Chapter Twelve
By the time Sep and Angela returned from his sister’s, the sun was starting to set. He didn’t make it a habit of spending so much time at his sister’s, but April and Angela really got along well together. Joel’s sister, Sally, even stopped by to say hi and see how things were going between Angela and Sep.
Sep was only briefly acquainted with Sally. After Joel and April married, Sally had come out from time to time to the farm to spend the day with April. Since they discussed things that only interested women, Sep often went to another room or went outside to do his chores. Today he had chosen to focus on his nieces and nephew, who told him more than he ever wanted to know about the circus that was in town.
But it was nice to see Angela enjoying herself as much as she did, so he hadn’t minded the talk of acrobats, wild animals, and clowns. As he pulled the wagon up to the barn, he glanced over at Angela who was smiling.
“I thought you and my sister would become friends,” he said.
“Your sister is easy to like,” she replied.
He got down from the wagon and went over to her side to help her down. “You’re easy to like, too.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up against him. “I’m glad I picked you to marry. I don’t think I would’ve been happy with anyone other than you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I’m glad you picked me, too. I don’t know if any other man would’ve accepted my scars.”
“If he was smart, he would. But I realize how stupid some people can be. Well, their loss is my gain.”
He brought his lips to hers and returned her kiss. The best part about today was knowing that when he came home with her, he would get to spend the night making love to her. That was a nice side benefit to being married, and better yet, she seemed to enjoy their times together. And it wasn’t just the physical act that made it so wonderful, though there was no denying that was the best part for him.
There was also how complete he felt afterward. He felt closer to her than he’d ever felt with another person. In many ways, it felt as if they were connecting on an emotional and spiritual level as well. Now he could appreciate how Joel had emphasized that taking the time to appreciate Angela was so important.
When the kiss ended, he said, “I’ll take care of the animals for the night, and then I’ll join you in the house.”
She pulled away from him but gave his hands an affectionate squeeze. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
He squeezed her hands in return and then turned his attention to putting the horses away for the night. Once he took care of the horses, he took care of the two cows. In the fenced pasture, the bull was feeding quietly on the grass. He then checked on the henhouse to make sure everything was quiet in there.
Every time he checked on his hens, he remembered the first day he had taken Angela out to practice shooting, and he recalled the conversation he and Angela had had about why those particular animals were so important. Since that day, he had convinced Angela to practice shooting the gun a few more times. Despite her apprehension, she willingly did it, and he had to admire her for that.
The last thing Sep had to do before he went in for the night was to gather water to put into the trough for the horses and cows. He went over to the corner of the barn where he kept his bucket, but before he picked it up, he noticed a piece of folded paper. On it, his name was written: September Wilson.
He didn’t recognize the handwriting, but even from this angle, he could tell a man had written it. His sister and Angela made soft loops when they wrote. The best way to describe the handwriting was that it was abrasive. So he guessed whoever had written it had also been in a hurry. Perhaps the person was in a hurry because they didn’t want to get caught. That was up for debate, of course, but it was suspicious since the person hadn’t posted this at the door or made the attempt to talk to him in person.
He glanced around but didn’t see anyone. The person was either long gone or hiding. Sure he wasn’t going to like what he was about to read, he leaned down and retrieved it from the bucket. He opened it.
We’ve been watching you for a week now, and it’s apparent you’re pleased with your new wife. We saw you kissing her when you were on the porch this morning. That was before you left. And we saw you the other day when you were with her in the garden gathering vegetables. The point is, we’ve been watching you long enough to know that you’re happy with her.
If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t be happy. You owe us the money that you should’ve paid at the auction. We know you told the sheriff about our plan and that you went in to help the sheriff. What you didn’t count on, however, was that we would escape and track you down. If you don’t pay us $300 for her, we’re going to take her back. If you go to the sheriff about this letter, we’re going to take her back. If you tell her about this letter, we’ll take her back. This is a deal that is just between you and us.
And to show you that we’re serious, we left you a little gift in your bedroom. Consider it a warning.
Without thinking, Sep shoved the missive into his pocket and hurried into the house. Had Angela already gone up to the bedroom? Did she already know that there was something up there waiting for him?
As soon as he got into the house, he saw that Angela was in the kitchen.
She turned to him and smiled. “I thought I’d make us some hot chocolate before bed.”
So she hadn’t been upstairs. She hadn’t seen anything that alarmed her. She wasn’t aware of anything that was wrong. He hesitated to answer her. He didn’t know how to act as if nothing was wrong, nor did he know what to say that would be appropriate. At the moment, his mind was blank.
“Are you feeling alright?” she asked.
Recalling the letter in his pocket, he quickly nodded. “I’m fine. Stay down here.”
