Thank you so much for your continuing support and reviews. I've made sure to thank everyone personally, and I must say thank you also to the guest/s who have also said lovely things and made me go all tingly!
Day 5 – Tuesday (continued)
Adam could see the anger in his brother the moment he rode over the ridge of the hill. Joe and Hoss were working to repair a large section of fence line that had become damaged in the previous winter's storms. His youngest brother's stance was rigid, his shoulders square, and as Adam rode closer he could see that Joe was taking his anger out on the nails he was hammering into the fence posts. Hoss glanced over at Adam as he approached, shook his head and raised his eyes to heaven.
Joe straightened as Adam reined in and dismounted, leaving Sport unsecured with the other horses. Adam watched as Joe threw his hammer to the ground and unconsciously clenched his fists.
"Where the hell have you been?"
"Hey now, Joe," Hoss broke in.
Joe whirled, his finger pointed at Hoss, "You stay outta this." He spun back to face Adam, his eyes black with anger. "This was your job, Adam. We only rode up a couple of hours ago to help you finish, but you hadn't even started. We're behind on ranch work because of everything that's been going on with the missing boys; we're not gonna get this completed today, and to top all that it's been rainin' and I'm soaked to the skin."
Adam took a step closer to Joe, his hands spread in a gesture of appeasement. "I'm sorry, Joe. I rode down to the lake after dawn and time just…"
"The lake! Always with the lake. Are we gonna get home tonight and find out another child has gone missing that you will miraculously find tomorrow?"
"Hey, Joe, that ain't fair. Ya know Adam's got nuffin to do with that."
The finger was pointed at Hoss's chest again. "I told you stay outta it. This is between me and Adam."
It was becoming an effort, but Adam managed to keep his voice level. "Are you insinuating I'm somehow involved with these missing children?"
Joe's voice dropped to match his brother's. "Well, I can't do anything but insinuate, since you won't tell us what's going on."
Adam could have stopped it there and then. If he had been reasoning properly instead of letting his anger at Joe's inferences take control of his thinking, he could have walked away, or made up a lie about falling asleep on the lake shore, or some other innocuous reason. But Adam wasn't thinking rationally.
He had been in another world as he rode up to High Valley, recalling over and over again the feel of her skin under his hand, and the taste of her lips against his. He kept seeing the images of her past life as they had careened through his mind. And as he had been trying to work out what he felt for her, he had been hit by a startling realisation that made him pull up the reins sharply, causing Sport to snort and toss his head in protest. He suddenly knew that he was in love with her. He had gazed into the distance, wondering how that could possibly be. He barely knew her. He wasn't like Joe, who fell in love at the drop of a hat, professing undying love and marriage within five minutes of having met someone. Well, okay, he had fallen quickly for Ruth, but the conclusion to that relationship had been taken out of his hands. He generally wasn't one for letting his feelings control his decisions, preferring good old common sense and rational judgement to rule his actions.
He had sat on the back of his unmoving horse, staring into nowhere, desperately trying to understand how he could have fallen so hard for a woman he had only known a few days. He knew her body, oh yes, that moment when she had risen from the water and stood in front of him, before he'd been able to collect himself together, that moment would be etched on his consciousness forever. But he didn't know her mind. Although she had told him of her history, he didn't know anything about how she lived her everyday life. Where did she sleep at night? He'd never seen her eat, and what did she actually do when she wasn't rescuing small boys from the lake? He felt completely in the dark so he had sorted through everything he had learned about her up to now. He knew she was compassionate, caring and empathetic; that she had a joy for living and took pleasure from simple acts and the world around her. But then he had realised he would never be able to talk about books or poems or art with her, because she knew nothing of those things. And he couldn't take her to big cities and visit museums and teach her about architecture. Travelling across the world was out of the question. These things had always been important to him; they gave him purpose and interests in his life. So why had he fallen in love with someone who was so different from anyone he would normally be attracted to?
