We wander far from home, p.19
We Wander Far from Home, page 19
“Henry?” Will asked.
“Yeah, Will,” Henry answered. He sounded happy. A shock of cold settled against the back of Will’s head and he groaned. It woke him up a little bit. He realized he was laying down on a wooden surface. They were moving. His head was in Henry’s lap and they were in the paddy wagon.
“He’s awake!” Another voice yelled out. Henry scratched his fingernails gently against Will’s scalp. He was vaguely aware that they shouldn’t be doing this. This was bad. The lawmen would see them. But he felt too murky and sick to do much more than let Henry hold him.
“Will, open your eyes,” Henry asked. “Come on.”
Will sighed. “I don’t want to.”
“Yeah. I bet. Annie really clocked you.”
Will mumbled a sound of agreement. The cold feeling moved from the back of his head to his forehead. His mind cleared enough to realize what Henry had said.
“Annie?”
“Open your eyes,” Henry insisted. “Come on, Will. Open them.”
The rocky sway of the wagon, which had been slowing, finally stopped. Will forced his eyes open, hissing at the brightness. Henry shaded his eyes, and Will realized that past his lover’s hand was a face he recognized. A smiling, pale face under a mop of white-blond hair.
“Books?”
The clerk gave him a wide, shining smile. “I can’t believe you didn’t recognize me back at the jail, Will.” Clarence shook his head. “You nearly shot me.”
“Hey now,” Henry laughed, still rubbing his fingertips against Will’s scalp. “He was fighting for our freedom. He was distracted.”
Will tried to sit up, but another wave of nausea stopped him and he settled back against Henry. He startled when the door was thrown open, but this time he actually looked at what was in front of him. Framed between the paddy wagon doors, a face more weather-beaten than Clarence’s and not quite as blonde, with fuller cheeks and an even wider smile appeared.
“Annie,” Will said stupidly. He tried to sit up again, the press of cold against his head moved with him this time, keeping the nausea at bay. “You came back for us.”
She grinned and hopped up into the wagon. “I told you I would. If you’da believed me, I wouldn’t have needed to crack your skull that way. Plus, I thought you were Henry.”
Henry pulled the cold press from Will’s head, and Will watched him toss a cloth at Annie. Annie caught it, shook the cloth out, scooped some fresh snow off the ground, packed it hard, wrapped it up, and tossed it back to Henry who pressed it against Will’s aching head.
Clarence threw a hand out to Annie. She grasped it tightly and let him help her up into the wagon. She dropped down next to him and he settled his arm around her waist in a way that, for some reason, seemed oddly intimate.
“Tell them about your whole scheme, Annie, tell them.” Clarence pressed his lips to her temple as he spoke. Whatever had happened to Clarence in the last few months had done him a world of good. He looked healthier. Happier. More adult. Will was suddenly aware of his and Annie’s positions. Both smiling in their lover’s arms. This time last year they never would have imagined that. And if they had, neither of them would have imagined the scene taking place in the back of a paddy wagon, obviously obtained through nefarious means.
Annie gave Clarence a grin even wider than his own and launched into the whole story. How she had written to Clarence after Will and Henry had been arrested and told him there was nothing she could do to break them out without either a lot of men or a lot of money. That she had admitted that she wanted to see him, but knew she’d never be able to get from Kansas to North Dakota alone in the winter. How she had stayed at her aunt and uncle’s farm, trying to figure out her next move while she very carefully stole and hoarded supplies. And how, on the very morning that she had decided to ride off to North Dakota despite the danger, Clarence had shown up on the farm.
“I had to see her,” Clarence took over the story at this point. “After I left your camp, I went home. I think I may have over-tasked the horse in my haste, but I’m glad I did. I missed my father’s passing by a few days, but got home in more than enough time to meet with the lawyer and get the papers needed for the will filled out.”
“Your father passed?” Henry asked.
“Yes. He had taken sick,” Clarence said.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Annie and Clarence both said instantly. Will tapped his knuckles to Henry’s knee. He accepted the hint and shut his mouth.
“Anyway, when I arrived at home, the lawyer informed me that all my father’s property had passed to me.”
Will could see how wide they were both grinning, like they were in on some joke they hadn’t told he and Henry.
“Tell them what the property is, Clarence,” Annie demanded. “Tell them.”
Clarence squeezed her tighter, and his grin, if possible, got wider.
“It’s his ranch,” Clarence announced.
It took a moment for that to sink in for Will. “You inherited your father’s entire ranch?” He asked.
“The whole damn thing?” Henry followed up.
Clarence nodded. “Yes. A several thousand acre operation, desperately in need of at least one foreman. Probably better to have two.”
Henry’s hand tightened suddenly around Will’s arm.
“Books, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Clarence kissed Annie’s temple again. “I believe so. I’d like to hire on two men that I can trust to help me run the ranch. Annie tells me you have plenty of experience with that.”
