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."Relief sluiced through Rob, yet the fear and guilt were not diminished.His mouthmoved, but no words came.The amber eyes narrowed."She's all right isn't she?"Rob stuttered, "N-no, yes, well, mostly." Did he really see raging contempt in those terrible eyes, or was it his own opinion of himself reflected back from an icy void?Cord snarled, "Tell it!"After a few false starts, Rob told it.For months, Edward Wells had all his friends alert, waiting to see Cord in townwithout Anne.When it finally happened today, Edward shut his shop and he and Robhurried home.Edward told Leona that the thought of a grandchild had made him realize he was wrong and want to reconcile with Anne.As Anne had known she would, Leona had thought over the prospect of a grandchildherself after that terrible day at Ephraim's.Although unable to see Anne again, she visited Martha during the week to tell her that she did not share her husband's or son's feelings about the baby and wanted Anne to know.Leona had admitted as much to Rob, butneither one of them said anything to Edward.Now Leona was moved to tears by Edward's change of heart, innocently believingevery word.She didn't seem to consider the appearance in the street of a team andcarriage owned by Edward's friend unusual.Edward, Leona, and Rob drove to the ranch, Leona happily anticipating her family reconciled again.Rob rode in grim silence,knowing and disagreeing with what he thought was his father's plan.The first difficulty was Anne's attitude, for she came to the door with the Coltrevolver in her hand."You have no business here.Go home."Leona thought a simple explanation would move her daughter, but it did not.UnlikeAnne, Edward could lie convincingly when he wanted to, but nothing he said alleviated Anne's suspicion or unyielding attitude."I don't care if you've had a change of heart.I haven't.You can go to hell and so can Rob.If you want to act decently for a change, let Mother visit me here and in townwithout Rob sulking around in the background all the time.Neither of the two of you are welcome in my house or in my life."The argument went on and on until Leona was shaking with the cold.Anne waswilling to have her mother come in and warm up, but Edward saw his wedge and used it."Your mother's either going inside with all of us or staying outside with all of us.There's no reason we can't at least discuss this rationally.I never realized you had such an unforgiving nature.Don't you think it would be better for everyone concerned if webegan to work things out?""You and your friends tried to murder Cord right here in this yard.There's nothing about it we can work out."But in the end her mother's misery, standing in the bitter wind, moved Anne to letthem in the house.Rob still hoped that her suspicion would prevail, for she did not put the pistol down.She let down her guard for seconds to reach for the coffeepot, however, and Edward jumped her, knocked the gun across the room and began to struggle with her.Part of Rob's great guilt was that he knew without his help his sister might have been able to fight free, but he helped his father subdue her.Edward even had lengths of rope ready in his pocket and soon had Anne's hands tied behind her back, and when shecontinued resisting, her ankles.Her fury shocked Rob.She cursed and swore in ways he never believed a womancould.So Edward gagged her.The original plan was to pack enough of her things to heighten the illusion of herleaving willingly, but Anne's suspicion had consumed a lot of time.Leona was toodistraught to be bullied into packing.Rather than take a chance on Cord and Frankcatching them at the house or on the road, Edward settled for merely putting the pistol away and leaving the note.They pulled into another ranch road to wait and actually saw Cord and Frank returning before heading back to Mason on the main road.Leona weptand protested and Rob again tried to make his father see the futility of the plan as he knew it, but to no avail.Back at the house, Edward forced Leona to pack bags for the trip to Chicago.Hepushed Anne into a chair in the parlor, and never took his eyes off her.Rob had never imagined hate could radiate from a person as it did from his sister that afternoon.The air in the room seemed smoky with it.When everything was ready for their departure, Edward poured a dose of laudanuminto a small glass and removed the gag to force Anne to drink it.Tied and helpless for almost three hours at that point, Anne had had plenty of time to think of what she wanted to say to her father.She spit the liquid in his face.He hit her with the same kind of blow he had used over a year before.Leona tried to stop her husband, and he backhanded her so hard she was knocked against a wall and fell.Rob was helping his mother up when the words began, venomous and hate-filled."You unnatural, miserable, mean-minded, son of a bitch, you can't keep me inChicago forever.When Cord finds out what you've done I hope he kills you the way his mother's people kill their enemies, with a knife, inch by inch."Anne cursed her father in every way conceivable.She verbally assaulted hisChristianity, his humanity, his morals, ethics, sanity, and his manhood.In the end Edward was driven to such rage he hit her a second time, and so forgot himself he told her - and thus Rob and Leona - what his real plan was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]