Mittman, Stephanie by Bridge to Yesterday Read Free Book Online Page A

rode up. She didn't hear them come
in until their voices filled the house and the baby began to cry. For a moment
she thought she was dreaming, like all the other nights when she had heard a
baby crying out for her and had awakened in her empty room alone. This time the
baby's cry continued in the darkness, and she reached over and pulled him from
his cradle.
    "He
said he wasn't gonna kill no more women," Wilson shouted. "He swore
it, Mason."
    "Keep
your voice down," Mason reminded him. "I don't want Miss O'Reilly
hearin' any of this."
    "I
didn't mean to kill her, Mason, honest. The gun just went off...."
    "Again?
The man can hit a tin can from two hundred feet away, but he can't keep his gun
from goin' off by accident? Mason, he—"
    The
room silenced when they noticed Mary Grace and the baby. She stood in the
doorway, her heart pounding, not believing what she had heard.
    "Go
back to your room," Mason said. He stared at her, waiting for her to do as
she was told.
    "Who
are you?" she finally asked, clutching the baby tightly as though one of
them might try to take him away.
    "You
ever hear of the Tate Gang?" Harlin asked, the stupid smile she had seen
so many times lighting his face.
    "Who?"
    "Shut
up, Harlin," Wilson said. He opened his rifle, and her breath caught in
her throat. He began stuffing a rag down one of the barrels.
    "Will
not," Harlin said. "I'm proud of who I am."
    "Go
back to your room," Mason repeated, this time more ominously.
    "I
can't," Mary Grace said, her voice smaller than she would have liked. She
sat down with the baby asleep in her arms. Maybe she had misunderstood. Maybe
her ears were full of sleep, her mind still full of dreams. "You'd better
tell me everything."
    "You
ever hear of Jesse James?" Harlin asked, but before she could answer,
Mason was on his feet and in front of her.
    "I
said go back to your room," he ordered between clenched teeth. This time
he put one hand under her elbow and lifted her out of her seat. "It's best
if you get some rest, and then we can discuss this all in the morning," he
said, ushering her to her door without her consent.
    "Harlin's
crazy, isn't he?" Mary Grace said. She couldn't pull her eyes from the
scar that ran down Mason's cheek. It pulsed under her scrutiny.
    Mason
shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that's it," he said, waiting for her to
enter her room. "But you ain't got nothin' to worry about." Then he
shut the door behind her.
    Mary
Grace laid the baby in the cradle and paced the room nervously, finally sitting
on the rag rug beside the door with her ear near the floor, hoping to hear
anything else the brothers might reveal.
    She
had some trouble understanding Mason's words, his deep voice rattling the
floorboards beneath her.
    "Great,
Harlin. Just great. Now Miss O'Reilly's gonna want to leave."
    Harlin
must have shrugged, or said "So what," because again it was Mason's
voice that Mary Grace heard.
    "So
who's gonna stay home with Horace when we need to go out? Or were you plannin'
to take him? Strap him to your back and jump on the train, you idiot!"
    She
could hear the boom of Wilson's voice but couldn't make out the words over
Harlin's footsteps and the jangling of his spurs.
    "She
couldn't find her way back here if we drew her a map," Mason argued.
    So
they'd gotten to the heart of the matter. She knew where they were. And if she
left, she could lead the authorities back.
    Now,
were they just trying to scare her with all this bad-guy talk so that she'd
leave and forget about Benjamin? Or had Harlin really killed someone?
    She
heard footsteps and quickly dove for her bed. They stopped outside her door,
and she heard the door knob being turned. Through slits in her eyes she saw
Mason Tate's silhouette fill the doorway.
    "Miss
O'Reilly?" he whispered.
    She
didn't answer.
    "I
hope you ain't plannin' on goin' anywheres," he said quietly, watching for
a reaction. She gave him none, and he quietly shut the door, leaving her alone in the darkness. Mary
Grace crawled