Texas Lily

by Patricia Rice

  The old man was already hurrying forward into the dusk to greet them. He bowed with Old World grace over Juanita's hand, leaving her flustered and embarrassed. Cade said nothing as he took Lily back from Travis and started for the house, the children trailing after him.

  Without asking where to go, he entered the high-ceilinged hallway and turned to his right, carrying Lily to a room containing a wide bed with an ornately carved frame. When Serena lifted her arms to be picked up and placed beside Lily, Cade took her in his arms but carried her back to the hall where the others waited.

  Depositing the child in Juanita's hands and giving Roy a look that included him, Cade commanded, "Watch after them." Turning to the slightly bewildered old man, he asked, "Is there a physician? My wife is ill."

  Antonio de Suela looked with confusion from the petite Mexican beauty cuddling the golden-haired child, then back to the hall where Cade had taken Lily. He replied with care, "The Americans have gone. We have no physicians. I am sorry. Is there something I can do?"

  "Have someone bring hot water for a bath and boil some tea or coffee if it is available. And have you any onions? If there are, they need to be boiled." Travis stepped forward with an air of authority.

  At Cade's nod, de Suela ordered a hovering servant in Spanish to find the needed articles.

  Following Travis's instructions but refusing him entrance to the room, Cade bathed Lily and wrapped her in a flannel nightgown that had been dried before the kitchen fire. He unwrapped her hair and scrubbed it clean, knowing she would want it that way even though she couldn't be roused enough to answer him if he asked.

  Her labored breathing terrified him, but the steaming water seemed to help. Holding her in his lap with a blanket wrapped around her while her hair dried, Cade attempted to pour a little of the hot tea into her. She drank when pressed, but mostly she lay inert in his arms, and Cade sat for long moments in the dark, staring at the walls closing around him.

  He could feel her breathing, feel the beat of her heart against his chest. If he turned her just right, he could feel the slight fluttering kicks of their child. He tried not to experience anything beyond these physical sensations, but he couldn't ignore the immensity of what he had done, what he was doing.

  He was responsible for another human life, two lives. He knew how to accept responsibility, but he didn't think he knew how to cope with the results if he should fail. That fact had never occurred to him. Ephraim's death was weighing heavily on his mind. Coupled with Lily's illness...

  Lily wasn't supposed to get ill. She was as strong and independent as he. Cade tested the long lengths of her silken hair and finding them sufficiently dry, he lifted her to the bed, fighting the suffocating sensation of helplessness. Life was fleeting. He would learn to cope with whatever happened as he had learned to cope with all that had come before. Emotions were a luxury he couldn't afford. He would survive, and if Lily would just recover, he would show her how well he could take care of her.

  He would show her now, although she wouldn't be aware of it. Wrapping the poultice of boiled onion around her neck as Travis had instructed, Cade patiently inserted spoonfuls of chamomile tea between Lily's lips. She would be better in the morning, and then he could begin to make her understand.

  The others wandered in and out of the room throughout the night. Cade comforted Serena and Roy by telling them Lily was tired and was just sleeping. They could see the truth of that with their own eyes and went away to sleep soundly in comfortable beds for the first time in a week. Travis and Juanita weren't so easily fooled, but Cade refused their offers of assistance, allowing them only to bring more tea and poultices and vinegar water.

  Cade applied the cool vinegar water to Lily's head when the fever grew stronger. When she began to sweat and toss restlessly, he peeled her gown from her shoulders and bathed her shoulders and breasts. She quieted with his touch, and he continued the soothing motion until she felt cooler again.

  When he was certain that she slept peacefully, Cade stripped off his clothes and joined her beneath the covers. They hadn't been together like this for so long. He pulled her into the curve of his body and rested his hand protectively on her swelling belly. His child grew there, and he protected what was his. He had so very little, he would fight for what he had.

