“This is weird,” he told her a few minutes later.
“Yeah… Just wait until my Mama sees you… She’s going to faint dead away.”
Maddy wasn’t far from wrong, either. Lenora took one look at David, saw his badge pinned to his vest, and sat down on a kitchen chair with a thump. “It’s him, isn’t it?” she looked at her daughter.
“Yes. He saved my life, too. Where is Papa hiding…? I need his help.’
“He saved your life… oh, Madeline Sarah… you’d better not be telling me the part about the killer is true, too…?” Lenora paled, and then roused herself to run to the doorway and call out, “CONNIE! CONNIE, COME QUICK!!!!”
Connie had only heard Lenora use that tone of voice a few times during their marriage, and it meant trouble. He jumped up from his desk and ran for the kitchen. Lenora grabbed him, and wordlessly pointed at David, who was watching the scene unfold in something akin to amusement.
Connie crossed the room in three long strides and grabbed Maddy to him and held her tightly. “It happened, child?”
“Yes, Papa, and I did everything you taught me to do, and it worked. David shot the killer, and saved me.”
Connie had tears in his eyes when he turned to David. “Thank you, son. Our Maddy is precious to her Mama and me… to all of us. She’s told us since she was a little girl that she dreamed about you… and about that killer. Hell, I taught her and all the girls to protect themselves a bit, just because she was so positive she needed to know how to save herself. I never believed it would happen, though…” he hugged Maddy again. “That bastard is dead, I hope?”
The man’s tone of voice told David that if Amos wasn’t dead, he soon would be, and David decided that he’d much rather have Connie Webster on his side than fighting against him. “He’s dead, sir. He took aim on my Maddy and I shot him. Couldn’t miss at that range, but Maddy is the one who saved us both. She’s one brave girl, and I’m proud as I can be of her.”
Connie didn’t miss the ‘my Maddy‘, and he smiled. He didn’t understand how these two were so connected, but they were, and he wasn’t one to argue what was just because he couldn’t explain it.
“I was hoping you could have a couple of the men take Carson’s body into town, Papa… David is exhausted, and he needs to sleep before he keels over.”
David was surprised that Maddy knew he hadn’t slept in nearly three days, but the fact was, he hadn’t, and he was ready to drop. He’d reached his limit hours ago, and it was meeting Maddy that kept him going the last couple of hours. Without realizing quite how it happened, he was put to bed, and he slept deeply.
Connie made sure that David’s superiors knew where he was, and that he wasn’t going to be disturbed until he woke up on his own… not for any reason. When he returned home, he went looking for Lenora, and wasn’t surprised to find her in Maddy’s room. Their daughter was sleeping peacefully, and Lenora was sitting beside her on the bed, stroking her hair. “Is she all right, honey?” he asked hoarsely.
“Yes, she is fine… I’m the one who is scared half to death and shaking. My God, Connie, I just thought it was some silly, scary dream that kept playing over and over in her head, and that she somehow made it keep happening. It’s so shocking to know how close she came to being killed… That man wanted Blackie.”
“I know, honey. She’s safe now, and David is sleeping too. They got through this together.” He took her hand and held it… and decided she didn’t need to know what he learned while he was in town. Amos Carson was a rapist, and he killed his victims when he was done with them. Carson had hated women, and there were at least twenty of them who had found death at his hands.
********************
David woke suddenly and sat up in bed. He looked around the room, and his memory came flooding back. The sun was high, and his hosts must think him the laziest person alive. He got up and splashed water on his face, shocked at his appearance. Someone had put his saddle bags in his room, and he had clean clothes folded neatly and lying on the dresser. David shaved his face, wondering what he would think of Maddy now that he was wide awake… and more importantly, what would she think of him? He couldn’t believe he collapsed into bed and left Connie Webster to clean up his mess…
Once David was presentable, he made his way into the hallway, and downstairs. There was a young boy at the bottom of the steps, looking at him curiously. “You really a Texas Ranger, mister?”
