“The hands? It looks like they’re behind on the chores.”
“The last one quit on Monday.”
Matt flinched. “It’s Saturday. How long has Mark been gone?”
“Two weeks, and they’ll probably be at least three more before they get back.”
“Strange time of year for a cattle drive. We drive in October in Texas.”
“Fall comes early here and Emma doesn’t like cutting it close. She’s mindful of the high mountain gaps filling in with an early snow. They normally go later than July, but this is the first one she’s gone on for years. She’s either been round with a baby or had one mighty young. She loves a cattle drive, though. I convinced her to go and let me watch the girls.”
Betsy’s lashes fluttered again, completely of their own accord. Matt had come closer, and the girls were feasting. Betsy dropped her voice to a whisper and added, “The stupidest thing I’ve ever done. I’m not taking good care of the girls. And I’m not taking any care at all of the ranch.”
“And the hands all quit?”
Nodding, Betsy said, “Mark left a skeleton crew, four men, plenty to watch what’s left of the herd and do daily chores, but two days after he left the steadiest hand broke his arm diving to save Annie when she fell out of the haymow. I’d let her get out of my sight and she’d climbed up there, and Hank saw her in time to catch her.”
“Is he here, just laid up?”
Shaking her head, Betsy said, “He saved Annie, but he rammed his head into the barn wall, besides breaking his arm. He was knocked out cold as a mountain peak. They had to take him to Divide to the doctor, and when they got back they said the doctor wants him to stay in bed until he stops seeing two of everything. “I don’t know when he’ll be back.
“Then the other three quit one at a time. I think if any of them but Travis had been last, they’d have stuck it out rather than abandon me. But Travis was always the least useful of Mark’s cowpokes. He gloated when he told me he quit. Then when he rode off and left me he looked back and laughed. The man works with cattle and horses all day. A leaky diaper makes him quit?”
“Betsy, you need help.”
She waited for him to say the obvious. He was silent.
Stupid, useless, fluttering lashes.
Not wanting to beg unless she absolutely had to, she rested one open hand on his chest and leaned close so the girls wouldn’t start talking and scare him off.
“I need you.” She spoke barely above a whisper.
His eyes focused on her words. Or rather her lips, but that was the same thing. He said nothing.
Inching closer, because the situation was dire, she whispered, “So will you help me, Matt? Will you stay? You’re going to want to see your brother, aren’t you?”
Matt was nodding, watching her. He seemed dazed.
Betsy smiled, and his eyes almost crossed. She gave him a friendly pat on the chest then stepped back, just as his hand whipped out and pulled her close. She bumped right into his chest.
Then as if the impact woke him up, he let her go and took a step back.
Betsy reconsidered the power of fluttering lashes as she whirled to the stove and started scooping up food.
A chair scraped and she glanced back to see Matt sink into it. He looked stunned. She could well imagine. What had happened? She felt like time had stopped and the world had turned soft and beautiful and very private.
Matt felt like he’d been hit with an ax handle.
It took a bit to gather his thoughts, and by then he was eating and no speech was required. When the meal was finished all three girls looked as if their eyelids were drooping. Nap time. Matt knew all about nap time. How he’d hated it for himself.
How he’d loved it for all his whirlwind little brothers.
“For the next two hours we will have peace,” Betsy said. “Then it all begins again until night.”
“Will you be all right then, in here, while I go fork out the stalls and do a few other chores?”
Betsy, who had ignored him completely while they ate, suddenly looked at him again. Her eyes, so dark brown he could barely see where the pupils began, gleamed with relief and pleasure. “You’re really staying then?”
He couldn’t do much else. “Yep. Uh. . .you won’t let the girls in the creek again, will you?”
Betsy’s smile flashed as bright as her eyes. “I handle them fairly well except when I try and do the chores. I just don’t have enough hands and eyes. And apparently not enough sense. If you’ll do the chores I can take care of the girls.”
Matt nodded and pushed back his chair. “I’ll get to it then.”
