Another Chance (8 page)

Again Wolf
nodded.  “Good.”

“Florida is
far away from here.  The town the woman lives in is a small town near two
interstate highways.  One north/south, the other east/west and there
aren’t any reservations in north Florida.  It could be a good place for
us.”  Feather lifted her head and found her brother’s cerulean eyes
looking at her.

“So you’ve
already been thinkin’ about this?”

She
nodded.  “When Sue told me where the filly would be sent, I looked it up
in the travel Atlas.  We could deliver the filly and check out the area at
the same time.”

He
shrugged.  “It could be a way to repay Clay and Sue for their kindness to
us.”

Feather
nodded.  “It’s getting chilly out here.  I’m going inside.”

He turned to
watch her walk back to the house.  Her stride was feminine and
confident.  He knew this was what Feather wanted to do.  She wouldn’t
have spoken about it if she hadn’t given it a lot of thought.  The door
closed behind her and he turned to watch the yearlings again.  After a
while, he too returned to the house.  He would talk to Clay about the trip
tomorrow.

His near death
experience was over and his health was renewed.  He needed to get started
on his new life.  Feather had not spoken one word about all she had given
up by dropping out of her previous life, but Wolf knew it hadn’t been an easy
thing for her to do.  They both needed to start living their new
lives.  Florida was as good as any place else, and it was far away from
here.

Jordan stepped
out of the shower and heard the phone ringing.  She had learned long ago
that shower time was also the time clients usually chose to call her, so she
had made it a habit to take a cordless phone with her when she went in to the
bathroom.  Since she had learned of Lambert’s escape, it gave her an added
feeling of safety.

“Hello.” 
She said as she opened the line.

“Good
afternoon, Jordan.  This is Clay Roberts and I have good news.”

She
smiled.  “Great!  Is my filly coming home?”

“Yes.  A
couple of very good friends of mine is leaving with her tomorrow,
mid-morning.  Daniel and his sister are coming to your part of
Florida.  They have recently decided to move down there, or maybe South
Georgia.”

Jordan could
hear the note of excitement in Clay’s voice as he talked.

“What a
coincidence.  Is there anything I can do to help them when they get
here?”  She asked.

“If you could
make them a hotel reservation, it would help, and maybe let them keep their two
horses with you until they can find a place.”  Clay wondered silently how
the people in her town would react to Indians.  He knew there was still a
good deal of racial prejudice in the South toward Blacks, just as there had
always been in his own area toward Indians.

“You might
just help them learn a bit about what it’s like living there.”  He figured
he’d let the race thing resolve itself.  He’d make sure the kids knew they
were welcome back here in Idaho if things didn’t work out down there.

“If it’s
alright with you, I’ll give Daniel both your cell number and your house
number.  That way he can call you when he’s more certain when they will
arrive.”

“Of course!
 I can’t tell you how thankful I am.  I can’t wait to actually put my
hands on her.”  Jordan was now wondering how long the trip would
take.  She knew that traveling time with livestock could be uncertain and,
as usual, her excitement wouldn’t allow much rest until the horse arrived.

When she broke
the connection, she turned to look at Bhrandii, excitement bubbling in her
voice as she spoke.  “She will be here in a few days!  It’s so hard
to believe!”

The dog wagged
his tail and jumped around in a circle.  Something had made Jordan happy
and it made him happy too.

As soon as she
was dressed and had braided her long blond hair, Jordan called Mac.  She
knew he would be almost as excited about the fact that the filly was headed to
Florida as she was.

Mac had been
up to Clay’s ranch several years ago.  “It’ll take the better part of a
week for them to get here, but at least you know she’s on the way.”  He
said.  “Did Clay mention the name of the feller bringing her?”

Jordan thought
for a minute. “His first name is Daniel.  I don’t remember him mentioning
a last name.  It seems he and his sister are moving here.  Clay
called him a good friend.”

