Chapter Thirty-Nine

Finnegan stood and threw the pillow across the room, breaking the picture on the wall as it fell to the floor and shattered across the gleaming hardwood.

He couldn't do this! The storm had lessened outside, now only a slow and steady rain, and it was hard dark, going on eleven o'clock at night. Finnegan could not sit here doing nothing while Cassandra could be being harmed. Sitting here twiddling his thumbs was simply not an option.

Finnegan adjusted his gun belt and strode toward the door. He jerked it open to find Seamus and Calvin standing in the hall. "We heard something break...." Seamus stated glancing over Finnegan's shoulder and into the room.

"Aye, that would be the picture that was hangin' on the wall there. For a nice hotel this place could certainly use some tougher nails."

"Where are you going, Finnegan?" Calvin questioned hesitantly.

Finnegan sighed. These two acted as if he had lost his mind, which he had, but he didn't like being treated as if he had. "I'm goin' to go and find Cassandra. Sittin' here all night is not somethin' I can do."

"Finnegan, it's dark, it's raining..."

"I don't give a flyin' fuck, Seamus. Now ya will either get outta my way or ya will force me to make ya."

Seamus shook his head and stepped aside. Finnegan wasted no time in rushing down the hall, taking the steps three at a time and bursting out onto the boardwalk. The air was heavy and thick with the recent storm and it was hot and muggy.

Finnegan's boots squished and slid across the mud as he strode down the street toward the livery. He had mud splashed up to his knees by the time he entered the large barn. He saw the stable hand sound asleep on a back stool but it didn't matter. Finnegan knew where Theo was.

He went to the stall and the gelding snorted a greeting. "Hey there, Theo."

Finnegan opened the door, grabbed the horses reins and pulled him out of the stall. He led Theo outside and placed a hand on either side of his face, pressing his brow to the gelding's brow. "I need ya to help me, Theo. We have to find, Little Cass. They took her and ya have to help me find her. Can ya help me, Theo?"

Theo snorted and tossed his head up and down in a nod. Finnegan kissed the beast's nose and patted his neck. "Let's go then, Theo."

It took a little doing to get up on the horses back with his broken hand but Finnegan managed it and he let Theo have his head and the gelding stood still a moment before taking off down the road seeming to have a clear idea of where he was going.

It didn't take long for the slow steady rain to soak through Finnegan's clothes and plaster his dark curls to his head. It also didn't take long for Seamus and Calvin to catch up with him.

"Where are we going?" Seamus asked after a while as Theo led them off the road and into the trees.

"Theo is takin' us to Cassandra," Finnegan replied.

"Finnegan, you've lost your mind..."

"You're free to go on back to town then, Seamus," Finnegan snapped.

Silence fell over the trio and time clicked on. The rain stopped, frogs began filling the night with their sound and still Theo walked on.

Finnegan sat up straighter and came more alert when Theo's ears pricked forward and he heard movement up ahead.

"What was that?" Calvin whispered.

Finnegan saw the lantern light approaching. It was swinging back and forth and illuminating a white figure. Finnegan felt an instant of fear but it vanished quickly when the figure spoke and held the light higher.

"Who's there? I have a gun."

"Little Cass!" Finnegan exclaimed as he leapt from Theo's back and ran to her.

"Finn?" The lantern was sat upon the forest floor, saddlebags were dropped and Cassandra picked up the skirts of her nightdress and ran for him. She let out a loud cry of happiness as she leapt into Finnegan's arms and he held her tightly against him.

They were both soaked to the bone and they were also both shaking, Finnegan realized. The shaking had nothing to do with the rain and everything to do with the relief... the end of the fear that his Little Cass would be dead when he found her.

"Little Cass, I'm so sorry I didn't keep ya safe," he whispered against her ear as he held her trembling body close.

"It was terrible, Finn. The three of them were terrible." Cassandra clung to him tightly and Finnegan clung to her right back. "I swore I was going to give you a good swat when I saw you for doing what you did with Morgan's wife but I can't hit you, Finn. I'm too happy to see you to even think about being angry."

"Did they hurt ya?"

"No," Cassandra kept her head pressed tight against his heart, "They told me what they wrote in that letter but he was just bluffing, Finn. He didn't touch me that way."

Finnegan nearly cried out with the relief he felt at hearing those words. His Cassandra had not been violated; she hadn't been harmed. She was safe. She was sound. She was in his arms... but how?

"How did ya get away?"

Cassandra pulled away and pushed her wet curls from her face. "I'm tougher than I look."

