Wishes on the Wind (34 page)

    It was just past noon and the last overnight party guest had departed. The anniversary celebration was officially over and, unable to live with the chaos inside him any longer, David had spared no time in seeking out his uncle. Uncle Martin had been stunned by his request and he supposed, had he been in his uncle's place, he would have been stunned as well, but he was past consideration of propriety. What he needed was satisfaction, and if he could get it no other way, he was not above using his position to get what he wanted.

    He had no regrets.

    An hour later, Townsend strode out of the tack room, leaving Johnny in astonished silence.

    Looking down at the bridle in his hand, Johnny unconsciously smoothed the fine leather with a callused thumb before abruptly throwing it against the wall with all his strength. Snatching up his cap, he walked toward the door, fury making his intentions suddenly very clear.

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    "No, Johnny, it can't be true!"

    "It's true, all right."

    Standing by the clothesline in the Lang backyard, Meg stared at Johnny's pale face. Incredulous, she was unconscious of the chill breeze that whipped her hair and molded her uniform against the slender line of her body as gray rain clouds closed rapidly overhead. The partially stripped branches of trees waved wildly in the wind, stirring brightly colored leaves into whirlwinds at their base, but Meg was oblivious of the impending storm and the freshly gathered laundry that lay in a basket at her feet as her mind reeled with shock.

    "But you've been with the Langs for four years. How could they fire you without notice?"

    "It ain't hard to figure out who's behind it! David Lang's had it in for me from the first time he saw me talking to you. You saw the way he looked at me when he walked into the kitchen during the party." Johnny's fair brow darkened. "He was fit to kill."

    "David didn't do it! He wouldn't have you dismissed just because you were talking to me."

    "Oh, wouldn't he? He's jealous, Meg! He saw my arm around you, and it wasn't hard to see how I feel about you."

    "Johnny, I"

    "It's not your fault, Meg." Johnny's narrow freckled face lost some of its rage. "And to tell the truth, I wouldn't give a damn about leaving here at all, since Townsend says he's arranging to set me up with a position in Philadelphia. Philadelphia's my real home, after all. But the truth is, I don't want to leave you with the sneaky bastard. He's after you, Meg! And he's determined to get you. And I'm thinking he's not given much thought to what's best for you, except to where it suits his purpose. I knew what he had in mind from the first, but I figured I was here to watch him, and if things started getting hard for you, I'd go to the priest again."

    "To the priest? Again?"

    Johnny's face flushed. "Yeah, again. But now there's nobody left to watch out for you here."

    "You shouldn't have gone to Father Matthew. I can watch out for myself, but even if I couldn't, you're wrong. David's angry, but he wouldn't have had his uncle fire you. He wouldn't!"

    "He's not what you think he is, Meg, but I don't have time to argue with you about it. Townsend said the letter he's preparing

    for me will be ready in an hour, and he told me I'm to be off on the five o'clock train."

    "Today?"

    Johnny nodded and tears sprung into Meg's eyes. "It's a mistake, that's what it is."

    "It's no mistake, but I've one last thing to say before I start gathering my things." Taking Meg's shoulders firmly between his hands, Johnny spoke urgently, his young face intense.

    "Listen to me, Meg. I'll be sending you my address when I reach Philadelphia, and if you ever need me, I want you to tell me and I'll come."

    "Johnny"

    Meg's throat was too choked with emotion to continue, and Johnny shook her lightly. "Promise me?"

    Meg nodded.

    "Don't trust him, Meg." Johnny's voice broke, twisting the knot in Meg's stomach as his eyes became suddenly bright. His Adam's apple worked furiously and, suddenly awkward, he dropped his hands from her shoulders. "I wish" Halting abruptly, Johnny gave a small shrug. "But fellas like me don't get what they wish, do they?''

    With a short salute, Johnny turned and walked toward the stable. His step quickened until he broke into a run the last few feet before turning out of sight, but Meg was insensible to his hasty flight. Her mind reeled with shock. She was still standing where Johnny left her when the first raindrop struck her face. There was a second and a third before she finally picked up the laundry basket and started for the kitchen, the turmoil inside her growing.

    Oblivious of the heavy raindrops beginning to pelt the dusty ground in a rapidly increasing tattoo, Meg ducked out of the Lang kitchen and ran around the side of the house. Clutching her shawl around her, she shivered and drew back under the eaves of the massive roof to wait. Unseen amongst the last flowers of fall cultivated there, she heard Johnny's angry accusations and Father Matthew's warnings echo in her mind, and her confusion grew. This man who Johnny, Father Matthew, and Sean cautioned her against could not be the true David Lang.

    
She
knew the true David Lang. He was the fellow who had shared his thoughts with her without holding back, the fellow who had opened his heart to her and let her see inside. And what she     had seen was good, even if his viewpoint was distorted from his position atop the hill. For all his stubborn prejudice and demanding nature, David treated her with the courtesy and respect of an equal, and she knew he truly cared about her. That was the reason for all the trouble between them, wasn't it the caring that had no true place between them, and the bond that had gone a step too far?

    Another shiver passing down her spine, Meg pushed a wild strand of hair back from her face, her gaze moving once more to the path David most commonly used when riding back to the stable. The oversized drops of rain were still falling in a haphazard pattern, but the threatening downpour had not yet started.

    Approaching hoof beats interrupted her thoughts as David rode into sight, holding Max at a steady trot. He was frowning, his expression forbidding, his hazel eyes appearing focused on a thought in his mind that left him impervious to the weather's threat as she stepped into clear view and started walking toward him. His expression flickered when he saw her, then tightened as he spurred his mount and headed in her direction.

