“A girl. I can’t believe I have a girl.” He was grinning as he went through the door.
The women joined their husbands and were talking quietly to them as they headed to the rooms they slept in. Soon Jake and Rena were alone in the hall. He leaned down and kissed her. “I guess that means we have a niece,” he whispered.
“It does, and she’s beautiful.” Rena put her arms around his waist. “Adela said she was going to name her Noel because she was a Christmas baby.”
“It is Christmas.” Jake looked at her. “Happy Christmas, my love.”
“I had a special Christmas gift I wanted to give you and I intended to give it to you while we were in bed, but I don’t see that that’s possible now. We’re going to have to stay up to look after the new mother until Leona arrives this morning.”
“I have the only gift I want. I have you.”
“I think you might want this one, too.”
“Oh?” He looked down at her. “Then tell me what it is.”
She nodded. “Let’s just say that in about seven months our niece will have a cousin to play with.”
“What do you mean?” She smiled and his eyes grew big. “Do you mean…are we…Rena?”
“Yes, darling. I think I’ll give you a son. Noel needs a male cousin to help look after her.”
Jake let out a rebel yell as he picked Rena up in his arms and twirled her around in the hall.
Bedroom doors opened and people looked out, but all they saw were two happy people kissing passionately. They closed their doors gently.
* * * *
Inside the only bedroom that didn’t open, Silas, holding his baby daughter in his arms, looked down at his wife. “Wonder what’s going on out there.”
“Rena probably told Jake he was going to be a father.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, honey. I’ve suspected it for a while.”
Silas shook his head and looked down at his daughter. His grin was wide. “Come on, Noel. Let’s get your aunt and uncle in here so this family can celebrate our blessings together.” He opened the door.
“Excuse me, brother.”
Jake, kissing Rena, ignored him.
He tried again, and this time Jake looked up. His eyes were shining. “Silas, guess what!”
“You’re going to be a father. Now come in here.”
Jake frowned. “How’d you know?”
“Adela told me.” He walked back to his wife’s bed and left the door open.
Rena and Jake came in and closed it. With their arms around each other they walked up to Adela. After telling her she looked wonderful and the baby was beautiful, they took chairs on the opposite side of the bed from Silas. He was rocking his daughter.
Jake looked at Rena and smiled. “See my brother. That’ll be me next summer.”
She nodded, then laughed. “Jake Haywood, I just thought of something. Did you realize you got me pregnant at just the right time to make my giving birth hit the hottest part of the Arizona summer? And with no air conditioning.”
“Air conditioning?” Silas looked at her with a question in his eye.
“Never mind. I’ll explain it when I’m sweating and suffering in the heat to bring your brother’s son into the world.”
“You might have a girl, Rena.”
“No, Adela. She’s already said it’ll be a boy.” Jake grinned.
“Then I wouldn’t want to argue with her. She probably has some secret way of knowing,” Silas said. “I accept that she came from the future and knows a lot of things, but I’m not completely convinced that she’s not a witch.”
“I’m beginning to wonder myself.” Jake squeezed Rena’s hand.
“Well, I’ll never tell.” She winked at Adela. “I think all women have some witch in them.”
“I’ll never tell either,” Adela said.
“Now, that’s settled. Silas, let me hold that precious niece of mine. I need to practice this mother thing. Maybe I’ll get it right by summer.” She cut her eyes at Jake. “If I didn’t love you so much, I’d refuse to have this baby for you in July.”
“And just what would you do to stop it?”
“Didn’t you two agree we were witches?” She reached for the baby. “You’re beautiful, Noel, and your name is so fitting.”
“She’s our Christmas present,” Adela said. “We couldn’t think of a more fitting name.”
Rena looked at Jake. “I refuse to name our son Devil, even though July is as hot as hell here in Arizona.”
The other three laughed out loud and Rena turned her attention to Noel. As she looked in the tiny face, all she could think was that she hoped it would be a short spring. Regardless of the weather, she couldn’t wait to hold her own baby in her arms and see the love in Jake’s eyes for them both.