Jordan could
almost see Mac shrug his shoulders.  In the background she heard his wife,
Mary talking.  “Mary wants you to come eat supper with us tomorrow? 
It’ll give you something to do besides sit and wait.”  He knew how
impatient she had always been.

Jordan
smiled.  Mary was a wonderful cook.  Her kitchen was the center of
life in that house.  Now that their youngest son had moved out and the two
daughters were married and living on the other side of town, Mary was finding
it harder to cook for just two people than it had ever been to prepare a meal
for five or six.  “You tell Mary I will be overjoyed to eat with y’all
tomorrow night.  I love eating over there.”

“She knows that. 
She loves having you over here.  You are like one of the family, you
know.”

“Thanks.” 
Her throat tightened with emotion.  “That’s really nice.”  Mac and
Mary were probably the closest she came to having family now.  Them and
Sheriff John.  After David died and she chose to come back here to live,
her in-laws didn’t seem interested in keeping in touch.  It certainly
hadn’t helped when she legally changed her name back to Lanier.  She
couldn’t help thinking that they blamed her for David’s death.

She said her
goodbye to Mac and hung the phone up.

She didn’t
really blame David’s family.  She felt responsible herself.  She had
seen a psychiatrist for about nine months after she moved back to
Florida.  He had helped her understand that she had done nothing to
encourage Lambert’s stalking of her and Lambert alone was responsible for
David’s death.  Still, there were times she felt so guilty for leaving him
when she ran for help.  Dr. Bagley had labeled it Survivor’s Guilt. 
He said that ninety percent of people who suffered a tragic loss under similar
circumstances had episodes of Survivors Guilt.  She should just reject it
and find something else to occupy her mind and her time.

She had
followed his advice and amazingly, it had helped pull her out of the depression
she had fallen in to.  It had also given her a reason to start her
training barn and that had given her a means to begin to enjoy life
again.  Mac had recommended her as a trainer to a couple of people he knew
and she had been busy ever since.

She fed
Bhrandii his supper and fixed herself a salad to eat while she watched her
favorite television show.  Twice she saw lights flash against her front
window and knew by now, it was one of Sheriff John’s deputies checking things
out from the highway.  She also knew that the phone would ring in a few
minutes and it would be John, personally, calling to make sure she was inside
and locked up for the night.  That was the closest he could come to
getting her to agree to police protection.  He had insisted that she
promise to use the words
hot weather
when he called as long as things
were normal, but the first time she didn’t say the two words, he would dispatch
cars out to her house.

Now when he
called, she picked up the phone and as soon as she knew it was him, she said,
“Hot weather.”  They both chuckled and after telling him about her horse
coming from Idaho, they said goodnight.

Ruby was so
excited.  She was just sure that Frankie’s bad mood would improve once
they actually left on their honeymoon.  He’d almost slapped her last night
when she finally confessed to him that she had reservations about selling the
house and moving to New York.  It was something he’d been encouraging her
to think about for several weeks.  She had grown up in Tupelo and just
couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, but he had been pressuring her to get
the house on the market before they left on their trip.  She still didn’t
understand why it couldn’t wait until they returned.

Frankie was
becoming more and more anxious to get on Jordan’s trail.  He knew he would
never be content until she was dead.  His interest in her had changed
drastically during the trial and had grown worse throughout the five years he’d
been in prison.  When he’d broken into her house that night, he’d been so
in love with her that he couldn’t allow her to spend another night with that
man she’d married.  He knew in his heart that once he could get her away
from David Larson, she would see how wrong she’d been to marry him and her gratitude
to Frankie for rescuing her would become love.

He’d almost
been surprised when she had struggled with him after he broke in.  Then
Larson had attacked him.  Of course, Frankie had been prepared for him,
but he was surprised with the fierceness of the man.  After all, he was
just a school teacher.  Then, as Frankie was getting the upper hand, he’d
seen Jordan running and screaming almost at the neighbor’s back door.  Old
man Swartz had opened the door with a shotgun in his hand, so Frankie decided
not to follow her.  A little later, the police had picked him up. 
During the trial Jordan testified against him.  With great dramatic tears
falling from her puffy amber eyes, she claimed that she had only seen him at
the feed store and had never had a personal conversation with him.  She
went on and on about how he’d harassed her and stalked her and how he had
killed her husband.

