“Fine. Good. Ah, the reason I came was I wanted to show you this.” He extended his hand, revealing the paper that now was wrinkled and wet from his damp hands.
“What’s that?” Emma considered going out the back door and fetching Davis. The look on Nate’s face was making her more nervous by the minute.
“It’s a paper from a Judge in Oregon City. It says you can be granted an annulment, all you have to do is appear in court and sign some papers.”
Emma shot up from the sofa, her fury erasing any previous trepidation. ”Nate, we’ve been friends a long time, but now I’m really getting annoyed with you. I’ve told you before to let this drop. I have no intention of making my daughter a bastard by claiming my marriage never happened.” She started toward the door, and spoke over her shoulder. “I think it’s time you left.”
“No, Emma, I don’t think so.”
She spun on her heel to face him, and was met with a white handkerchief placed over her nose and mouth. She sucked in a breath to scream and everything went black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Davis spent more time in the barn than he had expected. The sun had gone down, and dusk was rapidly turning into inky blackness. He washed up at the well outside the partially finished barn, shook his hands to get the water off, then started toward the house. He was surprised Emma hadn’t come out to the barn before now. Usually if he was this late, she would come out to coax him into the house.
A warm feeling of satisfaction washed over him. Despite a rocky beginning, their marriage grew stronger every day. Even after he’d given her the letter from her parents, she’d made no mention of returning to Indiana.
They’d resumed lovemaking, and if things kept up the way they were going, little Caroline would have brother or sister on the way sometime soon. Caroline. How he loved that little bundle of joy. He did not mistake how her eyes glowed when he picked her up. For the first time since he’d lost his mother and sister in the fire, he felt like he belonged to someone. Someone who loved him.
He smiled. And someone he loved in return. In fact, tonight he’d tell his wife how happy she made him, how much he loved her. With the glow that caused, he hurried to the house, anxious to spent time with his girls.
His stomach clenched at the darkness and silence surrounding the house. The last time that had happened was the night Caroline was born, and that wasn’t a good connection to make. He hoped nothing was wrong with the baby, but didn’t hear any crying as he got closer to the house. Anxious now, he ran up the steps and flinging the door open, called for Emma.
Silence greeted him. No supper simmered on the stove, and no fire burned brightly in the fireplace. Frantic now, he raced up the stairs and called for Emma, again to no avail. He checked the cradle in the bedroom, and it was empty.
Slowly he went downstairs and lit the lamp in the kitchen. The first thing he noticed was the basket that held Caroline during the day was missing. So wherever Emma was, she had the baby with her. But if something happened to the baby, she would have gone to the barn to get him first, he was sure.
Confused, he hurried down the front steps and called all around the outside, and then went back into the barn to check there. He combed the cellar and the entire house once more. Both Emma and Caroline were missing. Not knowing what else to do, he saddled his horse and headed to town.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emma’s eyes flitted open, and she was immediately aware of a pounding in her head. Her body swayed with the familiar feeling of riding in a wagon. Flat on her back, her gaze roamed the area. Yes. Despite the darkness she recognized the inside of a covered wagon, and it was plodding along much like the wagon she had traveled in all those months. A soft whimper caught her attention, and she shot a glance across the space and saw the basket with Caroline in it. Where in heaven’s name was she?
She sat up, grasping her head. Her mouth felt like a used up wash cloth, a bitter taste on her tongue. A quick glance in the basket assured her the baby slept peacefully. Still confused and feeling unusually groggy, she crawled over boxes to the front of the wagon.
Emma peered through the opening and gasped. “Nate, what are you doing?” Her voice rose in horror when she saw the driver of the wagon.
“Now, Emma, this is for the best, and once you settle down, you’ll realize that you belong with me, and our home in Indiana.”
She shook her head, still trying to clear the fuzziness. “Are you crazy? What home in Indiana? Has it escaped your notice that I have a perfectly good home in Oregon? And I demand you return me to it immediately!”
All the shouting woke up Caroline who wailed her objection. Using some interesting words she heard Davis utter when he wacked his thumb with a hammer, Emma scooted back over the boxes and retrieved her daughter from the basket. Turning her back to Nate, she opened her dress and put the baby to her breast.
She talked to herself while she fed the baby, attempting to keep calm. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t believe the sweet, quiet man she’d known all her life had actually kidnapped her and her baby. Apparently, she’d underestimated his fixation on her. She sighed. Poor Nate. This was so out of character for him, she could only suppose he’d suffered some kind of brain fever.
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Her gaze roamed the area, and then stopped at a trunk that looked suspiciously like one of hers. Switching the baby from one breast to the other, she tried to think. She remembered Nate coming to her house, and holding a paper that would grant her an annulment.
Annulment. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of never seeing Davis again. Never feeling his strong arms around her, his playful smile. One lone tear tracked down her cheek when she pictured him searching the house, and finding both of them gone. Oh, God. Would he think she’d left on purpose?
She swiped at her cheeks. A plan. She needed a plan.
When the baby’s soft lips released her nipple, and closed her eyes in slumber, Emma buttoned up her dress, then changed the baby’s diaper—from a stack that Nate had also brought along, and steeled herself for a confrontation. Not anxious to surrender the warmth from the baby’s body, she held Caroline in her arms as she climbed onto the seat next to Nate.
“Nate, this is foolish. You know Davis will come after us when he finds me and the baby missing.”
Nate’s stuck out his stubborn chin. “It will be a while before he figures out where we went, and by then we should reach the wagon train we’re heading to. They started out a few days ahead of us, so we need to drive through the night to meet up with them.”