With This Ring?

by Karen Witemeyer

  “Now, Vince, you just stop it. There’s no such thing apparent to . . .” Tina glanced at Carrie and stopped talking.

  Carrie wasn’t sure what expression she had on her face, but she could feel her cheeks burning.

  “And that,” Vince added, “proves it. I’ve never seen Big John blush before.”

  Carrie’s head whipped around, and sure enough, John’s cheeks were stained red. Then she looked past him to where Isaac sat farther down on the same bench.

  He looked between Carrie and John as if he’d lost control of his eyes.

  Chapter Six

  Big John wanted to arrest Vince and haul him in front of a judge. It was a long ride to the nearest judge, and he could figure out what crime to charge his old friend with on the way.

  “Carrie and I aren’t getting married. That’s a half-wit idea. She wants to go live with her sister in Colorado, not get herself hitched to some mean-hearted, flea-bitten, rootless Texas Ranger. Now stop talking nonsense and let’s figure out how to get the best of the varmint who’s on her trail.”

  Carrie patted his arm. “You’re not mean-hearted. You’ve been a hero to Isaac and me.”

  John turned to face her so fast, she squeaked and jumped back as much as the bench seat would allow.

  “You need to stop touching me before we find ourselves leg-shackled.”

  She wasn’t touching him now, and John really noticed the lack.

  “Is it true you two did some carrying on?” Isaac looked hurt.

  Tina was right about them being a bad example. But they hadn’t been before Vince started his yammering about a wedding and their touching each other.

  “We were together all the time.” Isaac looked from Carrie to John. “When could it have happened?”

  John turned to glare at Vince, who rolled his eyes toward the ceiling as if asking God why he had to deal with such an idiot.

  “You had to sleep sometimes, Isaac.” Vince sounded overly patient. “It’s more than clear from looking at them that they need to get married and do it fast.”

  “We’re not getting married.” Big John crossed his arms and leaned on the table.

  Carrie frowned at his firm statement. “You don’t have to act like being married to me would be so awful.”

  John shook his head, talking only to her. “But I’m in no position to take a wife. Hardly any Texas Rangers are married.”

  “Sure they are.” Vince smirked. “Wasn’t your own pa a Texas Ranger?”

  Vince knew good and well that John’s pa was a Ranger. “Yes, he was, and he was on the trail more than he was home, and he was no great prize as a father when he was around.” John resisted the urge to use his fist to wipe the smile off Vince’s face.

  He focused again on Carrie. “I’d make you a lousy husband, Carrie. I’d be gone all the time. I don’t make much money—enough for a man to live on but not enough to build a nice home with room for a wife and her brother and any—” he cleared his throat with some difficulty—“any children we might have.”

  A flash of heat flared in him, and he saw its match in Carrie’s eyes.

  “There’s a decent house sitting empty right now in Broken Wheel.” Vince would not stop helping. “And you’re already the sheriff here in town. It doesn’t pay much because it’s part-time and you’re never here, but if you were in town all the time, the pay would go up.”

  “This town is so peaceable I’d be stealing the money,” John said. He knew that Vince was paying the sheriff’s salary out of his own pocket, which didn’t mean it wasn’t a real job, and Vince was always generous with the fortune he’d inherited from his grandmother, and later from his father.

  “Broken Wheel is growing. I’m not the only one who thinks we need a sheriff full time. We’ve had our share of outlaws.” Vince said it as if he were the mayor trying to convince John what a lawless yet fine place the town was for someone to live and work in. Only usually the mayor didn’t use crime as a selling point.

  “We do not have our share of outlaws, and I’m not taking money to be the full-time sheriff of a town with no crime.”

  “Lots of lawmen have to deal with danger,” Vince said, smiling at Carrie as if it was all settled, “but you’ll never have a thing to worry about . . . much.”

