Blue Moon (20 page)

“Not until you tell me the truth.” Susanna clung to her the way a drowning man clings to a lifeline. She had let Livvie go once, lost the girl in order to save her boys. She wasn’t about to let it happen again or she would never forgive herself. Payson would never forgive her either.

Olivia took a deep, frustrated breath, then let it out in a rush. She was so angry that her cheeks were blotched with color. She twisted her wrist out of Susanna’s grasp but did not run away. Her shoulders were rigid, her feet planted in a wide stubborn stance.

“Fine, Susanna. I’ll tell you why I’m leaving, but first you have to swear to me on your baby girl’s grave that you will never tell Daddy the truth.”

Susanna blinked, hurt to the quick. “I swear,” she whispered. Now that it was forthcoming, she was afraid to hear the truth, sorry that she had to make such a promise.

Olivia spoke to her slowly, as if she were nothing but a witless child. “If I don’t go with Darcy, he will kill Noah.”

Susanna gasped. “Livvie, he wouldn’t—”

“Oh, yes, Susanna, he would. Maybe he wouldn’t commit murder himself, but I’m convinced he would never hesitate to have it done for him. And he won’t stop with Noah, either. If Daddy were to stand in his way, Darcy would kill him, too. If I refused, he wouldn’t stop there, but he would hurt you, and the boys. Everyone I love will be in harm’s way unless I go back to New Orleans with him.”

“How did you talk Noah into leaving?”

The sadness that filled Olivia’s eyes was almost too much for Susanna to see.

“Oh, I was very convincing,” Olivia whispered. She looked off toward the woods, where Noah’s camp once stood. Her eyes filled with tears. Susanna’s heart broke for her.

“Livvie, there has to be a way. We can go to town and talk to Ern Matheson.”

“Do you honestly think
Ern
could stop a man like Darcy?”

“There has to be some way.”

“There is no other way,” Olivia said with solemn finality. She reached out, took Susanna’s hands in hers and squeezed them.

“Someday, when the time is right, when I’ve been gone long enough for him to think about forgiving me, will you tell Daddy that now I understand what he did that day on the river and that I forgive him?”

“And me? Do you forgive me, Livvie?”

“Of course I do.” Olivia slipped her arms around her, hugged her tight and then let go. “I couldn’t say anything to Daddy last night, not without telling him all of it, but after I saw Darcy in town and I realized he had tracked me this far, I knew what I had to do. There is no other choice. I have to go with Darcy to save Noah and Daddy. Just like that day on the river when Daddy had to give me over to the colonel and his men to save you and the boys. There
was
no other choice he could make. I know that now. I know he did it out of love, not because he loved me any less or you and the boys any more, but to save three lives by sacrificing one. I survived Darcy before. At least this time I
know
where I’m going. I
know
what I have to do.”

“But, Livvie. Will we ever see you again?”

One of the tears Olivia struggled to hold back escaped. Susanna reached out to wipe at a single droplet that had slipped over Olivia’s lashes.

“I pray that we will meet again someday,” Livvie whispered. “Now, please let me go, Susanna. Go back home and keep Daddy there until Darcy and I are well away. Promise me.”

The edge of the horizon was lighter; the sun was creeping upward through a few remnants of blue-gray clouds. The air was close and still. Huge drops from a passing cloud spattered the field around them.

The promise was one that she was loath to make, but she finally nodded to Olivia. Before Susanna could say good-bye, Olivia began running across the field.

Shawneetown

Darcy made a great show of rousting the hotel manager out of bed so that he could settle his account and leave. He asked if Telford Betts had checked out, then told the man that he had heard the half-breed pilot Noah LeCroix had a run-in with his business associate in the tavern the night before and that he was concerned. He added that as far as he knew, Betts had never returned to the hotel last night.

He thanked the man, paid him in full and gave him extra for his trouble, then sauntered out of the place as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

Despite the foul summer weather, Darcy’s spirits were lighter than they had been in months. It was just a little after sunup and, riding the nag he had rented at the livery, he would be back at the Bond homestead in no time. Very soon, if things worked out right, Noah LeCroix would be facing the end of a rope.

