She sucked in a tiny breath, and he couldn’t tell if it was his story or her pain. Worry for her obliterated everything else.
They were still a good ways from home, maybe an hour with him having to hold his horse to a fast walk. Was she worse?
“You wanna stop for a while?”
* * *
The intense pain racking Rose’s body made it impossible to maintain a respectable distance between them. Rose leaned into him. She just wanted to let him take care of her.
His gentle way brought tears to her eyes. The awful stomach cramps ravaged her body as fear ravaged her heart. Was something wrong with the baby? This intense pain didn’t seem like labor—it seemed worse, somehow.
And if it was labor...? She wasn’t ready. No plans had come to fruition. She didn’t even have a baby blanket.
“Do you want to get down for a bit?” He repeated his question, his voice low in her ear. “If the motion of riding is getting to ya, we can be still for a bit, find a dry place for you to sit.”
“No,” she whispered. “Let’s keep going.”
His thoughtfulness, his tender care brought tears to her eyes all over again.
Jamie had turned her head with his flirtatious manner, his honeyed words. But she couldn’t imagine Jamie holding her like this, not after how unkindly he’d treated her.
Thoughts of her late husband and her dire situation weren’t helping, nor were they providing a distraction from her pain. “What did you do?” she asked in a whisper. “Join the fight?”
“Hardly,” came his quick answer. “I’d like to think I’m smarter than that.”
She couldn’t help smiling, but attempted to hide the expression in the blanket by ducking her chin into the fold of fabric.
“There was someone coming down the street on horseback, and I yelled for the sheriff, pretended it was him coming down the road. The three thugs scattered—”
“And you and Ricky became friends.”
“Not exactly.”
She looked up, surprised. Davy wore a pensive expression, his eyes shadowed beneath the brim of his hat, his expression far off, lost in the past.
“He was furious. He rounded on me and swung.”
“What? Why?” It didn’t make sense.
He shrugged. The movement rippled his shoulders beneath his coat. “He wanted to prove himself or some nonsense.”
Were all men such a mystery? She hadn’t understood Jamie’s quicksilver mood changes and Davy’s calmness was just as much a mystery. And now this. Why would a boy try to fight someone who had helped him?
“I’d never been in any kind of fistfight and even though he was smaller, he knocked me down with one hit. My nose was bleeding all over the place, and he sneered at me and said, ‘Why don’t you go cry to your pa?’ I was just about in tears, and I told him I didn’t have a pa. And that stopped him. He looked at me, really looked at me, and musta saw how scared and alone I really was. He helped me up off the ground and took me to this little camp he had on the outskirts of town. We didn’t stay around long—those boys were mean and looking for us—but we stayed together. Until recently.”
“What do you mean?”
“He left, months ago. Just walked away from our family without a word.” He sounded disappointed or upset.
This felt more familiar to her. Family had the power to hurt a person.
She couldn’t blame him. She could tell from the stories he’d told her that Davy took family seriously, as seriously as he took everything else. Ricky’s defection must have hurt him.
“Have you heard from him? Gotten a letter?”
“Nothin’.” He squinted beneath his Stetson, eyes on the horizon. “I’d like to think he’d send word if he needed his family, but I just don’t know.. Ricky and me are a lot alike...” he whispered.
She stiffened slightly at his words, but didn’t reply.
They came out from beneath a canopy of trees, from dappled sunlight into bright sunshine that reflected off the snow.
“We’re almost home,” he said quietly.
She shivered. What kind of reception could she expect from Davy’s family? Would they shun her? They couldn’t be expecting her.
“I know you probably weren’t looking for me when you came out here,” he said, still softly. “But maybe the Good Lord sent me to that cabin for a reason. Maybe he knew that you and your baby needed me.”
Part of her rejoiced. Their arrival meant she could get medical help. But it also meant that Davy would be returning to his cabin and his cattle soon, and she wasn’t ready for that. He felt like the only steady thing in her life right now. Part of her wanted to lean on him, let someone else share the burden she’d been struggling with for these days and the loneliness that had been a part of her life for even longer.
But the cautious part, the heart that had been hurt by Jamie’s desertion and her stepmother’s controlling ways, had her holding her tongue.
She stayed silent as they neared a low, sprawling house.
* * *
Rose hunched over, clutching her stomach with an anguished moan, and Davy kicked his mount into a gallop.
A thin wisp of smoke came into view first, then his parents’ home. His pa had built a three-room cabin to start, and added on more rooms as the family had grown. When the boys had started growing to their majority, Jonas had built the bunkhouse next to the barn, and that was where Matty, Seb and Davy stayed now.
He saw when they were noticed. Two of his brothers were outside the barn and one waved a hat in recognition. As they drew closer, Davy saw it was actually Matty and his pa. They seemed to understand that something was wrong and waited on Davy until he pulled up, breathing just as hard as his mount. Two horses in the corral whickered in welcome.
He was home. He would find help for Rose here.
Matty took the horse’s bridle as Jonas moved to take Rose from his arms.
“What’s wrong?” Jonas asked. “Who’s this?”
