Cade heard only her screams. The flute in his hand almost cracked under the pressure of his grip, and he leapt to storm the door blocking him from Lily. Before he could breach it, the wails of an infant drifted through the open window.
More cheers erupted in the yard and the piano began a raucous tune that had the entire company singing in accompaniment, raising an unholy roar to the heavens.
Cade staggered into the door, leaned his head against the wood, then stiffened his shoulders and swung the panel open.
Dove Woman serenely cleansed a screaming babe in a bowl of water.
Numbly, Cade stared at the fat, healthy infant already raising a ruckus. Then, with terror in his heart, he turned to Lily.
Exhausted, she leaned against the pillows, her hair streaming in a golden-brown cascade over the thin linen covering her shoulders. But she beamed a look of unadulterated happiness as she held out her hand to him, and something inside Cade crumbled to sand in recognizing the significance of her gesture.
Cade fell to his knees beside Lily, and she brushed away the streaks of tears he hadn't realized were there. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face against her breasts. She stroked his hair.
"Gracias, querida, muchas gracias... I love you so much. How can I say it? How can I thank you? I did not know... I thought a child would hold you, I wanted you to bear my child, but I did not mean to cause you such pain."
The piano crashed into a resounding "Yankee Doodle Dandy" to celebrate this victorious Fourth, and Lily smiled and stroked Cade's thick black hair, feeling the glory of this day seep into her bones where she could remember and cherish it forever. "It's because I love you that I wanted your child. The pain is just the price we pay to have what we want. Can I see him now? Will you bring him to me?"
Cade jerked his head up to meet the blazing happiness of blue eyes and knew Lily spoke what was in her heart. It was difficult for him to absorb. He had been a man alone for too long, an outcast wanted by nobody, yet this woman knocked down doors none had dared approach to declare her love for him. He stroked her cheek, his dark hand contrasting with her light skin, and she kissed the web of flesh beneath his thumb. Cade accepted that as confirmation of her words and allowed a smile to form.
"I think he is big enough to walk over on his own." Despite his mocking words, Cade rose to take the child from Dove Woman. He opened the blanket to inspect all the working parts, a feeling of awe overcoming him as tiny fists clenched and unclenched and long legs kicked and shoved at the hot blanket, and he knew this was a part of himself and Lily.
Cade presented the child to Lily, ignoring the clamor of voices outside the door. She held the infant tenderly, laughing at his belligerent cries, and showed no astonishment when the door flew open and El Caballo stood there in all his glory.
"Un nino." Lily held the child out for her father-in-law to admire.
El Caballo looked from his son's exhausted but laughing face to Lily's and grunted something Lily couldn't translate. Cade proudly lifted the child for his perusal. The Indian stepped into the room, poked a finger at the babe’s wiry chest, and was rewarded with a tiny fist wrapping around his thumb.
The piano playing stopped. Travis appeared in the window, but taking in the scene, he only hissed to catch Cade's attention. Caught up in the emotion of the moment, Cade didn't notice.
"Cade!" Travis whispered a little louder. "There's a priest out here looking for you."
As Cade looked up, puzzled, the bedroom door opened once again, this time revealing Antonio.
"Father Juarez is here. Shall I bring him in?" He spoke to Cade, but his gaze focused on the child in his grandson's arms.
Lily looked alarmed, shoving her hair back from her face and straightening her nightgown, looking frantically for a shawl with which to cover herself. Cade merely nodded.
Antonio stepped aside and the old priest in his long black robes entered, halting at the sight of the tall, nearly naked Indian. His gaze fastened on the child and the man holding him, and he lifted his eyebrows.
"I thought it was a wedding I was to perform, not a baptism." There was a tone of admonishment in his voice.
Held securely against Cade's chest, the child had quieted and slept now. "You have come in time for both, padre." Returning the child to Lily's arms, Cade indicated his wife. "We are married in my father's world and in the legal sense, but we wish to be blessed by the church."
The priest looked from the fair woman crooning over the infant to the large man he had once known as a bright but rebellious orphan. He did not indicate surprise that they were surrounded by Apaches, an aristocratic Spaniard, and a yard full of "Texians," including Tejanos and Negroes. Cade had always been an enigma.
"Then I suggest we get started while the wedding guests are still standing. There seems to be a large quantity of hard liquor being distributed." The padre nodded toward the window through which the strains of a dance tune could be heard.
"Ask Mrs. Whitaker if she knows any Beethoven," Lily whispered to Cade.
Cade passed the message to Travis outside the window, who carried it to the woman pounding the piano in the back of an oxen wagon. A few minutes later the first strains of a piano concerto filtered through the air.
"Now I'm ready," Lily announced.
And so the ceremony was performed, with the groom sitting on the bed beside his bride with their child in her arms. When it came time to repeat their vows, Cade held Lily's head cradled against his shoulder as she looked into his eyes and promised "to love and to cherish, until death do us part." He pressed a kiss against her brow when he repeated the same after her.
With a signal from Travis that the ceremony had ended, the piano broke into a slightly bawdy tune and the crowd that had been growing in numbers all morning cheered and shouted and rang bells and shot guns into the air.
