Page 89 of I Do, I Do, I Do
“Yes.” Her chin came up. “And I don’t apologize for it.”
“If you’d talked to me first, damn it, I could have told you that Horvath couldn’t make a move without us knowing!”
“Well, damn all! That woman should be resting.” Bear swore between his teeth and squinted down the path at Clara, who hurried toward them. She was hastily assembled, her hat askew, her arm in a sling over a coat that was buttoned wrong. They could all see her muffler dropped on the path behind her.
She threw herself on Juliette, almost knocking her to the ground. “Mrs. Weber finally told me where you two went and why. No one’s ever done such a nice thing for me! I thank you from my heart, and I love you!”
Juliette emerged from the folds of Clara’s coat, gasping for air, and Clara rushed on up the path and grabbed Zoe.
“Thank you,” she said, squeezing the air out of Zoe’s body with her good arm. “I love you both so much. I’ve never had friends like you and Juliette!” She gazed up at Bear. “I’m a lucky woman.”
Bear dropped his free arm around Clara’s shoulder, and Ben had his hand on Juliette’s waist as they came up the path. But Tom still stood with his fists on his hips, staring at her.
“There are some puzzling things here.” He tipped his hat toward the rifle leaning against the granite boulder. “I guess I understand why you came to confront Horvath. But I don’t understand why you brought a rifle to the Yukon in the first place. And I sure as hell don’t understand why you were apparently willing to die today.”
He was angry and hurt that she would risk their future. She saw it in his expression. Saw the questions in his eyes. And she knew she could offer him an explanation that he might accept, but it wouldn’t be the truth.
“Zoe, I’ve respected your privacy.” He spoke to her as if he’d forgotten about the others. “But if you’d gotten yourself killed today, I would have punished myself for the rest of my life because I didn’t insist on trying to help you with whatever problem made you pack a rifle and be so reckless with your life. Darlin’, it’s time for some answers.”
Shoulders sagging, she pushed her palm against her forehead. “I am so sick of deception,” she said in a low voice. Raising her lashes, she cast a beseeching glance at Clara and Juliette. “Please. I can’t go on like this. I need to tell Tom the truth, and he needs to hear it.”
Clara and Juliette returned her stare, then each slowly nodded. Clara edged away from Bear’s arm. “Ja, the time has come,” she said with a deep sigh.
Stepping away from Ben, Juliette turned her eyes down the path. Bright pink colored her cheeks. “I’ve dreaded this moment with all my heart. And I’ve longed to get it over with.”
Frowning and puzzled, Tom stared at her. “Zoe?”
She drew her shoulders up and back. Her heart pounded so loudly that she was certain everyone could hear. After glancing toward the men standing around Horvath’s unfinished cabin and hoping they wouldn’t overhear, she met Tom’s gaze.
“You know that I came here looking for someone. A man. His name is Jean Jacques Villette, and I came to kill him. That’s why I brought the rifle.”
No one said a word.
“Why do you want to kill Villette?” Tom asked finally.
Her lashes fluttered and then steadied. “You said you’d heard I was married, but I told you that I wasn’t. I lied to you, Tom. Jean Jacques Villette is my husband.”
“He’s my husband, too,” Clara admitted reluctantly, looking at her shoes.
Juliette kept her eyes fixed on the path. “And mine.”
Chapter 21
It was time for explanations, but Horvath’s cabin was not the place. They returned to Mr. Dame’s and settled in the kitchen with the men ranged along one side of the table and the women along the other. They stared at one another with expressions of helplessness on one side and disbelief and anger on the other.
“So that’s our story,” Zoe finished, looking down at her hands pressed flat against the tabletop. “That’s why we’re traveling to Dawson, to confront and shoot Jean Jacques Villette for what he did to us.”
“Punishing him doesn’t seem as important now,” Clara sighed, pushing a frizzy cloud of red hair back from her cheek.
“I know.” Juliette glanced at Ben’s stony face, then quickly looked away. “I don’t care anymore why Jean Jacques married all of us. If he walked in here this minute, I wouldn’t have anything to say to him.”
“Villette isn’t going to walk in the door, and you won’t find him in Dawson either,” Tom stated flatly. His green eyes didn’t move from Zoe’s face.
Zoe wet her lips. “How can you sound so certain?”
“Because I know where he is. That first day on the Dyea beach—if you had trusted an old friend who loved you—if you hadn’t lied to me—I could have taken you right to Villette.”
All three women sucked in a breath and leaned forward to stare. “He was in Dyea?” Zoe asked, her heart in her throat.