  “I’m going to Colorado,” Carrie said again. “I have family there. I’m not your responsibility, Vince, and I shouldn’t have let John bring me here and put you all in danger.” She batted her lashes in a way that made it impossible for John to look away from her. “I have a bit of money hidden away. I can afford to buy the two horses we’ve been riding. We’ve had a good night’s sleep and a fine meal—”

  “If your pa was so broke that he had to arrange this marriage, then how come you lived in a mansion?” Vince said, interrupting her. They’d told him most of what had gone on with Carrie and her situation.

  “If you must know, it was my grandfather’s house, my mother’s father. Grandpa was wealthy, and he took care of Ma, Isaac, and me for as long as he lived. And he did his best to protect us after he died. He knew what kind of man my father was, so he set his will up so that no one could borrow money against the house or sell it. He wanted us to always have a place to live. He couldn’t protect his money to make sure that, in the future, there would be enough food and other necessities, but we always had a roof over our heads—a very grand roof.”

  “I wonder why he didn’t just shoot your pa?” Vince said.

  Shaking his head, John said, “City folks have strange ways.”

  Carrie stood from the table and smiled at John. “Thank you for bringing us this far. I’ll write when we reach Rawhide to tell you we made it. I believe we’d best be on our way now. Isaac, come along.”

  Isaac, his eyes wide, said, “What? By ourselves?”

  She nodded and said, “I was prepared to run from the last forced wedding without a Texas Ranger at my side, why not this?”

  “He was mighty useful, Carrie.”

  “True, but we’ve got a good lead on Kearse now. We’ll be fine.”

  Giving John a look that said maybe it would be good to get Carrie away from him, Isaac replied, “Good enough for me. Let’s go.”

  Carrie turned to Vince. “Can you point me toward Rawhide? I’ve studied maps, but I didn’t intend to come this far north.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.” John stood and glared down at her.

  “Oh, that’s right. I haven’t paid for the horses.” Carrie knew they’d never let her go, not John and not Vince—at least she hoped they wouldn’t. But they might stop this foolishness about a wedding. And maybe that would stop John from so clearly wanting no part of it. After he’d kissed her, well, she had to admit she’d hoped.

  Which made her sad, which also made her angry, which made her twist the knife by reaching into her pocket to pull out her small purse. “You’ve provided most of our food, too, John. Let me pay you back for that. Now, a horse, what does a horse cost? Those you bought were fine anim—”

  John grabbed her by the back of the neck and clamped his hand across her mouth. Holding her, he said to Vince, “I’m sorry I bothered you with my problems.” He sounded furious, and what’s more, he sounded hurt.

  Carrie knew he’d really expected his friends to help out.

  “Let’s ride. The horses are rested. We can stay ahead of Kearse if we ride hard.” He let go of her, then took her by the wrist.

  They were outside and heading for the blacksmith shop where the horses were stabled when a shout stopped John in his tracks. Carrie, being dragged in his wake, stumbled into him.

  “Wait a minute, all of you!”

  John turned to glare at Vince.

  With narrow eyes that said he didn’t like having to back down, Vince said, “Fine, we’ll do it your way. I sent Jonas out to Luke’s, and he’ll be here anytime. Luke oughta get to meet Carrie. She’s almost his little sister.”

  Carrie rolled her eyes. A little sister he’d never spoken to, nev
er seen, honestly never hardly heard of. Not a close family.

  “No more pestering us about getting married?” John stood taller, squared off, as if he had a meeting at high noon. Of course, he was still holding Carrie’s arm, and Isaac was standing between him and Vince, right in the line of fire, but the attitude was right.

  With a snort, Vince said, “You don’t want to move the wedding date up by two weeks, then we’ll just shoot it out with a dozen seasoned gunmen.”

  Which Carrie didn’t think was the same as not pestering.

  Thundering hooves shifted their attention to the south side of town. It was the first time Carrie had looked around. They’d arrived after dark the night before and had only been outside long enough to walk to the diner this morning. She was stunned by the rugged beauty of their surroundings.

  “What is this place? What kind of rocks have red stripes?”

