A Life Restored (38 page)

She reached for his hand and held it.

“I don’t know what the future holds, but I want to promise you one thing.
 
I am done with the bottle.
 
I’m done with the gambling.
 
The old way doesn’t work and I am not going to do it anymore.”

Tears brimmed in his eyes.
 
Caroline’s followed suit.
 
She leaned towards him and gave him a kiss on the lips.

Though her heart warned her to be cautious, she ignored it.
 
“I trust you, Thomas, to do what you promise.”

She rested her head against his chest.
 
His arms came around her and he held her tight.
 
His voice was thick with emotion when he spoke.

“I want to be a good husband and a good father.
 
I want our child to grow up in a home like you grew up in—not like mine.”

“They will.”

She just hoped they really would and that someday her heart would believe it too.

Chapter 39

Another long day.
 
But, he was almost home.
 
Thomas most loved this last leg of the trip from Mohave to Prescott—because it meant Caroline would be waiting for him.

For the past three weeks, he managed to keep this job.
 
He thought it was odd when Mr. Hardy hired him to drive a freight wagon from Prescott to Mohave and back again.
 
He only wanted Thomas to drive.
 
He had men at both ends to do all of the loading and unloading.
 
After an hour to rest up in Mohave, he headed back to Prescott with a full wagon.

He did not really like the job, but it was one he felt he could do for some time.
 
Though the jostling and jarring of the wagon tested his physical stamina, on this fourth trip his leg hadn’t pained him nearly as much as the first.
 
He was getting used to the work.

The town of Prescott appeared before him, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows.
 
In less than an hour he would be seated at the supper table across from Caroline.

He wondered how she was doing.
 
She seemed very tired when he left to head west.
 
She still planned on working at Hardy’s mercantile until he was able to find them a new home.
 
He needed to make that his main priority while he was home for the next few days.

Pulling the wagon to a stop in front of the storage building next to the livery, Thomas set the brake.
 
A group of brawny men started unloading the wagon.
 
He walked around, loosening up his stiff leg, until the men finished.
 
Then he pulled the wagon around behind the livery.
 
He made quick work of unhitching the horses and leading them inside the livery.

“Thomas!”
 
Craig Roundtree greeted him.
 
“I was just asking Mrs. Anderson this morning when she thought you might be home.”

“Oh?”

“Will you be around the next few days?
 
I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”

“Have supper with us tomorrow evening then.”

“Well, I’d like to speak with you alone, first.
 
Don’t want to get Mrs. Anderson’s hopes up in case you say no.”

Thomas was intrigued by the strange conversation.
 
“Then, shall I stop by in the morning?”

“That will be just fine.
 
Go on now.
 
I’ll see to the horses.”

He thanked Craig and rushed across the street to Hardy’s mercantile.
 
Caroline lumbered slowly from the building as he neared.
 
It seemed like she grew bigger and bigger every day.

“You’re home!”

He placed a soft kiss on her cheek and helped her up the stairs.
 
What an odd sight they must be.
 
Him with his cane taking the stairs slowly, helping his very pregnant wife.
 
He really needed to get a new home—ground level—for them soon.
 
She shouldn’t have to manage this in her condition.

Once inside, Caroline sank onto the nearest chair.
 
“Give me a few minutes and I’ll start your supper.”

An idea sparked.
 
“Let’s have supper at Lancaster’s.”

Round green eyes lit with hope.
 
“Can we afford it?”

Thomas chuckled.
 
“We can this once—if you can get Paul to accept the money.”

“Let’s go then.”
 
She rose to her feet and he led her back down the stairs and across the street to the boardinghouse.

Having been warned the last time they tried to dine in the dining hall, Thomas led the way to the house.
 
Paul insisted they eat there, with him and a smaller group.

A frazzled Paul greeted them at the door.
 
“Come on in.”

“Still haven’t hired any help?” Caroline asked as she took a seat at the table.

“No.
 
Mrs. Osborn sends some prepared meals over once a week from her restaurant.
 
It helps, but ever since Ma married Ben and moved out to the ranch, I’ve been struggling to keep things running as smoothly as she did.”

Thomas sat next to Caroline as Paul took a seat at the head of the table.

“The other boarders already ate, so it’s just us.
 
I apologize if anything is cold.”

“Just not having to cook it is treat enough,” Caroline said.

After Paul led them in grace, Thomas shared the news about Craig’s strange conversation.
 
“No idea what he wants to see me about.”

“Guess you’ll just have to find out tomorrow.”

The next morning, Thomas smiled as he headed across the street to the livery.
 
Craig greeted him and led him into his office.

“Leland Frye and I are looking at pulling up stakes here.
 
Planning on heading out to Verde Valley to take up farming again.
 
Heard it’s good land and several other folks are looking at growing grain which we’ll ship back here.”