And that's when it had hit him. He'd not fallen in love with her in the last hour, or the last day, or even at that first moment he'd seen her on the beach. No, he'd been in love with her since the day he'd been born. All the events of his life had been leading up to now. His failed relationships, the dissatisfaction he felt deep inside, his restlessness. It all made sense to him because none of it mattered anymore. This woman, this being, Amara, had been here his entire life, waiting patiently for him, watching out for him. And now that they had come together, he felt complete. There was nothing missing in his life anymore. He loved her, and had always loved her. And realising that, he had kicked Sport into motion and whooped with joy.
But his elation had dwindled at Joe's accusations. Adam drew himself up to his full height and moved in close so he was face to face with his brother.
"And what business is it of yours, little brother, what I do in my time? I don't answer to you." And he poked a finger deeply into Joe's shoulder, pushing him so hard Joe rocked back on his feet.
So it came as no surprise when Joe's fist suddenly connected with Adam's face, cracking into his temple and knocking his older brother off his feet. Adam levered himself up onto one elbow, the tips of his fingers gently touching his cheekbone as he stared up at his younger brother who stood glaring down at him, clenching and unclenching the offending fist. Adam climbed to his feet, and before Joe could take a breath, Adam barrelled into his chest and they both went tumbling to the earth, fists flying as they attempted to inflict damage on the other. They didn't count on Hoss though. A huge hand reached into the melee and grabbed one collar, and another hand found another collar. He yanked the two brothers apart, keeping them in an iron grip as they were held at arm's length from each other.
"Now, lookee here, I don't know what you two are all so fired up about, but beatin' the Sam Hill outta each other ain't gonna solve nuffin."
Hoss stared daggers at first one brother then the other. Adam and Joe hung limply, one at each end of Hoss's arms, nursing their bruises and, in Joe's case, a gash above his eye. Their feet barely scuffed the earth.
"Now is one o' you gonna tell me what this is all about?"
A chorus of "ask him" met Hoss's ears.
Hoss's face drew together in a dark cloud of anger. But as he was about to give his brothers what for, Adam yanked himself out of Hoss's grip, pulled his clothes into a semblance of order, and stumbled off towards his horse.
"Adam…"
"No, Joe. I'm sorry about…this…" and Adam gestured around him at the rolls of barbed wire and the broken fencing, "but I'm not sorry about anything else. That you could even think I had anything to do with Eli and Matt going missing." By this time Adam had mounted up, and gathering the reins in his hand, had wheeled Sport around.
"Adam, I don't think…"
"I don't care what you think anymore, Joe. But if you can stop accusing me for one second, you might want to ask Roy Coffee to look into the disappearance of a child who drowned in the lake, don't know when; name of Henry. He has some connection with who is doing this. And you can also ask him to look for a woman with red hair; she's the one taking the boys, not me!"
And with a kick to Sport's flanks and crouching low over the horse's neck, he was away, leaving a startled Hoss staring at his departing figure, and Joe blowing out a breath in exasperation.
XXXXXXX
Adam rode hard. He didn't know where, or for how long, he simply let Sport have his head to run. All he knew was he needed to ride out his anger, to drive it out of his system. Joe's accusations had enraged and upset him. How could Joe think he would have anything to do with the disappearance of the two boys; how could he think that of him? But Adam also knew he was partly to blame. He had been less than forthcoming with his younger brother, so was it any wonder Joe was taking two and two and making five. Adam was also annoyed at himself for letting Joe twist his mood so violently from happiness to one of anger. And why had he hit him back? He should have left then, nursing a bruised face, yes, but before it had turned into the full-scale fight it had become.
