Finn couldn’t resist a smile. Of course Sarah was months away from saying anything resembling “Pa,” but the thought of how it would feel when she finally did say it already filled him with such joy, he could barely contain it within the boundaries of his chest. And that shoved out some of the ache.
“We’re teaching her to say ‘Pa’ first. I figure there’s not much chance she’ll say ‘Auntie Rosie’ first, so I can be generous. We might let her say ‘Coop’ next, since he loves her so much.” Rosemary laughed. Then she sobered and softened her voice. “How are you doing with all this?”
He shrugged. “It’s like losing Rachel all over again.”
“Oh, Finn.” Her voice trembled. “I’m so sorry it has to be this way for now. You mentioned that the doctor said it only has to be for a few months, and then she’ll be strong enough to start trying soft foods from the table.”
Rosemary sounded sincere, but then, she was the one who had Sarah day and night, while he had her during supper and for a little bit in the evenings while at Rosemary’s. Would his little girl forget that she belonged to him?
Stepping aside, Rosemary allowed him to precede her into the house with the cradle. “Where do you want it?” he asked.
She pointed to the bedroom. “Agnes is sleeping in there.”
Finn turned to her. “Where are you sleeping?”
Ducking her head, she blushed and cleared her throat. “I’m going to sleep in the loft with Marta and Elsa.”
Agnes let out a sound of outrage. “You do not ask a young lady vhere she sleeps. This is not proper, and you have no right.” She glared at him. “You are fool not to marry this Rosemary, so you have no right to ask things vich are not proper.”
“Agnes, please.” Rosemary’s face glowed, and Finn gave her a pointed look. Clearly, she had told Agnes only part of the story. She hadn’t bothered sharing the fact that he had been willing, in the end, to marry her and she had chosen to wait for true love.
“Vell, he should not ask vhere you sleep. That is all.”
Finn couldn’t resist the half smile playing at the corners of his lips. “I suppose you’re right.” He carried the cradle across the room to the door. “May I enter your room, Mrs. Fischer? I’d like to put my daughter’s cradle next to the bed so she has a place to sleep.”
“Of course, Herr Tate.” She moved aside, and her tone softened. “You vill be staying for supper, ja?”
“Yes, he’s staying for supper,” Rosemary said, clearly over the embarrassment. “Won’t you, Finn?”
He captured her gaze and noticed for the first time that a spray of freckles dotted her cheeks. “I’d be happy to.”
Laughter filled the evening, with the lively Fischer children, Rolf’s exuberant voice, and Rosemary’s stories of growing up on the ranch.
It wasn’t until he was driving home, much later than he’d planned to stay, that Finn realized he hadn’t spent most of his time making comparisons between the two sisters. As a matter of fact, he hadn’t seen anyone this evening but Rosemary.
* * * * *
“Miss Jackson.” Marta rushed inside, her breath coming in short bursts and deep gulps.
“Marta, for mercy’s sake.” Rosemary set aside the pair of Afonso’s trousers she was mending and stood. “Did you run all the way from the back fields?”
The girl nodded. “He’s here again.”
“Mr. Clayton?”
She bobbed her head, swallowing hard to catch her breath.
“Where are the boys?”
“They are still helping Mr. Tate in his fields,” Marta said.
“Elsa?”
“I don’t know, Rosemary.”
Agnes walked into the room. “Elsa is in the cellar, fetching kraut for supper.”
“Is Coop down there with her?”
Agnes nodded. “He does not let her go alone.”
“Good. Keep him locked down there so he doesn’t go after Clayton or his men. I don’t want him shot. Sarah is down for her nap?”
“Yes, Sarah is sleeping.” Agnes looked from Marta to Rosemary and back to her daughter. “Marta, vhy are you breathing so heavy?” Agnes frowned. “Vhy are you talking of that evil man? Vat is happening?”
Still struggling to catch her breath, Marta answered, “Mr. Clayton is almost here, again. Rolf and I saw him riding through the fields.”
