As the food was passed, Brianna expected the men to remain silent, but before the mashed potatoes reached her, David said to Esa, “You aren’t going to get all preachy, are you? I don’t think I can handle having a holier-than-thou brother.”
Esa swallowed, dabbed at his mouth with his napkin, and said, “That’s where most preachers fail, by acting holier-than-thou. They set standards no normal human being can live up to, and then they become laughingstocks when they fail to do as they preach. I’ll never claim to be without sin, and I’ll never expect anybody else to be, either. We’re all just people doing the best we can to live decent lives.”
“Since when did you decide to wear a white collar?” Ace asked.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while.” He glanced apologetically at Caitlin. “I’d honor you by becoming a priest, Caitlin, but I’d like to marry and have children someday, so I don’t think that’s my calling.”
Dory piped in with, “I, for one, am very pleased to hear that Esa is considering a religious calling. At least some of our Bible study at night rubbed off on one of you.”
The remainder of the meal passed with mostly pleasant exchanges, the only exceptions being when the males of the family ribbed one another. At one point, Dory excused herself to collect her childhood scrapbook and show off a daguerreotype of herself at about Daphne’s age. Brianna could only gape at the likeness when the book was passed to her. The resemblance to Daphne was uncanny. Upon closer inspection, however, Brianna determined that any blond little girl with fine features might resemble the image in the daguerreotype. Granted, the similarities were there; that was undeniable. But the Keegans and Paxtons were making more of them than was warranted.
“Daphne has Dory’s chin,” Rachel noted. “And she even has the Paxton birthmark!”
Caitlin remarked, “That dimple in the child’s cheek is another dead giveaway.”
Ace laughed and said to David, “That is one child you can’t deny.”
David beamed with pride.
Brianna went with the flow of conversation, nodding and smiling in agreement. What else could she do? Even if she blurted out the truth and convinced these people to believe her, it would destroy Daphne.
When it came time to clear the table, Brianna had started to relax around the men. The fearsome Ace Keegan was a gentle giant with his children and wife. Joseph spent more time holding Little Joe than Rachel did and was wearing a goodly amount of mashed potatoes by the time he’d finished trying to feed his son.
The men rolled up their shirtsleeves to clean the kitchen, which surprised Brianna. Ace washed, David dried, Joseph put away, and Esa took charge of the leftovers. The women were shooed out to sit on the veranda and visit.
Here it comes, Brianna thought. She’d be grilled with questions now, and she had no idea how to answer because she wasn’t sure what her husband had told everyone. How did you meet David? Why did you never contact him when you realized you were expecting? How did the two of you finally reunite?
But the questions never came. Instead the conversation centered around Caitlin’s newly planted vegetable garden, Dory’s hobby of collecting wild edibles, the wildflowers presently in bloom, sewing, and Rachel’s talent for crocheting and tatting. Dory Sue was just learning to walk, so Daphne held the child’s hands and helped her totter back and forth across the yard while Little Ace galloped circles around them on an imaginary stallion named Spirit. Rachel nursed Little Joe and rocked him to sleep.
When David finally appeared on the porch to take his family home, Brianna was sad to see the evening end. Daphne was having the time of her life, playing with her little cousins, and the adult conversations had been stimulating. It had been a very long time since Brianna had been able to chat at length with other ladies. And once she left with David, they would be entirely alone again, save for Daphne.
As if David sensed her reluctance to leave, he said, “You’ll see everyone often, Shamrock. All our ranches are a hop, skip, and jump away from each other.”
Good-byes coupled with affectionate hugs followed, yet another ceremony Brianna had long been denied. Once back in the buggy with David and Daphne, she felt happy, sad, and tense, a confusing mix. As welcoming as everyone had been, she and Daphne were imposters who were being included on false pretenses, and it was anyone’s guess how long it would be before the truth came out and ruined everything.
