“Yes, this seems to be the month for reconciliations.”
Keri cocked her head. “I noticed you and Nate are getting rather chummy.”
Her ma ducked her head and shrugged. “I guess it’s just natural. You’ve got Brooks, and Riley and Annie have one another, that leaves Nate and me. He’s a nice man.”
“Do you think you’d ever consider getting married? Not that I think Nate would ever find the nerve to ask you.”
An embarrassed smile danced on Grace’s lips. She shrugged again.
Keri’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean you two have actually talked about it—I mean you hardly know the man.”
Grace walked to the window and stood beside Keri. “Actually, we’ve known each other for a very long time. Don’t forget I lived here before I went away.”
“And Nate worked at Raven Creek back then? But I remember him coming here after I did.”
Grace shoved the dresses to the back of the bed and patted the blanket. “Come and sit here with me, sweetheart. I want to tell you a story.”
She did as told, her mind racing as she struggled to make sense of things. Her mother had known Nate over twenty years. How could she not know that? What hadn’t Nate told her?
Keri settled on the edge of the bed and turned to face her ma.
Grace stared down at her hands for a long moment. “A long time ago, there was a young woman—about your age, in fact—who terribly missed her parents. They’d been killed in a stage holdup when she was fifteen. Her older brother raised her, but she was a wild, rebellious girl who sought to quench the pain of loss in the arms of men.”
Keri closed her eyes. Grace was talking about herself.
“There was this especially nice and handsome young man who came to work at our ranch. He treated me with respect and protected me from those who’d try to take advantage when Will wasn’t around. I fell in love with him.”
Keri gasped. “Nate?”
Grace nodded.
“But … so what happened?”
Grace stared toward the window and sighed. “Will didn’t think Nate was good enough for me. He was just a ranch hand, you see. He owned nothing of his own and couldn’t even give me a home.”
“So? Uncle Will could have built one on the ranch for you.”
Grace shrugged. “Will was overprotective—didn’t think I was old enough to be in love or get married. He fired Nate and told him to never return here.”
Keri frowned. “But then why did he rehire Nate later?”
“I don’t know. I suppose he had remorse for treating us so harshly. I do know they made amends with each other, because Will wrote and told me.”
“Why didn’t Nate come to you later?” Keri picked up her pillow and hugged it.
“I don’t think Will ever told him where I was.”
Grace paused a moment and then continued. “I need to finish my story, so there will no longer be any secrets between us.” Her mother stood and paced the room, twisting her hands. “Nate came to me one night to tell me he was leaving. He wanted me to go with him, but I couldn’t leave Will all alone, not after losing our parents and all.”
“So, you just let Nate go?”
Her ma blew out a sigh that puffed up her cheeks and looked at Keri. “Not exactly.”
“Then what?”
“I stayed with him that one night. I know it was wrong, but I never regretted it, because he gave me you.”
Keri blinked. “But—that means …”
Grace nodded. “Nate is your father.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Keri raced Bob across the open range, trying to outrun the hurt—the pain of all the people who had run her life. Her mother—who gave her away. Her uncle—who knew the truth and hid it from her. Her father—who had helped care for her, taught her to fish and hunt. A father who’d never had the guts to tell her who he was. Finally, she reined the exhausted horse to a walk. Lather had formed on Bob’s sides, and the tired beast heaved as he struggled for breath. She dismounted and walked him down a faint trail that she didn’t remember ever traveling on before. They’d long ago left Raven Creek land.
She wiped the dust from her eyes—dust that had collected on her tears.
She didn’t know what to do, or where to go. All she knew was that she couldn’t go back home until she’d sorted things out.
A short while later, she came to a small pond and let Bob drink. She took a slurp then sat down under a tree, as tuckered out as her horse. If she had any money, she could hop the train and go somewhere else, but in truth, there was no place she wanted to go. Raven Creek had always held her heart. She loved the land, the cattle, and mostly, the horses.
And she might even love Brooks—if the tingles in her belly when he came near were any indication.
She yawned. They needed to head back soon, even though she wasn’t ready to face all of them. Her ma would probably have told Nate that she knew the truth, and that would change everything. She wouldn’t know how to act around him now that she knew he was her father. Still, hadn’t she loved him almost from the start? When she’d been furious at Uncle Will for taking her from her ma, Nate had been there to comfort her and distract her. He made her laugh.
She sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. Had anything really changed?
Her gaze lifted to the sky. The preacher at church said that God loved her and cared about what was important to her. “Can you make this all turn out right, God? Are You really up there?”
Blowing out a sigh, she stood, stretched, and mounted Bob. She loped him back to the east, back toward home—but she still didn’t have any answers. She would just have to face things head-on and see what happened.
Thirty minutes later, she ran across the road leading to Shoofly. Somehow she’d ridden in a huge circle. Keri started to turn toward home, when she noticed a buggy coming over the hill in her direction. She shaded her eyes and realized the driver was Ellen Peters. Thankfully, her brother was nowhere to be seen.
Ellen waved at her. “Oh, Keri. Yoohoo!”
She rode Bob toward the wagon and stopped next to it. She smiled. It wasn’t Ellen’s fault she had a bossy brother. “Are you headed into town?”
