The Wicked North (Hearts Touched By Fire Book 1) (18 page)

The barn door needed repair, too, because it had become hard to open. Emma slammed her shoulder into it with all her might, and it slowly gave way.

“Morning, ladies.” She hung her lantern on the peg. Glancing at the dim light, she realized she should have left the lamp and made her way in the dark because their supply of oil was low. Grabbing the stool and bucket, she stepped to the first stall.

“Why, hello there, my pretty.”

Emma froze. The male voice came from a dark corner of the barn. It had startled her. She didn’t recognize the voice. Fear snaked down her spine, and her hold on the bucket tightened. She swallowed the knot in her throat and slowly turned.

The speaker revealed himself and went toward her.

“Who are you?” she demanded, taking a step back.

He was young, close to her age but slovenly looking. Wearing torn clothing, he reeked of sweat, blood and whiskey. He grinned at her, his dry, cracked lips parting to show her yellowed, broken teeth.

She took another step back as he came closer, and she met the wall of the barn.

“Oh, pretty, it’s been too long,” he drawled slowly, his knuckles caressing her cheek.

Her breath was ragged as she gulped huge breaths. His greasy black hair fell in disarray around his whiskered and weathered face.

“You better leave me be,” she warned, but her heart thudded so loudly that she couldn’t hear her own voice.

“Why? Me and you could have a good time.” He was excited knowing he had her cornered. His fingers trailed down her neck and into her bodice, yanking it down and splitting the material. “Ah, ain’t they ripe for the pickin’,” his voice was husky as he grabbed her right breast and squeezed it out of the corset.

She opened her mouth to scream when his other hand covered it. “No, I’m thinkin’ you should be quiet. All I’m wantin’ is some of you. If you scream, I’ll have to shoot your husband, the cripple.” He let go of her breast but not her mouth. She wished he hadn’t. When he brought his hand back up, it held a knife.

“See?” he said, using the knife to slice down the front of her dress and petticoat.

Emma closed her eyes. Then she opened her mouth to bite his hand when she heard the click of a gun at the door.

“Boy, get off her.” The voice was angry, demanding. It was Jack’s. She blinked. No, it couldn’t be Jack.

The vermin holding her didn’t even flinch but shouted over his shoulder, “You can have her after I am done with her.”

In a split second, the man released her as an explosion sounded in the barn. Sulfur and gunpowder filled the air as the man fell into a heap on the floor, blood pouring from him.

“Emma.”

She couldn’t hear well after the shot.

“Jack?”

#

The sun hadn’t yet reached the horizon, but Jack figured he was close to Rose Hill. He was so tired, he slouched over Goliath’s neck. The animal plodded along slowly, but Jack wouldn’t stop.

At the top of the rise, he glanced down and saw the house.

“Boy, we made it,” he whispered to the horse, patting his neck. With a second wind fortifying him, Jack sat up and nudged his ride faster. “Almost done, boy, then you can rest.”

They crossed the creek and entered the pastures surrounding the barn. Jack saw a woman leave the house, carrying a lantern to the barn. She was thin, with a regular work dress on in some dark color, and her hair was pulled back in a knot on her head. He wanted to call to her, but he’d have to yell for her to hear him, and at this time of the morning, it probably would scare her to death.

She walked into the barn before he got there. He smiled. Milking cows. Funny how war could change a person, in this case from privileged young lady to hardworking farmhand. Not that Emma had been as spoiled as his wife, but he’d bet his horse she’d never expected to milk a cow in her life. He chuckled.

As they made it to the barn, Goliath sidestepped, snorting and shaking his head. Something felt wrong. Jack slid off the horse and pulled out his revolver.

The door wasn’t closed, and he slipped through it. In the dim light, a vagrant was holding a knife to Emma, whose clothing was torn. Cocking his weapon, Jack spoke.

“Boy, get off her,” he demanded, his military-trained voice loud and clear.

