Angel's Embrace

by Charlotte Hubbard

  Sure enough, there she was up ahead. Temple’s calico dress hung like a sack on Eve’s slender body; her hair was hanging loose, drifting with the breeze. She carried a small packet under one arm and was already favoring her left foot. Limping along with only her stubbornness to keep her going.

  As he caught up to her, Billy reminded himself about how girls lashed out when folks questioned their actions—or, God forbid, suggested a better way. Eve and Christine were birds of a feather: peacocks mostly, born to strut and show off their plumage. His sister had become a high-class dress designer and snagged a good husband, however. And now she was the mother of two redheaded twins who’d captured Uncle Billy’s heart at first sight.

  Did Eve have gumption enough to improve her life, too? It was time to find out.

  He held his tongue, hearing her breath coming in angry bursts as she hobbled along the rutted road. Not yet a mile away from the Malloy ranch, and she was already wearing thin—not that he would mention this. She was walking taller now. Knew someone was behind her, but Miss Massena would not turn around to ask for help.

  “How ’bout if I let you ride my horse, Eve? No sense in being weak and crippled.”

  She whirled around, her green eyes full of venom. “You are not taking me back to that house! I’ve had enough of—”

  “Oh, I know better than to try that, Peaches. I’m just offerin’ you a ride, while we talk.”

  “—those perfect people and their—who’re you calling Peaches?”

  Billy grinned. Their cook Beulah Mae had caught them eating peaches she’d set aside for pies, when they were maybe eight. He’d called Eve that name now and again to remind her of the switching they got—because of her idea.

  Behind her scowl, though, Billy saw frustration and fear, mostly. He witnessed such wariness in horses that had suffered heavy-handed owners who’d brought them to the Triple M, hoping Billy could “set them straight.” Train them to trust again.

  Like those skittish Morgans, Eve Massena was perfectly capable of behaving well. She was just out of her element here, after so many bad things had happened these past few months. Her emotional wounds hadn’t healed.

  “I’m sorry you feel that way. The Malloys have been nothin’ but wonderful to me,” he went on, gazing down at her from his horse. “You musta trusted ’em with Olivia, though, or you wouldn’t have left without her.”

  One eyebrow arched in annoyance. “What use do I have for that baby? Where I’m going—”

  “And where might that be?” Billy swung down from his mount, his movements slow and easy so he wouldn’t spook her. “Sounds like you’ve got nothin’ to go back to in Richmond.”

  “But it’s a nothing I know! At least there are places I might get a job, or a friend of the family who might take pity and—”

  “You don’t need pity any more than I do.”

  He held the reins with one hand and slowly offered her his other one, as though she were a skittish mare needing the reassurance of his scent. Her own sweetness teased at him on the morning breeze. Billy reminded himself that kissing her wouldn’t get him anywhere except in trouble—as it had when they’d gotten caught sneaking those peaches.

  Eve scowled at his extended hand. “If you’re trying to drag me back—”

  “That would never work,” he confirmed. “You came to Abilene lookin’ for me, and didn’t get things your way. So now you’re walkin’ off in a hissy fit to get my attention again. Well, you’ve got it.”

  When those green eyes widened, he swallowed hard. He knew all about young women who batted their lashes and stomped their feet—and he might fall for this one anyway. After all, she’d come here believing he’d help her. That was bait he had trouble resisting.

  “If this is a trick—if you’re just making fun of me—”

  “No tricks. I’m givin’ you a ride to town, and you can either board the train for Missouri with me, or you’ll go back to Mercy and Mike’s,” he said, watching her reaction. “Or, take your chances out here on the road. Just a matter of time before those blisters lay you low—and then where will you be?”

  Her scowl told him he was right but she didn’t appreciate it one bit. So why did that put a tickle down in his belly, as if butterflies were trying to break loose?

  Billy laced his fingers into a toe-hold for her and stood beside his horse, waiting.