The girl must have run like the wind to beat them here on foot.
Mr. Clayton had paid two visits to the homestead over the past month, each time to complain about Rosemary’s sheep—though she knew full well that not one of them had left her property. She had told him as much both times. She knew it infuriated him that she refused to show fear around him.
Rosemary turned her gaze to Agnes and met her troubled eyes. Not for the first time, Agnes offered her opinion. “Perhaps you must sell the sheep and make a farm instead.”
Rosemary shook her head. “It isn’t about sheep or farming. This is about greed.” She walked across the room and took the Winchester from its place over the mantel. “Mr. Clayton won’t be satisfied until I leave this land the way Silas did.”
She loaded the rifle and headed for the door. “Stay inside with your mother and help her watch over Elsa and Gerta and the baby,” she instructed Marta. “If it looks like something might happen, run out the back way and get Mr. Tate.” She glanced at Agnes. “But only if your mother says you may go.”
Fear shone in Marta’s enormous blue eyes, but she swallowed hard and nodded.
Rosemary opened the door and stepped onto the porch.
Predictably, Mr. Clayton had traveled with his four stinking henchmen. They flanked him on either side, leering at her in a manner that made her feel unclothed. “That’s far enough.” She rested the rifle in an easy grip on her arms, keeping the weapon turned away from human flesh. “What do you want, Clayton?”
Mr. Clayton stared down at her from his horse. His cold, hard eyes sent a shiver down her spine, but she refused to give the satisfaction of letting him see her fear.
“I’ve come to make you an offer.”
“In that case, I’m sorry you’ve wasted your time.” She smiled. “Good day.”
She backed toward the door, keeping her senses attuned to the men wearing guns.
“My dear girl,” Mr. Clayton said, “I said I have come to make you an offer.”
Fixing her stance, she nodded. “I understand, sir. But an offer has to be of mutual benefit for any reasonable person to accept.” She lifted her eyebrow. “And you have nothing I want.”
“Hear me out. You might be surprised.” He smiled without warmth. “And truly, if I don’t want to go, how will you force me to? So you may as well listen.”
The men around him chuckled, and she felt her knees go weak. But she knew she had to stay strong. If she didn’t protect herself and her possessions, who would?
“All right, then.” Rosemary hated the feeling of helplessness, weakness. “Say what you came to say.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me in?” He moved as though he might dismount.
“No. And truly, sir, perhaps I cannot force you to leave, but I can keep you from coming inside. And I’d be within my legal right to use whatever means I have, as a matter of fact.” She fingered the rifle to make her point. “You might as well stay on your horse. You won’t be here long.”
“Very well, little miss.” His expression darkened to a scowl. “I’ve tried to reason with you about the sheep. I’ve tried to buy you out fair and square. But your stubbornness has forced me to disclose the truth behind my insistence that you go.”
A smile tipped Rosemary’s lips. “I see. You want to be honest?”
“That’s right.” His tone had grown hard and lowered in pitch as his anger built. “The land you are on is rightfully mine. I consider you little more than a squatter, and I intend to have the acres you’ve laid claim to for those stupid creatures with wool.”
Rosemary shook her head and took another step
back toward the door. “You may think you are entitled to any land you choose, Mr. Clayton, but I have a receipt that says otherwise when it comes to my acreage. I have no intention of failing to prove up like Silas did.”
“You don’t understand.” He gestured toward the house, the barn, the bunkhouse. “I bought all this.”
He was lying, of course. He had to be, because she had paid Silas a fair price for the buildings. She thought back to Silas’s insistence that she pay him only a portion of the amount they had agreed upon, and a sick feeling of dread threatened her stomach. Had Silas taken a purchase price from Mr. Clayton as well as from her?
No, it couldn’t be. Clayton had to be lying. But something in his eyes made her wonder. And suddenly she wasn’t so sure. “You can’t buy land that someone else has filed a claim on.” She narrowed her gaze. “The government wouldn’t do that.”