“I sure am. Who are you?”
“I’m Zack Webster. The other kids think it’s cool that you’re stayin‘ here. How many men have you killed?”
“Zachary, you have chores to do.”
“Aw, Ma!”
“Now, young man,” Lenora said firmly, and Zack headed outside. “Come on into the kitchen, Ranger, and I’ll fix you something to eat.”
David followed her, and was happy when he saw Maddy. She looked so pretty in a dress. “Mornin‘,” he said.
“It’s afternoon, David,” she giggled. “You’ve been asleep for over twenty-four hours!”
“I have?” he was stunned.
“You were exhausted. I’m surprised you didn’t shoot me instead of Carson.”
“I’m better than that, missy,” he growled at her, not taking her teasing seriously. “You sure do look pretty today,” he told her.
“Thank you, and I much prefer your face without all of that black hair on it,” she was ever the honest Maddy.
David grinned. “I’m a handsome devil, ain’t I?”
“You’ll do until something better comes along,” Maddy was quick to retort, and just that quickly David was pulling her close.
“You know better than tease me like that, Miss Maddy. I’ve never tolerated that, and I won’t now.” He was shocked when she smiled.
“Just checking to make sure you are really you…” she stated candidly.
“I am me, and you know it, too.”
“This is just great… My sister is loony and planning to marry another loony… Your kids will be double loonies,” Becky said tartly. “Papa, they are utterly foolish.”
“Just because you don’t understand something, Becky, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” Connie said firmly. “Maddy and David have had the same dreams… It means something, and since we can’t claim to understand it ourselves, we aren’t going to call them foolish. Understand me, Rebecca?”
“Papa, you have always encouraged Madeline to such nonsense. She’s besotted with a dream, for goodness sake.”
“Are you arguing with me, Rebecca Noreen?” Connie asked quietly.
“Of course not, Papa. I’m not completely foolish, unlike some people in this house!” she answered, then left the room.
“Don’t mind Becky, David,” Maddy said with a sigh. “She’s just unhappy.”
“Unhappy about what?” Connie demanded, wondering why he was always the last to know anything around this house.
“Now that David is here, Becky is last… and her pride is wounded.”
********************
David wanted to take Maddy with him when he left, but her father said ‘no’ and told him that he was going to have to court Maddy for a while, so they could both be sure that marriage was what they wanted. David was sure enough for both of them, but Maddy told him he wasn’t going to change Connie’s mind. She sent him on his way with a kiss, and promised she would see him when he returned from the job he had to take.
The entire time he was gone, David couldn’t get Maddy off his mind. He missed her, and wanted to be with her. He quickly wrapped up the job in three days time, and went to headquarters and turned in his badge. He didn’t know what he was going to do with his life, but he wasn’t going to spend his time away from Maddy. He wanted to marry her, and he wanted to get home before that Sweetheart Dance on Valentine’s Day. David wasn’t about to let her dance with anyone but him… For the first time in his life, he was completely in love.
He hurried back to the Webster Ranch, and as he was get
ting closer, he spotted a horse racing at breakneck speed. He urged his mount to a gallop, positive the rider was in danger. He drew a bit closer, and was shocked when the rider suddenly jumped up into the saddle to balance precariously as the horse continued to run. David watched in horror as the rider did several other tricks that only a daredevil would attempt. He decided to grab the youngster, whoever it was, and haul him home to his Pa for a trip to the woodshed. It was exactly what he needed for acting like such a damned fool.
When the rider stopped, and hopped down, David was shocked to realize that he not only recognized the mount, he suspected his very own Maddy was wearing men’s britches. He urged his mount to a quicker pace, and before he’d gotten much closer, Maddy had her rifle in her hands.
