I need a family. Otherwise, I know I’ll turn to drinking again. The family I had haunts me—I need to replace them and move on.”
“Well,” Rebecca put her arms around his neck, “what about me?”
“Are you serious?” His voice softened. “You’d be my first choice, you know that.”
“I’ve reconsidered, but I don’t want to be a pig farmer’s wife. You’d need to sell out and start another business. What about cattle or horses? Something that doesn’t smell.”
“But darlin’, there’s good money in pigs. This whole area is full of beef. People are tiring of eating it. I do very well with the pigs.”
“Are you rich?”
“Not as rich as Joseph Steele, but I have a decent bank account.”
Rebecca smiled. “I have another idea, then. Why don’t we build a house a bit downwind of this one?”
“We could do that.” McKenna kissed her. “I’ll get us a marriage license tomorrow.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jared did little more than pace the length of his cabin, neglecting his traps and pelts. He hoped that Joanna would show up at the cabin if she could. He and Bear would simply have to wait and pray. If he didn't before, he now knew the depth of his guilt. Everything that happened to Joanna had been his fault, which made it even worse for him to cope with.
As the days went by, his hope began to fade.
There was a knock on his door, giving him renewed hope. He rushed to answer it only to see it was Ross.
“Sorry to disappoint you, brother, but I have news for you. There’s been a message for you at the telegraph office for few days now.”
“Who’s it from?”
Ross shrugged. “It’s marked confidential. You’ll have to go into town and get it yourself.”
“Could it be from Joanna?”
Ross shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Jared hurriedly dressed. “Any news in town about McKenna or Joanna?” he asked.
“Just that McKenna’s married.”
“Married? To whom?”
Ross smiled smugly. “Rebecca Johnson.”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope.”
Jared walked to the door. “I’ll be back soon, Bear.” To Ross. he asked, “Ride into town with me?”
“Of course. I’m curious about your message, too.”
Nancy paced the bedroom floor. “So, where’s this money? I’m running low on food. The woman has to go.”
“C’mon, she doesn’t eat much. Your father sure shovels the grub down, though.”
“She’s pleasant enough, but Hank, I only have enough food for about two more days. Maybe if you’d get a job—”
“Oh, don’t start that again! Tell your parents to go home.”
Nancy sighed. “Hank—”
“Brady O’Neill promised me a job at his ranch. He’s just waiting on his new stock.”
“When will that be?” Nancy asked.
“He said in a week or two.” Hank grabbed his hat. “I’m going to the telegraph office again.”
Jared grabbed the message from the telegraph operator and walked outside where Ross was waiting for him. They stood on the wooden walkway where Jared opened the message and read it aloud:
I heard you’re missing a woman named Joanna Rodgers. Might I ask if there’s a reward? Ross grabbed the message and scanned it as if he didn’t believe it. “Son of a gun.”
“I can offer a reward. I’m going to answer the message.”
“Wait—it might be a hoax or something, Jared.”
“It’s my only chance, and I’m taking it. Someone found her who needs money, is all.”
Jared went back into the telegraph office. “Where’d this message come from?”
“All I have is a return name if you want to answer it,” the man said.
“Yes. Tell him, yes—there’s a reward of five hundred dollars for Joanna Rodgers' safe return.”
Jared walked down the wooden walkway to the meat market, ignoring the stares and pointed fingers. Now that Rebecca was married, maybe the town would forget her lies. They were nothing more than busybodies; he supposed every town had them. He thought their own lives must be awfully boring for them to be so interested in the lives of others and so quick to believe the worst about someone.
He picked up a hambone for Bear from the butcher's and left the store. He’d return to the telegraph office in the morning to see if he had a reply to his message.
Did the person who sent the message know where she was? Could it be a scam? He’d promised Ross he wouldn't do a thing without first consulting him. He still wanted to snoop around McKenna’s place to look for Joanna because he still believed they had something to do with her disappearance.
By the morning, a message had already arrived. He opened it and read:
I know exactly where she is, but I need at least six hundred to cover my expenses. Please reply quickly, as the price goes up each day I have to wait.
Jared rode to the Steeles’ to confer with Ross. He arrived just as Ross was leaving. “I was just going to ride out to your place. Any
messages?”
Jared handed the message to Ross who scanned it and laughed. “I don’t know about this, Jared. What kind of expenses would cost that much? The reward for Jesse James was only a thousand.”
“I need to take the chance, Ross. What if it’s real and I ignore it?”
“All right. Try answering and telling him all you have is five hundred—take it or leave it.”
“No! What if he leaves it and harms her?”
Ross shook his head. “I guess you tell him it’s a deal, then.”
Jared smiled. “I’ll answer right away.”
“Do you need any money?”
“I have about eight hundred in the bank, so this will pretty near clean me out, but it’s worth every penny.”
“Wait,” Ross said. “What about the money Father deposits in the bank for you?”
“That’s in another account. I’m not touching that. I didn’t earn it.”
Joanna wondered what was taking Hank so long for him to contact Jared to come to Russell and get her. She knew Jared seldom went into town so perhaps that was the hold up. She could tell that Nancy was becoming impatient for her to leave. The dinner servings had become smaller and smaller, and Joanna knew the family didn’t have enough food for them all. Joanna had begun to skip lunches in an attempt to lessen the family’s burden.
She sat on the front porch and stood when Hank returned from town, giving him a questioning look.
“Nothing yet. If this man is your betrothed, why doesn’t he answer?”
“He doesn’t go into town much. Maybe you could send a message to his brother, Ross.”
“I’ll think on it.” He climbed the steps to the porch. “Where’s Nancy?”
Joanna shrugged. “I think she's in the kitchen with her mother.”
She followed him in and heard him speak to his wife. “Nancy, I need a word with you alone, please.”