He took his Stetson off an antler used as a hook and clamped it on his head and pretty much ran outside.
He’d be fine. . .unless he wanted to eat again. Then things could get confusing.
Chapter 3
Someone pounded the door with the side of their fist. Betsy rose from the chair, the first time she’d been off her feet all day. But whoever was here sounded urgent.
She rushed to the door, flung it open to find Matt, water dripping off his head, right onto Annie, who grinned and revealed a missing tooth.
Betsy was pretty sure the child had all her teeth just an hour ago when she went up to bed.
“How did you get outside?”
Annie jerked one shoulder. Betsy had sounded ferocious, and yet Annie didn’t even quit smiling.
“I went out. It’s easy.” Then she pointed to her mouth. “I lost a tooth, Aunt Betsy.”
“And you lost one of your children.” Matt looked furious. His face was red enough the water drenching him might turn to steam at any time.
“I sat with them until they fell asleep. I promise you, I did.”
“I believe you.” Matt spoke between clenched teeth. He clearly wasn’t happy with how this week was going.
Betsy was cooking the best food she could manage, and that was pretty good. Anything to keep from running him off.
“What happened?” Betsy knew that was a stupid question.
“Escaped child. Water trough. Nearly died.” Matt growled more than spoke. “Same as every day.”
“That’s just so true it’s almost heartbreaking,” Betsy said. “Come in and get changed.”
“I’ll change in the barn.”
“You’re freezing. That trough is fed with water from a mountain spring. Run and fetch a change of clothes while I heat up some coffee.”
Matt closed his eyes and dragged a deep breath in through blue lips. Betsy appreciated that he was fighting for calm. He’d been sleeping in the bunkhouse all week, and he was doing a fine job of running the ranch. . .for a man without help. She’d tried to help a few times with all three girls at her side. What else could she do but bring them?
“No! Don’t even think about helping me.” He seemed to rein himself in when he realized he was shouting. More calmly, he said, “I would appreciate something warm. I’ll be right back.”
He stood Annie on the floor rather than shove her into Betsy’s arms. Which Betsy appreciated. She would have gotten soaked.
Matt stomped away dripping.
Betsy thought she showed great restraint by not snickering. . .until after he was out of earshot.
“Bye-bye, Aunt Betsy.” Annie had shed her dress and was on her way out the back door, stark naked. Betsy quit laughing and made a dash to catch the little imp.
Chapter 4
Another fine meal, Betsy.” Matt leaned back from the supper table and patted his stomach—which Betsy couldn’t help but notice was flat and hard as a board—even though he put an alarming amount of food away every time she fed him.
All three girls were either asleep or the next thing to it. Matt had moved the baby’s tin plate, or she’d be snoring with her face resting in gravy.
“I’ll help you get them settled.”
“I’m not tired!” Annie wailed. Then her head nodded, jerked up. Susie gave up, crossed her arms on the table, and laid down he
r weary head.
“Thank you, I’d appreciate it.”
Betsy and Matt had learned to work as a decent team. Matt changed diapers with easy skill. Betsy had the two older girls in their pajamas and tucked in bed by the time Matt had pulled the sleeping gown on Lilly and brought her in. All three girls slept in one room. Mark and Emma shared another. There was a large kitchen with space for a stove and table and sink and some cupboards on one side and a fireplace with a pair of rocking chairs on the other.
It was a tightly built, well-tended home, and when all three girls fell asleep instantly after they laid down, Betsy followed Matt out to those rockers and sank down beside him.
It had become their habit to talk for a few minutes at the end of the day, while they waited to make sure the girls wouldn’t stage a prison break.
Matt had nailed the window shut in their bedroom as well as the front door and every other window in the house. The back door was the only way out, so to get out, the girls had to come past Betsy.
The summer nights were cool up here in the mountains, and Matt always laid a fire and started it burning before they ate the evening meal.