“Madeline Webster, are you out of your mind? Are you trying to break your neck?” he demanded, jumping from his mount. He took Maddy’s rifle from her hands, and placed it back where it belonged. “I cannot believe you are wearing britches! And don’t you dare tell me your Pa knows you are doing something so dangerous…”
“I can’t tell you anything as long as you are talking, and no, Papa doesn’t know. One of the hired hands taught me to do trick riding a couple years ago… before Papa fired him for drinking on the job. It’s fun,” she said, and when he swore under his breath, she added, “I was looking forward to having you come home, but now I’m having second thoughts. You look thoroughly upset… and where is your badge?” she raised her shocked eyes to his.
“Do not change the subject, little girl. You are in so much trouble…”
“Why? I know what I’m doing…”
“If your horse stumbled, you could be killed. And you’re out here all alone, Maddy. Don’t you tell me your Pa would approve.”
“Okay, I won’t tell you, and Blackie doesn’t stumble. I trained him better than that.”
“There could be a hole.”
“I walked the ground first! I’m not a fool, and you can just stop yelling at me, David Price!”
“Fine. I’m done yelling. I’m ready to start blistering your butt.”
“No! Noooo! NO! David, don’t you dare!” Maddy put up a good fight, but David was simply too strong and too determined to paddle her backside. It didn’t take him long to pull her over to a fallen log, where he took a seat and tugged her resisting form down over his lap. “David, don’t!”
David’s only answer was to bring his hand down on her bottom several times… hard.
“Please stop… Please… Can’t we discuss this?” Maddy begged of him. “Please…? I don’t want you to do this…”
“You’re the one who told me to stop yelling at you…” David countered, continuing to make his displeasure known on her bottom. He rather doubted she was getting the full effect, but he couldn’t very well bare her out here in the open… and certainly not before they were married. It wouldn’t be proper, and she was damned lucky that it wasn’t. “I won’t have you risking your neck like that, Madeline.”
“Okay! I get the message!”
“You’re going to get the message a whole lot more times before I stop,” David promised. “You’ve earned a damned good licking, and if we were married, young lady, I’d be cutting a switch and taking it to your bare bottom. Is that clear?”
“Ow! Yes… I’m sorry, David.”
“Are you going to do any more trick riding?” he demanded.
“Noooo!” Maddy mentally crossed her fingers behind her back.
“And, are you ever going to put on a pair of britches again?” he was incensed. He could see the outline of her shapely bottom as clear as day, and if he could, so could every other red-blooded man within sight. He wasn’t having it. He spanked her a bit lower, making sure that sitting was going to be extremely painful.
“I won’t wear pants if you don’t want me to, David. Please stop. I’m hurting so much!”
Maddy was crying, and her tears stopped him cold. Maddy didn’t cry often, and he knew it was time to stop. He lifted her up, and held her on his lap. “Are you mad at me, honey?” he wanted to know.
Maddy shook her head ‘no’, and then looked up at him with her tear-filled eyes. “We’d best ask Papa to let us get married soon, David. In my dreams, you always make love to me when we make up after a spanking.”
“I promised your Pa we wouldn’t do that…” She looked at him again, and smiled knowingly. David nodded, and said, “I’ll speak to your Pa tonight.”
Chapter Seven
Michael Rich, Attorney
Michael wondered if anyone would see his ad in the newspaper and come to inquire about the job in his law office. It was true that he couldn’t afford to pay much, but surely someone in this town was interested in the law, and willing to work more for the experience than the money. There had to be a young man who wanted to be a lawyer… He really needed help… and fast. His office was a mess, he couldn’t find anything, and it took him forever to use the new typewriter to make up a will or a deed. He kept making mistakes and having to start over. Michael needed help, and he hoped the advertisement found him the right person to make his life easier. If not, he was going to write to his old law school and see if they could recommend someone.
It was midmorning when the first knock came on his door. Michael jumped up and answered the door. “Yes, may I help you?”
“I come for the job, sonny. I can run papers all over town for you,” the bewhiskered old man smelled of whiskey, and Michael immediately knew he couldn’t hire the man.
He told him politely that he wasn’t qualified for the position, and the man was happy to amble away, probably to the nearest saloon.