Epilogue
Arizona—Present Day
“What do you think of the ghost town of Yellow Creek, Cassie?”
“It’s pretty. I just wish…” Barbara’s voice trailed off.
Cassie sighed. “I wish Rena was here, too. Remember how she said if there wasn’t a cave involved, she’d enjoy seeing an old western town because it might make those romance novels come to life.”
“Yes and how we kidded her about finding one of those tall handsome cowboys she was so taken with in those books.” Cassie sniffed. “I sure do miss her.”
“Me, too.” Tears came into Barbara’s eyes. “I hope she didn’t panic before the end.”
“I’ve always hoped she died instantly in the cave-in and didn’t have to know where she was when it happened.”
“So have I.” Barbara straightened her shoulders. “It’s been five years and I still feel responsible. If I hadn’t made her go in that cave…”
“You can’t blame yourself.” Cassie took her friend’s arm. “Buck up and let’s tour this town in her honor. Looks like they’ve done a good job preserving it.”
“McGregor’s Mercantile looks interesting.”
“So does the Silver Slipper.”
“They have pictures in the saloon window. Let’s go look at them.”
The two women had come to visit this town because it brought back memories of their trip out west with their friend. A small way of honoring her.
“Molly Ferguson was her name,” Cassie read the caption under the black and white picture in the window of the Silver Slipper. “Seems she was one of the favorite prostitutes here.”
Barbara laughed. “I wish men still liked their women that size.”
“I’m with you. Harley threatened to send me to a spa if I didn’t…”
“Howdy, ladies,” A small cowboy came up beside them. “My name’s Gideon Finn the Fifth. My family has been in these parts for nigh on to a hundred and fifty years. I’m one of the tour guides in Yellow Creek. If you have any questions about the place, I’d be glad to answer them.”
They turned toward the little man with a full beard and a handle bar mustache.
“Thank you, Mr. Finn,” Barbara said.
“I think I’d like to ask you some questions.” Cassie smiled at the old man.
“Sure, Ma’am. Go right ahead.”
“How much do you know about the people who used to live here?”
He grinned. “I know a lot. My family was good at handing down stories.” He moved to the window of the saloon and pointed to a picture of several saloon girls together. “See that one on the front row, the shorter one with the black hair.”
They nodded and he went on. “My grandpappy, four greats removed, was close to forty and nobody ever thought he’d marry, but he took a liking to that little gal. The story I’ve been told is that he came into town one night, got pretty drunk and demanded that she go up to the room with him. She flatly refused. Said she wasn’t supposed to sleep with the men, but only was to get them to drink and gamble. Grandpappy asked what it’d take to get her into a bed and she cattily told him it’d take a bottle of whisky and a wedding ring. Lo and behold, the fir
st thing old Gideon Finn realized when he woke up the next morning was that he had a hangover and a wife named Belle. Nine months to the day she gave birth to Gideon Finn, Junior. Six more children followed.”
He grinned. “Grandpappy was quite a man, though they say Belle outlived him by twenty years. She remarried two more times, but she never would give up the Finn name and she never had any more children. Said none of her other husbands ever measured up to her Gideon. When she died, her children insisted she be buried by her first husband and she was.”
“That’s quite a story, Mr. Finn. What did your ancestor do? Own a ranch or something?” Barbara looked at him.
“No, ma’am. He worked for the Haywood brothers at the Flying H.”
“That’s the ranch that’s open for tours, isn’t it?”
“What’s left of it is a dude ranch as well as a working cattle ranch. It’s still in the Haywood family.”
“What do you mean, what’s left of it?” Cassie asked.
“It used to be nigh on 800,000 or 900,000 acres and it’s still a big place, but some of the land has been sold and the ranch was divided up down through the years. Now it’s not more than 130-140,000 acres.”
“That sounds like a lot to me.” Barbara looked at him.