By the time the girls were tucked in, it felt good to sit before it for a few minutes. Both of them sighed, such an identical sound that they looked up, and Betsy smiled, then Matt laughed.
She said, “I don’t know how Emma does it. I’m sure it helps to have practice, but I spend all day either cooking for them or chasing after them. Lilly can’t walk yet, but she crawls so fast and pulls herself up on everything. She scaled a chair and then the kitchen table this morning. She was sitting right on top of the butter dish playing with a butcher knife by the time I got to her.”
Betsy shuddered to think of the danger.
Matt shook his head. He took a look at the butcher knife, now hanging from a nail high on the wall, and grinned. “Good spot for it.”
“The nail was there. And there’s a hole in the knife handle. I suspect that’s where Emma keeps it. I just forget all the ways these wily children can find to harm themselves.” They shared a look of terror, then both of them laughed.
“How are things outside? Have you cleaned up the mess I made?”
“You couldn’t possibly do the outside chores and tend those girls. It wasn’t a mess you made, it was you making the right choice and caring for those girls. That’s a job that takes all day every day.”
Betsy’s heart swelled a bit at the kind words. “I think we’ve almost found everything they can use to kill themselves.”
There was an extended silence, broken only by the creak of the rockers. Finally, Matt said, “You’re an optimist, aren’t you, Betsy?”
They both broke down and laughed hard. It was the closest to a sane adult moment they’d had since they’d met.
“So you’ve got a herd of little brothers, is that right?” Betsy asked.
“Yep, and one little sister. She’s seven years old and that’s the last baby Ma had, but Ma is getting up into her forties now. Time for her to slow down with the babies.”
Smiling, Betsy said, “I remember all those years I was growing up, Mark telling tales of his family full of boys. Then when your ma had a baby girl, he was so stunned, we thought he’d ride all the way to Texas just to check and make sure they were right.”
“I did it.”
“What?” Betsy turned away from gazing in the flames to stare at him.
“I went to check. I was in Oregon when I got word, and I rode all the way home. It was just such a shock. I was slow getting there, and Hope was near a year old. And Ma had taken control of the family.”
Betsy felt her brow wrinkle. “Taken control how?”
“She made everyone settle down so her baby girl wouldn’t be raised in a madhouse. It was a great home to be a growing boy in. A lot of the things we got up to remind me of how Mark’s girls act. But the unruly ways of my brothers drove us all away from home at a young age, looking for some peace. Now, well, I thought long and hard about staying down there. My older brothers Abe and Ike are both living near my folks, and I’ve got several nieces and nephews growing up there. I may wander back down that’a way in the end. I’ve just never quite got the wanderlust out of my blood.”
“Where all have you been?” Betsy sounded wistful to her own ears. “I’ve never been beyond the state of Montana. In fact, I’ve barely traveled from here to Divide and Helena. Ma likes to keep us close to home. She doesn’t even think her daughters should show themselves in town.”
“Why not?”
Betsy shrugged. “Just a habit. The trails are better, and there’s a train spur from Divide to Helena now. We can get there in half a day. But when we first settled here we were mighty cut off, and there were a lot of wild men around. Ma didn’t like them knowing she had a passel of girls living out in this remote area.”
“Well, I’ve been to near every state in the Union west of the Mississippi. I’ve never gone back East—except once. I don’t know much about city living, but I can survive in the wilderness with a knife and a rifle, don’t need any money nor a job. But it’s a lonely life. I grew up surrounded by a crowd. I don’t last too long on my own before I start longing to hear another voice. I’ve turned my hand to most every job a man can do. Mining in New Mexico. Lumberjacking in Idaho. I’ve scouted for the cavalry in Arizona and driven a stagecoach in Colorado. I went to sea in California and sailed all the way around the southern tip of South America. I even landed in New York City, but it was so huge and dirty, I stepped onshore and signed on to a boat sailing back only an hour later. I’ve seen the Grand Canyon and worked a dozen ranches from Texas to North Dakota. I was even a sheriff in Kansas for a while. I’ve loved my yondering ways. I reckon I need to settle down one of these days, but it’s never stopped being fun to live such a free life.”