Ellen shook her head. “No, as chance would have it, I was headed out to your place.”
“Mine?” Ellen had only been to her house the one time she came with Carl, the day Keri fell and hurt her ankle. “Were you coming to see me?”
Bobbing her head, Ellen reached into her pocket. “I have a note for you from Carl. He was busy with work and asked me to bring it to you.”
Keri reluctantly took it. “I can’t imagine what it is.”
Cocking her head, Ellen smiled coyly. “I bet he’s asking you to attend next month’s harvest dance with him.”
Keri’s stomach felt as queasy as if she’d swallowed a slug. She opened the sealed envelope and scanned the note. Her heart clenched.
I know who and what your mother is. Come back to the house with Ellen, or I’ll go public with my news.
She held the letter her against her chest. If the townsfolk learned her mother’s true identity, Grace would never be able to stay at the ranch. Good, decent folks wouldn’t want to associate with Grace, no matter how much she’d changed.
Keri had no choice. She had to face Carl and see what he wanted in exchange for keeping silent. “I need to talk to your brother, Ellen. Could you take me to him?”
“Certainly.” Ellen gazed up at her with a knowing smile. “My brother’s a handsome man, and he cares a lot for you. I hope things work out for you both, because I’d love to have you for a sister.”
“That’s nice of you to say.” Keri inwardly shuddered at the thought of marrying Carl. Was Ellen really so naïve that she didn’t know what her brother was truly like? But who was she to talk, when she had lived with her father most of her life and never even knew it?
Ellen turned the wagon back the way she’d come, and Keri rode alongside, heading away fro
m town—away from home. She had an overpowering urge to turn around and ride for home, but she couldn’t let Carl destroy her mother, not when they had just reconciled.
Brooks rode up to the house, wishing he hadn’t waited in town for the marshal to return. The task had been fruitless, and he’d missed lunch. His stomach growled just thinking about that. Grace threw open the front door and ran down the steps. Her gaze snapped toward him, then she looked past him and down the road.
“Isn’t Keri with you?”
Apprehension raised the hairs on his arms. “Uh, no. I was in town earlier and then I rode out toward the O’Malley place, looking for the marshal. How long has she been gone?”
Grace twisted her hands and ducked her head. “I told her something that upset her, and she rode off early this morning. She didn’t come back for lunch. I’m so afraid something has happened to her.”
Brooks looked at the horizon, tension tightening the muscles in his neck and shoulders. “That was hours ago.” He knew Keri and Grace were still working out some issues from the past, but it wasn’t like Keri to get so upset that she’d be gone for hours and especially not be here at mealtime. “What did you say that upset her, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Grace stared up at him with a look he’d never seen before. His pulse galloped.
“I told her who her father was.”
Brooks lifted one eyebrow. He’d never heard a word mentioned about Keri’s father. Of course she had one, but who he was had never crossed Brooks’s mind. But the bigger question was, why would the news upset Keri so much?
“You’ll find out soon enough, so I might as well tell you. Nate is her father.”
“Nate?” Brooks thought of the times he’d seen Nate and Keri together, working, teasing, laughing. It made sense, now that he knew the truth. “How come Nate never told her?”
Grace nibbled on her lip. Behind her, the front door opened and his ma stepped out onto the porch. “Nate didn’t know—at least not until yesterday.”
Brooks clenched his jaw but held his tongue. So many secrets. So many lives hurt. There was lots more to this story, but what had happened in the past was none of his business. And he had to find Keri. What if she had crossed paths with another rabid creature? Or what if one of Dengler’s men had captured her?
“Nate and your pa have been looking for her the past hour. They promised to fire three shots in the air if one of them found her.”
“Which way did they go?”
“North and west.”
Brooks didn’t need to tell her to pray. “I need a fresh horse. Then I’ll head out.”
Grace reached out and touched his leg. “Please find her. I can’t lose her now.”
He nodded and rode for the barn. Everything in him told him to hurry—take Jester and go, but he had to be calm and think straight. A rested horse would serve him better and help him find Keri quicker.
Please, Lord. Keep her safe. Watch over her and show me where she is.
He unsaddled Jester and turned him loose in the pasture to graze, then slapped his gear on Jess’s horse. He had to find Keri. His life wouldn’t be complete without her in it.
Keri followed Ellen into a beautiful house, at least six times the size of hers. She stood in the foyer and stared up at one of the most elaborate chandeliers she’d seen this side of the Mississippi. An elegant stairway led up to the second floor. To her right was a parlor filled with ornate carved furniture, and a grand piano sat in the far corner.
Carl’s parents must have left him a sizeable inheritance, because he could never afford something this nice working at the bank.
“Your house is amazing.” She turned back toward Ellen.
“I suppose it is lovely. I just wish it wasn’t so far from town. It gets lonely out here.”
“Have you no family besides Carl?”
Ellen shrugged. She pulled a flower from a bouquet on the coffee table. “We have an aunt back east. She’s asked me to come and stay with her, but how can I leave Carl here all alone? It’s just been the two of us since our parents died last year.”
“My condolences. I hadn’t heard about that, since I was away.”
