Through The eyes of Teresa O'Brien
Chapter Eleven
Victory was a fingertip away. Up one flight of stairs in a room that should have remained vacant. Johnny, especially Johnny, had come so close to ruining everything for her. But he wouldn't win. She wouldn't let him. A smile dimpled her swollen discolored cheek. Everyone mistakenly thought that Murdoch Lancer controlled the reins of the most powerful ranch in the San Joaquin Valley. But today she would prove that she could bend even the great Murdoch to her will. Teresa O'Brien would have what she wanted. What she deserved.
Her foot hadn't touched the first step before Scott barreled past her nearly knocking her over. She wanted to reach Johnny's room first, wanted to see her plan in action. It had been an inspired idea, if not painful. But it was worth it. She pounded up the stairs, ignoring Anna May's pleas for her to slow down.
Her face throbbed with each step, but Daddy always said if it wasn't worth fighting for, it wasn't worth having.
She reached the landing and the sound of Murdoch's voice thundered down the hallway like a freight train. "You god damn son of a bitch!" Teresa couldn't ever remember seeing Murdoch filled with such fury. She could still feel his trembling hand on her chin, see the confusion and shock in his eyes at the sight of her bruised face.
Teresa reached the doorway and stepped inside. She could feel Murdoch's anger as he stood over Johnny's bed as if it were a living, breathing thing. It crowded the room, sucked up all the air. Teresa felt light headed. This was her doing, her creation. Suddenly she wasn't so sure of her inspired idea.
Johnny looked startled, his eyes still heavy with sleep. He looked so vulnerable lying there, his black hair contrasting against the white of the pillowcases and the miles of bandaging wrapped around his chest and Murdoch hovering over him. But the look didn't last long. A shiver went down Teresa's spine as she saw Johnny gather his wits and his soft blue eyes turned cold.
"Why, Johnny?" Murdoch growled. "Why?"
Scott stood on the opposite side of the bed, looking from Johnny to Murdoch then to her, accusation written on his face.
Teresa heard anger and loss in Murdoch's voice. "This was your chance, Johnny. You could have turned your life around. You could have turned your back on the past, made something good of yourself. But this," he pointed toward her and Teresa felt the heat rise on her bruised face. "How could you do this? How could you do this under my roof?"
Johnny grunted as he struggled to push himself higher onto the pillows. Murdoch reached a hand out to help.
"Keep your hands off me, old man," Johnny warned.
Murdoch drew his hand back slowly. "I don't know what to say, Johnny."
"Seems to me that you got it all figured out already," Johnny sighed. "Give me my clothes and I'll be out of here."
"No you won't," Scott said, pulling the sheet higher up over Johnny's chest. "You're not going anywhere, not in your condition…and not under these circumstances."
Murdoch nodded. "We'll wait to see what Sam says. As soon as Johnny is ready to leave Sam can take him into town."
"You can't do that."
"What would you have me do, Scott? Allow the man who attacked my ward, a girl I look upon as my own daughter, to stay under the same roof? He violated the most sacred trust. I can't turn my back on that."
Teresa's heart skipped a beat. Never had Murdoch called her his daughter. Anger at the two men who were trying to put a wedge between her and her Murdoch seared in her throat. She wouldn't let them win.
"I'm not asking you to. I'm only asking that you think for a minute. Johnny isn't strong enough…"
"He was strong enough for that," Murdoch countered, pointing a finger toward her in disgust.
Scott looked at her, imploring her to step forward. But how could she without admitting what she had done? Murdoch would never forgive her. She could lose everything she had taken for granted all these years. She could lose more than just Johnny and Scott's shares, she could lose the ranch. She could lose a father a second time.
"It wasn't his fault," Teresa cried. "I shouldn't…we shouldn't have been in here. Johnny was too sick to know what he was doing."
"It's no excuse," Murdoch said, looking down at Johnny. "As soon as Sam says you are well enough to travel, I want you out of here."
"Murdoch, I know what I saw last night," Scott started, "Teresa and her and Miss Dixon were so drunk they couldn't stand up straight…"
"Stay out of this," Johnny warned. "I can fight my own battles."
"Murdoch, please!" She had to play the innocent. The woman who was attacked but still had the heart to save Murdoch's son. She had to be the daughter he thought she was.
"Go downstairs, both of you," Murdoch ordered. Teresa realized Anna May was standing behind her. It was all Anna May's fault. She brought the sherry; she encouraged her to drink it. She insisted on seeing that damn half moon.