They talked and rocked late into the night. Betsy knew the morning would come early, with hungry livestock and hungrier girls. But she found herself almost desperate for the quiet adult conversation. It was too sweet to end.
A log split and sent a wash of sparks out of the fireplace. They both jumped up, and Betsy realized how low the fire had burned.
“How long have we been sitting here?” She felt as if the outside world had intruded on something very personal.
Neither of them had a pocket watch, nor was there a clock in the house, but it had to have been more than an hour.
“I reckon I’ve talked until your ears are aching.” Matt gave her his friendly smile, so like the brother-in-law Emma loved so dearly.
They stood, and Matt stepped to the fireplace. “It’s a cool night. I’ll build up the fire before I go.”
“No, it’s a tight house. We’ll be fine. Thank you.” Betsy stood just as Matt turned from the hearth and nearly bumped into her. Matt caught her by the arms to keep from stumbling then was still. His eyes wandered around her face. She felt it like a caress.
He asked, “How did you end up with such shining black curls? Mark told me Emma’s hair is whiter than his, and the girls are all so blond.”
“Ma married and was widowed. We have different fathers, and Ma says I take after him in looks. My real name at birth was Betsy Santoni; my pa was Italian. But he died when I was a baby, and Ma married Silas. He’s the only man I’ve ever known as my father, and he’s a good one and I’m proud to carry his name. My ma said my own pa was pretty worthless.”
Matt smiled. “I don’t know what kind of man he was, but he must have been good looking to have a daughter as beautiful as you.”
Betsy felt something awaken deep in her chest. Something she hadn’t known was sleeping. Something she hadn’t known was there.
“Thank you.” She wondered if she was blushing. She had skin that tanned deeply, and she wasn’t given to blushes.
Matt lifted a hand and drew one finger across her cheeks. They must’ve turned red. . . Why else would he touch her?
“Don’t tell me you haven’t heard that before. The men in Montana
aren’t all blind.”
Betsy shrugged. “Ma and Pa don’t let men come around much.”
Matt grinned. “How’d Mark ever get past them?”
“There was trouble and Mark was the right man to help, and somehow, when the trouble passed, he and Emma were planning a wedding. It was fun watching Ma and Pa try’n run him off. And your cousin Charlie was with him, and he ended up married to my sister Sarah.”
“I’ll have to see Charlie while I’m here, too.” Matt’s hand opened and rested on her cheek. Quietly, he said, “I don’t want to talk about my family anymore.”
He leaned down and kissed her.
Her first kiss.
It was his first kiss.
Matt wasn’t sure how in the world Betsy Harden had ended up in his arms, but he wasn’t going to waste time wondering because it was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
He slid his arms around her waist, his only thought to get closer. He drew her hard against him.
“Matt.” She turned her head to break the kiss. Her hands came up to press against his chest. “Wait. Stop.”
Her words shocked him into using his head for the first time in a while. He dropped her, only realizing as she slid away that he’d lifted her off her feet.
He stepped back and slammed into the fireplace, which sent him stumbling forward, and somehow, she was right back in his arms. His lips descended, and hers rose to meet him.
The next time they stopped his hands were sunk deep in the dark silk of her hair. He carefully unwound all those lush curls, lingering, kissing her eyes and her blushing cheeks.
She hadn’t said “wait” the second time. In fact, her arms were wound tight around his neck. It all added up to her liking this kiss just as much as he did.
This time she stepped back then turned away and breathed deep. “Um. . .you’d better go.”
“I want to talk about what just happened here, Betsy. I want it to happen again. I want to have the right to kiss you.”
She looked over her shoulder. Her lips were swollen from their kiss. Her hair had tumbled from its bun and flowed wild around her shoulders. She had a little dimple in her chin and her cheekbones were high, her nose strong in a feminine way. He wanted to get to know every bit of her as well as he knew her face.
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