Harnessed Passions (26 page)

The stables were nearly deserted with only a
couple young boys tending to the horses. There was no sign of
Rally, so there was no chance of him alerting Daniel she was
leaving, as he had done so many times before with Victor when she
was a child. She was able to saddle her mare with very little
difficulty and slipped out before anybody took notice of her.

Julia headed Biscuit toward the open fields,
not knowing where they were going or much caring when they would
return. She knew it was dangerous to ride in the open fields at
night; Biscuit could stumble and fall, or break a leg, even throw
her rider and then where would she be?

It had been a long time since she had ridden
her mare and Biscuit was as anxious to stretch her legs as Julia
was to let her. They rode for a long time, over the flat lands that
spread as far as the eye could see, into the night where only
shadows would witness their foolish behavior. She made a large
circle of the property and was near the outer boarder that
connected her land with the Farnsworth’s.

Julia pulled back on the reins, looking
toward the flickering lights of the large mansion in the distance,
inhaling a deep breath. She would have to go back, she knew that
and so did Biscuit, but neither of them was ready. There would be
more arguments when she tried to sneak in and her head still ached
from the last one. She glanced across the open range recognizing
the thick brush beyond.

The swimming hole; she hadn't been there
since the day Heather died. She had lost all interest in ever
seeing the place again, but right now the need to talk to Heather,
the need to be close to her seemed overpowering. There was no other
place she could feel her friend's presence than the last place she
had been on this earth.

With slow movements, Julia turned her horse
toward the secluded pond. An eerie chill trickling down her spine
as she thought about the last time she was here; she could still
see Heather’s dead body floating in the water and frowned. She
could barely remember what her best friend looked like before that
fateful day.

She remembered their friendship, their
laughter and their dreams, but she could not recall her face in
clear detail, not as it once was; young and beautiful, carefree and
innocent. All she could see was the grotesque, bluish face; bloated
and distorted, not at all the girl she loved and needed to speak
with.

Heather would know how to handle her
feelings, Julia thought. She was always the rational one, able to
think clearly in any situation and able to see outside the lines of
now or then. She could tell her what to say or how to act; she’d
tell her whether to try and make Daniel care for her, or to slug
him in his pompous nose and tell him to get lost! Heather had a way
of making Julia feel like things weren’t as bad as she thought,
even when Victor was furious because she disobeyed him, again.

The night was clear with
just a few clouds darkening the sky and the moon was full giving
the path a shadowed light. Julia could hear the sounds of horses
neighing in the open fields as they grazed the sweet spring
grasses. Rally and the others would be rounding them up soon
enough, which meant Biscuit would be missed and Daniel would be
alerted to
a problem at the
stables.

She stopped her mare at the top of the small
hill that led to the pond and left her untied to graze on the
grass. Carefully Julia edged her way through the underbrush and
around the trees that lined the water's edge.

The swimming hole seemed so different now,
so strange and spooky and smaller than she remembered when she was
younger. She sat down on the old stump where she and Heather would
sit, watching the ripples on the water from the insects that danced
along the surface. The sound of crickets chirped all around her as
she sighed; life goes on, she thought with a sadness that seemed to
grip her entire soul.

Her heart was filled with remorse; she hated
what had happened to her life, but she hated how she felt about it
even more. She was in love with her own husband, a man who didn't
want her for his wife, but for the land and all that went with it.
Daniel may have been somebody in England – if his story was true,
but here he was just another citizen among the many. She was the
means for something better for him, his meal ticket as her father
would say. Her father, Julia growled under her breath; this was all
his fault. Everything that was happening to her was because of him,
even Heather's death.

If she had been here that day as she
promised; if she had come when she said she would, Heather would
still be alive, Julia would be in Boston where she wanted to be and
Daniel would be back working with Harold. She'd never have known
him or fallen in love with him and she wouldn’t be sitting here,
feeling sorry for herself or wishing for a past that would never
change.

With tears streaking her delicate face,
Julia sighed a sobbing sound. She knew none of it was true;
Heather's death was an accident, her father would still have died
and even if she had been there to help her friend, who would have
said whether she could have prevented Heather's death or not. The
worst of it was, she would still have met Daniel and - unless she
had married some local farm boy - she'd have still been forced to
marry him. Her father would have won out either way.

The sound of the water rippling against the
bank brought Julia back to reality with a start. She had to get
back home; even if she stayed out here all evening somebody would
eventually miss her and they'd come looking for her. With a ranch
the size of Turner Stables, nobody was ever free from spying eyes.
She had probably been witnessed leaving the stables by at least a
dozen people, including Daniel. He'd be the first to bring her
home; she meant too much to him to let her go. She was his means
into a better life and richer future; even if she wasn't a part of
it, her inheritance was.

Julia sighed again, wiping the tears from
her face as she heard her mare whine her discontent. It was time to
get back before she had the whole town out looking for her. The
thought of a posse hunting the countryside for her didn't exactly
set well in her mind. It was bad enough to feel like a disobedient
child for running away, but to be dragged back home as a deserting
wife, was unthinkable.

Standing up, Julia brushed the dirt from her
velvet riding habit as she moved around the log and back to the
muddy embankment. She had just turned to leave, when a noise in the
bushes caught her attention. The chirping of crickets grew silent
and she felt the sudden chill of danger scratching along her spine.
She strained her eyes to see what had caused the noise, but
couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. The swimming hole was so
well hidden from the rest of the world that only the slivers of
moonlight filtering through the treetops that danced around her
illuminated the area of the brush with light.

