Turner's Vision (35 page)

A slow smile spread across his face. He kicked dirt into the fire to snuff out the flames, then walked back to the cabin. He took a pillow and quilt off the settee, curling on the floor in front of his bedroom door.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“I’ve never seen a barn raising before,” Laura said the next morning, coming over to stand at the cabin door next to Claudia. “Are they really going to get the whole thing up in the two days that the men will be here?”

“No. Micah explained to us that today the men are divided into two crews to put together the frames for the barn’s sides.” She pointed to the large hewed poles lying to the side of the barn site. “Once the frames are ready, they’ll place the main support beams in the center of the prepared floor planks.”

“Those poles are so tall. How will they get the sides up to them?”

Claudia laughed. “Joey and Adam asked the same exact thing. Micah told the boys they’d really like watching that part. Using ropes, the men will work in teams to raise the side frames in place and secure them to the poles with the ropes. Finally, the most-experienced men will scale the wooden structure, hammering the upper support beams onto the main support beams and frames. Tomorrow Micah said they’ll put on the roof. After that, I think most of the men will head back down the mountains to Doverton.”

“But who will put up the sides to the barn if everyone is leaving tomorrow?”

“Micah seems to think, he, Robert and Hank will finish the task at their leisure before, during and after the harvest.”

After seeing that Micah had Adam and Joey busy carrying nails and tools to the men and not getting into mischief, Claudia turned back to the task of preparing enough food to fill twenty sweating men and boys at the midday supper.

Her heart clenched a little at how, despite his grueling task of overseeing the building, she was glad to see that Micah always had an eye on what the younger boys were doing. It was important to him that they to learn to work like the men, but also keep out of harm’s way.

If only he could love her like he loved those boys and Hank. He’d taken him and the two Jones boys aside, instructing them on the safe way to build the frames then put them to work learning the business ends of a hammer. The three seemed to enjoy working together.

Everyone seemed to be finding their place here, but her. Oh, she wanted to belong. She wanted this to be her home for the rest of her days, but she didn’t know if she could live with a man who couldn’t give her his heart.

She sighed heavily.

“How are you doing today?” Laura asked Claudia as she returned to the mound of potatoes she’d been peeling.

“I’m fine.” Claudia continued snapping her mess of beans. “I suppose you heard all that was said between Micah and me last night.”

“It was a little hard to miss. Frankly, I didn’t know you were capable of yelling that loud.”

“He just makes me so angry. He thinks he can issue an order and I’m going to obey it, no matter what my feelings are.” Claudia’s fingers picked up their pace the more she talked. “Do you know, he hasn’t once asked me how I feel about this baby or about my plans for having it? I’m beginning to think it might be a mistake, my trying to be here with him and make a family of us all.”

“Do you want to leave him?”

“No. I love the big idiot. I just wished he loved me, too.”

“Maybe he does.”

“No. He feels a sense of obligation. He only came back because his visions told him Gibson would come after me since I was still his wife. He doesn’t even want me around when the baby is born.” Snapping the last of the beans, she sighed again and sat back in her chair.

“You look like you could use a walk. Let’s put all these on to cook.” Laura lifted the pot of beans onto the stove. “Then we’ll gather up Rachel and William and go pick some of those wild blackberries I saw yesterday on my way in. A few pies would be nice for tonight. Besides, a nice walk always helped me feel better when I was expecting William.”

“All right. But let’s not tell Micah.” Claudia gathered her hat and basket. “He’ll insist on sending someone with us. And the more men working on that barn, the sooner it’ll be ready.”

* * * * *    

Micah drove the last nail into the wood frame he’d been working on. He stood back and wiped the sweat from his neck with his kerchief just in time to see Claudia and Laura walk into the forest pathway.

Fool woman should be staying safely in the cabin, resting.

Working to feed all these men was enough work for her. Now she went out on a stroll.

He signaled to Hank to follow behind them.

If Claudia saw her stepson watching over her, he knew he’d have another fight on his hands. But whether or not the lady wanted it, she needed protection, and he was going to see she got it.

