Luke Takes a Wife Ch. 05

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After talking to Ben for a few minutes, Luke leaves him to look over the horses and heads back up to the house to find out what's going on with Hannah. She was white as a sheet when she saw Ben get out of the truck. As he walks into the house and looks around, he sees no sign of Hannah or his kids. Taking the stairs two at a time, he hears Chance and Lucky arguing. He stops right outside her bedroom door and listens.

"But why, Hannah?" Lucky's voice echoes through the hall.

"Lucky." Luke can hear the sadness in Hannah's voice followed by Rainy's low mournful cry. "I have to go. I've been here too long already." Hannah reaches over and touches Lucky's cheek gently.

"She's just got to, Lucky....You heard her." Luke hears a thump as Chance tries to pick up her suitcase and then Hannah's soft laugh.

"That suitcase a little much for you, little man?" Hannah reaches and picks up her suitcase and puts it on the bed next to her folded clothes and Rainy who's sitting, playing with the bell that Hannah gave her.

"But Hannah...." Cash bounces excitedly on the bed. ".....Nobody makes grilled cheeses like you do.....and cookies.....and.....and......fried chicken......and......."

Chance drops down on the floor, sitting with his legs crossed watching Hannah pack her suitcase. "Shut up, Cash." He mutters softly, blinking back the tears that are threatening to spill down his cheeks. "She doesn't want to take care of us anymore....we're too much trouble."

Hannah turns, dropping the clothes back onto the bed before walking over to where Chance is sitting. She drops down to her knees in front of him and brushes his hair back from his eyes. He has to have a haircut soon or he's gonna start running into things, she thinks to herself. Feeling her chest tighten as she realizes that someone else will be taking him to get it cut.

"You know that's not true, honey." She smiles as his wide blue eyes meet hers. "I'm sorry, Chance. I want to stay...really I do...." Hannah gasps as he jumps up and throws his arms quickly around her neck, almost knocking the breath out of her.

"Then stay....please.....daddy can protect you....we won't let nobody get you." Luke steps into the room.

"Daddy....tell Hannah not to go." Cash comes flying across the room, wrapping his arms around Luke's legs and clinging to him as tightly as Chance is to Hannah.

"Boys, go downstairs....Luke walks over and picks Rainy up and follows Cash and Lucky out of the room, glancing back as Hannah tries to pull away from Chance. "You to, Chance." Luke says firmly, watching as his boy reluctantly pulls away from Hannah and walks slowly out of the room.

Her legs shaking, Hannah pulls herself to her feet and moves back across the room to finish packing. She's still wondering how she'll slip away from the ranch without Ben seeing her when she hears her door click closed. She glances up quickly, her heart pounding in her ears. She sighs softly as she sees Luke standing there, leaning against the door. She drops down on the edge of the bed, still holding a nightgown clutched In her hands.

"If you want to run away from me, that's fine but don't make up wild stories about somebody chasing you to my kids." Luke's voice is low and even but Hannah's known him long enough to pick up on the slight tremor in his voice that clues everybody in on how angry he really is.

Hannah opens her mouth to answer him but then closes it just as quickly, realizing suddenly that there's nothing she can say to explain without telling him everything. She just drops her head and nods slowly.

"No arguments.....no defending yourself....." Luke laughs softly as he crosses the room to stand in front of her. ".....Come on, Hannah......surely you can find some excuse for using my kids."

Hannah can do nothing but shake her head, afraid that if she even looks up at him, she'll spill her guts about everything and then.....then there'd be no running.

"Damnit, talk to me." Reaching down, he grabs her by the arms and jerks her to her feet. Sliding his hand back to cup the back of her head, he forces her head back. Seeing the unshed tears that she's trying desperately to hide from him, he feels his stomach drop. "Oh god, you weren't lying to them were you?"

"Please, Luke...just let me leave." Unbidden, tears flow down her cheeks as she tries to push him away.

He pulls her against his chest, kissing the top of her head as he holds her close to him. Her body shaking against him as he rubs her back slowly.

"Stay....Chance was right, we'll keep you safe....from whatever your running from." He pulls her away from him and lowers his head, kissing her softly....his tongue moving over her soft lips slowly.

Letting herself get lost in the kiss, she slips her arms up and around his neck. Clinging to him as she pushes all thoughts of leaving to the back of her mind, at least for the moment. Their tongues meet in desperation as he picks her up in his arms and moves back toward the bed.