En route to David’s ranch, which Brianna learned was named Wolverine Flats for the creek that angled through it, David talked almost nonstop, pointing out to her and Daphne where each of his brother’s ranches were located. In Brianna’s estimation, they were a lot farther apart than a hop, skip, and jump, but she supposed that, given the large tracts of land for each parcel, adjoining dooryards were impossible. In the fading light of day, she glimpsed oak trees, willows along the streambed, and wildflowers galore. It was beautiful country, a wonderful place to raise a child.
David’s ranch proved to be an almost exact replica of Ace’s, with a long entrance road that led to a large, tidy barn, sturdy paddocks, and grassland rolling out from the buildings for as far as the eye could see. Barking and growling in a friendly way, a yellow and white, long-haired dog bounced across the yard to greet the buggy when David stopped in front of the rambling one-story house.
“Hey, Sam!” David called as he swung out of the conveyance. He spent a moment ruffling the canine’s thick fur and scratching him behind the ears. Then he lifted Daphne to the ground. “I brought you a new friend. Guard her with your life.”
Brianna, exiting the buggy by herself, had to smile at that pronouncement because Daphne was already on her knees with both arms locked around Sam’s neck. It was apparently love at first sight, for Sam returned the affection with wet doggy kisses and curious sniffs of the child’s hair. A second later, girl and canine raced off to play.
A middle-aged man in jeans and a blue work shirt emerged from the barn. David waved hello and called, “Put them up for the night, would you, Rob? Rub them down good and give all of them an extra ration of oats. I’ll return the buggy in the morning.”
The man lifted his tan hat in greeting, his brown hair, trimmed neatly above the ears, whipping in the evening breeze. “Will do, boss. Welcome home.”
David came around to grasp Brianna’s arm. “You ready for the grand tour?”
Noting the edge of humor in David’s voice, Brianna realized that he felt his house was far from grand, but to her, it was a veritable palace. A deep veranda swept the length of the front, accommodating two rockers off to one side and a swing at the other. She could picture herself relaxing there of an evening to watch the sunset. Two double-hung windows flanked the front door, which had been crafted with thick beams of wood, providing a safe barricade against intruders. It was a house with a friendly facade, unprepossessing but comfortable looking. Brianna had never had a real home, unless she counted the orphanage, and having recently lived in an attic room no larger than a closet, she doubted that David had any idea how lucky he was.
When Brianna stepped inside, a sense of homecoming filled her. The large living area served as a sitting room and dining room, with a spacious kitchen leading off from it at the far end. A leather sofa and two armchairs bracketed a stone fireplace to the right. David’s long plank supper table, she noted with relief, was lined with high-back chairs instead of benches, which were difficult for a lady in skirts to manage.
“It’s in sore need of some fixing up,” David told her. “I saw to the basics, but I’m not much for decorating. I’ve been meaning to get curtains.” He released her arm to rub beside his nose. “Maybe it’s just as well I didn’t. Ladies kind of like to do their own choosing when it comes to stuff like that.”
“It’s wonderful just as it is,” Brianna said, thinking to herself that she wouldn’t be here long enough to worry about curtains. But, oh, what a fabulous place for any child to call home, even if only briefly. When Brianna had dreamed of getting a proper house for Daphne
, she’d always pictured it tiny and furnished with wobbly, scarred things she bought secondhand. Never had she imagined anything this grand. “All it needs are a few touches of color here and there to brighten the rooms.”
He showed off his kitchen, which sported a new cookstove with double ovens, a center firebox, dual warmers, and a sizable water reservoir. Open shelves lined with dishes and foodstuffs held court over varnished countertops and an oversize icebox. In one corner sat a washing machine, the likes of which Brianna had never seen.
As if guessing her thoughts, David said, “It’s rigged up to drain through the floor, so you don’t have to haul buckets of water outside to dump them. I got the idea from Darby, Rachel’s uncle by recent marriage. Not so long ago, Rachel was housebound. Long story, that. Anyway, Darby had her all set up so she never had to step foot outside, and I copied some of his inventions to make it more convenient here.”