* * * * *    

By noon the next day the framed structure of the barn stood high above the fields, the sun shining down on the light cedar wood.

The men sat scattered around its base, eating their supper. Claudia and Laura walked among them, refreshing their drinks and talking with them about their wives and children. Most would be leaving after their meal to ride back down the trail a ways before dark. They meant to make the two day trip in a day and a half. They’d been away from their families and farms long enough.

“Looks like you’ll have another week or so to put up the sides, before you have to start harvesting that corn crop, Micah,” Frank Jensen said between bites.

“With Nathan’s help, I hope to have at least two sides up by then, Frank.” Micah ate a bite of cornbread, watching his wife move about the work site. “The snows are pretty hard up here. Those cows Hank and Henderson moved up here are going to need a place to keep warm.”

“What about the mustangs?” Ned Jones asked, sitting next to his stepfather. The boy had taken a liking to watching the wild horses during his breaks from the work.

“They’re pretty tough creatures, Ned.” Micah watched Claudia move to a felled log and set her pitcher down. She leaned over to rub her back, then hoisted a platter of meat into her arms to circulate among the men.

“Damn it.” Micah dropped his plate and marched on an intercept course for his wife. Grabbing the platter from her hands, he yelled for Henderson and thrust it at the waiting man.

“What do you think you are trying to do, woman?” He picked her up in his arms and headed back to the cabin. “Are you trying to kill yourself and the baby with all this work? Didn’t you hear what Doc said? He said you were to rest.”

“Micah, put me down.” Claudia tried to wiggle out of his arms, but her increased size limited her ability to do so. “I am perfectly all right. When I need to rest, I do. Right now there are twenty hungry men out there who came to help us. I have an obligation to see that they are fed.”

“Laura, Henderson and I can handle that.” He stalked into the bedroom and laid her down on the bed. “You’re going to stay in this bed for the remainder of the afternoon.” He stilled her attempt to get out of bed with a hand on her shoulder and handed her a mirror.

“Look at yourself, Claudia. You’re pale as a ghost. If you want to have that child coming too early to live then you just keep on fighting me. But if you want to really have that child be healthy and on time, then you lie down and rest.” He loosened his grip, leaning down to press a kiss on her forehead.

“You’re right, I suppose. But I’m not sleeping all day, just a nap,” she acquiesced, the fight completely out of her. Not even removing her boots, she curled around one of the pillows, yawning with her sudden tiredness. “I’m only doing this for the baby’s sake, not because you’re ordering me to do it.”

“I know that, little one.” He smiled as he drew the cool summer quilt up over her body. “I wouldn’t want you to do anything just because I ordered you to.”

His words were lost on her sleeping mind. He left the bedroom door open so a light breeze could blow through the room. Then, stepping out onto the porch, he signaled Hank over to him.

“Get your gun, son. She’s sleeping and I don’t want to leave her unguarded. I’ll keep everyone else away.”

“Okay, Micah. But you know if she sees me here, she’ll get real mad.”

“I know, son. But it’s my problem, not yours.”

Hank ambled into the cabin, reappearing with his Colt and a book he’d been reading. He positioned himself on the bench outside the door, the gun lying in his lap.

Satisfied his wife rested safely, Micah went to help Laura and Henderson see to feeding the men. The men joked about his doing women’s work. Micah laughed with them. He’d do anything to keep his wife and child from harm.

* * * * *    

Once the men finished their meals, one crew climbed back onto the roof, pounding slats of weathered cedar on as shingles. The second group, consisting of men who needed to get to their families and farms, was packing up their tools and things onto a wagon. Micah spent time helping them and thanking each one for traveling up into the mountains to assist him and his family.

Micah saddled his buckskin and accompanied the wagon out onto the trail to be sure they were safely underway. Then he rode out to check on the mustangs and cattle in the grazing land on the opposite side of the valley. He sat on his stallion, looking back at his home.

It truly was a home now.

How things had changed for him in the last year when he rode down into the lowlands, driven by his visions. Now he had Claudia and the baby. He had the little boys and Hank. He even had in Henderson, a foreman who was turning out to be as good a ranch hand as he was a houseman.