  Exhausted, Cade slept. He dreamed of his mother's voice, Lily's tears, Serena's laughter, and Roy's wary confidences. They became intermixed somehow, forming a potion he was meant to sip. It was a heady brew, sweet-tasting and going down warm, fermenting into bubbles when it hit his insides, where it became a part of him as the baby was a part of Lily.

  When he woke, Cade could still feel the magic of the dream burning in his middle, but his more immediate response was to the woman's body so conveniently pressed against his need. His loins hardened almost painfully as he rubbed against the soft curve of Lily's buttocks. When she answered his quest by pushing closer to him, seeking the same solace he required. Cade eased the interfering nightgown up to her waist.

  He touched her breasts, and Lily moaned with pleasure.

  Kissing, caressing. Cade felt her hips move rhythmically against him until he could no longer bear the pressure. Fearful of causing her harm, he entered her gently from behind, and she sighed her need just as he felt he would burst with his.

  Lily woke to the feel of Cade inside her, his fingers gliding between her legs to spread her pleasure until she thought she would jump out of her skin when he thrust deeper. Crying out, she rocked with him until they were both gasping with desire. The moment, when it came, burst upon them with unexpected suddenness. They weren't ready, and their bodies continued to press and twist and cling to the closeness their joining should have satisfied.

  Filling his hand with her breast, Cade forced himself to stillness. The heat of the night had left her, and he kissed the shoulder he had bared during the fever. "How do you feel this morning?"

  "Ravished," Lily croaked, surprised at the sound of her voice. At Cade's chuckle and the gentle brush of his hand over her nakedness, she realized how thoroughly she had succumbed to him—again—and she stiffened.

  "You are not to move from this bed," he warned softly as he pushed her down into the pillows and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I will be back shortly with your breakfast."

  Lily ached in too many places to argue. She still felt him between her legs, and irrationally, she wanted him there again. At the same time, she wanted to throw things at him and demand explanations. Cade was too good at slipping through the cracks, avoiding the questions that just his presence raised. But she hadn't the strength to lift her head from the pillow.

  She watched as Cade opened the wardrobe and pulled out a white shirt of the finest linen weave, even finer than the one she had made for him. She had seen him wear only three shirts in the entire time she had known him, and suddenly he was wearing his best dress shirt through mud and donning rich clothes that made him seem a stranger.

  He pulled on a pair of skintight trousers that appeared to be satin, and Lily's breath caught in her chest at the sight. Her gaze strayed to his narrow hips and the crotch of his trousers. He was her husband and she knew him intimately, but his new clothing made her interest seem almost obscene.

  He covered himself with a short jacket embellished with silver braid and added a cravat that hung in loose folds over his elegant shirt. His thick, straight hair brushed the cravat, but in all other respects he looked like a Spanish gentleman. The sharp Roman nose and high cheekbones now resembled aristocracy more than it revealed his Indian heritage.

  There was no expression in his dark eyes as he came to stand by the bed and adjusted her pillows. Lily fingered the expensive quality of his coat with curiosity, but he didn't answer the questions in her eyes.

  "Rest. I will be right back," Cade assured her before plumping the pillows one last time and walking out.

  Yes, but who would he be when he returned?

  Serena came in and jumped on the bed before Juanita, f
ollowing behind, could stop her. Even Juanita looked different this morning. Her hair was braided in shining loops at her ears, and she wore a new blouse that was scooped in the neck and full in the sleeves and totally inappropriate for cooking. She had silver bangles in her ears and on her arms and jangled them, with a child's wonder, when she thought Lily wasn't looking.

  It was as if everyone had set out to make her understand that this was a Mexican household, that she was in someone else's territory and not her own. It was a strange feeling. Even when she had moved to Texas, Lily had been confident that the cabin they built was home and not a strange new way of living. In the Indian camp, she had felt awkward, but she hadn't known those people, Here, she was surrounded by people she knew, but she didn't know them.

  Cade entered with a tray and, seeing Juanita, left her to deal with the complexities of feeding an invalid. Lily wanted to shout at him to stay, that she needed answers, but he seemed impatient to be off and her voice wouldn't do more than croak a few protests. She threw a pillow after him when he closed the door.