David was about to give her a tour of the water closet and bedrooms when a thump came at the front door. It was Rob, the hired man, arms laden with David’s saddlebags and all their other possessions.
“Good man,” David said, setting his saddlebags just inside the door and then relieving the man of the stuffed pillowcases and packages. “You see my daughter out there anywhere?”
“She’s off with Sam, checkin’ out the kittens in the barn. Judgin’ by the way she’s latched onto the yellow one, I got a hunch you’ll have a new family member soon.”
David was laughing as he closed the door. “I’d forgotten about little girls and kittens. My sister, Eden, loved them, and we always had two or three cats underfoot.”
“Will Daphne be all right out there alone?” Brianna asked.
“Sam’s with her. And Rob will be around.” He sauntered toward her with the pillowcases, dumping the one filled with food at the kitchen entrance, then leading Brianna up the hallway. “I’ve got five bedrooms. Mine’s at the far end. You and Daphne can take your pick of the others. The beds are all made up fresh.”
Brianna peeked into the two rooms on the right but hesitated to step inside. “These will do,” she said. “I like that they’re next to each other. That way I’ll hear if Daphne needs me.”
David put all her pillowcases inside the door of the room closest to his and then turned to rest a muscular arm against the jamb. No lanterns had been lighted, so only dusky light from the bare window behind him played over the room. In the shadows, his eyes shimmered like polished pewter. She saw his jaw muscle ripple. For an instant, she feared he might try to kiss her—or more. Instead he only trailed his gaze slowly over her face. Beneath his thoughtful study, her cheeks started to burn.
“And she’ll also be able to hear you. Isn’t that what you’re thinking?” He said it softly and didn’t pose it as a question.
“Whatever do you mean?” Brianna’s heart had started to race. It seemed to her that the breadth of his shoulders took up the entire doorway. She folded her arms at her waist. “All mothers like to be within hearing distance of their children at night.”
“Don’t try to bullshit me, Shamrock. You’ve been as jumpy as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rockers ever since we got on the train in Denver. I’m thinking you’ve got some notion in your head that things are going to change between you and me now, that I’ll suddenly decide to make this a marriage in fact.”
Not knowing what else to say, she blurted, “You are my husband. You have papers to prove it.”
He continued to search her gaze. She had the awful feeling that he could see clear to her soul. “Who did this to you? Where along the way did you start thinking that every man you’re alone with is going to turn on you?”
Brianna’s throat felt dry. She wasn’t sure she could speak. Her voice came out crackly and weak. “You ask questions, David, but you don’t like my answers. You say you’re a stickler for the truth, but you don’t want to hear it. My past experiences with other men are all intertwined with a story you believe is a pack of lies.”
His eyes began to smolder.
“There, you see?” she challenged shakily. “How can you expect me to tell you my darkest secrets when all you’re going to do is get mad?”
He followed her example and folded his arms. She had the uncomfortable feeling he did so to control himself—to make sure he didn’t give in to the urge to put his hands on her. “It upsets me when you imply that Daphne isn’t mine. You saw how my family reacted when they saw her. There is no mistake, Brianna. She’s my daughter.”
Brianna turned to move away from him up the hall to the front of the house. While he was in this mood, she wasn’t about to enter that bedroom to sort through her and Daphne’s things. He’d stand behind her and block the doorway.
“Before you run off, let me make one thing clear.”
Brianna halted and turned to look at him. “What is that?”
“If I was of a mind, I could turn you every which way but loose with one hand tied behind my back.” He inclined his head at her person. “You’re half my size. You wouldn’t stand a chance against me. Taking the room next to Daphne won’t keep you safe. It’s simple enough for a man to keep a woman from screaming while he does his worst to her.” He thumped the jamb with the toe of his boot. “And there isn’t a door in this entire house strong enough to keep me out if I want in.”
A tremor ran the length of Brianna’s body. “Are you threatening me, David?”
He smiled slightly. “Nope, just stating the facts and hoping to ease your mind.”
“Ease my mind?” she asked incredulously. “By saying things like that to me?”