He looked up into the sky, admiring the clear blue color and the warm sun beating down on him. Today, even he could believe things were turning out all right in his life, for once. He turned the buckskin back into the valley, deciding one more hand would bring that barn to fruition.

* * * * *    

The blond boy was seated out front. To get to the woman he’d need to be silent. He wanted her in his grasp before Turner had time to attack.

The woman was his key.

Turner wouldn’t let anyone draw on him as long as he had her. He’d be too afraid a stray bullet would get her instead of him. Too bad that would be his undoing.

He’d spent his time watching for the rebel captain to return to Washington, knowing he couldn’t leave his wife there by herself for too long. Then he’d tracked him to the mountains. The man had been in such a rush to get to her that he hadn’t even once looked to see if he was being tracked.

It’d been so easy, and now revenge was his.

* * * * *    

In the mood for some old-fashioned fun, Micah climbed to the roof on a ladder opposite Nathan. He smiled at his old friend, swinging his hammer into the same rhythm. Wordlessly, he picked up the pace, challenging him to a contest.

After a few minutes, all work stopped as the remainder of the men watched the two apply shingles at a furious pace. Cedar plank after cedar plank filled the last of the exposed roof. The sound of two hammers filled the afternoon.

Finally, Nathan succumbed to Micah’s superior size and strength. A cheer went up from the remaining men. Both men collapsed against the barn frame, laughing at their own competition.

“I still got you beat at physical labor, Nathan.” Micah wiped his brow with the back of his arm.

“You cheated, Micah. You had an unfair advantage.” Nathan descended his ladder.

“How do you figure? Better stamina?” Micah followed him down, joining him beside the well to splash water on his face.

“Naw. Bigger parents.” Nathan laughed, slapping his old partner on the back.

Micah joined his laughter, bringing the dipper up from the well bucket for a drink.

The dipper stopped halfway to his mouth, spilling its contents on the ground.

Blood rushed from his head to his feet.

“Hey, Micah, you know I was just kidding,” Nathan said, his words dying on his lips as his eyes followed Micah’s line of vision toward the cabin.

Laura, who was standing on the steps to their wagon, screamed, “Claudia!”

Then the valley went completely silent.

Claudia stood on the porch, the look of a frightened doe on her face. Behind her, with one hand around her neck was Gibson—his face a mask of pure evil. In his other hand he had a Colt pointed directly at her swollen abdomen.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. Turner. Cantrell. What a pleasure to see you both again. Looks like you’ve been working hard here today.”

“You son of a bitch…” Micah started forward. The sound of the gun’s hammer cocking stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Careful there, Captain. You wouldn’t want me to get nervous now, would you?” He let out a tight, high pitched snicker.

“What do you want, Gibson?” Micah spit out through clenched teeth.

“Now that is a very simple question. And the simple answer is…you.” He moved Claudia farther out onto the porch. “But first I want all the rest of the men to move out away from you into one group where I can see them.”

“Micah, he can’t take us all.” Dave Burnside moved away from the rest.

“No, Dave.” Micah turned to look at the big rancher. “He’ll kill her. Just do as he asks.”

“You’re sure, Micah?” Nathan asked, moving Laura behind him.

“I’m sure.”

“He’s planning to kill you,” Nathan whispered.

“If he kills her first, my life will be over anyway.”

Nathan signaled the remaining men to move to one side of the barn.

“Tell them to drop any guns they have, Turner.” Gibson forced Claudia out into the sunlight as weapons thudded on the ground around the group. “Good. Now you, move over here. I want to see you writhing on the ground in pain.”

Micah moved away from the barn toward the house.

Suddenly a shot rang out. A tearing pain entered his arm, turning his body sideways. His eyes never left Claudia’s pale, frightened face.

“That was just to get your attention,” Gibson said, his lips twisted in a sneer. “I’m going to take you apart piece by piece. Then I’m going to leave just enough of you alive to witness the death of your lovely wife and child.”