“Where’d she come from?” Matty echoed.
“The line shack,” Davy answered. “This is Mrs. Rose Evans.”
He saw the moment when Jonas realized Rose’s condition. His eyes widened in surprise and then flashed to Davy, who shook his head slightly. Later, Davy mouthed to his pa.
“Let me help ya down.”
Rose’s hands convulsed on Davy’s shoulders.
“She might be in labor.”
Jonas helped her down, but her legs buckled and his pa had to catch her around the waist.
Davy swung his leg over the saddle and hopped down, tension jarring up through his feet all the way up his spine.
“I’ve got her,” he told his pa, and swept Rose up into his arms. She just felt right there. He didn’t take time to question the feeling.
She made a noise of distress; her face crumpled in pain.
He moved toward the main house, speaking over his shoulder. “Is Maxwell around? Or Hattie?”
“I’ll run over and fetch him if he hasn’t left for town yet.” Matty swung up into the saddle Davy had just vacated and galloped off as Davy moved toward the house.
Jonas moved ahead to push open the door, shouting for Penny.
The scent of baking bread and the feeling of home hit Davy as he crossed the threshold.
Ma was in the kitchen with Ida and Andrew, their two youngest. All three looked startled.
“Ma, we need your help.”
Ma came forward without hesitation, not showing her surprise at seeing Davy, who shouldn’t have been back down to the homestead for months. Or even at seeing him carrying a woman who was obviously in distress.
“This is Rose Evans. Rose, my ma, Penny White.” He made quick work of the introductions.
His ma seemed to know what
to do before he’d finished speaking.
“Is she in labor?” Penny asked. “Bring her into my room.”
“No!” Rose roused enough to exclaim the word, raising her head from Davy’s shoulder.
“I insist,” Penny said over her shoulder, leading the way.
Jonas remained in the kitchen with the younger kids.
“Don’t argue,” Davy said. “It’ll be more private. The little ones won’t be in the way or listening at the door.”
Her head rolled on his shoulder. He couldn’t tell if she was still disagreeing or just in pain.
“Put her on the bed,” Penny ordered. She pulled back the bedcovers entirely.
He set Rose in the center of the large feather tick, as gently as possible.
“You’ll wait outside,” Penny said, her back to him as she pulled open the bottom of a large chest of drawers in the corner of the room.
He didn’t want to wait outside. And by the panicked look in Rose’s widened eyes, perhaps she didn’t want to be alone with his mother either.
It was a private moment, one for a husband. He couldn’t stay.
“Remember what I said,” he told her quietly, taking her hand from the folds of the blanket and squeezing. He looked straight into her eyes, held her gaze and tried to convey how gravely serious he was. “I won’t abandon you,” he said quietly.
Something settled in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything aloud.
He straightened and gave Rose one last look before turning for the door. His ma wore an inscrutable expression, but he knew he could trust her to take care of Rose. Just as he knew there would be questions later—lots of them.
Maxwell was coming through the kitchen as Davy exited the bedroom. He’d never been so relieved to see his older brother. Maxwell clasped his black doctor’s bag in one hand. He said something to Jonas that Davy couldn’t hear and then nodded to Davy briefly as they met in the narrow hallway.
“She’s pregnant?” Maxwell asked, voice low.
Davy couldn’t guess what Matty had said about the rush the two of them had arrived in. “Yes. Pretty far along. She said she thought there were a few weeks to go.”
He didn’t like how stoic Maxwell remained. “How did she get up there? Do you know what she was eating?”
“All the canned goods I’d set in store for the winter.” The thought didn’t make him clench his teeth in anger, not like it had when he’d first found her. She’d done what she had to do to survive.
“Is it dangerous for the baby to come early?” Davy wanted some indication that his brother thought Rose would be all right.
“I don’t know yet. I’ll need to do an exam. Anything else?”
Davy shook his head, eyes going to the door behind Maxwell’s shoulder. Was Rose going to be all right?
Maxwell’s eyes cut to Davy briefly and then away.
“Do you know who the father is?” Maxwell asked. “Should we send Matty to town to find—”
“He’s dead and buried up on the mountain.”
Maxwell’s expression turned stormy. His brother, known for his quiet nature and intelligence, didn’t say a word. He gave Davy one last inscrutable look and turned and entered the bedroom.
Davy had a glimpse of Penny standing near the bedside, but couldn’t see Rose at all before the door closed behind his older brother.
She was in his family’s hands now. He couldn’t trust them more.
But something niggled at him anyway. How could he leave her?
Chapter Seven
An hour later, Davy sorted through goods in the back of the cold cellar, a shallow dugout behind the main house. He hadn’t been able to sit idly in the house, waiting for Maxwell’s diagnosis. His nervous energy needed to be worked off.
Pa had told him to take what he needed from the family’s stores, but Davy was determined to settle up with him later. He had some funds left after his purchase of the winter herd, and it was the right thing to do.
The smell of earth and raw vegetables filled his nostrils. The afternoon was mild enough that he’d thrown off his coat.
