Authors: Ruth Ann Nordin
most of it on his parents’ farm and then moved to downtown
Omaha to work for Doctor Adams. That was it. He didn’t
even save someone’s life, which had been one of his
secret hopes when he started working for the doctor. Then,
at least, he could say he did something important.
“You’re not getting away,” Sep said, using added pressure
on Joel’s back.
“Fine!” Joel barked. “You made your point.”
“Good.” Sep removed his foot so Joel could stand up. “Now
get back into the house before you get sick. I can’t have you
dying on me. You’re worth more to us alive than you are
dead.”
Rol ing his eyes, he moved forward, keenly aware that the
kid stil had the gun trained on him. Just wonderful. He was
being held hostage by a fourteen-year-old kid. He could
only hope word wouldn’t get back to his brothers about this,
especial y Tom who’d never let him hear the end of it.
Once they reached the porch, Sep told him to shake the
snow off his clothes. “I don’t want April to have to worry
about cleaning up a wet floor.”
“Fine,” Joel muttered as he stomped his feet and shook his
body the best he could.
Sep got the snow off his boots before he motioned to the
door. “You go in first.”
Joel did as instructed and sighed when Sep told him to
take his boots and coat off. He left his boots on the rug and
hung his coat on one of the hooks. “Alright. I’m official y your
prisoner. Now what?”
“Go upstairs.”
“Why? It’s not night.”
“That doesn’t matter. I need to make sure you don’t try to
run off again.”
Joel didn’t like the sound of this. “So you’re going to do
what?”
“Right now, I got to repair the barn. I can’t have snow
blowing into the hole you made. When I come back, we can
sit by the fire in the parlor.”
“What fun,” Joel replied in mock enthusiasm. “Can we play
cards and tel funny stories while we’re at it?”
“You keep talking like that and I’l keep you in the room until
lunch.”
“You’re going to keep me in a room?”
“What else do you think I’m going to do to make sure you
don’t pul another sneaky stunt?”
“Unbelievable.” Joel trudged up the stairs, thinking it was
going to be a long morning, but he’d rather spend time
alone than with the crazy people in this house. Sooner or
later, Doctor Adams would look for him, and at that time,
they’d have to let him go or else his brother-in-law, the
deputy, would set the law on them. When he reached the
top of the stairs, he asked, “Which lovely room is my prison
cel ?”
April came out of one of the rooms with a newly washed
Nora in her arms. “Prison cel ?” Her eyes grew wide. “Sep,
you’re not going to put him in
the room
!”
“I have to,” Sep said. “He crept on out of here like a rat
scurrying for a hole to hide in. He was going to take a horse
and ride to town. Not that he would have made it. The snow
and wind would have done him in halfway there.”
“I would have made it,” Joel argued. “I grew up on a farm
and know what a horse is capable of in the winter.”
“I know what a horse is capable of, too. Those
temperatures are dropping, and the wind and snow are
getting worse.”
“I could have made it.”
Sep smirked and shook his head.
Irritated, Joel pointed his finger at him, ignoring the gun.
“Look here, kid. I’m twenty-two. That makes me eight years
older than you. I think I know a little bit more than you do
when it comes to horses and snow.”
“Please, stop!” April interrupted, looking bewildered as she
glanced from one person to the other. “This is a tough
situation for everyone, and this useless bickering isn’t
going to make it any easier.” She took a deep breath.
“Sep, you can’t put Joel in that room.”
“But I can’t leave him free to leave this house again,” Sep
replied. “While you were up here taking care of Nora, he
tried to escape on a horse.”
“Ah ha!” Joel snapped his fingers. “You admit that I could
have made it to town.”
“I said ‘tried to escape,’” Sep said.
“Enough!” April shifted Nora from one hip to the other. “I’l
stay with Joel. We’l go to the parlor, and I’l give him one of
your old dime novels to read. Joel, you promise you won’t
try to leave again?”
Joel frowned and examined the three rooms around them.
Her bedroom door was open, and in there was her bed and
Nora’s crib. Another bedroom door was open, and he could
make out the end of a bed in it. That left the third room, and
the door to it was shut. He wondered what was in the room
that bothered April so much.
“Alright.” Sep’s voice broke the silence. “He can stay in the
parlor. But if he tries to leave the house, he’s in
the room
.”
Joel’s gaze went back to the closed door to the third
bedroom. Something in April’s tone warned him that the
room was connected with bad memories, which meant, the
room had been used for one of them in the past. The
questions were who was it for and what happened in it?
“You want the gun?” Sep asked April.
She grimaced. “No, Sep. I think we’ve put him through
enough. You should stop pointing it at him. How do you
expect him to relax?”
“I don’t expect him to relax,” Sep replied. “I expect him to
stay here and marry you.”
With a sigh, she brushed back the dark curls from Nora’s
face. “I’m taking her downstairs. She’s been cooped up
here long enough. Joel, we have plenty of dime novels if
you’re interested. There are stories about outlaws and
sleuths. Good stories that a man can enjoy. I’l be tending to
Nora and some sewing, so I won’t be in your way. If you
want anything to drink, let me know and I’l be happy to get
it.”
While she took Nora downstairs, Joel examined Sep to see
if he’d listen to his sister or not. At first, Sep remained
frozen in place, the gun stil raised and ready to go if he
needed to assert his authority in the situation. Then his face
softened and he lowered the gun. Joel’s shoulders relaxed.