  “That’s no choice at all!” she protested. “There’ll be hell to pay whether I go back to face Mother or answer to the Malloys, so—”

  Billy stood silently beside his horse, still stooped over. Her voice was more musical now than when they’d been kids, and he liked the way she’d filled out since then, too.

  “—don’t think for a minute I’m going to—Billy, you’re not listening to a thing I’ve said!”

  Your actions are speaking so loud, I can’t make out the words. But he couldn’t tell her how shaking her head made her shiny brown hair catch the sunlight, or how that calico dress clung to the curve of her hips when she scolded him. He just held his hands in position, meeting her green eyes with a gaze that didn’t waver.

  “Well, if you must know,” she finally blustered, “I was heading for town because that horse and buckboard I drove is at the livery stable, waiting for me to—”

  “Nope. Mike brought ’em back to the ranch when he took Gabe and Miss Vanderbilt to the train. So you might as well climb onto Pete.”

  Her exasperation made him chuckle. With a huff and a curse word, Eve placed her foot in his hand. She would have kicked him—accidentally, of course—if he hadn’t ducked his head.

  He swung up behind her, taking the reins again. “Now maybe we’ll get somewhere.”

  Eve sat stiffly, as though leaning on him was beneath her. For half a mile, he felt the waves of her frustration and bitterness, yet he had no idea how to help her. Sure, he’d gotten her off the road and out of danger, but now what would he do with her? The last thing he needed while he was tracking Wesley was a sickly female to slow him down—and this particular female would arouse his twin’s anger and suspicion about him, as well. Eve Massena might vow she’d stay at her mother’s, but he knew better.

  So it was time to find out why, exactly, she was now sitting in front of him, with the scent of her loose hair teasing his nose like the lilacs that bloomed in Mama’s garden, back by the gate.

  That memory stabbed at him. While Mama’s lilac bush was the least of his concerns, he was anxious about the Bristol homestead. He didn’t want anyone with him when he looked it over, after ten years of being away. So it was time for some tough talk.

  “I have been listening to what you’ve told me,” he began in the low, steady voice he used to coax a contrary horse, “but tell me the real reason you’re at loose ends now. The real reason you came to Kansas.”

  She whipped around so fast the horse spooked. Billy had to grab her and rein in Pete at the same time.

  “What don’t you understand?” she demanded. “For you it was different after the war—you’ve found yourself a whole new life! But I’m only nineteen, and my life is over!”

  Her pain resurrected his own, from deep down and long ago. Billy kept his arm around her, against his better judgment: Eve felt poised to turn around and slap him—and then they’d make even slower progress toward that train he wanted to catch.

  “Surely you recall the horror of losing your father—but I found mine hanging from his belt in the barn, Billy!” she rasped. “And when it got out about why he hanged himself—how he’d been paying outlaws to bring on foreclosures—my reputation was shattered! And now I’ve had a baby out of wedlock. What decent man will marry me?”

  Her eyes looked huge and wet, and Billy wished he’d picked a better time to start this conversation. Eve turned sideways, so she was sitting across his lap with her legs to one side now.

  “Imagine my humiliation, having to support a mother who was no more able to earn her keep than I was!” she continued in a distressed voice. “I onl
y got a position because so many of our male teachers had gone to war. I detested having to discipline those horrid children and clean that schoolhouse like somebody’s slave! These are the hands of an artist—not a maid!”

  To emphasize her point, she held out her hands. They were reddened and chapped. Not at all the creamy, flawless hands of one raised to be a lady.

  “I’m sorry about all this, Eve,” Billy murmured. “I saw my daddy shot down, so I know how awful it is to—”

  “But you’re a man, Billy. You can set your own course,” she blurted. “I was such a fish out of water—never enjoyed ciphering or geography or spelling—but I had to pretend I knew what I was doing. I was so desperate—so beside myself at the prospect of being an old maid school marm—I believed your brother when he said he’d marry me! With so many of our men lost to the war, Wesley seemed my only hope.”

  Billy got caught up in the shining eyes only inches from his own. Eve’s cheeks were flushed and she was trembling so hard he had to wonder what sort of a beast his brother had become.