  Serena laughed at this new game and threw a pillow at Roy when he came in a short while later. Sullenly, Roy threw it back at her, and she dived laughing into the covers, completely oblivious to Roy's displeasure.

  At Lily's frown, he reddened and put his hands behind his back. "Are we going to live here forever?" he demanded.

  "No," Lily managed to croak. She reached to brush a straying hair from his face.

  "Good. Everybody speaks Spanish, and I don't understand a word they're saying." He helped himself to one of Lily's tortillas and settled into a corner of the room to munch.

  “This is still Texas,” she reminded him.

  Lily sipped her coffee and glanced around at her new living quarters. Wherever she was, it was more elegant than anything she'd ever had at home, even in Mississippi. Besides the ornately carved bed with its rich covers, the room contained matching wardrobe, washstand, and a chest of drawers. The wood was heavy and dark and artistically embellished and accented by glittering brass candleholders and crystal containers and silver hardware. A tapestry in silver-blue and gold depicting a bullfight hung on one wall, and similar colors were repeated on pillows and covers and tablecloths. The linen she slept on was almost like silk. Lily knew she would never own such niceties if she lived to be a hundred.

  Why would a man who owned all this accept a half-breed into his home? Surely Cade's grandfather knew of Cade's Indian heritage?

  Worried, Lily stared out the window to a plain devoid of the green she called home. Why had Cade brought her here?

  Chapter 29

  "I wish to speak, with my grandson's wife," The old man stood in the doorway, his sharp eyes commanding Juanita to move away.

  Barely glancing at Juanita after she stepped aside, Antonio nodded toward the door. "You will leave us," he commanded with all the authority of one accustomed to being obeyed.

  Lily hid her dismay as Juanita unhesitatingly did as told. Her throat was too raw and hoarse to contradict the old man's orders. Instead, she shifted her focus to examine this new obstacle in her life.

  She could only assume that this was Antonio de Suela, since no one had bothered to introduce her. He was nearly as tall as Cade, but only half his breadth. Had she been well and feeling like herself, she could almost believe that she would be stronger than this frail old man gazing at her with such intensity. He leaned on a gold-handled walking stick, but his black eyes were alert and observant.

  "You are carrying Luis Philippe's child," he stated without preamble.

  The name did not sound strange on this man's tongue, but it took Lily a moment to respond to it. She merely nodded her head in reply. She had a feeling she would need to save her voice for what would follow.

  "I had hoped my grandson would find a wife among his own people." Antonio took a bedroom chair but continued to hold himself stiffly upright.

  Lily lifted an inquiring brow. His own people? Had the man forgotten that Cade was equally Indian?

  Antonio scowled at her response. "Among my people. It would be easier to show that he is a de Suela if he had married appropriately."

  This man had come here with an axe to grind, and nothing she could say would stop him. Why waste her voice in trying? She reached for the shawl on her bedside stand and wrapped it around her.

  Her silence forced de Suela to realize he left her no room for comment. "He tells me you are a wealthy lady in your own right. I should not complain. I apologize. I am an old man and have come to realize that many of my dreams will never come true. For many years I have wished for a child to carry on my name, but I thought it was not to be. Now that I have found my grandson, I wish him to be everything that I would have made of him. I forget that he is already a man of his own."

  "Very much so," Lily whispered, finally hearing something with which she could agree.

  Antonio nodded. "I think you are a good woman. We will make the family see that you are one of us, as they must come to see that Luis is mine. It is good that he takes my name. The child you carry will be a de Suela. Luis has done the right thing by bringing you here. I am not so old that there is not time to see my destiny passed on to my grandson and his child."

  Lily felt a flicker of alarm, but the old man was already rising, and the shakiness of his hand on the stick prevented her from protesting aloud. She was in no state to argue, and in any case, this was not the man with whom she wished to argue. "Luis" had a few questions waiting for him whenever he deigned to put in an appearance.