Johnny threw his sheet off revealing only a pair of cutoff long johns and Teresa felt that tingling where no decent girl should. How could he make her feel like this, even now in the midst of all that was happening? He was so dangerous in so many ways.
He slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed and groaned with the effort, his left arm still in the sling and his right hand clutching the mattress to keep from toppling forward. He seemed worse this morning, weaker, paler. He turned to look at her and her hand involuntarily went to her cheek.
"Johnny." Scott hurried around to the other side of the bed. "Don't be a fool. Don't let her push you out of your own home."
"Scott, enough," Murdoch warned. "This has been Teresa's home all her life. I will not sacrifice her happiness for two strangers, even if they do carry my blood. I had hoped we could make this work. That you and Johnny could forget the past and make a new start here." He looked down at Johnny. "I guess I was just fooling myself."
"You're more of a fool than you think, old man," Johnny said, and yanked the sling over his head. He struggled to his feet and tried to push past Murdoch, but Murdoch grabbed his arm.
"Don't you understand, I offered you a way out… a new life."
Johnny whipped his arm free of Murdoch's grasp and suddenly pressed his right hand against his stomach. For the first time Teresa saw the deep bruising on his stomach and the memory of her punching him nearly rocked her off her feet. How could one punch do so much damage?
"I don't want anything from you," Johnny said through clenched teeth. "I got my listenin' money, that's all I ever came for."
The words hurt. Teresa could see it in Murdoch's face, in the vein pulsing above his temple.
"What in the blazes is going on here?"
Teresa jumped. She hadn't heard Sam walk up the stairs. She whirled around, tears of fear and anger welling in her eyes.
"Sam, oh, Sam, stop him, please! Johnny wants to leave."
"Wasn't that the plan?" Scott asked derisively.
"Get back in bed, Johnny," Sam ordered, "I didn't spend all that time sewing you up to have you break those stitches now."
"Sorry, Doc, but I'm notstaying where I'm not wanted. Get my clothes, Scott."
"You'll do no such thing, Scott." Sam pulled away from Teresa's grip and set his medical bag on the bed. "And Johnny, put that sling back on or I will strap your arm to your side so you can't move it at all. Now, will someone please tell me what's going on here?"
Teresa wished she was anywhere but here, wished Johnny and Scott had never stepped foot on Lancer land, wished that Anna May had never brought over that bottle of sherry, wished that Johnny didn't make her knees go weak as she watched him struggle to stay on his feet. It was Johnny's fault. All of it. If he had never come back, if he hadn't taunted her with the threat that he would be part owner she wouldn't have had to smack the door against her face. Oh how she hated him.
Johnny swayed dangerously close to falling. Sweat beaded up on his forehead and he was turning from pale to gray in front of her eyes.
"Sam," Murdoch said, his voice sounding so unlike him. "Johnny assaulted Teresa last night."
"What?" Sam spun around and Teresa saw the astonished look on his face as he saw the bruising for the first time. "My, God, what happened?"
"Johnny attacked her," Murdoch said, his voice no more than a whisper.
Sam looked astounded. "I don't believe it."
"Neither do I," Scott said. "I don't believe Johnny would hit Teresa, even if he had had the strength.
Murdoch shook his head. "I only know what Teresa said, and she would have no reason to lie."
"Wouldn't she?" Scott looked straight at her. Teresa felt her heart rush up into her throat, making it hard to breathe. Did Scott know the truth? Had Johnny seen what she did last night and told his brother?
Sam rushed over to examine her face. "It's a nasty bruise," he said, "but you were lucky young lady, your cheekbone wasn't fractured. It will be sore for a few days but I don't think there will be any permanent damage."
Anna May's hands were on her elbows, supporting her from the back. "It's all right, Honey, we can cover it with a bit of makeup. I can't believe Mr. Madrid would have the audacity to deny what he did. We all know what kind of man he is. Mother and Father said it was a bad idea to let him stay in the valley."
Teresa just wanted her to shut up. She needed to stay here, to hear what Johnny and Scott said to Sam.
Sam walked back slowly to the bed as he if were thinking hard about something and then drew out a small packet of powder. "That's a good idea, Anna May. Here is a mild sedative, it will allow Teresa to rest better."
"I don't want a sedative." Teresa pulled free of Anna May's grip.
"Do as Sam says," Murdoch urged. "If you would feel more comfortable, you can take one of the guest rooms downstairs."