Will choked up. “You’re asking us to come work for you?”
“Yeah, Will,” Annie replied. “Work the ranch. The foreman’s cabin is nice. A little ways off the ranch proper, so it’s a little secluded, and, of course, we’ve only got the one cabin, so you’ll have to share it.”
Will could feel Henry’s heartbeat pounding against his back.
“Wow. Bo— Clarence. Annie, I…” Henry started. His grip around Will’s arm got even tighter.
“I won’t pretend that the cabin isn’t going to need some sprucing up after the last tenant, and we can discuss salary later.” Clarence shrugged. “Also, I do have one condition for you, Will.”
“Anything,” Will said immediately.
“Give Annie a divorce?” Clarence asked with a barely held in laugh. “I also inherited a ring which I would dearly love to give her.”
The pure, invasive delight of that moment, and the feeling of weight being lifted that went with it, held for the rest of the day, even as several more criminal acts were committed. They traveled for a few more hours before toppling the stolen wagon, shooting a few holes in it so that it would look like there had been either an ambush or an escape. Then they took off, two to a stolen horse, heading for North Dakota.
Setting up camp for the night was like the old days. Fried potatoes and salt pork over the fire. Clarence reading in the firelight. But this time, there was no pretending. Henry and Will wrapped up in a blanket together on their side of the fire. Clarence and Annie wrapped up in their own on the other side. Sheepish grins were exchanged as they pitched their tents close enough for safety if a group of lawmen did ride up on them, but also plenty far enough for everyone to enjoy some privacy.
Will and Henry were more than desperate for some privacy. So desperate, in fact, that Will was surprised by how tenderly Henry kissed him as they settled into their blankets. He’d expected something more like the last time in their cell, quick to start and quick to end, just to take the edge off. Or at least something like their first time together, back in that hotel to celebrate what would turn out to be their only good heist.
But this was like the time after Will had gotten shot. They undressed slowly and Henry pulled Will down into the blankets with him. He made absolutely sure they were both covered up before rolling forward and tucking his leg between Will’s, cupping his face in his hands and kissing him deeper and deeper as they ground their hips together. The heat in Will’s body, which he’d expected to blaze fast and quick, like the first spark through tinder, was more like embers being bellowed by the blacksmith. Hotter than hell, but a calm, quiet blaze.
“Our own place,” Henry sighed as he finally rolled Will onto his back. “ I can’t believe it. I almost wonder if I did get shot back at the jail and I haven’t realized yet that I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
“Yeah,” Will agreed. “I know what you mean.”
Henry nuzzled Will’s neck, rolling his head to the side to give himself better access as he kissed over every inch of the scarred skin. “Will?”
“Yeah?”
“I want…” he sighed. He stopped kissing Will’s neck, but didn’t move his face, just spoke into Will’s skin. “This is about your last chance to go back to your family. Find a way to make it less suspicious that you showed up after these big criminals escaped, go back to your Momma and your brothers. I want to take Clarence and Annie up on their offer, but I… If you can’t give up your kin or you’re your home for me, I’d understand that.”
Will sighed. As happy as he was about the idea of sharing his life with Henry, about being granted this miraculous opportunity to do exactly that, he’d realized this choice was in front of him, and he would have to make it soon.
“I think…” Will sighed. “I think a life with you…that is going home.”
Henry moved his head up, so he could look Will in the eye. Even in the dark of the tent Will could see him smiling like the sunrise before their lips met.
They didn’t have any of their things, which meant the little bottle of oil they’d been working their way through was gone too, but Will was grateful for the way that forced them to be so slow and careful. Grateful for the way he felt every finger Henry worked into him. Grateful for the way they had to stop and spit and start again. Henry pressed his forehead to Will’s as he pushed inside of him, a little bit of muted firelight glinting in his eyes as he stared into Will’s while they moved together. Henry stayed inside after they’d climaxed, kissing until they finally had to pull apart.
They didn’t bother to dress. Henry lay behind Will and pulled him close.
“Your jail beard tickles,” Will chuckled. Henry echoed him, then rubbed his bushy face against the back of Will’s neck on purpose.
“Well. We ain’t got much traveling ahead of us now,” Henry said. “We’ll be in North Dakota in a couple days.” He kissed the back of Will’s neck again. “We can clean up when we get home.”
“Home.” Will whispered as he twined his fingers with Henry’s. He listened to the other man’s breathing slow and deepen as he drifted off himself.
That night he dreamed of the future.
The End
www.lilithduvalier.weebly.com
Other Books by Lilith Duvalier:
www.evernightpublishing.com/pages/Lilith-Duvalier.html
If you enjoyed this book, you may also like:
Legally Bound by J.R. Gray
Ma Chérie by Remmy Duchene
With His Yoga Instructor by Morgan King
Evernight Publishing
www.evernightpublishing.com
Lilith Duvalier, We Wander Far from Home