"I know that more than anybody, Little Cass," Finnegan let his knuckles trace her cheek, unable to simply stand there and not touch his beautiful wife.

"They had Chloroform..."

"They used that on ya?" Finnegan demanded, his eyes instantly falling to her stomach.

"That could kill the baby," Seamus spoke up.

"No!" Cassandra assured them quickly, obviously noting Finnegan's near panic. Shite but he needed to get a handle on his emotions. "No, they didn't use it. Morgan was going to but Nick hit me in the head and knocked me out before he could."

Finnegan raised his hand to Cassandra's head and felt the welt as she winced beneath his touch. "I'll kill the bastards!'

"Finn.... Are you okay?"

"No, he's not," Calvin spoke up. "He's been a raging, crazy man all day. He broke his hand..."

"Shite, Calvin! Thank ya for bein' so helpful there but ya can close your mouth now!" Finnegan exclaimed.

Cassandra's eyes had narrowed and she grabbed his right arm and brought his bandaged hand up to look at it. Even in the dark it was plain to see that he was bleeding through the bandages the doctor had wrapped around it. Cassandra looked up at him with shock, "What did you do to your hand?!"

"It wasn't my fault," he countered. "The bedpost looked at me with the wrong tone o'voice and left me no choice."

"Looked with wrong tone of voice?" Cassandra whispered.

"Ask him what the vases, windows, pictures, pitchers and wash basins did," Calvin added with amusement.

Finnegan threw the man a grin that surely had to have made Seamus proud. "Y'ave been quite helpful, Young Calvin, but ya can find somethin' else to do with your mouth now."

"Finnegan, what does it look like under that bandage?" Cassandra demanded, anger flashing in her green eyes.

"Swollen, bruised, a stitch here and there...."

"Why did you do that?!"

"What else was I to do with myself then? Ya were gone, Little Cass, and that note...." Finnegan shivered. "I'll never let another thing happen to ya. From now on ya don't leave my side."

"That's hardly logical, Finnegan," Cassandra scolded. "And besides I made it out okay." She slid herself back into his arms and rested her head against his chest.

"With Chloroform, right?" Seamus asked.

"That's right."

"You Chloroformed three grown men?" Calvin sounded impressed and Finnegan had to admit that beneath all the anger that Morgan had dared take his wife, he was impressed too. His Little Cass was truly something else.

"Yes," Cassandra replied. "Well actually no, I made one of them Chloroform himself. Finnegan, they know about the map..."

Finnegan blinked several times, "What?"

"The treasure map, Finn. They found it and they know what it is."

Finnegan sighed when he realized what she was talking about. He'd forgotten all about that damned map and the treasure it led to. All he'd been able to think about was Cassandra and wanting her back safely in his arms.

"I don't care," he replied honestly.

"Finn, I told them to stop but I don't think Morgan is going to. We have to find that treasure and pay the man his...."

Finnegan shook his head, "No. No, this treasure hunt is over."

Cassandra pulled away and stared up at him with confusion. "What are you talking about? It's not over! We're not there yet."

"We're as close as we're goin' to get, Little Cass. I'll not be riskin' your life or the life of our babe any longer just for a bit of gold."

Cassandra shook her head. "But your debts...."

"We'll go back east, I'll find work, pay them off and then take ya wherever ya want to go but until then there's no more adventures, Cass."

"Damn, Finnegan, that sounded almost like an adult statement coming out of your mouth," Seamus stated.

Cassandra snorted. "Yeah, a bossy adult. Finnegan, I know what this treasure means to you. We can't let this stop us...."

Finnegan put his good hand under her chin and held her gently. "Not a single thing in this world means more to me than you and our child," he assured her. "Ya damn well ought to know that by now, love."

Finnegan walked around her and went to the saddlebags. Using the light from the kerosene lantern, Finnegan found the map and the keys and shoved them in his pocket. He secured his saddlebags to Theo and tossed Cassandra's to Seamus. "Take her back to town."

"I don't think so!" Cassandra exclaimed, grabbing Finnegan's arm and spinning him around. "What are you doing?"

"I'm givin' Morgan the map and the key. I'm gonna tell him to leave us be and he can have the treasure."

"You're what?!" Three voices cried out in unison.

Finnegan rolled his eyes and pulled himself up onto Theo. "Never thought I'd see the day that I was thinkin' more clearly than anyone else."

"Finnegan, that treasure isn't just yours," Seamus grumbled. "You were going to pay me back with it too."

"And y'ad be willin' to keep Cassandra in harms way just to ensure ya get your treasure, Seamus?" Finnegan demanded.

