Chapter 18

"All they do every day is sit like that." Beth looked at Jake, worried.

Shaking his head, Jake said, "I can't believe she let Joseph get so close to her."

Joseph sat on the grass on the bank of the creek, ten feet away from Yvette. Mama sat a few more feet away. They'd been gathering this way every evening after supper, but tonight Yvette had put Joseph between her and Mama and seemed to prefer that.

"And she appears to be talking to him."

"Until Yvette showed up here, Joseph never talked about being married, that he'd lost his wife and his only child, a daughter. Maybe she senses that he knows such pain, too."

They bounced their babies as they paced inside the cabin, taking turns looking out the open cabin door when they passed.

"Can she be helped, Jake?" Beth lifted her little Marie against her chest and patted her back. It was nearing bedtime. Both babies had full tummies. If they could just get a good burp out of the twins, Beth had a chance of getting a full night's sleep.

Maybe.

They'd moved the cribs apart so one was in Mama's room, and one was in Beth's. It helped to keep the little ones from waking each other.

Helped a little.

"I want to believe a mind can mend. At the same time, I'm afraid of her. Afraid especially for our babies." Beth patted and paced.

Jake looked down at his son. "Hey, Jacob is asleep. I'll get him tucked in." Jake paused from looking down at his son to meet Beth's eyes. "The whole world is full of danger, Beth. Rattlesnakes and blizzards and rambunctious cattle and horses. No doctor within any reasonable distance. We do our best to protect the babies and ourselves, but beyond that we put ourselves in God's hands." He paused by the open door and studied Yvette and Joseph.

The woman had walked over to the stream after supper. She'd been joining them for three meals a day, every day for a week, but she'd always eat while sitting on her boulder. As had become his habit, Joseph and Mama followed her to the stream, keeping a respectable distance. Joseph talked quietly with her. After many nervous looks at Joseph, though less every day, she'd started sitting on the bank of the stream. Joseph, with a good ten feet between them, joined her, Mama just beyond them. The two of them talked or sometimes just sat in silence, looking at the western sky and watching as the sun sank slowly toward the horizon.

Jake put their son down, then a few minutes later Marie dozed off, and Beth got her to bed. They both came back to watch Joseph and Yvette.

"Do you think Mama should go out and face Father? Do you think she can be found sane, and he can be forced to leave her alone?"

"She's terrified of facing him. I can't say as I blame her."

"And where we live is a fine place, and I'm glad to stay here. But it's a weight she has to carry on her shoulders every day, one she shouldn't have to."

"Would she have to return to Chicago to face him in front of a judge and jury? Or as a resident of Idaho now, could she see a judge out here? Without your father there or that fool who runs her asylum, I can't imagine your pa would even know there'd been a ruling, unless he was informed by mail long after the fact. And then, as long as she was found sane in Idaho, would she have to stay here? Would she have to prove her sanity in every state she traveled to? Because if Idaho was enough, at least she could go to town or go visit the O'Tooles without her being in danger."

"I've talked to her several times. I can't get past her fear."

"Then for now, we stay here and live in this lovely Hidden Canyon, and we wait until it's what she wants to do."

Yvette surged to her feet. She had her knife, or rather Father's knife, in her hand. Joseph stayed seated, looking up at her.

Mama stood slowly, trying not to draw Yvette's attention.

Yvette's voice was loud enough that Beth knew she was shouting, although she couldn't make out the words. Beth glanced at Jake, and their eyes met, both worried. Then they watched.

Movement beyond the drama caught Beth's eye, and she saw Oscar standing by the cave-house entrance, watching, his arms crossed tight, as if he were holding himself back from running to save his brother.

Just as suddenly, Yvette dropped the knife, broke into bitter sobs, then fell to her knees, her hands over her face.

Joseph stayed where he was, a solid presence. Mama took two steps toward Yvette, but Joseph put an arm out and shook his head.

Beth could see the war in Mama. The need to go to Yvette, hold her, let her cry on someone's shoulder. Yet they couldn't touch her, they didn't dare. What a bitterly lonely way to live.

Neither Mama nor Joseph went to her. They never touched her. Never got closer. But they didn't leave her either.

Jake rubbed his forehead, then moved closer to Beth, slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close while they watched and wondered.

"I'm afraid we're putting Aunt Vivian and Mrs. Gundersen in danger. We have no business being comfortable here or visiting my old neighbor when someone is out there searching for me." Seb paced back and forth in their room. "I waved Mrs. Gundersen back, but what if that man saw her? Or what if he went to her house to question her?"

"She got back from the window. I saw her. She was gone before we ran past the trees. And we were gone before the man got into the room."

The dinner was delicious. Aunt Vivian was friendly and welcoming. Their bedroom was comfortable. The summer night had turned cool enough to make sleeping pleasant. But Seb couldn't settle in for the night.

