Chapter Twenty-Three
Watching Sam leave was one of the hardest moments.
Sadie’s mind immediately went to that night when Sam lost everything, after he had to leave his wife and child alone at home, and the fact that this was exactly the same scenario frightened her.
Granted, it wasn’t midnight and Daniel and Ellen were there, plus a lot of ranch hands and workers, so her ranch was almost like a fortress in comparison to Sam’s old homestead.
Ellen’s house wasn’t even a mile down the road, and she had her own group of staff on hand—yet somebody managed to break in anyway. That was scary.
Sadie ran to the foyer and started to lock every single door and window she could find, telling maids she bumped into to do the same.
When she returned to the dining room, she stopped in the doorway.
Daniel and Ellen spoke intimately with each other.
Sadie figured that they were finally admitting their love, so she went to the sitting room right next to it, where Ruby was being taught how to spell words.
Sadie was extra quiet, not wanting to disturb them.
Sadie just picked a chair all the way in the corner and couldn’t help but look out of the window. She kept staring outside as if she was expecting robbers to run across her fields wanting to storm the house.
“Is there anything amiss?” the teacher finally asked when Ruby kept interrupting her lesson to look over to Sadie. Miss Higgins hugged her book and pushed a red curl out of her face. She was merely five years older than Sadie.
“No, I’m sorry. Please continue,” Sadie said to her with a friendly smile.
“Ruby seems to be distracted today, so maybe we can continue her lessons tomorrow?” Miss Higgins asked. “There is no point in pushing a distracted mind. That never works.”
“Of course,” Sadie agreed. “Same time tomorrow?” Miss Higgins nodded.
“You did very well today! You are free to leave the table now, Ruby,” the teacher told her with a warm smile. Ruby’s eyes widened with excitement.
“I’m going to get Buster!” she exclaimed loudly, suddenly running out of the room at lightning speed. Sadie scrambled to run after her.
“I’ll see myself out,” Miss Higgins reassured her with a chuckle.
“Thank you!” Sadie called after her, just as she hurried around the corner where Ruby had disappeared. “See you tomorrow!”
Ruby’s cackle followed her all the way down the hallway toward the kitchen, but then turned abruptly into the larder. Sadie had pushed the lever in place to lock the door from the inside, but Ruby was quick to open it and run outside.
The sweet girl thought they were playing a game of fetch.
Sadie panicked as soon as Ruby was away from the house. Buster’s dog house was at the far end of the yard, which suddenly seemed like the worst idea they’d ever had.
“Ruby!” Sadie called after her, but the little girl just laughed and ran harder, even pulling off evasive zigzag moves.
“Ruby! Stop!” Sadie yelled in a firm voice, and the girl finally did.
“Don’t ever run away from me like that!” Sadie scolded her a little harsher than she wanted to. “You shouldn’t be outside right now! That’s dangerous!” Ruby’s laughing face instantly morphed into a worried impression.
“Dangerous?” she asked with a small voice. “I thought we were playing!”
Sadie grabbed her, pulled her up onto her hip and turned to rush back inside the house.
She couldn’t explain it, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end.
It was a ridiculous notion, because it was broad daylight, but what had happened to Ellen had instilled enough fear in her not to want to be outside.
“Not today, Sweetheart! We can play inside the house. Not outside,” Sadie told her. Ruby’s eyebrows shot up.
“But what about Buster?” Ruby asked, as she looked back over Sadie’s shoulder. The dog was barking for them.
“Buster is fine. We can play with him later, when your father is back home,” Sadie said reassuringly. She hurried back inside the larder and made double sure to secure all the locks on the door.
Sadie was gasping for air as she put Ruby down. Not feeling safe in her own home was not something she ever wanted to experience ever again. She thought about hiring security staff. Paid mercenaries, who’d protect her family and the ranch—day and night.
Ruby walked slowly in front of her with hanging shoulders.
Sadie instantly felt bad and stepped in front of the little girl before she crouched down to her eye level.
“I’m sorry I spoke harshly to you, Ruby,” Sadie said to her. “Right now, there are things going on which… would be too complicated to explain to you. Either way, my main concern is that nothing happens to you. So, today we just stay inside for a while, all right?”
Ruby pouted slightly, but nodded. Sadie gave her a hug, then let her go. Ruby ran back to the sitting room and grabbed her black wooden horse to play. She was so innocent.
Sadie peeked tentatively into the dining room, where Ellen and Daniel were still talking.
She smiled when she noticed that they were holding hands and their faces were close enough that they might kiss.
Not wanting to intrude, Sadie quickly went back to the room where Ruby was running in circles making whinnying sounds.
All seemed peaceful. Maybe she’d overreacted?
Moments later, loud banging on the door echoed through the foyer, making Sadie jump. Ruby immediately stopped playing and stood there with wide eyes.
Daniel came running from the dining room. Ellen followed him a second later.
“Are you expecting anybody?” Daniel asked with an alarmed expression on his face. Sadie shook her head. Her body was shivering.