"No. I'll be fine in my own room." But she made no move toward the door. Instead she watched Sam reach out for Johnny's right hand and feel for his pulse.
"Didn't I tell you to get back into bed, young man?"
Johnny shook his head. "Sorry, Doc, I told you, I don't stay where I'm not wanted. Murdoch doesn't want a gunslinger around his little girl and he calls the tune…" Johnny looked toward Teresa and smiled." But Miss Teresa over there, she pulls the strings."
"How dare you!" Teresa cried.
Murdoch looked toward her. Was there the ghost of uncertainty in his eyes? Yet he turned on Johnny, towering over him like a grizzly bear. "You heard Sam. Get back into that bed."
"You can't make me stay," Johnny growled. "I paid my dues, I helped you get rid of Pardee."
Suddenly Murdoch's shoulders seemed to slump. "Johnny, I sat by your bedside when you were more dead than alive. I listened to your delirious ravings until I thought my heart would explode with the weight of knowing what my son went through. What I and your mother did to you all those years ago. The life we pushed you into. We...I can never undo the hurt. I had hoped that I could give you something to make up for all those years. Give you a home and a family. But what happened last night…Johnny… I love Teresa like my own daughter, I have to believe her."
Teresa felt the room spin at the words. Murdoch believed her. She would never lose her place here at Lancer.
"But…" Murdoch frowned, "I find it hard to believe that you would deliberately attack Teresa, any woman for that matter. Not the man I listened to, not the man I got to know before Pardee's raid."
No! Teresa screamed silently. Johnny means nothing to you. He is like a leech latching onto to you for your blood.
Johnny snorted. "Nice words, Murdoch. But me and Teresa, we are like oil and water. Ain't never gonna mix in company. It's best if I left now before someone really gets hurt."
"You would give up that easily?" Scott asked.
"I pick my fights, Boston. And I walk away from the ones I know I can't win. It's healthier that way."
Teresa couldn't believe it. She was winning. Johnny was willing to walk away. It seemed too good to be true.
Now Scott was looking at her, studying her. She felt a shiver run down her arms. She felt like she was in the middle of a tug of war, and she was the rope that was being tugged.
"That was quite a blow Teresa received last night, wouldn't you say, Sam?"
Sam nodded. "Like I said, she was lucky her cheekbone wasn't broken."
"Yes, a vicious blow. And on someone so young and unprepared to protect herself. She was simply checking on Johnny to see that he was comfortable for the night, and for her kindness she is attacked."
Where was he going with this? Teresa felt the room closing in on her. She'd told herself when they first met that Scott might be the more dangerous of the two brothers, but she had let Johnny get under her skin. Had she made a mistake?
"I thought you were on your brother's side," Murdoch said.
"I am. But I'm also on the side of justice. Right, Teresa? You want justice served, don't you?"
She nodded. She couldn't trust what she might say.
"You know what?"He glanced back at Johnny before looking straight into her eyes. "I believe this constitutes assault and battery. I have the right to make a citizen's arrest."
"What?" Teresa asked dumbfounded.
Scott turned back to Johnny. "I am making a citizen's arrest. You are not to leave this room until the circuit judge gets here to hear the case."
"You can't do that," Johnny said in disbelief.
"Yes I can. And I'm sure the good doctor will back me up. Right, Dr. Jenkins?"
Sam nodded. Why are you smiling Teresa wanted to yell. It was the worst thing that could happen. She couldn't allow it. She wouldn't allow it.
"You can't do this," Johnny protested.
"Oh yes I can." Scott grinned. "I'll write up the complaint and have it in the mail tomorrow. The circuit judge should receive it in…how long would you say it would take a letter to reach Sacramento?"
"About a week," Murdoch said. To her horror, Murdoch was actually going along with Scott's plan.
Suddenly, Johnny seemed too overwhelmed and too tired to fight. He slumped back down on the bed. He didn't even fight Murdoch and Scott as they helped him get comfortable.
"Now," Sam said, "if I can have some privacy with my patient, I…" He looked more closely at Johnny's stomach. "How did this happen?" he demanded.
How much damage had she done with that punch last night? Johnny just made her so mad. She hated him. Oh how she hated him.
Sam kept on examining Johnny's abdomen, pushing and prodding, eliciting groans from him when he hit a particularly sore area. "This is a deep bruise," Sam said, "how in the world did you receive an injury like this?"
Johnny closed his eyes and chuckled. "I guess I walked into a door."
TBC