Rose screamed and jumped from the camp chair, holding her baby tightly to her chest. “No! It can’t be you. No! No!”
Clint jumped to his feet, drawing his gun. “Stop! Don’t you come any nearer to her, you bastard.” His mind was racing. How could these two have gotten loose? How did they know which wagon to come to?
Leo skidded to a stop and Wade almost ran into him. “But I must see my Rose.”
Wade pushed Leo out of the way. He looked at his daughter and said, “It’s me, Rose. Don’t be frightened. I’ve looked everywhere for you. I had to find out if you were all right.”
Rose moved behind Clint. Her eyes grew large and she stared at Leo Carver. She didn’t seem to know her father was talking to her.
Fiona hurried to put her arms around Rose’s shoulder. ”Nobody will hurt you, Rose. Clint won’t let them,” Fiona whispered.
“You two move away from here.” Clint waved his gun at Wade and Leo. “Rose doesn’t want to see or talk to either of you.”
“Larson, I only want to see that my daughter is safe and goes back home. I can’t believe she’s here because she wants to be.”
“You’re wrong, Fillmore. Rose is exactly where she wants to be. Now, move.”
“I know he’s lying.” Leo straightened up. “This is no place for a lady.”
“Clint, tell him I want to be here with you and I’m not going back to Baltimore. I don’t want to go back.”
“You heard her, Fillmore. Now take your partner and leave us alone.”
Leo looked at Clint with hate in his eyes. “Rose doesn’t know what she’s saying. How could you take a beautiful innocent girl away from her home and everyone who loves her, then bring her on such an uncivilized trip?”
“How can you ask such a question, Carver? You know good and well why Rose left Baltimore.”
“You’re crazy. I don’t understand it at all. I love Rose. I want her back. She knows that.”
“Shoot him if he tries to come near me, Clint. I don’t want him anywhere near me.” Rose’s voice trembled. “Please don’t let him touch me.”
Fiona tightened her arm around Rose’s shoulders. “He’ll not let the man near you, Rose.”
Clint’s eyes blazed. “I should take Rose’s advice and shoot you, Carver. A disgusting thing like you doesn’t deserve to live.”
A crowd had gathered.
“Trouble, Clint?” Rufus Watson came into the area with his shot gun over his arm. “I hope you don’t mind, but I told Joey to stay in the wagon with Benny. I didn’t think he should hear this talk and he’ll be safe there.”
Clint nodded.
“Thank you, Rufus. We appreciate it,” Fiona said.
“My family is here if you need us, Clint.” Herman Fritz had his gun in his hand and Bruce was beside his father with a rifle.
Other men and a few women came up. All of them were not only curious, they were armed and ready to help their neighbor.
Clint looked at the group. “We appreciate your support, but I hope it won’t come to anything drastic.” He spotted Bruce and looked directly at him. “Would you go get Zeke?”
“I sure will.” He handed his rifle to his mother. Nina took it and pointed it toward the two strangers without hesitation.
Leo started to go toward Rose again, but Wade pushed him out of the way. “Rose, please. All I want to do is to talk to you. I have to know if you’re all right. Please, darling. Your mother and your sisters are worried.”
“Tell them I’m fine,” Rose said without coming out from behind Clint.
“We want you to come home, darling. You don’t belong here. You don’t have to live like this.”
“I’m happy, Daddy,” she muttered.
“You can’t be happy, living this way, Rose. “Think of your beautiful home. All your friends and the many advantages you have in Baltimore. Are you willing to give them all up for this?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t, Rose,” Leo blurted. “You have to come back where people love you. Where I can show you how much I love you.”
“See, Rose. Even Leo wants you to come home. He cares about you, dear. He loves you.” Her father tried to look around Clint to see his daughter.
“No!” Rose began to cry.
“I’m sorry, dear, but I don’t understand why you’re so upset. You know how much your family loves you. You also know we’ve always considered Leo part of our family.”
“No!” Rose screamed.
Clint turned and put his arm around her. “Come up here beside me, sweetheart. Neither Leo nor your father is going to get close to you. Look at all the guns pointed at them.”
Rose eased beside Clint. “Hold me,” she whispered.