Ellen pulled her shawl closer around her shoulders as she hugged herself. Her face was as white as paper.
“No! I don’t,” Sadie said. “Unless it’s the teacher, Miss Higgins? She just left. Maybe she forgot something?” Ellen came to stand next to her, hooking their arms together. Sadie held onto her hand.
“You stay here, I’ll see who it is,” Daniel told them. “Go and hide in the sitting room, all three of you!” He rushed to the front door, but turned around and waited until the women went into the room.
“It’s probably just the teacher,” Sadie said reassuringly. Ellen was shaking, but nodded. “Maybe she left a book or something.”
All three of them sat down on the sofa and huddled together closely as they waited for Daniel’s return. The ticking of the clock on the mantle seemed too loud, as the seconds went by too slowly.
Seconds turned to minutes.
If it had been Miss Higgins, they would know by now.
Sadie tried to strain her ears to see if she could hear anything going on outside, but there was nothing, which was very unsettling. Shouldn’t they at least hear voices of whomever Daniel was talking to? It was all very strange and Sadie had a bad feeling.
After what felt like hours, they heard the front door suddenly burst open, crashing hard against the back wall.
“Niece!” Walter yelled from the foyer.
Sadie froze. What on Earth was he doing here? And where was Daniel?
“Take Ruby and hide,” Sadie whispered to Ellen, who vehemently shook her head, mouthing a clear ‘No!’ “Please, Ellen. Something isn’t right! Keep her safe!”
Footsteps echoed across the wooden floor, nearing the room in quick succession.
Ellen grabbed Ruby and ran toward the servant’s door in the back corner. Sadie heard the click of the shutting door the second her uncle marched around the corner.
“Niece!” Walter yelled at her, making Sadie jump again. “Aren’t you answering your door anymore? What kind of strange behavior is this?”
“Where is Daniel?” Sadie called out extra loudly, hoping her foreman would hear her. Walter’s face pulled into a menacing smirk.
“That young fellow you have lurking around you all the time?” he asked with a weird tone of voice. “He is having a good hard talk with Sheriff Briggs right now.”
Sadie gasped at that.
“Briggs is here?” she asked, her body trembling. Where were the other ranch hands that were supposed to watch the house as well? Sadie gritted her teeth. She couldn’t show fear. Especially not toward her uncle.
“What do you both want?” she asked brusquely, as she pulled her shoulders back, jutting her chin out. “I’m busy right now. You need to leave.”
Walter chuckled and stepped dangerously close to her. His breath stank of alcohol and tobacco.
“Oh, we will,” he said reassuringly. “And you’ll come with us.”
“What? To go where? No!” Sadie backed away from him and ran around the sofa, keeping the large piece of furniture like a buffer in between them. Walter shook his head with an amused sigh. “My husband will be here any minute…”
“No, he won’t,” Briggs interrupted her, as he stomped into the room. “He left a while ago to investigate your pretty friend’s house. He won’t be back for a while.” Walter chuckled.
“That doesn’t matter,” Sadie replied dismissively. “You both need to leave right now!”
“Of course,” Briggs said, as he unexpectedly started walking toward her with quick strides. Walter rounded the sofa from the other side, so Sadie had no way to escape. Briggs grabbed her wrist and pulled it with an unnatural movement behind her back. Sadie was shocked at the sudden pain it caused.
“We need your statement regarding your marriage,” Briggs told her harshly.
“Wait! What are you doing? You gave me until tonight…” Sadie screamed at him, but Briggs just laughed as he put iron cuffs around her first wrist, then the other. They were very tight and Sadie was no longer able to move her arms.
“Unfortunately, that timeline has been moved forward,” Briggs said casually. “We’re bringing you to the station right now.”
Sadie screamed for Daniel, but both men just laughed at her.
“Help! I need help!” Sadie called out in desperation, but her uncle was quick to shove some kind of cloth into her mouth.
“Just be quiet!” Walter hissed at her. “Don’t you women never know when to shut up?” He clicked his tongue, but kept a watchful eye onto the open doorway.
Dear Lord, what is happening? Why is this happening? Where is everybody?
Sadie prayed that one of her staff had heard her. She hoped that someone would come to save her.
Without warning, Briggs grabbed her by the elbow and started to push her toward the door, then down the hallway into the foyer and out through her entrance.
It looked like a gaping hole with the front door still wide open.
There were wooden splinters all over the floor, so the locks had clearly failed.
As soon as they dragged her outside, Sadie saw Daniel’s boots off to the side. He was laying on the porch, unconscious.
Briggs and Walter dragged her down the steps and Sadie could see several of her ranch hands standing there with their hands up in the air. Riders she’d never seen before were holding all of her workers at gunpoint. They had no way to act.
Sadie watched in horror how they shoved her into the back of a waiting carriage.
Walter and Briggs joined her inside the small and dark compartment.
When Briggs knocked on the roof of the carriage, it instantly started to move.
Sadie was thrown roughly against the back of her seat, but even though she tried to scream—it was muffled by the cloth in her mouth.