  Or was this all an act to play on his sympathies? Billy listened intently, separating his sentiments from the bleak picture she painted with her words.

  “When I lost my—my innocence—to him and his pretty lies, I soon found out the consequences,” she continued nervously. “The bigger I got, the harder it was to hide my condition. The school board dismissed me for being an immoral example to the children—and then Mother got so mortified, she kicked me out! Said I was a disgrace to her and to the church.

  “That’s when I lost all faith in religion, Billy,” Eve whispered solemnly. “Lost all confidence in myself, as well. My need to have a man ruined what was left of my sorry life.”

  “Have you asked God to forgive you?”

  The question was out of his mouth before he thought about it, and her quick scowl told him he was treading on swampy ground.

  “Why would I do that?” she asked with an unladylike snort. “I’m sick to death of Mother’s preaching about how I’ve sinned and been her ruination!”

  “Ah, but that’s religion you’re railin’ against,” he remarked softly. “That’s not the same as havin’ faith. Askin’ God to forgive you—and then believin’ He has—leads to forgivin’ yourself, Peaches. You need to let go of—”

  “Stop calling me that childish name!”

  “—your mistakes and start from where you are—havin’ Olivia—and go forward again.”

  Her exasperation slapped him. “Billy! I’ve just told you I have nothing to go back to, and certainly no way to progress beyond—”

  “Instead of thinkin’ about what you’ve lost, let’s concentrate on what you have, Eve,” he countered. He was in up to his neck, so he might as well state his case—let her know the sort of man she’d be dealing with if she returned to Missouri. “The way I see it, you’re still the prettiest girl ever to live in Richmond. But don’t tell my sister that.”

  Eve blinked. Stared at him like a doe frozen at the sound of gunfire. Her lips tried to deny a grin. “You’re just saying that to—”

  “And while you don’t count it as a blessing yet, you have Olivia,” he continued earnestly. “Most men value a woman who can be a mother—like Michael Malloy loves Mercy.

  “And you saw how my mama took to that grandchild?” he went on in a more exuberant voice. “I bet your mother will, too, Eve. One look at that carrot-haired angel, and she’ll see how her life would be a whole lot happier if you two were home. She’d be the sort of help you need raisin’ a baby, too.”

  Eve glanced away, toward fields of cornrows that stretched into forever. “I’m not so sure about that, because—”

  “And you have your painting, too. Nobody can take that talent away from you, Eve.” He gazed at the smooth line of her jaw until she faced him again. “Plenty of folks around Ray County would love a likeness of their homes—and they’d pay you for them! I know I would.”

  Eve sighed sadly. “Honest to God, Billy, I sent you one. I hope you believe—”

  He placed a finger on her lips. His heart was beating so hard, his chest hurt. They’d be in town shortly, and he needed to know something before they arrived.

  “I do believe you sent it, honey, but I’m not so sure why. Why’d you come all the way to Kansas, lookin’ for me?”

  She went so still, he nearly pinched her to make her breathe again.

  “Why’d you call off your wedding, Billy?” she whispered. “You’ve been asking me all these questions, making me talk. It’s time you revealed yourself, as well.”

  The words were soft, with a breathy quality that lured him where he shouldn’t go just yet. But they certainly got to the crux of the matter.

  He stopped the horse in the middle of the road. Why had he walked away from Emma and the life they’d been preparing for together?

  “Fair enough,” he hedged, praying he didn’t say something stupid—or something he’d regret the rest of his life. “I’m not a man who backs out on a promise. I feel as low as an earthworm for what I did to Emma.”

  She nodded, drinking in his face as he made his confession.

  “Partly I latched on to the possibility of seein’ Wesley, after all these years. And I want to go home again—even though I realize things won’t ever be the same there. But—”

  Billy let out a long, slow sigh, carefully considering his words.

  “It seemed like you went to a lot of trouble—took a huge chance—comin’ out to find me. And maybe God was tryin’ one last time to steer me away from a path I wasn’t meant to take,” he said softly. “I’m not sayin’ I’ll marry you to make up for the trouble my brother’s caused, but I feel responsible for Olivia—for seein’ she’s got a home. Am I makin’ any sense?”

