A Loving Vow To Be Made (Book 1 of The Loving You Series)

Chapter 8.

The day was late and Ramsay just finished getting his office in order as well as checking up on his last prisoner, Jon Eden. He was about to lock up and return to the boarding house to visit Savannah when there came to be a knock on his door. When he answered it, there was Mr. Charles Stanton the owner of the bank as well as Mr. Tanner Weiss a local farmer he met in Timothy's general store as well as the father of his wife Rosie; then standing right next to him was Widow Hanson the owner of Running H. Every single one of them except Widow Hanson had worried looks on their faces, on hers was a mask of pure anger, she was at the moment twisting the hell out of her hat. Whistling to get everyone's attention, Ramsay asked them to calmly explain what the problem was. He started by asking Mr. Stanton.

     "What seems to be the problem Charles?" Taking a handkerchief from his pants pocket, Charles wiped the sweat from his brow and face, "When I entered the bank this morning there was a note in the form of a demand on my office door. Ramsay looked at the banker, "Do you have the document with you?" Charles nodded and pulled out the folded note and handed it to him.

ATTENTION, MR. STANTON!

IF YOU WISH TO SEE YOUR WIFE, SISTER AND DAUGHTER AGAIN, YOU WILL EMPTY THE BANK VAULT AND DELIVER T TO THE ABANDONED MINES OUTSIDE OF TOWN! UNDER NO! CIRCUMSTANCES DO YOU INFORM THE LAW. MY MEN WILL BE WATCHING...

"Did you all get similar notes? They all replied with an affirmative. "Alright folks, I will get to the bottom of this, so I suggest that you return to your homes and wait for me to come to you. Once I form a plan, I'll let you know what we are to do, but first, we must not let whoever is behind this to know that we are worried." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and left the sheriff's office. Taking his hat off the hat rack and placing it on his head, he closed the sheriff's office and headed to the boarding house. Maybe over a cup of coffee, he and Savannah could figure all this out. He was just down the street from the boarding house when out of the blue something smashed into the back of his head, like a sack of potatoes, Ramsay plummeted to the ground and descended into darkness.

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Savannah was sitting at the kitchen table enjoying a cup of tea, with Aimee Nadia. Savannah wanted to cradle both Quinn and Joey in her arms, so she asked Aimee to send her maid, Maria to fetch them. Aimee agreed and sent Maria upstairs. Five minutes later and neither one of them coming down, Savannah and Aimee became worried and was wondering what was taking them so long. "You just wait right here dear, I'll go see what the problem is." Before she could exit the kitchen, Savannah grabbed a hold of her hand and stopped her, "No, please don't go there, I have a bad feeling about this, let's just wait, maybe Maria tripped and she's on her way down. I don't mean to sound like a coward or anything but I just don't want you to get hurt!"

Aimee smiled at Savannah. "There is no need to fret dear, there still is some strength left in these old bones of mine. My late husband Rick, made sure of that. I admit that Maria can be a major klutz, and she does fall down a lot, but it wouldn't take this long for to come downstairs with or without the children, something must have happened. I know you're worried my dear but, I have to go and check, Maria is my responsibility and I have to look out for her welfare. Now wipe that tear from your face and take a deep breath, I'll be fine, I'll be downstairs with the children in each hand soon."

Savannah nodded and let go of her hand and watched her leave the room to investigate the noise from upstairs. Even though Savannah was worried about Aimee and Maria as well as for Quinn and Joey; Savannah sat at the table on the edge of her seat waiting for Aimee's return. Within five minutes after she left, Savannah heard another commotion coming from the top of the stairs. She rushed from her seat, knocking the chair over in the process and ran towards the stairwell just in time to catch Aimee's fall. As she Crouched down to her, Savannah hurriedly checked for a pulse. Finding one on her neck she sighed with relief. As soon as she was about to check for more injuries, Savannah heard a clicking noise behind her, she knew what the sound was even before she turned her head because she could feel it's cold steel barrel pressing to the back of her head. "Don't even think of doing anything funny. Got it? We have the upper hand now, and there's nothing you or the sheriff can do to us now." Came the muffled voice from behind her,

"Now slowly stand up and come with us, our boss wants to see you! Don't try anything funny or make any sudden movements, because if you do, those little brats are the ones that are going to pay for anything you might try!" Just the thought of anything happening to either Quinn or Joey made Savannah shiver. With tears in her eyes, Savannah stood up from where she was crouching and raised her hands, allowing for the man to tie them behind her back. The man signaled to his other buddy, who came down the stairs carrying a tied up and gagged Quinn and Joey in each arm. The kids both had tears in their eyes, and even though they were both gagged Savannah could see they were screaming, just then the man that was holding them, was about to hit them to make them shut up when Savannah tried to lunge for them only to be stopped with a painful cry; the man that held her bound hands pulled her back close to him by her hair. With a frustrated grunt, the man put his lips to Savannah's ear and whispered a threat.

"I told you, woman, don't try anything, I only have a little patience left with you guys and the boss says that he's going to rewards us handsomely if we bring you back unharmed, now you either listen to us and come with us quietly or I'm going to tell Bert there to seriously hurt one of them." Savannah nodded vigorously and cooperated with him. He then dragged her and the children out of the boarding house and into a wagon, made sure they were all bound together and headed for the confrontation of the leader, and the location of the gang's lair.