He left the kitchen, trying not to walk too fast in case he aroused her suspicions. But as soon as she couldn’t see him, he bolted to the stairs and hurried down the hall to their room. As soon as he stepped into it, he saw that the bed had been neatly made and there was a lump under the blanket. The lump was about the size of a small animal, and there were bloodstains around it.
Everything around him went still. Where was Fred? Usually, when he returned home, Fred would come up to him to welcome him back. That hadn’t happened tonight. Had he not been distracted with Angela, he might have noticed that. He glanced out the open window. He didn’t see Fred outside. He didn’t even hear him.
Did he dare lift the blanket and check under it? Did he really want to know if Fred was there?
He didn’t have a choice. If he didn’t look under there, then Angela would come up here and see it. Not only would it scare her, but then she would know that something was wrong. And then the men would make good on their word and take her away.
Steeling his resolve, he went over to the bed. The animal hadn’t been dead for long. The bloodstain was fresh and there was no odor of death. But the odor would be coming soon enough because the thing wasn’t moving. It was definitely dead. He gripped the edge of the blanket, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and threw the blanket off the animal.
It was a rabbit. Two of them, to be exact. His first reaction was relief. It wasn’t Fred. But then, just because Fred wasn’t here, it didn’t mean he wasn’t somewhere on the property, either being held by the men or already dead.
He would have to worry about that later. Right now he had to get rid of the bedding and the rabbits before Angela saw them. He folded the bedding on top of the rabbits, and in one swoop, he gathered everything. He almost went down the stairs, but what if Angela saw him? She would wonder what he was doing with the blankets. There was only one viable option. He went to the window, lifted the screen, and threw everything out. Fortunately, the room was above the parlor instead of the kitchen so she didn’t see it.
He then hurried to his old bedroom and gathered new bedding. Once he made the bed, he hurried down the stairs. Angela was in the kitchen, and Fred was with her. She was putting food in his bowl and patting his head.
She looked over at him. “He just came up to the door and started scratching it. I brought in his water bowl, so you don’t have to worry about that.” She patted Fred’s head again and smiled at him. “I think he had a fun day. He looks happy.”
Fred was alive. He was doing well. The men hadn’t harmed him. He would’ve collapsed with relief if he hadn’t remembered the blanket with the dead rabbits he had to take care of.
“I’m glad he had a good day,” Sep said. “I just remembered something I need to do out there.” He gestured to the barn. “I’ll be back in about fifteen or twenty minutes.”
“Alright,” she replied. “I’ll keep the hot chocolate warm for you.”
Thanking her, he hurried out of the house and proceeded to bury the blankets and rabbits in a place where she wouldn’t find them.
***
Angela waited for almost a half hour before Sep returned. And when he came back, there were smudges of dirt on his clothes. She turned from the cookstove where she was keeping the hot chocolate warm for him.
“What were you doing out there?” she asked, gesturing to his clothes.
He glanced down at his shirt and pants. “Oh, I had to clean out one of the stalls. I’ll go change and clean up.”
Without another word, he headed for the stairs. She looked down at Fred who was sitting by her feet. She patted his head and, because he liked it, scratched him behind the ears.
Afterwards, she poured hot chocolate into two cups, cleaned out the pot she made the drink in, and went up the stairs. Fred followed close behind. By the time she got to the bedroom, Sep had already removed the dirty clothes and was in the process of putting on clean ones.
“You know, you don’t need to put new clothes on until morning,” she teased as she set the cups on the dresser.
He walked over to the window and shut it. Then he went to the door and shut that, too. Her gaze went to Fred, who looked back at her as if he was just as confused as she was.
“Why did you close the window? It’s going to get hot in here,” she said.
Instead of answering her, he said, “I just remembered something else I have to do. You stay here with Fred. I won’t be long. I promise.”
He left the room and shut the door behind him.
Fred whimpered.
So he noticed that Sep was acting strange, too. It wasn’t her imagination. She couldn’t think of anything that she said or did to bring about Sep’s sudden mood change. She didn’t think anything had happened in town to upset him. Everything with his family seemed to have gone well. And he was acting just fine when they got home.
No, his change in mood developed after they came home. She went over everything he had done since they came back, and besides the chores he did every night, she couldn’t think of anything that had been out of the ordinary. Well, not except for his soiled clothes. When she thought about it, he didn’t make it a habit of going back out to do more work when he came in for the night. She went over to the door and softly opened it. Maybe, if she could find out what Sep was doing, he would give her an idea of what had changed his mood so drastically.
Fred whimpered behind her, so she whispered, “You stay here and be quiet.” She put her fingers to her lips.
Since Fred didn’t whimper or bark, she took that as a sign of his compliance. She slipped out of the room and shut the door quietly behind her. She tiptoed past the other two bedrooms and took a good look into them just to make sure Sep wasn’t there. Since all was clear, she tiptoed down the hallway and went down a couple of steps. She hesitated, then went down a couple more.