“Oh.
 
What are you going to do with the livery then?” Thomas asked.

“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.
 
I thought you might be a good man to take over the place.”

Thomas blinked in shock.
 
“I can’t afford to buy you out.”

“I know.
 
That’s why I’m proposing you manage the place for me.
 
I’ll pay you a salary.
 
You run the place like it is your own.
 
Then, when I come back next spring, we’ll talk about how you can buy me out.
 
By then, you should know if it’s what you want or not.”

“Why me?”

Craig laughed.
 
“Who else would be so perfect to run the place?
 
You’re great with horses.
 
I seen the work you did repairing Hardy’s harnesses.
 
Quality work.
 
That’s what it takes to run a livery.”

Thomas didn’t move for a minute.
 
He could hardly believe what Craig said.
 
It made perfect sense.
 
He was good with the horses.
 
He already knew how to repair harnesses, saddles, bridles, and more.
 
Those were some of the best skills he picked up in the Army.
 
A dispatcher had to be as self-sufficient as possible.

“I’ll take it.
 
Thank you, Craig.”

“Don’t thank me.
 
Thank the Good Lord.
 
He’s the one that brought your name to my mind.”

As Thomas shook his hand, he did just that.

“Oh, and there’s one more thing.
 
I got a cabin out back.
 
It ain’t much.
 
But seeing as you and the missus are needing a home, too, I thought you could take it.”

It was all too much.
 
Everything he had been praying for since the Fourth of July.
 
And it was all being answered now, before the baby was born.

“If you want to move in right away, I’d be happy to take a bunk at Lancaster’s until I leave.”

“Ah… um… That would be just fine.”

Thomas thanked Craig at least two more times before he rushed back across the street to Hardy’s mercantile.
 
He was out of breath by the time he stood in front of Caroline.

“Craig has offered me the livery and his cabin.”

Caroline squealed in delight and threw her arms around him.
 
“See.
 
He does answer our prayers.”

“I’m sorry I ever doubted.”

Chapter 40

“Thomas!”
 
Caroline shot upright in bed.
 
Air refused to fill her lungs as a sharp contraction hit.
 
“Baby… coming…”

She grabbed his arm as another contraction shot through her body.
 
Her grip brought him fully awake.

“Baby?”

She nodded her head up and down, not that he would be able to see it.
 
The room was pitch black.
 
Then the flicker of a match preceded the soft glow of a lantern.

“Should I go fetch Betty?
 
Doc Armstrong?”

She nodded again.
 
As he reached for the door latch she moaned with another birthing pain.
 
He started to turn back to her.

“Go.”

As he pulled the door shut, she relaxed back into the soft warmth of her bed.

She was so grateful Betty would be here to help.
 
Last week, after Sunday services, Betty and Ben decided to stay at Lancaster’s until her baby came.
 
Betty insisted that no first time mother should be without the support of an older woman.

When Caroline mentioned that Julia would need someone, Betty reminded her that Hannah was there.
 
She told Caroline she could not imagine missing the birth of the Anderson’s first baby.

The more she thought about, she began to understand.
 
After all, Betty had traveled west with Thomas’s older brother.
 
Then she seemed to adopt Thomas when he showed up in town.
 
In some ways, this baby would be like another grandchild to Betty.

Another pain hit.
 
When it passed, she panted to catch her breath.

She was glad Ben came to town, too.
 
He already offered to take care of the livery while Thomas spent the first week with Caroline.
 
Thomas didn’t think he would need any time away, but Betty firmly told him he would.

A smile played at the corner of her lips.
 
So many things had changed with Thomas since he started managing the livery.
 
His confidence returned.
 
He took to the new role very quickly—almost as if this job was created just for him.
 
He hired a young lad to help muck the stables and with some of the chores that were more difficult with his bad leg.

At first some of the livery’s regular customers were leery in dealing with Thomas.
 
Soon, his charming personality won them over.
 
He managed every aspect of the business well.
 
He even began saving away some money, he told her, so he could purchase the livery when Craig returned in the spring.

The sharp pain of another contraction side tracked her train of thought for a few minutes.
 

As it eased up, she thought about how much her life changed in the last year and a half.
 
She was so naïve when she left Texas, thinking she was about to embark on a great adventure.
 
Even her plan of being reunited with Adam and Julia hadn’t worked out exactly as expected.
 
More than adventure, she experienced so much grace.
 
God had forgiven her foolishness.
 
He protected her in the wake of the stage robbery.
 
He introduced her to Thomas.
 
She made many mistakes with him, but she had been forgiven of those, too.
 
Now she was beginning to see what a good man her husband was and she thanked God for that blessing.

“Dear!”
 
Betty’s voice grew louder as the door opened.
 
“Thomas said it’s time.”

Another contraction hit.
  