He lifted a bag of potatoes out the door and as he was turning back to the stores, a shadow blocked the light from the doorway. And then his pa ducked inside.
“Need help?” Jonas asked.
It wasn’t a difficult job. Davy had been the one to get all the supplies ready earlier in the summer, and it had taken all of an hour.
“Ma send you out here?” Davy asked.
Even backlit by the afternoon sun streaming in the door, Davy could see his pa’s quick grin. “We’re all curious what’s going on. How’d that little gal end up at the line shack anyway?”
Davy knew Maxwell would take good care of Rose, but Davy didn’t like not knowing. Was she all right?
He found a bag of apples that might’ve been forgotten behind a crate. They were soft but not rotten and he knew they could can them or make applesauce. He brushed past Jonas to add them to the growing pile.
“As far as I can tell, she and her husband were riding through and decided to camp in the shack. They were city folk and when he died, she didn’t know what to do.”
“Why ride through? Why not take the train on to their destination?”
His pa’s questions echoed the questions he’d been asking himself since he’d found her there. But Rose hadn’t known or had let her husband take charge—and her continued habit of jumping at every sound made him guess as to why.
He knew he needed to get back up to the cabin so he could watch over the winter herd. And the little dog needed looking after. But he could still see her wide fearful eyes as he’d deposited her in his parents’ room. He couldn’t just leave.
“I don’t know,” Davy answered. “The husband left her without any money or possessions.”
He sensed more than saw Pa’s frown. “Did you see the grave?”
“Yeah. He’s buried up behind the cabin under the gnarled pine tree. She buried him herself.” He hated that she’d had to face that all alone.
“And the stores?”
“Gone.” They stepped out into the sunlight together.
They both knew what a blow it was to lose the supplies they’d counted on to last through a good part of the winter.
Davy let his eyes track the horizon over his father’s fields. Snow had drifted into depressions among the grass, but it didn’t appear to have fallen as hard here as it had up on the mountain where the drifts were much deeper. But it would. Wyoming winters could be harsh.
“I’ve got some funds that I hadn’t invested in the cattle. I’ll replace what you and Ma are short. I’ll make it right.”
Jonas looked at Davy sharply, but Davy kept his eyes on the landscape. He’d been thinking of it since they’d arrived here.
Jonas had started his homestead with a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre tract. When each of his sons had come of legal age, they had filed under the Homestead Act for adjoining land. As the income from the ranch and larger herds and cutting horses, Jonas had begun splitting it among his sons for the hard work they put into the family business. And while Ricky had spent most of the money he’d earned on carousing and drinking, Davy had saved his funds until a few weeks ago when he’d invested in the cattle. He was banking on his brother coming back. Even if the rest of the family didn’t think Ricky deserved it, Davy wanted his brother to have something to come home to.
“That’s not necessary,” Jonas said. His voice was calm, but Davy thought he heard an edge of tension. “It’s not your responsibility, just a coincidence that this gal ended up on our property.”
Davy opened his mouth, ready to argue with his pa. Rose felt like his responsibility. At the very least, she was his friend. And maybe they were even headed to more.
Before their c
onversation could dissolve into an argument, Maxwell came out of the house, his black doctor’s bag in hand.
Davy met his brother on the porch steps, aware that his pa had followed right behind.
“How is she?” He was aware that his question sounded proprietary and worked to lower the intensity in his voice. “Is she having the baby?”
Maxwell never missed much and his green eyes were speculative on Davy. “It’s false labor, probably coupled with stomach upset. The baby won’t come for another week or two. Maybe more, if she’s got her dates mixed up.”
Rose must have been relieved. He was. Weak with it. She was all right.
“She’s undernourished,” Maxwell said, a question under his words.
Davy nodded. “She was stuck up in the cabin for weeks alone. I think she rationed the stores that were up there.”
Maxwell shook his head, frowning deeply. “Expecting mothers have to be careful.”
He knew. And he guessed Rose knew, too, but what choice had she had?
The urge to defend her grew in him, strong and hot. But he cleared his throat against it.
“Do you or Hattie know of anyone hiring in town?”
Maxwell and Hattie had a clientele that included almost every family in Bear Creek. Surely they would know of someone who needed help in their business or at home.
“Not that I can think of,” Maxwell said, a frown etching his features. “I’ll ask Hattie, though.”
Davy looked to his pa. “She can stay here, right? Until she gets back on her feet?”
Their family ranch had hosted many a needy soul, including Edgar’s now-wife Fran and her brother and sister.
But Jonas’s brow creased. “I’ll talk to your ma.”
What?
Maxwell stuffed his hat on his head. “I’ve got to get to town and spell Hattie at the clinic.”
Davy ran his hand up the back of his neck and faced his father. He’d promised Rose he wouldn’t leave her. “I’m going to ask Matty to ride up and check the cattle for me. And Breanna’s little dog.”
He’d been too worried about Rose to go after it.
Jonas shifted. The closed expression on his face was one Davy didn’t see often. “You’ve had these plans for months. Are you changing them now?”
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