The dirty scum laughed and refused to step back, muttering something Jack couldn’t hear. Emma’s face was pale with fear. Jack took aim, bent on killing the bastard. Without another thought, he squeezed the trigger.

The man fell to the floor as Jack raced to Emma and grabbed her arms. She was shaking badly.

“Emma,” he said. “Emma?”

“Jack?” She said and screamed, just as the back of his head exploded. Pain engulfed him, and his world turned black.

Strange as it may seem to you, but the more men I saw killed the more reckless I became
.

—Union solider Franklin H. Bailey in a letter to his parents

Chapter Seventeen

Rose Hill

A low hum of voices slowly became more distinct as Jack fought the blackness that enveloped him. With effort, he forced open his eyes and immediately regretted it. The bright light burned, and he closed his eyes again, turning his head away. Severe pain stabbed the back of his skull, and a moan escaped him.

“Why, look who’s up,” a male voice said.

Jack grimaced. He knew that voice, but the pounding in his head clouded his thinking. Suddenly, relief arrived in the form of a cool cloth gently placed across his brow. He opened his eyes again. Everything was blurry. He blinked and focused. Emma. He relaxed. She looked all right. He’d stopped that man in time.

“Thank you,” she whispered, smiling slightly before backing away.

He tried to reach for her, but his movements were sluggish, as though he was swimming in mud. “Emma,” he called, but his voice had no strength.

“What are you doing here, Jack?” The gravelly voice asked.

Jack lifted himself from the mattress, fighting a wave of blackness that threatened to overwhelm him. He concentrated on the form sitting across the room, and his eyes finally focused. It was Billy. He thought the man was off fighting, or that’s what he recalled from a couple of months ago.

“I came back to check on Emma and…”

“My wife?” Billy’s voice sounded hard.

“Billy,” Emma intervened, her voice soothing Jack’s frayed nerves. She helped him sip some water from a cup. The sweet liquid trickled down his parched throat, and he gulped, wanting more.

“Miss Emma,” Sally called from the doorway.

Emma smiled, taking the cup from Jack’s lips. She pushed an errant strand of hair from his face before she stood up. Her touch had reached inside him, to that place he had locked closed long ago. As she stepped away, he almost begged her to come back until he saw her husband glaring at him. Emma glanced from Jack to Billy. “You two be mindful, you hear me?”

Billy’s glare disappeared when he looked at her. “Of course, darlin’, ole Jack and I just have some business to discuss. Hurry on.”

She snorted and sailed out the door with Sally.

Jack sat up, swinging his legs off the bed to the floor. Bile rose in his throat, and he swallowed the bitter taste. He stared at Billy. The man was haggard looking and almost gaunt. He wore civilian clothes, his long hair tied back. He looked like a veteran, prematurely aged by war. It seemed the battlefield could have that effect overnight. By the end of this fight, there’d be no young people left in the country, Jack mused.

“You married her?”

“Yes,” the curt reply. Obviously, Jack’s arrival did not sit well with the Confederate.

With extreme effort, Jack rose unsteadily to his feet, but at least he was standing. His head throbbed.

“You realize you killed that bastard, don’t you?”

“That was my aim,” Jack stated. He’d have done anything to save Emma. “Where the hell were you?”

Billy sat like a statue, anger in his eyes. “So, you deserted the Union? You’re a man without a home?”

Jack flinched. That’s what it must have looked like with him showing up in civilian clothes. To them, he was a traitor to the South, and now, it appeared he had deserted the North. “I came to take my son to safety…”

“Oh, so now you accept him as yours?” Billy guffawed.

Emma stood at the door, the baby in her arms. Jack grabbed the bedpost, suddenly weak from the pain in his head, but his eyes locked onto her. She walked slowly toward him, the babe’s eyes open and wandering around the room. As they got closer, Jack saw the child’s eyes were green, like his, and the tuft of hair on his head dark brown, almost black. The color of Jack’s.

Emma noticed Jack’s reaction to the baby’s coloring, his unspoken acknowledgement that the child was, in fact, his. “Your son,” she said softly.