“Yep. I won’t say I don’t want you, Shamrock. It’d be a lie. But if I meant to take you by strength of arm, I would have done it by now. Who is there to stop me? It’s not like you can go to the town marshal and say I raped you.”
Brianna’s stomach clenched and rolled.
“That’s part of it, isn’t it? Why you’re all of a sudden nervous around me again. The situation has shifted. We’re on my home ground, and I’m the law around these parts. That marriage document in my bag is playing real heavy on your mind.”
“David, I—”
He held up a hand. “Don’t deny it. I felt the tension in you as I helped you off the train. At Ace’s place, when I put my arm around your shoulders, I felt you flinch away. When Caitlin invited you to go see the kittens and I nudged you forward, you jerked as if I’d stuck you with a pin.”
“Yes,” she confessed in a whisper. “We’re married. Men have all the power. You’re influential in this town. Of course I’ve had moments when I thought of all that.”
He sighed and bent his head. When he lifted it, he said, “Shamrock, you’d be in no more danger here in this bedroom with me than you were out on the prairie. Feeling nervous and jumpy is a waste of your energy, not to mention that it’s plumb foolish.” He pushed erect and sidled toward her. When she put her back to the wall to let him pass, he stopped, moving his blue gaze slowly over her face, and then cupped her chin in his hand, trailing his thumb lightly over her cheek. “Maybe someday you’ll tell me who the bastard was who made you so leery, maybe you won’t, but always bear in mind one thing.”
“What?” she asked thinly.
“I’m not that man.” He released her and strode up the hallway, never looking back. “While you unpack, I’ll go check on my animals. I’ll corral Daphne while I’m out there and bring her back with me. You may as well settle in good and proper. When I return the buggy in the morning, I’ll stop by the dress shop to talk with Clarissa Denny to see if she’s interested in selling, but even if her answer is yes, negotiating a price and all the details may take a while.”
Brianna sank limply against the wall, the tension in her body draining away. When she heard the front door slam closed behind him, she released a shaky breath. As crazy as she knew it was, she felt better. David had an odd way of offering comfort, but somehow it had worked. He truly was different from all the others. She was safe with him. Sh
e’d been foolish to let doubts slip into her mind.
She’d just pushed away from the wall when she heard someone reenter the house. The sturdy thump of a man’s boots echoed through the sitting area and dining room. David reappeared at the front of the hall.
“It just occurred to me that the least I could do is make sure you have light to unpack by.” He strode past her and into the bedroom. She watched as he struck a match and touched it to the wick of a lantern on the mahogany bedside table. A golden glow filled the room as he adjusted the brightness.
“I could have done that,” she said.
“I don’t mind doing things for you, Shamrock.” He graced her with a crooked grin. “The way I was raised up, that’s what husbands are for, to be helpful.”
As he turned to leave, Brianna said, “David, wait.”
He paused to regard her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. Then in a stronger voice, she said, “I meant no insult. It’s just—well, I’ve never known a man like you, and it’s all too easy for me to take your measure by the behavior of others in the past. Does that make any sense?”
He nodded. “Perfect sense. Life can be a harsh teacher, and once lessons have been driven home, it’s hard to change your way of thinking. It’ll get easier with time. In the meanwhile, try to relax and have some faith in me. That marriage document is only a piece of paper. It has no bearing on who I am. I’m not going to slap it down on the table some night and change the terms of our agreement. If our relationship changes to something more, it will be because you want it that way, not because I insist on it.”
After he left the room and closed the door behind him, Brianna stood with her fingertips pressed to her lips, so close to tears that it was all she could do to blink them away. David Paxton stirred feelings and yearnings within her that she’d never felt for another man. Fear one moment, desire the next. And at every turn, just when she expected him to take unfair advantage of her, he proved her wrong. She’d lived all of her adult life trying to avoid men, ever distrusting them. Never in her wildest imaginings had she entertained the possibility that someone like David might exist.
Lucky Penny Page 31