Chapter 11
“You’re what?” Bonnie demanded.
“It’s just a little kidnapping job,” Jeff said.
Bonnie leaned on the back of one of the chairs arranged around their kitchen table. “You’re joking, right? You’re still injured.”
“Not as badly as Mike and Andy are,” Jeff said. “We can’t risk them going. Anyway, Robert, Hunter, and I work together all the time. We can do this quickly.”
“Just the three of you?” Bonnie asked.
“No, we’ll have Joel and his cart with us,” Jeff said.
Bonnie shook her head. “I don’t like this one bit!” she cried.
Jeff sighed, put his arms around her, and drew her to him. Gosh, it was difficult to stay angry with him when he did that. The feeling of his arms around her was always so calming and uplifting that Bonnie found it almost impossible to hold onto her anger and worry.
“Look, we’ll be in and out in minutes. They won’t even know that we’ve grabbed Miguel, and we’ll be on our way home.”
“How can you be so sure?” Bonnie asked.
“Because we know,” he said.
“Have you ever done this before?” she demanded.
Jeff shook his head. “But we’ve been doing a lot of things of a similar nature lately, and it’s not that difficult. We just go, hide, grab him, and leave. Just like that.”
“Just like that,” she said.
Was there any point in disagreeing? It was clear that Jeff had made up his mind.
He was going to do this, and nothing she said was going to make any difference.
He had that look on his face that told her he wasn’t really listening.
That him telling her anything about this was just a courtesy on his part, and nothing she said would make the slightest bit of difference.
“All right,” she said with a heavy sigh. “But please, be safe.”
Jeff nodded. “I will. Anyway, with four of us, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
“When do you leave?” she asked.
“Just before dusk,” he said.
She nodded.
“I’m going to go and get ready,” Jeff said. He headed up the stairs to his room, leaving Bonnie alone in the kitchen.
There was nothing about this plan that she liked. Not one thing. Why was Jeff doing this? What could this Miguel person possibly have that they needed? Why risk being caught and possibly hurt for this?
What if he was hurt and couldn’t make it back to Unity? What if he needed help immediately and there was no one who could render that aid? No, this was terrible. Bonnie couldn’t take the risk of losing him.
And an idea came to her.
“I’m going out for a little while,” she called up the stairs and then hurried out of the house. She rushed down the street and around the corner to the clinic.
“Bonnie,” Julie said, looking up from a tincture she was making. In spite of being heavily pregnant, the woman never seemed to stop working. Not that she really could—the camp relied heavily on her as their lone apothecary and physician. “What brings you here? Is Jeff okay?”
Bonnie nodded. “He’s fine at the moment. Did you hear that he’s heading out on the latest mission?”
“Oh yes,” Julie said.
“Well, I was thinking,” Bonnie said. “If they get hurt out there, far from town, they might not make it back before it’s too late. Would it perhaps help if they took some bandages and things with them?”
Julie considered this and then nodded. “It could make quite a big difference. Would you like to pack some in a bag for them?”
Bonnie nodded. “Would that be okay?”
“Of course,” Julie said. “Come, I’ll give you some tinctures they can use as well. I have some that help with pain and bleeding.”
It took Julie a few minutes to pull together everything she thought that they might need. This included salves that helped with healing wounds. It was all shoved, bandages, tinctures, and all, into a bag, and then Bonnie hurried back to the house.
Jeff was still upstairs. She poked her head in through his door. He was sitting at his desk in his room, cleaning his pistols. That was good. It would take him a while to get that task done. She had some time before he was ready to go.
“I’m back,” she said. “I got you something. This is an emergency kit. There are all sorts of things in here that might save a life.”
Jeff took it and inspected its contents. His face broke into a bright smile as he saw what was in the bag. “Thank you, Bonnie. This is very thoughtful.”
She smiled and then left him to get ready.
Now came a decision. She could either be a patient wife and wait at home while Jeff rode straight into danger, or she could do what her heart was demanding of her.
The idea of Jeff possibly getting hurt again while she sat at home, worrying herself sick, was so unappealing that Bonnie thought she might go mad thinking about it. No, that wasn’t an option.
And just like that, she made up her mind. She was going with them. Joel was taking his cart. All she had to do was hide under the tarpaulin. They wouldn’t know she was there. But getting into the cart and hiding—that was the tricky part.
How was she going to do it?