“As I said, it’s still a big place. The house that belonged to Silas and the one Jake build for him and his wife across the way, is where some of the descendants still live. Those can’t be toured, but the old place where they started out, and where my grandpappy raised his family, can be. It’s part of the dude ranch and is open for tours most days.”
“So that would be where we should go to see some of the history of this town?” Cassie asked.
“It’d be a good place, but I’d suggest you go to the museum and learn about the Haywoods first. It’s an interesting story.”
“What do you mean?”
“They started out poor as dirt, but eventually became the richest ranchers in the Territory of Arizona at the time.”
“Were they dishonest?”
“Oh, no, but the man who leased the land from their father was. He tried to convince everyone he’d bought the land, but they found out he was trying to swindle them. His name was Wigham and none of his descendants live in the area. His wife died and he sent his only daughter east to school. She was never heard of again.”
“That’s kind of sad,” Cassie said.
“Kid was probably better off. Her daddy took a shine to Jake Haywood’s wife and decided he wanted her. In fact, story goes he shot Jake in the back for that very reason. It made Mrs. Haywood so mad, she shot him in his private parts and then nursed her husband back to health with some magic medicine she brought from Atlanta. Nobody ever knew what it was, but they say Jake Haywood should’ve died from infection.”
“Was it penicillin?” Barbara asked.
“Couldn’t have been. They didn’t have penicillin back in the 1800s. They also said Mrs. Jake Haywood was smarter than most people in the area. She came up with ideas to fix up her house that nobody had ever heard of.”
Barbara looked at Cassie and frowned.
“Are there any other stories about what Mrs. Haywood did?” Cassie asked.
“They say she could shoot a gun and ride a horse better than any man.” He chuckled. “They also say she hated the heat of the Arizona summers and refused to wear her dresses fastened at the neck, and it wasn’t long until every woman in town was letting theirs stay unbuttoned, too. There was a rumor that she had some royal blood in her, but it was never proved. Mrs. Haywood was a well-respected woman and anything she chose to do was fine with most people.”
“Most people?” Barbara looked at him.
He had a silly grin on his face. “When they were young men, Silas and Jake were frequent visitors to the Silver Slipper. Then Silas got married and didn’t come any more. He met his wife in Santa Fe and brought her back home. She was a pretty thing from a wealthy Spanish family, but because there was some Indian blood in the Haywoods, she was disowned by her family.”
“That’s terrible,” Barbara said.
“Well, at the time, it was a disgrace to have Indian blood. Silas’s wife didn’t seem to care. They loved each other and that was all that mattered to her.” He shifted his position. “After his brother’s marriage, Jake was a favorite of the women at the Silver Slipper, especially Molly Ferguson.”
“Her picture’s in the window,” Cassie said. “Wasn’t she a little plump?”
“I think that’s the way men liked them then. Story goes, she fell in love with Jake and treated him as a special customer. They say she hoped he’d give in and marry her someday and take her away from the life she lived. Of course, he never intended to. Then that pretty little woman showed up and Jake fell in love with her on sight. He never went to see Molly again. She didn’t like Mrs. Haywood, but like most women, she respected her. She knew if she didn’t, Jake would’ve run her out of town.”
“What do you mean, showed up?” Barbara asked.
“She was from Atlanta, but nobody recorded when she came in on the stage. They said she didn’t have any clothes because she lost them on the way to Yellow Creek.”
“Oh?”
Cassie frowned. “Do you know what she looked like?”
“All I know is that she was a tiny little thing with yellow hair. The first time she came into town, she was already married to Jake.”
“I hope he was crazy about her,” Cassie said softly.
“It was a mutual thing between them. Everyone said it was a magical thing to see them together. Jake died at the ripe old age of ninety-two holding on to his wife’s hand. They say he said, ‘I’ll wait for you, my love,’ and died with a smile on his lips.”
“Oh, how sweet,” Barbara said.