Frankie’s love
was replaced with hate.  She would suffer for the way she’d treated
him.  She just threw his love aside like it had been garbage.  She
was just like all the other deceitful women he’d ever known.  He could
never forgive her for that.  She needed to die, just like they had, but
death wasn’t enough for her.  He would make her suffer.  His need to
find her grew stronger every day and he sometimes found it hard to concentrate
on the things that were going on around him in the present.

Ruby was
making him crazy.  She rattled to everyone she knew about the fantastic
honeymoon her darling husband was taking her on.  They were scheduled to
leave in three days and he wanted the house up for sale before they left. 
He had already transferred all her money into an account that didn’t have her
name on it and she didn’t have a clue.  There was enough money to take
care of him for years, he just thought selling the house would add a safety
cushion and when the honeymoon was over, he would be the only one coming back
anyway.  Not that he actually planned to come back to Tupelo.  That
was why he wanted the house on the market before they left.  If it was for
sale and they planned to live in New York it wouldn’t arouse any suspicion when
the real estate agent was asked to just transfer the funds into the new
account, once Ruby’s house sold.

Frank had
never been to New York and had no intentions of ever going there, but if
suspicions ever came up about Ruby disappearing, his interest in New York would
be a dead end for investigators to follow.

They had
traded her car for a shiny, white brand new SUV so they would have plenty of
room while they traveled.  He liked the four wheel drive capability. 
He knew he could take it through some pretty rough terrain and that just might
become necessary.

He was looking
through the travel atlas while his mind wondered.  Almost without
thinking, he discovered his finger resting on Poplar Bluff.  That was
where he had known Jordan.  That was where his search would start. 
He would spend a few days traveling, dump Ruby’s body somewhere, then head back
to Poplar Bluff and begin his hunt.

He didn’t want
to dump Ruby anywhere near Mississippi.  He looked at several pages, then
smiled, the warmth of it not touching his chilling black eyes.  He would
take Ruby into the desert somewhere in the area near Amarillo.  There was
lots of desert around there and plenty of places that people just didn’t
go.  He could dig a shallow grave for her.  With any luck at all, she
would never be found.

Ruby came into
the room, having returned from taking some clothes to the dry cleaners.

“I sure am
glad you talked me into buying that SUV.  It drives like a dream and I
just love all the room in it,” she drawled, leaning over to kiss him on the
cheek.  He caught her hand and pulled her down onto his lap.

“I’ve talked
you into a lot of things, Honey, and they’ve all turned out just fine.  I
don’t know why you haven’t learned to trust my judgment.”  He held her
close and nuzzled her neck.

“Baby,” she
scolded playfully.  “You know that makes me giggle.”

He raised his
head and looked tenderly at her while one hand stroked her hair.  “I love
you.  I don’t understand how you can make me feel so special when you
really don’t trust me.”  As he spoke, he withdrew his hands from her and
she felt his playfulness withdraw as well.

“You know how
much I love you, Frankie!  You’re my husband and I try to do everything to
prove my love to you!”  She leaned against him and circled his shoulders
with her arms.  “I didn’t even know what love was until you came into my
life!  You’ve taught me how to love.  You’ve taught me how to be a
woman.”

“The most
amazing woman I’ve ever known,” his voice was almost a whisper.  “The
woman I want to show to the whole world.  I want to take you shopping on
Madison Avenue.  I want to dress you up and take you to Broadway shows
where everyone will see us and know that we belong together.  I want to
look down from an apartment that we share, at the people walking along the
streets of New York City and know that none of them are as lucky as I am. 
I want all the men to know that you married
me
and I’m the only one for
you.”