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying I bought the land from the government. Although I suppose I should have, instead of trusting that weasel of a man, Silas Freeman. I paid him to file on the land, and I put up the buildings you are enjoying.”
“What are you getting at?” Not that she believed anything the likes of Bart Clayton said.
“Your friend Silas Freeman took me up on my offer and then went back on our agreement.”
“I don’t know what sort of offer you’re referring to,” she said, trying not to believe that Silas had double-crossed this man and then left her to manage the repercussions of his duplicity. “One thing you should know about me, Mr. Clayton, is that I don’t like innuendos and half-truths. So get to the point, or get off my land.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you have a sharp tongue?”
“More than once.” She gripped the rifle, ready to swing it around and protect her home if necessary. But she prayed the rancher and his men only intended to threaten her. “What so-called offer did you make Silas that he accepted and then went back on?”
“This claim was never supposed to be his and his little wife’s.”
Rosemary kept a steady gaze on him. “Indeed?”
“Do not believe this man’s lies.” Agnes stood at the threshold. “He vill say vhatever he must to steal your home.”
She was right, of course. The man had cattle, and cattle needed pastures in which to graze. She knew cattle. And that’s why she had chosen sheep. Silas hadn’t had to say much to convince her that she would do better with the woolly creatures, despite her inexperience. She could readily admit that she would never be as well-off as a man like Clayton and most likely never as prosperous as her pa had been. But she would do well enough. And she was glad she’d bought the sheep.
“I’ve come to appeal to your sense of fairness, miss, and to offer you twice what you paid for the sheep, for you to simply give up the claim like Silas did and leave. A girl like you could marry anyone you want. You don’t need to make yourself so unappealing to possible prospects by trying to homestead.” He winked at her and motioned to his own men. “Any one of these men would snatch you up in a jiffy, if you weren’t trying to behave like a man.”
Only one of the men, the youngest of the group by the looks of him, averted his gaze and expelled what appeared to be a frustrated breath. Was he frustrated with Mr. Clayton? Rosemary eyed him further. Mr. Clayton obviously mistook her curiosity for interest. “I can see you’ve taken a shine to Luke here.” He reached out and clapped the young man on the shoulder. “Luke, you’d be honored to court the little lady, wouldn’t you? If she moved off this land and stopped trying to be a man?”
“I r–reckon so, sir.” He blushed to the hairline of his orange-red hair.
This was getting too ridiculous. “Let’s not discuss my marital status or my likelihood of getting a husband, Mr. Clayton. And as for Luke here—I wouldn’t allow any man who has the bad judgment to work for you to come anywhere near me.”
“Now, little miss, think about what you’re saying.”
Rosemary lifted her hand to silence Mr. Clayton. “I don’t know if what you say about Silas is true or not.” Rosemary couldn’t help but think back to the confrontation in town when Silas had accompanied her to the land office. Looking back, it seemed as though Mr. Clayton might be telling a version of the truth, anyway. “But even if it were true, the agreement you had with him has nothing to do with me and my land or my sheep herd. My pa ran a thriving cattle ranch in Kansas and I helped him do so, and I understand that you need more land than you have for the size of herd you own, but that has nothing to do with me, either. My advice to you, sir, is to stop being so greedy and make sure you have enough grazing land to support the cattle you already own before you bring any more up here from Texas.”
“I don’t think you understand my position.” He shifted in his saddle, and Rosemary tightened her grip on the rifle.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Rosemary kept her senses alert to the movements of the men with him, but her gaze remained steady on his. Now wasn’t the time to be distracted…or to show fear. It was time Mr. Clayton learn just who he was dealing with. “I’ve known men like you my whole life. Men who believe they can have whatever they want, just for the taking. Well, Mr. Clayton, you’re not getting my land.”
“We’ll see about that.” He nudged his horse, and it moved closer to the porch. “Don’t underestimate me, little miss.”
“And don’t underestimate me.” Her heart beat so hard in her chest, she had to fight the urge to press her fist against it to slow down the pounding. “I’ll burn every building and set fire to the fields before I give you even one acre for your cattle.”