The babe woke and began crying, but the newly married couple scarcely noticed.
Father Juarez coughed lightly and inquired, "If you will give me his name, I'll see him baptized."
Lily frowned. This was not a discussion they had held as yet. She looked at the squalling child who would be as big as Cade some day. "Not Mighty Quiver," she announced emphatically.
"Not Luis Philippe," Cade countered.
"How about Travis?" called the aforesaid from the window.
"Not Travis," both agreed in unison.
Chuckling, Antonio led the priest toward the door. "I do not know of any subject that they agree upon, padre. It may be a while before you have an answer to your question. Perhaps we can find you a sip of wine to take away the thirst?"
Dove Woman swaddled the crying babe. El Caballo watched over her and stooped to leave the room when she was ready. Travis wandered off in search of Juanita.
"Not Ephraim! That's an awful name for a boy."
"No child of mine will be called Cadenza." And the piano played on.
Chapter 40
Beneath the blue bowl of the sky, Lily picked her way over the rough ground to the shadows of the pines overlooking the river. The crystalline notes of a flute drifted on the breeze as she lifted her gingham skirt to avoid a horned toad leaping across her path. Smiling, she rested a minute, allowing the wind to cool her brow while the music stole around her.
She knew where he was. The corn was almost harvested. They had hired someone to drive the cattle to New Orleans. The kitchen had been rebuilt bigger and better than ever. The roundup would start soon, but not just yet. And Cade was taking a break from his hectic workday.
He still didn't tell her everything. He stayed busy, he laughed with the children in the evenings, he held her all through the nights, but he did not say where his thoughts roamed at times like these when he disappeared into the forest and played his flute.
But Lily knew, and today she would confront him with them.
Cade looked up in surprise as Lily approached, then leapt to his feet to help her find a seat on a pillow of grass. He had learned one or two things from Tra
vis about how to treat a lady.
"How did you manage to get away?" he asked, knowing the constant demands an infant, two children, and a household of men created.
"Davy is sleeping. Serena is helping Juanita make biscuits. Roy and your grandfather are reading something in Spanish that sounds vaguely naughty. And I walked out as if I had something important to do."
Cade chuckled and pulled her into his arms, leaning back against the grass so they could watch the wind whisper through the pine branches. "Tending to your husband is important. We must do this more often."
A mockingbird burst into a wild cascade of song to say farewell to summer, and they listened until a jay intruded and drove him off.
"I heard Ollie's wife is stocking china and millinery in the general store now." Lily pressed a kiss to her husband's shoulder.
Cade chuckled and stroked the bare skin of her arm. "I think letting her know where he was is sufficient punishment for any man. She'll keep him in line better than any prison bars. She terrifies even me."
"Still, it's a pity that Ollie gets punished so cruelly while Bert Dixon was just run out of town. There never was any real evidence that either of them had anything to do with Jim's death. They were just guilty of greed, and heaven only knows, there's enough of that going around."
Cade shifted Lily more comfortably against his shoulder and feathered his fingers against the silk of her face. "Ollie was the one who shot Ricardo. If we're to have any sort of law at all, we've got to keep people from shooting when they feel like it. Maybe Ricardo deserved to die, and maybe Ollie was just trying to keep him from escaping, as he said, but no man should be judge and jury for another."
They grew silent, both thinking of the tragedies that had led to that night, both concluding that justice had been served despite the way it had been meted out.
"I think Juanita is pregnant," Lily said unexpectedly.
"I'll make certain the rogue marries her." Complacently, Cade stroked a straying strand of Lily's hair over her ear.
"I think it is Juanita who must be persuaded. She wants permanence, and she fears Travis has wandering eyes."
"He hasn't wandered very far in these last months," Cade said dryly. "He can barely manage to finish his supper before he drags Juanita off to bed."
Lily giggled against his shoulder. Cade had not bothered to fasten his shirt when he came up here to cool off, and her fingers daringly sought the glint of skin revealed. "I think perhaps it is time we went to Bexar and left them to themselves," she murmured seductively.
The stroking motion on Lily's arm stopped. Cade lay still a moment longer, then propped himself up on his elbow to gaze down into her lightly freckled face. Her eyes reflected the blue of the sky, and there was nothing of the playful in them as she returned his stare.
"If my grandfather is ready to return, I will take him. You should not risk that travel yet."
"I have been healed this past month or more, Cade. I am not fragile porcelain, you must know. And Davy is certainly strong and healthy enough to travel. There is nothing more for you to do here. It is time to go."
Wariness returned to his eyes. "You did not like it in Bexar. There is no reason for you to make the journey now. It is safe here."
Lily guessed she was going to have to hit him over the head with a stick to get her meaning across. She reached up and stroked his obstinate jaw, tangling her fingers in his hair. "Then Travis and Juanita cannot come to too much harm if they stay behind. The journey is not that long that we cannot come back to see them, and it might be necessary to allow Roy to stay here part of the year, since this will be his one day and Travis would not like to be separated from him forever. But it is time you started making the changes on your grandfather's ranchero that you said needed to be done."