  John relaxed his grip on her, but didn’t let go. “It’s called Palo Duro Canyon. Those horses coming are most likely my friend Luke, who’s kind of your brother. Luke’s pa ranched here back when it was Indian territory. Now the area is opened up for settlers. The town has become prosperous, and Charlie Goodnight, one of the great pathfinders in the West, has a mighty big ranch around here, along with an Englishman named John Adair. It’s called the JA Ranch, and it’s one of the biggest in Texas.”

  “I think I’ve heard of Charlie Goodnight.” Carrie tried to bring the vague memory of the name to the front of her brain.

  “He discovered the Goodnight-Loving Trail, didn’t he?” Isaac looked like he was talking about President Rutherford B. Hayes himself. “He took cattle to New Mexico and north to Denver instead of going straight north, because they were charged a toll to cross Kansas.”

  “He’s a mighty knowing man, Charlie. A decent man, too.”

  “You’ve met him?” Isaac’s eyes shone with admiration.

  Nodding, John said, “Charlie and his cowhands and his partner John Adair do their shopping in Broken Wheel. He’s seen around town all the time.”

  “Do you think I could meet him?”

  Riders broke through the scrubs and trees that bordered the trail to the south and stopped Isaac’s question from getting answered. There were four riders: two men—one must be Luke—a woman with bright red hair, and a boy with hair so red it declared him to be the woman’s son. In addition, each of the three adults had a child riding in front of them. One more redhead, a girl, rode in front of a man with a parson’s collar, who must be Jonas. Then two brown-haired youngsters, a boy and girl, all of them stair steps. The littlest, just barely beyond a toddler, rode in front of the woman.

  Since she knew Luke was a rancher and not a parson, Carrie’s eyes went to the man who must be Luke. He had raven-black hair and skin tanned nearly chestnut brown from the sun. He was tall and lean with whipcord muscles flexing in his arms as he reined his horse in.

  He was family . . . at least almost. And he got close enough that she could see kindness and concern in his dark-brown eyes. Another adult man who looked decent.

  John and Luke. Two decent men. Three, counting the parson. Four, counting that polecat Vince. Carrie hadn’t seen too many of them in her life. Her father ran with a hard crowd.

  And now she stood beside John and found herself surrounded by them. She felt safe while at the same time worried sick to think of bringing danger to all these families.

  She probably should have grabbed Isaac and hit the trail just like she’d threatened to.

  Chapter Seven

  John strode back toward the diner, always the gathering place. He’d come through Broken Wheel to be saddled with this chore not that long ago. So he’d just seen them all, and yet he had still missed his friends.

  He almost tripped on a step as he realized how much he missed them and how many days he’d spent on the trail as a Texas Ranger. He’d been at it for a long time.

  What if he quit? What if he became the full-time sheriff of this peaceful little town?

  And it wasn’t fair to think the money all came from Vince, though he was a wealthy man and always generous toward the townspeople. It was a thriving town now with the vast JA Ranch coming in to spend their money, all their hands, many married men among them. And businesses to support all those families.

  A town with women and children needed the law around. The job of sheriff would be paid by the residents, and John wasn’t feeling boastful when he thought that he’d be a good choice.

  Shaking his head to clear it of nonsense, he realized he was still holding Carrie’s wrist and dropped it. No sense adding any others to the “marry her to save her” brigade of Vince and Tina.

  But he did want to save her.

  He also was over the first shock of the idea of marrying her.

  As Luke swung down from his horse, Vince caught his reins and tied them to the hitching post. John helped Ruthy down, then took charge of her horse. He noticed Isaac doing the same for Jonas’s mount. Her brother was a fine young man.

  Luke went straight for Carrie. “You’re Audra Kincaid’s little sister?”

  Carrie smiled. “I am. And you must be Luke, my brother-in-law.”

  The child, a redheaded girl maybe four years old, buried her face in her pa’s chest. Luke perched her on one muscular arm and turned to slide his other arm around his wife’s waist. “This is Ruthy. I guess if I’m your brother-in-law, then she’s your sister-in-law.”

  Ruthy juggled the toddler she held with her left arm and reached out her right. Carrie shook her hand, then held on and felt her eyes burn with tears.