His face grew red with rage, and he turned his horse without another word. He rode off at breakneck speed, with two men flanking each side.
“Oh, Rosemary,” Agnes said, sliding an arm about her shoulders. “You are so very brave, but I am afraid you haf made an enemy.”
“He was already my enemy.” She stepped inside and closed the door. “Now he’s just no longer going to hide behind a friendly smile. I’d rather have the honesty.” She set the rifle back in its spot over the fireplace. “Don’t worry, Agnes. I can take care of Clayton.”
Agnes blocked her path as she started to head into the kitchen. Her fists were planted on her generous hips. “You tell me do not vorry?”
Rosemary’s eyebrows rose at the anger in Agnes’s voice. “Agnes,” she said, “what have I done to offend you?”
“Do not tell me not to vorry. You are family to me. Like a sister. I vill not allow this man to bring you harm.” Her eyes blazed with fierce loyalty. “You only think you are strong alone. But you are not as strong as that man with all his men. So ve vill stand together, you and I and the children. He vill not vin.”
Her vehemence surprised Rosemary. She’d been taking care of herself for so long that the thought of someone else wanting to help keep her safe seemed out of place. And though she wasn’t sure Agnes could actually do anything to protect her should any real harm threaten, it meant more than she ever would have thought possible that someone wanted to try.
Chapter Fifteen
...........................
Finn stopped the horses and pulled his handkerchief from his pocket. Removing his hat, he wiped the sweat from his brow then shoved the handkerchief back into his pocket. Movement in the distance caught his eye and he tensed, ready to head for his wagon to get his rifle in case it was an animal. But as he took another look, he realized it was a person walking through the field directly from Rosemary’s homestead.
When the figure waved, he noted the feminine shape, the curves of the person, as she came nearer, and he recognized Rosemary. He frowned. Why wasn’t she riding Charity? Dropping the straps from the plow, he walked toward her. Then fear that something had happened to Sarah prompted him to break into a run. She began to run toward him, and when they closed the distance, he could see she was crying. He grabbed her by the arms. “What? What happened?”
“Nothing. I just…”
“What do you mean, nothing? What’s wrong? Where’s Sarah?”
Her blue eyes widened and she shook her head. “Finn, she’s fine. Sarah’s with Agnes.”
Relief rendered him weak. “Why are you crying then?” His voice sounded gruff, and he inwardly chided himself when she drew back from him.
She frowned and took a shuddering breath. “Nothing. It’s… I’m sorry I frightened you. I should have thought before I started over here. I’ll leave.”
Rosemary turned on her heel and started to walk away. Indignation swelled his chest. She had nearly scared the life out of him and now she wanted to forget she had done it and just go back to her homestead, leaving him to wonder what had upset her so? Just because he hadn’t spoken to her like a beau reciting poetry? He stomped after her, reached forward, and took her arm. She turned to him, shaking him loose, but didn’t move to leave until he had his say. Tears were flowing down her cheeks again.
“I’m sorry I was so gruff with you. But I want to know why you’re upset.” He reached into his pocket and grabbed his handkerchief. She glanced at it and wrinkled her nose.
“Oh, sorry.” He shoved it back into his pocket and reached out. Cupping her cheeks, he wiped away her tears with his thumbs. “What happened? If it has nothing to do with Sarah, then why did you come to me?”
Her eyes filled with tears again. “I don’t know for sure why I came here.”
“Start from the beginning,” he said, keeping his voice soft so she wouldn’t get defensive. “Tell me everything.”
“Bart Clayton came by again.”
“Clayton? What did he want?” And what did she mean by “again”?
“The same thing he’s wanted for the last three weeks, Finn.”
“Are you saying that Bart Clayton has been threatening you?” Finn dropped his hands from her face and slid his hand through his hair. “Why am I the last to know everything? My daughter is living at your house. If you’re being threatened, I have a right to know, Rosemary.”
Love Finds You in Wildrose, North Dakota Page 14