And so he had let Sport run without taking any notice of where the animal was headed. Yet when Adam pulled up and rummaged in his saddlebags for some jerky to feed his empty stomach, discovering a couple of bruised apples at the same time, he noticed he was back at the turn-off that led to Josiah's Cove. He hadn't consciously returned to the lake, but he surmised he must have been unwittingly leading Sport in this direction. With the sun starting to edge towards the horizon, he headed towards the cove, and led Sport through a rapidly darkening and heavily shadowed forest to the beach. Stepping onto the sand, he cast his eyes around the area and saw that he was alone. Adam yanked the saddle off his mount's back and heaved it along the beach, with his saddle bags over one shoulder, to a place amongst the rocks where he made a makeshift campsite; he had no wish to return home for further allegations and naysaying. He hobbled Sport in the shade of the woods and with an open palm fed his apples to the hungry horse. "Sorry, old chum, that's all I've got." And with a pat to the gelding's neck, he strolled down to the water's edge and waited for Amara to come.
He hadn't had to say her name, or even think in his mind he wanted to see her. He knew she'd come to him. And as the sun dipped below the horizon, burnishing the remaining clouds in a riot of gold against the dusky blue sky, and the still water turned silver with the reflection of the sun's rays, her head slowly rose from the water and she walked out to meet him on the shore. She shone like a beacon, casting her light in a world that had briefly turned dark.
Adam stood at the water's edge and kept his eyes fixed on the sand as she approached him. Her feet came into his line of vision, and he saw how her bare toes made tiny indentations in the hard sand, a trail of rapidly dissolving footprints in the wet ground behind her. He didn't stop himself from looking at her body this time. He lifted his head and gazed steadily at her and when his eyes joined with hers, he smiled, and held out his hand.
He led her up the beach. And there, amongst the age-old formation of rocks and boulders, and sheltered from the trees and the open expanse of the lake, he dropped to his knees and curled his arms around her hips. Closing his eyes, he pressed his cheek against her skin, savouring the warmth of her body against his. She enclosed his head within her hands, holding him close. Adam could feel his heartbeat slow as he relaxed in her arms. They stayed like that for a few moments until Adam slowly angled his head towards her and placed a soft kiss on her flesh. Her grip on his head tightened as she wove her fingers through his hair, lost in the sensations of his lips upon her skin. He kissed and licked his way up her torso, relishing how her skin tasted like cool fresh water in a desert oasis, until she could stand upright no longer and together they tumbled to the sand.
Afterwards, it wasn't so much the physical aspect of their love-making Adam brought to mind—although he didn't think his body had ever reacted to another person in the way it did with her—but rather an otherworldly experience that Adam would never be able to explain. He didn't know whether he had imagined it, or whether it had truly happened, but either way, after they had lain back under the night sky to let sleep claim them, Adam knew he was bound to her forever.
When the rapture of their first union began to overtake them, she had taken his face between her hands and captured his eyes with hers. He had felt his vision fading to nothingness, and even while his body was racked with the sensations of their joining, his mind was set adrift. Adam felt as if his spirit was floating high above the firmament, an ethereal wisp drifting amongst the stars. But he wasn't alone. There was a presence besides him, and at the same time, entwined within him, a being composed of warmth and love, and he knew it was her. And as their physical bodies became one, so a lost soul and a lonely soul were bound together eternally, high above the lake, in the infinite blackness of the sky.
They had slept a while and woken again when the night was at its blackest, once more to be overwhelmed in an onslaught of bliss. She became afraid, though, when she saw a fleeting flash of anguish pass over his face. For she knew that, even in his ecstasy, Adam was unknowingly mourning the family he would have to leave behind so that he could be with her. As their bodies fell limp, she had enveloped him in her arms and legs, holding him close to her. He was not aware of his momentary grief, but she had seen it, and her heart was sorry for what she knew was to come.
Later, in the small hours of the morning, Adam was awoken by the feel of the cool night air on his exposed skin. One half of his body was warm, though. He glanced down at his side to where she lay sleeping, closely tucked up against him. Carefully, he felt behind him to find his coat, and he drew it across them both, covering as much as he was able. In the minutes before he fell back to sleep again, he recalled their love-making, and knew it had been more than simply two people tumbling on the sand. Everything was different; and even if he had merely imagined their two souls coming together, he knew they were bound as one now. And Adam suddenly felt uncertain because he knew to be with her he would have to hurt the people he loved most in the world.
