Becoming Jesse's Father (Dancing Moon Ranch Book 5) Read online

  "I hope it won't take long because I want to get back."

  "That's what we need to talk about."

  Feeling increasingly uneasy about what it could be, Adam made a quick round of saying his good byes, kissed his mother and Maddy, shook hands with his brothers, and left by the back door, finding his father waiting.

  "Walk with me to the stables," he said to his father, "because I'm ready to go back now."

  Jack reached out and took Adam's arm to stop him, and said, "You need to look at this first." He removed a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to Adam. "Bruce Mitchell saw it posted with the missing children at Walmart and recognized Emily."

  Adam unfolded the paper and stared at the pictures of Jesse and Emily on the poster, and the words, NON-CUSTODIAL ABDUCTION, in block letters across the top of the page.

  "Emily's wanted for kidnapping." Jack said. "You need to find out why she lost her child. Courts don't randomly place kids with their fathers. Maybe Emily's the unbalanced one and her ex-husband has rightful custody."

  "I don't know why this happened," Adam said, "but Jesse's not going back to Erik."

  Jack eyed him with misgiving. "Then Emily said nothing to you about this?"

  Adam felt a coil of the old bitterness winding its way through him, then shoved it aside because he knew instinctively, whatever the circumstances were that led to Erik getting custody of Jesse, there was an explanation that would exonerate Emily. He just couldn't understand why she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him, and that bothered him more than he cared to admit.

  "Well?" Jack was waiting for an answer.

  Adam shook his head. "No, she didn't tell me."

  "Like I said before, she's been unpredictable in the past. There may be a reason why the court gave the father custody."

  "I'm Jesse's father," Adam corrected.

  "Not legally," Jack reminded him. "You have to turn her in."

  "No," Adam replied. "I have to take her away."

  "She's wanted for kidnapping," Jack said. "If you take her anywhere you'll be aiding and abetting a criminal."

  "Then I guess I'll be aiding and abetting a criminal because there's no way in hell I'll send Emily to prison and Jesse back to that sociopathic bastard."

  "You're not thinking straight," Jack said. "You could go to prison too."

  "Are you going to turn me in?" Adam looked directly at his father.

  Jack held his gaze, long and hard, but when Adam continued to stare at him unblinking, Jack drew in a long slow breath, and said, "Do what you have to do."

  "I will." Adam turned and headed for the stable, and as he launched himself onto his horse, he felt the first dusting of new snow against his face.

  He pushed his horse the entire trip back up the mountain, feeling increasingly apprehensive, although he didn't know why, other than a gut feeling told him he needed to get back. Emily had some explaining to do, and he was upset that she didn't have enough faith in him to tell him what was going on, but he suspected whatever took place that put Jesse in Erik's custody had been the result of a con man convincing a judge that Jesse belonged with his father.

  Step-father, Adam corrected, and even that didn't set right.

  As he was cresting the hill where the trail entered the clearing, Adam noticed at once, a confused network of footprints crossing the snow, prints that had not been there when he left, though they weren't fresh. Already new snow had partially covered them. Quickly dismounting, he rushed into the cabin and found no one there, then returned to the porch and looked at the footprints… prints of a large, booted man. Then he realized the worst.

  "I'll kill that son of a bitch," he said, under his breath, but when he went to get the shotgun on the mantel, it was gone. But this time, if Emily took off with Jesse with the intention of escaping from Erik, she wouldn't get far. Already the sky was darkening as evening was approaching, and the dusting of snow had now turned into large flakes that were falling steadily.

  CHAPTER 11

  Emily didn't know how long she'd been hunkered down under the cabin with Jesse in their cocoon of woolen blankets, but it was long enough for the sky to turn leaden gray and the initial light dusting of snow to gradually became heavy flakes.

  Jesse made no sound, and she didn't know whether it was because he was terrified after seeing Erik approaching, or because he was sleeping, but she wouldn't disturb him. Nor would she come out from under the cabin until night, when she could get to the barn and the horse and somehow find the abandoned logging road she'd taken to get to the cabin, and make her way down the other side of the mountain. She had no way of warning Adam that Erik was near...

