“Something bad will—” Josh began, but Carrie picked Dallas up and set her on the table.
“What time was Tem supposed to be back?”
Dallas looked as though she was going to cry. “He said he’d be home before Papa.”
Carrie looked over the head of the child to Josh, then back at Dallas. “He’s very late, isn’t he?”
Josh stepped between the two of them. “Dallas, you have to tell me where Tem went. You have to—” He broke off when Dallas
began to cry.
Pushing Josh aside, Carrie bent down to Dallas. “But you can’t tell, can you? And not just because Tem said you couldn’t tell. You can’t tell because it’s a point of honor, isn’t it? You know what honor is, don’t you, Dallas?”
“No,” the child sniffed.
“Honor is when someone tells you a secret and you’ll die before you tell that secret.”
“For God’s sake!” Josh said. “That was thunder. I think there may be a storm coming.”
Carrie put her face close to Dallas’s. “But sometimes honor and helping someone fight each other. Like right now. If you tell, you won’t be honorable, but if you don’t tell, Tem might be in trouble.”
Dallas nodded and glanced nervously at her father.
“So,” Carrie said, “let’s see if we can’t find out about Tem and keep your honor too. Suppose you tell me a story, like I tell you a story every night?”
“For the love of—” Josh said, but was cut off by a flash of lightning followed by a loud clap of thunder.
Dallas squealed, and Choo-choo hid under the table.
“Once upon a time there was a young prince who was very unhappy,” Carrie began. “Let’s say that the king and queen were having problems, and the prince wanted to do something about those problems. What do you think the prince would do?”
“Look for a rattlesnake,” Dallas said firmly.
Carrie straightened. “What would he do with the rattlesnake?” she asked in barely more than a whisper.
“He’d put it in your—I mean the queen’s—bed, then when she was afraid, the king could save her and she’d know he was great. Then they’d love each other forever.”
Slowly, Carrie turned to look at Josh, wondering if she was as pale as he was. Already, she could feel herself beginning to shake.
Josh knelt before his daughter. “Where would the prince get the rattlesnake?”
“On Starbuck’s Mountain,” the child said. “Tem—I mean the prince—saw some up there. He saw a whole bunch of rattlesnakes on the mountain.”
Another streak of lightning and clap of thunder made Dallas leap into her father’s arms.
“Get her some warm clothes,” Josh said as he carried Dallas to the bedroom. “I want her wrapped up against the storm.”
Carrie caught his arm. “What are you going to do?”
It was obvious that he hadn’t much interest in Carrie at the moment. “I’m going to take Dallas to my brother’s house and I’m going to get my horse, then I’m going to find my son.” He started walking again.
Carrie put herself in front of him. “I want to go with you.”
Another flash of lightning that lit the house allowed Carrie to see the look of contempt on Josh’s face.
Carrie put her hands on both his arms, her fingers digging into his muscles. “It’s my fault that he’s alone on the mountain. If I hadn’t come here—”
“It’s too late to think of that now.” Pushing past her into the bedroom, he stood Dallas on the bed.