Seamus clenched his fists tight on the reins and let out a strained sigh. "No."

Cassandra stared at him wide-eyed. "You're really going to give up the treasure and all that gold, Finn?"

Finnegan smiled down at her and shook his head. "As far as I can see, Little Cass, I already found the treasure."

Her face lit up with her smile and Finnegan felt his heart beat faster. "I love you, Finnegan Callahan."

"Aye, well, what's not to love?" Finnegan teased.

"But you're not going alone. If you're going to go give them the map and keys then we're all coming."

"I don't..."

Cassandra pointed her finger at his face and his jaw slammed shut at the sight of her angry glare. "Don't think that just because you're being all grown up and mature now you can boss me around. I think I've proven I can take care of myself and I am coming with you."

Finnegan studied her a moment and then sighed with defeat. He reached out his good hand, "Alright then, get on up here ya damn stubborn-headed, strong-willed pain in me arse."

***

"Hello, Morgan. Are ya wakin' up then?"

Morgan's eyes fluttered open as he moaned. Finnegan stood there with his arms over his chest and watched the man coming to consciousness.

"Nick? Ben?"

"They'll be sleepin' for a good long time," Finnegan promised. "My Little Cass is rather fond of that Chloroform."

Finnegan smiled as he remembered the sight of Cassandra giving both men another dose of the drug as they'd begun to come awake. She'd had such a devilish grin on her face and Finnegan knew he'd be amused by that memory for years to come.

"What do you want, Finnegan? Your woman is with you so why did you come back here?"

"To give ya somethin' Morgan. Y'ave been such a sweet spot in my life for so long now that I find this hard..."

"Go to hell, Finnegan," Morgan growled, his dark eyes becoming more focused by the second as the drug left his system.

"I deserve that. I deserve anythin' ya do to me for what I did with your wife, Morgan. I have no good excuse for how I acted back then. I've changed now for what it's worth to ya." Finnegan moved closer and grabbed Morgan by the shirt collar. The older man's breathing became harsher with both fear and anger. "Let me warn ya of somethin' right now, ya little bastard. If ya ever dare lay your hands on my wife again I'll be killin' ya. If ya wanna hurt me then hurt me but be a damned man and don't hide behind my wife and child. Is that clear to ya?"

"Yeah.. Yeah it's clear... Who the hell are you? You seem different," Morgan whispered, his mustache twitching.

"I am different. It's about time I grew up, don't ya think?" Finnegan tweaked Morgan's nose. "Don't worry though, Morgan, I'll never forget what we've shared."

"Finnegan, we should probably hurry up. I don't want to have to dose those two again.. It might really hurt them," Cassandra spoke up, biting her lip as she glanced at the two unconscious men on the dirt floor of the cabin.

Finnegan nodded. He pulled the map and keys from his pocket and tossed them on the table beside Morgan. "That's a real treasure map, Morgan. It'll lead ya to a lost shipment of gold. We've gotten ya the first two keys and the next landmark is Devil Fork Creek beside the second tine of the fork; there will be another key there. Ya will have to figure out the rest for yourself. Four chests of gold should more than make up for any debt I owe to you and I had better not ever see your face again."

"Is this a joke?" Morgan snorted.

Finnegan stood up straight and shook his head. "It's no joke, Morgan. Take it and forget about me."

Morgan glanced at Cassandra and then to Seamus and Calvin before swallowing hard and turning his gaze back to Finnegan. "If this turns out to be a trick I'll come for you, Finnegan."

"I'll dream of ya 'til then, Morgan."

Morgan looked over at the map on the table. "And Morgan?" Finnegan called. Morgan turned his head and Finnegan swung out with his good hand clenched into a fist and caught the other man hard across the jaw. "Don't ya ever even think of layin' hands on my wife again, cuz just as soon as she'd done kickin' your arse I'll be comin' in to kick what's left."

"Can we go now, Finn?" Cassandra whispered. "I'm tired..."

Finnegan nodded and put his arm around her shoulders. "Which one of them hit you?" he asked, glancing at the men on the ground.

"That one," Cassandra pointed to the giant that liked to sniff.

Finnegan nodded, pulled back his foot and kicked the bastard in the back of the head, "Finnegan!" Cassandra exclaimed as Seamus and Calvin chuckled.

"Just makin' sure he's asleep, Little Cass."

Cassandra rolled her eyes and pulled him toward the door. "Take me back to town, Finn. I need a hot bath, a big meal and a warm bed."

"What about a lovin' husband? Is there a place on that list for him?"

Cassandra smiled and kissed his jaw. "I could probably fit you in somewhere."