  To her alarm she heard the sound of heavy boots on the floor above her, moving around, walking quickly through the cabin, checking for her again. Pulling the blanket closer around them so their heads were covered, she waited until the sounds were gone.

  And then she heard him. "Em! Emily!" Adam's voice was frantic. "Emily..." and moving further away, like he thought she'd left and he was going after her.

  Poking her head out from under the blanket, she gathered Jesse close and crawled on her hands and knees from under the cabin. Spotting Adam as he was mounting his horse, she yelled, "Adam! Over here."

  Adam yanked his horse to a halt, lunged to the ground and raced towards her, then threw his arms around her and Jesse together, and said, "You scared the hell out of me. Where were you?"

  "Under the cabin," Emily said, in a shaky voice. "Erik was here."

  Adam looked around, and holding Emily close, said to her while rushing with her towards the cabin, "You and Jesse get back inside."

  Once the heavy front door was closed, Adam shoved the long iron bolt in place then went from window to window looking out. Seeing no sign of Erik, he parted the blanket and saw big brown eyes staring at him. "Are you okay, son?" he asked.

  Jesse reached out his arms, and said, "Daddy come."

  Adam lifted Jesse in his arms, and said, ""Yes, Daddy's here, but you have to stay with Mommy and be very quiet." Then he said to Emily, "What happened?"

  "I looked out the window and saw him coming from over there." She pointed in the direction away from the trail to the ranch and at an angle to the trail leading over the mountain. "He had on his combat boots and a heavy parka and had a huge pack on his back, and when I saw him crossing the clearing, I grabbed Jesse and his pad of blankets and climbed out the back window. I had just closed it when I heard Erik inside, so I crawled way back underneath the cabin. I could hear him walking from room to room, then he came out again and I saw his boots as he walked around the cabin, but the big evergreen and the roof overhang in back kept snow off the ground so there weren't any footprints back there, and he never looked underneath. He left, but I don't know which direction he went. I was too afraid to move, so I stayed with Jesse under the blankets. I might have even drifted off some."

  "When did Erik get here?" Adam asked.

  "I don't know. Maybe a couple of hours after you left." Emily replied.

  Adam walked over to the mantel, and said, "Did you take the shotgun with you?"

  Emily shook her head. "I didn't have time. I barely had time to get out the window."

  "Then he took it with him," Adam said. "Go back in the bedroom and wait with Jesse. I want to see which way he went."

  Emily grabbed Adam's arm. "Please don't go," she said. "You're not armed, and he has the shotgun now."

  "I brought the Winchester," Adam said. "Stay with Jesse and I'll see which way he went."

  Adam left the cabin, and Emily took Jesse into the bedroom and closed the door. A few minutes later, Adam returned, and said, "His tracks lead down a trail that connects with an established hiking trail. He must have come in that way, but he may also be satisfied that you're not here."

  "He knows I'm here," Emily said. "He would have seen Jesse's blanket on the couch. He probably thinks I'm with you, so he'll be back. Maybe we should go to the ranch and I'll get a bus and leave from ther
e."

  "You know we can't do that, Em."

  Emily looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

  "I mean this." Adam reached in his pocket and pulled out the folded paper and handed it to her. "A neighbor gave it to Dad. It was posted at Walmart."

  Emily felt the usual rush of adrenaline that seemed to be a part of her life now, and when she unfolded the paper it was all there. "I wanted to tell you before," she said, "but I was afraid."

  "Why, honey? Don't you have any trust in me by now?" Adam curved a finger beneath her chin and raised it so she had to look at him, and said, "I love you and I love Jesse. You have to have faith that I'll take care of you, but you also have to tell me how Erik got custody."

  "It's like I told you before. When I was trying to end things, I acted as if I was forgetting things and becoming unable to cope, and I tried to be everything Erik didn't want me to be. I didn't know it then, but he told a couple of the neighbors, probably so they'd think the reason they never saw me was because I was unbalanced. One of the neighbors testified for him so he managed to convince the court that he should have custody, and I didn't say anything on my own behalf because I couldn't let Erik know it had all been an act. The court did give me the right to have Jesse every other weekend, so the first weekend I got him, I took him and came here."

