by Linda Bridey
The daylight lengthened into twilight, a pleasant breeze washed over the range, and the last birds twittered from somewhere out of sight. Chuck’s fingers slipped over Violet’s, and a surge of goose bumps shot up her spine and up the back of her neck. Would Rose and Jake come out of the house right now and find them holding hands? Wasn’t she supposed to be the proper older sister and set an example for her younger sisters? Somehow it never worked out that way.
Violet tore her eyes away from Chuck’s face and took refuge in the view of the ranch. “Somehow, they’ve all managed to run off and leave us alone.”
Chuck pretended to look around for the others. “I don’t think they’re thinking about us at all. I think they all wanted to get off alone, and I don’t blame them. Is there anywhere we can go to spend some time, just you and me?”
Violet started back in surprise. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“I’ll be stuck up here with Mick and Jake,” Chuck went on. “And you’ll be stuck down there with Iris and Rose. When will we ever spend any time together?”
“I’m sure we’ll all go off alone together after the service on Friday,” she replied.
“I mean before Friday,” Chuck corrected her. “I don’t want to come to the altar on Friday without spending some time with you first. I’d die of loneliness.”
“We aren’t going to the altar,” Violet told him. “Don’t you remember? The minister is coming out here Friday morning to marry us at the main house. I told you that in my letter.”
“I remember,” Chuck replied. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we have three more days to wait before that happens. What are you trying to do—torture me?”
“Of course not,” Violet replied. “If you want to spend time alone, we’ll find a way to do it.”
“Of course I want to spend time alone with you,” Chuck told her. “Don’t you want to spend time alone with me, too?”
“Sure, I do,” Violet replied. “I just need to think of a way to do it. Hey, listen. You’re coming down to the house for supper in a little while. Maybe afterward we can take a walk together. And look up there. There’ll be a nice bright moon. It’ll be a beautiful night for a walk. How does that sound?”
“All right. You win.” His finger slid back and forth in her hand again. The skin slipped silky and smooth under his touch. The goosebumps prickled over her body again. If only she could find a way to be alone with him! So what if they weren’t married yet? They would be soon enough.
But they weren’t alone now. Here came Iris and Mick out of the barn together, and the tread of footsteps on the stairs inside the house jerked Violet out of her reverie. She pulled her hand away from Chuck and stepped back. “Good, then. Until tonight.”
The smile fell away from his face. Oh, what was she doing? He was right. Why couldn’t they just stay like this forever? Why did they have to put up a façade of propriety between now and Friday?
Maybe Iris and Rose were right about getting rid of Cornell. She didn’t really want to share a house with anyone, not even her own sister, after she married Chuck. How sensible Iris was! She knew perfectly well that, after the wedding service, she would want to take Mick back to the Fort House—alone—and stay there and live there with him—alone. She didn’t want any interference from any of her sisters or their husbands, and she definitely didn’t want any interference from Cornell.
Even though she knew in her heart Iris was right, Violet still couldn’t resign herself to support their plan to serve Cornell with his marching orders. She just couldn’t bring herself to remove the last remaining obstacle to all three of their couples living alone together in their own houses.
To Violet’s eternal gratitude, the cabin door swung open and Rose and Jake came out onto the porch. At the same time, Mick and Iris strode up the hill and stopped right in front of Chuck and Violet. Thank goodness she’d let go of his hand before they came!
One passing glance at her sisters showed Violet they’d each shared a moment of connection with their future husbands the same way Violet had with Chuck. All six of them wore the same bewildered smile on their faces and the same smitten blush on their cheeks. Did she look that way, too? Violet felt the burning heat in her face and knew she did.
Mick climbed up onto the porch. He selected one of the long cases from the pile of luggage and laid it out on the floor. He unclipped the latches and threw back the lid. He took a polished shotgun out of the case and inspected it. He raised the butt to his shoulder, pointed the muzzle down toward the ground, and sighted down the barrel.
Then he set the shot gun aside and took out first one and then another lever-action rifle. He gave these the same inspection. When he finished, he stood all three guns against the wall in the corner of the porch.
The three sisters watched him, Iris in admiration, Rose detached, and Violet frozen in astonishment. So this was the man her sister planned to marry? A man who unpacked his guns before everything else? Jake and Chuck watched him, too, and his actions gave Jake an idea. He dug out a small square case from the stack of trunks and bags and opened it on the bent-wood chair at the back of the porch.
Violet gasped in surprise when he lifted out a gun belt bristling with bullets and buckled it around his waist. The hand grips of the two pistols hanging on either hip gleamed with inlaid ivory and silver enamel. Jake adjusted their position on his hips and drew them one after the other. He hefted them in his hands, flexed the hammers of both guns under his thumb, and then slid them back into their holsters.
The gun belt made him look different to Violet. It made him look….what? What was different about him, with a gun at his waist? Yet the minor addition to his wardrobe changed him in Violet’s eyes. She couldn’t understand it, but her estimation of him shifted. Her first impression of him at the hotel saloon had been grossly incorrect. He wasn’t small or weak or inexperienced or soft. Jake Hamilton was not a man to be trifled with. Violet was never more certain of anything.
Neither Rose nor Iris nor Chuck showed any sign of disturbance at the men getting out their guns. Was Violet exaggerating the significance of it? After all, they’d wanted cowboys and cowboys was what they got. Still, something told Violet these were no ordinary cowboys handling the tools of their trade. Mick looked more like an outlaw getting ready to rob a bank.
And Jake? She didn’t know what Jake looked like. He didn’t look like any cowboy she ever saw. He looked like a coyote or a mountain lion stalking its prey. Violet knew nothing about him, but she was quite certain he could wield those guns with deadly accuracy.
Chapter 13