“I’l get to that barn,” Sep told Joel and fol owed April down
the steps.
Joel resisted the urge to check out the room with the closed
door and went down the stairs, noting each creak and the
wobbly banister. He shook his head. Someone real y
needed to come in and fix the place up.
“The parlor is this way,” April said, motioning to the room by
the front door. She put Nora down. “The dime novels are on
the shelf over the couch.”
Since Sep was watching him, Joel decided to fol ow her.
His steps were slow since Nora took her time as she made
her way to the parlor. When he entered the room, he noted
the shabby curtains, worn-out rug, and old furniture. The
fireplace was in good shape, though he could tel it’d
recently been repaired. So Sep probably took care of the
items that needed to be fixed while letting the things that
didn’t need immediate attention go.
It’s not my problem. Once the weather gets better, I’m
finding a way out of here.
Joel watched as April sat in her rocking chair by the
window and started mending a dress. Nora giggled and
walked around the room, seeming to be fascinated with
everything she came across. Joel gave a slight shake of his
head and went over to the shelf with a stack of dime novels
on it. There was no sense in noticing everything that
needed fixing around the place. They’d have to find another
man to force into marriage and let him take care of the
house. With nothing else to do, he picked up one of the
dime novels and sat on the couch to read it.
Chapter Five
April looked over at Joel as she worked on mending her
dress. He was hunched over on the couch with one hand on
his forehead while he read a dime novel. At least, he
appeared to be reading it. For al she knew, he was
pretending just so he wouldn’t have to talk to her. And who
could blame him? If it hadn’t been for Lou, she wouldn’t
want to keep Joel with them as much as she did. Harvey
was bad enough. Who knew just how bad Lou was?
Glancing at Nora who was trying to pul down the curtains,
she got up and went over to her. “Don’t do that, honey.
Come on over here and sit with Mama.”
She took Nora’s hand and led her to her chair where some
blocks and a dol were, but Nora shook her head and went
back to the curtains. Sighing, April put her dress on the
chair and went back to the window.
“No, honey,” she whispered and picked Nora up. “Would
you like something to drink?”
Nora wrapped her arms around her neck and said, “Drink.”
With a tentative look in Joel’s direction, April asked, “Would
you like me to get you something to drink? We got more
coffee. I could make tea if you prefer.” She waited for him to
answer, but he didn’t look up from the dime novel. Taking
her chances, she added, “I can also get you a snack. I can
make whatever you’re in the mood for.” Or she could make
a close approximation to it. She didn’t exactly have a whole
kitchen’s worth of groceries, but she could make what she
had go a long way.
After a ful minute, he final y let out a heavy sigh and looked
at her. “I want to go home.”
She blinked at his bitter tone. Of course, he was bitter. He
had every right to be. She and her brother were keeping
him here against his wil . Swaying from side to side so
Nora wouldn’t get impatient with her, she quietly said, “I’m
sorry. I can’t let you go.”
“So you keep saying.”
“Wel , it’s the truth. If you knew what Lou was like, you’d
understand.”
“I get it. Some old and disgusting man wants to marry you,
so you decided to kidnap a handsome, young man to fil in
for him.”
She blinked, surprised that he should refer to himself in
such a lofty way. Even if he was handsome, she didn’t think
he had a right to brag about it.
“Look, I’m not interested in getting married. I’ve decided
long ago that I wil not be tied down to a wife. So you’re
wasting your time.”
Taking in the smug expression on his face, she snapped,
“You’re not good looking.” Sure, it was an outright lie, but
the haughty air he had about him rubbed her the wrong way.
He stared at her for a long moment as if he thought she was
referring to someone else. Then he asked, “Do you mean
me?”
“Is there another man in this room?”
Narrowing his eyes at her, he said, “I’l have you know
women flirt with me al the time. I could have a wife. I just
don’t want one.”
“That only shows what bad taste some women have.”
With a knowing smirk, he said, “You were flirting with me
yesterday.”
She gasped. “I was not!”
“And today when I came here, you have your brother hold
me at gunpoint to force me to marry you.”
“For your information, it wasn’t my idea to keep you here.
Sep thought of that one al by himself.”
“Probably because he saw how you were flirting with me.”
“You’re a real blowhard, aren’t you?” Before he could
answer, she continued, “It’s not that I want to marry you. It’s
that I have to. I assure you if there was anyone else who
was available, he’d be the one I’d be marrying. But as luck
would have it, I’m stuck with you. I suppose al I can do is
make the best of it for my child and Sep’s sakes. I’d do
anything to keep them safe, even if it means bearing with
the likes of you.”
He threw down the dime novel and stood up. “Nice try, but I
know better. There are plenty of men in town, and yet you
chose me.”
“I didn’t choose you. The doctor did.” When he frowned in a
way that indicated he realized she had a valid point, she
added, “I wil suffer, but it can’t be any worse than what I
went through with my first husband.”
She stormed out of the parlor, her cheeks warm with anger.
The nerve of him! Tel ing her she was flirting with him and
then acting as if women fel at their feet al the time to be
with him! And to think she believed he was a nice person.
She was so wrong. But then, she’d been wrong about
Harvey and look at where that got her. As she entered the
kitchen, she wondered if she should reconsider marrying
Joel. She gritted her teeth and set Nora down on the floor.