He retrieved the rented mount from the livery, saddled up, and rode out of town without a backward glance. After asking around, he decided it wouldn’t hurt to take Olivia farther down the Ohio before renting a flatboat and heading south. It wouldn’t do to have her hear about LeCroix’s “crime” and have her decide to try to do the noble thing and cry foul.

Not when he had her just where he wanted her. By now she must know he had stopped by the cabin last night and told her father everything. She had to know that he would make good on his promises. If he had her on the run, she should walk right into his arms.

It hadn’t been light an hour when he rode past a stand of switch cane and saw her walking alone on the trail, headed toward town. Smiling to himself, he pulled rein, crossed his arms, and leaned on the pommel, content to watch her walk the last few yards. The naturally seductive sway of her hips and the swell of her high, firm breasts beneath the cheap yellow calico stirred him in a way no other woman could, even one adorned in French silk and lace.

He felt himself quicken and thought about taking her right there in the middle of the trail, until he remembered that the ground was wet and that it would probably be covered with insects and droppings and filth, and he thought better of it. There would be plenty of time to savor her—the rest of his life if he so desired. Tonight, somewhere along the river, would be soon enough. He could wait that long.

When she walked up to him and stood in silence beside his horse, meeting his eyes with a challenge in hers, he could almost swear she was looking right through him.

“I see you took me at my word. How did you know I’d be here?” he asked.

“When I heard you had come to see my father last night, I knew that you meant every word you said yesterday. You are a bastard, Darcy. Why did you do it? Why did you tell my family what I’ve been? What you made me? You didn’t have to go that far.”

“Everyone in New Orleans knows I’m a bastard, darlin’.” He thought of the love for LeCroix that he had seen in her eyes. “I thought I’d better show you how easy it would be to get to your family, how easy it was for me to to find them. Your father surprised me by turning down a small fortune for you. I’d pictured him as quite a different sort of man.”

She didn’t answer, just stared up at him with blank, unfeeling eyes.

“Where were you and that half-breed last night when I came by, Olivia? Did you bed him in some smelly teepee in the woods? Are you getting used to doing it on the filthy ground?”

She flinched, but didn’t look away. “That’s exactly what I was doing. You taught me so well, I made sure he’ll remember last night for the rest of his life.”

Anger got the best of him. In the time it took her to blink, Darcy reached down and grabbed her by the hair, yanked her head back, and turned her face up to his. He covered her lips, forced a kiss on her mouth until she began to fight him in earnest. Only then did he let go of her hair.

“It’s time we got started,” he said.

She stared at him for a long, cold minute, then offered him her hand. He reached down for her arm; she jumped and he swung her up behind him. When he kicked the horse into a gallop, her arms went around him involuntarily. Darcy followed the trail until it forked south and east and then headed toward the Ohio.

“Boys, go outside.” Payson shooed Little Pay and Freddie out the door, unwilling to talk to Susanna with the boys in the room, afraid he was not going to be able to hold his temper.

The day had gotten off to a bad start when he overslept, and it had continued to spiral downhill ever since. Susanna had been moody and silent when he awoke, her face streaked with tears, her thoughts so far away that he was afraid she was slipping back into her vale of depression.

Until Molly and the boys had come down to breakfast asking after Livvie, he had not even suspected his daughter was already gone. Realizing that was the reason for his wife’s tears, that Susanna had known Olivia had already left them, he had demanded to know how she could let the girl go.

Susanna stood, walked out the door and refused to answer.

Finally the boys had been fed, and now Payson ushered them outside so that he might get the truth out of his wife. Molly was bustling about the table, clearing dishes, tossing them into a wooden bucket filled with soapy water.

“Molly, go milk the cow,” Payson told her.

“Och. I hate that cow.” She turned back to the dishes, ignoring his order.

“You want to keep your job? Go milk the cow, Molly. Now.”

The hired girl tossed the cutlery into the dishwater and stomped out grumbling, “Someday I’ll be a fancy lady and no one will dare treat me this way ever again.”

Susanna had slipped back in while the boys were eating. She sat on the bed mending the appliqué quilt they had brought from Virginia. He joined her in the shadowed interior of the cabin, wondering how she could see to sew.