From the parlor, she heard some footsteps. She tiptoed down the rest of the steps, making sure that he didn’t see her. By the time she reached the doorway of the parlor, she saw that he was looking under the couch. He got up, and then he went over to the curtains and pulled them back. She frowned. What was he doing? Was he looking for someone? But that was silly. She was the only other person in the house. He stared out the window for a long moment, as if he was trying to find someone out there in what little daylight was left.
He shook his head, not seeming to be satisfied by whatever it was he was looking for, and went to the door and locked it. Before he could turn around and notice her, she tiptoed back up the steps and returned to the room. She quickly removed her clothes then got into the bed. It wasn’t until she felt the unfamiliar blanket beneath her fingertips that she realized the bedding was different. She sat up and inspected the sheets and the blanket. They were new. These weren’t the ones they had slept on the night before.
Which only posed more questions. Why would he change the bedding? The ones that were on the bed earlier today had been put on only a couple days ago. So why would he do this?
It must have something to do with every other strange thing that was going on tonight. She didn’t think he would tell her what was going on if she came out and asked him. If he wanted her to know, he would have come out and told her. He wouldn’t have been all secretive about everything by leaving her in this room while he went about the place, looking for someone. Or something. There could be something he was looking for. He did mention foxes getting into the henhouse on occasion. It was possible that they were dealing with an animal.
The door opened, and she instinctively pulled the covers up to her neck, just in case it wasn’t Sep. As soon as she saw him, she relaxed, but she noticed he was still on edge. Whatever was going on, it had him sufficiently spooked.
She released her grip on the blanket and smiled at him. “Is everything alright?”
“Everything’s fine,” he said. “I just wanted to get something to drink, that’s all.”
She glanced over at the dresser where she put the hot chocolate. Sep wasn’t very good at lying. But what could she do? If she came out and asked him why he was lying to her, he would just deny it. Whatever was going on, it worried him. It worried him enough for him to lock the doors downstairs, and though he left the bedroom door open, he didn’t open the window. So whatever was bothering him, it was outside.
Maybe it was an animal. Maybe it was a bat. April had told her bats were in the area, and they could fly into a house. Or it could be a bird. Or a squirrel that climbed up a tree near the house and hopped into the window. Or it could be a raccoon. There were so many things it could be that she didn’t even know where to begin. If an animal happened to come into the room and hopped on their bed, it would make things messy. That would explain why the bedding had been changed.
But it didn’t explain why he wouldn’t tell her about it. There was no reason to hide something like an animal managing to find its way into the house. Surely, he didn’t think she was so fragile that she couldn’t handle the thought of a critter in the house.
To be sure, she said, “When I was a child, the neighborhood cat chased a bird into my home. We had the hardest time getting rid of it. We even chased it with a broom through the whole place, but the thing managed to get away from us for two whole days. He didn’t scare me, but the thing sure did make a mess when it pooped.”
But this didn’t seem to do anything to persuade him to tell her why he was acting so strange because he only said, “Every now and then, things like that can happen. And birds are so small that they can hide just about anywhere. It’s easier to catch something that doesn’t have wings.”
Sep went over to the bed and sat next to her. He took off his boots and shirt and threw them on the floor. Fred let out a whimper, so he patted the dog. She studied Fred. The dog wasn’t fooled any more than she was. Something had happened here this evening, and apparently, it didn’t have anything to do with an animal.
“It’s been a long day,” Sep said as he settled down beside her.
Noting that he kept his pants on, she asked, “Aren’t you going to get hot sleeping like that?”
“Fred’s in here,” he said. “I really don’t want an audience when you and I are together that way.” He glanced over at her. “I was hoping to get done with the chores sooner, but they took longer than I expected.”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant with the window closed, it’s going to get stuffy in here.”
“Oh. Well, I’ll be fine. I’m used to working outside when it’s hot. I’d rather be hot than cold. I’ll tell you, trying to do the chores when your fingers feel like they’re going to fall right off your hand isn’t all that pleasant.”
“No, I suppose it’s not.”
She snuggled up next to him and put her arm around his waist. She hadn’t forgotten the hot chocolate, but she was no longer in the mood to drink it. She wished she knew what was bothering him, but given how stubborn her father and uncle were, she knew that when men didn’t want to talk about something, there was nothing a woman could do to get them to confide in her.
She was going to have to find out some other way. She was just going to have to pay attention to what he was doing and where he was doing it. She knew it was a deceitful thing to do. Under ordinary circumstances, she would never spy on her own husband. But given the situation, she didn’t know what else to do.
Sep put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you, too,” she replied, glad to know that whatever was going on, it didn’t have anything to do with her. He was still happy with her. As long as she knew that, she knew that whatever happened, everything would be alright.