In a breathless whisper, she replied, “Yes.”

Thomas’s heart raced out of control.
 
Caroline had not looked well when he left her.
 
He wished he could run, instead of the fast shuffle-walk his leg required.
 
Betty should be at her side by now, so at least she wouldn’t be alone.

He pounded on the door to Doc Armstrong’s clinic.
 
A groggy Hank Armstrong answered the door.
 
Thomas’s voice failed him.

“Is it Mrs. Anderson’s time?”

“Yes.”

Doc Armstrong ducked back inside and quickly reappeared with a bag.
 
It was then that Thomas thought he should have fetched the doctor first, with his office being only a few doors down from the livery.

Caroline’s piercing scream sent waves of fear over him as he entered their cabin behind the livery.

Doc Armstrong slapped him on his back.
 
“Don’t worry.
 
This is normal.”

This was
normal
?
 
Thomas prayed that God would help Caroline through this.
 
Then he asked the same for himself.

Several hours later, the baby still had not come.
 
Thomas squinted at the bright sun as he stepped out for some fresh air.
 
Somehow he missed the sun rising.
 
He paced back and forth in the dirt space between the cabin and the livery.
 
Perhaps he should just go to the livery and start his day.

A rider approached, moving around the side of the livery to the front of the cabin.

“Where’s Doc Armstrong?”
 
Matthew Covington asked.

“Inside.
 
My wife is birthing.”

“Oh!
 
Mrs. Larson’s pains have started.
 
Adam sent me in to fetch the doctor.”

Thomas poked his head inside and spotted Doc Armstrong.
 
He moved to his side and whispered the news.

“Tell the Larsons I’ll be along as soon as I can.
 
Mrs. Larson should be in good hands, with Hannah there to care for her.”

Caroline locked gazes with Thomas.
 
“Julia too?”

He nodded.

She smiled.
 
“Our babies will share the same birthday.
 
Make sure she knows.”

He assured her he would.
 
Then he returned to the front of the house to deliver the message to Matthew Covington before returning to his urgent task of wearing a rut in the ground with his pacing.

Another scream, muffled by the cabin walls, reached his ears.
 
This was pure torture—worse than the screams on the battlefield.
 
This was his wife!
 
His child!

He moved to the rocking chair on the front porch, setting it into motion by pushing off with his cane.
 
Trying to calm his anxiety, he thought about how much his life had changed since he met the obnoxious, spunky, beautiful Caroline Larson.

Before meeting her in Wickenburg, his thoughts had been consumed with self-retribution for all the wrongs of his life.
 
At first, she presented him with a nice distraction.
 
Then, rescuing her on the road challenged him.
 
He had to rise to the occasion, something he had not thought he had within him.
 
Then she slowly worked her way into his heart.

One thing was certain, no matter the circumstances that led to them marrying, he loved her more than anything—more than dispatch riding, or riding for the express.
 
She was his life now.

A different cry interrupted his thoughts.
 
He jumped up from the rocking chair and rushed inside.

“Thomas,” Betty said.
 
“Come see your son.”

Thomas swallowed hard.
 
A son.
 
Another prayer answered.
 
A son to carry on his brother’s name, the perfect picture of his life being restored.

He moved to Caroline’s side, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“He’s so beautiful,” she whispered.

Thomas reached out a hand and placed it on his son’s head.
 
“Andrew Paul Anderson.
 
After two of the men who most changed my life.”
 
His voice broke as he was overcome with a deep love for this child and his wife.

“Andrew Paul Anderson,” Caroline echoed.

Glancing around, he noticed that Betty and Doc Armstrong had left the bedroom.
 
Only his family remained—him, Caroline, and Drew.

“May God always be with you, Drew.
 
Carry your uncle’s name well.”

Caroline finished the blessing, “And may you have the childhood your father dreamed of.
 
Be well loved, cherished, and always surrounded by parents who love God, each other, and you.”

Robert Garrett could not be in a better mood as he read the letter from his associate.
 
The loose ends from the stage robbery were tied up.
 
Bart was dead.
 
So was the Robert Garrett look a-like.
 
Now, Caroline Anderson could point fingers at him as much as she wanted.
 
It would not matter.
 
As far as the law was concerned, the men who committed the crime already paid for it.
 
Everything was falling into place nicely.

He crumpled the letter from his associate and smiled as he tossed it into the fire.
 
Larson had a daughter and Colter had a second son.
 
Sons were everything to men like Colter.
 
They carried on the family name and eventually inherited the family ranch.
 
He saw how much Colter doted on the first boy.
 
Larson probably felt as strongly about his daughter.

Taking both of the Colter boys and the Larson girl would be the perfect retribution for the two men who stole everything from him.
 
All he had to do was be patient and wait for just the right time.
 
Then his revenge would be complete.