Clint put his left arm around her shoulder while he continued to hold his gun with his right hand. “Rose, I know none of your family would listen to you when you tried to tell them before you escaped Baltimore. Now might be a good time to tell your father why Leo wants you to come home, and why you’ll never go back to Baltimore”
“You’re an idiot, Larson. I love her.” Leo started toward the couple. “I want her back. I promise nobody will ever hurt her when...”
“Stop where you are, Carver. You don’t know how bad I want to put a bullet through your head.” Clint’s eyes bored into those of Carver.
Leo stopped and stared at Rose in disbelief. “Why do you have a baby in your arms? Whose is it?”
“It’s our baby,” Clint said without giving her a chance to answer.
“Rose, is this really your child?” her father asked.
“Yes, Daddy.”
“May I come look at it?”
Rose looked up at Clint and he said, “It’s up to you, Rose.”
“You can look at her if you don’t get too close.” Rose stood between Fiona and Clint.
Wade moved in front of his daughter and looked down at the bundle in her arms. “Is it a boy or a girl?”
“A girl. Clint and I named her Hope because we have a lot of hope for the future.”
Wade looked at his daughter and said gently, “Your mother would love to see your baby, Rose. Wouldn’t you like to come to Baltimore and show her to your mother and your sisters?”
“No. I can never go back to Baltimore.” Rose lifted the baby close to her breast. “I won’t go back.”
“Why not, Rose? So many people love you there.” He waved his arm. “I love you. Your family loves you and Leo...”
“Don’t mention his name!” Rose leaned into Clint’s arm. “I hate him.”
“Oh, Rose. Why do you want to pretend you don’t care for me? I know you love me. You always have. We’ve been friends since you were a little girl. We are now...”
“No! I hate you!” Rose screamed. Clint had to hold her tighter to keep her from bolting away.
“I don’t believe you.” Leo started toward them again.
“I warned you, Carver.” Clint cocked his gun. “Don’t come any nearer Rose. I promised her she’d never be touched by you again. I meant it. I’ll kill you to keep my word.”
“But I only want to love her.”
“No,” Rose said, this time in a wavering, scared voice.
“What’s going on, Rose? Why have you suddenly turned against Leo? He’s been our friend...”
“No, he hasn’t, Daddy.”
Wade looked at her and frowned. “Why, Rose?”
“Tell him, honey. Tell your daddy why you hate Leo. Tell him how you begged your parents not to make you visit the man again. Tell him...”
“I can’t, Clint.” She looked up at him. “You tell him for me.”
“Are you sure you want me to tell him?”
“Yes. Then maybe he’ll leave us alone.”
“Wade, I came to Baltimore and rescued Rose when she sent me word that she couldn’t take Leo Carver any longer. He’s been molesting her for a long time. It escalated last spring. The weekend you made her stay with him while you were in New York. Hugging and kissing and touching wasn’t enough for him any more. He lost control of himself and raped her. Not once, but several times that weekend.”
“No!” Leo screamed. “That’s not true. I loved you. You know I did, Rose. You wanted me to love you and I did.”
A terrified little girl’s voice cut into the conversation. “That’s the bad man who stole me, Daddy! Don’t let him get me.”
Nina Fritz dropped the gun she was holding and grabbed her little girl. “It’s all right, Susie. Let’s go back to the wagon. The bad man won’t get you.”
Wade ignored the Fritz girl. He whirled around. “Is this true, Leo? Did you rape my daughter?”
“No, Wade. Rose wanted me to love her. I want to marry her. We can be so happy if she’ll come home and le me take care of her and love her...”
Wade jerked the gun from his waistband. “I’ll kill you, Leo Carver. Nobody hurts my family and gets away with it.”
Rose shoved Hope into Fiona’s arms and took hold of her father’s elbow. “Don’t do it, Daddy. I left because I knew if you found out, you’d kill Leo and have to go to jail. Mama and my sisters would never forgive me.”
He jerked his arm away from Rose. “I can’t let him get away with hurting you, Rose. I can’t. I trusted him and he betrayed us all.”
“I didn’t betray you, Wade. I truly love Rose. I’ll always love her and I’ll prove it to you.”
“Leo, you’re a bastard. How could you rape my daughter?”
“I didn’t. I only showed her how much I love her.”
“I’m going to kill you.” He cocked the gun.
“Daddy, please.” Rose jerked his arm around and started to move in front of him as the gun went off.
Rose crumpled to the ground with blood covering her dress.