Ellen stuck out her lower lip and scowled. “Carl didn’t like you going away. He said it ruined his plans.” She crushed the flower in her hand and gazed up at Keri. “I don’t like it when Carl gets upset.” She ducked her head. “Sometimes he hurts me.”
Keri’s heart somersaulted in her chest. Maybe she’d been right in her apprehension about Carl. “Why would your brother hurt you?”
She shrugged. “You have a seat. I’ll see what’s keeping Melba. We need some tea and cakes. Yes, most certainly some of her little cakes. They are quite delicious.”
Keri perched on the edge of the nearest chair. She shouldn’t have come here. Something wasn’t right, and poor Ellen didn’t seem in full control of her faculties. Had she always been so—
“Ah, a lovely flower graces my parlor. What a surprise.”
Keri jumped up and found Carl leaning casually against the doorjamb. With his white shirt, gold brocade vest, and neatly pressed tan pants, he looked ready to go to the bank for a day’s work; so why wasn’t he at the bank?
Keri stood. “Well, you wanted me here, and you got me. What did you want to say to me?”
He wagged a finger in the air. “Ah, ah, not so fast. Whatever happened to making polite social talk? Please, have a seat. Refreshments are on their way.”
Shaking her head, she walked toward him. “I don’t have time for either talk or refreshments. I’ve been gone a long while, and folks will be worrying. I have a long ride ahead of me.”
He stroked his finger across his upper lip. “What about your mother? Don’t forget I know who she really is. Or should I say, what she is.”
“And just what is that?”
He huffed out a laugh. “Come, come. Do we need to be so vulgar? We both know how your mother made her living for so many years.”
She took a step closer to him, wishing she was strong enough to wipe that haughty look off his face. “And just how is it you know that?”
“Surely you aren’t that naïve, not with a mother who lived in a bordello?”
Keri hauled back and slapped his cheek. He hissed and grabbed her wrist. “Let’s not resort to violence, at least, not yet.”
“What do you want with me?”
He shoved her back, and she fell against the sofa. “I want you. I’ve had plans for a long while, but you messed them up when you went away to school.”
“I don’t understand. I never encouraged you.”
“A man has no control over his heart.”
Keri struggled to find something to say—anything that would discourage him. “And knowing what my mother did doesn’t concern you? You’re not worried about your reputation?”
He walked over to the window, his back to her. She glanced toward the foyer, trying to gauge if she could make it to the door before he could reach her.
“Don’t try to leave. Remember, I can make life miserable for your mother.”
Keri fell back against the sofa. What was she going to do? How could she get out of this frightening situation? She thought about God. Could He help her? Would He?
In spite of everything, she felt a warmth flood her insides. God, if You’re real, please help me.
Ellen sashayed back into the room with the maid following, carrying a large silver tray. She set it on the table beside the sofa, then poured three cups of tea. She handed one to Carl and then one to Keri, avoiding her gaze. Keri sipped the warm brew, thankful to have something in her stomach. Breakfast had worn off a long time ago.
She ate the almond cakes the maid served, trying to not seem overeager. No one spoke, although Carl cast glances her way, as if proud of having outsmarted her. “What are you going to do with me?”
He stared at her a long moment then shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I hadn’t expected you to respond so quickly, if at all.”
“You’d best let me go. Holding a person against their will isn’t lawful.”
He held his hand toward the foyer. “Leave, if that’s what you wish. But just know that word will soon get around about your mother. Or stay and marry me and all will be forgiven.”
Thoughts raced through Keri’s mind. Her mother could go away with Nate, and Keri could visit her. Wouldn’t Grace prefer that to knowing her daughter married a scoundrel just to keep him quiet? And what about Brooks? Could she sacrifice her love for him to save her mother’s reputation? She stood, and looked from Carl to the door.
A knock sounded at the front door, and Keri jumped. Carl motioned to Ellen to answer. She quickly complied, and a moment later she ushered Nate into the parlor. Keri’s heart leapt. God had answered her prayer.
Relief softened the worried look in Nate’s eyes, but suddenly his gaze darted past her, and he reached for his gun. An explosion sounded behind her. She jumped and Ellen screamed, then collapsed on the floor in a faint. Nate dropped his gun and grabbed his arm. Blood pooled on his sleeve and oozed between his fingers.
“Nate!” Keri rushed toward him, and threw her arms around him.
“You all right, Missy?”
She nodded. She longed to call him Pa, to let him know she knew and that she was happy about the news, but she didn’t want Carl to know. He might use it against her and harm Nate further. Releasing her hold on Nate, she remained close and turned back to Carl.
He scowled, the gun still in his hand. The scent of gunpowder filled the room. “Well, now, this is a predicament, isn’t it?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Keri wrapped a bandage that Ellen had given her around Nate’s arm. Carl had locked the two of them in the cellar and left. “What are we going to do?”
“Brooks and his pa are out searching. They’ll find us sooner or later.”
“How did you find me?”
“I’d say it was luck, but I suspect there was more to it than that. I found Bob’s tracks and was following them. I’d nearly caught up with you when you ran across that snake’s sister.”
End of the Trail Page 20