Jack was amazed. Nathan had grown so much in the last three months. His eyes and hair were so similar to Jack’s own that he could never deny the boy again. He reached out to touch the baby’s small hand that had fisted on Emma’s bodice. When Jack’s finger traced the tiny hand, the baby squealed and grabbed it, wrapping his own tiny fingers around his father’s.

A slave boy ran into the room, up to Billy. Jack was vaguely aware of the boy’s frantic panting as he spilled the news to his master.

“Well, well, well.” Billy slammed his walking stick to the ground. “Seems our good ole Yankee-loving Jack here’s brought attention to more than just us.”

Jack pulled his hand back and turned.

Emma held the baby tighter. “What’d Jemmy say?”

“Word of Jack killin’ that bastard got back to his men. We got patrols, Jack, vigilante groups to keep the peace and such, with the other men gone to fight for our freedom,” Billy replied. “You done killed one of Wilcox’s men. They had one of their own watching, saw you ride in. Jack, they’re coming, and they’ll kill you if they find you here. And once these groups get started, if they find you, they’ll kill the rest of us for ‘aiding and abettin’.”

Jack heard Emma gasp. He’d put them all at risk if he stayed. But he wasn’t leaving without them.

“I’ll go. Wasn’t planning on staying, but I’m taking my son with me.”

“You can’t be serious,” Emma stated, her eyes shifting wildly. “Where do you think you can go? I’m not letting you take the baby!”

“I’m taking him to my parents. You’re too close to Richmond here. The fight will return here and soon. They want Richmond and will wipe out anything in their way. I won’t leave him here.”

“No!” She hugged the baby tighter, enough so that he wailed.

“Emma,” he started as Sally raced into the room.

“Enough!” Billy roared. His deep voice boomed off the walls, quieting everyone, including Nathan. They waited for him to continue. “Emma, take Nathan away. Jack and I’ll discuss this.”

“Billy, please…”

“Emma, go,” he said calmly.

She patted Nathan’s little back, glaring at Jack as she and Sally left.

Jack let out the breath he’d been holding, watching her walk down the hall, his son peering over her shoulder at him. “Guess I should have figured she’d be attached to the little one.”

The throb in the back of his head returned. He massaged his temples, trying to stop the pain. It didn’t work. Frustrated, he turned.

“You need to persuade her to come with me,” he stated, hesitating before adding, “And you, too, of course.”

Billy frowned, his eyes fixed on the door beyond Jack. “Did you love her?” he asked quietly.

Jack’s brows rose. It seemed a strange question to ask under the circumstances, and he wondered for a moment who Billy meant. “I beg your pardon.”

Billy’s sad eyes turned back to Jack. “Caroline. Did you love her?”

Jack’s mouth twitched. It was a fair question. “I cared about her, more than she knew,” he answered carefully.

Jack noted Billy’s look of regret. “Why do you ask?”

Billy shook his head grimly. “Caroline was,” he paused. “Lovely, difficult, but a jewel,” he whispered.

Jack snorted. He was correct about her being difficult, that was for sure. “She never told me she was with child,” he added. Would he have kept her with him had he known? He knew the answer–no, because he’d never believe the child was his. The look on Billy’s face made him keep that to himself. What Jack saw in the man’s eyes told him everything. Billy had loved Caroline.

Billy laughed hollowly. “She had a difficult time, I was told. Blamed you for everything, that was, till the end.”

His skin prickled at the tone of Billy’s voice. “You loved her.” At his nod, Jack continued, “Why did you marry Emma?”

The grief-stricken face of the tormented man made Jack’s head throb even more.

“I love her, always have. She’s my friend, my companion,” he said and inhaled deeply, schooling his features. “She needed me when you threw her away. And I needed her. But…”

“Then take her away from here,” Jack pleaded. “Come with me.”

Billy snorted. “No, I can’t leave. But I want you to take her.”

“Are you mad? She hates me. And she won’t leave you.” He had noticed the man had remained seated the entire time Jack had been awake. “Billy, why are you here? She told me you were off killing Yankees.”

