UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY

By Layne Richards

PART TEN: 

Ben had no idea how to answer Lacey.  He didn't know what happened now.  He'd had a plan.  Had it all worked out in his mind.  But that plan had been for Lacey and Ben Warner.  He didn't have a plan for Lacey and Ben Wade.

Withdrawing his hand slowly, he looked deeply into her eyes.  Saw that she truly was looking to him for an answer, that she was still willing to take whatever suggestion he offered.  At the moment, though, he had none.

"What do you want, Lacey? he asked, almost hesitantly.  "You wanna be with me?  Or are you afraid 'a me now?" 

His eyes held hers as still as always.  She couldn't look away.  Was she afraid of him? 

No, she told herself.  Amazingly enough, she wasn't.  She should be.  He'd killed her fiancé a year ago.  Less than a half hour ago, he'd killed Hank Mitchell, a man she'd known for several years.  Who knew how many others he'd killed?  Hundreds, if you believed the newspapers.  Thousands, if you believed the dime novels. 

Her eyes still locked on his, her voice coming out almost in a whisper, she said, "No, Ben.  I'm not afraid of you." 

It was the truth.  He could see it in her eyes.  He took a deep breath, let it out slowly.  Then he moved his hand back to her face, cupped her cheek in it and allowed his thumb to glide slowly over her soft lips.

"Then  you'll wait for me?"  He asked the question with confidence.  He'd read in her eyes that she would listen to what he said.

"Wait for you?"  Lacey asked the question almost breathlessly.  His touch and the look in his eyes did that to her, made it almost impossible for her mind to work properly.

"Where are you going?"  The initial shock of finding out that this man--this man with whom she'd fallen in love--was Ben Wade was beginning to wear off a little.  His effect on her had not changed.

"To work, honey."  Ben's voice was quietly resigned. 

To work.  He said it as though he were a farmer going out to spend a day in the field, or a rancher about to go out and herd his cattle.  But work to Ben Wade was totally different, Lacey knew.

"Man's gotta make a livin', you know."  Ben said it with a slight grin.  " 'Specially if he's gonna have a woman to support."

A woman to support.  Her.  He meant her.  Lacey dropped her eyes, still confused over everything that seemed to be happening so fast. 

"Lacey."  Ben tipped up her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes again.  "Listen to me, Lacey."  His original plan might have to be altered, but he could still salvage most of it.  If only she was willing. 

"I'm willin' to be Ben Warner.  To be a rancher, just like I had you thinkin' I was. But that takes money.  Lots of it."  He went on, determined to lay out his plan to her.  Wanting her to hear it all. 

"I've got money put away.  But I'm gonna need more.  For land and cattle.  Horses.  Everything that buildin' a ranch takes."

Lacey listened to him quietly.  There was sincerity in his voice...as well as something else.  Excitement?  Was he excited at the thought of a new life?  A life with her?

"I've got two more jobs comin' up.  Already got 'em planned."  He was still watching her closely.

"Once I get 'em behind me, I'll have money enough to do that.  To build a ranch.  To build a life.  For us." 

Would she want that?  Ben wondered, remembering other times--women that he'd asked to go to Mexico with him--when he'd been laughed at for bringing it up. 

"Where-  where would we go?"  Lacey asked hesitantly, hardly believing that she was even considering what he was suggesting. 

Ben had that worked out as well.  No Mexico.  Not this time.

"California," he told her.  "They don' know me there. I've been to San Francisco once-"  Ben trailed off, remembering that trip.  The daughter of the sea captain.  But that was all behind him now. 

"But that was a long time ago.  An' I never pulled any jobs there.  There's plenty 'a land.  Good grassland for cattle."  He waited for her response, almost holding his breath.  If she laughed... 

Lacey didn't laugh.  She looked up at him pleadingly.  "Ben-  Couldn't we go now?  Just pack up and go?"  She half-rose from the top step.

"It won't take me long to pack.  There's not that much I'd want to take with me.  We don't have to wait for your men.  Or for my Ma and Pa."  She was almost breathless, wanting to act fast.  She was afraid he'd change his mind.  Or get hurt.  She didn't want to see him go out and rob again.

"I'll go in the house and get packed.  You go and saddle the horses.  I'll gather us up some food to take." 

Ben grabbed her hand before she could take off.  He pulled her back down to the step.  "Lacey, no.  It can't be now.  I wish it could." 

Taking a lock of her soft brown hair in his fingers, Ben caressed it slowly.  "It takes money to start a ranch, darlin'.  Lots of it." 

"How I get my money bother you, Lacey?"  He had to ask.

"Yes, it does."  She was honest with him.  "It bothers me because-  because I'm afraid you'll get hurt.  Again."  Lacey raised her hand to his shoulder, where the healing bullet wound lay underneath his shirt.  The shirt she'd mended for him.

"Or killed.  Or caught and-  and hanged."  She'd heard from her pa that he was on his way to Yuma to be hanged when he'd escaped from that train. 

Lacey dropped her eyes, thinking she should be ashamed of herself.  This was the man who'd killed Tom Wells.  Tom Wells, who would have been her husband now, if it hadn't been for Ben Wade.   