  “We’re family, aren’t we?” Ruthy said.

  Nodding, Carrie said, “Close enough for me. And that’s Isaac, my brother, so more family.”

  Luke whipped his head around to stare. “I didn’t know you had a brother.” He smiled at Isaac. “I’m glad you came along, Isaac. It sounds like you both needed to pull up stakes.”

  Ruthy surprised Carrie by wrapping her arms around her. “I’ve never had a little sister. I’m claiming you.”

  With a laugh, Carrie returned the hug. She couldn’t believe the ache she felt as their show of kindness and connection filled up the empty places in her heart.

  Luke shook Isaac’s hand, then slapped him on the back. Carrie saw Isaac enjoying himself just as she was. Ruthy let her go, and they traded, but Luke didn’t settle for backslapping—he hugged Carrie and lifted her off her feet.

  “I’ve got a little sister named Callie. She’s the connection between the Kincaids and the Stones. She’s married to Audra’s brother, and her name is close enough to yours, I’ll probably trip up over it sometimes. Welcome to Broken Wheel, Carrie.” He set her back on her feet and grinned at his wife. “I met Callie’s husband in the war. We were in Andersonville Prison together.”

  “John told me you all met there,” Carrie said.

  “Yep, but Seth, Callie’s husband, wasn’t one of us really. He came in right toward the end and was out of his head with a fever the whole time. Callie came to fetch me home after the war and met my Regulator friends, and she also met Seth and ended up married to him.”

  Luke’s expression faded to somberness. “The West can do that, swallow people up, separate them. And travel is hard and dangerous. I’m afraid I’ll never see Callie again, but it’s a comfort to know she’s found a home with a good family.” He rested a hand on Carrie’s shoulder. “Audra’s in that family, too. We get plenty of letters, and it might make you feel better to know your sister is in good hands. We know how your pa treated her, married her off. But she ended up all right, with a kindhearted husband who takes good care of her.”

  Carrie had known that Audra’s marriage had been a trial, and she’d heard of Wendell Gilliland’s death and Audra’s subsequent remarriage. Audra had written a few letters, though Carrie suspected her pa took them, hid them away, or burned them. It was a real comfort to know that this man, who seemed kind and strong, not someone who’d put up with his sister being mistrea
ted, was satisfied.

  Ruthy walked over and slid her arm around Carrie’s waist. “Let’s go sit a while and get to know each other.”

  “And you can tell us all about the trouble you’ve faced,” Luke said. Then he shifted his gaze to John with a hard look that told Carrie, for all his kindness, Luke would be a tough enemy. She’d had the same thought about John.

  Tina emerged from the diner. “I’ve got coffee for everyone,” she said, “but I have to run home and see to a meal for my young’uns. Ruthy, shall we leave this to the men?”

  Ruthy looked at her three children. It was as clear as day she wanted to be in on any discussion, but there was no place for the little ones at a war council. “I’m coming. Carrie, you should come, too.”

  A stab of shyness surprised Carrie, but maybe it shouldn’t have. She hadn’t done much in her life except tend her parents’ house. She’d never had a friend as a child, because her parents kept her home from school. Now leaving John felt as if she were casting herself into the sea and hoping the Lord would keep her afloat. Which He would.

  Smiling, she said, “I’d better stay since they’ll be discussing me.”

  “We’ll both be back in time to get a noon meal.” Tina plucked the toddler from Luke’s arms.

  Jonas said, “I’ll bring the other two, then come back.” He herded the children who were too big for the women to carry, and they left Carrie behind.

  The sea she’d cast herself into was full of men.

  John hadn’t feared Kearse much. He figured he could handle him and a small army of gunmen if need be. It wouldn’t be the first time. But he had worried some about Carrie and Isaac getting hurt.

  That worry was gone now, with his friends gathered around the table with him.

  “Isn’t Dare in town?” John asked.

  “He was called out to the JA before dawn,” Vince said as he poured them all coffee. “They have a man with a possible broken arm. Depending on how bad it is, he could be back—”