    The wind whipped Meg's hair, flaying her with its long, defiant strands as David drew up alongside her, but she gave little thought to her appearance as she stood rigidly still, waiting for Max to come to a complete halt. Her gaze intent on David's face so she might not misread his response, she asked bluntly, "Is it true? Did you have Johnny dismissed?"

    David's expression flickered again, his face suddenly growing darker than the rain clouds above him. Leaning down, he scooped her up onto the saddle in front of him without warning as Meg gasped in protest. Breathless from the sudden surge into motion as David spurred his horse to a gallop, she could do no more than clutch his arm as they rode off into the quickening rain without another word spoken between them.

    The threatening storm was about to break around them, but David refused to heed the warning of the wind that flailed the heavy drops against his face or the blackly ominous clouds preparing to open their deluge upon them. Spurring Max to a faster pace, he pulled Meg back against his chest to shield her from the abusive elements, opening his coat to enclose her against the warmth of his body. Meg did not resist but pressed her cheek against his chest as she turned from the stinging rain. Her protests had ceased after the first few minutes of their ride, when she

    realized they were useless. She had not said a word since, allowing David's thoughts to run havoc.

    His anger increasing, David remembered the jolt of exhilaration that pierced him when he first saw Meg waiting for him as he came over the crest of the hill. His joy turned to apprehension the moment he saw her face, but apprehension turned to silent rage when she spoke her first words to him in three weeks.

    
Is it true? Did you have Johnny dismissed?

    Hot jealousy again assailing him, David tightened his arms around her. Meg had been temptingly close and her eyes had been too accusing for a simple response. Yielding to impulse, he had snatched her up in his arms and carried her off, but he didn't regret his actions. It was worth any cost to have her close to him again and to know they would finally talk, away from the pressures that had come between them.

    Thunder rumbled again, the downpour thickening, and David heard Meg's low gasp as they were whipped by the icy drops. He felt her shudder in his arms, and he scanned the wooded area of the hill more closely. It'd been a long time, but he remembered an old hunter's shack. It had to be nearby.

    Spotting a sagging roof in the distance, David pressed Max onward as the downpour began in earnest.

    Drawing up beside the shanty a few minutes later, David dismounted and snatched Meg down into his arms. Striding forward, he kicked the drooping door open and proceeded inside, pausing as his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness.

    "Put me down."

    David lowered her to her feet and tossed his hat to a nearby chair as he squinted into the darkness. The single-room hut was a shambles of rotting furniture, spider webs, and matted leaves, but spying the object he sought, he snatched the lantern from a peg on the wall and gave it a shake. Gratified to hear the swish of oil, he struck a match to the wick.

    Holding the lamp high, David looked at Meg. She was standing where he had set her. Her damp hair contoured the delicate shape of her head and raindrops glittered with the glow of jewels on her slender brows, eyelashes, and cheeks. The fine line of her lips was tight, except for an occasional quiver of movement, and her glorious eyes were fast on his face as she maintained her silence. And she was so beautiful to him that he ached for the love of her.

    David placed the lantern on a nearby stool as Meg asked again,

    "Did you do it, David? Did you have Johnny dismissed? I must know."

    "Why must you know, Meg?" Jealousy surged anew as David closed the distance between them and grasped her shoulders. "What difference does it make?" He stroked the damp tendrils back from her face, frowning. ''Your hair's wet and you're shaking. That's the most important thing to deal with right now."

    Withdrawing a spotless handkerchief from his inner pocket, David wiped the glittering drops from her forehead and cheeks. Silent through his patient ministrations, Meg waited until he blotted the excess moisture from her hair and removed his damp coat to drape it around her shoulders before she repeated once more, "Did you do it, David?"

    Exploding into fury at her persistence, David responded with a resounding, "Yes! Does it satisfy you to be able to call me a villain for having the fellow sent packing?"

    "Why, David?"

    Meg's face was pale, her expression incredulous, and David felt the pain reflected there.

    "He couldn't keep his hands off you, Meg! Did you really think I'd stand by and watch him paw you? Did you expect me to go off to school and leave you behind knowing that miserable fellow was trying to take my place?"

    "You shouldn't have done it."

    "Shouldn't I, Meg? Has it really been so easy for you to cast me aside these past three weeks and resume your life as if we'd never come to know each other? It wasn't for me. Do you know what it's like to be cut off from someone who's become a part of you, only to see another person taking your place before your eyes?"

    "Johnny had no part in what happened between us, David. It's plain for me to see that you're still the privileged young man who's never been refused, who hopes to have his way at the expense of anyone who stands in his path. And I'm still the girl from the valley he hopes to change to suit him."

    "I don't want to change you, Meg." The words came from his heart, emerging in a hoarse whisper. "I want you as you are."

    "Do you, David?" Meg's eyes filled, but she blinked the moisture away. "Well, even if you do, the truth is, it's not meant to be."

    "Why, Meg?"

    "If I must tell you why again, then there's no hope you'll ever understand me."

        David paused at her response, his expression intense. "Then will you try to understand
me
, Meg? For the truth is, I never intended this rift between us. I only wanted to keep you close to me, but somehow everything went wrong." Pausing, his voice slipping a pained notch lower, David whispered. "Don't you love me at all, Meg? Even a little?"

    David's heart hammered as Meg's eyes searched his, as he saw his own pain reflected there.

    "You asked me that question before, David, and I answered you as best I could. I care for you, but your kind of love confuses me. It would take obligations and the feelings of others and toss them aside as if they have no meaning, just for selfish pleasure."

    "Is that how you see me, Meg, as selfish?" Meg's words stung. "Was it selfish of me to want you to have more than you can expect in the valley? Is it right to throw good after bad to waste your own life for someone who's intent on ruining his own?"