Disbelief rising in his eyes. Cade stroked the hair from her face with both hands and held her head caught between them. "You wish us to live at the hacienda?"
"Of course," she replied impatiently. "That will be your land someday. It cannot be left neglected much longer."
"But this is your home," Cade insisted. "You did not like it at the hacienda. I cannot separate you from your friends, and I will not go without you."
"Oh, Cade," Lily whispered, running her hands through his hair and down his shoulders, massaging the tight muscles of his arms as he leaned over her. "You still do not understand, do you? I love you, and I want you to be happy, and you cannot be happy while your mother's land goes to ruin. I can help you, if you will let me, and I will be happy just to be with you. It is not the land that is so important to me, it is you. I know this place will be safe with Travis here and you to guide him when necessary. I can learn to make friends anywhere. I cannot find another husband I would want more than you."
Hope finally dawned on Cade's face. "You would go to Bexar with me, live in the hacienda, make that your home?"
"Well, it's only fair that Davy be given the same inheritance as Roy," Lily shrugged, trying to hide her delight at Cade's reaction.
But when he bent to kiss her, there was no disguising her joy. Wrapping her arms around the broad muscles of her husband's back, Lily surrendered to the kiss that they had denied themselves much too long. Her body was healed and eager and ready for his. She would not let him back away in fear of hurting her this time.
When Cade touched her breast, Lily pressed eagerly into his palm. When he tried to retreat, she ran her fingers across his bare skin until she found his nipple, and he gasped and pushed her against the ground. His mouth came down and made ecstatic demands of hers.
Lily jerked his shirt from his breeches and rubbed her hands over his chest and abdomen until Cade was groaning and pressing against the juncture of her thighs. Half against his will, he began unfastening her bodice. When he didn't move fast enough, Lily helped him, sliding her arms from the gingham and pulling the ribbons of her chemise until her breasts were bared for Cade's touch.
When he kissed her there, Lily nearly cried with joy and relief and a desire so deep that she could not control it. Cade's teeth nibbled at the crest, and she gave a cry so primitive that he had her skirts yanked up before either of them was aware of what he was doing.
But when his fingers started on the buttons of his trousers, Cade halted. Looking down at Lily's beautifully flushed nakedness, he grew so hard that it was painful, but he had to stop now, while he still could.
Lily wasn't so easily persuaded. Determinedly, she reached to finish what he had not.
Cade caught her hands and pulled them above her head. "Don't, Lily. I will not be able to stop myself. I forced the burden of bearing a child on you once before. I will never do so again. There must be time for you to grow strong. We do not need to have more children. I would not see you suffer through that pain again."
Lily glared at him. "I am strong, Cade. I am strong and I am not afraid of bearing your children. And I need you in the same way that you need me and you will drive us both mad if you deny it."
She raised her hips to rub against his and the friction exploded into a conflagration. In moments, the front of Lily's skirt was up about her waist and Cade was taking full advantage of her lack of drawers.
The mockingbird began to sing from the top of a pine in accompaniment to a cry of ecstasy piercing the otherwise silent forest. Sometime later, when a triumphantly male bellow split the air, the bird lifted its wings and flew off.
A lone feather floated to the ground and settled in disheveled golden tresses.
An owl's call rang through the distance, an unnatural owl at this hour of the day.
Cade lifted himself to admire his wife's abandoned position beneath him. "I promised them a buffalo hunt," he whispered wryly.
A ring of gold surrounded Lily's head as she smiled up at him. "I've always wanted to see a buffalo hunt."
He frowned. "You're not going on a buffalo hunt." A woodpecker scolded above their heads, and laughter peeled through the answering echoes.
The End
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Texas Rose
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Book Two
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~
"A special gift of love and laughter."
~Joan Hammond, Romantic Times
"Excuse me, gentlemen. I am looking for Pecos Martin. Is he here?"
The drawn shutters of the gambling hall turned the late afternoon sun into dusk. Smoke curled in the murky air, giving the room an atmosphere resembling the first circle of hell. Engrossed in their various card games, few of the occupants paid much attention to the vision in the open door.
And there was no doubt that she was a vision. With the sunlight for a backdrop, her chestnut hair glowed almost auburn. Arranged in thick, loose folds at the back of her head and topped by an incongruously tiny green velvet and lace hat, her hair rivaled the setting sun outside. The features beneath the thick waves of chestnut were not distinguishable in the gloom, but they appeared to be of the delicate cream and evenness that were fashionable. Perhaps the eyes were larger and darker than customary, having a certain exotic slant, but the clientele in this room weren't connoisseurs of fashion.
So the exquisite walking gown of green foulard adorned with yards of ruching and topped with a darker green fitted bodice went unrewarded by her audience. Only one head lifted in this sea of male attire, and the vision breathed an almost audible sigh of relief as her glance found him.
Surrounded by men in dark top coats, grubby sack coats, and black hats, this one man alone wore buff linen. His frock coat fitted snuggly to wide shoulders, and his starched white collar contrasted nicely with the golden-brown of his coloring.
Texas Lily Page 35