“Three years later, on her death bed, she said to her family, ‘Don’t grieve for me. I’ve had a wonderful life and I’m ready to be with my man again.’ She closed her eyes and in the middle of the night, she sat up in bed. Her eyes were glowing and she called out, ‘I’m coming, Jake. I knew you’d meet me, my love.’”
“Are you making this up?” Cassie gave him a doubtful look.
“No, ma’am. It’s all in the diary her granddaughter left. It’s under glass and no one is allowed to touch it in the museum, but there are copies of some pages that can be read.” He smiled at them. “Why don’t we walk to the museum? It’s just around the corner. You’ll be able to learn a lot more about the Haywoods there.”
“I’d like to do that.”
Cassie nodded her agreement.
Mr. Finn escorted them to the museum and stood back as they looked at many of the artifacts protected under glass.
“Look at this, Barbara.” Cassie pointed to the turquoise earrings.
“Those look just like Rena’s.”
“Exactly.” She moved out of Mr. Finn’s earshot. “Do you remember Rena saying she had a whole prescription of penicillin for that finger thing she was suffering?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think it’s possible…”
“No way, Cassie. It couldn’t be. The cave in was only five years ago and Mr. Finn said Jake and his wife lived to their nineties.”
“I guess you’re right. Still…he did say tiny and blonde. Silly.” Cassie sighed.
Mr. Finn stuck his head around the corner of the museum information desk. “Miss Collins, these women here are interested in the Haywood clan. Especially Jake and Silas. Do you happen to have a picture of them around?”
“We sure do. Some of the family members let us use a couple to make larger ones. They’re on the wall in the next room. Keep going left and you’ll come to them.”
“Did you hear that, ladies?” he asked as he approached them.
They nodded and followed him to the room.
The first thing the women saw were two twelve by fourteen pictures. In one was a cowboy with a woman who had black hair in a long braid pulled over her shoulder. Standing around them were fiv
e children, three girls and two boys.
When they looked at the other picture they both caught their breath. In it was a tall cowboy wearing jeans, a collarless shirt and vest. He held a Stetson hat against his side with his left hand. He had his right arm around a woman who only came to his arm pits. She had on a dress with the sleeves rolled up and the front unbuttoned to the tops of her breast. Her light hair hung below her shoulders and softly curled around her face. She wore the pair of dangle earrings that were kept here under glass. The couple was smiling at each other and happiness showed on their faces. Four boys like stair-steps were gathered at their feet.
Barbara and Cassie both breathed hard as tears filled their eyes.
Mr. Finn was saying, “She’s a might pretty little thing, but as I said, nobody knew much about her except that she came from Atlanta and was one of the smartest women in these parts. She loved her husband and four sons more than anything. They say she’d kill anybody who tried to harm them. Her name was Rena, but nobody knew her last name.”
“We know,” Cassie whispered.
He looked shocked. “You do?”
“Her name was Rena Dumont.”
The two women stepped closer to the picture. There was no mistaking the happiness on Rena’s face as she stood with her husband. He looked at her as if he was holding the most precious thing in the world in his arms. The dangle turquoise earrings she wore confirmed what they already knew, no matter how hard it was to believe.
“Rena finally got her cowboy,” Barbara whispered.
Both women would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that Rena turned her head and winked at them.
About the Author
Under another name, Agnes Alexander has published hundreds of short stories and articles. She turned to novel writing in 2000. Since then she had published 16 novels under that name. In 2011 she decided to concentrate on writing what she most likes to read, Western Historical Romance. In 2012, her first westerns, Fiona’s Journey and Quinn’s Promise were published by Whiskey Creek Press. Rena’s Cowboy is her third Western Romance by Whiskey Creek and a fourth is scheduled for release later in 2013.
A life-long resident of North Carolina, she counts traveling as one of her passions. She has visited 48 of the 50 States and says Alaska and Hawaii are on her bucket list. Of course, she loves to read, but tries to limit herself to one or two books a week. Besides traveling and reading, Agnes enjoys jewelry making, watching old movies and spending time with her family.
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