Joel was staying in one of the tents on this side of the creek. Maybe …
Bonnie quickly changed into a navy blue riding skirt and a dark brown jacket. Then she poked her head into Jeff’s room again.
“Jeff, I forgot to tell you, what with all your news, but I have to go back to Uncle Leo and Felix’s apartment again,” Bonnie said in a tone that should make Jeff think it was the most laborious, tedious thing she had to do.
“We didn’t finish our plans for Uncle Leo’s new store.
And since you won’t be home for dinner, this is a good time to get that done.
The sooner the planning is done and approved, the sooner we can get started on it. ”
Jeff was still cleaning his pistols. He looked up from his work and nodded. “Oh, okay. Well, that’s good. Then at least you won’t be alone.”
She nodded. “If you’re hungry, there’s bread and cheese in the kitchen. You can make some sandwiches. Or do you want me to?”
Jeff shook his head. “No, it’s fine. Grace sent sandwiches to the office, and there was so much food that I’m still full.”
Bonnie smiled and stepped into the room.
She walked over to Jeff and bent to kiss his cheek.
He turned his head at the last second and she caught him on the lips.
It was wonderful, and she wound her arms around his neck.
Next thing she knew, she was on his lap and the kiss quickly became deeper, more urgent.
It took all of her self-control to pull away. She didn’t know how long she had before Joel came calling. If she didn’t get into his cart when no one was looking, she would be left behind, and that wasn’t an option.
“I’ll see you later,” she said, a little dazedly.
Jeff nodded. “Oh yes, you will,” he said and kissed her lightly again.
There was something delicious about the man that kept her wanting more and more of him. Well, she was coming along on this adventure to make sure that there would be years and years of more kisses. That was for sure.
It occurred to her as she left the house that by sneaking around, she might make Jeff angry with her. Well, better to ask forgiveness than permission. She was doing this, and if he found out, it would be too late for him to do anything about it.
Bonnie hurried down the street, heading to the small tent town set up on an open patch of land. Almost everyone in town had moved into a house by now, but a few people were still building their new homes.
Bonnie found Joel’s tent easily. The cart was parked outside it. He and one of his horses were missing though.
Where could he be?
It didn’t really matter. She needed him to not see her. That was the important thing. If she could hide in his cart without being seen, then it would all work out fine. The tarpaulin lay in the top corner, crumpled and unused. This was good.
Looking around hurriedly, Bonnie sidled over to the cart and snuck into it. Then she pulled the tarp over herself and lay down.
Noises came and went around her.
It got terribly stuffy under the tarp, and she lifted a corner a bit for some air.
“Hey, where is Joel?” someone asked.
“He went out,” someone else said.
“Shouldn’t he be back?” the first person asked.
“I guess so,” the other one said. “Oh, there he is.”
Horses’ hooves thudded on the ground.
“Where have you been? I thought you’d be ready by now,” a voice demanded. It sounded like Hunter.
“I took my horses to graze a little,” Joel said. “They can’t just keep pulling the cart all the time. Anyway, I’m ready.”
Something was thrown into the back of the cart, missing Bonnie by a quarter-inch, and she flinched. No one seemed to notice because Hunter and Joel hitched the horse to the cart, and soon Bonnie was clattering up the street with them.
They met up with Robert, no doubt at the sheriff’s office. He didn’t climb into the cart but rather rode alongside on his horse, the creature’s hooves thudding on the ground.
They stopped, and this time it was at Bonnie’s own house. Jeff came out, and she heard her front door shut. Then the cart wobbled a bit as Jeff climbed up onto the driver’s seat with Joel and Hunter.
“What’s in the bag?” Hunter asked.
“Oh, it’s from Bonnie and Julie,” Joel said. “Just in case someone gets hurt.”
“That’s sweet,” Hunter said, and Bonnie could see the teasing smile on his face in her mind’s eye.
“Yes, it is. She didn’t want me to go, but she understood and got us all set up with some stuff we might need. I’m a lucky man,” Jeff said, causing a flare of guilt deep within Bonnie. “Robert, do you have the stuff?”
Robert chuckled, and Bonnie heard the click of glass. “I sure do. Now, remember, this stuff is very potent. Chloroform will knock you out for hours if you breathe it in.”
“You’ll have to make sure you don’t get your handkerchiefs confused,” Hunter said with a chuckle. “It would be so funny if you used the wrong one to blow your nose.”
“Yes, yes,” Robert said, sounding fed up. “Come on, let’s go.”