  He looked into her eyes, wondering if she saw hope and strength—or the world’s biggest fool—as she returned his gaze.

  “Dang it, Eve, I wasn’t expectin’ to ever see you again, and—and I can’t leave you hangin’ the way Wes did. Got to get you on your feet again.”

  “That’s a tall order,” she murmured.

  “If you believe it can happen, I want to help.”

  Chapter Ten

  Billy Bristol wasn’t the most romantic man she’d ever met, but he wasn’t full of bluster like his brother, either. Eve remained sideways on the horse the rest of the way into Abilene, relishing the closeness of his body, the way he closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of her hair when he thought she wasn’t watching.

  He’d be easy to fool. He was so engrossed in doing the right thing by her and the baby, she could make all sorts of promises and he’d see the best in them. He’d give her the benefit of the doubt, despite the way she’d disrupted his wedding—his whole future.

  Sitting this close to him, Eve was aware of how much shorter and smaller Billy was than Wes, yet he radiated a confidence, an inner strength, that didn’t need physical might to make things right. His body looked lean and compact in his simple clothes of denim and chambray. His dark auburn hair was thick and neatly trimmed—and he didn’t sport that thicket of a beard his brother Wesley wore.

  She’d done the right thing, betting on Billy. And as the flat crop land and farmsteads gave way to the shops and buildings of Abilene, Eve sensed she’d better speak up. She had no intention of returning to the Triple M—ever—so she’d have to convince Billy she would make amends with her mother.

  Once she was back in Missouri, she’d get even with Wesley—and what could Billy do to her? He’d delivered her baby without a qualm and rescued her from the road, so he wouldn’t let her become his wicked twin’s target. He’d protect her to the death, although she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  When they arrived at the train station, Billy gave her a pointed look, with blue eyes that seemed to see through her secret plans.

  “Here’s how it’s gonna be,” he said as he helped her dismount. “You can go back to your mother’s—mend fences and get your strength back—while I
find my brother. Or I can have somebody drive you back to Mike and Mercy’s.”

  His eyes softened. Or was she imagining that?

  “Either way,” he went on, “I’m glad we had time to talk things out. And I’m glad I got to see you again, Peaches. It brings back happier times.”

  Was that all he had to say? Eve reminded herself that although Billy meant well, he didn’t blow on and on with flowery phrases.

  “You’re absolutely right about my needing more faith in myself,” she said softly—even though she’d been in command the whole time they rode. “And now, while Olivia’s being spoiled by her grandmother and Mercy, I can regain my strength and figure out what comes next for my daughter and me.”

  She kept her gaze fixed on his. “I—I hate to be beholden to you for train fare, Billy, because Mother won’t have the means to repay—”

  “I’ve socked away my pay from managin’ those horses at the Triple M. This is a good way to spend some of it.”

  He grinned at her, looking besotted. When he reached for her hand, Eve knew he’d be her willing victim. “It’ll be good to have company on the ride back home,” he said. “I can’t figure out how you came the whole way in that rickety wagon, close as you were to birthin’ your baby.”

  Eve shrugged, glancing toward the mercantile, watching the women walk by in their plain but respectable dresses. “It’s what I could afford. I—I wish I didn’t look so frumpy, though, Billy. People will wonder why you’re so neat and clean, while I’m—and Lord, if Mother sees me in this dress—”

  “She’ll be too excited to notice what you’re wearin’,” he replied pointedly. “You’re nearly back to the size you were before the baby came, so you’ll have clothes at home. Your mother surely won’t have emptied out your room.”

  When he turned to enter the train station, Eve made a nasty face at his back. She’d hoped to rub Wesley Bristol’s nose in the fact that she’d not only latched onto his brother, but Billy was taking care of her. Treating her like the lady she was! It wouldn’t be a convincing conversation if she were dressed in cast-offs, would it? She had no intention of going home for clothes.