Neither of them had changed to get ready for bed.

"I've got an idea." Kat sat in one of the chairs by the small table, still fully dressed. "We're leery of contacting the law here in Independence." Kat clapped her mouth shut for a long moment, then said, "Let's go out for a ride."

The sun was still up. The summer nights were long.

"Let's tell Aunt Vivian we want to explore the countryside and sleep by a campfire, so she shouldn't bother waiting up. We'll tell her we will pay for the room because we want to leave our satchels here and retrieve them tomorrow."

"Where are we going?"

"I'll tell you once we're riding."

Seb decided it was as good an answer as any. He and Kat had their horses saddled and were west of Independence in minutes.

"Why are we out here, Kat?"

"Because we're going to Kansas City."

"Um, why Kansas City?"

"We need to talk to the law, and we don't want to talk to the sheriff in Independence. So we'll do something unexpected. We'll make sure we're not being followed. We'll find a place where you can look through your notes."

Seb rested a hand on the packets of papers he'd left in the room while he ate but had taken along for the ride. "I would like to study them. But I'm reasonably sure they're all here."

"Then we'll mail them to Alton, addressed to the O'Tooles in care of Jake Holt. The O'Tooles will hold them for Jake. That way no one can steal them from us or get their hands on them if we run into trouble. If something terrible happens, Jake will get them, or maybe Bruce will deliver them someday."

"They've sworn to never leave Hidden Canyon while Thaddeus Rutledge is alive."

"I know, but even so, I figure they won't last out the summer. They're bound to need something or just go visiting, and whoever goes can fetch the mail. I told Beth we might write to her."

"And she told you she'd never see the letter because they've sworn to never leave Hidden Canyon."

Kat shrugged. "If they don't get it, the letter will sit at the O'Tooles. And when our business is settled here, we'll ride on past Cheyenne for a couple of days, retrieve your packets, visit Hidden Canyon—assuming we can find it—see how big the twins have grown, and then go back to Cheyenne."

"Then we'll go to the sheriff in the nearest town. Kansas City."

Seb clamped his mouth shut because he had no ideas that were better. And he was glad to be out of Independence.

"We've got a few miles to ride. Do you mind if I think about all this for a while?"

"I don't mind. And once we hit a nice level spot"—the hills tended to roll, and the trees were thick—"we can stop, and you can study your notes and think about if you're willing to part with them."

Kat and Seb settled in to find a clear stretch, and they were a while finding one. The sun was getting low in the sky before Kat felt safe enough to stop.

Seb must have agreed with at least part of her plan. "Let me go through these papers."

Kat reined in her horse and swung down from the saddle just as Seb did.

"You sit down and read. I'm going to water the horses in that creek over there, then let them graze. Take your time."

She didn't want to be far from him, but she wanted a good field to watch for pursuit.

By the time the sun was setting, Seb was packing away his notes.

They were on the way again.

"Everything is here, and it was good to study the notes and refresh my memory. I can mail them off. Let's send them to the O'Tooles, but include Jake's name and mine."

"A letter can have a few names on it, I think."

"When we get to Kansas City, I'm going to wire Lloyd and tell him I'll be ready to read that list tomorrow.

"I'll tell him I want to meet at noon, and at the last minute, once we're back in Independence, I'll send someone with a note to his law office to tell him where we'll meet him. Then we'll talk to the sheriff."

Kat jerked her chin in satisfaction. "Sounds like a good plan."

"Let's ride. We can think about it on the way."

They galloped on, away from the trouble Kat knew was waiting for them. But they had to face it soon. Or maybe not. Maybe they should just run.

She hated that the trouble was coming for Seb. It would have been better to have found out the source of all this was that awful Patrick Wadsworth or even that despicable Thaddeus Rutledge.

The train drew to a stop in Independence. Thaddeus wasn't sure where exactly they needed to go in town, and he wished now he'd taken his carriage and team. He always took it. He'd had a new carriage specially built to be comfortable for his bad leg. It was much more luxurious than the one he'd owned before he was attacked and injured.

He descended from his private car and sent Sykes to find proper transportation while Thaddeus went to discuss what was next with Wadsworth and Horecroft.

"I've sent my men to the livery to rent horses. We'll be on Katherine's trail in a few minutes."

Thaddeus eyed the talkative man with near lethal irritation, and there stood Horecroft beside him, the smug, thieving liar.

He was somehow still in Wadsworth's confidence, which made Wadsworth a foolish man. But a wealthy, influential foolish man and Thaddeus curbed his temper, something he rarely bothered to do.

"Sykes will have to rent a carriage. I'm no longer a rider." It made Thaddeus feel weak to admit that, which put him in an inferior position for needing the help. The whole situation made him almost killing mad.

He looked at Horecroft then and decided the word mad wasn't one to be bandied about.