  Antonio bowed over Lily's hand. At the sight of the silver ring on her finger, he hesitated, and an expression of such deep regret crossed his face that Lily wished she could comfort him. He merely kissed the ring, wished her well, and departed.

  Determined to show the old man that he could not arrange everything to suit himself, Lily prepared for a fight. When Juanita returned, she was struggling to get out of bed. "Where's Cade?" she whispered before the maid could even say a word.

  "He and Travis have gone into Bexar. You are supposed to stay in bed. We have none of us slept for worrying about you. If you make yourself ill again, we will never forgive you. Back!" Juanita ordered, bustling about, pulling at the covers and plumping the pillows.

  "I want to get dressed. I will sit right here and rest, but I want to be dressed when they come back." Lily slid from the high bed to her feet, swaying as she did so. The fever had left her weaker than she had realized, but she clung to the bed and maintained her balance.

  "Your clothes are being washed and pressed. There is nothing for you to wear. Now is not the time to be modest. They have seen you in your nightgown before."

  Lily didn't know whether Juanita referred to their nights in the tent or if she hinted at Lily's past relationship with Travis. There was a slightly sharp edge to her tone that made her think the latter. Reluctantly, Lily returned to the massive bed with its suffocating feather mattress. Crossing her arms over her chest, she scowled at thus being thwarted.

  "I am not an invalid. What am I supposed to do here all day?"

  "Sleep. Travis says you are to get much rest." Juanita jerked the curtains across the windows to conceal the winter sun.

  "And since when have you paid any attention to what Travis says? He is a man like any other." As long as she was bored, she might as well draw Juanita out on a few subjects. Unfortunately, her throat still hurt enough to keep her from saying as much as she would like.

  "He is not evil." Juanita gave a haughty sniff, but her cheeks colored.

  "No, he's too damned charming for his own good. Unless you have decided to raise a child on your own, you'd better stay away from him." Lily couldn't make her warning any plainer. Travis may have matured over the last few years, but she couldn't see him settling down to a Mexican maid and the role of country physician.

  Juanita blushed more deeply and stalked out without a reply. Lily stared at the window on the far wall and wondered if her life would ever be the same agai
n. Less than a year ago she had thought herself safe and secure. Suddenly she was married to a man she didn't know, living in a house that wasn't hers, and wondering who the hell she was and what she was doing here.

  She wanted to go home, but the chances were good that she no longer had a home to go to. She wouldn't even be able to return to Mississippi once she wrote to tell her sisters of their father's death. They would probably sell the house faster than she could travel.

  The past was gone, and she had only an uncertain future to look forward to. Leaning back against the pillows and placing her hand over the child in her abdomen, Lily vowed to right that situation as soon as possible. She would have a home again. Her home. Not some stranger's.

  When Cade returned, Lily was asleep. He laid the present he had brought for her over a chair back and hesitated near the bed. Asleep, she looked little more than an innocent child, but the evidence was there to prove that he had stolen any claim to innocence. He touched the bulge of her stomach beneath the bedclothes with his brown hand, and she instantly awoke.

  "Cade." The word was a sigh of relief and a warning all in one. Lily struggled to rise, and Cade placed pillows behind her back.

  "Have you heard news?"

  "The news is not good,” he reluctantly told her. “Tell me how you are feeling. Can I get you anything?"

  "You can get me out of here, and you can tell me the truth. How bad is 'not good'?"

  There was a stiffness between them that should not be there, but Cade did not know how to erase it. He fully intended to make this house his home, just as he had made Lily his wife, but he had lived thirty-two years without either and it was taking time to adjust. He knew she was uncomfortable with the situation, but Lily was as strong as he. She would learn.

  "It will not be good for the child to hear the details. Houston's army is retreating. Do not ask me more. Shall I call Juanita to bring your supper?"

  Cade had promised that his grandfather would help keep her land if Santa Anna won. She would have to trust him.