Was it fate?  Could this be how God had intended it to be?  Had Ben killed Tom all those months ago because it was meant for her to be with Ben instead?  All Lacey knew right now was that she wanted to be with this man.  That she couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to him.  If that was wrong, then so be it.  She took a deep breath. 

She was getting ready to speak again when Ben interrupted her.  "I ain't gonna get killed Lacey.  Or caught either."  He was grinning at her.   

"Got a lot to live for now.  A lotta reason to keep on bein' a free man." 

Cradling her face between his large hands, Ben's voice was almost a whisper.  "So.  Will you wait for me?  Will you wait for me to come back for you?"  He held his breath, waiting for her answer, still not sure what it would be.

"Yes."  Once again her eyes were trapped by his, Lacey thought.  She could no more look away from them than she could fly.  And then she said the words that would change her life forever.

"Yes, Ben Wade.  I'll wait for you."

************************************************************************

The rest of that day went more quickly than Lacey could ever remember a day passing.  They didn't talk about the future any more.  They ate.  They did chores.  Ben cleaned the Hand of God thoroughly, something he did regularly, especially just after a job.

Lacey sat watching as he did, taking in every movement of his practiced hands, marveling  that the same hands which caressed her so gently and brought her so much pleasure could be so proficient at killing.  She refused to think any further about Ben's going away.  She was going to enjoy every last minute they had together and then simply wait for him, just as she'd told him she would do.

That evening, as they were sitting down to supper, Ben placed a piece of paper from his sketchbook on the table by her plate.  Lacey looked down to see a drawing of herself, naked, in the water of the creek.  She blushed as she looked at it, remembering everything that had happened there. 

"It's beautiful, Ben.  Thank you," she told him simply, gazing at him across the table in the lamplight.

"So are you, darlin'."  He smiled at her.  Then,  "Turn it over."

Doing as she was told, Lacey found writing on the back.  "Maggie Elliott.  Stockton, California," she read.

Looking back up at Ben, she smiled slightly.  "Who is it?  One of your old girlfriends?"

Ben chuckled.  "Maggie'd be mad as hell at that thought.  No, darlin'.  She's just somebody who promised me a favor if I ever needed one." 

"Why?" Lacey asked softly.

His face became serious, his eyes locking with hers.  "I killed the Pinkerton that had killed her husband," he told her.  "In a robbery a few years back.  Maggie and Jed were both in their fifties.  Headed to California to start a hotel there.  Jed got in the Pink's way when he was tryin' to-"  Ben hesitated.  "-persuade a fellow to give up his land.  He shot Jed and I shot him."

He shrugged slightly.  "Maggie told me that she was headin' on to California to start the business by herself.  Said Jed would've wanted it that way.  But she told me that if I ever needed anythin'--a place to hide out, anythin'--to look her up in Stockton.

Ben leveled his gaze on Lacey.  "That's where we're goin', sweetheart.  When I come back for you.  I'm not sure if that's where we'll end up.  But that's the place in California that we'll start out." 

Leaning back in his chair, he studied her eyes.  "Guess I don' have to tell you that nobody's to know that.  Not your pa and ma.  Nobody."

Lacey's eyes were as serious as his.  "No, Ben.  You don't have to tell me.  I wouldn't tell anyone.  Not a soul." 

"I'm givin' you that in case anythin' happens, Lacey."  He rose from his chair and walked around the table, taking her arm and pulling her up to stand beside him.  "If you can't stay here until I come back for some reason, then you go there.  Stay with Maggie.  I'll find you."

"Why wouldn't I be able to stay here, Ben?" she asked, confused. 

"I don' know, darlin'."  He brushed her hair back lightly with his fingers, admiring the way it shone in the lamplight.  "But all kinds 'a things can happen, an' I want you to have a place to go in case you need it."

Lacey was gazing dreamily up into his face, affected by his nearness, still trying desperately hard to forget the fact that tomorrow he would leave.  "How long, Ben?" she asked softly.  "How long will it be before you come back." 

"I can't say exactly, honey."  His deep voice was husky.  "I wish I could.  Six months maybe.  At the most."

"That's such a long time."  Lacey slid her arms around his waist and leaned her head against his chest.  "I don't know if I can stand it." 

Ben rested his chin on the top of her head.  "It'll go by before you know it, darlin'.  I promise." 

He tilted her chin up to kiss her, softly at first and then deeper, more passionately.  As much as Lacey was unable to believe what she was doing, Ben was equally unable to believe what was happening to him.  He'd found a woman who really seemed to love him.  Who'd agreed to wait for him and to run away with him. 

What was going to happen? he asked himself.  Something had to happen because, despite his reputation for good luck, this was too good to be true.  The only time anything like this had happened before had been when he'd met Dan Evans.  When he'd finally met a man for whom he had some respect and admiration.  And just look what had occurred then.  It made him afraid for Lacey.  Genuinely afraid.

Kissing her again, he took her hand and led her toward the bedroom.  Early as it was, he wanted to feel her next to him, to make her part of him, and to keep her beside him all night.  To ward off those demons that were telling him that nothing this good could possibly be happening to Ben Wade. 

"Come on, darlin'," he whispered.  "Let's not waste any more of what time we've got."

TO BE CONTINUED...

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