  Adam planted his hands on his hips and looked toward the front window, and said, "I'm sure my father won't say anything to the police if they come asking questions, but the neighbor who brought the poster knows you're here so we need to leave. The tarp with the supplies we brought up yesterday is packed with what we need for a few days on the trail. I figured we might have to make a quick exit. We'll roll our clothes in the other tarp, and a few of Jesse's toys too," Adam added, as if Jesse's toys were as important as blankets and matches and first aid kits and whatever survival gear Adam had rolled in the tarp.

  Within twenty minutes, the tarps were tied behind the saddles and they were on their way up the mountain. Snow was falling steadily, dusting Adam's horse's head and the fake fur surrounding the hood on Jesse's parka, but Adam knew the fur would keep Jesse's face warm. Still, he held his gloved hand in front of Jesse to ward off the cold.

  For a long stretch, the horses made their way up a trail so narrow they had to ride single file, but after the trail widened again, Adam dropped back to ride beside Emily.

  Looking over at Jesse, Emily said, "Are you okay, honey?"

  When Jesse didn't respond, Adam said, "I think he's sleeping. Is he always so quiet?"

  "Yes," Emily said. "Erik saw to that. But today, when Erik showed up, for the first time in Jesse's life I was thankful he didn't make a sound. There's time for him to be a noisy little boy, and I have faith, with a few more weeks with you, he'll be laughing and jumping and running around and being as loud and boisterous as any happy little boy should be."

  "He was like that when he was splashing in the tub," Adam said, and smiled in memory.

  "Where will we stay tonight?" Emily asked.

  "A line shack about five miles from here," Adam replied. "It's on a ranch where I worked one summer. They keep it well supplied for hunters or hikers or anyone stranded. The snow's already covering our tracks, so unless Erik decides to get himself a couple of bloodhounds, he won't find us. We'll stay there tonight and continue down the mountain in the morning."

  "And then where will we go?" Emily asked.

  "One of my dad's friends owns a hunting cabin about fifteen miles further," Adam replied. "You and Jesse can stay there while I circle back to the ranch and get my truck and come for you. Then I'll take you and Jesse someplace where you'll be safe until the DNA tests come back and I can start paternity proceedings."

  But Emily knew that Adam establishing paternity was only the beginning. Erik was still Jesse's legal father, and he had both custody and the law on his side, and it would be an uphill battle convincing the court that Erik was not the man he was a master at holding himself out to be. But for now, protecting Jesse by staying out of range of Eric took priority.

  Wondering if the line shack where they'd be staying might be infested with rats, Emily said, "This place where we're going. When were you last there?"

  After a long pause, Adam replied, "After you returned the ring. It's where I went after you left."

  "Because of me?" Emily asked, still unable to believe she could mean that much to Adam. She'd never mattered to her mother or father, and certainly not to her brother who was in and out of juvenile facilities the whole time they were growing up, and prison later.

  Adam nodded. "I had to get away from the ranch."

  Emily rode silently. She knew she'd hurt him deeply when she walked out on him, but at the time, she didn't think she could matter that much to him or anyone else. Except Erik. He'd convinced her he alone cared for her and would always be her protector, not Adam. Adam was nothing but a cowboy, and she believed Erik. "I wished I'd known," she said. "Maybe things would have been different."

  "Different how?" Adam asked.

  "Maybe I would have believed you loved me as much as Erik did," Emily replied. "I never thought you did, not that much."

  "How could you not?" Adam asked. "I would have done anything for you, and still would. You should have known that."

  "I guess I didn't know how to love," Emily said. "No one showed me before Erik came along. Then when he started directing everything I did, that's what I used to judge love. Erik ran my life the way my parents should have but didn't because they were too absorbed in themselves and the things they were doing. But with Erik, I had someone who could give some direction in my life. Like I said, it was twisted. I'm sorry I did that to you. I'll never stop being sorry."