Billy’s mouth twisted in a maniacal smile. “I got me a few. But not enough.” He put his cane down and struggled upright. The right leg of his pants hung loosely below the knee.

Jack fought to keep his mouth shut.

“Lost it last winter,” Billy stated, finding his balance with the cane. “I’m not the man she deserves. Been thinkin’ for a while I never was. I’ll never be a real man again.” He hobbled toward Jack. “I can’t walk so I can’t plow or plant or do much of anything.” He sighed. “I can’t give her a child either. What good am I?”

With a deep frown, Jack shook his head. “Surely she knows all that. But, after time, you’ll improve…”

“I’m dying,” Billy said point blank. The pain of his exertion was clear in his eyes as his jaw tightened. He chuckled drily. “The butcher who hacked my leg away was a crackpot. Doc Brown says the man messed up and I’ve an infection festering. He claims I need to submit to the knife again. I won’t do it.”

“Emma won’t leave you.” It was one thing Jack new without question. She would adamantly refuse.

“If you’re sure about that child, you’ll need her to care for him.” He grabbed Jack’s arm. “You can give her a child.”

No, she couldn’t have Nathan. Then the meaning of the man’s words became clear. “I can’t. She’s married to you.”

“She loves you,” the man said stoically. “Always has. I need you to take her, make her happy, give her children.”

Billy had to be mad, Jack decided. But the pain was so clear in his eyes and his grip on Jack’s arm so desperate. Jack helped him back to the chair, with Billy breathing hard, his face tense. He reached for the cup on the table but missed.

Jack picked up the cup and handed it to him, wrapping the man’s hand around it. He could smell the laudanum and started to say something as Billy downed the entire contents in one gulp.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Billy sputtered, “I can’t make it without this poison, and supplies are harder to get.” His eyes fell for a moment. “I love…loved…both of them, but Emma has never really been mine, nor me hers I’m figurin’. And she knows it, what with Caroline being home and me…” His voice slurred a bit before it faded. He swallowed hard and gazed at Jack. “So I’m begging you.”

Jack felt his stomach turn.

Jemmy ran into the room. “Massa Bill, Toby says he’s hearing there be men riding on the road here,” he panted.

Billy became desperate. “They’re coming for you. Take your son and Emma. You’ll need to take John Henry too. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”

“No, let me help.”

He smiled at Jack. “By taking care of Emma, you are helping. Go.”

Jack backed out of the room as Billy started issuing orders to Jemmy.

Emma was to finally be his.

#

Emma was furious. She had just rocked little Nathan to sleep and laid him down when Jemmy ran into the room saying Billy wanted her. What had that Yankee done to him? She swept out of the room, almost tripping over her skirts. She tied the excess material up off the floor. It was faster than shortening her skirts, which she had no time for between the baby, her father and Billy. Biting the inside of her mouth to keep from screaming in frustration, Emma rounded the corner.

“What…,” her voice faltered. Billy sat in the chair, looking out the window. The laudanum haze in his eyes as he glanced at her made her heart drop. Her darling husband was in so much pain, and there was nothing she could do to help him.

“Come here, my lovely Emma,” he said in his drug-induced voice.

She straightened her skirts as well as she could, put her shoulders back and held her head up. He was up to something. She knew it. And where was Jack?

Then she spotted him standing in a corner of the room. She felt the heat of his gaze on her. Ignore him, she told herself, and she went to Billy, grabbing his outstretched hand.

“Darlin’…”

He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her. “Emma, my darling Emma,” he murmured into her stomach. He glanced up to her. “You know I love you.”

Her brows furrowed. He didn’t sound good. She had a distinct feeling she wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. “Yes, dear, I know.”

Billy snorted, giving her a half smile. “Good, now I only want what’s good for you. And for that reason, I need you to pack for Nathan and you. Jack’ll take you out of harm’s—”

“What!” Did she hear him correctly? Anger flared throughout her body. “What are you talking about?”