“How could you let Olivia leave without trying to stop her, Susanna?” Had she secretly wanted the girl gone? Had she even tried to keep Livvie from going with the odious gambler who wanted her for his whore?

“How can you ask me that, Payson? Because of what happened before? Because once I begged you to save the boys? Do you think I would let Livvie go because I actually wanted her gone?”

He was ashamed. She had read his thoughts so easily.

Susanna looked away, keeping her eyes on her mending. Her needle didn’t miss a stitch as she spoke.

“I tried to stop her. I begged her to stay but she told me this was her choice. She said she had to go.”

“Well, I’ll never believe it. There isn’t an evil bone in that girl’s body, Susanna, and you know it. I cannot imagine her choosing such a life.” He ran his hand over his eyes, still tired from a restless night and two hours of sleep. Any real farmer worth his salt would have been in the field by the time the sun touched the sky.

“I’ll never believe what that man said about my Livvie.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Never.”

“Daddy!” Freddie came racing through the door. “You gotta come out here.”

Payson was still watching Susanna. She appeared relieved by the interruption.

“Not now,” Payson yelled back, stopping Freddie in his tracks.

“But, therth thorn men here,” Freddie whispered.

Payson sighed. He walked over to his younger son and put his hand on the boy’s head. He could count the times he had yelled at his sons on one hand. Most of those times had been over the last few hours.

“Sorry, Freddie,” he sighed. “What next?”

Payson followed Freddie out the door.

Ern Matheson had just dismounted. He accepted the dipper of water that Payson offered from the rain barrel at the side of the house.

“Came to ask you a few questions, Payson. I know your daughter is a friend of LeCroix’s, that she came into town with him the day he first turned up and she was seen with him again yesterday afternoon.”

Payson nodded, wondering what the man was getting at. “Noah LeCroix is a friend to this family, I’m proud to say. What about him?”

“Your girl Olivia here? Can I talk to her?”

Payson looked off toward the wood. Shook his head. “No. She’s not here right now. She took off this morning.”

“Damn. That don’t look good,” Ern mumbled. “Not good at all.”

Payson’s heart sank. “What do you mean?”

Ern sat down heavily on the chopping stump beside the woodpile, took off his hat, ran his hand over his bald head, and shoved his hat on again. Susanna came out of the cabin and stood in a swatch of shade.

“You know why LeCroix would want to kill a man named Telford Betts?”

“Never heard of him,” Payson said. “Who’s Telford Betts?”

“A land agent who’s been in and out of here a dozen times in the past couple of years. Comes up from Louisiana to purchase land for clients of his who are speculatin’. He came into town a few days ago with a gambler name of Darcy Lankanal.”

Susanna walked into the sunlight to stand beside him. When she took his hand, Payson felt her trembling.

Ern nodded at Susanna and went on. “LeCroix had a set-to with Betts in the tavern last night. Damn near choked him to death. I broke it up, sent Noah on his way. This morning, Jewel McGuire damn near had a heart attack when he found Betts dead in his room at the hotel. LeCroix’s skinnin’ knife was stuck through his heart. We ain’t been able to find Lankanal at all and I’m just hoping we don’t have two murders to try LeCroix for.”

“Noah couldn’t have done anything like that,” Susanna cried, surprising Payson with her vehemence. “He’s a quiet, gentle man.”

Ern doffed his hat and rubbed his freckled, bald head again.

“Well, you’re partly right about that, ma’am. He can be. He can also be the meanest son-of-a-gun you ever seen, which is just the way he was actin’ last night. He’s either the bravest man walking or the stupidest, ’cause he’ll head right down the river when no other man would dare. That’s why he’s a legend from here to New Orleans.”

“Noah LeCroix?” Payson stared at Ern, trying to comprehend what he had just heard.

“Our Noah?” Susanna sounded just as credulous.

“Hell, there’s even been songs written about him. They call him the Prince of the Ohio.”

“Noah is a legend?”

“In his own time,” Ern laughed and then quickly sobered. “That’s why some folks just can’t believe he did this, and others—well, there’s always those who like to see a legend fall.”

“Are you looking for him?” Torn, Payson didn’t know if he could turn in the man who had saved Little Pay’s life. Even now Noah might be asleep at his campsite across the field.