The next man who came to see him couldn’t read. The third one was just released from jail, and thought it was Michael’s duty to give him a job since he’d put him in jail. Michael disabused him of that notion, and returned to his desk, shaking his head. Wasn’t there one person in this town he could hire and know they would be dependable? A few minutes later there was another knock on the door, and Michael prepared himself to be disappointed.
When he opened the door, however, one of the Webster girls was standing there. “Miss Webster, please come in and have a seat.” Once she was seated, he asked, “What can I do for you?”
“I’ve come to apply for the position as your clerk, Mr. Rich,” Rebecca stated clearly.
“But, you’re a woman!” he exclaimed in surprise.
“How observant you are,” Rebecca replied with a touch of sarcasm.
“That isn’t what I mean,” he said, a bit flustered.
“Then what DO you mean, Mr. Rich?”
“I intended to hire a man for the position.”
“What on earth for?”
“The job requires regular hours every day. You must be able to read, file, and keep appointments, and use that infernal machine to make legal documents and write out letters.”
“Do you think that those are things that only a man can do?” Rebecca was very irritated with the man, and not afraid to show it.
“Those machines are very difficult, Miss Webster. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to decline…”
“Without asking me if I can actually do any of those things…?” Becky was incredulous at his manner.
“Very well, Miss Webster,” Michael decided to get it over with. “Do you know how to use a typewriter?”
The smirk on his too handsome face gave her to know he was positive he already knew the answer, and she couldn’t wait to prove him wrong. “Of course I do. We have one at the ranch. I do all of my father’s letters.”
Michael raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Would you like to prove that, Miss Webster?”
“Of course,” Becky got to her feet and moved to the other side of the cluttered work table. She found a half-written letter on the paper, and where he’d scrawled it out on a tablet. A short time later, the letter was neatly typed, and ready for his signature. Once Michael finished looking it over, Becky said, “Well?”
�
�You’re hired, Miss Webster, provided your parents approve.”
********************
“I have an announcement to make,” Becky waited until dinner was nearly over. “I’ve been offered a position in Michael Rich’s office. I’m starting in the morning.”
“Doing what, Becky?” Abby asked conversationally, sensing her parents were too stunned to know what to say, and positive that Becky would turn the situation into a royal battle if someone didn’t calm her down and take the sting from her words.
“A lot of the same stuff I do for Papa… filing, writing letters, and typing them up.”
“Do you want to be a lawyer like Mr. Rich, Becky?” Zack asked curiously, earning a big smile from his normally sharp-tongued sister.
“No, Zack. Just sit in an office all day and do things you would find very boring.”
“But, you don’t need to work, dear,” Lenora sputtered, clearly not happy with the idea of her daughter working in an office every day.
“I don’t need to work, Mama, but I want to. I need something different to do with my time each day. You have all the help here you need, and you must admit, I am the very last one you ask to bake something, or to help cook a meal. I’m terrible at domestic things, and I would like to work. Michael said he would hire me provided you and Papa approve.”
“I don’t know, dear,” Lenora looked to Connie for help.
“I think it’s a fine idea, as long as you can be home each night for supper. I won’t have you out later than that. If Rich can accept that, I’ll agree to your working,” Connie stated, surprising each and every person at the table. “I also expect him to pay you a fair wage, and treat you with respect…”
“I’m sure he will, Papa,” Rebecca smiled at her father.
“I’ll make certain of that. I’ll take you to work in the morning and have a few words with Rich to make sure he understands my feelings on the subject.”
“Papa!”
“Rebecca, if you want to work, you’ll do it on my terms.”
Connie wasn’t sure that she would come down in the morning, but she did, and she looked very business-like in her black skirt and white shirtwaist. She had her dark brown hair pinned up, and Connie made sure to tell her she looked very pretty. He drove the buggy, after tying his stallion to the back so that he could make the trip home after speaking to the attorney.
Sweetheart Dance Page 7