It was probably only Biscuit, she told
herself, hoping to calm her twitching nerves. After all, she hadn't
tied her up and she may have gotten snagged on a branch or caught
in the brush as she searched for hidden treats. She thought about
her mare trying to work her way down the small embankment and
falling; she could break her leg or cut herself seriously.

Julia frowned as she headed in the direction
of the noise, her old temperament and stubbornness refusing to
permit her to think before acting. If her horse had gotten stuck,
she may need help getting her out, which meant she’d have to walk
all the way back to the barn to get someone to come back with her.
Daniel would be furious, even more than he already was and that in
itself meant another long evening of arguing between the
newlyweds.

She heard the noise again and sighed; it had
to be Biscuit stuck in the thick bushes, no doubt from trying to
get to the thick grasses growing underneath. She pushed the limbs
away and called softly for her horse and even whistled for her, but
received no response. She called louder and heard the mare whine
from the top of the hill behind her. Biscuit hadn't made the noise
in the brush after all, so what had? Julia felt the chill return,
as she strained her eyes again peering through the thick
overgrowth. What if it was a vagrant or a drifter? She should not
have come out here alone, especially at night, she thought.

"Who's there?" she called out, silently
cursing herself for allowing her bravery to overcome her common
sense. There was no answer, nothing, and she wasn’t sure if she was
glad or not’ then the rustling sounded from somewhere behind
her.

Julia’s heart was pounding as she turned
around and started out of the bushes, eager to get away before it
was too late; but as she neared the edge that led to the path to
take her out of the overgrowth, she stopped and frowned, her feet
unwilling to move any further. Standing in the middle of the pond,
wearing a robe of white was the figure of a woman.

"Who are you?" Julia demanded, cursing the
moon for going behind a cloud.

"Julia." She heard her name whispered in the
still night air and froze in her spot. Oh God, it couldn't be, it
wasn't possible!

"Heather?" she whispered, her heart pounded
wildly inside her chest, her palms sweating with fear as her legs
tried to buckle beneath her.

"I've been waiting for you Julia," the
figure said, barely more than a whisper on the night wind. "It was
your fault. You killed me. I've come back to avenge my death." The
figure raised her arms slowly toward Julia as she spoke.

"No...I didn't...Heather, oh God please,"
Julia pleaded, as thunder exploded in her head and she found
herself falling to the ground, rolling down the hill. The sound of
water sloshing against the bank grew louder with each beat of her
heart and she heard herself moan against the pain.

Julia couldn't open her eyes; her head grew
heavy and thick with every breath she took. Suddenly she felt
herself being pulled forward by something beneath her arms. Her
head was spinning and darkness was beginning to swell up around her
as her face hit against water. Julia couldn't to move on her own
accord, a heavy weight seemed to be pressing in around her
shoulders, holding her down. She tried to cry out, but the attempt
only aided in her lungs filling with water. Her throat closed off
unwilling to divide the air from the water but she knew it was too
late. She was drowning at the hand of her best friend and she was
helpless to fight.

Through the haze of fear and the burst of
agony inside her head, Julia could hear her name being called out
through the night’s stillness. She opened her mouth and tasted the
rush of cold water filter across her tongue. She saw the darkness
descend on her, still hearing her name echoing all around her as
water filled every pore of her soul. Then there was nothing left
for her, only cold emptiness and dark space in which she found
herself floating. She couldn't breathe anymore, she couldn't fight,
her soul ached for release, begging to escape to a world she knew
awaited her.

Julia felt herself being pulled forward; she
could see herself walking through all of this, the swimming hole,
the water, her family's ranch; the fear even the pain no longer
mattered. Her spirit was being pulled through an endless passage of
time. She heard her voice and saw a figure; a man...Daniel? No, he
wasn't tall enough, wasn't slender enough or young enough, but then
who?

"Julia," the man called, and she reached out
for him. Their hands came close to touching and she saw his
eyes...her eyes, emerald green in a face of pale white, but they
weren't hers at all, they were..."Daddy?" she gasped, but he didn't
answer.

He walked further away from her as she felt
herself being pulled back into the emptiness that surrounded her.
She tried to call to him again, but he was gone, the darkness
swallowing him up like a sponge.

Her lungs began to ache again; her head
throbbed like the boom of fireworks on the fourth of July. Her
chest exploded with heavy pressure and her stomach heaving in
response, but she couldn't wake herself up.

The thought of dying was vivid and the
feeling of regret weighed heavy against her soul. In that moment
Julia realized she was still alive and why she couldn’t follow her
father. She wasn’t ready; she wanted to live and she hadn't been
able to tell Daniel the one thing her heart ached to say. She loved
him, and she wanted to tell him this, but the words wouldn't
form.

She searched for him, but found only thick,
dense space; cold revenge and endless pain surrounded her. Daniel
was not there; no eyes of turquoise splendor, no arms strong and
gentle to hold her. And then the pain stopped, it was over; there
was no water, no Heather…and no hope. Her life had ended and she
was alone.

Daniel heard the door to the room next to
his shut and heard the soft sound of shoes scrapping along the
carpeted hallway as Julia hurried down the stairs. After closing
the door to his wife, he began pacing the room naked, nearly
breaking his toe when he kicked the dresser. If he could have, he
would have kicked himself instead. He hobbled to the bed and
checked his injury then pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a soft
flannel shirt. He was just slipping his feet into a pair of boots
when he heard the door close.

He needed to see Julia; he needed to make
her understand what was happening between them, even if he didn’t
completely understand it. He wanted her to love him on her own
terms, without persuasion from him. It wasn’t her land he wanted
and he had to make her see that.

Daniel could hear the voices of Louise and
Thompson, Mrs. Lester and Bridget as he descended the stairs. He
turned the corner to the parlor and looked around, but there was no
sign of the young brunette.