"Man, you've got some nice looking colts out there." Hannah is snapped out of the kiss with what feels like a slap to her cheek as she hears Ben's heavy footsteps on the stairs. "I'll have to bring dad and Lee out here to look them over next time." She pushes desperately out of Luke's arms, looking around quickly as she hears the footsteps nearing her door.

Realization suddenly dawns in his eyes as he sees the near frantic look on her face. "Ben?" He mutters softly before pulling her to his chest and turning so his back is to the door as she buries her face in his chest just as Ben's huge form fills her doorway.

Hannah whimpers against Luke's chest as she catches a glimpse of her brother standing in the door. She squeezes her eyes closing, suddenly seeing her freedom....the freedom she had worked so hard to gain... evaporating right before her eyes.

Anger clutches at Luke's heart as he wonders what his friend could have possibly done to make Hannah so afraid. He aches to turn and confront him but Hannah's hands clutching his shirt and her trembling body so tight against him prevents him from doing just that.

"Wait for me downstairs, Ben." Luke calls out before Ben can come any further into the room. As Ben starts to protest, Luke turns around and glares him. Ben shrugs and turns, leaving the room quickly.

As Hannah hears Ben's footsteps on the stairs, she pulls away from Luke and looks up at him. As he opens his mouth to question her, she shakes her head. "I won't tell you, Luke...I can't."

He growls low in his throat. "You have to tell me, Hannah. If he hurt you....."

She laughs softly. "If he hurt me...if any of them hurt me...." She shakes her head slowly. "...if you hurt me." Her hands shaking as she starts throwing her clothes haphazardly into her suitcase. "I hurt myself more by coming here than any of you ever could."

Luke stands beside her, reaching and taking her hands into his, squeezing them loosely. "How, Hannah...how did coming here hurt you so much?" Something nagging at his memory as he looks down into her wide eyes with a sheen of unshed tears.

"I thought I could do it," she whispers softly. "I really thought I could come here and help you raise your kids and not....not care about you." She gently pulls her hands out of his. "I can't though....no matter how hard I try."

"You're not leaving." He curses as he hears footsteps on the stairs again. "Unpack, I'll get rid of him and then you are going to tell me everything." He puts his finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "And I mean everything, Hannah." Without another word he turns and leaves her room.

He steps out of her bedroom and closing the door with a firm click. As he turns around, he nearly runs into Chance who is headed back into Hannah's room with that same determined look on his face that Luke had seen so many times before. Luke never thought when he hired Hannah that she would have such a huge affect on his kids.....or himself, If truth be told. Chance, who up until a few weeks ago cared for little else than his horses, was now fighting desperately to keep Hannah there with them. He stops Chance and gently turns him around. Chance is about to argue with him until Luke reassures him that Hannah's not going anywhere. They both head downstairs, unaware that Hannah, still determined to leave, is still packing.

Hannah sits down on the bed, staring at her half-full suitcase and then looks at the clothes still strayed haphazardly across the bed. It would be so easy to forget about leaving and just let Luke take care of her, let him make everything just go away. Even as that thought crosses her mind, she knows it's just a fantasy left over from her childhood. She learned a long time ago that there is no such thing as a knight in shining armor and she had long since stopped looking for one. Shaking the last of those cobwebs from her mind, she gets up and starts packing again.

Once her clothes are all packed, she walks over and pulls a box out of her nightstand. She holds it up and lifts the lid, taking a moment to rifle through all the little notes that Luke had left her over the past few weeks, the horse pictures that the boys had drawn for her...finally lifting up the picture of Luke and the kids that she had taken on their picnic last weekend. She smiles, remembering how happy she was...pretending that she was part of their family. Sighing softly, she drops the picture back into the box and snaps it closed

It takes longer than Luke thought it would to get rid of Ben. It's as Ben is leaving that he mentions that his little sister's run off...probably gotten herself pregnant or something. Selfish little thing, leaving their dad to fend for himself and take care of the farm while him and Lee are on the circuit..

Luke inhales sharply as he can suddenly see little Anna, following him around the house when he stayed with Ben's family. She was always such a sweet little kid. He'd always known she had a crush on him. Ben and Lee had teased her mercilessly about it when he was there. He always wondered what she went through when she was there alone with them. He had seen bruises on her arm once but she had refused to answer him when he asked. He had asked her, hadn't he? It was all so long ago and there were other things going on in his life at the time. Suddenly the image of little Anna and grown-up Hannah merge in his mind and he realizes what he should have known all along.