  Adam pulled his horse to a halt and looked at Emily in the dusky twilight, and said, "Honey, you need to stop telling me you're sorry. I know you are, but we're a family now and we need to go from here." Tightening his arm around Jesse, Adam leaned out of the saddle, kissed Emily, and said, "I love you, sweetheart. You and Jesse are my whole life. And no more apologies."

  Emily decided he was right. Continually rehashing the past would finally wear down a man like Adam, who loved unconditionally.

  ***

  By the time they reached the line shack, the wind was growing stronger and colder, carrying with it snow that stung like icy shards. For the better part of the past hour, Adam held his gloved hand in front of Jesse to ward off the cold, and he was relieved to finally be at their destination. "We're here, son," he announced to Jesse. "We'll be inside in a few minutes."

  "Mommy too?" Jesse asked.

  "Yes, Mommy's right behind us." Adam turned slightly in the saddle to see how Emily was doing, but her face was masked in dusk. "Keep Jesse on the porch for a few minutes while I sweep out inside," he said to her.

  After they dismounted and tethered the horses, Adam opened the front door and took a box of matches and a candle in a holder from a shelf and lit the candle. The rancher he'd worked for taught him the rules about the line shack, which were to have candles and matches on the shelf, a broom by the door, split wood on the porch, and the double mattress on the floor covered with a canvas tarp before leaving. Otherwise the cabin was bare, except for a small pot-bellied stove, a lantern hanging on a nail on a rafter, and a bottle of lamp oil on the shelf.

  Grabbing the broom he swept out the cabin.

  After a few minutes, Emily poked her head inside, and said, "Can we come in? It's cold and windy out here."

  "Yeah, but stand in the corner for a minute," Adam replied.

  "Is there some way to heat the place?" Emily asked, while gazing around a shadowy cabin, barely discernible in the flicker of a single candle.

  "There's a wood stove in the corner," Adam replied. "I'll get it started in a few minutes." Satisfied that the floors were swept as clean as possible, he removed the covering from the mattress then untied the tarp rolls from behind the horses, heaved them inside and unrolled the one with the supplies, which were rolled in th
e double sleeping bag he'd made by zipping two bags together. "We'll be warm in this," he said, while fluttering the sleeping bag across the mattress. "Go ahead and open the other tarp and you can get Jesse ready for bed. I brought pillowcases to stuff with clothes to use as pillows. Will you be okay with that?"

  Emily shrugged. "It's home for tonight. What about a bed for Jesse?"

  "I have a small sleeping bag Mom made years ago. Dad used to take us on horse campouts in the mountains, so Mom made us each a kid-size sleeping bag, and sometimes we'd end up here." He took down the lantern hanging on the rafter above, lifted off the chimney, and reaching into the pocket of his parka, pulled out a butane lighter and flicked a flame, then held it to the wick, which slowly took. Turning up the wick, the flame brightened and became steady. Replacing the chimney, he returned the lantern to the rafter above.

  The flicker of the flames moving and dancing on the ceiling took him back some. He remembered driving the nail in that held the lantern, the same lantern with the dent in the base that was there the last time he stayed, when he was going through hell because the woman he loved more than his own life had left him.

  "Adam?" Adam glanced down at Emily, who was looking up at him from her cross-legged sitting position on the sleeping bag, with Jesse, still bundled in his coat, on her lap. "You were standing there staring at the lantern. Is everything alright?"

  "Yeah, just old memories," Adam replied.

  After starting a fire in the woodstove, Adam set a pot with snow in it on the iron stove top to heat for making reconstituted stew, which they'd have for dinner. While Emily was getting Jesse ready for bed, Adam unsaddled the horses and propped the saddles against the front wall of the cabin, under the overhang of the porch roof, then turned the horses into a crude corral attached to a loafing shed where the horses could take cover. Slipping the Winchester from its scabbard on the saddle, he brought it into the cabin and set it on the shelf by the door, then he removed his boots and hung his parka on a wooden peg.